Body

Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black cancer patients between ages 15 and 29 may be more likely than same-aged white patients to die of their disease, according to a University of Colorado Cancer Center study presented at the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2016. The finding is partially but not wholly explained by socioeconomic status, meaning that in addition to the health risks associated with low socioeconomic status or stage of presentation, there are additional health risks associated specifically with these racial/ethnic identities.

AN expandable tube that unblocks the bowel before surgery could lead to fewer cancer patients -- diagnosed as emergencies -- needing a colostomy bag.The Cancer Research UK-funded CReST trial presented at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago today (Sunday)* found that less than half (45 per cent) of those who had their bowel unblocked by the tube, which uses body heat to expand, needed a colostomy bag.

Costs associated with different breast cancer chemotherapy regimens can vary significantly, regardless of effectiveness, according to new research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Understanding cost differences should help guide informed discussions between patients and physicians when considering chemotherapy options.

Sharon Giordano, M.D., chair of Health Services Research and professor of Breast Medical Oncology, will present the findings in a poster discussion session at the 2016 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in Chicago.

HAVING radiotherapy once a day for six and a half weeks or twice a day for three weeks -- when combined with chemotherapy -- is equally good at treating small cell lung cancer that hasn't spread.

These results -- from a Cancer Research UK-funded clinical trial presented at the ASCO cancer conference today (Sunday) -- mean patients and doctors can choose together which treatment suits them best.

DALLAS - June 4, 2016 - A significant proportion of lung cancer patients also have autoimmune disease, which may make them unsuitable for increasingly popular immunotherapy treatments, a team of researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center's Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

The UT Southwestern cancer researchers calculated that between 14 to 25 percent of lung cancer patients reviewed also had immune disease, and these individuals were more likely to be female and older, according to the findings reported today in JAMA Oncology.

Pregnant women overestimate the risks of taking over the counter and prescribed medication - according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The findings reveal that women choose not to medicate common pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, heartburn and aches and pains.

Most worryingly, mums-to-be are choosing not to take medication for UTIs - which can cause significant complications and harm the foetus if left untreated.

According to a new study published today in the journal Population Development and Review, 61% of citizens within the EU-15 see themselves as European in addition to or in lieu of their national identity in 2013, compared to 58% on average from 1996 to 2004. The largest increases were seen in Germany, Austria, Sweden, and Finland, and surprisingly also in Greece. In contrast the United Kingdom and France saw a decline in European identity, with the UK coming at the very bottom.

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Pten (short for phosphatase and tensin homolog) is a tumor suppressor that is defective in about 20-25 percent of all patients with cancers. Mayo Clinic researchers now have discovered that Pten safeguards against tumor formation by keeping chromosome numbers intact when a cell splits into two daughter cells. In this study, the last three amino acids of the Pten protein, which are often missing in human cancers, were found to be critical for forming an intact mitotic spindle, a structure required for accurate chromosome segregation.

Eight days. That's how long it takes for skin cells to reprogram into red blood cells. Researchers at Lund University in Sweden, together with colleagues at Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, have successfully identified the four genetic keys that unlock the genetic code of skin cells and reprogram them to start producing red blood cells instead.

Dentin is one of the most durable biological materials in the human body. Researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin were able to show that the reason for this can be traced to its nanostructures and specifically to the interactions between the organic and inorganic components. Measurements performed at BESSYII, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin's synchrotron radiation source, showed that it is the mechanical coupling between the collagen protein fibers and mineral nanoparticles which renders dentin capable of withstanding extreme forces.

A program encouraging overweight or obese adolescents to increase their physical activity through use of their everyday environment, rather than organized classes or sports programs, produced significant increases in participants' daily physical activity that were sustained for at least three to four months. A report on a pilot study conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) health center in Revere, Mass., is being published online in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

June 2, 2016 - Visual blurring -- like that produced by bifocals or multifocal lenses -- may cause errors in foot position when walking. And that could contribute to the risk of tripping and falling in older adults, suggests a study in the June issue of Optometry and Vision Science, official journal of the American Academy of Optometry. The journal is published by Wolters Kluwer.

Use of a new technique developed at the Babraham Institute has allowed researchers to take an in-depth look at the gene shuffling process that is responsible for our body's ability to recognise a vast range of foreign agents such as disease-causing microorganisms (pathogens). Failure in this process lies at the heart of a variety of immunodeficiency diseases and is also relevant to the decline in immune function observed with age.

At any given moment, the human genome spells out thousands of genetic words telling our cells which proteins to make. Each word is read by a molecule known as a tRNA.

"We've long thought of these molecules as little more than middle men participating in the process of translating proteins," explains Sohail Tavazoie, Leon Hess Associate Professor and head Rockefeller University's Elizabeth and Vincent Meyer Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology. But new research conducted in his lab suggests tRNA dynamics may play an important role in modulating the types of proteins in a cell.

Blacks between the ages of 45 and 54 die of strokes at a rate that is three times greater than their white counterparts, according to the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) study, which looked at stroke incidence and mortality of nearly 30,000 participants over the age of 45 from an ethnically and demographically diverse sample of the U.S. population. The findings suggest that the higher risk of death from strokes in blacks is due mostly to the higher incidence in this population, and not to worse outcomes following stroke.