October 2010 Blog Posts (5)

Breast Cancer Risk: How does hormone imbalance increase breast cancer risk?

We had a FANTASTIC conversation with Dr. Eldred Taylor on Thursday night!

Dr. Taylor covered a vast amount of information related to breast cancer and hormones and answered a significant number of listener questions. Here are a few of the questions covered:

Why do doctors continue prescribing a medication if research has shown negative results?
If mammograms are not the best way to detect breast cancer, what is?
What is…

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Added by Cynthia Shelby-Lane, MD on October 29, 2010 at 2:20pm — No Comments

Breast Cancer and Hormones: The Big Debate

Tonight we'll be speaking with Dr. Eldred Taylor to discuss "Breast Cancer & Hormones: The Big Debate." There's still time to register and the replay will be available 96 hours after the call!

When: Thursday, October 28, 2010

Time: 8 PM eastern until 9:30 PM eastern (www.time.gov)

Host: Cynthia Shelby-Lane, MD

Special Guest: Dr. Eldred… Continue

Added by Cynthia Shelby-Lane, MD on October 28, 2010 at 3:06pm — No Comments

New Finding May Aid Alzheimer’s Treatment Options

A protein recently found in the brain -- gamma secretase activating protein or GSAP -- increases the production of beta-amyloid, the presumed culprit in Alzheimer’s disease. In a mouse model, reducing GSAP led to reduced beta-amyloid disposition. This prompts in turn the appealing notion that a drug could be found to inhibit GSAP and thereby forestall or prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Imatinib (Gleevec, used to treat chronic myelocytic leukemia or CML) does inhibit GSAP… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on October 26, 2010 at 1:05pm — No Comments

The Implications of Chronic Disease

I have written frequently about the importance of chronic illnesses. Most of us are just not aware that their incidence is rising - and rapidly. We tend to think instead about acute illnesses and injury but chronic illnesses are now not only common but last a lifetime once developed and are inherently expensive to treat. On top of that there are enormous losses in quality of life, personal productivity and economic impact on the individual and society.

The Milken Institute quantified some… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on October 19, 2010 at 2:57pm — No Comments

Encapsulated Pig Islet Cells For Diabetes Type 1 – A Trial

Here is a follow-up to the post on islet cell xenotransplantation for type 1 diabetes mellitus. A group in New Zealand has been studying the use of islet cells derived from pigs which have not been genetically modified. The cells are encapsulated to protect them from immune cells. The company reports that they are self regulating (meaning that they will produce insulin as needed based on the body’s blood sugar levels) and efficient at secreting the insulin produced into the patient’s body. The… Continue

Added by Stephen C Schimpff on October 15, 2010 at 5:40pm — No Comments