Word: yew
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More than two decades ago, in 1971, a hubbub of scientific inquiry surrounded a rare strain of yew tree in the Pacific Northwest...
...example, Iwo Ojima, professor of chemistry at the State University of New York at Stonybrook, is working on an analog to taxotere, a compound similar to taxol, known as Baccatin III. Taxotere, another drug with taxol's properties extracted from the leaves of the European and Indian yew trees, is more widely available than taxol and can be produced in greater quantities...
Several drugs which seem to reduce recurrences are also being tested. Hayes cites taconite, an anti-estrogen drug, which has been demonstrated to reduce the likelihood of recurrent tumors, and taxol, a drug derived from Pacific yew trees which has been approved by the FDA for treatment of ovarian cancer and which may be a treatment for breast cancer...
...quests have been as feverish as the search for alternative sources of taxol, the anticancer drug derived from yew trees. So far, the best candidates have not made an impact on the price tag. A single treatment cycle costs nearly $1,000 and may have to be repeated 10 times. Researchers from Montana report in Science that they have found the answer: a lowly tree fungus that produces the cancer-fighting chemical in minute quantities. If scientists can figure out how to boost the output, they should be able to create fermentation vats brimming with relatively inexpensive taxol...
Fukuyama asks "whether, in the long run, human beings are really made happy by the sacrifice of their individuality." Young and better-educated Singaporeans chafe at the petty restrictions and ruling-party patronizing. "Lee Kuan Yew thinks we are basically stupid," says law professor Walter Woon, a rare establishment critic...