Healing Connections

As our population ages and senior citizens become a larger demographic, cancer researchers are focusing on the links between aging and cancer. Studies presented at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, April 12 - 16, highlight the biological aspects of aging that are key to greater risk and poorer prognosis, and surgical outcomes.

Although fewer of them undergo surgery, lung cancer patients in their 80s fare equally well following surgery as their younger counterparts, researchers report. The findings offer doctors potentially valuable guidance in treatment options for elderly patients, according to researchers.

A research team from the Hoag Cancer Center in Newport Beach, California, observed 1,293 patients with lung cancer, 482 of whom underwent surgical treatment. The oldest patients were more likely to be male. Older patients were also more likely to have localized disease.

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Researchers at the Duke School of Medicine apparently have solved the riddle of why cancer cells like sugar so much, and it may be a mechanism that could lead to better cancer treatments.

Jonathan Coloff, a graduate student in Assistant Professor Jeffrey Rathmell’s laboratory in the Duke Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology, has found that the tumor cells use glucose sugar as a way to avoid programmed cell death. They make use of a protein called Akt, which promotes glucose metabolism, which in turn regulates a family of proteins critical for cell survival, the researchers shared during an April 15 presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting in San Diego.

In normal cells, growth factors regulate metabolism and cell survival. Removing these factors leads to loss of glucose uptake and metabolism and cell death. Cancer cells, however, maintain glucose metabolism and resist cell death, even when deprived of growth factors.

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Magnesium oxide, also simply referred to as magnesia, is a mineral that is essential in human nutrition. Magnesium is involved in over 300 metabolic reactions and is necessary for every major biological process, including the production of energy and the synthesis of acids and proteins, the contraction of muscles, conduction of nerves, and regulation of vascular tone. It coincides with calcium in the body to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

On average, adult males should have an intake of approximately 300 to 350 milligrams per day, and females require only 200 to 250 milligrams. Foods containing a rich amount of magnesium include grains, nuts, and green vegetables, but standard amounts of the nutrient can be found in meats, starches, and milk. Through the consumption of these foods, magnesium is absorbed through the small intestine and the colon, and then delivered to the liver, bone, and cells.

Magnesium deficiency is quite common in people with alcoholism, hyperthyroidism, malabsorption syndromes, and some types of diabetes. Signs of the lack of magnesium in the body include anorexia, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, hypertension, muscle spasm, confusion, tremors and seizures, and loss of coordination. Supplements can remedy the cause of these symptoms.

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Sudden hearing loss could be a warning sign of increased stroke risk, Taiwanese research suggests.

People hospitalised for sudden hearing loss had more strokes in the following five years than otherwise healthy appendicitis patients.

The article, in the journal Stroke, suggested no reason why the hearing problem could be linked to strokes.

UK stroke specialist Dr Tony Rudd, of Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, described it as “an unusual” finding.

There are dozens of reasons, including some illnesses, such as mumps, measles, and meningitis, why someone might suffer sudden hearing loss.

The suggestion of the research, which looked at 1,423 patients taken to hospital after losing their hearing, is that it could be a sign that the person has a far higher chance of stroke even some years afterwards.

The hearing loss patients were compared with 5,692 patients taken into hospital for appendix removal - chosen because among hospitalised patients, they best represent the healthy population outside.

The researchers found that after hearing loss, they were one-and-a-half times more likely to have a stroke in the five subsequent years.

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The Medical Devices Group at Frost & Sullivan is pleased to announce its 2008 Quarterly Analyst Briefing Presentation on the U.S. medical device market to be held on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at 12:00 p.m. CST / 1:00 p.m. EST.

The U.S. is the largest producer and consumer for medical devices, providing the opportunity of growth for medical device companies. This industry faces intense competition varying across all levels of competition and market segments. Every medical device market segment is subject to specific market dynamics that govern its growth. Furthermore, the medical device industry is characterized by a high degree of innovation and is witnessing the transition towards minimally invasive treatment procedures.

This briefing will benefit component manufacturers, distributors, service providers and OEMs.

Highlights of the briefing include: Analysis of the U.S. medical device industry, analysis of the dynamics impacting the various market segments such as cardiology, orthopedics, wound care, etc.

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University of Arizona optical scientists have broken a technological barrier by making three-dimensional holographic displays that can be erased and rewritten in a matter of minutes.

The holographic displays - which are viewed without special eyewear - are the first updatable three-dimensional displays with memory ever to be developed, making them ideal tools for medical, industrial and military applications that require “situational awareness.”

