About 40 percent of cigarettes in New Jersey are smuggled into the state, according to a recent state Treasury Department report. And the figure hardly seems surprising, given that New Jersey levels a $2.70 tax on each pack of cigarettes sold. The high tax has created not only a significant black market for cigarettes in the state, but has also resulted in smokers purchasing their cigarettes out of state either via the Internet or by driving across state lines.

The medical community had high hopes for a device that would prevent strokes using a mechanism similar to that used to prevent heart attacks but the study was abruptly halted as the number of strokes in patients with the device continued to rise.

Two new studies have discredited the common belief that mastectomy should be the standard treatment for breast cancer in women under 40. In fact, say both teams of researchers, the practice of lumpectomy in which just the cancerous tumor and a small amount of surrounding tissue is removed carries no higher risk of recurrence or mortality than a mastectomy.

A recent UK study has compared the results of following standard weight loss guidelines to those achieved by the commercial weight loss program Weight Watchers and found that people were much more likely to drop kilos or pounds, in our country in the latter program. In fact, participants in the study lost twice as much weight on the commercial program, reports the UK Medical Research Council in The Lancet.

In one month, it will become increasingly difficult to find a sugar-sweetened beverage in any city-owned building in Boston. And in the meantime, to prime residents for this phase-out ordered by Mayor Thomas M. Menino, a $1 million federally funded campaign will urge them to reduce their consumption of these beverages. The city-wide media campaign is funded by the U.S.

Another substance for expectant mothers to be wary of may well be the common painkillers known as NSAIDS non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. A new Canadian study has found that 7.5 percent of more than 4,700 women who miscarried had taken an NSAID at some time during the pregnancy. This was compared with the less than 3 percent of the women who had taken NSAIDS without suffering a miscarriage.

Biomarkers detectable in spinal fluid and blood, magnetic resonance imaging, and tests of cognition (memory) are all means of assessing whether a person will develop Alzheimer s disease. But for now, says a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the latter test requiring nothing more technical than a paper-based test and a pen is the most accurate means of predicting the disease.

The number of adults smoking 10 or more cigarettes a day has declined slightly, but more adults now smoke one to nine cigarettes daily, according to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A study just published in BMJ disputes the long-held belief that the onset of menopause is linked to an increased rate of heart disease in women. Yes, say the researchers, heart disease mortality in women increases with age but the increase is steady, with no acceleration at the time of menopause.

In the current issue of The American, science writer Jon Entine takes a look at the comprehensive list of scientific institutions world-wide that have found no cause for concern about bisphenol A (BPA), and asks why politicians are nevertheless imposing bans on the substance. Anti-BPA campaigners have created a straw man in the way they portray the research landscape, Entine observes.