Tag Archives: cancer

Man with kidney disease receives first bioengineered vein

A man suffering from end-stage kidney disease became the first U.S. patient to receive a bioengineered blood vessel, Nature World News reported. The 62-year-old from Danville, Va., underwent a two-hour procedure on June 5 during which surgeons at Duke University Hospital implanted the lab-grown vein into his arm. Researchers from Duke University created the vein using human blood cells that were grown in a tubular, scaffold-like device. In clinical tests, the vein performed better than animal-based or synthetic implants, and could be an effective treatment for thousands of dialysis patients, Nature World News reported. “This is a pioneering event in medicine. It's exciting to see something you've worked on for so long become a reality. We talk about translational technology - developing ideas from the laboratory to clinical practice - and this only happens where there is the multi-disciplinary support and collaboration to cultivate it ,” said Dr. Jeffrey H. Lawson, a vascular surgeon and vascular biologist at Duke Medicine. “We hope this sets the groundwork for how these things can be grown, how they can incorporate into the host, and how they can avoid being rejected immunologically,” Lawson said in a news release. “A blood vessel is really an organ - it's complex tissue. We start with this, and one day we may be able to engineer a liver or a kidney or an eye.” Click for more from Nature World News.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/man-with-kidney-disease-receives-first-bioengineered-vein/

Paris Jackson has long road to recovery ahead

An unnamed source who was at the hospital where Paris Jackson is recovering from a reported suicide attempt was quoted as saying, “She’s going to be OK.” Well, she isn’t going to be just fine—not without the very best psychiatry has to offer.  And that may or may not be enough. How can I say that without having evaluated Paris Jackson in person?   I can say it because I know human beings are not only emotionally sensitive, but also self-searching.  We need to know our authentic life stories and to have a firm grasp on our truth.  This makes us able to survive the real challenges that any life inevitably includes—such as the loss of loved ones, transitions through adolescence to adulthood, relationships that veer into conflict, people who don’t like us and say so, setbacks and challenges and traumas of every conceivable variety. When you are born to a talented musician addicted to plastic surgery, who conceived you with a woman he hardly knew, who appeared in public in costume, behind dark glasses, you are not going to be OK.  When you are born to a man who was accused by multiple people of being a pedophile, who himself spoke and acted frequently like a little boy, who dangled a child out a window several stories off the ground, you are not going to be OK.  You are going to have a long journey in search of your truth, fraught with pain.  And overcoming all of it will be a significant triumph. It is perhaps telling that Paris Jackson, born into Neverland Ranch as a live product of the entertainment industry, would tweet lyrics from songs as a way of trying to express herself.  “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away.  Now, it looks as though they’re here to stay.”  Tweeting them is part of the problem, of course.  Who tweets when having survived a reported suicide attempt?

