Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Robert W. Sweet of New York ruled that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office should never have granted the patents on …
Category: Cancer
Immortal cells: Henrietta Lacks lives on and on
It is one of the most exciting books of 2010. Just wait for the award season to come around and watch The Immortal Life of …
Study questions effects of breast cancer screenings on survival rates
The value of screening older women for breast cancer is once again being questioned. Reuters reports: In a study published in the British Medical Journal, …
New omega-3 fatty acids preparation could protect against precancerous bowel polyps
A purified form of omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to reduce the size and number of precancerous growths in patients genetically predisposed to bowel …
New hope for hearing loss with chemotherapy
Chemo is bad stuff. Not only does it make you feel like crap, but it can damage your heart, kidneys, and nerves. Some chemo drugs …
Cancer cases, mortality rates and sexually transmitted diseases on Google Public Data Explorer
Yesterday Google launched its new Public Data Explorer, which allows users to visualize data sets using its handy chart tools. The project is currently part …
Blocking glioblastoma's back-up pathway
A former elementary school classmate of mine died of glioblastoma just this month. I hadn't seen him in decades, but I followed his cancer battle …
Using photoacoustics technology to increase accuracy of lymph node screens for cancer
Photoacoustics, or a laser-induced ultrasound, may help doctors screen the progression of melanoma faster and less invasively than other methods, according to research from the …
Fighting cancer cells with gold-plated discs
Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Lab and the University of Chicago have developed a new method of targeting brain-cancer cells and …
Nomadic cells may hold clues to cancer's spread
Stanford developmental biologist Joanna Wysocka, PhD, has found an intriguing link between a human birth defect syndrome and the ability of cancer cells to spread …
The not-so-immortal life of tissue banks
After hearing Terry Gross of NPR's Fresh Air interview science journalist Rebecca Skloot on my commute home last night, I'm itching to read Skloot's new …
Hepatitis C virus's Achilles heel
Stanford's Jeffrey Glenn , MD, PhD, and colleagues, in a just-published study, have discovered a promising class of compounds that could help defeat the hepatitis …
New Stanford trial targets rare brain tumor
Today is the first anniversary of the death of five-year-old Dylan Jewett, a cancer patient I wrote about last summer in Stanford Medicine magazine. Dylan …
Acupuncture may reduce hot flashes in breast cancer patients
Acupuncture could be equally effective as drug therapy in easing hot flashes and other uncomfortable symptoms in women undergoing breast cancer treatment, reports Reuters. During …
Common drug might help prevent skin cancers
Canada's CBC News is reporting on a study showing a way to possibly prevent one type of skin cancer. A Stanford dermatologist found that a …
Pomegranates may help prevent, slow breast cancer
Can pomegranates help block the block the growth of breast cancer? Maybe so, according to a first-of-its-kind study that appears in the January issue of …