Health News

Aggressive Tumors Most Likely In Minorities But They Are Less Likely To Get Radiation

Date: Oct-30-2012
Women with aggressive breast cancer were more likely to receive adjuvant chemotherapy, but at the expense of completing locoregional radiation therapy, according to recently presented data. This was especially true in minorities, who were the most likely to present with moderate- to high-grade and symptomatically detected tumors. "Radiation treatment decreases the risk for breast cancer recurring and improves survival from the disease," said Abigail Silva, M.P.H., Susan G...

UN Publishes Atlas Of Health And Climate

Date: Oct-30-2012
Climate information can help nations reduce risk of disease and poor health. With this in mind, two UN agencies have produced an atlas of health and climate that illustrates some of the most pressing challenges, both now and in the future. The aim is to help national leaders and agencies concerned with public health, to anticipate and manage climate-related risk. Changes in climate and extreme conditions can result in disease outbreaks and epidemics like malaria and cholera that cause death and suffering to millions...

Prototype Ultra Sensitive Disease Sensor Developed

Date: Oct-30-2012
Scientists have developed a prototype ultra-sensitive sensor that would enable doctors to detect the early stages of diseases and viruses with the naked eye, according to research published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. The team, from Imperial College London, report that their visual sensor technology is ten times more sensitive than the current gold standard methods for measuring biomarkers. These indicate the onset of diseases such as prostate cancer and infection by viruses including HIV...

Weight Link To Breast Cancer Survival Varies By Race/Ethnicity

Date: Oct-30-2012
An extreme body mass index or high waist-to-hip ratio, both measures of body fat, increased risk for mortality among patients with breast cancer, but this association varied by race/ethnicity, according to recently presented data. Marilyn L. Kwan, Ph.D., a research scientist in the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in Oakland, Calif., presented these results at the Fifth AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held here Oct. 27-30, 2012...

Nuclear Reprogramming And Pluripotent Stem Cells

Date: Oct-30-2012
The idea of taking a mature cell and removing its identity (nuclear reprogramming) so that it can then become any kind of cell, holds great promise for repairing damaged tissue or replacing bone marrow after chemotherapy. Hot on the heels of his recent Nobel prize Dr John B. Gurdon has published in BioMed Central's open access journal Epigenetics & Chromatin research showing that histone H3.3 deposited by the histone-interacting protein HIRA is a key step in reverting nuclei to a pluripotent type, capable of being any one of many cell types...

Details Of Doxorubicin Cardiotoxicity May Prevent Heart Failure From Chemotherapy

Date: Oct-30-2012
Doxorubicin, a 50-year-old chemotherapy drug still in widespread use against a variety of cancers, has long been known to destroy heart tissue, as well as tumors, in some patients. Scientists have identified an unexpected mechanism via the enzyme Top2b that drives the drug's attack on heart muscle, providing a new approach for identifying patients who can safely tolerate doxorubicin and for developing new drugs. A team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports its findings about the general DNA-damaging drug in the journal Nature Medicine...

Novel Genes Identified That May Drive Rare, Aggressive Form Of Uterine Cancer

Date: Oct-30-2012
Researchers have identified several genes that are linked to one of the most lethal forms of uterine cancer, serous endometrial cancer. The researchers describe how three of the genes found in the study are frequently altered in the disease, suggesting that the genes drive the development of tumors. The findings appear in the online issue of Nature Genetics. The team was led by researchers from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health...

Drug-Eluting Stents Offer Some Benefits Over Bare-Metal Stents In Patients Over 80

Date: Oct-30-2012
Results of the XIMA trial presented at TCT 2012 Rarely tested in patients over the age of 80, a study found that drug-eluting stents exhibited some benefits over bare-metal stents, though both types of stents demonstrated a clinical benefit. Results of the XIMA trial were presented at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine...

Bean Used In Chinese Food Could Protect Against Sepsis

Date: Oct-30-2012
Researchers at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research have discovered that a bean commonly used in Chinese cuisine protects against the life-threatening condition sepsis. These findings are published in the current issue of Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (eCAM). It has been found that a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) protein, HMGB1, mediates inflammation. Inflammation is necessary for maintaining good health - without inflammation, wounds and infections would never heal...

For Patients With Atrial Fibrillation, Routine Electrocardiograms Predict Health Risks

Date: Oct-30-2012
Canadian scientists have determined that routine electrocardiogram (ECG) results for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) - the most common form of irregular heart beat - can help doctors identify those at higher risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes, including death. This knowledge will help doctors improve the treatment and prognosis of atrial fibrillation...