Charlotte Parker, Author at Oral Cancer News

Oscar Award winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is diagnosed with Throat Cancer

Author: Jun HongoSource: blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime World-renowned Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto says he has throat cancer and has canceled his scheduled shows and activities. The Oscar-winning composer and anti-nuclear activist said Thursday that he was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer at the end of June. “After much thought and consideration, I have decided to take time off of work in order to concentrate on treating it,” the 62-year-old said in a statement. “I promise to return after a full recovery.” According to his management agency Avex Music Creative Inc., Mr. Sakamoto will step down as one of the directors of the Sapporo International Art Festival 2014, scheduled to start next week. He will also cancel live shows including a performance at Park Hyatt Tokyo on July 30. Avex Music Creative said there is no time frame set for Mr. Sakamoto’s return, and that the artist will “dedicate all his time to treatment.” The agency declined to offer details on the current stage of Mr. Sakamoto’s cancer. The pioneering musician debuted as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978, playing a role in the emergence of electro pop and providing inspiration for a generation of electronic music and hip-hop producers. His creativity and prowess as a keyboard player, producer and composer extends to a large swath of genres and styles from pop rock to bossa nova. He won an Academy Award for composing the score music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1987 film “The Last Emperor,” a movie he also appeared in as an [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-07-11T10:03:25-07:00July, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPChase Morgan, is diagnosed with throat cancer

Author: Jessica Silver-GreenbergSource: nytimes.com Jamie Dimon the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, has throat cancer and will begin treatment shortly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, he said in a note to the bank’s employees and shareholders late Tuesday. Doctors discovered the cancer at an early stage, Mr. Dimon, 58, said, noting that his condition was “curable.” After a series of tests, he said the doctors confirmed that the cancer had not spread beyond the “original site” and the adjacent lymph nodes on the right side of his neck. Mr. Dimon assured employees at JPMorgan, the nation’s largest bank, that the prognosis from the doctors was “excellent.” Mr. Dimon, who has held the dual roles of chief executive and chairman at the bank since 2006, has been atop JPMorgan longer than any other bank chief. The announcement of his diagnosis came on Mr. Dimon’s 10-year anniversary at JPMorgan. That tenure, which began when JPMorgan acquired Bank One, has been marked by triumph — the bank emerged from the financial crisis in better shape than its rivals — and by tumult. The bank has worked to mend its frayed relationships with regulators — a painful reconciliation that cost it roughly $20 billion. In November, JPMorgan reached a record $13 billion settlement with a range of government authorities over its sale of questionable mortgage-backed securities in the lead-up to the financial crisis. The bank also reached a $2 billion settlement over accusations that it failed to sound alarms about Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. JPMorgan has [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-07-02T10:20:35-07:00July, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Tony Gwynn makes statement regarding spit tobacco use weeks before death

Author: Michael ChenSource: 10news.com SAN DIEGO - One of Tony Gwynn's last acts was issuing a simple message about the habit he blamed for his cancer. About two and half months ago, Gwynn received a request from the Professional Baseball Athletic Trainers Society – known as PBATS – to do a taped interview on the dangers of spit tobacco to be shown to players. "It came back that Tony was entirely sick to do that," said Neil Romano, adviser to the PBATS. Romano says Gwynn's agent then called, saying Gwynn felt bad for not taking part. Gwynn blamed his decades-long use of chew tobacco for his mouth cancer. On May 28, less than three weeks before Gwynn's death, the group got final confirmation through his agent that they could use an emailed statement. Gwynn's message: "My advice to anyone would be if they aren't using spit tobacco, please don't start. And if you are using, try to quit, if not for yourself then do it for the people you love." "The fact that this was one of his last acts goes to his class, his character as a person, and frankly, his love for the game and the players," said Romano. When Gwynn was first diagnosed, Major League Baseball banned players from putting tins in pockets and using during interviews, but usage during games is still allowed. Mark Grudzielanek retired in 2010 after a 15-year career. He never used but said when he started, it was readily available through clubhouse staff. "Whatever [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-30T15:40:50-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

