Medical practitioners and patients alike have long believed that a woman has a finite number of eggs in her ovaries. However, new research is stating that it may be possible to create more. According to the study, run by Harvard University researchers, young women may be producing stem cells in their ovaries. These stem cells can be taken out and potentially used to make eggs. Stem cells are “template cells” – that is, they are cells that will eventually grow into other, useful cells, by the body. Stem cells are most often found in the umbilical cord. The discovery of ovarian stem cells is a particularly important finding for those who have been unable to produce eggs on their own due to disease or simply aging.

After partnering with Japan’s Saitama Medical University, the scientists extracted ovarian stem cells from ovaries donated for research. In order to prove that the process was working, the scientists extracted a protein that is believed to sit only on the stem cells, and added a gene that makes some jellyfish glow green. If the stem cells produced egg cells, those should glow green as well. Researchers then injected the stem cells into human ovarian tissue, and placed them under the skin of a mouse for a steady stream of nutrition. Within two weeks, the stem cells had started forming glowing green reproductive cells.

More research is needed, particularly to prove that these amazing findings can be repeated in another laboratory. It will be years until this research can be formed into a viable fertility treatment, but it brings hope to those who may have to undergo chemotherapy or radiation, losing their eggs, or undergo oophorectomies, preventing the growth of any eggs.

Check out the original release here on CBC.ca

In order to help to ease the cancer drug shortages in the United States, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently approved the production of cancer medications Doxil and preservative-free methotrexate at new plants. This will significantly ease the burden currently placed on doctors and cancer patients.

Doxil is an important factor in the treatment of ovarian and other cancers, and has been unavailable for new patients in months. Preservative-free methotrexate is used for a type of childhood leukemia and for high-dose treatment of bone cancer. Since 2008, methortrexate has been unable to be obtained with any certainty, and with a sudden closure of a manufacturer, doctors and patients were worried that the supply wouldn’t last through this month. The methotrexate that was available on the market contained preservatives, which had been seen to cause paralysis in children and other patients receiving high doses. Luckily, Canada has not been affected by the shortage, and cancer patients can buy Rheumatrex and Doxil online.

Although there have been shortages of many other medications, the sharpest decline has been in injectable medications, which are commonly used in hospitals, but do not create large profits for pharmaceutical companies. These drugs are one of the strongest weapons against cancer recurrence though, and a sudden inability to provide their patients with these necessary medications worried many doctors. At least 15 deaths since 2010 have been attributed to the cancer drug shortage. A sudden lack of medicine often significantly reduces a patient’s chance of surviving cancer.

Doctors may be able to diagnose many different conditions using a new handheld device. Using a blood sample or swab, doctors simply insert the sample into the device and it can search for anything from cancer to tuberculosis. The device is designed to search for specific cells that are found in these conditions.

Dr. Shelley Kana of the University of Toronto says they have been working on this new technology for almost a decade. The device looks like a smartphone placed on top of a large battery. The screen shows the cells’ data and the bottom reads the sample.

This new device could save the health care system millions in dollars and man hours, and will also save patients from lengthy and often uncomfortable tests such as biopsies. Biopsies are used to determine whether a tumor is cancerous or not. They are done by withdrawing cells from the tumor using a large needle. Patients will be happy to know that with this will be needed much less often with this technology. Now only a blood sample will need to be played on a microchip, and they may have answer within minutes.

For more information, see the original release here.