Tag Archives: story-source

Mammography screening: Patient pamphlets do not affect willingness to participate

In Germany, the invitation to undergo mammography screening that is sent to all women between the ages of 50 and 69 is accompanied by an information leaflet explaining the advantages and disadvantages of screening. In this issue of Deutsches �rzteblatt International, Elisabeth Gummersbach and colleagues report on a study in which they determined how well the prospective subjects understood the information presented and whether this information influenced their willingness to undergo screening. It was found that the leaflet itself made little or no difference to the women’s willingness to participate. Rather, the most important factor in the decision whether to be screened was usually a doctor’s personal recommendation…

Investigational oral drug combo shows promise for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma

“Ixazomib is an investigational, oral proteasome inhibitor with promising anti-myeloma effects and low rates of peripheral neuropathy,” says Shaji Kumar, M.D., a hematologist at Mayo Clinic and lead author of the study. “While it is well known that a combination of bortezomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone is highly effective in treating newly diagnosed multiple myeloma, we wanted to study the safety, tolerability and activity of ixazomib in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma.” Dr. Kumar and colleagues enrolled 65 patients (15 to phase 1 and 50 to phase 2) between November 2010 and February 2012. …

Updated criteria for diagnosing multiple myeloma published by international research group

“Our group, which includes more than 180 myeloma researchers worldwide, has updated the definition of multiple myeloma for diagnostic purposes to include validated biomarkers in addition to the current clinical symptoms used for diagnosis which include, elevated blood calcium levels, kidney failure, anemia and bone lesions,” said lead author S. Vincent Rajkumar, M.D. a hematologist at Mayo Clinic. …

Prostate cancer, kidney disease detected in urine samples on the spot

But a cunningly simple new device can stop that vital information from “going to waste.” Brigham Young University chemist Adam Woolley and his students made a device that can detect markers of kidney disease and prostate cancer in a few minutes. All you have to do is drop a sample into a tiny tube and see how far it goes. That’s because the tube is lined with DNA sequences that will latch onto disease markers and nothing else. Urine from someone with a clean bill of health would flow freely through the tube (the farther, the better)…