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A drug approved in Europe to treat osteoporosis has now been shown to stop the growth of breast cancer cells, even in cancers that have become resistant to current targeted therapies, according to a Duke Cancer Institute study. The findings, presented June 15, 2013, at the annual Endocrine Society meeting in San Francisco, indicate that the drug bazedoxifene packs a powerful one-two punch that not only prevents estrogen from fueling breast cancer cell growth, but also flags the estrogen receptor for destruction.
Daily supplements of curcumin – the natural pigment that gives the spice turmeric its yellow color – may support healthy aging, with two new studies indicating benefits for arterial aging and cognition.
An international team of scientists has recently reported success in the first phase of clinical trials in which MS victims’ immune systems were conditioned to become much more tolerant of myelin.\ In the study, white blood cells were obtained from nine MS-afflicted test subjects. These cells were specially processed, coupled with myelin antigens, and then injected intravenously back into their respective donors – up to 3 billion of these dead, treated cells were injected into each person. When they entered the spleen, which filters dead cells from the bloodstream, both the white blood cells themselves and their myelin antigen payloads were identified by the body as being innocuous. This caused the immune system to become 50 to 75 percent less reactive to myelin, depending on the person and the number of cells injected.
New “blood pressure watch” relies on a wristband made from piezo-resistive fibers developed at the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA). These fibers measure the contact pressure of the device on the skin to overcome the problem of the device slipping on the wrist or muscle tension that can affect the measurements.
The National Park Service last week introduced new food standards that will eventually require concessionaires at all national parks, from the Statue of Liberty to Denali, to offer healthy food options, including fruits and vegetables, low-sodium and low-fat meals, reduced portion sizes, and non-sugary drinks.
Omega-3s moderate blood levels of triglycerides and inflammation – two key drivers of cardiovascular disease (CVD) – and exert beneficial effects on blood pressure and heart rhythms. In addition, it’s likely that omega-3s exert as yet unknown “nutrigenomic” effects on people’s genes. Until now, no one had ever examined the ways in which omega-3s might moderate people’s physiological reactions to stress … some of which promote CVD or are or suspected of doing that.
A solar-powered wheelchair designed by students at the University of Virginia has won first prize in a competition, Change My Life in One Minute, to mark World Cerebral Palsy Day. Entrants to the competition were asked to come up with an innovation that could make a significant difference to a person with a disability. The solar-powered wheelchair can run continuously powered only by the sun.
Combining two cancer immunotherapy drugs in patients with advanced melanoma produced rates of tumor regression that appeared greater than in prior trials with either drug alone. Researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (lead author Jedd Wolchok, M.D., Ph.D.), and Yale Cancer Center (senior author Mario Sznol, M.D.), discussed the safety and activity of combining two immune stimulating antibodies — nivolumab (anti-PD-1) and ipilimumab (anti-CTLA-4, Yervoy) — in treating advanced melanoma. Ipilimumab alone is known to prolong survival and produce durable tumor regressions in some patients, and nivolumab also produced durable tumor regression in a subset of advanced melanoma patients in an early-phase clinical trial. However, combining them produced rapid and deep tumor regressions in approximately 30% of patients, a result that was not observed before with either drug administered individually. Both CTLA-4 and PD-1 are targets for cancer immunotherapy because they shut down the immune system’s ability to respond to foreign invaders. Antibodies blocking PD-1 or CTLA-4 take the brakes off the immune system and permit the development of strong immune responses against the cancer. Nivolumab targets the PD-1 receptor on the surface of T-cells, and ipilimumab targets the CTLA-4 receptors. Both nivolumab and ipilimumab are manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb. Researchers provided data for 86 patients in this Phase 1 trial. They report that responses were generally durable, even in patients whose treatment was terminated early. According to Sznol, clinical research leader of the melanoma program at Yale Cancer Center, this early success in combining drugs will pave the way for large-scale combination immunotherapy trials. “After many years, we are finally realizing the promise of immunotherapy in providing real and durable benefit for advanced cancer patients. Although this trial was focused on melanoma, the combination will be studied in other cancer types. This is only one of many combinations of agents that will likely lead to even more significant advances in cancer treatment,” Sznol said.
Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
One point increase in better score was linked to 8 percent lower risk of stroke. Those with optimum scores had a 48 percent less stroke and the risk factor dropped to 27 percent with average scores.
The identity of the 15 experts who will frame the 2015 dietary guidelines for Americans has been announced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Ryon Lane wanted to run to yoga class. There was just one problem with that plan: his mat. A three-mile jog from Capitol Hill to Dupont Circle with a rolled-up piece of rubber resting on his shoulder wasn’t particularly appealing. So the lawyer hopped online to shop for a mat he could fold up and stash in a backpack.
Lane couldn’t find one, which is why people searching for a similar product today are stumbling across his Kickstarter campaign for the YogoMat. The lightweight design — with attached straps that allow for easy cleaning and drying in the shower — was something the 36-year-old developed for his own practice. When fellow students started asking about where they could buy one, Lane realized he had a business plan.
The early success of a new class of cancer drugs, revealed in test results released here over the last several days, has raised hope among the world’s top cancer specialists that they may be on the verge of an important milestone in the fight against the disease.
MIT engineer Sangeeta Bhatia and colleagues have have identified a dozen chemical compounds that can help liver cells maintain their normal function while grown in a lab dish and also multiply to produce new tissue. Cells grown this way could help researchers develop engineered tissue to treat many of the 500 million people suffering from chronic liver diseases such as hepatitis C, according to the researchers.
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Most patients who enter the gym of the San Mateo Medical Center in California are there to work with physical therapists. But a few who had knee replacements are being coached by a digital avatar instead. The avatar, Molly, interviews them in Spanish or English about the levels of pain they feel as a video guides them through exercises, while the 3-D cameras of a Kinect device measure their movements. Because it’s a pilot project, Paul Carlisle, the director of rehabilitation services, looks on. But the ultimate goal is for the routine to be done from a patient’s home. “It would change our whole model,” says Carlisle, who is running the trial as the public hospital looks for creative ways to extend the reach of its overtaxed budget and staff. “We don’t want to replace therapists. But in some ways, it does replace the need to have them there all the time.” Receiving remote medical care is becoming more common as technologies improve and health records get digitized. Sense.ly, the California startup running the trial, is one of more than 500 companies using health-care tools fromNuance, a company that develops speech-recognition and virtual-assistant software. “Our goal is basically to capture the patient’s state of mind and body,” says Ivana Schnur, cofounder of Sense.ly and a clinical psychologist who has spent years developing virtual-reality tools in medicine and mental health. Using Sense.ly’s platform, patients can communicate their condition to an emotionally reactive avatar through their phone, desktop, or TV. The avatar asks the patient simple questions, and if programmed by a doctor, it can answer questions too—such as what a diabetes patient with high blood-sugar readings should eat that day. The software also collects data from other medical devices that a patient uses, such as a glucose meter, and can capture gestures with a Kinect. The reports sent to the doctor include red-flag notifications to act on right away; charts, graphs, and analytics tracing the patient’s progress over time; and a transcript of the voice interaction. “A physician’s time is always limited,” says Benjamin Kanter, chief medical information officer at Palomar Health in San Diego. “For a long time, we’ve had the challenge of just getting information into the system. Now the system is starting to actually help me.” Schnur says one real advance is the avatar itself, which is important in helping both patients and doctors to trust the interactions. Molly, still a work in progress, can modulate her tone of voice and facial expressions. Schnur says that sometimes patients are more willing to share sensitive information with a nonjudgmental avatar than with a doctor. Patients in San Mateo seem to like the interaction, Carlisle says, and he does too: “I’ve gotten used to the avatar. I look forward to seeing it when it comes online.” The Sense.ly software, currently in beta, is also being tested at an addiction and detox clinic in California, doing patient intake and assessment in a crowded waiting room. Schnur hopes the system will eventually be used for even more complex tasks. The company, a product of the French telecommunication company Orange’s Silicon Valley incubator program, is working to include additional features, such as the ability to interpret and respond to a patient’s facial expressions. Of course, doctors see some risks in such approaches, especially if the software makes an error or misinterprets an interaction. Kanter points out that although electronic systems often reduce errors, any errors that occur can propagate more quickly than those made only on paper. Carlisle, who will enroll 50 to 60 patients by the time the study is done, is looking forward to getting more data. Over time, he hopes, not only will he improve the care of individual patients in their home environments, but what he learns from the data will improve therapy for everyone.
Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald
If physicians have a sufficiently-early warning that a patient’s body is rejecting a transplanted organ, then there’s a good chance that they can stop the process via medication. Implanted electronic sensors could serve to provide that warning as early as possible, and thanks to new research, they’re coming a step closer to practical use.
In a first of its kind ruling on human genes, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday decided that synthetically produced genetic material can be patented but naturally occurring DNA extracted from the human body cannot.
Middle-of-the-night awakenings are common for many people, and how we deal with this habit is key to getting a good sleep, says sleep expert Michael Grandner, a psychologist at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania.
After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, men who eat a diet high in vegetable fats, such as those in nuts and olive oil, may be less likely to have their disease spread, a new study suggests.
L-carnitine significantly improves cardiac health in patients after a heart attack, say a multicenter team of investigators in a study published today in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Their findings, based on analysis of key controlled trials, associate L-carnitine with significant reduction in death from all causes and a highly significant reduction in ventricular arrhythmias and anginal attacks following a heart attack, compared with placebo or control.
Researchers have reported the discovery of a crucial part of the biological clock in the brain: wiring that sets its accuracy to within a few minutes out of the 1440 minutes per day. This wiring uses the GABA (γ-amino-butyric acid) neurotransmitter to connect the individual cells of the biological clock in a fast network that changes strength with time of day.
A recent phase III clinical trial confirmed that the VeriStrat test can predict which lung cancer patients are likely to fare better when treated with EGFR inhibitors like erlotinib (Tarceva). Patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were tested using VeriStrat before beginning Tarceva treatment. Those who had a VeriStrat result of “Good” experienced longer times without cancer growth and longer overall survival on Tarceva compared to those with a “Bad” result. VeriStrat results may help doctors distinguish patients who should be given EGFR inhibitors from those for whom the benefits would not outweigh the side effects, and who would be better served by other treatments. VeriStrat does not test for mutations in the EGFR gene. Instead, the test assesses the pattern of several proteins in the blood to pinpoint patients likely to respond to EGFR inhibitors, including patients who may not have an EGFR mutation.
Via Cancer Commons
The OrCam is a small camera linked to a very powerful wearable computer. It sees what you see and through your finger-pointing understands what information you seek, relaying auditory feedback through a bone conduction earpiece. Using an intuitive user interface, the device can read text, recognize faces, identify objects and places, locate bus numbers and even monitor traffic lights.
Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration granted clearance to a new device that could be of considerable aid to stroke victims or people with partial spinal cord injuries. Created by Dr. Paul Cordo of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in collaboration with OHSU spinoff company AMES, the "AMES device" reportedly helps the brain get paralyzed muscles moving again.
A new method of manufacturing short, single-stranded DNA molecules can solve many of the problems associated with current production methods. The new method can be of value to development of drugs consisting of DNA fragments and to DNA nanotechnology research. The novel technique for manufacturing short, single-stranded DNA molecules — or oligonucleotides — has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institute in Sweden and Harvard University.
Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have produced a new kind of paper that repels a range of liquids, including water and oil. The new paper shows significant promise as an affordable and recyclable packaging material, but it's the paper’s potential as an inexpensive biomedical diagnostic tool that has really got the researchers excited. By applying a chemical coating and creating new surface patterns at the nanometer and micron-scale, the researchers are able to reproduce the same repellent effect in the paper that is observed in the leaves of the lotus plant. This changes the paper from an absorbent material to one which repels all fluids.
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