Cancer can be wily, and those who treat the disease have amassed a wide array of weapons with which to fight it and kill tumors. Radiation therapy and various forms of chemotherapy were all thought to be separate but equal treatments. Now, however, new research is beginning to show that it’s not just killing the cancer cells that matter. How they’re killed may turn out to be just as important and could play a role in marshalling the body’s immune response. [click link for full article]

A new report from the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities and Lancaster University, UK, has found that children with learning disabilities are six times* more likely to have a diagnosable psychiatric disorder than other children in Britain. [click link for full article]

Continuing with more than a decade of research, doctors at the University of Minnesota have discovered a treatment to help patients with advanced cases of adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a rare disorder affecting the nerves. The results are published in the late February issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation.ALD is a progressive degenerative myelin disorder that affects young boys. [click link for full article]

Survivors of childhood cancers have a ninefold increased risk of developing a secondary sarcoma - a cancer of connective or supportive tissue such as bone, fat, or muscle - compared with the general population, according to a study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.Treatments for childhood cancer have resulted in a current overall cure rate of over 70 percent. [click link for full article]

Health Canada is advising consumers not to use a product called Sleepees, because it was found to contain an undeclared drug estazolam, which can be habit-forming when used for as little as a few months. Consumers who may still have this product in their homes are advised to consult with a health care professional before they stop taking the capsules, because of the risk of withdrawal symptoms. [click link for full article]

Chief Executive of Asthma UK, Donna Covey said: ‘A small percentage of people with severe asthma symptoms are unable to control their asthma because existing available drugs just don’t work. These people experience the highest use of emergency services and they live in constant fear of a fatal asthma attack. [click link for full article]

Today the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it has requested Genentech, Inc. add a boxed warning to the product label for omalizumab, marketed as Xolair. The boxed warning emphasizes that Xolair, used to treat patients with asthma related to allergies, may cause anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis may include trouble breathing, chest tightness, dizziness, fainting, itching and hives, and swelling of the mouth and throat. [click link for full article]

Even though coronary artery bypass graft surgery with use of cardiopulmonary bypass (on-pump CABG) is associated with cognitive decline, avoiding cardiopulmonary bypass (off-pump CABG) had no effect on cognitive or cardiac outcomes at five years in low-risk patients, according to a study in JAMA.The incidence of cognitive decline in the first year after CABG surgery ranges from less than 5 percent to more than 30 percent. [click link for full article]

Boston College biologists have identified an alternative, diet-based method of treating brain cancer that does not involve administering toxic chemicals, radiation or invasive surgery.The biologists found that KetoCal, a commercially available high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet designed to treat epilepsy in children, can significantly decrease the growth of brain tumors in laboratory mice. [click link for full article]

McClatchy/Lexington Herald-Leader on Tuesday profiled the [click link for full article]