People with osteoporosis who take drugs such as Boniva (ibandronate), Fosamax (alendronate) or Actonel (risedronate) to strengthen their bones may be at an increased risk of esophageal cancer, British researchers report.

This class of medicines, called oral bisphosphonates, are the most commonly used drugs to treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases. While anecdotal reports have suggested that they may increase the risk of esophageal cancer, the scientific evidence has been limited, the researchers noted.

Having a rapid response team manage hospital patients whose condition is rapidly deteriorating sharply reduced the rate of cardiac arrests at a U.S. hospital, a new study found.

Researchers looked at a rapid response team, known as the eTeam, created at the VA Medical Center in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2005.

Smoking increases depressive symptoms in teens, especially among those who say they smoke to improve their mood, researchers have found.

The new study included 662 Canadian students between grades 7 and 11 who completed up to 20 questionnaires about their use of cigarettes to affect their mood. The participants were divided into three groups: never smokers; smokers who used cigarettes to self-medicate; and smokers who said their use of cigarettes was not to self-medicate, enhance mood or physical state.

An experimental test that can diagnose tuberculosis in less than two hours, making only one doctor visit necessary before treatment starts, is being hailed as a potentially significant advance against a disease that kills nearly 2 million people annually, most of them in developing countries.

"This is a very important discovery," said infectious disease expert Dr. Marc Siegel, an associate professor of medicine at New York University. "This could be an important tool worldwide, and even here in the United States."

Most Americans are willing to have their genetic information shared in a national database, but they first want to be asked, researchers report.

The new study included participants in the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study, a long-term project tracking age-related changes in thousands of patients that's being conducted by a team at the Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington in Seattle.