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Percent more advanced precancers detected by DNA tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) than by Pap smear. In a study of more than 40,000 women, fewer than 2% were found to have advanced cervical lesions, which can lead to cervical cancer. Among those who were diagnosed with the most advanced lesions, 92% had received positive HPV tests — which tested for HPV strains 16 and 18, the strains that cause 70% of cervical cancer — while 53% were identified using Pap smears. [via MedPage Today]
The same anesthetic that caused the overdose death of pop star Michael Jackson is now the drug of choice for executions in Missouri, causing a stir among critics who question how the state can guarantee a drug untested for lethal injection won’t cause pain and suffering for the condemned.
A new study finds that babies born by c-section are twice as likely to be obese by age 3 as those delivered vaginally.
Tuberculosis has been brought under control in much of the world, thanks to prevention practices and powerful antibiotics. But in poor nations like Peru, the disease still kills hundreds of babies and children — and new drug-resistant cases threaten an even bigger resurgence.
