News Brief
The Associated Press
“Science is getting a grip on people’s fears. As Americans revel in all things scary on Halloween, scientists say they now know better what’s going on inside our brains when a spook jumps out and scares us. Knowing how fear rules the brain should lead to treatments for a major medical […]

News Brief
BBC
“Even those who are not overweight should slim down if they want to cut their risk of cancer, a major international study has claimed,” says a BBC story.
“The World Cancer Research Fund carried out the largest ever inquiry into lifestyle and cancer, and issued several stark recommendations.
“They include not gaining weight as […]

News Brief
Read here the Mayo Clinic advice about how to prevent MRSA infections.
Update: 7:08 PM
BBC brings you the latest comment from the researcher, Stephanie J. Dancer, M.D., about her research on MRSAs and hospitals. She identifies the biggest cleaning challenges for hospitals trying to reduce the spread of MRSAs.
MedpageToday, an online, peer-reviewed website from the […]

By Cheree Cleghorn, Editor
The New York Times Science Section (October 30, 2007) reports on a major study which concludes that emotions do not play a role in cancer survival.
The study was published in the online edition of the journal, Cancer. There were 1,000 participants, men and women, whose cancer had not spread.
The mind-body connection is […]

News Brief
The Washington Post Health Section (October 30, 2007) reports, “Now science is finding that our manhandling of light and time is making us sick,” writes Rick Weiss.
Weiss’ story discusses light and its relationship to illnesses, although the focus of the story is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).
Those who suffer from SAD experience depression during the […]

Resource
By the time a patient, or those closest to the patient, enter the world of hospice care, they usually have learned a lot about medicine.
Hospice is defined as end-of-life care for patients whose physicians estimate that they have no more than six months to live.
Pallimed is a blog by hospice doctors with solid credentials, discussing […]

News Brief
Physicians’ First Watch, (link not available without registration) alerts physicians to misleading conclusions about the potential for using anti-hypertensive (high blood pressure) medications to prevent Alzheimer’s disease in recent news reports.
The study used only mice.
Despite much media attention, any conclusions about this are premature, writes David G. Fairchild, M.D., M.P.H., Editor-in-Chief.

News Brief
The AMA News reports a surge in medical school applications, a welcome one, and the students’ test scores are at an all-time high.
“The growth is exactly what the AAMC hoped for in 2005 when it asked schools to ramp up class size 30% by 2015 to avert a physician shortage. With enrollment increases under way […]

News Brief
The Los Angeles Times reports on how patients benefitted in a trial using meditation to relieve their pain. Pain patients can use any tool available which works well. Meditation is an ancient practice, and done correctly, has only positive benefits. No side effects!
“Increasingly, doctors across the country are recommending meditation to treat pain, and some of the […]

News Brief 
The American Psychological Association (APA) reports that one in three Americans report stress levels which are higher than in prior years and nearly half (48%) feel that their stress has increased over the past five years.
A Harris Interactive survey, commissioned by the APA, found:
“One-third of Americans are living with extreme stress and nearly half […]