In one study, lower dose treatment for HPV oropharyngeal cancers is successful

Author: Anthony Cmelak, M.D.Source: medicalnewstoday.com A new study suggests that lowering the dose of radiation therapy for some head and neck cancer patients may improve outcomes and cause fewer long-term side effects. The research was presented by lead author Anthony Cmelak, M.D., professor of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC), during the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held recently in Chicago. The study focused on patients with newly-diagnosed oropharyngeal cancers related to the human papilloma virus (HPV). More than two-thirds of new head and neck cancer patients have HPV-positive tumors and the number of these patients is on the rise. Cmelak's prior cooperative group study found that patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer have significantly longer survival rates than patients whose tumors are HPV negative. For the new study, 80 HPV-positive patients with stage III, or IVa,b squamous cell cancer of the oropharynx received inductionchemotherapy, including paclitaxel, cisplatin and cetuximab. After chemotherapy, 62 of the patients showed no sign of cancer and were assigned to receive a 25 percent lower dose of intensity-modulated radiation therapy - an advanced technology that targets the radiation beam more accurately to treat the tumor without harming surrounding tissue. The rest of the patients received a standard IMRT dose. The drug cetuximab was also given to both groups of patients along with the IMRT treatment. Two years after treatment, the survival for the low-dose IMRT patients was 93 percent. Those who did not have complete resolution of cancer following induction and went on to [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-25T16:35:42-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

FDA’s tobacco regulation draft proposal weakened by the White House

Author: Toni Clarke and Sharon BegleySource: huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON, June 25 (Reuters) - White House changes to proposed rules for tobacco products significantly weakened language detailing health risks from cigars and deleted restrictions that might have prevented online sales of e-cigarettes, published documents show. The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which analyzes the potential economic consequences of proposed regulations, deleted language in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently proposed regulations describing how the rules would keep thousands of people from taking up cigar smoking and have enormous public health benefits. The OMB also weakened language detailing the FDA's concerns about the safety of e-cigarettes, according to documents published Tuesday in the Federal Register. Emily Cain, a spokeswoman for OMB, said that as with any rule, OMB's office of information and regulatory affairs conducted an interagency review process "to ensure that the regulations through which agencies implement policies are efficient, well-designed to achieve their objectives, and based upon the best available evidence." "It is routine for agencies to make changes to their draft rules during the course of OMB review," she added. "The goal is to maximize the effectiveness and benefit of the rules we complete." An FDA spokeswoman, Jennifer Haliski, said the FDA does not comment on changes to a proposal during the review process but said the period for the public to comment on the proposal is still open until Aug. 8. "All comments will be carefully considered as the final rule is being developed," she said in [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-25T12:26:37-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Scientists say that E-Cigarettes and Snuff are not harmless

Author: Eliza GraySource: time.com New research casts doubt on nicotine's safety—even if you aren't smoking New research from the American Heart Association journal Circulation shows that patients who stopped using smokeless tobacco after a heart attack had improved life expectancy—similar to that of people who quit smoking. The finding offers new information about the dangers of smokeless tobacco, the risks of which are not as well understood as cigarettes’. “That was a big surprise for us,” said Dr. Gabriel Arefalk, lead researcher and a cardiologist at Uppsala University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden. “For smoking, it has been known for decades now that people benefit from discontinuation, especially after having suffered a heart attack, but for snus we had no idea what to expect. ”The researchers reviewed data on 2,474 heart attack survivors under 75 in Sweden who used snus (oral snuff) from 2005 to 2009. About 675 quit. During the two years of follow-up, 69 of those who continued using snus died, compared with only 14 quitters. Based on this data, researchers determined that those who quit snus had almost half the mortality risk of those who didn’t quit, which is similar to the benefit of smoking cessation, according to a release from the American Heart Association. Dr. Arefalk, who is also a clinician, said the researchers wanted to study the problem because they didn’t know what to tell patients about the risks of using snus after a heart attack. He cautioned that the study was small and far from enough to [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-25T11:44:46-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Lower radiation dose may be given to HPV-positive head and neck cancer patients

Source: Vanderbilt UniversityPublished: June 19, 2014By: Dagny Stuart A new study suggests that lowering the dose of radiation therapy for some head and neck cancer patients may improve outcomes and cause fewer long-term side effects. The research was presented by lead author Anthony Cmelak, M.D., professor of Radiation Oncology at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, during the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), held May 30 to June 3 in Chicago. The study focused on patients with newly diagnosed oropharyngeal cancers related to the human papilloma virus (HPV). More than two-thirds of new head and neck cancer patients have HPV-positive tumors and the number of these patients is on the rise. Cmelak’s prior study found that patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer have significantly longer survival rates than patients whose tumors are HPV negative. For the new study, 80 HPV-positive patients with stage III, or IVa,b squamous cell cancer of the oropharynx received induction chemotherapy, including paclitaxel, cisplatin and cetuximab. After chemotherapy, 62 of the patients showed no sign of cancer and were assigned to receive a 25 percent lower dose of intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) — an advanced technology that targets the radiation beam more accurately to treat the tumor without harming surrounding tissue. The rest of the patients received a standard IMRT dose. The drug cetuximab was also given to both groups of patients along with the IMRT treatment. Two years after treatment, the survival for the low-dose IMRT patients was 93 percent. Those who did [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-20T12:41:01-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Tony Gwynn’s untimely death, baseball contemplates issues with tobacco

