health - "cancer"

Two prostate cancer patients became the first people in New York to receive a faster, more comfortable form of highly accurate radiotherapy in pioneering treatments at Radiation Oncology Associates of New York (a Division of Integrated Medical Professionals, PLLC).

A study conducted in Sweden found that more than 40 percent of widowers in that country whose wives died from cancer four or five years earlier reported they were either never told that their spouse's cancer was incurable, or they heard this information during the last week of her life. Eighty-six percent of widowers believed next-of-kin should be told immediately when a wife's cancer is incurable, including 71 percent of the men who did not recall being told this information.

A new University of Michigan study in mice suggests that a drug recently approved to fight cancer tumors is also able to reduce the effects of graft-versus-host disease, a common and sometimes fatal complication for people who have had bone marrow transplants. Plans are under way at U-M for an initial trial of the drug in people as a new way to prevent graft-versus-host disease. Researchers expect to begin a trial within a year.

Medical science may be a significant step closer to climbing into the driver's seat of an important class of immune cells, researchers at Washington University School of medicine in St. Louis report in Nature Immunology. the researchers showed that a single protein, HS1, enables key functions of natural killer (NK) cells, which kill early cancers and fight off viral infections.

Proteolix, Inc. announced that patient dosing has commenced in a Phase 1b clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Proteolix's lead anti-cancer agent, carfilzomib (PR-171), in combination with lenalidomide and dexamethasone in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma. Carfilzomib selectively blocks proteasome activity, causing apoptosis in cancer cells.

AS A tank crewman stationed in the volatile surroundings of Basra, the precariousness of mortality could never be far from Marc Munro's mind.

In order to provide the most effective treatments for cancer patients, it is essential to develop methods of sensitive and specific early detection of the disease. A team of scientists from the NIBRT Dublin-Oxford Glycobiology Laboratory at UCD has developed a system which aims to pinpoint potential 'biomarkers' of early forms of the disease.

Opticom Data Research performs skin mole analysis on mole images that are submitted through its Web site. The company uses its MoleSense software to analyze these moles and then an automated process compares the analysis results to 100s of skin cancer images available on the Internet. This is a new service by Opticom Data Research.

Three hard hitting films - designed by teenagers for teenagers - were launched after a national competition helped uncover the next generation of British film makers. cancer Research UK and Channel 4's 4Talent launched a joint initiative - funded by the Department of health - called BREATHE to produce a selection of short online films to encourage young smokers to quit and deter others from starting.

Scientists have used a common cold virus to 'light up' prostate cancer tumours in different parts of the body.