Medical Condition News

RSS

Lung cancer patients with severe COPD can benefit from SBRT

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) provides better overall survival rates than surgery for lung cancer patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a disease commonly associated with lung cancer, according to a study in the upcoming March issue of the International Journal of Radiation, Oncology, Biology, Physics, the official scientific journal of the American Society for Radiation Oncology.

17 Feb 2012

Study reveals new guiding principles for cancer genomics

That our chromosomes can break and reshuffle pieces of themselves is nothing new; scientists have recognized this for decades, especially in cancer cells. The rules for where chromosomes are likely to break and how the broken pieces come together are only just now starting to come into view.

17 Feb 2012

Patient education program may help reduce kidney transplant-related disparities

Being educated about your health and your treatment options is a good thing. According to a new study, kidney failure patients who take part in an education program are more likely to get evaluated for a kidney transplant.

17 Feb 2012

Young Canadians report higher levels of emotional and behavioural problems

Canadian girls report higher levels of emotional problems and lower levels of emotional well-being and life satisfaction, while boys tend to experience more behavioural problems and demonstrate less prosocial behavior, a new Queen's University-led national study of youth health behavior shows.

17 Feb 2012

New potential strategy for KRAS-mutant colon cancers

Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have identified a new potential strategy for treating colon tumors driven by mutations in the KRAS gene, which usually resist both conventional and targeted treatments.

17 Feb 2012

Congress to vote on 10-month 'doc fix,' payroll tax deal

News outlets report that the legislation would include delaying the cut in Medicare payments to physicians.

17 Feb 2012

Study describes how multiple RNA binding proteins cooperatively control genetic splicing code

Understanding how RNA binding proteins control the genetic splicing code is fundamental to human biology and disease - much like editing film can change a movie scene. Abnormal variations in splicing are often implicated in cancer and genetic neurodegenerative disorders.

17 Feb 2012

University of Georgia researcher to develop first Chagas vaccine for pets

Chagas disease is the single most common cause of congestive heart failure and sudden death in the world. The devastating parasitic infection affects millions of people throughout Central and South America. But as global travel increases, it's becoming a greater threat in the United States and Europe as well.

17 Feb 2012

LUMC named one of the nation's top hospitals in cancer treatment

Loyola University Medical Center has been named one of the nation's top hospitals in cancer research, prevention, treatment and education by Becker's Hospital Review.

17 Feb 2012

Web-based intervention can effectively manage chronic migraine

painACTION.com is a free, non-promotional online program designed to support self-management and improve overall function in people with chronic pain. This study tested painACTION.com's ability to increase the use of self-management skills in people with chronic migraine headaches.

17 Feb 2012

Four new drugs can extend survival and prognosis of prostate cancer

After a decade and a half of near stagnation, four new drugs could help make advanced prostate cancer a chronic illness instead of a terminal disease, a leading Colorado prostate cancer expert says.

17 Feb 2012

New process can transform discarded human fat into soft-tissue substitute

A new process for transforming discarded human fat into a soft-tissue substitute for use in reconstructive surgery is laying the groundwork for creating an Ontario-based regenerative medicine initiative focused on developing products for reconstructive and cosmetic surgery.

17 Feb 2012

Nordion celebrates first anniversary of market launch of TheraSphere

Nordion Inc., a leading provider of products and services to the global health science market, today celebrated the first anniversary of the market introduction of TheraSphere, an innovative radioembolic liver cancer therapy, in the Republic of Turkey.

17 Feb 2012

Shortage looming, drug maker agrees to release emergency supplies of kids' cancer drug

A shortage of a drug used to treat children's cancer seems to have been averted for a time as the Food and Drug Administration says it reached an agreement with the drug supplier to release emergency supplies. Elsewhere, rules sometimes force hospitals to throw away scarce drugs.

17 Feb 2012

Midazolam autoinjector pen more effective in treating status epilepticus

Results have just been released from an NIH study conducted at multiple sites, including the University of Kentucky, indicating that an autoinjector pen is a faster and possibly more effective way for emergency medical personnel to treat serious seizures.

17 Feb 2012

Study details how breast tumors may flip TGF-beta signalling switch

Signals can tell cells to act cancerous, surviving, growing and reproducing out of control. And signals can also tell cells with cancerous characteristics to stop growing or to die. In breast cancer, one tricky signal called TGF-beta does both - sometimes promoting tumors and sometimes suppressing them.

17 Feb 2012

Study: 3D organization of chromosomes plays a role in cancer genomics

It is well understood that chromosomal translocation - a process whereby pieces of two chromosomes break off and exchange places - is a hallmark of many cancers including leukemia, thyroid cancer and lymphoma and play an important part in how healthy cells become cancerous. The role spatial proximity plays in why certain chromosomal translocations happen repeatedly, however, has been a long-standing area of debate among scientists.

17 Feb 2012

Researchers sequence genome of Tasmanian devil contagious cancer

Researchers have sequenced the genome of a contagious cancer that is threatening the Tasmanian devil, the world's largest carnivorous marsupial, with extinction. Cataloguing the mutations present in the cancer has led to clues about where the cancer came from and how it became contagious.

17 Feb 2012

Scientists create first 3-D living tissue model of glioma

Brown University scientists have created the first three-dimensional living tissue model, complete with surrounding blood vessels, to analyze the effectiveness of therapeutics to combat brain tumors. The 3-D model gives medical researchers more and better information than Petri dish tissue cultures.

17 Feb 2012

WHO should regulate alcohol consumption with legally binding convention, global health expert says

The "WHO should regulate alcohol at the global level, enforcing such regulations as a minimum drinking age, zero-tolerance drunken driving, and bans on unlimited drink specials," Devi Sridhar, a lecturer in global health politics at the University of Oxford, argues in a commentary published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, Scientific American reports.

17 Feb 2012