Coal from mass extinction era linked to lung cancer mystery

The volcanic eruptions thought responsible for Earth's largest mass extinction — which killed more than 70 percent of plants and animals 250 million years ago — is still taking lives today. That's the conclusion of a new study showing, for the first time, that the high silica content of coal in one region of China may be interacting with volatile substances in the coal to cause unusually high rates of lung cancer. more  

Silencing brain cells with yellow and blue light

Neuroscientists at MIT have developed a powerful new class of tools to reversibly shut down brain activity using different colors of light. When targeted to specific neurons, these tools could potentially lead to new treatments for the abnormal brain activity associated with disorders such as chronic pain, epilepsy, brain injury, and Parkinson's disease. more

High antiretroviral therapy adherence associated with lower health care costs

High antiretroviral therapy adherence,, which has been shown to be a major predictor of HIV disease progression and survival, is now associated with lower health care costs, according to researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Researchers examined the effect of antiretroviral therapy adherence on direct health care costs and found that antiretroviral therapy improves health outcomes for people infected with HIV, saving a net overall median monthly health care cost of $85 per patient. more  

Multiple patient samples of an analyte improve detection of changes in clinical status

Clinicians rely on laboratory tests to monitor the progression or remission of disease, or to identify pathologic alterations in physiology that may precede clinical events. Monitoring quantitative laboratory results represents a crucial component in the assessment of response to therapy. Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have developed a mathematical methodology to reduce the effect of biologic variation on the difference necessary to detect changes in clinical status. more

New brain scan better detects earliest signs of Alzheimer's disease in healthy people  

A new type of brain scan, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), appears to be better at detecting whether a person with memory loss might have brain changes of Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study published in the January 6, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. more

Study examines interval colorectal cancer despite surveillance colonoscopy  

A new study examines the occurrence of interval colorectal cancer despite regular colonoscopy and highlights the importance of close follow-up for patients who have a history of advanced adenomas, which are precancerous polyps. Researchers studied the rate of interval colorectal cancer in patients participating in the Polyp Prevention Trial Continued Follow-up Study and found that nine cases of colorectal cancer were diagnosed over 7,626 person-years of observation for an incidence rate of 1.2 per 1,000 person-years of observation. Of patients in whom colorectal cancer developed, 78 percent had a history of advanced adenoma. The majority of the cancers detected were early stage (78 percent were stage I or II) and therefore highly curable. The study appears in the January issue of GIE: Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy. more

Team finds link between stomach-cancer bug and cancer-promoting factor

Researchers report that Helicobacter pylori, the only bacterium known to survive in the harsh environment of the human stomach, directly activates an enzyme in host cells that has been associated with several types of cancer, including gastric cancer. more

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