UPI NewsTrack Health and Science News

Take NOTES: Some surgery less invasive

NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- A gallbladder removal at a New York hospital without external incisions is being offered as a part of a research trial on the procedure, doctors said.

The procedure that removed a woman's gallbladder through her uterus last year could mean lower pain, faster recovery time and the lack of visible scars, the New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center said Monday in a news release.

In the technique -- called NOTES for natural-orifice translumenal endoscopic surgery -- the endoscope was inserted through an incision behind the uterus and into the woman's body cavity, doctors said. The gallbladder was detached and removed through the incision, which then was sutured.

"This procedure marks the culmination of 15 years of advances that have made surgery less invasive in order to improve safety and reduce recovery time," says Dr. Marc Bessler, director of laparoscopic surgery and director of the Center for Obesity Surgery at the hospital.

Besides gallbladder surgery, the clinical trial offers the NOTES procedure for appendectomy, abdominal exploration and biopsy procedures. The procedure now is available through the uterus, but doctors said it could be performed through the mouth or rectum, making it available to men.

Study looks at students apt to pack a gun

LOMA LINDA , Calif., July 28 (UPI) -- Analysis of a survey of U.S. schoolchildren has identified those more likely to carry weapons, which may help improve school safety, researchers said.

Being male and being a member of certain self-selected racial groups indicated a student was more likely to carry a weapon, researchers from Loma Linda University in California said Monday in a news release from BioMed Central, which published the findings in Annals of General Psychiatry.

Pupils who identified themselves as white were more likely to carry weapons than those who identified themselves as black, researchers said. Other factors researchers found associated with weapon carrying were substance use, depression, victimized by theft or property damage at school, being raped, being threatened with a weapon or being in an altercation.

Researchers analyzed a 2005 survey of 13,707 U.S. children, nearly evenly split between males and females. Overall, 10.2 percent of males and 2.6 percent of females reported carrying a weapon on school property.

"We do not believe that there are any inherent genetic differences that determine race and that affect the way that adolescents behave," the authors said in their paper.

Branson unveils space plane

LOS ANGELES, July 28 (UPI) -- British tycoon Richard Branson was in California's Mohave Desert Monday to unveil his new space plane, which would offer the first commercial spaceflight.

Branson is backing the project that would carry an eight-person rocket ship on a flight from Earth up to a launch point 48,000 feet up, the Los Angeles Times reported. More than 250 astronaut wannabes have plunked down $200,000 for a chance to float weightless in space.

Once it reaches the transfer station, the rocket would detach and fly into space, where it would provide passengers and crew four minutes of weightlessness. The rocket's mothership would fall to Earth and land at an airport like a plane.

"This is quite something, isn't it?" Branson said. "It's one of the most beautiful, extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed."

Branson revealed that the first passengers would be his family, including his mother and father. The mothership was named Eve for his mother, and features her image on the fuselage.

The rollout came a year after an accident killed three engineers and set back the project back a year.

Eating disorder risk, sports anxiety tied

DENVER, July 28 (UPI) -- Female athletes and exercisers tend to exhibit eating disorder symptoms more often than those who don't exercise as regularly, U.S. researchers said.

The study by researchers at the University of Denver is one of the first to document that women participating in athletic competition and have sports anxiety likely will experience eating disorder symptoms, the International Journal of Eating Disorders, which published the research, said Monday in a news release.

The study of 274 female college undergraduates examined whether differences in eating disorder symptoms exist between women depending on the level of their athletic-exercise activities. The participants also completed several questionnaires about attitudes and behaviors related to eating disorders, self esteem and sports anxiety.

Data suggested coaches and athletic departments of competitive athletes should be watching for sports-related anxiety because these athletes may be at higher risk for eating disorder symptoms than women who are less anxious about their performance and those not involved in competitive athletics, the researchers said.

"As women's participation in athletics increases, so too does the need for awareness of the link between eating disorders and sports participation among women.," said Jill Holm-Denoma of the University of Denver, lead author of the study.