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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

New minimally invasive method of treating cancer

A team of biomedical engineers at Virginia Tech and the University of California at Berkeley has developed a new minimally invasive method of treating cancer, and they anticipate clinical trials on individuals with prostate cancer will begin soon.

9 Jul 2007

Should hookah smoking be part of England's smoking ban?

Campaigners are trying to get hookah smoking exempted from England's smoking ban for cultural reasons.

9 Jul 2007

Trastuzumab and chemo improves survival in women with operable HER-2 positive breast cancer

A recent meta-analysis of five major breast cancer trials has confirmed that combination treatment with the antibody trastuzumab and chemotherapy improves survival in women with operable HER-2 positive breast cancer.

9 Jul 2007

Amoebae control cheating by keeping it in the family

No one likes a cheater, even a single-celled one. New research from Rice University shows how cooperative single-celled amoebae rely on family ties to keep cheaters from undermining the health of their colonies.

9 Jul 2007

HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%

The new 2006 estimates released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), supported by UNAIDS and WHO, indicate that national adult HIV prevalence in India is approximately 0.36%, which corresponds to an estimated 2 million to 3.1 million people living with HIV in the country.

9 Jul 2007

Genome detectives reveal gene suspect for bowel cancer

Scientists in Britain have identified a gene they say increases the risk of bowel cancer by 20%.

8 Jul 2007

Chronic fatigue: clues in the blood

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) believe that blood may hold vital insights into what is happening in the brain of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

8 Jul 2007

Cancer risk in HIV, transplant patients

HIV/AIDS and kidney transplant patients are at much greater risk of contracting 20 different types of cancer than the general population, according to a land mark paper in The Lancet.

8 Jul 2007

New score for predicting the risk of heart disease

A new score for predicting the risk of heart disease gives a more accurate measure of how many UK adults are at risk of developing the disease - and which adults are most likely to benefit from treatment.

8 Jul 2007

Gene found that protects from serious kidney disease

A combination of mice and patient studies sheds light on cause and possible new therapies of kidney diseases.

8 Jul 2007

Pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV infection

Clinical trials of pre-exposure prophylaxis - that is giving anti-retroviral drugs to non-HIV-infected individuals to prevent them becoming infected - are exploring whether the approach could lead to a large decrease in transmission of the virus with few or no side effects.

8 Jul 2007

Darunavir-ritonavir shows benefits for patients with HIV

Darunavir-ritonavir should be considered as a treatment option across the range of treatment-experienced patients with HIV infection, conclude Jose Madruga (Centro de Referencia e Treinamento DST/AIDS, Sao Paulao, Brazil) and colleagues in an Article in this week's issue of The Lancet.

8 Jul 2007

Etravirine effective for HIV supression

Treatment with TMC125 (etravirine) leads to better virological suppression than placebo as part of antiretroviral therapy in patients with documented resistance to non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), conclude two randomised trials in this week's issue of The Lancet.

8 Jul 2007