A study of the first approximately 100 patients who have received partial breast irradiation with a small, whisk-like, expandable device inserted inside the breast has shown that after one year, the device is effective at sparing nearby healthy tissue from the effects of radiation. The device, called SAVI™, is aimed at providing customized radiation therapy while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue around the breast after a woman has received a lumpectomy for early stage cancer.
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WALNUT CREEK, Calif.— Mostly hidden from the scrutiny of the naked eye, microbes have been said to run the world. The challenge is how best to characterize them given that less than one percent of the estimated hundreds of millions of microbial species can be cultured in the laboratory. The answer is metagenomics—an increasingly popular approach for extracting the genomes of uncultured microorganisms and discerning their specific metabolic capabilities directly from environmental samples.
Chicago, IL – The number of cases of surgical innovation published in otolaryngic medical journals has fallen drastically since the late 1980s, leading researchers to question the impact of government oversight over surgery, according to research presented during the 2008 American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO, in Chicago, IL.
Many gastrointestinal tumors, including pancreatic cancer, have been shown to overexpress the EGFR. The overexpression of EGFR correlates with rapidly progressive disease and poor prognosis. Targeting EGFR pathway as a potential therapeutic strategy for pancreatic cancer has been developed. Erlotinib is a small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitor that efficiently blocks EGFR. Preliminary results of phase III trial in pancreatic cancer revealed an improvement in survival with the addition of erlotinib.
Body of text: Anaerobic microorganisms are important constituents of both human and animal intestinal microbiota. Infections caused by anaerobic bacteria are increasingly being recognized as major problem in clinical medicine. The commensal anaerobic bacterial flora of the colon may undergo changes during diarrhea, owing to colonization of the intestine by pathogens and to rapid intestinal transit. The major role of endogenous cationic antimicrobial peptides in preventing the onset of infection has been emphasized recently. Such peptides have been found platelets and are designated PMP.
Body of text: I/R injury of the small intestine is consequently a critical problem that is important. DHP-PMX therapy can remove circulating endotoxins and reduce various cytokines, even in patients with high levels of plasma cytokines. DHP-PMX therapy has also been attempted for severe sepsis secondary to intra-abdominal infection, acute lung injury, and acute respiratory distress syndrome caused by sepsis, and its effectiveness has been reported.
Dr. Hong-Yang Wang and his colleagues confirmed that reduced or absent expressions of E-cadherin and P120 were shown to be associated with the tumor histological grade. And their expression significantly associated with tumor pTNM stage, intrahepatic metastasis and patients' survival. Therefore, both of them could serve as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers of ICCs.
HBV infection remains a major health problem in the world. Several data have revealed that lamivudine can efficiently promote the treatment of hepatitis B. However, a long-term treatment of lamivudine leads to the emergence of lamivudine-resistant mutants (YMDD mutants), which hampers the anti-HBV therapy. Therefore, researches related to HBV lamivudine-resistant mechanism has been of great significance. Up to date, many researches using eukaryotic plasmids containing either one type of HBV YMDD mutant or wild-type strains, without specification of HBV genotype, were reported.
BOSTON, September 21, 2008 – New data show that CAPHOSOL® (www.caphosol.com), an advanced electrolyte solution, significantly limits the occurrence and severity of oral mucositis (OM) in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
The American Heart Association today unveiled six principles on healthcare reform as the presidential candidates begin a series of debates, the first scheduled for Friday, Sept. 26, at the University of Mississippi. With a vision of a stronger healthcare system, the association's 2008 Statement of Principles on Health Care Reform outlines critical issues that must be addressed to ensure high-quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans.
The prognosis of pancreatic cancer is extremely poor and early diagnosis is difficult. At the time of diagnosis, local vascular involvement, nodal and distant metastases are frequently present. Currently, the best way of preoperative staging of pancreatic cancer is bolus-contrast, triple-phase helical computed tomography. However, the positive predictive value of the test is low, and approximately 25%-50% of patients predicted to have resectable disease on computed tomography turn out to have unresectable lesions at laparotomy.
HILTON HEAD, SC—Women are four times more likely than men to experience a broken forearm and require a cast (immobilization). To examine whether the effects of casting were similar between the sexes, researchers examined immobilized volunteers for a period of three weeks. They determined that while men were able to regain 99% of their strength within a week of removing the cast, women's strength was still 30% lower when compared to before the cast was applied. These finding may have implications for the treatment of fractures based on gender lines.
HILTON HEAD, SC—One out of every three Americans is obese. These individuals are at greater risk for additional diseases, since obesity leads to other health problems, such as diabetes.
Obesity-related complications are associated with an abnormal fat metabolism in the muscle. As a result, accumulated fat by-products inside the muscle affect insulin resistance. To avoid the build up of fat by-products, fat must either be oxidized (burned, as in exercise) or stored (as benign fat) in muscle.
Hilton Head, SC–Reactive oxygen species (ROS) occur as a by-product of aerobic metabolism and impair cellular function by damaging proteins, nucleotides and lipids. Organisms possess a variety of anti-oxidant mechanisms to mitigate the effects of ROS, and the oxidative stress model of aging and senescence suggests that physiological performance declines with age due to lifetime accrual of ROS-induced damage and progressively limited anti-oxidant capacity.
HILTON HEAD, SC—Statins are powerful drugs that reduce "bad" cholesterol and thus cut the risk of a heart attack. While these medications offer tremendous benefits to millions, they can carry side effects for some. The most frequently reported consequence is fatigue, and about nine percent of patients report statin-related pain. Both can be exacerbated when statin doses are increased, or physical activity is added. The results of a new study may offer another note of caution for high-dose statin patients.