United States

Experimental drug prolongs survival in recurrent ovarian cancer patients

Washington, Sept 28 : An experimental drug called pertuzumab may help prolong the survival time for women with recurrent ovarian cancer, a University of Alabama at Birmingham doctor has said.

Dr. Sharmila Makhija, an associate professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the university, said that Phase II clinical trial data showed that pertuzumab added weeks to the lives of Stage III ovarian cancer patients, whose disease had returned after treatment with the existing chemotherapy regimens.

High blood pressure patients require more coordinated brain blood flow for memory tasks

Fried food compounds may raise heart disease risk

Washington, September 28 : Gorging on those French fries and hamburgers may not be a good idea anymore, with a new study showing that fatty foods cooked at high temperatures may cause a significant dysfunction in blood vessel dilation that can lead to heart disease.

Excessive multivitamin use could increase prostate cancer risk

Washington, Sept 28 : Men need to be cautious about taking multivitamins more than once a day, for a new study has found doing so may increase the risk of prostrate cancer.

The researchers conducting the study also found that though there was no link between multivitamin use and the risk of developing localized prostate cancer, men who took multivitamins more than once a day were 32 percent more likely to develop advanced prostate cancer.

They also found that such men were 98 percent more likely to die from the disease.

Scientists use hair follicles to sequence woolly mammoth DNA

Washington, Sept 28 : Pennsylvania State University researchers have sequenced the DNA of 10 woolly mammoths that died 50,000 years ago, using a technique that could revolutionize genetic testing of extinct creatures.

In their study, ‘Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing of Mitochondria from Ancient Hair Shafts’, the scientists describe how the hair shafts of extinct animals can provide an ideal source of ancient DNA.

Carbon dioxide did not end the last Ice Age, says study

Washington, Sept 28 : Carbon dioxide did not cause the end of the last ice age, according to new study by a University of Southern California geologist.

Deep-sea temperatures rose 1,300 years before the rise in atmospheric CO2, ruling out the greenhouse gas as driver of meltdown, Lowell Stott said in his study published online Sept 27 in Science Express.

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