Brain Cancer News and Research

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There are two main types of brain cancer. Primary brain cancer starts in the brain. Metastatic brain cancer starts somewhere else in the body and moves to the brain. Brain tumors can be benign, with no cancer cells, or malignant, with cancer cells that grow quickly. Also called glioma, meningioma.

Democratic National Committee approves platform with health care language; Obama campaigns in Iowa

The Democratic National Committee on Monday during the Democratic National Convention voted to adopt a non-binding party platform that includes language about health care, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, the platform in large part follows recommendations from presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) but moves "beyond his proposals in calling for guaranteed health care for all" (Woodward, AP/Long Island Newsday, 8/26).

26 Aug 2008

UAB joins elite brain cancer research group

Brain cancer experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) have been selected for membership in the Ivy Genomics-Based Medicine Project. The project is a national consortium of cutting-edge hospitals and academic centers working to improve treatment and survival for patients with a kind of malignant brain tumor called a glioma.

8 Jul 2008

Edward Kennedy working toward bipartisan support for major health care initiative in 2009

The office of Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) has begun to hold a series of meetings with a number of health care experts to "begin laying the groundwork for a new attempt to provide universal health care," the Boston Globe reports.

3 Jul 2008

Researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature

Inspired by a chance discovery during another experiment, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture.

24 Jun 2008

Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report rounds up health news from the campaign trail

Fifty-three percent of U.S. adults trust presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) more than presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to address the issue of health care, compared with 33% who trust McCain more than Obama to address the issue, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll, the Post reports.

17 Jun 2008

Bill should be passed allowing terminally ill access to experimental drugs, journal op-ed states

The case of Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who has been diagnosed with brain cancer, is "identical from a regulatory standpoint to the plight of hundreds of thousands of other Americans" and "shouts to the heavens the humane necessity of urgent reform in the drug approval process to make it work better for people who have serious and terminal diseases," according to a Wall Street Journal opinion piece by Steven Walker and Ronald Trowbridge, chief adviser and adjunct scholar, respectively, of the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs.

11 Jun 2008

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells influence tumor blood-vessel growth

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells offer a promising strategy for treating incurable brain tumors such as glioblastoma, but the body's natural defenses often eliminate the viruses before they can eliminate the tumor.

11 Jun 2008

Edward Kennedy has successful surgery for deadly brain tumour

Doctors in the United States treating Senator Edward Kennedy for a brain tumour say he has undergone successful surgery.

3 Jun 2008

BiPar Sciences presents data for novel DNA repair inhibitor

BiPar Sciences, Inc. today announced the results of first-in-human clinical studies of its lead product, BSI-201, in patients with solid tumors.

2 Jun 2008

Sen. Kennedy to introduce bill to revise national cancer act

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who recently was diagnosed with brain cancer, previously had begun work on legislation that would revise the 1971 National Cancer Act, and supporters hope that the "fact that Kennedy has fallen victim to this disease will generate public support and lend new urgency to the need to update the bill," the AP/Chicago Tribune reports.

30 May 2008

Mobile phone use during pregnancy may increase child's risk of behavioural problems

Danish and American scientists suggest that using mobile phones while pregnant may increase the risk of the child developing problems such as hyperactivity.

19 May 2008

Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca announce innovative deal for promising anti-cancer compound

Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Technology (CRT) - the charity's development and commercialisation arm - today announced an innovative new arrangement to progress into clinical development a potential anti-cancer compound from AstraZeneca.

19 May 2008

Discovery of mechanism of action of antibiotic able to reduce neuronal cell death in brain

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have discovered how an antibiotic works to modulate the activity of a neurotransmitter that regulates brain functions, which eventually could lead to therapies to treat Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, epilepsy, stroke, dementia and malignant gliomas.

11 May 2008

Brain tumor surgery, depression and survival

Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in the world today. It is estimated that in any given year, 5 to 9 percent of the US population is clinically depressed. Studies have shown that depression negatively affects the immunological system, alters the body's response to malignancy, and may influence behavioral factors that impact recovery from disease

29 Apr 2008

Discovery of gene behind clefting disorder Branchio-Oculo-Facial syndrome

In a collaborative effort, researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have discovered that deletions or mutations within the TFAP2A gene (Activating Enhancer-Binding Protein) result in the distinctive clefting disorder Branchio-Oculo-Facial syndrome (BOFS).

23 Apr 2008

MacroChem acquires Virium Pharmaceuticals

MacroChem Corporation announced today that on April 18, 2008 it acquired Virium Pharmaceuticals Inc., a non-public, development stage company developing and commercializing novel therapeutics, with a portfolio of clinical stage product candidates focused in oncology, including its next generation nucleoside analogue licensed from the Southern Research Institute.

23 Apr 2008

Discovery of fundamental mechanism of how tumour cells communicate

A new fundamental mechanism of how tumour cells communicate has just been discovered by the team of Dr. Janusz Rak at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in collaboration with Dr Guha from the University of Toronto.

21 Apr 2008

Drugs in the pipeline: new therapies that could change treatment strategies

The investigational drug AZD2171 (cediranib) may help shrink tumors and prolong survival of patients with a relatively common, aggressive type of brain cancer, according to results from a clinical trial conducted by Boston researchers.

16 Apr 2008

Brain study may lead to improved epilepsy treatments

Using a rodent model of epilepsy, researchers found one of the body's own neurotransmitters released during seizures, glutamate, turns on a signaling pathway in the brain that increases production of a protein that could reduce medication entry into the brain.

15 Apr 2008

Cancer cluster at a fire station in Queensland leads to statewide investigation

The investigation into a suspected cancer cluster at a fire station in north Queensland has failed to establish a link between the building and an increased rate of cancer.

14 Apr 2008