The INSPIRE (Investigating New Standards for Prophylaxis In Reduction of Exacerbations) trial demonstrated that while the two study medications; Seretide” 50/500µgDiskus” (salmeterol/fluticasone propionate) and tiotropium bromide 18µg Handihaler® had a comparable effect on exacerbation rates, those who received Seretide experienced substantial health status improvements and better survival periods than those who received tiotropium. [click link for full article]

Over the course of the 20th Century, doctors waged war against infectious bacterial illness with the best new weapon they had: antibiotics. But the emergence of dangerous, multi-drug resistant strains of tuberculosis and other killer infections means that in the 21st century antibiotics are losing ground against bacterial disease. [click link for full article]

The positive results of the first nationwide clinical study showing the benefits of an antiangiogenic agent in breast cancer therapy are reported in the Dec. 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study with Avastin showed the biggest improvement in metastatic breast cancer ever reported in a chemotherapy-based clinical trial. [click link for full article]

Cone-beam breast CT provides exceptional tissue contrast and can potentially reduce examination time with comparable radiation dose to conventional 2D mammography, according to a new study by a team of researchers from the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Cone-beam breast CT employs a large area x-ray beam in conjunction with a flat panel x-ray detector to scan and generate 3D images of the breast. [click link for full article]

Scientists who study cancer may be prone to drawing simplistic conclusions from the powerful molecular tools now available because they don’t appreciate how complex the data is that is being generated, said a team of Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) researchers in the January issue of Nature Reviews Cancer. [click link for full article]

Receiving treatment for non cancer health issues while being treated by specialists for cancer improves cancer survival rates according to a study published in the December 20 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.The study, by researchers from the Indiana University School of Medicine, the Regenstrief Institute and the Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center, is the first to look at the effect of primary care on health outcomes in cancer patients. [click link for full article]

For over 10 years, Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor of Medicine, Genetics, and Pharmacology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has been pursuing a cancer-targeting molecule called TRAIL and its molecular partners. TRAIL is normally produced by immune cells and curtails tumor spread by binding to a specialized receptor on a tumor’s surface. [click link for full article]

Northwest Biotherapeutics, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: NWBO) (AIM: NWBT; NWBS) (”NWBT”) announced that a Phase I/II clinical trial in at least 30 patients, using DCVax(R)-L for recurrent ovarian cancer, has begun at The University of Pennsylvania Center for Research on Early Detection and Cure of Ovarian Cancer and the Abramson Cancer Center. The first patients have been enrolled and have undergone initial treatment steps in preparation for receiving DCVax(R)-L. [click link for full article]

Since the year 2000, much has been learned about the potential for using transplanted cells in therapeutic efforts to treat varieties of cardiac disorders. With many questions remaining, the current issue of CELL TRANSPLANTATION (Vol.16 No. 9), The Proceedings of the Third Annual Conference on Cell Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease, presents research aimed at answering some of them. Eleven papers were included in this issue; the four below represent a sample. [click link for full article]

Josh Bristow was in the late stages of heart failure when he came to the Emergency Department at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on Aug. 25, 2007. Medications and the earlier implantation of a pacemaker had given him some time, but the 51 year old Studio City man’s heart could no longer supply the blood and oxygen his body needed, and he was running out of options. [click link for full article]