Tag Archives: china

Adding chemotherapy to surgery improves survival in advanced gastric cancer, study confirms

At the meeting Prof Sung Hoon Noh, a gastric surgeon from Yonsei University College of Medicine, Korea, presented 5-year follow-up from the phase III CLASSIC trial, which added combination chemotherapy to a standard surgical procedure called D2 gastrectomy. The chemotherapy regimen studied in the trial is called XELOX, which is a combination of the drugs capecitabine and oxaliplatin. …

Study details cancer-promoting mechanisms of overlooked components in secondhand smoke

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published in the journal PLoS One explores two of these low-molecular-weight (LMW) PAHs — 1-methylanthracene (1-MeA) and 2-methylanthracene (2-MeA) — and shows that while they don’t necessarily cause cancer, 1-MeA promotes conditions that will likely allow cancer to grow. "There’s a big distinction between initiating cancer and promoting it," says Alison Bauer, PhD, CU Cancer Center investigator and assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. Her study showed that in a mouse cell model using a progenitor cell of lung cancer, the LMW 1-MeA promoted inflammation and increased mitogenic pathways, both of which are linked to tumor promotion. 2-MeA, while nearly structurally identical, did not…

Genomics and particle physics top the scientific charts

Genomics and particle physics - offering different perspectives on the fundamental nature of life and the cosmos - are the two hottest areas of scientific research. Eight of the 21 most closely followed scientists in 2012 studied genes and their functions, while the single most-cited paper last year covered the hunt for the long-sought Higgs boson particle, according to a Thomson Reuters survey on Wednesday. It was the third year in a row in which genomics researchers topped the rankings, in terms of authoring the most highly cited scientific papers, underscoring the central importance of genetics in biological science and medicine. “Genomics is a perennially hot topic as we learn more about how (DNA) sequences play out in the manifestation of disease,” said Christopher King, editor of Thomson Reuters ScienceWatch, which tracks trends in research. The relevance of the work in genomics was evident this week at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) congress in Chicago, where key advances in cancer medicine on display hinged on understanding the genetic basis of tumors. The world's “hottest” researcher, as measured by the number of citations during 2012 for papers published between 2010 and 2012, was Richard Wilson at the Washington University School of Medicine, the survey showed. Wilson's laboratory was the first to sequence the genome of a cancer patient and discover genetic signatures related the development of disease. Formation of the universe Other hot genomics researchers on the list included Eric Lander of the Broad Institute of MIT at Harvard and Kari Stefansson, the founder of Icelandic biotech company Decode Genetics, which was acquired last December by Amgen. Papers related to the search for the Higgs boson accounted for nearly one fifth of the 51 papers published in the 2012 hottest research list. The boson and its linked energy field are viewed by physicists as vital in the formation of the universe and in giving mass to matter. No single scientists working on the Higgs particle, however, were identified in the rankings because of the highly collaborative nature of the particle physics research, with some papers involving upwards of 3,000 authors. Scientists working on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, outside Geneva received an honorable mention as a group. The survey also highlighted the growing importance of Chinese research in a number of fields, with institutions in the country producing four of the 21 hottest researchers, including Jun Wang from the Beijing Genomics Institute. “When you look at the quantity of papers published by various nations, China has sky-rocketed in the last few years,” said King. “That hasn't necessarily been commensurate with impact in the literature, as measured by citations, but this seems to be starting to change.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/05/genomics-and-particle-physics-top-scientific-charts/

H7N9 flu study hints at limited human-to-human spread

It's likely that the new H7N9 bird flu virus can spread through the air on a limited basis, according to a new study that looked at how the virus spreads in animals. The study also provides more evidence that the virus can spread between people in close contact. However, it's unlikely the virus could cause a pandemic, unless it undergoes genetic changes that allow it to spread more efficiently between people, experts say. According to the World Health Organization, as of May 17, health officials knew of 131 people in China who had fallen ill with the H7N9 virus , including 36 who died. Most of these cases about 75 percent were people who had direct contact with poultry. In a few cases, people in the same family caught the disease, suggesting that the virus spreads between people in close contact. However, there is no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, WHO says. Because many factors can influence whether a person falls ill with flu, including their overall health, researchers like to study flu viruses in animals, under controlled conditions, to better understand how they spread, said study researcher Dr. Richard Webby, a bird-flu expert at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. In the new study, researchers infected six ferrets with the H7N9 virus, all of whom developed flu symptoms. Ferrets are considered a good model to study human flu transmission because efficient spread of the flu in ferrets tends to predict efficient spread in people. Several of the infected ferrets were placed in the same cage as uninfected ferrets. In addition, several uninfected ferrets were placed in cages a short distance away from uninfected ferrets to see if the virus could spread through the air. All of the uninfected ferrets who were in the same cage as the infected ferrets caught the virus, suggesting the virus can spread through direct contact. The flu virus also spread through the air, but less efficiently. Just one of three ferrets caged a short distance from infected ferrets caught the virus. The findings mostly mirror what health officials have seen in people, Webby said. For sustained person-to-person transmission to occur, the virus would likely have to transmit efficiently by both the airborne and direct contact routes, Webby said. Because H7N9 doesn't transmit very well through the air, it “doesn't look like it has the capacity to [cause] a pandemic,” unless the virus changes, Webby said. H7N9 appears to be more infectious than the H5N1 bird flu virus, Webby said. When researchers infect ferrets with H5N1, they usually do not see transmission through airborne or direct contact, Webby said. One bit of good news is that H7N9 does not appear to spread between pigs. In the study, pigs did not catch H7N9 from each other, either through the air or direct contact. Transmission between pigs would be concerning because it would provide more opportunities for the H7N9 virus to evolve and transmit to people that way too, Webby said. Based on the new results, pigs are unlikely to be major players in maintaining of the virus,Webby said. However, Webby noted the study tested just one strain of H7N9, and there are other strains out there that may act differently. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and others, is published May 23 in the journal Science. Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/h7n-flu-study-hints-at-how-it-may-spread-in-people/

New, more accurate way of imaging lung cancer tumors

Their study appeared in the March issue of Pattern Recognition. Lung cancer is the deadliest cancer in men and women. According to the National Institutes of Health, the five-year survival rate (16.3 percent) is worse than many other cancers, such as colon (65.2 percent), breast (90.0 percent) and prostate (99.9 percent)…