3/22/2007 Durham, NC press release Sys.com Media (www.sys-con.com) Serenex, Inc., an integrated oncology-focused drug discovery and development company, announced today the issuance of a patent covering methods of treating or preventing mucositis by the European Patent Office ("EPO"). The patent, EP 212050B1, covers a broad class of compounds in various formulations that may treat mucositis of multiple mucosal surfaces. "We are pleased to have been awarded this patent from the EPO. The patent significantly strengthens our intellectual property estate surrounding SNX-1012 which now includes IP protection in both the U.S. and Europe," said Richard Kent, M.D., president and chief executive officer of Serenex. "The issuance of this patent is another important step toward the commercialization of SNX-1012, which we believe is a best in class product that will bring relief to cancer patients suffering from oral mucositis." Oral mucositis results in inflammation and ulceration of the mouth and throat tissue lining and is the most common debilitating toxicity induced by chemotherapy and radiation therapy regimens. In severe cases oral mucositis can lead to patients requiring total parenteral nutrition, IV narcotic analgesics to control pain, and hospitalization. A serious consequence of oral mucositis is that it frequently leads to the interruption of radiation or chemotherapeutic treatment, which results in an undesirable decrease in efficacy. There are no approved therapeutic agents for the prevention or treatment of oral mucositis in solid tumor patients receiving radiation or chemotherapy and yet these patients represent approximately 90% of all oral mucositis cases. The size of [...]

3/22/2007 web-based article Miranda Hitti WebMD.com CDC Study: More Than 1 in 4 U.S. Women Aged 14-59 Has HPV Infection Human papillomavirus is common among U.S. women, especially those in their early 20s, says the CDC. Human papillomavirus (HPV) is America's most common sexually transmitted infection. HPV infection typically clears within two years, and most infected people don't realize they have the virus. However, some strains of HPV can cause cervical, anal, and other genital cancers, note the CDC's Eileen Dunne, MD, MPH, and colleagues. Dunne's team calculated the total number of U.S. women aged 14-59 with HPV infection from 2003 to 2004. More than one in four U.S. women in that age range -- nearly 27% -- had HPV infection. That equals nearly 25 million U.S. women, according to the CDC. About 3 million had any of the four HPV strains targeted by Gardasil, a vaccine designed to prevent cervical cancer and genital warts, the CDC estimates. HPV Infection in Young Women HPV infection was most common among women aged 20-24. Nearly half of the women in that age group (49%) had HPV infection. A third of women aged 14-24 had HPV infection. That's nearly 7.5 million -- far more than previous estimates that 4.6 million women in that age range had HPV. Older women were less likely to have HPV infection, the study shows. Data came from 1,921 women who submitted self-collected vaginal swabs for a national health study conducted from 2003 to 2004. The findings appear in [...]

3/22/2007 New York, NY staff Cancer Page (www.cancerpage.com) An intensive nutrition counseling program significantly improves dietary intake in radiation oncology patients, according to a report in the March issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. "Nutritional issues need to be considered during the planning stages of a patient's treatment, as we know they impact on outcomes," Dr. Elisabeth A. Isenring from Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia told Reuters Health. "We know it is easier to minimize deteriorations in nutritional status rather than treating patients who are already malnourished." Dr. Isenring and colleagues investigated the impact of a nutritional intervention using the American Dietetic Association's medical nutrition therapy protocol for radiation oncology compared with standard practice. The dietary intake of protein, energy and fiber was assessed in 54 subjects at baseline and at 4, 8 and 12 weeks. The patients were undergoing radiotherapy for cancers in the gastrointestinal or head and neck area. At the end of 12 weeks, the nutrition intervention group had significantly higher mean energy and protein intakes, and a nonsignificant increase in fiber intake, compared with the standard practice group, the researchers report. More patients in the nutrition intervention group than in the standard practice group were assessed as well-nourished and fewer were assessed as malnourished. Compared with the standard practice group, the nutrition intervention group experienced a significantly smaller decrease and faster recovery in global quality of life and physical function, the report indicates. "We recommend having effective nutritional screening and intervention [...]

