Increased Cancer Awareness Among Holocaust Survivors Recommended
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The death rate from cancer among Holocaust survivors who live in Israel is higher than among their contemporaries who made aliyah before WWII. So asserts a new University of Haifa study, the first of its kind, which examined the incidence of cancer among Holocaust survivors in Israel.
The study was conducted by the University’s School of Public Health. Survivors who were in their childhood during the Holocaust were found to be at a higher risk for cancer than those who were at an older age during the war. Additionally survival from cancer among Holocaust survivors was slightly lower than among cancer patients who did not go through the Holocaust.
The study, the most comprehensive of its kind that has been carried out in Israel, was conducted by Nani Vine Raviv under the guidance of Dr. Micah Brachne and Prof. Shai Linn from the School of Public Health at the University of Haifa and Irena Lifschitz of the Health Ministry’s National Cancer Registry. Funded by the Israel Cancer Society, it was based on data on about two million Israelis of European origin.
Family Care Givers of Stroke Patients Get Little Information, Support
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Stroke and brain injury patients living at home receive the bulk of their care from family members, but these volunteer care givers get little preparation, information or support from health care professionals and home health agencies, according to a new study.
Home services are often terminated with little warning, leaving families on their own to care for patients with limited mobility, speech problems or both, the study in the latest issue of the Milbank Quarterly also revealed.
Researchers interviewed 99 family care givers of stroke and brain injury patients in New York City while they received care from a certified home health agency and after these services were stopped. Even during the time when formal care was being given, patients received three-quarters of their care from family members.
Breast-Sparing Surgery an Option for Women with Breast Cancer Gene Mutation
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Women diagnosed with breast cancer who carry a certain genetic mutation can have breast-sparing surgery but should consider hormonal treatments to reduce their risk of cancer returning.
Those are the findings of a 10-year study led by researchers at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The study authors found that women with the genetic mutation who had their ovaries removed or took the anti-estrogen drug tamoxifen had lower rates of breast cancer recurrence or new breast cancers in the other breast.
Women who carry a mutation on the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are at an increased risk of breast cancer compared to women without the mutation. And once diagnosed with breast cancer, they face a higher rate of a second tumor occurring. Because of this, questions remain about whether these women should undergo breast-conserving surgery instead of mastectomy, which removes the entire breast.
H5N1 infection ruled out in latest Indonesian cases
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For the past four days, Indonesian health authorities and WHO have been monitoring cases of influenza-like illness in four nurses who were involved in the care of confirmed H5N1 patients.
Test results have now convincingly ruled out H5N1 infection in all four nurses.
Two of the nurses cared for siblings, a 10-year-old girl and her 18-year-old brother, who were hospitalized in Bandung, West Java, on 22 May and died the following day. Test results for both nurses are negative for H5N1 infection. One nurse was shown to be infected with a seasonal influenza A (H1N1) virus, which is now circulating widely throughout Indonesia. The second nurse experienced only mild and transient symptoms, but was tested urgently as a precautionary measure. Her test results were also negative for H5N1 infection.
Glaxo says lung cancer vaccine study encouraging
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An experimental GlaxoSmithKline Plc vaccine showed promise in a mid-stage trial for preventing a recurrence of lung cancer and will be tested in larger studies starting early in 2007, the company said on Sunday.
Dozens of drug makers are trying to develop vaccines for patients who already have developed cancer, rather than preventing illness as traditional vaccines do.
Sometimes called “therapeutic vaccines,” most still are in early stages of research and several have suffered setbacks.
Combination “smart bombs” future of cancer therapy
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Using combinations of “smart bomb” cancer drugs that target specific proteins and avoid the indiscriminate cell destruction of chemotherapy may be the wave of the future for cancer patients, experts say.
Early studies show that combining targeted treatments such as Genentech Inc.‘s breast cancer drug Herceptin with GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s experimental treatment Tykerb, may be helpful in patients who do not respond to Herceptin alone, said Dr. Jose Baselga, chief of medical oncology service at Vall d’Hebron University Hospital in Barcelona, Spain.
Targeted therapies act as smart bombs by crippling or knocking out deadly cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact, unlike the scorched-earth approach of chemotherapy, which kills both healthy and unhealthy cells.
Premature Or Low Birthweight Babies at Increased Risk of Hyperactivity Disorder
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Premature or low birthweight babies are up to three times as likely to become hyperactive, with low attention spans, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.
Hyperactivity, low attention span, and impulsive behaviour characterise the syndrome known as hyperkinetic disorder, or HKD for short. It is one of the most common mental disorders diagnosed among children, say the authors.
The Danish research team compared the birth records of 834 children with confirmed HKD with those of 20,100 children with no mental disorders. All the children were born between 1980 and 1994.
Writing a Roadmap to the Future for Cancer Survivors
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Christina Bigelow knows she needs to keep her heart healthy and avoid smoking and drinking. It’s more important for her than it is for a typical 19-year-old.
After surviving cancer twice, Bigelow now works hard to monitor for or prevent a third round with the disease.
“The second cancer was actually thought to be caused by the treatment of the first cancer, so because I’ve had two primary cancers, they’re kind of worried about a third one starting from the treatment of the second one,” says Bigelow, who was 9 when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Four years later, at age 13, she was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer.
