Follow-up studies of a Roche breast cancer drug showed that it failed to extend the lives of patients, federal health scientists said Friday, opening the door for it to be potentially withdrawn for use in treating that disease.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Roche’s blockbuster Avastin in 2008 based on a trial showing it slowed growth of tumors caused by breast cancer. The decision was controversial because drugs for cancer patients who have never been treated before must usually show evidence they extend lives.
Avastin’s so-called “accelerated approval” was based on …

Which came first: the chicken or the egg? It is an age old question that has spurred on many a debate, but now a group of scientists might actually be close to having an answer.
Using cutting-edge technology, researchers from the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick in England believe that they have discovered the answer by studying eggshells.
Scientists had long theorized that a chicken protein known as ovocledidin-17 (OC-17) played a crucial role in the formation of an egg’s shell, but thanks to a new computer simulation, they were able to …

Fish oil, a rich source of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, is perhaps best known for its heart benefits. But a new study by researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests that fish oil supplements may also help postmenopausal women lower their risk of breast cancer.
In the study of 35,016 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 76, researchers found that those who reported taking fish oil supplements were 32 percent less likely than non-users to develop breast cancer over the following six years.
The lower risk was observed even after a …

About £80billion will be distributed to family GPs in a move that will see strategic health  authorities and primary care trusts scrapped.
The plan, contained in a white paper to be published next week, is designed to place key decisions about how patients are cared for in the hands of doctors who know them. Tens of thousands of administrative jobs in the health service will be lost as a result.
At present, funds are given by the Government to primary care trusts, which pay for patients from their area to be treated …

Scientists have discovered that getting forty winks improves your memory and helps you make links between loosely related facts.
Feeling refreshed after a full night’s rest is also a great aid to “prospective memory” – being able to remember to do something in the future.
Researchers say the findings, published in the journal Psychological Science, help our understanding of the role sleep plays in brain processing as well as memory.
Professor Dr Mark McDaniel, a psychologist at Washington University in St Louis in America, said: “We found that sleep benefits prospective memory by …