New research on farm women has shown that contact with some commonly used pesticides in farm work may increase their risk of allergic asthma. “Farm women are an understudied occupational group,” said Jane Hoppin, Sc.D., of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and lead author of the study. “More than half the women in our study applied pesticides, but there is very little known about the risks. [click link for full article]

A mechanism which can lead to hay fever and other allergic reactions, by preventing the immune system from regulating itself properly, has been discovered by scientists. Researchers hope their finding, published (Thursday 27 December 2007) in the journal PLoS Biology, will allow therapies to be developed that treat allergies by stopping this mechanism. [click link for full article]

Allergic-like reactions to gadolinium-containing contrast injections in adults and pediatric patients (those younger than 19 years of age) are rare, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan Health Systems in Ann Arbor. “When these reactions do occur, most of them are mild,” said Jonathan R. Dillman, MD, lead author of the study. [click link for full article]

Inhibiting the growth of blood vessels that supply tumors slows the progression of metastatic breast cancer according to results of a large clinical trial of Avastin, an anti-angiogenic therapy. The study, published in the December 27th issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that Avastin in combination with chemotherapy significantly prolongs progression-free survival for women with breast cancer compared to chemotherapy alone. [click link for full article]

Most people wouldn’t consider anthrax toxin to be beneficial, but this bacterial poison may someday be an effective cancer therapy. Anthrax toxin has actually been shown to be fairly selective in targeting melanoma cells, although the risk of non-cancer toxicity prevents any clinical use. [click link for full article]

Hayley McDaid, Ph.D. assistant professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, has received a $100,000 grant from Joan’s Legacy: The Joan Scarangello Foundation to Conquer Lung Cancer for her research of lung cancer. The grant, which is being funded equally over two years by Joan’s Legacy and the LUNGevity Foundation, will support Dr. [click link for full article]

Critics of the progress of America’s 36-year-old “war on cancer” (declared during the Nixon administration) have pointed out that the much touted but slight decline in the rate of cancer deaths in recent years primarily reflects earlier detection and lifestyle changes rather than real improvements from cancer treatments. [click link for full article]

University of California, San Diego researchers have proven in animal studies that fibrosis in the liver can be not only stopped, but reversed. Their discovery, to be published in PLoS Online on December 26, opens the door to treating and curing conditions that lead to excessive tissue scarring such as viral hepatitis, fatty liver disease, cirrhosis, pulmonary fibrosis, scleroderma and burns. [click link for full article]

Highly publicized events such as school shootings arouse public interest in the effects of media violence exposure on children, yet there is still considerable public debate about whether to take this issue seriously. A recent article in Social Issues and Policy Review summarizes the research on the effects of media violence and convincingly demonstrates the profound influence that media violence is having in our society. [click link for full article]

Homeowners dogged by household fleas need look no farther than the broom closet to solve their problem. Scientists have determined that vacuuming kills fleas in all stages of their lives, with an average of 96 percent success in adult fleas and 100 percent destruction of younger fleas.In fact, the results were so surprisingly definitive that the lead scientist, an Ohio State University insect specialist, repeated the experiments several times to be sure the findings were correct. [click link for full article]