3/22/2007 Los Angeles, CA Shari Roan Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) Human papillomavirus is common in men too. Studies are With human papillomavirus, girls and women have been getting all the attention. Parents across the nation have rushed to have their daughters vaccinated against the virus. States are wrestling with whether to require that adolescents get the vaccine. And recent research found that many more girls and women are infected with human papillomavirus than was previously thought — more than one-quarter of females ages 14 to 59. Now the attention is turning to boys and men. As many as 60% of men ages 18 to 70 are infected with HPV, according to data not yet published, raising the question of whether the new vaccine will be effective in reducing diseases linked to the virus unless men, not just women, are immunized. Several studies are underway to better understand the virus in males and whether the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil, also will work for them. As researchers already know and as the new data confirms, HPV is not just a women's issue. "With any transmittable disease, you want to understand the entire cycle of how things spread," says Thomas Broker, an HPV expert and professor of biochemical and molecular genetics at the University of Alabama, Birmingham. "With HPV, men are clearly part of that equation." Human papillomavirus is best known for causing cervical cancer, with about 9,700 cases diagnosed in women in the U.S. each year. Gardasil, a three-shot regimen, was approved [...]

3/22/2007 New Orleans, LA Alan Mozes Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) Simple, cheap diagnostic tests based on the analysis of saliva are within spitting distance of development, says a consortium of American researchers. Scientists say the novel protocol could be available as a standard of care as early as 2011 to screen for a variety of major diseases. "The ability to detect and monitor diseases through noninvasive means is a highly desirable goal in health care," said Dr. David T. Wong, director of the Dental Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. "Saliva, a totally noninvasive fluid, holds this ability but is not currently used in (the) mainstream. All of this is just about to change." Wong was scheduled to describe the new tests Thursday at the International Association for Dental Research annual meeting, in New Orleans. To develop the saliva-based screens, Wong has teamed up with researchers at the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research; the University of California, San Francisco; and the Scripps Research Institute. Together, the team is engaged in a painstaking mapping of so-called "diagnostic alphabets" present in saliva. Identifying the components of such alphabets is key to "reading" the signs of disease. So far, two such alphabets are substantially decoded: one based on salivary proteins and another based on salivary messenger RNAs (mRNA) -- molecules integral to the formation of proteins. More than 1,500 salivary proteins have been identified, the authors noted, alongside about 3,000 mRNAs. Based on their detective work, Wong's group [...]

3/22/2007 web-based article John G. Spangler, M.D. ABC News (abcnews.go.com) Smokeless is not harmless. That's the latest news on tobacco use, according to a new study published in the international journal Tobacco Control. American Cancer Society epidemiologists Jane Henley and colleagues followed a group of 116,395 men who switched from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco and compared them with 111,952 men who quit using tobacco entirely between 1982 and 2002. Compared with the total quitters, there was an 8 percent increase in death from any cause in the "switcher" group. Worse, there was a 46 percent increase in lung cancer, a 13 percent increase in heart disease, and a 24 percent increase in stroke in the group that switched to smokeless tobacco. An Unhealthy Alternative Smokeless tobacco, also known as spit tobacco, comes in several varieties, mainly chewing tobacco and snuff. While the use of smokeless tobacco had been declining in the United States during the late 1990s, it increased from 9.8 million users to 10.4 million users between 2004 and 2005, according to the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency. The increase was greatest among adults 26 years and older — about 6 percent in that group. Why might this be happening? One likely explanation is that adult smokers have switched from cigarettes to smokeless tobacco as a means to quit smoking. Previous studies had suggested that smokeless tobacco increased heart disease death rates among users, but there was some remaining uncertainty about this relationship. According to the authors, [...]

3/19/2007 web-based article press release MidWest Dental Approximately 34,000 people in the United States will be newly diagnosed with oral cancer in 2007. When discovered early, oral cancers have an 80 to 90% cure rate. Unfortunately, the majority of oral cancer is found at its late stage, and accounts for a very high death rate. For these reasons, Midwest Dental is committed to the fight against oral cancer. During the month of April, Midwest Dental will be donating $20 of each oral cancer screening to The Oral Cancer Foundation (www.oralcancer.org). Midwest Dental doctors will offer ViziLite Plus, an FDA approved oral cancer screening tool. ViziLite Plus is a quick and painless exam. The patient uses a rinse to dry the tissue in the mouth. Using a special glow stick, the dentist looks for abnormalities. Anything that is abnormal appears white, while healthy tissue absorbs the light and appears dark. “Midwest Dental is dedicated to oral cancer awareness and recognizes that early detection is the key to reducing the mortality rate associated with this disease,” said Dr. Jeffrey Moos, CEO of Midwest Dental. “We are proud to provide oral cancer screenings to our patients.” As with other types of cancer, age is the primary risk factor for oral cancer, with 95 percent of oral cancer victims being 40 and older. However, this historical demographic of patients is changing, and young, non smoking people between 20 and 50 are the fastest growing segment of the oral cancer population. All adults age 18 [...]

