Chewable Aspirin Best For Sudden Heart Attack

Think you’re having a heart attack? Best to reach for a chewable aspirin tablet, researchers say. Chewable aspirin tablets are more quickly and more completely absorbed compared to solid aspirin tablets swallowed whole or chewed, according to a study reported at the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine annual meeting in New Orleans. Chewable aspirin may therefore be best for sudden heart attack, the study team concludes.

Quick Pep Talks Help With Weight Maintenance
Checking in with a nurse every couple of weeks
is just as effective for helping people maintain
weight loss as an intensive and much more
expensive program involving longer sessions
with dieticians and exercise trainers, New
Zealand researchers report. Dr. Jim Mann of the
Edgar National Center for Diabetes Research in
Dunedin and colleagues randomly assigned 200
women who had lost at least 5% of their body
weight to the nurse-led support group or an
intensive-support program.
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Radio Waves Kill Potential Cancer Cells
In a study that could dramatically reduce the
need for surgery to prevent esophageal cancer,
doctors reported last month that they can
signifi cantly cut the risk of a tumor by using
radio waves to scorch suspicious-looking
cells. Barrett’s esophagus, in which repeated
bouts of acid refl ux have caused the cells
just above the entrance to the stomach to
become abnormal, is found in one of every 62
Americans, although most do not have precancerous
cells.

Hospitals Brace for Shortage
Makers of medical isotopes used in
scores of diagnostic imaging tests are
scrambling to fi nd new suppliers after
Canadian health offi cials temporarily
closed a nuclear reactor last month that
produces a third of the world’s supply.
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd shut
down its 50-year-old reactor at Chalk
River, Ontario, after a small leak of
heavy water, used as part of the nuclear
reaction.

New Institute Will Study Rare Diseases
A unique new institute will look for ways
to treat rare and neglected diseases and
take the fi rst and riskiest steps toward
bringing new drugs to market, health
offi cials said last month. Congress has
provided $24 million a year for fi ve years
to start the Therapeutics for Rare and
Neglected Diseases Program, or TRND
at the National Institutes of Health, acting
NIH director Dr. Raynard Kington told
reporters in a telephone briefing.

Meat Intake Not Linked to Breast Cancer
A large study has found no link between
eating meat — total meat, red meat,
processed meat, or meat cooked at high
temperatures — and the risk of breast
cancer in older women. Some studies
have found that women who eat a lot of
red and processed meat are more likely to
develop breast cancer than other women;
but other studies have found no such
link. Saturated fat, found mainly in animal
products, has been tied to higher breast
cancer risk in some studies, but not in
others.

Down’s syndrome reveals
one key to fighting cancer
People with Down’s syndrome rarely get
most kinds of cancer and researchers
have nailed down one reason why — they
have extra copies of a gene that helps
keep tumors from feeding themselves.
The fi ndings could lead to new treatments
for cancer, and further study of Down’s
patients might reveal more ways to fight
tumors, researchers said.