Deep Sequencing of Loose DNA in Blood for Early Detection of Many Cancers
A collaborative project between scientists in the U.S., Denmark, and The Netherlands has developed a way of spotting bits of DNA in blood that derive from tumors deep in the body. The technology may allow for early detection of cancers before any symptoms arise and earlier than any other existing approach.
Though the fact that tumors shed chunks of DNA has been well known, it’s been difficult to know what mutations to look for in individual patients. False positives can be much too common if one doesn’t look specifically for tumor-related mutations, as benign mutations are way too frequent.
The team employed a...
Source: Medgadget - August 21, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Diagnostics Oncology Pathology Source Type: blogs
A cancer patient ’s incredible response to treatment
I’d known her for almost 3 years. She had advanced ovarian cancer — clear cell — and was diagnosed with disease already in her chest, stage IV. She had a terrific response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which had resolved her extra-abdominal disease sites after three cycles. She had an aggressive interval surgery which achieved complete resection of residual cancer (an R0 resection). She had completed adjuvant chemotherapy, and I declared her to be in remission at that time. But it was short-lived; within four months, her disease had returned. Platinum resistance, we call it. We started a new regimen then ̵...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - August 9, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/don-s-dizon" rel="tag" > Don S. Dizon, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Cancer OB/GYN Source Type: blogs
Tissue Paper Made of Various Organs for Use in Wound Healing, Regenerative Medicine, Hormone Production
If you thought sheepskin paper, also known as vellum, is gross, get ready for “tissue paper” from Northwestern University. The material, made from organs mixed with a polymer in a multi-step process, may have a number of uses that are obvious, such as wound repair, and others that will have to be discovered.
The tissue paper is made by first breaking up an organ into tiny pieces and then using well-established methods to decellularize the resulting clear goop. The goop is then dried, turned into a powder, and combined with polymer molecules. What comes out is a paper that can be used within the body because i...
Source: Medgadget - August 8, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Genetics Source Type: blogs
Hemopurifier Filters Ebola, Hep C, Metastatic Melanoma: Interview with James A. Joyce, CEO of Aethlon Medical
Filtering infectious pathogens and cancer cells directly from whole blood has been an almost fantastic proposition, but the Hemopurifier from Aethlon Medical does just that. We’ve been covering it for over 10 years on Medgadget as it proves itself in clinical trials and new applications for it are discovered. It has already been studied as a treatment option for hepatitis C, metastatic melanoma, and the Ebola virus. Recently at the 2017 BIO International Convention in San Diego, virus capture data was presented from a study of the Hemopurifier involving health-compromised patients infected with a virus.
We wer...
Source: Medgadget - July 18, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Editors Tags: Exclusive Medicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 17th 2017
This study aimed to estimate associations between combined measurements of BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) with mortality and incident coronary artery disease (CAD). This study followed 130,473 UK Biobank participants aged 60-69 years (baseline 2006-2010) for 8.3 years (n = 2974 deaths). Current smokers and individuals with recent or disease-associated (e.g., from dementia, heart failure, or cancer) weight loss were excluded, yielding a "healthier agers" group.
Ignoring WHR, the risk of mortality for overweight subjects was similar to that for normal-weight subjects. However, among normal-weight subjects, mortalit...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 16, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
CT Perfusion Technology Monitors Blood Flow to Predict Ovarian Cancer Treatment Response
Patients with advanced ovarian cancer have a very high relapse rate following primary treatment, with 60 to 85% of patients relapsing. Treatment planning is an important factor in patient care, but few reliable options exist to help physicians accurately plan treatment and select patients who are appropriate candidates for a specific therapy.
Researchers from the University of Western Ontario and the Lawson Health Research Institute in Canada have recently shown that CT perfusion technology can predict how ovarian cancer patients respond to treatment. Developed by the team, CT perfusion assesses changes in blood flow t...
Source: Medgadget - June 30, 2017 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Iris Kulbatski Tags: Ob/Gyn Oncology Radiology Source Type: blogs
Defense profile differs during symptom flare, free in IBS-D
(HealthDay)—For patients with irritable bowel symptoms with diarrhea (IBS-D), interferon-γ concentrations and THELPER cells are inhibited during symptom flare, according to a research letter published online June ten in Gut.
Related Posts:Eluxadoline eases pain and diarrhea for a few with IBSResearchers report breakthrough inhibition of intestinal…Rifaximin effective for repeat treatment of IRRITABLE BOWEL…What Are The Chances Of Ovarian Cancer And Ibs Diagnosis…New IBS treatment shows possible in Phase 2 researchThe post Defense profile differs during symptom flare, free in IBS-D appeared first on ...
Source: My Irritable Bowel Syndrome Story - June 26, 2017 Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Ken Tags: IBS News Source Type: blogs
Building Sustainable Partnerships To Improve Access To Breast Cancer Treatment For Uninsured Women
Breast cancer is a terrifying disease for most women. In the United States, it is the leading cause of cancer deaths among women ages twenty to fifty-nine years. More than 5,100 women are diagnosed with—and at least 1,100 women die from—breast cancer in New York City each year. The breast cancer survival rate is also lower for uninsured women than for those with private health insurance coverage.
