Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Childhood Brain Tumor Traced To Normal Stem Cells Gone Bad

�An belligerent childhood learning ability tumor known as medulloblastoma originates in normal mentality "stem" cells that turn malignant when acted on by a known mutant, cancer-causing transforming gene, say researchers from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).


Reporting in the Aug. 12 issue of Cancer Cell, the scientists say they have uncovered new origins for these tumors from early stem turn cells as well as more mature cells. Previously, scientists had assumed the tumors might only come from a single source: more grow cells which become neurons and do not accept "stem" prison cell properties. The findings clue at potential new intervention approaches for medulloblastoma by targeting the origins of the tumors, and farther suggest that not all patients' tumors may be born from the same cells.


"We instantly have a better idea of where these psyche tumors come from and their relationship to normal stem cells in the brain," aforesaid Keith Ligon, MD, PhD, co-senior author of the report and an investigator at the Center for Molecular Oncologic Pathology at Dana-Farber and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.


Co-senior writer, David Rowitch, MD, PhD, currently a professor of pediatrics and neurosurgery at UCSF and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute tec, commented that mouse experiments shed light on how normal shank cells -- cells with the might to make all types of cells in the brain -- can be transformed into tumors. The transformation occurs when a cell-signaling nerve pathway known as Sonic porcupine (named for a sketch character) is reactivated by a hazard mutation.


Sonic porcupine plays an important persona during the embryonic development of the brain, but normally shuts down when it's no longer needed. When turned on over again by a mutation, the signals canful trigger cell processes leading to tumors -- non just in the psyche, but in other organs as well.


Medulloblastomas, usually diagnosed in children between 2 and 5 years of age, strike the brain's cerebellum region, which is involved in controlling body movements. They make up about 30 percent of childhood brain tumors, and account for 250 to 300 new cases per year.


With current treatments, some 60 to 70 percentage of patients live at least basketball team years, only often they are left with cognitive disabilities from surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, urgently suggesting a need for new, more-selective therapies.


"Medulloblastoma was one of the first tumors that was believed to fit the hypothesis that tumors ar caused by 'cancer shank cells' that initiate malignancies and nurture them," aforesaid Ligon, world Health Organization is also on faculty and an assistant prof at Harvard Medical School. "But the prevailing theory -- that medulloblastomas originate from non-stem cells just did

Wednesday, 6 August 2008

Jenifer

Jenifer   
Artist: Jenifer

   Genre(s): 
Rock
   



Discography:


Lunatique   
 Lunatique

   Year: 2007   
Tracks: 13




 





Agathocles

In Vietnam, Alongside Progress, A Battle For Life With The Programme Of Action For Cancer Therapy

�Behind the elegant French colonial-style exterior of the National Cancer Hospital in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, a battle is raging. In the hospital�s crowded wards, treatment rooms and corridors, doctors are struggling against a powerful and subtle enemy: genus Cancer. And right-hand now the disease is winning.



Each year in this country of 84 zillion as many as 75,000 people die of cancer and another 150,000 young cases are diagnosed. Figures are expected to rise a further 25 per centum by 2020. Among the reasons: environmental pollution, ever-changing lifestyles and diets, and increased longevity.



Health Care Only for Some



But Vietnam�s wellness system is ill-equipped to meet the demands. "We lack the capacity," says Dr. Tran Van Thuan, Vice Director of the National Cancer Hospital. "Right now we have simply two cancer centres; one in Hanoi in the north and one in Ho Chi Minh City in the south. This means we can fulfil only 10% of the country�s malignant neoplastic disease needs."



At the same time, low cancer awareness results in around 80% of patients quest help only when the disease is at an advanced stage and consequently difficult to treat. This is particularly true in rural areas where health education is lacking and, for most people, medical check-ups are an unaffordable luxury.



Nguyen Thi Xuong, 50, a james Leonard Farmer from Ha Tinh responsibility, about 450 kilometers south of Hanoi, first felt a lump in her breast in 2006. "It wasn't painful, so I didn't think it was anything good. Anyway, I didn't get any health insurance," Xuong recalls. "I just hoped it would go away."



