Charlotte Parker, Author at Oral Cancer News

Why HPV Vaccination Rates Remain Low in Rural States

Source: TechnologyReview.com Author: Emily Mullin Date: September 1, 2017 Mandi Price never thought she’d be diagnosed with cancer at age 24. She was a healthy college student finishing her senior year when, during a regular Pap smear, her gynecologist found abnormal cells in her cervix. It was stage II cervical cancer. Even more devastating was the fact that her cancer was preventable. Doctors detected a strain of human papillomavirus, the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., in Price’s cancer cells. That strain of HPV is targeted by a vaccine called Gardasil. But Price never got the vaccine. Her primary care doctor didn’t recommend it when she was a teenager growing up in Washington state. Had she received it before becoming infected with HPV, she wouldn’t have gotten cancer. Price dropped out of her classes to get treatment. She needed surgery to remove the tumor from her cervix, then underwent chemotherapy and radiation to kill any remaining cancerous tissue. At her one-year follow-up appointment, doctors found that the cancer had spread. She endured chemotherapy for another six months. Now, at 29, Price is in remission and is working in Los Angeles. “Most of my 20s comprised being in a hospital. It was isolating,” she says. Merck’s Gardasil vaccine was considered a breakthrough when it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in June 2006. It was the first vaccine to protect against several cancers. But more than a decade after the vaccine came out, vaccination rates [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-10-29T20:13:32-07:00September, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

FDA Approves First Gene Therapy For Leukemia

Source: npr.org Author: Rob Stein Date: August 30, 2017 The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday announced what the agency calls a "historic action" — the first approval of a cell-based gene therapy in the United States. The FDA approved Kymriah, which scientists refer to as a "living drug" because it involves using genetically modified immune cells from patients to attack their cancer. The drug was approved to treat children and young adults up to age 25 suffering from a form of acute lymphoblastic leukemia who do not respond to standard treatment or have suffered relapses. The disease is a cancer of blood and bone marrow that is the most common childhood cancer in the United States. About 3,100 patients who are 20 and younger are diagnosed with ALL each year. "We're entering a new frontier in medical innovation with the ability to reprogram a patient's own cells to attack a deadly cancer," FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said in a written statement. "New technologies such as gene and cell therapies hold out the potential to transform medicine and create an inflection point in our ability to treat and even cure many intractable illnesses," Gottlieb said. The treatment involves removing immune system cells known as T cells from each patient and genetically modifying the cells in the laboratory to attack and kill leukemia cells. The genetically modified cells are then infused back into patients. It's also known as CAR-T cell therapy. "Kymriah is a first-of-its-kind treatment approach that fills an important [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-31T15:18:44-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

More U.S. Teens Getting Vaccinated Against HPV

Source: http://health.usnews.com Date: 8/24/17 THURSDAY, Aug. 24, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Six out of 10 U.S. parents are choosing to get their children vaccinated against the cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread by sexual contact, federal health officials reported Thursday. The bad news: while most children are getting their first dose of HPV vaccine, many aren't completing the full vaccination schedule, the officials said. "I'm pleased with the progress, but too many teens are still not receiving the HPV vaccine -- which leaves them vulnerable to cancers caused by HPV infection," CDC director Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald said in an agency news release. "We need to do more to increase the vaccination rate and protect American youth today from future cancers tomorrow." An estimated 14 million Americans, including teens, become infected with HPV each year. The infection can cause cervical, vaginal and vulvar cancers in women, and penile cancer in men. It can also cause anal cancer, throat cancer and genital warts in both men and women, according to the CDC. The CDC recommends two doses of HPV vaccine for children at ages 11 or 12. Teens who get the first vaccine dose before their 15th birthday need two doses to be protected. Teens and young adults who start the vaccine series between ages 15 through 26 need three doses, according to the agency. In its new report, the CDC said 60 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 received one or more doses of HPV vaccine in 2016 -- [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-10-29T20:13:46-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Big tobacco fuels nicotine replacement addiction, UCSF study shows

