| Duke Physician-Scientist Receives Shaw Award
DURHAM, N.C. -- Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Duke University Medical Center, has received the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine for 2007 for his research into understanding the receptor system that controls the bodys response to drugs and hormones. The announcement was made today in Hong Kong by the Shaw Prize Foundation. Lefkowitz will receive the award, which includes a $1 million prize, during a ceremony in Hong Kong on Sept. 11. The annual prize, which was first granted in 2004, was established by Run Run Shaw, a Chinese native who founded the film company Shaw Brothers Limited in Hong Kong in the 1950s. Shaw also serves as executive chairman of Television Broadcasts Limited, also in Hong Kong. Lefkowitz, a Duke faculty member since 1972, received the award for his "relentless elucidation" of what are known as seven-transmembrane-spanning receptors.
Advances in screening and markers improve early detection of ...
WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 23, 2007) -- Although colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, when detected early, it has one of the highest cure rates. For this reason, innovative and improved methods to screen for and detect this disease are essential. Research presented today at Digestive Disease Week 2007 (DDW) demonstrates the breadth of technological and research advances that are helping to decrease both the number of deaths and the number of new cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed in the United States. DDW is the largest international gathering of physicians and researchers in the fields of gastroenterology, hepatology, endoscopy and gastrointestinal surgery. A New Benchmark in the Colorectal Neoplasm Miss Rate During Colonoscopy: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial of Wide Angle View (170 degrees) Colonoscopy Comparing Narrow Band Imaging and White Light (Abstract #821) Although the colonoscopy is considered the most effective means to detect precursors of colon cancer, the overall reported rate of missing colorectal tumors is 24 percent, as reported in 1997.
Bulletin Board, Aug. 12
Program an offers eight-week session for ages 5-14 at Freedom Park Center, 33-1 Roff Ave. Call (866) 236-2767. Instruction: Collegiate Cheer Coaches offer sessions for squads or individuals in grades 4-and-older. Call 987-2838. Gym Nest: Classes for youths ages 4-and-older. Call 474-3021. Cheer classes: The program offers instruction for girls ages 3-12. Private lessons also are available for middle and high school cheerleaders. Call 224-9993 or email aplusgymnastics@yahoo.com CYCLING Central Georgia Cyclists: Group rides from 20 to 60 miles on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Beginners and casual riders are encouraged to join us on Wednesday Call 953-6225 or CentralGeorgiaCyclist.com. Bleckley Metric 100: Routes include a 15-, 30-, 50- and 62-mile loop.
Chat: Howard Sacre, our producer on his battle with cancer
Firstly Good Luck with your fight against your Cancer. Do you think lifestyle played a part in your cancer diagnosis and could it have been caused by factors to do with things you may have been exposed to overseas? Howard Sacre: Good question! My type of cancer is a cancer for smokers and drinkers and people who have had extensive time in the sun as it's originally a skin cancer. The odd thing is that I have never smoked, I am a light drinker and whilst I come from Queensland, there's no evidence of any cancer from sun exposure. So that leaves a big mystery. Perhaps in some far flung part of the earth I breathed in something I shouldn't have, perhaps I picked up some strange virus as there is a chance a virus may have started this off. I've been to so many weird and wonderful places, anything could have happened, it's truly mystifying.
THE MOST POPULAR PLACE YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT
Saluda Shoals Park is a conundrum. How can the best-kept secret in the region also be the second-most-popular daily attraction? Almost daily, visitors to the Irmo Chapin Recreation Commission park off Bush River Road tell park rangers they had no idea it was there or that it offered so much. Yet, the park's attendance of 393,937 in the fiscal year that ended June 30 ranks behind only longtime attendance champ Riverbanks Zoo and Garden, at 899,675, and well ahead of No. 3 EdVenture, at 193,102. Saluda Shoals park ranger Jay Robinson said he gets the "I had no idea this was here" comment often when talking with visitors on the park's trails. "They'll say things like 'This is a brand new park, right?' and you say, 'No, it's been here a while,'" Robinson said.
Size and weight of newborns vary with ethnic origin, B.C. researchers find
Ethnicity plays a significant role in the size and weight of newborns, according a study of nearly 2,700 born at B.C. Women's Hospital. At the hospital, where 40 per cent of women delivering are of East Asian descent (China, Hong Kong) and 10 per cent are of South Asian descent (India, Pakistan), there has been a growing awareness of apparent size differences, so researchers set out to determine whether they are statistically significant enough to modify arbitrary Caucasian-based standards. "The greatest utility of this study is that we can inject some common sense into the discussion, so that we don't label as malnourished babies who may be a little small, relative to Caucasian standards, and so that we don't give parents the anxiety-causing idea that their child is not normal," said co-researcher Michael Klein.
Can mushrooms help people with cancer?
People in Asia have long turned to mushrooms for their purported health benefits. One fungus in particular is becoming increasingly popular in North America for the same reasons. Known in Japan as the "king herb" and in China as "God's herb", reishi is praised by many for its alleged immune-enhancing properties. According to the 1996 Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine: A Complete Family Guide to Complementary Therapies, the shiny, kidney-shaped mushrooms with reddish-brown caps were rare and expensive until the 1980s, when, the book says, Japan's Shigeaki Mori developed a new means of cultivating them, making them more widely available and affordable. Today they grow in moist, temperate forest areas of Asia, Europe, South America, and North America, typically attaching themselves to oak and plum trees.
|
