BNI study reveal unexpected findings

In brain tumor treatment

2014-02-28

(Press-News.org) (Phoenix , Ariz. Feb 28, 2014) -- "The results of this study are counter to most expectations," said Dr. Brachman, Director of Radiation Oncology at Barrow and St. Joseph's. "Bevacizuman had been shown in earlier studies to be an effective drug in the treatment of patients with recurrent disease. But, on newly diagnosed patients, it did not, in fact, prolong survival."

The randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial of 621 adults was funded by the National Cancer Institute and the drug manufacturer Genentech from 2009 to2012. Glioblastoma is the most common primary malignant brain tumor in adults. Few patients survive beyond five years. "This is a deadly disease and there have been very few new therapy choices for patients in the last 20 years. That is why we were so hopeful about this trial," said Dr. Brachman.

Dr. Brachman says that the results of the trial will be disappointing to many patients desperate for a new therapy. "Because this was a unique trial and since it was a very large study done in a double blind, placebo controlled manner, it is quite definite."

Bevacizuman, which is currently an extremely expensive drug, has been shown to be effective in other diseases, including ovarian cancer. The study titled "A Randomized Trial of Bevacizumab for Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma" was published online February 20 in the Journal.

INFORMATION: END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Northern Sumatra dealing with smoke from fires

2014-02-28

On February 27, 2014, the Wall Street Journal and Southeast Asia Realtime reported that: "the plantation-rich province of Riau on Indonesia's Sumatra Island has declared a state of emergency as fires set for land clearing have sent pollution levels soaring and smoke made breathing difficult for thousands." Tens of thousands of Riau residents are suffering from the effects of the smoke coming from dozens of fires set to clear land in Sumatra. Riau is the center of Indonesia's more than $20 billion palm oil industry—the world's largest. Fires occur with frequency in Riau ...

Food production in the northeastern US may need to change if climate does

2014-02-28

BOSTON (February 28, 2014) — If significant climate change occurs in the United States it may be necessary to change where certain foods are produced in order to meet consumer demand. In a paper published online this week in the journal Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, researchers at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University provide an overview of current farmland use and food production in the Northeastern U.S., identifying potential vulnerabilities of the 12-state region*. Led by Tim Griffin, Ph.D., associate professor and director ...

Psychiatric nursing specialists played key role in response to Boston Marathon bombing

2014-02-28

Philadelphia, Pa. (February 28, 2014) – Psychiatric advanced practice nurses (APNs) played a critical role in supporting psychological recovery after the Boston Marathon bombing—not only for injured patients, but also for family members and hospital staff, according to an article in Clinical Nurse Specialist, official journal of the the National Association of Clinical Nurse Specialists. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health. Barbara Lakatos, DNP, PMHCNS-BC, and colleagues of the Psychiatric Nursing Resource Service ...

Shaky hand, stable spoon: U-M study shows device helps essential tremor patients

2014-02-28

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — For people whose hands shake uncontrollably due to a medical condition, just eating can be a frustrating and embarrassing ordeal – enough to keep them from sharing a meal with others. But a small new study conducted at the University of Michigan Health System suggests that a new handheld electronic device can help such patients overcome the hand shakes caused by essential tremor, the most common movement disorder. In a clinical trial involving 15 adults with moderate essential tremor, the device improved patients' ability to hold a spoon still enough ...

A molecular ballet under the X-ray laser

2014-02-28

An international team of researchers has used the world's most powerful X-ray laser to take snapshots of free molecules. The research team headed by Prof. Jochen Küpper of the Hamburg Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) choreographed a kind of molecular ballet in the X-ray beam. With this work, the researchers have cleared important hurdles on the way to X-ray images of individual molecules, as they explain in the scientific journal Physical Review Letters. CFEL is a cooperation of DESY, the University of Hamburg, and the Max Planck Society. "We have captured ...

Indonesia's competitiveness at risk from neglected diseases of poverty

2014-02-28

WASHINGTON, D.C. – February 27, 2014 – The control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) is one of the most cost-effective ways Indonesia can sustain economic growth and reduce inequality, said scientists today in an analysis published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. While Indonesia is poised to defeat NTDs by 2020, it has an opportunity to scale up national programs, integrate NTDs with other development efforts, strengthen coordination and enhance collaboration among key partners. The analysis calls NTDs "one of the most potent forces" trapping ...

NASA saw rainfall rates increase before birth of Tropical Storm Faxai

2014-02-28

VIDEO: NASA/JAXA's TRMM Satellite provided data of developing Tropical Storm Faxai to make this 3-D image that showed some towering thunderstorms in the area were reaching altitudes of up to 15.5km/~9.6... Click here for more information. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite passed over System 93W in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and saw rainfall rates increasing on February 27 in the developing tropical low pressure area. On February 28, the low organized ...

Peat soils as gigantic batteries

2014-02-28

This news release is available in German. Wetlands, including peatlands, have a high content of humic substances, which are organic compounds that form during incomplete decomposition of biomass. Under anoxic conditions, soil bacteria can use these organic compounds during respiration as electron acceptors. Many organisms (including us humans) instead use oxygen as the electron acceptor. In the mid-1990s, researchers revealed that some anaerobic microorganisms in soils and sediments use humic substances as electron acceptors under anoxic conditions. However, the capacity ...

Giant sunspot makes third trip across the sun

2014-02-28

A giant sunspot – a magnetically strong and complex region on the sun's surface – has just appeared over the sun's horizon. This is the third trip for this region across the face of the sun, which takes approximately 27 days to make a complete rotation. Scientists track sunspots that are part of active regions, which often produce large explosions on the sun such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. Each time an active region appears it is assigned a number. Active regions that have survived their trip around the back of the sun and reappear are assigned ...

New fast and furious black hole found

2014-02-28

A team of Australian and American astronomers have been studying nearby galaxy M83 and have found a new superpowered small black hole, named MQ1, the first object of its kind to be studied in this much detail. Astronomers have found a few compact objects that are as powerful as MQ1, but have not been able to work out the size of the black hole contained within them until now. The team observed the MQ1 system with multiple telescopes and discovered that it is a standard-sized small black hole, rather than a slightly bigger version that was theorised to account for all ...

Bioactive polyphenolic compounds and in vitro anti-degenerative property-based pharmacological propensities of some promising germplasms of Amaranthus hypochondriacus L.

BNI study reveal unexpected findings

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: