Tuskegee Researchers Find Key to Earlier Breast Cancer Diagnosis
A team of researchers at Tuskegee University has developed a new test they say may help detect an aggressive form of breast cancer earlier, especially among African American women.
The breakthrough was published this week in the scientific journal PLOS One. Clayton Yates, a biology professor at Tuskegee University, along with other researchers discovered a new biomarker that can detect a specific type of breast cancer sooner. The discovery will help target cancer treatments toward African American women, who are more likely to be diagnosed later in life.
In African American women, the median age of diagnosis is typically around 55, Yates says. The addition of this biomarker lowered that to around age 49.
Yates says that earlier detection should improve survival rates. Studies show African American women are more likely to die from breast cancer after the initial diagnosis. The additional biomarker will look for specific testosterone receptors and help doctors determine the aggressiveness of the cancer. Yates hopes this discovery will highlight the role ethnicity and genetics play in health disparities among African American women.
-Alexander Richey
Mentally ill people are stuck in jail because they can’t get treatment. Here’s what’s to know
Hundreds of people across Alabama await a spot in the state’s increasingly limited facilities, despite a consent decree requiring the state to address delays in providing care for people who are charged with crimes but deemed too mentally ill to stand trial. But seven years since the federal agreement, the problem has only worsened.
Ivey appoints Will Parker to Alabama Supreme Court
Parker fills the court seat vacated by Bill Lewis who was tapped by President Donald Trump for a federal judgeship. The U.S. Senate last month confirmed Lewis as a U.S. district judge.
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
