lung cancer
DENVER ? Cancer that spreads to other organs finds a particularly inviting hideout in the brain, where these metastases are usually far harder to treat than they are in other locations. Two researchers from The University of Texas M. D.
DENVER - Researchers may have uncovered why lung cancer afflicts some smokers and not others, according to data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research 100th Annual Meeting 2009.
CINCINNATI--University of Cincinnati (UC) cancer cell biologists have identified a distinct gene linked to increased lung cancer susceptibility and development. They say this gene--known as RGS17--could result in a genetic predisposition to develop lung cancer for people with a strong family history of the disease.
Black patients suffering from lung cancer are less likely to receive recommended chemotherapy and surgery than white lung cancer patients, a disparity that shows no signs of lessening. That is the conclusion of a new study published in the May 15, 2009 issue of CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society.
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Higher doses of radiation combined with chemotherapy improve survival in patients with stage III lung cancer, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---Relying on principles similar to those that cause Jell-O to congeal into that familiar, wiggly treat, University of Michigan researchers are devising a new method of detecting nitric oxide in exhaled breath.
DURHAM, N.C. - Scientists at Duke University Medical Center have discovered two genetic markers that appear to put some smokers at significantly higher risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
A future sensor may take away a patient's breath while simultaneously determining whether the patient has breast cancer, lung cancer, diabetes or asthma. A University of Missouri researcher is developing a device that will analyze breath or urine samples for volatile markers inside the body that indicate disease.
The active ingredient in marijuana cuts tumor growth in common lung cancer in half and significantly reduces the ability of the cancer to spread, say researchers at Harvard University who tested the chemical in both lab and mouse studies.
Children who are exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (passive smoking) are at a higher risk of developing lung cancer as adults, says a paper in this week's BMJ. Those children exposed to passive smoking on a daily basis and for many hours are the most vulnerable -- facing over treble (3.63) the risk of those who grew up in smoke-free environments. Children experiencing passive smoke a few times a week are one and a half (1.45) times more likely to develop lung cancer, and those exposed daily but not for many hours faced twice (2.08) the risk.
The form of vitamin E found in many plant seeds -- but not in most manufactured nutritional supplements -- might halt the growth of prostate and lung cancer cells, according to a Purdue University study. A team led by Qing Jiang (pronounced ''ching zhang'') has found that gamma-tocopherol, which occurs naturally in walnuts, pecans, sesame seeds, and in corn and sesame oils, inhibits the proliferation of lab-cultured human prostate and lung cancer cells. The vitamin's presence interrupts the synthesis of certain fatty molecules called sphingolipids, important components of cell membranes. However, the gamma-tocopherol leaves healthy human prostate cells unaffected, which could give it value as an anticancer agent.
Not all masses are cancer. When a person undergoes a scan to identify a lump or nodule, the radiologist looks at the texture, the borders and the shape to determine if it is malignant or just a benign growth. Researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center are developing computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) methods to make that assessment easier. A computer program reads the same scans the radiologist views, and the combined judgment of the computer and radiologist helps detect more cancers, the researchers found. ''From our experiences in evaluating CAD for breast cancer, using computer aids significantly improves the performance of the radiologist in predicting malignancies of the masses. Radiologists with computers are able to detect more cancers than radiologists by themselves. We expect that CAD for lung cancer can achieve similar results.''
Men and women with mental disorders have higher odds of being diagnosed with brain tumors and lung cancer and they develop these cancers at younger ages than individuals without mental illness according to a study published in the current issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. ''This work is a piece in the larger puzzle of understanding the relationships between mental and physical health,'' said Caroline Carney, M.D., M.Sc., associate professor of psychiatry and medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine and a research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute, Inc. Dr. Carney is the first author of the study which looked at insurance claims data from over seven hundred thousand adults between the ages of 18 and 64 living in Iowa and South Dakota.
Chinese who are exposed to smoky coal emissions from cooking and heating their homes may carry genetic mutations that greatly increase their risk of developing lung cancer. "Lung cancer mortality rates in Xuan Wei are among the highest in China in both nonsmoking women and men who smoke, and are associated with exposure to indoor emissions from the burning of smoky coal," said the study's lead researcher. "To account for the high rates of disease within this region, we tested for mutations generally associated with lung cancer in people who had no evidence of disease. We found that a good number of these individuals had mutations that indicated they were at higher risk for developing lung cancer in the future."
The risk of cancer mortality from a single full-body computed tomography scan is modest, but not negligible, and the risks resulting from elective annual scans are much higher, according to a new study. The increasing popularity of elective, or self-referred, full-body CT screening has raised concerns regarding the radiation-related cancer mortality risk associated with full-body CT radiation exposure. Based on anecdotal evidence, these scans are performed on asymptomatic people to identify a variety of diseases, including colon and lung cancer and coronary artery disease.
