Colorectal Cancer Chemotherapy Drugs - Chateau Du Mer Beach ...

My son-in-law died last April after being diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer in 2010. Our family were all very devastated, since he was only 51 years old. Several chemotherapeutic regimens were tried by oncologists here in Northern California,in the most prestigious oncology treatment Research Center. The drugs tried did prolong his life for almost 2 years, but at the end, not one of the several experimental drugs saved his life, since he was already in stage IV when he was diagnosed. I had a feeling that my son-in-law could have survived the disease if he was diagnosed earlier, perhaps stage II or even III for the for therapy to be effective. My son-in-law left a 9-year old daughter and a 47-year old widow, because cancer sucks and kills if not diagnosed early. Please have a yearly physical check up even if you are feeling well.

This personal experience inspired me to do some web search on the drugs approved and what is in the pipeline for the treatment of colon cancer here in the US. The article is as follows:

Seven drugs are currently approved by FDA for colorectal cancer chemotherapy:

5-fluorouracil (5-FU, Adrucil), which is often given in combination with leucovorin

(Wellcovorin). Leucovorin is a vitamin that helps boost the effectiveness of 5-FU.

Capecitabine (Xeloda)

Oxaliplatin (Eloxatin)

Irinotecan (Camptosar)

Bevacizumab (Avastin)

Cetuximab (Erbitux)

Panitumumab (Vectibix)

Capecitabine is a pill form of 5-FU. The other drugs are administered intravenously. Many of these drugs are given in combination with each other. Common chemotherapy combination regimens include: 5-FU / LV (5-FU and leucovorin), FOLFOX (5-FU with leucovorin and oxaliplatin), FOLFORI (5-FU with leucovorin and irinotecan), IFL (Irinotecan, 5-FU, leucovorin), and XELOX (Capecitabine and oxaliplatin).

Side effects occur with all chemotherapeutic drugs. They are more severe with higher doses and increase over the course of treatment. Because cancer cells grow and divide rapidly, chemotherapy drugs work by killing fast-growing cells. This means that healthy cells that multiply quickly can also be affected. The fast-growing normal cells most likely to be affected are blood cells forming in the bone marrow, and cells in the digestive tract, reproductive system, and hair follicles. Nausea and vomiting is a very common side effect, but drugs such as ondansetron (Zofran) can help provide relief. In general, side effects are nearly always temporary, and medications can help manage them. Most patients are able to continue with normal activities for all but perhaps 1 - 2 days a month.

Specific Chemotherapy Drugs

5-Fluorouracil(5-FU) with Leucovorin. Adjuvant (following surgery) chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil, either alone or with leucovorin (5-FU/LV), is the standard treatment for patients with high-risk colon cancer (Stage III or select patients with Stage II tumors). Leucovorin, also called folinic acid, is a form of the B vitamin folic acid, which helps increase 5-FU?s effectiveness. Patients are given a series of cycles that usually continue for at least 6 months.

There are many different ways of giving 5-FU, including intravenously over several hours once a week, intravenously daily for 5 consecutive days every month, or as continuous infusion with a portable pump. The most common side effects include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, hair loss, swelling of hands and feet, rashes, and mouth sores.

Studies indicate that bevacizumab administered intravenously along with IFL extends survival by about 5 months longer than IFL alone. Common side effects of bevacizumab include nosebleeds, fatigue, diarrhea, and high blood pressure. Less common side effects include stroke, heart attacks, angina, and formation of holes in the colon and stomach (gastrointestinal perforation).

Cetuximab. Cetuximab (Erbitux) was approved in 2004 for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. This monoclonal antibody drug targets epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a protein required by cancer cells in order to proliferate. It can be used either in combination with irinotecan or alone for patients who have not responded to irinotecan. Studies of the cetuximab-irinotecan combination suggest it can help in tumor shrinkage. It has a modest effect on survival, prolonging patients' lives by about an additional month or two. Recent guidelines recommend that cetuximab, and panitumumab (see below), should be given only to patients with tumors that express the wild-type KRAS gene. Patients with metastatic cancer should have tumors tested for KRAS gene status.

Panitumumab . Panitumumab (Vectibix) was approved in 2006 for treatment of colorectal cancer that has metastasized following standard chemotherapy. Like cetuximab, panitumumab is a monoclonal antibody drug that targets EGFR. In clinical trials, panitumumab helped delay disease progression and prolong survival by about 3 months. About 8% of patients experienced tumor shrinkage. Common side effects of this drug include skin rash, fatigue, abdominal pain, nausea, and diarrhea or constipation. Serious side effects include pulmonary fibrosis, severe skin rash, and skin reactions at the infusion site.

Investigational Biologic Drugs

One of the most promising recent developments in cancer treatment research has been the emergence of so-called "targeted therapies." Traditional chemotherapy drugs can be effective, but because they do not distinguish between healthy and cancerous cells their generalized toxicity can cause severe side effects. Targeted therapies work on a molecular level by blocking specific mechanisms associated with cancer cell growth and division.

