http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (PhysOrg.com) -- In Margaret Atwood’s futuristic The Year of the Flood, sex workers wear "Biofilm Bodygloves" to protect themselves from infection. It turns out, though, that a prototype bodyglove may have already been invented. We call it the skin. Living inside the dermis, alongside connective tissue, blood vessels and collagen, are immune system T cells, armed with the ability to fight off infection. http://phys.org/news191771678.html Medicine & Health Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:40:04 EST news191771678 The presence and extent of lymphatic dissemination are among the most important predictors for survival in gastrointestinal malignancies. Little is known about the effects of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) on the presence of extracapsular lymph node involvement (LNI) and its prognostic value in patients with resected esophageal cancer. A study group led by Metzger from Germany found that extracapsular LNI is not influenced by neoadjuvant CRT. http://phys.org/news191665698.html Medicine & Health Wed, 28 Apr 2010 09:50:01 EST news191665698 According to the World Health Organization, two billion people around the globe suffer from chronic parasitic worm infections, which, in addition to causing illness and developmental delay, are also suspected to interfere with the effectiveness of ordinary vaccines, making their victims more vulnerable to life-threatening diseases. A recent discovery by researchers at the Trudeau Institute promises to bypass these obstacles and help deliver more effective vaccines to these people, boosting their protection against common childhood diseases. http://phys.org/news191506743.html Medicine & Health Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:40:02 EST news191506743 (PhysOrg.com) -- Yale University engineers have found that the defects in carbon nanotubes cause T cell antigens to cluster in the blood and stimulate the body's natural immune response. Their findings, which appear as the cover article of the April 20 issue of the journal Langmuir, could improve current adoptive immunotherapy, a treatment used to boost the body's ability to fight cancer. http://phys.org/news190988587.html Nanotechnology Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:23:52 EST news190988587 African-American women have poorer survival rates than their white and Hispanic counterparts regardless of whether they receive radiation therapy following lumpectomy or mastectomy, UC Davis researchers have found. http://phys.org/news189780253.html Medicine & Health Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:50:02 EST news189780253 In patients with early breast cancer, giving radiotherapy to the lymph nodes located behind the breast bone and above the collar bone is well-tolerated, after mastectomy or breast conserving surgery, a radiation oncologist will tell delegates at the seventh European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC7) today (Saturday 27 March). Women at a high risk of developing breast cancer will probably benefit from additional lymph node radiotherapy, Dr Philip Poortmans, from the Dr. Bernard Verbeeten Instituut, Tilburg, The Netherlands, and a member of the EORTC Radiation Oncology Group, will say. http://phys.org/news188877047.html Medicine & Health Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:00:01 EST news188877047 A new mechanism explaining how tumors escape the body's natural immune surveillance has recently been discovered at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. The study shows how tumors can create a tolerant microenviroment and avoid attack by the immune system by mimicking key features of lymph nodes. http://phys.org/news188746140.html Medicine & Health Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:29:15 EST news188746140 (PhysOrg.com) -- Virtually every patient diagnosed with breast cancer or melanoma undergoes lymph node biopsy to determine if their cancer has begun spreading in the body. Taking this biopsy involves an invasive and uncomfortable procedure, and though necessary it detects metastases less than 95% of the time. To eliminate the need for invasive biopsy, and to improve upon the diagnostic sensitivity of biopsy, researchers have been working to develop non-invasive imaging techniques to identify tumor-bearing sentinel lymph nodes. http://phys.org/news188719673.html Nanotechnology Thu, 25 Mar 2010 07:08:31 EST news188719673 A new understanding of a certain cell in the immune system may help guide scientists in creating better flu vaccines, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI). Reporting online March 21 in Nature Immunology, they show, for the first time, that white blood cells known as resident dendritic cells (DCs) capture flu viruses and show them to B-lymphocytes, another white blood cell that recognizes germs and launches an antibody attack. Harnessing this previously unknown function could help activate the immune system more effectively against the flu virus. http://phys.org/news188480687.