2008 – Oral Cancer News

Dissolvable tobacco products?

Source: www.wgnsradio.com Author: Scott Walker Dissolvable tobacco. What took the cigarette companies so long to come up with that? Made by R.J. Reynolds, the Camel Orb will debut in a few select markets next month before wider distribution. Rob Dunham with R.J. Reynolds says that the aspirin-sized tobacco product meets the needs of smokers because there’s no smoke, spit or litter to contend with. Meanwhile, the Altria Group, the owner of tobacco giant Philip Morris USA, is as pleased as punch with Marlboro Snus, which are smokeless pouches that take the place of chewing tobacco. While cigarette sales are dropping between two to three percent annually, Altria spokesman David Sutton says that smokeless products are booming sales-wise at a rate of six to eight percent each year. All of this news is disturbing to Greg Connolly of the Harvard School of Public Health. Connolly claims smokeless products are designed to enhance the social acceptability of tobacco and it’s apparently working, judging by the healthy sales. And while the Camel Orb and Marlboro Snus present fewer health risks, Connolly says they’re insidious because they keep people hooked and are appealing to youngsters.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-30T21:18:19-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Bravery of cancer fight boy praised

Source: www.journallive.co.uk Author: Chris Robinson A boy given a new tongue in pioneering surgery at a North hospital has been nominated for a prestigious bravery award. Four-year-old Daniel Sewell has been nominated for a Little Star award, which is backed by F1 champion Lewis Hamilton, Dr Who actor David Tennant and Arsenal football star Cesc Fabregas. As a one-year-old, Daniel, from Crook, County Durham, underwent surgery for mouth cancer at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. Doctors warned his parents that he may never talk properly. Surgeons had to take out three-quarters of his tongue and replace it with muscle from his abdominal lining. Now Daniel is a happy, talkative pupil at Crook Primary School. After The Journal reported on his remarkable recovery last month, the charity Cancer Research UK contacted parents Alison and Richard, asking them to nominate him for one of their Little Star awards. Alison, 43, said: “It was so hard for the first few weeks when we didn’t know which way it was going to go. If we hadn’t noticed when we did I really don’t think he would have made it. Mouth cancer is a silent killer. “Even hospital staff couldn’t believe a child of 13 months could get this disease. People need to be aware that this can happen to anybody. It is so important that people get themselves checked out. “We were so nervous when he had the operation, and we were told he might never talk properly, so when he said ‘Mam’ for the [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-30T21:14:36-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Tobacco “Orb” lozenge new threat to teens

Source: MetroSource News Author: staff A new lozenge made from tobacco hits some stores in January. "USA Today" says R.J. Reynolds, the maker of Camel cigarettes, is calling the melt-in-your mouth product "Orb." It's designed for smokers who can't light up in restaurants or at the office. But public health officials fear it'll end up in school lockers and backpacks too. One official from Harvard's School of Public Health called it, quote, "a wake-up call." Gregory Connolly said, quote, "These products are designed to enhance social acceptability of tobacco." He likened them more to food and said that while sucking on an Orb may be less dangerous than smoking a Camel, it's still addicting. The Orb is the latest smoke-free tobacco product, following on the heels of "snus," or pouches that sit in the mouth and aren't spit out. A spokesman for Philip Morris, which makes snus, said smokeless tobacco sales are growing annually by between six and eight-percent, while cigarette sales are falling by about two to three-percent a year. The Orb makes its debut in Portland, Oregon, Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis in January.

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-29T20:27:28-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

New anti-cancer components of extra-virgin olive oil revealed

Source: news.biocompare.com Author: staff Good quality extra-virgin olive oil contains health-relevant chemicals, 'phytochemicals', that can trigger cancer cell death. New research published in the open access journal BMC Cancer sheds more light on the suspected association between olive oil-rich Mediterranean diets and reductions in breast cancer risk. Javier Menendez from the Catalan Institute of Oncology and Antonio Segura-Carretero from the University of Granada in Spain led a team of researchers who set out to investigate which parts of olive oil were most active against cancer. Menendez said, "Our findings reveal for the first time that all the major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells". Extra-virgin olive oil is the oil that results from pressing olives without the use of heat or chemical treatments. It contains phytochemicals that are otherwise lost in the refining process. Menendez and colleagues separated the oil into fractions and tested these against breast cancer cells in lab experiments. All the fractions containing the major extra-virgin phytochemical polyphenols (lignans and secoiridoids) were found to effectively inhibit HER2. Although these findings provide new insights on the mechanisms by which good quality oil, i.e. polyphenol-rich extra-virgin olive oil, might contribute to a lowering of breast cancer risk in a HER2-dependent manner, extreme caution must be applied when applying the lab results to the human situation. As the authors point out, "The active phytochemicals (i.e. lignans and secoiridoids) exhibited tumoricidal effects against cultured breast cancer cells [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-29T20:22:51-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Oral use of Swedish moist snuff (snus) and risk for cancer of the mouth, lung, and pancreas in male construction workers: a retrospective cohort study

