11/30/2004 Bethesda, MD JA Graham, AM Horowitz, and MT Canto J Public Health Dent, September 1, 2004; 64(4): 231-6 Objectives: A 1998 study demonstrated a lack of coverage about oral cancer in the popular press between April 1987 and April 1997. Since that study, several oral cancer-related activities took place, many of which could have increased the media's attention to oral cancer. Therefore, this study analyzed coverage and quality of oral cancer information in selected popular press between May 1998 and July 2003. Methods: Articles from magazines and newspapers were retrieved from three databases and were analyzed by specific topics and subtopics for adequacy of content and accuracy of information. Articles were categorized as either "primarily oral cancer-related" or "primarily tobacco-related." Results: Sixty articles were identified, 39 of which were included in the analysis (14 magazines; 25 newspapers). Seventeen articles were "primarily oral cancer-related," and 22 were "primarily tobacco-related." Seventy-two percent of the articles mentioned at least one risk factor for oral cancer, the most common being tobacco use (69%). Far fewer articles noted alcohol (10%) or the combined use of tobacco and alcohol (5%) as risk factors. Only 8 percent of the articles recommended an oral cancer examination. Conclusion: Despite local and limited national efforts and activities aimed at increasing public awareness of oral cancer, the popular press coverage of those activities was minimal or nonexistent.

11/29/2004 New York, NY no attribution The Hindu (hinduonnet.com) Bhimu Patil, Associate Professor at the Texas A&M University-Kingsville and Associate Director of the Vegetable and Fruit Improvement Center, has received the 2004 Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the Division of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. Dr Patil, who received the award at a ceremony in Philadelphia, has credited his accomplished work in citrus, other fruits and vegetable health benefits research to his father who died 15 years ago. "My father was diagnosed with cancer when he was already in the third stage," He told The Valley Morning Star on his return to Texas from Philadelphia. "I could not help him, but through my research I hope to help others. That's my goal." Dr Patil and his eight-member staff are working to isolate compounds found in certain citrus fruits in the Rio Grande Valley, including Rio Red grapefruit, that may help reduce the risk of colon and oral cancer and help lower cholesterol, the Texas newspaper said. "I was happy to hear the news about the award," Dr Patil said. "I owe the success to the students who work with me." Last year, Patil won the Research Excellence Award from the university. He also has received the Paul Harris Fellowship from the Rotary Foundation in appreciation of "significant assistance for the better understanding and friendly relations among people in the world."

11/29/2004 Australia no attribution News-Medical.Net Retailers should be licensed to sell cigarettes, and the licence revoked if they are caught selling tobacco to children, the Australian Medical Association (WA) said today. "The State Government is relying on heavy fines to deter retailers, but the threat of losing their licence would be a far stronger deterrent," said AMA (WA) President Dr Paul Skerritt. "One has to question how effectively we can police the fines system and how often the courts have imposed the maximum penalty in the past." Dr Skerritt said banning point-of-sale-advertising, limiting displays of tobacco products and restricting cigarette vending machines to licensed premises were welcome initiatives by the State Government - but they should have been introduced much earlier. "The measures being announced now by the Health Minister were advocated by the Health Department more than 18 months ago," said Dr Skerritt. "The Government refused to act because it did not want to upset the tobacco and liquor industries. On the eve of an election they have promised a raft of reforms which will do nothing to reduce passive smoking for at least another 18 months." Dr Skerritt said the AMA (WA) was disappointed that Mr McGinty had attacked the association's zero-tolerance attitude to passive smoking as "playing politics". "We are not prepared to compromise on this issue and we make no apology for putting the health of the community ahead of everyone else's business interests," he said. "Sadly, our members deal directly with the victims of lung [...]

11/28/2004 Garland, Nebraska John Mark Eberhart Kansas City Star (kansascity.com) The new U.S. poet laureate, Nebraska's Ted Kooser, wants to bring verse back to the masses. Just north of this nondescript village, the pavement ends and the gravel begins. Down one of those gravel roads stands a roomy farmhouse. Built into the wall of one of those rooms is a ladder. At the top of the ladder lies a lair. A writer's lair. One side stands open; one “wall” is slanted ceiling. This is the place the new poet laureate of the United States does his work. Six years ago there were days Ted Kooser had no need of that lair. He wasn't writing poetry; he was too busy fighting for his life. He had oral cancer, and it was advanced. “Tumor of tongue on the back side,” he recalls, “and it had spread into the lymph nodes and upper part of my neck, so I had to have radiation. (But you) keep yourself in the present. (You) wake up and say, ‘You know, I don't think I'm going to die today. I'm probably not going to die this week. I may not die for months and months, so what am I going to do?' You can't just sit around and stare into space.” Instead Kooser made not one but two books out of cancer. As he recovered, he began taking two-mile treks each morning and by 2000 had produced Winter Morning Walks: One Hundred Postcards to Jim Harrison, a [...]

11/28/2004 no attribution Mediacal News Today Low-dose antioxidant supplementation may reduce the risk of cancer among men, but not in women, according to an article in the November 22 issue of The Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. According to the article, antioxidants including beta carotene, ascorbic acid, vitamin E, selenium, and zinc may prevent some of the harmful effects caused by free radicals - reactive molecules produced by metabolism in the body. It has also been suggested that a low dietary intake of antioxidants increases the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease. Serge Hercberg, M.D., Ph.D., of the Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) and Unite de Surveillance et d'Epidemiologie Nutritionnelle, Paris, and colleagues tested the efficacy of dietary supplementation with a combination of antioxidant vitamins and minerals in reducing the incidence of cancer and cardiovascular disease among 13,017 French adults. There were 7,876 women aged 35 to 60 years old, and 5,141 men ages 45 to 60 years old included in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to take either a daily capsule containing 120 milligrams of ascorbic acid, 30 milligrams of vitamin E, six milligrams of beta carotene, 100 micrograms of selenium, and 20 milligrams of zinc; or a placebo capsule. Participants were followed-up for a median of 7.5 years. The researchers found no differences between the antioxidant and placebo group in terms of cancer incidence (4.1 percent of the antioxidant group vs. 4.5 percent of the placebo group), [...]

11/28/2004 Chicago, IL no attribution cbs2chicago.com Follow-up care is extremely important for survivors of head and neck cancer. Blood tests, X-rays, CT scans and MRI's can spot a recurrence of the disease. Now new findings suggest a PET scan may provide other life-saving information. Ed Menassaka, 50, had to face the music two years ago when he was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. “It was in the base of my tongue, in my right tonsil, was in my neck and my lymph nodes,” Menassaka said. After chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, Menassaka is now cancer-free. But he still needs frequent checkups to see if the disease comes back. “Essentially if you have a cancer that occurs in this area, the most likely area where it’s gonna recur is in this area,” said Suresh Mukherji, a neuroradiologist at the University of Michigan Health System. But even if that area is clear, University of Michigan researchers say, the cancer can recur somewhere else. “What we found out with our PET study was that unknowingly to anyone else, patients may have done fine here but some of them popped up with disease in their lungs," Mukherji said. Unlike other imaging tests, positron emission tomography – or PET – shows metabolic changes in cells. “With the CAT scan or an MRI, you see basically the anatomy that’s before you. With a PET scan, what it allows you to do, it actually allows you to look inside the molecule,” said Mukherji. Because of the findings, [...]

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 [...]