Cancer Research Journal » Cancer Facilities

DFG Establishes 8 New Collaborative Research Centers

Lisa — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:15:37 +0000

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG), or German Research Foundation, is establishing 8 new Collaborative Research Centers (CRC) to further scientific studies related to cancer, hadron physics, nanomolecules, space travel and other topics.

Host universities for the new CRCs will include: Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main; Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg; TU Munich; WWU Münster; University of Regensburg; Eberhard Karls University Tübingen; and Julius-Maximilian University Würzburg.

In addition, The National Science Foundation of China has agreed to provide funding for joint research projects being conducted by WWU Münster and Tsinghua University Beijing scientists.

DFG announced they will provide 59.5 million euros to fund to the new centers for four years, beginning on July 1, 2008.

Source: AlphaGalileo.org

Easter Seals Offers Rehab to Breast Cancer Survivors

Lisa — Thu, 15 May 2008 11:02:03 +0000

The Easter Seals Greater Hartford Rehabilitation Center is helping breast cancer survivors recuperate from physical and psychological problems caused by their cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Thousands of women and men undergo treatment for breast cancer each year. Once surgical, radiation and chemotherapy treatments are completed many experience lingering side effects which impair their ability to function physically or mentally. With support from the Johnson and Johnson Pathways to Independence Program, Easter Seals of Hartford, Connecticut, has launched the Breast Cancer Pathways Program to help these survivors improve these troubling conditions.

The program provides outpatient rehabilitative services designed to address the specific needs of breast cancer survivors. Pain management, physical conditioning, occupational therapy and lymphedema care are just a few of the comprehensive services offered by professionals at the Hartford center.

To learn more about the program, visit the Breast Cancer Pathways Program web page or call 1-860-714-9500.

Source: Easter Seals Disability Services

Related Links: ScienceDaily; Pink-Link.org

Technorati Tags: women’s health; oncology; coping with cancer

Summer Getaways: Cancer Camp

Lisa — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:44:40 +0000

Still wondering how you’ll spend your summer vacation? Consider a kid’s cancer camp.

Oncology camps offer pediatric cancer patients and their families a great opportunity to have some fun away from the dreary routine of hospital visits. Plus, kids and their parents get to spend some recreational time with others who truly understand what it’s like to live with the disease.

Medical professionals are on hand to help cancer campers with any health issues that may arise during the outdoor festivities and older cancer survivors often return to give hope and encouragement to those just beginning their cancer journey.

The camps are also perfect destination spots for health care professionals, researchers, students, teachers, and volunteers in search of humanitarian vacations—they’re located all around the US and Canada, as well as overseas, so opportunities abound. What a wonderful way for scientists to recharge after a long winter in the lab!

If you’d like to find out more about cancer/oncology camps here and abroad, check out:

Children’s Oncology Camping Association International

American Cancer Society Summer Camps

Ped-Onc Resource Center

Source: CancerResearchJournal.com

Traveling Sick: Pharmacies and Clinics Open at US Airports

Lisa — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:12:48 +0000

Cancer survivors know treatment side effects have a way popping up at inconvenient times and places — sometimes even at the airport. So what do you do if you’re stuck at the airline terminal and you suddenly start to feel ill? These days you might not need to leave the airport to get medical assistance.

A growing number of US airports have pharmacies and walk-in health care clinics catering to the medical needs of sick travelers and airline employees.

Retail-based health companies like AeroClinic, AirportMD, Harmony Pharmacy and Solantic (which also operates walk-in clinics at Wal-Mart stores) have started offering a wide variety of medical services to people stuck at the airport including antibiotic injections, prescription refills, and flu shots. Some of the new clinics also provide preventative screenings and more complicated procedures like x-rays when the patient’s schedule permits.

Nurse practitioners typically perform the medical procedures. The clinics accept Medicare and most major insurance plans, but they also offer menu pricing – an unusual feature for doctor and hospital services. For example, Solantic-operated clinics advertise EKGs for $109 and stitches for $169.

Major foreign airports have had similar facilities for years, but retail outlets at domestic airports have traditionally stayed focused on other consumer needs such as food and toiletries. As one patient who was delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport without access to the medication syringes he put in his checked baggage said,

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pharmacy at an airport. But I thought: What a good idea. People are traveling sick all the time.”

Michael D’Souza
Toronto Sales Executive

The Convenient Care Association estimates there are approximately 950 retail health clinics in the US today — mainly at strip malls or major chain stores — with 500 more projected to open by the end of 2008. Industry experts say transportation hubs are an attractive target for future expansion, especially since tighter security measures mean many passengers are spending more time inside the terminal.

