The Latest on Chimeric Antigen Receptor Therapy for Leukemia
The use of chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) to create engineered T cells to attack specific varieties of cancer cell, identified by their surface chemistry, is so far proving to be effective for leukemia, a cancer of the immune system. Researchers are also making inroads in adapting the therapy for use in solid tumors. While an initial group of patients treated several years ago with the first pass at CAR T cell therapy remain in remission, the news here focuses on the results from a more recent trial:
The 24 patients had undergone most standard therapies available to them and yet their chronic lymphocytic leukemi...
Source: Fight Aging! - December 6, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Nivolumab with chemotherapy improves response, survival in AML study patients
The immunotherapy drug nivolumab in combination with standard chemotherapy more than doubled reaction rates and improved overall success in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to preliminary findings by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Related Posts:CTCA at Western Regional Medical Center advances combinationImmunotherapy with live bacterium improves response rate in…Adjuvant chemotherapy improves overall survival in patients…Drug shows surprising efficacy as therapy for chronic…Experts propose new staging for HPV-related oropharyngeal…The post ...
Source: My Irritable Bowel Syndrome Story - December 5, 2016 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Ken Tags: IBS News Source Type: blogs
The complications of firing patients who won ’t vaccinate
A manifesto has been making the rounds on Twitter (and other places) over the past year. It has been attributed to Dr. Mike Ginsberg, a California pediatrician. It reportedly was originally a Facebook post that has since been taken down, perhaps because of the controversy it generated. I can understand why; vaccines are a hot button topic, and anyone who writes about them attracts attention, some of it unpleasant. I know that’s happened to me.
Anyway, here’s the quotation attributed to Dr. Ginsberg:
In my practice you will vaccinate, and you will vaccinate on time. You will not get your own “spaced-out” schedule...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - September 26, 2016 Category: Journals (General) Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/christopher-johnson" rel="tag" > Christopher Johnson, MD < /a > Tags: Meds Pediatrics Source Type: blogs
Why I oppose home strep testing
Yesterday I read this tweet:
home strep test likely to reduce inconvenience, cost, strep complications, unneeded antibiotic and antibiotic resistance #medx
I disagree, but the reasons are fairly complex.
In order to understand this problem, we have to define the possible test, its use, the likely misuse and both the intended and unintended consequences of such a test.
What makes a good home test? Users should have no difficulty collecting the test sample. The test performance must be straightforward and simple. The test should answer a question that has a dichotomous implication.
Clearly, even health care profession...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - September 20, 2016 Category: Internal Medicine Authors: rcentor Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, September 5th 2016
This study is a good example of the degree to which the choice to remain active in later life makes a difference. That implies a range of other choices over the decades in order to raise the odds that you can in fact choose to remain active when older, such as avoiding weight gain.
Moderate physical activity is associated with a greater than 50% reduction in cardiovascular death in over-65s. The 12 year study in nearly 2500 adults aged 65 to 74 years found that moderate physical activity reduced the risk of an acute cardiovascular event by more than 30%. High levels of physical activity led to greater risk reducti...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 4, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 2nd 2016
This study is the first CAR T-cell trial to infuse patients with an even mixture of two types of T cells (helper and killer cells, which work together to kill cancer). With the assurance that each patient gets the same mixture of cells, the researchers were able to come to conclusions about the effects of administering different doses of cells.
In 27 of 29 participants whose responses were evaluated a few weeks after the infusion, a high-sensitivity test could detect no trace of their cancer in their bone marrow. The CAR T cells eliminated cancers anywhere in the body they appeared. Of the two participants who did n...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 1, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
The Latest Results from a Trial of Chimeric Antigen Receptor Immunotherapy to Treat Cancer
This study is the first CAR T-cell trial to infuse patients with an even mixture of two types of T cells (helper and killer cells, which work together to kill cancer). With the assurance that each patient gets the same mixture of cells, the researchers were able to come to conclusions about the effects of administering different doses of cells.
In 27 of 29 participants whose responses were evaluated a few weeks after the infusion, a high-sensitivity test could detect no trace of their cancer in their bone marrow. The CAR T cells eliminated cancers anywhere in the body they appeared. Of the two participants who did n...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 28, 2016 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Value Pricing For Drugs: Whose Value, What Price?
