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Generic drug a potential treatment for glioblastoma?

Posted: May 14, 2010 at 8:16 am

DCA research on brain cancer, EurekAlert, May 12, 2010. [FriendFeed entry]. Excerpt: "... the orphan generic drug Dichloroacetate (DCA) may hold promise as potential therapy for ... a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma". Another excerpt:

By extracting glioblastomas from 49 patients over a period of 2 years and studying them within minutes of removal in the operating room, the team showed that tumors respond to DCA by changing their metabolism. Then, the team treated 5 patients with advanced glioblastoma and secured tumor tissues before and after the DCA therapy. By comparing the two, the team showed that DCA works in these tumors exactly as was predicted by test tube experiments. This is very important because often the results in non-human models tested in the lab do not agree with the results in patients. In addition, the team showed that DCA has anti-cancer effects by altering the metabolism of glioblastoma cancer stem cells, the cells thought responsible for the recurrences of cancer.

And,

No conclusions can be made on whether the drug is safe or effective in patients with this form of brain cancer, due to the limited number of patients tested by the study's leads Drs Michelakis and Petruk. Researchers emphasize that use of DCA by patients or physicians, supplied from for-profit sources or without close clinical observation by experienced medical teams in the setting of research trials, is not only inappropriate but may also be dangerous. ...

See also: Generic drug may be potential treatment for deadly brain cancer: U of A medical study by Noreen Remtulla and Julia Necheff, ExpressNews, University of Alberta, May 12, 2010.

And: Potential brain-cancer drug shows promise, CBC News, May 12, 2010. [CBC video].

And: Cancer drug trial raises hopes by Elise Stolte, Edmonton Journal, May 13, 2010.

These news reports are about the publication: Metabolic Modulation of Glioblastoma with Dichloroacetate by Evangelos D Michelakis and 12 co-authors, including Kenneth C Petruk, Sci Transl Med 2010(May 12); 2(31): 31ra34.

See also an editorial: Targeting Cell Metabolism in Cancer Patients by Matthew G Vander Heiden, Sci Transl Med 2010(May 12); 2(31) :31ed1. From the TOC: "Dichloroacetate can safely modify glucose metabolism in aggressive brain tumors when administered to patients". Last sentence of the editorial: "Time will tell whether this strategy constitutes an effective cancer therapy".

Comments: After an initial research publication in January 2007 [PubMed citation], DCA attracted much attention. See, for example, the Wikipedia entry for Dichloroacetic acid. And, Cancer society warns of untested drug, CBC News, March 22, 2007.

The Official University of Alberta DCA Website provides FAQs about DCA. It includes, in the News & Updates section, DCA Research Team publishes results of Clinical Trials (dated May 12, 2010) and an earlier Letter from Dr. Evangelos Michelakis (dated October 2008).

Recommendation and review posted by Fredricko

Warfarin Sensitivity Genotype Test – Mayo Clinic Video

Posted: May 14, 2010 at 8:15 am

Thomas Moyer, Ph.D., from Mayo Clinic's Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, describes the four basic categories of patients as identified through this test, and how the doses of the blood-thinner warfarin would typically be adjusted to reflect differences in patients' metabolism of warfarin and also their sensitivity, to prevent stroke or hospitalization due to excessive bleeding.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.


Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith

Back and forth: Study fails to show link previously found between virus and chronic fatigue syndrome

Posted: May 14, 2010 at 8:15 am

A UK study analysing samples from patients with chronic fatigue syndrome has found no evidence of a link with a retrovirus (XMRV). The virus was first described in 2006.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis, often report that their condition—a mix of symptoms including extreme fatigue—began after an otherwise normal viral infection.

The xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was found in 67% of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome in a study reported last year (Science 2009,326:585-9).

The Gift of Time is a short film about the doctors who discovered the XMRV virus and the breakthru potential for prostate cancer.

References:

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.


Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith

CMYK Magazine 46

Posted: May 14, 2010 at 8:15 am

CMYK Vol. 46 Preview

Chosen By: illustrator Melinda Beck

Title: “The Tell Tale Heart”
Entrant: Joseph Kelly
School: Academy of Art University
Instructor: Stephen Player

“My interpretation of the Edgar Allan Poe classic.”

Nice work from CMYK Magazine!

Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith

The Pennsylvania Medical Humanities Consortium, May 19-20, College of Physicians, Philadelphia PA

Posted: May 14, 2010 at 8:15 am


Friend of Morbid Anatomy Todd Vladyka has just let me know about a rather exciting looking consortium taking place next week at the College of Surgeons (home of the Mütter Museum); highlights include an entire panel devoted to "The 'Art' of Anatomy and Other Collections," which will consist of a presentation devoted to the art of Joseph Maclise (as seen above), and two other presentations entitled "The Exquisite Cadaver and the Evolution of the Anatomic Theater"and "Constituting the Syphilitic Collector."

The opening lecture--"What Mark Twain Might Tell Us (And Ask Us) If He Could Join Us Tonight"--is free and open to the public; $25 for students or $50 for non-students will gain you admission to all the other events.

Full details follow; very much hope to see you there!

The Pennsylvania Medical Humanities Consortium
Through the Lens of Time: Perspectives on Medicine and Health Care
May 19 – 20, 2010

Events on Wednesday, May 19, 2010

2 – 4 p.m. Visit the Ars Medica Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s new Perelman Building (across from the Museum’s main building, corner of Pennsylvania and Fairmount Avenues); Hosted by Peter Barberie, PhD, The Brodsky Curator of Photographs

6:30 – 8:30 p.m. What Mark Twain Might Tell Us (And Ask Us) If He Could Join Us Tonight, K. Patrick Ober, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Associate Dean for Education, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC; author of Mark Twain and Medicine: Any Mummery Will Cure.

At the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 South Twenty-Second Street (between Chestnut and Market Streets).

Wine-and-cheese reception to follow. This program is open to the public.

Events on Thursday, May 20, 2010

At The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 South Twenty-Second Street

8 a.m. Breakfast – Mitchell Hall

8:30 a.m. Welcome
Rhonda L. Soricelli, MD – Chair, Program Committee
Paul C. Brucker, MD – President, College of Physicians of Philadelphia
Mary Ellen Glasgow, PhD, RN – Associate Dean, Drexel University College of Nursing & Health Professions

8:45–9:45 a.m. Opening Session – Mitchell Hall
The Medical/Healthcare Humanities: Where We Are; Where We’ve Been; Where We’re Going
Moderator: David H. Flood, PhD

  • Humanism Versus Humanities in Medicine: An Historical Perspective, Jack Coulehan, MD, MPH
  • Medical Humanism/Professionalism Teaching in a Community Hospital Since WWII, Victor Bressler, MD
  • Disability, Medicine, and Representation: Integrating Disability Studies into Medical, Education and Practice, Rebecca Garden, PhD
  • American Missionary Health Care Projects in the late Ottoman Empire: Civilization, Hygiene, and Salvation, Sylvia Önder, PhD

9:45–10:15 a.m. Discussion: Flood, Coulehan, Bressler, Garden and Önder

10:15 – 10:30 a.m. Morning break – Mitchell Hall

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Concurrent sessions

1. Cholera and Its Representations – Mitchell Hall
Moderator: Steven J. Peitzman, MD

  • Cholera, Commerce, and Contagion: Rediscovering Dr. Beck’s Report, Ashleigh R.Tuite, MHSc(c) and David N. Fisman, MD
  • The Epidemic Behind the Veil: Cholera in Fiction, Film and History, Agnes A. Cardoni, PhD; Molly Bridger; Angel Fuller; and Casey Kelly

2. Impact of Illness and Disabilty – Gross Library
Moderator: Jennifer Patterson, DO(c)

  • Home Sweet Home: The Impact of Poliomyelitis on the American Family, Richard J. Altenbaugh, PhD
  • Casualties of the Spirit: The Transatlantic Origins of Post Traumatic Neuroses, Susan Epting, PhD(c)
  • Turning a Blind Eye to the Rehabilitation Act: Meaningful Access and the Dollar Bill, Kenji Saito, MD/JD 2010(c)

3. The Medical Environment – Koop Room
Moderator: Todd Vladyka, DO

  • The Anemic Narrative: Will the electronic health record reduce the patient narrative to a footnote?, Valerie Satkoske, MSW, PhD
  • Gender Roles and the Changing Face of Medicine, Nina Singh, MD and Gabrielle Jones, PhD
  • The Changing Public Image of the American Catholic Hospital, 1925 – Present, Barbra Mann Wall, PhD

11:45 a.m. – Concurrent sessions

12:45 p.m.

