Breast Cancer Archive

Ounce for ounce, bone bears as much weight as reinforced concrete. However, unlike reinforced concrete, bone is a living tissue. It serves as a repository of minerals for the rest of the body to use, continuously lending them out and replacing them. Bone also gets stronger when "stressed" by physical activity, and can repair itself when injured.

The building and tearing down of bone tissue is called remodeling. This process happens continuously throughout your entire life. At first, your body rebuilds more bone than it demolishes. Typically, a person reaches peak bone mass around the age of 30. Among women, bone mass usually remains steady for the next 20 years or so until the onset of menopause, when bone is lost much more quickly than it is replaced. When bone loss is significant, the result is osteoporosis (which means "porous bone"). Bone loss generally starts later for men — typically in the late 50s — and progresses more slowly than in women. But men can also get osteoporosis.

Think you know a lot about skin and skin care? You might be surprised at how much "common knowledge" about keeping your skin clear and healthy is simply not true.

Here, we debunk 10 common myths about skin.

1. The right skin cream can keep your skin looking young.

Since 1990, the maternal mortality rate in the United States, while still relatively low, has risen by 50%. Meanwhile, many other women experience pregnancy-related conditions that cause serious injury, and thousands more struggle with illnesses and a lack of support.

Research we're watching

A test that screens for human papillomavirus (HPV) beat a commonly used cervical cancer screening method in detecting changes that may lead to cervical cancer, according to a study published July 3 in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Some 19,000 women were screened for cervical cancer using either the HPV test or a more traditional and commonly used liquid-based cytology test. After 48 months, all the women were tested again using both tests. Researchers found that among women who'd had a normal initial screening, those who'd been screened with the HPV test had significantly fewer grade 3 or worse precancerous cervical changes at the final testing compared with those screened with liquid-based cytology.

In response, the U.S Preventive Services Task Force now recommends either HPV testing only once every five years or liquid-based cytology once every three years for women ages 30 to 65.

On call

Q. I was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Does the occurrence of one type of cancer indicate a greater risk of developing other kinds?

A. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men, and almost every man will get prostate cancer if he lives long enough. In general, prostate cancer that develops after age 60 probably does not increase the risk of getting a different kind of cancer. However, there are some exceptions.

According to a new guideline, testing should start at age 45, but not everyone needs to have a colonoscopy. Other tests are also available.

Colon cancer screenings for people at average risk for the disease should start at age 45 instead of 50, says a new guideline from the American Cancer Society (ACS).

The change to the screening recommendation, which was published in the May 30 issue of CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, was made because the number of colon cancer cases among adults under age 55 rose 51% from 1994 to 2014, and colon cancer deaths in this age group rose 11% from 2005 to 2015.

Women are at higher risk for heart attacks that don't involve blocked arteries — and they should receive the same follow-up treatment as conventional heart attack patients.

 Image: © Tharakorn/Getty Images

For years, people who suffered heart attacks but didn't have major blockages in their arteries — a condition called myocardial infarction with nonobstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) — were thought to have a less serious form of heart disease. As a result, doctors often opted against aggressive follow-up treatments. But a study published June 15 in the International Journal of Cardiology contributes to the growing body of evidence that MINOCAs merit follow-up treatment.

The study, which looked at data from an online Swedish cardiac registry, found that a quarter of people who were diagnosed with MINOCAs went on to have another major cardiovascular event, such as another heart attack, a stroke, or heart failure. Of the original group of 9,092 people who were diagnosed with MINOCAs (62% of them women), some 2,147 went on to have another cardiovascular event during a follow-up period averaging about 4.5 years.