The Surgeon

Scientists at UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara and MIT have developed nanometer-sized “nanoworms” that can cruise through the bloodstream without significant interference from the body’s immune defense system and—like tiny anti-cancer missiles—home in on tumors.

Their discovery, detailed in this week’s issue of the journal Advanced Materials, is reminiscent of the 1966 science fiction movie, the Fantastic Voyage, in which a submarine is shrunken to microscopic dimensions, then injected into the bloodstream to remove a blood clot from a diplomat’s brain.
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The removal through endoscopy of tumours that affect only the superficial layers of the oesophagus can avoid complete extirpation of this part of the digestive tract. The technique, carried out at the University Hospital of Navarra for the last three years, was presented at the VI International Course on Therapeutic Endoscopy in the Digestive System, organized by the Digestive System Service at this hospital. Specifically, more than 90% of patients treated for this ailment at the University Hospital of Navarra have not needed the extirpation of the oesophagus.
400 specialists from ten different countries attended the course, focusing on the therapeutic possibilities of endoscopy in the digestive system. Treatment using digestive endoscopy, without having to carry out surgery, is increasing. These applications are less aggressive than surgical operations and are undertaken at out-patient clinics in about 99% of the cases, which usually enables the patient to go home after the walk-in/walk-out treatment, explained Doctor Miguel Ángel Muñoz Navas, Director of the Digestive System Service at the University Hospital of Navarra.
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Millions of post-menopausal women use hormone replacement therapy (HRT) as a method to reduce symptoms associated with menopause. In a recent University of Missouri study, researchers found that one of the hormones used in HRT, a synthetic progestin, could be a major factor in promoting breast cancer. At the same time, the researchers have compelling evidence that using an antibody that prevents new blood vessel formation in tumors, or a small molecular drug, known as PRIMA, with similar properties as the antibody may be effective in treating or preventing the negative effects of progestin.
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A new breast cancer study comparing Herceptin with Tykerb aims to develop a new model for global cancer research. The trial, dubbed ALTTO (Adjuvant Lapatinib and/or Trastuzumab Treatment Optimization), will track all care and data collection in a standardized format, regardless of where patients are being treated.

A new study reveals that mobile phones (cell phones) may eventually be responsible for more human deaths than smoking or asbestos. Dr. Vini Khurana, an award-winning cancer expert (14 awards) from Australia, has published some grim study results. Khurana added that government and mobile phone companies should do whatever they can to immediately reduce people’s exposure to radiation.
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