Monday, December 5, 2011

Tiny genetic variation can predict ovarian cancer outcome

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) ? Yale Cancer Center researchers have shown that a tiny genetic variation predicts chances of survival and response to treatment for patients with ovarian cancer.

The findings, published in the journal Oncogene, provide new insights into the biology of a new class of cancer marker and suggest a genetic test may help guide the treatment of women with ovarian cancer.

"This gives us a way to identify which women are at highest risk for resistance to platinum chemotherapy, the standard treatment for ovarian cancer, and helps identify ovarian cancer patients with the worst outcomes," said Joanne Weidhaas, associate professor of therapeutic radiology and senior author of the study. "There just aren't many inherited gene variants than can do that."

Women who possess the biomarker identified by the Yale team -- a variant of the well-known KRAS oncogene -- are three times more resistant to standard platinum chemotherapy than women without the variant. Also, post-menopausal women with the variant are significantly more likely to die from ovarian cancer. About 12-15 percent of Caucasians and 6 percent of African-Americans are born with the variant of the gene, which helps regulate destruction of damaged cells. This variant is found in up to 25% of newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients.

Although good alternatives to chemotherapy are not yet available for women with ovarian cancer and this variant, several drugs in development which target the KRAS gene and associated pathways have shown great promise, Weidhaas said.

Weidhaas is a co-founder of a company that has licensed intellectual property from Yale that has developed a diagnostic test based on the Kras-variant.

The biomarker intrigues scientists because it is a functional variant in an area of DNA that does not code for proteins. Instead this variant disrupts how a microRNA controls gene expression.

"This is a new paradigm," Weidhaas said.

Yale researchers have also found this microRNA variant of the KRAS gene is associated with an increased risk of developing breast cancer and lung cancer. Other researchers have found associations with poor outcome in colon as well as head and neck cancers.

In laboratory tests, researchers blocked the variant and significantly reduced growth of ovarian cancer cells. This suggests targeting the variant site may someday help treat cancer in these patients.

The study was funded by the NIH, the National Cancer Institute and the Merkel Foundation.

Other Yale authors are Elena S. Ratner, Florence K. Keane, Michelle Glasgow, Sunitha Nallur, Yanhong Deng, Stefania Bellone, Marta Boeke, Xiaopan Yao, Daniel Zelterman, Herbert Yu, Thomas J. Rutherford, Peter E. Schwartz, Frank J. Slack and Alessandro D. Santin.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:


Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Yale University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. E S Ratner, F K Keane, R Lindner, R A Tassi, T Paranjape, M Glasgow, S Nallur, Y Deng, L Lu, L Steele, S Sand, R-U Muller, E Bignotti, S Bellone, M Boeke, X Yao, S Pecorelli, A Ravaggi, D Katsaros, D Zelterman, M C Cristea, H Yu, T J Rutherford, J N Weitzel, S L Neuhausen, P E Schwartz, F J Slack, A D Santin, J B Weidhaas. A KRAS variant is a biomarker of poor outcome, platinum chemotherapy resistance and a potential target for therapy in ovarian cancer. Oncogene, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/onc.2011.539

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205082253.htm

seven days in utopia big 10 championship game big 10 championship game lsu state of play the national defense authorization act the national defense authorization act

Lions' Suh crashes car in Portland; not injured

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Police in Oregon say Detroit Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh crashed his car into a tree in downtown Portland, but was not injured.

Police say Suh was not impaired and was cooperative with officers following the accident at about 1:15 a.m. Saturday. Suh lost control of the 1970 Chevrolet Coupe he was driving, which then hit a curb, light pole, drinking fountain and tree. His vehicle was towed from the scene.

Suh had two passengers in the vehicle. They were not injured.

