Body

DENVER - A combination of two targeted therapies packs a powerful punch to kill pancreatic cancer cells in the laboratory, Mayo Clinic cancer researchers report. With further testing of these drugs that are from classes of pharmaceuticals already used in patients, the Mayo research may lead to new treatment opportunities for patients with pancreatic cancer, which is extremely difficult to treat.

Researchers at the University of Southern California have identified a new drug compound that appears to target tumor cells and surrounding blood vessels without the negative side effects typically associated with Cox-2 inhibitors.

The compound 2.5-dimethyl-celecoxib (DMC) appears to have a strong anti-tumor effect while also attacking the vasculature that provides the blood supply necessary for tumor growth, according to data presented at the AACR 100th Annual Meeting 2009. The findings were presented at a 1 p.m. news conference on Sunday, April 19.

Maintaining a healthy body weight is good news for the environment, according to a study which appears today in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Because food production is a major contributor to global warming, a lean population, such as that seen in Vietnam, will consume almost 20% less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which 40% of people are obese (close to that seen in the USA today), according to Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine's Department of Epidemiology and Population Health.

In a recent publication in Nature Photonics, a joint team of researchers at CIC nanoGUNE, Donostia International Physics Center DIPC, Centro de Física de Materiales of CSIC/UPV-EHU in San Sebastian (Spain), Harvard University (USA) and the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich (Germany) reports an innovative method for controlling light on the nanoscale by adopting tuning concepts from radio-frequency technology.

Denver, Colo. – In what is believed to be the largest study of its kind in the US, researchers have found that almost 26 percent of women studied who have breast cancer have mutations in a gene important in controlling cell growth and death, and that patients with mutations in this gene – known as p53 - had poorer outcomes including a significantly increased risk of death from the cancer.

DENVER – Pancreatic cancer remains one of the deadliest cancers, but researchers may have found a combination therapy to reduce cancer stem cells and stop pancreatic cancer growth. Results will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

DENVER – Treatment with biphosphonates could prevent radiation-induced leukemia, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

Alexandra Miller, Ph.D., a senior scientist at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, said her research is designed to help military and space agency personnel, who are more likely to be exposed to risky levels of radiation than the general population. However, she said the research could have applications for civilian populations as well.

DENVER – Researchers may have uncovered why lung cancer afflicts some smokers and not others, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.

"A history of smoking has always been thought of as a predictor of lung cancer, but it is actually not very accurate," said Jian-Min Yuan, Ph.D., M.D., associate professor of public health at the University of Minnesota. "Smoking absolutely increases your risk, but why it does so in some people but not others is a big question."

(DENVER) – An online tool that provides cancer survivors and their family members with an easy-to-follow roadmap for managing their health as they finish treatment and transition to life as a survivor got high marks from users, according to new University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine research which will be presented this weekend at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 100th Annual Meeting 2009 in Denver.

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego and the Moores UCSD Cancer Center have evidence of a potential new biomarker to predict the aggressiveness of an often difficult-to-treat form of leukemia. They found that high levels of a particular enzyme in the blood are an indicator that chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) – the most common form of adult leukemia – will be aggressive and in need of immediate treatment.

NEW ORLEANS, April 19, 2009 – Drinking at least one glass of low sodium vegetable juice daily may help overweight people with metabolic syndrome achieve better weight loss results. A study, conducted at the Baylor College of Medicine and presented at this week's Experimental Biology Meeting, found that participants who drank at least 8-ounces of low sodium vegetable juice as part of a calorie-controlled DASH diet lost four pounds over 12 weeks, while those who followed the same diet but drank no juice lost one pound.

April 19, 2009, NEW ORLEANS --- Eating just one and a half servings of tart cherries could significantly boost antioxidant activity in the body, according to new University of Michigan research reported at the 2009 Experimental Biology meeting in New Orleans.1 In the study, healthy adults who ate a cup and a half of frozen cherries had increased levels of antioxidants, specifically five different anthocyanins – the natural antioxidants that give cherries their red color.

Men and women who chewed Extra® sugar-free gum three times hourly in the afternoon chose and consumed less snacks and specifically, less sweet snacks than they did when they did not chew gum. They still reached for a variety of snacks provided but the decrease in overall snack intake was significant at 40 calories and sweet snack intake specifically was significantly lowered by 60 calories.

The good nutrition news is that children in poor, rural parts of the Lower Mississippi Delta are a lot more willing to try fresh fruits and vegetables than generally believed, even by their parents or the kids themselves. The bad news is that such foods are often in short supply in an area where gas stations and convenience stores are the closest places to buy food and where growing family gardens has given way to long work commutes by parents – and that the situation is growing worse with a worsening economy.

When things go right, transplanted healthy liver cells transplanted by infusion or injection will find their way to the liver, integrate into the damaged tissue, start proliferating, and take over the liver's work of helping with digestion and removing waste products and worn-out cells from the blood. Hepatocyte transplantation has been successful in a number of animal models, raising hopes that use of cells could overcome the shortage of donor livers and the problems of surgery, but the procedure has not been as successful in humans. Was the problem related to the age of the donor?