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Homeowners dogged by household fleas need look no farther than the broom closet to solve their problem. Scientists have determined that vacuuming kills fleas in all stages of their lives, with an average of 96 percent success in adult fleas and 100 percent destruction of younger fleas. In fact, the results were so surprisingly definitive that the lead scientist repeated the experiments several times to be sure the findings were correct.

Every year, 300,000 Americans die suddenly when, out of the blue, a "storm" of electrical activity arises within their heart muscle. A new paper sheds new light on the origins of this phenomenon, called ventricular fibrillation, and the ability of VF research in animals to be translated into humans.

Scientists have uncovered the molecular mechanism by which the protein osteocrin controls bone growth -- a discovery that may have important implications for people suffering from bone diseases affecting skeletal growth.

Most doctors don't talk about breast reconstruction with women before cancer surgery, depriving them of key information that can sway their decision about whether to have the whole breast or just a lump removed, new research suggests. Only one-third of the roughly 1,200 women in the study said surgeons discussed cosmetic remedies with them in advance. When the topic did come up, women were four times more likely to choose the more drastic operation, mastectomy.

NEW YORK -- Researchers at three U.S. medical centers are testing a cancer drug under the theory that some cancers are fed by cancerous stem cells. The researchers said cancerous stem cells are aberrant cells that maintain and propagate malignant tumors. The stem cells may be impervious to most standard cancer therapies, The New York Times said Friday. While critics say the stem cell enthusiasts are heading down a blind alley, proponents of the theory are looking for ways to kill the stem cells, the newspaper said.

High-dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation, the controversial, arduous, yet once-popular combination treatment that fell out of favor as a therapy for breast cancer, has proven not to be beneficial as an adjuvant therapy for women with node-positive disease, according to an expansive analysis conducted by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. In a review of 15 randomized high-dose chemotherapy studies conducted around the world between 1988 and 2002, the investigators from M. D.

The Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation (TNBC), and Susan G. Komen for the Cure convened one of the first "think tanks" dedicated specifically to triple negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive and difficult-to-treat form of the disease. The meeting was held prior to the opening of the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

PHOENIX -- Provista Life Sciences LLC (PLS), a diagnostic development and commercialization company, announced today it has successfully completed extensive clinical trials on a new blood test for the early detection of breast cancer. The test is called the BT Test(TM) and it is being made available to a select number of physicians in the Phoenix market as part of the company's initial market release.

WASHINGTON -- Today Lung Cancer Alliance (LCA) sent questionnaires to Presidential candidates asking for their positions and plans to reduce the mortality of lung cancer, which continues to take more lives each year than breast, prostate and colon cancers combined. Laurie Fenton-Ambrose, LCA President and CEO, said, "For decades lung cancer has been the leading cancer killer. This will not change until a President demands accountability and change." The questionnaire states: "Lung cancer does not discriminate. It is the biggest cancer killer in every ethnic group.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Human Genome Sciences, Inc. announced today that it has initiated dosing of patients in a Phase 2 clinical trial of HGS-ETR1 (mapatumumab) in combination with the chemotherapy agents paclitaxel and carboplatin as first-line therapy in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. "The majority of patients who are newly diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer have locally advanced or metastatic disease that is currently incurable," said Philip D.