A widely used diabetes drug dramatically boosted the potency of platinum-based cancer drugs when administered together to a variety of cancer cell lines and to mice with tumors, scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report.Combining a platinum chemotherapy agent and the diabetes drug rosiglitazone halted or shrank mouse tumors as much as three times more effectively than either of the drugs given alone, according to the article in the May issue of Cancer Cell. [click link for full article]

A [click link for full article]

Studying a rare inherited syndrome, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that cancer cells can reprogram themselves to turn down their own energy-making machinery and use less oxygen, and that these changes might help cancer cells survive and spread.The Hopkins scientists report that the loss of a single gene in kidney cancer cells causes them to stop making mitochondria, the tiny powerhouses of the cell that consume oxygen to generate energy. [click link for full article]

China’s National Population and Family Planning Commission Director Zhang Weiqing has warned that the country might be facing a “population rebound” as a result of a widening wealth gap and an increase in early marriages in rural regions, Xinhuanet reports (Xinhuanet [1], 5/6). [click link for full article]

Essay Contest, KaiserEDU.org: KaiserEDU.org, , the [click link for full article]

Lawmakers at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday criticized CMS for the agency’s oversight of Medicare’s prescription drug benefit and for its efforts to protect seniors from administrative problems and aggressive sales tactics, Dow Jones reports (Mantell, Dow Jones, 5/8). [click link for full article]

The Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease (GICD) has announced that GICD Director, Deepak Srivastava has received the 2007 prestigious E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society for Pediatric Research. Bestowed annually since 1939 by the Society for Pediatric Research, the E. Mead Johnson Award recognizes outstanding clinical and research accomplishments in pediatrics.Dr. [click link for full article]

Births to teenagers are steadily declining in Milwaukee, which is ranked seventh among large cities nationwide in the percentage of births to teenagers, according to a report recently release by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. [click link for full article]

One simple blood test could predict relapse or survival for children and young adults with acute leukemias, researchers from the Children’s Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported at the American Society of Pediatric Hematology Oncology’s annual meeting. [click link for full article]

American actress Drew Barrymore, one of the world’s most recognized film stars, has been named Ambassador Against Hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), it was announced on Wednesday. Barrymore, 32, who recently returned from a second trip to Kenya to visit WFP-supported school feeding projects, joins world marathon record-holder Paul Tergat, from Kenya, as Ambassador Against Hunger. [click link for full article]