Big Data in Cancer, Detecting Neuroendocrine Tumors and More…

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The Latest in the World of Cancer Research

  • A leading cancer expert, Professor Mark Lawler, from Queen’s University in Belfast recently published a paper where he advocates for the sharing of genetic information of millions of cancer patients in hopes of improving preventive methods and overall care. The paper was published in Nature Medicine.
  • A recent study published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine demonstrates that Ga-68 DOTATATE PET/CT scans are better suited than the current imaging standard for detecting neuroendocrine tumors and can significantly affect treatment management.
  • Researchers at the University of California Davis Health System have identified more than 43 genes associated with risk between autism and cancer, suggesting that common mechanisms underlying the functions of some of these genes could pave the way for the development of therapies for both conditions. The study results were published in Trends in Genetics.
  • After years of debate about the health risks of electronic cigarettes, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently assumed regulatory authority over e-cigarettes. In contrast to proposed FDA regulations, the Royal College of Physicians in the UK in a report acknowledges the need for proportionate regulation of e-cigarettes, but suggests that regulation should not be allowed significantly to inhibit the development and use of harm-reduction products by smokers. “This is two countries taking pretty much diametrically opposed positions,” said Kenneth E. Warner, a professor of public health at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, in a recent New York Times article.

The FDA is Seeking to Regulate 3D Printing for Medical Devices

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3D printing of medical devices is becoming more commonplace in biomedical sciences. There has not been any official set of guidelines from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), however. As a result of this increase in 3D printing, the FDA just issued a draft guidance for 3D-printed medical devices (or additive manufactured [AM] devices). The FDA has so far approved nearly 100 applications for lower-risk 3D printed medical devices, but the organization is seeking to make the application process more efficient. How will this affect physicians who wish to 3D-print a medical device in his or her own workplace?

The draft guidance stems from a 2014 public workshop and was created to help medical device manufacturers follow the FDA’s views on 3D printing. The FDA’s guidance for manufacturers “outline[s] technical considerations associated with AM processes, and recommendations for testing and characterization for devices that include at least one AM fabrication step.” It outlines how manufacturers need to think about device design, the effects of imaging (MRIs, CT scans, etc.), software workflow, material controls, post-processing validation of the biomedical devices, quality control and testing, and cleaning and sterilization procedures.
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Finding Cited References and Visualizing the Citation Network of a Paper

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Take the following reference as an example:

Look to the information on the right hand side of the page. There you will find a link for the number of times the paper has been cited (9 times in this case). If you click on the hyperlinked number of times cited, you will be brought to a list of the citing publications (those papers that have cited this one). From here you can browse and filter the list, or export to EndNote (and other bibliographic management tools/formats).

If you prefer to generate some visual representations of the citation network, you can analyze the results or create a citation report of the cited references (again, links on the right hand side of the page). Note: the citation network for this paper is limited to the world of Web of Science—it does not extend further than those citations indexed in this particular database.

We can help with cited reference searching and special bibliometric analysis projects, just ask us!