Health and Medical News Headlines for June 6, 2010

KNPC close to $900 mln gas plant deal with Daelim

KUWAIT, June 6 (Reuters) - Kuwait's state-run refining arm KNPC is close to signing a 260 million Kuwaiti dinars ($892.8 million) with South Korea's Daelim Industrial Co for a gas facility and pipeline,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 6 Jun 2010 | 3:15 am

Drug boosts survival in major skin cancer study (AP)

AP - Researchers have scored the first big win against melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. An experimental drug significantly improved survival in a major study of people with very advanced disease.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 6 Jun 2010 | 1:49 am

CLSA China JV aims to close $1.5 bln fund in Sept

SHANGHAI, June 6 (Reuters) - Brokerage CLSA's China asset management joint venture plans to close a 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) new energy- and new materials-focused fund and begin investing around...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 6 Jun 2010 | 1:28 am

Impressionism returns to Normandy with a homeland festival

Claude Monet brought his easels to Rouen in 1892 to paint a series of its landmark Gothic cathedral, and eleven of those masterpieces are back home in France's Normandy region for a...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:26 am

Suntech to add 1GW Shanghai capacity as demand jumps

SHANGHAI, June 6 (Reuters) - Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd , China's largest solar panel marker, plans to invest 2.68 billion yuan ($393 million) to build 1 gigawatt in additional production capacity in...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 6 Jun 2010 | 12:25 am

Undeclared milk in certain 1.5 KG boxes of Uncle Ben's Bistro Express 6 pack.

OTTAWA - The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is warning people with allergies to milk proteins not to consume certain Uncle Ben's Bistro Express products. The affected 6 packs...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 11:16 pm

Obese Mothers a Burden on Hospital Resources

Extreme weight may be causing birth defects or death for mothers and babies, and hospitals have had to adjust.

Source: NYT > Health | 5 Jun 2010 | 10:29 pm

Newer Drugs Beat Gleevec in Head-to-Head Trials (HealthDay)

HealthDay - SATURDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- Two new drugs, dasatinib (Sprycel) and nilotinib (Tasigna), appear better than imatinib (Gleevec) in treating patients with newly diagnosed chronic myeloid leukemia and should be considered as first-line treatments, two new studies show.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 9:48 pm

Targeted Therapy Shows Promise Against Deadly Brain Cancer (HealthDay)

HealthDay - SATURDAY, June 5 (HealthDay News) -- A preliminary study has found that a targeted treatment for medulloblastoma -- the most common malignant brain cancer in children -- may one day be able to treat drug-resistant forms of the disease.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 9:48 pm

Scientists See Progress on Lung Cancer and Melanoma

Studies report significant progress taming two of the most intractable types of cancer, melanoma and lung cancer.

Source: NYT > Health | 5 Jun 2010 | 9:24 pm

Rise in Suicides of Middle-Aged Is Continuing

An increase that began in 2006 has not abated, according to the latest figures released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: NYT > Health | 5 Jun 2010 | 8:30 pm

Disney to enter new talks for Miramax sale-report

LOS ANGELES, June 5 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Co will enter into exclusive talks on Monday to sell its Miramax film unit to Los Angeles construction magnate Ron Tutor and film financier partner David Bergstein,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 8:12 pm

Percutaneous Hepatic Perfusion Improves Survival in Patients With Hepatic Metastases

Percutaneous hepatic perfusion with melphalan significantly extended survival in patients with primary melanoma and hepatic metastases.
Medscape Medical News
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 Jun 2010 | 5:44 pm

UPDATE 1-Bristol drug extends survival in deadly skin cancer

* 10-month median survival; 4 months longer than vaccine
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 5:30 pm

UPDATE 1-Sprycel tops Gleevec in newly diagnosed CML-study

* Novartis drug Tasigna tops Gleevec in similar study (Recasts, updates with quote from meeting)
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 5:14 pm

Selenium Does Not Benefit -- and May Harm -- Most Patients With NSCLC

An earlier study of the nutritional supplement selenium suggested that the mineral might benefit patients with lung cancer. A confirmatory trial now has definitive findings.
Medscape Medical News
Source: Medscape Medical News Headlines | 5 Jun 2010 | 5:02 pm

Pharmacyclics lymphoma drug shows continued promise

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The latest results from a small, early stage trial of Pharmacyclics Inc's experimental drug for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma showed about 49 percent of patients responded to...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 4:50 pm

Flu experts 'link' to drug firms

Scientists behind WHO advice on stockpiling of flu drugs had links to firms which stood to profit, an investigation finds.
Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 5 Jun 2010 | 4:46 pm

Pharmacyclics lymphoma drug shows continued promise

CHICAGO, June 5 (Reuters) - The latest results from a small, early stage trial of Pharmacyclics Inc's experimental drug for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma showed about 49 percent of patients responded to it,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsHealth | 5 Jun 2010 | 4:44 pm

Roche drug combats children's brain tumors (Reuters)

Reuters - An experimental drug being developed by Roche Holding AG showed promising results in a small, early stage trial involving children with medulloblastoma, the most common type of malignant brain tumor in children.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 4:31 pm

White hair a 'healing sign' with melanoma drugs (Reuters)

Reuters - When your hair turns white it is usually a sign of old age, but in advanced melanoma patients taking a new type of cancer treatment, it may be a very good sign, researchers said on Saturday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 3:46 pm

New lung cancer treatment shrinks some tumors: study (AFP)

AFP - A new experimental drug helps shrink tumors in lung cancer patients with a specific form of genetic alteration, according to results from a clinical trial unveiled Saturday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 1:02 pm

Experimental Drug Makes Lung Cancer Tumor Shrink In 90% Of Patients

An extremely promising experimental drug, called crizotinib for lung cancer patients with a specific gene has shrunk tumors in 90% of patients in a clinical study within two months, researchers from Pfizer. Inc. said. With expectations of just a 10% response rate to this new medication - which would have been good news anyway - a 90% rate surprised everybody. The 80 patients involved in the trial had advanced lung cancer, in a number of cases the cancer had already spread to the brain. Most of them had already tried 3 other medications. Study leader, Dr...

Source: Health News from Medical News Today | 5 Jun 2010 | 11:00 am

One-shot radiation 'hits cancer'

A single dose of radiation during breast cancer surgery is just as effective as several weeks of post-operative radiotherapy, a study suggests.
Source: BBC News | Health | World Edition | 5 Jun 2010 | 10:09 am

Pfizer lung cancer drug promising in early tests (AP)

AP - It's way too soon to declare success, but an experimental drug for lung cancer patients with a certain gene showed extraordinary promise in early testing, doctors reported at a cancer conference on Saturday.
Source: Yahoo! News: Health News | 5 Jun 2010 | 9:33 am