Accurate Universal Cancer Blood Test: Major Medical Breakthrough?

With a team at Johns Hopkins University recently developing and testing a highly accurate cancer diagnosis procedure, does this represent a major medical breakthrough on our war on cancer? 

By: Ringo Bones 

A team at Johns Hopkins University has recently trialed a method that detects the eight most common forms of cancer with a reliability and accuracy several magnitudes more than existing cancer screening methods. Their vision is to provide an annual screening test designed to catch cancer early and save lives. However, one of the team members said more work was needed to assess the test’s effectiveness at detecting early-stage cancers. It has been known for some time now that tumors release tiny traces of their mutated DNA and proteins that then travels into the bloodstream. 

The CancerSEEK-test looks for mutations in 16 genes that regularly arise in cancer and eight proteins that are often released. The newfangled cancer test was trialed on 1,005 patients with cancers in the ovary, liver, stomach, pancreas, esophagus, colon, lung or breast that had not yet metastasized – i.e. spread to other tissues. Overall, the test found 70-percent of the cancers. Dr. Cristian Tomasetti, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, told the BBC: “This field of early detection is critical. I think this can have an enormous impact on cancer mortality.” The earlier a cancer is found, the greater the chance of being able to treat it. 

Five of the eight cancers being investigated by the Johns Hopkins team have no screening programs for early detection. In some cases, the test also provided information about the tissue-of-origin of the cancer, but not all. Pancreatic cancer has so few symptoms and is detected so late that 4 in 5 patients die in the year they are diagnosed with the disease. Finding tumors when they could still be surgically removed would be “a night and day difference” when it comes to surviving cancer, says Dr. Tomasetti.

Is “Baby Brain” Real?

Used to be dismissed by pregnant women as the mere “fatigue” of carrying another developing human life, does an Australian research finally proves that it is a real and measurable?

By: Ringo Bones 

“Baby brain” – the so-called mental fog many women say they experience during pregnancy, is a genuine, measurable phenomenon, a recent Australian study has just found. Researchers at Deakin University undertook a mental analysis of 20 studies involving more than 1,200 women. They found out that overall cognitive functioning was poorer in pregnant women than in non-pregnant women. “General cognitive functioning, memory and executive functioning were significantly reduced during the third trimester of pregnancy, but not during the first two trimesters,” the authors wrote. Executive function covers attention to detail, planning and problem solving. 

The study published in the Medical Journal of Australia found changes to cognitive functioning and memory occurred early in pregnancy, but did not become apparent until the third trimester. “The declines start to happen between the first and second trimester and then look like they stabilize but are most obvious in the third trimester,” senior author Associate Professor Linda Byrne said. Lapses were more likely to be minor – such as forgetting or failing to book medical appointments, rather than impaired performance at work, or an inability to navigate complex tasks. “Baby brain is most likely to be noticed by mothers-to-be and those closest to them, with women remaining within normal ranges of memory and cognitive function.” 

Professor Byrne said the results were consistent with recent findings of long-term reductions in brain gray matter volume during pregnancy. “It looks like the reason pregnant women have gray matter reduction is because they’re probably recruiting those areas to more important areas associated with the business of child rearing – so things like bonding and social condition.” She said.