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<p>A national drug shortage is threatening to disrupt cancer therapy for 24-year-old Tammie Miura and at least 100 Hawaii patients who use the medicine as a main source of treatment.</p> <p>Hospital officials nationwide are fearful that the drug, methotrexate — a crucial medicine in the treatment of childhood cancers — will be exhausted within the next two weeks after a major supplier stopped producing it in November. Hawaii has not yet seen a shortage because local hospitals typically stock up on the drug, though medical providers and patients are worried that could soon change.</p>

When you hear the term “stem cells”, what comes to mind? Religious controversy? Ethical debate? embryonic stem cell research? These associations are common, and unfortunately could be limiting how often stem cells are donated for use as a life-saving transplant. Many people equate stem cells with embryonic stem cell research but non-embryonic (or adult) stem cells are different and they’re used every day in modern medicine to save lives. Furthermore, to date, embryonic stem cells have not been used for many human therapeutic purposes.Nearly everyone knows someone that has had or needed a bone marrow transplant, but did you know...

A compound produced from fish oil that appears to target leukemia stem cells could lead to a cure for the disease, according to Penn State researchers. The compound -- delta-12-protaglandin J3, or D12-PGJ3 -- targeted and killed the stem cells of chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, in mice, said Sandeep Prabhu, associate professor of immunology and molecular toxicology in the Department of Veterinary and Medical Sciences. The compound is produced from EPA -- Eicosapentaenoic Acid -- an Omega-3 fatty acid found in fish and in fish oil, he said. "Research in the past on fatty acids has shown the health...

Fukushima: Japanese produce linked to newscaster's cancer Date: 13 November 2011 Posted By : Special to The Canadian A Japanese newscaster who usually reports the news, has now made the news in Japan. Norikazu Otsuka, a Japanese TV newscaster, has been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia and is now hospitalized, getting ready for chemo. He felt a strange lump in his neck on October 28, he says. -- Various news sources including: Zakzak 11/7/2011, Yomiuri Shinbun 11/6/2011 have also filed reports. “In his morning program on Fuji TV he’s been promoting Fukushima produce by eating them in the show. He...

In February of this year my older brother went to the hospital due to severe pain and swelling in one leg. Those doctors could not figure out what was causing the pain and swelling, so they sent him home to see his own doctor. His doctor could not figure out the problem either; mean while his other leg started hurting. He was sent to Houston for yet another set of test; still no results. His doctor and the doctors in Houston tried different treatments (medicine) to treat his pain. By this time he has used up his vacation, sick leave...

Spanish researchers found that 22 of 24 healthy people (92 per cent) developed an immune response to HIV after being given their MVA-B vaccine. Professor Mariano Esteban, head researcher on the project at the National Biotech Centre in Madrid, said of the jab: "It is like showing a picture of the HIV so that it is able to recognise it if it sees it again in the future." The injection contains four HIV genes which stimulate T and B lymphocytes, which are types of white blood cells. Prof Esteban explained: "Our body is full of lymphocytes, each of them programmed...

Modified ecstasy could one day have a role to play in fighting some blood cancers, according to scientists. Ecstasy is known to kill some cancer cells, but scientists have increased its effectiveness 100-fold, they said in Investigational New Drugs journal. Their early study showed all leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma cells could be killed in a test tube, but any treatment would be a decade away. A charity said the findings were a "significant step forward". In 2006, a research team at the University of Birmingham showed that ecstasy and anti-depressants such as Prozac had the potential to stop cancers growing....

– Scientists are reporting the first clear success with a new approach for treating leukemia — turning the patients' own blood cells into assassins that hunt and destroy their cancer cells. They've only done it in three patients so far, but the results were striking: Two appear cancer-free up to a year after treatment, and the third patient is improved but still has some cancer. Scientists are already preparing to try the same gene therapy technique for other kinds of cancer. "It worked great. We were surprised it worked as well as it did," said Dr. Carl June, a gene...

Doctors have treated only three leukemia patients, but the sensational results from a single shot could be one of the most significant advances in cancer research in decades. And it almost never happened. In the research published Wednesday, doctors at the University of Pennsylvania say the treatment made the most common type of leukemia completely disappear in two of the patients and reduced it by 70 percent in the third. In each of the patients as much as five pounds of cancerous tissue completely melted away in a few weeks, and a year later it is still gone

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Fuel Rods Damage At Fukushima's 2 Reactors Estimated At 70%, 33% TOKYO (Kyodo)--An estimated 70 percent of the nuclear fuel rods have been damaged at the troubled No. 1 reactor of the Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant and 33 percent at the No. 2 reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Wednesday. The reactors' cores are believed to have partially melted with their cooling functions lost after Friday's magnitude 9.0 earthquake rocked Fukushima Prefecture and other areas in northeastern and eastern Japan.

