July 2018 – Oral Cancer News

How oral bacteria could lead to breakthroughs in cancer, weight loss, and overall health

Source: www.mensjournal.com Author: Marjorie Korn As if you don’t have enough reasons to feel guilty for avoiding the dentist, it turns out a healthy mouth is linked to a lot more. than the absence of cavities and plaque. Researchers say our mouths are home to an ecosystem of billions of bacteria with influence far beyond our teeth and gums—influence they are just starting to unravel. “We know that oral bacteria affect almost every aspect of our health—metabolism, cardiovascular system, neurological health, and more,” says Yiping Han, a microbiologist at Columbia University Dental and Medical Schools in New York City. Scientists like Han are grappling with questions that will change our understanding of how the body works. Not only are they studying the ways bacteria in our mouths interact with one another but they’re also investigating why mouth bacteria show up in other parts of the body, such as the lining of the heart, around tumors, and even in the brain. The idea that our bodies host a world of bacteria may sound familiar. For the past decade, we’ve seen a surge of scientific research on the gut microbiome, which describes the bacteria that live in the gastrointestinal tract. Gut bacteria seem to have a hand in a surprising number of functions, from the predictable (like digestion and nutrient uptake) to the more surprising (obesity and depression). So it makes sense that the next place for a breakthrough would be upstream—the mouth. Scientists have identified 700-plus strains of bacteria swiped from [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-31T07:51:05-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

The UK will give boys cancer-preventing HPV vaccine

Source: www.care2.com Author: Steve Williams The UK has announced that, after a great deal of pressure, it will be making the HPV vaccine available to teenage boys, potentially protecting them from a number of cancers. The vaccine is routinely offered to teenage girls in schools. It has shown an impressive safety record while at the same time driving down cervical, oral and throat cancer rates by protecting young women from sexually transmitted HPV. Campaigners have long said that teenage boys should also be provided the vaccine, because evidence has shown the HPV vaccine can reduce rates of oral, throat, penile and anal cancers. Unfortunately, Public Health England has taken some convincing on this issue, with a cash-strapped National Health Service having to make sure that every investment more than pays its way. Now, the government says it believes the cost is far outweighed by the public health benefit. Dr. Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisations at Public Health England, is quoted as saying, “This extended programme offers us the opportunity to make HPV related diseases a thing of the past and build on the success of the girls’ programme, which has already reduced the prevalence of HPV 16 and 18, the main cancer-causing types, by over 80 percent.” This change of course comes after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said earlier this month that, after careful review, it believed the HPV vaccination program should be extended to boys, as it found “gender-neutral vaccination is highly likely to be cost [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-30T07:55:48-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

E-cigarettes and smokeless tobacco can put you at a greater risk of oral cancer, says study

Source: www.thehealthsite.com Author: Sreemoyee Chatterjee Not just cigarette smokers, those smoking e-cigarettes as well as consuming smokeless tobacco like chewing tobacco and more are at greater risk of developing oral cancer, shows a recent study conducted by University of California. In case you think only cigarette smokers are at a higher risk of getting oral cancer, you are widely mistaken. A recent study has found that a wide majority of non-cigarette tobacco users as well those using electronic cigarettes are exposed to considerable level of carcinogen, as much as a cigarette user is exposed to. Not just that, shockingly smokeless tobacco users were found at a greater exposure to tobacco-specific nitrosamines (TSNA). The study has been conducted by the scholars from University of California, San Francisco. Starting from cigarettes to cigar, waterpipes, pipes, marijuana containing cigar to smokeless products like moist snuff, chewing tobacco, e-cigarettes, snus and other nicotine replacement products can increase your chance of getting oral cancer, revealed the study. What is Oral cancer? Belonging to the head and neck cancer group, oral cancer is a type of cancer that grows in mouth or throat tissues and mostly hit the squamous cells of your mouth, tongue and lips. Oral cancer can of several types – lip cancer, tongue cancer, cancer in the inner lining of your cheek, gums, floor of the mouth and hard and soft palate. It is important to go to a dentist for a biannual check-up for early detection of oral cancer, experts say. Due [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-30T06:12:38-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

