Vemurafenib, Doubles Survival Of Metastatic Melanoma Patients
3/02/2012
A report published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that the 50 percent of metastatic melanoma patients with a specific genetic mutation benefit from the drug Vemurafenib - increasing median survival from about 6 months to 15.9 months. In patients who responded, the drug stopped cancer progression for a median 6.7 months...
How Red Blood Cells Get So Big - And The Bad Things That Happen When They Don't
3/02/2012
Yale researchers have discovered how megakaryocytes - giant blood cells that produce wound-healing platelets - manage to grow 10 to 15 times larger than other blood cells. The findings, to be published March 13 in the journal Developmental Cell, also hint at how a malfunction in this process may cause a form of leukemia...
Nanofiber Breakthrough Holds Promise For Medicine And Microprocessors
3/02/2012
A new method for creating nanofibers made of proteins, developed by researchers at Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly), promises to greatly improve drug delivery methods for the treatment of cancers, heart disorders and Alzheimer's disease, as well as aid in the regeneration of human tissue, bone and cartilage...
Possible Anti-Cancer Drug - New Hybrid 'NOSH Aspirin'
3/02/2012
Scientists have combined two new "designer" forms of aspirin into a hybrid substance that appears more effective than either of its forebears in controlling the growth of several forms of cancer in laboratory tests. Their report on the new NOSH-aspirin, so named because it releases nitric oxide (NO) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S), appears in the journal ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters...
Working To Improve Pesticide Efficiency Safely
3/02/2012
In 2007, a controversial pesticide was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use on fruit and vegetable crops, mainly in California and Florida. Farm workers and scientists protested the approval of the pesticide because its active ingredient, methyl iodide, is a known carcinogen...
Why Loss Of STAT1 Is Bad News In Breast Cancer
3/02/2012
Breast cancer represents about a fifth of all cancers diagnosed in women and despite significant advances in therapy it continues to cause the death of many of the sufferers - nearly half a million worldwide in 2008...
More than 60 years ago, scientists discovered the underlying cause of sickle cell disease: People with the disorder produce crescent-shaped red blood cells that clog capillaries instead of flowing smoothly, like ordinary, disc-shaped red blood cells do. This can cause severe pain, major organ damage and a significantly shortened lifespan...
Safer Way Developed To Use Warfarin
3/02/2012
A team of global scientists, led by researchers at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City, has developed a safer and more accurate way to administer warfarin, one of the most commonly prescribed but also potentially dangerous medications in the United States...
Why Loss Of STAT1 Is Bad News In Breast Cancer
3/02/2012
Breast cancer represents about a fifth of all cancers diagnosed in women and despite significant advances in therapy it continues to cause the death of many of the sufferers - nearly half a million worldwide in 2008...
More than 60 years ago, scientists discovered the underlying cause of sickle cell disease: People with the disorder produce crescent-shaped red blood cells that clog capillaries instead of flowing smoothly, like ordinary, disc-shaped red blood cells do. This can cause severe pain, major organ damage and a significantly shortened lifespan...