Health News

Personalized cancer care may be improved by new computer model

Date: Jan-27-2014
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have developed a mathematical model to predict how a patient's tumor is likely to behave and which of several possible treatments is most likely to be effective.Reporting in the journal Cell Reports, researchers combined several types of data from pre- and post-treatment biopsies of breast tumors to obtain a molecular picture of how the cancer evolved as a result of chemotherapy.

Sniffing out sickness

Date: Jan-27-2014
Humans are able to smell sickness in someone whose immune system is highly active within just a few hours of exposure to a toxin, according to new research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.According to researcher Mats Olsson of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, there is anecdotal and scientific evidence suggesting that diseases have particular smells. People with diabetes, for example, are sometimes reported to have breath that smells like rotten apples or acetone.

Alcohol interventions work to stem freshman drinking

Date: Jan-27-2014
A new systematic review of data published in more than 40 studies of freshman alcohol interventions finds that there are many effective ways for colleges to mitigate common drinking patterns and problems among new students.Based on their findings, published online in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the team of researchers at Brown University and The Miriam Hospital recommend that colleges screen all freshmen within their first few weeks for alcohol risk and offer effective combinations of interventions for those who report drinking.

Mitochondrial ribosome revealed

Date: Jan-27-2014
Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich have deciphered the structure of part of the ribosome found in mitochondria, the power plants of the cell. The scientists were able to benefit from advancements in the field of electron microscopy and capture images of the mitochondrial ribosome at a level of resolution never achieved before.The ribosome can be thought of as a decryption device housed within the cell.

When undergoing androgen deprivation therapy, prostate cancer patients should be counseled to improve mental and emotional well-being

Date: Jan-27-2014
A new study published in the Journal of Urology® reports that prostate cancer patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) experienced changes in mental and emotional well-being during treatment, although there was no meaningful decline in emotional quality of life two years after treatment. Investigators at the University of California-San Francisco recommend counseling men about the potential adverse effects of ADT as well as the interventions to improve mental and emotional health such as exercise programs and diet.

Scientists aiming to prevent tumor spread

Date: Jan-27-2014
A team of scientists, led by principal investigator David D. Schlaepfer, PhD, a professor in the Department of Reproductive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, has found that a protein involved in promoting tumor growth and survival is also activated in surrounding blood vessels, enabling cancer cells to spread into the bloodstream.The findings are published in the online issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.Blood vessels are tightly lined with endothelial cells, which form a permeability barrier to circulating cells and molecules.

Mouse retinal tissue repaired by lab-grown, virus-free stem cells

Date: Jan-27-2014
Investigators at Johns Hopkins report they have developed human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) capable of repairing damaged retinal vascular tissue in mice. The stem cells, derived from human umbilical cord-blood and coaxed into an embryonic-like state, were grown without the conventional use of viruses, which can mutate genes and initiate cancers, according to the scientists. Their safer method of growing the cells has drawn increased support among scientists, they say, and paves the way for a stem cell bank of cord-blood derived iPSCs to advance regenerative medicine research.

Asthma outcomes in teens improved by quality improvement initiative

Date: Jan-27-2014
Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have successfully carried out what is believed to be the first initiative conducted exclusively among teenagers to show significant improvement in their asthma outcomes.The quality improvement initiative, conducted in a primary care setting, dramatically improved asthma control and outcomes for high-risk adolescents.The study is published online in the journal Pediatrics.

Compound trialed on mice showed a complete halt in spread of metastatic breast tumors

Date: Jan-27-2014
Researchers at Cardiff University are developing a novel compound known to reverse the spread of malignant breast cancer cells.The vast majority of deaths from cancer result from its progressive spread to vital organs, known as metastasis. In breast cancer up to 12,000 patients a year develop this form of the disease, often several years after initial diagnosis of a breast lump.In a recent series of studies researchers identified a previously unknown critical role for a potential cancer causing gene, Bcl3, in metastatic breast cancer.

Radiation beams photographed in the human body through the Cherenkov effect

Date: Jan-27-2014
A scientific breakthrough may give the field of radiation oncology new tools to increase the precision and safety of radiation treatment in cancer patients by helping doctors "see" the powerful beams of a linear accelerator as they enter or exit the body.We don't have X-ray vision. When we have an X-ray or mammogram, we cannot detect the radiation beam that passes through our bone or soft tissue, neither can our doctor. But what if we could see X-rays? When we use powerful X-rays for cancer treatment, we could see how they hit the tumor.