Five Toronto schools are reported to have unsafe levels of lead in their water supply. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is currently providing schoolchildren and staff at those five schools with bottled water. The TDSB says that the distribution of bottled water is a precautionary measure to protect the health of students and staff while the water is being re-tested. [click link for full article]

A fourteen year-old walks into a public school with two guns, kills two teens and injuries a pair of teachers before killing himself. How many times will we hear this story before we focus our nation’s resources on improving our public schools? What do our teachers need to know and be able to do when challenged by student mental health? A recent summit of mental health and education experts at the National Association of Health Education Centers (NAHEC) in Milwaukee revealed some answers. [click link for full article]

Central venous catheters are commonly used to provide permanent hemodialysis for patients with serious kidney disease. One technique, inserting a catheter through large vessels, has been commonly used worldwide in recent years. [click link for full article]

Cancer patients have significant concerns about legal-medical issues that are not being adequately addressed and impact the quality of their lives, according to a study conducted by Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Results of the study were published in a recent issue of Cancer and presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. [click link for full article]

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers. [click link for full article]

Valencia CA. - Physicians & TB controllers around the country can now quickly and accurately detect M. tuberculosis infection with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of QuantiFERON(R)-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT(TM)). This blood test detects cellular immune responses to proteins specifically associated with tuberculosis (TB) infection. It replaces the original QuantiFERON(R)-TB Gold, and offers the same specificity and accuracy advantages. [click link for full article]

A woman in her forties should be encouraged to make up her own mind whether breast screening is best for her, rather having people tell her what to do, say two American experts in the British Medical Journal, this week’s issue. According to new guidelines issued by the American College of Physicians, women between the ages of 40 and 49 should make an informed choice after learning about the pros and cons of mammography - rather than recommend universal screening. [click link for full article]

A new study shows that neither of two commonly used radiation treatments for early-stage, node-negative breast cancer has any effect on a woman’s immune system, even though women who receive five-day partial-breast radiation therapy (MammoSite® brachytherapy) (PBRT) have improved energy and quality of life compared to women who undergo six weeks of whole-breast radiation therapy (WBRT). [click link for full article]

Referral to a gynaecological oncologist does not necessarily improve the chances of survival for women with ovarian cancer, although these specialists are more likely to recommend life-extending surgical and chemotherapy treatments which result in better outcomes, according to the results of a retrospective study published in Obstetrics and Gynecology. [click link for full article]

Breast cancer patients are using personal digital assistants to record their levels of pain, fatigue and depression and watch patient communication videos as part of a pilot study launched by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.The study the first of its kind in the country is designed to teach breast cancer patients how to communicate more effectively with their physicians during chemotherapy treatment. [click link for full article]