SAN FRANCISCO -- Smokers whose preferred puff is menthol-flavored may find it harder to quit, and the cool-tasting cigarettes are just as bad for the arteries and lungs as non-menthol brands, but no worse, found a long-running cohort story here.

LOS ANGELES -- Physicians prescribe medications all too often without clear instructions about how to use them and what to watch out for, according to an observational study.

ST. LOUIS -- Asking parents about adolescents' substance use and abuse is essentially a waste of time, found a research team.

TORONTO -- More than two-thirds of gastric cancer patients received inadequate lymph node assessment, jeopardizing their treatment and survival, researchers reported after an analysis of data on nearly 11,000 cases.

WASHINGTON -- Black women with advanced or recurrent endometrial cancer had significantly worse overall survival than white women who received the same therapy in four clinical trials.

WASHINGTON -- The Institute of Medicine has taken the FDA to the woodshed with a scathing report issued today that found the agency had lost credibility in its regulation of the pharmaceutical industry.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Bladder cancer is deadlier in blacks than whites, even when it is diagnosed early.

IOANNINA, Greece -- The aromatase inhibitors should be promoted over tamoxifen to first-line therapy for advanced breast cancer, according to findings from a meta-analysis.

KYOTO, Japan -- Short term exposure to high levels of air pollution in warm weather more than doubles the risk of hemorrhagic stroke among older patients, found researchers here.

PHILADELPHIA -- Epidemiologists have associated vitamins taken by women around the time of conception and in early pregnancy and the risk of brain cancer for their children.

LIVERPOOL, England -- Throwing a raw egg is a prank gone bad all too often, warned emergency physicians here who cited blunt ocular trauma.

BOSTON -- A topical cream protected against sun damage in red-haired mice and delayed the onset of skin cancer, according to researchers here.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. -- More aggressive management of pregnancies with preeclampsia has appeared to have a big payoff in terms of fetal survival.

BOSTON -- A form of niacin may be a novel treatment for chronic progressive multiple sclerosis, according to researchers here. In a mouse model of MS, nicotinamide- the amide form of niacin, or vitamin B3 - significantly prevented disability.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Despite better detection and more curative surgery, kidney cancer mortality rates continue to rise - a "treatment disconnect" that raises thorny questions.

BOSTON -- Women with high serum levels of lipoprotein(a) are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, especially if they also have high levels of LDL. But the risk marker is not likely to be useful in widespread screening for heart disease risk.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A strategy for transfusion-free liver transplantation, developed for Jehovah's Witness patients, reduced overall blood use when applied to all patients, researchers here reported.

BOCHUM, Germany -- For intertriginous psoriasis maintenance therapy, the topical drugs Elidel (pimecrolimus) or Dovonex (calcipotriol) may be as effective as topical corticosteroids with less risk of side effects, researchers here suggested.

BOCHUM, Germany -- For intertriginous psoriasis maintenance therapy, the topical drugs Elidel (pimecrolimus) or Dovonex (calcipotriol) may be as effective as topical corticosteroids with less risk of side effects, researchers here suggested.

NEW ORLEANS -- Levels of lead in the blood now considered safe increase the risk of death, epidemiologists reported today.