HPV: The gender-neutral killer in need of prevention among men

Source: CNN Author: Dominic Rech In July 2014, Phil Rech, then 59, was diagnosed with tonsil cancer. "I had got a lump in my neck. I had the tonsils out, and within the next few days, I was having radical neck dissection," he said. "Then I had six weeks of intensive, targeted radiotherapy. The burning effect towards the end of the treatment became very painful." The therapy involved a radiotherapy mask, molded to the shape of his face, that went over his head as radiotherapy was beamed in, targeting the cancer. The discovery of his cancer not only startled him, it startled everyone who knew him. Phil is my dad, and to our family, he had always been healthy: He doesn't smoke, he rarely drinks alcohol, and he generally stays fairly fit. But that's not how cancer works. At the time of the diagnosis, Phil didn't question how or what could have caused his cancer, as he focused on getting better. Like many men in the UK and around the world, he wasn't aware of a group of viruses that were a threat, human papillomavirus or HPV, which were eventually connected to his cancer. "To discover it was linked to HPV was a massive shock," he said. "There was a lot of speculation over what could have caused it. To discover it was that, was certainly a surprise. I didn't really know it was a threat to me." A cancerous virus HPV is a group of 150 related viruses that [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-07-28T15:15:04-07:00July, 2018|OCF In The News|

Global review confirms diabetes elevates cancer risk, especially in women

Source: www.ajmc.com Author: Mary Caffrey A review that covered nearly 20 million people has confirmed that people with diabetes face a higher risk of cancer, and that risk is higher among women than men. Findings published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, showed that women with type 1 of type 2 diabetes were particularly at risk for cancers of the stomach, mouth, and kidney. The authors reviewed articles appearing in PubMed through December 2016, and ended up including data from 106 articles in the study. This allowed the review to evaluate gender-specific effects of diabetes on overall cancer risk as well as 50 site-specific cancers. Results covered data from 47 countries. Authors called it “the most comprehensive analysis to date on the sex-specific effects of diabetes on cancer risk.” Overall, the review showed diabetes is a risk factor for most cancers, and that women with diabetes were 6% more likely than men with the disease to develop some form of cancer. Among people with diabetes, researchers also found: Women were 27% more likely to develop cancer than those without diabetes. Men faced a 19% higher risk of cancer. Of note, women faced an 11% higher risk of kidney cancer, a 13% higher risk of oral cancer, a 14% higher risk of stomach cancer, and a 15% higher risk of leukemia than men. Liver cancer was an exception: the risk for women with diabetes was 12% lower than that of men. Sanne Peters, PhD, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-23T07:19:00-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Health Insurers Are Vacuuming Up Details About You — And It Could Raise Your Rates

Source: National Public Radio Author: Marshall Allen To an outsider, the fancy booths at a June health insurance industry gathering in San Diego, Calif., aren't very compelling: a handful of companies pitching "lifestyle" data and salespeople touting jargony phrases like "social determinants of health." But dig deeper and the implications of what they're selling might give many patients pause: a future in which everything you do — the things you buy, the food you eat, the time you spend watching TV — may help determine how much you pay for health insurance. With little public scrutiny, the health insurance industry has joined forces with data brokers to vacuum up personal details about hundreds of millions of Americans, including, odds are, many readers of this story. The companies are tracking your race, education level, TV habits, marital status, net worth. They're collecting what you post on social media, whether you're behind on your bills, what you order online. Then they feed this information into complicated computer algorithms that spit out predictions about how much your health care could cost them. Are you a woman who recently changed your name? You could be newly married and have a pricey pregnancy pending. Or maybe you're stressed and anxious from a recent divorce. That, too, the computer models predict, may run up your medical bills. Are you a woman who has purchased plus-size clothing? You're considered at risk of depression. Mental health care can be expensive. Low-income and a minority? That means, the data [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-07-17T09:40:59-07:00July, 2018|OCF In The News|

Cancer: Can testosterone improve patients’ quality of life?

Source: Medical News Today Author: Maria Cohut Cachexia is a condition characterized by loss of body mass — including muscular atrophy — that is usually accompanied by severe weakness and fatigue. Many people who go through cancer experience this. Studies have noted that "[a]pproximately half of all patients with cancer experience cachexia," severely impairing their quality of life. It appears to be "responsible for the death of 22 [percent] of cancer patients." What exactly causes this condition — which appears in some patients but not in others — remains unclear, and options to manage and address it are scarce. But recently, researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston — led by Dr. Melinda Sheffield-Moore, from the Department of Health and Kinesiology — have been investigating the potential of administering testosterone in addition to chemotherapy in order to ameliorate the impact of cachexia. "We hoped to demonstrate these [cancer] patients [who received testosterone treatment] would go from not feeling well enough to even get out of bed to at least being able to have some basic quality of life that allows them to take care of themselves and receive therapy." Dr. Melinda Sheffield-Moore The researchers' findings — now published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle — confirm that administering testosterone to individuals experiencing cachexia can, in fact, improve their quality of life to some extent, by restoring some independence of movement. Adjuvant testosterone shows promise The most widely used approach to manage cachexia is special nutrition treatments, but [...]

