Researchers from Dartmouth Medical School say they have a new way of identifying a deadly form of breast cancer that plagues 17 to 37 percent of all breast cancer patients and mostly premenopausal black women.

Identification comes in the form of locating the marker nestin -- a long filamentous protein indicating the presence of basal epithelial tumors -- which makes this type of cancer hard to diagnose and hard to treat. It also puts patients at high risk for recurrence, marked by a very short time between treatment and relapse.

"Ideally, a marker like nestin would enable clinicians to monitor these patients through frequent tests of a biomarker and, in doing so, detect the cancer before it has a chance to come back," says one professor.

Researchers must now find an effective means of detecting nestin in a clinical screening setting. It won't be as simple as a blood test -- but a non-invasive collection of mammary duct samples may enable the development of a screening tool for at-risk patients.

A popular baldness drug manufactured by Merck & Co Inc called Finasteride, better know as Propecia, can mask an important marker used to detect prostate cancer. High levels of the PSA in the blood can signal prostate cancer or other problems such as an enlarged prostate.

Propecia has been shown in a study to artificially lower the prostate specific antigen (PSA). Dr. Anthony D'Amico, the lead author of the study from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, recommends middle-aged men taking Propecia to have their PSA levels multiplied by two to account for the difference. He says, "The main finding is that this drug called Propecia, which men use for hair loss typically between the ages of 30-60, affects the PSA levels".

Merck said in a statement that information has been included for customers on the label since the product was first introduced in 1997. It advises patients who undergo serum PSA tests to tell their doctor if they are taking Propecia.

It may be on the label but I hope our doctors are aware of this. Are they asking the patients if they are using Propecia? I'm sure there are plenty of men who have not read the fine print and don't mention this information to their physicians.

Parents who know they are at high-risk for passing on genetic defects that can lead to disease for their child, have been relying on genetic testing to screen embryos for inherited diseases. British scientists announced today they have developed a new test that focuses on DNA fingerprinting near the gene. The new test allows more couples to be tested since they are looking at DNA markers opposed to trying to find the gene, which can vary. According to the researchers, this is a more reliable test. The method involves taking a cell from the embryo to detect signs of the DNA marker and discarding it if it does show the likelihood of gene mutation. Only healthy embryos are used during the in-vitro fertilization, ensuring parents a healthy child.

Right now, there are strict ethical controls on this type of medical procedure, but in the years to come, when these types of procedures become more commonplace, and less expensive, will the controls begin to relax? I am not going to argue against choosing a healthy embryo over one that carries a genetic mutation that might one day lead to disease later in life, but I am still hesitant to embrace where the medical field might be going with these new tests and the potential for superficial application such as -- say -- designer babies. Paris Hilton mommies embryonic shopping for a child. I realize that is an extreme example, but it is the one I fear most. In addition, I am not an adherent of scientific worship and see medical science as a very shaky inexact science. The more I learn, the more I realize they do not know. However, here we are, and you can't un-ring a bell. Hopefully the future will prove all my misgivings wrong.

For more thoughts on designer babies, related posts: Woman pregnant with cancer-free baby and Disease-free designer babies embryo selection.

The first time you hear incredulous news you might be inclined to wonder aloud in stunned amazement -- how did that happen?! -- which is exactly how I reacted when I read about John Heron in Scotland, who was diagnosed with kidney cancer and scheduled to have his cancerous tumor removed only to have his healthy kidney removed instead. The hospital apologized, his wife refused comment. Aren't there just times when saying you are sorry just does not mean what it could. I understood his wife's silence. There are events in life that just leave you speechless. What happened to Heron more than qualified.

In today's The Daily Times of Marysville Tennessee is a new report that Goldie Claude has quite a bit to say about the surgeon who removed her healthy kidney and left the cancerous kidney. The 86 year-old woman is distraught and suing her doctors over the tragic error. Before the operation she worked two 12-hour shifts every weekend taking care of patients at a small health care facility. Bless her heart, she's 86. According to Claude, who is left with one-third of one kidney, says she can't work now and is having nervous spells. I can imagine.

There is a lesson here that needs to be put forward. In the event you ever find yourself scheduled for surgery, take a permanent marker and ask a trusted family member or friend to write on your body instructions on what should be removed. With arrows if necessary. Never mind if you grew up with your mother telling you to quit writing on yourself with a ballpoint pen. Just do it. Remember what happened to John and Goldie.