Results Good for HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer Patients Using Trastuzumab
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Researchers in the North Central Cancer Treatment Group (NCCTG) have shown that patients who receive trastuzumab at the same time as post-chemotherapy radiation treatments for HER-2 positive breast cancer have no more risk for major side effects or complications than those who do not receive the drug. Mayo Clinic’s Michele Halyard, M.D., presented these findings today, June 5, at the 2006 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting in Atlanta.
This study resulted from NCCTG clinical trial N9831, from which breakthrough treatment findings were presented at ASCO 2005. “The original N9831 study showed that trastuzumab reduced the recurrence of HER-2 positive breast cancer about 50 percent,” says Dr. Halyard, a radiation oncologist at Mayo Clinic Arizona and lead author of today’s study. “We hoped also to show that trastuzumab did not add complications to radiation treatment, and the current study has certainly proven that, providing good news for many women.”
About 25 percent to 30 percent of breast cancers produce an overabundance of a growth-promoting protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER-2). These tumors tend to grow faster and are generally more likely to recur than tumors that do not overproduce HER-2. Trastuzumab is the first identified monoclonal antibody designed specifically to attack this overexpressed protein, and is used as a follow-on treatment to chemotherapy. A monoclonal antibody is a laboratory-engineered protein that helps the body’s immune system fight foreign invaders such as cancer.
Heel prick test can cause unnecessary parental stress
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Virtually all babies in the U.S. have their heels pricked soon after birth to get a blood sample for genetic testing.
These “heel stick” tests identify rare metabolic disorders before they cause irreversible damage, but as more disorders are added to the screening - many states now test for 30 or more - false-positive results are on the rise. In the June issue of Pediatrics, researchers from Children’s Hospital Boston report that false-positive results cause considerable parental stress, even when the baby proves negative on retesting, and that the stress could be alleviated by better education for parents and pediatricians.
Psychologist Susan Waisbren, PhD and Elizabeth Gurian, MS in Children’s Division of Genetics interviewed 173 families who had received false-positive screening results and a comparison group of 67 families with normal newborn screening results.
Heart Drug Side Effects More Common in Minority Patients
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Nonwhite patients are more likely than white patients to have troublesome side effects from two common types of drugs used to fight high blood pressure, stroke and heart attack, British researchers report.
But the finding has to be viewed with caution, because experts say it’s not clear whether race or other factors, such as more limited access to health care, may be to blame.
“It is impossible to know how much of the observed differences could be accounted for by factors such as these vs. underlying genetics,” said Carlotta M. Arthur, a psychologist and an Andrew J. Mellon fellow at Smith College in Northampton, Mass.
Hospitals prepare for growing ranks of obese
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As Americans keep getting bigger, hospitals are revamping themselves to accommodate an influx of obese patients.
When these patients check into a hospital, they are increasingly likely to find themselves in a room with a wider doorway than the 42-inch standard, a bed that holds up to 1,000 pounds and a ceiling lift system to move them to the bathroom.
Toilets in such a room are extra-sturdy and mounted to the floor instead of a wall.
Viagra helps diabetic women overcome sexual dysfunction
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Young women with diabetes with sexual dysfunction may find that Viagra (sildenafil) improves arousal, orgasm and sexual enjoyment and decreases pain during intercourse, results of a small study suggest.
Diabetic women may experience sexual dysfunction due to vaginal dryness, discomfort, and other factors, Dr. Salvatore Caruso and associates, from the University of Catania in Italy, note in their paper, published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility. Some of Viagra’s physiologic effects, which are beneficial in men, may also be helpful for women, they hypothesized.
Molecular pathway may contribute to age related diseases
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“A common molecular denominator in aging and many age-related diseases is oxidative stress,” says the study’s lead author Azad Bonni, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School associate professor of pathology.
The skin of a bitten apple will brown because of its exposure to air, and in some ways that is a good metaphor for the damage that oxidative stress is causing to neurons and other types of cells over time.
Humans and other organisms depend on oxygen to produce the energy required for cells to carry out their normal functions. A cell’s engine, the mitochondria, converts oxygen into energy. But this process also leaves a kind of exhaust product known as free radicals. When free radicals are not destroyed by antioxidants, they create oxidative stress. As the body ages, it produces more and more free radicals and its own antioxidants are unable to fight this process, which results in the generation of highly reactive oxygen molecules that inflict cellular damage by reacting with biomolecules including DNA, proteins, and lipids. A lifetime of oxidative stress leads to general cellular deterioration associated with aging and degenerative diseases.
Genetically Altered Mice No Longer Like Cocaine
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Researchers found that they could eliminate the rewarding effect of cocaine on mice by genetically manipulating a key target of the drug in the animal’s brain.
While the researchers aren’t suggesting that these genetic modifications be made in humans, the work brings to light the key protein that controls cocaine’s effects in the body, which may help scientists develop medications that achieve the same results and therefore help addicts overcome their dependence.
Right now there are no such treatments on the market, said Howard Gu, the study’s lead author and an associate professor of pharmacology and psychiatry at Ohio State University.
