http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. New research led by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have found a drug target that suggests a potent way to kill colon cancers that resist current drugs aimed at blocking a molecule found on the surface of cells. http://www.physorg.com/news169751933.html Medicine & Health Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:10:02 EST news169751933 A study published in this week's online issue of Nature Biotechnology, demonstrates a unique and highly sensitive method for detecting methylation-associated cancers. http://www.physorg.com/news169650435.html Biology Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:07:55 EST news169650435 (PhysOrg.com) -- The cost for chemotherapy medications to treat colorectal cancer for six months has jumped 2,600 percent from 1993 to 2005. But such rising costs are worth the price, asserts a new report from Cornell, when improved longevity and quality of life are taken into account. http://www.physorg.com/news169480097.html Medicine & Health Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:00:02 EST news169480097 University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers have found that a single enzyme is apparently critical to most allergen-provoked asthma attacks - and that activity of the enzyme, known as aldose reductase, can be significantly reduced by compounds that have already undergone clinical trials as treatments for complications of diabetes. http://www.physorg.com/news169229698.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:40:03 EST news169229698 Men and women who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer and began regular use of aspirin had a lower risk of overall and colorectal cancer death compared to patients not using aspirin, according to a study in the August 12 issue of JAMA. http://www.physorg.com/news169225524.html Medicine & Health Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:06:46 EST news169225524 Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have discovered how two cancer-promoting genes enhance a tumor's capacity to grow and survive under conditions where normal cells die. The knowledge, they say, may offer new treatments that starve cancer cells of a key nutrient - sugar. However, the scientists caution that research does not suggest that altering dietary sugar will make any difference in the growth and development of cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news168796292.html Medicine & Health Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:52:18 EST news168796292 A new study identifies a group of individuals at increased risk for developing colon cancer and holds the promise for developing new tailored cancer treatments. The study in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is by Sanford Markowitz, M.D., Ph.D., the Markowitz-Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and oncologist at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and colleagues. http://www.physorg.com/news166724940.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:50:01 EST news166724940 The active form of vitamin D3 seems to have anticancer effects. To try and understand the mechanisms underlying these effects, researchers previously set out to identify genes whose expression in a human colon cancer cell line was altered by the active form of vitamin D3. http://www.physorg.com/news166120072.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:28:10 EST news166120072 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new study by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) reveals the genetic underpinnings of what causes lung cancer to quickly metastasize, or spread, to the brain and the bone - the two most prominent sites of lung cancer relapse. The study will be published online in the journal Cell on July 2. http://www.physorg.com/news165756553.html Medicine & Health Thu, 02 Jul 2009 12:40:03 EST news165756553 Improved communication among patients and primary care physicians increases the chances those due for colorectal cancer screening will follow their doctors' advice and complete the procedure, a University at Buffalo study has found. http://www.physorg.com/news165514161.html Medicine & Health Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:10:01 EST news165514161 (AP) -- When it comes to health care spending, an ounce of prevention is seldom worth a pound of cure. Take Mrs. Jones, a hypothetical 55-year-old obese woman at risk for diabetes. It costs $900 a year to hire a personal lifestyle coach to help her lose weight and prevent diabetes. Suppose that the coaching works for Mrs. Jones, and she is spared diabetes and all the resulting health bills. http://www.physorg.com/news165080196.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:37:11 EST news165080196 People who suffer from Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, a rare inherited cancer syndrome, develop gastrointestinal polyps and are predisposed to colon cancer and other tumor types. Carefully tracing the cellular chain-of-command that links nutrient intake to cell growth (and which is interrupted in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome), allowed researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies to exploit the tumors' weak spot. http://www.physorg.com/news164338018.html Medicine & Health Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:30:01 EST news164338018 According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer, America's third leading type of cancer, is also one of the most preventable. One-third of all colorectal cancer deaths could be avoided by simple screening, they say. But colonoscopies, though highly effective, can also be painful, and current diagnostic techniques are time-consuming and sometimes inaccurate. http://www.physorg.com/news163777403.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:49:26 EST news163777403 Recent clinical trials show that a new colon cancer screening technique created by Northwestern University researchers has a high enough sensitivity that it could potentially be as or more successful than a colonoscopy in screening for colon cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news163768233.html Medicine & Health Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:11:16 EST news163768233 ORLANDO, Fla.--The combination of chemotherapies 5FU and oxaliplatin compared to 5FU alone after surgery for colon cancer decreases colon cancer recurrence and promotes longer survival for patients under 70 -- but not for those who are older, according to Mayo Clinic and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists who will present their findings at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO) annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. http://www.physorg.com/news162813755.