- MSK has partnered with IBM to introduce a new Skin Cancer Detection System. The system can categorize images of skin lesions into those that are melanoma, atypical and benign groups. Tests found the system 95% accurate in detecting cancerous lesions as compared to the accuracy of doctors which is 75 – 84%.
- A study carried out at MSK in which the drug AG-221 was given to patients with acute myeloid leukemia achieved an overall response rate of 56%. 15 patients reached complete remission and 10 reached partial remission and the response is ongoing. The study’s lead investigator, Dr. Eytan M. Stein, stated that the medication “has the potential to transform treatment of leukemia.”
- A review co-authored by MSK’s Dr. Babak J. Mehrara, a plastic surgeon, found that less than 40% of U.S. women who have mastectomies opt for immediate reconstruction. Some of the reasons include fear of complications and fear that immediate reconstruction will postpone the initiation of chemotherapy. Another concern is that reconstruction can heighten the risk of recurrence. In reality, reconstruction can improve the quality of life for some women.
Category Archives: In the News
Tamoxifen, Smokeless Tobacco, Vocal-Cord Cancer and More…
Here are a few highlights of cancer research news that have recently caught my attention:
- The latest study concerning Tamoxifen and breast cancer prevention demonstrates mixed results. Findings were published in the Lancet Oncology.
- The Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute have released the first report on the use of smokeless tobacco at a global level.
- Investigators at Dana-Farber and MIT found that the agent THZ1 caused small cell lung cancer tumors to shrink in mice. Their findings are published in Cancer Cell.
- Giving cells a boost during chemo is the focus of a recent paper published by scientists at Michigan State University.
- In a recent publication, researchers at the Centenary Institute in Australia demonstrated that if you stop cells from moving, you can stop cancer from growing.
- Patients that have undergone laser treatment for vocal cord cancer have shown positive outcomes. Find out more about this intervention in the latest issue of Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology.
Please feel free to contact Marisol Hernandez to share any comments.
Macmillan and Nature SciShare Special Edition of Blog Buzz
Macmillan’s announcement earlier this month that it is using ReadCube’s technology to allow read-only sharing by subscribers to content on Nature.com has generated LOTS of discussion. Here is a collection of just some of it. From the press release;
Subscribers to 49 journals on nature.com can now legitimately and conveniently share the full-text of articles of interest with colleagues who do not have a subscription via a shareable web link on nature.com. In addition, Macmillan Science and Education will take a lead on opening up public engagement with scientific knowledge to society at large by giving access to the same content to readers of 100 global media outlets and blogs.
There are also plans to allow for annotation of the shared materials, which certainly sounds like a wonderful way to facilitate collaboration and help publisher platforms to remain relevant by becoming creative and innovative spaces.
Is this fauxpen access as some have said (Peter Murray Rust for example) or progress in the right direction? Depends who you ask, but what is the fuss all about but many feel it is a step in the right direction. Mike Taylor’s thoughtful post about the announcement (with lots of links) acknowledges positives and negatives (the ephemeral nature of a non-printable document for one).
An interesting point, Mark Monakey, head of our Content Team mentioned is that if Nature can provide libraries with statistics on how often members of their institutions share articles it could be a valuable tool for understanding the broader impact of our paid content for the scientific community. Also, if the platform can provide us with how often our author’s papers are shared it would give us another metric of the impact of our community members and our community as a whole. This segues nicely with the question of whether this will be good or bad for altmetrics…which brings up more discussion in in the blogosphere.
Timo Hannay took questions in a reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) which you can read here (heads up, academic publishing is a hot button issue on reddit and there may be some strong language in the comments).