Source: http://www.sfgate.com Author: Lizzie Johnson Date: August 17, 2017 Nicotine patches, lozenges, inhalers and gum have long been marketed as ways of helping addicts break the habit. But such products by themselves won’t do the job — something tobacco companies themselves have taken advantage of to boost their profits, new research from UCSF says. Nicotine replacement therapy products, which have been sold over the counter at drugstores since 1996, are effective only when paired with counseling, according to a UCSF study released Thursday. Without that, relying on such products can actually make it harder to kick tobacco, the study found. UCSF researchers who reviewed millions of pages of internal tobacco company documents said the firms have long known that such products by themselves don’t wean users off cigarettes, and market their own smokeless nicotine to keep users addicted. “Those products should not be used unless they are done in the proper way,” said Stanton Glantz, an author of the study, professor of medicine at UCSF and the director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. “The problem is, without the behavioral support, they actually inhibit quitting,” he said. “Unfortunately, a lot of people think they are making progress and quitting when that’s not so. That’s what tobacco companies have known for decades. They’re developing products under the guise of nicotine replacement therapy.” Some of the biggest tobacco companies, including RJ Reynolds, Philip Morris and British American Tobacco, have developed nicotine accessories. Many corner stores stock the products, some [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-18T08:14:58-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer patients who use alternative medicine more than twice as likely to die

Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/ Date: August 15, 2017 After five years, 78.3 per cent of people who opted for medical treatment were still alive compared to just 54.7 percent of people who opted for alternative therapies. A new study has shown that cancer sufferers who turn to alternative therapies in preference to conventional medicine are more than twice as likely to die. Scientists from America's prestigious Yale University found that patients were more likely to be cured through conventional medicine, despite anecdotal evidence from some who say their cancer was cured by turning to natural or alternative remedies, . Researchers sifted through the National Cancer Database for their study “Use of Alternative Medicine for Cancer and its Impact on Survival”. They tracked 280 people who were diagnosed with the disease in 2004 and opted for alternative medicine and 560 “control” cancer patients who underwent conventional treatments such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. After five years, 78.3 per cent of people who opted for medical treatment were still alive compared to just 54.7 percent of people who opted for alternative therapies. The study also looked at different types of cancer including breast, lung, prostate and colorectal. They found those with lung cancer were twice as likely to die after five years if they had opted for alternative therapies. Breast cancer patients who used alternative therapies were five times as likely to have lost their lives to the disease.Colorectal cancer patients were four times more likely to die if they rejected conventional medicine in favour of alternative [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-15T13:32:27-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

A Guide On How To Fight Your Outrageous Hospital Bill (And Win)

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com Author: Gemma Hartley Date: 8/4/2017 My medical bill nightmare started out fairly normally. My toddler fell and hurt her wrist. Since she has a flair for the dramatic, she let her wrist flop, looking broken as she screamed in agony. My husband and I examined her wrist and couldn’t figure out how serious the situation was, so we played it safe and took her to the emergency room. She had a mild sprain, it turned out. She was in and out ― no medication, no nothing. I knew there would be an obscene bill for taking her to the ER, but I had no idea just how shocking it would be. When I received the bill for my daughter, I seriously hoped that something was amiss. The amount was nearly $800 (which was more than we could afford at the time), and before insurance it had been nearly $3,000. Could the bill really be that huge for a 15-minute visit? I couldn’t fathom it, so I requested an itemized bill ― a habit I picked up after hearing horror stories of new mothers being charged outrageously in labor and delivery. An itemized bill almost always contains errors, which is why I wasn’t about to pay a penny before carefully looking over my daughter’s charges. There were a couple of small errors, such as overpriced medicines she didn’t receive, but it wasn’t the $14 aspirin hiking up her bill. I called the hospital to ask about my daughter’s charge [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-07T08:25:03-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Cancer is a fungus’?! We need to get serious about evidence-based treatment

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk Date: August 3rd, 2017 Author: Judith Potts Over the last few years I have come across myriad myths about cures for breast cancer – indeed all cancers. Of course, everyone is looking for a treatment which does not involve chemotherapy, a diagnostic test which does not use radiation, or a treatment without side effects. While thermography may be an innovative concept, there is little good evidence that it is effective in detecting breast cancer at an early stageEluned Hughes, head of public health and information at Breast Cancer Now But I have lost count of the number of times I have heard that ‘Cancer is a fungus and Sodium Bicarbonate is the cure’. I have even been sent an amateur video of a man mixing his sodium bicarbonate potion in an extremely unhygienic-looking kitchen. Part of the Cancer Research UK’s website carries ‘10 Persistent Cancer Myths Debunked’ which makes an interesting read – . Alternative therapies abound and all are described as ‘natural’. The word is applied to food, to beauty products and to fabrics – but, all too often, the list of ingredients denies the description. Last week, an email dropped into my inbox introducing me to Dr Nyjon Eccles and describing his work at his clinic in London’s Harley Street – The ‘Natural’ Doctor. Was it referring to his treatments as being ‘natural’ in the sense of pure, unadulterated and complementary, or did he mean that he was born a ‘natural’ doctor? I discovered that Dr Eccles is [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-03T15:28:54-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

