Category Archives: Cancer

Low radiation scans help identify cancer in earliest stages

Results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference. "Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death and has a poor survival rate," said Sue Yoon, nurse practitioner at VA Boston HealthCare West Roxbury Division. "Most of our veterans in these ages have a heavy smoking history and early screening is desirable to improve outcomes. Our study was undertaken to learn how often we would discover significant abnormalities and how to adapt our existing processes and interdisciplinary approaches to accommodate additional patients." Conducted according to guidelines set forth by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), the study was based in part on the results of the National Lung Cancer Screening Trial (NLST) which found that LDCT resulted in a 20 percent reduction of lung cancer mortality compared to chest x-ray among heavy smokers aged 55 to 74 years. …

Scientists uncover how grapefruits provide a secret weapon in medical drug delivery

Grapefruits have long been known for their health benefits, and the subtropical fruit may revolutionize how medical therapies like anti-cancer drugs are delivered to specific tumor cells. University of Louisville researchers have uncovered how to create nanoparticles using natural lipids derived from grapefruit, and have discovered how to use them as drug delivery vehicles. UofL scientists Huang-Ge Zhang, D.V.M., Ph.D., Qilong Wang, Ph.D., and their team today (May 21, 2013), published their findings in Nature Communications. …

Miami face-chewing victim thanks supporters in new video

The homeless man whose face was nearly chewed off by another man in a gruesome attack in Miami last year is recovering well from his severe facial injuries and has expressed gratitude to those who supported him during his recovery process. In a newly added YouTube video from Jackson Health System in Miami, 66-year-old Ronald Poppo is seen sitting on a hospital bed strumming a few chords on a guitar.  He then pauses, holds up the guitar and jokes, “A good enough action shot?” Towards the end of the video, the infamous Miami cannibal attack victim issues a statement to his supporters. “Thanks for contributing and helping out,” Poppo said in the video.  “People in my predicament need to be helped out, and I’m sure there’s other people who also have the same type of predicaments.  I thank the outpouring of people in the community.  I will always be grateful for them.” On May 26, 2012, Poppo was viciously attacked by 31-year-old Rudy Eugene on the MacArthur Causeway in Miami, Fla. Initial reports suggested that Eugene was high on bath salts at the time of the attack, but later toxicology results only indicated the presences of marijuana in his system. Surveillance video from a nearby building shows Eugene pulling Poppo from the shade, stripping and pummeling him before appearing to hunch over and then lie on top of him. A witness described Eugene ripping at Poppo's face with his mouth and growling at a Miami police officer who ordered him to get off the homeless man. The officer then shot and killed Eugene. After the attack, Poppo was taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, where he underwent months of facial reconstruction to rebuild his features.  Poppo lost both his eyes and his nose in the attack. The Associated Press contributed to this report.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/miami-face-chewing-victim-thanks-supporters-in-new-video/

Schoolmates of suicide victims at higher risk

Teens who have a classmate die of suicide are more likely to consider taking, or attempt to take, their own lives, according to a new study. The idea that suicide might be “contagious” has been around for centuries, senior author Dr. Ian Colman, who studies mental health at the University of Ottawa, said. Past studies supported the idea, but none had looked at such a large body of students, he said. “There were a lot of surprising things about this study, we were surprised that the effect lasted so long and just how strong it was,” Colman said. Colman and his colleagues used data from a long-running national survey of more than 8,000 Canadian kids aged 12 to 17 years old. Students were asked about suicides of schoolmates, friends and their own thoughts of suicide, and researchers checked in with the kids two years later. By the age of 17, one in four kids had a schoolmate who had committed suicide, and one in five knew the deceased personally, according to results published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal. For the 12- and 13-year-old adolescents exposed to a schoolmate's suicide, 15 percent reported thinking seriously about killing themselves and seven percent actually made an attempt, compared to 3 percent and 2 percent of unexposed kids, respectively. The effect persisted even if the schoolmate had died more than a year earlier. Results were similar for 14- and 15-year-olds and 16- and 17-year-olds, but older kids who had not been exposed to suicide were more likely to have thought of or attempted it. “For 12- and 13-year olds, they were approximately five times more likely to report thinking about suicide,” Colman said. “That's a huge effect.” They found no difference between kids who personally knew the deceased and those who didn't. In the U.S., about 4,600 people aged 10 to 25 years old commit suicide, according to the Centers for Disease Control. NEW POLICIES? Based on the results, school “post-vention” programs should encompass the whole school, not just those closest to the deceased, and should perhaps revisit parts of the intervention months and years down the line, Colman said. It may make sense that kids who knew the deceased and those who didn't seemed to have no difference in risk, Frank Zenere, a school psychologist at the Miami-Dade County public school system, said. “Sometimes the closest friends are not the ones that are most likely to harm themselves because they're so up close and aware of the painful fallout with the family of the deceased, which can actually be a protective factor,” Zenere said. The younger kids tend to be most vulnerable and impressionable, he said. “There's a lot more drama in middle school grade levels, they tend to have much more of an emotional outpouring, early teens versus late teens,” he said. Though the current study indicates the effect persists for at least two years, Zenere believes it may go on even longer. Some school districts may rewrite policies and procedures in light of these results, but those at most, including his own, are probably already designed to take relevant factors into account. “It's really important for parents to talk to their kids about mental health and to help them get professional help if needed,” Colman said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/schoolmates-suicide-victims-at-higher-risk/

