Guidelines for Breast Cancer Testing Changed

Cnn.com is reporting that women in their 40’s should not get a routine mammogram to detect early breast cancer, according to the updated mammography guidelines set by the United States Preventative Services Task Force

 The previous recommendation from the Task Force was that women ages 40 and up should get a routine mammography screening every two years.  Now they have moved that age to women 50 and up.

 The Task Force recommends that women between the ages of 40 and 49 speak with their doctors about risks and benefits of a mammography, before deciding if they would like to be screened.

 Alhough about 15 percent of women who are in their 40’s detect breast cancer, the force says that many others experience false positive results that bring these women anxiety and unnecessary biopsies. 

 However, there are many people who disagree with the Task Force’s new guidelines. 

  "With its new recommendations, the [task force] is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives; just not enough of them," said Dr. Otis Brawley, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society.

  Other experts also say the language in the guidelines isn’t clear and they are concerned it will discourage women from getting exams at all.

 The task force is comprised of 16 doctors, none of whom specialize in oncology, or cancer. 

Breast cancer is the most common cancer for women in the United States.

My Take: I think this is an important story for all women.  I’ve been warned about breast cancer since the age of 16, so it’s interesting to see the age of mammograms being pushed back. I believe that these new guidelines will continue to receive a lot of backlash from professionals.

23^rd Congressional race gets closer

Wsyr.com  and Syracuse.com are reporting that the race for the open seat in New York’s 23^rd congressional district is getting even tighter.

Democratic candidate Bill Owens was originally declared the winner of the election on November 5^th, after Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman conceded, trailing behind Owens by about 5,000 votes.

However, it has been discovered that due to incorrectly reported results on election night, Hoffman actually lost to Owens by only 3,000 votes, meaning the race would have to be decided by absentee ballots.

There are absentee ballots from 11 counties that still need to be counted.  The Board of Elections for the counties say the absentee ballot count should be completed by the end of this week.

My Take:  This story has been closely followed for a while.  Originally it was watched because of the vicious campaigns of the three candidates, and recently for the issues with the results. The result of this election affects a lot of local people, so many eyes will be on this story in the coming days.

Sarah Palin is "Going Rogue"

Washingtonpost.com and cbsnews.com are reporting that Sarah Palin, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2008 election has written a book.

The book, called “Going Rogue” is her memoirs. 

Portions of the book have leaked, and are causing some serious controversy. One of the most significant issues about the book, is what Newsweek Senior Editor Michael Hirsh called a “streak of vindictiveness toward her political enemies.” 

The book has accounts from her upbringing in Alaska all the way to the 2008 presidential race and its aftermath.

Palin also defends some of her interviews and speaks about the famous Saturday Night Live skits, in which Tina Fey portrayed her.

The book is set to hit shelves on Tuesday November, 17th.

My Take: Sarah Palin never fails to amaze me.  I’m not a fan of hers, but I do really want to read her book. I think it will be interesting to see how this book affects her – especially since she is supposedly planning on running for President in 2012.