11/28/2004 Havana, Cuba Patricia Grogg Inter Press News Agency Cuba and China have signed a package of investment and cooperation agreements that promise to be of strategic importance for the two countries, separated by thousands of kilometres but close in ideology, despite having adopted different models of development. The signing of the 16 agreements was the main event of Chinese President Hu Jintao's two-day visit to Havana, which ended Tuesday. A highly strategic step was the decision to strengthen institutional cooperation to promote the creation of joint ventures in the biotechnology field. This sector has achieved a significant level of development in Cuba, but needs markets and capital in order to expand further. The two countries agreed to establish a joint working group for cooperation in biotechnology, an area in which there are already numerous bilateral projects underway, as there are in the pharmaceutical and medical equipment industries. One of the most significant projects involves the joint development, manufacture and marketing of biotech products for the treatment of cancer and other autoimmune diseases. Cuban scientists contacted by IPS reported that the Cuban-Chinese company Biotech Pharmaceutical Ltd. is currently building a cutting-edge production plant in the Beijing Development Area (BDA), one of China's most important high-tech development zones. The plant will produce, among other products, TheraCIM h-R3, a humanised monoclonal antibody developed in Cuba and used in the treatment of cancer. The clinical testing phase was successfully completed earlier this month, and will now be followed by the necessary registration for [...]

11/28/2004 Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire Skincareindia.comTeam skincareindia.com Scientists say they have tested a vaccine, Cervarix, that protects women from two strains of HPV (human papillomavirus) which are responsible for 70% of cervical cancers. Cervical cancer is treatable if it is detected early. In the USA there are 470,000 new cases each year. Team leader, Dr. D Harper, said "This is the first time we have shown that there is a vaccine that protects against the only cause of a cancer and we can actually prevent 70 percent of all cervical cancer worldwide." Dr. Harper works at the Dartmouth Medical School, New Hampshire USA. She added that further, larger trials will be needed to confirm her team's trial results. The results of the trials have been so good, says GlaxoSmithKline, that they have applied for earlier approval (worldwide). The original date they were aiming for was 2008, now they are aiming for 2006. Business analysts say that Cervarix could become another multi-billion dollar blockbuster. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus. Researchers have been aiming at finding a way to neutralise the virus so as to prevent the development of cervical cancer. HPV infection is very common. It is estimated that three quarters of women are infected at some point in their lives. Generally, it does not produce symptoms and goes away (no persistent infections). The team tested 1,113 women from the USA, Canada and Brazil. They were aged from 15 to 25 years. Half the group got three doses of [...]

11/28/2004 Onlypunjab.com Team onlypunjab.com In a stark BMA report, 'The Human Cost of Tobacco', published today, (9 November 2004), doctors chronicle individual stories behind the statistics to show how second-hand smoke destroys lives and health. One person dies every two weeks in Northern Ireland due to inhaling other people's tobacco smoke; this figure increases to 1,000 when taken across the United Kingdom (UK). The report is a UK snapshot of the misery second-hand smoke brings to patients and the examples given for Northern Ireland, as with the rest of the UK, are disturbing. Local doctor, Dr John O'Donnell, gives a distressing example: "At present I have a patient recovering from cancer surgery who is literally scared to death of returning to work because their normal working environment is heavily smoke filled." Another describes a very distressed patient for whom cigarette smoke triggers extreme breathing difficulties. Colleagues in the patient's workplace smoke. The employer has requested staff to stop smoking but to no avail and can do little more. Dr Peter Maguire, Deputy Chairman of the BMA's Board of Science, is also quoted in the report. He describes his recent visit to a close family friend in New York who is a bar owner and is now dying from a sinus and throat cancer. Dr Maguire says: "He has never smoked but until lately worked in smoky bars. The smoke free legislation in New York has come too late to save him. When I left New York I knew I would [...]

