Previously considered protective, SIRT6 is part of a family of seven proteins called sirtuins that help regulate genomic stability and prevent some of the genetic flaws associated with aging. …
Cancer Research UK scientists have discovered that acral melanomas — the rare type of skin cancer that caused reggae musician Bob Marley’s death — are genetically distinct from other more common types of skin cancer, according to a study published in the journal Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research. Acral melanoma most often affects the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, nail-beds and other hairless parts of the skin. Unlike other more common types of melanoma, it’s not caused by UV damage from the sun. The team, from the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute at The University of Manchester, sequenced the tumours of five patients with acral melanoma and combined this with data from three other patients. …
Fair-skinned people who tend to burn (rather than tan) from sun exposure have a much higher risk for melanoma than darker-skinned people. On the surface, it appears that the amount of melanin, the natural substance in the skin that determines pigment and acts as the skin’s “natural sunscreen,” would be the only determinant of melanoma risk. However, the truth is more complicated. …
Research carried out at the Universities of Southampton and Edinburgh shows that sunlight alters levels of the small messenger molecule, nitric oxide (NO) in the skin and blood, reducing blood pressure. Martin Feelisch, Professor of Experimental Medicine and Integrative Biology at the University of Southampton, comments: "NO along with its breakdown products, known to be abundant in skin, is involved in the regulation of blood pressure. When exposed to sunlight, small amounts of NO are transferred from the skin to the circulation, lowering blood vessel tone; as blood pressure drops, so does the risk of heart attack and stroke." While limiting sunlight exposure is important to prevent skin cancer, the authors of the study, including Dr Richard Weller of the University of Edinburgh, suggest that minimising exposure may be disadvantageous by increasing the risk of prevalent conditions related to cardiovascular disease…
It is widely accepted that sunscreen stops you from getting burnt but to date there has been academic debate about the effectiveness of sunscreen in preventing skin cancers. Now QUT has undertaken a world-first human study to assess the impact of sunscreen at the molecular level. Researchers found sunscreen provides 100 per cent protection against all three forms of skin cancer: BCC (basal cell carcinoma); SCC (squamous cell carcinoma); and malignant melanoma. …
The results have just been published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. New knowledge challenge stem cell models The skin consists of many different cell types, including hair cells, fat- and sweat glands. …
Melanoma is a tumor affecting melanocytes, skin cells that produce the dark pigment that gives skin its color. The disease is responsible for approximately 75 percent of skin cancer deaths, with chances of survival directly related to how early the cancer is detected. Current detection methods most commonly rely on visual inspection of the skin, which is highly dependent on individual self-examination and clinical skill. The current study took advantage of the fact that human skin produces numerous airborne chemical molecules known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, many of which are odorous. …
Though you may rely on anti-wrinkle creams packed with antioxidants and cosmeceuticals to keep your skin looking young, a new study suggests that you may be better off smoothing on sunscreen.   This is the first large study, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, to demonstrate that sunscreen not only slows skin aging, but may also reverse it.  Researchers compared photoaging in 900 men and women from Australia over a four year period between 1992 and 1996. Photoaging is associated with coarser and slack skin, increased wrinkling and dryness, an increase in visible small blood vessels and white and blackheads on the face. The adults, who were all under age 55, were randomly assigned to two groups. One group was told to apply an SPF 15+ sunscreen every day. They were instructed to apply it to their head, neck, arms and hands every morning, and to reapply after heavy sweating, swimming, or spending more than a few hours outdoors. A second group could use sunscreen at their discretion. The adults were also randomized to take either a B-carotene supplement, which some believe protects against photoaging, or a placebo supplement. Their skin was assessed at the start and finish of the study.   By the end of the study, 77 percent of the participants told to use sunscreen every day were applying sunscreen at least 3 to 4 days per week, compared to 33 percent of discretionary users. Compared with discretionary sunscreen users, those assigned to daily sunscreen use were 24 percent less likely to show increased aging. The skin-saving effect of sunscreen was observed in all daily-use participants, regardless of age. At the beginning of the study, 58 percent of participants had moderate photoaging, but by the end of the study, that number dropped to 49 percent, suggesting a decrease in photoaging in some of the participants. There was no difference in photoaging among those taking carotene supplement and those taking the placebo. However, the authors said that they could not rule out a small increase or decrease in skin aging as a result of carotene supplementation. Though it was widely believed that sunscreen could delay aging, there has been little evidence of this until now. Notably, an increase in photoaging is also significantly associated with an increased risk of actinic keratoses (thick patches of skin) and skin cancer. Regularly applying sunscreen can prevent cosmetic changes and may reduce the risk of skin cancer as well, the authors wrote. To protect your face from aging, apply a daily moisturizer with an SPF 15 or greater.Laurie Tarkan is an award-winning health journalist whose work appears in the New York Times, among other national magazines and websites. She has authored several health books, including “Perfect Hormone Balance for Fertility.” Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/06/03/sunscreen-slows-skin-aging-study-shows/
