Trending News Today: Blood Test Shows Potential for Early Detection of Breast Cancer

A new blood test demonstrated potential efficacy for screening and detecting breast cancer, The American Journal of Managed Care reported. According to the article, the study authors matched blood samples from 90 patients with breast cancer at the time of diagnosis with samples from the control group of 90 patients without breast cancer. Overall, they found that the accuracy of the test improved in the panels that contained more tumor-associated antigens, which are known to be associated with breast cancer pathology, the article reported.

Most patients do not use all opioids prescribed to them, even when given a reduced dose, and many also fail to properly dispose of unused pills, MD Magazine reported. According to the article, a recent study examined the effectiveness of opioid prescribing policies among 112 patients who had recently undergone corneal surgery before and after updates to the opioid prescribing guideline. Overall, patients in the first cohort used a mean of 8.3 tablets compared with 4 tablets in the second cohort, and patients in the first cohort had more unused pills, the article reported.

A new study found that the percentage of children whose parents claim that vaccination conflicts with their religious beliefs has increased in recent years, STAT reported. According to the article, the findings also suggested that states that do not have personal belief vaccination exemptions are 4 times more likely to have children claiming exemptions than states that do offer parents both types of exemptions. Overall, the authors found that in 2017-2018, 1.7% of children entering kindergarten had a religious exemption compared with 1.25% in 2011-2012, the article reported.