http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. The number of young children contracting the most common strains of potentially fatal pneumococcal disease has plummeted 97% since the universal vaccination against this bacterial disease began in 2005, with unvaccinated adults also reaping the benefits of widespread immunisation of infants. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-pneumococcal-plunge-widespread-vaccination-infants.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 27 May 2013 11:30:01 EST news288872137 Professor Michael Jennings, Deputy Director of the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University, was part of an international team that discovered the previously unknown pathway of how the bacterium colonizes people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-discovery-deadly-meningococcal-disease.html Medical research Thu, 23 May 2013 09:41:47 EST news288520878 (HealthDay)—Low-risk bladder cancer rarely progresses to muscle invasion but is associated with an increased risk of disease-specific mortality compared with matched populations, according to research published in the March issue of The Journal of Urology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-low-risk-bladder-cancer-rarely-muscle.html Cancer Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:10:01 EST news281792954 While most infection control measures are focused on hospitals, a new study points to the need for more targeted interventions to prevent the spread of drug-resistant bugs in nursing homes as community-associated strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are on the rise in these facilities. The study is published in the March issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-high-prevalence-drug-resistant-mrsa-nursing.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:27:30 EST news279811635 The combined loss of two tumor suppressor genes, retinoblastoma (RB) and phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) was shown to be strongly associated with progression of DCIS to invasive breast cancer, according to a study published November 28 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-combined-rb-pten-loss-dcis.html Cancer Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:33:15 EST news273342786 Prevalence of a particularly dangerous form of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) jumped three-fold in just two years, in hospitals in the United Kingdom, according to a paper in the October 2012 Journal of Clinical Microbiology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-dangerous-mrsa-endemic-hospitals-uk.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:40:02 EST news270203384 Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) is considered a precursor lesion for invasive breast cancer if untreated, and is found in approximately 45% of patients with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). Patients with DCIS only (not accompanied by invasive disease) have a 5-year-survival of nearly 100%, compared to 89% for all stages of invasive breast cancer (24% for patients with distant metastasis). A new study has found that despite an enormous degree of intercellular heterogeneity in both DCIS and IDC, the evolution from noninvasive to invasive disease is determined by recurrent patterns of genomic imbalances in most cases. This study is published online in advance of the November issue of The American Journal of Pathology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-invasiveness-ductal-breast-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 16 Oct 2012 13:46:54 EST news269614006 Hospitals can dramatically reduce the number of life-threatening central line infections in pediatric cancer patients by following a set of basic precautions, by encouraging families to speak up when they observe noncompliance with the protocol and by honest analysis of the root cause behind every single infection, according to a new Johns Hopkins Children's Center study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-triple-threat-approach-life-threatening-central-line.html Pediatrics Mon, 03 Sep 2012 03:35:02 EST news265862092 One in five women with breast cancer who opt for breast conserving surgery rather than a mastectomy have a reoperation, according to a national study published in the British Medical Journal today. This information on the risk of reoperation should help women in making the decision about whether to undergo breast conserving surgery or mastectomy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-women-breast-cancer-reoperation-surgery.html Cancer Thu, 12 Jul 2012 18:30:01 EST news261309000 A study investigating epidemiology of Streptococcus B infection worldwide has shown that the highest levels of infection are found in Africa, followed by the Americas and Europe. The study shows the use of prophylactic antibiotics in mothers at risk of Streptococcus B substantially reduces infection rates in newborns, and that such intervention, widely applied in high-income countries, should also be used in the developing world, at least until vaccines become available. Encouragingly, and unlike some other pathogens, the distribution of strains of Streptococcus B appears similar worldwide, and therefore vaccines in development could have near-universal applicability once licensed. The study is by Dr Karen Edmond, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, and colleagues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-antibiotic-prophylaxis-vital-weapon-streptococcus.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:30:02 EST news244915586 Women in their 40s with no family history of breast cancer are just as likely to develop invasive breast cancer as are women with a family history of the disease, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). These findings indicate that women in this age group would benefit from annual screening mammography. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-mammography-screening.html Cancer Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:47:19 EST news241753625 Vaccination against Haemophilus influenzae type b, or Hib, once the most common cause of bacterial meningitis in children, has dramatically reduced the incidence of Hib disease in young children over the past 20 years, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online. However, other strains of the bacteria continue to cause substantial disease among the nation's youngest and oldest age groups. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-shifting-disease-burden-universal-hib.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:55:14 EST news240238494 A Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of young people with melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, has found that some children have a higher risk of invasive disease than adults. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-invasive-melanoma-children-adults.html Cancer Wed, 05 Oct 2011 16:17:56 EST news237050263