12 August, 2013

Now dogs can detect cancer!

Man’s best friend now has a new trick in their in their locker – sniffing out cancer.  Ohlin Frank, a trained chocolate Labrador has been able to detect ovarian cancer tissue 100 per cent of the time, researchers said. Frank and its fellow trainee, McBaine Chamberlain, a spunky springer spaniel, are a part of an interdisciplinary research project at the University of Pennsylvania to help scientists discover a chemical footprint that might lead to earlier diagnostic tests to save human lives. They are among 15 carefully bred detection dogs learning to sniff out explosives, drugs and missing people.

Researchers are using the keen sense of smell of the dogs to identify the earliest odour of ovarian cancer, a silent killer often diagnosed too late, ABCNews.com’ reported. Cancer cells leave a detectable bio-marker, just as asparagus can affect the smell of urine when eaten.

Penn Vet founder and executive director Cynthia M Otto hopes the dogs can be trained to narrow down a specific odour within two years, so scientists can design an inexpensive and less-invasive blood test to catch ovarian cancer while it’s still treatable. ‘All dogs are really good at sniffing, but part of what gives them a huge advantage over us is the surface area of the olfactory receptors,’ Otto said.

The dogs have already been introduced to the cancer tissue smell and were taught to sit when they found it. Otto’s work builds on a 2010 Swedish study, which used pet giant schnauzers to detect ovarian cancer. Tissue tests showed sensitivity of 100 per cent and specificity of 95 per cent; blood tests showed sensitivity of 100 per cent and specificity of 98 per cent, the report said. Dogs with long noses have the largest surface areas of olfactory receptors, said researchers.

Source: http://health.india.com

12.08.2013

Genetic birth defects may be the reason behind childhood cancer

Children born with genetic birth defects like Down’s syndrome are at an increased risk of developing childhood cancer, says a study.

Scientists have said that children born with non-chromosomal birth defects have a two-fold higher risk of cancer before age 15, compared to children born without birth defects.

However, cancer risk varies by the specific type of birth defect, and is not significantly increased in many of the more common birth defects, Science Daily reported citing the study published in July in PLOS ONE. 

Birth defects are an increasing health concern worldwide, and in 2010 the World Health Organisation identified birth defect prevention and care as a global priority.

‘There is a large body of evidence for increased cancer risk in children with Down’s syndrome, a genetic birth defect caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21,’ says Lorenzo Botto, professor of paediatrics at the University of Utah School of Medicine and an author of the study.

‘However, studies to date have provided inconsistent findings on cancer risk in children with structural birth defects that are not caused by chromosome abnormalities.’

Source: http://health.india.com

12.08.2013

Sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together

Marilyn Monroe