Researchers at Queen Mary University of London have found 4 unique gene markers that could predict the risk of developing head and neck cancer. These markers mean that very soon we should be able to pick up the tell-tale signs of cancer before it’s visible with simple, cheap blood or saliva tests. The findings have been published in the journal Cancer. The research was partially funded by Saving Faces.
Congratulations to Emmy and Farah who won a William Harvey Day award for an outstanding poster presentation. They are PhD students funded by Saving Faces and the research presented at this meeting was entitled, ‘Psychological wellbeing and treatment needs in cancer and trauma patients’.
Read more about Emmy and Farah’s projects here.
Researchers at Queen Mary University, London have discovered a new gene interation which may influence the development of head and neck cancers.
The gene FOXM1 is well known for its involvement in cancer development, however a connection has now been shown between this gene and K15, a stem cell marker. The function of stem cells is to repair and replenish tissues in the body and so anything adversly affecting these cells may have implications in the development of cancer.
Helena Emich was a previous PhD student at the Blizard Institute, funded by Saving Faces. Here she answered questions about her project which looked at the mechanisms that allowed oral cancer to spread around the body.
The prestigious International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics has just published research on osteoradionecrosis carried out by Andrew Lyons, a Head and Neck Surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, which was funded by the Facial Surgery Research Foundation – Saving Faces.
Saving Faces carried out a survey of pharmacists across the UK to assess the advice given for someone reporting the classical early symptoms of mouth cancer. The Department of Health is seeking to expand the role of community pharmacists as providers of primary care, easing the load on GPs by providing advice and treatment for minor ailments. This expanded role would require that pharmacists are able to correctly diagnose potentially serious symptoms. and give appropriate advice. Any patient who has had a mouth ulcer for four weeks should be immediately referred to a specialist for diagnosis.
Professor Hutchison featured in the Times for attempting to grow replacement bone from a patient’s own stem cells in Britian.
The full article is available to read here.
The second national survey of all facial injuries recorded over a one week period took place between 12 and 19 September 2008. Over 8700 case report forms were completed in hospitals all over the UK. Preliminary findings demonstrate that the number of accidents related the consumtion of alcohol has increased since the previous survey was undertaken in 1997
The greatest average number of units (2.51) was consumed by 16 to 25 year olds, but they did not drink significantly more than 26 to 35 or 36 to 45 year olds. We also found that:
In October 2007, Saving Faces launched an innovative and unique program – the Saving Faces Medical Student Training Project – to encourage more medical students to join our clinical research.
