Cancer News and Research

Latest Cancer News and Research

Spinal cord injury and obesity

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health System are looking at how people with spinal cord injury burn calories and how that is affected by their muscle mass and body weight. The goal is to make better recommendations to people with spinal cord injury, but the research will also translate into greater understanding of obesity in the general population as well.

26 Dec 2004

New gel promotes healing by gluing bone pieces together

A new material that fuses biological and synthetic substances at the molecular level speeds bone and cartilage repair. Its creators at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology say laboratory studies have shown the new gel promotes healing by gluing bone pieces together and stimulating tissue development.

26 Dec 2004

Discovery shows how embryonic stem cells perform 'quality control' inspections

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found a fundamental mechanism used by embryonic stem cells to assure that genetically damaged stem cells do not divide and pass along the damage to daughter stem cells.

26 Dec 2004

Supply problem with the opiate painkiller, diamorphine

The UK Department of Health has advised the NHS that there is a supply problem with the opiate painkiller, diamorphine, and that stocks may rapidly reach a critical level in the next few weeks.

26 Dec 2004

How to uncover the secrets of disease-relevant proteins

Cancer researchers have developed a guide for piecing together the jigsaw puzzle of genome research - to elucidate cellular mechanisms that lead to diseases such as cancer is a big challenge of biomedicine.

23 Dec 2004

Seafood research will bring healthier lifestyle

The biggest research project ever sponsored by the EU in the seafood sector will help to meet the consumer demand for more healthy products.

23 Dec 2004

Needling chromosomes yields insights into cell division

By impaling individual chromosomes with glass needles one thousandth the diameter of a human hair, a Duke University graduate student has tested their "stickiness" to one another during cell division. Her uncanny surgical skills have added a piece to the large and intricate puzzle of how one cell divides into two -- a process fundamental to all organisms.

23 Dec 2004

Why hair turns grey

Few things about growing older are as inevitable and obvious as "going gray," yet scientists have been unable to explain the precise cause of this usually unwelcome transformation.

23 Dec 2004

Somatic hypermutation (SHM) should prove to be extremely useful in directed protein evolution

Fascinated by the efficient way the human immune system generates a rapid response to create a near-infinite variety of antibodies, researchers have "hijacked" that machinery and used it to evolve a new type of fluorescent protein.

23 Dec 2004

Researchers can now inexpensively program the chemical synthesis of entire genes on a single microchip

Devices the size of a pager now have greater capabilities than computers that once occupied an entire room. Similar advances are being made in the emerging field of synthetic biology at the University of Houston, now allowing researchers to inexpensively program the chemical synthesis of entire genes on a single microchip.

23 Dec 2004

New research shows that cancer patients can not intentionally postpone death to survive for significant personal events

Contrary to previous reports, new research shows that cancer patients can not intentionally postpone death to survive for significant personal events such as Christmas, Thanksgiving or a birthday, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.

22 Dec 2004

Drinking water with high levels of arsenic increases risk of lung cancer

Residents of Taiwan who consumed drinking water with high levels of arsenic have a higher risk of lung cancer, with cigarette smokers from this group having an even greater risk, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.

22 Dec 2004

Relatives of lung cancer patients up to 3.5 times greater risk of developing lung cancer

First-degree relatives of lung cancer patients have a 2 to 3.5 times greater risk of developing lung cancer than the general population, and tobacco smoke plays a major role, even among those with a genetic predisposition, according to a study in the December 22/29 issue of JAMA.

22 Dec 2004

DNA stool testing is more effective in detecting colon cancer than a widely used stool test

A study in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine concludes that DNA stool testing is more effective in detecting colon cancer than a widely used stool test, but a Virginia Commonwealth University family medicine and public health physician argues in the same issue that its superiority is still in doubt.

22 Dec 2004

Write to your MPs, BMA tells doctors

BMA Cymru Wales is calling on doctors across Wales to write to their members of parliament to support a ban on smoking in public places.

22 Dec 2004

Pharmacogenomics, has the potential to spark a major, technology-driven restructuring of the health care and pharmaceuticals industries

Pharmacogenomics, the study of genetic variability in the way individuals respond to medicines, has the potential to spark a major, technology-driven restructuring of the health care and pharmaceuticals industries

21 Dec 2004

Customising cancer treatment

At the Norwegian Radium Hospital in Oslo, scientists are approaching methods that will improve the patients' chances of survival and reduce unnecessary treatment.

21 Dec 2004

Certain leukemia oncogenes switch on genetic programs that govern self-renewal, a unique stem cell characteristic

Researchers have discovered that specific cancer-causing genes associated with leukemias can transform mature white blood cells into leukemic cells that have all the properties of stem cells.

21 Dec 2004

Essential oils have been found to kill the deadly MRSA bacteria

Essential oils usually used in aromatherapy have been found to kill the deadly MRSA bacteria according to research carried out at The University of Manchester.

From The University of Manchester 21 Dec 2004

Gulf War report confirms link between lung cancer and combustion products

The available evidence is too sparse or of insufficient quality to determine whether the majority of health problems that may be experienced by Gulf War veterans could be associated with exposures to fuels for military vehicles, propellents in Scud missiles, or substances given off by combustion sources such as oil-well fires, exhausts, and tent heaters

21 Dec 2004