Aronia: The North American super berry with cancer fighting properties

While elderberry from Austria, acai from the Amazon, maqui from Patagonia and sea-buckthorn berry from Northern Asia have all made headlines as super berries packed with nutrition, a lesser known North American berry is gaining ground, poised to hit the nutritional spotlight as a world class super berry: Aronia. Commonly found wild in woodlands and swamps, aronia is also known as chokeberry, due to its astringent flavor. The berries come naturally in three colors – red, purple and black-purple. Aronia melanocarpa, the black-purple species, has a much deeper purple color than blueberries, which are also North American natives. The berry is now cultivated, and that cultivation is expanding in anticipation of the berry’s impending popularity. The deep purple color of Aronia melanocarpa has attracted a lot of scientific attention. Purple fruits by virtue of their color are rich in the category of antioxidants known as anthocyanins. These pigments demonstrate potent cell-protective properties, and are also anti-inflammatory, helping to reduce systemic inflammation – a key factor in the development of chronic diseases. But this is just the start of the benefits offered by aronia. Digging more into the compounds found in this native berry, scientists have found a number of more specific agents, including caffeic acid, cyanidin-3-galactoside, delphinidin, epicatechin, malvidin, and many more. You’ll likely never have to remember these names, but to health researchers, the presence of these compounds in aronia is big news. Combined, these specific agents in aronia are anti-bacterial, anti-viral, and anti-diabetic. They fight the formation of arterial plaque and lower serum cholesterol, and they protect the liver against a host of insults and toxins.  In our ever-increasingly diabetic society, aronia’s compounds help to lower blood sugar and improve the body’s own natural production of insulin. Several of the compounds in aronia are natural cancer fighters, and protect against the development of tumors of the bladder, breasts, colon, lungs, ovaries and skin. In addition, these compounds fight Crohn’s disease, inhibit HIV, reduce uncomfortable symptoms of PMS and fight herpes. Preliminary studies have also shown that aronia may prove helpful in slowing the growth of glioblastoma – a form of fatal brain cancer. Since the 1940s, aronia has been commercially cultivated in Russia, and since the 1950s, it has been a commercial crop in Europe. In 2009 the Midwest Aronia Association formed in Iowa to provide information and resources to farmers who wanted to get involved with commercial farming of this super berry. According to the association, members are now found in California, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Ontario, Canada. In the world of berries, antioxidant activity is a major factor in the endless jockeying for position as top berry. Aronia has greater antioxidant activity than cranberry, blueberry, strawberry, cherry, pomegranate, goji and mangosteen. You can think of aronia as the King Kong of antioxidant berries. This awesome antioxidant power gives growers of the berry confidence that super-stardom for aronia is close at hand. Aronia berry products are already in the market, and some have received coveted USDA Organic certification – the highest standard of agriculture purity in effect today. Unlike strawberries and many other fruits, aronia is naturally pest-resistant and does not require the use of agricultural toxins. This spells good news for those who do not want unhealthy chemicals in their fruits. In the contest for ever healthier foods, aronia is surely a winner in the making. With science demonstrating significant benefits to health, farmers planting large acreage and the media increasingly boosting its fortunes, it’s only a short matter of time before aronia, the North American super berry, leaps to prominence in juices, jams, jellies and many other products.Chris Kilham is a medicine hunter who researches natural remedies all over the world, from the Amazon to Siberia. He teaches ethnobotany at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he is Explorer In Residence. Chris advises herbal, cosmetic and pharmaceutical companies and is a regular guest on radio and TV programs worldwide. His field research is largely sponsored by Naturex of Avignon, France. Read more at& MedicineHunter.com.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/aronia-north-american-super-berry-with-cancer-fighting-benefits/

Woman attempting to live on nothing but water and sunlight for 6 months

A Seattle woman is attempting to live without food for six months -- planning to sustain herself on water and sunlight alone. Navenna Shine is calling her experiment “Living on Light.” “This is a paradigm for living in which we as human beings do not have to ingest any kind of food whatsoever into our stomachs in order to thrive,” Shine said. Shine, 65, says her experiment is an attempt to follow an obscure group of yogis called The Breatharians, who for thousands of years have claimed they have the ability to live on light alone. “At 'Living On Light' we propose that we have a nutritional source already embedded within our body/mind/spiritual systems that can give us exactly what we need to be healthy and well,” Shine wrote on her website. “Since we do not yet know exactly what that source is I am symbolically calling it Light.” Thursday marked Shine’s 33rd day without food, although she has lost more than 20 pounds. In order to verify that she is indeed sticking to the diet, Shine has placed several cameras throughout her house to keep a record of the experiment.  She also hopes to begin live-streaming her experience within the next few weeks. Click for more from My Fox 8. To follow Shine's updates, visit her Facebook page.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/woman-attempting-to-live-on-nothing-but-water-and-sunlight-for-6-months/

