Your Thursday morning health roundup:
PSA testing: Should healthy guys get routine blood tests to screen for prostate cancer? A new study does not answer that question, but does attach some numbers to the risks and benefits of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing, Reuters reports. If 1,000 men in their late 50s and 60s got an annual test, there would be nine fewer prostate cancer deaths -- but also 247 biopsies that find nothing and 45 harmless cancers diagnosed, resulting in 41 additional men getting prostate surgery or radiation, the study projected. Those treatments can lead to impotence, incontinence and other side effects.- West Nile emergency: The mayor of Dallas has declared a state of emergency because of an outbreak West Nile virus, which has killed 16 people in Texas. The declaration clears the way for aerial spraying of insecticide to fight the mosquito-borne illness.
- Blood type and heart risk: People with type A, B and AB blood have a slightly increased risk of heart disease, compared to people with type O blood, new research finds.
- Butterflies and radiation: While researchers have found no evidence that radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear plant harmed humans, they have found mutations in some butterflies -- including dented eyes and stunted wings -- the Associated Press reports.
Today's talker: The vast majority of people who buy lottery tickets will never come close to the $337 million some lucky soul just won on a Powerball ticket purchased in Michigan. But they keep playing anyway, ignoring the fact that they are more likely to be hit by lightening than to win a big payout. Why? It's partly about being swept up in group behavior -- but also about engaging in a little pleasant magical thinking, CNN reports. "(The lottery) lets you believe in magic," one expert writes. "that you will be the one who spent a little and got a lot; that you will defy the extraordinary odds against winning."
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