Popular Articles

Four New Targets For Breast Cancer Identified By Researchers
Four suspects often found at the scene of the crime in cancer are guilty of the initiation and progression of breast cancer in mice that are resistant to the disease, a team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the June edition of Cancer Cell.

Recent Studies And Surveys
Georgetown Policy Report: Long-Term Care in Health Care Reform: Policy Options to Improve Both - Policy - Long-term care reform belongs in health care reform -- "The well-being and financial security of families depend not only on access to affordable medical services, but also on access to affordable, reliable long-term care - the daily assistance and supports that many individuals need because of serious medical conditions or disabilities." This policy brief presents four policy options that merit serious consideration in the current health care reform discussion. ... The first two options would improve long-term care for people with low incomes and limited financial res. These options would modernize Medicaid in important ways, tailoring services better to individual needs and using res more effectively. The third and fourth options aim to strengthen long-term care protections for the broader population; one with better coordination of medical and long-term care for Medicare enrollees; the other by establishing insurance protection for people of all ages and incomes" (Komisar, Tumlinson, Feder, Burke, 7/16). (Note: KHN"s coverage of aging and long term care issues is supported by a grant from The SCAN Foundation.)
News of the day
Immune Cell Function Can Be Suppressed By Leading Pathogen In Newborns
Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a bacterial pathogen that causes sepsis and meningitis in newborn infants, is able to shut down immune cell function in order to promote its own survival, according to researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Their study, published online July 13 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, offers insight into GBS infection - information that may lead to new medical therapies for invasive infectious diseases that affect nearly 3,500 newborns in the United States each year.
Mental Health

Risk Of Liver Cancer In Women With Hepatitis B Virus Infection Varies With Number Of Pregnancies

Risk for hepatocellular carcinoma, a primary malignancy of the liver, was statistically significantly higher among women with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection than among women without the virus, according to a study published online June 17 in the JNCI. Because hepatocellular carcinoma mostly occurs in men, few women have been included in long-term studies of the association between HBV infection and this carcinoma. In this study, Chien-Jen Chen, Sc.D., of the Genomics Research Center in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues used a nationwide cohort of more than 1.5 million pregnant Taiwanese women tested from 1983 to 2000 to study relationships of HBV infection and parity with hepatocellular risk. The researchers found that risk for hepatocellular carcinoma during follow-up was statistically significantly higher among pregnant women who had chronic, active, or persistent HBV infections (and even in those who had seroclearance for hepatitis B surface antigen during follow-up) than among women who were not carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen at study entry. The more children a woman had, the lower her risk appeared to be. This inverse relationship between parity and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma was statistically significant. "Underlying biological mechanisms responsible for thiṣ€¦merit further investigation," the authors write. Author: Chien-Jen Chen Steve Graff Journal of the National Cancer Institute


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