Body

ROCHESTER, Minn. -- Mayo Clinic researchers have demonstrated that a noninvasive screening test can detect not only colorectal cancer but also the common cancers above the colon -- including pancreas, stomach, biliary and esophageal cancers. This is one of more than 100 Mayo Clinic studies being presented at Digestive Disease Week 2009 in Chicago, May 30 – June 4.

New York, New York, June 2, 2009 – Because bleeding from the reproductive tract is a naturally occurring event during menstruation and childbirth, women who exhibit menorrhagia, or excessive bleeding after their menstrual cycle, may have underlying diseases that are underdiagnosed. In order to address important issues related to the diagnosis and management of reproductive tract bleeding in women with bleeding disorders, a consensus conference was convened. Results are published in the July 2009 issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Philadelphia, 2 June 2009 – A closer look at regulatory and clinical concerns with generic immunosuppression medications in thoracic transplantation is required, according to an educational advisory by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) in the July 2009 issue of The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation (www.jhltonline.org/), published by Elsevier.

Bethesda, MD -- The 161 million Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance are facing substantial increases in out-of-pocket (OOP) costs, according to a study published today on the Health Affairs Web site.

The study, authored by researchers from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and Watson Wyatt Worldwide and funded by The Commonwealth Fund, examines trends in the comprehensiveness of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) from 2004 to 2007. It finds rising rates of underinsurance and unaffordability, particularly for poorer and sicker people.

DURHAM, NC -- Nearly one percent of the population suffers from bleeding disorders, yet many women don't know they have one because doctors aren't looking for the condition, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

That's about to change, now that an international expert consortium specifically outlined the definitive signs that may signal the presence of a bleeding disorder in women. The consortium's recommendations are published online and will appear in the July issue of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Cancer develops when cells known as cancer stem cells begin to divide in an uncontrolled manner. Researchers from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified roles for the gene PTEN, which is already well known for its ability to suppress tumor growth, and for several pathways linked to PTEN in the growth of cells that give rise to breast cancer.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — A gene well known to stop or suppress cancer plays a role in cancer stem cells, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The researchers found that several pathways linked to the gene, called PTEN, also affected the growth of breast cancer stem cells.

Further, by using a drug that interferes with that pathway, the researchers produced an up to 90 percent decrease in the number of cancer stem cells within a tumor.

Sequence gaps in human chromosome 15 have been closed by the application of 454 technology. Researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology have described a simple and scalable method for finishing non-structural gaps in genome assemblies.

Retaining a network of wildlife conservation areas is vital in helping to save up to 90 per cent of bird species in Africa affected by climate change, according to scientists.

The research team – led by Durham University - including BirdLife International and the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) looked at the effects of climate change on 815 bird species of conservation concern in sub-Saharan Africa and on the network of sites designated for them (termed Important Bird Areas).

DETROIT – Linking genetic material microRNAs with cells that regulate the immune system could one day lead to new therapies for treating cancer, infections and autoimmune diseases, according to a Henry Ford Hospital study.

Qing-Sheng Mi, M.D., Ph.D., the study's senior author and director of Henry Ford's Immunology Program, says their findings are important because it shows for the first time an association between microRNAs and a key subset of immune regulatory cells in the body, natural killer T cells (NKT), which are known to lead to autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Some women take a short break from using postmenopausal hormone therapy before getting their breasts screened for cancer with mammography. They hope to lower their risk of being called back afterward for unnecessary extra breast imaging. But taking a short break from hormones doesn't actually work for this purpose, according to the first large-scale randomized controlled trial to address the question. The READ (Radiological Evaluation and Breast Density) trial of more than 1,700 Group Health women is in the June 2, 2009 Annals of Internal Medicine.

Complications following infection with the virus that causes flu (influenza virus) are one of the top ten causes of death in the United States. Although infection with influenza virus can directly cause death, many deaths following infection with influenza virus occur because the individual develops pneumonia due to secondary infection with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. How influenza makes individuals more sensitive to pneumonia-causing secondary bacterial infections is not well understood.

Daqing Li and colleagues, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, have identified in vitro and in mice a way to enhance the anticancer effects of the commonly used platinum-based drug cisplatin.

If you had cancer and a genetic test could predict the risk of the tumor spreading aggressively, would you want to know – even if no treatments existed to help you?

An overwhelming majority of eye cancer patients would answer yes, according to a new UCLA study published in the June edition of the Journal of Genetic Counseling.

MADISON — It's hard to miss the huge eye of a squid. But now it appears that certain squids can detect light through an organ other than their eyes as well.

That's what researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report in the current issue (June 2) of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study shows that the light-emitting organ some squids use to camouflage themselves to avoid being seen by predators — usually fish sitting on the ocean floor — also detects light.