Poliovirus vaccine trial shows early promise for recurrent glioblastoma

The treatment, developed at Duke and tested in an ongoing phase 1 study, capitalizes on the discovery that cancer cells have an abundance of receptors that work like magnets drawing the poliovirus, which then infects and kills the cells. The investigational therapy, known as PVSRIPO, uses an engineered form of the virus that is lethal to cancer cells, while harmless to normal cells. …

The DSM-5 is here: What the controversial new changes mean for mental health care

The most recent revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) has arrived, and the latest changes have caused divisions among those in the psychiatric community.   Often touted as the psychiatrist’s “Bible,” the DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association and establishes the almost universal standard by which doctors classify, diagnose and ultimately treat mental disorders – making it an essential part of the psychiatric profession.  The DSM is utilized not only by clinicians, but researchers and health insurance companies as well. Even government officials take interest in the DSM’s criteria in order to determine grant funding, insurance coverage and new health care policies. The latest version is the DSM’s fifth edition, and it is the manual’s first major revision in nearly 20 years since the publication of the DSM-IV in 1994.  The DSM-5’s release brings some radical new changes, which have been met with both praise and disgust from mental health professionals. Some of the most highly debated changes include the elimination of Asperger’s disorder and the addition of a few new controversial conditions such as cannabis withdrawal, gambling addiction and the highly contested disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMD). So what do these changes mean for those currently dealing with mental health disorders?  Read on to learn more about the DSM-5’s biggest changes and the possible impact they may have on mental health care. Combination of autism spectrum disorders into single category One of the most publicized changes in the DSM-5 involves grouping all of the subcategories of autism into a single category known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  This move effectively eliminates previously separate diagnoses of autism – including autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive development disorder “not otherwise specified” (PDD-NOS). This merging of categories creates a “sliding scale” for autism, meaning individuals will be diagnosed somewhere along the autism spectrum, given the personal severity of their symptoms. Many parents and health care providers have speculated that this transformation may end up excluding some of those already diagnosed with an autism disorder, like Asperger’s or PDD-NOS. “I think (exclusion from the spectrum) frankly yet to be determined, but if anything, the specificity is going to go up, meaning the false positives are going to be less likely,” Dr. Alexandar Kolevzon, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, told FoxNews.com. “This universe of people with PDD-NOS – it’s possible that some of those patients may no longer meet those criteria.  Some of the debate revolves around Asperger’s, but it seems to me that most people diagnosed with Asperger’s will still be on the autism spectrum.” Over the past decade, the United States has seen a striking increase in the amount of autism diagnoses, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that one in 88 children suffers from an autism spectrum disorder.  According to Kolvezon, numerous epidemiological studies have found that the majority of children accounting for this incidence are those with PDD-NOS – a diagnosis given to those with communication issues and pattern behavior but who do not meet the full criteria for autism or another pervasive developmental disorder. Kolevzon said it’s possible that over-diagnosis of PDD-NOS has led to this increase in autism spectrum disorder cases. “What happens in the community is that the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder virtually guarantees a whole host of therapies – such as speech therapy, occupational therapy, behavioral therapy, and potentially physical therapy,” Kolevzon said. “Theoretically, it’s possible that community providers and clinicians are incentivized to label kids with PDD-NOS, because it would make it more likely to receive appropriate services.” The autism spectrum disorder scale will further refine the way providers diagnose autism, Kolevzon said, by recognizing differences from person to person rather than trying to generalize them into one of four categories. The creation of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder Within the past decade, more and more children as young as 2 years old have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, leading to the prescription of powerful antipsychotic medication that can be quite intense for children at such a young age. