(December 2, 2009 - Insidermedicine)

From London - According to a report published in the journal Nature, balancing the protein in ones diet may be better for healthy aging than limiting caloric intake. Researchers fed fruit flies varying amounts of vitamins, lipids and amino acids in a diet consisting of sugar, water and yeast. The researchers were able to maximize lifespan without compromising fertility of the flies by varying the amount of  amino acids, while changing the other nutrients had no such effect.

From Chicago - Women at high risk for breast cancer and have dense breasts may benefit from annual ultrasound screening, according to research presented at the annual meeting of Radiological Society of North America. Researchers studied over 600 high risk women, administering mammography and ultrasound every year. Of the 16 women that developed breast cancer, mammography alone detected 50-56% of cancers, while the addition of ultrasound detected 70-94% of cancers.

And finally, from Boston - A ten year study into the possible preventive effect of aspirin in age related macular degeneration has yielded no significant results, according to research published online in the journal Ophthalmology. Researchers studied nearly 40,000 women involved in the Women's Health Study, finding that patients who took aspirin every other day had an 18% lower risk of AMD compared with those who took placebo; this difference was deemed nonsignificant.