PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Lung cancer drug could aid plight of ectopic pregnancy patients

2013-09-10
(Press-News.org) Women with ectopic pregnancies could be spared surgery if they are treated with a lung cancer drug, a study suggests.

Researchers treated ectopic pregnancies – where an embryo implants inside the Fallopian tube – by combining an existing treatment with a lung cancer therapy.

They found that prescribing both drugs together was more effective at helping cure an ectopic pregnancy than the conventional drug alone.

The lung cancer drug – called gefitinib – helps by blocking a protein that is known to encourage cell growth, and which was found to be present in high levels at the site of ectopic pregnancies.

Combining gefitinib with the conventional treatment, which is called methotrexate, could reduce the need to remove the Fallopian tube in a significant number of cases. This would help the patient's level of fertility - say researchers led by Dr Andrew Horne at the University of Edinburgh and Dr Stephen Tong at the University in Melbourne.

Ectopic pregnancy can be treated with drugs in the early stages of development, but surgery is needed when it is more developed.

Researchers also found that the drug combination was able to shorten the time it took to successfully treat ectopic pregnancies in women who did not need surgery.

Around 12,000 women undergo an ectopic pregnancy in the UK each year, and the condition is responsible for up to eight per cent of pregnancy-related deaths.

The study, published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynaecology, involved a trial of 12 women with ectopic pregnancies. Researchers now plan to run a larger trial.

Dr Andrew Horne, of the University of Edinburgh's Medical Research Council Centre for Reproductive Health, said: "An ectopic pregnancy can be extremely stressful for the woman involved. If we can reduce the need for surgery, and thereby help fertility levels, then that would be an enormous benefit. Reducing the treatment time for women who do not need surgery would also have a significant impact in reducing the emotional stress of such a diagnosis."

### Dr Stephen Tong is supported by funding from National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, and Dr Andrew Horne is funded by the UK Medical Research Council.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Penn scientists demonstrate new method for harvesting energy from light

2013-09-10
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania have demonstrated a new mechanism for extracting energy from light, a finding that could improve technologies for generating electricity from solar energy and lead to more efficient optoelectronic devices used in communications. Dawn Bonnell, Penn's vice provost for research and Trustee Professor of Materials Science and Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, led the work, along with David Conklin, a doctoral student. The study involved a collaboration among additional Penn researchers, through the ...

Ancient golden treasure found at foot of Temple Mount

2013-09-10
In summer excavations at the foot of the Temple Mount, Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar made a stunning discovery: two bundles of treasure containing thirty-six gold coins, gold and silver jewelry, and a gold medallion with the menorah (Temple candelabrum) symbol etched into it. Also etched into the 10-cm medallion are a shofar (ram's horn) and a Torah scroll. A third-generation archaeologist working at the Hebrew University's Institute of Archaeology, Dr. Mazar directs excavations on the City of David's summit and at the Temple Mount's southern ...

New kind of ultraviolet LED could lead to portable, low-cost devices

2013-09-10
COLUMBUS, Ohio—Commercial uses for ultraviolet (UV) light are growing, and now a new kind of LED under development at The Ohio State University could lead to more portable and low-cost uses of the technology. The patent-pending LED creates a more precise wavelength of UV light than today's commercially available UV LEDs, and runs at much lower voltages and is more compact than other experimental methods for creating precise wavelength UV light. The LED could lend itself to applications for chemical detection, disinfection, and UV curing. With significant further development, ...

NASA investigates Gabrielle's remnants and new Tropical Storm Humberto

2013-09-10
Tropical Depression Nine formed yesterday, Sept. 8 in the far eastern Atlantic, and NASA's Aqua satellite saw it strengthen into Tropical Storm Humberto today, Sept. 9 at 5 a.m. EDT. As that storm strengthened, the remnants of the once-tropical-storm Gabrielle continued to struggle near the Bahamas as NASA's HS3 mission investigated. Tropical Storm Humberto is affecting the Cape Verde Islands, so there's a tropical storm warning in up for the southern islands of Maio, Santiago, Fogo, and Brava. NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Storm Humberto hours before ...

Rim Fire update Sept. 9, 2013

2013-09-10
Inciweb.org updates the Rim Fire with this information: "Firefighters will face continued hot and extremely dry conditions. Shifting winds coupled with low humidity will provide conditions for active fire behavior. Pockets of unburned vegetation within the fire perimeter will continue to burn creating the potential for spot fires across containment lines. Today's top priority is to contain all spot fires especially along Tioga Road. Firefighters will continue to patrol mop up and monitor lines while maintaining structure defense. Yesterday firefighters responded to a new ...

