Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

HRT can reduce heart attacks by about one-third in women under age 60

For the last few years, women have heard conflicting reports about the risks and benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT). A new study that analyzes many trials together concludes that HRT can reduce heart attacks by about one-third in women under age 60 but has mixed results for older women.

23 Apr 2006

WRN exonuclease structure and molecular mechanism imply an editing role in DNA end processing

A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer.

23 Apr 2006

No support for medical use of marijuana from the FDA

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in the U.S. there are no scientific grounds for the medical use of use of marijuana and the agency is highly critical of attempts by individual states to legalise it.

23 Apr 2006

No alarm on fluoride: cancer risk unproven

Suggestions that fluoridated water supplies may be linked to a rare form of bone cancer have not been scientifically established, Victoria's Chief Health Officer Dr Robert Hall said this week.

20 Apr 2006

Australia's medicines regulator close to decision on herceptin

Australia's medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) is considering a recommendation by its expert committee, the Australian Drug Evaluation Committee (ADEC), to conditionally approve an application by Roche Products Pty Limited to extend the registration of the breast cancer drug Herceptin (trastuzumab) for use in HER2 positive localised breast cancer in addition to chemotherapy.

20 Apr 2006

Children with bone cancer in their arms or legs survival rate improved

Ross Wilkins and Stephen Withrow are doctors working together in the fight against bone cancer. Their goals are the same. Their patients are not.

20 Apr 2006

Magnetic nanotechnology holds promise in fighting cancer

Detecting cancer and reinventing computing are two challenges that seemingly have little, if anything, to do with each other. That is, unless you are a nanotechnologist like Shan Wang, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and of electrical engineering at Stanford.

20 Apr 2006

Iodine could have helped to spare many Chernobyl children from thyroid cancer

As the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl approaches, UNICEF says that the numbers of children who developed thyroid cancer could have been significantly lower if they had been consuming iodized salt in their daily diet at the time of the accident.

20 Apr 2006

Surgical robot makes prostate removal safe for obese men

The use of a robotic system could make surgery for prostate cancer an option for thousands of obese men who might otherwise be turned down, report researchers from the University of Chicago in the April 2006 issue of the journal Urology.

20 Apr 2006

New method designed to analyze the genes that regulate the immune system

Seattle scientists have developed a new method for analyzing the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of the human genome.

20 Apr 2006

Discovery points to more effective ways of regulating cell signalling

A discovery made at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute provides new insights into enhancing the function of the protein SOCS3, which regulates the response of cells to external stimuli.

20 Apr 2006

New design lets mini-microscope observe cells in vivo

Two eyes are better than one. Or more precisely, two lines of sight are better than one. That's the word from researchers at the Stanford School of Medicine, who have applied this adage to the design of a tiny microscope that is about the size of an M&M.

20 Apr 2006

Breast implants safer than first thought when it comes to breast cancer

According to a new study silicone breast implants do not affect the risk of breast cancer in women who have cosmetic surgery.

19 Apr 2006

New finding provides researchers with renewable source for macrophages and neutrophils

A new approach to generating large quantities of two types of white blood cells that are critical for destroying invading bacteria, viruses and other pathogens in humans has been developed by researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine.

19 Apr 2006

Novel and important benefits of vitamin D and the problems associated with vitamin D deficiency

...will be discussed at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) Fifteenth Annual Meeting and Clinical Congress, April 26-30, at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

19 Apr 2006

Convictions in $45 million illegal blood diversion scheme

Florida pharmaceutical wholesale distributor, convicted on March 29, 2006, of more than two hundred and forty-seven criminal counts as the result of an extensive OCI investigation of an illegal medical products diversion scheme which defrauded the Medicaid and Medicare programs of more than $45,000,000.

19 Apr 2006

Breast implants shown to be associated with a decreased breast cancer risk

The longest follow-up study to date of cancer incidence among women with silicone breast implants shows having implants does not put women at an increased risk for cancer, in fact, breast implants were actually shown to be associated with a decreased breast cancer risk.

19 Apr 2006

Chernobyl: 20 years later

Chernobyl, the most significant accident in nuclear history, took place on 26 April 1986. Even 20 years later, the accident has left the world with many unanswered questions about its impact on human health, the environment, and the socio-economic sector.

19 Apr 2006

New London based centre for clinical genetic research

The London Genetics Centre will provide access to knowledge and expertise in clinical genetics across London's biomedical institutions, and help position London as the leading European centre for genetic medicine.

19 Apr 2006

St. Jude develop strategy to speed future development of more effective and less toxic treatments for medulloblastoma

Investigators at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have developed a strategy to speed future development of more effective and less toxic treatments for medulloblastoma, a type of brain cancer. Medulloblastomas arise in the back of the brain and account for about 20 percent of childhood brain tumors.

18 Apr 2006