Bits and Pieces May 21 2006

Hi Everybody,
lots of stories this week!
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First up:
An interesting abstract about using dex, lowered dose Melphalan and
anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibody (mAb) (B-E8) for auto SCT:
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed>
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And another anti-IL-6 mAb showing success with Rheumatoid Arthritis
<http://www.pharmalive.com/news/index.cfm?
articleid=334691&categoryid=48>
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Here's a story about long lasting pain relief tablets:
Prolonged release hydromorphone tablets
<http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/cgi/news/release?id=170862>
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For all those of you who suffer from Migraines (you have my sympathy):
Interesting group of trials for migraine relief, including Botox, 
Thalidomide and intravenous Tramadol:
<http://www.medpagetoday.com/Neurology/Migraines/tb/3295>
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Here is a report on a compound Nick flagged some time ago
a proteasome inhibitor  NPI-0052
<http://tinyurl.com/jb2dp>
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Here is another link for Ben’s abstract on the mouse genes issue:
<http://www1.wfubmc.edu/NR/rdonlyres/DFCA7212-A0AC-431F-9622-
FBA5C19ED18D/0/pnas5806.pdf>
and another link:
<http://www1.wfubmc.edu/pathresearch/srmouse/index.htm>
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Here’s an intersting article about a link between inflammation and 
cancer
<http://www.cancer.gov/NCICancerBulletin/NCI_Cancer_Bulletin_051606?
cb_email=1>
A new study suggests that inflammation triggered by a protein found in 
many human tumors may help the tumors grow and avoid attacks by the 
immune system.
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People have complained that the stem cell harvest process is too long 
and complicated.
Here is a link about a trial for a single injection of pegfiligrastin 
instead of Cyclophosphamide/G-CSF:
single injection of pegfiligrastin for stem cell harvest
http://tinyurl.com/p35od
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Here’s an interesting article for all of you who seek alternate 
medicine:
http://tinyurl.com/z5h3r
Ganoderma lucidum causes apoptosis in leukemia, lymphoma and multiple 
myeloma cells.

And a really good web site for everything you wanted to know about 
herbs:
http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11571.cfm?herbsaccept=yes
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Scientists discover new genetic subtypes of common blood cancer 
Scientists
at Dana-Farber and collaborators have identified four distinct genetic
subtypes of multiple myeloma, a deadly blood cancer, that have different
prognoses and might be treated most effectively with drugs specifically
targeted to those subtypes. Read more
<http://e2ma.net/go/272548722/215301/6216409/goto:http://www.dana-
farber.org
/abo/news/press/2006/scientists-discover-new-genetic-subtypes-of-
common-bloo
d-cancer.html>
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Avian flu modeled on supercomputer, explores vaccine and isolation 
options for thwarting a pandemic
<http://www.lanl.gov/news/index.php?fuseaction=home.story&story_id=8171>

That's it for this week folks, please let me know if you are enjoying 
the Bits and Pieces column and how I can improve it!
best wishes,
Chris
Chris Hollyer
Auckland New Zealand