Janet Eyre is a professor of Pediatric Neuroscience at Newcastle University, one of the game developers, and a founder of the Limbs Alive company. She explains the utility of the software:

The brain can re-learn control of the weak arm but this needs frequent therapy over many months and there are not enough therapists to provide this on a one-to-one basis. Eighty percent of patients do not regain full recovery of arm and hand function and this really limits their independence and ability to return to work. Patients need to be able to use both their arms and hands for most every day activities such as doing up a zip, making a bed, tying shoe laces, unscrewing a jar. With our video game, people get engrossed in the competition and action of the circus characters and forget that the purpose of the game is therapy.

The game is specifically designed to be played by someone who has had a stroke; for instance, it’s fully accessible to those who are wheelchair-bound. The developers hope to eventually integrate the ability for a physical therapist to watch remotely as a patient plays the game at home, which would allow the therapist to periodically check in and track progress.

Source: Newcastle University Press Office

Shaped like a star with 5 to 10 points, and made of gold, the “nanostar” has a large surface area that researchers load with drug molecules.

Teri W. Odom, who led the study of human cervical and ovarian cancer cells, said:

Our drug-loaded gold nanostars are tiny hitchhikers. They are attracted to a protein on the cancer cell’s surface that conveniently shuttles the nanostars to the cell’s nucleus. Then, on the nucleus’ doorstep, the nanostars release the drug, which continues into the nucleus to do its work.

Using electron microscopy, researchers found that the drug-loaded nanoparticles were actively transported to the nucleus and dramatically changed the shape of the cancer cell nucleus. The change in shape after drug release was associated with cell death and the cell population becoming less viable.

The findings are published in the journal ACS Nano [1].

Source: Northwestern University

Reference

1. Dam et al. Direct Observation of Nanoparticle-Cancer Cell Nucleus Interactions. ACS Nano. 2012 Mar 22. [Epub ahead of print]
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The trial was led by Dr. Steven Schwartz, opthalmologist and chief of the retina division at the Institute. Although the results are extremely promising, only two patients were treated. The trial will have to be preformed successfully many more times before the procedure can be accepted as an option for care.

Nevertheless, the preliminary findings represent a milestone in the therapeutic use of stem cells and may pave the way for a new therapy to treat eye diseases. The research was recently published online in the journal The Lancet.

Study: Embryonic stem cell trials for macular degeneration: a preliminary report

Source: UCLA Newsroom

Presented in video format and featuring cancer survivors, physicians, scientists, advocates and Ronnie Andrews, the president of Clarient, the personalized medicine campaign covers what indivdualized cancer treatment means, what makes a patient’s cancer different, treatment decisions, expert insights and more.

Sponsored by GE Healthcare, the campaign focuses on education, helping patients to understand how no two cancers are the same, and how molecular-level testing may identify unique characteristics that can help doctors select alternative cancer treatment options:

Advances in our understanding of cancer have proven the disease to be far more complex than originally thought. In recent years, we’ve learned each person may have different gene abnormalities that drive their cancer. This may explain why one breast cancer patient might respond well to a given therapy while another will derive little or no benefit from the same therapy. Advanced molecular-level testing may give your doctor more information on your cancer to select the therapy and medicines most appropriate for your disease. Molecular-level testing may be instrumental in helping you gain access to clinical trials that test cutting-edge treatments and medicines.

Information on the Is My Cancer Different? website will be shared with doctors, families and caregivers to create a landscape of awareness about how individualized cancer diagnostics and treatments can help drive positive outcomes.

The Is My Cancer Different? initiative has a companion campaign called Simple Acts of Sharing, which aims to get one million people to share the question in one million minutes (just over 694 days). You can find out more about Is My Cancer Different? on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: Is My Cancer Different?