ANN ARBOR, MI - Newswise noted one in seven women will develop breast cancer, but how much do most women know about this disease?  Breast cancer specialists from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center say misconceptions often cause women more anxiety than necessary.  In some cases, the fear paralyzes women and prevents them from seeking care that could lead to successful treatment.  Here are some of the most common myths:

1. You only get breast cancer if you have a family history.
2. I’m too young to worry about breast cancer.
3. If I’m diagnosed with breast cancer, it means I’m going to die.  Doctors are doing quite well at treating breast cancer, with 10-year survival rates currently at 85-90%.  When caught early, up to 98% of women survive at least five years.
4. I’ve made it five years as a survivor, so my breast cancer won’t return.
5. Chemotherapy will make me nauseated and I will be vomiting all the time.
6. If I have a breast lump, it’s cancer.
7. Herbal remedies and dietary supplements can help treat breast cancer.
8. I eat a healthy diet, which will make me immune to breast cancer.

BOSTON - Newswise noted scientists at the Schepens Eye Research Institute affiliate of Harvard Medical School say a visual aid they invented promises to improve visual abilities of people with tunnel vision.  In the first study to evaluate this small high-tech device, the team saw significant gain in the effectiveness and speed with which visually-impaired patients found objects.  The study in Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science shows this device, which has a tiny camera, pocket-sized computer, and transparent computer display on a pair of glasses, may offer the most effective aid to date for these patients.  “We are very pleased with the results of this first evaluation and hope with further study and refinement, we may soon make this device available for the public,” says low vision expert Dr. Eli Peli, the inventor, a senior scientist at Schepens, and a professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School and the senior author of the study.  RP can begin to affect vision in one’s teen years and may become quite severe tunnel vision by middle age.

NEW YORK - The majority of U.S. adults believe people should have more access to information about birth control options, and they don't think access to birth control should be limited by a person's ability to pay for it, The Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive health-care poll shows.  Of 2,689 adults polled online, 89% favor more access to data and 81% agreed providing access to birth control is a good way to prevent abortions.  Nearly 75% of those polled agree access to birth control shouldn't be limited by someone's ability to pay for it, versus 19% who said they disagree.  Support for access to contraceptives by teenagers is more divided; a 46% to 41% plurality said teens should be allowed access to contraception without their parents' knowledge; 67% of those polled agreed abstinence is the best option for protecting teens from unwanted pregnancies, versus 25% who disagreed; 58% believe the morning after pill should be available easily in all pharmacies, versus 26% who disagree.

MEMPHIS, TN - Clinicians at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital demonstrated successfully an improved technique for blood stem cell transplantations in children that shows promise for those most likely to fail standard treatment for leukemia.  The technique allows blood stem cells to come from parents or unmatched adult siblings and avoids aggressive, toxic treatments that usually must accompany the transplant.  This allows the majority of patients with leukemia or non-cancerous blood disorders to get a transplant, said Dr. Gregory Hale, St. Jude Bone Marrow Transplantation Division interim chief.  A report appeared in the prepublication edition of the British Journal of Haematology.  A clinical trial of this technique demonstrated it accelerated recovery of the immune system in recipients and shortened the duration of immune deficiency during the early post-transplant period, cutting the risk of infections.  The key to the St. Jude strategy is it avoids the total-body irradiation routinely used to kill the recipient’s own stem cells to make way for the transplantation.