Breast reconstruction using patient’s own tissues yield higher satisfaction rates — ScienceDaily

But the findings may at least partly reflect differences in the characteristics of women choosing different options for breast reconstruction, according to the study by plastic surgeon Dr. Yassir Eltahir and colleagues of University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands. Higher Satisfaction Score with Autologous Breast Reconstruction The researchers used the recently developed “BREAST-Q” questionnaire to analyze patient satisfaction and quality of life after breast reconstruction. …

Egg and sperm race: Scientists create precursors to human egg and sperm

When an egg cell is fertilised by a sperm, it begins to divide into a cluster of cells known as a blastocyst, the early stage of the embryo. Within this ball of cells, some cells form the inner cell mass – which will develop into the foetus – and some form the outer wall, which becomes the placenta…

Scientists zero in on how lung cancer spreads

The researchers at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute discovered that the ties which lash cells together — controlled by a protein called TIAM1 — are chopped up when cell maintenance work goes wrong. …

This Endoscope Zaps Tumors

It may soon serve another purpose: zapping tumors. The biomedical advancement, which is under development at the University at Buffalo, could make chemotherapy more efficient, reduce its side effects and improve how doctors treat some of the most deadly forms of cancer. “We are developing a novel endoscopic device that will improve our ability to detect and destroy cancer cells,” says Ulas Sunar, PhD, a research assistant professor in UB’s Department of Biomedical Engineering and the principal investigator of a National Institutes of Health grant that supports the research. Conventional endoscopic imaging has limitations. …

Role of gene mutations involved in more than 75 percent of glioblastomas, melanomas

The research is published this month in the online journal PLOS ONE and is authored by Brad Chaires, Ph.D., John Trent, Ph.D., Robert Gray, William Dean, Ph.D., Robert Buscaglia, Shelia Thomas and Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D. Telomerase is an enzyme largely responsible for the promotion of cell division. Within DNA, telomerase activation is a critical step for human carcinogenesis through the maintenance of telomeres. …

Researchers map paths to cancer drug resistance — ScienceDaily

By mapping the specific steps that cells of melanoma, breast cancer and a blood cancer called myelofibrosis use to become resistant to drugs, the researchers now have much better targets for blocking those pathways and keeping current therapies effective. The findings are published in two papers Dec…

Researchers map paths to cancer drug resistance

By mapping the specific steps that cells of melanoma, breast cancer and a blood cancer called myelofibrosis use to become resistant to drugs, the researchers now have much better targets for blocking those pathways and keeping current therapies effective. The findings are published in two papers Dec. 23, 2014, in the journal Science Signaling. “Clinical resistance to anticancer therapies is a major problem,” said lead author Kris Wood, Ph.D., assistant professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke…

‘Sugar-coated’ microcapsule eliminates toxic punch of experimental anti-cancer drug

“We developed 3BrPA to target a hallmark of cancer cells, namely their increased dependency on glucose compared with normal cells. But the nonencapsulated drug is toxic to healthy tissues and inactivated as it navigates through the blood, so finding a way to encapsulate the drug and protect normal tissues extends its promise in many cancers as it homes in on tumor cells,” says Jean-Francois Geschwind, M.D., chief of the Division of Interventional Radiology at Johns Hopkins Medicine. …

Test predicts response to treatment for complication of leukemia stem cell treatment

Patients with fatal blood cancers like leukemia often require allogenic stem cell SCT to survive. Donor stem cells are transplanted to a recipient, but not without the risk of developing GVHD, a life-threatening complication and major cause of death after SCT. The disease, which can be mild to severe, occurs when the transplanted donor cells (known as the graft) attack the patient (referred to as the host). …