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 11:03:09 EST news162813755 The vast majority of advanced colon cancer patients in a clinical trial were not concerned about the cost of prescription drugs for managing chemotherapy side effects, such as infection, pain and nausea and few adopted strategies to reduce drug cost burdens after joining the clinical trial, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Although few patients reported substantial worry about drug costs, still fewer reported discussing drug cost issues with their physicians, suggesting there are opportunities for improving how physicians integrate discussions about drug costs into clinical practice. http://www.physorg.com/news162812925.html Medicine & Health Fri, 29 May 2009 10:49:06 EST news162812925 Researchers at Iowa State University have found that increased expression of a form of cytochrome P-450 (CYP4B1) is a key marker of inhibition of colitis in mice by caffeic acid, an anti-inflammatory antioxidant compound widely distributed in foods. http://www.physorg.com/news162553970.html Medicine & Health Tue, 26 May 2009 10:53:31 EST news162553970 Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which are known to reduce the risk of colon cancer, act directly on cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) and reduce its activity. Population studies have found an association of inherited variations in the COX2 gene with colon cancer risk, but others were unable to replicate this finding. Similarly, variations in the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase 1A6 (UGT1A6) gene, which is also known to be key in the metabolism of NSAIDs, have been shown to modify the effect of NSAIDs on developing colon polyps, a precursor of colon cancer, but these modifications of NSAID effects have not been observed in risk of colon cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news162216551.html Medicine & Health Fri, 22 May 2009 13:09:40 EST news162216551 A new study finds that individuals who have low expression of the "Celebrex gene," 15-PGDH, are actually resistant to Celebrex treatment when used to prevent colon cancer. The study, published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), is by Sanford Markowitz, M.D., Ph.D., the Markowitz-Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and an oncologist at the Ireland Cancer Center of University Hospitals Case Medical Center and his colleagues. http://www.physorg.com/news161886111.html Medicine & Health Mon, 18 May 2009 17:22:30 EST news161886111 Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have identified a genetic marker that is associated with an earlier onset of prostate cancer in Caucasian men who have a family history of prostate cancer. If the data are confirmed, the marker may help clinicians personalize prostate cancer screening. http://www.physorg.com/news161607626.html Medicine & Health Fri, 15 May 2009 12:00:50 EST news161607626 A new gene test may help predict which colon cancer patients are at higher or lower risk of having their cancer return after surgery, doctors report, but whether it is useful enough to justify its likely high price remains to be seen. http://www.physorg.com/news161544138.html Medicine & Health Thu, 14 May 2009 18:22:49 EST news161544138 Researchers at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) at the University of Utah studied the events leading to colon cancer and found that an unexpected protein serves as the "spark" that triggers formation of colon polyps, the precursors to cancerous tumors. http://www.physorg.com/news161528318.html Medicine & Health Thu, 14 May 2009 13:59:01 EST news161528318 A West Australian research team has made the world-first discovery a 'pied piper' molecule within blood cells, called Liar, that leads other molecules into the nucleus of the cell, and could offer a key in treating prostate, breast and colon cancers as well as leukemia. http://www.physorg.com/news160155546.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:39:57 EST news160155546 Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have found a new drug that restricts the growth of neuroblastoma, a childhood brain cancer. The pre-clinical study was presented today in the plenary session at the 22nd annual meeting of the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. http://www.physorg.com/news159728519.html Medicine & Health Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:03:17 EST news159728519 Though a high-fiber diet has long been considered good for you and beneficial in staving off colon cancer, Medical College of Georgia researchers have discovered a reason why: roughage activates a receptor with cancer-killing potential. http://www.physorg.com/news158849074.html Medicine & Health Mon, 13 Apr 2009 13:45:18 EST news158849074 A typical Western diet, rich in meat and fats and low in complex carbohydrates, is a recipe for colon cancer, Professor Stephen O'Keefe from the University of Pittsburgh, USA, told the Society for General Microbiology meeting at Harrogate today (Tuesday 31 March). He described an expanding body of evidence to show that the composition of the diet directly influences the diversity of the microbes in the gut, providing the link between diet, colonic disease and colon cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news157705943.html Biology Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:12:57 EST news157705943 In the 1630s, the Fry family came to the New World with more than just dreams of prosperity and freedom - they also came with a genetic mutation that increased the likelihood of colon cancer in hundreds, if not thousands, of their descendants. The scientists who traced that gene back almost 370 years are now reporting that routine screening and education can prevent people with the mutated gene from developing cancer. http://www.physorg.com/news157212038.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:01:06 EST news157212038 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have begun testing a vaccine that might be able to prevent colon cancer in people at high risk for developing the disease. If shown to be effective, it might spare patients the risk and inconvenience of repeated invasive surveillance tests, such as colonoscopy, that are now necessary to spot and remove precancerous polyps. http://www.physorg.com/news156689071.html Medicine & Health Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:45:00 EST news156689071 (AP) -- Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said Thursday it has agreed to buy California-based Genentech for $46.8 billion in a takeover described as the largest in Swiss corporate history. http://www.physorg.com/news156063630.html Medicine & Health Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:01:28 EST news156063630 Researchers have found the factor that makes the difference between a stem cell in the intestine and any other cell. The discovery reported in the March 6th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, is an essential step toward understanding the biology of the stem cells, which are responsible for replenishing all other cells in the most rapidly self-renewing tissue in mammals. It may also have implications for colon cancer, according to the researchers. http://www.physorg.com/news155478898.html Biology Thu, 05 Mar 2009 12:35:37 EST news155478898