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Metastatic breast cancer patients who take a new chemotherapy drug made from a sea sponge may live about two and a half months longer, a new research shows.

The drug, known as eribulin, is more effective than other chemotherapies, according to a study presented on Sunday by a group of British researchers to the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Chicago.

The study involved more than 750 female patients who were randomized to receive either eribulin or a “treatment of physician’s choice.” All of them had already been treated extensively for cancer and had undergone four chemotherapies on the average.

The researchers reported a 23-percent improvement in median survival for those who took eribulin, with the median survival for those in the eribulin group at slightly over 13 months compared to 10.7 months in the treatment-of-choice group.

“These results potentially establish eribulin as a new and effective treatment for women with heavily pretreated breast cancer,” said Dr. Christopher Twelves, author of the study and a professor at the Clinical Cancer Research Groups at the Leeds Institute of Molecular Medicine and St. James’ Institute of Oncology in Leeds, Britain.

“We see a statistically significant benefit in overall survival in a situation where we rarely see this sort of improvement,” he added.

“Eribulin targets the …mechanisms by which the cells divide, which is different from previous agents,” explained Twelves.

“These results potentially establish eribulin as a new and effective treatment for women with heavily pretreated breast cancer, “he said.

U.S. researchers have found that circulation of cholesterol is regulated in the brain by the hunger-signaling hormone ghrelin, according to a study appearing online in Nature Neuroscience on Sunday.

This finding points to a new potential target for the pharmacologic control of cholesterol levels, said researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC).

“We have long thought that cholesterol is exclusively regulated through dietary absorption or synthesis and secretion by the liver, ” said lead researcher Matthias Tschop of UC’s Metabolic Diseases Institute.

“Our study shows for the first time that cholesterol is also under direct ‘remote control’ by specific neurocircuitry in the central nervous system.”

The hormone ghrelin inhibits the melanocortin four receptor ( MC4R) in the hypothalamus and is important for the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure.

Tschop and his team found that increased levels of ghrelin in mice caused the animals to develop increased levels of blood- circulating cholesterol. This is due to a reduction in the uptake of cholesterol by the liver.

The research team next tested the effects of genetically deleting or chemically blocking MC4R in the central nervous system. This test also yielded increased levels of cholesterol, suggesting that MC4R was the central element of the “remote control.”

“We were stunned to see that by switching MC4R off in the brain, we could even make injected cholesterol remain in the blood much longer,” said Tschop.

Cholesterol is a type of naturally occurring fat needed by the body, but too much cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis, a buildup of plaque in the arteries.

There are two types of cholesterol in humans-HDL (high-density lipoprotein) and LDL (low-density lipoprotein). LDL is considered the “bad” kind of cholesterol responsible for plaque buildup. HDL is the “good” kind that, in high levels, can prevent atherosclerosis.

The General Administration of Press and Publication will scrutinize books that offer health advice to ensure that the information they offer are accurate.

The Legal Mirror reported Monday that the administration would forbid publishers to release health books until medical experts verify the contents.

The administration will also check the content of the books and take them off the shelves if the information they contain is false or inaccurate.

The administration will cooperate with relevant medical authorities to determine criteria for examining the health advice.

The accuracy of some “health” books and the credibility of their authors were questioned after famous health food author Zhang Wuben was found to have faked his qualifications. In his book, Cure the Diseases You Get from Eating by Eating, Zhang had recommended eating mung beans to cure a variety of diseases, a remedy that researchers said has not been scientifically proven.

Dozens of people in Sichuan Province got sick recently after eating uncooked muddy loaches, a subtropical fish that sucks up algae from lakes and rivers, following the advice given in the book, The Wisdom of Not Being Sick, written by Ma Yueling.

Guo Xiazhen, a professor of Chinese Medicine at Peking University, told the Xinhua News Agency that many people use traditional Chinese medicine incorrectly.

She said a woman was hospitalized after eating too much raw aubergine, one of Zhang’s other recommendations.

“People should turn to doctors for cure, and not believe what the media, particularly the Internet, tell them, even if some of the information is correct,” she said.

Still, many people prefer self-treatment methods by concocting their own prescriptions, found by browsing the Internet and reading “health” books.

Ji Xiaopei, a graduate student, mixes soymilk with sesame seeds, soybeans, red beans and a variety of nuts every day.

She learned the “therapy” from TV and the Internet, and she has never consulted a physician.

“I worry about my health since I am losing weight, but I learned from the Internet that food therapy can help me stay fit,” she said.

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