Tailored breast cancer care urged for black women
African-American breast cancer patients may be harder hit by the disease than whites due to the type of tumors they tend to develop, rather than socioeconomic factors alone, a new study suggests.
Based on the findings, more efforts must be made to tailor treatments to the more-aggressive tumor types that frequently occur in black women, Dr. Wendy A. Woodward told Reuters Health.
Too much fish risky for foetuses
Pregnant women who eat fish more than three times a week could be putting their baby at risk because of higher mercury levels in their blood, according to a study by Taiwanese researchers.
Mercury exposure is especially risky for foetuses when their internal organs are developing, and can result in neuronal, kidney and brain damage, and stunt growth.
Expectant Chinese mothers tend to eat more fish as they believe it is healthier than red or white meat.
Older women with bad vision at greater death risk
Older women with poor eyesight have a greater likelihood of dying over a given period than similar women with better vision, a new study shows.
Vision loss occurs with aging, and is known to increase the risk of falls and fractures, Kathryn L. Pedula of Kaiser Permanente Northwest in Portland, Oregon and colleagues note in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Risk of Acute Pancreatitis Low with Statins
New research reveals that while cholesterol-lowering drugs do increase the risk of painful inflammation of the pancreas, the side effect is relatively rare, according to Sonal Singh, M.D., from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and colleagues.
“Acute pancreatitis is a fairly common condition and cholesterol-lowering drugs have been implicated in some cases,” said Singh. “Since millions of people around the world take these drugs, our aim was to quantify the risk.”
