We may not be as fit as the people of ancient Athens, despite all that modern diet and training can provide, according to research by University of Leeds (UK) exercise physiologist, Dr Harry Rossiter.Dr Rossiter measured the metabolic rates of modern athletes rowing a reconstruction of an Athenian trireme, a 37m long warship powered by 170 rowers seated in three tiers. [click link for full article]

The National Community Pharmacists Association, which represents independent pharmacies, on Thursday said a rule recently proposed by CMS that would revise the Medicaid reimbursement formula for certain prescription drugs could force many members to close, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

The regions of the brain that control vision and other sensory information grow dramatically in the first few months following birth, while the area that controls abstract thought experiences very little growth during the same period, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have found. [click link for full article]

The search for a vaccine against group B streptococci Group B streptococci are one of the leading causes of infection in newborn infants, causing pneumonia, septicaemia or meningitis. A group of Portuguese researchers and a team in a CNRS-associated laboratory at the Institut Pasteur have just identified a protein in this micro-organism which allows it to colonise a host by modulating its immune system. [click link for full article]

A first-of-its-kind study published in the February issue of the Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics suggests endoscopic brain surgery, pioneered by surgeons at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has the potential to be safer and often more effective than conventional surgery in children with life-threatening conditions. [click link for full article]

People with mesothelioma - a form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure - have a higher survival rate when treated with a combination of two cancer drugs, a large multicenter study finds.Mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive form of cancer that occurs in the lining of the lungs, heart and abdomen, is associated with exposure to asbestos. There is no known cure. [click link for full article]

New data from the Intergroup Exemestane Study (IES),published in the Lancet today show that, 2 to 3 years after the end of their treatment,postmenopausal women with oestrogen sensitive early breast cancer who switched toexemestane (AROMASIN”) after 2 to 3 years of tamoxifen are 15% - 17% more likely tobe alive, compared to patients who remained on tamoxifen for the full five years of therapy. [click link for full article]

The following highlights recently released journal articles on women’s health issues. Breast Cancer ” [click link for full article]

A new radiation treatment system at Rush University Medical Center addresses two important aspects of cancer treatment simultaneously with one device: confirming the exact location of a tumor during each treatment session and then delivering treatment. This approach is known as image guide radiation therapy (IGRT). The TomoTherapy Hi-Art System combines 3-D imaging from computerized tomography (CT scanning) with precisely targeted radiation beams. [click link for full article]

Researchers have developed a small-molecule inhibitor of a protein that plays key roles in the control of cell division, and they show that the inhibitor can halt the growth of tumors in mice and cancer-derived cells growing in culture. The findings are reported in companion papers reported by two collaborating groups - one (Lenart et al.) led by Jan-Michael Peters of the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna, and the other (Steegmaier et al. [click link for full article]