Life Science

Pure speculation

What is it about the new year that gets minds to speculating about the future? (See the NYTimes article about the future of the Net, for instance.) Last week Mike Mitchell brought to FICenter members’ attention the ideas that had been posted at Edge: The World Question Center asking people to answer the question: “What do you believe is true ...

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USC researchers highlight disparities in cancer rates among racial and ethnic groups in California

USC epidemiologists have just spelled out the disparities along race and ethinic lines for cancer incidence and mortality here in California. It’s sort of a work-plan for us for the next decade. I suspect similar disparities exist all across the country. See the last paragraph. LOS ANGELES (Dec. 14, 2004) – Among Californians, black men face the highest risk of ...

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A little more about cancer and differentiation

To add to the previous post on pharmacogenomics, here’s another aspect of the coming ability to get more and more specific information about cancer characteristics. Not only will there be more "personalization" of cancer treatment based on new depth,  but it’s going to yield yet more complications in drug development and pricing. But as we move into the world where ...

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Welcome to the new world of pharmacogenomics

This article in the NYTimes about genetic testing that differentiates the risk of recurrence for women with breast cancer and, therefore, affects treatment decisions in some cases is a harbinger of things to come. The thing is that this is just one instance of a whole new dimension in using genetic testing at various phases of cancer diagnosis and treatment. ...

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