Birth control pills tied to lower ovarian cancer risk

Women who use birth control pills are less likely to develop ovarian cancer later in life, a new analysis of past studies suggests. Researchers pooled data from 24 studies and found birth control pill users had a 27 percent lower risk of being diagnosed with ovarian cancer. And longer use seemed to be tied to more protection. “It reinforces that there is a positive relationship between the use of oral contraceptives and ovarian cancer prevention in the general public,” said Dr. Laura Havrilesky, who led the study at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina. “I think it adds some scientific weight to that relationship.” However, the review paper can't prove that using oral contraception lowers a woman's risk of disease - because there could have been other, unmeasured differences between women who took birth control pills and those who didn't, researchers noted. About one in 72 women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer during her lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. The disease is often caught at an advanced stage, and the majority of women who are diagnosed will die from ovarian cancer. So researchers are eager to find ways to lower a woman's chance of developing it in the first place. Eating a healthy diet and maintaining a normal weight may be one way to do that. Some studies have suggested that using birth control pills - which contain the hormones estrogen and progestin or progestin only - may also lower a woman's risk over the long run. To clear up that picture, Havrilesky and her colleagues combined data from 24 studies that compared thousands of women who took birth control pills for various lengths of time, at a range of ages, with those who didn't use oral contraception. Any use of birth controls pill was linked to a lower risk of ovarian cancer, they found. Women who were on birth control pills for 10 years or longer were half as likely to develop the disease as those who didn't use them at all, the study team reported Wednesday in Obstetrics & Gynecology. If birth control pills themselves were responsible for that reduced risk, the researchers calculated that 185 women would have to use it for five years to prevent one case of ovarian cancer. But, because none of the studies randomly assigned women to take birth control pills or not - each woman made the decision with her own doctor - it's not clear that the contraceptives, themselves, explain the whole cancer difference. Use caution The researchers said there hasn't been enough time to study how the specific hormone formulations in contemporary birth control pills affect ovarian cancer risk decades down the line. Because of that and other limitations, women should use “considerable caution” when figuring the new findings into their own personal decisions about birth control, they wrote. What's more, other research suggests women who take birth control pills are at a higher risk of developing cervical cancer, said Eduardo Franco, head of cancer epidemiology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. “It is the sort of thing that requires a frank conversation between a woman and healthcare provider,” Franco, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health. He said the findings are not surprising and that many doctors are convinced birth control pills do lower ovarian cancer risk. “I don't think there's a question of the link,” Franco said. What's important, he added, is “understanding the caveats that come with the reduced risk of ovarian cancer.” “What we've got right now may be the best evidence that we ever are able to have. I don't necessarily think that it is enough to tell a physician to have their patients use oral contraceptives solely for the purpose of preventing ovarian cancer,” Havrilesky told Reuters Health. “But I think it's enough to say this is a possible advantage in women who are considering use of oral contraceptives” for birth control or other medical reasons, she said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/birth-control-pills-tied-to-lower-ovarian-cancer-risk/