11/26/2004 London, England Madeleine Brettingham British Medical Journal.com The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidelines on the treatment of patients with rare cancers of the head and neck. The guidelines, based on research conducted by the Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, advise that treatment should be centred at specialised cancer centres serving populations of over a million, where multidisciplinary teams will be responsible for all stages of the treatment process, including diagnosis and rehabilitation. Head and neck cancers are not common and encompasses a range of conditions located at some 30 sites around the head and neck. Some, such as mouth and lip cancer, are more common; others, such as cancer of the salivary glands, result in only a few hundred registrations per year. Nevertheless, together these cancers are responsible for 2700 deaths a year in England and Wales—and as Professor Peter Littlejohns, clinical director at NICE, pointed out, the effects of treatment can be severe. "Head and neck cancers can have devastating effects on the lives of patients," said Professor Littlejohns. "The treatment can be disfiguring and often makes normal speech and eating impossible. For health services, head and neck cancers present particular challenges because of the variety of professional disciplines involved in caring for patients and the relatively sparse geographical distribution of patients requiring specialised forms of therapy or support." Cancer centres, it is hoped, will be able to bring together carers with the requisite range of expertise. Speech therapists, counsellors, and dietitians, as well [...]

11/25/2004 no attribution www.news-medical.net Cancers of the head and neck cause over 2,700 deaths per year in England and Wales. Smoking and drinking cause most cancers of the mouth, lip and tongue (oral cavity), throat and voice box. Heavy drinkers who are also heavy smokers have over 35 times the risk of developing oral cancer than non-smokers and drinkers. Early detection and appropriate treatment improve survival, however there are variations in performance across the UK. Effective Health Care summarises the research evidence behind new guidance issued today on the management of head and neck cancers. The evidence shows that: Patients whose cancers are detected earlier and who are managed by multidisciplinary teams experience better outcomes. Dentists may detect oral cancer and therefore regular check-ups are important. Arrangements for referral at each stage of the patient’s cancer journey should be streamlined. Diagnostic clinics should be established for patients with neck lumps. Research in this area is generally inadequate. Further research using appropriate methods is urgently required. Ros Collins, one of the authors of the research, states, ‘Most head and neck cancers are preventable and better outcomes could be achieved when managing the cases that do arise. We hope that the research we have undertaken leads to real improvements in the treatment of patients suffering from these diseases.’

11/25/2004 West Linton, UK no attribution BBC News A man who lost his 22-year-old son to mouth cancer will speak to Scottish dental students about the importance of spotting the disease at an early stage. Mike Walton lost his son Ben to oral cancer in 1995 and will speak at the University of Dundee on Wednesday. Dentists are the most likely to spot the condition when checking teeth. Students at the dental school donated £1,000 raised at an auction for the Ben Walton Trust, established by his father after his death. Mr Walton, from West Linton, Peeblesshire, first contacted the university when he spotted a paper by its resident Professor Graham Ogden on oral cancer. Cancer awareness The pair now work together on the Scottish Oral Cancer Action Group. The fifth-year students he will be speaking to are currently studying oral cancer. After the students' auction, Mr Walton decided to give the money back to the dental school for a discretionary fund used to support patients with mouth cancer. He said: "I am delighted to have this working relationship with the dental students in Dundee. "It is great that these young people are raising awareness of mouth cancer and are studying to help others that may be affected by the disease. "Mouth cancer is a very difficult area to raise funding for. "The disease is not well-known despite the numbers affected by it." Mr Walton said survival rates for the cancer were not as good as for other forms of [...]

