Cerebrovascular diseases include some of the most common and devastating disorders: ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and cerebrovascular anomalies such as intracranial aneurysms and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs).
Most cerebrovascular diseases are manifest by the abrupt onset of a focal neurologic deficit, as if the patient was “struck by the hand of God.”
Read More “All you need to know about Cerebrovascular diseases”
During my education and endeavours in medicine, I read Betty S quote once that Where there is life, there is cancer. Although the types of cancer and their incidence (the number of new types diagnosed each year) may vary by geography, sex, race, age, and ethnicity, cancer exists in every population and has since ancient times.
Read More “Module 3A: Cancer and its basics- for laymen,believers and followers”
Original article by Churchil Otieno
Decrease arthritis inflammation by avoiding 10 key foods
Processed foods contain oils and sugars and refined carbohydrates that result in inflammation of the joints.
Avoiding the following foods will help decrease flare-ups and pain in the joints:
• Processed grains such as white bread
• Sugary sodas and sports drinks
• Junk food
• Foods with high fructose corn syrup ingredients
• Commercial boxed breakfast cereals
• Condiments like jams and jellies
• Juice Concentrates
• White rice and pasta made from anything other than whole grains
• Frozen sweets and dessert items
• Store-bought chips, cookies and crackers
Read More “10 Foods That Could Worse Your Arthritis Inflammation”
Image: iStock/AngiePhotos
In a phase two clinical trial, women with small (stage one) HER2-positive breast tumors who received a combination of lower-intensity chemotherapy and a targeted drug following surgery were highly unlikely to have the cancer recur within three years of treatment, investigators at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report in a paper published Jan. 7 in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The findings may help establish the therapy—which combines the chemotherapy agent paclitaxel and the targeted drug trastuzumab (Herceptin)—as the first standard treatment approach for this group of patients, the authors state.
Many previous studies excluded women with small HER2-positive breast tumors that hadn’t spread to nearby lymph nodes from clinical trials of trastuzumab because it wasn’t considered prudent to expose them to an investigational drug given the relatively low risk that the disease would recur. Without a single standard treatment for this group of patients, treatment approaches have varied widely. Breast cancers are classified as HER2-positive if their cells have surplus human epidermal growth factor receptors on their surface, making them extra sensitive to signals to grow and divide.
“Women with small HER2 positive, node-negative breast tumors have a low, but still significant, risk of recurrence of their disease,” said the study’s senior author, Eric Winer, HMS professor of medicine and director of the Breast Oncology Program at the Susan F. Smith Center for Women’s Cancers at Dana-Farber. “This study demonstrates that a combination of lower-intensity chemotherapy and trastuzumab—which is associated with fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy regimens—is an appealing standard of care for this group of patients.”
The study enrolled 406 patients with HER2-positive, node-negative breast tumors smaller than 3 centimeters. They were treated with the drug combination for 12 weeks, followed by nine months of trastuzumab alone. Traditional drug regimens for women with HER2-positive breast cancer involve chemotherapy with adriamycin and cytoxan followed by paclitaxel and trastuzumab.
Three years after completing therapy, 98.7 percent of the participants were alive and free of invasive breast cancer. The side effects were generally milder than those associated with traditional chemotherapy regimens.
“We’re committed to identifying treatment regimens that are geared not only to the specific biological features of a woman’s cancer, but also to the stage of the cancer—the size of the tumor and how far it has advanced,” said the study’s lead author, Sara Tolaney, HMS instructor in medicine at the Susan F. Smith Center. “This study is a prime example of the value of that approach.”
Financial support for the research was provided by Genentech and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Adapted from a Dana-Farber news release.
New Companies Join Cancer Research UK Consortium |
| Published: Thursday, December 11, 2014 Last Updated: Thursday, December 11, 2014 |
| Three new biomarker companies have been selected to work with the Early Diagnosis Consortium, a collaboration between Cancer Research UK, its commercial arm, Cancer Research Technology and Abcodia. |
| The decision follows completion of a pilot phase to evaluate leading technologies for their ability to discover biomarkers that can detect cancer in its earliest stages, long before symptoms appear, when treatment is most likely to be effective. The technologies were tested against serum samples selected from a biobank of more than five million serum samples, collected from women as part of the UKCTOCS trial, to which Abcodia has exclusive commercial access.
Based on these findings, the three companies involved will be Caprion which specialises in proteomics, Asuragen which uses next-generation sequencing to find circulating microRNAs, and the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology using its tumour auto-antibodies platform. This next stage of the programme will focus on identifying biomarkers for colorectal, lung, oesophageal and pancreatic cancers, chosen because of the limited availability of screening tests for these cancers and patients’ poor survival when diagnosed at a late stage. Dr Julie Barnes, chief executive of Abcodia, said: “We are excited to work with these world leading companies to bring their cutting edge technology to this endeavour. The application of such technologies to biomarker discovery in longitudinal samples donated before the clinical presentation of cancer is a real innovation and has the potential to make a real difference to the field of early cancer detection.” Professor Ian Jacobs, vice president at the University of Manchester, principal investigator of UKCTOCS and one of the founders of Abcodia, said: “Cancers that are diagnosed at a later stage are much more difficult to manage, so I am delighted to see the progress that this consortium is making. The experiments aimed at identifying biomarkers that could form simple, non-invasive tests for early cancer detection represent an ideal use of the biobank developed through UKCTOCS.” Dr Keith Blundy, chief executive of Cancer Research Technology, said: “After a successful pilot, we are delighted to be able to bring additional technological capability into this collaborative effort, to add to the clinical, scientific and commercial expertise of existing partners. The biobank derived from UKCTOCS is providing us with the opportunity, through this initiative, to potentially unlock a future in which thousands of cancer cases could be detected and treated before symptoms emerge.” |
Experts from an article by Lara C. Pullen, PhD December 11, 2014
A reduction in the consumption of added sugars and, in particular, processed foods may translate into decreased rates of hypertension as well as decreased cardiometabolic disease. In particular, a new review article suggests that sugar, not salt, appears to contribute to the majority of the hypertension risk associated with processed food.
Read More “Sugar, Not Salt, May Be at Fault for Hypertension”
13 Diabetes Myths that Don’t Lower Blood Sugar | Diabetic Living Online.
Nothing trumps a balanced meal plan, an active lifestyle, and diabetes medications as needed to keep your blood glucose levels in check. You might have considered other diabetes remedies to try to lower blood sugar. Find out what works and what you should avoid.
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