No HPV Vaccination for Boys in UK

Source: Peter Russell Date: July 20, 2017 Source: www.medscape.com Health bodies are condemning a decision not to include boys in the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination programme as "shameful" and a "missed opportunity". The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has concluded that it "did not recommend vaccinating boys at this time as it was considered unlikely to be cost-effective". Girls aged 12 to 13 have routinely been offered the HPV jab since September 2008 as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme. The JCVI has been considering whether to include boys on the scheme since 2014. Protection Against Some Cancers HPV is the name for a group of viruses that are most commonly passed on through genital contact between straight and same-sex partners. It is a very common infection. Almost every sexually active person will get HPV at some time in their lives. Most people who get HPV never develop symptoms or health problems, but for some it can lead to cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, and head and neck, as well as cause genital warts. According to health professionals, the virus has been linked to 1 in 20 cases of cancer in the UK. Campaigners in favour of giving boys the jab argue that HPV does not discriminate between the sexes and that offering the vaccine to boys in school would save lives. 'Few Additional Benefits' The JCVI has decided that a high take-up of the vaccine among girls would provide 'herd protection' to [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-08-01T08:42:02-07:00August, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

The Bogus Medicines the Feds Have No Plan to Stop

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-bogus-medicines-the-feds-have-no-plan-to-stop Date: July 22, 2017 Author: Paul A. Offit In a better world, the FDA would regulate homeopathic products. It would certainly be a lot cheaper and just as effective. Homeopathic products are big business, grossing at least $3 billion a year. A 2007 survey estimated that 3.9 million adults and 910,000 children used them. These figures have only increased during the past 10 years. One uncomfortable fact about homeopathic products, which are substances meant to treat patients by mimicking the symptoms of an illness, is that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t regulate them. This means that: Manufacturers are not required to submit a new drug application before selling them. Manufacturers are exempt from meeting Good Manufacturing Product (GMP) standards. Manufacturers are exempt from finished-product testing for identity and strength. And, as an added bonus, homeopathic products are allowed to contain higher amounts of alcohol than other drugs. Because no one is looking, poorly made and dangerous products slip through. In 2012, for example, 10,000 cases of “poison exposures” were reported; most occurred in children who were less than five years old and some required medical treatment. For these and other reasons, the FDA held a meeting on April 20 and 21, 2015, to discuss the regulation of homeopathic products. The FDA sought “written comments from all interested parties, including, but not limited to, consumers, patients, caregivers, health care professionals, patient groups, and industry.” With so many competing interests in the room, it shouldn’t be surprising that [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-07-24T09:53:27-07:00July, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

Plan not to give HPV vaccine to boys causes concern

Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40658791 Date: July 19th, 2017 A decision not to vaccinate boys against a cancer-causing sexually transmitted infection has attracted fierce criticism. Reported cases of human papilloma virus (HPV) - thought to cause about 80% of cervical cancers - have fallen sharply since girls were given the vaccine. But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) found little evidence to justify treating boys too. Critics said vaccinating boys could help reduce the risk still further. Across the UK, all girls aged 12-13 are offered HPV vaccination as part of the NHS childhood vaccination programme. Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at Public Health England, said: "Evidence from around the world suggests that the risk of HPV infection in males is dramatically reduced by achieving high uptake of the HPV vaccine among girls. "While there are some additional benefits to vaccinating both males and females, the current models indicate that extending the programme to boys in the UK, where the uptake in adolescent girls is consistently high (over 85%), would not represent a good use of NHS resources." This initial recommendation by JCVI will now be subject to a public consultation and a final decision will be made in October. The British Dental Association said it would urge the committee to reconsider the evidence. The chair of the BDA, Mick Armstrong, said: "HPV has emerged as the leading cause of oropharyngeal cancers, so JCVI's unwillingness to expand the vaccination programme to boys is frankly indefensible." Shirley Cramer of the Royal Society [...]

Charlotte Parker2017-07-19T09:44:49-07:00July, 2017|Oral Cancer News|

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