Improved survival shown in early-stage Hodgkin's Disease patients who receive radiation therapy

Study included more than 41,000 patients across the US from 1998 to 2011

2014-09-15

(Press-News.org) San Francisco, September 14, 2014—Patients with stage I and II Hodgkin's Disease who receive consolidated radiation therapy (RT) have a higher 10-year survival rate of 84 percent, compared to 76 percent for patients who did not receive RT; and, the data also shows a decrease in utilization of RT, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 56th Annual Meeting.

Researchers evaluated clinical features and survival outcomes among 41,502 patients diagnosed with stage I and II Hodgkin's Disease from 1998 to 2011 from a prospectively collected database—the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), which is comprised of cases from 1,500 sites and represents >75 percent of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. The average patient age was 37 (range: 18 – 90), with a median follow-up of 7.5 years. The association between RT use, co-variables and outcome were assessed in a multivariate Cox proportional hazards model. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

Multi-agent chemotherapy was administered to 96 percent (39,842) of the patients, and 49 percent (20,441) of patients received a median RT dose of 30.6 Gy. The 10-year overall survival of the entire group was 80.8 percent, with patients receiving RT having a statistically significant improved overall survival rate at 10 years, when compared to those not receiving RT (84.4 percent vs. 76.4 percent; p END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Advanced esophageal cancer patients who receive RT alone experience less problems when swallowing

2014-09-15

San Francisco, September 14, 2014—Radiation therapy (RT) alone is as effective in decreasing swallowing complications experienced by advanced esophageal cancer patients as RT combined with chemotherapy, thus allowing patients to forgo chemotherapy, according to research presented today at the American Society for Radiation Oncology's (ASTRO's) 56th Annual Meeting. In this international study that included sites in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United Kingdom, researchers assessed the use of palliative chemotherapy combined with RT, or chemoradiotherapy (CRT), ...

Study finds warming Atlantic temperatures could increase range of invasive species

2014-09-15

"The results will allow us to better understand how the fish communities might shift under different climate change scenarios and provide the type of environmental data to inform future decisions relating to the management and siting of protected areas," said Paula Whitfield, a research ecologist at NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) and lead author of the study. The North Carolina reefs lie within the temperate-tropical transition zone, where historically, both temperate and tropical species live, at their respective range limits. However, water ...

'Jaws' lived in Doncaster

2014-09-15

Sharks, swamps and a tropical rainforest teeming with life – it's not what comes to mind when you think of Yorkshire, England. But for the first time evidence of Doncaster's 310-million-year-old past, including a fossilised shark egg case, has been discovered in a derelict mining tip. Some of the fossilised plants and creatures may even be new to science, and as well as the egg case, several horseshoe crabs and some previously unrecorded seed pods are amongst the finds. All had been preserved in rocks that formed within the coal and shale deposits in what is one of only ...

Dairy consumption linked to lower blood pressure and cardiovascular disease risk

2014-09-15

Rosemont, Ill., September 15, 2014: Globally, cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims 17 million lives each year, while complications from high blood pressure take an additional 9.4 million.1 New research presented by international scientists at the 12th Euro Fed Lipid Congress in Montpellier, France on September 15, 2014, suggests that milk consumption and dairy may play a beneficial role. At the Milk and Dairy Products in Human Health session, the association between milk and risk for hypertension and CVD was examined by Dr. Sabita S. Soedamah-Muthu from Wageningen University ...

Think big! Bacteria breach cell division size limit

2014-09-15

This news release is available in German. The life of a cell is straightforward: it doubles, divides in the middle and originates two identical daughter cells. Therefore, it has been long assumed that cells of the same kind are similarly sized and big cells cannot divide symmetrically. Silvia Bulgheresi's team, University of Vienna, revealed that two non-model bacteria divide regularly despite growing so long to be perceivable by the naked eye. These findings have been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications. "The microorganisms thriving on the ...

Martian meteorite yields more evidence of possibility of life on Mars

2014-09-15

A tiny fragment of Martian meteorite 1.3 billion years old is helping to make the case for the possibility of life on Mars, say scientists. The finding of a 'cell-like' structure, which investigators now know once held water, came about as a result of collaboration between scientists in the UK and Greece. Their findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Astrobiology. While investigating the Martian meteorite, known as Nakhla, Dr Elias Chatzitheodoridis of the National Technical University of Athens found an unusual feature embedded deep within the ...

Mindfulness protects adults' health from the impacts of childhood adversity

2014-09-15

Adults who were abused or neglected as children are known to have poorer health, but adults who tend to focus on and accept their reactions to the present moment—or are mindful—report having better health, regardless of their childhood adversity. These findings, to be published in the October issue of Preventive Medicine, are based on the first study ever conducted to examine the relationship between childhood adversity, mindfulness, and health. Led by Robert Whitaker, professor of public health and pediatrics at Temple University, the researchers surveyed 2,160 adults ...

The creation of the Vuoksi River preceded a significant cultural shift

2014-09-15

The creation of the Vuoksi River and the subsequent rapid decrease in the water level of Lake Saimaa approximately 6,000 years ago revealed thousands of square kilometres of new, fertile land in eastern Finland. A multidisciplinary research project organised by University of Helsinki researchers has studied the role that the decrease in water levels has played in the interaction between nature and humans. After dramatic shifts in the waterways, human life in the area underwent significant changes and gave rise to a new, innovative culture. This stemmed from an increase ...

Change laws to exempt unwell doctors from mandatory reporting, say medico-legal experts

2014-09-15

In a report published in today's Journal of Law and Medicine, the authors say an exemption to mandatory reporting in Western Australian legislation provides a model for amending equivalent laws in others jurisdictions, which could pave the way for nationally consistent legislation. The call to amend and harmonise mandatory reporting laws also has the backing of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and a 2011 Senate Committee inquiry. "Doctors who are unwell need to feel they can attend their treating doctor without the stumbling block of mandatory reporting," ...

Re-expression of an embryonic signaling pathway in Melanoma utilizes different receptors

2014-09-15

Metastatic melanoma is a highly aggressive skin cancer whose incidence is on the rise at an alarming rate. Research has revealed that metastatic tumor cells share similar signaling pathways with embryonic stem cells to sustain plasticity and growth. However, major regulators of these pathways are often missing in tumor cells, thus allowing uncontrolled tumor growth and spreading to occur. During early vertebrate development, Nodal, an embryonic growth factor that governs the growth, pattern and position of tissues, is critical for normal maturation. Nodal plays a significant ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Study unexpectedly finds living in rural, rather than urban environments in first five years of life could be a risk factor for developing type 1 diabetes