The study involved 1,102 people with an average age of 79 who did not have dementia at the start of the study. The participants were followed for an average of 3.7 years. At the start of the study, 109 people reported that they had skin cancer in the past. During the study, 32 people developed skin cancer and 126 people developed dementia, including 100 with Alzheimer’s dementia. …
In 2009, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) sifted through the evidence and recommended that while women ages 50-74 should continue to undergo mammograms every two years, those between the ages of 40 and 49 without a family history of breast cancer should discuss the risks and benefits of routine screening mammography with their physicians to make individual decisions. As a result of the altered recommendations, Lauren D. Block, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical fellow in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and her colleagues expected to find fewer women in their 40s getting routine mammograms. …
CUSTOM is the first completed prospective clinical trial that used genetic analysis alone to assign cancer treatment for patients with one of three different cancers. "We expected it would take five years to enroll 600 patients into CUSTOM. But in less than two years, 668 patients were recruited," says the study’s lead investigator, Giuseppe Giaccone, MD, PhD, associate director for clinical research at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "This was a surprise to all of us, especially since patients with advanced cancer who already had biopsies needed to undergo an additional biopsy for the study. …
Cervical cancer incidence and mortality are markedly higher for low-income and minority women due to higher rates of HPV and limited access to screening and treatment. Vaccination for HPV has the potential to reduce health care disparities in cervical cancer rates if girls are vaccinated prior to sexual experimentation. Although providers felt that parents wanted to prevent cervical cancer in their daughters, some had concerns about safety of the vaccine and promoting early or unsafe sexual activity. …
"Our findings are important because they provide new targets for the development of novel drugs to reduce heart disease risk in humans," said Laura Cox, Ph.D., a Texas Biomed geneticist. …
As more women are learning about the heroic steps that Angelina Jolie took when she decided to undergo a prophylactic mastectomy, I’ve received many questions regarding the surgical techniques used in these reconstructions and how they have improved. We spoke to leading reconstructive surgeon Dr. Richard Winters, vice chairman of plastic and reconstructive surgery at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, about the latest techniques. Once a woman decides to have this surgery, what are her options? …
PASCO, Wash. – & A baby is being treated for rabies after it was bitten by a bat that flew out of a patio umbrella on the deck of her grandparents' Pasco home, the Tri-City Herald reported. Dan and Sandra Anderson were babysitting 11-month-old Alanna on Saturday evening when Dan Anderson opened the umbrella and Sandra Anderson noticed something flutter out toward Alanna. “It was weird. I thought maybe it was moths,” Sandra Anderson said. Then she saw the bat clinging to Alanna's back near her left shoulder. She brushed the bat away and then noticed two pair of tiny bite marks, even though the bat had been on the baby only a few seconds. Alanna didn't cry — until she noticed how upset her grandmother was. The baby was given shots at Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland. Her grandparents are getting vaccine shots for rabies, too, as a precaution. The family thought it had seen the last of the bat, but they were on the patio again Sunday for Mother's Day when they noticed something black inside the closed umbrella. This time, Alanna's father, Derek Anderson, killed it with a piece of metal. He turned it over to the Benton Franklin Health Department and it tested positive for rabies. The virus can be fatal without medical attention. “I'm thankful we saw the bat on her and could take her for treatment,” said Sandra Anderson. “Everything's fine. It's 100 percent curable,” Derek Anderson said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/15/washington-baby-bitten-by-bat-treated-for-rabies/
German drugmaker Bayer and its development partner Algeta won approval from U.S. regulators for a prostate cancer drug that could eventually generate more than 1 billion euros ($1.31 billion) in annual sales. The Food and Drug Administration, which has reviewed Xofigo under its priority program, said on Wednesday the injection is cleared for treatment of bone metastases in men whose cancer has spread after receiving medical or surgical therapy to lower testosterone. Bayer licensed Xofigo, also called radium-223 dichloride, from Norway's Algeta in 2009 and the two companies will co-promote the injection in the U.S. Bayer has also requested approval for the drug in Europe, where it would market the drug alone. The drug, which according to Bayer could become a “blockbuster” product with annual sales of least 1 billion euros, has some properties of calcium. That makes it cling to cancerous bone cells and then destroy them via alpha rays, which is more targeted than the shotgun approach of conventional radiotherapy.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/15/bayer-algeta-win-fda-approval-for-prostate-cancer-drug/
Nothing could be better than a sweet summer drink sipped under a shaded patio or chilling under a beach umbrella. But who wants to worry about those extra calories – that could be up to 500 in fact – when you order a frosty drink from the beach bar. Most calories from summer cocktails come from the mixers, but you can have one that’s just as delicious and ready at the touch of a blender button if you make it yourself.  Here are fun and more flavorful ways to mix up summer cocktails that are under 100 calories each. Now, I’ll toast to that! Make It Berry Good, Nix the Mixer Ditch the sugary bottled mixers that don’t contain real fruit, and use whole fresh or frozen fruits to blend a drink with real flavor and antioxidant power to boot.  Pair them with a shot of these aromatic spirits (around 46 calories an ounce), which  will boost flavor just as well as those sweet mixers – making you the star at your next party. St. Germain, an elegant liquor brewed from elderberries, mixed with fresh blended superfruits like blueberries can make an antioxidant cocktail to swoon over.  