Pancreatic Cancer Wellness Research

Patient Voices: Pancreatic Cancer

2009-08-02T02:12:00.001-07:00

It is estimated that 5 percent of patients diagnosed with pancreatic cancer survive past five years. What is it like to be faced with such statistics? To survive? Here, in their own words, are the experiences of seven men and women. (Join the discussion here. )

2009-08-02T02:05:00.001-07:00

Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer according to YTN News

2009-07-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Kim Jong Il has pancreatic cancer - YTN News, citing unidentified intelligence sources in South Korea and China, reported Monday that the 67-year-old leader has pancreatic cancer.

South Korea's Unification Ministry flatly denied the report, which comes a week after a frail-looking Kim appeared in public for the first time in months.

Doctors told South Korea's state-run Yonhap News Agency that it is impossible to tell the status of Kim's health from the recent video of the reclusive leader.

Eating Animal Fat May Lead to Pancreatic Cancer

2009-06-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

FRIDAY, June 26 (HealthDay News) -- Fat from red meat and dairy products can increase your risk for pancreatic cancer, researchers from the U.S. National Cancer Institute report.

Pancreatic cancer, which is usually fatal, is the fourth-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Various risk factors for developing the disease have been identified, including smoking, diabetes and obesity. Some studies have also linked dietary fat to increased risk, but researchers said that data had been inconclusive.

However, Rachael Z. Stolzenberg-Solomon, from the institute's cancer epidemiology and genetics division, said the new study "found an association between high fat intake and pancreatic cancer risk -- specifically, high fat from animal foods."

"These findings are in line with the dietary guidelines for Americans to reduce the amount of fat they eat," she said. "Reducing fat may reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer."

The report is published online June 26 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The researchers collected data on more than a half-million people -- 308,736 men and 216,737 women -- who participated in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study. All participants completed a 124-item food questionnaire in 1995 and 1996.

During an average of six years of follow-up, 1,337 people were diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Men who consumed the most fat from animal sources had a 53 percent increased risk of developing pancreatic cancerand women had a 23 percent increased risk, compared with men and women who ate the least fat, the study found.

In addition, it found that people who ate high amounts of saturated fats had 36 percent higher rates of pancreatic cancer than did those who ate low amounts.

Dr. Brian M. Wolpin, and oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and co-author of an accompanying journal editorial, said the study might provide clues to the disease.

"We know very little about pancreatic cancer and what the causes are, and we don't do a very good job treating it," Wolpin said.

He noted that in addition to the possibility of a link between pancreatic cancer and fat, there are other good reasons to limit consumption of red meat and animal fat, including an increased risk for other cancers.

People who eat a lot of red meat tend to engage in other unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, Wolpin said. "Whether it's red meat or a constituent of red meat or your overall lifestyle that matters, these studies cannot tease out to a convincing extent," he said. "But it's clear that lifestyle does impact this disease."

Eric J. Jacobs, strategic director of pharmacoepidemiology at the American Cancer Society, said that the study "provides important evidence that a diet high in animal fat may increase risk of one of the leadingcauses of cancer death."

"While further confirmatory research about animal fat and pancreatic cancer is still needed, results of this study support the American Cancer Society's recommendations to limit red meat and emphasize plant foods to help reduce risk of a variety of cancers," Jacobs said.

In addition to diet, weight appears to be a risk factor for pancreatic cancer.

Research reported in the June 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association found that being overweight or obese as a young adult increases the risk for pancreatic cancer, and obesity in middle age is linked with poorer survival from the disease.

Being overweight in your 30s was associated with a 60 percent increased risk for pancreatic cancer, and being obese was associated with a twofold to threefold higher risk, the researchers found.

"Something associated with obesity apparently drives pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Robert R. McWilliams, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic and co-author of a JAMA editorial on the study. "As a scientific community, we need to understand the underlying mechanism. Hopefully, this can lead to future treatment strategies."

More information

The American Cancer Society has more on pancreatic cancer.

Demerol

2009-06-25T23:41:00.001-07:00

Demerol is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers. It is similar to morphine.
Demerol is used to treat moderate-to-severe pain.
Demerol may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.

What is the most important information I should know about Demerol?

Demerol may be habit-forming and should be used only by the person it was prescribed for. Demerol should never be given to another person, especially someone who has a history of drug abuse or addiction. Keep the medication in a secure place where others cannot get to it. Do not drink alcohol while you are taking Demerol. Dangerous side effects or death can occur when alcohol is combined with a narcotic pain medicine.Check your food and medicine labels to be sure these products do not contain alcohol. Never take more than your prescribed dose of Demerol. Tell your doctor if the medicine seems to stop working as well in relieving your pain. Demerol can cause side effects that may impair your thinking or reactions. Be careful if you drive or do anything that requires you to be awake and alert. Do not stop using Demerol suddenly, or you could have unpleasant withdrawal symptoms. Talk to your doctor about how to avoid withdrawal symptoms when stopping the medication.

Nick Vujicic-Hong Kong Tour YouTube

2009-06-25T07:07:00.001-07:00

The Most Interesting Man in the World on Himself

2009-06-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

Farrah - Get well ! ! !

2009-05-19T22:40:00.001-07:00

"Farrah Fawcett choked up watching the documentary that chronicled her battle with cancer.

"She cried a few times. It was very emotional for her," her friend Alana Stewart told NBC's Today show Monday. "It's been a very, very long journey, you know, and going back through it was probably a bit painful."

Ryan O'Neal, Fawcett's boyfriend, told Today Fawcett had a "very low pulse" when she began watching, but it "kept going up and up" as she continued to tune in.

Check out photos of stars who beat cancer.

The video diary Farrah's Story earned about 9 million viewers. Fawcett also joked about the ratings, O'Neal says.

"I said, 'We did very well last night,' And she said, 'What were the numbers?'" O'Neal told the Today show. "And it made me laugh that she would still have those terms in her head."

See the day's top news photos.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, Steve Whitmore, confirms to Usmagazine.comthat Fawcett's troubled son Redmond O'Neal was not released from prison for a second time to see his ailing mother Friday -- as incorrectly reported by tabloid In Touch.

"That's inaccurate, it did not happen," Whitmore tells Us. "He never left his jail cell last Friday."

Join Us on Facebook and Twitter for even more up to the minute celebrity news and photos!"

cancer is not ........

2009-02-20T01:54:00.001-08:00

2009-02-07T00:43:00.000-08:00

bloomberg: Jobs’s Pancreas May Be Removed After Complications

2009-01-21T23:14:00.000-08:00

"Surgery that Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs may be having to remove his pancreas could be the result of painful side effects from a cancer procedure, or the return of tumors he said were removed five years ago, doctors say.

If Jobs had a so-called Whipple procedure to excise the cancer, parts of his pancreas and other organs were removed. Sometimes, damage from cancer and the surgery can spur side effects, including enzyme leaks, that worsen in time, spurring a decision to remove the entire pancreas, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

Most often, the pancreas is removed because the cancer has returned, said Andrew Lowy, head of the division of surgical oncology at Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego. In either case, patients must take insulin, a hormone produced in the organ, for the rest of their lives, along with enzymes to help digestion, the doctors said."

guardian: Survival rates for pancreas cancer

2009-01-21T22:53:00.001-08:00

These are the survival rates for pancreas cancer.[1]

Please bear in mind that these numbers are from research studies. You are not a statistic, and no-one can tell you what's going to happen to you.

Survival for one year

Sadly, most people are diagnosed with advanced cancer and will have less than a year to live.

About 13 in 100 people with pancreas cancer live for one year after they find out they have the disease.

Survival for five years

Up to 3 in 100 people who are diagnosed with pancreas cancer are alive five years later.

If your cancer is diagnosed early

The outlook for people whose cancer is diagnosed early is better than this. If surgery is possible, then between 7 in 100 and 25 in 100 people will be alive five years later.

References

Cancer research UK. Pancreatic cancer survival statistics. June 2006. Available at http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerstats/types/pancreas/survival/ (accessed on 4 December 2007).

prayers to jobs

2009-01-17T02:36:00.000-08:00

"Apple Inc begins the New Year on an unhealthy note. Steve Jobs has broken the silence, putting an end to months of speculation about his ill health.
In an e-mail sent to Apple employees, he dismissed rumours that he was on the 'deathbed'.
"As many of you know, I have been losing weight throughout 2008. The reason has been a mystery to me and my doctors. A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my priority. Fortunately, after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause - a hormone imbalance that has been "robbing" me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis," he said.
Image: Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs speaks at Apple's "Let's Rock" media event in San Francisco, California September 9, 2008. Photograph: Robert Galbraith/Reuters"

Steve Jobs May Have Pancreas Removed After Cancer, Doctors Say

2009-01-14T23:31:00.000-08:00

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs could be facing surgery to remove his pancreas, doctors say.

Jobs said yesterday he’s taking a five-month leave of absence after discovering that his health problems are “more complex” than he thought last week.

Jobs had a procedure similar to a Whipple operation, which involves removing parts of the pancreas, bile duct and small intestine, after he was diagnosed with a rare type of pancreatic cancer in 2004. A potential side effect of this procedure is that the organ has to be removed to prevent pancreatic leak, and the patient has to be kept alive with insulin to regulate blood sugar, said Robert Thomas, head of surgery at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne.

“You might have to take the rest of the pancreas out,” said Thomas, 66, who first performed the Whipple’s procedure more than 20 years ago. “You’re on significant doses of insulin, and it’s not easy to manage. The person has the risk of severe diabetes.”