The American Medical Association has expressed concerns about the quality of care and possible conflicts of interest in the retail health clinic industry, nevertheless, the trend seems to be gaining momentum.

Harmony Pharmacy has already announced it will open an airport store at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport this September while AeroClinic has plans for a branch at Philadelphia International Airport.

Source: USA Today Article from ABC News

Technorati Tags: mobile cancer care; public health; managing chemotherapy side effects

Cancer Becomes Clearer With Lensless X-Ray Camera

Lisa — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 20:21:59 +0000

A team of international scientists has developed a new type of x-ray camera which has no lens, yet is powerful enough to capture images of tiny nanoscale features inside biological cells.

The innovative device could help researchers gain a greater understanding of cancer by allowing them to view biological processes taking place inside whole human cells – something today’s microscopes can’t do without destroying the cell.

While electron microscopes already image on the nanometer scale, existing limitations in lens technology prevent the viewing of some internal cell structures unless the sample is sliced.

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University and the Australian Synchrotron collaborated to come up with the cutting edge technique so those lens limitations wouldn’t be a factor.

Using high-intensity x-ray beams created at Argonne’s Advanced Photon Source (APS), sophisticated computer algorithms and some protein tagging, the Aussie-American team generated high-resolution images of the nucleus and other structures buried inside cells. Their approach allowed them to clearly distinguish different internal cells structures without resorting to destructive slicing.

APS is the only facility in the US with the type of intense x-ray energies needed to conduct this type of microscopy. While the technique has many potential applications for the petrochemical and energy industries, the researchers are hopeful their lensless x-ray method will also contribute to medical research. As one APS scientist stated,

“We would eventually like to create a dedicated, permanent laboratory facility at the APS for this imaging technique that can be used by scientists on a routine basis.”

Qun Shen
X-ray Microscopy and Imaging Group Leader, APS

Additional information on the project is being published in the American Physical Society journal Physical Review Letters.

Source: Argonne National Laboratory Highlights

Related Links: lightsources.org; innovations-report.de

Related Podcast: IBM and the Future of Medical Imaging from HealthNex

Technorati Tags: cancer research; nanotechnology; nanomedicine; oncology; apoptosis; medical physics; National Science Foundation-funded; coherent diffraction

Minnesota Kids Get Laughing Gas Before Cancer Treatments

Lisa — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:54:48 +0000

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota has won the Innovation of the Year in Patient Care Award from the Minnesota Hospital Association for making chemotherapy, CT scans and other medical procedures less frightening for children.

Children’s Hospitals and Clinics have been using nitrous oxide, a mild sedative commonly referred to as laughing gas, to relax young cancer patients before they get an IV, a spinal tap, or a catheter.

Until recently, most nitrous oxide was administered to US patients by dentists or by paramedics treating traumatic injuries in the field, but that may soon change. In Children’s Hospitals case, the practice has been so successful their doctors now offer nitrous oxide during 20 different procedures including relatively routine treatments like removing stitches.

Unlike deeper sedatives, patients administered nitrous oxide are awake so they can move and respond to the health professionals treating them, plus their muscles are relaxed so they frequently experience less pain. In addition, the effects of laughing gas wear off quicker (usually in 5 to 10 minutes) so the kids and their caregivers can resume other activities sooner.

One mother whose 11 year old son is battling leukemia said the nitrous technique has been a comfort to both of them and Children’s medical staff finds the program is making the cancer treatment process easier for professionals and patients alike. As one said,

“I wish we could have found it many, many years ago. I often wonder why we didn’t think of it.”

Mary Kay Farrell, RN
Radiology Nurse

If you’d like to learn more about other methods cancer patients use to relax, you can click here to visit the Mayo Clinic cancer treatment web site.

Source: WCCO.com (CBS)

NSF, IBM and Google Collaborate to Give Scientists a CluE

Lisa — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:58:29 +0000

The National Science Foundation (NSF), Google Incorporated (NASDAQ: GOOG), and the IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM) have formed a partnership to create the Cluster Exploratory (CluE), an innovative tool designed to help the academic community conduct research projects that would otherwise be too expensive to explore.

CluE is a new distributed computing resource consisting of approximately 1600 processors. The massive capacity of these networked computers will give scientists and engineers from academic institutions across the nation the opportunity to perform the types of data-intensive studies researchers rarely get to conduct because of the prohibitive costs associated with maintaining a large-scale computer infrastructure.

NSF’s Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate will select the research projects that get access to CluE based on proposals submitted by the researchers. Google and IBM will cover all the costs of operating CluE along with providing some necessary support services.

