CMA detected chromosomal abnormalities in just over 7 percent of patients, making it the best available genetic test, the doctors said. By comparison, G-banded karyotyping identified aberrations in only 2 percent of patients while fragile X testing uncovered problems in less than 1 percent.

Researchers hope the new study will convince more insurance companies to cover CMA testing. But work to find more genetic links to autism continues to frustrate scientists. Some believe that most cases have a genetic predisposition, which could lead to earlier diagnosis and better prenatal counseling. Currently, however, only between 10 percent and 15 percent of cases can be traced to their genetic roots.

Epilepsy option

Epilepsy patients with hard-to-control seizures soon may be given another treatment option.

Late last week, a government advisory panel narrowly recommended approval of a Medtronic Inc. device designed to short-circuit seizures by sending electrical pulses to the brain, a technique known as deep brain stimulation.

The recommendation now will be considered by the Food and Drug Administration, which usually goes along with its panels' recommendations. The device already is used to treat Parkinson's disease and other disorders.

The panel voted 7-5 because they said the company's study missed its main goal of showing that the device reduced seizures over three months better than no stimulation at all. The company argued that results were skewed because one patient temporarily developed a different type of seizure when the device was turned on.

Leaving that patient's results out of the study, the device reduced the number of seizures by 5.4 a month compared to 2.9 for patients who received no stimulation, the company said. Before the study began, all of 110 patients averaged 20 seizures a month.

The panel urged the FDA to require warnings that the device may cause depression or suicidal behavior. It also recommended a five-year follow-up study.

About 2.3 million adults in the United States have epilepsy, and about 430,000 of these still have seizures while taking medications or cannot tolerate the drugs. The current cost of the device and surgery is about $60,000.

Exercise benefits

Exercise can help you stay healthy -- even if you see those extra pounds start to creep back on.

That's the conclusion of a University of Missouri study which found that participants maintained many benefits of exercise even as their weight started to go up.

"Although many people are successful at losing weight through diet and exercise, the majority will relapse and regain the weight," said Tom Thomas, the professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology who led the study.

"The findings of this study indicate that regaining weight is very detrimental; however, exercise can counter those negative effects. The findings support the recommendation to continue exercising after weight loss, even if the weight is regained."

Thomas found those who exercised maintained improvements in cholesterol, oxygen consumption, blood pressure and glucose levels despite the pounds they regained.

Migraines and heart attacks

Migraine sufferers seem to be twice as likely to have heart attacks as people without migraines, according to a new study at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Researchers found migraine sufferers also faced an increased risk for stroke and were more likely to have key risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

"Migraine has been viewed as a painful condition that affects quality of life, but not as a threat to people's overall health," said Dr. Richard B. Lipton, the lead investigator. "Our study suggests that migraine is not an isolated disorder and that, when caring for people with migraine, we should also be attentive to detecting and treating their cardiovascular risk factors."

The study, published in a recent issue of Neurology, found that migraine both with and without aura are risk factors for heart disease and stroke in a broad sample of the U.S. population, including people from all walks of life between the ages of 18 and 80.

Keeping up appearances

Despite the Great Recession, a good many Americans are still keeping up appearances -- literally.

Nearly 10 million cosmetic surgical and nonsurgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2009, down just 2 percent from 2008, according to the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.

"Plastic surgery is feeling the effects of the recession, just like many other sectors of the marketplace," said Dr. Renato Saltz, society president.

"However, repeat patients and those putting off surgery are likely the reason for the small growth in nonsurgical procedures. Growth in demand will likely return as the recession eases and baby boomer's offspring begin to explore surgical options."

For women, breast augmentation topped the most sought-after surgery list with nearly 312,000 procedures followed by lipoplasty, eyelid surgery, abdominoplasty and breast reduction. For men, it was liposuction (40,519) followed by rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery, breast reduction and hair transplants. Nearly 3 million women and more than 250,000 men had Botox procedures.

Wiping out dinosaurs

It came from outer space -- and it snuffed out the dinosaurs.

That's the unanimous opinion of 41 international scientists who recently concluded that it was an asteroid -- not volcanoes -- that wiped out half of the species on Earth 65 million years ago.

Studying more than 20 years of evidence since the theory was first proposed in 1980, the experts said the asteroid was six miles in diameter and traveling at about 43,000 mph when it slammed into the planet near Chicxulub, Mexico.

The impact created a crater 24 miles deep and 125 miles wide. It produced a force 1 billion times more powerful than the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, triggering a chain of events that caused a global winter and destroyed much of life on Earth in a few days. The extinction wiped out more than half of all species, including the dinosaurs, birdlike pterosaurs and large marine reptiles, clearing the way for mammals to take over the planet.

The study was published in the journal Science.

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