It is hard to read a newspaper these days without coming across a story about the high and ever increasing cost of drugs. The Wall Street Journal named drug prices the top health story of 2015. Stories about drug prices fall into two general categories. The first are stories about generic and other manufacturers who are not focused on innovation (like Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant) but who acquire generic drugs and increase the price dramatically without adding value while also making it impossible for competitors to manufacture the drug by controlling the distribution.
While this problem is real, it is not the focus ...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - March 28, 2016 Category: Health Management Authors: Robert Rubin Tags: Costs and Spending Drugs and Medical Technology Featured Medicare ACOs Big Pharma cost effectiveness analysis high-cost drugs PCSK9 inhibitors QUALY value-based payment Source Type: blogs
DATA SIMPLIFICATION: Abbreviations and Acronyms
Over the next few weeks, I will be writing on topics related to my latest book, Data Simplification: Taming Information With Open Source Tools (release date March 17, 2016). I hope I can convince you that this is a book worth reading. Blog readers can use the discount code: COMP315 for a 30% discount, at checkout."A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the other one." -Baltasar GracianPeople confuse shortening with simplifying; a terrible mistake. In point of fact, next to reifying pronouns, abbreviations are the most vexing cause of complex and meaningless language. Before we tackle the complexities of abbre...
Source: Specified Life - March 14, 2016 Category: Information Technology Tags: abbreviations acronyms complexity computer science data analysis data repurposing data simplification simplifying data Source Type: blogs
Makayla Sault’s mother: Racism, trust, and science-based medicine
One of the recurring topics I write about is, of course, cancer quackery. It goes right back to the very beginning of this blog, to my very earliest posts more than 11 years ago. Over the years I’ve covered more cases than I can remember of patients relying on quackery instead of real medicine. In… (Source: Respectful Insolence)
Source: Respectful Insolence - January 18, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Orac Tags: Cancer Complementary and alternative medicine History Politics Quackery Religion Science Skepticism/critical thinking aborigine acute lymphoblastic leukemia Brian Clement Canada chemotherapy First Nations Justice Gethin Edward Source Type: blogs
Shaken Baby Syndrome or Death by Vaccine? Doctor Speaks Out…
Conclusion
Head and spinal cord injury consistent with non-accidental injury.” (emphasis added)
Comment from Dr. Innis
“There is no conflict with Dr. Al-Sarraj’s findings, but it is the interpretation of those findings which I dispute. He is evidently prepared to review his interpretation if further information becomes available and I would like to draw his attention to the fact that Amelia had biochemical as well as anatomical abnormalities. The biochemical diagnoses of hyperglycaemia, glycosuria, coagulation abnormality (INR 1,3, APTT 39.6) all suggest she was suffering from an autoimmune disorder tissue scurvy, [1...
Source: vactruth.com - October 27, 2015 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: Christina England Tags: Top Stories Christina England Human Adverse Reaction Vaccine Death Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) truth about vaccines ischemic encephalopathy Darryl Elliot Source Type: blogs
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia via Now@NEJM
Posted on infosnack. (Source: Kidney Notes)
Source: Kidney Notes - October 16, 2015 Category: Urology & Nephrology Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
William E. Paul
We were sad to learn that William E. Paul, Section Head for the Allergy & Hypersensitivity Section in the Immunology Faculty, passed away last week with acute myeloid leukemia. Dr Paul, who worked for the National Institute of Allergy and … Continue reading → (Source: Naturally Selected)
Source: Naturally Selected - September 25, 2015 Category: Biomedical Science Authors: Adie Chan Tags: Faculty Members Obituary Source Type: blogs
Considering Klotho Delivery as a Means to Reduce Age-Related Stem Cell Decline
Today I'll point out an open access paper on the longevity-related gene klotho. Some researchers see therapies to adjust levels of the klotho protein produced from this genetic blueprint as a possible way to slow some of the effects of aging, particularly those connected to regeneration and stem cell activity. Work on this is slow-moving and painstaking, as for any similar approaches.
Yet a fairly large section of the medical research community is now devoted to at least partial and temporary restoration of tissue maintenance by stem cells in the old. A good fraction of the frailty and failure of aging results not just fr...
Source: Fight Aging! - September 14, 2015 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
