According to a study published by The Lancet on Monday, the first use of embryonic stem cells in humans eased a degenerative form of blindness in two volunteers and showed no signs of any adverse effects.

The results of the cautious first-stage test that was designed to examine whether the treatment is safe, had been previously announced by Massachusetts biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) Inc.

“The Stargardt’s patient reports that she can see more colour and has better contract and dark adaptation out of the operated eye. In fact, she started using her computer and could even read her watch… (and) says she can even thread a needle now,” Bob Lanza, ACT’s chief scientific officer, said in an email to AFP.

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A new blood test could hold promise as a means of early detection and diagnosis for often deadly pancreatic cancers.

The test, which measures levels of a protein known as PAM4, was able to identify two-thirds of patients who had pancreatic cancer at an early stage of their disease, according to researchers reporting on Tuesday at the annual Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco.

“When a person gets cancer, this protein spills into the bloodstream,” explained Dr. Igor Astsaturov, an assistant professor of medical oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Astsaturov, who was not involved with the study, said the results were “certainly welcome news.”

“For providers of care for patients with pancreatic cancer, hampered by their inability to readily detect these cancers in some cases, especially in earlier stages, this shows tremendous promise that blood-based assay can add to our ability to diagnose pancreatic cancer at an earlier stage, thereby impacting patients lives,” said Dr. Morton S. Kahlenberg, a gastrointestinal cancers expert with the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

U.S. health regulators recently said that Johnson & Johnson shut down a clinical trial of its antibiotic Doribax for a type of pneumonia. This was after patients taking the drug had higher rates of death and a lower cure rate than those who got an alternative medicine.

Doribax, known generically as doripenem, is presently approved in the United States for treating adults with complicated urinary tract or abdominal infections but not for any type of pneumonia.

Doribax was still safe and effective for its approved uses in the United States, according to Shaun Mickus, spokesman at Janssen, the J&J unit.

A new research from Japan has suggested soy rich diet that is linked to a reduced risk of cancer does not offer protection for stomach cancer.

The researchers from Japan found no difference in gastric cancer risk between people who consumed a lot of isoflavones and those who consumed the least.

An estimated 21,500 Americans were diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2011 and an estimated 10,500 died from it.

“One of the reasons for decline is that people have fridges now, and they use less salt preservatives,” said Khaldoun Almhanna, a medical oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida.

The lung cancer risk of a woman does not appear to be associated with the number of children she has, although some scientists had thought hormonal changes during pregnancy may protect against the disease.

“If you look at the component studies, they are all over the map,” she told Reuters Health, adding that she and her colleagues had hoped to be able to explain that variation.

“We came up relatively empty-handed,” Jessica K. Paulus, who worked on the analysis and of Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, said. “It makes it difficult to interpret our findings.” “Both active smoking and exposure to second-hand smoking are some of the strongest risk factors for lung cancer,” said Paulus. “Quitting smoking and quitting soon is associated with reducing your risk of lung cancer.”