Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans may predict a woman's future risk of developing breast cancer, found a new study published Tuesday in Radiology.

Researchers reviewed screening breast MR images from high-risk women 18 years or older with no history of breast cancer and specifically looked for associations between cancer risk and imaging features, including breast density and background parenchymal enhancement (BPE). In MR images, BPE occurs when areas of normal background breast tissue appear white or enhanced. Previous research has suggested a possible link between BPE and cancer risk.

In the study, women who displayed elevated amounts of BPE were nine times more likely to have a breast cancer diagnosis, compared to those with little to no BPE.

Previous studies linked dense breast tissue to an increased likelihood of breast cancer development. In this new study, mammographic density appeared to have no significant relationship to cancer risk.

"To date, it's been difficult to assess the future risk of breast cancer for women, so there is a strong desire in the oncology community to identify ways to better determine this risk," study co-author Dr, Habib Rahbar, a breast imaging expert at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance and assistant professor at the University of Washington, said in a press release. "While breast density is loosely associated with the risk of developing breast cancer, it is unclear whether it or other imaging features can improve upon current risk assessment methods."

Women are considered at high risk for breast cancer if they have a family history or genetic mutations associated with the disease. Contrast-enhanced MRI is currently in use as an imaging option to supplement mammography in this group. The American Cancer Society recommends women with a 20 percent or greater risk of developing breast cancer undergo annual screening breast MRIs, in addition to routine annual screening mammography.

Researchers say their study shows that BPE could help physicians better tailor screening and management strategies for individuals' breast cancer risk, such as drug therapy and the need for mastectomies.

"MRI could be used in a broader group of women to determine who most needs supplemental screening based on their BPE levels," Rahbar said in the news release. "This is important as we move into an era of more personalized medicine."

More research is needed with a larger group of patients, researchers noted, and they're planning additional study into the role of BPE as a biomarker for breast cancer risk. BPE may be related to areas of inflammation associated with early stages of the disease, according to the press release.

"Breast cancer needs a supportive environment to grow, and recent research suggests that areas of inflammation are particularly conducive for such growth," Rabhar said in the press release.

Washington: The Ebola virus can persist within the eyeballs for months after a patient recovers from the deadly disease, researchers have found.

A report released this week by the US journal New England Journal of Medicine described a case in which Ebola was present in the eye`s aqueous humor 10 weeks after the virus was cleared from the patient`s blood, Xinhua reported

Aqueous humor is the clear fluid in the front of the eye, between the lens and the cornea.

Despite the presence of Ebola in the eye, the researchers were quick to note that samples from the patient`s tears and conjunctiva, the surface of the eye and eyelids, tested negative for the virus.

It, therefore, indicated that casual contact with Ebola survivors carried no risk.

The patient, identified by US media as 43-year-old Ian Crozier, was diagnosed with Ebola in September, while working in an Ebola treatment unit in Sierra Leone as a doctor for the World Health Organization (WHO).

He was then transported to the US and treated at Emory University Hospital`s serious communicable disease unit for 40 days, including 12 days of mechanical ventilation and 24 days of renal replacement therapy.

After his blood and urine tested negative for the virus, Crozier was discharged home.

A semen sample obtained on the day of discharge, however, tested positive, so he was advised to abstain from sex or to use condoms for at least three months, according to the report.

Shortly after discharge, Crozier found he had new symptoms, including low back pain.

Two months later, he returned to the same hospital with an inflammation called uveitis and increased pressure in his left eye. The resulting swelling led to reduced vision, and, surprisingly, eye colour changed from blue to green.

The doctors obtained an aqueous humor sample, which tested positive for the Ebola virus.

"It felt almost personal that the virus could be in my eye without me knowing it," Crozier told the New York Times.

Several studies of prior outbreaks have shown that Ebola infections often manifest in the eyes, and can impact vision and cause blindness long after a systemic infection has cleared.

Lead author Steven Yeh, an ophthalmologist at the Emory Eye Center, believed that surveillance for the development of eye disease in the post-Ebola period is needed.

"The presence of viable Ebola virus in the eye could mean that other Ebola survivors may also be at risk for the development of uveitis," he said in a statement.

Uveitis is inflammation of the uvea, the middle layer of the eye between the retina and the sclera (white of the eye). It can lead to vision loss.

The findings also pointed to a need for infection control precautions when Ebola survivors underwent invasive procedures involving the eyes, the researchers said.

As for Crozier, he experienced visual recovery following therapy for uveitis. His eye colour also returned to normal, but why it changed colour is still a mystery.

The antioxidant effects of coffee by-products are 500 times greater than those found in vitamin C and could be employed to create functional foods with significant health benefits, a new research has found.

Coffee silverskin (the epidermis of the coffee bean) is usually removed during processing, after the beans have been dried, while the coffee grounds are normally directly discarded.

