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Ray and Terry's
February 23, 2018 10:04 AM
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For cancer patients with just months to live, time is short—too short to try drug after drug with the hope of finding one that slows the disease. But lab-grown mini tumors derived from patients’ cells could offer a way to test many drugs in parallel, saving time and possibly extending lifetimes. A report today (February 22) in Science brings this concept closer to clinical reality.
Previously, there has been “anecdotal evidence that observations in the clinic can be reproduced with organoids,” says stem cell and developmental biologist Hans Clevers of the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands, who was not involved in the research. “But, [the authors] have now for the first time come up with a large number of cases like that and have statistical [results] that are very impressive.”
They have “shown definitively that these organoids are predictive of response,” Clevers continues. “I’m sure this is going to be one of the key papers in this field.”
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February 22, 2018 3:55 PM
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Sebastian Brandner, at University College London, and his team have been investigating the cases of eight people who developed CAA under the age of 60. Scouring their medical records, the team found that all eight of these people had undergone brain surgery during childhood or their teenage years for a variety of reasons.
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February 22, 2018 11:35 AM
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A large-scale observational study of over one million adults has confidently linked chronic heavy alcohol consumption with early-onset dementia. The strong association confirms several recent similar studies examining the damaging effects of alcohol on the brain.
The massive study examined the records of all adult patients admitted to hospitals in metropolitan France over a five-year period. Some 1.1 million subjects were found to have been diagnosed with dementia in that time and over 57,000 of those cases were classified as early-onset, meaning they were displaying symptoms at ages younger than 65 years. Strikingly, 57 percent of those early-onset dementia cases were associated with an alcohol-use disorder defined as chronic alcohol use or alcohol dependence.
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February 22, 2018 10:18 AM
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Throat-motion sensor monitors stroke effects more effectively ...
Monitoring movements, not sounds. The new band-aid-like stretchable throat sensor (two are applied) measures speech patterns by detecting throat movements to improve diagnosis and treatment of aphasia, a communication disorder associated with stroke.
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Ray and Terry's
February 21, 2018 5:00 PM
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The term “silver bullet” gets tossed around a lot, but cancer vaccines are just that. Unlike the flu vaccines that we’re familiar with, cancer vaccines are slightly different in that they don’t just seek to prevent cancers from forming. In many cases, these vaccines also treat tumors already within the body.
What unites cancer vaccines is this: these agents, ranging from chemicals to DNA-like molecules to cells, all give the immune system a boost so that it better recognizes and attacks cancer cells.
To Dr. Ronald Levy, an oncologist at Stanford University, cancer immunotherapy is the way to go. You may have heard of some of these treatments already. CAR-T, which genetically enhances a patient’s immune cells to better target cancers, was approved last year to treat certain types of blood cancers.
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February 21, 2018 11:15 AM
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If you’ve noticed a positive change in food trends over the last 10 years, thank a millennial. Loosely defined as people born from the early 1980s until about 2004, millennials are the largest U.S. age demographic, and as such they are key tastemakers. Their food preferences are helping determine what you’ll find in grocery stores and restaurants across the country.
Millennials are in college, starting new jobs, getting married or having kids. Right now, there are more millennials in the workforce than any other age bracket, and their consumer choices matter. Here’s how this generation is influencing the way we eat.
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February 20, 2018 3:42 PM
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New research into off-label uses for a 50-year-old drug commonly prescribed for high-blood pressure has found that it could prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes. The promising research also suggests a new approach for investigating drugs that could help treat a variety of autoimmune diseases.
Up to 60 percent of people at risk of developing type 1 diabetes possess a molecule dubbed DQ8. The new study, from researchers at the University of Colorado and the University of Florida, set out to investigate whether blocking that specific molecule could also block the onset of type 1 diabetes and whether there was an already approved drug that achieved this effect.
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February 20, 2018 9:58 AM
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Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have completely reversed the formation of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease by gradually depleting an enzyme called BACE1. The procedure also improved the animals’ cognitive function.
The study, published February 14 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, raises hopes that drugs targeting this enzyme will be able to successfully treat Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
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February 20, 2018 9:46 AM
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Past studies have revealed that when a woman develops ovarian cancer, her sister has a higher risk of also developing the disease than her mother. This was difficult to explain, but researchers at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered that a newly identified mutation on the X-chromosome, passed down from the father, may be linked to an earlier onset of ovarian cancer in women and higher rates of prostate cancer in men.
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February 15, 2018 6:36 PM
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Upgrading our biology may sound like science fiction, but attempts to improve humanity actually date back thousands of years. Every day, we enhance ourselves through seemingly mundane activities such as exercising, meditating, or consuming performance-enhancing drugs, such as caffeine or adderall. However, the tools with which we upgrade our biology are improving at an accelerating rate and becoming increasingly invasive.
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February 14, 2018 1:17 PM
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In a move that could revolutionize the development of new cancer treatments, researchers from the University of Newcastle and the Hunter Medical Research Institute (HMRI) have created the world's first virtual platform to host 3D copies of human cancer tissues.
Until now, tissue samples donated by patients have only been available on request from physical biobanks that are based locally. The process can take a few months for clearance and the samples are usually unable to be reused once examined. As a way of improving this scenario, a team led by Dr Jamie Flynn, Dr Antony Martin and Dr William Palmer has established The Virtual Biobank.
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February 13, 2018 6:38 PM
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New research could help to safely adapt a new immunotherapy – currently only effective in blood cancers – for the treatment of solid cancers, such as notoriously hard-to-treat brain tumours.
