Category Archives: Health News
Abortion pill rules loosened at clinics
RU486 -Abortion pill rules loosened at clinics - abortion pill
Abortion provider Marie Stopes International yesterday began offering women the choice of medical and standard surgical abortions at its nine clinics in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia and the ACT.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration authorised the service to use RU486 under special licensing to give desperately ill people access to drugs not available in this country. The only provisos were that women had to be less than nine weeks pregnant and meet eligibility criteria covering standard surgical abortions, the group said.
New Tool May Help With Early Detection Of Deadly Pancreatic Cancer
A new diagnostic tool developed by Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists has shown promising results when used with patients of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest forms of cancer due to the difficulty of diagnosing it in its early stages. The method, which studies carbohydrate structures in the bloodstream, could lead to the development of blood tests that can detect cancer more effectively.
“Tumor cells sometimes shed proteins into a patient’s bloodstream,” said VARI Senior Scientific Investigator Brian Haab, Ph.D., whose lab published its findings in the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics. “These proteins can have carbohydrate structures attached to them that might be able to tell us not only if a patient has cancer, but also more about the cancer and how to treat it.”
Metformin May Lower Diabetics’ Odds for Pancreatic Cancer
Metformin, one of the most widely used diabetes drugs, may offer patients the added benefit of lowering their odds for pancreatic cancer by 60 percent, a new study shows.
But the study had a downside: Other common treatments, including the use of insulin or insulin-releasing medications such as sulfonylureas, seemed to boost diabetics’ risk for the deadly malignancy.
US gears for huge swine flu vaccination push
Anxiously eyeing the approach of winter, US health officials are urgently gearing up for a huge vaccine campaign hoping Americans will swing behind efforts to protect them from swine flu.
“Ultimately, the number of people that we hope will be vaccinated before the fall winter wave of H1N1 arrives will exceed any of the previous vaccine campaigns that we’ve conducted in this country,” Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told AFP.
Abortion pill approved in Italy
Italy’s drug regulation agency has approved the use of the abortion pill RU486, also known as mifepristone, prompting protests from the Vatican.
The Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) ruled late on Thursday that the drug would not be sold in pharmacies and only be administered by doctors.
The pill could only be taken up to the seventh week of pregnancy, it said.
On Thursday, the Vatican said it would excommunicate doctors who prescribed the drug and patients who used it.
Maternal Drinking And Son’s Testicular Cancer: The Next Step
The first challenge is that testicular cancer is rare and therefore limits the number of cases for analysis in any but the largest prospective studies. While the obvious solution to the problem of rare diseases is to conduct a case-control study, in the case of testicular cancer prospective data may be more important than the convenience of easily available cases.
Testicular cancer incidence appears to be increasing worldwide. Despite growing concern over this increase, many aspects of testicular cancer epidemiology remain puzzling. So far, science provides few answers for its etiology or the geographic and temporal discrepancies in its incidence. Unfortunately, further evidence about the causal factors for testicular cancer will not be quickly forthcoming.
Mesothelioma-Data.com Highlights Recent Mesothelioma Case
Four men from Texas are suing Chevron and Gulf Oil on behalf of their father who died recently of mesothelioma which is a cancer caused by asbestos exposure.
Kyle, Dan, Ted and Mark Bergeron claim that their father Gliese Bergeron’s disease was wrongfully caused. Gliese Bergeron died of mesothelioma on October 22, 2008.
According to the lawsuit filed Dec. 22 in Jefferson County District Court, Gliese Bergeron worked as a pipefitter, operator, truck driver, insulator and maintenance planner at Chevron and Gulf Oil from 1942 to 1983.
Bergeron’s sons argue that their father’s exposure to asbestos was foreseeable and should have been anticipated by the defendants.
The lawsuit states that Chevron and Gulf Oil were allegedly negligent as they failed to test the air in order to find out the levels of asbestos fibers at the work site and also to warn their employees regarding the health hazards associated to asbestos exposure.
New Cancer Treatment Stops Aggressive Sarcomas
After all standard treatments had failed, a new cancer treatment has stopped the growth of aggressive sarcomas in two recent patients. These results are similar to the new protocol’s previous success against several cancers, including melanoma, pancreatic, colon, mesothelioma and other sarcomas.
One of the patients is an 18-year-old with malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) that arose in the largest bone of his leg. The cancer spread throughout his lungs, despite aggressive surgery that replaced most of his leg with metal implants. The second patient was losing a battle with desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT), a very rare and aggressive cancer. After undergoing multiple surgical procedures and different chemotherapy regimens, the DSRCT still progressed and spread through the abdomen.
Mesothelioma – Initiation Of MORAb-009 Phase II Study In First- Line Treatment Of Mesothelioma
Morphotek(R), Inc., a subsidiary of Eisai Corporation of North America, announced that it has commenced a multi-centered Phase II study of its MORAb-009 monoclonal antibody in mesothelioma. The study will evaluate MORAb-009, plus the chemotherapy drugs pemetrexed and cisplatinum, as a first-line treatment for patients with mesothelioma cancer.
The primary objective of the study is to assess the efficacy of MORAb-009 as combination therapy with the current standard of care as determined by progression-free survival in patients with locally advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma cancer. Secondary objectives include safety and anti-tumor activity of MORAb-009 as determined by objective response rate. The patient population includes individuals with locally advanced malignant pleural mesothelioma who have not received any prior treatment for their disease. Morphotek expects to enroll up to 86 patients in this clinical study, which is being conducted at clinical centers globally.
Mesothelioma Cancer – Innovative Mesothelioma Video Library Wins Web Awards While Educating Viewers
The SimmonsCooper law firm announced today that the Mesothelioma Video Library Web site, a free educational resource for patients and families affected by Mesothelioma, has been recognized by the Web Marketing Association and W3 Awards for its innovation and excellence on the web. The Mesothelioma Video Library is the first video-driven Web site to address Mesothelioma and asbestos-related issues.
“We started this site to reach out to Mesothelioma cancer patients and families in a fresh and meaningful way,” said Michael Angelides, SimmonsCooper partner and asbestos attorney. “Using video allowed us to simplify the medical information for families, as well as show the personal side of the disease. It’s our hope that people are able to watch these videos and realize that they are not alone in their fight.”
