Maternal treatment with betamethasone just before delivery may be preferable to dexamethasone for extremely low birth weight infants, researchers report in the February issue of Pediatrics. Reuters Health Information
Digital mammography is superior to film mammography in screening for breast cancer in women younger than 50 years with dense breasts, new research shows. In women aged 65 years and older with fatty breasts, film mammography appears to be slightly better than digital mammography. Reuters Health Information
Hair from women with breast cancer exhibits an X-ray diffraction pattern that is distinctive from the normal pattern associated with alpha-keratin, researchers in Australia report in the February 15th issue of the International Journal of Cancer. Reuters Health Information
A dysfunctional variant of cell cycle checkpoint kinase 2 (CHEK2), CHEK2*1100delC may increase the risk of breast cancer by as much as five-fold, Danish researchers report in the February 1st issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Reuters Health Information
Stimulants work but exacerbate nail biting and other nervous habits; any suggestions? What treatments are safe during pregnancy? Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health
Among women with BRCA1 gene mutations, annual screening with both mammography and MRI is associated with better survival than with either screening modality alone, new research indicates. The downside, however, is a high rate of false-positive results and biopsies for benign disease. Reuters Health Information
Adding breast density measures to standard clinical models can improve the prediction of invasive breast cancer, according to a report in the March 4th issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Still, the accuracy of the model is only modest and further refinements may be needed. Reuters Health Information
Treatment with the aromatase inhibitor letrozole improves disease-free survival, even when several years have passed since completing 5 years of tamoxifen for treatment of early breast cancer. Reuters Health Information
An oocyte with high birefringence of the inner zona layer, seen as a bright orange-red ring under polarization imaging microscopy, has a greater chance of developing after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and being carried to term than ova that exhibit weaker zona birefringence, a German team reports. Reuters Health Information
Data from the Netherlands Cancer Registry indicate that treatment of early-stage ovarian cancer patients in specialized hospitals results in longer survival than treatment in general hospitals. Reuters Health Information
