June 20, 2006, 6:40 PM CT

Oncology Drug Pipeline Update 2006

Protein kinase inhibitors such as Gleevec, Iressa and Tarceva have allowed the biotechnology industry to deliver on the promise of targeted cancer drugs. However, these three successful drugs are just the top of an emerging line of therapy. Given the fact that they all target tyrosine kinases and that kinase mutations can cause patients to become resistant to these drugs, there is plenty of room for more competition.

Today, there are more than 100 companies developing more than 180 protein kinase inhibitory drugs in more than 300 clinical trials targeting around 40 different cancer indications. The number of protein kinase targets has increased to over 50 different molecular targets in just a few years.

For a complete index of this report visit the source link cited below........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

June 20, 2006, 6:25 PM CT

Erbitux will not be available in Canada

Erbitux will not be marketed in Canada because of disagreements between the pharmaceutical distributor and the Canadian agency responsible for setting drug prices. Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada has decided not to launch Erbitux- in Canada because it cannot agree on a price with the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board.

Use of Erbitux to treat colorectal cancer was approved by Health Canada in September of 2005.

The province of Ontario has approved payment for therapy with Erbitux- in the United States for some patients, as per the June 19, 2006 Globe and Mail.

The Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada has spoken out on the lack of access to drugs to treat colorectal cancer in Canada. Drugs, such as Avastin, Erbitux, and Eloxatin have been approved by Health Canada but are not uniformly available across the nation because each province can choose whether or not to pay for the therapys. In some provinces, patients can have the drugs administered if they pay the cost of the medicines themselves.

Thank you Judi........

Posted by: Sue      Permalink         Source

June 20, 2006, 6:21 PM CT

Illuminate Hope

When the sun goes down, thousands of luminaria light the way at American Cancer Society Relay For Life events across the country — remembering,honoring, and celebrating those touched by cancer. At first glance a luminaria appears to be nothing more than a simple paper bag with a glowing candle inside. But a closer look reveals that these bags represent real people and their cancer experience. They are personalized with names, stories, messages, and memories.

The American Cancer Society has created an amazing site, www.cancer.org/lighthope, that brings this moving luminaria ceremony online. I encourage you to visit and create a free luminaria in honor,support, or memory of someone touched by cancer. It only takes a minute. We want to create thousands of luminaria on the site and spread a message of hope around the world. Together, we will light the way to a cancer-free future!

After visiting Illuminate Hope, continue to light a path of hope by supporting the American Cancer Society's lifesaving research and programs. You can purchase a luminaria for display at an actual Relay For Life event in your area. Visit Relay For Life Online to find an event near you and find out how you can get involved in this great community event.

Light a path of hope today.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source

June 19, 2006, 9:23 PM CT

Suggest your News Item To Medicineworld

As you are aware we are the leading publishers of health news on the web. We publish news items in various forms including numerous blogs and news items. We invite you to participate in our new collection.

We are looking for quality news items that would be interesting to our readers. Now you may suggest the news item from your site to be included at Medicineworld.org. Inclusion of news item at our site get instantaneous attention since the item is illustrated from various blog posts. Addition of pictures to the item adds additional attraction to your news item. Inclusion in the Medicineworld.org site brings quality links and visitors to your site.

If you have an interesting news item related to health, share it with Medicineworld.org and we share it with the world.

Suggest your News Item To Medicineworld........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink

June 19, 2006, 8:29 PM CT

Newborn Screening Can Cause Parental Stress

Virtually all babies in the U.S. have their heels pricked soon after birth to get a blood sample for genetic testing. These "heel stick" tests identify rare metabolic disorders before they cause irreversible damage, but as more disorders are added to the screening - a number of states now test for 30 or more - false-positive results are on the rise. In the recent issue of Pediatrics, scientists from Children's Hospital Boston report that false-positive results cause considerable parental stress, even when the baby proves negative on retesting, and that the stress could be alleviated by better education for parents and pediatricians.

Psychology expert Susan Waisbren, PhD and Elizabeth Gurian, MS in Children's Division of Genetics interviewed 173 families who had received false-positive screening results and a comparison group of 67 families with normal newborn screening results.

Eventhough mothers in the false-positive group were interviewed at least six months after their child's diagnosis had been ruled out, they reported more worry about their child's future and rated themselves less healthy than mothers in the comparison group. Fifteen percent said their child needed extra parental care, versus 3 percent of mothers in the comparison group. After adjustment for socioeconomic factors, both mothers and fathers in the false-positive group had higher scores on the standardized Parenting Stress Index (PSI); 11 percent of mothers (versus no mothers in the comparison group) scored in the clinical range, in which therapy might be prescribed.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

June 19, 2006, 8:25 PM CT

Ethnic Disparities In Teen Exercise

A study of 17,000 U.S. adolescents finds that black and Hispanic girls are less physically active than white girls, but that this difference is attributable to the schools they attend: black, white and Hispanic girls attending the same school have no difference in physical activity. In contrast, among boys, blacks and Hispanics were more physically active than whites attending the same schools. The researchers, led by Tracy Richmond, MD, in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, report and discuss their findings in the recent issue of Pediatrics.

Richmond and his colleagues carefully analyzed data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a school-based study of 7th-to-12th graders.

"Obesity is a growing problem in all adolescents, but it affects racial and ethnic minorities disproportionately," Richmond says. "Since physical activity is one protective factor against obesity that we can influence, we wanted to know whether schools might help determine physical activity levels."

