Earlier this week, ABC's Robin Roberts announced she is battling myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), a disease of the blood and bone marrow. In patients with MDS, the bone marrow keeps trying to make more blood cells to make up for a deficit, but many of these cells die before they make it into the blood stream. The condition is often treated with chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants.
MDS can be a scary condition for patients. More than 10,000 patients are diagnosed with the condition each year and 30 percent of those cases progress into acute leukemia. The condition can occur seemingly at random with few known causes.
For reasons still unknown, Minnesota owns the country's highest incidence rate of MDS. As a result, both the University of Minnesota and the Mayo Clinic have made MDS research a priority, which spells good news for MDS patients across the country.
Together, the two institutions are taking the lead on the development of new tools to both diagnose and treat the condition.
Recently, U of M and Mayo researchers were awarded $1.35 million by the Minnesota Partnership to combat the disease. That grant comes on the heels of a five-year, $2.5 million grant awarded last year to U of M epidemiologist Julie Ross, Ph.D., and pediatric hematologist-oncologist Erica Warlick, M.D., to conduct the nation's first large scale epidemiologic study of MDS.
"There aren't many studies where we look at newly-diagnosed patients and follow them over time, so we've never truly investigated why people get MDS," said Ross. "Therefore we can't definitively say which patients will see their disease progress into leukemia. We want to take the speculation and shift it into fact, giving patients a better chance against the disease."
KSTP recently caught up with Warlick to learn more about MDS. You can watch that video here. For more on University of Minnesota research into MDS, visit cancer.umn.edu.
Women who got seed radiation as part of their breast cancer treatment were more likely to have an infection or breast pain. Todd Tuttle, Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center and University of Minnesota Physicians, discusses the advantages of Brachytherapy.
U of M researchers have identified a specific oral cancer-causing chemical in smokeless tobacco products, for the first time. Silvia Balbo, Masonic Cancer Center, explains some of the findings in her study.
On his weekly segment Jon Hallberg, Medical School and University of Minnesota Physicians, talks about correlations between obesity and cancer, as well as a connection between depression and sleep disorders.
A new study shows that tumors found by mammograms would not have caused any problems during a woman's lifetime, but treated anyway. Douglas Yee, Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center and University of Minnesota Physicians, explains that deciding which tumors are dangerous and those that are not life-threatening is impossible. 
Zigang Dong, Masonic Cancer Center, will help lead a session focused on new approaches to cancer prevention at an upcoming national conference in Chicago. The session will touch on work in various areas, including skin, colon, breast, lung and prostate cancer.
1,537 cancers were reported in Fridley from 2000 to 2009, compared with the "expected" number of 1,402 for a city that size. Brad Carlin, School of Public Health, discusses the potential of "cancer clusters" in Minnesota.
Patients from racial and ethnic minorities are half as likely to receive recommended excision of melanoma in situ than white patients. Maria Hordinsky, Medical School and University of Minnesota Physicians, explains that the ethnic disparity findings "completely shocking."
Eating red meat is associated with a greater risk of death. Kristin Anderson, School of Public Health and Masonic Cancer Center, discusses a study that showedan association between the consumption of barbecued and grilled meat and pancreatic cancer.
Amplatz Children's Hosptial will be conducting the first ever cord blood transplant soon. John Wagner, Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center, Stem Cell Institute and University of Minnesota Physicians, explains the transfer could cure the patients leukemia. 
Jonathan D'Cunha and Naomi Fujioka, Medical School and University of Minnesota Physicians, and Joel McCauley, Medical School, discuss how lung cancer in people who have never smoked has a higher death rate than several other types of cancer.
The new cancer and cardiovascular building, 285,000-square-foot, and its energy demands will require one of the largest -- perhaps the largest -- mechanical contracts the Twin Cities has ever seen.
Christopher Moertel, Medical School, Masonic Cancer Center and University of Minnesota Physicians, explains new research about a new brain cancer treatment that could work on humans.
A new University of Minnesota discovery may help bone cancer patients fight their disease more effectively, according to new research published by Jaime Modiano.
The timing and frequency of mammography to detect breast cancer is a decision best customized for each woman, suggests new research by John Schousboe.
Research findings show that nearly all leukemia and lymphoma patients in need of a transplant can find bone marrow donors.
Grilling meat at too high of a temperature can increase the risk of developing certain cancers, according to new research.