Psychology.com: The Paradox of Expectations

2009-01-13T07:07:00.000-08:00

"Beginning a new year often brings forth a review of our expectations and I thought it might be a good idea to briefly examine this topic. As with many concepts in our culture, we tend to fall well short of fully appreciating what these terms truly suggest and at times, the apparent contradictions that they may evoke. This is certainly the case with the word expectations. Are they to be valued and embraced or do they impede us and distort our life experiences? The answer depends on a host of things.
One size doesn’t typically fit all and we need to look at how we employ the word expectations. From the perspective of some spiritual traditions we should be disinclined to attach to expectations as they may block our direct experience of life and impose a bondage of belief upon us. Traditional western values that inculcate and reward achievement honor high expectations, for they drive our culture and our economy."

Patrick Swayze hospitalized for pneumonia

2009-01-11T06:32:00.000-08:00

Patrick Swayze was hospitalized and being treated for pneumonia Friday, days after he said in a prime-time special that he's "angry" and "going through hell" in his fight to beat inoperable pancreatic cancer.The news was revealed during an event for television critics in Los Angeles, where Swayze, 56, had been scheduled to discuss his upcoming A&E series "The Beast." He "asked us specifically to go forward with today's panel," said A&E Television Networks president and chief executive Abbe Raven.Last year, the actor revealed he had Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His publicist said there would be "no statement at this time."Bob DeBitetto, a top A&E executive, said at the critic's session that Swayze had decided to check himself into the hospital "for observation" after coming down with pneumonia. "Patrick did want me to tell you that he is very sorry he couldn't be at the panel this morning, but he plans to get back to promoting 'The Beast' as soon as he is back on his feet."

Patrick Swayze Opens Up About Pancreatic Cancer

2009-01-08T03:07:00.000-08:00

"Patrick Swayze has tried an experimental drug as part of his pancreatic cancer treatment, and he says he's not giving up despite grim odds.
Swayze, who starred in the films Dirty Dancing and Ghost and is filming a new TV show called The Beast, talks about his pancreatic cancer in an exclusive interview with ABC. Swayze tells Barbara Walters that he has stage IV pancreatic cancer that had already spread to his liver when it was diagnosed in March 2008.
"I'm going through hell, and I've only seen the beginning of it," Swayze says in interview excerpts posted by ABC.
Swayze, 56, also says that surviving five years is "wishful thinking," but that living two more years "seems likely, if you're going to believe the statistics." And he defines "winning" as "not giving up."
Swayze didn't have surgery for his pancreatic cancer because the cancer had already spread when it was diagnosed. His treatment included aggressive chemotherapy and an experimental drug called vatalanib.
Here are answers to questions about Swayze's pancreatic cancer.
What is stage IV pancreatic cancer?
In stage IV pancreatic cancer, the cancer has already spread beyond the pancreas, explains Gagandeep Singh, MD, FACS, director of the Liver and Pancreas Center at the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif.
Singh is not treating Swayze.
What is the typical prognosis for stage 4 pancreatic cancer?
"Five-year survival is almost unheard of," Singh says. "But the flip side is that there are two to three percent [of patients] who do make five years.
"Each person should not treat themselves as a number -- that I have a 97% chance of dying from this disease because it's disseminated. Maybe I'm in the 2% or 3% that is going to survive five years," he says.
Singh notes that those five-year survival rates are based on data that dates back 20-30 years, and since then, new drugs have debuted.
"Now, the buzzword is targeted therapy," Singh says. He explains that in targeted therapy, drugs target a certain receptor or protein that is particularly abundant, or overexpressed, in a tumor.
Besides chemotherapy, Swayze took an experimental drug called vatalanib. What does that drug do?
Vatalanib inhibits tyrosine kinases, which are enzymes needed for cell growth, cell proliferation, and cell differentiation.
"What inhibition of this does is you're stunting the growth of the tumor," Singh says. "You're preventing it from getting more aggressive, with the hope that it ultimately dies and goes away."
He points out that vatalanib is still being tested and isn't available yet.
What else is in the pipeline for treatment?
"There are probably at least 100 to 150 new drugs that are in the pipeline," says Singh, adding that most experimental drugs are used with chemotherapy when other treatments fail.

2008-12-24T02:01:00.001-08:00

The war against cancer gathered steam in 2008, as new drugs tackled the toughest cancers with some success, and advances were made in both disease prevention and risk factor identification.

A new report from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) details 12 "major" advances and 19 "notable advances" across the gamut of cancer prevention, screening, treatment and survival in the past year.

"These specific advances . . . reflect a maturation, if you will, of the whole approach of personalized medicine to oncology care," said ASCO President Dr. Richard L. Schilsky, a professor of medicine at the University of Chicago Medical Center. "And some of the reports deal with targeted therapies being used in a broader array of diseases. We're beginning to see the utility of targeted therapies expand across many, many diseases, and we're increasingly able to identify those patients who are most likely to benefit from those targeted therapies."

The report was expected to be published online Dec. 22 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

One of the most impressive reports of the year serves as a backdrop to these advances, pointed out Dr. Jay Brooks, chairman of hematology/oncology at Ochsner Health System in Baton Rouge, La. That was a study showing the first reported decline in the number of U.S. men and women developing and dying from cancer.

Nevertheless, some 1.4 million people received the devastating diagnosis of cancer in 2008, and half a million people died from the disease.

Following are the 12 major advances of 2008 identified by ASCO, divided into six general areas and not ranked in order of importance.

In the area of hard-to-treat cancers:

Cetuximab (Erbitux), a monoclonal antibody, when added to chemotherapy, increased overall survival by as much as 21 percent in patients with non-small cell lung cancer which expressed the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). Patients receiving Erbitux in a recent trial lived an average of 11.3 months vs. 10.1 months in those receiving a placebo. Lung cancer is the number-one cancer killer among men and women; only 5 percent of those diagnosed with this type of lung cancer survive five years. The new chemotherapy drug Gemcitabine (Gemzar) doubled disease-free survival from 6.9 months to 13.4 months in pancreatic cancer patients, and increased overall survival from 20.2 months to 22.8 months in patients with early-stage pancreatic cancer who had undergone surgery. Again, only 5 percent of people receiving this diagnosis live five years.

In the area of new drug approvals:

Bendamustine (Treanda) "eliminated" chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in one-third of patients compared with 2 percent who went with current standard therapy, and extended survival without a recurrence to 21.7 months from 9.3 months. The drug was approved in March of 2008 and is now indicated as first-line treatment for the disease.Bevacizumab (Avastin), another monoclonal antibody, was approved (in conjunction with the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (Taxol) for women with previously untreated HER2-negative, metastatic breast cancer. A trial the year before had found the combination doubled disease-free survival compared with women receiving chemo alone. A second trial, this one from 2008, confirmed the findings.

FDA checking out local man's possible cancer cure

2008-12-21T13:40:00.001-08:00

"A Sanibel man used his background in broadcasting to discover a possible cure for cancer. Now, his findings have been further validated by newly-released research.

A report published Friday shows promising new advances in the possible cancer cure John Kanzius dreamt up in his Sanibel Island garage.

He began creating his machine five years ago after undergoing cancer treatment himself and seeing children go through the same thing."

2008-12-03T22:16:00.000-08:00

Patrick Swayze: I'm Winning the Battle Against Pancreatic Cancer
FOXNews - Dec 2, 2008
The “Ghost” star, 56, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer earlier this year, fired back at claims he has been saying goodbye to members of his family. ...

Test your genes for cancer? 23andme.com

2008-11-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

Your 23andMe scan includes genetic analysis on all of the following diseases, traits, and conditions. This list grows every month as new research is published.

Clinical Reports (23)
Clinical Reports give you information about conditions and traits for which there are genetic associations supported by multiple, large, peer-reviewed studies. Those associations must also have a substantial influence on a person's chances of developing the disease or having the trait. Because these associations are widely regarded as reliable, we use them to develop quantitative estimates and definitive explanations of what they mean for you.
Age-related Macular Degeneration
Alcohol Flush Reaction
Bitter Taste Perception
Celiac Disease
Crohn's Disease
Cystic Fibrosis (Delta F508 mutation)
Earwax Type
Eye Color
G6PD Deficiency
Lactose Intolerance
Malaria Resistance (Duffy Antigen)
Muscle Performance
Non-ABO Blood Groups
Norovirus Resistance
Parkinson's Disease
Prostate Cancer
Psoriasis
Resistance to HIV/AIDS
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Sickle Cell Anemia & Malaria Resistance
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes
Venous Thromboembolism

Research Reports (72)
Research Reports give you information from research that has not yet gained enough scientific consensus to be included in our Clinical Reports. This research is generally based on high-quality but limited scientific evidence. Because these results have not yet been demonstrated through large, replicated studies, we do not perform complete quantitative analyses of their effects. We do, however, explain how they may–if confirmed–affect your odds of having or developing a trait, condition or disease.
Research Reports also includes scientifically accepted, established research that does not have a dramatic influence on a person's risk for a disease.
Alcohol Dependence
Aneurysm
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Antidepressant Response
Asthma
Atrial Fibrillation
Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Avoidance of Errors
Back Pain
Baldness
Beta-Blocker Response
Bipolar Disorder
Birth Weight
Bladder Cancer
Blood Glucose
Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer
C-reactive Protein Level
Caffeine Metabolism
Celiac Disease
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Cluster Headaches
Colorectal Cancer
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease
Developmental Dyslexia
Endometriosis
Esophageal Cancer
Eye Color
Food Preference
Freckling
Gallstones
Glaucoma
Gout
HDL Cholesterol Level
HIV Progression
Hair Color
Heart Attack
Height
Heroin Addiction
High Blood Pressure (Hypertension)
Kidney Disease
Larynx Cancer
Longevity
Lou Gehrig's Disease (ALS)
Lung Cancer
Lupus (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus)
Male Infertility
Measures of Intelligence
Memory
Multiple Sclerosis
Neuroblastoma
Nicotine Dependence
Obesity
Obesity
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Odor Detection
Oral and Throat Cancer
Osteoarthritis
Pain Sensitivity
Peripheral Arterial Disease
Persistent Fetal Hemoglobin
Placental Abruption
Pre-eclampsia
Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
Restless Legs Syndrome
Schizophrenia
Sjögren's Syndrome
Skin Cancer
Stomach Cancer
Tardive Dyskinesia
Tourette's Syndrome
Uterine Fibroids
The genotyping services of 23andMe are performed in LabCorp's CLIA-registered laboratory. The results presented in Health and Traits have not been cleared or approved by the FDA but have been analytically validated according to CLIA standards.

