And second, a sharp drop in support for the far right National Front leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and for a hotch-potch of extreme left and single-issue candidates has pulled French politics firmly back into the mainstream.

ECONOMIST: France's presidential election

"Our study would strongly suggest that it is not beneficial to do it as front-line treatment but to reserve it as second-line or salvage therapy, " said study leader Dr. Mark Gilbert of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

NPR: Avastin Fails Studies In New Brain Tumor Patients