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© Lester Lefkowitz/CORBIS
As women are still struggling to make sense of the new mammogram recommendations released in November by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, research presented today at a meeting of the Radiological Society of North America suggests that, for women at high risk of developing breast cancer, who are often urged to undergo annual screenings beginning at age 25, exposure to radiation through mammograms may actually be harmful.
EPA/EFE/RS FOTOS ATTENTION EXAMINER, DUBLIN
Former Miss Argentina Solange Magnano died Sunday from complications arising during a gluteoplasty—or bum lift. A friend of the former beauty queen told the Associated Press that liquid injected during the procedure had somehow traveled to her lungs and brain. After three days in critical care in a Buenos Aires hospital, Magnano ultimately died of a pulmonary embolism, or blocked artery in the lung.
© Klaus Tiedge/Corbis
The health care bill currently being debated in the Senate includes a provision that would levy a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgeries. The proposed Bo-tax is being presented by supporters as a simple economic tool to help offset health care costs, yet detractors—including some 7,000 doctors in the American Academy of Plastic Surgeons—say that the tax is based on inaccurate assumptions that everyone who gets plastic surgery is very wealthy, that it unfairly targets women, who make up the majority of plastic surgery patients, and that it will drive people to seek less expensive and potentially more dangerous options for cosmetic procedures.
Employing educational and psychological intervention techniques from a very young age can make a world of difference in autistic children's development, according to research published online today in the journal Pediatrics. At the University of Washington in Seattle, researchers conducted a five-year study of 48 autistic children between the ages of 18 and 30 months. The toddlers and their parents were divided into two groups that were both closely followed by researchers—one that was directed to existing autism therapies in the community, and the other that participated in a relationship-based intervention known as the Early Start Denver Model. The researchers found that, while, early on in the study period there were no significant developmental differences between the groups, by the end of the study, children who participated in the early intervention program had dramatically larger increases on measurements such as IQ and receptive language. Seven of the children in the early intervention group demonstrated such improvement that their diagnosis was changed to a milder condition on the autism spectrum known as pervasive developmental disorder not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).
© Randy Taylor/Monsoon/Photolibrary/Corbis
In the course of their training, many medical students accidentally stick themselves with needles, yet too often fail to report the incidents, according to new research published in the December issue of the journal Academic Medicine. In a survey of 699 medical residents at 17 different hospitals and medical centers, nearly two thirds reported inadvertently sticking themselves at some point during medical school, and many said they'd actually endured more than one accidental jab. Yet of the 415 study participants who reported needle injuries, roughly half admitted that they had never informed hospital authorities.
© Brooke Fasani/Corbis
According to estimates from researchers at the University of Chicago, the total number of Americans with diabetes will double in the next 25 years, from the current 23.7 million to some 44.1 million in 2034. During that same time frame, annual costs for treating those patients are expected to soar—nearly tripling from the current $113 billion to some $336 billion.
© Masterfile
Many new fathers are nothing short of awe-stricken by the birth of their child, and cherish their baby's first moments shared with the mother in the delivery room. In fact, ever since Dr. Robert Bradley introduced the concept of husband-coached childbirth in the early 1960s, fathers have been routinely encouraged to be present at their children's births. Yet, now, in what is sure to stir up some fatherly frustration, to say the least, French obstetrician Michel Odent argues that fathers specifically, and men in general, don't have a place in the delivery room.
© Monalyn Gracia/Corbis
For many Americans, overindulging at Thanksgiving is all part of the tradition. According to studies on the subject, the average American gains about a pound each holiday season. (That may not seem like much, but researchers say that those holiday pounds have a tendency to stick around: 10 years later, you're 10 pounds heavier.) For people who are already overweight, the holidays can be even more trying—one study showed that average weight gain among heavier people was twice that of their thinner peers, meaning the addition of two pounds each holiday season. So, how can you avoid putting on the holiday weight in the first place? TIME spoke with Dr. Michelle May, author of the recent book Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat: How to Break Your Eat-Repent-Repeat Cycle, who suggests it's not simply a matter of mind over mashed potatoes.
Photograph courtesy Newcastle University
A centuries-old folk remedy for aches and pains just earned a nod of recognition from modern medicine: researchers from the U.K.'s Newcastle University determined that Hypnis crenata, or Brazilian mint, is an effective pain reliever. Researchers first traveled to Brazil to observe traditional preparation of the remedy to determine appropriate dosage. Back in the lab, they recreated the preparation and tested the analgesic effects in mice. They found that, when prepared as a tea, the Brazilian mint proved equally effective as the commercially available medication Indometacin, which is predominately used as an anti-inflammatory and analgesic.
Ever wonder how that little plastic pop-up timer knows when the turkey is done? Or why potatoes are the preferred starch of Thanksgiving? In this illuminating video, shot in a lecture hall at Catholic University of America, chemistry professor Diane Bunce sets out to answer those questions. Incorporating a power point presentation and audience participation (which involves munching on paper towels at a certain point), Bunce, who is also the associate editor for chemical education research for the American Chemical Society's Journal of Chemical Education, reveals some of the underlying science of our favorite feast. And after seeing this video, you'll have to agree with her assessment of the pop-up timer: "Quite simple, quite elegant."
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