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:45:17 EST news188480687 Breast cancer patients with early stage disease that has spread to only one lymph node may not benefit from radiation after mastectomy, because of the low present-day risk of recurrence following modern surgery and systemic therapy, a finding that could one day change the course of treatment for thousands of women diagnosed each year, according to researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer. http://phys.org/news187152562.html Medicine & Health Sun, 07 Mar 2010 03:20:01 EST news187152562 Metastases that were 2 millimeters or less in diameter ("micrometastases") in axillary lymph nodes detected on examination of a single section of the lymph nodes were associated with poorer disease-free and overall survival in breast cancer patients, according to a new study published online February 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. http://phys.org/news186428300.html Medicine & Health Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:50:02 EST news186428300 A gene signature, first identified in mouse colon cancer cells, may help identify patients at risk of colon cancer recurrence, according to a recent study by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center researchers. http://phys.org/news186409094.html Medicine & Health Fri, 26 Feb 2010 12:30:01 EST news186409094 Knowing the stage of a patient's melanoma is important when choosing the best course of treatment. When the cancer has progressed to the lymph nodes, a more aggressive treatment is needed. Examining an entire lymph node for cancer takes much effort and time; a new technique might help make the process more efficient. University of Missouri researchers in the Christopher S. Bond Life Sciences Center are studying how photoacoustics, or a laser-induced ultrasound, could help scientists locate the general area of the lymph node where melanoma cells could be residing. This new technology could help doctors identify the stage of melanoma with more accuracy. http://phys.org/news186168386.html Medicine & Health Tue, 23 Feb 2010 17:26:39 EST news186168386 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have demonstrated that the PNNL-developed Global Arrays computational programming model can perform at the petascale level. The demonstration performed at 1.3 petaflops-or 1.3 quadrillion numerical operations per second—using over 200,000 processors. This represents about 50% of the processors' peak theoretical capacity. Global Arrays is one of only two parallel programming models that have achieved this level of performance. http://phys.org/news185196065.html Technology Fri, 12 Feb 2010 11:40:01 EST news185196065 (PhysOrg.com) -- Social interaction between neighbours, work colleagues and other communities and social groups makes voluntary vaccination programs for epidemics such as Swine Flu, SARS or Bird Flu a surprisingly effective method of disease control. http://phys.org/news185087368.html Physics Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:10:17 EST news185087368 (PhysOrg.com) -- Miniature sensors being developed by CSIRO promise to provide the answers to questions which seem to arise regularly in modern office workplaces like: "Where's my pen?" and; "Who nicked my stapler?" http://phys.org/news185010259.html Technology Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:44:45 EST news185010259 Addition of the contrast agent gadolinium during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for primary tumor assessment improved accuracy for detecting lymph node metastases, according to a new study published online February 1 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Gadolinium-enhanced MRI is primarily used to visualize primary tumors, highlight tumor vascularity, and increasingly to detect and evaluate lymph node metastases. In light of this systematic review, the authors recommend that contrast highlighting be included as a malignancy criterion when this agent is used for primary tumor visualization. http://phys.org/news184274125.html Medicine & Health Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:40:01 EST news184274125 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers from the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital have made significant findings about how a new HIV vaccine candidate (Delta 5) can reduce -- and in some cases stop -- HIV progression by triggering natural immunity. http://phys.org/news183144038.html Medicine & Health Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:20:59 EST news183144038 If you ever thought the stress of seeing your extended family over the holidays was slowly killing you -- bad news: a new research report in the December 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that you might be right. Here's the good news: results from the same study might lead to entirely new treatments that help keep autoimmune diseases like lupus, arthritis, and eczema under control. http://phys.org/news178802608.html Medicine & Health Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:23:54 EST news178802608 A combination of imaging tests conducted six to eight weeks after patients complete chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer may help identify patients who will respond to treatment and those who will require surgical follow-up, according to a