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Enhancement Of Pancreatic Cancer On Dynamic CT: Does It Correlate With Angiogenesis And Fibrosis?
Prognosis of pancreatic cancer is poor. Recently, it has been discovered that the grade of tumor angiogenesis is a useful prognostic marker in human cancer, including pancreatic cancer. To establish the grade of tumor angiogenesis by non-invasive imaging may be important clinically. However, there are only a few such reports on pancreatic cancer.
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Statistics Show Drop In Births, Lower Demand For Infertility Services During Recession
More people in the Atlanta area and across the U.S. are delaying pregnancy in a possible reaction to the current economic recession, leading to a decline in the number of couples seeking infertility treatments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to the Journal-Constitution, 13 states saw a decrease in the number of recorded births in 2008 compared with 2007. The Georgia Hospital Association reports that there were 5,352 fewer recorded births in Georgia in 2008 than in 2007. Mark Perloe of Georgia Reproductive Specialists said there has been a 20% decline in the number of people seeking infertility services. To retain business during the economic downturn, Perloe said Georgia Reproductive Specialists is offering a discount on select services of as much as 70%.Elisabeth Burgess, a Georgia State University sociology professor who focuses on families, said, "In times of economic downturns, different people react in different ways." For some people, "[f]amily becomes more important, so you might decide to have a child." The Journal-Constitution reports that one cycle of treatment can cost $15,000 or more, which some people pay for through credit, retirement savings or home equity loans. Evelina Sterling, co-author of a book on budgeting finances for infertility treatments, said that 70% of infertility patients cover the costs of the treatments completely out of pocket. She added that some older infertility patients "can"t wait on" the economy to recover to start a family.Carol Hogue, a professor of maternal and child health at Emory University, said there has been a "very predictable" pattern of reduced births during periods of economic recessions dating back to the Great Depression. The Journal-Constitution reports that some people delay planned pregnancy because of concerns over job security, health insurance, income and the cost of raising a child. Statistics from USDA show that the average middle-class family will pay $11,000 to raise a child in the first year, with the largest portion of that cost going to child care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reported in 2007 -- the latest year for which data are available -- that prenatal care and routine delivery costs about $7,600 after insurance (Cash, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/24).
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$1.25 Million Awarded To Prostate Cancer Research
New treatments to ease or even cure the most common cancer affecting Australian men are a step closer to reality with a $1.25 million grant awarded to QUT prostate cancer researcher Professor Colleen Nelson today.
Oncology

Therapeutic Contact Lenses And Patients' Own Stem Cells Used To Rehabilitate Damaged Eye Surfaces

In a world-first breakthrough, University of New South Wales (UNSW) medical researchers have used stem cells cultured on a simple contact lens to restore sight to sufferers of blinding corneal disease. Sight was significantly improved within weeks of the procedure, which is simple, inexpensive and requires a minimal hospital stay. The research team from UNSW"s School of Medical Sciences harvested stem cells from patients" own eyes to rehabilitate the damaged cornea. The stem cells were cultured on a common therapeutic contact lens which was then placed onto the damaged cornea for 10 days, during which the cells were able to re-colonise the damaged eye surface. While the novel procedure was used to rehabilitate damaged corneas, the researchers say it offers hope to people with a range of blinding eye conditions and could have applications in other organs. A paper detailing the breakthrough appears in the high-impact journal Transplantation this week. The trial was conducted on three patients; two with extensive corneal damage resulting from multiple surgeries to remove ocular melanomas, and one with the genetic eye condition aniridia. Other causes of cornea damage can include chemical or thermal burns, bacterial infection and chemotherapy. "The procedure is totally simple and cheap," said lead author of the study, UNSW"s Dr Nick Di Girolamo. "Unlike other techniques, it requires no foreign human or animal products, only the patient"s own serum, and is completely non-invasive. "There"s no suturing, there is no major operation: all that"s involved is harvesting a minute amount - less than a millimeter - of tissue from the ocular surface," Dr Di Girolamo said. "If you"re going to be treating these sorts of diseases in third world countries all you need is the surgeon and a lab for cell culture. You don"t need any fancy equipment." Because the procedure uses the patient"s own stem cells harvested from their eye, it is ideal for sufferers of unilateral eye disease. However, it also works in patients who have had both eyes damaged, Dr Di Girolamo said. "One of our patients had aniridia, a congenital condition affecting both eyes. In that case, instead of taking the stem cells from the other cornea, we took them from another part of the eye altogether - the conjunctiva - which also harbours stem cells. "The stem cells were able to change from the conjunctival phenotype to a corneal phenotype after we put them onto the cornea. That"s the beauty of stem cells," Dr Di Girolamo said. The therapeutic contact lens used in the trial was of a type commonly used worldwide after ocular surface surgery. However, of the several brands on the market, only one was suitable for growing the stem cells. "We don"t know why. It"s probably to do with the components the manufacturers have used in that particular lens," Dr Di Girolamo said. The researchers are hopeful the technique can be adapted for use in other parts of the eye, such as the retina, and even in other organs. "If we can do this procedure in the eye, I don"t see why it wouldn"t work in other major organs such as the skin, which behaves in a very similar way to the cornea," Dr Di Girolamo said. Dr Di Girolamo"s team included UNSW medical scientists Professor Denis Wakefield and Dr Stephanie Watson. Steve Offner University of New South Wales


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