FDA panel votes to relax Avandia restrictions

U.S. health advisers voted on Thursday to recommend relaxing market restrictions on GlaxoSmithKline's diabetes drug Avandia, the former blockbuster at the center of one of the biggest drug controversies in recent years. The vote, by a divided Food and Drug Administration advisory committee of outside health experts, could modestly enlarge the market for Avandia in the United States and lay the groundwork for further research into the drug's health risks. FDA will now take the vote into consideration for a final decision on how the pill also known by the generic name rosiglitazone can be used. The committee did not consider a specific change in protocol. But 13 experts on the 26-member panel who backed modification said current restrictions that require prescribing physicians and pharmacists to be certified should be relaxed or eliminated after a reexamination of Glaxo safety data settled longstanding concerns about the danger of death from cardiovascular disease. “In general, this drug doesn't look any different than any other diabetes drug,” said Dr. William Hiatt, a cardiologist from the University of Colorado, who was among seven experts who backed lifting restrictions altogether. Five committee members favored keeping the current sales restrictions, while one voted to withdraw Avandia from the market altogether. Glaxo, which no longer plans to promote Avandia, issued a statement saying the company would work with FDA as it considers its decision. “We continue to believe that Avandia is a safe and effective treatment option for type 2 diabetes when used for the appropriate patient and in accordance with labeling,” Dr. James Shannon, Glaxo's chief medical officer, said in a statement. The British drugmaker's stock closed nearly 1.5 percent lower in London trading before the committee voted. Avandia was once the world's best-selling treatment for type 2 diabetes, with annual sales of $3.2 billion. In 2010 its use in the United States was heavily restricted and it was withdrawn from the market in Europe because of the possibility of increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Only 3,000 people in the United States take it today, down from about 120,000 just before the restrictions were put in place. Much of the advisory committee's two-day meeting focused on a Duke University reexamination of a Glaxo safety study known as Record that confirmed initial findings of no significant increased heart risk from the drug. That reassured some experts that earlier concerns with the quality of the research had been unwarranted and encouraged support for the restrictive protocols, while retaining continued guidance on potential dangers for patients and care providers. A departing train But others said the original data was incomplete and compiled through a flawed study design, while other research pointed to the possibility of significant increased risk of cardiovascular death. “When you look at the overall totality of evidence, it is not sufficient enough to either implicate or exonerate rosiglitazone versus cardiovascular risk,” said advisory panel member Dr. Sanjay Kaul of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. Several committee members endorsed suggestions for a major new clinical trial to determine precisely the drug's risks in the face of a growing worldwide diabetes threat. But other experts concluded that years of negative publicity made funding major research unfeasible except for new diabetes treatments now in the pharmaceutical pipeline. “The train has left the station,” said Gerald van Belle, director of the Clinical Trials Center at the University of Washington. Experts including the advisory committee's chairman, Dr. Kenneth Burman of the Washington Hospital Center, favored the creation of a registry to monitor the health of patients who currently take the drug if major studies into safety and efficacy were not an option. Some experts view Avandia as a potential alternative to other diabetes treatments, including insulin, that could become more important as the incidence of obesity and diabetes grows, bringing with it a host of costly chronic ailments ranging from heart and kidney disease to blindness and dementia. “When treating diabetes we really do need drugs that lower blood sugar without causing hypoglycemia, and there's not a lot that's available,” Dr. Ellen Seely of Harvard Medical School. “When you're dealing with individual patients, you come up often against dead ends on what you can do. And it's important to have options,” she said. But panel members agreed the market potential for Avandia may never again be large. Glaxo has settled lawsuits filed by tens of thousands of U.S. patients who had taken Avandia and claimed Glaxo failed to inform them about safety risks. Several thousand other cases remain pending. The drugmaker last July agreed to pay $3 billion to settle what U.S. officials called the largest case of healthcare fraud in U.S. history. The agreement resolved allegations that Glaxo failed through 2007 to provide the FDA safety data on Avandia and that the company improperly marketed other drugs.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/fda-panel-votes-to-relax-avandia-restrictions/

New vaccine drives Africa meningitis cases to lowest in decade

Case numbers in Africa's meningitis season this year were the lowest in 10 years thanks to a cheap new vaccine designed to treat a type of the disease common in the so-called meningitis belt, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. The vaccine, called MenAfriVac, was developed with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation specifically for use against meningitis A, a type which causes regular epidemics in Africa. Detailing data for January 1 to May 12, the United Nations health agency said that just under 9,250 meningitis cases, including 857 deaths, were reported in 18 of the 19 African countries under enhanced surveillance for meningitis. Epidemics of meningitis A occur regularly in Africa's “meningitis belt”, a band of 26 countries stretching from Senegal to Ethiopia, and are particularly devastating to children and young adults. Bacterial meningitis, known as meningococcal meningitis, is a serious infection of the thin lining surrounding the brain and spinal cord. It can cause severe brain damage and is fatal in 50 percent of cases if untreated. According to the non-profit Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP), which helped develop the MenAfriVac vaccine, the seasonal outbreak of meningitis across sub-Saharan Africa in 2009 infected at least 88,000 people and killed more than 5,000. The WHO said the falling numbers this year were due to the introduction of the newly developed vaccine. MenAfriVac costs just 50 U.S. cents a dose and has been progressively introduced in Africa since 2010, starting in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. “The introduction of this first meningococcal vaccine available for preventive purposes in Africa has enabled the immunization of over 100 million people from 10 countries in the meningitis belt in the past three years,” the WHO said. “The reduced case load and epidemic activity observed this year adds to the evidence on the impact...of this vaccine.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/07/new-vaccine-drives-africa-meningitis-cases-to-lowest-in-decade/

