Innovative Partnership Targets Cancer-Causing ‘Chaperones’

Cancer Research Technology (CRT) and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) announced a major research collaboration with AstraZeneca. The three partners will combine their expertise to discover and develop potential new anti-cancer drugs to target molecular ‘chaperones’ which support the growth of cancer cells.

As part of the deal, AstraZeneca will contribute more than £4 million to the three-year project. The ICR will lead the scientific work utilising £1.6 million in funding from Cancer Research UK, who supported the original laboratory-based discovery on which this work will now build.

Strategies To Assist Parents Manage Children’s Worries Over The H1N1 Flu (Swine Flu)

Acknowledging children’s concerns and reinforcing children’s coping are two key strategies to assist parents in managing their children’s worries over the H1N1 flu (swine flu), reports the Australian Psychological Society (APS).

Professor Bob Montgomery, President of the APS says, “At this stage, many children are aware of the threat of the flu outbreak from conversations amongst peers, the local community, from overhearing adult conversations, or from daily updates in the media. Parents have an important role to play not only in helping their children to understand and follow the Government health warnings and advice, but also to help calm their children by acknowledging their concerns and by reinforcing their children’s coping. Worries and anxieties about threats such as swine flu can become difficult for children of all ages to deal with”.

Rosiglitazone For Type 2 Diabetes Does Not Increase Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease Or Death But Increases Heart Failure And Fractures In Women

Using rosiglitazone (Avandia) in combination with standard diabetes treatments (metformin or a sulfonylurea) to lower blood glucose in type 2 diabetics does not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease or death. However, the study confirms that using rosiglitazone more than doubles the risks of heart failure, and also increases the risk of fractures, mainly in women. The findings of the RECORD study are published in an Article Online First and in an upcoming edition of

BMA Welcomes Call For Transparency On Cost Of NHS Management Consultants

The BMA on Thursday welcomed the Health Select Committee’s call for the government to gather central information on the cost to the NHS of private management consultants.

In a speech on Wednesday, the chairman of the BMA’s Consultants Committee, Dr Jonathan Fielden, called for private management consultants to be “ditched” from the NHS. According to a recent estimate, the English NHS spent £350 million on independent management consultants last year.

Ameritas Group Offers Oral Cancer Screening

“Ameritas believes strongly in the importance of preventive care and oral wellness education,” said Roxann Brennfoerder, vice president – group customer relations and operations. Using new technology along with conventional visual exams, this simple screening makes it easier for dentists to detect oral cancer sooner, allowing patients to seek treatment sooner.

Early detection is one of the keys to successful treatment for patients with oral cancer. In fact, according to the American Cancer Society (oral cancer in the United States, 2008 estimates), when oral cancer is found in its earliest stages, the five-year survival rate exceeds 80 percent.

Food Retailers Need To Prove Commitment To Health, Says British Heart Foundation

In response to the report ‘A Commitment to Health’ published by the British Retail Consortium Alex Callaghan, Policy Officer at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) said:

“Whilst food retailers have made some efforts to help consumers make healthy choices, on the key issue of food labelling, they are still resisting change.

“If retailers want to prove their commitment to people’s health they should bring in food labelling model which combines traffic light colours, GDAs and the words high, medium and low.

Westminster Kingsway College Launches New Access To Higher Education Programme In Pharmacy And Biomedical Sciences

Westminster Kingsway College has launched a new Access to Higher Education programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at its new King’s Cross Centre in central London. The College is already a leading provider of Access to Higher Education courses in London as well as specialising in courses for Pharmacy Technicians in conjunction with the University of London’s School of Pharmacy and Birkbeck College.

The new Access programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences will be focussing on those who are looking to progress to university courses in Pharmacy or Biomedical Sciences and the course has been developed in partnership with the School of Pharmacy at the University of London. Candidates will need to have some aptitude for science and maths already and it is preferable that they have been working in a medical or healthcare environment but they may have been out of education for some time or be looking to change their career.

Advanced Image Analysis Can Provide Better Risk Assessment In Hardening Of The Arteries

Ultrasound examination of the carotid artery is a patient-friendly and inexpensive method for assessing atherosclerosis and thereby predicting the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Peter Holdfeldt, who recently defended his doctoral thesis at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has developed new analytical methods for ultrasound images that can provide more reliable and more exact assessments of atherosclerosis.

Cardiovascular diseases brought on by hardening of the arteries are the most common cause of death in the Western world. Hardening of the arteries means a thickening of the walls of blood vessels and the appearance of so-called atherosclerotic plaque, which consist of stored fat, among other things.

New Anesthesia Technique Lets Patients Cooperate During Carotid Surgery

Can a patient be awake and communicating with the anesthesiologist and surgeon during general anesthesia? With a new “cooperative patient” anesthesia technique, the answer is yes, according to a study in the June issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).

An Italian research team, led by Dr. Sergio Bevilacqua of Ospedaliera Universitaria Careggi, Florence, report on the use of their “cooperative patient general anesthesia” technique in 181 patients undergoing carotid artery surgery (endarterectomy) for stroke prevention. The patients received conventional general anesthesia up to the time that the carotid artery was clamped, as must be done so that the surgeon can repair it.

Jellyfish Shed Fluorescent Light On How The Brain Works

New research offers prospect of watching the brain as it learns. Scientists at the University of Leicester are developing new ways of studying how brain cells work -thanks to jellyfish!

Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Leicester, Nicholas Hartell, is leading a research group examining the connections between brain cells, called synapses.

And thanks to fluorescent protein sensors derived from proteins originally discovered in jellyfish, the researchers can watch synapses as they transmit and store information.