- Researchers from Harvard University developed an experimental vaccine to start a new generation of cancer vaccines, tumor cell-based vaccines, that would make cancer fight cancer. The researchers modified cancer cells to “produce agents that kill tumors and to form other proteins that help the body develop immunity against the cancer.” Clinical trials of this vaccine could follow in several years. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine.
- A typical protocol for patients with colon cancer removed surgically automatically includes chemotherapy after surgery, but it is hard to tell beforehand whether a patient would benefit from it. A positive blood test, otherwise called ‘liquid biopsy” or ctDNA, reveals if there are residual cancer cells in the body. The study conducted by researchers in Japan showed that patients with positive tests might be at a very high risk of cancer recurrence and thus would need post-surgical chemotherapy treatment. Conversely, patients with negative tests may safely not be treated by chemotherapy and avoid its potential hurdles and adverse effects. The study was published in Nature Medicine.
- Researchers from more than a dozen countries conducted a multicenter trial on the use of the oral drug futibatinib for bile duct cancers (cholangiocarcinoma and gall bladder cancer) for which the survival outlook is very poor and found that the drug was superior to chemotherapy and extended the life of patients with advanced bile duct cancers who participated in the trial for up to 2 years. Treatment with this drug is a precision or personalized therapy as it targets a specific genetic mutation in a group of genes known as fibroblast growth factor receptors (FGFR). Patients with bile duct cancer should undergo molecular testing to benefit from this drug. The results were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.
- Researchers from Israel have produced a peptide that prevented secondary breast cancer in mice with a 90 percent success rate. The scientists hope that their research will prevent cancer metastasis in humans and can be translated to other types of cancer. The study was published in Oncogene.
- A new in vitro and animal study by researchers at The Ohio State University reported a way to re-energize critical killer immune cells when they become dysfunctional while fighting cancer or chronic viral infections. The results were reported in Nature Immunology.
- Researchers from India conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare turmeric mouthwash to benzydamine mouthwash for oral mucositis. The study involving 92 patients found that turmeric mouthwash could reduce the severity of oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiation therapy. The study was published in Cancer Nursing.
Author Archives: Marina
Low-Protein Diet for Colon Cancer, Algorithm for Radiation Therapy Scheduling Drastically Boosts its Efficacy and More
- Researchers from the University of Michigan found, in preclinical studies, that a low-protein diet blocked the nutrient signaling pathway that drove colon cancer growth. “A low-protein diet, and specifically a reduction in two key amino acids” starved cancer cells and helped overcome treatment resistance Results of the study were published in Gastroenterology.
- Researchers from the University of Missouri discovered that nicotinamide, or niacinamide, a form of vitamin B3, might increase breast cancer and brain metastasis risk. It is contrary to the results of earlier research that showed multiple health benefits of taking the supplement. The study was published in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.
- New animal research on squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), a skin cancer linked to RAS gene mutations, found that cancer development was driven by the interaction and mutual influence of tumor stem cells and their environment. The study further discovered a surprising for SCC connection to leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells. The findings of this study go beyond the studied cancer type and give an insight into cancer biology that may result in developing new ways of treating cancer. The study was published in Nature.
- Canadian researchers used mathematics to devise an algorithm for scheduling radiation therapy that could make it up to 22 percent more effective at killing cancer cells than existing standard radiation treatment regimens. The algorithm needs to be tested in clinical studies. The work was published in Journal of Mathematical Biology.
- Scientists from Germany discovered the reason for the previously observed phenomenon where metastatic growth only appeared after the surgical removal of the original tumor. They conducted an animal study and, in the cancer cells, identified a messenger substance (ANGPLT4) that promoted the local growth of the primary tumor. In the blood, ANGPLT4 split into two fragments, one of which suppressed metastasis. Surgical removal of the primary tumor disables the source of the metastasis-suppressing fragment, thus activating individual dormant metastatic tumor cells. While surgery remains the gold standard in treating most cancers, further study of ANGPLT4 may pave the way to developing new metastasis-suppressing drugs. The study was published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Using Online Search Function to Get Book Citations to EndNote
It’s easy to bring the citation of a book into EndNote using EndNote’s Online Search function. This feature is best used for finding specific citations, not for doing literature searches.
Manual Entry
If you have a book at your disposal, you can manually create a record for it. It is the least effective but still an acceptable way of capturing the book information for your EndNote Library. To do that, on the top Menu in EndNote click References>New Reference and choose the right template for a Book, Edited book, Electronic Book, etc.
Still, manually creating a book record is not efficient – inevitably you will miss some bibliographic elements.
EndNote Online Search
Whether or not you have a book at your disposal you can use the same process for obtaining a good quality record of that book. EndNote’s Online Search will bring in the entire book record from the library catalog.
The best source to obtain a medical/biology book record would be NLM (the National Library of Medicine) and the best source for other books, especially in humanities, social sciences, fiction, etc., would be LC (Library of Congress).
To use this function, click on the plus sign next to Online Search link on the bottom of the left hand dark blue pane in your EndNote Library (also available under Tools on the top menu). It will open a Choose a Connection box with the alphabetical list of databases and library catalogs.
Select the catalog you would like to use: Library of Congress, National Library of Medicine and British Library are among the largest book collections. Once you make your selection click Choose and your selected catalog will appear under Online Search. EndNote will remember your selection and will stay under Online Search.
Enter your search terms in the drop down boxes of the search interface in the middle pane of your EndNote Library and click Search.
You will see multiple editions of the book you’re searching appearing under search boxes. Select the one you want to have in your EndNote Library and click the plus sign in the top right corner just above the search results.
EndNote Online Search can be used to find not just books but most other formats available via databases. But it is not an efficient tool for quality literature searching. It is recommended to use, especially when searching databases of biomedical literature, direct Export of references from a database to EndNote to ensure better quality of search.
Takeaways:
– Online Search in Endnote is an efficient tool for finding good quality book records
– Book records can be created manually in Endnote but this method does not ensure good quality of the created reference
– Online Search in Endnote can be used to find not just books, but also articles, yet it is not an efficient tool for finding journal literature; instead Direct Export from a journal literature database to Endnote is recommended in most cases