Charlotte Parker, Author at Oral Cancer News

Kenneth Price dies at 77; artist transformed traditional ceramics

Source: Los Angeles Times Kenneth Price was among the first generation of iconoclastic L.A. artists to attain international stature. His work with glazed and painted clay was 'resolutely original' and redefined contemporary sculpture, an observer says. Kenneth Price, a prolific Los Angeles artist whose work with glazed and painted clay transformed traditional ceramics while also expanding orthodox definitions of American and European sculpture, died early Friday at his home and studio in Taos, N.M. He was 77. Price had struggled with tongue and throat cancer for several years, his food intake restricted to liquids supplied through a feeding tube. Despite his infirmity, he continued to produce challenging new work and to mount critically acclaimed exhibitions at galleries in Los Angeles, New York and Europe. At the time of his death Price had completed preparations for a 50-year retrospective, scheduled to open at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the fall in an exhibition designed by architect Frank Gehry. The show will travel to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A 1992 retrospective traveled from the Menil Collection in Houston to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In the decades following World War II, Price was among the first generation of iconoclastic L.A. artists to attain international stature. Three Price sculptures were on view in "Pacific Standard Time: Crosscurrents in L.A. Painting and Sculpture, 1950-1970," a survey of 47 leading postwar artists that closed this month at theJ. Paul [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-27T12:28:51-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Palliation Trumps PET in Prolonging Head and Neck Cancer Survival

Source: Elsevier Global Medical News. 2012 Feb 23, D McNamara MIAMI BEACH (EGMN) - Using PET scans to diagnose distant metastasis in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma does not significantly prolong life expectancy, compared with other imaging techniques, according to a retrospective study. Palliative chemotherapy did make a difference, however, significantly increasing life expectancy by 215 days in patients who received it, Dr. Matthew E. Spector and colleagues from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reported at a meeting of the Triological Society. "Over 90% of patients at University of Michigan have at least one PET scan at some point in their treatment," Dr. Spector said. Increased sensitivity is one reason for such widespread adoption of the imaging technique. "We were wondering, while it may be more sensitive to identify distant metastatic disease, was it changing what we were doing?" In a retrospective look at 170 patients with such cancers at their institution, researchers found no significant difference in median survival between patients who had a PET scan (168 days) and those who did not (193 days). Determination of any survival difference was a primary aim of the study. "A lot of studies have looked at PET scans, and we know in up to one-third of cases it may change our decisions," Dr. Spector said. For example, a negative PET scan might mean definitive treatment, whereas a positive PET finding might lead to palliative therapy. However, "no one has looked at the impact of the PET findings on the life expectancy after diagnosis." All patients in the study had a distant metastasis diagnosis. "We found PET was more [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-27T11:42:48-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

More troops on smokeless tobacco after deployment

Source: Reuters.com The findings, reported in the journal Addiction, follow other studies that have tied deployment and combat to health risks, including higher rates of smoking and drinking. "This adds to the list of things we're learning are associated with combat," said lead researcher Dr. Eric D.A. Hermes, of the Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. It's not fully clear why some troops take up smokeless tobacco after deployment. But Hermes suspects stress is involved. That's because deployment with combat exposure was linked to a higher risk than deployment alone. And troops with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) also had an increased risk. The findings come from the Millennium Cohort Study, an ongoing government project looking at the health effects of military service. Of more than 45,000 personnel followed from 2001 to 2006, 2 percent started using smokeless tobacco during that time. Another 9 percent had already developed the habit, and kept it up. Overall, troops who were deployed but did not see combat were almost one-third more likely to take up a smokeless tobacco habit than their non-deployed counterparts. Those odds were two-thirds to three-quarters higher for troops who were in combat or who deployed multiple times. According to Hermes, those different levels of deployment can be seen as stand-ins for different levels of stress. So it's possible that stress plays a role, he said. Another finding gives weight to that idea. "We also saw a relationship with PTSD symptoms," Hermes said. Just under 4 [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-27T10:28:20-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

