Health Report

THE GOOD NEWS

-- Researchers have developed the prototype for what could be the first simple test for Alzheimer's disease. Evidently, some of the same chemical changes that occur in the diseased brain cells of Alzheimer's patients also take place in their skin. This means that it may someday be possible to diagnose the affliction with a skin test rather than a much more invasive brain biopsy.

-- Antibiotics may be able to cure at least one form of stomach cancer. British doctors report that the presence of a germ called Helicobacter pylori is necessary for the growth of certain relatively uncommon malignancies in the stomach. Tumors disappeared in five of the six patients treated for the bacterial infection.

THE BAD NEWS

-- Unemployment, job stress and the loss of a child all appear to raise the risk of suffering from colorectal cancer, according to a Swedish study. The greatest threat was seen in people with serious work-related problems; they were five times as likely to develop the cancer.

-- Betaseron, a newly approved drug for treating the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, is in short supply because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration caught the manufacturer off guard when it approved the treatment earlier than expected this summer. The drug will be distributed exclusively through a computerized lottery for at least the next year. Only 20% of an estimated 100,000 eligible patients may be permitted to buy the new medication.

Sources -- GOOD:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (first), Lancet (second). BAD: Epidemiology, New York Times (second)