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Researchers show iRGD peptide increases treatment efficacy against cancer

Researchers have shown that a peptide (a chain of amino acids) called iRGD helps co-administered drugs penetrate deeply into tumor tissue. The peptide has been shown to substantially increase treatment efficacy against human breast, prostate and pancreatic cancers in mice, achieving the same therapeutic effect as a normal dose with one-third as much of the drug.

9 Apr 2010

Reliable immune monitoring tool for assessment of cancer vaccine-induced CD4+ T-cell response

A team of tumor immunologists in France and Switzerland has established an improved, reliable immune monitoring tool that allows for more accurate measurement of the number, subtype, and activity of cancer antigen-specific CD4+ T cells in cancer patients treated with therapeutic cancer vaccines. The new technology may significantly aid tumor immunologists around the world who are working to improve the effectiveness of this emerging and highly promising class of immune system-based cancer therapies.

8 Apr 2010

Researchers discover two genetic regions that influence birth weight

New research uncovers two genetic regions that influence birth weight. One of the regions is also associated with type 2 diabetes, which helps to explain why small babies have higher rates of diabetes in later life.

8 Apr 2010

Is grandmother’s age significant to autism?

A report just published in the online journal, PLoS ONE, indicates that the mothers of children with an autistic spectrum disorder were themselves more likely to have been born to older mothers. These findings could open up new avenues in autism research.

8 Apr 2010

Jazzercise, Back in the Swing USA partner to promote breast cancer survivorship programs

Jazzercise, the world's leading dance fitness program, is proud to announce its partnership with Back in the Swing USA®, a grassroots nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to providing awareness, access and financial support for breast cancer survivorship programs and academic medical research in the field of breast cancer survivorship.

7 Apr 2010

Policy makers and experts to discuss future challenges in respiratory diseases

This lunchtime seminar entitled "Research and Respiratory Medicine: Addressing future challenges for improved lung health" is being organised by the European Respiratory Society in the context of 2010 the Year of the Lung and under the patronage of Prof. Ioannis A. Tsoukalas MEP and Ms. Satu Hassi MEP.

6 Apr 2010

NIH Chief Francis Collins: Medical research 'ought to tell us what works'

Kaiser Health News staff writer Jennifer Evans talked to physician-geneticist Francis Collins, a person "who isn't afraid to think big about science. For over a decade, Collins led the Human Genome Project, overseeing the federal government's race to map people's DNA.

6 Apr 2010

Officials focus on inequalities in medical research

"After years of individual cancer centers exploring ways to recruit more people from minority populations for cancer studies, $3.8 million in federal stimulus money has been awarded to five institutions — including M.D. Anderson (Cancer Center at the University of Texas) — to work on the issue together for the next two years. The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the project."

6 Apr 2010

First Edition: April 5, 2010

Both the politics and policies of health reform continue to grab headlines, with reports highlighting how lawmakers are faring in their districts during this congressional recess. News outlets also are exploring how specific provisions of the new law will work.

5 Apr 2010

Rebirth of the cursed drug Thalidomide

Thalidomide was once a dreaded name in the Pharmaceutical industry. It was initially marketed in some European countries nearly 5 decades back as a sedative and after millions of pregnant women took it for morning sickness it had devastating results on the babies. The babies were born with flippers instead of limbs a condition known as phocomelia. Since then it has been under strict control.

5 Apr 2010

Why is the genome project not yielding results faster?

As the genome projects reaches the 10 year landmark scientists are defending it. While the sequencing of the 3 billion letters in the human DNA took a long time the first draft of the human genome was presented ten years ago. Today it is possible to have your individual DNA mapped in a day and at the low cost of $5,000.

5 Apr 2010

Scientists create genetic map to identify mechanism behind heart abnormalities

Though heart disease is a major cause of disability and death, very little is understood about its genetic underpinnings. Recently, an international team of investigators at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA), Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham) and other organizations shed new light on the subject.

2 Apr 2010

Mayo Clinic introduces a reliable and easy-to-understand resource on alternative medicine

Want to find ways that may help prevent illness naturally, for a fraction of the cost of a trip to the doctor? Interested in taking control of your health with evidence-based practices that complement conventional medicine?

2 Apr 2010

Pfizer discloses $35 million in payments to doctors, hospitals for research and promotion

Pfizer, the largest drug maker in the world, disclosed 35 million in payments during the second half of 2009 to doctors who consulted or spoke on behalf of drugs and to the medical centers that tested them, The New York Times reports. This is Pfizer's first disclosure of this nature. "While other pharmaceutical companies have disclosed payments to doctors, Pfizer is the first to disclose payments for the clinical trials. The disclosure does not include payments outside the United States" (Wilson, 3/31).

2 Apr 2010

Innovative drug design wins medical research prize

The development of a new way to treat iron overload disease has won the 2010 Sir Zelman Cowen Universities Fund Prize for Medical Research.

1 Apr 2010

Youth rally for ban on Alcoholic Energy Drinks in California

To advocate for the passage of AB 1598 – Authored by Assembly Member Jim Beall (D-San Jose), the measure will prohibit the import, production, manufacture, distribution, or sale of caffeinated malt beverages (Alcoholic Energy Drinks – AEDs) in California.

1 Apr 2010

Mtb fine-tunes behaviour to escape detection and causes TB

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses extraordinary survival ability by masking itself from the host immune system and persisting for decades inside the host. Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today, Dr Kristine Arnvig provides further insight into how the bacterium causes tuberculosis (TB) by fine-tuning its behaviour in response to its surroundings to escape detection.

1 Apr 2010