May 6th, 2010 by David H. Gorski, M.D., Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Quackery Exposed, Research, True Stories
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[Recently] I participated in a panel discussion at the Northeast Conference of Science and Skepticism (NECSS) with John Snyder, Kimball Atwood, and Steve Novella, who also reported on the conference. What I mentioned to some of the attendees is that I had managed to combine NECSS with a yearly ritual that I seldom miss, namely the yearly meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting.
There are two huge cancer meetings every year — AACR and the annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO). AACR is the meeting dedicated to basic and translational research. ASCO, as the word “clinical” in its name implies, is devoted mainly to clinical research.
Personally, being a translational researcher myself and a surgeon, I tend to prefer the AACR meeting over ASCO, not because ASCO isn’t valuable, but mainly because ASCO tends to be devoted mostly to medical oncology and chemotherapy, which are not what I do as a surgeon. Each meeting draws between 10,000 to 15,000 or even more clinicians and researchers dedicated to the eradication of cancer. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Science-Based Medicine*
April 22nd, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Research
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I recently come across Scitable, a Nature Education initiative, that aims to bring together a library of scientific overviews with a worldwide community of scientists, researchers, teachers and students. From Scitable:
[Scitable is] a free science library and personal learning tool brought to you by Nature Publishing Group, the world’s leading publisher of science. Scitable currently concentrates on genetics, the study of evolution, variation, and the rich complexity of living organisms.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
April 7th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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It was just time to end the era of gene patents. About 20 percent of human genes have patents, which is unacceptable. Here’s an excerpt from the New York Times story:
A federal judge on Monday struck down patents on two genes linked to breast and ovarian cancer. The decision, if upheld, could throw into doubt the patents covering thousands of human genes and reshape the law of intellectual property.
One of the individual plaintiffs in the suit, Genae Girard, who has breast cancer and has been tested for ovarian cancer, applauded the decision as “a big turning point for all women in the country that may have breast cancer that runs in their family.”
Chris Hansen, an A.C.L.U. staff lawyer, said: “The human genome, like the structure of blood, air or water, was discovered, not created. There is an endless amount of information on genes that begs for further discovery, and gene patents put up unacceptable barriers to the free exchange of ideas.”
I’m curious how Myriad will respond to it.
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
March 30th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News, Research
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While gene therapy has always seemed just on the verge of being right around the corner, the limitation has always been delivery of the gene. How do you get the new gene to the right cells and activated?
An in-vivo mice study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) may take us closer to a usable delivery system. Rui Maeda-Mamiya of the University of Tokyo and others were able to get diabetic mice to increase their insulin levels after delivery of a insulin 2 gene by a water-soluble fullerene. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
March 25th, 2010 by Berci in Better Health Network, Opinion, Research
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As I’m doing my PhD in clinical genomics, I’m really interested in the connection between the Internet and medicine. I was happy when Pathway Genomics, one of the newest direct-to-consumer genetic companies, offered me a free genetic test.
After an interview I did with them, I sent my saliva sample back and 3-4 weeks later, I received an email that my results were ready. This is my experience and the things I found interesting. As I got a free test from Navigenics a year ago, I plan to compare these services. I was very interested in the service of Pathway Genomics because of what they analyze:
1) Sampling: It was quite an easy process with only a few papers to fill (though it’s always hard to solve FedEX issues from Europe) and clear instructions. A video about a patient showing the whole process in 1-2 minutes, including saliva collection and filling out the paperwork, would be useful.
2) Preparations: I liked that I had to complete a questionnaire focusing on my lifestyle and patient history (Your Environment and Lifestyle, The Shape You’re In, and You and Your Family). As family history is the best genetic test out there, so it’s important to use that data while analyzing genetic results. Though, I couldn’t calculate my BMI (couldn’t use kg and centimeter) and the family history application wasn’t working for me. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
