Colorectal News and Research

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Low literacy can shorten life

Not being able to read doesn't just make it harder to navigate each day. Low literacy impairs people's ability to obtain critical information about their health and can dramatically shorten their lives.

24 Jul 2007

Sequential and combination chemotherapy equally effective in treating advanced colorectal cancer

Many patients with incurable advanced colorectal cancer could be offered a more gentle treatment strategy starting with a single chemotherapy drug, as an alternative to current standard initial combination chemotherapy, without compromising their survival.

16 Jul 2007

FDA says eating tomatoes does not decrease risk of cancer

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review has found only limited evidence for an association between eating tomatoes and a decreased risk of certain cancers, according to an article published online July 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

11 Jul 2007

FDA says lycopene in tomatoes no use in fighting cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States has shot down in flames any claims that the lycopene found in tomatoes has cancer-preventing properties.

11 Jul 2007

Debate on folic acid fortification

Since the institution of nationwide folic acid fortification of enriched grains in the mid 1990s, the number of infants born in the United States and Canada with neural tube defects has declined by 20 percent to 50 percent.

10 Jul 2007

Modified herpes virus - a killer of cancer cells

Scientists have developed a virus specifically designed to target cancer tissue while not affecting normal healthy tissue.

9 Jul 2007

Genetic risk factor for colorectal and prostate cancer

A study led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) has found that one of seven genetic risk factors previously identified as increasing the probability of developing prostate cancer also increases the probability of developing colorectal cancer.

9 Jul 2007

Common genetic risk factor for multiple cancers identified

9 Jul 2007

Modified herpes simplex virus shows promise in early clinical trial

A virus that has been specifically designed by scientists to be safe to normal tissue but deadly to cancer is showing early promise in a preliminary study, researchers said at the ESMO Conference Lugano (ECLU), Switzerland.

9 Jul 2007

Chromosome linked to colorectal cancer identified

Researchers at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and Cancer Care Ontario have successfully identified a specific genetic variation on chromosome 8 that is associated with colorectal cancer.

9 Jul 2007

Genetic mutation that may alter response to cancer therapeutics found

Researchers from Eli Lilly & Company and the Phoenix-based Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) today announced finding a novel recurring mutation of the gene AKT1 in breast, colorectal and ovarian cancers.

4 Jul 2007

Discovery of method to identify how cancer evades the immune system

One of the fundamental traits of a tumor - how it avoids the immune system - might become its greatest vulnerability, according to researchers from the University of Southern California. Their findings, demonstrated in human breast and colorectal cancers, indicate that a technique for determining a tumor's "immune signature," could be useful for diagnosing and treating specific cancers.

3 Jul 2007

Link between ciliary signaling and cancer

Submarines have periscopes. Insects have antennae. And increasingly, biologists are finding that most normal vertebrate cells have cilia, small hair-like structures that protrude like antennae into the surrounding environment to detect signals that control cell growth.

29 Jun 2007

Levels of protein CA 19-9 in blood predicts pancreatic cancer outcome after surgery

A team of researchers, led by surgeons at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia, has found further evidence supporting the ability of a protein to predict how well a patient with advanced pancreatic cancer will do after surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

23 Jun 2007

Low carb diets lower levels of good bacteria in gut

Scientists at Aberdeen's Rowett Research Institute have shown that a very low carbohydrate weight-loss diet results in a four-fold reduction in the numbers of certain types of bacteria in the gut of obese men.

20 Jun 2007

Scientists discover proteins in blood that accurately identify colon cancer and precancerous polyps

Initial studies of the proteins, CCSA-3 and CCSA-4, suggest they could be used to develop a blood test to identify at-risk individuals.

19 Jun 2007

Low carb diets may increase the risk for bowel cancer

Researchers in the UK are suggesting that low-carbohydrate diets such as the Atkins diet may increase a persons risk of developing bowel cancer.

19 Jun 2007

Diagnosing cancer at early stages imperative for survival

Early detection of cancer through regular screenings can greatly increase survival rates because it identifies cancer when it's most treatable, according to the National Cancer Institute.

17 Jun 2007

Folic acid supplements do not reduce risk of precancerous colon tumors

Taking folic acid supplements does not reduce the risk of developing precancerous tumors in the colon and may even increase the risk, a new study has found.

16 Jun 2007

State snapshots highlights gains and lags in health care quality

AHRQ's State Snapshots Web tool was launched in 2005. It is an application that helps state health leaders, researchers, consumers, and others understand the status of health care quality in individual states, including each state's strengths and weaknesses.

14 Jun 2007