Health News

Myriad Genetics' myplan™ lung cancer test meets primary clinical endpoint

Date: Sep-27-2013
Myriad Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) has announced new data published in Clinical Cancer Research that showed the myPlan Lung Cancer test is a significant predictor of lung cancer death in patients with early-stage, resectable lung adenocarcinoma and may be a valuable tool for selecting which early-stage patients should be considered for additional post-surgical chemotherapy. "Lung cancer remains one of the most difficult-to-treat cancers...

A path to flexible, low-cost sensors

Date: Sep-27-2013
Potential applications range from air-quality monitors to electronic skin Researchers at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen (TUM) are showing the way toward low-cost, industrial-scale manufacturing of a new family of electronic devices. A leading example is a gas sensor that could be integrated into food packaging to gauge freshness, or into compact wireless air-quality monitors. New types of solar cells and flexible transistors are also in the works, as well as pressure and temperature sensors that could be built into electronic skin for robotic or bionic applications...

Vaccine delivery to lungs using nanoparticles

Date: Sep-27-2013
Many viruses and bacteria infect humans through mucosal surfaces, such as those in the lungs, gastrointestinal tract and reproductive tract. To help fight these pathogens, scientists are working on vaccines that can establish a front line of defense at mucosal surfaces. Vaccines can be delivered to the lungs via an aerosol spray, but the lungs often clear away the vaccine before it can provoke an immune response...

New mechanism for protein misfolding may link to ALS

Date: Sep-27-2013
Proteins play important roles in the human body, particularly neuroproteins that maintain proper brain function. Brain diseases such as ALS, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's are known as "tangle diseases" because they are characterized by misfolded and tangled proteins which accumulate in the brain. A team of Australian and American scientists discovered that an unusual amino acid called BMAA can be inserted into neuroproteins, causing them to misfold and aggregate. BMAA is produced by cyanobacteria, photosynthetic bacteria that form scums or mats in polluted lakes or estuaries...

Cancer cells present at the outset of prostate cancer diagnosis may have implications for earlier treatment and better outcomes

Date: Sep-27-2013
A team of cancer researchers at the University of California, San Diego has identified the existence of precursor cells in early prostate cancers. These cells are resistant to androgen-deprivation therapy, and may drive the subsequent emergence of recurrent or metastatic prostate cancer. The scientists' findings, suggesting that potentially lethal castration-resistant prostate carcinoma cells already exist in some cancer patients at the very early stages of their disease, will be published by PLOS ONE on September 25, 2013...

Designing a safer ingredient for common cosmetic and sunblock

Date: Sep-27-2013
Using a particular type of titanium dioxide - a common ingredient in cosmetics, food products, toothpaste and sunscreen - could reduce the potential health risks associated with the widely used compound. The report on the substance, produced by the millions of tons every year for the global market, appears in the ACS journal Chemical Research in Toxicology. Francesco Turci and colleagues explain that titanium dioxide (TiO2) is generally considered a safe ingredient in commercially available skin products because it doesn't penetrate healthy skin. But there's a catch...

10 inexpensive, proven systems could slash death toll of mothers and children by 1.2 million

Date: Sep-27-2013
Ten health care innovations, if brought to scale immediately in low-resource countries, could have the potential to save the lives of some 1.2 million mothers and children in 2015. Right now the annual global death toll of mothers and children under 5 is 6.9 million. Between 2016-2020, these innovations have the potential to save the lives of nearly 7.5 million women and children...

Concerns in cross-coverage of radiation oncology patients

Date: Sep-27-2013
Radiation oncology physicians who encounter an unfamiliar case when cross covering for another physician experience higher levels of perceived workload and possible effects on performance, according to research conducted at the University of North Carolina. In a paper presented at the 2013 American Society for Radiation Oncology conference, study authors Prithima Mosaly, PhD, and Lukasz Mazur, PhD, assistant professors in the UNC Department of Radiation Oncology; Bhishamjit Chera, MD, assistant professor of radiation oncology and Lawrence Marks, MD, Sidney K...

Recycling plastic bags for filtration, sensing, energy storage and a range of biomedical innovations

Date: Sep-27-2013
University of Adelaide researchers have developed a process for turning waste plastic bags into a high-tech nanomaterial. The innovative nanotechnology uses non-biodegradable plastic grocery bags to make 'carbon nanotube membranes' - highly sophisticated and expensive materials with a variety of potential advanced applications including filtration, sensing, energy storage and a range of biomedical innovations...

Common viral disease prevented in stem-cell transplant patients

Date: Sep-27-2013
A new drug can often prevent a common, sometimes severe viral disease in patients receiving a transplant of donated blood-making stem cells, a clinical trial led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital indicates. In a paper in the Sept. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers report that patients who took the drug CMX001 shortly after transplant were far less likely to develop cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection than were patients who took a placebo...