A new study of lung cancer patients found that the presence of nicotine increased the production of a pair of proteins that can protect cancer cells from some of the most widely used chemotherapy drugs -gemcitabine, cisplatin and taxol. "Our findings are in agreement with clinical studies showing that patients who continue to smoke have worse survival profiles than those who quit before treatment," the researchers said.

Health officials are trying to determine the cause of an outbreak of the mumps following reports of 245 cases in Iowa over the last 3 months. College students account for about 23% of the reported cases, and about half of the cases are people ages 17 to 25. At least 66% of the infected people had previously received the recommended 2 doses of vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, which normally works at 95% efficiency rate. Health officials believe the viral strain is the same one that caused an epidemic of 56,000 cases of the mumps in the U.K. last year.

There is new evidence to suggest that children with sleep disturbances may benefit from having their tonsils removed. Researchers from the University of Michigan found children with breathing difficulties linked to learning and behavioral problem who underwent tonsillectomy surgery improved their performance on various behavioral tests one year after the procedure, bringing them to normal levels.

A procedure called carotid stenting, a minimally invasive neck procedure to reduce the risk of stroke, unexpectedly improved the memory and mental skills of most patients who received the treatment, according to a new study presented at a conference of radiologists in Toronto. Dr. Rodney Raabe, the study's lead author, said the findings were a total surprise and suggests that people who have high grade narrowing of the arteries will benefit mostfrom the procedure.

A lengthy study of a group of mothers who were told to eat a pound of red meat a day to avoid pregnancy complications found the more meat the mother ate, the higher the levels of stress hormone cortisol in the child. Researchers suggest that popular high protein, low carbohydrate diets should be avoided during pregnancy as they can lead to more stress for their offspring later in life.