Source: USA TODAYPublished: June 20, 2014By: Jorge L. Ortiz, USA TODAY Sports OAKLAND – Tony Gwynn's multitude of accomplishments, career batting average of .338 and his pioneering use of video earned him the rapt attention of players whenever he talked baseball. Major League Baseball hopes an even more important message he's delivering posthumously sinks in as well. Gwynn, who died of mouth cancer Monday at 54, speaks out against smokeless tobacco use in a taped segment of an informational video MLB is producing and plans to release this season. The Hall of Fame outfielder believed he developed cancer because of his years-long habit of using spit tobacco, although that was never medically confirmed. Whether Gwynn's untimely death and his stance against smokeless tobacco will curtail its use among players remains an open question. Research by the Pro Baseball Athletic Trainers Society revealed the number of major leaguers who use spit tobacco has declined from about 50% to 33% in the last 20 years. However, that's still about 10 times the amount in the general population, according to the American Cancer Society, whose data from 2012 showed 3.5% of Americans 12 and older – or 9 million – use the highly addictive product. "It's definitely ingrained and something that's part of our baseball culture, but it's not exclusive to baseball,'' said Oakland Athletics first baseman Brandon Moss, a non-user. "You would hope a figure like (Gwynn), something tragic like that happening, would be a wake-up call for everyone, not just those [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-20T12:19:11-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

Hall of Famer and ‘Mr. Padre’ Tony Gwynn dies at 54 from Oral Cancer

Source: abcnews.go.comAuthor: Bernie Wilson Tony Gwynn could handle a bat like few other major leaguers, whether it was driving the ball through the "5.5 hole" between third base and shortstop or hitting a home run off the facade in Yankee Stadium in the World Series. He was a craftsman at the plate, whose sweet left-handed swing made him one of baseball's greatest hitters. Gwynn loved San Diego. San Diego loved "Mr. Padre" right back. Gwynn, a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest athletes in San Diego's history, died Monday of oral cancer, a disease he attributed to years of chewing tobacco. He was 54. "Our city is a little darker today without him but immeasurably better because of him," Mayor Kevin Faulconer said in a statement. In a rarity in pro sports, Gwynn played his whole career with the Padres, choosing to stay in the city where he was a two-sport star in college, rather than leaving for bigger paychecks elsewhere. His terrific hand-eye coordination made him one of the game's greatest pure hitters. He had 3,141 hits — 18th on the all-time list — a career .338 average and won eight batting titles to tie Honus Wagner's NL record. He struck out only 434 times in 9,288 career at-bats. He played in San Diego's only two World Series — batting a combined .371 — and was a 15-time All-Star. He had a memorable home run in Game 1 of the 1998 World Series off fellow San Diegan David [...]

Charlotte Parker2014-06-17T09:46:25-07:00June, 2014|Oral Cancer News|

The Eighth Annual Oral Cancer Walk for Awareness of New York at NYU raises more than $50,000

Source: dental.nyu.eduAuthor: Staff On Sunday, April 21, 2013, oral cancer survivors and their families joined dental students from the NYU chapter of the Student National Dental Association (SNDA), residents, dental hygiene students, nursing students, faculty, and staff from the NYU Colleges of Dentistry and Nursing for the eighth annual NYC Oral Cancer Awareness Walk, which set out from the Kissena Park Velodrome in Queens for a four-mile walk, ending at Citi Field, home of the Mets. The event attracted 600-plus walkers and raised over $50,000 -- the highest total to date – for oral cancer awareness, prevention, and treatment. In addition to NYUCD and NYUCN, sponsors included Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center, the NYU Oral Cancer Center, Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, the Oral Cancer Foundation, New York Hospital in Queens, the Oral Cancer Consortium, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the UMDNJ New Jersey Dental School, and Boulevard Dental Center. Free oral cancer screenings were available throughout the event. A highlight of the event was remarks by U.S. Representative Grace Meng (D-Queens), whose husband is Dr. Wayne Kye, ’02, clinical assistant professor of periodontology and implant dentistry. As he has done since 2006, Dr. Ross Kerr, clinical professor of oral and maxillofacial pathology, radiology and medicine, provided invaluable strategic advice, encouragement, and support to the extraordinary student volunteers who made the walk such a great success. *This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Charlotte Parker2014-06-06T11:14:32-07:00June, 2014|OCF In The News, Oral Cancer News|

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