The drug lapatinib shrank tumors and slowed progression of brain metastases in some patients with advanced breast cancer, according to results of a clinical trial being presented by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.Researchers said the drug, also known as Tykerb, should undergo further testing in combination with other drugs as a treatment for breast cancer that has spread to the brain. [click link for full article]

Technically advanced molecular imaging provides a 3-D way to significantly improve the diagnosis of heart disease, according to researchers at the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world’s largest molecular imaging and nuclear medicine society. [click link for full article]

“Financing the Response to AIDS in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: International Assistance From the G8, European Commission and Other Donor Governments, 2006,” Kaiser Family Foundation and [click link for full article]

Chemotherapy temporarily hinders the body’s immune response, creating a concern that it may interfere with the promising new cancer vaccines being used against brain tumors. But a new study led by researchers at the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke University and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center has found that the opposite is true: chemotherapy may actually enhance the effectiveness of the vaccines. [click link for full article]

The use of combined imaging technologies may hold the key to stopping - and even preventing - heart attacks, according to research reported at the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world’s largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals. [click link for full article]

More than $300,000 of funding has been invested in this program of work, which will involve researchers travelling to Canada, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and the United States to share research results. These countries are common comparator countries for Australia in general practice and primary health care research. [click link for full article]

North Central Cancer Treatment Group (http://ncctg/) researchers based at Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayo.edu/) in Rochester, Minn., have discovered that low doses of a drug used to prevent epileptic seizures and to treat nerve pain caused by shingles substantially reduces hot flashes in patients who are undergoing anti-hormonal treatment, or androgen-deprivation therapy, for prostate cancer. [click link for full article]

Medicaid spending will increase by an estimated 5.8% in fiscal year 2008, compared with 6.6% in FY 2007, according to an annual survey conducted by the National Governors Association and the National Association of State Budget Officers, CQ HealthBeat reports. [click link for full article]

President Bush’s request last week for a $30 billion, five-year extension of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief did not include an “acknowledgment that the U.S. must at the same time increase [its] commitment to the [click link for full article]

An advanced molecular imaging technique influenced the management of women with ovarian cancer, detected more sites of disease and identified women whose disease was likely to progress, according to an Australian study released during the 54th Annual Meeting of SNM, the world’s largest society for molecular imaging and nuclear medicine professionals. [click link for full article]