Pancreas News and Research

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The pancreas is a gland organ in the digestive and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland producing several important hormones, including insulin, glucagon, and somatostatin, as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing digestive enzymes that pass to the small intestine. These enzymes help in the further breakdown of the carbohydrates, protein, and fat in the chyme.

Shifts in zinc's location could be exploited for early diagnosis of prostate cancer

Zinc, an essential nutrient, is found in every tissue in the body. The vast majority of the metal ion is tightly bound to proteins, helping them to perform biological reactions. Tiny amounts of zinc, however, are only loosely bound, or "mobile," and thought to be critical for proper function in organs such as the brain, pancreas, and prostate gland. Yet the exact roles the ion plays in biological systems are unknown.

9 Dec 2013

Skin is capable of communicating with liver, say researchers

Researchers from the University of Southern Denmark have discovered that the skin is capable of communicating with the liver. The discovery has surprised the scientists, and they say that it may help our understanding of how skin diseases can affect the rest of the body.

9 Dec 2013

Scientists recommend testing for Pearson syndrome in patients with congenital anemia

Some babies diagnosed with and treated for a bone marrow failure disorder, called Diamond Blackfan Anemia, may actually be affected by a very rare anemia syndrome that has a different disease course and treatment, say scientists from Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center.

8 Dec 2013

Direct radiographic imaging reveals negative impact of adiposity in older men and women

Researchers at the National Institute for Aging are working to improve understanding about obesity and cancer. A study, published today in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, is the first to use direct radiographic imaging of adipose tissue rather than estimates like body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference, and focuses on the relationship between obesity and cancer risk in aging populations. Findings emphasize the negative impact of adiposity on long term health particularly for older men and women.

4 Dec 2013

Virginia Mason a 2013 Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group

Virginia Mason has been named a 2013 Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group, making this the eighth consecutive year it has earned this national recognition.

3 Dec 2013

Recently discovered humanin peptide could lead to powerful new treatments for diabetes

Even if the obesity trend cannot be reversed, here's hope that it's partner in crime-diabetes-might be thwarted. New research published in the December 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal shows how a recently discovered human peptide, called humanin, could lead to powerful new treatments for some people living with diabetes.

2 Dec 2013

World's first clinical trial to use MLC tracking system to improve prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment

Researchers and clinicians from the University of Sydney and the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre are leading a world first clinical trial using a tracking system to improve prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment.

28 Nov 2013

CHMP adopts positive opinion for ABRAXANE with gemcitabine for treatment of metastatic pancreas

Celgene International Sàrl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Celgene Corporation, today announced that the European Medicines Agency's: Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has adopted a positive opinion for ABRAXANE (paclitaxel formulated as albumin bound nanoparticles, or nab-paclitaxel) in combination with gemcitabine for first-line treatment of adult patients with metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas.

25 Nov 2013

Targeting single enzyme in the obese could help prevent and treat diabetes

A single overactive enzyme worsens the two core defects of diabetes—impaired insulin sensitivity and overproduction of glucose—suggesting that a drug targeting the enzyme could help correct both at once, according to mouse studies done by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center. The findings were published today in the online edition of Cell Metabolism.

22 Nov 2013

Research paves way towards personalized chronotherapy treatments

Cancer chronotherapy consists in administering treatment at an optimal time. Because the body is governed by precise biological rhythms, the efficacy of anti-cancer drugs can be doubled and their toxicity reduced five-fold depending on the exact timing of their administration.

22 Nov 2013

New $3.4 million NIH grant to fund artificial pancreas projects

A high-tech project to turn an ordinary smart phone into an artificial pancreas that could transform the lives of people with type 1 diabetes has received a $3.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

19 Nov 2013

Philipp E. Scherer honored with 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes

Columbia University Medical Center has honored Philipp E. Scherer, PhD, with the 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes, for his work that helped usher in a new understanding of fat and its role in diabetes and other metabolic diseases. His discovery of adiponectin, a hormone produced by fat, helped transform the scientific concept of fat as an inert storage depot to one of it as an endocrine "organ" that exerts control over the brain, muscles, and other organs. The award, given annually by CUMC's Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, is Columbia's top honor for excellence in diabetes research.