The study, led by Dr Misty Jenkins from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, explains the crucial mechanisms by which CAR-T cell therapy is able to rapidly target and kill cancer cells, and why it may cause serious side effects.
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February 12, 2018 11:40 AM
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Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) is a signaling protein that normally controls the growth of healthy cells, but cancer can break the rules thanks to a mutation that allows them to spread and evade detection by the immune system. That makes TGF-β a good potential target to help combat cancer, with scientists recently engineering new T-cells to suppress the protein and track down these cloaked cancer cells.
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February 23, 2018 7:53 AM
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The FDAAA TrialsTracker, an automated online watchdog that provides daily updates of clinical trials that are noncompliant with legal reporting requirements in the U.S., debuted this week (February 19).
This is the second instalment of TrialsTracker, which was unveiled by researchers at the University of Oxford’s Evidence-Based Medicine (EBM) DataLab in 2016. That site monitored all clinical trials registered on clinicaltrials.gov. The new version follows only those studies required to be reported by the FDA Amendments Act (FDAAA), under which investigators are to file the results of certain clinical trials, such as those involving drugs and devices, on clinicaltrials.gov within 12 months of completion.
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February 22, 2018 3:46 PM
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To the delight of those who like to indulge in a cheeky glass of red after dinner, the health benefits of wine (in moderation, of course) are becoming increasingly well-documented. There's evidence that compounds in wine could help improve heart health and even reduce the cancer-causing effects of alcohol, and now a surprising new benefit may have been discovered. Wine may help fend off bacteria that cause cavities and gum disease.
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February 22, 2018 11:34 AM
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A study of more than 35,000 subjects has found that people who drink sugary soft drinks have an increased risk of developing several obesity-related cancers, even if the person is not overweight. The study rekindles the controversial debate over whether excessive sugar consumption directly contributes to cancer.
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February 22, 2018 8:36 AM
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A team of researchers at the University of Georgia’s Regenerative Bioscience Center and ArunA Biomedical, a UGA startup company, have developed a new treatment for stroke that reduces brain damage and accelerates the brain’s natural healing tendencies in animal models. They published their findings in the journal Translational Stroke Research.
The research team led by UGA professor Steven Stice and Nasrul Hoda of Augusta University created a treatment called AB126 using extracellular vesicles (EV), fluid-filled structures known as exosomes, which are generated from human neural stem cells.
Fully able to cloak itself within the bloodstream, this type of regenerative EV therapy appears to be the most promising in overcoming the limitations of many cell therapies—
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February 21, 2018 4:57 PM
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A small, but comprehensive, study from Stanford University researchers has pitted low-fat diets against low-carb diets. After one year the results are in and it's a draw. Frustrating anyone wanting a definitive result, the data compellingly suggests individual diet outcomes are much more subjective than many previously thought.
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February 20, 2018 5:05 PM
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The advance of CRISPR gene editing technology, which uses an RNA strand to guide an enzyme called Cas9 to cut a specific portion of DNA, has raised concerns and sparked debate as people envision a not-so-distant future populated by bioengineered super-crops, genetically flawless pets, and customized babies. While the method could be used for these purposes, it’s also showing potential as a valuable medical tool, with a seemingly new condition added each week to the list of what CRISPR may one day cure.
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February 20, 2018 10:11 AM
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An impressive new study from researchers at Stanford University has found that mice injected with inactivated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) display significant immune system responses to a variety of cancers. If the study can be replicated in humans this research could pave the way for a groundbreaking personalized cancer treatment that essentially vaccinates patients against many types of tumors.
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February 20, 2018 9:48 AM
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Cancer cells thrive thanks to some robust defense mechanisms, so finding ways to get past them is a key area of research. In the past, scientists have sent gold nanoparticles inside tumors by hitchhiking on white blood cells, before heating the gold with near-infrared light to kill the cancer from within. Others examined the possibility of administering a "prodrug" that remained inactive until it detected cancer markers, and then began producing drugs from inside the tumor.
The new work follows a similar function as the latter. The Technion scientists loaded molecular machines inside lipid-based particles that resemble biological cell membranes, creating what they call "nano-factories." Once they're activated by sensing the presence of abnormal cells, these particles kick into gear, producing...
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Ray and Terry's
February 16, 2018 10:04 AM
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The first diagnostic blood test to evaluate the severity of a concussion has been approved for marketing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The blood test can accurately and quickly identify patients with brain tissue damage, or intracranial lesions, following a head injury without the need for an expensive and time-consuming CT scan.
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February 15, 2018 4:09 PM
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A new study has successfully reversed both the biological and behavioral hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease in mouse models. The research found that slowly depleting the presence of a certain enzyme can reverse the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain. Illustrating the tricky path current Alzheimer's research faces, the study was published literally hours after giant pharmaceutical company Merck announced the cancellation of a Phase 3 clinical trial surrounding a drug that targets the exact same enzyme.
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February 13, 2018 6:41 PM
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Patients with Huntington’s disease, a fatal genetic illness that causes the breakdown of nerve cells in the brain, have up to 80 percent less cancer than the general population.
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered why Huntington’s is so toxic to cancer cells and harnessed it for a novel approach to treat cancer, a new study reports.
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February 12, 2018 4:59 PM
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March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. Have you been screened? Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, but is also highly preventable through recommended screenings. These screenings enable doctors to spot precancerous lesions that can lead to colon cancer and remove them before they become a problem. Screenings can also find cancers early, when they are most treatable.
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