Vaccine refusals may have consequences

A study released in the Journal Pediatrics found that children whose parents who refuse vaccines are 23 times more likely to contract whooping cough.

Children need a pertussis vaccine to protect them against whooping cough.

They generally get it between the ages of two and four months, but anecdotal evidence suggest that a growing number of parents are not taking their children in for these shots.

Cases and the number of deaths have been increasing in recent years.

Authors say this study can give parents and doctors more information about the risks and benefits of vaccination.

Football players and heart problems

"All football players are getting bigger across all positions," Dr. Andrew Tucker of the Baltimore Ravens said.

And does bigness equate to heart problems?

Tucker led research that assessed cardiovascular disease risk factors in over 500 active NFL players.

Compared to men of similar ages, the players did have more high blood pressure, but fewer smoked, they had less pre-diabetes, and they had similar cholesterol levels, even though they were substantially larger in size.

The reason is physical activity.

"Vigorous activity appears to significantly decrease or lessen the effect of size on cardiovascular risk," Tucker said.

Breast cancer prognosis

Breast cancer researchers in Seattle have uncovered two chemicals in the blood of breast cancer patients which they say are associated with reduced overall survival from the disease.

The research was published today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The two proteins, Amyoid A and C.R.P,k were two to three times as likely to die from the disease.

Chronic inflammation might be associated with the development of breast cancer. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a marker of systemic inflammation. Previous study has found that Baseline CRP levels are not associated with risk of breast cancer in healthy women.

A C-reactive protein (CRP) test is done to check for infection after surgery. CRP levels normally rise within 2 to 6 hours of surgery and then go down by the third day after surgery. If CRP levels stay elevated 3 days after surgery, an infection may be present.

Identify and keep track of infections and diseases that cause inflammation, such as:

Cancer of the lymph nodes (lymphoma)
Diseases of the immune system, such as lupus
Painful swelling of the blood vessels in the head and neck (giant cell arteritis)
Painful swelling of the tissues that line the joints (rheumatoid arthritis)
Swelling and bleeding of the intestines (inflammatory bowel disease)
Infection of a bone (osteomyelitis)