Patients with stage II colon cancer, for whom there is ambiguous evidence about whether or not they should receive chemotherapy, survive longer if treated with fluorouracil and folinic acid than if they undergo surgery alone, according to the results of a prospective randomised trial. Cytotoxic chemotherapy is known to lower the risk of recurrence in patients with extensive disease who have undergone curative resection for colorectal cancer.

Electro-Optical Sciences, Inc. (”EOS”) (NASDAQ: MELA), announced that the blinded pivotal trial of MelaFind(R), a non-invasive, point-of-care instrument to assist in the early diagnosis of melanoma, is over two-thirds complete. Six pivotal trial study sites are currently active, and an additional seventh and final site is expected to be activated in the upcoming weeks.

The Boston Globe on Monday profiled Jane Mendez, a breast cancer surgeon at Boston Medical Center, who twice a week cares for primarily uninsured minority women at the Belken Breast Health Center. About 60% of the patients Mendez cares for are Hispanic, and many others are from countries such as Cape Verde, Haiti or Vietnam.

The Stone Age Diet has many names - the Paleolithic Diet, The Paleo Diet, the Prehistoric Diet, The Caveman diet, or the Hunter-Gatherer Diet. The theory goes that modern human genes are the result of life conditions that for over a million years before the introduction of agriculture. Farming did not exist until about 10,000 years ago. Humans have been around for over one million years. The Paleolithic era ended about 20,000 years ago - before the advent of agriculture.

U.S. health care spending in 2006 increased by 6.7% to $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per capita, according to a CMS report published on Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs, the Washington Post reports (Lee, Washington Post, 1/8).

An adolescent girl who regularly has family meals is less likely to suffer and go on to suffer from an eating disorder, or consume laxatives, diet pills, or take some extreme measure to control her weight, according to an article in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine (JAMA/Archives).The incidence of binge eating and self-induced vomiting is generally higher as a youth progresses from adolescence to adulthood, explain the authors.

About one third of British adults are on a diet all the time, according to a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of supermarket chain, Tesco. Those most likely to be on a diet and counting their calories carefully are the over-55s, the survey found. According to healthcare professionals, approximately 60% of all British adults will be overweight by the middle of this century if current trends continue.

“Rather than celebrating” an increase in U.S. fertility rates, “we must recognize that it reflects deeper problems that need to be addressed,” John Seager, president of Population Connection, writes in a USA Today letter to the editor. According to Seager, the U.S.

Mississippi lawmakers and advocates say that if additional funding for the state’s Medicaid program cannot be found, tens of thousands of beneficiaries could be dropped from the program and services could be cut, the AP/Memphis Commercial Appeal reports.

A new book — titled “Teenagers, HIV and AIDS” — examines the experiences of children in the Washington, D.C.-area who are living with HIV/AIDS and also addresses medical, treatment and support issues related to the disease, the Washington Post reports.The book, edited by