In an article appearing in the Dec. 28, 2001, issue of Cancer Gene Therapy, physicians and scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute describe an approach that “significantly prolonged” survival in mice with glioma – an extremely deadly type of brain cancer that is highly resistant to treatment. In the study, IL-12 was attached to an adenovirus and administered directly into tumors of the right corpus striatum of the brain. Mice receiving the genetically modified virus survived longer than those that received an adenovirus alone and those that were given normal saline solution. According to the paper’s senior author, John S. Yu, M.D., IL-12 also improved the immune system’s ability to infiltrate and kill tumor cells.
USING APPROPRIATE ALTERNATIVE THERAPIES TO TREAT THE COMMON COLD MAY HELP AVOID THE SPREAD OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE
With antibiotic resistance fast becoming one of the world's most pressing public health problems, Dr. Mary Hardy, Medical Director of Cedars-Sinai's Integrative Medicine program, recommends certain alternative therapies as a reasonable way to combat the inappropriate use of antibiotics to treat the common cold. "Herbs, vitamins and other tried-and-true home remedies can be quite effective in treating routine, minor cold symptoms," says Dr. Hardy. "Chicken soup, ecinacea, zinc lozenges, and vitamin C are only some of the available alternatives that boost the immune system and can limit the severity of a cold, sore throat, or flu."
KICK-START THE NEW YEAR WITH SIX TIPS FOR KICKING BAD HABITS
Biting your nails because you’ve just quit smoking? Drinking more coffee because you can’t stop biting your nails? Biting off people’s heads in the morning because you’ve quit drinking coffee? When kicking bad habits, sometimes we “bite off more than we can chew.” The Thalians Department of Psychiatry at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles offers tips on kicking those bad habits safely for a healthy, happier New Year.
BLAZING NEW TRAILS IN ORGAN TRANSPLANTS: CHAVEZ SISTERS HOPE TO INCREASE UNDERSTANDING AND AWARENESS OF LIVING DONOR ORGAN TRANSPLANT IN HISPANIC COMMUNITIES
The Chavez family has something extra to celebrate this New Year – the gift of life, given from one sister to another. After 10 years of living with liver disease, Juanita Chavez, 30, received on Nov. 13, a portion of her sister Maria Elena’s liver. The sisters are the daughters of Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farmer Workers of America, AFL-CIO (UFW), and Richard Chavez, a long-term UFW board member and the brother of Cesar Chavez, also a UFW co-founder. Following their successful transplant, the sisters and their family are on a mission to enhance understanding and awareness of living donor organ transplants – especially in Hispanic communities.
CEDARS-SINAI DOCTORS OFFER ADVICE ON STAYING HEALTHY DURING THE FLU SEASON AND OUT OF THE E.R.
As winter approaches, health care providers are gearing up for the onset of influenza or “flu” season. “Not only are more people are admitted to the hospital during these flu periods, they are hospitalized for longer periods of time,” says Joel Geiderman, M.D., co-chair of the department of emergency medicine. For those patients visiting the E.R., this means that more beds are filled and there may be a longer waiting period for health services. This news release contains tips for coping with the flu.
“LIKE MAGIC!” IS HOW RODNEY BLAUER DESCRIBES THE RESULTS OF HIS TWO ENDOSCOPIC BRAIN SURGERIES IN LESS THAN A YEAR
After undergoing two highly specialized types of minimally invasive skull base brain surgery in less than a year – one for an acoustic neuroma that was accidentally discovered and one for relief of the debilitating facial pain known as trigeminal neuralgia – 69-year-old Rodney Blauer says he is feeling great this New Year. His brain tumor is gone, as is his facial pain. Strange as it may sound, Blauer is actually thankful for his trigeminal neuralgia, as diagnosis of it led to the accidental discovery of an unrelated, and potentially life-threatening, tumor on the opposite side of his brain. Both operations were performed by Hrayr K. Shahinian, M.D., director of the Skull Base Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
NEW DIRECTOR OF PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDIC SURGERY WILL ESTABLISH ADDITIONAL CLINICS AND EXPAND RANGE OF SERVICES AT CEDARS-SINAI MEDICAL CENTER
Robert Matthew Bernstein, MD, has been named director of Pediatric Orthopedic Surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center’s Ahmanson Pediatric Center. He will direct a variety of specialty clinics for children with scoliosis, spina bifida, limb deformities and other conditions, and will be leading a new initiative in pediatric orthopedic surgery to expand the Medical Center’s pediatric orthopedic surgery program.