The world’s first sign language dictionary available from a mobile phone has been launched by the University of Bristol’s Centre for Deaf Studies.Mobilesign.org is a video dictionary with over 5,000 British Sign Language signs. Produced by staff at the Centre for Deaf Studies, it is a mobile accessory to people who work with Deaf people, have Deaf customers or just want to learn to sign. [click link for full article]

There’s promising hope for women who suffer from endometriosis, one of the most common causes of infertility and pelvic pain. A new study to be published in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Reproductive Medicine reveals that Pycnogenol (pic-noj-en-all), an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree, significantly reduces symptoms of endometriosis by 33 percent. [click link for full article]

New findings by a Queen’s University research team dispel the popular notion that eating so-called “natural” foods will protect against cancer.In fact, certain types of common foods and alcoholic beverages such as wine, cheese, yogurt and bread contain trace amounts of carcinogens. Maintaining a balanced diet from a variety of sources - including garlic - is a better choice, the researchers suggest.Led by Dr. [click link for full article]

Researchers have identified markers unique to the cells of blood vessels running through ovarian tumors. The finding, while preliminary, could one day improve screening, diagnosis and treatment for this disease.The team of researchers from the University of Michigan, University of Pennsylvania, and universities in Greece and Italy, used a laser technique to isolate blood vessel cells from 21 ovarian tumors and four normal ovarian tissue samples. [click link for full article]

Having both depression and type 2 diabetes increases the risk of death for heart patients. Each factor had been known to increase the risk of heart disease deaths by itself, but together they’re even more deadly.In an analysis of more than 900 patients with established coronary artery disease, Duke University Medical Center psychologists found that those with both type 2 diabetes and symptoms of depression were more likely to die than heart patients without those conditions. [click link for full article]

Spring is in full bloom, and many areas of the country are experiencing high pollen levels, leading to misery in allergy sufferers. Will this be a bad year for allergies?…

Adult men who grew up in one-parent households are more likely to have been abused as children, according to a study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. William C. Holmes, MD, MSCE, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the University of Pennsylvania, and at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, reports his findings in the March 13th issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. [click link for full article]

A new US study suggests that obesity surgery such as gastric bypasses can cause vitamin deficiency that leads to memory loss, confusion, co-ordination, and other neurological problems.The study is published in the journal Neurology.A neurological sydrome called Wernicke encephalopathy occurs mostly in patients who vomit a lot after they have had weight loss surgery (also known as bariatric surgery). [click link for full article]

Several newspapers this week published editorials and opinion pieces related to International Women’s Day 2007 on March 8. Summaries appear below. Editorial [click link for full article]

Many important health policy issues, such as the allocation of avian flu vaccine in a pandemic or mandatory HPV vaccinations for young women, require policy makers to decide healthcare priorities for different age groupsYet economic methods used to allocate health care dollars and other resources may substantially undervalue childhood interventions, a new University of Michigan study suggests. [click link for full article]