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Health Highlights: June 25, 2008
Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay: Cuban Scientists Develop Lung Cancer Vaccine A vaccine to fight lung cancer was unveiled Tuesday by Cuban scientists, who said the vaccine extends the lives of patients by up to five months, improves their breathing and decreases their pain. The vaccine, the first of its kind in the world, is based on two proteins and triggers an immune response against lung cancer, Agence France Presse reported. Advanced tests of the vaccine are currently under way at 18 Cuban hospitals and other tests were conducted in Canada and Great Britain. Further tests are scheduled or under way in a number of countries, including China, India, Malaysia, Peru and Singapore. The vaccine is available in Cuba and will be commercialized in Latin America, AFP reported. ----- Breast Cancer Gene Linked to Deadly Prostate Cancer A gene that greatly increases a woman's risk of breast cancer also causes a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer, say Canadian researchers who studied 301 prostate cancer patients. On average, those with the defective BRCA2 gene lived an average of four years after diagnosis. The average survival time for prostate cancer patients is 12 years. The University of Toronto study, published in the British Journal of Cancer , appears to confirm previous findings that BRCA2 is associated with highly dangerous prostate cancer, BBC News reported. An Icelandic study found that prostate cancer patients with the gene lived an average of 2.1 years. The defective BRCA2 gene is found in about one in 500 men, and men with the gene can be five times more likely to develop prostate cancer than men in the general population. "Although only a very small percentage of men with prostate cancer will carry a faulty BRCA2 gene, they're much more likely to die from the disease," Dr. Lesley Walker, of the charity Cancer Research UK, told BBC News . "It is important that more research is done in this area to ensure that this group is targeted effectively so cancer is picked up at an early stage and, more importantly, that they are given the most appropriate treatment." ----- Unsafe Sexual Behavior a Problem in NYC Unsafe sexual behavior continues to be a problem in New York City, says a health department report that found 11 percent of residents (about 610,000 adults) reported having more than one sex partner in the past year. Men were much more likely than women to report multiple partners (17 percent vs. 6 percent), and young adults were four times more likely than older adults to report multiple partners, United Press International reported. People with same-sex partners were three times more likely than those with opposite-sex partners to report more than one partner in the past year. Overall, 60 percent of those with multiple partners said they used a condom the last time they had sex. But that figure was only 43 percent among those in committed relationships who had sex with other partners in the past year. In 2006, more than half of all pregnancies in New York City were unplanned and more than 60,000 new sexually transmitted infections were reported, including 3,745 people newly-diagnosed with HIV, UPI reported. ----- U.S. House Votes to Stop Medicare Cut for Physicians With less than a week to go before a 10.6 percent cut takes effect in the amount Medicare reimburses participating doctors, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Tuesday to reverse the cut, the Associated Press reported. Despite a threatened veto from President Bush, the bill passed 355-59. While the measure has the support of doctors, hospitals, and pharmacists, insurers oppose it. Under the legislation, the funding shortfall would be made up by cutting payments to private health insurers, the wire service said. About 600,000 U.S. doctors care for Medicare participants. Payments had been set to drop by 10.6 percent on July 1, the result of a formula that triggers cuts after spending exceeds certain budgetary limits. Under the bill passed Tuesday, payments to private insurers would be cut by almost $14 billion over five years. Without its passage, many in Congress feared that medical care for seniors and the disabled on Medicare would be compromised as a growing number of doctors refused to see them, the AP reported. ----- Some Premature Babies Don't Show Obvious Pain Response Even if they do have pain while undergoing medical procedures, some premature babies may not show any obvious signs of discomfort, according to a study by researchers at University College London, U.K. The scientists observed the brain activity of 12 babies while they had heel prick tests. Most of the babies displayed both brain and physical responses. However, some of the babies had a brain response to the pain but no obvious physical response, BBC News reported. "Although the study is small, it does raise concerns about the tools normally used by doctors to establish whether a baby is feeling pain," lead researcher Dr. Rebeccah Slater said in a prepared statement. "Infants may appear to be pain free, but may, according to brain activity measurements, still be experiencing pain." The study appears in the journal Public Library of Science . There's debate about premature babies' ability to feel pain and how much painkiller is needed to make them comfortable, BBC News reported. ----- Poor Children More Likely to Develop Diabetes as Adults People who grow up in low-income households are more likely to develop diabetes than those who grow up in better-off homes, according to a study of adults, ages 17 to 94, in Alameda County, Calif. from 1965 through 1999. Of the 5,913 participants, 307 developed type 2 diabetes. Of those who developed the disease, almost 65 percent lived in poor households during childhood, United Press International reported. The findings appear in the American Journal of Public Health . "Our study, among others, shows a strong, persistent effect of childhood socioeconomic position on the development of diabetes in adulthood, even after taking later-life socioeconomic position into account," lead author Siobhan Maty of the Portland State University School of Community Health in Oregon, said in a prepared statement, UPI reported.
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