Today's Globe: hand gel not enough, breast-cancer personality debunked

Doctors and nurses on the go often skip soap and water in favor of an alcohol-based hand gel (as nurse Kari Rush, left, does at University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha), thinking the quick-acting goo will kill bacteria on their hands and curb the spread of infection. That's not enough, according to a study. In the Nebraska hospital, medical workers nearly doubled their use of the alcohol-based hand gel, but their generally cleaner hands had no bearing on the rate of infections among patients.

The idea that a woman's personality traits can make her more prone to get breast cancer appears to be nothing more than a myth, according to a Dutch study that tested the notion.