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New medical research into the treatment for women's cancers will be presented at the 28th annual meeting of the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists, to be held March 22 at the South Pointe Hilton, Phoenix, AZ. Medical and scientific presentations regarding Estrogen Replacement Therapy, BRCA1 Gene Therapy, and Pap and cervical examinations will highlight the meeting. Exciting results will add to the medical knowledge of diagnosing and treating women's cancers.

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The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Laurel, Md., has received a Defense Certificate of Recognition for Acquisition Innovation for its achievements in the Transit Navy Navigation Satellite Program. The award was one of two given out in a community of more than 41,000 eligible organizations.

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It sounds like a James Bond thriller -- tiny chemical structures are parachuted onto a surface for strategic safe-keeping, and then retrieved when duty calls. Purdue University scientists have developed a way to bring chemical structures in for a "soft-landing" on surfaces, providing a new way to modify the outermost layer of materials.

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Some 12,000 dermatologists, exhibitors and guests from 60 countries will meet in San Francisco, March 20-26 for the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.

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A Purdue University professor sugggests that employers should provide their workers with a little more financial support than just a salary. Flora Williams suspects that financial counseling for workers might help companies improve profitability.

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Annals of Internal Medicine 3-1-97 TipSheet 1) Screening for Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis Not Cost-Effective; 2) Specific Medical Benefits Derived from Transdermal Nicotine, Moderate Alcohol Consumption; 3) Exploring Systematic Reviews and Clinical Decisions; 4) Clinical Interventions and End-Of-Life Care; 5) Early Detection of Prostate Cancer

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Northeast Regional Climate Center climatologist finds that long-term temperature runs in the Northeast end when and if an El Niño weather event develops in the Pacific Ocean.

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Topics: *Ask frank questions before receiving minimal-access surgery *Heimlich maneuver can be a lifesaver, but don't use it on babies or coughing adults *Tax time is a good time to become a food accountant: Keep a calorie ledger instead of just saying no *Work with your physician to get the most out of cholesterol-lowering drugs

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Earthquakes in Iran and Pakistan have already pushed the death toll for this year higher than all of 1996, according to Patrick Leahy, Chief Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey.

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The Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) -- a Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) satellite launched last April to gather data for future space- and ground-based missile defense systems -- has tracked two medium-range missiles, known as Low Cost Launch Vehicles (LCLV). Part of the Combined Experiments Program, these LCLV flights were designed to demonstrate the ability of space-based optical sensors, on MSX, to perform key missile defense functions -- acquisition, tracking and discrimination in the mid-course phase of missile flight -- on realistic targets against realistic backgrounds.

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USGS scientists -- some just recently returned from working on the Western floods -- are reporting the highest flows of record in several states, including West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.

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A new process developed at Michigan State University stands ready to revolutionize the flower industry -- as well as provide a boon for medical school teaching, restaurants and an endless array of others by using silicone to open up new possibilities in preservation.

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America would be better off seeking compensation from tobacco companies at the state and local levels rather than at the national level, according to a commentary in this week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 p.m. (CT) Tuesday, March 4, 1997

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A curable, recurrent rapid heart rhythm can produce symptoms similar to those of a "panic attack," causing physicians to misdiagnose the condition especially among women, according to an article in the March 10 issue of the AMA's Archives of Internal Medicine. EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 p.m. (CT) Sunday, March 9, 1997

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Survival rates and quality of life are similar after five years whether a patient undergoes angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery, according to an article in this week's issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 p.m. (CT) Tuesday, March 4, 1997

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Prolonged continuous use of high doses of inhaled steroids may increase the risk of glaucoma or ocular hypertension, according to an article in this week's issue of The Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA). EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE: 3 p.m. (CT) Tuesday, March 4, 1997

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A distinguished group of physicists and historians will gather in London on March 21 for a daylong symposium at the Royal Society on the contributions of Isaac Newton to science. Three centuries after Newton published his Principia, scholars are still learning much about the development of his scientific ideas.

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About 40,000 people in the U.S. have severe reactions that simulate allergic reactions but where no external cause is involved. They show up in emergency rooms and doctors' offices with sneezing, itchy nose, rashes or hives and spasms in the bronchial tubes that make it difficult to breathe and swallow. Without immediate diagnosis and special treatment, many of these patients could die.

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The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) is funding three projects, now underway, to create a closer, ongoing working relationship between medicine and public health. These projects support the efforts of the Medicine/Public Health Initiative, a national consortium working to improve the working relationship between the two disciplines.

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Robert J. Swieringa, professor of accounting at Yale's School of Management and a former member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, has been named dean at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Swieringa gained wide visibility and influence in the corporate community through his work with FASB.

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For the first time, USGS Biological Resources Division researchers are displaying the spring migration of satellite radio-marked snow geese on the internet (http://north.audubon.org) as it happens.

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Press release of issue dated March 1 for New Scientist, the international science and technology weekly news magazine.

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Johns Hopkins School of Public Health researcher finds that despite tremendous growth of environmental agencies, the public's health is not a priority. Research lists average per capital expenditures on environmental health state by state.

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The program for the 39th annual American Cancer Society Science Writers Seminar to be held March 23 - 26, 1997 at the Hyatt Regency Reston in Reston, VA.

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The virus that helped wipe out smallpox -- a benign pox virus called vaccinia -- may now help develop new gene therapies and genetically engineered vaccines, according to Texas A&M University's Institute of Biosciences and Technology.

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Scientists from Johns Hopkins and elsewhere will meet in Bethesda, Md., March 6-7 to discuss the latest research into climate change and its potential for triggering outbreaks of disease.

