| Some with breast cancer can skip chemo
Thousands of breast cancer patients each year could be spared chemotherapy or get gentler versions of it without harming their odds of beating the disease, new research suggests. One study found that certain women did better - were less likely to die or have a relapse - if given a less harsh drug than Adriamycin, a mainstay of treatment for decades. Another study found that a gene test can help predict whether some women need chemo at all - even among those whose cancer has spread to their lymph nodes, which typically brings full treatment now. The findings are sure to speed the growing trend away from chemo for many breast cancer patients and targeting it to a smaller group of women who truly need it, doctors said Thursday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, where the studies were reported.
Non-Caucasians at higher risk for severe metastatic breast cancer pain
A new study finds significant racial differences in the risk of pain related to metastatic breast cancer. An analysis by Dr. Liana Castel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and colleagues found that non-whites experience poorer pain control among women with this disease. The study is published in the January 1, 2008 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. Studies indicate that chronic or recurrent pain affects 30 percent of all cancer patients and 60 to 90 percent of patients with advanced cancer. Age, race, tumor type, genetics, psychosocial context, and culture can all affect pain. However, it is unclear how pain is influenced by changes over the course of disease due to factors including radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy.
Give Green and Help Find a Cure This Holiday with Refillable Athena ...
In this season of giving, the refillable Athena� Sport Bottle is the perfect stocking stuffer that gives back in more ways than one. Available for purchase at www.athenawater.org, the reusable bottle provides a stylish and environmentally-friendly option for staying hydrated on the go, and 100% of the profits will be donated to crucial women's cancer research. Offered by Seattle-based non-profit Athena Partners�, the bottle bears a prominent pink ribbon and the words "GIVE 100%" to reflect the organization's approach to life and commitment to making a difference in the fight against cancer. The 24-ounce bottle is available in pink or blue and features elegant ergonomically curved sides, is dishwasher safe, and includes a drink-through lid to allow for a straw or to go without.
Death and Dying Debate -- it's alive and well
When I showed up at the hospital for some pre-surgery medical tests, one of the receptionist's first questions was, "Do you have a living will?" The form she gave me after I shook my head was as complicated as a tax return. There were numerous boxes for me to check specifying a range of conditions under which I might like to have a Do Not Resuscitate order hung over my hospital bed, whether I would want to be denied "artificial" food and water under some circumstances, what I thought about being taken off a ventilator, and so forth. Furthermore, I found something weasely in the way all those options were presented, as though my only real choice were between being dispatched into the hereafter at the first sign of loss of consciousness or being stuck with as many tubes as needles in a voodoo doll and imprisoned inside a ventilator until global warming melts the ice caps and the hospital washes out to sea.
Politicking picks up after Assembly dissolution
BJP leader and former Chief Minister B.S.Yeddyurappa, while welcoming the dissolution of the state assembly, said the people were ready to punish the �betrayers� (JD - S) and said the JD (S) would face complete disintegration after the next assembly elections. Yeddyurppa claimed that some JD (S) legislators wanted to join the BJP, while others wanted to branch out on their own rather than face the wrath of the people who were disgusted at their �lust for power�. The Congress also announced that it would restructure its state unit to give adequate representation to all communities in the new set-up. Announcing this at a one day workshop conducted in the city, AICC secretary Pravin Chand Dogra said besides the major communities like the Vokkaligas and Lingayats, backward and Scheduled Castes and tribes would be given due representation.
All Brains Are the Same Color
And others who later made the same argument Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray in "The Bell Curve," in 1994, for example, and just recently, William Saletan in a series of articles on Slate have made the same mistake. In fact, the evidence heavily favors the view that race differences in I.Q. are environmental in origin, not genetic. The hereditarians begin with the assertion that 60 percent to 80 percent of variation in I.Q. is genetically determined. However, most estimates of heritability have been based almost exclusively on studies of middle-class groups. For the poor, a group that includes a substantial proportion of minorities, heritability of I.Q. is very low, in the range of 10 percent to 20 percent, according to recent research by Eric Turkheimer at the University of Virginia.
Rest of week likely to be wet
Rain is likely into this morning. Periods of rain are likely today as there will be a 100 percent chance of precipitation and a high near 47.
The area should see a break Friday as the weather service is calling for mostly sunny skies with a high near 43.
The skies will start to get cloudy as the day progresses.
The weather service is still saying there is a possibility of both rain and snow Saturday as the high is expected to reach 37. The chance of precipitation is 80 percent throughout the day and into the night when the low is expected to reach 24.
The chance for precipitation continues on into Sunday.
Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
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PregLem SA Announces CHF 36 Million Series B Funding and New Licencing ...
The Series B will enable the development of a molecule licensed-in from privately-held French company, HRA Pharma, for the pre-operative treatment of uterine myoma. PregLem has successfully raised CHF 68 million in less than one year. Concurrently, PregLem's Board of Directors has expanded to include Werner Henrich, as Chairman of the Board and independent Director, and Christian Chavy as independent Director. Werner Henrich is Chairman of the Board of Basilea and a member of the Board of Directors of Actelion Ltd, and Addex Pharmaceuticals. An experienced biopharmaceutical executive, Christian Chavy was recently President Business Operations and Member of the Actelion Executive Committee. James Healy MD, PhD, General Partner at Sofinnova Ventures has also been appointed to the Board. Rafaele Tordjman MD, PhD, Partner at Sofinnova Partners, Dr.
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