Tobacco Plants & Cancer Vaccine, Topamax & Birth Defects, Deep Brain Stimulation for Depression

insidermedicine.com     Jul 24, 2008            

From Chicago - According to research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, tobacco plants, typically known as a cause of cancer, may also help to fight the disease. Researchers infected tobacco plants with a virus that included a specific antibody from patients' cancer cells which, when extracted from the plant a week later, resulted in a personalized cancer vaccine. In a study of 16 patients with follicular B-cell lymphoma, 70% developed an immune response with no side effects. From Belfast - According to research published in Neurology, taking the epilepsy drug Topamax in early pregnancy may increase the risk for birth defects. In a study of 178 live births, 31 pregnancies resulted in an abnormality of some kind, with 16 of these being a major congenital malformation. Despite these concerns, the researchers... [read full story]                    


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