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Magic gel help Julie Andrews sing again

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: Fiona Macrae The stage may soon be alive with the sound of her famous voice once more. Dame Julie Andrews could have her vocal cords, which were ruined during a throat operation, restored by one of the world's leading scientists. The Sound Of Music Star has been unable to sing since disastrous surgery to remove non-cancerous throat nodules in 1997. But a breakthrough by chemical engineer Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, could give her back the clear soprano voice that won her many a lead role. He has created a rubbery gel that restores the elasticity to damaged and scarred vocal cords. Trials on rats and ferrets were successful, and the first human patients, perhaps including Dame Julie, could be treated in as little as a year. Professor Langer, who is collaborating with the singer's voice specialist Dr Steven Zeitels, said: 'So far the animal trials have been promising. It appears safe in animals. 'We hope we can start a clinical trial on this gel in a year or two. 'I don't want to promise we'll do it on Julie Andrews but she has been a big proponent of it.' Dame Julie, who received a £600,000 pay-out after the botched operation, is a regular visitor to the Professor's Boston laboratory. The scientist said: 'She can't really hold a note. She had a five octave voice at one point.' The treatment could help anyone whose voice may have been strained by frequent [...]

2009-10-23T07:40:12-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Research uproar at a cancer clinic

Source: Author: Duff Wilson Two years after becoming vice president for research at the biggest hospital in this university town, Suzanne Stratton said she had finally seen enough She had clashed repeatedly with a doctor who oversaw the local patients enrolled in more than 130 federally sponsored cancer studies — work that the hospital promoted in local television advertisements but that Dr. Stratton, who has a Ph.D. in molecular biology, said was often putting patients and science at risk. In a meeting with Carle Foundation Hospital administrators late last year, Dr. Stratton demanded that they take action. She cited an outside audit that had found “major deficiencies” in 12 of 29 experiments being overseen by that doctor, potentially endangering patients or skewing the studies’ results. Dr. Stratton says her bosses responding by firing her, ushering her out of the hospital later that same day. But federal officials, alerted by Dr. Stratton, have corroborated many of the shortcomings she found. They are continuing to investigate — an inquiry with implications for the nation’s cancer research effort that go far beyond the Carle Cancer Center. In the last quarter century, among the hundreds of thousands of people around the nation who have enrolled in federally financed trials of cancer drugs and treatments, more than one-third have come through the doors of local medical centers like Carle. Together, these nearly 400 federally designated community research sites and the network of 3,400 participating physicians amass more evidence for cancer science than at any of [...]

2009-10-23T07:16:57-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Head and neck cancer surgery patients at major risk of developing myocardial ischaemia

Source: www.docguide.com/news Author: Lexa W. Lee Of patients with head and neck cancer who have undergone surgery, 15% will develop postoperative myocardial ischemia, according to a study presented here October 19 at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Anesthesologists (ASA). In addition, ischaemia is a strong predictor of 60-day mortality following surgery, according to presenter Lesley Rao, MD, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. For the study, researchers performed a retrospective cohort study of 378 patients who underwent major head and neck cancer surgery. Potential risk factors for postoperative myocardial ischemia, such as heart disease and smoking history, were recorded. Troponin levels were serially measured up to the fifth day after surgery. Peak postoperative troponin I (TnI) concentration was the main outcome variable; a level over 0.1 ng/mL was considered abnormally high. Of the 378 patients, 57 patients (15%) developed an elevated TnI; 90% of which occurred within 24 hours after surgery. A history of renal insufficiency, coronary artery disease, peripheral vascular disease, hypertension, and combined chemotherapy and radiation were associated with elevated postoperative TnI. This group had a significantly longer length of stay in the hospital compared with those with lower TnI levels (8.5 vs 10.1 days; P = .014), ICU stay (3 vs 4.5 days; P = .001), and an 8-fold higher risk of death at 60 days following surgery (odds ratio [OR] = 7.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.98-29.31). At 1 year, patients with an abnormally high postoperative TnI were twice as likely to die [...]

