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Implantable device offers continuous cancer monitoring

Surgical removal of a tissue sample is now the standard for diagnosing cancer. Such procedures, known as biopsies, are accurate but offer only a snapshot of the tumor at a single moment in time.

21 Jul 2009

Nanoparticles image breast cancer

Current methods of detecting breast cancer suffer from low sensitivity, limited spatial resolution, or the need to use complicated and expensive radioisotope-based technologies.

21 Jul 2009

Targeted nanoparticles boost arsenic’s anticancer punch

Arsenic trioxide has a long history as a potent human poison, but it also has proven valuable as one of the primary treatment options for acute promyelocytic leukemia. Efforts to use arsenic trioxide to treat other types of cancer are under way, but clinical trials are revealing that the extreme toxicity of this material is likely to limit its utility as a broad-spectrum anticancer agent.

21 Jul 2009

Nanoparticle-based “chemical nose” sniffs out cancer earlier to improve treatment options

Using a "chemical nose" array of nanoparticles and polymers, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a fundamentally new, more effective way to differentiate not only between healthy and cancerous cells but also between metastatic and nonmetastatic cancer cells. It is a tool that could revolutionize cancer detection and treatment, according to Vincent M. Rotello, Ph.D., M.Phil., and D. Joseph Jerry, Ph.D., M.S., the investigators who led the study.

21 Jul 2009

A quantum dot-based method for analysis of DNA methylation

One of the earliest events that changes a normal cell into a malignant one is known as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) hypermethylation, a biochemical alteration that inactivates critical tumor-suppressor genes.

21 Jul 2009

New nanoparticles could revolutionize therapeutic drug discovery

Understanding the structure of proteins is a vital first step in developing new drugs, but to date, researchers have had difficulty studying the large number of proteins that are normally embedded in the cell membrane, a family of proteins that includes those involved in cancer-related signaling processes.

21 Jul 2009

Obama continues pressing health reform, but softens on the deadline

President Barack Obama in remarks on Monday called out critics of his push for health reform and softened his timeline talk, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2009

Steele assails "experimentation" in Obama's health reform effort

"The chairman of the Republican Party on Monday accused President Barack Obama of conducting 'risky experimentation' with his health care proposals, saying they will hurt the economy and force millions to drop their current coverage, The Associated Press reports.

20 Jul 2009

Key Senate panel struggles to reach consensus

"The Senate Finance Committee, which is seeking a bipartisan compromise, has failed to reach an agreement" on health care reform, Bloomberg reports, "even as two House committees and a Senate panel cleared their versions of the legislation with only Democratic approval."

20 Jul 2009

House face-off looms over sweeping health bill

House Democrats, who last week touted their health overhaul bill after it passed two of three committees have fight on their hands this week.

20 Jul 2009

Obama readies stronger hand on health reform, plans meetings with players

The next two weeks of a health reform fight may prove pivotal for President Barack Obama's image and his ability to use his popularity to get things done, The Washington Post reports.

20 Jul 2009

Taking positions: Some docs, businesses cheer while others oppose effort

As advocacy groups with a stake in health reform take positions in the health reform debate, their battle lines don't necessarily observe the boundaries of a given sector, industry or professional affiliation. "Business is far from unified in its lobbying efforts for health-care reform," McClatchy/Chicago Tribune reports. "The disparity dilutes its power and may contribute to a plan no faction wants -- or no plan at all."

20 Jul 2009

Obama administration silent on San Francisco health insurance ordinance

"As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to consider a restaurant group's challenge to San Francisco's health coverage ordinance, one voice is noticeably silent: the Obama administration's," The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

20 Jul 2009

Insurers join public debate with new ad campaign

The insurance industry so far has "stayed at the bargaining table and held its fire in the ad wars," but "now, the industry is speaking up, not with an attack but with a seven-figure, national cable TV ad buy starting Monday in favor of affordable bipartisan health reform that can cover everyone," Politico reports.

20 Jul 2009

Small businesses, doctors voice concerns about health reform

"Small business is suddenly playing a big role in negotiations over health care," NPR reports. "Supporters and opponents of various plans to overhaul the system are all trying to paint themselves as champions of mom and pop entrepreneurs."

20 Jul 2009

One doctor's view: Electronic medical records work well

In an essay in the Los Angeles Times, Rahul Parikh writes about his own experience at a Kaiser Permanente facility in Northern California where they implemented an electronic medical record system in 2006.

20 Jul 2009

Advocates push to end Medicare's two year wait for disabled

There are 1.8 million disabled Americans who wait two-years to enroll in Medicare. Many say that waiting period can be devastating.

20 Jul 2009

Americans living with no insurance, or less insurance, during recession

Decisions about forgoing care because of the cost for the long-term uninsured have been a way of life, "but for a sizable group, being without a job and insurance is a new, deeply distressing condition," The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports.

20 Jul 2009

California budget could force seniors to nursing homes, drive up costs

NPR reports that California's $26.3 billion budget deficit is marginalizing seniors who rely on California state-provided health care and service to help them manage their lives.

20 Jul 2009

Efforts to 'fix' Medicare payments at center of reform

The Wall Street Journal reports: "A plan to end a program that would cut government payments to doctors is emerging as the flash point in the debate over whether President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health system would increase the federal budget deficit.

20 Jul 2009