September 11, 2007, 11:39 PM CT

Generic prostate drug finds high-risk cancers early

Men now have another good reason to consider taking finasteride, a well-known generic drug that shrinks an enlarged prostate and reduces the risk of getting prostate cancer by 25 percent. A new study from the Southwest Oncology Group strongly suggests that for men at risk of the disease which strikes one in six men finasteride also raises the odds that physicians will find fast-growing prostate cancers early, when they are most easily treatable.

It appears that a man concerned about prostate-cancer risk, who is having a PSA test on a regular basis, will not only reduce his risk of prostate cancer if he takes finasteride, but will help find the cancers that pose the highest risk, says Ian M. Thompson, M.D., the studys senior author and a urologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio.

The new results, embargoed until 4 p.m. Sept. 11, appear online ahead of print publication Sept. 18 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"This report provides an important interpretation of results that confounded an overall favorable interpretation of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial initially, and should help lessen fears that finasteride somehow causes more aggressive prostate cancer, says Frank L. Meyskens, Jr., M.D., Southwest Oncology Group associate chair for cancer control and prevention......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

September 4, 2007, 7:05 PM CT

Modeling Skin Cancer

Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of human cancer in the United States, as per the Centers for Disease Control. But in order to more fully understand skin cancer in humans, researchers must use model organisms, such as mice, to study the disease in the laboratory.

This months release of Cold Spring Harbor Protocols (www.cshprotocols.org) includes free access to a protocol for generating mice with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), one of the most common types of skin cancer. The procedure involves injecting mice with a drug called DMBA, which mutates (and thereby activates) a tumor-promoting gene. A second drug, called TPA, then encourages the proliferation of cells that carry the mutated gene. The resulting mass of cells is a tumor.

The protocol, freely available at http://www.cshprotocols.org/cgi/content/full/2007/18/pdb.prot4837, describes how to monitor and evaluate the mice for clinical signs of tumorigenesis. It also includes methods for preparing the tumor tissues for histological analysis, which allows researchers to study characteristics of the tumors at a microscopic level.

The protocol is from Dr. Michael Girardis group at the Yale University School of Medicine (http://info.med.yale.edu/dermatology/dept/girardi.html). Girardis team has used the procedure to examine the role of the immune system in susceptibility to SCC. It can also be used to test other physiological and environmental factors that may influence the growth and progression of skin cancer in mice, and will ultimately help researchers to better understand and control the disease in humans......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

September 3, 2007, 12:50 AM CT

Interferon Melanoma An Immune Cells

A new study shows that an important drug used in the therapy of cancerous melanoma has little effect on the melanoma cells themselves. Instead, it activates immune-system cells to fight the disease.

The drug, called interferon alpha (IFNa), is used to clean up microscopic tumor cells that may remain in the body following surgery for the disease. It is the only drug approved for this purpose.

Scientists say that these findings underscore the need to develop ways to make melanoma cells more vulnerable to the drug, or to overcome the block within the cells that prevents them from responding to it.

The study showed that melanoma cells taken directly from patients, as well as those grown in the laboratory, respond poorly to IFNa, even when the drug is given at very high doses, while immune cells respond well to the same substance.

The study, led by scientists with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, is reported in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

"IFNa is effective in only 10 to 20 percent of patients, but it's the best treatment available for these patients, and no therapies on the horizon have been proven any more effective," says principal investigator William E. Carson, III, professor of surgery and a melanoma specialist at Ohio State's James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

August 28, 2007, 9:01 PM CT

Genetic-screening Guidelines For Cancer Drug

Not everyone needs a genetic test before taking the cancer drug irinotecan, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration should modify its prescription guidelines to say so, as per scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Irinotecan, also known by its brand name Camptosar, is used mainly as a second-line therapy for colorectal cancer. The FDA recommends screening patients for a gene that could make them more susceptible to the harmful side effects of the drug, the most worrisome of which is neutropenia, an abnormally low number of white blood cells.

In a paper reported in the Aug. 28, 2007 Journal of the National Cancer Institute, UNC scientists analyzed data from nine prior studies of irinotecan. They observed that patients who received a medium or high dose of the drug had greater risk of neutropenia if they had two copies of a variation of the gene UGT1A1, known as UGT1A1*28. At lower doses, however, the risk was the same regardless of what UGT1A1 gene the patients had.

A number of institutions saw the FDAs recommendation as a mandate to test all patients before treating them with irinotecan even though a number of clinicians didnt think it was always necessary given that low doses of the drug werent causing problems, said Howard McLeod, Pharm.D., senior author of the study and director of the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

August 27, 2007, 9:22 PM CT

Secret Of Bone's Strength

Researchers and engineers are eager to understand the secret behind bone's lightweight toughness so they can mimic it in the design of new materials, but experimental studies have revealed many different strength mechanisms at different scales of focus, rather than a single theory.

New research from MIT appearing in the July 25 issue of Nanotechnology reveals for the first time the role of bone's atomistic structure in a toughening mechanism that incorporates two previously proposed theories. This combination mechanism allows for the sacrifice of a small piece of the bone in order to save the whole, helps explain why bone tolerates small cracks, and seems to be adapted specifically to accommodate bone's need for continuous rebuilding from the inside out.

"The newly discovered molecular mechanism unifies controversial attempts of explaining sources of the toughness of bone, because it illustrates that two of the earlier explanations play key roles at the atomistic scale," said the study's author, Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Professor Markus Buehler of MIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

"It's quite possible that each scale of bone-from the molecular on up-has its own toughening mechanism," said Buehler. "This hierarchical distribution of toughening may be critical to explaining the intriguing properties of bone and laying the foundation for new materials design that includes the nanostructure as a specific design variable"......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

August 27, 2007, 9:20 PM CT

Cancer fighter may help ICU patients

HSP 90 inhibitors, which are finding favor in fighting cancer, may also help battle overwhelming infection in intensive care patients, scientists say.

