Calgary cancer patient asks why smokers are near hospitals if grounds are supposed to be ‘smoke-free’

Source: globalnews.ca Author: Heather Yourex-West At just 47-years-old, Tim Allsopp is battling throat cancer. He doesn’t smoke but during he’s his treatment, he says, he’s been exposed to second-hand cigarette smoke more often because he often passes by people smoking on his way to treatment at Calgary’s Tom Baker Cancer Centre. “Everyday when we come to therapy, we notice that there’s people smoking outside the building,” Allsopp said. “That’s confusing to me because the policy states, no smoking on Alberta Health Services property, this includes buildings, grounds and parking lots.” “I’m at the point now where I’m very susceptible to infection and that could land me in the emergency department in almost life threatening condition.” While AHS has had a smoke-free hospital grounds policy for years, it doesn’t take long to spot people lighting up. AHS says it tries to enforce its policy, but it’s not easy. WATCH: Smokers ignore no smoking signs in front of Winnipeg hospitals “Our protective services people try to use an educational approach first but if that’s not successful, then they have the power to issue a ticket,” said Dr. Brent Friesen, lead medical officer of health for Alberta Health Services’ tobacco reduction strategy. Friesen says the problem is that AHS can only issue tickets for people breaking either provincial law or city by-law, not AHS policy. That means, while AHS may say no smoking is allowed on hospital grounds, the province only requires people keep a five-metre distance from hospital doors. “If they’re further [...]

2017-07-25T08:35:20-07:00July, 2017|Oral Cancer News|
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Bucking the trend: Cody Kiser, bronc rider

Source: www.thecalifornian.com Author: Champ Robinson Cody Kiser always had a fascination with the rodeo. The 25-year-old out of Carson City, Nevada competed in the high school rodeo as a bull rider, but Kiser used that term loosely. “I was more of a bull getter-oner than a bull rider,” Kiser joked. “I had a bad tendency of holding onto the rope until the very last second.” This time, that bad habit would cause significant injuries during a high school rodeo competition when Kiser was 14. “I hit the ground and I don’t know if I was on my chest or my back, but one foot (of the bull) landed on my face and the other on my chest or back,” Kiser said. The impact of the bull crushed Kiser’s left side of his face that broke his hinge bone and jaw bone and shattered his cheek bone. Kiser had to undergo plastic surgery to fix the injuries which required two plates and eight screws to be inserted to do so. Kiser spent a year recovering from the accident before returning to riding – this time horses. “Riding bucking horses was something I always wanted to do,” Kiser said. “My dad (P.D. Kiser), that’s actually what he did. I thought I’d give that a go and turns out I was a little better at it and now I’m here today.” When Kiser returned to riding, the nerves were there, but in a good way. “I think I was more excited than anything,” [...]

2017-01-11T17:06:26-07:00July, 2016|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|
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Costco Wholesale to stop selling tobacco products at hundreds of locations

Source: www.medicaldaily.com Author: Jaleesa Baulkman Sorry smokers, but you'll have to go someplace other than Costco to get your cigarettes. The New York Daily News reported the retailer has spent the past few years quietly phasing tobacco products out of nearly 300 stores; there are 488 in total. Tobacco smoke has been linked to adverse health effects, such as lung and oral cancer, though that's not why Costco did it. Instead, the company said the decision was more about business than public health. "Tobacco is a very low margin business, tends to have higher theft and is labor intensive in some cases (due to local municipality regulations) — further, we felt we could better use the space to merchandise other items," a spokesman from Costco told The Street. According to The Street, Costco officials first hinted at the ban during a call with analysts, where they said tobacco sales had fallen to a "low double digit." The company hasn’t made an official announcement because "[press releases] are a waste of money." The retail giant’s move is another blow to the tobacco industry, which has seen a significant drop in the percentage of Americans who smoke in the past 50 years. In 2014, the smoking rate hit an all-time low of 17.8 percent, and the rate is still dropping, The Huffington Post reported. Not to mention other retailers have quit selling these kinds of products, too. In 1996, Target was the first large retail store to stop selling cigarettes, citing costs [...]

