Tag Archives: researchers

Evidence of savings in accountable care organizations, cancer care

Researchers from The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice report that savings may be found in accountable care organizations (ACO) through reductions in hospitalizations. The analysis published in the December issue of the journal Healthcare provides the first empirical evidence on how the shared savings ACO model may affect the cost and experience of care for cancer patients. The researchers looked at the Physician Group Practice Demonstration, which ran from 2005 to 2010 in 10 physician groups, for the best current evidence on the likely effectiveness of accountable care organizations for Medicare beneficiaries…

Researchers turn to machines to identify breast cancer type

Since each cell in the body contains 23,000 genes, identifying the specific genes involved in cancer growth is an exceedingly complex task. Researchers used a form of artificial intelligence called machine learning to identify three genes that allowed them to determine whether a tumour was fed by estrogen. "People can’t possibly sort through all this information and find the important patterns," said senior author Russ Greiner, a professor in the Department of Computing Science and investigator with the Alberta Innovates Centre for Machine Learning. …

Researchers find shape-shifting stops migrating cancer cells

In research published in the December issue of Molecular and Cellular Biology, investigators reveal how interplay of molecules keeps cancer cells moving forward, and how disturbing the balance of these proteins pushes their shape to change, stopping them in their tracks. Investigators say they have already identified a number of agents — some already used in the clinic for different disorders — that may force shape-shifting in tumor cells. "We are starting to understand mechanistically how cancer cells move and migrate, which gives us opportunities to manipulate these cells, alter their shape, and stop their spread," says the study’s lead investigator, Panos Z. Anastasiadis, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cancer Biology at Mayo Clinic in Florida. …

Scientists show how cells protect DNA from catastrophic damage

An international team of researchers led by Professor Jiri Lukas from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen have unveiled a process that explains how DNA can be damaged during genome replication, due to the lack of a critical protein. Cells need to keep their genomic DNA unharmed to stay healthy and the scientists were able to visualize the process of DNA replication and damage directly in cells with an unprecedented detail. They discovered a fundamental mechanism of how proteins protect chromosomes while DNA is being copied (a process called DNA replication), which relies on a protein called RPA. …

Chemists develop new way to kill cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy drug

A new study from MIT and the University of Toronto offers a possible way to overcome that resistance. The researchers found that when cisplatin was delivered to cellular structures called mitochondria, DNA in this organelle was damaged, leading to cancer cell death. …

Mutations linked to breast cancer treatment resistance

The study appears online in Nature Genetics. The discovery stems from a program at the U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center called Mi-ONCOSEQ in which patients with advanced cancer have their DNA and RNA sequenced to identify all types of genetic mutations that could play a role in the cancer. Researchers use the findings to help direct therapies they think will work best. But they also use the data to find new genetic links. …