May help researchers develop cancer therapies that target one enzyme, while leaving the other alone
Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have found that two enzymes that catalyze the same reaction and produce the same product have opposite effects on cell growth and death. These findings may help researchers develop cancer therapies that target one enzyme, while leaving the other alone.
In the November issue of the Journal of Biological Chemist
UCSF surgeons are using a novel technique to remove tumors from the cervical region of the spine that were previously thought “inoperable.”
Called a lateral paramedian transpedicular approach, the technique uses advances in spinal instrumentation and reconstructive strategies to provide a direct approach to the removal of cervical spinal tumors with minimal, or no, neural manipulation.
The procedure is reported in the November issue of Operative Neurosurgery. UCSF
Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Therapy Is the Only Implantable Device Specifically Indicated for Long-term Treatment of TRD
NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center is the first in the greater New York City-area to offer Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) Therapy as a long-term treatment specifically approved by the FDA for treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
VNS Therapy is approved as a long-term adjunctive (add-on) treatment for patients 18 years of a
Workers who take probiotics daily are less likely to be off work with common illnesses, such as colds and gastroenteritis, than workers who don’t. An exploratory study published today in the open access journal Environmental Health shows that workers who took a daily dose of the probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus reuteri were 2.5 times less likely to take sick leave than workers who took a placebo.
Py Tubelius, from Tetra Pak Occupational Health and Safety AB, and colleagues
The UK’s Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin (DTB), published by Which?, has identified an important error in standard guidelines on fetal varicella syndrome. This finding has major implications worldwide for advice given to women with chickenpox in late pregnancy.
Fetal varicella syndrome is an uncommon but potentially fatal condition that can affect the unborn child of a pregnant woman who catches chickenpox. It can cause problems such as skin loss or scarring, under-development or we
Western Governments seem to have learned many of the lessons of how to cope with thyroid cancers in the aftermath of a nuclear accident, a prominent thyroid specialist stated on Monday.
Professor Michael Sheppard is part of the WHO team which was sent to Chernobyl in the wake of the accident, to review how those affected were coping with the disaster. He believes that the UK, as well as other developed Western countries, have taken on many of the lessons of the accident.
New findings on different treatment options including new therapies for prostate cancer were presented at the 13th European Cancer Conference (ECCO).
A Dutch study suggested treating prostate cancer patients with higher doses of radiotherapy significantly improved patient outcome and treatment over a five-year period. Another evaluated which patients would benefit from early adjuvant anti-androgen therapy. Data was presented on a new compound to treat androgen independent prostate
New sensor systems being developed will help treat cancer and improve the accuracy and reliability of existing radiation treatments. They should help improve patient care and outcomes. The results will go straight to commercialisation when finalised next year.
The INVORAD project developed systems for real-time radiation monitoring for patient dosimetry in Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy (IMRT). IMRT is a radiation therapy for cancers that improves clinical outcomes by more accur
Does a combination of radiation therapy and the inhibition of integrins (key molecules in angiogenesis) improve the chance of cure in cancer?
An increasing number of cancer patients are cured today by radiation therapy – alone or in combination with surgery or chemotherapy. At the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ), scientists of the Clinical Cooperation Unit “Radiation Oncology” headed by Professor Dr. Dr. Peter Huber are identifying ways to fu
The amounts of health promoting compounds in fruit and vegetable products vary so much that the possible beneficial health effects from these products is far from optimal. Simulations done by researchers at Wageningen University predict about a 45% reduction in the risk of colon cancer (2700 cases per year in the Netherlands) if the entire food production chain can see to it that the average quality of healthy substances in fruit and vegetable products increases by a factor of 3.
Fu
Can it be that the stress on the use of antiseptics and antibiotics in hospitals is actually putting patients at a greater risk of suffering fatal bacterial infection?
Yes, argues Mark Spigelman, a visiting professor at the Sanford F. Kuvin Center for the Study of Infectious and Tropical Diseases at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Faculty of Medicine. Prof. Spigelman points to a recent BBC report on the poor record of bacterial infections in patients (the worst in Europe) i
Liverpool researchers have found that a garlic supplement could help beat Britain’s biggest killer.
New scientific evidence shows that aged garlic extract (AGE) can significantly reduce the chances of heart attacks in patients with existing coronary problems. British Heart Foundation* statistics shows that cardiovascular disease kills one in three people in the UK, totalling 233,000 deaths in 2003. Researchers from Liverpool John Moores University have discovered that
The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor but new therapies such as gemcitabine have contributed to improving the outcome for patients. Data presented at the 13th European Conference (ECCO) revealed that using the combination of gemcitabine and capecitabine increased overall survival in some patients.
Between May 2003 and January 2005, 533 patients with previously untreated or cytological proven locally advanced/metastatic carcinoma of the pancreas were randomised to receive e
New study moves sinusitis into top three reasons for chronic cough
In a new Mayo Clinic study, researchers found that more than one-third of chronic cough patients given a CT scan had sinusitis, inflammation of the sinuses. Findings will be presented at the American College of Chest Physicians CHEST 2005 meeting in Montreal.
“This study suggests that sinusitis is more common than we had previously thought in people with chronic cough,” says Kaiser Lim, M.D., lead rese
The accumulation of fat in the liver, or “fatty liver,” resulting from accumulation of central body fat, and perhaps not alcohol consumption, may represent an important underlying mechanism for the association between liver enzymes and hypertension.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University at Buffalo, appears in the current issue (November 2005) of the journal Hypertension.
“Our findings extend previous work, and indicate that the association of the liver
While most people know that chest pain can signify the presence of heart disease, it is less well known that shortness of breath can also be a serious cardiac symptom.
Now, researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have found that patients with shortness of breath can have a higher risk of dying from cardiac disease than patients without symptoms, and even than patients with typical cardiac pain.
Authors of a study published in the November 3 issue of the New England J
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