It has traditionally been assumed that these by-products - coffee grounds and coffee silverskin -- have few practical uses and applications. So they end up in landfills causing considerable knock-on effect on the environment.

The new research demonstrates the powerful antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of the coffee grounds and silverskin, which are highly rich in fibre and phenols.

"They also contain high levels of melanoidins, which are produced during the roasting process and give coffee its brown colour," said lead researcher Jose Angel Rufian Henares, professor at University of Granada in Spain.

"The biological properties of these melanoidins could be harnessed for a range of practical applications, such as preventing harmful pathogens from growing in food products," Rufian Henares said.

However, he also added, "If we are to harness the beneficial prebiotic effects of the coffee by-products, first of all we need to remove the melanoidins, since they interfere with such beneficial prebiotic properties."

The researchers concluded that processed coffee by-products could potentially be recycled as sources of new food ingredients.

This would also greatly diminish the environmental impact of discarded coffee by-products.

The study was published in the academic journal Food Science and Technology.

Children are seven times more likely to sleepwalk if both their parents have a history of sleepwalking, according to a new study.

More than 60 per cent of children developed sleepwalking when both their parents were sleepwalkers in a study among kids born in the Canadian province of Quebec, researchers said.

The study also found that children with one parent who was a sleepwalker had three times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker compared with children whose parents did not sleepwalk.

Sleepwalking is a common childhood sleep disorder that usually disappears during adolescence. Sleep terrors are another early childhood sleep disorder often characterised by a scream, intense fear and a prolonged period of inconsolability.

The two disorders (also known as parasomnias) share many of the same characteristics and arise mainly from slow-wave sleep, according to the study.

Jacques Montplaisir, of the Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, looked at the prevalence of sleepwalking and sleep terrors during childhood; any link between early sleep terrors and sleepwalking later in childhood; and the degree of association between parental history of sleepwalking and the presence of sleepwalking and sleep terrors in children.

Montplaisir and team analysed sleep data from a group of 1,940 children born in Quebec in 1997 and 1998 and studied in 1999 to 2011.

The authors found an overall childhood prevalence of sleep terrors (ages one and a half to 13 years) of 56.2 per cent. There was a high prevalence of sleep terrors (34.4 per cent) at one and a half years of age but that prevalence decreased to 5.3 per cent at age 13.

The overall childhood prevalence of sleepwalking (ages two and a half to 13 years) was 29.1 per cent. Sleepwalking was relatively infrequent during the preschool years but the prevalence increased steadily to 13.4 per cent by age 10 years.

Study results showed that children who had sleep terrors during early childhood were more likely to develop sleepwalking later in childhood at age 5 years or older than children who did not experience sleep terrors in early childhood (34.4 per cent vs 21.7 per cent).

Children's odds of sleepwalking increased based on the sleepwalking history of their parents.

Children with one parent who was a sleepwalker had three times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker compared with children whose parents did not sleepwalk; and children whose parents both had a history of sleepwalking had seven times the odds of becoming a sleepwalker, according to the results.

"These findings point to a strong genetic influence on sleepwalking and, to a lesser degree, sleep terrors. This effect may occur through polymorphisms in the genes involved in slow-wave sleep generation or sleep depth," researchers said.

If you suffer from asthma then you know that controlling the condition is the key to ensuring good quality of life. Now, scientists have come up with a bunch of tips and to help you do just that.

Allergist James Sublett, MD, at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI), said that patients were prone to hospitalization because they weren't aware of simple measures that can asthma under control. He added that sufferers are also not aware that uncontrolled asthma is dangerous and far costlier.

ACAAI has put together this list of facts to help you understand how you can not only achieve better outcomes with your asthma, but also start breathing easier.

Asthma sufferers may not realize that getting their symptoms under control can improve their overall health. Controlled asthma means:

No or fewer asthma symptoms even at night or after exercise.

Prevention of all or most asthma attacks.

Participation in all activities, including exercise.

No emergency room visits or hospital stays.

Less need for quick-relief medicines.

Minimize side effects from asthma medications.

Immunotherapy (allergy shots) can reduce sensitivity to the allergens that trigger asthma attacks and significantly reduce the severity of the disease. It might even prevent the development of asthma in some children with seasonal allergies.

Asthma is a complex condition, and exists in a variety of forms, including allergic asthma, exercise-induced asthma and work-related asthma. Each type can have different symptoms and triggers, and each requires a different approach to diagnosis and treatment. Similarly, each patient also has a different set of symptoms and triggers, which sets off an asthma attack.

According to the newly updated ACAAI Asthma Management and the Allergist: Better Outcomes at Lower Cost, asthma care provided by allergists is associated with better patient outcomes across a range of important markers.