1/4/2008 Australia Mike Sexton www.abc.net.au For Australian artists, there's no more coveted prize than the Archibald Award for portraiture. For one painter, the prestigious event is an annual source of both celebration and frustration. Robert Hannaford has never won the prize, despite being short listed an extraordinary 18 times in a row, as well as winning the people's choice three times. But for the man whose portraits hang in parliaments, universities and the Long Room at Lords, just being alive to continue his work is celebration enough. On a sun-bleached hill near Riverton, an hour's drive north of Adelaide, one of Australia's great realists is at work. "The longer I spend here, the more the reality of the trees, the light, the space, the way it works with the composition of my painting, it brings me into closer contact with the reality of it," says Hannaford. For four decades, Hannaford has rejected trends and fashions in art, instead he still lives near the tiny town where he grew up and draws and paints what he sees around him. But the artist is best known for his portraits and sculptures such as Don Bradman, prime ministers Keating and Hawke and Australian of the Year Tim Flannery. "His art's based upon I think what David Hockney would call eye balling the subject," says art critic and biographer John Neylon. "And it's relentless and got this sort of razor sharp scrutiny to it, which I think people find when they actually see a [...]

1/1/2008 web-based article Leslie DeLong RDH Magazine (www.rdhmag.com) Educators view dental hygiene students with enthusiasm, and students have the sincere hope that they can change the lives of patients by providing excellent care. Students are educated in an ideal environment and required to practice under the scrutiny of professionals who demand the highest standards in treatment. It is hoped that students who are taught these high standards will practice them after graduation. However, once students graduate and enter private practice, they often enter less than perfect environments and develop poor work habits and short cuts that alter the valued priorities of the academic setting. Many hygienists and even dentists admit they no longer spend time performing the thorough oral screening exam they learned in school. The purpose of this article is to encourage clinicians who are providing this service to (1) continue to do so, (2) motivate other clinicians to provide this service, and (3) review appropriate technique, documentation and referral protocols. The American Cancer Society estimates that 34,360 new cases of oral cavity and pharyngeal cancer will be diagnosed in 2007, and that 7,550 deaths from oral and pharyngeal cancer will occur in 2007.1 The five-year and 10-year survival rates for oral and pharyngeal cancers are 60 percent and 48 percent respectively.1 This five-year survival rate is one of the lowest of all major cancers because a majority of the lesions are not diagnosed until they are more advanced. Early detection increases the chances of survival. However, between 1990 [...]

1/1/2008 Baltimore, MD press release www.newswise.com A morning gargle could someday be more than a breath freshener – it could spot head and neck cancer, say scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center. Their new study of a mouth rinse that captures genetic signatures common to the disease holds promise for screening those at high risk, including heavy smokers and alcohol drinkers. Lead investigator Joseph Califano, M.D., says his group at Johns Hopkins asked 211 head and neck cancer patients and 527 individuals without cancers of the mouth, larynx or pharynx to brush the inside of their mouths, then rinse and gargle with a salt solution. The researchers collected the rinsed saliva and filtered out cells thought to contain one or more of 21 bits of chemically altered genes common only to head and neck cancers. Tumor and blood samples also were collected. The cellular mishaps occur when small molecules called methyl groups clamp on to the DNA ladder structure of a gene. In the grip of too many methyl groups, these genes can incorrectly switch on or off in a process called hypermethylation. “Mass-methylation” of particular genes can lead to cancer, the researchers say. Methylation mistakes in other genes could be triggered simply by aging and amount to no more than fine lines and wrinkles. “The challenge is to predict which hypermethylated genes are most specific to cancer,” says Califano, an associate professor of otolaryngology – head and neck cancer and oncology at Johns Hopkins. And because every [...]