It didn't. Eighteen months later on, when the lump had reached the size of a plum, Xuong borrowed money and started a cancer travel which concluded at the National Cancer Hospital. The diagnosis: advanced breast cancer. The discussion: radical mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy, and then 25 fractions of irradiation spread over five weeks.



Women Most at Risk



Breast genus Cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women in Vietnam. In Hanoi, it strikes 30 women in every hundred,000. Yet with early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, breast malignant neoplastic disease is curable.



At the hospital, Xuong met many breast cancer patients like herself. Wearing brightly coloured scarves over their sparse hair - the result of chemotherapy - they sit around around the hospital in small groups, whiling away the time until their next irradiation session. Most have taken loans to pay the patient's contribution towards their treatment, so they live frugally - buying nutrient from sellers outside the hospital gates and quiescence on day-beds in the corridors. Like Xuong, many are far from home and haven't seen family or friends in months.



Enlisting Partners in the Fight



Radiotherapy is a powerful puppet in the treatment of breast cancer. It tush shrink tumours, kill off stray cancer cells, and enhance survival in advanced cases. But with only 22 irradiation machines nationwide, Vietnam falls parlously below the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation of one machine per million people. That�s wherefore the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has stepped up efforts to help Vietnam expand its radiation medicine electrical capacity and check the secure, effective enjoyment of the technology.


The IAEA's Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) designated Vietnam as one of its six-spot pilot project countries, or PACT Model Demonstration Sites (PMDS). Last year, PACT negotiated the donation by India of a Bhabhatron II teletherapy machine to the Oncology Hospital in the southerly city of Can Tho, which presently has no radiation medicine infrastructure at all. At the root of July, a PACT officer was in Vietnam, together with an adept from India, to prepare for the installation of the machine.



At the same time, together with the WHO and other international partners, PACT is portion the Vietnamese Ministry of Health to develop and implement an ambitious cancer control program, which aims to reduce cancer incidence and mortality rate, and better quality of life for cancer patients.



"Partnering with other leading crab organisations from around the world and our first-class collaboration with the Vietnamese authorities have been vital elements to our help to Vietnam," says Dan Malin, PACT�s Programme Officer for the Vietnam PMDS. "We believe that only a united, comprehensive exploit covering all aspects of cancer care and controller can be truly in effect in fight this frightful disease."



Already that effort is paying dividends. Doctors say cancer consciousness in urban areas is slowly ontogeny, resulting in greater numbers of people coming to the National Cancer Hospital. Today, its radiotherapy machines are in use from four in the morn until midnight, its doctors are overworked, and out-patients like Xuong must induce by as best they can. Still, no one expects the battle against cancer to be easy. All, on the other hand, ar confident that one day it will be won.





Source:

Angela Leuker

International Atomic Energy Agency


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Skyclad

Skyclad   
Artist: Skyclad

   Genre(s): 
Metal
   Folk: Folk-Rock
   Metal: Heavy
   Metal: Thrash
   Rock
   Metal: Progressive
   



Discography:


A Semblance Of Normality   
 A Semblance Of Normality

   Year: 2004   
Tracks: 13


No Daylights Nor Heeltaps   
 No Daylights Nor Heeltaps

   Year: 2002   
Tracks: 10


Another Fine Mess   
 Another Fine Mess

   Year: 2001   
Tracks: 12


Folkemon   
 Folkemon

   Year: 2000   
Tracks: 11


Vintage Whine   
 Vintage Whine

   Year: 1999   
Tracks: 11


The Answer Machine?   
 The Answer Machine?

