Diagnostic Tool Provides Additional Therapeutic Treatment Guidance for Third Deadliest Form of Cance
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Genzyme Genetics announced today that it now offers KRAS mutation testing for colorectal cancer. The Genzyme assay, now validated in colorectal cancer and other solid tumors, evaluates a patient’s tumor tissue for mutations in the KRAS gene. Recent studies have shown that identifying KRAS mutations can assist oncologists in selecting treatment for patients with colorectal cancer.
“Determining how efficacious a therapy will be for a cancer patient is an important component of personalized medicine,” said Michael C. Dugan, M.D., vice president of pathology services at Genzyme Genetics. “Colorectal cancer is not only the third most common type of cancer, but it is also the third deadliest. It is vital for oncologists to determine the best course of therapy for their patients, since time is of the essence when treating cancer. Choosing the most effective therapy can extend a patient’s life, as well as improve overall quality of life.”
Mutations in the KRAS gene have been associated with poor prognosis in patients with colorectal cancer and have been reported in approximately 30 to 50 percent of cases of colorectal adenocarcinoma. Recent studies have shown that KRAS mutations are associated with resistance to anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (anti-EGFR) therapy in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.
Why Some Treatments Rescue Aging Skin
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Fine wrinkles, deeper creases, saggy areas around the mouth and neck – the sights in the mirror that make baby boomers wince – are not inevitable. They result from a structural breakdown inside the skin that some existing treatments effectively counteract by stimulating the growth of new, youthful collagen, University of Michigan scientists say.
The researchers report an emerging picture of collagen collapse and possible renewal, based on more than a decade of studies, in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology.
The article draws on dozens of studies since the early 1990s, conducted primarily by U-M dermatologists, to explain why three types of available skin treatments are effective: topical retinoic acid, carbon dioxide laser resurfacing and injections of cross-linked hyaluronic acid.
These treatments all improve the skin’s appearance – and its ability to resist bruises and tears – by stimulating new collagen. Collagen is a key supporting substance, plentiful in young skin, that’s produced in the sub-surface layer of skin known as the dermis. The U-M findings show that the breakdown of the dermis’ firm, youthful structure is a very important factor in skin aging – a much more straightforward thing to fix than genetic factors that others theorize may be involved.
When your memories can no longer be trusted
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You went to a wedding yesterday. The service was beautiful, the food and drink flowed and there was dancing all night. But people tell you that you are in hospital, that you have been in hospital for weeks, and that you didn’t go to a wedding yesterday at all.
The experience of false memories like this following neurological damage is known as confabulation. The reasons why patients experience false memories such as these has largely remained a mystery. Now a new study conducted by Dr Martha Turner and colleagues at University College London, published in the May 2008 issue of Cortex offers some clues as to what might be going on.
The authors studied 50 patients who had damage to different parts of the brain, and found that those who confabulated all shared damage to the inferior medial prefrontal cortex, a region in the centre of the front part of the brain just behind the eyes.
Many Men With Low Testosterone Levels Do Not Receive Treatment
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The majority of men with androgen deficiency may not be receiving treatment despite having sufficient access to care, according to a report in the May 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Androgen deficiency in men means the body has lower than normal amounts of male hormones, including testosterone, according to background information in the article. Although prescriptions for testosterone therapy for aging men have increased in recent years, treatment patterns for androgen deficiency are not clearly understood in community-dwelling U.S. males.
Susan A. Hall, Ph.D., of New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Mass., and colleagues examined data collected from 1,486 Boston-area men (average age 46.4) from April 2002 to June 2005 to estimate the number of men receiving treatment for androgen deficiency, to explain how treated and untreated men varied in seeking care and to understand potential barriers to health care. Specific symptoms of androgen deficiency include low libido, erectile dysfunction and osteoporosis and less-specific symptoms include sleep disturbance, depressed mood and tiredness.
Second Hand Smoke Increases Hospital Admissions for All Types of Infectious Diseases
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Children exposed to second hand tobacco smoke are more likely to get severe infectious diseases and have to be admitted to hospital, finds research published online ahead of print in Tobacco Control.
These children are at greater risk of a whole range of infectious illnesses, such as meningococcal disease, and not just respiratory illness, the results showed. Exposure to smoke in the first few months of life did the most harm, especially if they had a low birth weight or had been born prematurely.
The researchers assessed the relationship between second hand smoke exposure and first admission to hospital for any infectious illness for 7,402 children born in Hong Kong in April and May 1997. The children were followed until they were eight.
People with ADHD Do One Month’s Less Work Per Year
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Workers with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) do 22 days less work per year than people who do not have the disorder, finds research published online ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
So much work is being lost that the researchers recommend employers consider screening staff for ADHD and providing treatment for those affected, because it would be more cost-effective for their businesses.
People who have ADHD find it difficult to concentrate because they may be hyperactive, easily distracted, forgetful or impulsive. Children with the disorder are being increasingly diagnosed because they are likely to be tested for ADHD if they have problems with their schoolwork. However, many adults with ADHD do not know they have the condition.
Overweight Men at Risk of Osteoarthritis of Both Hip and Knee
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Men who are overweight or obese are much more likely need a hip replacement for osteoarthritis than men who are of normal weight, finds research published online ahead of print in Annals of Rheumatic Diseases.
People who are overweight are known to be more likely to get osteoarthritis of the knee, but this is the first study to show that being overweight is a risk factor for hip osteoarthritis in men but not women.
Researchers compared the body mass indexes of 1,473 Icelandic people who had undergone hip or knee replacement with those of 1,103 people who had not had joint replacement surgery. All were born between 1910 and 1939.
