Platinum-based agents not superior to standard chemotherapy

Commonly known as the breast cancer genes, the BRCA gene family plays a role in repairing damaged DNA. Inherited mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 raise the risk of developing breast, ovarian, prostate and other cancers. Led by clinician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), a first-of-its-kind study provided new evidence about the optimal way to treat patients who carry BRCA mutations—also known as BRCA carriers—who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. The new data come from the INFORM trial, the results of which appeared in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
Read More

Study shows low carb diet may prevent, reverse age-related effects within the brain

A study using neuroimaging led by Stony Brook University professor and lead author Lilianne R. Mujica-Parodi, Ph.D., and published in PNAS, reveals that neurobiological changes associated with aging can be seen at a much younger age than would be expected, in the late 40s. However, the study also suggests that this process may be prevented or reversed based on dietary changes that involve minimizing the consumption of simple carbohydrates.
Read More

New next-generation sequencing technique dramatically shortens diagnosis of sepsis

A report in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, published by Elsevier, describes a new technique that uses real-time next-generation sequencing (NGS) to analyze tiny amounts of microbial cell-free DNA in the plasma of patients with sepsis, offering the possibility of accurate diagnosis of sepsis-causing agents within a few hours of drawing blood. Current diagnostic tests are neither fast nor specific enough to provide timely, critically important information.
Read More

Colorectal cancer burden shifting to younger individuals

The burden of colorectal cancer is swiftly shifting to younger individuals as incidence increases in young adults and declines in older age groups, according to the latest edition of Colorectal Cancer Statistics 2020, a publication of the American Cancer Society. A sign of the shift: the median age of diagnosis has dropped from age 72 in the late 1980s to 66 during 2015-2016; in other words, half of all new diagnoses are now in people 66 or younger.
Read More