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 13


Oui Avant-Garde A Chance   
 Oui Avant-Garde A Chance

   Year: 1997   
Tracks: 12


Irrational Anthems   
 Irrational Anthems

   Year: 1996   
Tracks: 13


The Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea   
 The Silent Whales Of Lunar Sea

   Year: 1995   
Tracks: 12


Prince Of The Poverty Line   
 Prince Of The Poverty Line

   Year: 1994   
Tracks: 11


Jona's ark   
 Jona's ark

   Year: 1993   
Tracks: 11


Tracks From The Wilderness   
 Tracks From The Wilderness

   Year: 1992   
Tracks: 6


A Burnt Offering For The Bone Idol   
 A Burnt Offering For The Bone Idol

   Year: 1992   
Tracks: 11


The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth   
 The Wayward Sons Of Mother Earth

   Year: 1991   
Tracks: 10




Based in Newcastle, England, the social reformer thresh around metallic element circle Skyclad was founded in 1990 by vocalist Martin Walkyier, world Health Organization left hand field his previous band, Sabbat, later on an argument with guitar player Andy Sneap. Walkyier added deuce one-time members of Pariah -- guitarist Steve Ramsey and bassist Graeme English -- as well as second guitarist Dave Pugh and drummer Keith Baxter. The band signed to the German Noise International label and recorded Perverse Sons of Mother Earth for a 1991 release. After touring with Overkill and adding violinist/keyboardist Fritha Jenkins, Skyclad recorded A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol in 1992 and Jonah's Ark the following year. Continuing their acquittance of an album each year through and through the mid-'90s, the mathematical group issued Prince of the Poverty Line in 1994, with Cath Howell replacement Jenkins. Howell was in call on replaced by Georgina Biddle for 1995's The Silent Whales of Lunar Sea, later on which Baxter and Pugh left the group. Irrational Anthems and Oui Avant-Garde a Chance followed in 1996, both with studio drummers, and both later on reissued by Century Media; The Answer Machine continued the band's fecund recording docket in 1997. Permanent replacements for Pugh and Baxter at long last signed on in 1998 in the deadly of drummer Jay Graham and guitarist Keith Ridley, world Health Organization debuted on 1999's Vintage Whine. The punningly highborn Folkemon appeared in Europe in 2000 and the U.S. in early 2001, marking the band's first offer for Nuclear Blast.






Thursday, 3 July 2008

UK Says Martha's a Bad Thing

The Red Coats want nothing to do with Martha Stewart!

The domestic goddess has been turned down for a visa to enter Britain because of her rap sheet. She was reportedly set to tour several areas of the country, as well as tour the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

Stewart spent five months in a federal prison in 2004 after she was convicted of conspiracy and lying to the Feds.

Her rep told the Daily Telegraph "Martha loves England and hopes this can be resolved and that she will be able to visit soon."



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Boy George - Boy George To Thank Cash-strapped Fans With Charity Show


BOY GEORGE is considering turning his return to America into a charity show - so he can pay back two fans who spent $10,000 (GBP5,000) on a concert that won't take place.

The former Culture Club star has been forced to scrap his summer shows in the states after being denied a U.S. visa due to a pending legal wrangle.

And although he feels terrible about the news, he's more upset about the fans who have already purchased tickets and plane fares.

In an online chat with celebrity blogger Perez Hilton, he says, "There's fans that have spent thousands of pounds (dollars) on tickets and that's really sad.

"There's a couple of fans who have spent, like, $10,000 and they're not gonna get it back.

"We'll have to do something to help them; we'll have a charity night or something."

George, real name George O'Dowd, hopes to return to America in 2009 once his pending litigation has been resolved.





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Britney Not Charged For Running Over Foot






Britney Spears has had a lucky streak - she's gotten off scot-free from being charged for allegedly running over a photographer's foot last year.

The photographer in question did not file the claim against Britney until six months after the incident. Prosecutors ruled that the only way his foot could have been where the video evidence indicated was that if he had put it there himself.

According to District Attorney Joseph Shidler, Britney's car was surrounded by paparazzi at the time of the incident, and a voice on the video footage told Spears to back up.

"We have no evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the suspect was aware that the victim's foot had been struck by the car," Shidler said.

"There was much commotion and noise at the time and there is no proof that [Spears] was aware of what had happened."

Britney arrived in her family's home-town in Kentwood, Louisiana earlier today for the birth of her sister Jamie-Lynn's baby.







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