4. Exploring the Text – Koop Room
Moderator: Jack Truten, PhD

  • Was Sherlock Holmes a Quack? Or, Why Arthur Conan Doyle’s Medical Stories Matter, Sylvia A. Pamboukian, PhD
  • Reaching Back Through Time: Constructing Genealogies of the Not-Neurotypical in Illness, Narratives, Elizabeth A. Dolan, PhD
  • Pathographies: Teaching Illness, Creating Theory, Karol Weaver, PhD and
  • A Recovery Narrative, Jenny Traig’s Devils in the Details: Scenes from an Obsessive Girlhood, Sara Kern

5. Alternative Dimensions in Health Care – Gross Library
Moderator: Steven Rosenzweig, MD

  • Cacao: From Ethnobotany to Translational Medicine, William J. Hurst, PhD
  • Just Language: The Key to Bridging the Gap Between Physicians and Patients, Kathryn M. Ross, MBE, DMH(c)
  • Historical Perspectives on Compensation in Human Subjects Research, Ilene Albala, JD/MBE(c)

6. On Stage and Screen – Mitchell Hall
Moderator: Joe Vander Veer, Jr., MD

  • Dramatizing the Local History of Medicine: An Early 21st Century Perspective on the Yellow Fever Epidemic of the Late 19th Century, Robert J. Bonk, PhD
  • Television’s Images of Health Practitioners and/or Health Care Institutions Through the Ages, Rosemary Mazanet, MD, PhD and Joseph Turow, PhD

12:45 – 1:45 p.m. Lunch with Performance – Mitchell Hall
My doc’s better than your doc: Medical advertising’s rinse and spin and the lost voice of Arthur Godfrey, Richard Donze, DO, MPH

2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Concurrent sessions

7. Narratives of Illness, Aging and Grief – Koop Room
Moderator: Kimberly Myers, PhD

  • Listening to the Stories of Patients, David Biro, MD, PhD
  • MY FATHER’S HEART: A Son’s Reckoning With the Legacy of Heart Disease, Steve McKee
  • Imagining Death: Contemporary Grief Narratives, Kate Dean-Haidet, RN, MSN, MA, PhD(c)

8. The “Art” of Anatomy and Other Collections – Mitchell Hall
Moderator: Jan Goplerud, MD

  • Joseph Maclise and the Anatomical Arts Tradition, Rebecca E. May, PhD
  • The Exquisite Cadaver and the Evolution of the Anatomic Theater, Sherrilyn M. Sethi, MMH(c), DMH(c)
  • Constituting the Syphilitic Collector, Elizabeth Lee, PhD

3:15 – 4:15 p.m. Closing Panel – Mitchell Hall
Moderator: Rhonda L. Soricelli, MD
The Virtual and the Real: Medical History at the 21st Century Mutter Museum, Robert Hicks, PhD; Anna Dhody, MA and Karie Youngdahl, BA

4:20 – 5:00 p.m. Wrap-up; future plans for consortium

Program Committee: Andrew Berns, PhD(c), David H. Flood, PhD, Jan Goplerud, MD, Steven J. Peitzman, MD, Rhonda L. Soricelli, MD (Chair), Joseph Vander Veer, Jr., MD and Todd Vladyka, DO.

This meeting is made possible through the generous support of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia’s Francis C. Wood Institute for the History of Medicine and Sections on Medicine and the Arts and Medical History and Drexel University’s College of Nursing & Health Professions and College of Medicine with additional support from the Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania

Click here to find out more about this event; To register, please send an email to RLSoricelli@comcast.net no later than MAY14th midnight. Registration is mandatory for the symposium.

Image above, "Head and skull of malformed infants; conjoined twins, bilateral cleft lip and holoprosencephaly" from Joseph Maclise's book Surgical Anatomy, published in London in 1856. Click on image to see much larger version; Found on the N-66 Blog.

Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith

Farm-raised salmon has 16 times the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as wild-caught salmon

Posted: May 13, 2010 at 8:16 am

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), farm-raised salmon has 16 times the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as wild-caught salmon. That’s because farm-raised salmon are often fed contaminated fish meal, which builds up in salmon’s fatty tissue.

Chilean-farmed fish had lower levels of toxins than fish raised in the U.S., Scotland, Canada and Norway. Those tested from Scotland had such high levels that the EWG recommended it be eaten no more than once per month.

References:

360-5.com in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic.
Image source: Amazon.com, used for illustrative purposes only - NOT a suggestion to purchase any products.

Posted at Clinical Cases and Images. Stay updated and subscribe, follow us on Twitter and connect on Facebook.


Recommendation and review posted by G. Smith


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