Officials involved with CluE are optimistic it will help accelerate the pace of important scientific research being conducted around the US and they hope the collaboration will pave the way for similar public-private partnerships in the future. As one CISE representative explained,

“We welcome any comparable offers from industry that offer the same potential for transformative research outcomes.”

Jeannette Wing
Assistant Director, NSF CISE

Experts are anticipating the new cluster will support 10 to 15 research projects annually. If you’d like more information about the concept behind CluE, you can visit the Google-IBM Academic Cluster Computer Initiative web site.

Source: National Science Foundation News

ACS Announces Top Cancer Caregiver Awards

Lisa — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:41:32 +0000

Eight outstanding cancer care providers will receive the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award from the American Cancer Society (ACS) in a ceremony on Friday, May 9, 2008.

This year’s ACS honors will go to:

Karen Allison, CPNP
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York

Karleen Habin, RN
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Kathy Lopeman, RN
Central Peninsula Hospital, Soldotna, Alaska

Dolores Moorehead
Women’s Cancer Resource Center, Oakland, California

Robert Parker, MD
Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York

Mace Rothenberg, MD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

Kris Sargent, RN
Mercy Regional Cancer Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Blue Walcer
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California

ACS has been recognizing the achievements of dedicated cancer caregivers with the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award since 1988. As one ACS official said,

“These awards exemplify the exceptional hope, inspiration, and support these exceptional people provide daily to cancer patients and their families. These extraordinary awardees deserve to be recognized for their inspirational efforts to make a difference in the fight against cancer.”

Elmer Huerta, MD, MPH
National Volunteer President, ACS

Source: American Cancer Society, Inc

Related Links: Looking in at Iowa; MediLexicon

Tags: humanitarian; community service; nursing; patient-centered care

Supercomputer Helps Supersize Cancer Research at Hormel

Lisa — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:33:00 +0000

The process of conducting cancer research is getting faster for a group of University of Minnesota scientists.

Representatives from the Hormel Institute announced they’ve purchased an IBM (NYSE: IBM) Blue Gene supercomputer capable of processing 5-6 trillion operations a second – a speed that’ll allow Hormel to triple the number of research projects it undertakes. As one Hormel official explained,

“You use other methods for the research, it will take years. But with this technology it will only take a few days. It will incredibly accelerate our research capabilities.”

Dr Zigang Dong
Executive Director, Hormel Institute
University of Minnesota

Blue Gene supercomputers are currently in operation at 20 major research institutions, including Harvard and Princeton.

Hormel’s acquisition is part of major laboratory expansion project which includes new equipment and accommodations for 100 additional scientists. The facility’s grand opening is scheduled to take place October 3, 2008, to coincide with a worldwide cancer research conference.

Hormel is already conducting studies on breast cancer and skin cancer.

Source: Minnesota Public Radio

Related Links: marketwire.com; wcco.com; Top500.org

Technorati Tags: Austin, Minnesota; The Hormel Foundation

Berkeley Lab Debuts “The Best Microscope in The World”

Lisa — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:11:38 +0000

A team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory has successfully installed the world’s most powerful transmission electron microscope.

TEAM 0.5, as the device is known, produces high contrast images with half-angstrom, or half a 10-billionth of a meter, resolution. The state-of-the-art microscope continuously adjusts and corrects spherical aberrations so scientists can study detailed 3D images of tiny atoms and nanoparticles which appear on a large screen that looks like a high-definition TV.

New technology incorporated in the microscope’s design allows it to display the sample being studied with remarkable clarity even when lower energy electron beams are being used — an important innovation that offers many potential benefits for cancer researchers. As TEAM’s project director explained,

“Low energy electrons have longer wavelengths, so they are harder to focus. Aberration correction allows better than one-angstrom resolution with excellent contrast even at 80 kilovolts. This is important when you don’t want to damage the sample with a high-energy beam – in biological studies, for example.”

Uli Dahmen
National Center for Electron Microscopy
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

TEAM 0.5 is a collaborative project involving the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley, Argonne, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories, the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and two private electron microscopy companies, FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC) and CEOS.

Physicists are completing adjustments on TEAM 0.5 and the lab hopes to make the equipment available to outside research projects by October 2008.

If you’d like to learn more about scientific research being conducted at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab, you can visit their website at www.lbl.gov.

Source: Berkeley Lab Research News

Related Links: Inside Bay Area; Science Quick Picks; UPI

Technorati Tags: Transmission Electron Aberration-corrected Microsope; nanotechnology; nanomedicine; nanoscience; Portland, Oregon; Heidelberg, Germany; University of California