SWOG CANCER RESEARCH NETWORK The combination of dasatinib, blinatumomab, and prednisone can be effective in treating older patients with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who are not good candidates for intensive chemotherapy treatment. These results from the S1318 clinical trial, led by the SWOG Cancer Research Network, a cancer clinical trials group funded...
Month: <span>December 2021</span>
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Cannabis use could cause harmful drug interactions
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY SPOKANE, Wash.—Using cannabis alongside other drugs may come with a significant risk of harmful drug-drug interactions, new research by scientists at Washington State University suggests. The researchers looked at cannabinoids—a group of substances found in the cannabis plant—and their major metabolites found in cannabis users’ blood and found that they interfere with...
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Fecal transplant discovery could improve care for dangerous infections
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine sheds light on why a fecal transplant can benefit patients with dangerous recurrent C. difficile infections – and suggests a way to improve patient outcomes. C. difficile infection causes life-threatening diarrhea, and it often takes hold in patients in hospitals and nursing homes as a...
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A longer-lasting COVID vaccine? Study points the way
by Tiare Dunlap, University of California, Los Angeles Microscope image showing a human cell (pink) heavily infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus particles (green and purple). Credit: NIAID/NIH Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have identified rare, naturally occurring T cells that are capable of targeting...
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Potentially serious side effect seen in patient after immunotherapy
by The Mount Sinai Hospital Credit: CC0 Public Domain Mount Sinai scientists have become the first to report a potentially serious side effect related to a new form of immunotherapy known as CAR-T cell therapy, which was recently approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Their findings were published as a case study in Nature Medicine in December....
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Molecule from approved malaria medicine protects lung cells against COVID-19
by Aarhus University Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers from Aarhus University have shown that the medicine Atovaquone has a protective effect both before and after infection with the coronavirus in human cells in the laboratory. This means that it can in all probability be used both for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. Atovaquone has already...
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Vaccines induce lower levels of neutralising antibodies against omicron, boosters improve levels: study
by University of Oxford Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers from the University of Oxford have analyzed the impact of the omicron COVID-19 variant of concern on one of the immune responses generated by vaccination. Using blood samples from individuals who had previously received two doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines as part of the Com-COV study, and...
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Researchers develop potential oral treatment for COVID-19
by Nancy Difiore, Rush University Medical Center Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Eugenol, an oily liquid extracted from cloves and a Southeast Asian plant known as holy basil, has been effective in treating mice infected with COVID-19 in a laboratory study, according to newly published research results in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology. “Eugenol binds to the spike protein of...
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Rapid PCR tests at the touch of a button
by Rahel Künzler, ETH Zurich Philippe Bechtold (left) and Michele Gregorini are much less often in the laboratory since they have founded their own company. Credit: Alessandro Della Bella/ETH Zurich ETH researchers Michele Gregorini and Philippe Bechtold have developed a PCR testing device that can easily be used outside the lab—and that takes less than 30...
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Uncovering the degenerative basis of Parkinson’s disease
by Melissa Rohman, Northwestern University Graphical abstract. Credit: DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109975 Northwestern investigators have discovered the molecular signature of a subset of dopaminergic neurons with an increased vulnerability to degeneration. The findings shed light on the mechanisms at play within a small subsection of the brain’s substantia nigra, called the pars compacta, which contribute to the development...