Studies in an animal model of sepsis, a major cause of ICU patient death, indicate HSP 90 inhibitors help degrade proteins perpetuating inflammation, says Dr. John D. Catravas, director of the Medical College of Georgia Vascular Biology Center.

Results include restored lung function, reduced blood vessel leakage, which can lead to dangerous swelling in the lungs, and fewer byproducts of inflammation such as white blood cells, MCG scientists report in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a journal of the American Thoracic Society.

They already have begun looking at the impact of HSP 90 inhibitors on the function of other organs, such as the liver and kidneys, also typically impacted by sepsis.

"We would die without an inflammatory response, but unreined inflammation is bad," says Dr. Catravas. That's just what happens with overwhelming infection; inflammation, which helps the body eliminate invaders, essentially keeps working after invaders are gone and the new target is the body.

"These are proteins that initially are useful in combating an invading bacteria but then, in some of us that develop sepsis for reasons that are poorly understood, the inflammatory response is amplified and stays much longer than it should," says Dr. Catravas, the paper's corresponding author......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:23:33 GMT

Another Day, Another Breakthrough

Mount Sinai Medical Center had launched this print advertisement campaign to promote its brand name emphasizing some remarkable achievements in medical science. The campaign apparently aims at announcing its rare success in some specific field of medical science, which has helped curing patients in an unimaginable manner. The advertisements are showing serene environment depicting good health and people doing exercise. Each advertisement explains a particular achievement, especially in horrific diseases, in medical sciences attained by the doctors working with the medical center.

The presentation of the campaign is extremely lucid and communicates the message with the help of its texts used in it. The advertisements are visually not that expressive however, copy has been very expressive and compelling. The punch line of the campaign reads, another day, another breakthrough signifying its incessant search for better ways of curing diseases. The campaign was created by DeVito/Verdi, NYC, US.

Via Ads of the World Posted by: Balendu      Read more     Source

August 16, 2007, 8:43 PM CT

Insecticide-treated Mosquito Nets Can Save Lives

Malaria is still responsible for over a million deaths every year, even though it has been known for some years that sleeping under an insecticide-treated net (ITN) greatly reduces the chance of being bitten by the mosquitoes which carry the disease. There have been heated arguments as to how best to increase the use of such nets, especially for children and pregnant women. Now research in Kenya, reported in the latest issue of PLoS Medicine, has shown that a free mass distribution programme has raised the rate of ITN use to an impressive 66%. Further good news from this research is that this high rate is more or less the same whatever the family income level.

Back in 2004 almost all ITNs available in Kenya were sold commercially and only 7% of children slept under nets, as per a survey conducted by Abdisalan Noor and his colleagues at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Their survey, involving 3,700 children in four parts of Kenya, also observed that, in the poorest families, who are most at risk of malaria, only 3% slept under nets.

During 2005 ITNs became increasingly available, heavily subsidised in clinics, and the scientists found an increase in the overall level of use to 24%. Free mass distribution began in 2006 and by the end of that year two-thirds of children were sleeping under nets. Rates of use need to be improved still further so that every child sleeps under a net, but the result is still impressive after just one year of free distribution......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

August 15, 2007, 9:11 PM CT

The memories you want to forget

CPainful, emotional memories that people would most like to forget may be the toughest to leave behind, particularly when memories are created through visual cues, as per a new study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

When youre watching the news on television and see footage of wounded soldiers in Iraq or ongoing coverage of national tragedies, it may stick with you more than a newspaper headline, said the studys lead author, Keith Payne, an assistant professor of psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

It is adaptive to be able to intentionally forget neutral events such as wrong directions, a friends outdated phone number or a switched meeting time. Intentional forgetting helps update memory with new information, Payne said.

But Payne and former psychology graduate student Elizabeth Corrigan observed that even mild emotional events, like getting a bad grade on a test or a negative comment from a coworker, can be hard to forget. Their study, Emotional constraints on intentional forgetting, appears in the September 2007 print issue of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

When people are trying to intentionally forget information, they need to mentally segregate that information and then block off the information they dont want to retrieve, Payne said......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source

August 1, 2007, 9:10 PM CT

Worldwide distribution of cervical cancer viruses and vaccine

The variety of human papilloma viruses that cause invasive cervical cancer cases worldwide are largely consistent across continents, as per a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

This finding means that prophylactic vaccines currently available against these two most prevalent types of human papillomavirus (HPV) - which can cause cervical cancer - could prevent about 70 percent of invasive cervical cancer (ICC) cases around the world, the scientists found.

"Our data confirm that HPV types 16 and 18 are the most common in invasive cancer and strengthen the data on the estimated number of cases that could be prevented with vaccination," said lead study author Jennifer Smith, Ph.D., a research assistant professor of epidemiology in the UNC School of Public Health and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. "As a result of this analysis, we now have additional information about other high-risk HPV types that cause invasive cancer to target for future HPV vaccine development".

The results were reported in the Aug. 1, 2007, issue of the International Journal of Cancer.

HPV is a sexually transmitted virus that can cause high-grade cervical lesions, increasing a woman's risk of developing invasive cervical cancer. There are approximately 14 high-risk types of HPV that cause invasive cervical cancer, Smith explains. The two most common types are 16 and 18, named for their genetic patterns. These virus types are responsible for about 70 percent of invasive cervical cancer and 50 percent of high-grade lesions worldwide, the study shows......... Posted by: Jessica      Read more         Source