Better to hope for the breast
Does early detection of breast cancer really save lives? New research published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine questions whether finding cancer early is better. The study involved 39,888 women with invasive breast cancer in Norway - 7,793 of whom were diagnosed after a country-wide mammography screening programme was rolled out. The researchers found that an estimated 15 per cent to 25 per cent of cases of breast cancer detected represented over-diagnosis - in other words, detection that would not go on to cause symptoms or death. The authors noted the unrecognised harm of over-diagnosis. The anxiety of false-positive results eventually goes away, but women who are diagnosed with cancer that otherwise would not have progressed are forever altered by that diagnosis. The authors recommend watch-and-wait strategies with non-invasive, early-state tumours, but recognise that this approach may be difficult for women to support. Until better screening tools are developed, they say women should be educated that some cancers detected by mammography represent over-diagnosis.
Living on borrowed grime
You could be adding up to 37 million bacteria to the air in a single room every hour, say Yale University researchers. The good news is that this is largely due to the stirring up of material on the floor that's mainly been left behind by previous occupants. And less than 0.1 per cent of the micro-organisms commonly found indoors are infectious. That said, that's a lot of dirt, shows the study, recently published in the journal Indoor Air. The researchers measured and analysed biological particles in a single ground-floor university classroom over a period of eight days - both when occupied and vacant. At all times the windows and doors were kept closed. Human occupancy was linked with 'substantially increased airborne concentrations' of bacteria and fungi, and especially large spikes for larger-sized fungal and bacterial particles - meaning they're more likely to linger and recirculate.
Wonders never crease
The secret to a longer life could lie in a drug called rapamycin, shown to extend lifespan in lab animals. The catch? The drug, used for immunosuppression in organ transplantations, has also been linked to impaired glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity, hallmarks of diabetes. But there is hope. Researchers at Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research and the University of Pennsylvania have teased apart the drug's activity at the cellular level to gain an understanding of its anti-ageing effects. This means there may be a chance of developing a longevity drug without the adverse effects associated with rapamycin. Rapamycin works by mimicking the age-defying effects of calorie restriction. So, while we wait for the drug, perhaps we could all simply eat less.