Life Line

Breast cancers are usually treated with chemotherapy and the drug tamoxifen simultaneously. But new US research suggests it is more effective to start tamoxifen treatment after chemotherapy. The study, conducted at Chicago’s Loyola University, studied 1,477 women and found an 18 per cent advantage to completing chemotherapy before starting tamoxifen. The trial was based on the knowledge that chemotherapy destroys cancer cells as, and only when, they divide. Tamoxifen stops cells from dividing. So, theoretically, it was feared the treatments in tandem may compromise the benefits that chemotherapy could bring.

At last some good news for people who have broken their shin bone. An Australian team is developing a material that will help the bone heal in months without the need of a traction machine. The world’s first research, undertaken by a team at the University of Queensland, is a mixture of stem cell research, biochemistry and nanotechnology. They are creating a biomaterial that can hold the bone together while it heals, then dissolves when it is no longer needed. The problem with the shin bone is that it’s brittle and load-bearing, so when it breaks it often shatters, leaving jagged ends. Currently it is treated by sawing the ends of the bone clean and then fixing the leg into a traction machine that holds those bone-ends close together. Such nasty breaks might heal in a matter of months instead of years with the new technology. The team has a world patent on the research and large animal trials are beginning now. They hope to begin phase one trials in two years.

Next time you salivate over a pizza, think about your bulging sides and gasping heart. This staple of offices, conference rooms and dining tables, is helping fuel rates of obesity and heart disease in America, a consumer health group has warned. Just two slices of plain cheese pizza can pack enough calories, fat and sodium to last an entire day. Add toppings such as pepperoni or meat and you might as well get reverse liposuction, warns the Washington, DC-based Center for Science and the Public Interest (CSPI). Two slices of Pizza Hut’s Stuffed Crust Cheese pizza contain nearly 900 calories, 20 gm of saturated fat and more than 2,000 milligram of sodium, for instance. The researchers suggest pizza lovers should skimp on the cheese and load their pie with vegetable toppings.