Source: The Lancet, Volume 369, Issue 9578, Pages 2015 - 2020 Authors: Juhua Luo et al. Background: Although classified as carcinogenic, snuff is used increasingly in several populations. Scandinavian moist snuff (snus) has been proposed as a less harmful alternative to smoking, but precise data on the independent associations of snus use with site-specific cancers are sparse. We aimed to assess the risks for cancer of the oral cavity, lung, and pancreas. Methods: Detailed information about tobacco smoking and snus use was obtained from 279 897 male Swedish construction workers in 1978—92. Complete follow-up until end of 2004 was accomplished through links with population and health registers. To distinguish possible effects of snus from those of smoking, we focused on 125 576 workers who were reported to be never-smokers at entry. Adjusted relative risks were derived from Cox proportional hazards regression models. Findings: 60 cases of oral, 154 of lung, and 83 of pancreatic cancer were recorded in never-smokers. Snus use was independently associated with increased risk of pancreatic cancer (relative risk for ever-users of snus 2·0; 95% CI 1·2—3·3, compared with never-users of any tobacco), but was unrelated to incidence of oral (0·8, 95% CI 0·4—1·7) and lung cancer (0·8, 0·5—1·3). Interpretation: Use of Swedish snus should be added to the list of tentative risk factors for pancreatic cancer. We were unable to confirm any excess of oral or lung cancer in snus users. Authors: Juhua Luo MSc a, Weimin Ye MD a, Kazem Zendehdel MD a c, Johanna [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-28T08:05:14-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Oral rinses used for tracking HPV-positive head and neck cancers hold promise for screening

Source: American Association for Cancer Research Author: staff A study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, validates a non-invasive screening method with future potential for detection of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive head and neck cancers. In the study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University used oral rinses and targeted DNA amplification to track and identify oral HPV infections in patients with HPV16-positive and negative head and neck carcinomas (HNSCC) before and after therapy. Findings showed detection of high-risk HPV infections in patients with HPV16-positive HNSCC for up to five years after therapy, indicating a high rate of persistent infection and reaffirming the connection between high-risk types of HPV and HPV-positive head and neck cancer. “There is no question of cause,” said the study’s co-author Maura Gillison, M.D., Ph.D. associate professor of oncology. “It has now become a question of tracking the infection over time to identify those at risk of developing HPV-positive cancer, and for those who have had it, the risk of recurrence and risk of transmission. This is the first study in which we have been able to track the disease and related oral infections for an extended period of time.” Researchers obtained oral rinse samples from a group of 135 patients with head and neck carcinomas. Tissue analysis showed that 44 of these patients had HPV16-positive tumors. Both the tissue and oral rinse samples were genetically sequenced to specify the HPV variants in each. Patients with HPV16-positive tumors were [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-29T22:53:40-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer to Surpass Heart Disease as World Killer

Source: HealthDay Reporter Author: Steven Reinberg By 2010, cancer will be the leading killer in the world, surpassing heart disease, causing more deaths than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. Unless new treatments are found, there could be 27 million people with cancer by 2030, and 17 million cancer deaths annually. And, there could be 75 million people living with cancer within five years after diagnosis, according to a new report, 2008 World Cancer Report, released Tuesday by the World Health Organization. “The burden of cancer is shifting from developed countries to developing nations,” Dr. Otis Webb Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, said during a teleconference. “And with a growing and aging population, we must take steps to address this problem now.” Last year, there were about 12 million new cases of cancer and 7.6 million cancer deaths reported. Of these, 5.6 million were in developing countries with an estimated 4.7 million cancer deaths. “The global burden of cancer has more than doubled in the past 30 years,” Peter Boyle, director of the International Agency for Research on Cancer and co-author of the report, said during the teleconference. “Right now, there are 25 million people alive with cancer five years after diagnosis.” Cancer rates are growing in developing countries as people adopt western lifestyles, including smoking, high-fat diets, fast food and less physical activity. These countries typically don’t have the resources to cope with this dramatic increase in cancer. Populations in these countries are expected to grow by 38 percent [...]