15 ways to cancer-proof your life

We're all grown-ups here—nightmares aren't a big problem anymore. We're calm, we're cool, we're mostly collected...until it comes to the C-word. For adults, cancer is the thing that goes bump in the night; that bump gets louder when family or friends are diagnosed. Whether your risk is monumental or blessedly average, we know you want to protect yourself. So we've combed through research, interrogated experts, and found cutting-edge strategies to help keep you safe. Worship a wee bit of sun People who get the most vitamin D, which lies dormant in skin until ultraviolet rays activate it, may protect themselves from a variety of cancers, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast, and colon. Ironically, it even improves survival rates of melanoma, the most serious skin cancer. But 10 to 15 minutes a few days a week is all it takes to benefit. If you're out any longer than that, slather on the sunscreen (Are you applying enough? We’ve got the recommended amount for every body part, here.) If you go the supplement route, aim for 400 IU of vitamin D a day. Eat an orange every day It just may zap a strain of the H. pylori bacteria that causes peptic ulcers and can lead to stomach cancer. Researchers in San Francisco found that infected people with high levels of vitamin C in their blood were less likely to test positive for the cancer-causing strain. (Bonus: research shows a scent of citrus can reduce stress.) Listen to Katie Couric Though colonoscopies are about as popular as root canals, if you're 50 or older, get one. Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. Don't think you're off the hook because you got a digital fecal occult blood test at your last checkup: Research by the Veterans Affairs Cooperative Study found that the test missed 95 percent of the cases. Schedule your first colonoscopy before your 50th if you have a family history of colon cancer. Steam a little green Piles of studies have shown that piles of broccoli help stave off ovarian, stomach, lung, bladder, and colorectal cancers. And steaming it for three to four minutes enhances the power of the cancer-fighting compound sulforaphane, which has been shown to halt the growth of breast cancer cells. (Sorry, microwaving doesn't do the trick; it strips out most antioxidants.) Get more protection by sprinkling a handful of selenium-rich sunflower seeds, nuts, or mushrooms on your greens. Researchers are discovering that sulforaphane is about 13 times more potent when combined with the mineral selenium. Pick a doc with a past Experience—lots of it—is critical when it comes to accurately reading mammograms. A study from the University of California, San Francisco, found that doctors with at least 25 years' experience were more accurate at interpreting images and less likely to give false positives. Ask about your radiologist's track record. If she is freshly minted or doesn't check a high volume of mammograms, get a second read from someone with more mileage. Drink jolt-less java Drink jolt-less java. Downing two or more cups of decaf a day may lower the incidence of rectal cancer by 52 percent, finds a study from two large and long-term research projects—the Nurses' Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study from Harvard University. One theory is that coffee increases bowel movements, which helps to reduce the risk. Why decaf reigns supreme, however, remains a mystery. Drop 10 pounds Being overweight or obese accounts for 20 percent of all cancer deaths among women and 14 percent among men, notes the American Cancer Society. (You're overweight if your body mass index is between 25 and 29.9; you're obese if it's 30 or more.) Plus, losing excess pounds reduces the body's production of female hormones, which may protect against breast, endometrial, and ovarian cancers. Even if you're not technically overweight, gaining just 10 pounds after the age of 30 increases your risk of developing breast, pancreatic, and cervical, among other cancers. Make like a monkey Or a bunny. Women who ate four to six antioxidant-laden bananas a week cut their risk of kidney cancer by 54 percent, compared with those who didn't eat them at all, found an analysis of 61,000 women at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. Gnawing on root vegetables such as carrots had the same benefit. Get naked with a friend You'll need help examining every inch of your body—including your back, scalp, and other hard-to-see places—for possible changes in the size or color of moles, blemishes, and freckles. These marks could spell skin cancer. Women, take