Ideal for summer brunches, engagement parties, or a drink to impress the ladies with.  Just blend 1/2 cup blueberries with 1 ounce of St. Germain liquor. Campari is a bitter that hails from Italy, made with a mix of herbs and bitter citrus.  Ideally it is blended with fresh or frozen dark cherries for a blended drink that’s rich in anthocyanins (noted to reduce inflammation). Just blend up 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cherries, 2 ice cubes and 1 ounce of campari the night before and store in individual baggies in your freezer.  To take them on the go, simply toss into a beach bag. Aperol (from Padua, Italy) is an aperitif that has a sweet tart taste of rhubarb and bitter orange, ideal to make a low-cal spritzer or when mixed with fresh, lycopene-rich watermelon juice in this 96 calorie cocktail that tastes like a Jolly Rancher.  Chill in plastic sports bottles in the fridge, then stock your cooler. Lillet, a French aperitif made from wine and citrus peels or herbs (and also contains quinine), is a great pairing with citrus-flavored cocktails. Grapefruit is my pick, one of the few fruit juices that is low in calories, at only 46 calories per 1/2 cup.  Important: Before you sip grapefruit, check with you doc first if you’re on prescription meds. If grapefruit is a go for you, blend 1/2 cup with 4 ice cubes and 1 ounce of Lillet.Jennifer is a trained chef, certified health coach, and healthy cooking celebrity whose mission is to show families that healthy cooking can be fresh, fun and flavorful. She is the author of several best-selling books.& Visit her website at skinnychef.com.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/16/fresh-healthy-ways-to-spin-your-summer-cocktails/
In a major medical breakthrough, researchers at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) have for the first time ever successfully converted human skin cells into embryonic stem cells – via a technique called nuclear transfer. The research has major implications for the future of medical treatments, as many believe embryonic stem cells are the key to treating damaged cells lost through injury or illness.  According to various medical researchers, stem cell therapy has the potential to treat anything from heart disease and spinal cord injuries to major neurological diseases, like Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Through a common laboratory method known as somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), ONPRC scientists, along with researchers at Oregon Health & Science University, essentially swapped the genetic codes of an unfertilized egg and a human skin cell to create their new embryonic stem cells.  The researchers were able to fine-tune this method through a series of studies in macaque monkeys, and this study marks the first successful use of the SCNT technique to create embryonic stem cells in humans after many failed attempts from other research laboratories around the world. The SCNT process involved scooping out the nucleus of a donated egg cell, leaving nothing by the egg’s cytoplasm – an essential ingredient.  The researchers replaced the egg’s nucleus with the nucleus of a skin cell, which contains an individual’s genetic code.  The combination of the egg’s cytoplasm and the skin cell’s nucleus eventually grows and develops into the embryonic stem cell. “The idea is that the egg cytoplasm has some factors – we don’t know their nature yet – but it has the ability to reset the cell’s identity,” lead author Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov, a senior scientist at ONPRC, told FoxNews.com.  “It basically erases all this memory, and now we can derive them and make them into stem cells.” Embryonic stem cell research has been a controversial pursuit since its conception.  Derived from unused embryos, which have been fertilized in vitro, these types of cells are pluripotent – meaning they have the capacity to develop into a variety of different cell types within the human body. However, the utilization of embryonic stem cells has been met with ethical concerns, as many believe a fertilized egg should be granted the status of a human being.  Because the fertilized human embryo is ultimately destroyed in the development of embryonic stem cells, many activist groups and politicians have spoken out against the use of such medical techniques. Fortunately, the SCNT method bypasses these ethical dilemmas, as the donated eggs are never actually fertilized.  Instead, the researchers ‘trick’ the egg cell into thinking it has been fertilized by a sperm.  During the nuclear transfer process, Mitalipov and his team prompt the cell to remain in a state known as “metaphase” – a stage of cell division in which the cell’s chromosomes align in the middle of the cell just before the cell divides.  This keeps the process from stalling and encourages the cell to ultimately develop into a stem cell. Once reprogrammed, these stem cells can be cultivated into any kind of living cell – including nerve cells, heart cells, brain cells and many more. Mitalipov also noted that once an individual has this process done, he or she will have a lifelong “bank” of embryonic stem cells doctors can utilize whenever the patient is injured or sick. “You only need to do it once per patient,” Mitalipov said.  “Once established, the stem cells are like a permanent source of stem cells – they have an unlimited capacity to keep growing…  We only need to do it once, but one colony multiples to make hundreds of colonies.  We can freeze them and continue to grow more and more.” The researchers addressed the possibility that the SCNT method may be considered therapeutic cloning, but they said it is highly unlikely this method would be able to produce human clones.  In all the years of utilizing SCNT with monkey cells, no monkey clones have ever successfully produced, so it is highly unlikely that human clones can be produced through this method – especially since human cells are much more fragile than monkey cells. Instead, Mitalipov hopes people focus on the main goal of the research, which is to foster hundreds of different studies utilizing this new process of developing embryonic stem cells. “We still have a lot more work to do, to learn how to transplant them,” Mitalipov said. “But the first step is already done, and it looks pretty clean.  Probably, people could start banking these cells now; and hopefully, in the near future we will have some treatments coming in the clinic.” The research was published online in the journal Cell.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/15/in-medical-breakthrough-scientists-convert-human-skin-cells-into-embryonic-stem/