Scientists have developed a microchip to look for genetic signs showing how a form of a childhood nervous system cancer - neuroblastoma - may progress. Some types of neuroblastoma are much more aggressive than others. The Philadelphia team hopes identifying these will mean children at lower risk are not subjected to over-treatment. Scientists told Genome Research their chip - which scans suspect sections of the genome for changes in the DNA - could be adapted for other cancers. The chip developed by the team from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Thomas Jefferson University scans neuroblastoma samples - a technique called microarray analysis. Researcher Professor Paolo Fortina said: "We have customised this tool for neuroblastoma, but the approach might also be adapted to other types of cancer in which DNA changes are important." Neuroblastoma, the most common cancer found in infants, strikes the peripheral nervous system, often appearing as a solid tumour in a child's chest or abdomen. Specific genetic abnormalities have been shown to play a key role in determining whether the cancer is likely to be aggressive. This can include the loss of one copy of a pair of genes - particularly when the gene involved helps to control cell growth. The researchers had previously discovered that such an abnormality in a region of chromosome 11 often allows an aggressive form of neuroblastoma to take hold. Thus they customised their new microchip to look out for this problem, among others....BBC

Kathleen Connors isn't getting rid of her sweet tooth, but she is trying to be smarter about it. At a Russell Stover Candies shop in suburban Kansas City recently, the Chicago resident looked over the display of sugar-free candy, including peanut butter cups and licorice. She snatched up a bag of sugar-free toffee squares to try them out. "I'm trying to diet and yet enjoy myself," said Connors, 38. A recent study says U.S. sales of low-sugar and low-fat candies quadrupled between 2000 and 2004. Last year, consumers bought an estimated $495 million in diet candy, compared with $118 million four years earlier, said the report by Packaged Facts, a division of Rockville, Maryland-based MarketResearch.com. While the growth slowed over the past year as the low-carbohydrate diet craze cooled off, experts said they expect diet candy to remain a key piece of the $26 billion industry. "People, adults and kids, are getting heavier, and there are well-publicized efforts to crack down on junk food advertising and availability, particularly in schools," said Don Montuori, an editor of the study. "In this climate, as a marketer you can make a stronger case for a sweet that is 'low' in something better than a sweet that is full-bore caloric and fattening." Also, Montuori said, companies are developing better artificial sweeteners and sweetener blends that make diet products tastier and open the door to diet versions of popular types of candy. "It's a very untapped market and as we see innovations in that market we're going to see more interest as well," said Susan Fussell, a spokeswoman for the National Confectioners Association. She added that the overall candy market has grown only 1 percent to 2 percent per year. Among the companies that have done the best in the diet arena is Kansas City-based Russell Stover, which had $102.4 million in sales during the first four months of the year, or 37 percent of the overall market. Russell Stover has seen the biggest sales increase in diet candy -- $85.7 million -- since 2000. Hershey Foods came in second during that period at $39.9 million, or 14.4 percent of the market, overtaking Atkins Nutritionals, which has been hurt by the slumping popularity of its namesake diet, at $33.5 million, or 12.1 percent....CNN

Sweat-drenched city workers checked on senior citizens Sunday and shuttled people to cooling centers as temperatures surpassed the 100-degree mark here for the first time in six years. Chicago was among scores of cities suffering amid a scorching heat wave that blazed a path across parts of the upper Midwest. By late afternoon, temperatures at Midway Airport had reached 104 degrees, just one degree lower than the highest temperature ever recorded in the city, according to the National Weather Service. Other parts of the Midwest also reached triple-digit temperatures. Temperatures hit 102 degrees in St. Louis and 101 in Iowa City, Iowa. The skyrocketing temperatures prompted Chicago officials to implement an emergency response plan that was honed after 700 people died during a July 1995 heat wave. An automated calling system began contacting 40,000 elderly residents at 9 a.m. to inform them about the heat. "If you looked at who died in 1995, it was not triathletes, it wasn't people at ballparks, it wasn't people at outdoor festivals, it was the elderly who were living alone," said Dr. William Paul, acting commissioner of the city's Department of Public Health. The Cook County medical examiner's office reported no heat-related deaths Sunday, but city officials noted that it would take several days to confirm any deaths attributable to the weather. Sunday's broiling heat came on the 71st anniversary of the highest temperature ever recorded in Chicago. The mercury hit 105 degrees at O'Hare International Airport on July 24, 1934, said Bob Somrek, a weather service meteorologist. The weather service issued an excessive heat warning that was to remain in effect until Monday for most of central and eastern Missouri, as well as western portions of Illinois....CNN

