Soy foods linked to fewer fractures in younger breast cancer survivors

Tom Patriot

A new paper in JNCI Cancer Spectrum, published by Oxford University Press, is the first study to find that diets high in soy foods are associated with a decreased risk of osteoporotic bone fractures in pre-menopausal breast cancer survivors. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the United States, with 1 in 8 women diagnosed with it during their lifetime. Many treatments for breast cancer can cause premature menopause and decrease bone mineral density. This leads to a higher incidence of osteoporosis-related fractures among survivors compared to…

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Why Your Blackhead Pops Up in the Same Spot

Tom Patriot

No matter how many times you wash, scrub, or begrudgingly pop (eek!) that blackhead, which has so sweetly claimed real estate across your nose, it’ll resurface weeks (maybe even days) later, as it if were an extra in The Walking Dead. What gives? Turns out, that zombie blemish isn’t as uncommon as you’d think. “It is an interesting and common occurrence to have a pimple or blackhead pop up in the same spot,” says Ava Shamban, a Los Angeles-based dermatologist. As for the cause of said alive-again blemish, well, experts aren’t really sure — but they…

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Alyssa Milano Explains Her Controversial ‘Sex Strike’ to Fight Anti-Abortion Laws: ‘It Got the Country Talking’

Tom Patriot

Alyssa Milano reiterated her controversial call for women to go on a sex strike to protest Georgia’s extremely restrictive new abortion law, which is set to take effect next year. In a CNN op-ed published on Monday and co-written with Waleisah Wilson, the actress and activist acknowledged the “mixed reaction” to her position. But, she wrote, “It got the country talking about the GOP’s undeniable war on women. And let’s face it, with so much going on every day in the news, sometimes we need an extreme response to get national attention.” (Abortion…

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Growing up high: Neurobiological consequences of adolescent cannabis use

Tom Patriot

About one in five Canadian adolescents uses cannabis (19% of Canadians aged 15-19), and its recent legalization across the country warrants investigation into the consequence of this use on the developing brain. Adolescence is associated with the maturation of cognitive functions, such as working memory, decision-making, and impulsivity control. This is a highly vulnerable period for the development of the brain as it represents a critical period wherein a regulatory connection between higher-order regions of the cortex and emotional processing circuits deeper inside the brain are established. It is a…

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