Victoria Webster with her husband and two children, including daughter Jessica who is alive today because of Victoria's sacrificial heroism. BIRMINGHAM, UK, February 17, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One British cancer patient has sent a powerful message about the value of life after she refused aggressive treatment for her leukemia in an effort to save the life of her unborn daughter – who was, in fact, born perfectly healthy last April. “My doctor told me I needed to make a choice and decide whether I should keep my baby. To me, there was no decision to make,� Victoria Webster, 33, told...

A good athlete is often called on to save a game. This is the story of a star football player who was asked to save a life of someone he didn't even know. CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews has the latest example of "The American Spirit." There were four finalists last night for the Gagliardi Trophy, basically the Heisman for Division III college football. But for finalist Matt Hoffman learning if he'd win wasn't the suspense of the night.  Meeting cancer patient Warren Sallach was.  Last year Matt donated his bone stem cells - in an anonymous donation that went...

BERLIN, November 26, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Doctors associated with the German umbilical cord blood bank Vita 34 say that they have cured a child’s leukemia completely using an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.The procedure was reportedly performed in 2005 on a four-year-old girl whose chemotherapy treatment had failed and who had a prognosis of only three months to live.  The procedure was possible because the parents had decided to preserve their child’s umbilical cord blood at the time of birth.After continuous monitoring of the child for five years now, with no sign of leukemia cells in...

Jill Clayburgh, an Oscar-nominated actress known for portraying strong, independent women, died on Friday at her home in Lakeville, Conn. She was 66.

Over the weekend, it was revealed that Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller has been undergoing treatment for leukemia. At 91, Feller is the third oldest living member of the Hall of Fame (behind Bobby Doerr and Lee McPhail, who are both 92)...

7/1/2010 - RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Does a free hair cut sound like a good deal? Perhaps it sounds even better when a free hair cut raises awareness and money to combat cancer in children. Ninety-eight people volunteered to give up their locks to participate in the first St. Baldrick's event at Donnelly Park here June 26. The hair-raising experience tallied $6,645 for charity at the end of the day. The event was organized by 3-year-old Josephine Beardsley's parents, Heike and Tech. Sgt. Timothy Beardsley, with the 86th Maintenance Squadron. It also marked the second anniversary of Josephine's...

prayers are needed for cousin who is the last sister in family

I know rush is having his cure-a-thon today, but I didn't get the phone number & I can't find anything on the website. Help and thanks

U.S. ARMY GARRISON WIESBADEN, Germany, Nov. 30, 2009 – For 102nd Signal Battalion telephone technician Alexander Weber-Fetscher, June 22, 2007, will be remembered as the day he welcomed a new life into the world and helped to save another. Maike Siemer meets Alexander Weber-Fetscher during a surprise visit by the stem cell donor. His donation helped her to recover from leukemia. U.S. Army photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. That's the day his son was born and also the day he learned he was an ideal match as a stem cell blood donor for a young leukemia patient. "The...

NEW YORK (CBS) ― Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is being treated for a rare form of leukemia, and the basketball great said his prognosis is encouraging. The NBA's all-time leading scorer was diagnosed last December with chronic myeloid leukemia, he told The Associated Press on Monday. The 62-year-old Abdul-Jabbar said his doctor didn't give any guarantees, but informed him: "You have a very good chance to live your life out and not have to make any drastic changes to your lifestyle." Abdul-Jabbar is taking an oral medication for the disease. He is a paid spokesman for the Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, which...

Scrambling to get 60 seconds out of every minute, Katie Meacham finally got the boyfriend to take her for a carriage ride in Central Park. He hated it, she reports. “He said, ‘You know this is a pity ride, don’t you?’ ” she said, laughing. Even though she is just 26, her days and time are at a premium. Ms. Meacham lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but she is also a citizen of another country: cancer land. She has a kind of aggressive lymphoma, a disease that ruins the blood.

