- Some of the first results from a project to reproduce cancer studies have been released and they are somewhat unexpected though understandable. NPR asks What Does it Mean When Cancer Findings Can’t be Reproduced?. Gizmodo also covered the issues being faced by the Reproducibility Project here (this version of the story has been updated to include a response from the author of one of the original studies).
- Beall’s List, one academic librarian’s effort to list predatory journals and publishers on his blog has been taken down by the author, causing quite a stir in library circles. See coverage from Inside Higher Ed here. This blog has previously discussed Beall’s list here and here. If you have any doubt about the credibility of a journal, publisher, or conference, please contact your librarian!
Category Archives: In the News
Lowering Lymphoma Risks, a Christmas Day Surprise, and Big Data
Stem cell transplants may get less risky for lymphoma patients, thanks to preliminary research by Drs. Marcel van den Brink and Michael Sadelain. They found that using CD19 specific CAR-T cells does not increase the risk of graft-versus-host-disease after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplants. They are planning a phase 1 trial using these donor-derived CAR-T cells to prevent relapse after bone marrow transplants, scheduled for later this year.
New York Jets safety, Calvin Pryor, took time out of his Christmas Day to visit 19-year-old Aeden Wall at MSK. In the Jets final game of the season Pryor dedicated his performance in the Jets 30-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills to Aeden, tweeting out “That was for you Aeden”. Aeden passed away just two days later after an eight-month battle with rhabdomyosarcoma. Continue reading
Cancer Stats 2017, Chemo Brain and More…
Here are a few newsworthy items in the world of cancer research
- The largest study to date of a condition known as “chemo brain” shows that women with breast cancer report it’s a substantial problem after chemotherapy for as long as six months after treatment. Using a tool called FACT-Cog, a validated measurement of cognitive impairment, investigators from the University of Rochester Medical found that compared to healthy people, breast cancer patients exhibited a higher percentage of impairment. Read more on their findings in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
- Medical Researchers with the support of the National Foundation for Cancer Research have developed a new pharmacological agent to treat glioblastoma multiforme. The agent has been tested and found to have significant survival benefits in pre-clinical models. For more, see PNAS.
- Scientists at the University of Basel recently reported on the potential of treating cancer with drugs for diabetes and hypertension. The research found that combining the type 2 diabetes drug metformin with the antihypertensive drug syrosingopine could represent a surprising new approach to fighting cancer. The findings are detailed in Science Advances.
- The American Cancer Society Annual Report, Cancer Statistics 2017, revealed that the cancer death rate in the United States has dropped by 25 percent since its 1991 peak, resulting in 2 million fewer cancer deaths than if the rate had stayed the same, while also reporting significant disparities of the cancer burden by gender and race. The full report has been published in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians.