According to Mick Bhatia, a researcher at McMaster University in Canada and co-author of the study, there is a huge demand to find a process for generating red blood cells.

He took an initiative to start testing methods that might produce red blood cells and began harvesting skin cells from human volunteers and exposing the cells to a virus. The virus injected gene OCT4 into the cells, which encodes a protein to activate other genes into making other kids of cells. When placed in a cytokine solution, with molecules that stimulate the immune system, the skin cells turned in blood cells.

The new blood cells contained all three classes: white, red and platelets. They all seemed to function like normal adult blood cells.

These results will be very helpful in cancer research, especially for blood-related cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma. The technique used by the scientists can also be beneficial for chemotherapy patients. The chemotherapy process is very hard on the patient’s blood, and presents a time during which the cancer can fight back even stronger.

This technique gives hope to blood cell replenishment. If the technique keeps proving to be successful, doctors will be able to help revive blood cells at a rate faster than ever before.

The scientists hope to begin clinical trials within the next three or four years.

According to researchers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Lund University in Sweden, a new procedure involving taking a blood test at the age of 60 proves as a better prediction of the risk of death from prostate cancer.

The scientists conducted a study analyzing blood samples which were collected between 1981 and 1982 in Sweden. The samples were from 1,167 men born in 1921, who were studied until they turned 85 or died.

Researchers found that in the 126 of the men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, 90 percent of related deaths occurred in the men who had the top 25 percent of PSA levels at the age of 60. PSA testing has been widely used for early detection of prostate cancer, and this study concludes that it may be an even better way of determining who should and should not be screened for prostate cancer.

A PSA level below 1 ng/ml indicates a 0.2 percent chance of death from prostate cancer. The scientists concluded that men with PSA level above 2 ng/ml at age 60 should be considered at increased risk of prostate cancer and should be regularly screened.

According to scientists from Denmark, certain tips on physical activity, waist circumference, alcohol consumption, smoking and diet could considerably reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer.

The scientists studied connections between following a healthy lifestyle and the risk of bowel cancer. They studied 55,287 men and women age 50-64, for over ten years. Participants filled out a questionnaire about social and reproductive factors, health status, lifestyle habits and food intake.

During follow-up, there were 678 people diagnosed with bowel cancer. 13 percent of the cases may have been prevented. If the participants followed all recommendations, 23 percent of the cancer cases could have been avoided.

The scientists created a healthy lifestyle index based on the study. Their recommendations include being physically active for at least thirty minutes a day. They also suggested consuming less than seven alcoholic drinks a week for women, and fourteen for men. It is important to refrain from smoking and keeping your waist circumference below 88 cm. (35 in.) for women and below 102 cm. (40 in.) for men.

The scientists concluded that even little differences in lifestyle may have a considerable impact on cancer risk.

According to a study for the University of Illinois, a powerful cancer-fighting agent found in broccoli, called sulforaphane, can be released by bacteria in the lower intestine and absorbed into the body.

The finding presents the possibility that scientists may be able to increase broccoli’s cancer-fighting power, and enhance the activity of the bacteria in the colon.

What is even more powerful, is that even though many people overcook the broccoli and destroy the enzyme responsible for emitting sulforaphane, the bacteria in our intestine can still recover some of this cancer-preventive agent.

The scientists involved in the study injected glucoraphanin, sulforaphane’s parent compound, into the lower gut of rats. They found that sulforaphane is present in the mesenteric vein, which runs from the gut to the river, and then is converted, in the lower intestine for the body to absorb.

Eating three to five servings of broccoli a week is enough to have an anti-cancer effect. Sulforaphane also has anti-inflammatory effects, which counter many diseases associated with obesity and aging.

According to research from the Mayo Clinic, the major component in green tea-epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) reduced the number of leukemia cells in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

CLL is the second most common type of leukemia in adults. It is a disease of the blood and bone marrow, caused by an excess of certain white blood cells called lymphocytes, are made. Leukemia can sometimes progress slowly, with minimal symptoms.

Mayo clinic tested EGCG, and ran a phase I clinical trial to conclude that the survival of CLL cells was reduced with EGCG. Using the highest dose tested in phase I, they launched a phase II trial with 36 additional patients, making the total of patients 42. Out of the 41 patients who completed the study, 31 percent experienced a 20 percent or greater reduction in blood leukemia count, and 69 percent of the patients who had enlarged lymph dudes saw a reduction of 50 percent or greater.

Doctors Shanafelt and Kay, who were involved in the study, warn patients that the extract is not a substitute for chemotherapy. However, the research sheds light on EGCG used as a means to slow down CLL, as well as researching other nutraceuticals and their impacts on cancer.

According to researchers at Duke University Medical Center and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, a new vaccine, added to standard therapy, will help increase survival rates for people with the deadliest type of brain cancer.

The researchers conducted a small study in which 35 patients with glioblastoma (GBM) a severe type of brain cancer, were divided into two groups. One group received injections of the new vaccine called CDX-110 by Celldex Therapeutics and PF-04948568 by Pfizer. Both groups underwent surgery, radiation treatments and were given the chemotherapy drug temozolomide as well.

The survival time for the group receiving the vaccine was 26 months, and for the other group, 15 months. The vaccine stimulated an immune response in half the patients that it was given to, suggesting this was responsible for increasing survival time. It also removed a growth factor, an aggressive gene called EGFRvIII, associated with the cancer. The vaccine removed the gene in all but one patient involved in the study.

10,000 cases of GBM develop in the United States every year. The new vaccine gives hope to patients and will provide an immense research platform to scientists.

According to a survey conducted by the American Journal of Nursing, 79 percent of males who are at high risk for breast cancer are not aware that men can develop the disease.

The study looked at a total of 28 men, chosen because they had at least one blood related relative on their mother’s side who had breast cancer. 79 percent said that they did not know they could get the disease, and 43 percent admitted that having breast cancer would impact their perception of masculinity.

According to Maureen Shawn Kennedy of the journal, male breast cancer is often ignored by the general population, media and the healthcare community. In fact, not one of the men involved of the study has been talked to about breast cancer by their doctor.

According to the United States Cancer Institute, breast cancer typically affects men between the ages of 60 and 70, and accounts for less than 1 percent of all breast cancer cases.

Mesothelioma is a rare cancer where cells of the abdomen or chest begin to abnormally multiply. The cancer cells are located in the pleura, the layer of tissue that covers the lungs and lines the chest cavity, or the peritoneum, the tissue that covers the organs and lines the abdomen.

Exposure to asbestos is one of the biggest risk factors for mesothelioma. Living with someone who works near asbestos also increases one’s risk for the disease.

Symptoms of mesothelioma include trouble breathing, pain under the rib cage, pain or swelling in the abdomen, lumps in the abdomen and random, rapid weight loss.

Diagnosis of mesothelioma includes a physical exam, analysis of family medical history, a chest x-ray, complete blood count and/or a biopsy. Treatment is based on the stage and size of cancer. Treatment options include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and biologic therapy.

To learn more about mesothelioma and other cancers, visit www.northshore.org.

This week, Stanford Cancer Center of Stanford, California, will become the fifth treatment center in the world to offer patients the TrueBeam. TrueBeam is a machine that delivers radiation at an incredibly fast dose rate, much faster than conventional machines. A faster dose rates means shorter treatment times for patients.

The TrueBeam can provide treatment for any type of cancer. However, there are certain types of cancers to which the machine holds an advantage with, such as pancreatic cancer. Its technology also provides for improved treatment of tumors that are otherwise difficult to treat because of sensitive surrounding tissue.

The TrueBeam exerts radiation with advanced accuracy, which it checks every 10 milliseconds. Its system captures images 60 percent faster and reduces X-ray exposure by 25 percent. According to Stanford’s Chair of Radion Oncology, Richard T. Hoppe, MD, TrueBeam is the most advanced technology available for radiosurgery.

According to a study from the American Medical Association, drugs given to osteoporosis patients, as well as those for bone strengthening, such as Boniva and Fosamax, may increase the risk for esophageal cancer.

During the study, scientists matched 3,000 people with esophageal cancer to those who were cancer free. They found that out of those who had cancer, 90 had been taking bone-strengthening drugs, compared to 345 people from the cancer-free group.

According to researchers, the risk for esophageal cancer is 1 in 1,000 for people 60-79 years old. However, after using bone strengthening drugs for five years, the risks jumps to 2 in 1,000.

Esophageal cancer is very rare, and even with the effect of bone-strengthening drugs, the risk for developing the cancer is very low. Osteoporosis patients should not be alarmed by this discovery. The medicines should simply be taken carefully, with a full glass of water before eating.