Study: Vitamins E and C Fail to Prevent Cancer in Men

2008-11-19T20:11:00.000-08:00

A large clinical trial of almost 15,000 male doctors taking vitamins E and C for up to 10 years has found that neither supplement had any effect on cancer rates, including cancer of the prostate.

The study comes on the heels of a disappointing finding regarding vitamin E reported late last month. After following 35,000 men taking selenium and vitamin E, investigators halted their trial because no benefit was seen and in some supplement users there appeared to be a slight increase in the risk of cancer or diabetes.

An author of the current study, an abstract of which was presented on Monday at the American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Washington, D.C., said his trial found neither risk nor benefit to use of the vitamins.

“The good news is you don’t appear to be hurting yourself ,” said Howard D. Sesso, an assistant professor of medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. But, he added, “There’s very little evidence to recommend taking these supplements for prevention of cancer, particularly in the case of vitamin E.”

Achilles' Heel Of Pancreatic Cancer Discovered

2008-11-09T17:40:00.000-08:00

UC Davis Cancer Center researchers have discovered a metabolic deficiency in pancreatic cancer cells that can be used to slow the progress of the deadliest of all cancers.
Published in the October issue of the International Journal of Cancer, study results indicate that pancreatic cancer cells cannot produce the amino acid arginine, which plays an essential role in cell division, immune function and hormone regulation. By depleting arginine levels in cell cultures and animal models, the team was able to significantly reduce pancreatic cancer-cell proliferation.
"There have been few significant advances in 15 years of testing available chemotherapy to treat pancreatic cancer," said Richard Bold, chief of surgical oncology at UC Davis and senior author of the study. "The lack of progress is particularly frustrating because most patients are diagnosed after the disease has spread to other organs, eliminating surgery as an option. We have to turn back to basic science to come up with new treatments."
Bold explained that average survival time for those diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is just four-and-a-half months, although chemotherapy can extend that prognosis up to six months.
"There is a dire need to find new options for these patients. While our findings do not suggest a cure for pancreatic cancer, they do promise a possible way to extend the life expectancies of those diagnosed with it," Bold said.
Bold and his colleagues hypothesized that pancreatic cancer cells lack the ability to produce arginine. In human pancreatic tumors, they measured levels of an enzyme — argininosuccinate synthetase — required to synthesize arginine.
The enzyme was not detected in 87 percent of the 47 tumor specimens examined, suggesting that the majority of pancreatic cancers require arginine for cell growth because of an inability to synthesize the amino acid.
The researchers then conducted further tests using pancreatic cell lines that represent the varying levels of argininosuccinate synthetase observed in human tumor specimens. Focusing on the lines with lowest levels, the researchers depleted arginine levels in cultures of pancreatic cell lines using arginine deiminase, an enzyme isolated from a Mycoplasma bacteria.
The enzyme was modified by adding polyethylene glycol chains to increase size and circulatory time.
The researchers found that exposing the pancreatic cancer cell lines to the modified arginine deiminase enzyme inhibited cancer-cell proliferation by 50 percent. They then treated mice bearing pancreatic tumors with the same compound and found an identical outcome: a 50 percent reduction in tumor growth. According to Bold, the current study represents a unique approach to cancer treatment in that it is one of the first to identify a metabolic pathway that can be leveraged to interrupt cancer growth.
"Instead of killing cells as with typical chemotherapy, we instead removed one of the key building blocks that cancer cells need to function," Bold said.
Metabolic interruptions like this one are also being studied for their potential in treating cancers of the blood, such as leukemia and lymphoma. In those cases, depleting the amino acid asparagine may be used in slowing cancer-cell growth.
Bold and his colleagues are continuing their laboratory work on the effects of arginine deprivation on pancreatic cancer. They will next be looking for ways to increase pancreatic cell sensitivity to arginine deprivation.
The researchers have also begun designing human clinical trials in cooperation with the manufacturer of arginine deiminase, Polaris Pharmaceuticals.
"We're looking at whether we can combine this treatment with certain kinds of chemotherapy," Bold said. "This additional research is needed to inform the clinical work and move it forward more quickly. The better we understand this process, the more we can use it in the fight against pancreatic cancer."
Additional study authors included Tawnya Bowles, Joseph Galante, Colin Parsons and Subbulakshmi Virudachalam of the UC Davis Department of Surgery; and Randie Kim and Hsing-Jien Kung of the UC Davis Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine.

2008-11-02T00:10:00.003-07:00

Epeius Biotechnologies Corporation announced today the expansion of clinical trials using intravenous Rexin-G for pancreatic cancer and breast cancer in Manhattan, New York. Rexin-G is the world's first tumor-targeted genetic medicine that is designed to seek out and destroy both primary tumors and metastatic cancers that have spread throughout the body. Clinical data from on-going studies in Los Angeles, California, indicating dose-dependent tumor control rates and survival benefits with no major toxicity in Rexin-G-treated patients prompted the extension of these clinical trials to the East Coast. Rexin-G has gained orphan drug status from the U.S. FDA for three clinical indications: pancreatic cancer, osteosarcoma and soft tissue sarcoma.
The New York clinical trials will be conducted at the Bruckner Oncology Center in Manhattan, New York with Howard W. Bruckner, M.D. as the Principal Investigator. Dr. Bruckner is a board certified medical oncologist who trained at Yale University School of Medicine and performed research at the NIH with specialists and collaborative groups. Dr. Bruckner is internationally renowned for his work in pancreatic, breast, gastrointestinal, colon, and ovarian cancers and was the first medical oncologist to treat patients with Rexin-G for advanced pancreatic cancer in the United States (Int'l J Oncol 2006). He has served as an Expert Consultant and Safety Monitor for the National Surgical Adjuvant Project for Breast and Bowel Cancers Project (NSABP) sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. For further information concerning these clinical trials in New York, please go to http://www.clinicaltrials.gov and search Epeius-sponsored protocols C07-104 and C07-105.

Digestive Care Completes NDA Submission for Pancreatic Drug

2008-11-02T00:10:00.001-07:00

US-based pharmaceutical company Digestive Care has completed the submission of the new drug application for Pancrecarb, used in the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, to the FDA.

The FDA has previously granted the product fast track designation and approved a rolling new drug application (NDA) submission schedule.

The company has recently announced results of the completed randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center, crossover study on Pancrecarb.

Tibor Sipos, president and chief scientific officer of Digestive Care, said: "Pancrecarb is a unique bicarbonate buffered enteric-coated formulation of pancrelipase that has been an essential component of the armamentarium for the treatment of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency associated with cystic fibrosis and other diseases affecting the pancreas."

A service of YellowBrix, Inc.

2008-11-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

After months of battling pancreatic cancer, actor Patrick Swayze is speaking out about the difficulties that have come with his struggle.

"How do you nurture a positive attitude when all the statistics say you’re a dead man?" Swayze told the New York Times. "You go to work."

The 56-year-old actor and star of upcoming A&E series "The Beast" says that his work has been what has helped him through his struggle with his diagnosis.

While he has been healthy enough to continue working, Swayze told the Times that cancer has been a "battle zone." "Chemo, no matter how you cut it, is hell on wheels."

When the news of Swayze's illness surfaced in March, several reports claimed that he had only weeks to live.

But his physician George Fisher, an associate professor of teaching at Stanford University Cancer Center offered a more optimistic take on the actor's condition.

"Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far. All of the reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue," Fisher said in a statement.

Caught in its advanced stages, pancreatic cancer, which strikes about 30,000 people a year, has a less than 5 percent survival rate for five years. If caught early and treated aggressively with surgery and chemotherapy — and if the cancer has not spread to lymph nodes — the five-year survival rate can go as high as 17 to 25 percent, said Avram Cooperman, surgical director for the Pancreas and Biliary Center at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan.

"I've made a pretty decent mark so far – nothing to scoff at," he said. "But it does make you think: Wait a minute. There’s more I want to do. Lots more. Get on with it."

cacner

2008-10-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

cnn: ibuprofen reduces breast cancer risk

2008-10-09T00:41:00.000-07:00

Can taking aspirin or ibuprofen reduce your risk of getting breast cancer? One of the largest studies of its kind suggests that the answer might be yes.

In the past, researchers have flip-flopped on the issue, so they recently combined some of the best data - from 2.7 million women in 38 separate studies - to look for solid evidence. And they found it.

Women who took aspirin had a 13 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those who didn't, while those who took ibuprofen had a 21 percent lower risk.

The findings were published this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

While it might be tempting to try to reduce your own risk by popping these over-the-counter pain relievers, known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), the researchers sound a note of caution: The pills can cause bleeding in your digestive tract. And some types of NSAIDs have been linked to risk of heart problems. Health.com: How aspirin can help your heart

"I would not recommend that women use NSAIDs for breast cancer prevention," says study author Bahi Takkouche, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain. "NSAIDs may have very strong secondary effects. The results of this study just show that women who are taking NSAIDs for other reasons probably have a lower risk of breast cancer." Health.com: How to cut your breast cancer risk at any age

This type of study can't prove conclusively that NSAIDs are responsible for the lower risk of breast cancer. According to the experts, some other factor could be responsible for the reduction in cancer risk.