UPDATE 1-Swedish Match pushes ahead with snus in the U.S

Source: Reuters.com STOCKHOLM, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Tobacco products group Swedish Match will step up promotion of moist Swedish-style snuff, called snus, in the United States this year where it expect the market to grow faster than its Scandinavian home territory. Snus, a tobacco product put under the lip and sucked, mostly in pouches, is the group's main cash cow, sold mainly in Scandinavia. Swedish Match wants to differentiate itself in the larger U.S. market by growing sales of snus, which is pasteurized and has a different texture and taste to fermented U.S.-style snuff. "During 2012, we will continue to invest for growth. In the U.S. we will expand distribution and invest further in marketing activities ...," said Swedish Match, which is the largest producer of snus in Sweden. The product is banned in the rest of the European Union. Swedish Match, a rival to Altria Group Inc, Reynolds American Inc and BAT., also makes cigars. Marketing costs for snus in the U.S. weighed on fourth-quarter profit, the group said on Wednesday. Operating profit fell to 1.02 billion crowns ($153.6 million) from a year-earlier 1.42 billion, against a mean forecast for 1.03 billion in a Reuters poll of analysts. It said significantly higher international snus investments weighed on the profit margin for snuff and snus, which make up more than half of profit. The margin fell to 45.9 percent from 48.1 percent, well below a forecast for 47.6 percent. As well as aiming at the U.S. market, its venture with [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-24T10:27:50-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Timing of Post-TX Imaging Key in Head, Neck Cancer

Source: MedScape Today Summary The investigators report on a systematic review and meta-analysis of 51 studies involving 2335 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who underwent post-treatment or surveillance with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET or FDG-PET/CT. The random-effects model-weighted mean pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) for detection of residual disease at the primary tumor site were 79.9% (95% CI, 73.7%-85.2%), 87.5% (95% CI, 85.2%-89.5%), 58.6% (95% CI, 52.6%-64.5%), and 95.1% (95% CI, 93.5%-96.5%), respectively. The respective values for detection of residual post-treatment neck nodes were 72.7% (95% CI, 66.6%-78.2%), 87.6% (95% CI, 85.7%-89.3%), 52.1% (95% CI, 46.6%-57.6%), and 94.5% (95% CI, 93.1%-95.7%). In a subgroup analysis on timing of PET after completion of therapy, scans performed after 12 weeks had significantly higher diagnostic performance than scans done within 12 weeks, but only for residual neck nodes and not for residual disease at the primary tumor site. No statistically significant difference in diagnostic accuracy was noted between stand-alone PET and PET/CT. Viewpoint Well-performed systematic reviews and meta-analyses are important contributions to the literature.[1] In this meta-analysis, the diagnostic performance of dedicated PET and PET/CT with FDG was investigated by pooling the data from a relatively large cohort of patients with head and neck cancer who had been treated with chemoradiation. The pooled evidence demonstrated good diagnostic performance for FDG-PET and FDG-PET/CT, regardless of the type of scanner, with very high NPV but somewhat suboptimal PPV; this is due to the nonspecificity of FDG, [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-22T09:47:08-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

HPV and on HPV oral cancers need to be treated differently to reduce toxicity and improve out comes in each type

The National Cancer Institute In a large randomized European clinical trial, accelerated radiation therapy for locally advanced, inoperable head and neck cancer—given either with or without chemotherapy—did not prolong the time to disease progression compared with standard radiation therapy plus concurrent chemotherapy, which has been the standard of care in Europe and the United States. Results from the study were published online January 18 in Lancet Oncology. Another trial published in 2010, by the U.S. Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG), showed similar results, but the two research teams have drawn different conclusions, which will affect ongoing clinical trials and, potentially, future research collaborations. The researchers, from the European Groupe d'Oncologie Radiothérapie Tête et Cou (GORTEC), compared two experimental regimens with standard chemoradiotherapy in the trial, called GORTEC 99-02. All participating patients had stage III or stage IV head and neck squamous-cell carcinoma that had not metastasized but that could not be removed surgically. The 244 patients in the conventional chemoradiotherapy arm received three cycles of chemotherapy with the drugs carboplatin and fluorouracil plus 70 Gy of radiation given over the standard 7 weeks. In one experimental arm, 245 patients received "accelerated chemoradiotherapy," which consisted of two cycles of the same chemotherapy drugs plus radiation therapy accelerated by 1 week. In the second experimental arm, 242 patients received only "very accelerated" radiation therapy, which consisted of a total dose of 64.8 Gy given over 3.5 weeks. The GORTEC trial results are somewhat difficult to interpret because the trial "didn't change just one variable, it changed two—in addition to the radiation regimen, it also changed the chemotherapy," explained Dr. Bhadrasain [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-16T15:19:01-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

Baseball Great Blames Smokeless Tobacco for Cancer

Source: Dr.Bicuspid.com February 14, 2012 -- Baseball Hall of Fame outfielder Tony Gwynn underwent surgery today in San Diego to remove a cancerous lesion in his mouth, according to an article on ESPN.com. This is the second time in two years that Gwynn has developed a malignant growth in his right cheek. He blames smokeless tobacco for the cancer; he dipped during his entire 20-year career with the San Diego Padres and for 10 years after that as well. Since the 2010 operation, however, Gwynn has not used smokeless tobacco, instead opting for a doctor-approved synthetic dip that he said "tasted awful." But last month, the cancer returned, according to ESPN. Doctors do not believe the cancer has spread outside of Gwynn's salivary gland, Gwynn's wife told ESPN. During the operation, doctors will conduct further biopsies of Gywnn's parotid gland, she said. Gwynn is currently the baseball coach at San Diego State. This news story was resourced by the Oral Cancer Foundation, and vetted for appropriateness and accuracy.