Roche's influenza drug Tamiflu suppresses the often deadly avian flu strain seen in Vietnam, which experts fear will soon cause a human pandemic, U.S. government researchers said on Monday. They said tests in mice showed the drug, licensed for use against influenza in general, could suppress the newest strain of H5N1 virus that is sweeping though flocks of poultry in Vietnam, Cambodia, China and elsewhere in Asia. Public health experts say the avian flu virus is mutating and fear it could develop the ability to spread easily from person to person and kill millions in a flu pandemic. The H5N1 strain has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003. More than 140 million chickens have been killed in the region in a bid to halt the disease. "We need to know whether antiviral drugs can prevent and treat avian flu, because in the early stages of a global outbreak, most people would be unvaccinated," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which funded the study. "If a pandemic occurs, it will take months to manufacture and distribute a vaccine to all who need it." The team at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, tested 80 mice with the drug, known generically as oseltamivir. None of the mice that got a placebo and then were infected with the Vietnam strain of H5N1 survived. Five of 10 mice given the highest daily dose of oseltamivir for five days survived. But writing in the "Journal of Infectious Diseases," the researchers said eight of 10 mice given the drug for eight days lived. This will help experts decide how much drug to use and how long to treat people should the virus begin to spread among humans. The researchers found the new Vietnam strain is much more virulent than a 1997 variant of H5N1 that killed six people in Hong Kong. "The H5N1 avian flu viruses are in a process of rapid evolution. We were surprised at the tenacity of this new variant," said St. Jude researcher Elena Govorkova....CNN

Day surgery operating theatres are only being used for an average of 16 hours a week, a report has found. The Healthcare Commission found 45% of the theatre time in England allocated for day surgery was going to waste. It put the blame on cancelled operations, late starts, and excessive delays between operations. The commission said using day surgery more efficiently could reduce pressure on ward beds, bring down waiting lists and improve care for patients. Its report found at least an extra 74,000 patients a year could have day surgery, rather than be admitted as inpatients, if the least efficient units started employing the practices of the best. This would release inpatient beds for operations on other patients. The report follows a warning from Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt that high levels of investment in the NHS will not continue indefinitely - and that efficiency savings must be made. Wasted resources Anna Walker, chief executive of the Healthcare Commission, said: "When patients stay overnight for something which could be done in a single day, patients are inconvenienced and resources are wasted. "NHS trusts need to investigate why more day surgery is not being done and do all that they can to reduce cancellations." The Healthcare Commission will discuss its findings with individual trusts. The report, which examined 313 day surgery units in England, found one in 10 cancelled more than a third of the available operating theatre sessions and many patients had their operations cancelled at short notice. Staff numbers in day surgery units were found to be rising faster than their activity. But in nearly 40% of day surgery units no single consultant was in charge - a factor, the report says, which may be hampering more efficient use of resources. The total number of day surgery admissions for 25 common procedures increased by 12% over the last four years. However, much of this was down to a big increase in cataract surgery. The proportion of day surgery cases for a number of common procedures actually went down....BBC

A major shake-up of NHS dentistry is to be announced to improve access and make the charging system more simple. The proposals for fees are expected to include a rise in check up prices, but a lowering in the maximum limit patients can be charged. The government will also unveil the new dentist contract, which like the fees is due to come into effect in April, to allow more time for preventative work. Dentists said the current system needed to be made more simple. Ministers hope the long-waited measures - they have already been put back 12 months - will help address some of the long-standing problems with NHS dentistry. Latest figures show that half the population are not registered with a surgery....BBC

UK doctors say they have found an easier way to diagnose ovarian cancer. By passing a needle up through the vagina, the Manchester University researchers were able to take a sample of ovarian tissue for testing. They said it is better than passing a needle through the abdomen, and less invasive than cutting a woman open to find the tumour. The method was well tolerated by the 14 women in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology study. Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed late because the symptoms can be vague and go unnoticed. It may not be until the tumour has reached a relatively large size that the woman will spot that there is something wrong. However, before chemotherapy can be started, it is necessary to make sure that the diagnosis is correct. Conventionally, this has involved cutting open the abdomen or passing a needle through the abdomen, guided by ultrasound or computer tomography (CT) scanning, to get to the ovary. Risks Both methods have disadvantages - surgery is invasive and there is a risk that other organs will be punctured if a needle is passed through the abdomen. Both require anaesthesia Dr Rebecca Faulkner and colleagues believe a better way is to pass a needle through the vagina. They tested the method in 14 women and achieved a successful biopsy in 12 of them. None of the women had any bleeding complications or other serious side effects. Some experienced slight discomfort, but this settled as soon as the procedure was completed. Four required mild pain relief.