Health: Body News.

Implant Interference

Breast implants can make detection of breast cancer difficult. To determine just how often they impede diagnosis, a nationwide study compared the medical records of 137 breast-cancer patients with implants and 685 patients without implants. Mammograms that were done within a year of diagnosis missed 55 percent of breast cancers in women with implants, versus 33 percent of those in women with natural breasts. (The tumors diagnosed were no more advanced in women who had implants than in women who did not.) Researcher Diana L. Miglioretti of the Group Health Cooperative in Seattle advises breast-augmented women who are getting mammograms to request an implant displacement view, a technique that manipulates the implants' position to allow for a somewhat improved image of the breast tissue.

Growing Nails

Warm weather, pregnancy, and even typing boost the growth rate of nails, according to a review of nail-related research in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. Calcium, vitamin D, oral contraceptives, and biotin may also speed growth, although further studies are needed, says Richard K. Scher, a dermatologist specializing in nail disorders at Columbia University/Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. Slower growth is linked with aging, smoking, malnutrition, nursing, and cold temperatures (wearing gloves in winter can help, the researchers say). Fingernails grow about three millimeters per month, the report states, while the rate for toenails is about 60 percent slower. Nail polish probably ...