Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Phase III Clinical Study Using BSD Medical's Systems for Treating Pancreatic Cancer to Be Announced at ASCO

"BSD Medical Corp. (NASDAQ:BSDM) announced today that a team of researchers headed by Professor Rolf D. Issels will be announcing at the upcoming annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference that a Phase III clinical study is underway involving the combined use of hyperthermia therapy and chemotherapy in treating patients with pancreatic cancer. This announcement follows the successful conclusion of a Phase II clinical trial conducted in Munich, Germany using a combination of hyperthermia therapy and chemotherapy to treat patients with pancreatic cancer. All hyperthermia treatments used for this study will be delivered using BSD-2000 hyperthermia systems. The ASCO conference held in Chicago, Illinois will run May 30 through June 3.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women. The American Cancer Society has projected 37,170 new cases and 33,370 deaths from the disease in the United States this year. While the use of hyperthermia therapy in treating some other forms of cancer has been heavily researched, little has been known about the potential of the therapy in treating pancreatic cancer patients, a deadly cancer for which better treatments are urgently needed. "

Monday, May 26, 2008

romance

Join A I C R in the
fight to conquer Cancer.
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Colon & Rectal Cancer Advocacy &
Research. Learn How To Help Cancer- My Chemical Romance
Just pics of MCR to the song Cancer from The Black Parade ...
2 min 23 sec -





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Support People With Cancer.
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Thursday, May 22, 2008

No cure for malignant glioma like Kennedy has

"Doctors are not mincing words about the kind of brain tumor diagnosed in Sen. Edward Kennedy.
'Cure is out of the question,' said Dr. John Adler Jr., professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Kennedy is reported to have a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe of his brain - a diagnosis that for most patients means a cancerous brain tumor that will kill them, usually within a year. 'It is almost certainly a fatal condition,' Adler said.
Exceptions abound in medicine, and Adler stressed that doctors like him who have only heard news reports of Kennedy's condition have no way of knowing how perilous his condition is. However, gliomas are the most common type of brain tumor in adults, and two-thirds of those diagnosed with malignant brain tumors of any kind will die of them.
About 9,000 people are diagnosed with malignant gliomas in the United States each year. The odds of survival go down with age. Kennedy is 76."

of the West finals 89-85 on Wednesday. How? Let's just say the MVP "managed" to find a way

Brain cancer patients share sympathy, stories of struggle - The Boston Globe

"For Patricia Whitman, it began with a smell, not a seizure.
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Chat transcript: Dr. Andrew Norden answers questions about brain tumors
A strange burning odor occasionally filled her nose. In the weeks and months to follow, there were bouts of light-headedness and, later, excruciating headaches. Still, the last thing she expected her doctor to tell her was that she had a brain tumor. And certainly not one the size of a baseball and that came with a terrifying lethal prognosis.
'It's my brain. This is my brain,' the 48-year-old psychologist said. 'This can't be happening.'
In the year since her diagnosis, Whitman has undergone brain surgery, suffered memory lapses, and lost her hair - only to have it grow back gray. While doctors are hopeful she will defy the odds, she lives with an uncertain future. And after she saw news reports of US Senator Edward M. Kennedy's brain tumor diagnosis on Tuesday, she felt overcome with sadness for him and his family. 'Those poor people,' she said softly yesterday."

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Red wine compound may kill pancreatic cancer cells | Health | Reuters

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A compound found in the skin of red grapes and red wine may help induce pancreatic cancer cells to malfunction and die, a lab study has found.
The compound, called resveratrol, is produced by certain plants as part of their defense arsenal against pathogens. A handful of foods, including raspberries, blueberries and peanuts, contain resveratrol, but it is most abundant in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, red wine.
In the new study, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York treated human pancreatic cancer cells with resveratrol, either alone or in combination with radiation.
They found that the wine compound disrupted the activity of the cancer cells' mitochondria, energy-producing centers needed for cells to function. Resveratrol also impaired certain cancer-cell proteins that thwart chemotherapy by pumping drugs out of the cell.
In combination with radiation, but not alone, the compound bumped up the production of cell-damaging substances called reactive oxygen species -- potentially making the cancer cells more destructible."

Blood Pressure Drugs Halt Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth, Researchers Find

"Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are inching closer to understanding how common blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer. They have found in the laboratory that one type of pressure-lowering drug called an angiotensin receptor blocker inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth and causes cell death."

"In earlier work in the laboratory, Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, and her team showed that angiotensin receptor blockers may help reduce the development of tumor-feeding blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Other studies have linked a lower incidence of cancer with the use of angiotensin blocking therapies. Such drugs, she says, may become part of a novel strategy to control the growth and spread of cancer.

One of these drugs -- AT1R (Ang II type 1 receptor) blockers -- inhibit the function of the hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) in the pancreas. The receptor is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells. Ang II increases the production of VEGF, a vascular factor that promotes blood vessel growth in a number of cancers. High VEGF levels have been correlated with poor cancer prognosis and early recurrence after surgery. Dr. Arafat's research team has shown that AngII indirectly causes VEGF expression by increasing AT1R expression."

Saturday, May 03, 2008

YouTube - Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really...

Cancer - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Cancer - NY Times Health Information

Cancer - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Cancer - NY Times Health Information: "Causes

Cells are the building blocks of living things. Cancer grows out of normal cells in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them, and die when the body doesn't. Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide too rapidly. It can also occur when cells “forget” how to die.

There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.

There are multiple causes of cancers, including:

* Radiation
* Sunlight
* Tobacco
* Certain viruses
* Benzene
* Certain poisonous mushrooms and aflatoxins (a poison produced by organisms that can grow on peanut plants)

However, the cause of many cancers remains unknown.

The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer.

The three most common cancers in men in the United States are prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer. In women in the U.S., the three most frequently occurring cancers are breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer."

Friday, May 02, 2008

globeandmail.com: Ontario takes lead in global genetic war with cancer

"Research groups from 10 countries are undertaking an unprecedented global effort to combat cancer, one of the world's leading killers, they announced Tuesday.

The collaborative project, dubbed the International Cancer Genome Consortium, will hunt the genetic mutations that drive 50 different types of cancer — from breast to bone. The consortium, in which Canada will play a lead role, plans to share results rapidly, widely and freely so scientists can quickly develop new diagnostic tests and treatments.

Each member country plans to spend roughly $20-million (U.S.) tackling at least one subtype of the disease, collecting specimen samples from 500 patients, and studying the genetic glitches they find in their cancerous cells. With 50 cancers to be studied, not all of them have been assigned a country yet.

But China, for example, intends to study liver cancer, because the country has particularly high rates of that disease. Japan will take on gastric cancer. India has an interest in oral cancers, France in sarcomas — cancers of the bone and connective tissue. Several countries will focus on breast cancers, including Britain and the United States, where research groups are also interested in brain and colon cancers."