Tag Archives: university

Three-quarters of depressed cancer patients do not receive treatment for depression; new approach could transform care

An analysis of data from more than 21,000 patients attending cancer clinics in Scotland, UK, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, found that major depression is substantially more common in cancer patients than in the general population. Major depression was most common in patients with lung cancer (13%) and lowest in those with genitourinary cancer (6%). Moreover, nearly three quarters (73%) of depressed cancer patients were not receiving treatment. To address the problem of inadequate treatment the SMaRT Oncology-2 randomised trial, published in The Lancet, evaluated the effectiveness of a new treatment program called ‘Depression Care for People with Cancer’ (DCPC)…

Fighting prostate cancer with tomato-rich diet — ScienceDaily

With 35,000 new cases every year in the UK, and around 10,000 deaths, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Rates are higher in developed countries, which some experts believe is linked to a Westernised diet and lifestyle. To assess if following dietary and lifestyle recommendations reduces risk of prostate cancer, researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Oxford looked at the diets and lifestyle of 1,806 men aged between 50 and 69 with prostate cancer and compared with 12,005 cancer-free men. …

Sorting cells with sound waves

Separating cells with sound offers a gentler alternative to existing cell-sorting technologies, which require tagging the cells with chemicals or exposing them to stronger mechanical forces that may damage them. “Acoustic pressure is very mild and much smaller in terms of forces and disturbance to the cell. …

New biomarker highly promising for predicting breast cancer outcomes

Cancer is deadly in large part due to its ability to metastasize, to travel from one organ or tissue type to another and malignantly sprout anew. The vast majority of cancer deaths are associated with metastasis. In breast cancer, a process called “epithelial to mesenchymal transition” aids metastasis…

Cancer-fighting drugs might also stop malaria early

Duke University assistant professor Emily Derbyshire and colleagues identified more than 30 enzyme-blocking molecules, called protein kinase inhibitors, that curb malaria before symptoms start. By focusing on treatments that act early, before a person is infected and feels sick, the researchers hope to give malaria — especially drug-resistant strains — less time to spread. The findings appear online and are scheduled to appear in a forthcoming issue of the journal ChemBioChem. Malaria is caused by a single-celled parasite called Plasmodium that spreads from person to person through mosquito bites. …

Being overweight causes hazardous inflammations

“We believe that there is a connection between metabolism, inflammation, heart attack and stroke,” says Bente Halvorsen, professor at the Research Institute for Internal Medicine, University of Oslo, Norway. Together with the research group’s leader, Pål Aukrust, who last year received the university’s research award for his work on inflammatory diseases, and researcher Arne Yndestad, she has looked deeply into the molecular explanation of why overweight is harmful. …

New approach to identify ‘drivers’ of cancer developed

The study, published online August 24 in Nature Genetics, was authored by Michael Gatza, PhD, lead author and post-doctoral research associate; Grace Silva, graduate student; Joel Parker, PhD, director of bioinformatics, UNC Lineberger; Cheng Fan, research associate; and senior author Chuck Perou, PhD, professor of genetics and pathology. These researchers studied a variety of cancer causing pathways, which are the step-by-step genetic alterations in which normal cells transition into cancerous cells, including the pathway that govern cancer cell growth rates…