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Surfers Take Their Knocks, Doctor Says
Surfing under the influence of drugs or alcohol are two of the prime dangers facing surfing enthusiasts, according to information presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle. Other factors include wave height, board length and interactions among surfers.
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Some Routine Cancer Screenings Not Proven To Reduce Deaths, Experts Say
Routine screenings for cancers -- including breast cancer in younger women -- have not proven to reduce the chance of death for people without specific symptoms or risk factors, and experts suggest that some tests could lead to harm, the New York Times reports.According to Ned Calonge, chair of the United States Preventive Services Task Force, screening is only useful if it prevents enough deaths to outweigh harm from treatments that are not medically necessary. He said that although screening in some cases will detect life-threatening cancers that respond to intervention, it also can result in false positives that cause needless worry and unnecessary procedures. Screening also might fail to diagnose an existing cancer, causing patients to ignore symptoms; find slow-growing or stable cancers that are not life-threatening and normally do not need treatment; or find aggressive, life-threatening cancers that do not respond to treatment, Calonge said. Only a handful of screening tests have been proven to significantly reduce death among certain age groups: pap tests to screen for cervical cancer beginning no later than age 21; mammograms to screen for breast cancer starting at age 40; and colon cancer screening beginning at age 50. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no medical proof that routine screening for many other cancers -- including ovarian cancer -- reduces deaths.The Times reports that the Breast Cancer Education and Awareness Requires Learning Young Act of 2009 (HR 1740) -- also known as the Early Act -- has become a central issue in the debate because it would create a breast cancer detection campaign for women younger than age 45. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.) introduced the bill in March, and it now has more than 350 co-sponsors. The bill would provide $45 million over five years for teaching young women and their physicians to check for abnormalities; promote healthy lifestyle choices; and provide grants to groups supporting women with breast cancer. The bill focuses on certain ethnic or racial groups at higher risk of developing aggressive tumors. CDC would oversee an expert panel to create the campaign based on the latest medical research, Wasserman-Schultz said.Critics of the bill say that the legislation promotes techniques, such as self-exams, that have not proven to detect cancer at earlier stages or reduce deaths. They also argue that self-exams could lead to many insignificant nodules being biopsied, which can cause scarring and make it harder to detect breast cancer when women are older. According to Susan Love -- a breast cancer surgeon who has encouraged Wasserman-Schultz to abandon the bill -- the public health campaign could cause younger women to overestimate their chances of dying of breast cancer (Singer, New York Times, 7/17).
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Study Rewrites Textbook On Key Genetic Phenomenon
Because females carry two copies of the X chromosome to males" one X and one Y, they harbor a potentially toxic double dose of the over 1000 genes that reside on the X chromosome.
Mental Health

Discarded Fallopian Tubes Could Be Rich Of Stem Cells, Study

Fallopian tubes normally discarded after hysterectomies and other procedures could become rich potential s for mesenchymal stem cells which like other types of stem cell can be coaxed to develop into a variety of cell types, according to a new study by researchers in Brazil. Researchers from the University of Sç£o Paulo"s Human Genome Research Centre, which is directed by Dr Mayana Zatz conducted the study in collaboration with medical doctors from the University"s reproductive surgery department. The results are published as an online paper in BioMed Central"s open access Journal of Translational Medicine. The authors wrote that scientists have already discovered that umbilical cords, dental pulp and fat tissue, which they described as "biological discards", yield mesenchymal stem cells that can develop into muscle, fat, bone and cartilage tissue. This prompted them and other teams to look for more s, since stem cells obtained this way don"t raise the ethical problems that occur when stem cells are taken from embryos. As first author Tatiana Jazedje noted in a separate statement: "Use of human tissue fragments that are usually discarded in surgical procedures does not pose ethical problems." In this study the Brazilian team used fallopian tubes obtained from hysterectomy and other gynecological procedures undergone by fertile women aged from 35 to 55 who had been clear of any hormone treatments for at least three months beforehand. After isolating mesenchymal stem cells from the fallopian tubes, the researchers found that they were quite easy to expand in vitro where they differentiated readily into muscle, fat, cartilage and bone cell lines. The researchers found no abnormality in the chromosomes of the new cell lines, suggesting they had good chromosomal stability. They concluded that: "Human tube MSCs [mesenchymal stem cells] can be easily isolated, expanded in vitro, present a mesenchymal profile and are able to differentiate into muscle, fat, cartilage and bone in vitro. " Jazedje said that as well suggesting a possible new of stem cells for regenerative treatments, their findings will hopefully help reproductive science as a whole. "Human fallopian tube: a new of multipotent adult mesenchymal stem cells discarded in surgical procedures." Tatiana Jazedje, Paulo M Perin, Carlos E Czeresnia, Mariangela Maluf, Silvio Halpern, Mariane Secco, Daniela F Bueno, Natassia M Vieira, Eder Zucconi, Mayana Zatz. Journal of Translational Medicine 2009, 7:46. Published online 18 June 2009. doi:10.1186/1479-5876-7-46 BioMed Central. Written by: Catharine Paddock, PhD Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today


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