report in the November issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. http://phys.org/news177618910.html Medicine & Health Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:30:02 EST news177618910 After mastectomy, breast cancer patients who receive radiation treatment to the lymph nodes located behind the breast bone do not live longer than those who do not receive radiation to this hard-to-treat area, according to a randomized 10-year study presented at the plenary session, November 2, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). http://phys.org/news176402817.html Medicine & Health Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:50:01 EST news176402817 High-risk melanoma patients who are treated with radiation after surgery have a significantly lower risk of their cancer returning to the lymph nodes (19 percent), compared to those patients who do not have radiation therapy (31 percent), according to the first randomized study of its kind presented at the plenary session, November 2, 2009, at the 51st Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). http://phys.org/news176402467.html Medicine & Health Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:40:03 EST news176402467 Colonoscopy represents one of the great weapons against cancer. In one step, a physician can find precancerous lesions in the colon and then cut them out, an on-the-spot intervention that prevents cancer from developing. Now, researchers at the Winthrop Rockefeller Cancer Institute and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have developed another fiber optic technique that can detect lymph node metastases and destroy them on the spot, an action that could prevent the further spread of breast cancer, melanoma, or gastrointestinal cancer, all of which spread through the lymphatic system. http://phys.org/news176116481.html Nanotechnology Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:15:06 EST news176116481 Specific cells within the immune system could help explain why younger people are more susceptible to variant CJD, scientists believe. http://phys.org/news174735267.html Medicine & Health Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:34:53 EST news174735267 Researchers at The Wistar Institute have identified a key gene (KLF17) involved in the spread of breast cancer throughout the body. They also demonstrated that expression of KLF17 together with another gene (Id1) known to regulate breast cancer metastasis accurately predicts whether the disease will spread to the lymph nodes. Previously, the function of KLF17 had been unknown. http://phys.org/news173969331.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:49:16 EST news173969331 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have put an end to a 10-year debate over which form of a molecular messenger called Fas ligand is responsible for killing cells during programmed cell death (also called apoptosis). http://phys.org/news173538701.html Medicine & Health Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:12:47 EST news173538701 Berlin, Germany: Researchers have shown for the first time that patterns of ultrasound signals can be used to identify whether or not cancer has started to spread in melanoma patients, and to what extent. The discovery enables doctors to decide on how much surgery, if any, is required and to predict the patient's probable survival. http://phys.org/news172908892.html Medicine & Health Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:20:03 EST news172908892 In recent years, several new innovations have been employed in the treatment for women with gynecologic cancer in an effort to preserve fertility. These innovations consist of conservative ovarian staging, embryo/oocyte cryopreservation, hormonal treatment of endometrial cancer, and fertility-sparing radical hysterectomy for women with cervical cancer. http://phys.org/news171212613.html Medicine & Health Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:08:48 EST news171212613 Researchers led by Dr. Soheil Dadras at the Stanford University Medical Center have developed a novel methodology to extract microRNAs from cancer tissues. The related report by Ma et al, "Profiling and discovery of novel miRNAs from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded melanoma and nodal specimens," appears in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. http://phys.org/news170599789.html Medicine & Health Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:00:02 EST news170599789 (PhysOrg.com) -- Biomedical researchers at the University of Arkansas and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock have developed a special contrast-imaging agent that is capable of molecular mapping of lymphatic endothelial cells and detecting cancer metastasis in sentinel lymph nodes. The new material could be used as a more efficient and less toxic alternative to nanoparticles and fluorescent labels used in the non-invasive, targeted molecular detection of normal cells, such as immune-related cells, and abnormal cells, such as cancer cells and bacteria. Findings were published in Nature Nanotechnology. http://phys.org/news170521101.html Nanotechnology Wed, 26 Aug 2009 15:58:52 EST news170521101