Although access to affordable breast cancer screening and treatment has grown substantially over the past few years as a result of increased health insurance coverage options through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many uninsur...
Source: Health Affairs Blog - June 20, 2017 Category: Health Management Authors: Kumbirai M. Madondo, Janice Zaballero and José Pagán Tags: Costs and Spending Featured GrantWatch Health Professionals Insurance and Coverage Access breast cancer Consumers Health Care Costs Health Care Delivery Health Philanthropy Health Promotion and Disease PreventionGW Hospitals imag Source Type: blogs
The Combination Diagnosis
Presto, you were a healthy person, who in addition to going out for drinks and appetizers with friends on weekends, you also used to go to the gym, hike, bike, swim, blah, blah, blah. All sorts of activities. Then, the ball drops. Now you have cancer and another ailment which prevents you from doing much of everything.You read about those ' other ' cancer people, who took their athleticism to new heights after their cancer diagnosis. They climb not just mole hills, but Mounts Everest and Denali in the same month. They learn to stand on the big fat boards and pole their way across the Pacific. They boast about their return ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - June 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer diagnosis disability Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 19th 2017
This study is the first to show that downregulation of PAPP-A expression in adult mice can significantly extend life span.
Importantly, this beneficial longevity phenotype is distinct from the dwarfism of long-lived PAPP-A KO, Ames dwarf, Snell dwarf and growth hormone receptor (GHR) KO mice with germ-line mutations. Thus, downregulation of PAPP-A expression joins other treatment regimens, such as resveratrol, rapamycin and dietary restriction, which can extend life span when started in mice as adults. In a recent study, inducible knockdown of the GHR in young adult female mice increased maximal, but not median, lif...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 18, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Physicians are not fundamentally different from their patients
Delivered at the Harvard Medical School Class Day Ceremony, May 25, 2017.
Distinguished faculty, dedicated staff, and most importantly, loving parents and family members:
Thank you for all you’ve done to support us and transform us into doctors. Harvard Medical School Class of 2017, congratulations. It is an enormous honor to address you all today.
When I was a third-year medical student, I scrubbed in on the surgery of a woman with ovarian cancer. The purpose of the surgery was to see whether her cancer had spread to other organs. The surgeon instructed me to put my hand on the patient’s liver. As I ran my gloved ...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 14, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/colleen-farrell" rel="tag" > Colleen Farrell, MD < /a > Tags: Education Medical school Source Type: blogs
How important is Vitamin D?
FACT: A vitamin D deficiency may result in as much as a 50 percent increased potential for diabetes.
FACT: A vitamin D deficiency puts you at a higher risk for cancer, especially breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and melanoma.
VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY is a widespread phenomenon with significant implications for health. In modern society vitamin D deficiency is the rule, rather than the exception. While we can blame more severe cases of deficiency on grains, it also commonly occurs independent of grain consumption. The restoration of vitamin D levels is second only to grain elimination when considering the most powerful healthy...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - June 13, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Cancer Depression Diabetes News & Updates Undoctored Vitamin D Weight loss Source Type: blogs
Let ’s stop calling cancer a war
I remember, when I was a kid, that my grandmother would spend time at our breakfast table reading the newspaper. Not cover to cover, mind you — she seemed to always focus her attention on the obituaries. Sometimes she would look up and tell anyone sitting around her about the death of someone near her age or, sometimes, someone very young. It was the first time I remember hearing how someone “lost the fight to cancer.” It is something I have heard many times since, and it continues to bother me. I’ve written before how the war analogy implies winners and losers, but even more than that, the analogy assumes only...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - June 8, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/don-s-dizon" rel="tag" > Don S. Dizon, MD < /a > Tags: Physician Cancer Source Type: blogs
Top Companies in Genomics
From portable genome sequencers until genetic tests revealing distant relations with Thomas Jefferson, genomics represents a fascinatingly innovative area of healthcare. As the price of genome sequencing has been in free fall for years, the start-up scene is bursting from transformative power. Let’s look at some of the most amazing ventures in genomics!
The amazing journey of genome sequencing
Genome sequencing has been on an amazing scientific as well as economic journey for the last three decades. The Human Genome Project began in 1990 with the aim of mapping the whole structure of the human genome and sequencing it. ...
Source: The Medical Futurist - May 30, 2017 Category: Information Technology Authors: nora Tags: Genomics Personalized Medicine AI artificial intelligence bioinformatics cancer DNA dna testing DTC gc3 genetic disorders genetics genome sequencing personal genomics precision medicine Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 22nd 2017
In this study, researchers analysed data of millions of British patients between 1995 and 2015 to see if this claim held true. They tracked people who were obese at the start of the study, defined as people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, who had no evidence of heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes at this point. They found these people who were obese but "metabolically healthy" were at higher risk of developing heart disease, strokes and heart failure than people of normal weight.
No such thing as 'fat but fit', major study finds
Several studies in the past have sug...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 21, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
