- Researchers from the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center identified a new way to trigger programmed cell death related to CD95 receptors. These protein receptors, also called Fas, are located on cell membranes and are instrumental in causing cell self-destruction. The research on new ways to trigger programmed cell death of tumor cells can lead to improved cancer treatments. The study was published in Cell Death & Differentiation.
- In a preclinical study, researchers developed a new treatment for medulloblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer affecting mostly children. Researchers administered drug-carrying nanoparticles directly into the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), thus overcoming existing challenges in delivering drugs in the CSF. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine.
- U.S. researchers discovered the mechanism of how breast cancer cells may metastasize. The researchers showed that a motor protein, dynein, facilitated the movement of cancer cells in soft tissue models. This research paves the way for discovering new clinical targets against metastasis and has great potential for cancer treatment. The study was published in Advanced Science.
- An international group of researchers is offering a “noninvasive alternative to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved using targeted ultrasound waves, a technology called histotripsy, to fight cancer. The most recent study related to this research was published in Frontiers in Immunology.
Author Archives: Marina
Common Errors in PubMed Searches
To err is human, and that includes when we search databases. And while there is always a possibility of typos and errors in searches, the chance of errors increases with the complexity and length of search strategy used.
Most databases, including Pubmed, have mechanisms of alerting a searcher of certain errors found within a search by providing “warnings”, but unfortunately not all typos cause a functional error, and in those instances the database will not provide a warning and the user may end up with unintended search results.
Functional Errors in PubMed
Functional errors in PubMed trigger a warning, as they impede in the function of the database to conduct the search as written.
Quoted phrase not found in phrase index
Not all phrases (string of words you enclose in double quotes) can be found in PubMed due to how PubMed indexes phrases.
“progenitor cell transplantation”
The easiest solution to this error is remove the double quotes, however this can lead to unintended results if you are not careful. There are several things to keep in mind if you simply remove the quotation marks.
- If you remove double quotes from a phrase not found, but are using a specific field code, the search would be broadened by implying that there are Boolean operator AND in between each word, but the field code prevents PubMed from automatically mapping.
“progenitor cell transplantation”[tiab] → progenitor cell transplantation[tiab]
- If you remove double quotes from a phrase not found, but are not using any field codes at the end of your phrase, the automatic translation by PubMed would become much broader than intended as it will add additional mapping to MeSH terms and word variations for each separate term.
“progenitor cell transplantation” → progenitor AND cell AND transplantation
PubMed recommends using proximity searching to fix this error. Proximity searching is a newer feature in PubMed that allows the user to control how close terms are to one another. In the example below it would only retrieve results in which all 3 terms were found within 3 words of one another.
“progenitor cell transplantation”[tiab:~3]
The last and most extreme solution to this functional error is to switch to a database that does not restrict phrase searching, such as Embase.
The asterisk in your search was ignored
If you are using an asterisk as a wildcard (truncation) in a search strategy, you must use 4 or more characters.
The easiest way to fix this error is simply lengthen the root word to at least 4 characters to truncate and include all possible endings.
The following term(s) were ignored:
This error is usually caused by a typo where something in your search is unbalanced or unpaired, including parentheses, quotation marks, and duplicate boolean operators.
If you are unable to quickly locate where the issue is, go to Advanced Search and click on the ! under details. This will expand out your entire search strategy and highlight where the error is located.
Common Search Typos
Since these are typos, they often do not trigger a warning within PubMed so it’s important to carefully check your search strategy to make sure everything is correct.
Boolean Operators
Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT) must be fully capitalized. If they are not capitalized or only the first letter is capitalized, the search translates it as a term and not a Boolean operator, meaning Or would find the word Or in the record but would not OR together two terms.
If a Boolean operator is omitted PubMed will automatically insert the AND operator. Since AND and OR produce significantly different results, an unintended AND where the search needs an OR would cause a serious alteration in the results, but since it is a legitimate search technique, there would be no warning from PubMed.
Antioxidants Promoting Cancer Growth, A First-In-Class Targeted microRNA Therapy and More
- New research by scientists at Vanderbilt and Cornell universities demonstrated that cancer-killing immune system T cells become dysfunctional or “exhausted” within hours of encountering a tumor, significantly reducing the effect of immunotherapy. The challenge now becomes to identify targets that could prevent or reverse it. So far, the researchers have identified biomarkers that allow them to predict whether T cells will respond to a tumor or not, which is helpful for personalizing immunotherapies. The study was published in Nature Immunology.
- A recent study discovered that two new genes, NEK2 and INHBA, cause resistance to chemotherapy in head and neck cancer patients and that “silencing either gene can make cancer cells previously unresponsive to chemotherapy subsequently respond to it.” These two genes also play role in other cancers, so these findings can potentially expand to managing different cancer types. The study is published in Molecular Cancer.
- A new study found that antioxidants such as vitamins C and E can promote cancer growth and metastasizing by stimulating the development of new blood vessels in tumors, boosting their growth and spread. This new finding warrants caution in taking antioxidant supplements without true medical necessity. The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
- A new cancer therapy has been introduced by Purdue University researchers. “A first in class” targeted microRNA therapy that slows tumor growth was reported in an article published in Oncogene.
- A randomized trial demonstrated that Artificial Intelligence-enabled breast cancer mammography screening was more effective than the standard reading by two experienced radiologists. The study was published in Lancet Oncology. At the same time, two other studies published in the Annals of Internal Medicine showed that AI didn’t improve the detection of advanced adenomas leading to colorectal cancer. Thus, it remains unclear whether AI use could reduce the incidence of colon cancer. The first study is a randomized trial, and the second one is a systematic review and meta-analysis.
- Two recent studies evaluated Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbox responses to cancer related searches on the World Wide Web. The first study found that chatbox responses were of high quality but had some limitations. The second study found that a chatbot’s responses on cancer treatments were inconsistent with recommendations in National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines.