Health News

The Influence Of Genes On Psychological Well-Being

Date: May-18-2012
Genes play a greater role in forming character traits - such as self-control, decision making or sociability - than was previously thought, new research suggests. A study of more than 800 sets of twins found that genetics were more influential in shaping key traits than a person's home environment and surroundings. Psychologists at the University of Edinburgh who carried out the study, say that genetically influenced characteristics could well be the key to how successful a person is in life. The study of twins in the US - most aged 50 and over - used a series of questions to test how they...

Surgical Vs. Nonsurgical Treatment For Cervical Spine Fracture

Date: May-18-2012
For older adults with "C2" fractures of the upper (cervical) spine, surgery and nonsurgical treatment provide similar short- and long-term outcomes, reports a study in the May issue of Neurosurgery, official journal of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Although the patients were at significant risk of complications and death in the year or two after C2 fracture, these risks are similar with surgical and nonsurgical treatment. "[T]hus, age alone does not appear to be a contraindication to surgical...

Glioblastoma Classification Revision Should Improve Patient Care

Date: May-18-2012
Radiation oncology researchers have revised the system used by doctors since the 1990s to determine the prognosis of people with glioblastoma, which is the most devastating of malignant brain tumors. The outdated system was devised for glioblastoma and related brain tumors that were treated by radiation therapy only, and it relied on clinical signs and symptoms. It divided patients into six prognostic groups. The new system accommodates advances in treatment - particularly the use of radiation therapy plus the chemotherapy drug temozolomide - and it incorporates molecular biomarkers as well as...

Older People With Chronic Leukemia May Benefit From Experimental Agent

Date: May-18-2012
The experimental drug ibrutinib (PCI-32765) shows great promise for the treatment of elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), according to interim findings from a clinical trial. The phase I/II trial, co-led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) and MD Anderson Cancer Center, indicates that the oral agent has few side effects and a high one-year survival rate in older patients. Ibrutinib is the first drug designed to target Bruton's tyrosine kinase, a...

Patients With Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer Benefit From Accelerated Chemotherapy Given Before Surgery

Date: May-18-2012
For some patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer, treatment may begin before they undergo cystectomy, or surgical removal of the bladder. They may be advised by oncologists to receive chemotherapy before surgery. A large randomized clinical trial published in 2003 demonstrated a survival benefit for neoadjuvant, or pre-surgical, MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin and cisplatin) using a standard dose and schedule. However, in an effort to improve toxicity, standard MVAC has been essentially abandoned in favor of other regimens. All current standard neoadjuvant regimens require 12...

Trial Of ALK Inhibitor In Neuroblastoma, Lymphoma

Date: May-18-2012
A pill designed to zero in on abnormal genes that drive specific cancers has produced encouraging early results in children with an uncommon but aggressive type of lymphoma, as well as in children with a rare form of neuroblastoma. A phase 1 clinical trial of the drug crizotinib achieved remissions, with minimal side effects, for 10 of the children participating in a clinical study carried out by the multicenter Children's Oncology Group (COG). The results were "an exciting proof-of-principle" for the targeted treatment, said the study leader, Yaël P. Mossé, M.D., a pediatric oncologist at The...

Simple Task For 6-Month-Olds May Predict Risk Of Autism

Date: May-18-2012
A new prospective study of six-month-old infants at high genetic risk for autism identified weak head and neck control as a red flag for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and language and/or social developmental delays. Researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute concluded that a simple "pull-to-sit" task could be added to existing developmental screenings at pediatric well visits to improve early detection of developmental delays. "Research aimed at improving early detection of autism has largely focused on measurement of social and communication development," said Dr. Rebecca Landa, study...

Smartphones A Big Help To Visually Impaired

Date: May-18-2012
iPhones and other smartphones can be a huge help to the visually impaired, but few vision doctors are recommending them to patients, according to a study co-authored by a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine ophthalmologist. Researchers surveyed 46 low-vision adults from The Chicago Lighthouse and the Spectrios Institute for Low Vision in Wheaton, Ill. Participants' best-corrected vision ranged from 20/70 to complete blindness. Researchers found that only 15 percent of patients reported that a vision doctor had recommended smartphones for the devices' accessibility features....

Famous 1848 Case Of A Man Who Survived A Terrible Brain Injury Has Modern Parallel

Date: May-18-2012
Poor Phineas Gage. In 1848, the supervisor for the Rutland and Burlington Railroad in Vermont was using a 13-pound, 3-foot-7-inch rod to pack blasting powder into a rock when he triggered an explosion that drove the rod through his left cheek and out of the top of his head. As reported at the time, the rod was later found, "smeared with blood and brains." Miraculously, Gage lived, becoming the most famous case in the history of neuroscience - not only because he survived a horrific accident that led to the destruction of much of his left frontal lobe but also because of the injury's reported...

Personalized Treatment Advances: Testing For Mutations Identified In Squamous Cell Lung Cancer Tumors

Date: May-18-2012
Screening lung cancer tumor samples for cancer-causing, or "driver," genetic mutations can help physicians tailor patients' treatments to target those specific mutations. While scientists have identified cancer-causing mutations for the majority of lung adenocarcinomas - the most common type of non-small cell lung cancer - and have developed drugs that can successfully address them, scientists have not yet identified targeted therapies for another type of non-small cell lung cancer known as squamous cell carcinoma. Now, researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have begun testing...