Tag Archives: global

Lung cancer now leading cause of cancer death in females in developed countries

The finding is reported in Global Cancer Statistics, appearing in CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, and a consumer-friendly companion publication, Global Cancer Facts & Figures 3rd Edition, both released on World Cancer Day. The reports rely on the worldwide estimates of cancer incidence and mortality produced by the IARC for 2012 in their GLOBOCAN series…

Common diabetes drug not linked to short-term risk of pancreatic cancer

“Our research shows that short-term use of DPP-4 inhibitors in older diabetes patients does not increase their risk for pancreatic cancer,” said John Buse, MD, PhD, director of the Diabetes Care Center at UNC and co-author of the paper in the current issue of the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. “However, we just cannot address the long-term safety, yet. There are just not enough people who have taken the drug for many years.” DPP-4 inhibitors came on the market in 2006. Since then, these drugs have become some of the most commonly prescribed diabetes medications, primarily because they often cause fewer side effects compared to other diabetes treatments…

Untreated cancer pain a ‘scandal of global proportions,’ survey shows

The results from the Global Opioid Policy Initiative (GOPI) project show that more than 4 billion people live in countries where regulations leave cancer patients suffering excruciating pain. National governments must take urgent action to improve access to these medicines, says the European Society for Medical Oncology, leader of a group of 22 partners that have launched the first global survey to evaluate the availability and accessibility of opioids for cancer pain management. "The GOPI study has uncovered a pandemic of over-regulation in much of the developing world that is making it catastrophically difficult to provide basic medication to relieve strong cancer pain," says Nathan Cherny, Chair of the ESMO Palliative Care Working Group and lead author of the report, from Shaare Zedek Medical Center, Jerusalem, Israel. "Most of the world’s population lacks the necessary access to opioids for cancer pain management and palliative care, as well as acute, post-operative, obstetric and chronic pain." "When one considers that effective treatments are cheap and available, untreated cancer pain and its horrendous consequences for patients and their families is a scandal of global proportions," Cherny says…

First non-surgical circumcision device could slow spread of AIDS in Africa, officials say

Health officials have approved a first-of-its-kind, non-surgical circumcision device hailed as a potential game-changer in the battle to forestall the spread of AIDS in Africa. The PrePex is the only circumcision method, aside from conventional surgery, to gain World Health Organization approval to date, according to The New York Times. The international health organization reportedly gave its approval to the device on Friday.    Dr. Eric P. Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, subsequently told the paper the PrePex would “truly help save lives” and that he was even considering the immediate employment of funds from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief to pay for its widespread use in AIDS-ravaged Africa. Circumcision reportedly lowers the chance of a heterosexual male contracting HIV, or the virus that causes AIDS, through sexual intercourse by about 60 percent.  The Times reports the U.S. has thus-far paid for more than 2 million circumcisions in Africa to assist the continent with its spiraling AIDS epidemic. A two-nurse team reportedly employs the PrePex to kill off a male’s foreskin through the utilization of a rubber band. The procedure, The Times reported, necessitates only topical anesthesia, and is safer than surgery. The device was developed by Circ MedTech, an Irsaeli company founded in 2009, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.  source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/02/first-non-surgical-circumcision-device-could-slow-spread-aids-in-africa/