3/19/2007 web-based article Donald Dorsey News-Press (www.newspress.com) Sox, Twins talk about breaking tobacco habit Terry Francona has been feeling grumpy this spring training in Southwest Florida, and Ron Gardenhire knows how he feels. The two baseball managers, Francona of the Boston Red Sox and Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins, used to have a highly addictive habit, one that used to go hand-in-hand with their sport. Both managers, whose teams train in Fort Myers, used to use smokeless chewing tobacco, also known as dip, spit or chew. The nicotine in it traps users into craving it, and the habit can lead to tooth decay, cavities, gum disease, heart problems, precancerous mouth sores and oral cancer, said Dr. Herb Severson, who studies the issue for the Oregon Research Institute. Trying to stop spitting tobacco results in intense cravings, increased appetite, irritability and depressed moods, he said. "The addiction is not just the physical addiction to the nicotine," Severson said. "They really believe that it improves their performance, relaxes them and gives them other benefits. It's been conditioned to be a part of baseball, and it's a tough addiction to overcome." About 30 percent of big leaguers use spit tobacco these days, Severson said. That number has fallen from a peak of 46 percent in 1987. Drug education programs, public sentiment, stories of mouth cancer and a ban on chewing tobacco at all minor-league levels have all contributed to falling numbers of chewing tobacco users in baseball, Severson said. "My daughter came home [...]

3/18/2007 New York, NY Michelle Rizzo Reuters (uk.reuters.com) Vitamin C from dietary sources, but not from supplements, is associated with a reduced risk of oral pre-malignant lesions in men, a new study indicates. Dr. Nancy Nairi Maserejian, of New England Research Institutes, Watertown, Massachusetts, and colleagues examined intake of vitamins C, E, A and carotenoids in 42,340 men enrolled in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the occurrence of oral pre-malignant lesions. The men provided information on supplement use and diet every 2 to 4 years. A total of 207 oral premalignant lesions were diagnosed between 1986 and 2002, the team reports in the International Journal of Cancer. The risk of developing such a lesion was not significantly linked to total intake of vitamin C, vitamin A, or carotenoids. However, dietary vitamin C was significantly associated with a reduced risk of oral premalignant lesions: those with the highest intake had a 50 percent reduction in risk compared to those with the lowest intake. The researchers found no clear relationship with beta-carotene, lycopene, or lutein/zeaxanthin. A trend for increased risk of oral pre-malignant lesions was observed with vitamin E, especially among current smokers and with vitamin E supplements. Beta-carotene also increased the risk among current smokers. "It is possible that the protection that seems to be offered by dietary intake of vitamin C is actually partly due to some other component of vitamin C-rich food," Maserejian said in an interview with Reuters Health. "Although we do not yet know exactly what [...]

3/18/2007 Washington, D.C. Reviewed by Bryan Burrough Washington Post (www.washingtonpost.com) Book Review of THE CIGARETTE CENTURY: The Rise, Fall, and Deadly Persistence of The Product That Defined America written by Allan M. Brandt Recent years have seen a flurry of what might be called "inanimate" biographies -- that is, books devoted to the life of a thing rather than a person. Salt got one, cod, too, even some naughty words. While I admire the scholarship that goes into these studies, they tend to leave me a bit flat. I mean, it's the rare cod that battled the Boers alongside Winston Churchill or ate fried eggs off Ava Gardner's chest. And while I love a heaping spoon of Morton's as much as the next guy, no matter how you shake it, salt will simply never own up to losing its virginity to the upstairs maid. By their very nature, these books can come off as bloodless digests of minutiae. Given a choice between Kitty Kelley's latest and A Brief History of the Booger, I'd hold my nose and pick the Kelley. You'd have to. Next up: the cigarette. In The Cigarette Century, Allan M. Brandt, a Harvard Medical School professor with a very long and impressive job title, does a nice job of putting Kools and Salems on the couch. The tobacco industry has become well-worn territory for authors and journalists, but Brandt, an expert witness in a number of anti-tobacco lawsuits, enlivens a familiar story by scanning with the widest [...]