2016-03-21T06:26:25-07:00March, 2016|Oral Cancer News|
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E-cigarettes may be ‘no better’ than smoking regular cigarettes, warn scientists

Source: www.independent.ie Author: staff According to a new study, the vapour from the electronic devices was shown to damage or even kill human cells during lab tests. The research comes as UK public health officials and Prime Minister David Cameron backed the use of e-cigarettes to help people quit smoking. An estimated 2.6 million people in the UK use e-cigarettes. They are to be licensed and regulated as an aid to quit smoking from 2016. Dr Jessica Wang-Rodriguez, co-author of the latest study, said: "Based on the evidence to date I believe they are no better than smoking regular cigarettes." The scientists treated cells in Petri dishes with vapour from a nicotine-based e-cigarette and a nicotine-free variety and found that the cells which had been exposed to the vapour were more likely to become damaged or die than those that had not. Those containing nicotine were also said to be more harmful than those that did not, although the authors said it may not be as a result of the addictive substance. Dr Wang-Rodriguez, chief of pathology at the San Diego branch of the US Department of Veteran Affairs, added: "There have been many studies showing that nicotine can damage cells. But we found that other variables can do damage as well. It's not that the nicotine is completely innocent in the mix, but it looks like the amount of nicotine that the cells are exposed to by e-cigarettes is not sufficient by itself to cause these changes. "There must [...]

2015-12-30T08:51:54-07:00December, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Regular dental checkups key to early detection of oral cancer

Source: www.dentistryiq.com Author: Mark Newman, News Staff Julie DiNardo knew something wasn't right. The long-time Mountain registered dental hygienist was chatting with Pino, her husband of 23 years, at the breakfast table back in April 2011 when she became concerned about a lack of symmetry on Pino's face. "He looked a little off on one side of his throat," said Julie, who has been screening people for oral cancer for more than a quarter-century. As she has been trained to do, Julie began to feel her husband's neck, her fingers pushing down gently, but firmly in a number of places. Little did she know, her many years of encouraging the public to get annual oral check-ups was about to hit home. Under Pino's right ear, along the jaw line, Julie discovered something she described as feeling like a fish. Her heart skipped a beat. "When you've felt thousands of necks and you've felt thousands of normals, when an abnormal comes up, you know it," Julie said. While dozens of worrisome thoughts raced through her mind at the time, the mother of four told her husband to get the lump checked out at their family doctor right away. The family doctor couldn't find anything and sent Pino home with antibiotics in case there was some inflammation. Julie said she insisted her husband see a specialist and Pino was examined by an ear, nose and throat doctor who was also unable to find anything. The specialist did send Pino for an ultrasound [...]

2013-03-12T06:55:37-07:00March, 2013|Oral Cancer News|
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Smokers are 40 times more likely to develop cancers in head and neck

Source: www.heraldandnews.com Author: Andrew Creasey, Staff Reporter The level of concern you should have for contracting cancer of the head and neck can be gauged by the answer to one simple question: Do you smoke? If the answer is no, chances are your oral cavities and voice box, the places cancers most commonly occur, will be safe from the onerous growth that can cause death if not treated soon enough. If the answer is yes, then you are 40 times more likely to contract head or neck cancer if you have been smoking for 10 years, and you should probably be aware of what to look for, said Dr. Richard DeVore, an otolaryngologist in Klamath Falls. Signs of head and neck cancer include a sore or ulcer that doesn’t heal, unexplained bleeding of the throat and, most importantly, throat or tongue pain that persists beyond several weeks, DeVore said. Such pain could be caused by the cancer, which actually eats into the tissue and can cause significant pain when it starts munching on the local nerves. Swallowing difficulties, hoarseness and lumps in the head and neck that don’t respond to antibiotics should also be examined, DeVore said. At the onset of such symptoms, it is vital to share them with a physician, DeVore said. Caught early, the cure rate of many neck and head cancers is 100 percent and can be solved with a simple operation. “The cure rates are slowly improving to some degree, but it’s a bad disease,” [...]