Palliative Chemotherapy

2008-10-05T13:50:00.001-07:00

"Chemotherapy had been used with one of the two intentions: the hope to cure cancer, and the hope to prolong life. Palliative chemotherapy/care means chemotherapy which is taken without expecting it to be curative. In other words, palliative chemotherapy is a form of medical treatment that concentrates on reducing the severity of the disease symptoms, rather than trying to provide a cure. This means that most of the time, palliative chemotherapy are only offered to patients with incurable cancer, preferably to patients with excellent performance status and a tumor sensitive to chemotherapy.

Just like treating cancer, cytotoxic drugs are also used in palliative chemotherapy. They attack cells during cell divisions. They could be phase specific and cycle specific. Phase-specific drugs kill cells only when they are given during a certain phase of cells’ cycle. By prolonging the treatment using such drugs, the number of cells killed increases because cells divide randomly. Cycle-specific drugs target cells during any phase of the cells’ cycle, thus the number of cells killed increases when the dosage of such drugs increase. Other Antimetabolites are given as well. These anti metabolites could interfere with the incorportation of nucleic acid bases into the DNA.Given the potential toxicities of the chemotherapeutic agents, it is important to educate patients about the side effects of the drugs consumed. The main challenge for both the doctors and patients would be balancing symptom relief and treatment’s side effects. It is also crucial for the doctors to maintain a holistic view of patients with cancer and help patients to achieve the best possible quality of life.

"
----
"A group of Melbourne researchers has discovered an important piece in the puzzle of how breast cancer develops.
Through implantation of breast cells in mice, scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have made two key findings related to the way the Notch pathway of proteins works in breast tissue.

Researchers Toula Bouras, Jane Visvader and Geoff Lindeman identified how the Notch pathway of proteins regulates breast development and function by prompting breast stem cells to switch on the production of breast duct cells.

They also discovered a link between an overactive Notch pathway and the proliferation of immature cells in the breast ducts that can develop into tumours.

''The discovery has really revealed a mechanism by which overactivity of the Notch pathway may contribute to breast cancer,'' Dr Visvader said.

''If drugs can be developed that target this process in an effective way, this offers hope for future generations of patients whose cancers have an overactive Notch pathway.''

Dr Visvader said the Notch pathway played an important role in the development of breast cancer, but more research needed to be done before the development of anti-Notch therapies.

The researchers' findings are in the latest international journal, Cell Stem Cell. AAP"

HPV vaccine required to obtain Green Card

2008-10-05T13:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks God that when I applied for an Immigrant Visa this vaccination is still not part of it.

Recently, Federal officials added the Gardasil vaccine to a list of vaccinations that immigrants must have before they can obtain green cards. The cervical cancer vaccine is required of females ages 11 to 26.
The vaccine protects against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, which causes cervical cancer and genital warts. But the vaccine is one of the most expensive and controversial, primarily because it is given at a young age.

How Does Ellagic Acid Exert An Anti-Cancer Effect On Pancreatic Cancer Cells?

2008-09-28T14:59:00.001-07:00

"Ellagic acid was previousely shown to have anticarcinogenic, antioxidant and antifibrosis properties. The anticarcinogenic effect of ellagic acid was shown in several types of cancers including skin, esophageal, and colon cancers. However the mechanisms mediating anti-cancer effect of ellagic acid, in general, remain unknown.

A research article published on 21 June 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Dr. Edderkaoui from West Los Angeles VA Healthcare Center showed that Ellagic acid increases programmed cell death and decreases proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells. They showed that the mechanism through which ellagic acid causes cell death is through decreasing the activity of the pro-survival transcription factor NF-kB. The compound does not affect mitochondria. The results presented in this article show for the first time how this polyphenol regulates cancer cell proliferation and resistance to death and may help surpass the resistance of these cells to radio and chemotherapies. "

2008-09-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

"Pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal human cancers and continues to be a major unsolved health problem. The overexpression of the epidermal growth factor receptor and its ligands correlates with rapidly progressive disease and resistance to chemotherapy."

Austin Texas DUI

2008-08-31T02:34:00.000-07:00

Austin Texas DUI

Tech Startups 3.0

2008-08-31T02:32:00.000-07:00

Tech Startups 3.0

cancer of the prostate

2008-08-31T02:29:00.001-07:00

"Numerous media reports followed a federal task force's announcement this month that there is insufficient medical evidence to assess the risks and benefits of prostate cancer screening in men younger than 75 and that doctors should stop testing men over age 75.
It's important to note that consideration was not given to the overwhelming body of emerging evidence that screening with PSA tests and digital rectal exams saves lives. Rates of death from prostate cancer and rates of diagnosis at advanced stages have decreased markedly since testing became widespread.
As a physician and a researcher specializing in prostate cancer, I worry that this recommendation will result in delays in potentially lifesaving treatment and possibly the unnecessary loss of life.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force did not even recommend screening for men at higher risk because of race or family history. The task force reasoned that screening might harm more men than it helps and that in men over 75 there was moderate certainty that the harm outweighs the benefits.
Physicians and patients who are concerned about preventing prostate cancer deaths choose to screen with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests because an inconclusive but increasingly compelling body of evidence shows that the screening reduces suffering and death from prostate cancer — the second-leading cause of cancer death among men in the United States."

2008-08-28T23:51:00.001-07:00

In an Aug. 26 story about a new TV ad linking hot dogs with cancer, The Associated Press, relying on figures provided by a nutrition adviser to the American Institute for Cancer Research, erroneously reported average risks for colon cancer and how eating hot dogs affects those risks. Karen Collins said she misstated the average adult's lifetime risk for getting colorectal cancer, which is about 5 percent, not 5.8 percent.

She said she also miscalculated population-level risks of eating one hot dog a day for several years. That would increase the number of Americans who get colorectal cancer each year from 50 per 100,000 to 60 per 100,000 people — not from 58 per 100,000 to 70 per 100,000, as she had stated.

She said the level of risk is smaller for eating a hot dog once or twice a month but that it can't be precisely quantified. It would not mean up to a 1.4 percent increase in colon cancer risk, as she had indicated.

What makes pancreatic cancer so deadly?: Scientific American

2008-08-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

"Gene Upshaw, the executive director of the National Football League Player's Association—the union for NFL players—died late Wednesday evening of pancreatic cancer while vacationing in California's Lake Tahoe. Doctors diagnosed the 63-year-old Hall of Fame offensive lineman with the disease just four days earlier.

Upshaw was a guard for the Oakland Raiders from 1967 to 1981. He played in seven Pro Bowls and three Super Bowls. He served as head of the NFL player's union for 25 years.

According to Bloomberg News, Upshaw's wife, Terri, took him to a hospital on Sunday, August 17th, because he was having trouble breathing. A biopsy revealed, much to everyone's surprise, that he had advanced pancreatic cancer.

In March, actor Patrick Swayze—star of the hit 1980s film Dirty Dancing—revealed he had been diagnosed with the illness in January. Doctors' reports indicated they had caught his cancer relatively early.

The pancreas secretes hormones and enzymes to digest our fats. One of those hormones is insulin, which prompts the body to use sugar in the blood rather than fat as energy. Its levels are low in diabetic patients, who suffer from abnormally high blood sugar."

Happiness may protect against cancer

2008-08-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

"YOUNG women exposed to tragic events may be at a higher risk of breast cancer and being optimistic can help protect against the disease, a study has found.

A team of researchers say they may have found a link between a women’s outlook on life and the risk of breast cancer.

After questioning more than 600 women – include 255 breast cancer patients – about life experiences, happiness and depression, researchers found optimists were 25 per cent less likely to develop the disease.

Women who suffered two or more traumatic events in their life, such as losing a loved one, had a 62 per cent greater risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer, the research said.

“Young women who were exposed to a number of life events, should be considered as a risk group for breast cancer and treated accordingly,” the researchers said.

“We can carefully say that experiencing more than one meaningful life event is a risk factor for breast cancer among young women. "

starbucks a savior

2008-08-08T01:30:00.001-07:00

"When Howard D. Schultz in 1985 founded the company that would become the wildly successful Starbucks chain, no financial adviser had to tell him that coffee was America’s leading beverage and caffeine its most widely used drug. The millions of customers who flock to Starbucks to order a double espresso, latte or coffee grande attest daily to his assessment of American passions."

Great News: New Prostate Cancer Test is Ready for Commercialization

2008-08-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

New Prostate Cancer Test is Ready for Commercialization Following Successful Completion of Final Clinical Trials
Health Discovery Corporation's New Molecular Diagnostic Test for Prostate Cancer Successfully Performs at 90% Sensitivity and 97% Specificity in Double-Blind Clinical Trial

Prostate cancer screening not recommended for men over 75_English_Xinhua

2008-08-05T19:59:00.000-07:00

Prostate cancer screening not recommended for men over 75_English_Xinhua: "The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended that men over 75 should stop the routine prostate cancer screening since the risks involved pose more immediate danger than the cancer itself, according to media reports Wednesday.
The task force said that screening can detect some cases of prostate cancer, but the benefits of treatment in men over 75 'are small to none, because the treatment often causes 'moderate-to-substantial harms,' without evidence it saves the lives of these elderly men.
The panel did not recommend for or against prostate screening of men under 75 but suggested that doctors discuss the potential benefits and harms of the test with their patients.
'We carefully reviewed the available evidence to measure the benefits and harms of screening for prostate cancer and could not find adequate proof that early detection leads to fewer men dying of the disease,' said task force chairman Ned Calonge."

