Significant findings have emerged from the California Teachers Study (CTS) that suggest long-term recreational physical activity plays a protective role against invasive and in situ breast cancer. [click link for full article]

Maternal health programs “deserv[e] far more support” from the U.S. in part because the country knows “exactly what to do to bring down maternal mortality and morbidity,” New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof writes in an opinion piece. [click link for full article]

In work involving the hands, whether using a computer or a hammer, the wrist is a vulnerable spot. Repeated or sustained bending and flexing can lead to carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). [click link for full article]

The AP/International Herald Tribune on Thursday examined the practice of pregnant women from mainland China going to Hong Kong to give birth so that their infants have permanent residency rights in the territory, as well as access to Hong Kong’s schools and other benefits (Hui, AP/International Herald Tribune, 2/22). [click link for full article]

Catholics for a Free Choice President Frances Kissling on Wednesday will step down from her position after 25 years of leading the organization, the New York Times reports. Jon O’Brien, the organization’s executive vice president, will take over as president. [click link for full article]

An important choreographer of the complicated dance of signals, enzymes and proteins that takes embryonic stem cells through the steps to becoming a beating heart muscle cell is the gene Sox17, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. [click link for full article]

IMR International Limited, developers of e-communication and clinical information solutions,today announced that it will develop an online interactive guide to influenza. The new resourcewill form part of the EMA (European Medical Association) sanctioned EPG Patient Direct, a newweb service dedicated to providing patients and the general public in Europe with a crediblesource of independent health-related information. [click link for full article]

Queensland’s female sex workers have similar levels of job satisfaction, physical health and mental well-being as women in the general population. This is a key finding from an in-depth study into prostitution in Queensland by Queensland University of Technology PhD researcher Charrlotte Seib. Ms Seib, from the School of Public Health, surveyed 247 female sex workers aged between 18 and 57 years located throughout Queensland. [click link for full article]

In Iraq and other war-torn regions of the world, landmines cause widespread and devastating injury to combatants and civilians alike. The journal, Pain Medicine, has devoted a special issue to examining the social and physical impact of landmines and the treatment of pain caused by landmine injury. “Landmines are one of the world’s most disabling and deadly public health hazards,” says journal editor-in-chief, Dr. Rollin Gallagher. [click link for full article]

The 2007 German Cancer Prize for experimental research goes to Professor Achim Leutz, of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin-Buch, for “excellent” work on the development of blood cells and leukemias. [click link for full article]