Diacor News and Opinion

A recent discovery from researchers at the NYU School of Medicine has opened the door in finding how certain cancer cells ingest nutrients, which can lead to new drugs to fight cancer. It has been discovered that certain cancer cells, such as pancreatic cancer, uptake their large amount of nutrients required by a process known as macropinocytosis. This process involves a mutated protein known as Ras, which Ras cells require a lot of nutrients, that take in proteins and then harvest them for the amino acids. These findings can lead to drug treatments which could then block the Ras cells from uptaking the proteins, which can cause the tumor to stop growing, and even shrink. To purchase the full article, please visit the journal Nature or click here.

Diacor is pleased to announce that we will be attending this year's ABS Meeting and ESTRO Forum. This year's ABS Meeting will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, April 18th-20th, with the ESTRO Forum held during the same time from April 19th-23rd in Geneva, Switzerland. Diacor will be at both events to talk about their products. Diacor will be at ABS with product information on the Zephyr hdr, and will have both the Zephyr hdr and Zephyr xl at Geneva. Please stop by our booths and check us out! We'd love to see you.

 

Diacor has recently launched a new Zephyr YouTube channel, displaying our Zephyr xl and Zephyr hdr Stretcher products. We are very excited about this new launch! These videos provide information about our products and give you a chance to see the Zephyr in action! Please visit our YouTube channel to watch these videos, by clicking here, or by going to www.youtube.com and searching for "Diacor Zephyr". Enjoy!

Last Monday night, the effects of Hurricane Sandy were felt in Boston. It was stormy for most of the night, but had sunny skies on Tuesday. The conference was shut down early on Monday in order to prepare for the storm. Luckily, the storm wasn't as severe as where we were. We're grateful to everyone who came out and stopped by our booth to check us out, and we hope that those affected by Hurricane Sandy can recover quickly. 

Diacor will be attending this year's annual ASTRO meeting, held in Boston, Massachusetts, October 28th through the 31st. The theme for this year's meeting is "Advancing Patient Care Through Innovation". ASTRO hopes to further innovation in patient care and in how the care is delivered. This is the 54th Annual Meeting. For more information on the Annual Meeting, please click here. We look forward to meeting with each of you.

October 2012 is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Diacor would like to voice its support for all those affected by this terrible disease. The President of the United States, Barack Obama, has issued this statement. Also, we would encourage those who are able to contribute their time and resources towards spreading awareness about breast cancer.

Researchers, who have published their investigation in the American Cancer Society's journal Cancer, have found a correlation between people who have bitewing exams (an exam that holds a piece of x-ray film held by a tab in between the teeth) on a yearly or more frequent basis are 1.4 to 1.9 times as likely to develop meningioma, the most commonly diagnosed brain tumor in the US. There is also an increased risk with panorex exams (an exam taken outside of the mouth that show all of the teeth on one film). Those who received those exams when they were younger than ten years old had a 4.9 times increased risk of developing cancer, and those who received them on a yearly or more basis had a three times as likely chance of developing meningioma. To view the full article, please click here.

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that an antibody blocks a protein known as CD 47. This protein sends off signals to the body's immune system telling it to pass it by when the macrophages and other cells that eat invaders come by. CD 47 is found in cancer cells, which is why the body's immune system does not fight cancer cells itself. In mice, this treatment significantly reduced the tumors ability to spread and made the tumors shrink and in some cases disappear within weeks of starting treatment. To visit the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences website and read the full article, please click here.

In a statement from the White House, President Barack Obama has encouraged women and men to talk to their doctors about breast cancer, and to avoid risk factors for the disease such as diet and maintaining a healthy weight. President Obama offers his support to those diagnosed with this devastating disease. To view the complete release, please click here. To visit the National Cancer Institute's website, please click here.

Diacor will be attending Harvard Medical School's 7th Annual Brachytherapy Review, held at the Hilton Back Bay in Boston, Massachusetts.  The Review is held for radiation oncologists, medical physicists, nurses, and physicians who are interested in brachytherapy. Diacor will have information on the  Zephyr hdr on display, so feel free to stop by and view our product!