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NCI director ignorant of cancer prevention, says coalition

On October 22, 2010, Senator Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, wrote to Dr. Harold Varmus, who was appointed director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) by President Obama three months previously. The Senator raised questions on the amount of "sponsored travel," sometimes a dozen or more trips a year and almost exclusively to international conferences paid for by outside organizations or companies, taken in recent years by "numerous NCI employees, notably senior leadership."

4 Dec 2010

AANS injury prevention tips during winter holiday season

During the winter holiday season there are many warnings in the news about preventing house fires caused by Christmas trees and faulty electrical wiring. There are also warnings about too much merriment leading to alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents. A lesser known fact is the risk of head injury related to hanging and taking down Christmas decorations.

4 Dec 2010

Clinical studies participated by three investigators to be presented at ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition

US Oncology, Inc., the nation's leading integrated oncology company, announced today that three investigators affiliated with US Oncology Research participated in studies that will be presented orally at the 52nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. Dec. 4-7. Five other investigators in the US Oncology Research Network participated in a study that will be displayed as a poster during the conference.

4 Dec 2010

Access adds patient experience testimonial video to MuGard website

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery platforms to develop treatments in areas of oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, announced it has updated its lead product website, www.MuGard.com, with its first patient MuGard experience testimonial video and additional clinician feedback.

4 Dec 2010

Robotics and machine-brain interface may benefit paraplegics

A ballet dancer grasps her partner's hand to connect for a pas de deux. Later that night, in the dark, she reaches for her calf to massage a sore spot. Her brain is using different "maps" to plan for each of these movements, according to a new study at UC Santa Barbara.

4 Dec 2010

Study reveals higher mortality rate among veteran status epilepticus patients

Status epilepticus (SE) is a true medical and neurologic emergency. To better understand the causes, treatment approaches and associated outcomes among SE patients, investigators at the Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System retrospectively reviewed all SE cases treated within their system over an eight year period.

4 Dec 2010

Closer to restoring vision loss due to optic nerve damage

Damage to the optic nerve, connecting the eye with the brain, is a major cause of blindness. The most common culprit is glaucoma, estimated to affect more than 4 million Americans. There is currently no way to restore the lost vision, because the optic nerve, like other nerves in the mature central nervous system (CNS), cannot regenerate. Now, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston report achieving the greatest regeneration to date in the mammalian optic nerve.

4 Dec 2010

ETP, EF announce latest grant recipients of New Therapy Grants Program

The Epilepsy Therapy Project and the Epilepsy Foundation today announced the latest grant recipients of their New Therapy Grants Program, a unique joint venture of two non-profit epilepsy organizations, to advance promising epilepsy research in clinical development.

4 Dec 2010

Positive results from Neuraltus NP002 Phase 1/2 study for levodopa-induced dyskinesias in Parkinson's disease

Neuraltus Pharmaceuticals, a privately held biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing high-impact therapeutics that address critical unmet medical needs, primarily for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, announced today top-line results from the Company's Phase 1/2 clinical study of NP002 for the treatment of dyskinesias (muscle movement disorders) resulting from levodopa therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease.

4 Dec 2010

Music benefits patients on mechanical ventilation

The benefits of listening to music for patients on mechanical ventilation was revealed in a systematic review by a team of Cochrane researchers led by Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions associate professor Dr. Joke Bradt. The review found that listening to music may relax patients and potentially result in fewer complications.

4 Dec 2010

Pfizer plans regulatory submissions of bosutinib for CML based on BELA study

Pfizer Inc. announced today it is planning regulatory submissions of bosutinib in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) based on data from a clinical program evaluating the compound in newly diagnosed and previously treated patients. These regulatory submissions are planned for 2011.

4 Dec 2010

Chaperone protein study could lead to effective therapies for Alzheimer's, neurological disorders

Dynamic regulation of the chaperone protein Hsp27 was required to get rid of abnormally accumulating tau in the brains of mice genetically modified to develop the memory-choking tau tangles associated with Alzheimer's disease, a University of South Florida-led study found.

4 Dec 2010

Neurostimulation effective for management of chronic pain

St. Jude Medical, Inc., a global medical device company, today announced two-year results in a post-market clinical study evaluating neurostimulation (spinal cord stimulation) for the management of chronic low back pain. Presented at the 14th annual North American Neuromodulation Society (NANS) meeting in Las Vegas, the study found that 70 percent of neurostimulation patients reported overall pain relief of 50 percent or better at their final two-year visit.

4 Dec 2010

New web-based CME program to improve cancer care in rural areas

Nearly a quarter of Americans live in rural areas, which consistently report higher cancer mortality rates than urban and suburban areas. Among the complex causes for this disparity is that only 10 percent of physicians practice in rural areas and almost 4 out of 10 rural residents live at least an hour from an urban area. Finding the time, transportation, and financial resources for travel to urban academic medical centers, the standard bearers for quality cancer care, often proves difficult.

4 Dec 2010

Onconova announces three presentations on Estybon- (ON 01910.Na) at ASH 2010

Onconova Therapeutics announces its late-stage anticancer agent, Estybon- (ON 01910.Na), will be featured in three presentations at the 52nd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting in Orlando, FL, December 4-7, 2010.

4 Dec 2010

Researchers decipher mechanism responsible for dental plaque sticking to teeth

The Groningen professors Bauke Dijkstra and Lubbert Dijkhuizen have deciphered the structure and functional mechanism of the glucansucrase enzyme that is responsible for dental plaque sticking to teeth. This knowledge will stimulate the identification of substances that inhibit the enzyme. Just add that substance to toothpaste, or even sweets, and caries will be a thing of the past. The results of the research have been published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

4 Dec 2010

Merck to present multiple clinical studies of dinaciclib at ASH Annual Meeting

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated today announced that multiple clinical studies of dinaciclib (SCH 727965) will be presented by Merck at the upcoming 52nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting being held in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center, December 4-7, 2010.

4 Dec 2010

FDA Advisory Committee votes in favor of expanded use of LAP-BAND gastric band

Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN) today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Gastroenterology and Urology Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee has recommended with an 8-2 vote that the FDA extend the currently approved use of the LAP-BAND® System, Allergan's gastric band, on the basis of a favorable benefit-risk profile for weight reduction in obese adults who have failed more conservative weight reduction alternatives and have a Body Mass Index (BMI) of at least 35 or a BMI ≥30 and at least one comorbid condition.

4 Dec 2010

MDS Foundation: Significant advances made in understanding, treating MDS, AML

The Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation today said significant advances are being made in understanding and treating MDS and a related condition, AML (acute myeloid leukemia). Key studies being presented this week include data on new markers and genetic mutations to predict susceptibility to MDS and response to treatment.

4 Dec 2010

Information technology could improve prevention, treatment of depression

Could information technology and data mining techniques be used to improve the diagnosis and treatment of depression? That's the question scientists in Australia hope to have answered in a forthcoming issue of the International Journal of Functional Informatics and Personalised Medicine.

4 Dec 2010