New Insights in Diagnosing Diabetes May Help the Millions Who Are Undiagnosed
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In light of the 6.2 million Americans who don’t realize they have diabetes, a panel of experts examined the current criteria for screening and diagnosing the disease and found a significant need for improvement. Their conclusions and recommendations can be found in a new report accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).
“Approximately 30 percent of people with diabetes in the United States are undiagnosed,” said Christopher Saudek, M.D., of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md., and lead author of the report. “There are serious deficiencies in the current criteria for diagnosing diabetes and these shortcomings are contributing to avoidable morbidity and mortality”.
One reason so many people with diabetes are undiagnosed is because commonly prescribed diagnostic tests require that a patient be fasting, said Saudek. This means that people who have eaten on the day of a doctor visit will not be diagnosed unless they have quite advanced diabetes.
Americans believe wounded Iraq war veterans are not receiving high quality medical care in US
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As part of the ongoing poll series, Debating Health: Election 2008, a recent survey by the Harvard Opinion Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and Harris Interactive® finds that a majority of Americans (62%) believe that wounded Iraq war veterans do not receive high quality care in military and Veteran’s Administration (VA) hospitals once they return to the U.S. Similar majorities feel that veterans requiring rehabilitation care and mental health care do not receive high quality care (62% and 65% respectively). This survey follows a number of recent news stories on the quality of health care provided to Iraq war veterans.
Americans who have a close family member who is serving or has served in the military are just as likely as Americans with no military connection to say that wounded Iraq veterans do not receive high quality care in military and VA hospitals (64% versus 59%). These Americans with a military connection are slightly more likely than other Americans to say Iraq veterans do not receive high quality rehabilitation (65% versus 57%) and mental health care (68% versus 61%).
The quality of medical care that wounded soldiers receive on the front lines in Iraq has gotten more favorable news coverage than the care that war veterans receive in the U.S. Many reports have noted that wounded soldiers who would not have survived their injuries in previous wars are surviving today due to the high quality medical care they receive in Iraq. Although more Americans feel that wounded soldiers get high quality care on the front lines in Iraq (47%) than they do in military hospitals once they return to the U.S. (31%), a nearly equal percentage (43%) feel they do not get high quality care on the front lines. Ten percent said they do not know.
Culture-specific asthma education has benefits
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Educating asthma sufferers in a way that is specific and appropriate to their individual and cultural needs can make a positive difference in their quality of life, researchers have found.
“Culture-specific programs, in comparison to generic education programs or usual care, were effective at improving asthma related quality of life for adults and asthma knowledge scores for children and parents,” Emily Bailey told Reuters Health.
However, “There is not enough evidence at this stage to say that culture-specific programs will show an improvement for asthma exacerbations,” said Bailey, of Menzies School of Health Research in Queensland, Australia.
Chlorinated pesticides may raise diabetes risk
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Using certain chlorinated pesticides puts a person at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and the greater the exposure, the greater the risk, researchers from the National Institutes of Health report.
The researchers studied more than 31,000 licensed pesticide applicators participating in the Agricultural Health Study. Licensed pesticide applicators use more potent formulations of the chemicals than are found in products sold for use in the home or garden, the researchers note.
Five years after enrolling in the study, 1,176 had developed type 2 diabetes. Among the 50 different pesticides the researchers looked at, half were chlorinated, and 7 of these were tied to an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. They are: aldrin, chlordane, heptachlor, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, alachlor, and cyanazine.
Leg bypass surgery outcome poor in diabetics
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Patients with diabetes fare worse than their non-diabetic counterparts after leg bypass surgery to restore restricted blood flow to the legs due to hardening of the leg arteries, Swedish researchers report.
They found that survival free of amputation after leg bypass surgery for severely reduced blood flow to the legs (i.e., critical limb ischemia) is lower in diabetics than non-diabetics, and death associated with this procedure is also higher among diabetics.
Dr. Jonas Malmstedt of Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm and colleagues note that patients with critical limb ischemia usually require leg bypass surgery to prevent amputation. They also point out that there is a lack of population-based studies involving diabetics.
Sleep apnea tied to post-op trouble: study
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People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea are at increased risk of experiencing complications after elective surgery, researchers report.
In obstructive sleep apnea, the back of the throat collapses periodically during sleep, and breathing stops for a few moments until the patient wakens enough to resume breathing.
Dr. Dennis Hwang at North Shore Long Island Jewish Health Systems, New Hyde Park, New York and colleagues studied 172 patients with features of sleep apnea who were being assessed prior to elective surgery. The patients underwent home nighttime oximetry to measure the amount of oxygen in the blood and to establish the incidence of “oxygen desaturation,” which is used to assess the extent of sleep apnea episodes.
U.S. reports 5 baby deaths from usually mild virus
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A virus that typically causes a mild infection killed at least five babies in the United States last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.
The virus was involved in an unusually high number of severe infections in newborns last year, but the CDC said it was not certain of the reason.
Coxsackievirus B1, or CVB1, is part of a group of viruses called enteroviruses. It usually does not cause serious infections but can cause more severe and potentially life-threatening illness in newborns.
Byrne, Feist join ‘Red Hot’ AIDS compilation
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David Byrne will join indie rockers including Feist, Sufjan Stevens and the Decemberists on the new “Red Hot” charity album for AIDS research.
The former Talking Heads frontman will collaborate on two tracks with the Dirty Projectors, a combo headed by prolific singer/songwriter Dave Longstreth.
“I’d been told more than once that we should all work together, and it seems the suggestion was fated to be realized,” Byrne wrote on his blog (http://journal.davidbyrne.com), adding that he revived lyrics he wrote in “maybe ‘75 or ‘76” for the project.