A startling case in Japan has confirmed that pregnant women with cancer can pass the disease to their fetuses. These transmissions, normally blocked by the placenta, are rare, so the work likely won't change how doctors screen or care for pregnant women. But scientists say the case could help illuminate how cancer foils the body's immune system. In early 2007, a 28-year-old Japanese woman gave birth to a girl. Thirty-six days later, the mother was hospitalized with vaginal bleeding, which became uncontrollable. Doctors diagnosed leukemia, and she soon died. The baby developed normally until age 11 months, when a huge...

JOINT FORCES HEADQUARTERS, LATHAM, N.Y. (10/07/09) - Members of the New York National Guard welcomed a new "recruit" to the Army National Guard Oct. 6 when the National Guard helped fulfill the dream of a local area boy battling Leukemia. Nine-year old Jacob Kaminski was surprised by his family with a day-long visit with the New York National Guard as the state's "Soldier for a Day." The event was arranged, in part, by New York Army National Guard Sgt. Mathew Starr, assigned to the Joint Forces Headquarters staff and a long-time fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Starr, a...

DANBURY, Conn. (AP) - Mary Travers, one-third of the hugely popular 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, has died. The band's publicist, Heather Lylis, says Travers died at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut on Wednesday. She was 72 and had battled leukemia for several years. Travers joined forces with Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey in the early 1960s.

SANTIAGO (AFP) – A middle-aged leukemia patient has became Chile's first patient to receive stem cells from an umbilical cord in a radical procedure that could cure the disease, health officials here said Thursday. The 48-year-old man received the transplanted cells on Monday from samples stored in the so-called "Bank of Life" institute, said doctors at Santiago's Catholic University Hospital, where the operation was performed...

Clinic researchers are reporting positive results in early leukemia clinical trials using the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an active ingredient in green tea. The trial determined that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) can tolerate the chemical fairly well when high doses are administered in capsule form and that lymphocyte count was reduced in one-third of participants. "We found not only that patients tolerated the green tea extract at very high doses, but that many of them saw regression to some degree of their chronic lymphocytic leukemia," says Tait Shanafelt, M.D., Mayo Clinic hematologist and lead author of the study....

On Today's Show...   Rush Donates $300,000 to Kick Off the Annual Leukemia & Lymphoma Cure-A-Thon To beat blood cancers, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of America needs your help. Even if you can give $1, it matters. We're accepting donations all weekend. (Rush 24/7 Members:  Listen)      "Through hard work and the generosity of people like you, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has blood cancers playing defense.  There is progress on survivability each and every year.  So it's not the time to rest, redeploy, or withdraw, especially from a cause and effort showing so much promise and providing so many breakthroughs. ...

A team of scientists from the US and China have discovered that grape-seed extract kills laboratory leukemia cells by making them commit suicide, thus showing the potential value of natural compounds in the treatment of cancer. The study was the work of lead author, Dr Xianglin Shi, professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky and colleagues and is published online in the 1 January 2009 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. A number of studies have already revealed that eating fruit and vegetables helps to prevent cancer,...

An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract... ...While grape seed extract has shown activity in a number of laboratory cancer cell lines, including skin, breast, colon, lung, stomach and prostate cancers, no one had tested the extract in hematological cancers... ..."These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers," said...

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 7, 2008 – A little boy from Flagstaff, Ariz., touched the lives of Guardsmen at the 162nd Fighter Wing here last year when he visited the wing to be a fighter pilot for a day, and he continues to inspire unit members today. Air Force Lt. Col. Scott Reinhold, then a major, puts the 162nd Fighter Wing patch on 6-year-old Dominic Magne’s flight suit during the boy’s visit to the Arizona Air National Guard unit April 17, 2007. U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. Gabe Johnson  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. At the age of...

Researchers from the University of Dundee in the UK were able to reveal for the first time how Arsenic and other molecules like Arsenic trioxide (ATO), known for many years to cure the acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), help break down the protein causing the leukemia. This achievement may help researchers develop less poisonous drugs to fight the disease.   Professor Ronald Hay (Credit: University of Dundee) APL is a sub-type of AML (acute myelogenous leukemia), and is common at the relatively young age of 40 (AML is common at the age of about 70). In 1992, ATO was found to...

