(April 7, 2012 - Insidermedicine)

From Boston - Research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine finds that routine mammography screening may result in over-diagnosis of invasive breast cancer. Researchers examined data on nearly 40,000 breast cancer patients, finding that 15-20% of women diagnosed with invasive disease during a nationwide routine screening program were in fact over diagnosed. The authors estimate that for every 2500 women invited forscreening, only 1 death will be prevented. However, 6 out of 10 women will be overdiagnosed with invasive disease and undergo unnecessary treatment.

From Korea - Mental health may affect dialysis patients' survival, according to a report published in Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology. Studying nearly 2000 dialysis patients, researchers found that those with poor mental health were more likely to hospitalized sooner with heart problems and  die earlier than those with steady mental health scores.

From Connecticut - Many cases of autism may be caused a genetic mutation at conception, according to a report published in Nature. Researchers conducted DNA sequencing on nearly 250 families with only one autistic child. They found that 15% of the autism cases were connected to a spontaneous genetic mutation that occurred in sex cells at conception.

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