Charlotte Parker2012-02-15T17:22:02-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

“Through With Chew 2012”

Source: LeaderAdvisor.com “Through With Chew 2012” is designed to raise awareness about the variety of new smokeless tobacco products (SLT), dangerous especially to young people, not only because the amount of nicotine absorbed from these products is substantially higher than the amount absorbed from a cigarette, but also because of the aggressive marketing of these new products by the tobacco companies. Some of the latest tobacco industry innovations include tobacco dispensed in oral pouches, dissolvable tobacco (orbs) and the electronic cigarette. Aggressive marketing includes the fact that the five largest tobacco manufacturers spent $547.9 million on SLT advertising and promotions in 2008, up from the previous year by 34 percent (www.cdc.gov). A goal of the education campaign this year is to educate parents, teachers, administrators and coaches about these new products, that the packaging often resembles candy packaging, and that they are actually tobacco-containing products. Tobacco industry documents themselves indicate that SLT products are aggressively marketed toward youth, and that the industry has a strategy to progressively move youth from candy or fruit flavored products to more robust varieties for the nicotine dependent user (www.tobaccofreekids.org). Because so many people die per year due to tobacco-related illness, the tobacco companies need to find replacement users for their products. Tobacco use, no matter what form, remains the leading cause of death in this country annually. Just as in cigarettes, the leading cancer-causing agents in SLT are the tobacco-specific nitrosamines, which are formed during the growing, curing, fermenting and aging of tobacco leaves. [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-15T10:49:15-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

HPV Connected to Oral Cancers Too

Source: Chicago Tribune It's common knowledge that HPV — or human papillomavirus — is linked with cervical cancer, thanks to the controversy over the vaccine. But far fewer people know that this same sexually transmitted viral strain is connected to oral cancers, according to a new study, recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. For years, clinicians thought these kinds of cancer — affecting the tongue and tonsil areas — were almost exclusively caused by tobacco use, since they mostly struck heavy smokers and drinkers. But according to Dr. Maura Gillison, an oncologist and researcher at Ohio State University, it's not cigarettes that are the culprit, but oral sex. The good news: Most people with oral HPV will never develop cancer. Dr. Ezra Cohen, a specialist in head, neck, thyroid and salivary gland cancers at the University of Chicago, helped explain what it all means: Q. In general, mouth cancers are increasing? A. Oropharynx cancer is on the rise dramatically. It's gone up 3 percent a year for the last three decades and will surpass all other sites for head and neck cancers. Q. And HPV-positive oral cancers? A. They will surpass cervical cancers within the next three years. It's only relatively recently that we've come to realize the scope of HPV-related cancers. Q. What have we learned from this study? A. Quite a lot, actually. It told us about prevalence — that about 7 percent of adults in the U.S. are infected with oral HPV... and [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-15T10:45:22-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

HPV a gender-neutral killer

Source: DailyPress.com Socially conservative lawmakers will likely repeal Virginia's requirement that schoolgirls get vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus called HPV that can, and now will, kill many of them. They're repealing it in the name of sexual abstinence, family values and apple pie. In the name of keeping government out of private health-care decisions — and, yes, they say that with a straight face. A body count doesn't bother them. Virtually all cervical cancer is caused by the human papillomavirus, which infects about 80 percent of sexually active adults by age 40. Most don't even know they have it. But, in some women, the virus mutates cells lining the cervix, turning them into cancerous lesions. About 12,000 women each year are diagnosed with cervical cancer, and 4,000 of them will die of it, according to the National Cancer Institute. This vaccine would prevent nearly all that cancer. All that death. Yet for moral reasons, not medical, the GOP-controlled House voted last month to eliminate the state's 2007 requirement that girls receive the vaccine before enrolling in sixth grade. (The vaccine is most effective before the onset of sexual activity.) The bill now goes to the GOP-controlled Senate, where it's also expected to pass. Lawmakers in Richmond weren't swayed by appeals to conscience, to logic or to medicine. They didn't care that the law already allows parents to decline the vaccine for their child for any reason whatsoever. They even rejected an amendment by a socially conservative colleague, Del. Chris [...]

Charlotte Parker2012-02-15T10:16:31-07:00February, 2012|Oral Cancer News|

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