Doctors in Sweden have shown for the first time that although endometriosis is associated with an increased risk of various cancers, this risk does not depend on the number of times women with the condition have given birth.Dr Anna-Sofia Melin, told the 23rd annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology: “Several epidemiological studies have shown an increased cancer risk among women with endometriosis, especially ovarian cancer. [click link for full article]

Recent studies showing that commonly used anesthetic agents can cause brain damage in animals don’t prove that similar harmful effects occur in human newborns and shouldn’t affect current approaches to anesthesia in preterm and ill infants, according to a leading expert on pain management in newborns. The July issue of the journal Anesthesiology features an editorial by Dr. Kanwaljeet J.S. [click link for full article]

We’ve all experienced that occasional all-too-short night of sleep — staying out too late at a party on a weeknight, studying into the wee hours for a morning exam or being kept up during the night with a sick child. Our bodies try to catch up by making us sleep more and/or more deeply the following night.It is well established that following an acute period of sleep loss, the body responds this way in order to maintain a homeostatic balance between sleep and wakefulness. [click link for full article]

The effort to find preserved samples of the 1918 influenza virus has been a pursuit of both historical and medical importance. The 1918 influenza pandemic was the most devastating single disease outbreak in modern history, and examining the virus that caused it may help prepare for, and possibly prevent, future pandemics. When the complete sequence of the 1918 virus was published in 2005, it represented a watershed event for influenza researchers worldwide. [click link for full article]

One of the fundamental traits of a tumor — how it avoids the immune system — might become its greatest vulnerability, according to researchers from the University of Southern California. Their findings, demonstrated in human breast and colorectal cancers, indicate that a technique for determining a tumor’s ‘immune signature,’ could be useful for diagnosing and treating specific cancers. [click link for full article]

A blood component called cystatin C, used to test for early-stage kidney impairment, also may be a very early marker for those at risk of developing a condition known as pre-diabetes, a study conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo has shown. Pre-diabetes is diagnosed when the amount of glucose in the bloodstream begins to rise and remain above normal, an indication that glucose is not being absorbed properly by cells. [click link for full article]

According to Andrew Speaker, who was wrongly diagnosed with a dangerous form of tuberculosis (TB), he was tricked into isolation. Speaker, a lawyer, told the Associated Press (AP) that he was not aware of having a serious illness when he traveled to Greece to a wedding in May, 2007. For the last four weeks Speaker has been in isolation in Colorado. Speaker told AP that the authorities asked him to visit a hospital in New York for further tests after his trip to Greece. [click link for full article]

Adolescents from low-income families are much more likely to suffer from migraine headaches than teens from wealthier households, according to researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. The findings, published in Neurology, suggest that factors associated with low socioeconomic status –stress, poor diet and limited access to medical care, for example — increase the prevalence of migraines in young people.Led by Dr. [click link for full article]

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a form of nonmelanoma skin cancer, which is the most common type of human malignancy with over 1 million new cases in the USA each year. In the Journal of Clinical Investigation, two separate studies by research teams at Glasgow University and Baylor College of Medicine uncover 2 previously unidentified regulators of SCC development, providing insights into the development of this potentially lethal disease. [click link for full article]

The use of life-saving implantable cardioverter defibrillators in Canada is rising, but it is still significantly less than that in the United States. Dr. David Birnie and colleagues from the University of Ottawa Heart Institute report that, between 1995 and 2003, the use of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in adults who survived a cardiac arrest increased from 5.4% to 26.7% in Canada; in the US, the rate went up from 9.7% to 42.0%. [click link for full article]