CHICAGO – & Treating breast cancer almost always involves surgery, and for years the choice was just having the lump or the whole breast removed. Now, new approaches are dramatically changing the way these operations are done, giving women more options, faster treatment, smaller scars, fewer long-term side effects and better cosmetic results. It has led to a new specialty -- “oncoplastic” surgery -- combining oncology, which focuses on cancer treatment, and plastic surgery to restore appearance. “Cosmetics is very important” and can help a woman recover psychologically as well as physically, said Dr. Deanna Attai, a Burbank, Calif., surgeon who is on the board of directors of the American Society of Breast Surgeons. Its annual meeting in Chicago earlier this month featured many of these new approaches. More women are getting chemotherapy or hormone therapy before surgery to shrink large tumors enough to let them have a breast-conserving operation instead of a mastectomy. Fewer lymph nodes are being removed to check for cancer's spread, sparing women painful arm swelling for years afterward. Newer ways to rebuild breasts have made mastectomy a more appealing option for some women. More of them are getting immediate reconstruction with an implant at the same time the cancer is removed rather than several operations that have been standard for many years. Skin and nipples increasingly are being preserved for more natural results. Some doctors are experimenting with operating on breast tumors through incisions in the armpit to avoid breast scars. There's even a “Goldilocks” mastectomy for large-breasted women -- not too much or too little removed, and using excess skin to create a “just right” natural implant. Finally, doctors are testing a way to avoid surgery altogether, destroying small tumors by freezing them with a probe through the skin. “Breast surgery has become more minimalistic,” said Dr. Shawna Willey of Georgetown's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Women have more options. It's much more complex decision-making.” Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women around the world. In the U.S. alone, about 230,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most can be treated by just having the lump removed, but that requires radiation for weeks afterward to kill any stray cancer cells in the breast, plus frequent mammograms to watch for a recurrence. Many women don't want the worry or the radiation, and choose mastectomy even though they could have less drastic surgery. Mastectomy rates have been rising. Federal law requires insurers to cover reconstruction for mastectomy patients, and many of the improvements in surgery are aimed at making it less disfiguring. Here are some of the major trends: IMMEDIATE RECONSTRUCTION Doctors used to think it wasn't good to start reconstruction until cancer treatment had ended -- surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. Women would have a mastectomy, which usually involves taking the skin and the nipple along with all the breast tissue, followed by operations months later to rebuild the breast. Reconstruction can use tissue from the back or belly, or an implant. The first operation often is to place a tissue expander, a balloon-like device that's gradually inflated to stretch the remaining skin and make room for the implant. A few months later, a second surgery is done to remove the expander and place the implant. Once that heals, a third operation is done to make a new nipple, followed by tattooing to make an areola, the darkened ring around it. The new trend is immediate reconstruction, with the first steps started at the time of the mastectomy, either to place a tissue expander or an implant. In some cases, the whole thing can be done in one operation. Nationally, about 25 to 30 percent of women get immediate reconstruction. At the Mayo Clinic, about half do, and at Georgetown, it's about 80 percent. SPARING SKIN, NIPPLES Doctors usually take the skin when they do a mastectomy to make sure they leave no cancer behind. But in the last decade they increasingly have left the skin in certain women with favorable tumor characteristics. Attai compares it to removing the inside of an orange while leaving the peel intact. “We have learned over time that you can save skin” in many patients, Willey said. “Every single study has shown that it's safe.” Now they're going the next step: preserving the nipple, which is even more at risk of being involved in cancer than the skin is. Only about 5 percent of women get this now, but eligibility could be expanded if it proves safe. The breast surgery society has a registry on nipple-sparing mastectomies that will track such women for 10 years. “You really have to pick patients carefully,” because no one wants to compromise cancer control for cosmetic reasons, Attai said. “The preliminary data are that nipple-sparing is quite good,” but studies haven't been long enough to know for sure, Willey said. “It makes a huge difference in the cosmetic outcome. That makes the woman's breast recognizable to her.” Dr. Judy Boughey, a breast surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, said the new approach even has swayed patients' treatment choices. “We're seeing women choosing the more invasive surgery, choosing the mastectomy,” because of doctors' willingness to spare skin and nipples, she said. It helped persuade Rose Ragona, a 51-year-old operations supervisor at O'Hare Airport in Chicago. She had both breasts removed on April 19 with the most modern approach: Immediate reconstruction, with preservation of her skin and nipples. “To wake up and just see your breasts there helped me immensely,” she said. She chose to have both breasts removed to avoid radiation and future worry. “I felt it was a safer road to go,” she said. “I can't live the rest of my life in fear. Every time there's a lump I'm going to worry.” FREEZING TUMORS Attai, the California breast surgeon, is one of the researchers in a national study testing cryoablation. The technique uses a probe cooled with liquid nitrogen that turns tumors into ice balls of dead tissue that's gradually absorbed by the body. This has been done since 2004 for benign breast tumors and the clinical trial is aimed at seeing if it's safe for cancer treatment. “The technology is amazing. This is done in the office under local anesthesia, a little skin puncture,” Attai said. In the study, women still have surgery at some point after the freezing treatment to make sure all the cancer is destroyed. If it proves safe and effective, it could eliminate surgery for certain cancer patients. “I'd love to see the day when we can offer women with small breast tumors a completely non-operative approach, and I do think that's coming soon,” Attai said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/14/new-approaches-give-women-more-options-for-breast-cancer-surgery/