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, hospital stays for childhood bipolar disorder have increased by 434 percent from 1997 to 2010.   The trend began in the mid-1990s, when doctors from Harvard University stated that bipolar disorder presented differently in children than that of adults. However, recent studies have found that many of these diagnoses were false, causing what many have described as the “false epidemic.” To combat this trend, the DSM-5 is eliminating the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder and creating a brand new category called disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD), described as intense outbursts and irritability beyond normal temper tantrums in young children. While the move is meant to address an established problem, many are worried that the category will be applied too liberally. “My concern is this category will be applied to individuals where the reason for these blow ups is for something else.  You can see it in kids with anxiety disorders and ADHD….Even the head of the DSM committee asked, ‘Are we going to label kids with temper tantrums?’” Dr. Max Wiznitzer, a pediatric neurologist for UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio, told FoxNews.com. “The thing is we have to make sure people are going to be rigorous in application and not just apply to any kid with temper tantrums or sleep deprivation.” ‘Dependence’ to ‘addiction,’ cannabis withdrawal and gambling disorders The DSM’s chapter on substance abuse has also undergone changes, now being called the Substance Use Disorders chapter.  The diagnostic criteria for these conditions have been expanded, but one of the biggest changes deals with the swapping of two seemingly similar words when describing these disorders: the term “dependence” is out and the term “addiction” is in. According to Dr. Yasmin Hurd, professor of psychiatry at Mount Sinai, the change is subtle but necessary. “It was quite confusing, especially with the term dependence,” Hurd told FoxNews.com.  “It had association with severe psychological dependencies, generating a lot of confusion.  Now the DSM-5 just talks about addiction, in context, being about the compulsive nature of the disorder.” For example, patients being prescribed pain medication may wind up hooked on the drug, but they are still taking the medication under the guidance of a physician.  They aren’t necessarily seeking out the medication by themselves, but if they are taken off the drug they may still have psychological withdrawal. In this case, they aren’t dependent on the drug, but they are addicted - according to the new guidelines. In addition to the word swap, new controversial categories of gambling disorders and cannabis withdrawal have been created in the DSM-5 – decisions based on multiple human and animal studies. “Experts in the field know that people who have severe cannabis use – they’ll go through cannabis withdrawal,” Hurd said. “There is a misnomer in our society that people can’t get addicted to marijuana.  That’s not true.  There are more people that meet the criteria for abuse of cannabis than any other illicit drug.” Similar to the changes made to the autism spectrum disorders, substance use disorders will also be categorized more on a sliding scale, depending on the severity of each patient’s symptoms. “You’re going to have many people with alcohol and cannabis addiction who have mild addiction, but very few heroin addicts are going to be mild,” Hurd said. Other major changes Along with the more controversial changes, the DSM-5 is also refining the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD), including a subtype for PTSD in preschool children.  The diagnosis for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is also getting a revision, with the elimination of a previously required symptom and the changing of the required age of onset from age 7 to age 12. Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), once categorized under anxiety disorders, is now getting its own category of Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders.  Along with OCD, this category includes Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD), Trichotillomania (TTM, or hair pulling) and a brand new disorder called Hoarding Disorder. The DSM-5 incorporates many more changes that have psychiatrists locked in heated debate, but Wiznitzer noted that these tensions will always exist as long as doctors continue to learn more about the human brain. “Homosexuality used to be in the DSM as a psychiatric disorder; that was two versions ago,” Wiznitzer said. “Autism wasn’t even in the first two versions of the DSM, it was childhood schizophrenia.  Then we changed the criteria over time.  Basically anytime you change something, it’s always met with resistance.” Click for more information on the DSM-5.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/dsm-5-is-here-what-controversial-new-changes-mean-for-mental-health-care/

