Time down on the farm with animals could provide some therapeutic benefit for people with mental illness, according to researchers writing in the open access journal Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health. The results come from the first randomised controlled study of the benefits of farm animals, as opposed to domestic pets.

The removal through endoscopy of tumours that affect only the superficial layers of the oesophagus can avoid complete extirpation of this part of the digestive tract. The technique, carried out at the University Hospital of Navarra for the last three years, was presented at the VI International Course on Therapeutic Endoscopy in the Digestive System, organized by the Digestive System Service at this hospital.

Researchers at Boston College have developed the first laboratory mouse model that mimics cancer’s spread through the human body. Using their novel cell line, the team discovered one of the body’s primary defensive cells plays a role in cancer’s attack.

The Institute of Cancer Research announces that a drug candidate, first identified during a research collaboration with UK biotechnology company Piramed Limited, is in clinical development. The trials are currently underway in the UK at The Institute of Cancer Research, The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and in the U.S.

Why are some cancers more aggressive than others? This was the question explored by a number of doctors and Inserm research scientists at the Institut Curie when they studied the biological profile of a form of breast cancer. The results were astounding: tumour aggressiveness seems to be determined from the very first tumour cells and the biological diversity observed in invasive cancers already exists in localised forms.

UroToday.com - Dr. Michael Jewett (Toronto) presented the SIU lecture on detection and mapping regional lymph nodes (LN) in genitourinary cancer. He addressed the importance of LN in staging and therapy of GU cancers. Staging is prognostic and sets the scenario for adjuvant therapy. Lymphadenectomy (LA) is therapeutic and should be performed. The first lymphangiogram was performed in Britain in 1956 and set the stage for imaging.

UroToday.com - On behalf of the Spanish CUETO study group, Dr. Martinez-Pineiro presented multicenter data on a new BCG schedule with the intent to lower toxicity. Patients in the study had TaG3 or T1G3 transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder and/or carcinoma in situ. Within 3 weeks following biopsy of carcinoma in situ and resection of any stage Ta or T1 transitional cell tumors, 398 patients were started on a 6-week induction course of 81 mg intravesical Connaught BCG.

UroToday.com - Dr. Gschwend (Munich) presented a State-of-the-Art lecture on LN disease in renal and bladder cancers. He began with bladder cancer and that staging correlates with disease specific survival. The stage also correlates with the likelihood of positive LN. Dr. Gschwend stated that surgical LA is the standard for accuracy. MIcrometastasis can be detected in blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.

UroToday.com - Long-term efficacy results of EORTC GU group study 30911 comparing epirubicin, bacilus calmetteguerin (BCG), and BCG plus isoniazid in patients with intermediate and high risk stage Ta T1 papillary carcinoma of the bladderDr. Sylvester from the EORTC presented a study on the benefit of BCG relative to chemotherapy for long term endpoints, primarily in intermediate risk patients.

UroToday.com - Sunitinib malate is an oral, multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor with direct anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic activities, internationally approved for the first-line treatment of advanced RCC. This international, open-label trial was undertaken to provide sunitinib to patients with advanced RCC who might benefit from therapy, but who had no access to the drug prior to regulatory approval in their countries.