19 Nov 2013

CCP scores lower in prostate cancer patients who consume low-fat fish oil diet

Men with prostate cancer who ate a low-fat diet and took fish oil supplements had lower levels of pro-inflammatory substances in their blood and a lower cell cycle progression score, a measure used to predict cancer recurrence, than men who ate a typical Western diet, UCLA researchers found.

19 Nov 2013

Measuring BMI can help predict diabetic patient's risk for heart disease

Researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, in collaboration with researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Institutes of Health, have discovered a simple way to further predict a diabetic patient's risk for heart disease: by measuring their body mass index or BMI.

17 Nov 2013

Dual-wave nanotherapy method improves treatment of deadly pancreatic cancer

A new method of microscopic drug delivery that could greatly improve the treatment of deadly pancreatic cancer has been proven to work in mice at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

14 Nov 2013

Pancreatic cancer death rates in whites and blacks go in opposite directions

Pancreatic cancer death rates in whites and blacks have gone in opposite directions over the past several decades in the United States, with the direction reversing in each ethnicity during those years.

13 Nov 2013

Scientists use new technology to study whole genome to find the cause of genetic disease

For the first time, scientists have used new technology which analyses the whole genome to find the cause of a genetic disease in what was previously referred to as "junk DNA".

11 Nov 2013

Drug used to treat intestinal worms could protect people from periodontitis, says study

A drug currently used to treat intestinal worms could protect people from periodontitis, an advanced gum disease, which untreated can erode the structures-including bone-that hold the teeth in the jaw. The research was published ahead of print in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

11 Nov 2013

Northwestern Medicine receives $12 million to continue organ transplant research with stem cells

An innovative Northwestern Medicine- research program investigating if stem cells may be the key to allowing organ transplant patients to stop taking immunosuppressive drugs has received $12 million in research funding. The grant will allow researchers to finish Phase II of the clinical trials and begin Phase III.

8 Nov 2013

RNA molecule present in the blood could someday be a diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer

An Indiana University cancer researcher has demonstrated that a particular molecule is present in the blood of most pancreatic cancer patients, suggesting it could someday be a diagnostic marker for the disease.

8 Nov 2013

Pancreas News and Research

Further Reading

Shifts in zinc's location could be exploited for early diagnosis of prostate cancer

Skin is capable of communicating with liver, say researchers

Scientists recommend testing for Pearson syndrome in patients with congenital anemia

Direct radiographic imaging reveals negative impact of adiposity in older men and women

Virginia Mason a 2013 Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group

Recently discovered humanin peptide could lead to powerful new treatments for diabetes

World's first clinical trial to use MLC tracking system to improve prostate cancer radiotherapy treatment

CHMP adopts positive opinion for ABRAXANE with gemcitabine for treatment of metastatic pancreas

Targeting single enzyme in the obese could help prevent and treat diabetes

Research paves way towards personalized chronotherapy treatments

New $3.4 million NIH grant to fund artificial pancreas projects

Philipp E. Scherer honored with 15th Naomi Berrie Award for Outstanding Research in Diabetes

CCP scores lower in prostate cancer patients who consume low-fat fish oil diet

Measuring BMI can help predict diabetic patient's risk for heart disease

Dual-wave nanotherapy method improves treatment of deadly pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer death rates in whites and blacks go in opposite directions

Scientists use new technology to study whole genome to find the cause of genetic disease

Drug used to treat intestinal worms could protect people from periodontitis, says study

Northwestern Medicine receives $12 million to continue organ transplant research with stem cells

RNA molecule present in the blood could someday be a diagnostic marker for pancreatic cancer

Industry Focus eBook - Cell biology (5th edition) eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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