Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

CINJ, NJDHSS partner to create Center of Excellence for Cancer Surveillance

A new partnership between The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state's only National Cancer Institute -designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services will create a Center of Excellence for Cancer Surveillance to help track, examine, prevent and control cancer. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

18 Sep 2010

Pazopanib drug reduces thyroid cancer progression: Study

The drug pazopanib may help revolutionize the care of patients with metastatic, rapidly progressive differentiated thyroid cancers, say researchers at Mayo Clinic who are publishing findings of a phase II clinical trial in The Lancet Oncology.

18 Sep 2010

CDC, Epocrates educate healthcare professionals about safe injection practices

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Epocrates, Inc. are educating healthcare professionals about safe injection practices conveniently and effectively on their smartphone devices. Epocrates' EssentialPoints mobile detailing program provides healthcare professionals with key lessons that can be applied directly to patient care.

18 Sep 2010

Scientists develop computer model to examine genetic switch for TB dormancy

An examination of a portion of the tuberculosis genome that responds to stress has allowed Rice University bioengineers Oleg Igoshin and Abhinav Tiwari to zero in on a network of genes that may "switch" the disease into dormancy.

18 Sep 2010

HHS Secretary Sebelius announces $130.8 million in grants to expand health professions workforce

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today announced $130.8 million in grants to strengthen and expand the health professions workforce. Six areas are targeted: primary care workforce training, oral health workforce training, equipment to enhance training across the health professions, loan repayments for health professionals, health careers opportunity programs for disadvantaged students, and patient navigator outreach and chronic disease prevention in health disparity populations.

18 Sep 2010

Response Genetics enters agreement to settle SSF's proxy contest

Response Genetics, Inc. today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Special Situations Fund III QP, L.P., Special Situations Cayman Fund L.P, Special Situations Life Sciences Fund, L.P. and certain of their affiliates (collectively, "SSF") to settle SSF's proxy contest.

18 Sep 2010

Lawmakers debate action on stem cell research, public health bills

Sen. Arlen Specter said at a Senate hearing Thursday that Congress should move on allowing the government to fund human embryonic stem cell research "to avoid giving a final say on the issue to a conservative Supreme Court," The Associated Press reports.

18 Sep 2010

Penn study reveals structure of cell division's key molecule

On average, one hundred billion cells in the human body divide over the course of a day. Most of the time the body gets it right but sometimes, problems in cell replication can lead to abnormalities in chromosomes resulting in many types of disorders, from cancer to Down Syndrome.

18 Sep 2010

CBC members, patient advocacy organizations offer support for PRIME Act

In a presentation today at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference Health Braintrust meeting, Faina Shtern, M.D., president and CEO of AdMeTech Foundation, unveiled overwhelming support from Congressional Black Caucus members and patient advocacy organizations for the Prostate Research, Imaging, and Men's Education Act of 2010.

18 Sep 2010

APC gene mutation affects DNA methylation in colon cancer: Research

Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in the United States and causes more than 50,000 deaths each year. It has been known for some time that mutations in the APC gene occur in more than 85 percent of all sporadic colon cancers. Now researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah demonstrate in a study featured today in Cell the mechanism by which mutation of the APC gene affects a cellular process known as DNA methylation.

18 Sep 2010

InVision-Plus connector reduces CLABSI infections: Report

The InVision-Plus needleless IV connector helped three different organizations sharply reduce and in some cases completely eliminate central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), according to three poster presentations that will be presented at AVA 2010, the annual scientific meeting of the Association for Vascular Access.

18 Sep 2010

Researchers awarded funds to assess effects of omega-3 fatty acids on breast cancer development

Two researchers at Marshall University have been awarded federal funds totaling more than $1 million to assess the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on breast cancer development.

18 Sep 2010

LCA receives Leadership in Advocacy Award

Lung Cancer Alliance received the Leadership in Advocacy Award at today's forum of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust in Washington D.C.

18 Sep 2010

Carter blames Ted Kennedy for delay in passing health bill

A decades old grudge between former president Jimmy Carter and the late senator Edward Kennedy was renewed again Thursday when Carter criticized Kennedy's stand on the former president's health care proposal. CBS "60 Minutes" quotes Carter as saying "that Kennedy delayed comprehensive coverage for Americans for decades.

18 Sep 2010

Disabling RGS14 gene helps mice remember better

Deleting a certain gene in mice can make them smarter by unlocking a mysterious region of the brain considered to be relatively inflexible, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine have found.

18 Sep 2010

Health premiums rise as states consider how they'll implement reforms

Overall health insurance premiums rose 7 percent in 2009, even as the number of people with health coverage fell. "Individual premium revenues rose 15 percent while group premiums, which involve mostly employers, rose nearly 3 percent, according to the report from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an organization whose prominence has grown following passage of the new U.S. health reform law."

18 Sep 2010

FDA reviews Actos drug for bladder cancer risk

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today announced it has begun a safety review of the diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone), after receiving preliminary results from a long-term observational study designed to evaluate the risk of bladder cancer associated with use of this drug.

18 Sep 2010

Boehringer Ingelheim commences afatinib Phase III clinical trial in advanced breast cancer

Boehringer Ingelheim today announced the initiation of a phase III clinical trial to investigate one of its most advanced oncology pipeline compounds, afatinib, for the treatment of patients with advanced (metastatic) breast cancer. Afatinib is an oral compound (taken as a tablet), which is a next generation, targeted therapy, that irreversibly inhibits both, the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/HER1) and the human epidermal receptor HER2, which are involved in tumour growth and spread.

18 Sep 2010

FDA decides to review information on Avastin for advanced HER2-negative breast cancer

Genentech, Inc., a member of the Roche Group, today announced that information submitted by the company to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the review of the supplemental Biologics License Applications (sBLAs) for Avastin (bevacizumab) for previously untreated (first-line) advanced HER2-negative breast cancer has been deemed a major amendment.

18 Sep 2010

Accuray Incorporated showcases CyberKnife VSI System at ESTRO Annual Congress

Accuray Incorporated, a global leader in the field of radiosurgery, announced today that for the first time in Europe the company showcased its latest offering, the CyberKnife VSI System, at ESTRO 29, the Annual Congress of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Barcelona, Spain.

18 Sep 2010