Tech Startups 3.0: Private Equity HUB: In Memoriam: Keith Benjamin

2008-07-31T21:31:00.000-07:00

"Venture capitalist Keith Benjamin has passed away, four days after suffering a major brain hemorrhage while at the gym. He was 49 years-old.
Keith had been a managing partner with San Francisco-based Levensohn Venture Partners since 2002, where he focused on software and digital media investments. He previously had been a general partner with Highland Capital Partners and, before that, was a sell-side analyst at Robertson Stephens.
Like many of his Silicon Valley peers, Keith also was a blogger — discussing both the personal and professional at SF Venture. In the past, he has graciously permitted us to reprint certain pieces at peHUB."

pancreatic cancer: The uplifting 'Last Lecture' man dies at 47

2008-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

"The cause of his death was metastasised pancreatic cancer, said a spokesman for Carnegie Mellon University. He had survived for A federal eating mugs and judge has given the state of Texas until January to improve its education programs for intensive secondary data school students learning English more than twice as long as.."

Tech Startups 3.0: NYTimes.com: Randy Pausch, 47, Dies; His ‘Last Lecture’ Inspired Many to Live With Wonder#links

2008-07-26T17:28:00.000-07:00

ABC News: Cancer Prof Warns Against Cell Phone Use

2008-07-23T23:04:00.000-07:00

"The head of a prominent cancer research institute issued an unprecedented warning to his faculty and staff Wednesday: Limit cell phone use because of the possible risk of cancer. The warning from Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, is contrary to numerous studies that don't find a link between cancer and cell phone use, and a public lack of worry by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Herberman is basing his alarm on early..."

2008-07-23T23:03:00.000-07:00

Effective Treatment of Pancreatic Cancer Remains Elusive

2008-07-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

"Although therapeutic strategies have advanced for many common gastrointestinal cancers, significant progress in the treatment of pancreatic cancer remains elusive. The eagerly anticipated results of randomized trials that evaluated gemcitabine-based combination regimens have proven to be disappointing, researchers report in a review paper that discusses the use of systemic therapy in advanced pancreatic cancer. Whereas 2 recent trials have demonstrated a modest survival benefit with combination therapy, some consider the improvement to be too small to justify the risk of toxicity or added cost.
The article appears in the July issue of the Annals of Oncology.

"Not many trials have been promising, unfortunately, as this is a difficult disease," said coauthor John R. Zalcberg, MD, PhD, professor and director of the division of haematology and medical oncology at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, in Melbourne, Australia. "The new biologics have really not, at this point, been as hopeful as we would have liked or expected."

One disappointment has been the negative results from trials combining bevacizumab (Avastin, Roche) and gemcitabine (Gemzar, Eli Lilly), especially because an early-phase study showed a survival benefit. "We were hoping that it would be the opening of a new treatment era for pancreatic cancer, but unfortunately, that hasn't happened," Dr. Zalcberg told Medscape Oncology.

Pancreatic cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer death; even with treatment, less than 5% of patients survive 5 years. This disease presents a number of challenges that the clinician has to consider and that make effective therapy so difficult, the authors point out. It is frequently diagnosed at a late stage, often after it has metastasized, and disease-related symptoms, including pain and cachexia, negatively affect performance status and limit the safe delivery of treatment.

The disease is highly resistant to chemotherapy, and systemic treatments produce only modest benefits. Only about 10% to 15% of patients have tumors that can be surgically resected; even then, the risk for recurrence is high. However, it is possible that adjuvant therapy will improve outcomes in this population as new strategies are developed."

Fat stomachs 'raise risk of pancreatic cancer in women' - Telegraph

2008-07-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

Obese women who carry much of their excess weight around the belly are 70 per cent more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, a study has found. The study published in the British Journal of Cancer found a link between waist-to-hip ratios and the cancer while monitoring more than 138,000 post-menopausal women for seven years.

Dr Juhua Luo, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, who led the research said: "We found that the risk of developing pancreatic cancer was significantly raised in obese postmenopausal women who carry most of their excess weight around the stomach. Researchers believe that obesity could increase the risk of pancreatic cancer, one of the most difficult forms to treat, by affecting insulin levels.

TG2 identified as potential therapeutic target in chemo-resistant

2008-07-14T23:16:00.000-07:00

For example, TG2 overexpression causes the degradation of the tumor-suppressing protein PTEN in pancreatic cancer, Mehta and colleagues reported in Clinical ...

Nanoparticles Stops Spread Of Kidney And Pancreatic Cancer Without ...AHN - Jul 11, 2008... that deliver drug agents to stop pancreatic and kidney cancer from spreading in mice but have fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy.

Cancer claims White House aid

2008-07-13T22:35:00.001-07:00

"Cancer claims White House aid

Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - 15 hours agoSnow joined the Bush Administration as press secretary in 2006, a year after he was diagnosed with cancer and his colon was removed."

2008-07-12T20:18:00.000-07:00

"Swimmer is racing to beat cancerTimes Online, UK - 7 hours agoHe has testicular cancer. The 25-year-old from Atlanta has delayed surgery, against medical advice, so that he can fulfil his lifetime ambition of competing ...

US Olympian Shanteau diagnosed with testicular cancer AFP

Swimmer opts for Beijing trip, delays surgery for cancer Seattle Times

Olympics, then cancer surgery Kansas City Star"

RIP Tony Snow

2008-07-12T11:17:00.001-07:00

"Ex-Bush press secretary Tony Snow dies of cancer at 53Los Angeles Times, CA - 4 hours agoAfter a long, candid and public battle with colon cancer, former White House press secretary and radio talk-show host Tony Snow died early this morning. "

The Associated Press: Supermodel raises awareness for pediatric cancer

2008-07-07T00:18:00.000-07:00

"MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Supermodel Cindy Crawford has been making appearances this weekend in Madison, Wis., to raise awareness of pediatric cancer.

Crawford's younger brother, Jeff, was a patient at University of Wisconsin Children's Hospital. The boy died of leukemia in 1975 just before his fourth birthday.

Crawford is the honorary chair of Kids with Courage, which had its fourth reunion of childhood cancer survivors Saturday in Madison.

She was also part of the three previous reunions in 1993, 1998 and 2003.

The University of Wisconsin says Crawford has been contributing time and money to the UW Pediatric Oncology program for nearly 20 years. "

cancer - Google News

2008-07-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

"Plastic surgeons' discarded breast tissue aids cancer researchCanada.com, Canada - 13 hours agoVANCOUVER - To learn about what triggers breast cancer and how to create better treatments, scientists first have to know more about the composition and ...Regulation and research in stem cell medicine PHG FoundationCanada puts $100 million into stem cell research Windsor StarSD stem cell efforts awarded $5 million total San Diego Union Tribune"

Slashdot | Cancer Resistance Technique Moves To Human Trials

2008-06-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

"TaeKwonDood tips us to news that a new cancer resistance treatment is going into clinical trials after being quite successful at eradicating cancer in mice. Researchers discovered that certain white blood cells called granulocytes from cancer-immune mice were able to cure cancer in other mice. Now, doctors are putting out the call for healthy granulocyte donors in order to test how well it works on humans. The article quotes lead researcher Zheng Cui saying, "In mice, we've been able to eradicate even highly aggressive forms of malignancy with extremely large tumors. Hopefully, we will see the same results in humans. Our laboratory studies indicate that this cancer-fighting ability is even stronger in healthy humans."

8 Ways to Spot Skin Cancer Before It Kills

2008-06-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

8 Ways to Spot Skin Cancer Before It Kills

U.S. News & World Report, DC - 18 hours agoBy Adam Voiland When skin cancer is spotted early, it's almost always curable. For melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, the 5-year survival rate is ...

Save your hide — skip the tanning booth MSNBC

Why Skin Cancer Kills More Men Than Women U.S. News & World Report

2008-06-18T23:27:00.000-07:00

Agency Wants Companies To Stop Hawking Products As Cancer TreatmentsCBS News, NY - 5 hours agoThe FDA today warned 25 companies to quit claiming their products cure cancer and urged consumers not to fall for fake cancer cures. ...

Google News: Patrick Swayze Back To Work

2008-06-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

"Patrick Swayze Back To Work MTV.uk, UK - 19 hours agoOn Sunday the Dirty Dancing star announced that he will continue in his lead role in A&E drama The Beast, which sees Swayze playing an unconventional FBI"

Phase III Clinical Study Using BSD Medical's Systems for Treating Pancreatic Cancer to Be Announced at ASCO

2008-05-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

"BSD Medical Corp. (NASDAQ:BSDM) announced today that a team of researchers headed by Professor Rolf D. Issels will be announcing at the upcoming annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference that a Phase III clinical study is underway involving the combined use of hyperthermia therapy and chemotherapy in treating patients with pancreatic cancer. This announcement follows the successful conclusion of a Phase II clinical trial conducted in Munich, Germany using a combination of hyperthermia therapy and chemotherapy to treat patients with pancreatic cancer. All hyperthermia treatments used for this study will be delivered using BSD-2000 hyperthermia systems. The ASCO conference held in Chicago, Illinois will run May 30 through June 3.

Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in men and women. The American Cancer Society has projected 37,170 new cases and 33,370 deaths from the disease in the United States this year. While the use of hyperthermia therapy in treating some other forms of cancer has been heavily researched, little has been known about the potential of the therapy in treating pancreatic cancer patients, a deadly cancer for which better treatments are urgently needed. "

romance

2008-05-26T01:48:00.001-07:00

Join A I C R in the
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www.aicr.org.uk

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Colon & Rectal Cancer Advocacy &
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Just pics of MCR to the song Cancer from The Black Parade ...
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No cure for malignant glioma like Kennedy has

2008-05-22T00:48:00.000-07:00

"Doctors are not mincing words about the kind of brain tumor diagnosed in Sen. Edward Kennedy.
'Cure is out of the question,' said Dr. John Adler Jr., professor of neurosurgery at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Kennedy is reported to have a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe of his brain - a diagnosis that for most patients means a cancerous brain tumor that will kill them, usually within a year. 'It is almost certainly a fatal condition,' Adler said.
Exceptions abound in medicine, and Adler stressed that doctors like him who have only heard news reports of Kennedy's condition have no way of knowing how perilous his condition is. However, gliomas are the most common type of brain tumor in adults, and two-thirds of those diagnosed with malignant brain tumors of any kind will die of them.
About 9,000 people are diagnosed with malignant gliomas in the United States each year. The odds of survival go down with age. Kennedy is 76."

of the West finals 89-85 on Wednesday. How? Let's just say the MVP "managed" to find a way

Brain cancer patients share sympathy, stories of struggle - The Boston Globe

2008-05-22T00:28:00.000-07:00

"For Patricia Whitman, it began with a smell, not a seizure.
more stories like this
Growing arsenal may serve Kennedy
Kennedy's battle with brain tumor grabs headlines in Ireland
Senator Kennedy Has a Malignant Brain Tumor
Kennedy illness robs Senate of dealmaker
Chat transcript: Dr. Andrew Norden answers questions about brain tumors
A strange burning odor occasionally filled her nose. In the weeks and months to follow, there were bouts of light-headedness and, later, excruciating headaches. Still, the last thing she expected her doctor to tell her was that she had a brain tumor. And certainly not one the size of a baseball and that came with a terrifying lethal prognosis.
'It's my brain. This is my brain,' the 48-year-old psychologist said. 'This can't be happening.'
In the year since her diagnosis, Whitman has undergone brain surgery, suffered memory lapses, and lost her hair - only to have it grow back gray. While doctors are hopeful she will defy the odds, she lives with an uncertain future. And after she saw news reports of US Senator Edward M. Kennedy's brain tumor diagnosis on Tuesday, she felt overcome with sadness for him and his family. 'Those poor people,' she said softly yesterday."

Verify or Claim Pancreatic Cancer Wellness Research - MyBlogLog

2008-05-17T09:47:00.000-07:00

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

breast_cancer_diagram.gif (GIF Image, 416x300 pixels)

2008-05-16T00:33:00.000-07:00

Red wine compound may kill pancreatic cancer cells | Health | Reuters

2008-05-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

"NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A compound found in the skin of red grapes and red wine may help induce pancreatic cancer cells to malfunction and die, a lab study has found.
The compound, called resveratrol, is produced by certain plants as part of their defense arsenal against pathogens. A handful of foods, including raspberries, blueberries and peanuts, contain resveratrol, but it is most abundant in the skin of red grapes and, therefore, red wine.
In the new study, researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York treated human pancreatic cancer cells with resveratrol, either alone or in combination with radiation.
They found that the wine compound disrupted the activity of the cancer cells' mitochondria, energy-producing centers needed for cells to function. Resveratrol also impaired certain cancer-cell proteins that thwart chemotherapy by pumping drugs out of the cell.
In combination with radiation, but not alone, the compound bumped up the production of cell-damaging substances called reactive oxygen species -- potentially making the cancer cells more destructible."

Blood Pressure Drugs Halt Pancreatic Cancer Cell Growth, Researchers Find

2008-05-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

"Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia are inching closer to understanding how common blood pressure medications might help prevent the spread of pancreatic cancer. They have found in the laboratory that one type of pressure-lowering drug called an angiotensin receptor blocker inhibits pancreatic cancer cell growth and causes cell death."

"In earlier work in the laboratory, Hwyda Arafat, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Surgery at Jefferson Medical College, and her team showed that angiotensin receptor blockers may help reduce the development of tumor-feeding blood vessels, a process called angiogenesis. Other studies have linked a lower incidence of cancer with the use of angiotensin blocking therapies. Such drugs, she says, may become part of a novel strategy to control the growth and spread of cancer.

One of these drugs -- AT1R (Ang II type 1 receptor) blockers -- inhibit the function of the hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) in the pancreas. The receptor is expressed in pancreatic cancer cells. Ang II increases the production of VEGF, a vascular factor that promotes blood vessel growth in a number of cancers. High VEGF levels have been correlated with poor cancer prognosis and early recurrence after surgery. Dr. Arafat's research team has shown that AngII indirectly causes VEGF expression by increasing AT1R expression."

YouTube - Randy Pausch Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

2008-05-03T16:31:00.000-07:00

Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer, gave his last lecture at the university Sept. 18, 2007, before a packed McConomy Auditorium. In his moving talk, "Really...

Cancer - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Cancer - NY Times Health Information

2008-05-03T02:20:00.000-07:00

Cancer - Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment of Cancer - NY Times Health Information: "Causes

Cells are the building blocks of living things. Cancer grows out of normal cells in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them, and die when the body doesn't. Cancer appears to occur when the growth of cells in the body is out of control and cells divide too rapidly. It can also occur when cells “forget” how to die.

There are many different kinds of cancers. Cancer can develop in almost any organ or tissue, such as the lung, colon, breast, skin, bones, or nerve tissue.

There are multiple causes of cancers, including:

* Radiation
* Sunlight
* Tobacco
* Certain viruses
* Benzene
* Certain poisonous mushrooms and aflatoxins (a poison produced by organisms that can grow on peanut plants)

However, the cause of many cancers remains unknown.

The most common cause of cancer-related death is lung cancer.

The three most common cancers in men in the United States are prostate cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer. In women in the U.S., the three most frequently occurring cancers are breast cancer, lung cancer, and colon cancer."

globeandmail.com: Ontario takes lead in global genetic war with cancer

2008-05-02T00:24:00.000-07:00

"Research groups from 10 countries are undertaking an unprecedented global effort to combat cancer, one of the world's leading killers, they announced Tuesday.

The collaborative project, dubbed the International Cancer Genome Consortium, will hunt the genetic mutations that drive 50 different types of cancer — from breast to bone. The consortium, in which Canada will play a lead role, plans to share results rapidly, widely and freely so scientists can quickly develop new diagnostic tests and treatments.

Each member country plans to spend roughly $20-million (U.S.) tackling at least one subtype of the disease, collecting specimen samples from 500 patients, and studying the genetic glitches they find in their cancerous cells. With 50 cancers to be studied, not all of them have been assigned a country yet.

But China, for example, intends to study liver cancer, because the country has particularly high rates of that disease. Japan will take on gastric cancer. India has an interest in oral cancers, France in sarcomas — cancers of the bone and connective tissue. Several countries will focus on breast cancers, including Britain and the United States, where research groups are also interested in brain and colon cancers."

Watch and protect yourself from Pancreatitits Cancer

2008-04-24T00:52:00.000-07:00

"Men who frequently masturbate appear to have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer, Australian researchers have reported.

Researchers from the Cancer Council of Victoria found that men who masturbated more than five times each week were a third less likely to develop the cancer.

The study surveyed 1,000 men who developed prostate cancer and 1,250 men who did not, between the ages of 20 and 50, it is reported by PlanetOut.

Researchers told the BBC last week that the prostate produces one of the fluids involved in ejaculation and that frequent masturbation appears to flush out carcinogens.

Sexual intercourse may not have the same effect because it increases the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease, which could raise the risk of cancer, it is reported."

Masturbation may prevent prostate cancer - Yahoo! News

2008-04-21T22:51:00.000-07:00

"Frequent masturbation may help men cut their risk of contracting prostate cancer, Australian researchers have found. It is believed that carcinogens may build up in the prostate if men do not ejaculate regularly, BBC News reported on Wednesday. The researchers surveyed more than 1,000 men who had developed prostate cancer, and 1,250 men who had not. They found that men who had ejaculated the most between the ages of 20 and 50 were the least likely to get cancer. Men who ejaculated more than five times each week were a third less likely to develop prostate cancer."

The Pancreatic Cancer Network Help

2008-04-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

"The Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (http://www.pancan.org) released today a new Public Service Announcement (PSA: 90.76, -2.04, -2.19%) featuring Carnegie Mellon Professor, Dr. Randy Pausch, who is dying from pancreatic cancer and whose 'last lecture' reflecting on life's lessons has become an internet sensation. During the PSA, Pausch speaks about his diagnosis and the urgent need to fund pancreatic cancer research. Currently, less than 2% of the National Cancer Institute's federal research funding is allocated to pancreatic cancer, a figure farnightlife. High-tech, low-key. Big city, college town. Qgiven the severity of the disease. Pancreatic cancer is the 4th leading cause of cancer death in the United States, yet it is the most under-recognized and least studied among all leading cancer killers.
'Randy Pausch has been an amazing champion for the pancreatic cancer community, and we are grateful for his time and efforts on behalf of the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network,' stated President and CEO, Julie Fleshman. 'While Randy's efforts will not save his life, we hope the public will understand the sense of city with a heart and with a soul. Cosmopolitan, yet unpretentious. Thriving cultural scene and vibrant nightlife. High-tech, low-key. Big city, college town. Quirky and far from ordinary, it's the kind of place where you check your worries at the city limits sign, trade in suits for something a bit more urgency behind his message. We need to take action now by raising the appropriate funds for pancreatic cancer research that will ultimately lead to a cure.'
'There are very few advocates for this disease because patients don't live long enough, but I have been given a platform by the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to raise my voice for this community,' added Dr. Pausch. 'With increased funding for research, the best scientific minds can make strides against this deadly disease and give patients a fighting chance.'"

2008-03-27T21:44:00.000-07:00

Conflicting reports on Swayze cancer

2008-03-09T17:54:00.000-07:00

"American actor Patrick Swayze, best known for his roles in the movies 'Dirty Dancing' and 'Ghost', has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, 'People' magazine reported Wednesday.

Rumors were swirling last week on the Internet about the severity of his condition. Army Radio reported Thursday that Swayze was given five weeks to live and had already lost 10 kg.