special note of your legs: Melanoma mainly occurs there. For the guys, the trunk, head, and neck are the most diagnosed spots. While you're at it, check your fingernails and toenails, too. Gray-black discoloration or a distorted or elevated nail may indicate the disease. And whether you see changes or not, after age 40, everyone should see a dermatologist yearly. (Find out 7 more things your nails can say about your health.) See into the future Go to Your Disease Risk to assess your chance of developing 12 types of cancer, including ovarian, breast, and colon. After the interactive tool estimates your risk, you'll get personalized tips for prevention. Pay attention to pain If you're experiencing a bloated belly, pelvic pain, and an urgent need to urinate, see your doc. These symptoms may signal ovarian cancer, particularly if they're severe and frequent. Women and physicians often ignore these symptoms, and that's the very reason that this disease can be deadly. When caught early, before cancer has spread outside the ovary, the relative five-year survival rate for ovarian cancer is a jaw-dropping 90 to 95 percent. Get calcium daily Milk's main claim to fame may also help protect your colon. Those who took calcium faithfully for four years had a 36 percent reduction in the development of new pre-cancerous colon polyps five years after the study had ended, revealed Dartmouth Medical School researchers. (They tracked 822 people who took either 1,200 mg of calcium every day or a placebo.) Though the study was not on milk itself, you can get the same amount of calcium in three 8-ounce glasses of fat-free milk, along with an 8-ounce serving of yogurt or a 2- to 3-ounce serving of low-fat cheese daily. Sweat 30 minutes a day One of the best anticancer potions is a half hour of motion at least five days a week. Any kind of physical activity modulates levels of androgens and estrogen, two things that can protect women against estrogen-driven cancers such as ovarian and endometrial, as well as some types of breast cancer. The latest proof comes by way of a Canadian study that found that women who get regular, moderate exercise may lower their risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 30 percent. Bonus: All that moving might speed everything through your colon, which may help stave off colon cancer. (Trouble carving out 30 minutes a day? Be ready for a fitness opportunity at a moment’s notice by keeping a perfectly packed gym bag in your car at all times.) Stamp out smoking—all around you Lung cancer is well known as one of the main hazards of smoking. But everything the smoke passes on its way to the lungs can also turn cancerous: mouth, larynx, and esophagus. The fun doesn't stop there. Smokers are encouraging stomach, liver, prostate, colorectal, cervical, and breast cancers as well. The good news: If you give up the cigs today, within 15 years, your lung cancer risk will drop to almost pre-smoking lows. Share that news with the people who puff around you, because exposure to someone else's smoke can cause lung cancer, and it may boost your chances of cervical cancer by 40 percent. Step away from the white bread If you eat a lot of things with a high glycemic load—a measurement of how quickly food raises your blood sugar—you may run a higher risk of colorectal cancer than women who eat low-glycemic-load foods, finds a Harvard Medical School study involving 38,000 women. The problem eats are mostly white: white bread, pasta, potatoes, and sugary pastries. The low-glycemic-load stuff comes with fiber. Blew through our list already

Judge orders second child be put on adult waiting list for donated lungs

PHILADELPHIA – & A federal judge has ordered that a second child at a Philadelphia hospital -- a New York City boy -- be put on the adult waiting list for donated lungs. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson involves 11-year-old Javier Acosta of the Bronx, who has cystic fibrosis. His mother filed a lawsuit Thursday that says he will die soon unless he gets a lung transplant. The decision comes a day after a national organ transplant network complied with Baylson's unusual order to place a dying 10-year-old girl on the list. Children under 12 are currently matched with pediatric donors, which are rare, or wait at the end of the adult list. Medical ethicists question the judge's intervention. But lawyer Stephen Harvey, who represents both families, fears that Javier and Sarah will die while the issue is reviewed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/06/judge-orders-second-child-be-put-on-adult-waiting-list-for-donated-lungs/