An analysis of 194 trials involving 145,000 women showed treatments such as chemotherapy and hormonal therapy have greatly improved the survival of women diagnosed with early breast cancer.

Both therapies combined can halve the 15-year risk of death from the disease. More than a million women worldwide each year are diagnosed with breast cancer.

William J Brown - News Room Administrators Staff

The study was published in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine and found that for those under 65, surgery cuts the death rate by more than 50%.

San Diego biotech company, Arena Pharmaceuticals, says an experimental anti-obesity drug called ADP356 has done well in small clinical Phase II trials.

The drub, when taken at it's highest dose enabled obese people to lose an average of 2.9 pounds after 28 days, compared with just 0.7 pounds for those getting a placebo.

Consumer Reports magazine releases results of their diet analysis, stating Weight Watchers and Slim-Fast are most effective for long-term weight loss.

Althought not notorious for rating things such as diets, Consumer deemed Weight Watchers support group meetings and Slim-Fast's shakes as an alternative to cooking the best formulas to eliminating unwanted weight.

Tuesday, Canadian researchers said moms pregnant with boys may be less forgetful than those carrying girls.

Researchers found evidence that women who gave birth to boys outperformed moms of girls in tests taxing memory in areas of listening, computational and visualization skills.