Many targeted therapies are classified as biologic drugs. Bevacizumab (Avastin), cetixumab (Erbitux), and panitumumab (Vectibix) are currently the three biologic drugs approved for colorectal cancer treatment, but other drugs are in development. Targeted therapies involve many different types of drugs and molecular pathways. These include:

Angiogenesis Inhibitors: Anti-angiogenesis drugs inhibit the formation of new blood vessels that supply tumors with the blood, oxygen, and nutrients vital to tumor growth. Angiogenesis inhibitors, such as the monoclonal antibody bevacizumab (Avastin), target vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Cediranib (Recentin), formerly AZD2171, is a new angiogenesis inhibitor that is in Phase III clinical trials for treatment of colorectal cancer.

Tumor Growth Factor Inhibitors: Tumor growth factors, such as epidermal growth factor, stimulate cell growth. Cetixumab (Erbitux) and panitumumab (Vectibix) are the two currently approved colorectal cancer drugs that target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Nimotuzumab (TheraCIM) is currently being studied in combination with irinotecan.

Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors. Tyrosine kinase is an enzyme associated with EGFR that is involved with the signaling mechanisms that prompt cell growth. The EGFR/tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib (Tarceva), which is approved for the treatment of pancreatic and lung cancers, is being investigated as an adjuvant treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer. Sunitinib (Sutent), which is approved for renal cell carcinoma, is another tyrosine kinase inhibitor in trials for colorectal cancer.

Reference: New York Times, Health Section ( www.health.nytimes.com), July 12, 2012

Source: http://chateaudumer.blogspot.com/2012/07/colorectal-cancer-chemotherapy-drugs.html

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Calculations reveal fine line for hydrogen release from storage materials

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Hydrogen, the simplest and most abundant element on Earth, is a promising energy carrier for emerging clean energy technology. Hydrogen is the energy carrier that powers fuel cells in electric cars, and can be used to store energy generated by renewable sources at times of low demand.

A major challenge with hydrogen energy is meeting the dual goals of high storage density and efficient kinetics for hydrogen release when it is needed.

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have shed new light on the kinetics of hydrogen release, or dehydrogenation, from aluminum hydride (AlH3), a material that is highly promising for energy storage. Their computer simulations also illuminate the basic mechanisms governing these chemical reactions in general.

"Aluminum hydride turns out to be promising because the binding energy for hydrogen is low, so that the release rate can be fast," explained Chris Van de Walle, a professor in the Materials Department and head of the Computational Materials group at UCSB. "At the same time, kinetic barriers are high enough to prevent the hydrogen release rate from being too fast."

Drs. Lars Ismer and Anderson Janotti in the Computational Materials group used computer simulations to investigate the microscopic mechanisms that drive hydrogen release from aluminum hydride. They performed cutting-edge, first-principles calculations to examine how individual hydrogen atoms diffuse through the aluminum hydride ? a process they found to be enabled by the creation of hydrogen vacancies. Their findings were detailed in a paper "Dehydrogenation of AlH3 via the Vacancy Clustering Mechanism" published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry.

Hydrogen vacancies are defects that play an important role ? they enable diffusion. If every atom is in place, none of the atoms would be able to move. If a hydrogen atom is missing, a neighboring hydrogen atom can jump into that vacancy, thus enabling motion of hydrogen through the material.

The group then extracted key parameters from these highly sophisticated calculations, and used them in Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations aimed at modeling how hydrogen is released, leaving clusters of aluminum atoms behind.

"This multi-scale approach allows us to take the highly accurate information obtained in the first-principles computations and employ it to model realistic system sizes and time scales," said Ismer. "We can monitor the nucleation and growth of the aluminum phase and the rate at which hydrogen is released."

An important feature of the simulations is that they allowed the researchers to identify the rate-limiting mechanism, which turned out to be the diffusion process. This result initially seemed to contradict conclusions from studies using the traditional interpretation of the observed S-shaped onset of the dehydrogenation curves, which ruled out diffusion as the rate-limiting factor. However, the UCSB team's simulations produced reaction curves in agreement with the measurements, while clearly indicating that the reaction is limited by diffusion of point defects.

"These concepts transcend the specific application to hydrogen-storage materials," said Van de Walle. "The broader lesson here is that caution should be exercised in drawing conclusions based solely on the shape of reaction curves. Those simple rules of thumb were developed back in the 1930s, when experiments were less sophisticated and computational studies were unheard of. Our present work strongly suggests that traditional assumptions based on the shape of reaction curves should be reexamined."

###

University of California - Santa Barbara: http://www.ucsb.edu

Thanks to University of California - Santa Barbara for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/121780/Calculations_reveal_fine_line_for_hydrogen_release_from_storage_materials

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Liberals have the edge in Libya vote but no clear majority

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/liberals-edge-libya-vote-no-clear-majority-212830066.html

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With Funding Gone, Last Undersea Lab Could Surface

Enlarge AP via NOAA

A diver swims by the Aquarius Reef Base, a permanent working undersea laboratory located off Key Largo, Fla., in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Obama administration cut the lab's funding and now scientists are trying to save it.