Health literature is too complex for most patients to grasp, study shows

The importance of health literacy hit home for Lisa Gualtieri when a Cambodian refugee diagnosed with cancer asked her to act as a patient advocate. She played the role of a “salty tongue,” a Cambodian expression that paints outspokenness in a positive light. But even though the patient's family was in the room when doctors took the time to answer every last question about test results and treatment options, the refugee's family would call Gualtieri hours later to review what doctors had said. A new study, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggests one potential reason for the family's confusion: Despite good intentions, many experts may be creating educational materials that are too difficult for patients and their families to grasp. “Patients will often come to the office, and one of the first things they say to you, especially about technical information, they'll say that they've been on the Internet, and they'll quote one or two key phrases back to you,” said study author Dr. Charles Prestigiacomo. “Unfortunately, the little soundbites, while accurate, may not be complete.” Prestigiacomo and his colleagues at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in Newark used a number of readability scales - including “simple measure of gobbledygook (SMOG) grading” - to test how challenging materials by 16 different medical specialty societies were to read. The average reading level of the online materials by groups ranging from the American Society of Anesthesiologists to the American Psychiatric Association, fell anywhere from ninth grade to the sophomore year of college. (See one example here:.) That's far above the fourth-to-sixth grade level recommended by the American Medical Association and by a number of U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Health and Human Services. Those guidelines are based on the fact that the average American reads at 7th or 8th grade level, said Nitin Agarwal, a medical student at UMDNJ and another author of the study. “We might not be cognizant of the population reading our articles, who might need something more simple,” Agarwal said. The current study's findings agree with those of previous work by some of the same researchers looking at patient education materials in individual specialties. “Organizations often end up using jargon,” said Gualtieri, who studies health communication at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, but was not involved in the new research. They end up “using the language they're accustomed to as opposed to (the language) the people they're trying to reach are accustomed to using,” she said. “You have to think about reaching people where they are,” she added. Sometimes, according to Prestigiacomo, that means using analogies. “There are only so many ways you can describe an aneurysm,” said the UMDNJ neurosurgeon, who tells patients such ballooning blood vessels are “like a blister on a tire.” “The problem is that it's not quite perfectly accurate,” he said. “But sometimes we have to realize that simplifying it to an analogy may be the best way for patients to understand it.” DROWNING IN CLICHES When it came to the quality of the writing, obstetrics and gynecology really failed to deliver. Materials in that specialty had nearly six cliches for every 50 pages, and also “contained the highest total number of indefinite article mismatches (the improper use of “a” or “an”).” “You go from region to region in the U.S., people aren't familiar with what each cliche refers to,” said Agarwal. And in a sentence that might have unintentionally demonstrated the authors' point, they report, “The proportion of passive voice sentences used throughout resources ranged from 4% in family medicine to 27% in neurological surgery.” “Concise and to the point is the way to go for this sort of stuff,” Agarwal said. Gualtieri recommended that those who produce such materials consider why people are coming to their sites, and what they're looking for. She echoed the authors' suggestion that such sites use pictures and videos. “The organizations represented should be happy that people are at their sites,” Gualtieri said. “It's high-quality, reliable information, there's a lot out there that isn't. If one of these organizations could read something like this, and say, ‘we're not doing everything we can for those who most read us,' that would be a lovely outcome from a study like this.” That's already happened. Prestigiacomo showed the results to one of the specialty groups whose patient materials were analyzed before publishing the paper, and the organization committed to rewriting them. And the Cambodian man with cancer is doing well, Gualtieri said. “The treatment was successful.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/21/health-literature-is-too-complex-for-most-patients-to-grasp-study-shows/

How gold nanoparticles can help fight ovarian cancer

The discovery is detailed in the current online issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. "This study identifies a novel mechanism that protects ovarian cancer cells by preventing the cell death or apoptosis which should occur when they encounter positively charged nanoparticles," say the senior authors of this study, Priyabrata Mukherjee, Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic molecular biologist, and Y. S. Prakash, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic anesthesiologist and physiologist…