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SCIENCE IN THE NEWS WEEKLY

Breast Cancer Categories Promise More Precise Treatments

Classifying breast cancer tumors into 10 distinct categories, ranging from very treatable to extremely aggressive, constitutes a major step on the way to the long-sought goal of precisely targeting therapies for patients. The new categories were described in a study released last Wednesday.

By tacking drugs onto molecules targeting rogue brain cells, medical researchers have alleviated symptoms in newborn rabbits that are similar to those of cerebral palsy in children.

Activity cuts the risk of Alzheimer's disease and slows cognitive decline, even in the very old, according to a new study. The study is one of the first to show that activity of all sorts benefits people over age 80, even if they're not "exercising."

A simple blood test can distinguish between people who are depressed and those who are not. The test examined a panel of 28 biological markers that circulate in the bloodstream and found that 11 of them could predict the presence of depression at accuracy levels that ranged from medium to large.

Diagnoses of attention hyperactivity disorder among children have risen 22 percent from 2003 to 2007, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But many experts believe that this may not be the epidemic it appears. They say many children are given a diagnosis of A.D.H.D. when in fact they have another problem: a sleep disorder.