Suh is a graduate of Portland's Grant High School. He was the NFL's 2010 defensive rookie of the year. On Tuesday, the league suspended him for two games for stomping the arm of Packers guard Evan Dietrich-Smith.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-03-Suh-Car%20Crash/id-453c4eb01ecc4662a03d19d75bba4d7a

kennedy assassination jfk assassination pie crust recipe heritage foundation dancing with the stars results 2011 pecan pie ali fedotowsky

Sunday, December 4, 2011

SupaBoy portable SNES, the most fun you can have without a soldering iron

We previewed Hyperkin's SupaBoy back in the summer and loved the idea of toting 'round original SNES games without resorting to Ben Heck-style crafting. The handheld takes full-size cartridges, packs a 3.5-inch screen and a battery that's disappointingly rated for just two point five hours (best keep a power cable handy). It'll also double as a home console: there's an AV-out port and slots for two classic controllers for when you wanna kick it old-school. It's reportedly compatible with titles like Mario World, A Link to the Past and Starwing Starfox, but who needs them when we've got a mint condition copy of Tetris Attack at home? It'll cost you $80 and is available from Amazon as of yesterday -- we suggest you get to practicing blowing the dirt from the connectors, since you'll be doing a lot of it soon.

Continue reading SupaBoy portable SNES, the most fun you can have without a soldering iron

SupaBoy portable SNES, the most fun you can have without a soldering iron originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Dec 2011 16:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/QKJltNEG4jE/

yolo steelers vs ravens keystone xl pipeline jack dempsey lake malawi hines ward warren jeffs

Differing laws on trafficking impede US crackdown

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

In this Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011 photo, Holly Smith, 33, talks about her experiences when she was caught up in a child sex trafficking ring during an interview in her home in Richmond, Va. A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime. Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair. ?Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me,? said Smith. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

A new report says 41 states have failed to adopt strong penalties against human trafficking, and advocates say a patchwork of differing state laws makes it difficult for authorities to target the crime.

In Connecticut, for instance, the strict penalties for sex traffickers are among the toughest in the nation. Neighboring Massachusetts, meanwhile, had no statute specifically targeting sex trafficking until one was signed into law days ago.

The report released Thursday by the advocacy group Shared Hope International said more than a dozen states have passed new crackdowns, but four states ? Maine, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming ? have yet to impose any specific restrictions on the crime.

"Each state's laws show omissions in protective provisions for child victims and (they) lack strong laws to prosecute the men who rent the bodies of other men's children," said Linda Smith, the group's founder and president.

As many as 15,000 victims of human trafficking are brought into the U.S. each year, according to advocacy groups. They say there could be more than 100,000 victims in the country now.

Victims are sometimes smuggled in from outside the U.S., but many started out as young runaways or simply needed money. Human traffickers target men, women and children for forced labor or services, while sex traffickers make their victims work in the sex trade. The crimes range from smuggling immigrants into the U.S. to work in restaurants or homes to forcing young women to work as prostitutes.

Holly Austin Smith said a man at a mall promised her a job after she ran away from home at age 14. She said she was swiftly brought to a motel in New Jersey where two adults gave her a dress, put makeup on her face and dyed her hair.

"Within hours I was on the streets of Atlantic City having men forced on me," said Smith, now 33 and an advocate of stricter sex trafficking laws.

Federal authorities can prosecute traffickers under the Trafficking Victims Protections Act, enacted in 2000, which carries stiff penalties. The law also created a new visa allowing victims of the crime to become temporary U.S. residents. But prosecutors have limited resources and often have to rely on the states to crack down on the crime.

Some states have taken aggressive steps to strengthen their laws, the report said. Fifteen states now allow victims to seek civil damages from their traffickers in court. Four states ? Illinois, Maryland, Nevada and New York ? have laws that vacate convictions for sex trafficking victims.

Other states were criticized in the report for failing to pass strict laws. The report also found that 10 states have yet to adopt sex trafficking laws and that 19 don't make it a crime to buy sex acts with a minor. It also found that Iowa, Massachusetts, South Carolina and Wyoming have no laws making it a crime to use the Internet to purchase or sell sex acts with a minor.

Washington Attorney General Robert McKenna, president of the National Association of Attorneys General, said policymakers have to play catch-up to establish consistent policies to rein in the crime.