2009-10-21T04:50:16-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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FDA approves two HPV vaccines: Cervarix for girls, Gardasil for boys

Sources: www.cancer.gov/ncicancerbulletin Author: news bulletin The FDA has approved a second vaccine to prevent cervical cancer and cervical precancers, the vaccine’s manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline, announced last week. The approval is based on data from a large clinical trial showing that the vaccine, Cervarix, prevented precancerous lesions in 93 percent of those who received the full vaccine sequence of three injections over 6 months. Cervarix is a bivalent vaccine, meaning it is specifically designed to protect against two human papillomavirus (HPV) types, HPV 16 and 18, which together are responsible for three-quarters of cervical cancers in North America. Clinical trial data also indicate that Cervarix offers more modest protection against precancerous lesions associated with HPV 31, GSK explained in a statement, as well as other tumor-causing (or oncogenic) HPV types. The company expects the vaccine to be available in the United States by the end of the year. The FDA last week also approved the HPV vaccine Gardasil for the prevention of genital warts in boys. Gardasil is already approved and is being actively used in girls and young women for the prevention of cervical cancer. Gardasil is a quadrivalent vaccine that is designed to specifically protect against infections with four HPV types: 16, 18, 6, and 11. HPV types 6 and 11, which are not considered to be oncogenic, cause genital warts. The agency’s approval of Gardasil for boys aged 9 to 26 is based on data from a randomized clinical trial of more than 4,000 males aged 16 to 26, [...]

2009-10-21T04:44:55-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Doctor’s word–tips to escape the smoking trap

Source: news.ncmonline.com Author: Erin Marcus, M.D. Editor's Note: In the debut of A Doctor's Word, Dr. Erin Marcus wrote about an African-American man's effort to quit smoking cigarettes. This week, she offers practical advice for all who would like to kick the habit. Dr. Marcus is associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. In my first column, I shared the story of Lawrence Jones, a 55-year-old man who smoked for 35 years until July, when he decided to quit. In his words, he was “sick and tired of being sick and tired.” Giving up the addictive habit of tobacco is extremely difficult, and Jones’ success depended on the help of a counselor, smoking cessation classes, nicotine replacement patches, and the support of a friend. Here are some things that helped Jones, as well as tips I’ve garnered over the years as a primary care physician. To succeed at quitting, you first have to decide that this is something you really want to do. Medicine and classes won’t work unless you have made a commitment. In Jones’ case, a graphic video that his counselor played at his first stop smoking class made him resolve to quit. It showed pictures of smokers that he could not forget: a man missing an eye and part of his nose from mouth cancer, and people breathing through tracheotomies – holes that doctors surgically cut in their throats when cancer prevented them from breathing. “You have to be willing [...]

2009-10-20T13:11:52-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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New cancer gene discovered

Source: news.biocompare.com Author: staff The study is published today in the prestigious scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The cancer caused by this new cancer gene is called adenoid cystic carcinoma and is a slow-growing but deadly form of cancer. The research group can now show that the gene is found in 100% of these tumours, which means that a genetic test can easily be used to make a correct diagnosis. “Now that we know what the cancer is down to, we can also develop new and more effective treatments for this often highly malignant and insidious form of cancer,” says professor Göran Stenman, who heads the research group at the Lundberg Laboratory for Cancer Research at the Sahlgrenska Academy. “One possibility might be to develop a drug that quite simply turns off this gene.” The newly discovered cancer gene is what is known as a fusion gene, created when two healthy genes join together as a result of a chromosome change. “Previously it was thought that fusion genes pretty much only caused leukaemia, but our group can now show that this type of cancer gene is also common in glandular cancer,” says Stenman. One of the two genes that form the fusion gene is known as MYB. Among other things, this gene controls cell growth and makes sure that the body gets rid of cells that are no longer needed. It has long been known to be a highly potent cancer gene in animals, but [...]

2009-10-19T16:54:43-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Strides made in tonsil cancer repair

Source: health.usnews.com Author: staff Surgery on tonsil cancer patients can spell trouble for the palate, but now researchers say they've developed a technique that helps preserve the ability to speak clearly and eat most foods. Traditionally, surgeons use big pieces of tissue to reconstruct the area after tonsil tumors are removed. But the patients who undergo this treatment can suffer "quality of life issues," study author Dr. Douglas Chepeha, an associate professor of otolaryngology, head and neck surgery and director of the microvascular program at the University of Michigan Health System, said in a school news release. The treatment "affects speech and eating -- typically, patients have difficulty eating when they have this kind of tumor and undergo surgery," he said. The new treatment, which uses tissue from another part of the body, helps ensure that the tongue can move more efficiently. The study authors, who report their findings in the current issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, followed 25 patients with tonsil cancer for an average of five years. "In particular, patients who have less than half their palate removed do very well with this reconstruction. We're trying to make sure the remaining tongue and palate they have really work. Our goal is to get patients eating in public and back to work," Chepeha said. Tonsil cancer is a form of throat cancer, which will kill an estimated 2,230 Americans this year.

2009-10-18T18:41:04-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Vitamin D for cancer prevention: global perspective

Source: Ann Epidemiol. 2009 Jul 1;19(7):468-483 Author: CF Garland, ED Gorham, AR Mohr, FC Garland Purpose: Higher serum levels of the main circulating form of vitamin D, 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), are associated with substantially lower incidence rates of colon, breast, ovarian, renal, pancreatic, aggressive prostate and other cancers. Methods: Epidemiological findings combined with newly discovered mechanisms suggest a new model of cancer etiology that accounts for these actions of 25(OH)D and calcium. Its seven phases are disjunction, initiation, natural selection, overgrowth, metastasis, involution, and transition (abbreviated DINOMIT). Vitamin D metabolites prevent disjunction of cells and are beneficial in other phases. Results/Conclusions: It is projected that raising the minimum year- round serum 25(OH)D level to 40 to 60 ng/mL (100–150 nmol/L) would prevent approximately 58,000 new cases of breast cancer and 49,000 new cases of colorectal cancer each year, and three fourths of deaths from these diseases in the United States and Canada, based on observational studies combined with a randomized trial. Such intakes also are expected to reduce case-fatality rates of patients who have breast, colorectal, or prostate cancer by half. There are no unreasonable risks from intake of 2000 IU per day of vitamin D3, or from a population serum 25(OH)D level of 40 to 60 ng/mL. The time has arrived for nationally coordinated action to substantially increase intake of vitamin D and calcium.

2009-10-18T18:41:45-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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HPV vaccine studied for first time in men

Source: www.sciencedaily.com Author: staff A vaccine designed to protect against the most common causes of genital warts and cervical and penile cancer is now being evaluated in young men. The Medical College of Georgia is a site for the first international study of a vaccine that protects against four strains of human papillomavirus in men age 16 to 23. “It’s a great opportunity for men to protect themselves from developing genital warts and penile cancer,” says Dr. Daron G. Ferris, a principal investigator on the study who directs the MCG Gynecologic Cancer Prevention Center. “It’s also a great way for men to protect their sexual partners from developing warts as well as cervical cancer, lower genital tract cancers and precancerous changes of the cervix.” MCG also is studying the vaccine in boys and girls age 10 to 15 and is still enrolling women age 15 to 45 in several other studies. “We are interested in looking at the efficacy of this vaccine in populations that will become target populations, should the Food and Drug Administration approve the vaccine,” Dr. Ferris says. MCG was the largest site in North America for the study in women age 15 to 25 of a vaccine for HPV types 16 and 18, the two most common causes of cervical and penile cancer. That vaccine was reported 100 percent effective at preventing the persistent HPV infections that cause cervical cancer in the Nov. 13 issue of the British journal, The Lancet. This newest study in men [...]

2009-10-16T15:44:16-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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Wart virus makes for less deadly cancer

Source: www.montrealgazette.com Author: Maggie Fox A wart virus best known for causing cervical cancer may make for a less-deadly kind of head and neck cancer, researchers reported on Thursday. People whose head and neck tumours carried the human papillomavirus virus, or HPV, were 59 percent less likely to die than people whose tumours were not caused by the virus, the researchers said. "A patient who has this actually has a better prognosis than patients with HPV-negative tumours," Dr. Richard Schilsky, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and a cancer specialist at the University of Chicago, said in an interview. He said it may be clear now that there are two kinds of head and neck cancers -- those caused by HPV and those linked to other causes, such as smoking and drinking. Not only can patients be treated differently, perhaps waiting longer for toxic chemotherapy if they have an HPV-positive tumour, but there may be ways to prevent these tumours, Schilsky said. Two vaccines -- Cervarix, made by GlaxoSmithKline, and Gardasil, made by Merck & Co Inc -- prevent HPV-16 infection. "There is every reason to think that vaccination with the HPV vaccine will prevent these," Schilsky said. Dr. Maura Gillison and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore studied 317 head and neck cancer patients whose tumours could be tested for HPV. The phase III study confirms earlier work Gillison's lab did linking HPV and these tumours. They said 87 percent of patients with tumours that tested [...]

2009-10-16T15:43:55-07:00October, 2009|Oral Cancer News|
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