SAN ANTONIO — A high level of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) — cells that have detached from a tumor and are circulating in the body through the blood — are an independent prognostic marker in metastatic breast cancer as first-line therapy. In addition, persistence of high CTC level during therapy was found to be an early marker of poor outcome. "This is the largest, prospective series validating the prognostic value of CTCs in first-line chemotherapy metastatic breast cancer, independently from serum tumor markers for overall survival," said Jean-Yves Pierga, M.D., Ph.D., ...

SAN ANTONIO — For patients with breast cancer and bone metastases, denosumab delayed skeletal-related side effects five months longer compared to those on zoledronic acid, according to results presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12. "The average life expectancy of patients with metastatic breast cancer is approximately 2.5 years, so if you can prolong the time without a skeletal-related event by five months, you are substantially benefiting the patient," said Alison T. Stopeck, M.D., associate professor of medicine ...

SAN ANTONIO — Metastatic breast cancer patients who had circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in their blood before or after high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by autologous stem cell transplantation had poor outcomes, according to researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Patients with CTCs in their blood before chemotherapy treatment had reduced survival and those with these cells in their blood after the stem cell transplant recurred faster and died earlier. These findings were presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer ...

SAN ANTONIO — Results of the GeparQuinto study, randomized Phase III efficacy data on the use of bevacizumab plus chemotherapy to treat women with early breast cancer will be presented at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Gunter von Minckwitz, M.D., Ph.D., managing director of the German Breast Group, and colleagues are conducting final analyses on efficacy data from this study, which will detail the early treatment of more than 1,900 patients with HER2-negative breast cancer treated with chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab. "So far, ...

Bees can see colours but they perceive the world differently to us, including variations in hue that we cannot ourselves distinguish. Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London and Imperial College London have developed FReD – the Floral Reflectance Database – which holds data on what colours flowers appear to be, to bees. The development of the catalogue, which has involved a collaborative effort between researchers at two Schools at Queen Mary is reported in the journal PLoS ONE. The work addresses the existing issue that records of flower colours do not take ...

Up to 20% of professional boxers develop neuropsychiatric sequelae. But which acute complications and which late sequelae can boxers expect throughout the course of their career? These are the questions studied by Hans Förstl from the Technical University Munich and his co-authors in the current issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2010; 107[47]: 835-9). Their evaluation of the biggest studies on the subject of boxers' health in the past 10 years yielded the following results: The most relevant acute consequence is the knock-out, which conforms ...

The small crater embedded in the northwestern rim of the Schiaparelli impact basin features prominently in this new image from ESA's Mars Express. All around is evidence for past water and the great martian winds that periodically blow. Schiaparelli is a large impact basin about 460 km in diameter located in the eastern Terra Meridiani region of the equator of Mars. The centre of the basin lies at about 3°S/17°E and is named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835�). Although he also studied Mercury and Venus, he is best known for his observations ...

Despite threats of violence, imprisonment and death, writers around the world continue to fight to make their voices heard. The latest issue of Index on Censorship pays tribute to one of the world's longest running campaigns for free expression, English PEN's Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC). Founded in 1960, the WiPC supports and protects writers facing persecution around the globe. Contributors to Beyond Bars – including award-winning authors Margaret Atwood, Sir Tom Stoppard and William Boyd – highlight the vital role writers can play in supporting their colleagues. ...

As the U.S. policy makers renew emphasis on the use of nuclear energy in their efforts to reduce the country's oil dependence, other factors come into play. One concern of paramount importance is the seismic hazard at the site where nuclear reactors are located. Russell A. Green, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, spent five years as an earthquake engineer for the U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Washington, D.C., prior to becoming a university professor. Part of his responsibility at the safety board was to perform ...

Iron furnaces that once dotted central Pennsylvania may have left a legacy of manganese enriched soils, according to Penn State geoscientists. This manganese can be toxic to trees, especially sugar maples, and other vegetation. The research, which quantified the amounts of manganese in soil core samples, was part of work done at the Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory funded by the National Science Foundation. "Our group's focus was to study the soil chemistry," said Elizabeth M. Herndon, graduate student in geosciences. "We saw excess manganese in the soil and ...

Children with ADHD can sometimes have more difficulties on math and reading tests compared to their peers. A new study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, used identical and fraternal twins to look at the genetic and environmental influences underlying ADHD behaviors, reading, and math skills in children in an attempt to better understand the relationship among them. Sara Hart, of the Florida State University, and her colleagues used twins enrolled in a long-term study of reading and math. Hart says by focusing ...

Alexandria, VA – America has made great strides in recent years to reduce carbon emissions by increasing efficiency and turning to other, low or non-carbon energy sources. Meanwhile, carbon emissions in China have grown dramatically during that same time. EARTH looks at this disparity and asks the difficult questions about who is to blame when the coal China is burning is imported from "cleaner" countries and the emissions are produced to manufacture goods exported back to places with lower emissions. Learn more about this eye-opening subject in January's featured article ...

ORLANDO - A two-drug combination is safe and active in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome patients who are usually excluded from clinical trials because they have other illnesses or poor performance status - a measure of disease progression - researchers reported this week at the 52nd American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting. "Our findings suggest current eligibility standards that prevent participation by these patients in phase I and phase II clinical trials might be inadequate," said Guillermo Garcia-Manero, M.D., professor in ...

