Coffee and endometrial cancer
Study subjects: 67,000 women
Location of study: U.S.
Results: A Nurses’ Health study found that women who drank more than four cups of coffee each day were 25 percent less likely to develop endometrial cancer, which affects the lining of the womb. Women who drank two to three cups daily were 7 percent less likely to develop the cancer.
Significance: It seems that coffee lowers two hormones, estrogen and insulin, that trigger the disease.
Meditation and concentration
Study subjects: Experienced mediators
Location of study: U.S.
Results: A Yale study found that increased meditation leads to increased brain focus in everyday life.
Significance: Mediation could be used in ADHD treatment and for those at risk of or suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Risks for skinny people postsurgery
Study subjects: Nearly 200,000 surgery patients
Location of study: U.S.
Results: According to an Archives of Surgery report, out of 3,245 deaths within 30 days of surgery, the risk of mortality was higher in patients with a low body mass index (BMI).
Significance: Patients who underwent exploratory abdominal surgery were most likely to die, while those who had breast lumpectomies were least likely.
Prescription drugs and foster care
Study subjects: 17,000 children on Medicaid
Location of study:?U.S.
Results: The results of a study comparing Medicare-receiving children in foster care to their counterparts in normal homes found that the rate of long-term prescribed drug use was higher, according to the journal Pediatrics.
Significance: The results
are a cause for concern
of the plight of children in foster care.