11/25/2004 Andreas Gutzeit et al. Radiology 2004, 10.1148/radiol.2341031554 PURPOSE: To retrospectively evaluate fused positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) in depicting the primary lesion in cancer of an unknown primary tumor, compared with PET, CT, and PET and CT side-by-side evaluation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained. Forty-five patients (26 men and 19 women) with metastatic cervical adenopathy (n = 18) or extracervical metastases (n = 27) of unknown primary tumor were included. The mean age of the patients was 57 years (range, 29–95 years). PET/CT imaging was performed in all patients 1 hour after administration of 350 MBq of fluorodeoxyglucose with a whole-body field of view. Contrast agents were administered orally and intravenously in all patients to ensure diagnostic CT data. PET/CT data sets were evaluated for the primary tumor, and imaging results were compared with those of CT, PET, and PET and CT side-by-side evaluation. Differences in diagnostic performance were assessed by using the McNemar test with Bonferroni correction, which accounts for multiple comparisons. RESULTS: PET/CT depicted the primary tumor in 15 (33%) of 45 patients. In 30 (67%) patients, the primary tumor site remained occult (P > .05). PET and CT side-by-side evaluation depicted 13 (29%) of 45 tumors (P > .05). PET alone revealed the primary tumor in 11 (24%) of 45 patients (P > .05), while CT alone helped in the correct diagnosis in eight (18%) of 45 patients (P > .05). There were no significant differences between the [...]

11/10/2004 Edgar R. Miller, III, et al. Journal of Internal Medicine, 4 January 2005 | Volume 142 Issue 1 Background: Experimental models and observational studies suggest that vitamin E supplementation may prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer. However, several trials of high-dosage vitamin E supplementation showed non–statistically significant increases in total mortality. Purpose: To perform a meta-analysis of the dose–response relationship between vitamin E supplementation and total mortality by using data from randomized, controlled trials. Patients: 135 967 participants in 19 clinical trials. Of these trials, 9 tested vitamin E alone and 10 tested vitamin E combined with other vitamins or minerals. The dosages of vitamin E ranged from 16.5 to 2000 IU/d (median, 400 IU/d). Data Sources: PubMed search from 1966 through August 2004, complemented by a search of the Cochrane Clinical Trials Database and review of citations of published reviews and meta-analyses. No language restrictions were applied. Data Extraction: 3 investigators independently abstracted study reports. The investigators of the original publications were contacted if required information was not available. Data Synthesis: 9 of 11 trials testing high-dosage vitamin E (400 IU/d) showed increased risk (risk difference > 0) for all-cause mortality in comparisons of vitamin E versus control. The pooled all-cause mortality risk difference in high-dosage vitamin E trials was 39 per 10 000 persons (95% CI, 3 to 74 per 10 000 persons; P = 0.035). For low-dosage vitamin E trials, the risk difference was –16 per 10 000 persons (CI, –41 to 10 per 10 000 persons; [...]

11/23/2004 Norfolk, VA Warren Warsaw The Virginian-Pilot For 12 young dancers, with their glittered faces and glitzy costumes, Saturday's performance at the Jeanne & George Roper Performing Arts Center will be like any other. On the surface. For all their outward smiles and athletic routines, they will dance with heavy hearts for someone who's missing from the stage. Pappou. That's Greek for "grandfather" and that's the only name some of the dancers knew for Arthur Kotarides who died in August 2003 from oral cancer. Kotarides was the real father of Hero "Ro" Kotarides Barker, a 40-year-old Wards Corner resident who owns the 7Movements in Dance studio at 7930-C Chesapeake Blvd. But "Pappou" was the surrogate grandfather for many of the girls at the 7Movements in dance since the studio opened in 1995. The fun-loving prankster who attended every performance and competition built more than just the sets and props. He built relationships. So when Pappou died on a Saturday - a day before a dance competition -several of the girls panicked. "I didn't know what to say to anyone," said Kayla Lovett, a 14-year-old dancer from Bayview who knew Pappou since she was r. "I just performed and stayed away from everyone." When words faild to express their sorrow and love, these teens who knew Pappou since they were toddlers, turned to dance. And over the past year, the core group of 12 dancers known as the Smooth Movers Performing Company, has worked 6 to 12 hours a week choreographing [...]