ScienceDaily: Top Health News

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• Escalating care in cormorbid elderly: Where do we stop?
• Patients admitted to hospital at weekends have higher mortality: Study of 55 million people adds further evidence
• Risk of death highest following surgery in afternoons, at weekends, and in February
• Poor coverage of specific gene sets in exome sequencing gives cause for concern
• Responses with crizotinib in MET-amplified lung cancer show new targetable form of disease
• Results in Phase I Trial Targeting Cancer Stem Cells
• One step closer to a breath test for lung cancer
• Patients with metastatic colon cancer respond to new combination therapy
• Immune therapy for advanced bladder cancer yields promising results
• Ibrutinib as second-line therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia supported by study
• Level of addiction to tobacco measured by new virtual platform
• Prevalence of new genetic driver in lung cancer shown in study
• 'Often and early' gives children a taste for vegetables
• New genetic sequencing methods mean quicker, cheaper, equally accurate embryo screening
• Osteoporosis: Genetic researchers take major step towards better diagnosis, treatment
• Preventing early menopause in breast cancer patients with new drug treatment
• Gender blind research on innovation
• Internalized stigma linked with poor self esteem, pain self-efficacy

Escalating care in cormorbid elderly: Where do we stop? Posted: 31 May 2014 06:35 PM PDT A patient's age should not in itself be considered an ethically relevant criterion for deciding 'where to stop' providing care, an ethical expert says. He says: "If societies do wish to pursue such 'ageist' policies then they should do so only do so after widespread consultation and the enactment of democratically established laws according to which patients condemned to be denied life-prolonging therapies on grounds of age alone should have a legal right of appeal."

Patients admitted to hospital at weekends have higher mortality: Study of 55 million people adds further evidence Posted: 31 May 2014 06:35 PM PDT A systematic review and meta-analysis of hospital data worldwide adds further evidence that patients admitted to hospital at weekends have higher mortality than those admitted on weekdays. The analysis included 72 studies from various world regions, covering 55,053,719 participants. The authors found that weekend admission was associated with increased morality of between 15% and 17% depending on the statistical technique used.

Risk of death highest following surgery in afternoons, at weekends, and in February Posted: 31 May 2014 06:35 PM PDT On weekends, in the afternoons and in February are the times when the risk of death following surgery is the highest, research demonstrates. Hospital mortality is subject to day-night, weekly and seasonal variability. However, a cyclic influence on hospital mortality has not been shown in patients after surgery. In this study, the researchers investigated the daily, weekly, and seasonal variability of hospital mortality in patients after surgery.

Poor coverage of specific gene sets in exome sequencing gives cause for concern Posted: 31 May 2014 06:35 PM PDT Researchers have analyzed 44 exome datasets from four different testing kits and shown that they missed a high proportion of clinically relevant regions. At least one gene in each exome method was missing more than 40 percent of disease-causing genetic variants, and the worst-performing method missed more than 90 percent of such variants. This means that there is a  substantial possibility of reporting false negative results, they say.

Responses with crizotinib in MET-amplified lung cancer show new targetable form of disease Posted: 31 May 2014 12:49 PM PDT In 2011, the drug crizotinib earned accelerated approval by the US FDA to target the subset of advanced non-small cell lung cancers caused by rearrangements of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene. The drug also has shown dramatic responses in patients whose lung cancers harbored a different molecular abnormality, namely ROS1 gene rearrangements.

Results in Phase I Trial Targeting Cancer Stem Cells Posted: 31 May 2014 12:48 PM PDT Results of a Phase I trial of OMP-54F28 (FZD8-Fc), an investigational drug candidate targeting cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been released. The drug was generally well tolerated, and several of the 26 patients with advanced solid tumors experienced stable disease for greater than six months. Three trials are now open in combinations with standard therapy for pancreatic, ovarian and liver cancers.

One step closer to a breath test for lung cancer Posted: 31 May 2014 12:48 PM PDT A test of organic compounds in exhaled breath can not only distinguish patients with lung cancer from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but can also define the stage of any cancer present, new research shows. The device requires blowing up a balloon, which is then attached to an extremely sensitive gold nanoparticle sensor. The particles in the sensor trap and then help to analyze volatile organic compounds in the exhaled breath.

