Word: lungfuls
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...cancer isn't one disease; it's dozens of them, each with different mechanisms that make the fight diabolically difficult. The most pernicious forms of cancer--among them, pancreatic, lung and brain--are still nearly invincible. Survival rates in rare forms of cancer aren't budging much, either. And the cancer arsenal is still heavy on the blunderbuss--blasting the body with harsh chemotherapy and radiation that take a huge toll on healthy as well as diseased tissue. Nor has the national health-care system done a great job of prevention and early detection. Worst of all, many people...
...genomic code is leading to new drugs, geared to individual dna, that disrupt the very mechanism of cancer. "The rate of discovery has been phenomenal," says Dr. Harold Varmus, CEO of Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, a former NIH director and a Nobel-winning researcher in lung cancer. "We feel we understand some of the basic principles. We understand the tissue environment...
...other cancers," says DuBois. Using other funds, researchers identified a gene defect that correlates smoking and bladder cancer. "If you have that defect and you smoke, there's a 100% chance you'll get cancer," says DuBois. But the hospital is more likely to get support for work on lung cancer, a much bigger problem. So call it research triage...
...Washington is in favor of more cancer. But attempts to expand the NIH's budget or get separate funding from Congress have been stymied by internecine fighting among cancer groups. Armstrong tells of vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden's frustration at being besieged by cancer-site advocates--lung, breast, blood--and those for other terrible diseases, each unwilling to let dollars pass to another without an argument. "Within that group, you have a lot of fighting, hogging, people trying to elbow each other out," says Armstrong. The legislators' message to these groups is simple: Get your acts together...
Even with a new President inclined to increase spending, throwing money at the problem isn't the answer. "There is no strategic plan," says former Senator Bill Frist, a heart and lung surgeon before he entered politics. Frist voted to double NIH funds in 1998 but wouldn't recommend it again without a better road map. There are numerous federal agencies that cover cancer, for instance, and less than complete coordination among them...