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The first trial of an important new combination therapy of treatment with the chemotherapy drug pemetrexed concurrent with radiation in lung cancer has delivered promising results, French researchers report at the 2nd European Lung Cancer Conference.

The results of the Phase I trial suggest that pemetrexed, unlike some other modern chemotherapy drugs, is well-enough tolerated to allow it to be administered at high dose with concurrent radiotherapy, increasing the effectiveness of the treatment.

Scientists from NOAA and Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi were astounded to find that seamounts, mountains that rise from the seafloor, rank as some of the most common ocean habitats in the world. Their findings are published in a new study and reverse previous beliefs about the prevalence of seamounts, which are treasure troves of marine biodiversity.

Fine-tuning radiotherapy to take into account which parts of a patient's tumor are growing fastest could improve control of cancer while subjecting patients to lower doses of radiation, Dutch researchers reported today at the 2nd European Lung Cancer Conference.

Scientists at Stanford and Harvard Universities collaborated to assess the clinical usefulness of analyzing a patient's full genome for disease risks and unusual drug responses. The work brings closer to reality the concept that whole-genome sequencing might one day play a clinical role.

The analysis, which was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), appears in the May 1, 2010 issue of Lancet.

Drugs taken by kidney transplant recipients to prevent organ rejection carry similar risks of cancer, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results suggest that no single medication is to blame for the higher incidence of cancer seen among patients who have undergone transplantation.

NEW YORK (April 29, 2010) -- Scientists have shown that through eye examinations, doctors can identify infants who are most likely to benefit from early treatment for a potentially blinding eye condition called retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), resulting in better vision for many children.

In findings that may speed the search for disease-causing genes, a new study challenges the prevailing view that common diseases are usually caused by common gene variants (mutations). Instead, say genetics researchers, the culprits may be numerous rare variants, located in DNA sequences farther away from the original "hot spots" than scientists have been accustomed to look.