Tool created to avert future energy crisis

2013-09-10
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A University of California, Riverside assistant professor of electrical engineering and several colleagues have created a new measurement tool that could help avoid an energy crisis like the one California endured during the early 2000s and better prepare the electricity market for the era of the smart grid. The tool also unifies existing measures that assess "market power," which is the ability of power generating companies to alter energy prices. It also incorporates smart grid concepts such as large-scale storage, renewable power generation and ...

Calculating the carbon footprint of California's products

2013-09-10
Now that California's greenhouse gas cap-and-trade policy is law, attention is shifting to recognizing industry efficiency. Driven by that goal, a team of researchers from Northwestern University, the University of California, Berkeley and the international consulting company Ecofys has spent the last year and a half developing science-based methods to determine the amount of free allowances California facilities are eligible to receive based on the products they manufacture. The research team was hired by the state to assist with cap-and-trade design for several key ...

Researchers read the coffee grounds and find a promising energy resource for the future

2013-09-10
For many of us, it's the fuel that wakes us up and gets us started on our day. Now, University of Cincinnati researchers are discovering that an ingredient in our old coffee grounds might someday serve as a cheaper, cleaner fuel for our cars, furnaces and other energy sources. Yang Liu, a graduate student in environmental engineering in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), presents a summary of early-but-promising discoveries on his team's research at the American Chemical Society's (ACS) 246th National Meeting & Exposition this week in Indianapolis. Liu ...

Rainfall in South Pacific was more variable before 20th century

2013-09-10
A new reconstruction of climate in the South Pacific during the past 446 years shows rainfall varied much more dramatically before the start of the 20th century than after. The finding, based on an analysis of a cave formation called a stalagmite from the island nation of Vanuatu, could force climate modelers to adjust their models. The models are adjusted to match the current levels of climate variability that are smaller now than they were in the recent past for this region. "In this case, the present is not the key to the past, nor the future," says Jud Partin, a research ...

STING may take the bite out of autoimmune diseases like arthritis, Type 1 diabetes

2013-09-10
Augusta, Ga. – A little STING could go a long way in helping treat or even avoid autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, researchers report. With some prompting, the protein STING can turn down the immune response or even block its attack on healthy body constituents like collagen, insulin and the protective covering of neurons, all targets in these debilitating diseases, said Dr. Andrew L. Mellor, immunologist at the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. MCG researchers saw STING's critical role play out after ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Post-LLM era: New horizons for AI with knowledge, collaboration, and co-evolution

“Sloshing” from celestial collisions solves mystery of how galactic clusters stay hot

Children poisoned by the synthetic opioid, fentanyl, has risen in the U.S. – eight years of national data shows

USC researchers observe mice may have a form of first aid

VUMC to develop AI technology for therapeutic antibody discovery

Unlocking the hidden proteome: The role of coding circular RNA in cancer

Advancing lung cancer treatment: Understanding the differences between LUAD and LUSC

Study reveals widening heart disease disparities in the US

The role of ubiquitination in cancer stem cell regulation

New insights into LSD1: a key regulator in disease pathogenesis

Vanderbilt lung transplant establishes new record

Revolutionizing cancer treatment: targeting EZH2 for a new era of precision medicine

Metasurface technology offers a compact way to generate multiphoton entanglement

Effort seeks to increase cancer-gene testing in primary care

Acoustofluidics-based method facilitates intracellular nanoparticle delivery

Sulfur bacteria team up to break down organic substances in the seabed

Stretching spider silk makes it stronger

Earth's orbital rhythms link timing of giant eruptions and climate change

Ammonia build-up kills liver cells but can be prevented using existing drug

New technical guidelines pave the way for widespread adoption of methane-reducing feed additives in dairy and livestock

Eradivir announces Phase 2 human challenge study of EV25 in healthy adults infected with influenza

New study finds that tooth size in Otaria byronia reflects historical shifts in population abundance

nTIDE March 2025 Jobs Report: Employment rate for people with disabilities holds steady at new plateau, despite February dip

Breakthrough cardiac regeneration research offers hope for the treatment of ischemic heart failure

Fluoride in drinking water is associated with impaired childhood cognition

New composite structure boosts polypropylene’s low-temperature toughness

While most Americans strongly support civics education in schools, partisan divide on DEI policies and free speech on college campuses remains

Revolutionizing surface science: Visualization of local dielectric properties of surfaces

LearningEMS: A new framework for electric vehicle energy management

Nearly half of popular tropical plant group related to birds-of-paradise and bananas are threatened with extinction

[Press-News.org] Lung cancer drug could aid plight of ectopic pregnancy patients