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Chemo or no chemo? That is the question. Doctors are at odds over whether some women with breast cancer should have chemotherapy—one treatment among the arsenal long seen as crucial to fighting the disease, along with surgery and radiation. Many oncologists are shunning chemo as risky and ineffective at combating some early-stage breast tumors. Traditionally, the majority of women with invasive breast cancer were treated with some combination of surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. (Lagnado, 1/29)

It’s been one of the vexing questions in medicine: Why is it that most people who have heart attacks or strokes have few or no conventional risk factors? These are patients with normal levels of cholesterol and blood pressure, no history of smoking or diabetes, and no family history of cardiovascular disease. Why aren’t they spared? To some researchers, this hidden risk is the dark matter of cardiology: an invisible but omnipresent force that lands tens of thousands of patients in the hospital each year. But now scientists may have gotten a glimpse of part of it. (Kolata, 1/29)

Actress Olivia Munn revealed on a podcast in 2016 that she had frozen her eggs. She was 35 at the time. “Every girl should do it,” she said confidently. “For one, you don't have to race the clock anymore. You don't have to worry about it, worry about your job or anything. It's there. ”When some celebrities, fertility clinic representatives and other proponents talk about egg freezing, they often make it sound like a sure thing. You go in, get your eggs put on ice, then go back a few years later. A doctor fertilizes them, puts the embryos inside you, and months later a baby pops out.If only it were that easy. (Cha, 1/29)

It’s about the size of a pack of vending-machine Oreos, costs $1,000, and, although it can’t leap tall buildings, it can do something genomics researchers value much more: The pocket-sized MinION has sequenced a human genome by reading longer strings of DNA than reported for any other device. In doing so, it has filled in 12 gaps in the supposedly completely sequenced (but not really) human genome, scientists said on Monday. The human genome remains incompletely sequenced, nearly 15 years after the project to do so declared victory, because most sequencing methods can’t decipher certain parts of the 3-billion-bases-long blueprint of heredity. To do so requires reading thousands of bases — the A’s, T’s, C’s, and G’s that constitute the genetic code — in a continuous ribbon. (Begley, 1/29)

E-cigarette users are possibly putting themselves at risk for developing heart disease, lung and bladder cancers, according to a new report. The findings, though preliminary, indicate that the devices—which aerosolize nicotine and contain no tobacco—may not be as safe as previously assumed. The study, conducted by researchers from the New York University School of Medicine, exposed mice to e-cigarette smoke (ECS) for 12 weeks at a dose and duration equivalent to light e-cigarette smoking for 10 years in humans. By the end of the trial, the smoke had caused DNA damage in the animal’s lungs, bladders and hearts, as well as limiting lung proteins and important DNA repair. (Wolf, 1/29)

Years of scolding from health experts about a good night’s rest may be breaking through. Americans are finally getting more sleep — about 18 minutes more per weeknight compared with 2003. It may not sound like much, but researchers say it’s a positive sign. (Chokshi, 1/29)

A fitful night's sleep and a habit of daytime catnapping may be an early-warning sign of Alzheimer's dementia, according to new research conducted in humans and mice. Restless nights and sleepy days are a common pattern in patients with full-blown Alzheimer's. Those disrupted circadian rhythms are a symptom that can upend the lives of caregivers and cause confusion and anxiety in patients. (Healy, 1/29)

The former NFL wide receiver with “FEAR GOD” etched on his biceps and his mother’s name written over his heart opened the worn black composition book with a faded newspaper photograph of retired NBA player Metta World Peace taped to the cover. Titus Young was once classified among the most dangerous inmates at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles and spent most of his days in lockdown. In early 2017, he started to write. (Fenno, 1/29)

Climate change is all doom and gloom, quite literally.  ... But a new study from the peer-reviewed journal Global Environmental Change surveyed 342 people and found a link between climate change concern and depression and anxiety. The hardest hit: women and low-income people who are worried about the planet, Reuters reports. (Nelson and Huttner, 1/29)

The human papillomavirus, or HPV, is now the most common sexually transmitted disease, and one local researcher is urging dentists to get on board to warn patients about it. But talking about HPV — and how it can be spread through oral sex — can be awkward. (Griffin, 1/29)