Swayze's doctor, George Fisher, contradicted such reports in a statement on Thursday. "Patrick has a very limited amount of disease and he appears to be responding well to treatment thus far.

"All of the reports stating the time frame of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic."

The 55-year-old actor was voted Sexiest Man Alive by 'People' magazine in 1991, is reportedly continuing his normal schedule and working on upcoming projects.

The US National Cancer Institute estimates there will be 37,680 new cases of pancreatic cancer in 2008 with 34,290 deaths in the US; only 5 percent of patients live more than five years after being diagnosed."

Patrick Swayze has pancreatic cancer, doctor says he's working

2008-03-05T15:57:00.001-08:00

"Patrick Swayze is being treated for pancreatic cancer but is doing well enough to continue working, his representative said Wednesday.
The "Dirty Dancing" actor has a very limited amount of disease and appears to be responding well to treatment, according to Dr. George Fisher, Swayze's physician. Fisher's prognosis was included in a statement released Wednesday by Swayze's representative, Annett Wolf.
"Patrick is continuing his normal schedule during this time, which includes working on upcoming projects," the statement said.
It also said earlier reports that Swayze had a matter of weeks to live were exaggerated. "All of the reports stating the timeframe of his prognosis and his physical side effects are absolutely untrue. We are considerably more optimistic."
Swayze, 55, has two films in the works: the movie "Powder Blue," and a television movie titled "The Beast," according to the Web site imdb.com. Both are scheduled for release this year."

Avastin OK

2008-02-26T22:04:00.000-08:00

"In a surprise decision, the Food and Drug Administration played against type and gave approval for Avastin as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. It was the right option for terminally ill women, who will gain another weapon against a disease that kills about 40,000 every year.

In clinical trials, Genentech's biologic drug was shown to control the growth and spread of tumors, doubling the amount of time before illness worsened. That translates into an improvement in quality of life, and the results were corroborated by further studies.

Avastin shouldn't have been controversial. But an FDA panel ruled that "progression-free survival" was not sufficient, because the agency's usual acid test for anticancer agents is extending life overall. Such an analysis overlooks the real benefits to women in the months they have left. But as late as last week, it looked as though approval would be delayed or rejected outright.

The "accelerated approval" granted to Avastin is contingent on follow-up trials, and Avastin could be pulled from the market if future research fails to demonstrate that treatment prolongs life. In an interview with us on Monday, oncology drugs chief Richard Padzur said that the FDA was "not demanding" a survival advantage but would consider it a factor. In 2005, the lung cancer drug Iressa was approved and then withdrawn under similar conditions, and the danger is that history will repeat itself.

As for the notion that the decision portends a shift in the way the FDA evaluates cancer drugs, Dr. Padzur assured us that it "not a new step in our regulatory decision making." He emphasized that prolonging life was still the FDA's primary criterion, and noted that Avastin was green-lighted because its quality-of-life benefits were "statistically robust." Yet the narrowness with which the FDA balances risk and reward was the reason Avastin was contentious -- especially Dr. Padzur's statistical models.

FDA evaluation methods insist on large average effects and simplistic mortality rates. Only about 10% of patients responded to Iressa, for instance, and could be identified by genetic tests; but these targeted results didn't mesh with the arbitrary FDA approach. Other innovative medicines like Provenge (for prostrate cancer) and Junovan (for pediatric bone cancer) are pointlessly blocked by Dr. Padzur's division, and the risk is that Avastin still could be too, whatever its current reprieve."

Pancreatic Cancer: The Smaller The Tumor, The Better Your Chances, Study Shows

2008-02-24T13:28:00.000-08:00

The odds of surviving cancer of the pancreas increase dramatically for patients whose tumors are smallest, according to a new study by researchers at Saint Louis University and the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston -- the first study to specifically evaluate the link between tumor size and survival rates for one of the most common and deadly cancers.

Cure for cancer - maybe....worth a shot

2008-01-20T01:06:00.000-08:00

Cure for cancer prevent cancer with Amygdalin laetrile vitamin b17 apricot seeds and more

GenVec will save your life

2008-01-17T23:57:00.000-08:00

"GenVec (GNVC) is a smallcap biotech trying to become a bigcap. Its lead product, TNFerade, is currently in a pivotal Phase II/III study [PACT] in locally advanced pancreatic cancer; Phase II studies are in progress in rectal cancer and melanoma, and Phase I/II studies are in progress in head and neck cancer. GenVec also uses its proprietary adenovector technology to develop vaccines for infectious diseases including HIV, malaria, seasonal and pandemic flu and foot and mouth disease. During GenVec's most recent discussions with the FDA, the FDA agreed to change the primary endpoint of the PACT trial to overall survival from one year survival. "

Cancer Wellness

2008-01-08T07:11:00.001-08:00

Anthrax toxin as cancer killer?-Health/Science-The Times of India

2007-12-30T20:16:00.001-08:00

"Researchers have developed a mutated anthrax toxin, which may have implications as an effective cancer therapy. Researchers at the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology created a mutated anthrax toxin, which could kill tumour cells in mice. In the study, Stephen Leppla and colleagues showed that Anthrax toxin was fairly selective in targeting melanoma cells, even though the risk of non-cancer toxicity prevents any clinical use. This mutated toxin could only be turned on by matrix metalloproteinases (MMP), proteins that are overproduced only in cancer cells. "

Anthrax toxin as cancer killer?-Health/Science-The Times of India

2007-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

Tech Startups 3.0: Merry Xmas to our readers! Thank YOU

2007-12-21T14:52:00.000-08:00

NCCN Updates Pancreatic Cancer Guidelines

2007-12-13T20:46:00.000-08:00

"The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 21 leading cancer centers, has updated its guidelines regarding the care of pancreatic cancer patients. The updated guidelines include a new section on supportive care and a greater emphasis on use of neoadjuvant (before surgery) therapy for patients with cancers that are borderline resectable (cancers that can possibly be surgically removed, but that run a risk of incomplete removal).

The pancreas is an organ that is surrounded by the stomach, small intestine, bile ducts (tubes that connect the liver to the small intestine), gallbladder, liver, and spleen. The pancreas helps the body break down food and produces hormones, such as insulin, to regulate the body’s storage and use of food.

Each year in the United States, there are roughly 37,000 new diagnoses of pancreatic cancer and 33,000 deaths due to the disease.[1] Pancreatic cancer continues to have one of the highest mortality rates of all cancers.

To improve the care of patients with pancreatic cancer, the NCCN recently released updated guidelines regarding the treatment of pancreatic cancer.[2] Two notable changes are the addition of a section on “Principles of Palliation and Supportive Care” and greater emphasis on neoadjuvant therapy for patients with borderline resectable pancreatic cancer.

The section on Palliative and Supportive care is intended to “prevent and ameliorate suffering, while ensuring optimal quality of life.” The section addresses the management of biliary obstruction; gastric outlet obstruction; severe tumor-associated abdominal pain; depression, pain, and malnutrition; pancreatic insufficiency; and thromboembolic disease.

The section on neoadjuvant therapy notes: “The majority of NCCN institutions prefer upfront neoadjuvant therapy in the setting of borderline resectable disease.”

Patients with pancreatic cancer may wish to discuss these updated guidelines with their physician."

Researcher's Study Could Help Pancreatic Cancer Patients Respond Better to Chemo Drugs

2007-11-03T03:27:00.001-07:00

"Pancreatic cancer patients face the worst survival rates compared to all other forms of human cancer as the disease is nearly impossible to diagnose at an early stage when successful treatments might be possible. Owing to late stage diagnosis, the remaining clinical options are limited to chemotherapeutic approaches involving the use of such drugs as gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). The popular chemotherapeutic agents have produced limited clinical success and Northeastern University professor Robert B. Campbell wanted to know why.

Campbell and his graduate student investigated whether or not mucin overexpressed on the surface of human pancreatic tumor cells might act as a physical barrier, limiting the drug’s effectiveness.

The article discussing the experiment, titled “Mucin Impedes Cytotoxic Effect of 5-FU against Growth of Human Pancreatic Cancer Cells; Overcoming Cellular Barriers for Therapeutic Gain” is published in this month’s issue of The British Journal of Cancer.

“In order to improve treatment approaches, we must consider the biology of pancreatic tumors at the molecular, cellular and physiological levels,” said Dr. Campbell, Assistant Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the Northeastern’s Bouvé College of Health Sciences. “Our experimental findings in this study suggest that mucin is in fact a cellular barrier limiting chemotherapeutic action of 5-FU against human pancreatic cancer cells, making 5-FU less effective.”

Normal epithelial cells are covered with mucin. In cancerous tumor cells, mucin is overexpressed on the cell’s surface. Dr. Campbell and his Ph.D., student Mr. Ashish V. Kalra were probing the effects of a single mucin variety, called MUC1, which is present on the surface of both normal epithelial cells and pancreatic tumor cells and is responsible for the overabundance of mucin on the latter. In order to find out whether or not mucin influenced the intracellular uptake of 5-FU, the researchers used inhibitors to limit the amount of MUC1 and reduce the mucin glycation mesh surrounding cells. Campbell and Kalra observed that the exposure to inhibitors did not harm the healthy physiology of cells, however, the reduction of mucin mesh on the tumor cells enhanced the cell killing effect of 5-FU. "

Check for cancer by 30 call to women

2007-10-14T02:29:00.000-07:00

"WOMEN from families with a history of breast cancer should start going for regular check-ups by the time they are 30, according to a top health professional.

New guidelines from the American Cancer Society suggest those with an increased risk of breast cancer could benefit from additional screening from 30 years or even sooner.

Yearly mammograms are already recommended for women aged 40 and above, said Bahrain Cancer Society support group head and Bahrain Nursing Society president Rula Al Saffar.

