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Caucasians Are At Higher Risk Of Developing Ewing's Sarcoma Than Other Races
The largest analysis of its kind has found that Caucasians are much more likely than people in other racial/ethnic groups to develop a rare bone and soft tissue cancer called Ewing"s sarcoma. In addition, among Caucasians with this cancer, men are more likely to die than women. Published in the August 1, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the study indicates that examining the gender and racial differences related to Ewing"s sarcoma could provide a better understanding of the disease and could lead to improved treatments for patients.
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Arizona, North Carolina Legislatures Take Action On Abortion, Sex Education Measures
The following summarizes news coverage on women"s health-related legislation in Arizona and North Carolina. ~ Arizona: The Arizona Senate Public Safety and Human Services Committee on Wednesday voted 4-3 to approve a bill (S.B. 1206) that would place several restrictions on abortion rights and allow pharmacists or other health care providers to refuse to distribute emergency contraception based on religious or moral objections, the AP/Arizona Daily Star reports. The state House passed an identical bill in March. The measure would impose a 24-hour waiting period for women seeking abortion procedures and mandate that doctors inform women about risks and alternatives. It also would toughen an exisiting parental consent requirement for minors seeking abortion. The bill requires an in-person consultation before the 24-hour waiting period, which would increase costs for women who are forced to travel to a clinic twice, according to Planned Parenthood of Arizona President Bryan Howard. The Legislature approved bills with similar restrictions in recent years, but the measures were vetoed by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano (D). Current Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has said she supports mandatory disclosures and a 24-hour waiting period (Billeaud, AP/Arizona Daily Star, 6/10).~ North Carolina: The North Carolina Senate Mental Health and Youth Services Committee this week approved a bill (S. 221) that would require all public school systems to offer information on the use of contraceptives to students in grades seven through nine, the AP/Raleigh News & Observer reports. The information would be presented as part of a larger reproductive health education program that would maintain the abstinence-only education curricula currently taught at nearly all of the state"s 115 school districts. Parents would be permitted to prevent children from participating in the classes with contraceptive information. The measure is a revised version of state House-approved legislation (H.B. 88) that would have required schools to teach two separate abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education tracks. If the full state Senate passes the new bill, the two chambers will meet to negotiate a compromise (Robertson, AP/Raleigh News & Observer, 6/11).
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Time To Fill The Gaps In NHS Dentistry
Which? is challenging the belief that it"s impossible to get an appointment with an NHS dentist as its new research shows that nine out of 10 people* who have tried in the last two years were, in fact, able to get one.
Diagnostics

Regardless Of Family History, HRT-Breast Cancer Risk Stays Same

The risk of developing breast cancer due to taking hormone replacement therapy appears to be the same for women with a family history of the disease and without a family history, a University of Rochester Medical Center study concluded. The study, published online this week in the journal Epidemiology, adds to the evolving picture of what factors, either alone or in combination, boost breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women. It also refutes the notion, held by many in the medical community, that a familial predisposition to breast cancer enhances the carcinogenic effects of estrogen. "Although we know that family history is a risk factor, we don"t know yet what it is about family history that conveys the risk," said Robert E. Gramling, M.D., D.Sc., assistant professor of Family Medicine and of Community and Preventive Medicine at URMC. "Some have proposed that it might be an increased sensitivity to estrogen, but our data did not support that notion. In fact, this study suggests the causal pathway based on family history is probably not estrogen sensitivity." Researchers analyzed data from the Women"s Health Initiative randomized trial, which followed 16,608 postmenopausal women, ages 50 to 79, who took hormone replacement therapy (HRT) or a placebo pill between 1993 and 2002. Among the participants, 349 cases of invasive breast cancer occurred during a mean follow-up period of 5.6 years. Gramling divided the data into subgroups and studied the direct interaction between the contributions that the two risk factors (HRT and family history) had on breast cancer risk among postmenopausal women. The results showed only a negligible degree of interaction, suggesting that HRT conveys no greater breast cancer risk to women with, versus without, a first-degree family history of breast cancer (i.e. breast cancer in a mother, sister or daughter). The study does have limitations, the authors noted. First, the women had a short period of exposure to hormone treatment and a short follow-up period. It is possible that longer exposure to HRT would have generated different results, the study said. Also, researchers asked women about family history of breast cancer only at the start of the WHI study. Finally, the majority of women who enrolled in the WHI trial represented a more educated and somewhat healthier population, and it is unknown how this might have influenced any interaction between hormone therapy and family history. The WHI study gained notoriety when it was stopped abruptly in 2002, after data safety monitoring experts found hormonal therapy did not provide many of the benefits doctors and patients expected, and also carried some unforeseen risks. Since then, many postmenopausal women have been wary of using HRT. Scientists have continued to study the data for nuances that will lead to a more complete picture. Gramling believes his research adds a new dimension to the large body of information now available on HRT and breast cancer. "The decision to use hormonal therapy, even for a short period of time, is very difficult for many women," Gramling said. "We hope our data will provide postmenopausal women and their physicians more evidence to consider when weighing the risks versus benefits." The study was conducted using publicly available data from the WHI trial, which was supported by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. Leslie Orr University of Rochester Medical Center


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