Charlotte Parker2018-07-17T09:30:54-07:00July, 2018|OCF In The News|

Silent no more: Woman lends voice to hope after cancer

Source: health.ucsd.edu Author: Yadira Galindo Singing hymns in church has always brought Cynthia Zamora joy. Today, her once sharp intonation has given way to a raspy voice. But Zamora is thankful that she has a voice at all after spending three months without the ability to utter even one syllable. “I miss going to church and singing with people,” said Zamora. “Although, if I am in the back I'm still singing. I'm just hoping they don't hear what sounds like a 13-year-old pubescent boy back there, because that's how I sound. I know God thinks it's beautiful, so I don't worry about it. I just go on with life.” In 2017, Zamora bit her tongue while sleeping, splitting her tongue nearly in half. She was referred to a specialist when her wound would not heal. They found a 5.4-centimeter tumor that enveloped more than half of her tongue. To save her life, her surgeon, Joseph Califano, MD, delivered grim news: Zamora would have to undergo a glossectomy — the surgical removal of all or part of the tongue. “By the time I saw her she was really having a hard time speaking and swallowing,” said Califano, director of the Head and Neck Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health. “With Cynthia that was a difficult discussion because it was unclear how much tongue we would save and how good the function would be with the remaining tongue that would be preserved.” A multidisciplinary team of experts that included medical oncology, [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-10T10:03:53-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Smoking warning labels could need a refresh to inform public of new health risk discoveries

Source: www.abc.net.au Author: Tegan Taylor When it comes to the health risks associated with smoking, most people know about lung cancer and heart disease. But less than a third of Australians realise it can also cause conditions such as acute leukaemia and rheumatoid arthritis, according to a new study, raising the question around whether current graphic cigarette warning labels need to be refreshed. The study, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, asked 1,800 Australians about whether they thought smoking increased the risk of 23 conditions shown to be associated with tobacco use, such as lung cancer, stroke and diabetes. While more than eight in 10 participants knew lung, throat and mouth cancers, heart disease and emphysema were linked to smoking, much fewer were aware it was associated with erectile dysfunction, female infertility, diabetes and liver cancer. The results showed the current warning labels were doing their job, and that it might be time to expand them, said Michelle Scollo from Cancer Council Victoria, which ran the study. "It was predictable and pleasing that smokers knew about the health effects that have been highlighted in the current sets of warnings and media campaigns," Dr Scollo said. "[But] fewer than half realised it could reduce your fertility, and that could have a really major impact on the course of people's lives … There's a lot that people need to appreciate. Part of the reason the link between smoking and some of the conditions surveyed aren't well known is because research into [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-09T08:38:49-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|

Changes in cancer staging: what you should know

Source: health.clevelandclinic.org Author: staff When you learn you have cancer, you want to know what to expect: How will doctors treat your illness? How effective is treatment likely to be? Much depends on the way doctors first classify, or “stage,” your cancer, using the official staging manual from the American Joint Committee on Cancer. Staging guidelines continue to evolve as knowledge about individual tumor growth and innovative technologies come into play. An ever-evolving system “Historically, we staged cancers according to tumor size, lymph node involvement and the presence of metastases,” says oncologist Dale Shepard, MD, PhD. “The latest staging manual incorporates new findings on the importance of changes in molecular DNA and tumor genomic profiling. This will affect many patients going forward.” Among those most impacted by changes in staging are people newly diagnosed with breast cancer; head and neck cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV); or sarcoma. How staging works “Staging allows us to stratify patients into groups based on anatomic and other criteria. It gives us a framework for understanding the extent of disease,” Dr. Shepard explains. Cancers are staged clinically and pathologically: The clinical stage is determined during the initial workup for cancer. The pathologic stage is determined by studying a surgically removed tumor sample under the microscope. Adds Tumor Registry Manager Kate Tullio, MPH, MS, “Staging helps physicians and other researchers to compare patients with the same types of cancer to each other in a consistent way — so that we might learn more about these cancers and [...]

Oral Cancer Foundation News Team - A2018-07-05T07:45:14-07:00July, 2018|Oral Cancer News|