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The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME International) and the board of directors of the International Gas Turbine Institue (IGTI) have named Ann E. McClure, a certified association executive, as managing director of IGTI in Atlanta, Ga., starting in April.

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Since the devastating floods of 1972 that took nearly 500 lives, the human toll has declined in the United States, thanks in part to advances in science and technology as well as better partnerships among local, state and federal agencies working together to provide advance warnings to citizens.

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Tips from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center 1) Study shows Medicare rehab warranted for stroke, less for hip fracture 2) Relief is available for dry mouth sufferers 3) Patients for hormone replacement studies sought in Colorado 4) Univ of Colorado School of Medicine ranks among top for primary care

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Harvard Medical School researchers have made a discovery helping to explain why the immune system of AIDS patients collapses after years of infection, reporting in the March 4 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that strains of virus developing later in patients may attack a different, larger population of immune cells through different chemokine receptors.

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The first experiments of a collaborative U.S./Russian space science program were successfully launched recently aboard two Russian Meteorological MR-12 sounding rockets from Kapustin Yar, near Volgograd, Russia, a test range similar to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

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Long-term estrogen replacement therapy after menopause may reduce heart attack risk not only by lowering blood-fat levels, but also by increasing blood flow to the heart and causing blood vessels to stay open wider and longer, according to a study led by Johns Hopkins researchers.

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Neuroscientists at The University of Texas-Houston Health Science Center are a step closer to understanding the processes underlying learning and memory. In a report in the February 28 issue of Science magazine they describe how a protein molecule, transforming growth factor-fl (TGF-fl), induces changes in neurons similar to those associated with learning. This work may have implications for the treatment of learning disabilities in people whose nervous systems have been compromised by disease, injury or aging.

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A national study on adolescent mothers who complete high school debunks a number of stereotypes, according to a University of Georgia researcher. Using data obtained from the National Survey of Family Growth, Velma McBride Murry, an associate professor of child and family development in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, examined the adult life experiences of 1,666 African-American women who had graduated from high school at least five years ago to determine how their lives were affected by their decisions concerning sex

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The discovery of the electron 100 years ago launched the modern era of science, according to a Central Michigan University physicist who plans to commemorate the discovery with a symposium featuring four of the nation's leading scientists, including a past Nobel prize winner.

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Young physicians who undergo a rigorous formal training program in ultrasound testing on pregnant women are better skilled at this procedure than young physicians without such training, a Johns Hopkins study suggests.

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The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research has entered into partnerships with medical professional groups to develop two pilot evidence reports under its new evidence-based practice program, announced AHCPR Acting Administrator Lisa A. Simpson, M.B., B.Ch.

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Purdue University researchers have found evidence that may explain the phenomenon of the smoke-filled barroom. In a study of regular smokers, the researchers found that consuming alcohol increased the physical craving to smoke.

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A natural disaster increases blood pressure in patients with high blood pressure, medical researchers confirmed in a landmark study published in the current issue of the American Journal of Hypertension.

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An Alliance of major research and technology enterprises based in San Diego, and administered by the University of California, San Diego, has been created to foster and expand the region's global leadership in science and technology.

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February Tips from Johns Hopkins Medical: 1- Academic medical centers may provide better prenatal care mothers, 2- Weight gain plays crucial role in twin pregnancies, 3- Pregnant women with pre-existing heart disease may deliver safely, 4- Hitting viral "homes" may help researchers stop infections, 5- Second trial of new ragweed allergy vaccine encouraging.

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A new cooperative team of researchers at Cornell University and the North American Ginseng Association is going to find out if cultivating ginseng will be an economic boost. Ginseng, the herbal remedy used by Chinese healers for more than 4,000 years, grows wild in New York, where growers are beginning to see a blossoming industry.

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Imagine an air bag system that can sense and react to the location and force of an impact, and take into account the sizes and positions of the passengers in the car. The technology for just such a system has been created and demonstrated at Boston University's Photonics Center by Dr. James E. Hubbard, Jr., senior systems engineer and Dr. Shawn E. Burke.

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For the first time, scientists have zeroed in on the location of a gene that predisposes people to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus), a chronic autoimmune rheumatic disease.

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Researchers at Stanford have found that HIV patients with ample levels of a small, hardworking molecule normally found throughout the body are likely to outlive patients whose stores are low.

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Scientists are puzzled by humans' ability to focus on one voice amid the clutter of background voices and sounds. Now, Johns Hopkins psychologists are finding that birds also can overcome the "cocktail party effect."

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A Purdue University animal waste expert is working to help swine producers take the stink out of community relations. He is looking at a method that may help reduce odor at the initial source ã the hog.

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1) Nasal allergy symptoms seen in almost all asthmatics; 2) Latex allergy linked to two different latex components; 3) Similar allergy proteins respond differently to drugs

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Johns Hopkins scientists have found the first hard evidence that viral infections can help cause asthma and allergies, a connection long suspected but never directly confirmed in the lab.

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1) Psychiatric Hospital Readmission In Managed Care Environment Not Linked to Poor Hospital Outcome; 2) Managed Care Criteria Can Restrict Patient Access To Acute Care Psychiatric Hospitalization; 3) Managed Care and Mental Health - New Brochure; 4) APA's 150th Annual Meeting, 5/17-5/22, in San Diego, CA; 5) 7/31/97 Deadline For 1998 Media Awards Entries; 6) Upcoming Mental Health/Illness Events/Observances - Use as news pegs for your stories!