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BOSTON -- High liver enzyme levels are predictive of a greater risk of death within a decade for anyone in the community at large, researchers reported here.

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Joints affected by the inflammation of rheumatoid arthritis may be soothed by dietary supplements containing extracts of the curry ingredient turmeric, researchers here studying rats reported.

CHICAGO -- The combination of two targeted therapies appears to be a more effective, but less toxic, alternative to chemotherapy for second line treatment of unresectable non-small-cell lung cancer.

SAN DIEGO -- Preliminary results of a small ongoing study of vitamin B12 injections for children with autism showed no signs of significant benefit, researchers reported here, but they remained hopeful.

SAN DIEGO -- Although anorexia nervosa patients commonly have obsessions and compulsions, that doesn't necessarily translate into full-blown obsessive-compulsive disorder, according to a Polish team.

SAN DIEGO -- The black box warnings ordered by the FDA on the risk of suicidality with pediatric antidepressant use cut overall prescriptions for children and adolescents by some 10%, researchers said here.

SALT LAKE CITY -- For eight years a toy vampire's tooth was lodged invisibly in a man's lung, an unwelcome souvenir of a long-ago Halloween party, before a pulmonologist's persistence, trying to solve a mysterious cough, brought the object to light.

SALT LAKE CITY -- For selected patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, drug therapy may offer limited benefit, investigators reported here.

WASHINGTON -- Coronary bifurcation lesions can be safely stented with Cypher (sirolimus-eluting) stents using either a simple or complex strategy, with no significant difference in clinical endpoints, according to investigators here.

WASHINGTON -- Use of Visipaque (iodixanol), an iso-osmolar, nonionic contrast agent, did not reduce the rate of nephropathy in angiography patients with renal failure compared with less-expensive agents, researchers reported here.

WASHINGTON -- Infusion of bone marrow-derived progenitor cells directly into a coronary infarct reduced by about half the risk of death, MI, or another revascularization procedure at 12 months, compared with patients getting sham infusions.

LOS ANGELES -- Race and ability to pay appear to be major determinants of whether patients in California hospitals receive complex surgical procedures in high-volume hospitals, researchers here have found.

BOSTON -- For patients with the potentially fatal mucocutaneous blistering disease pemphigus vulgaris, a combination of Rituxan (rituximab) and intravenous immune globulin may succeed where other therapies have failed.

NEW YORK -- Spiral CT screening of smokers, former smokes, and others at risk for lung cancer can detect early curable disease at a cost comparable to that of mammography screening for breast cancer, asserted an international team of investigators.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy has been given credit for the dramatic recovery of Randal McCloy Jr., who was pulled unconscious from a mine in Sago, W.Va., 10 months ago, suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

WASHINGTON -- The drug-eluting coronary stent industry has responded with some additional soothing statistics in efforts to calm fears about the long-term safety of the devices.

WASHINGTON -- The maker of the Cypher (sirolimus-eluting) coronary stent said today that a new independent analysis has given it an even playing field compared with bare-metal devices.

CHICAGO -- Vegetables help older patients keep their wits about them, but fruit appears to have no effect on preventing cognitive decline, according to researchers here.