Background Relapsed multiple myeloma has no standard treatment, and the role of autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) has not been fully defined. We aimed to compare high-dose melphalan plus salvage ASCT with cyclophosphamide in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma who had previously undergone ASCT. Between April 16, 2008, and Nov 19, 2012, 297 patients were registered, of whom 293 received PAD re-induction therapy. Between Aug 26, 2008, and Nov 16, 2012, 174 patients with sufficient PBSCs were randomised to salvage ASCT (n=89) or cyclophosphamide (n=85). After a median follow-up of 31 months (IQR 1942), median time to progression was significantly longer in the salvage ASCT than in the cyclophosphamide group (19 months [95% CI 1625] vs 11 months [912]; hazard ratio 036 [95% CI 025053]; p10% of patients) grade 34 adverse events with PAD induction, salvage ASCT, and cyclophosphamide were: neutropenia (125 [43%] of 293 patients after PAD, and 63 [76%] of 83 patients in the salvage ASCT group vs 11 [13%] of 84 patients in the cyclophosphamide group), thrombocytopenia (150 [51%] after PAD, and 60 [72%] vs four [5%], respectively), and peripheral neuropathy (35 [12%] after PAD, and none vs none, respectively). This study provides evidence for the improved efficacy … Continue reading →

KANSAS CITY, KS (KCTV) - A KCK company is developing a stem cell treatment to help dogs deal with crippling pain from arthritis. Aratana Therapeutics is working to treat osteoarthritis in pets via the stem cell treatment. If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves, it would be the first treatment of its kind. The treatment wouldn't provide a cure but would give much-needed relief. "They're still able to move better but they can't do the things they did when they were younger," dog owner Rachel Thieme said. Osteoarthritis can be quite debilitating for canines. "It's really tough because may be there are other areas of quality of life that are fine. They are eating fine. They have that motivation but they just can't physically do anything, so sometimes you have to euthanize them," Thieme said. The only way to cure the condition is to conduct a total joint replacement. But the stem cell procedure hopefully will reduce the need for medications and therapies, said Kara Forsee, a veterinary surgeon for BluePearl Veterinary Partners. Follow this link: KC area company developing stem cell treatments for pooches - Tucson News Now … Continue reading →

London School of Economics and Political Science revealed high costs An estimated 600,000 children and adults in the UK are said to be affected Quarter of sufferers unable to talk, and 85 per cent do not work full time By Jenny Hope Published: 19:37 EST, 9 June 2014 | Updated: 04:40 EST, 10 June 2014 1,062 shares 16 View comments Hugely costly: An estimated 600,000 children and adults in the UK are affected by ASD and genetic factors play a role in its development (file picture) Autism is the most costly medical condition in Britain, say researchers. It costs the UK 32 billion a year - more than heart disease, cancer and stroke combined. Researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) have produced the most comprehensive estimate yet of treatment, lost earnings, care and support costs for children and adults with autism. Originally posted here: 32billion bill for autism, Britain costliest condition: Total cost of treatment, care and support is more then heart ... … Continue reading →

Writers, artists and historians have long pondered what it means to be Mexican. Now science has offered its answer, and it could change how medicine uses racial and ethnic categories to assess disease risk, testing and treatment. The broadest analysis of the Mexican genome ever undertaken reveals a nation of staggering genetic diversity, where European conquest only thinly masks the ancestral DNA of Native Americans, and where some populations remain as distinct from one another as Europeans are from Chinese, according to findings published Thursday in the journal Science. Forty researchers, who share Latino heritage as well as professional qualms over the significance of ethnic and racial categories, teamed up across borders to analyze more than 1 million variations in the building blocks of DNA. They examined more than 500 samples collected in Mexicos remote Indian villages and polyglot cities, and from Mexican Americans in California. Because these populations are so rich, so genetically differentiated, you cant just lump them all in, said lead investigator Carlos Bustamante, a population geneticist and co-director of Stanford Universitys Center for Computational, Evolutionary and Human Genomics. You really have to embrace that diversity and think about doing medical genetic studies on a very large … Continue reading →