Tag Archives: state

Value, limitations of patient assistance programs for women with breast cancer

Most breast cancer patients who had information about patient assistance programs used them to learn more about adjuvant therapy, obtain psychosocial support, and overcome practical/financial obstacles to getting treatment, reported researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Researchers found that, in most cases, patients who were referred to assistance programs did contact organizations running programs, such as Cancer Care Inc., SHARE, and the Mount Sinai Breast Health Resources Program. …

Suffering from breast cancer increases the risk of another tumour by 39%

A national team of researchers has analysed the risk that women diagnosed with a first case of invasive breast cancer face of developing a second primary cancer in a part of the body other than the breast. The results, published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology, indicate that this risk is 39% higher. María José Sánchez, co-author of the study and director of the Granada Cancer Register explained to SINC that the team’s study is the first populational study ever conducted in Spain to examine this associated risk. According to the study’s data, women under the age of 50 who had previously suffered from breast cancer were almost twice as likely to develop a second cancer than the general population (the risk was 96% greater). …

Sunscreen saves superhero gene

It is widely accepted that sunscreen stops you from getting burnt but to date there has been academic debate about the effectiveness of sunscreen in preventing skin cancers. Now QUT has undertaken a world-first human study to assess the impact of sunscreen at the molecular level. Researchers found sunscreen provides 100 per cent protection against all three forms of skin cancer: BCC (basal cell carcinoma); SCC (squamous cell carcinoma); and malignant melanoma. …

Gene variations may help predict cancer treatment response

The researchers analyzed DNA sequence variations in 651 non-small cell lung cancer patients, paying close attention to 53 inflammation-related genes. They found that four of the top 15 variants associated with survival were located on one specific gene (TNFRSF10B). In the study, these variants increased the risk of death as much as 41 percent. …

Researchers perform DNA computation in living cells

Logic gates are the means by which computers "compute," as sets of them are combined in different ways to enable computers to ultimately perform tasks like addition or subtraction. In DNA computing, these gates are created by combining different strands of DNA, rather than a series of transistors. However, thus far DNA computation events have typically taken place in a test tube, rather than in living cells. NC State chemist Alex Deiters and graduate student James Hemphill wanted to see if a DNA-based logic gate could detect the presence of specific microRNAs in human cells…

Cancer is a result of a default cellular ‘safe mode,’ physicist proposes

In this month’s special issue of Physics World devoted to the "physics of cancer," Paul Davies, principal investigator at Arizona State University’s Center for Convergence of Physical Sciences and Cancer Biology, explains his radical new theory. Davies was brought in to lead the centre in 2009 having almost no experience in cancer research whatsoever. …

Protein is involved with colon cancer cell’s ability to invade other cells

Previous research shows that km23-1 is involved in the movement of cancer cells and in the control of specific proteins at the leading edge of moving cells. Kathleen Mulder, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, who discovered the protein, now says km23-1 is used in the cancer cell’s ability to move out of a tumor in the early stages ofinvasion. "km23-1 may be able to help in this process due to its role in the assembly of large groups of proteins favorable to cancer invasion," Mulder said. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States. …