2012-10-23T07:51:35-07:00October, 2012|Oral Cancer News|
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Researchers identify a gene that predicts recurrence in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/ Author: press release Squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck—which typically arises from thin, flat cells that line moist surfaces inside the mouth, nose and throat—is the sixth most common type of cancer worldwide, and it has a relatively low five-year survival rate and a high recurrence rate. Recently, the disease has become even more prevalent among adults 40 years of age or younger. These statistics underscore the need for a greater understanding of the molecular underpinnings of this form of cancer. Toward this goal, Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene that predicts disease recurrence in individuals with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The new findings, which will be presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2012 on Monday, April 2, show that patients with one common variant of a gene which encodes the cytochrome P450 (CYP1B1) protein are likely to have a longer time-to-recurrence than those with the more typical form of the gene. "This is the first study to look at the association between CYP1B1 variants and time-to-recurrence in head and neck cancer, and the findings could lead to personalized treatment strategies for patients with this type of cancer," says Fox Chase study author Ekaterina Shatalova, Ph.D., research associate in the lab of Margie L. Clapper, Ph.D., also senior investigator on the study. Shatalova, Clapper and their colleagues focused on CYP1B1 because this enzyme is known to produce carcinogens by metabolizing tobacco smoke and alcohol—substances that increase the risk of [...]

2012-04-03T09:09:51-07:00April, 2012|Oral Cancer News|
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A new state approach to reducing tobacco use

Source: www.indystar.com Author: Dr. Gregory N. Larkin This week, Indiana joined the rest of the world in celebrating World No Tobacco Day. This global health observation was created to teach people about the dangers of tobacco use and highlight public health efforts in the fight against the tobacco epidemic. World No Tobacco Day is of particular importance to Hoosiers this year. Beginning July 1, two state government agencies critical to protecting the health of Hoosiers will be combined: the Indiana State Department of Health and Indiana Tobacco Prevention & Cessation. The General Assembly's move to put tobacco cessation within the health department provides additional tools for Indiana to catch up with other states in the race to lower smoking rates and tobacco-related illnesses. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 23 percent of Indiana adults smoke cigarettes, ranking us among the worst five states for adult smoking. Clearly, the adverse health effects of tobacco use continue to increase the rates of diseases as well as increase health costs. Combining efforts will reduce administrative redundancy and saving taxpayer dollars. Valuable ITPC programs, such as the community- and minority-based programs, the Indiana Tobacco Quitline, Quit Now Indiana and the VOICE youth program, will continue. Tobacco reduction and protection from secondhand smoke exposure will now be further integrated into many existing state health promotion programs, such as cancer prevention, oral health, asthma care, maternal/prenatal health, cardiovascular health, and minority, women's and children's health. I assure Hoosiers that by having the [...]

2011-06-02T13:59:05-07:00June, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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Revealed: oral sex is ‘bigger cause of throat cancer than tobacco’

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: staff A virus spread during oral sex is now the main cause of throat cancer in people under 50, scientists have warned. They say the human papilloma virus spread during unprotected sex is to blame for a disturbing rise in potentially deadly oral cancers in the last few decades. Doctors have called for boys to be vaccinated against HPV just like teenage girls to stop the spread of the disease. HPV is best known as the cause of around 70 per cent of cervical cancers. Since 2008, girls have been vaccinated against the virus aged 12 and 13 in schools. However, it can also cause warts, verrucas and other cancers. Cancers of the mouth and oropharynx - the top of the throat - used to be mainly diagnosed in older men who drink or smoke. But increasingly, it is being seen in younger men. Prof Maura Gillison of Ohio State University in Columbus said the sexually transmitted HPV was a bigger cause of some oral cancers than tobacco. She said: 'We don’t know from strict scientific evidence whether the vaccine will protect from oral HPV infections that lead to cancer. Those of us in the field are optimistic it will – the vaccines in every anatomical site looked at so far have been shown to be extraordinarily effective, about 90 per cent effective, at preventing infections.' 'When one of my patients asks whether or not they sound vaccinate their sons, I say certainly.' Girls aged 12 and [...]

2011-02-21T12:58:57-07:00February, 2011|Oral Cancer News|
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