Benefits of CT outweigh cancer risks in young adults

According to a study published in the journal, "Radiology," the use of CT (computed tomography) has increased by 10% over the last 15 years in the US.  Some worry that this could cause an increase in radiation-induced cancer, but researchers from this study find that getting the CT, and the benefits of having those results, outweighs the risks associated with potentially developing radiation-induced cancer.

“The impetus for our study was the concern that the lay press often focuses on potential harm caused to patients by CT imaging,” Dr Lee says. “Lacking in this discussion is a sense of how sick these patients already are,” according to Dr Susanna Lee, chief of women’s imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and assistant professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

After analyzing over 22,000 patient records, consisting of abdominopelvic and chest CTs.  After a follow up period of 5.5 years, 3.9% of abdominopelvic and 7.1% of chest CT patients died.  These numbers are much higher than the 0.1% long term risk of radiation-induced cancer from the CT scan itself.

The results discuss being aware of what the patient is getting the CT scan for as well as the radiation risks associated with a CT scan.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/25/benefits-of-ct-outweigh-cancer-risks-in-young-adults/.

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Combining synthetic, natural toxins could disarm cancer, drug-resistant bacteria

Researchers at Rice University have found a way to kill cancer or bacteria cells while deactivating their ability to be drug-resistant.

Their findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).  After looking at studies regarding anti-microbial peptides (AMPs) they concluded they should focus their research on the chain of amino acids that kill Gram-negative bacteria.  Gram-negative bacteria include drug-resistant bacteria that cause problems, such as pneumonia.

“AMPs are produced naturally by a number of animals to fight bacteria,” says Ben-Jacob, professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice and the Maguy-Glass Chair in Physics of Complex Systems and professor of physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University. “AMPs are corkscrew-shaped. They do not harm the animals’ own cells, but they penetrate and shred the double-layered membranes of Gram-negative bacteria.”
Since some animals have a natural genetic mutations to avoid AMP attacks, researchers created a synthetic AMP called KLAKLAK-2 which has a left-handed twist.  Then, a similar synthetic AMP was created, D-KLAKLAK-2 which has a right-handed twist.  This makes it harder for cancer cells to fight, since they have developed mechanisms to fight the left-handed twist.

For the full article, visit http://www.aalatimes.com/2013/02/14/combining-synthetic-natural-toxins-could-disarm-cancer-drug-resistant-bacteria/.