Webmaster2008-12-24T19:21:37-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Wart virus caused 25,000 cancers in 5 years – CDC

Source: www.reuters.com Author: Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Will Dunham and Philip Barbara The human wart virus HPV caused 25,000 cases of cancer in the United States between 1998 and 2003, including not only cervical cancer but also anal and mouth cancers, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Monday. The study suggests a broad need for screening both men and women for human papillomavirus, or HPV, another team of researchers, who did a similar survey, said. HPV includes about 100 different viruses, and they are the leading cause of cervical cancer. The viruses, transmitted sexually and by skin-to-skin contact, can also cause anal and penile cancers, as well as cancers of the mouth and throat. HPV also causes common warts. Both Merck and Co. and GlaxoSmithKline make vaccines against some of the strains of HPV most strongly linked with cervical cancer. They are recommended for girls and young women who have not begun sexual activity. "This gives us baseline data to measure the impact of HPV vaccine and cervical cancer screening programs in reducing the incidence of cervical cancer and other HPV-associated cancers and precancers," the CDC's Dr. Mona Saraiya, who led the study, said in a statement. Dr. Maura Gillison of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who has studied the link between HPV and oral cancers, said the findings suggest a wider use of the cervical cancer vaccines may be justified. "Currently available HPV vaccines have the potential to reduce the rates of HPV-associated [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-23T20:01:22-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Short-term effects of spit tobacco suggest long-term health risks

Source: www.mayoclinic.org Authors: Robert Wolk et al. Use of smokeless tobacco raises short-term adrenaline levels in the bloodstream by more than 50 percent and also causes the heart rate and blood pressure to surge, according to findings of a Mayo Clinic study published this week in Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The results suggest that snuff tobacco has a powerful stimulant effect but that it also dampens the body's normal protective responses to blood pressure elevation. The study of 16 young men who were habitual spit tobacco users measured their responses 30 minutes after dipping snuff. These readings were compared with measurements from another session involving the same participants after they had used a placebo product that was similar in taste, color and texture but did not contain tobacco or nicotine. The study was randomized and double-blinded; neither the researchers nor the subjects were told when they were taking the placebo and when they were using the tobacco product. After snuff use, heart rate increased by about 15 beats per minute (25 percent), systolic blood pressure went up by 12 mmHg (10 percent), and measurements of adrenalin in the bloodstream increased by more than 50 percent. "These results suggest a very significant excitatory effect of substances contained in spit tobacco on the part of the nervous system regulating the heart and blood vessels," says Virend Somers, M.D., Ph.D., the Mayo Clinic cardiologist who led the study. "Although we did anticipate some increase in blood pressure, we were surprised [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-23T19:55:08-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|

Government slams Tory claim that dentists overcharge patients

Source: www.dentistry.co.uk Author: staff Dentists are overcharging patients by up to £109 million a year, by calling them back too often and splitting up treatments, according to the Conservatives. Analysis of appointments earlier this year suggested too many healthy patients were being recalled for check up and that treatments were being separated into separate courses, with separate costs. Calculations by the Conservatives suggest that the extra cost paid in patient charges last year was £109 million. The figure is 23% of the £475 million overall that patients pay in dentist charges every year. Andrew Lansley, the Shadow Health Secretary, said: ‘Labour's management of NHS dentistry has been appalling. Not only have millions been left without a dentist, but now we learn that those who do have one are often being charged more money than they should be. ‘The blame here lies with Labour's botched dental contract, which incentives dentists to increase the number of charges to patients and has led to such drastic cuts in the number of people being able to find an NHS dentist. ‘The Government urgently needs to admit that the dental contract has been a monumental failure, get a grip and put an end to these practices immediately. At the moment we're all losing out – those who do have a dentist are paying wrongful charges and those who don't are being blocked from finding one because there aren't enough appointments left.' Asking every Primary Care Trust (PCT) in the country how many patients had been [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2008-12-23T17:13:57-07:00December, 2008|Oral Cancer News|