Patients with metastatic colon cancer respond to new combination therapy Posted: 31 May 2014 10:23 AM PDT In an aggressive disease known for poor response rates, researchers found patients with advanced colorectal cancer responded well to a combination therapy of the drugs vermurafenib, cetuximab and irinotecan. "What's promising is the fact that we're seeing these high response rates in early studies which suggests this could become a new standard of care down the line," one researcher said. "There's clearly some kind of synergistic activity with the combination."

Immune therapy for advanced bladder cancer yields promising results Posted: 31 May 2014 06:07 AM PDT A multi-center phase I study using an investigational drug for advanced bladder cancer patients who did not respond to other treatments has shown promising results in patients with certain tumor types, researchers report. The trial included 68 people with previously treated advanced bladder cancer, including 30 patients identified as PD-L1 positive. PD-L1 is a protein expressed by many tumor types that can render the cancer invulnerable to immune attack.

Ibrutinib as second-line therapy for chronic lymphocytic leukemia supported by study Posted: 31 May 2014 06:07 AM PDT In a head-to-head comparison of two Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs for the treatment of relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia, ibrutinib significantly outperformed ofatumumab as a second-line therapy, according to a multicenter interim study. Ibrutinib is the first drug designed to target Bruton's tyrosine kinase, a protein essential for CLL-cell survival and proliferation.

Level of addiction to tobacco measured by new virtual platform Posted: 31 May 2014 06:07 AM PDT In Mexico, 21.7 percent of the population smokes, which is associated with 95 percent of (lung cancer cases and the development of 29 more different conditions. A citizen science project titled "Are you smoking away?" is part of the venture "Science that Breathes" that makes available a tool that leads to answer a series of questions about the perceptions that people have about smoking.

Prevalence of new genetic driver in lung cancer shown in study Posted: 31 May 2014 06:06 AM PDT A line has been drawn from mutation of the gene NTRK1, to its role as an oncogene in non-small cell lung cancer, to treatment that targets this mutation. "Everything we know about lung cancer points to the idea that when we find one of these genetic drivers and can target it with a drug, patients will respond and tend to have a good amount of time on drug before it becomes ineffective. Obviously we can't guarantee the effectiveness of targeting the NTRK1 mutation at this point, but everything we know about these kinds of genes makes us extremely hopeful," says one researcher.

'Often and early' gives children a taste for vegetables Posted: 30 May 2014 04:05 PM PDT Exposing infants to a new vegetable early in life encourages them to eat more of it compared to offering novel vegetables to older children, new research suggests. The researchers also found that even fussy eaters are able to eat a bit more of a new vegetable each time they are offered it.

New genetic sequencing methods mean quicker, cheaper, equally accurate embryo screening Posted: 30 May 2014 04:04 PM PDT Results from the first study of the clinical application of next generation DNA sequencing (NGS) in screening embryos for genetic disease prior to implantation in patients undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatments show that it is an effective reliable method of selecting the best embryos to transfer. Research has shown that NGS, a high throughput sequencing method, has the potential to revolutionize pre-implantation genetic screening (PGS).

Osteoporosis: Genetic researchers take major step towards better diagnosis, treatment Posted: 30 May 2014 04:04 PM PDT A new target that may be critical for the treatment of osteoporosis, a disease which affects about 25% of post-menopausal women, has been discovered by a group of researchers. New studies in zebrafish and mice have shown that injection of human plastin 3 (PLS3) or related proteins in zebrafish where PLS3 action has been suppressed can replace its loss and repair the bone development anomalies associated with this deficiency.

Preventing early menopause in breast cancer patients with new drug treatment Posted: 30 May 2014 11:24 AM PDT Among young breast cancer patients, one of the most distressing side effects of chemotherapy is early menopause. But a major study finds the risk of early menopause can be significantly reduced by adding the drug goserelin to the chemotherapy regimen.

Gender blind research on innovation Posted: 30 May 2014 06:24 AM PDT Are new ideas primarily shaped within male dominated industries? Due to gender stereotypes, some businesses are valued more than others, claims a researcher. "Innovation is a major political issue which receives wide support in society today. But this support is much more advantageous for male dominated businesses -- both in terms of financial support and research. The technological industry especially is regarded as being innovative whereas businesses within the service industry, for example, are ignored," she says.

Internalized stigma linked with poor self esteem, pain self-efficacy Posted: 30 May 2014 06:22 AM PDT After controlling for depression, internalized stigma is negatively associated with lower levels of self-esteem and personal control of pain, a study shows. Internalized stigma refers to the internalization or absorption of negative attitudes. It also is linked with a greater tendency to catastrophize about pain and with a reduced sense of personal control over pain.

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