Each year, millions of Americans undergo diagnostic tests aimed at spotting heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. And while we know a lot about what these tests and their results mean for the body, we still know very little about how they affect a patient's state of mind. Now, a Weill Medical College of Cornell University study that focused on cardiac stress testing may give researchers a powerful new tool to study those types of psychological effects.

Heart disease is the number one killer of adults in the United States. Each year over one million adults die from heart disease. But take heart: there are steps that can be taken to minimize risk factors and prevent heart disease, including eating a heart-healthy diet, participating in physical activity, and not smoking.

A new study is set to reopen the public debate over menopausal hormone therapy (HT). By focusing on younger, recently menopausal women, the Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study (KEEPS) seeks to show that supplemental estrogen prevents or delays the onset of heart disease - the number one killer of women. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center is one of eight national study sites. The four-year randomized clinical trial will recruit 720 women in order to determine whether estrogen slows the rate of hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis), the major cause of heart attacks. The study will also examine if an estrogen skin patch is more effective than an estrogen pill. HT reduces symptoms of menopause -- including hot flashes, abnormal vaginal bleeding, and mood changes.

As the number of women having twins has increased, so has the odds of developing a serious pregnancy complication called twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS). This disorder affects as many as 15 percent of identical twin pregnancies, and results in uneven blood flow between the fetuses. Until recently the outcome was usually death or disabilities for the surviving babies.

A simple test could reinvent how scoliosis is cared for in adolescents. NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital is among the first centers nationally to offer ScoliScore™, a new DNA-based molecular test that helps predict the risk of spinal curve progression. In other words, the test provides doctors with actionable information about the likelihood that an abnormal spine curve will get significantly worse or stay the same.

CBS News anchor Katie Couric and physicians from The Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health at NewYork-Presbyterian will host a seminar on screening for colon cancer at the Center on Thursday, March 26, 2009. The seminar is free and open to the public.

On March 25th 2009, Steven J. Corwin, MD, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, appeared on NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams to discuss electronic medical records.

A new book by Dr. Panchali Dhar, an anesthesiologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, called "Before the Scalpel: What Everyone Should Know About Anesthesia" (Tell Me Press) demystifies the process and terms associated with anesthesia and arranges the information in an easy-to-understand, topic-by-topic sourcebook.