Researchers claim blood test may predict Alzheimer’s

March 10, 2014 By Leave a Comment

March 10, 2014
blood test for alzheimThe New York Daily News (3/10, Landau) reports that researchers say they have “developed a revolutionary” blood “test that can predict if someone will develop Alzheimer’s disease.”

CNN (3/10, Cohen) reports that according to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine, even “though much work still needs to be done, it is hoped the test will someday be available in doctors’ offices, since the only methods for predicting Alzheimer’s right now, such as PET scans and spinal taps, are expensive, impractical, often unreliable and sometimes risky.” For the study, researchers “drew blood from hundreds of healthy people over age 70 living near” Irvine, CA and Rochester, NY. Five years after the blood draw, 28 of the participants had developed mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s.
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Report: IVF use at record high

February 20, 2014 By Leave a Comment

February 18, 2014
ivfABC World News (2/17, story 5, 0:25, Sawyer) reported, “Thirty five years after the first test-tube baby, in vitro fertilization” has “skyrocketed.”

The Los Angeles Times (2/16, Kaplan) “Science Now” blog reported, “More than 1.5% of babies born in the U.S. in 2012 were conceived in a laboratory dish thanks to in vitro fertilization – an all-time high, according to a report released Monday by the Society of Assisted Reproductive Technology.” The blog added that “the 379 fertility clinics that are members of SART performed a total of 165,172 procedures in 2012,” which led to “the births of 61,740 babies. Both figures are new records as well, SART says.”
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Testosterone supplements linked to increased heart attack risk in men

January 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment

January 30, 2014
The CBS Evening News (1/29, story 9, 1:45, Pelley) reported that new research suggests “a link between testosterone supplements and heart attacks.”

USA Today (1/30, Szabo) reports that the study, published in PLOS One, found that “taking testosterone therapy doubled the risk of heart attack among men over age 65 and nearly tripled the risk in younger men with a history of heart disease.” This research, “which involved 56,000 men, is the latest in a series of studies raising concerns about the heart attack risk from testosterone therapy, whose popularity has ballooned in recent years.”

On its website, NBC News (1/30, Fox) reports that “to be sure,” the researchers “compared the men getting testosterone to those getting prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs, as the two groups are similar in many ways.” The investigators found that the ED medications “only very slightly raised the risk of heart attack.”
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Researchers reprogram T cells to fight leukemia

December 9, 2013 By Leave a Comment

December 9, 2013
tcellIn a 1,000-word article, the AP (12/8, Marchione) reported, “In one of the biggest advances against leukemia and other blood cancers in many years, doctors are reporting unprecedented success by using gene therapy to transform patients’ blood cells into soldiers that seek and destroy cancer.”

In an 1,100-word article on its website, CNN (12/8, Cohen) reported that first, a patient’s T cells are removed. Physicians “then reprogram the cells by transferring in new genes.” After they are “infused back into the body, each modified cell multiplies to 10,000 cells. These “hunter” cells then track down and kill the cancer in a patient’s body.”

In an 1,100-word article, Bloomberg News (12/8, Lopatto) reported, that in one study, presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting, researchers found “that 15 of 32 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia experienced a reduction of their cancers and 7 achieved remission.” Meanwhile, researchers found that among those “with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 19 of 22 children experienced complete remission, as did all five adults tested.”
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