Health News

After Stem Cell Transplant For Multiple Myeloma Patients, Lenalidomide Prolongs Disease Control

Date: May-16-2012
Multiple Myeloma Patients, Lenalidomide Prolongs Disease Control Main Category: Lymphoma / Leukemia / Myeloma Also Included In: Stem Cell Research;  Transplants / Organ Donations Article Date: 16 May 2012 - 9:00 PDT  email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions    rate article  Current ratings for: 'After Stem Cell Transplant For Multiple Myeloma Patients, Lenalidomide Prolongs Disease Control' Patient / Public: Healthcare Prof: Multiple myeloma patients are better equipped to halt progression of this blood cancer if treated with lenalidomide, or Revlimid®,...

Apigenin Slowed Progression Of Breast Cancer Accelerated By Hormone Replacement Therapy

Date: May-16-2012
Apigenin, a natural substance found in grocery store produce aisles, shows promise as a non-toxic treatment for an aggressive form of human breast cancer, following a new study at the University of Missouri. MU researchers found apigenin shrank a type of breast cancer tumor that is stimulated by progestin, a synthetic hormone given to women to ease symptoms related to menopause. "This is the first study to show that apigenin, which can be extracted from celery, parsley and many other natural sources, is effective against human breast cancer cells that had been influenced by a certain chemical...

Marker To Identify, Attack Breast Cancer Stem Cells

Date: May-16-2012
Breast cancer stem cells wear a cell surface protein that is part nametag and part bull's eye, identifying them as potent tumor-generating cells and flagging their vulnerability to a drug, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report online in Journal of Clinical Investigation.

"We've discovered the first single marker for breast cancer stem cells and also found that it's targetable with a small molecule drug that inhibits an enzyme crucial to its synthesis," said co-senior author Michael Andreeff, M.D., Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's Departments of Leukemia and Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy.

Schizophrenia Risk In Kids Associated With Mothers' Gluten Antibodies

Date: May-16-2012
Children are nearly 50% more likely to develop schizophrenia later in life if their mothers are sensitive to wheat protein gluten, say researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore.  The study, published in The American Journal of Psychiatry, adds to increasing evidence that many subsequent diseases in life take root before and shortly after birth. Robert Yolken, M.D., a neurovirologist at Johns Hopkins Children's Center explained: "Lifestyle and genes are not the only factors that shape disease risk, and factors and exposures before, during...

Keeping Ahead In The Medical Device Sector

Date: May-16-2012
"Medical device industry executives often develop products that are deemed safe and effective by the FDA, but that do not sell as they are not reimbursable," says Donald DeLauder, Executive Director - Corporate Innovation, Bayer Radiology and Interventional. They must spend more time on developing their products, he adds. The chairman at the upcoming marcus evans Medical Device Manufacturing Summit Spring 2012 and Medical Device R&D Summit Spring 2012, DeLauder shares his views on product development and the complex regulatory environment. How can executives in this industry ensure that their...

Optimizing Process Management In Medical Device Manufacturing

Date: May-16-2012
Medical device manufacturing executives are currently challenged with getting products to market faster; however with increased FDA regulatory requirements and validations, they must ensure that the manufacturing processes are robust, says William J. Bergen, President & Chief Executive Officer, MicroGroup. Effective and timely communication at each stage of production is crucial, he adds.

In Outcome Of Prostate Cancer Surgery, Higher Hospital Volume More Important Than Surgeon Experience

Date: May-16-2012
Older, sicker, high-risk patients who undergo one of the most common treatments for prostate cancer get better results in larger, busier hospitals, according to new research by Henry Ford Hospital. In such cases, the same research showed the experience level of the surgeon doing the procedure mattered somewhat less than the hospital setting. The results, based on data gathered throughout the U.S., will be presented this week at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting in Atlanta. It is both intuitive - "practice makes perfect" - and has been well known and accepted in the medical...

Link Between Anxiety Disorders And Cellular Metabolism

Date: May-16-2012
Anxiety disorders, ranging from social phobia to post-traumatic stress disorder, are the most common psychiatric diseases in the United States. Research in mice suggests a link between the gene that encodes Glyoxylase 1 (GLO1) and increased anxiety; however, the mechanism underlying this association has remained unclear. The normal role of GLO1 is to degrade cytotoxic byproducts of glycolysis, a function which has no obvious connection to anxiety. Margaret Distler and colleagues at the University of Chicago asked whether the primary substrate of GLO1, methylglyoxal, might have undocumented...

Potential To Treat Arthritis Using Delivery System For Gene Therapy

Date: May-16-2012
A DNA-covered submicroscopic bead used to deliver genes or drugs directly into cells to treat disease appears to have therapeutic value just by showing up, researchers report. Within a few hours of injecting empty-handed DNA nanoparticles, Georgia Health Sciences University researchers were surprised to see increased expression of an enzyme that calms the immune response. In an animal model of rheumatoid arthritis, the enhanced expression of indoleomine 2,3 dioxygenase, or IDO, significantly reduced the hallmark limb joint swelling and inflammation of this debilitating autoimmune disease,...

Key Genes And Prototype Predictive Test Identified For Schizophrenia

Date: May-16-2012
An Indiana University-led research team, along with a group of national and international collaborators, has identified and prioritized a comprehensive group of genes most associated with schizophrenia that together can generate a score indicating whether an individual is at higher or lower risk of developing the disease. Using a convergent functional genomics approach that incorporates a variety of experimental techniques, the scientists also were able to apply a panel of their top genes to data from other studies of schizophrenia and successfully identify which patients had been diagnosed...