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Today's health and science: osteoarthritis, migraines and breast cancer, patient safety, hand-washing, childhood cancer and marriage; anti-aging drugs, vegetarian spider, gem stones

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney October 19, 2009 07:00 AM

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In G Health:

As our population gets older, fatter, and more likely to suffer from past joint injuries, osteoarthritis is increasing. So are efforts to treat it.

Is there a link between migraines and breast cancer?

“I did everything I could have done and it didn’t work out,’’ says Sorrel King, author of “Josie’s Story,’’ about the death of her daughter in 2001 at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Hand-washing with soap is recognized as the most cost-effective way to limit the spread of diseases from stomach bugs to swine flu, so British researchers wanted to know what sorts of public health messages would be most effective in encouraging the practice. Turns out, shame is a strong motivator.

Childhood cancer survivors are less likely to marry than their peers, particularly if they had radiation for brain tumors (second item).

In Science & Innovation:

Dramatic advances in the understanding of what causes cells to live and die are making such scientists as MIT biology professor Leonard Guarente look less like New Age alchemists than the founders of a field of medical research.

For years, scientists were confident the world’s 40,000 spider species shared a common trait: All were meat-eaters. Now, Brandeis University senior lecturer Eric Olson and Villanova University researcher Christopher Meehan have found a vegetarian spider.

How can you tell a diamond from glass?

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About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

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