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Continued from Page 11 water in their room at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. "I can't imagine what it would have been like without the water," says Aimee. "It was so relaxing and a huge pain management tool." Abbott Northwestern Hospital is the fi rst hospital within Allina Hospitals & Clinics to offer the water birth option. Abbott North- western Hospital is the region's busiest birth center, delivering 4,000 babies each year. "We have a reputation for excellent care, and we continue to support all childbirth experiences," says Debbie Biffl e, R.N., labor and delivery nurse, who is leading the water birth initiative at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. Abbott Northwestern Hospital requires women meet certain criteria to use the water birth option. They also must sign consent forms provided to physicians and midwives who practice at Abbott Northwestern Hospital. n The METABOLIC t ANSWER o Chemotherapy Resistance RESEARCHERS AT THE Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson have, in studying the metabolic basis of cancer cell resistance, discovered a successful combination of two chemotherapy drugs to treat hormone refractory breast cancer. While 70% of all breast cancers are characterized as estrogen receptor positive, up to 35% initially present hormone resistance or will develop an immunity over the course of treatment, specifi cally to the widely used drug tamoxifen. However, when tamoxifen was paired with dasatinib, a chemotherapy agent used to treat leukemia, the researchers observed an increase in cancer cell death of 80%. The study, published in Cell Cycle, detailed its fi ndings related to the metabolic process of both chemo- therapy resistance and how the double dose broke the cancer cell growth. Through oxidative stress, cancer cells trigger fi broblasts to supply the nutrients needed for rapid prolifera- tion. Neither dasatinib nor tamoxifen demonstrated effectiveness when used alone, but when coupled, the drugs regularized fi broblasts' glucose intake, thus decelerating the oxidative stress process and interrupting the cancer cells' fuel. n THAT'SNEWS ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++ +++++++++++ +++++++++++ +++++++++++ +++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 14 | Twin Cities MD NEWS n MDNEWS.COM