Therapy News and Research

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Source of cancer stem cells' resistance to radiation discovered

Much to the dismay of patients and physicians, cancer stem cells - tiny powerhouses that generate and maintain tumor growth in many types of cancers - are relatively resistant to the ionizing radiation often used as therapy for these conditions.

5 Feb 2009

Sangamo BioSciences starts trial of CCR5-ZFP therapeutic to treat HIV/AIDS

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. has announced that its collaborators at the University of Pennsylvania have opened a Phase 1 clinical trial to evaluate SB-728-T for the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

5 Feb 2009

Training may inoculate seniors against falls

Training people to avoid falls by repeatedly exposing them to unstable situations in the laboratory helped them to later maintain their balance on a slippery floor, according to new research from the Journal of Neurophysiology.

5 Feb 2009

Guidance for evaluating menopause-like condition in girls and young women

A comprehensive plan to help health care professionals diagnose and treat primary ovarian insufficiency-a menopause-like condition affecting girls and young women that may occur years before normal menopause is expected-has been developed by a scientist at the National Institutes of Health.

5 Feb 2009

New study raises concerns about screen time among urban children with asthma

Urban children with asthma engage in an average of an hour more of screen time daily than the maximum amount American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends.

5 Feb 2009

Safinamide significantly improved motor function in patients with advanced Parkinson's disease

Merck Serono, a division of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and its partner Newron Pharmaceuticals SpA has announced that the first Phase III trial of investigational agent safinamide as adjunctive therapy to levodopa (study 016) met its primary endpoint by increasing daily "ON" time in mid- to late-stage Parkinson's disease patients with motor fluctuations by 1.3 hours.

5 Feb 2009

FDA grants priority review of Cinryze C1 inhibitor as treatment for acute attacks of hereditary angioedema

ViroPharma Incorporated has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted priority review for Cinryze C1 Inhibitor (human) as a treatment for acute attacks of Hereditary Angioedema (HAE).

5 Feb 2009

End-of-life care at hospitals varies for children with cancer

Though treatment of pain and attention to end-of-life care for pediatric cancer patients has improved over the last few decades, there is still work to be done.

5 Feb 2009

Deficiencies common in radiation therapy trial reports for Hodgkin's, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Reporting of radiation therapy details in randomized controlled trials for Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is deficient due to a lack of reporting of key radiation therapy descriptors and quality assurance processes designed to ensure the accuracy and reproducibility of treatment regimens, according to a February 1 study in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

5 Feb 2009

Breast cancer risk rapidly declines after women stop taking postmenopausal combined hormone therapy

Women who stopped taking the postmenopausal hormone combination of estrogen plus progestin experienced a marked decline in breast cancer risk which was unrelated to mammography utilization change, according to a study from the Women's Health Initiative led by a Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) investigator that was published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.

5 Feb 2009

New test predicts how breast cancer patients respond to chemotherapy

Researchers at the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research in Molecular Oncology in Lausanne have developed a new test to predict how breast cancer patients respond to chemotherapy, which could help change how treatment is delivered in the future.

3 Feb 2009

Radiofrequency treatment better than ethanol injection for small liver tumors

A new review of four randomized controlled trials that directly compared two different treatments for small inoperable liver tumors has found that radiofrequency ablation (RFA) significantly improves patient survival compared to the standard therapy of percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI).

3 Feb 2009

Capn4 protein predicts liver cancer recurrence and after transplantation

A new study suggests that Capn4, a protein involved in cell migration, is associated with liver cancer recurrence and metastasis after liver transplantation.

3 Feb 2009

Gene-targeting approach for herpes treatment

A new therapy being developed at the University of Florida could, in time, produce another weapon for the fight against herpes.

3 Feb 2009

Novel gene may cause restless legs syndrome in a large family

In 2005, a woman who had trouble sleeping asked Siong-Chi Lin, M.D., for help. Dr. Lin, a sleep disorders specialist at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida, diagnosed restless legs syndrome.

3 Feb 2009

Growth hormone treatment for six months after weight loss surgery prevents loss of muscle mass

Growth hormone treatment for six months after weight loss surgery reduces patients' losses in lean body mass and skeletal muscle mass, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

3 Feb 2009

Green tea may counteract anticancer effects of cancer therapy, bortezomib (Velcade)

Green tea products have become regarded as a valuable health supplement, as studies have shown evidence of its benefit against a variety of diseases, including cancer.

3 Feb 2009

Genetics may predict risk for relapse among alcohol-dependent patients

In Poland, alcohol dependence (AD) affects about four percent of the population, causing about 10,000 deaths per year.

3 Feb 2009

Gardening keeps older hands strong and nimble

Researchers at Kansas State University already have shown that gardening can offer enough moderate physical activity to keep older adults in shape.

3 Feb 2009

Drugs may be 'magic bullet' for infants born with rare form of diabetes

Infants born with a rare form of inherited diabetes might avoid irreversible damage to their pancreases if they are treated immediately with sulfonylurea drugs rather than insulin, according to a new report in the February 4th issue of Cell Metabolism , a Cell Press publication.

3 Feb 2009