?Twas the Week Before Christmas and Santa?s Due for a Check-Up

Santa Claus, a.k.a. Kris Kringle, was declared ?fit for duty? yesterday at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas after undergoing his annual physical. At the news conference to announce the results of his exam, doctors gave him a clean bill of health and said not to worry?he is in good shape to make his trip around the world next week. Jane Sadler, M.D., Santa?s physician, said that despite a slightly high blood sugar level?most likely due to over-consumption of sweets through the years?Santa is otherwise in excellent health. ?Instead of cookies, maybe families should leave him some fruits and vegetables this year or perhaps nuts high in omega-three fatty acids,? says Dr. Sadler. ?Anything high in protein or rich in nutrients is a good alternative. Leave the milk, but make sure it?s low-fat,? she adds.  More »



Smoking Associated With Increased Risk for Colorectal Cancer and Death

Smoking Associated With Increased Risk for Colorectal Cancer and Death

An analysis of previous studies indicates that smoking is significantly associated with an increased risk for colorectal cancer and death, according to an article in the December 17 issue of JAMA. Although tobacco was responsible for approximately 5.4 million deaths in 2005, there are still an estimated 1.3 billion smokers in the world. While a number of cancers are attributable to smoking, the link between cigarette smoking and colorectal cancer (CRC) has been inconsistent among studies. ?Because smoking can potentially be controlled by individual and population-related measures, detecting a link between CRC and smoking could help reduce the burden of the world?s third most common tumor, which currently causes more than 500,000 annual deaths worldwide. In the United States alone, an estimate of approximately 50,000 deaths from CRC would have occurred in 2008,? the authors write. Edoardo Botteri, M.Sc., of the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, and colleagues conducted a meta-analysis to review and summarize published data examining the link between smoking and CRC incidence and death. More »


Researchers Identify New Anti-Tumor Gene

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University have identified a new anti-tumor gene called SARI that can interact with and suppress a key protein that is overexpressed in 90 percent of human cancers. The discovery could one day lead to an effective gene therapy for cancer. According to Paul B. Fisher, M.Ph., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Human and Molecular Genetics and director of the VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine in the VCU School of Medicine, and lead investigator of the study, this novel gene highlights a previously unrecognized molecular pathway underlying the anti-tumor action of interferon, INF. In the study, published online in the Dec. 8 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers report the discovery of a new gene named SARI, which was uncovered by a powerful technique pioneered in the Fisher laboratory known as subtraction hybridization. SARI, which is induced by a potent immune system modulator called interferon, was found to suppress growth and survival of tumor cells by interfering with the action of cancer cell molecules that drive cell division and promote survival.  More »



Physicians Give Toys Safety Tips for Christmas

The right toy can make the Christmas season the most wonderful time of the year for children and their parents. But the wrong toy can make this season a time of pain, grief and regret for families with children who suffer injuries or death from toys they never should have been given in the first place, according to medical experts at Loyola University Health System. ?Sometimes the toys children want and what their parents give them are not the best choice for them in terms of safety,? said Dr. Thomas Esposito, professor of surgery and chief of the division of trauma, surgical critical care and burns in the department of surgery, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. ?Many toys are not appropriate for a child?s age and can cause choking, severe injuries, poisonings and sometime fatalities.? More »









Variations In Gene Activity Can Predict The Survival Of Patients With Lymphoma

Patterns of gene activity in a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma has given researchers a better understanding of factors that contribute to the survival of patients treated for the disease. Gene activity, or expression, is a measure of the biological activity of a gene. Determining the activity levels of all genes in lymphoma patients' genomes allowed researchers, led by Louis M. Staudt, M.D., Ph.D., at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to identify sets of genes in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) that influenced the effectiveness of treatment. These findings were published in the Nov. 27, 2008, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The research team analyzed... More »


Researchers At National Cancer Institute Release New Data On Myelodysplastic Syndrome

According to recent research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, "The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) comprise a group of premalignant hematologic disorders characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis, dysplasia, and transformation to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Although it is well established that many malignancies can be transplanted, there is little evidence to demonstrate that a premalignant disease entity, such as MDS or colonic polyps, can be transplanted and subsequently undergo malignant transformation in vivo." "Using mice that express a NUP98-HOXD13 (NHD13) transgene in hematopoietic tissues, we show that a MDS can be transplanted to WT recipients. Recipient... More »



Alternative medicine popular among Americans: report

According to a U.S. government survey released today, about 38 percent of adults and nearly 12 percent of children use some form of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), such as herbal supplements, meditation, acupuncture, and other ?remedies? or preventive approaches not generally considered to be part of conventional medicine. The results of the 2007 National Health Interview Survey confirm that CAM practices are a ?frequently used component of Americans? health care regimens, and reinforce the need for rigorous research to study the safety and effectiveness of these therapies,? said Dr. Josephine P. Briggs, director of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). She encourages Americans to ?openly talk to their doctor or other health care provider? about their CAM use to ensure safe and coordinated care.  More »


