Patients with metastatic melanoma taking the recently approved drug vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf) responded well to the twice-daily pill, but some of them developed a different, secondary skin cancer.
Now, researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, working with investigators from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, Roche and Plexxikon, have elucidated the mechanism by which the drug excels at fighting melanoma but also allows for the development of skin squamous-cell carcinomas.(more…)
*Lived in the ocean more than 500-million years ago*
A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500-million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.
Officially named Siphusauctum gregarium, fossils reveal a tulip-shaped creature that is about the length of a dinner knife (approximately 20 centimetres) and has a unique filter feeding system. (more…)
In 2005, news first broke that researchers in Scotland found unexpectedly low rates of cancer among diabetics taking metformin, a drug commonly prescribed to patients with Type II diabetes. Many follow-up studies reported similar findings, some suggesting as much as a 50-per-cent reduction in risk. How could this anti-diabetic drug reduce the risk of developing cancer and what were the mechanisms involved?
In a paper published today in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, researchers from McGill University and the University of Montreal reported an unexpected finding: they learned that exposure to metformin reduces the cellular mutation rate and the accumulation of DNA damage. It is well known that such mutations are directly involved in carcinogenesis, but lowering cancer risk by inhibiting the mutation rate has never been shown to be feasible. (more…)
First-Ever Online “Audience Award” Enables Fans to Vote for Best Short Film on Yahoo! Screen
Yahoo! Movies & omg! NOW Feature Behind-The-Scenes Content Straight from Park City
SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, is opening the doors to the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, giving independent film fans access to one of the year’s most highly anticipated industry events. The general public will have access to 9 short films from this year’s Festival by visiting sundance.yahoo.com, powered by Yahoo! Screen, Yahoo’s video destination and home to the most comprehensive collection of premium video content. Additionally, for the first time ever, they will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite of those nine short films. Fans will also get behind-the-scenes access to film and entertainment news, celebrities in attendance and the biggest stories of the festival through Yahoo! Movies (https://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/sundance), one of the top destinations online for movie fans with more than 26 million users per month, and omg! (https://omg.yahoo.com), the #1 most-visited celebrity news site on the Internet. (more…)
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Antibiotics in pig feed increased the number of antibiotic resistant genes in gastrointestinal microbes in pigs, according to a study conducted by Michigan State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
Published in the current edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the comprehensive study focused on understanding the effects of conventional, in-feed antibiotics in U.S. farms. (more…)
*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for November 2011*
LONDON, UK, 19 January 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of Internet usage in Europe, showing that 379.4 million Europeans went online in November 2011 for an average of 27.8 hours per person. This release highlights Internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Amongst its findings, the study also showed that 47.8 percent of Europeans visit Newspaper sites, with a notable percentage of visits to the top 5 Newspaper sites preceded by a visit to Facebook.
Nearly 1 in 2 Europeans Visit Newspaper Sites In November 2011, 181.5 million unique people in Europe visited Newspaper sites, an increase of 9 percent from the previous year. The Daily Mail continued to attract the largest audience at 20.1 million unique visitors, followed by the Guardian at 15.7 million unique visitors. Turkish newspapers Hürriyet and Milliyet and German newspaper Bild rounded out the top five Newspaper properties, with each attracting approximately 10 million unique visitors. (more…)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new approach to motion capture technology is offering fresh insights into tennis injuries – and orthopedic injuries in general.
Researchers studied three types of tennis serves, and identified one in particular, called a “kick” serve, which creates the highest potential for shoulder injury. (more…)
*Yeast open a window on a spectacular step in evolution*
Around 800 million years ago, some of the one-celled organisms that constituted the whole of earthly life took an evolutionary leap that changed everything.(more…)