AP via NOAA

A diver swims by the Aquarius Reef Base, a permanent working undersea laboratory located off Key Largo, Fla., in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Obama administration cut the lab's funding and now scientists are trying to save it.

While you're enjoying your coffee this morning, half a dozen scientists are already at work. They're not sitting at desks, however, but a few miles off the Florida Keys, 60 feet down on the ocean bottom.

The researchers are living and working this week at Aquarius Reef Base, the world's last undersea research laboratory. The 25-year-old facility, built by the federal government, has hosted everyone from marine biologists studying endangered coral reefs to NASA astronauts training for weightless missions in space. But the Aquarius Reef Base itself is now endangered.

Among marine researchers, there are few people more distinguished or respected than Sylvia Earle. Former chief scientist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and now explorer-in-residence at National Geographic, she's no stranger to what are called "saturation dives."

Those are dives where people spend days, or even weeks, underwater. This dive, Earle says, marks an important scientific anniversary. It's been 50 years since saturation diving was first pioneered by underwater explorers Ed Link and Jacques Cousteau.

"This is a historic event, and I was invited," Earle said. "I didn't knock on the door, they knocked on my door and I said, 'OK.'"

In 1970, Earle led the first team of women to conduct a saturation dive ? a two-week stay in an undersea lab off the Virgin Islands. She's now 76 years old, and this week is marking her 10th extended stay underwater.

Last week, at Aquarius Reef's training facility in Key Largo, Fla., Earle said she's disappointed that today saturation diving, and undersea research facilities that make it possible, are still uncommon.

For marine researchers, she says it's all about what she calls, "the gift of time."

Enlarge Greg Allen/NPR

Researchers Sylvia Earle (left) and Mark Patterson are trying to raise funds to save the Aquarius Reef Base.

Greg Allen/NPR

Researchers Sylvia Earle (left) and Mark Patterson are trying to raise funds to save the Aquarius Reef Base.

"This difference in perspective you get when you don't have to bounce in and out; you have the ability to stay for hours and hours and watch that fish do its thing," she says. "Or conduct an experiment without constantly looking at your watch saying, 'I've got three minutes left, I've got to go.'"

Last Of Its Kind

Aquarius Reef Base is owned by the federal government, but run by researchers from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The base is an 85-ton, cylindrical steel chamber with windows ? they're called viewports ? and a "moon pool" entryway where divers plunge in and out of the pressurized structure.

There are bunks, a galley area and room for six people.

"Typically, our divers stay 10 days [and] make excursions out on the reef for about nine hours down to 95 feet," says director Tom Potts. "So we get about ... 10 times the productivity over diving from the surface."

Last month, a team of NASA astronauts led by Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger spent 11 days at Aquarius Reef training underwater in conditions that simulate the near-zero gravity of an asteroid. It was NASA's 16th mission at Aquarius Reef.

At one time or another, there have been about 50 undersea research bases like Aquarius Reef around the world. Today, it's the last one that remains devoted to scientific research; its days might be numbered.

After some years of declining budgets, the Obama administration eliminated funding for the base, leaving its staff with just two options: either close up shop or find their own money. Part of this week's mission is outreach and education aimed at helping save Aquarius Reef.

Spreading The Word

On Monday, sitting in his shorts and T-shirt inside the undersea research base, lead researcher Mark Patterson, a marine science professor at the College of William and Mary, took part in a live, online Web chat.

"The whole point of the habitat is actually not to be inside," Patterson said from inside the lab. "So, we're chafing at the bit to get outside into the water and begin doing our science."

Patterson has conducted several missions over the years at Aquarius Reef. Last week, while training in Key Largo, he said it's one of the world's few underwater ecological observatories. It's a place, he said, where scientists are able to conduct measurements and experiments using delicate instruments, something not possible on a two-hour dive.

"Some of the things that I've used Aquarius for through the years have involved some very careful setup that took hours to days to get the experiment going just right," he says. "The neat thing was that the corals or sponges that we were making measurements on were still in nature."

Earle says the development of sophisticated robots and remote-operated vehicles has done much for ocean exploration. But interest in technology, she says, shouldn't come at the expense of manned undersea research.

"You can't surprise a machine," she says, "but you certainly can surprise a human being and a human being can react with a body of knowledge. That's the joy of exploration.

"If you knew what you were going to find, you wouldn't have to go. But it's the unexpected you have to prepare for, which is what humans do," she says.

In Key Largo, an independent foundation has started to raise money to fund the research base's $3 million annual budget so that Aquarius Reef's 117th mission won't be its last.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156881457/with-funding-gone-last-undersea-lab-could-surface?ft=1&f=1007

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Dog owners sue over jerky treat deaths

Dog owners in eight states who believe contaminated chicken jerky treats from China sickened or killed their pets are banding together in a class-action lawsuit against Nestle Purina, the maker of two popular brands of the canine snacks, and several mega-stores that sell them.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/48202101#48202101

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Record night for Alliance?s Taurice Scott in Repository East-West All-Star Football Game

Cantonrep.com / Scott Heckel

Alliance's Taurice Scott set an East-West All-Star Game record with this first-quarter 70-yard touchdown run for the East on Saturday night.

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