Cancer
Are women’s needs different from men’s?
|
|
A cancer diagnosis can be a devastating experience for the person concerned, but for families and loved ones, who later become the primary source of support and care, it can be a stressful, life changing experience. A unique new study will explore the individual experiences of these unsung heroes and identify the support services they need.
The three year project is funded through a prestigious Australian Research Council Linkage grant, and will be led by the Gender, Culture and Health Research Unit (PsyHealth) at the University of Western Sydney, in conjunction with the Medical Psychology Research Unit at Sydney University; Westmead Hospital; The Cancer Council NSW; and Carers NSW.
Singapore nets US cancer experts in biomedics drive
|
|
When top U.S. scientists Neal Copeland and Nancy Jenkins arrive in Singapore to set up a new cancer research project, they will bring some extraordinary luggage: thousands and thousands of mice.
The husband-and-wife team will bring 50 to 100 different strains of mice for their research into the most common types of human cancer when they move to the city-state in coming weeks. Their decision to relocate to Singapore—which they chose over leading U.S. cancer research centers at New York’s Memorial Sloan-Kettering and California’s Stanford University—is a coup for Singapore, where the government is spending billions of dollars to develop its biomedical industry.
Acrylamide not seen to affect colon cancer risk
|
|
The media gave a lot of space last year to the possible cancer risk posed by high levels of acrylamide in cooked and especially fried snacks like potato chips, pretzels and popcorn. However, a new study has found that dietary intake of acrylamide does not appear to be associated with colorectal cancer in women
“There has been considerable discourse about whether exposure to acrylamide in foods could increase the risk of human cancer,” Dr. Lorelei A. Mucci, of Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues write in the International Journal of Cancer. “Acrylamide is classified as a probable human carcinogen, and animal studies have demonstrated an increased incidence of tumors in rats exposed to very high levels.”
Daily dose of Vitamin D cuts cancer risk
|
|
According to cancer prevention specialists, taking vitamin D3 daily appears to lower the risk of cancer by up to as much 50 percent.
The specialists at the Moores Cancer Center at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Medical Center, say that 1,000 international units (IU) of vitamin D3 daily protects against colon, breast, and ovarian cancer.
Early hope seen for green tea in fighting leukemia
|
|
Green tea may help treat a form of adulthood leukemia, if the cases of four patients are any indication, according to a new report.
Doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, found that of four patients who started drinking green tea or taking green tea extracts, three showed clear improvements in their condition in the following months.
Two Key Players in Cancer Prevention and How They Work
|
|
Mayo Clinic researchers have challenged the conventional teaching about a common cancer trait and in doing so, discovered how cells are naturally “cancer proofed.” Their findings appear in today’s early online edition of the Dec. 15 issue of the journal Nature (http://www.nature.com/nature ).
The researchers investigated aneuploidy (AN-u-ploy-dee), the state in which a cell has an abnormal number of chromosomes that creates cellular instability, giving rise to tumors. They discovered two key proteins that help prevent aneuploidy, and also found how the proteins work to “cancer proof” a cell: by preventing premature segregation of duplicated chromosomes during (nuclear) cell division.
Cancer Scientists Call for a Large-Scale Human Epigenome Project
|
|
A vast code, invisible to the DNA sequencing effort that constituted the Human Genome Project, is rapidly being shown to play a direct role in human health. This “epigenome” - from the Greek epi, meaning “in addition to” - consists of chemical “amendments” that dangle like charms on a bracelet from the linear string of letters that spell out the genetic code.
Now, an international group of 40 leading cancer scientists says the time is ripe to undertake a large-scale international “Human Epigenome Project” designed to map the chemical modifications to DNA that comprise the epigenetic code. Their proposal, “A Blueprint for a Human Epigenome Project”—published in the December 15, 2005 issue of Cancer Research—summarizes the findings of an AACR-sponsored workshop held June 15-18, 2005, in Lansdowne, Va.
Some Leukemia Patients May Improve by Taking a Green Tea Extract
|
|
A new case study by Mayo Clinic researchers provides preliminary evidence to suggest a component of green tea may lead to clinical improvement in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Findings are published online in Leukemia Research.
In the small case study, the researchers report on four patients who appeared to have an improvement in the clinical state of their disease after starting over-the-counter products containing epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an extract of green tea. Three of the four patients met the standard criteria used to define a response treatment for clinical trials. These same investigators had previously shown that EGCG kills leukemia cells from patients with CLL in the test tube by interrupting the communication signals they need to survive. That study was published in Blood in 2004.
Infections are a major cause of childhood cancer
|
|
Results from a new study of childhood cancer statistics provide further evidence that common infections affecting mother and baby could play a key role in triggering certain types of the disease.
The research was led by Dr Richard McNally from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and funded by Cancer Research UK and the Christie Hospital Research Endowment Fund.
Survival rate still poor when bone cancer returns
|
|
Although as many as 70 percent of patients who have the localized stage of the bone cancer osteosarcoma survive after surgery and chemotherapy, the overall survival rate after recurrence is less than 30 percent, researchers report.
However, lead investigator Dr. Paul A. Meyers told Reuters Health, “the chances of survival are better for patients whose recurrence is detected after a longer interval from the completion of initial therapy and for patients whose recurrence is limited to fewer sites.”
PCBs, Furans May Factor in Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
|
|
Scientists have found some additional evidence that environmental exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) may be associated with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a study published in the December 1 issue of Cancer Research.
By comparing blood levels of PCBs in 100 pairs of healthy volunteers and non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, Anneclaire De Roos, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and colleagues determined that high levels of three specific molecular forms of PCBs are linked to an increased risk of developing cancer that starts in patients’ lymph tissue.
Many cancer patients continue to smoke
|
|
Many people with cancer continue to smoke after their diagnosis, even though smoking can significantly compromise the outcome of treatment, according to a new study.
In a review of past research, the study authors found that even with the help of smoking cessation therapies, cancer patients often continued to smoke or fell back into the habit. Though smokers who get help quitting appear more likely to succeed, studies have found wide variation in success rates.
Cervical cancer vaccine wins some conservative favor
|
|
Conservatives who fought against wider access to a “morning-after” pill are speaking favorably about vaccines against a sexually transmitted cause of cervical cancer, but some groups may still call for limited use.
The makers of the still-experimental vaccines, Merck & Co. Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, have been meeting with advocacy groups to dispel any concerns that giving the shots might promote sexual activity by young girls.
Hormone level linked to colorectal cancer risk
|
|
Low levels of a hormone secreted by fat cells, independent of body mass index (BMI)—a measure of obesity—are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in men, according to a report in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Previous reports have linked body fat and insulin resistance with colorectal cancer risk. Since adiponectin, an insulin-related hormone secreted by fat cells, is inversely associated with both these factors, Dr. Esther K. Wei, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues hypothesized that it too would be tied to the risk of this malignancy.
How Tiny Specks May Provide Powerful Tools Against Cancer
|
|
They’re but a tiny speck, existing in a variety of forms: particles, tubes, shells, even a soccerball-like shape. They also share a common prefix: ‘nano,’ connoting their size, a billionth of a meter or roughly 25-millionth of an inch.
Today, cancer researchers are exploring the potential of such nanostructures to exquisitely target cancer cells without harming surrounding tissue, and to image the formation of tumors long before they have a chance to become life-threatening.
