Researchers with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have found that the prevalence of tamoxifen use for the prevention of breast cancer among women without a personal history of breast cancer is very low.
Tamoxifen can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in women who are at increased risk for developing the disease. Details of this survey are published in the February issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/aafc-fwt020110.php
Source:EurekAlert

Mice shed new light on causes of childhood deafness is presented in the Research Article entitled 'Deficient forward transduction and enhanced reverse transduction in the alpha tectorin C1509G human hearing loss mutation.' The study is published in the XXXXX issue of the research journal, Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), <http://dmm.biologists.org/>, published by The Company of Biologists, a non-profit organisation based in Cambridge, UK.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/tcob-msn020110.php
Source:EurekAlert

In a new study published in Disease Models & Mechanisms (DMM), <http://dmm.biologists.org/>, scientists report a new genetic tool that can specifically alter gene expression in the endometrium. They use this approach to remove a signaling protein gene only in endometrial cells to determine its influence on endometrial cancer formation. They found that the genetic change induced a very rapidly progressing cancer in all mice that carried the mutation. The gene they deleted, called Lkb1, is mutated in many other types of human cancers, and it regulates pathways that are known to contribute to the formation of aggressive cancer cells.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/tcob-aps020110.php
Source:EurekAlert

A new study suggests that beer is a significant source of dietary silicon, a key ingredient for increasing bone mineral density. Researchers from the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, Davis studied commercial beer production to determine the relationship between beer production methods and the resulting silicon content, concluding that beer is a rich source of dietary silicon. Details of this study are available in the February issue of the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Society of Chemical Industry.
Silicon is present in beer in the soluble form of orthosilicic acid (OSA), which yields 50% bioavailability, making beer a major contributor to silicon intake in the Western diet. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), dietary silicon (Si), as soluble OSA, may be important for the growth and development of bone and connective tissue, and beer appears to be a major contributor to Si intake. Based on these findings, some studies suggest moderate beer consumption may help fight osteoporosis, a disease of the skeletal system characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/w-rrl020310.php
Source:EurekAlert

Consuming two or more soft drinks per week increased the risk of developing pancreatic cancer by nearly twofold compared to individuals who did not consume soft drinks, according to a report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/aafc-sdc020310.php
Source:EurekAlert

The benefits of marijuana in tempering or reversing the effects of Alzheimer's disease have been challenged in a new study.
Over a period of several weeks, some of the Alzheimer's-afflicted mice were given varying doses of HU210 – also known as cannabinoids – which is 100 to 800 times more potent than the marijuana compounds. Their memory was then tested.
The mice treated with HU210 did no better than untreated mice, with those given low doses of HU210 performing the worst. The researchers also found that HU210-treated mice had just as much plaque formation and the same density of neurons as the control group. The group given higher doses actually had fewer brain cells.
The findings, published in the current issue of the journal Current Alzheimer Research, could lower expectations about the benefits of medical marijuana in combating various cognitive diseases and help redirect future research to more promising therapeutics.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/uobc-mia020410.php
Source:EurekAlert

Oestrogen-only hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may increase the risk of developing asthma after the menopause, suggests a large scale study published ahead of print in the journal Thorax.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/bmj-ohm020510.php
Source:EurekAlert

Women with gout are at greater risk of a heart attack than men with the disease, indicates research published ahead of print in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/bmj-wwg020510.php
Source:EurekAlert

Although children can be depressed for many reasons, new evidence suggests that there are physiological differences among depressed children based on their experiences of abuse before age 5. Early abuse may be especially damaging due to the very young age at which it occurs.
The study appears in the January/February 2010 issue of the journal Child Development.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/sfri-eat012910.php
Source:EurekAlert

High-coverage human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations among adolescents and young women may result in a rapid reduction of genital warts, cervical cell abnormalities, and diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, researchers report in a new study published online February 5 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Some of these genital abnormalities are precursors of cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancers.
Link:http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-02/jotn-nbh020310.php
Source:EurekAlert