Scientists have discovered how a network of repair proteins enables bacteria to prioritise the repair of the most heavily used regions of the DNA molecules that carry the instructions necessary for living cells to function. The research, carried out by academics at the University of Bristol and published in Molecular Cell (Dec. 2010), reveals that there are greater similarities between the DNA repair systems of bacteria and humans than had been suspected. When the chemical "letters" in a cell's DNA book of instructions are damaged the instructions become difficult ...

San Antonio - Metastatic breast cancer patients whose blood contains circulating tumor cells (CTCs) before or after treatment with high-dose chemotherapy and blood stem cell transplant have shorter survival periods, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. The findings were presented today in a poster session at the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. In addition, patients with higher percentages of epithelial cells, or the presence of a specific cellular transition, had higher chances ...

A gene target for drug resistance, a triple-drug cocktail for triple negative breast cancer, and patients' risk for carpal tunnel syndrome are among study highlights scheduled to be presented by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists during the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12. The information is embargoed for the time of presentation at the symposium. HOXB7 GENE PROMOTES TAMOXIFEN RESISTANCE (Presentation # PD05-10) Many postmenopausal women with early-stage breast cancers who initially respond well to tamoxifen become ...

A gene target for drug resistance, a triple-drug cocktail for triple negative breast cancer, and patients' risk for carpal tunnel syndrome are among study highlights scheduled to be presented by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists during the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12. The information is embargoed for the time of presentation at the symposium. TRIO OF DRUGS MAY COMBAT "TRIPLE NEGATIVE" BREAST CANCER (Presentation # PD01-05) Working with cell cultures and mouse models, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel ...

A gene target for drug resistance, a triple-drug cocktail for triple negative breast cancer, and patients' risk for carpal tunnel syndrome are among study highlights scheduled to be presented by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists during the 33rd Annual CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, held Dec. 8-12. The information is embargoed for the time of presentation at the symposium. SIMPLE FINGERTIP TEST MAY IDENTIFY BREAST CANCER PATIENTS AT RISK FOR CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME (Presentation # P2-14-09) As many as half of postmenopausal women taking aromatase ...

PITTSBURGH— Nonchemical treatment systems are touted as environmentally conscious stand-ins for such chemicals as chlorine when it comes to cleaning the water-based air-conditioning systems found in many large buildings. But a recent study by University of Pittsburgh researchers suggests that this diverse class of water-treatment devices may be ineffective and can allow dangerous bacteria to flourish in the cooling systems of hospitals, commercial offices, and other water-cooled buildings almost as much as they do in untreated water. The two-year study by a team in Pitt's ...

"Directed Self-Assembly of Vertical Nanotubes for Biosensors, Logic, and Nano-Biofuel Cells," will be the focus of NJIT's exhibit today at the National Nanotechnology Innovation Summit 10 http://www.nsti.org/events/NNI/, at the Gaylord Center in Washington, DC. The event celebrates the 10th anniversary of the national nanotechnology initiative. NJIT was the only university in New Jersey selected for this exposition featuring practical applications of nanoscience resulting from the last decade of federal funding under the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). ...

DALLAS – Dec. 10, 2010 – It's a medical Catch-22: carotid artery surgery can itself cause stroke, but so can asymptomatic carotid disease if left untreated. UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have now developed a clinical risk prediction rule using factors such as sex, race and health history to assess the danger the surgery poses, while a modified version will help patients make a more fully informed choice about whether to have the procedure. "It may take a thief to catch a thief, but physicians don't want to cause stroke while trying to prevent stroke, so ...

GALVESTON, Texas — "You'll be back on your feet in no time" is a phrase familiar to anyone who's ever had to spend time in a hospital. Now, a new study has shown that hospitalized elderly patients who literally "get back on their feet" by taking even short walks around a hospital unit tend to leave the hospital sooner than their more sedentary peers. Conducted at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and described in a paper appearing in the current issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, the study draws on data collected from 162 hospitalized patients over ...

It is estimated that 38 million people worldwide are currently infected with HIV and that 4.1 million more are added each year. For scientists to design treatment therapies that are effective over the long-term it is essential to learn more about how the virus mutates and develops resistance to medications. New, groundbreaking research by University of Victoria biomedical engineer Stephanie Willerth has significantly advanced the understanding of HIV and how to treat it. "The virus mutates at a very high rate which is very problematic for HIV patients because the virus ...

(Washington, DC) – A recent study of the use of metaphors in spoken language and various sign languages shows that certain types of metaphors are difficult to convey in sign language. The study, "Iconicity and metaphor: Constraints on metaphorical extension of iconic forms," to be published in the December 2010 issue of the scholarly journal Language, is authored by Irit Meir of the University of Haifa. A preprint version is available on line at: http://lsadc.org/info/documents/2010/press-releases/meir.pdf. Dr. Meir's research sheds new light on the interrelations between ...

The December issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology is now available. The issue features articles on the nature of individual organisms, evolution observed in the lab, play behavior across animal species, and a criticism of intelligent design creationism. Abstracts are available at http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/qrb/current. What is an Individual? For organisms like fish, mice, and people, it's not hard to distinguish between individuals. However, for colonial creatures like corals and anemones, and for organisms like slime molds and bacteria, the line separating ...