http://medicineworld.org/cancer/cancer-blog.html Cancer blog from medicineworld.org adds a personal touch to the stories related to cancer. This cancer blog brings you stories of hope, stories of survivors and latest news and research related to cancer. Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT en-us http://medicineworld.org/images/blogs/cancer-cells.jpg http://medicineworld.org/cancer/cancer-blog.html 82 90 http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/killing-cancer-with-nano.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/killing-cancer-with-nano.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Using lasers and nanoparticles, researchers at Rice University have discovered a new technique for singling out individual diseased cells and destroying them with tiny explosions. The researchers used lasers to make "nanobubbles" by zapping gold nanoparticles inside cells. In tests on cancer cells, they found they could tune the lasers to create either small, bright bubbles that were visible but harmless or large bubbles that burst the cells........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/screening-for-colorectal-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/screening-for-colorectal-cancer.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. Despite evidence and guidelines supporting the value of screening for this disease, rates of screening for colorectal cancer are consistently lower than those for other types of cancer, particularly breast and cervical. Although the screening rates in the target population of adults over age 50, have increased from 20-30 percent in 1997 to nearly 55 percent in 2008 the rates are still too low. An NIH state-of-the-science panel was convened this week to identify ways to further increase the use and quality of colorectal cancer screening in the United States........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/plant-derivative-may-fight-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/plant-derivative-may-fight-cancer.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Medical College of Georgia scientists are seeking to refine cancer therapy with an anti-inflammatory plant derivative long used in Chinese medicine. Celastrol, derived from trees and shrubs called celastracaea, has been used for centuries in China to treat symptoms such as fever, chills, joint pain and inflammation. The MCG scientists think it may also play a role in cancer therapy by inactivating a protein mandatory for cancer growth........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/curing-more-cervical-cancer-patients.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/curing-more-cervical-cancer-patients.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Cervical cancer is highly curable when caught early. But in a third of cases, the tumor responds poorly to treatment or recurs later, when cure is much less likely. Quicker identification of non-responding tumors appears to be possible using a new mathematical model developed by scientists at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center-Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/approval-of-oncology-drugs-at-fda.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/approval-of-oncology-drugs-at-fda.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Over a two and half year period, beginning in 2005 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's oncology drug product's office began reviewing marketing applications, a total of 60 new oncology and hematology drugs were evaluated, of which 53 were approved, as per a new article published online January 29 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/new-computational-tool-for-cancer-treatment.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/2-2010/new-computational-tool-for-cancer-treatment.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT A number of human tumors express indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), an enzyme which mediates an immune-escape in several cancer types. Scientists in the Molecular Modeling group at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and Dr. Benot J. Van den Eynde's group at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR) Brussels Branch developed an approach for creating new IDO inhibitors by computer-assisted structure-based drug design. The study was presented in the January 2010 online issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/how-pancreatic-cancer-able-to-defeat-drugs.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/how-pancreatic-cancer-able-to-defeat-drugs.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Scientists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego, have found one reason that pancreas cancer tumors are so difficult to treat with drugs. They have shown how a molecular switch steps up pancreas cancer cell survival as well as resistance to a standard chemotherapy drug, and have identified alternate routes cancer cells take to avoid the effects of the treatment........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/change-in-mammography-guidelines.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/change-in-mammography-guidelines.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT The methodology and evidence behind a widely publicized change in national mammography guidelines is questionable, as per a review in the Journal of Diagnostic Medical Sonography (JDMS), published by SAGE. In November 2009, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) published a report in the Annals of Internal Medicine discussing the screening techniques for the early detection of breast cancer. A few isolated portions of that report, regarding recommended changes for the use of mammography, were widely discussed in the media, and garnered tremendous public attention........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/virtual-colonoscopy-is-effective.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/virtual-colonoscopy-is-effective.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Computed tomographic colonography (CTC), also known as virtual colonoscopy, remains effective in screening older patients for colorectal cancer (CRC), produces low referral for colonoscopy rates similar to other screening exams now covered by Medicare, and does not result in unreasonable levels of additional testing resulting from extracolonic findings, as per a research studyreported in the recent issue of Radiology........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/lung-cancer-patients-who-quit-smoking.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/lung-cancer-patients-who-quit-smoking.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT People diagnosed with early stage lung cancer can double their chances of survival over five years if they stop smoking compared with those who continue to smoke, finds a study published on bmj.com today. This is the first review of studies to measure the effects of continued smoking after diagnosis of lung cancer and suggests that it appears to be worthwhile to offer smoking cessation therapy to patients with early stage lung cancer........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/whos-afraid-of-the-hpv-vaccine.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/whos-afraid-of-the-hpv-vaccine.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT A newly released study concludes that people tend to match their risk perceptions about policy issues with their cultural values, which may explain the intense disagreement about proposals to vaccinate elementary-school girls against human-papillomavirus (HPV). The study also says people's values shape their perceptions of expert opinion on the vaccine........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/nano-cocktail-to-target-tumors.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/nano-cocktail-to-target-tumors.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT A team of scientists in California and Massachusetts has developed a "cocktail" of different nanometer-sized particles that work in concert within the bloodstream to locate, adhere to and kill malignant tumors. "This study represents the first example of the benefits of employing a cooperative nanosystem to fight cancer," said Michael Sailor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California, San Diego and the primary author of a paper describing the results, which is being published in a forthcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. An early online version of the paper appeared last week........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/pomegranate-to-prevent-breast-cancer.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/pomegranate-to-prevent-breast-cancer.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Eating fruit, such as pomegranates, that contain anti-aromatase phytochemicals reduces the occurence rate of hormone-dependent breast cancer, as per results of a study reported in the recent issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Pomegranate is enriched in a series of compounds known as ellagitannins that, as shown in this study, appear to be responsible for the anti-proliferative effect of the pomegranate........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/celebrex-may-prevent-skin-cancers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/celebrex-may-prevent-skin-cancers.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT A widely-available anti-inflammatory prescription drug can reduce the risk of a common skin cancer in humans, as per a researcher at Stanford's School of Medicine. Eventhough oral administration of the drug, celecoxib, is linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke in some people, it's possible that topical application could have a safer, protective effect for people prone to developing the cancers, called basal cell carcinomas, the researcher believes........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/promise-against-cancers.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/1-2010/promise-against-cancers.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT An experimental drug currently being tested against breast and lung cancer shows promise in fighting the brain cancer glioblastoma and prostate cancer, scientists at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found in two preclinical studies. The drug's actions, observed in isolated human cells in one trial and in rodents in the other, are particularly encouraging because they attacked not only the bulk of the tumor cells but also the rare cancer stem cells that are thought to beresponsible for most of a cancer's growth, said Dr. Jerry Shay, professor of cell biology and a senior co-author of both papers. The glioblastoma study appears in the recent issue of Clinical Cancer Research The prostate cancer study is available online in the International Journal of Cancer........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/acupuncture-reduces-hot-flashes.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/acupuncture-reduces-hot-flashes.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Not only is acupuncture as effective as drug treatment at reducing hot flashes in patients with breast cancer, it has the added benefit of potentially increasing a woman's sex drive and improving her sense of well-being, as per a Henry Ford Hospital study. Study results show that acupuncture, when in comparison to drug treatment, has a longer-lasting effect on the reduction of hot flashes and night sweats for women receiving hormone treatment for breast cancer therapy. Women also report that acupuncture improves their energy and clarity of thought........ ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/self-seeding-of-cancer-cells.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/self-seeding-of-cancer-cells.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Cancer progression is usually thought of as a process involving the growth of a primary tumor followed by metastasis, in which cancer cells leave the primary tumor and spread to distant organs. A newly released study by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center shows that circulating tumor cells cancer cells that break away from a primary tumor and disseminate to other areas of the body can also return to and grow in their tumor of origin, a newly discovered process called "self-seeding."....... ]]> http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/improving-mammogram-accuracy.html http://medicineworld.org/stories/lead/12-2009/improving-mammogram-accuracy.html Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:58:52 GMT Members of a Syracuse University research team have shown that an obscure phenomenon called stochastic resonance (SR) can improve the clarity of signals in systems such as radar, sonar and even radiography, used in medical clinics to detect signs of breast cancer. It does this by adding carefully selected noise to the system........ ]]>