“This is a new type of device, nothing like the tiny hologram of a dove on your credit card,” UA optical sciences professor Nasser Peyghambarian said. “The hologram on your credit card is printed permanently. You cannot erase the image and replace it with an entirely new three-dimensional picture.”

“Holography has been around for decades, but holographic displays are really one of the first practical applications of the technique,” UA optical scientist Savas Tay said.

Dynamic hologram displays could be made into devices that help surgeons track progress during lengthy and complex brain surgeries, show airline or fighter pilots any hazards within their entire surrounding airspace, or give emergency response teams nearly real-time views of fast-changing flood or traffic problems, for example.

And no one yet knows where the advertising and entertainment industries will go with possible applications, Peyghambarian said. “Imagine that when you walk into the supermarket or department store, you could see a large, dynamic, three-dimensional product display,” he said. It would be an attention-grabber.

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Today’s younger generation may reckon that “ne’er the twain shall meet” where technology and their elders are concerned. However, ongoing research by Abby King, PhD, professor of health research and policy and of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, appears to be gradually dispelling that notion.

In a study that appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, King showed that specially programmed PDAs, or personal digital assistants, can prod middle-aged and older Americans - the most sedentary segment of the U.S. population - into increasing their physical activity levels. This first-generation study follows on the heels of King’s research report in the December issue of Health Psychology, in which she showed that automated computer calls were almost as effective as live health educators in coaxing people previously less active to get more of a spring in their step.

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‘Safety, Security, Connectivity - Electromagnetics in Everyday Life’ is a topic that concerns us all - and one that is to be explored on February 14, 2008 at the ETH Zurich Competence Center, serec. Researchers and industry representatives will meet to discuss the the many and varied aspects of electromagnetic fields in our daily lives.

The swiss electromagnetics research & engineering centre, serec, hosts the event, which will be in English; questions and answers in English or German.

Although approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a palliative treatment for cancer patients who have developed bile duct obstructions, biliary stents are sometimes used “off-label” for the treatment of peripheral vascular disease (PVD). A study in today’s issue of the American Journal of Therapeutics finds that off-label use of biliary stents is increasing, and that the majority of adverse events and device malfunctions associated with the use of these stents occurs during off-label usage.

“Our study found that more than 1 million patients received biliary stents for ‘off-label’ treatments between 2003 and 2006,” explains cardiologist William Maisel, MD, MPH, Director of the Medical Device Safety Institute at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and senior author of the study. “We also found that more than 80 percent of the reported adverse events and device malfunctions associated with these products have occurred during ‘off-label’ use.”

The most common off-label use for biliary stents is treatment of peripheral arterial disease (PAD), which develops when leg arteries become narrowed by cholesterol plaques. Patients who suffer from PAD can develop pain, skin ulcers, reduced exercise tolerance and even loss of limb. The condition affects millions of patients throughout the U.S. and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality.

“Clinical management of peripheral artery disease can be challenging,” explains Maisel. Although noninvasive treatment strategies such as exercise training can help some patients, for many others, pain and discomfort persist. In an effort to unblock the vessels, many physicians have turned to stents, flexible tubular devices which can keep the vessels propped open.

Because there is little data supporting the clinical utility and safety of biliary stents for treatment of vascular disorders, Maisel and colleague Jonathan Bridges, MD, of BIDMC’s Cardiovascular Institute decided to take a closer look.

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“We are blessed to have each other to depend on. If you have to go through something bad like cancer, you’re glad to have a friend to go through it with,” said one of two brothers from Savannah, Georgia recovering from robotic prostate cancer surgery. The two siblings flew to The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York to have lifesaving surgery on the same day this week. Dr. David B. Samadi, M.D., Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery in the Department of Urology at Mount Sinai successfully performed the robotic prostate cancer surgeries on the siblings one after another on Monday, January 14th, 2008.

“The brothers have benefited physically and even emotionally as a result of having their prostatectomy with the da Vinci robotic technology at Mount Sinai together,” said Dr. Samadi. “Each minimally invasive surgery was an hour and twenty minutes which included only a few tiny incisions, limited blood loss (50 CC), no need for blood transfusions, less pain, and a faster recovery which included each of the patients walking the next day and were released from the hospital two days after surgery.”

Also, along with the help of Microvascular and Plastic Surgeon Dr. Jess Ting, M.D. of the Department of Surgery, the doctors were able to preserve each patient’s sexual function after robotic surgery by implanting a nerve graft extracted from each patient’s leg. “I will still be a normal person after robotic surgery, with feeling of all nerves because of the graft,” said one brother.

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