Colorectal Cancer Test: Colonoscopy or Fecal Blood Test?

Colorectal cancer screening: patients given a choice more likely to comply. A killer next only to lung cancer, colorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed in men and the second most diagnosed in women worldwide — with over 1.2 million new cases and 700,000 deaths estimated to occur yearly.

But it’s curable when detected early, and the two main screening methods — fecal occult blood test and colonoscopy — can detect the earliest signs. The problem is, too many of the people who have a high risk for the cancer are skipping the tests because of “squeamishness” and lack of awareness.

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STDs Remain a Challenge for High School Kids

STD, pregnancy prevention and sex ed stalls in U.S. schools — CDC. April is the cruelest month, indeed. That is, in terms of sex education. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has tagged April as Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) Awareness month in a bid to call attention to the impact of STDs and to promote STD testing across the country.

But on this month, a CDC study found that U.S. middle and high schools have not made significant advances in sex education in the last five years — despite the fact that teenagers and young adults are the very people who are particularly vulnerable to STDs.

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Are Pain Medications Good for Heart Attack Patients?

Pain meds hinder heart attack recovery, British scientists say. Heart attack patients are routinely given morphine to ease the stabbing pain in the chest, which can be severe. But a new study from British researchers finds that giving pain medication to heart attack patients actually gets in the way of their recovery.

It turns out that the pain works as a signal to stem cells to begin repair on damaged heart cells, the scientists say in their new report, published in April issue of the American Heart Association’s journal, Circulation. And when morphine is used to relieve pain, it blocks the healing work of stem cells — slashing the chances of survival for heart attack victims.

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How to Prevent Breast Cancer Recurrence? Cruciferous Vegetables!

Eating cruciferous vegetables lowers death risk from breast cancer and recurrence, study shows. Higher consumption of cruciferous vegetables — broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale and cabbage — reduced breast cancer death rates, a large Chinese study found, suggesting that women diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to survive if they ate more of these vegetables.

Researchers from the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted for other factors that might influence women’s outcomes — including demographics, exercise, clinical characteristics and additional dietary behaviors. They still found that women who ate cruciferous vegetables during the first 36 months after they were diagnosed with breast cancer gained a reduced risk for death — either from breast cancer or from other causes. They also had a reduced risk for cancer recurrence.

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Global Warming, Ticks, and Lyme Disease

Global Warming, Ticks, and Lyme Disease. Is climate change causing an infestation of ticks? Yes, scientists say. So if you’re thinking of hunting, trekking, hiking, camping or going on some other outdoor activity this summer, take extra precautions. The United States Centers for Disease Control warns that the tick population is expected to pose a far greater threat of Lyme disease transmission this spring.

Researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York also warn that people heading into the woods this spring in the Northeastern states will be at higher risk than usual of coming down with Lyme disease as insect populations are expected to swell after the warm, mild winter.

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Obese Mothers More Likely to Have Children With Autism?

A new provocative study shows that compared to healthy-weight mothers, obese women are 67 percent more likely to have a child with autism. They were also about twice as likely to have a child with another developmental disorder.

Can autism be preventable? Scientists say, yes. And autism research points to early diagnosis and intervention — as early as when the child is eight months old — as the best way to stop this disabling brain disorder in its tracks.

But really being able to prevent autism requires a complete understanding of its causes — and scientists are still putting together that picture, despite intensive research for many decades.

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