This new type of super-precise radiotherapy promises to transform the way we treat certain types of lung cancer, after a Melbourne-led clinical trial revealed the treatment significantly improved survival chances.
Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR) uses thin beams of radiation to directly attack the tumour. It's also cheaper than traditional radiotherapy.
In this way, the tumour receives a very high dose of radiation and the surrounding tissues largely avoid it, minimising side effects. And patients only need to come to hospital three or four times, rather than regularly over the space of two months.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/like-winning-lotto-the-treatment-that-kills-cancer-in-a-few-hours-201902
The vaccine could work by creating an anti-saliva immune response in humans that prevents infection. In addition, after the mosquito bites a vaccinated human host, antibodies from the human attack the gut and salivary glands of the mosquito which reduces the survival of the mosquito. If successful in its imminent Zika clinical study, Imutex will further develop the technology in other mosquito-borne illnesses, including malaria, dengue and West Nile. http://imutex.com/index.php/zika-vaccine-programme/
An elevated body temperature can kill. Yet fever is a common response to infection. Recent research shows how febrile temperatures encourage a particular protein called Hsp90 to shepherd immune-system cells to sites of infection. This research suggests ways in which the process might be regulated to a patient's advantage. Drugs that increase Hsp90 production should promote the migration of T-cells to lymph nodes, and so aid the treatment of infections that need a larger immune response. Conversely, drugs that diminish Hsp90 production might help reduce T-cell movement in people with so-called auto-immune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis, in which immune-system cells attack the body they are part of.
Mosquitoes are the deadliest creatures on Earth. Each year, nearly a million people die from a disease they caught from one of the tiny insects. Rather than focusing on finding a cure for bug-borne diseases like malaria and Zika, a team of scientists from the University of Arizona decided to focus their research directly on mosquitoes. In the process, they found a protein seemingly essential for mosquito reproduction and the discovery could lead to the creation of a drug that acts as birth control for the tiny killers. https://futurism.com/the-byte/mosquito-birth-control-prevent-deaths
The toxic side-effects of chemotherapy could be reduced by a sponge-like?device which strains leftover cancer drugs from the blood stream before they damage the brain or cause hair loss. The tubular device is 3D-printed - so it could be tailor-made to fit the patient.
Its mesh-like centre is covered with a special coating that absorbs the drug, but lets blood flow through the device unhindered. https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46782190
