cacner

cnn: ibuprofen reduces breast cancer risk

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

"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.

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"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

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?

"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. "

"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

Austin Texas DUI

Tech Startups 3.0

Tech Startups 3.0

cancer of the prostate

"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."

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

"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

"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

"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

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

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

"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

"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

ABC News: Cancer Prof Warns Against Cell Phone Use

"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..."