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Blasted for Support of Embryonic Stem Cell Research WASHINGTON, D.C., August 29, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - "It is ludicrous." That was the reaction of Douglas R. Scott, Jr., president of Life Decisions International (LDI), to a statement by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (L&LS) in defense of its support for embryonic stem cell experimentation. LDI, which publishes a list of corporations that fund the abortion-committing group Planned Parenthood, recently updated the "Dishonorable Mention" section of The Boycott List. The section identifies nonprofit organizations that "are linked to Planned Parenthood and/or its agenda." Like Planned Parenthood, L&LS actively...

by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com EditorAugust 28, 2007Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is getting heat from a pro-life organization because it backs embryonic stem cell research that requires the destruction of human life. The crux of the debate between the groups revolves around a letter LLS signed in favor of a bill to require taxpayer funding of the research.After learning that the Planned Parenthood watchdog group Life Decisions International had LLS to a group of charities pro-life advocates should boycott, a pro-life advocate wrote the organization.LLS spokesman Doug Lubbers wrote to the pro-life person, saying "This is a...

Nearly two months after undergoing a transplant designed to infuse her body with healthy blood and defeat leukemia, a 13-month-old Simi Valley girl remains in isolation in a Los Angeles hospital. Hailey Joy Kent, who received stem cells from a donor's umbilical cord on May 30, is still on a battery of medications as doctors monitor a blood count that fluctuates day to day. She's playing with her favorite rattles and seems mostly happy but faces a long list of challenges, like relearning how to eat. "Considering what she's been through so far, she's doing all right," said Maria Kent,...

Apparently Wyoming Republican Senator Craig Thomas is in "serious condition" at National Naval Medical Center where he has been getting treatment for leukemia. According to a statment, "Doctors have been administering a second round of chemotherapy to control the disease, but the senator's blood cancer has proven resistant to their most recent efforts and he continues to struggle with infection in addition to the leukemia." His wife, Susan, said in the statement, "At this difficult time, all we can do is give him as much love and support as possible. The support and prayers of Wyoming folks have made a...

Almost 2 years ago, I posted a prayer request for a little boy, Ethan Rossi. At that time he was 6 months old and newly diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. When he was 10 months old, he had a bone marrow transplant. For the past 2 years he has done well, but his parents received a phonecall from his oncologist last week informing them that it looks as if Ethan's transplant has failed, At this time,we are believing that our gracious God has healed Ethan, but we have to be prudent, so on Tuesday, March 6, Ethan will go to...

A three-year-old leukemia victim was given a life-saving infusion of her own cord blood, marking the first time a child with this disease served as their own blood donor, American doctors said. The little girl is now a thriving six-year-old six -- a tribute, say her doctors, to the pioneering transplant that helped her recover from radical chemotherapy. They also commended the foresight of her parents who decided to save some of her umbilical cord on the off chance it might be needed later. "There's a good chance the procedure saved her life. She is in remission and has an...

Shirly Ray Trumps, 84, a retired Army colonel who led commando operations behind German lines in support of the Normandy invasion, died of lymphocytic leukemia Nov. 15 at his home in Annandale. Born along the Bayou Teche in Breaux Bridge, La., in the heart of Louisiana's French-speaking Cajun parishes, he joined the Army in 1940 as a member of the Louisiana National Guard and was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in 1942. On a weekend pass to Washington in 1943, he heard that the Army was searching for French-speaking volunteers to train for special missions. He applied for and...

CHEYENNE, Wyoming (AP) -- Sen. Craig Thomas, hospitalized since Monday with pneumonia, has been diagnosed with a form of leukemia, his spokesman said Thursday. The Wyoming Republican, who was easily elected to a third term while in the hospital, issued a statement saying he will undergo treatment and plans to return to Congress in January.

A major breakthrough in cancer research may save a Fort Campbell soldier's life.  An anonymous person had donated stem cells from umbilical cord blood. That donation led to only the second adult stem cell transplant in the state. For Army Cpl. Charles Dougherty, however, it was a chance to reclaim the life he lost due to leukemia. “I'm a combat engineer for the U.S. Army. We do demolitions and mine clearance,” Dougherty said.  Dougherty had to leave the job he loves. “For him not to be able to do his job. I know it's hard on him,” his wife, Crystal...

Embryonic stem cells have not cured or successfully treated a single patient. Contrast that with the more than 70 conditions that are treatable using non-embryonic stem cell therapies. One of the hottest debates in bioethics today surrounds research using stem cells taken from either in vitro fertilization or cloned human embryos. From state legislatures and the halls of Congress to the United Nation, the controversy over whether to ban (or fund) such research rages. Human cloning for embryonic stem cell research creates human embryos virtually identical to a patient’s genetic composition. The embryo’s stem cells are then harvested — a...

