The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force is recommending that doctors screen all sexually active women aged 25 and younger, as well as older women at risk for chlamydia, as part of their regular health-care visits. The Task Force said that, despite the spread of chlamydia, many women are not being screened and that there is good scientific evidence that routine screening and treatment could reduce serious consequences of chlamydia in women.
For more information: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/uspstfix.htm Journal of Adolescent Health, March 2001: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jahonline

Scientists at the University Hospital in Nottingham, UK have found that increased levels of gastrin, a hormone produced by the stomach, accompany precancerous changes in the cells of the stomach and might ultimately serve as a marker to predict stomach cancer. Gastrin not only stimulates the secretion of acid by the stomach, but also serves as a growth factor for various cells that line the stomach.
Source :British Journal of Surgery April 2001;88:564-568.

Researchers at the University of Heidelberg, Germany have used RT-PCR to detect lung cancer cells in blood or coughed-up fluid, or sputum. The test aims to pick up RNA that may be present in lung cancer cells but not normal cells. The test focuses on preproGRP a marker found in patients with lung cancer. They report test was so sensitive that it could detect as few as 10 cancer cells added to 10 milliliters of blood or 100 cancer cells in 5 milliliters of sputum.
Source: International Journal of Cancer, April 1, 2001;92:1-8.