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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,572

Pilot trial sees tumors shrink or disappear in 78% of patients

The study brings much hope to patients with brain and spinal cord cancers.

A small pilot trial involving patients with lymphoma of the brain and/or spinal cord has shown that CAR-T-cell therapy known as axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) can be a viable treatment option for patients who often have little hope, according to a press release by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute investigators published on Sunday. “For many patients with lymphoma of the central nervous system, there aren’t great treatment options,” said Dana-Farber’s Caron Jacobson, MD, MMSc, who led the trial.

Our early results suggest that expanding the applicability of CAR-T cells to this indication could improve patient outcomes.

Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen/iStock.

Lymphomas typically feature aggressive tumors that can spread to the brain and spinal cord after they originate in other parts of the body. These cancers are often difficult to treat and patients do not survive more than two years.

Largest study of its kind reveals adjuvant chemotherapy improves overall survival for pancreatic cancer patients

Today, the University of Colorado Cancer Center released new research that showcases chemotherapy treatment before and after surgery for pancreatic cancer as the most effective combination for patients.

The study findings were published in JAMA Oncology and led by Marco Del Chiaro, MD, division chief of surgical oncology in the University of Colorado Department of Surgery and visiting researcher Toshitaka Sugawara, MD, Ph.D.

“It’s critical to have large scale data that doctors can use to make decisions about plans for patients who qualify for surgery,” said author Marco Del Chiaro, MD, division chief of surgical oncology at the CU Cancer Center on the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Experimental cancer therapy shows success in more than 70% of patients in global clinical trials

A new therapy that makes the immune system kill bone marrow cancer cells was successful in as many as 73% of patients in two clinical trials, according to researchers from The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The therapy, known as a bispecific antibody, binds to both T cells and multiple and directs the T cells— that can be enlisted to fight off diseases—to kill multiple cells. The researchers described this strategy as “bringing your army right to the enemy.”

The success of the off-the-shelf immunotherapy, called talquetamab, was even seen in patients whose was resistant to all approved multiple myeloma therapies. It uses a different target than other approved therapies: a receptor expressed on the surface of cancer cells known as GPRC5D.

A 1.3-micrometer-thin elastic conductor for wearable and implantable devices

In recent years, engineers have been working to develop increasingly sophisticated and smaller electronic components that could power the devices of the future. This includes thin and stretchable components that could be easily worn on the skin or implanted inside the human body.

Researchers at RIKEN, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, University of Tokyo, and other institutes in Japan, Singapore and China have recently realized a new, elastic electrical conductor that is 1.3-micrometers thin. This conductor, introduced in a paper published in Nature Electronics, could advance the development of both wearable and implantable sensors.

“Ultrathin electronic devices can form a conformal interface with curved surfaces, are not perceivable by human when wearing, and do not induce strong foreign body rejection (FBR) when implanted in animals,” Zhi Jiang, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told TechXplore.

Gene expression data point to exercise as the most effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease

An analysis of 22 large-scale gene expression datasets pointed to exercise and activity in general as the most effective theoretical treatment for reversing gene expressions typical of Alzheimer’s disease. Fluoxetine, a well-known antidepressant, also showed effect, particularly when combined with exercise. Curcumin showed positive effects as well. The study was published in Scientific Reports.

Alzheimer’s disease is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that affects multiple brain regions. It is the most common disease that causes dementia and is very difficult to treat. In the course of the disease, abnormal collections of proteins called tau accumulate inside neurons.

Another type of protein clumps together to form so-called amyloid plaques that collect between neurons and disrupt cell functions. These and other changes harm the functioning of the brain across different regions and lead to dysfunction and death of brain cells.

Parrots Keep Attacking Poppy Farms To Get High On Opium

They’re so much like humans. Hopefully this doesn’t hurt them in the long term.

Farms in India have reached out to the authorities after repeatedly being attacked by opium-addicted parrots.

Farmers in Madhya Pradesh say their opium crops are being ruined by parrots who keep returning to raid their farms in an attempt to get high. The farmers have been guarding the fields day and night to protect their poppies, but the birds are willing to risk it all to get their beaks on the opium, which is being farmed for medical purposes.

Playing loudspeakers has also failed to rid the farms of the birds, whose opium problem is too far developed to let a bit of noise deter them.

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