However, she warned that women could be at increased risk if they have a family history of breast cancer, have already had the disease or are genetically more susceptible to developing it.

"In Bahrain, they (women) should inform their doctor if they have a history of breast cancer," said Ms Al Saffar.

"But doctors also need to.."

The Associated Press: Skin Cancer Drug Said to Show Promise

2007-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

"A very early test of an experimental drug seemed to slow the spread of advanced deadly skin cancer in a small study, the drug's U.S. developer reported in preliminary findings Wednesday. Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Lexington, Mass., reported that patients with advanced melanoma who got the drug survived an average of 3.7 months without new cancer lesions, compared to 1.8 months for those who got the standard treatment. The treatment, given as a pill, is so early in development it doesn't have a name. It must pass muster in much more rigorous testing before the company seeks U.S. approval. Synta's drug is one of several in development by other companies trying a new strategy against cancer — killing tumor cells by overloading them with oxygen. 'We are taking advantage of the Achilles heel of cancer cells,' said Dr. Anthony Williams, vice president of clinical research at Synta Pharmaceuticals. The drug has no effect on normal cells, which can adjust to higher levels of oxygen that cause cancer cells to self-destruct."

Breast cancer death rate drops more: report | Science & Health | Reuters

2007-09-25T23:05:00.000-07:00

"The death rate from breast cancer continues to drop steadily by about 2 percent a year, but black women are not seeing the same benefits as whites, the American Cancer Society said on Tuesday. The group found that during 2001 through 2004, breast cancer diagnoses fell by an average of 3.7 percent a year -- in part because women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy and in part because fewer got mammograms and therefore were not diagnosed. Death rates fell by 2 percent during that period."

New test for prostate cancer

2007-09-21T20:55:00.000-07:00

"A new genetic test for prostate cancer with the potential to transform the way the disease is detected and monitored was launched in the UK.
The test, the first of its kind, measures the activity of a gene closely linked to prostate cancer.
Doctors hope it will make diagnosis of the disease more accurate and reduce the unnecessary removal of tissue samples.
About 35,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK and 10,000 die from the disease.
Currently the standard diagnostic tool is the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test, which looks for raised levels of a protein in the blood that leaks out of the prostate gland.
But the PSA test is notorious for providing misleading results. Men with cancer might have low PSA scores, while others with benign conditions have high readings.
The uncertainty of the PSA test has led doctors to nickname it the "Producer of Stress and Anxiety" test.
The new test measures a genetic chemical, messenger RNA, which transfers DNA "instructions" from the PCA3 gene.
Elevated scores are only produced when prostate cancer is present, making the test highly specific."

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Beats Expectations

2007-09-21T00:42:00.000-07:00

"The Gardasil vaccine offers protection against viruses that cause 90 percent of cervical cancers, researchers report. Gardasil came on the market last year for preventing infection with two strains of human papillomavirus (HPV), 16 and 18, that are responsible for up to 70 percent of all cervical cancers, and HPV 6 and 11, which account for 90 percent of genital warts. The new study, which involved about 11,000 young women aged 15 to 26, shows that the vaccine is also 38 percent effective against 10 additional HPV types, which are responsible for an additional 20 percent of cervical cancers. "The new study shows that Gardasil affords an extra degree of protection for young women," says researcher Darren R. Brown, MD, professor of medicine, microbiology and immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. "

Early Detection of Pancreatic Cancer Using Light

2007-09-19T23:09:00.000-07:00

"Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest diseases in the US. Out of almost 38,000 people diagnosed with the disease every year there are an estimated 34,000 deaths. Pancreatic cancer is hard to detect and requires invasive procedures, which are not always accurate and are usually performed too late. A group of researchers from Evanston, Illinois developed a way of detecting the deadly cancer in its early stages using a simple endoscopy. "

NYTIMES : San Francisco to Offer Care for Uninsured Adults

2007-09-15T04:12:00.000-07:00

"Since contracting polio at age 2, Yan Ling Ho has lived with pain for most of her 52 years. After she immigrated here from Hong Kong last year, the soreness in her back and joints proved too debilitating for her to work.
That also meant she did not have health insurance. Not wanting to burden her daughter, who was already paying her living expenses, Ms. Ho delayed doctors’ visits and battled her misery with over-the-counter medications.
“Sometimes the pain was so bad, I would just cry,” she said. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
Last month, unable to bear her discomfort any longer, Ms. Ho went to North East Medical Services, a nonprofit community clinic on the edge of Chinatown, and discovered to her delight that she qualified for a new program that offers free or subsidized health care to all 82,000 San Francisco adults without insurance."

Young blogger loses battle with cancer

2007-08-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

"So when he died Sunday, six days before his 19th birthday, he had blogged a lifetime of thoughts and dreams, words that somehow pierced through cyberspace and moved tens of thousands of readers to respond.
Miles blogged on the Web site of Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan.
He isn't the only person to have written about a dying man's journey, but his wit and wisdom and choice of words, captured the imagination of his readers.
His story was circulated well beyond the world of cancer patients and was told by mass media including the Detroit News and CNN. "

ScienceDaily: Compounds That Color Fruits And Veggies May Protect Against Colon Cancer

2007-08-19T11:24:00.000-07:00

"Evidence from laboratory experiments on rats and on human colon cancer cells also suggests that anthocyanins -- the compounds that give color to most red, purple and blue fruits and vegetables -- appreciably slow the growth of colon cancer cells. The findings also bring scientists a step closer to figuring out what exactly gives fruits and vegetables their cancer-fighting properties. “These foods contain many compounds, and we're just starting to figure out what they are and which ones provide the best health benefits,” said Monica Giusti, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of food science at Ohio State University. Giusti presented the findings, which represent the collaborative efforts of Giusti and her colleagues, on August 19 at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston. Giusti and her colleagues found that in some cases, slight alterations to the structure of anthocyanin molecules made these compounds more potent anti-cancer agents."

Cancer Cure?

2007-08-04T02:32:00.000-07:00

"Ontario announced Thursday it will begin to offer a vaccine that could help prevent cervical cancer to girls in Grade 8, a day after an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal argued it is premature to offer the immunizations on a universal basis.

Ontario's free and voluntary program, which is to commence in classrooms this fall, will offer the Gardasil vaccine to about 84,000 young women at a cost of about $39 million a year or $117 million over three years -- Ontario's share of the $300 million announced in the last federal budget for the vaccine."

AP: ABC's Robin Roberts Has Breast Cancer

2007-08-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

"ABC "Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts discovered she had breast cancer after following her own advice about early detection in a story about former colleague Joel Siegel's cancer death. Roberts, who announced her diagnosis on Tuesday's show, will undergo surgery on Friday.

"Hearing the words and saying it and seeing - it's surreal," Roberts, 46, told viewers in an on-air conversation with co-anchor Diane Sawyer.

Siegel, the ABC morning show's longtime film critic, died of colon cancer last month. During an ABC tribute to him, Roberts did a story about how early detection is key to surviving cancer. She went home that night and examined her breasts."

Very Low LDL May Mean More Cancer Risk, But Study Is Not Conclusive And Does Not Mean Those Taking Statins Should Stop - CBS News

2007-07-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

"New research suggests a link between very low cholesterol levels and an increased risk of cancer, but the findings are far from conclusive, researchers say.

The analysis of studies examining outcomes in patients taking cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins to lower their low density lipoprotein (LDL) 'bad' cholesterol found an elevated risk of cancer among those who achieved the very lowest LDL cholesterol levels while taking the drugs. "

Forbes: Chemical 'Paint' Helps Surgeons See Cancer's Borders

2007-07-16T23:13:00.000-07:00

"Researchers say they've developed a tumor "paint" that illuminates cancerous cells and help surgeons spot the borders of tumors.
A team at Seattle Children's Hospital Research Institute and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center found that the paint -- a protein derived from scorpions called chlorotoxin -- helped surgeons distinguish between brain tumor cells and normal brain tissue during surgery.

"My greatest hope is that tumor paint will fundamentally improve cancer therapy. By allowing surgeons to see cancer that would be undetectable by other means, we can give our patients better outcomes," study senior author Dr. James M. Olson said in a prepared statement."

Brain Cancer Vaccine

2007-07-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

"Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc., a Bothell-based biotechnology company, won Swiss approval for its brain-cancer treatment, the first vaccine to harness a patient's immune system to fight the disease.
The product will be produced in the U.S., and made available to patients at treatment centers in Switzerland, Northwest Biotherapeutics said Monday in a prepared statement.
The company is working to win approval in the U.S. and Europe to gain access to the $35 billion market for cancer treatments. In clinical trials, patients treated with DCVax-Brain survived twice as long as those who didn't receive the vaccine, without major side effects, the company said.
"This is an unprecedented product," said Navid Malik, an analyst at Collins Stewart. "The whole field has opened up with this vaccine."
Though the vaccine has only been approved in Switzerland, patients from all over Europe are likely to travel for treatment, Malik said."

This may save your life cancer?

2007-07-05T17:54:00.000-07:00

"Interim study results show prolonged survival for Pfizer's axitinib in advanced pancreatic cancer.

While final results need to be corroborated in an upcoming Phase III study, Pfizer's axitinib shows early potential to fulfill the great unmet need associated with pancreatic cancer. Given that OSI Pharmaceuticals/Genentech/Roche's Tarceva was granted FDA approval in this indication based on a two-week survival benefit, it is likely positive results would be met with great enthusiasm."

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Demerol

Demerol is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers. It is similar to morphine.Demerol is used to treat moderate-to-severe pain.Demerol may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.

What is the most important information I should know about Demerol?

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Demerol is in a group of drugs called narcotic pain relievers. It is similar to morphine.
Demerol is used to treat moderate-to-severe pain.
Demerol may also be used for purposes other than those listed in this medication guide.