Protection from diabetic eye disease will decline

Compared with standard treatment, intensive control of type 1 diabetes can help stave off diabetic eye disease, but over time this benefit will decline, according to new data from the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study. Dr. David M. Nathan at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues note in their report in the Archives of Ophthalmology that in the original Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT), ?intensive therapy aimed at near-normal (blood sugar levels) reduced the risk of (diabetic eye disease or ?retinopathy?) compared with conventional therapy.? At the end of the 6.5-year DCCT, average levels of HbA1c, a blood test of long-term sugar control, were almost normal in the intensive therapy group, but remained high in standard treatment group. At that point, patients returned to their usual health care providers and most were enrolled in the EDIC study, which simply followed them over time without being assigned to a specific treatment.  More »


Strategic video game improves critical cognitive skills in older adults

A desire to rule the world may be a good thing if you?re over 60 and worried about losing your mental faculties. A new study found that adults in their 60s and 70s can improve a number of cognitive functions by playing a strategic video game that rewards nation-building and territorial expansion. This is the first such study of older adults, and it is the first to find such pronounced effects on cognitive skills not directly related to the skills learned in the video game, said University of Illinois psychology professor Arthur Kramer, an author on the study. The research appears this month in the journal Psychology & Aging. Decades of laboratory studies designed to improve specific cognitive skills, such as short-term memory, have found again and again that trainees improve almost exclusively on the tasks they perform in the lab ? and only under laboratory conditions, Kramer said.  More »


Drug-resistant tuberculosis rife in China

Levels of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in China are nearly twice the global average. Nationwide research published in the open access journal BMC Infectious Diseases has shown that almost 10% of Chinese TB cases are resistant to the most effective first-line drugs. Susan van den Hof, from the KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation in The Netherlands is one of the authors on a Chinese study into the prevalence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). She said, ?In order to obtain insight into the prevalence and distribution of resistance, China has joined the global project on anti-tuberculosis drug resistance surveillance, and investigated drug resistance in ten provinces between 1996 and 2004.? China has the second largest number of TB cases in the world, and is one of the countries with high levels of drug-resistant TB. According to the authors, ?The prevalence of drug resistance varied greatly between the provinces, but on average was worryingly high, with a weighted mean for MDR-TB of 9.3% among all cases; 5.4% among new cases and 25.6% among previously treated cases. The global MDR-TB estimates are 4.8% for all cases, 3.1% for new cases and 19.3% for previously treated cases.? More »



Genomic Signature Of Colon Cancer May Individualize Treatment

Researchers in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy have developed a model for predicting risk of recurrence in early stage colon cancer patients, and have used the model to also predict sensitivity to chemotherapy and targeted therapy regimens. "These findings have important implications for individualizing therapy," said Katherine Garman, M.D., a gastroenterology fellow at Duke and lead investigator on the study. "By examining gene expression in early-stage colon cancer tumors, we have found certain patterns that seem to put some patients at higher risk for recurrence. By identifying these patients up front, we may be able to treat them in a targeted and proactive manner to prevent this recurrence and help them live longer a... More »


New Colorectal Module From Simbionix Advances Laparoscopic Cancer Treatment

Simbionix USA Corp, an international company using leading edge simulation to advance clinical performance, announces the world-wide release of a breakthrough training simulation of the laparoscopic colorectal procedure. Although minimally invasive surgical (MIS) techniques provide many advantages over traditional open surgery, surgeons have been slow to adopt laparoscopic colon resection, because it is a very challenging procedure to learn without potentially putting patients at risk. Colorectal resection is the most common treatment for colorectal cancer, which accounts for almost 10% of all cancer deaths in the US annually. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) ranks colorectal cancer as the 4th most common type in the United Sta... More »


Pelvic Lymphadenectomy Does Not Improve Survival In Early Stage Endometrial Cancer

Systematic use of pelvic lymphadenectomy (removal of the lymph nodes) does not improve disease-free or overall survival in women with early-stage endometrial cancer, according to a randomized trial published online November 25 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The first site of metastasis for endometrial cancer is often the pelvic lymph nodes. However, few prospective studies have examined whether systematic removal of the pelvic lymph nodes improves patient outcomes. To find out, Pierluigi Benedetti Panici, M.D., of the La Sapienza University in Rome and colleagues conducted a randomized controlled trial in which women with stage I endometrial cancer were assigned to have a standard hysterectomy and ovary removal with... More »