Adult stem-cell research may lead one day to cures for terminal and debilitating diseases "I hope we will always be guided by both intellect and heart, by both our capabilities and our conscience." -President George W. Bush1 Few areas of scientific study hold as much potential as adult stem-cell research. This research is already generating medical breakthroughs and treatments for debilitating diseases and disabilities, such as spinal cord injuries, sickle cell anemia and Parkinson's. Indeed, scientists laud stem-cell treatments as the "miracle cure" of the 21st century. Unlike so many areas of biotechnology, adult stem cells do not spark a...

One day, perhaps in the distant future, stem cells may help repair diseased tissues. But there is a far more pressing reason to study them: stem cells are the source of at least some, and perhaps all, cancers. At the heart of every tumor, some researchers believe, lie a handful of aberrant stem cells that maintain the malignant tissue.  The idea, if right, could explain why tumors often regenerate even after being almost destroyed by anticancer drugs. It also points to a different strategy for developing anticancer drugs, suggesting they should be selected for lethality to cancer stem cells and...

NEW YORK, March 13 (AScribe Newswire) -- Scientists have uncovered new information about what orchestrates the complex balance between blood stem cells and mature blood cells, a relationship that is often disrupted in leukemia. The results, published in the March issue of Cancer Cell, will lead to a better understanding of the behavior of leukemic cells and may have vital clinical applications for patients recovering from chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or bone marrow transplantation. Recent studies have implicated reduced levels of a transcription factor called MEF with subtypes of leukemia. Drs. Stephen D. Nimer and Daniel Lacorazza from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer...

A couple of weeks ago Wake Forest University physicians described the first human recipients of a laboratory-grown organ. In the prestigious medical journal "The Lancet," Dr. Anthony Atala, director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, detailed a series of patients (children and teenagers) who received urinary bladders grown from their own cells. WHAAAAT? Did somebody say "laboratory organs?!" Yes. Perhaps like you, the first reaction of some who heard the news was, “why would anyone need a new bladder?” Well, many infants are born with congenital birth defects a very serous one is spina bifida (incomplete closure of the spine)....

  PATENT OFFENDING In October 1976, an Alaska pipeline engineer named John Moore became seriously, mysteriously ill. Eventually, he found himself at the UCLA Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with a rare, progressive form of blood cancer called hairy cell leukemia.To slow the disease and perhaps save his life, Moore's physician - Dr. David Golde - recommended removing Moore's spleen. The surgery was successful. Moore recovered and eventually returned to Alaska, with instructions to visit Golde for annual checkups.  Over the next eight years, Moore did so. During each visit, Golde would extract samples of Moore's blood, skin,...

A sperm donor in Michigan passed a rare and serious genetic disease to five children born to four couples, doctors are reporting today. The doctor who discovered the cases said that all four couples were clients of the same sperm bank. That bank, the doctor added, assured him that it had discarded its remaining samples from the man and had told him he could no longer be a donor. It is not known how many children the donor had fathered, whether he knew he carried the disease before he donated sperm, or whether the bank had informed him of his...

A woman who was pregnant when she was diagnosed with leukemia is alive thanks to a unique transplant of umbilical cord blood from two different donors. It was the first time such a procedure had been performed in Colorado. "There were some times where the odds were stacked against us," Sheila Gannon, a leukemia survivor said. Gannon gave birth to her son Sawyer 2 weeks early so she could start chemotherapy. There were infections and complications during that treatment. No bone marrow match was found. Centers that offer umbilical cord blood rejected Gannon at first because her leukemia wasn't in...

WASHINGTON - Cancer-causing benzene has been found in soft drinks at levels above the limit considered safe for drinking water, the Food and Drug Administration acknowledged Wednesday. Even so, the FDA still believes there are no safety concerns about benzene in soft drinks, or sodas, said Laura Tarantino, the agency's director of food additive safety. "We haven't changed our view that right now, there is not a safety concern, not a public health concern," she said. "But what we need to do is understand how benzene forms and to ensure the industry is doing everything to avoid those circumstances." The...

The drug trial victim whose head ballooned in size so much that his sobbing girlfriend said he resembled the Elephant Man said he couldn't resist the £2,000 fee for the tests. Mohammed Abdalla, 28, had planned to use his £2,000 fee for being a guinea pig to make his family in Egypt financially secure. He wanted to set up his brother Mahmood in business and look after his father, an imam, and desperately ill mother. Yesterday, as the London bar manager's dreams were disclosed, it emerged that scientists had warned about the damage the drug could do to human tissue...