Their key findings are as follows:

• On average, black and Hispanic adolescents had a higher body mass index (BMI) than white adolescents.
• Overall, adolescent girls were less physically active than boys, reporting fewer physical activities per week.
........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source




June 19, 2006, 8:21 PM CT


Creation Of Patient-specific Embryonic Stem Cells

A high-magnification view of a small colony of human embryonic stem cells. The cells have been stained to make their components more visible. photo: M. W. Lensch
Scientists at Children's Hospital Boston have begun attempts to create human embryonic stem cells using nuclear transfer with human eggs and embryos, after receiving approval from the Institutional Review Boards and ESCRO (Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight) committees of Children's Hospital Boston and Partners HealthCare. The work is underway in the Children's Hospital laboratory of George Daley, MD, PhD, Associate Director of the Children's Hospital Stem Cell Program and a member of the Executive Committee of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Daley is an internationally recognized expert in diseases of the blood.

Because of Federal funding restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, these studies are being funded through private philanthropy donated to Children's Hospital Boston and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI), a collaborative effort that brings together researchers across Harvard University and all its affiliated hospitals to address the promise of stem cell biology as the basis for cures and therapy for a wide range of chronic medical conditions. HSCI funds research, operates core facilities, conducts undergraduate and graduate education, and coordinates the efforts of hundreds of stem cell researchers and clinicians throughout the Harvard community. Two other HSCI researchers at Harvard University, Doug Melton, PhD, and Kevin Eggan, PhD, have likewise received approval to begin similar experiments aimed at producing disease-specific embryonic stem cells.........

Posted by: Scott      Permalink         Source




June 19, 2006, 8:10 PM CT


Reducing Eye Strain Of Computer Use


A recent study shows that nearly 54 million children work at a computer each day either at home or in school. Unfortnately, of these 54 million, those who spend more than two hours each day in front of a computer screen are more likely experience headaches, loss of focus, burning/tired eyes, double/blurred vision, and/or neck/shoulder pain.

Children are not the only ones who suffer from painful vision problems. New information reveals that the majority of people who work at a computer experience some eye or vision problems and that the level of discomfort appears to increase with the amount of computer use. A national survey of doctors of optometry found that more than 14 percent of their patients present with eye or vision-related symptoms resulting from computer work. Furthermore, in a survey of more than 2,000 current and former contact lens wearers, time spent in front of a computer (41 percent) was the activity most frequently mentioned as causing discomfort while they were wearing their lenses.

Staring at a computer monitor or the small screens on most devices can lead to a variety of ailments, including headaches, eyestrain, blurred vision, dry and irritated eyes, neck and/or backache, and sensitivity to light. Uncorrected or under-corrected vision problems can be major contributing factors to computer-related eye stress, affecting visual performance and comfort. The good news is that a number of potential eye and/or vision problems can be reduced or eliminated by appropriate adjustment and placement of computer monitors, lighting control, good preventive vision care habits, and regular professional eye care. We would like to provide you with some tips to reduce the painful vision-related symptoms resulting from computer work from Dr. Jeffrey Anshel, a leading expert, practicing optometrist and author of Visual Ergonomics in the Workplace. I have included these tips at the end of this email. Please feel free to use any/all of this information on your site.........

Posted by: Mike      Permalink         Source




June 18, 2006, 6:56 PM CT


Why Cleanliness brings allergy?


In a study comparing wild rodents with their laboratory counterparts, scientists at Duke University Medical Center have found evidence that may help to explain why people in industrialized societies that greatly stress hygiene have higher rates of allergy and autoimmune diseases than do people in less developed societies in which hygiene is harder to achieve or considered less critical.

The prevailing hypothesis concerning the development of allergy and probably autoimmune disease is the "hygiene hypothesis," which states that people in "hygienic" societies have higher rates of allergy and perhaps autoimmune disease because they -- and hence their immune systems -- have not been as challenged during everyday life by the host of microbes usually found in the environment.

The study suggests that an overly hygienic environment could simultaneously increase the tendency to have allergic reactions and the tendency to acquire autoimmune disease, despite the fact that these two reactions represent two different types of immune responses.

The scientists added that their experimental model, which compares specific immune system responses of wild rodents to laboratory rodents, could open up a new approach to studying human disease and allergies that complements traditional scientific studies.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source




June 18, 2006, 6:53 PM CT


Another Grape Excuse To Hit The Bottle


Researchers in Italy say they have discovered that the grapes used to make some of the most popular red wines contain high levels of the sleep hormone melatonin. (Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture DOI 10.1002/jsfa2537). Melatonin is naturally secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, particularly at night. It tells the body when it is time to sleep.

The discovery of melatonin in grape skin could explain why so a number of of us hit the bottle in the evening to wind down after a day's hard slog. 'The melatonin content in wine could help regulate the circadian rhythm [sleep-wake patterns], just like the melatonin produced by the pineal gland in mammals,' says researcher Iriti Marcello at the University of Milan.

Until recently, melatonin was believed to be exclusively produced by mammals but has recently been discovered in plants. It is thought to have antioxidant properties. Iriti's study discovered high levels of melatonin in Nebbolo, Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, Sangiovesse and Croatina grape varieties.

Iriti's team have also shown that melatonin content can be enhanced in grapes by treating vines with a plant vaccine Benzothiadiazole.

Richard Wurtman of the brain and cognitive science department at MIT is unconvinced, however, and believes further research is needed to determine whether the compounds discovered are melatonin, or something very similar.........

Posted by: Janet      Permalink         Source