"Having a strong, fairly uniform set of laws across the country is very important, because traffickers are mobile, their victims are mobile and we don't want traffickers to be moving their victims even more trying to evade stronger state laws, by moving to states with weaker laws," he said.

The state definitions of illegal trafficking that vary from federal standards can also make it more difficult to get additional protections and services from the U.S. government, said Kirsten Widner of the Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University's School of Law.

"And if they have no definition at all, that could be a real problem," said Widner.

One high-profile battleground was Massachusetts, which for years faced pressure from advocates to enact anti-trafficking laws. In November, Gov. Deval Patrick signed a bill that would impose a life sentence on anyone found guilty of trafficking children for sex or forced labor. It also allows prosecutors to look at first-time offenders under 18 as victims rather than criminals.

"We have focused on the very people who have been victimized the most," said Attorney General Martha Coakley, who pushed for the bill. "What the bill does is change the lens around on that. That's why implementing this is going to be difficult. I think we can do it. It's a real change in the way we've approached it."

Some advocates, though, say more aggressive enforcement of the laws, instead of strict new ones, may help crack down on the crime. State authorities need to implement the laws on the books, better coordinate with federal prosecutors and spend more resources trying to identify victims, said Mary Ellison, a director of policy for the Polaris Project, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group.

"Traffickers make their money on the backs of the most vulnerable and there's not as much of a risk because laws aren't implemented as strongly as they want," she said. "Until they see these laws implemented, they're not going to be deterred because they're making tons and tons of money exploiting and enslaving people."

___

Associated Press writers Steve LeBlanc in Boston, Manuel Valdes in Seattle, Wash. and Steve Helber in Midlothian, Va., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-01-Child%20Sex%20Trafficking/id-4c3d0965a7b0492787a294c5faa37481

percy harvin percy harvin best cyber monday deals best cyber monday deals cyber monday grover norquist grover norquist

Saturday, December 3, 2011

18 people killed in Congo election, rights group

(AP) ? Human Rights Watch says at least 18 civilians were killed and 100 seriously wounded during election violence in Congo.

The report released Friday states that the majority of those killed were shot by incumbent President Joseph Kabila's Republican Guard in Kinshasa. The violence peaked last Saturday when tens of thousands of people descended on the airport to welcome home the country's leading opposition candidate, two day's before the voting began on Monday.

The rights group says soldiers opened fire into the crowd. The victims included a 27-year-old mother of five who was shot in the head and a 22-year-old who was shot while walking outside a manioc granary near the airport.

The group says others were killed in mob violence on Election Day and clashes between political parties.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-02-AF-Congo-Election/id-25c3856143044d6499a6377ef57f0621

suh suh school closings ny giants lindsey vonn lindsey vonn josef stalin

Video: Romney vs. Gingrich

U.S. to world: Dude, where's my vacation?

There?s good news and bad news on the American vacation front courtesy of a just-released survey from Expedia.com. Released on Wednesday, the Vacation Deprivation Study revealed that U.S. workers let two days of vacation go unused this year, down from three days last year.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45498958#45498958

board of elections board of elections senate bill 5 senate bill 5 joe paterno press conference joe paterno scandal joe paterno scandal

Friday, December 2, 2011

HBT: Big Papi wants three-year deal

Look, I know people declared David Ortiz dead in parts of 2009 and 2010 and that he came roaring back every time. And I know that he had a great 2011. ?But really, this seems kind of crazy to me: ?Ortiz is looking for a three-year deal.

He?s 36. He?s one-dimensional. It?s a great dimension, but really, I don?t see how you give eight figures for three straight years to a DH who, as we?ve seen in the past, could just fall off a cliff. And maybe next time it?s permanent.

Two years? Maybe. Or some creative vesting deal or something. But I just don?t know a team could commit huge money to a guy like Ortiz through the end of 2014.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/29/david-ortiz-wants-a-three-year-deal/related/

andy williams andy williams nyc marathon nyc marathon coriolis effect coriolis effect giants patriots