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Hookahs don’t filter out tobacco toxins

Source: www.webmd.com Author: Robert Preidt, HealthDay Reporter Contrary to what many people think, hookah water pipes do not filter out most of the heavy metals in tobacco, a new study warns. Tobacco plants can absorb and accumulate heavy metals, such as copper, iron, chromium, lead and uranium. Long-term exposure to these heavy metals can increase smokers' risk of head and neck cancers, as well as other diseases, the study authors said. It's widely believed that hookahs filter out these heavy metals and are therefore safer than cigarettes, the authors pointed out in a news release from BioMed Central. But researchers from the German Jordanian University and the Royal Scientific Society Amman-Jordan tested four of the most popular tobacco brands in Jordan. The investigators found that hookahs remove only about 3 percent of heavy metals in tobacco, which is not enough to protect smokers against exposure to these toxic substances. The findings were released online Feb. 19 in the journal BMC Public Health. "Since the trend of smoking water pipe has increased markedly among the young in the last decade, not only in the Middle East but worldwide, our research adds to the evidence about its potential health hazards," lead researcher Akeel Al-Kazwini said in the news release. The water mainly cools the smoke, rather than filtering it as people may believe, according to Al-Kazwini. More needs to be done to make people aware of the dangers of smoking hookahs, the researchers said. "At present, the water pipe tobacco industry operates [...]

2015-02-21T07:37:16-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Clinician support critical to HPV vaccination

Source: www.medpagetoday.com Author: Charles Bankhead, Staff Writer, MedPage Today Immunization against human papillomavirus (HPV) infection continues to lag behind rates for other vaccine-preventable diseases, primarily because of lost opportunities in the clinic, according to participants in a national conference. Primary care providers have yet to get onboard with HPV immunization with their critical recommendation to patients or parents. Enthusiasm for HPV vaccination also has taken a hit because of its portrayal as a means to prevent a sexually transmitted disease (STD) instead of a vaccine to prevent cancer, speakers said during an HPV vaccination "summit" at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla. "The most important problem is that many healthcare providers are not making a strong recommendation for the vaccine in the same way that they recommend other recommended vaccines," said Melinda Wharton, MD, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. "That's fundamentally what we think the biggest problem is." "We're hurting ourselves by approaching it differently and talking about it differently than we're talking about the other vaccines," said Ailis Clyne, MD, of the Rhode Island Department of Health, which has mounted one of the more successful HPV immunization campaigns in the U.S. Not only have the primary "pitch men" not been getting the message out about HPV, too often the sales pitch has focused on the wrong disease, said Otis Brawley, MD, chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society (ACS). "We need to start talking about [the vaccine] as a cancer vaccine, instead [...]

2015-02-21T07:32:41-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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HPV vaccination does not increase promiscuity among adolescents: It’s a vaccine against sexually transmitted cancer

Source: reason.com Author: Ronald Bailey On February 3, 2015, libertarian radio host Andrew Wilkow invited me to discuss the risks and benefits of vaccination. We disagreed: Mr. Wilkow is considerably more worried about the risks than is warranted by the scientific evidence. During the segment, Mr. Wilkow stated that he did not plan to have his two-year old daughter vaccinated against the human papilloma virus (HPV). Infection with human papilloma virus is responsible for about 11,967 new cases of HPV-associated cervical cancer and for about 2,370 new cases of HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancers in women and nearly 9,356 new cases in men each year in the United States. During the radio segment, I mentioned that a male friend had recently died of HPV-associated head-and-neck cancer. I failed to mention that another male friend is being treated for that cancer now. Mr. Wilkow argued that since the vaccine immunizes against a sexually transmitted disease that he saw no reason to have his daughter vaccinated against it. The series of three HPV injections is recommended to start after age 9, so Mr. Wilkow has time to reconsider. Mr. Wilkow is, however, not alone in his opposition to HPV vaccination. A 2014 study in Clinical Pediatrics reported the results of a survey of parents' actions regarding HPV vaccination. The researchers found: A significantly higher proportion of parents of girls who were non-Hispanic white, lived in households with higher incomes, and had mothers with higher education levels, delayed and/or refused vaccination. Another of the early [...]

2015-02-11T08:16:00-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Harnessing the immune system to fight cancer

Source: www.npr.org Author: staff When Barbara Marder was diagnosed with lung cancer three years ago, she had part of her right lung removed, went through a round of chemotherapy and tried to move on with her life. "I had hoped that everything was fine — that I would not create difficulty for my children, that I would get to see my grandchildren grow up," says Marder, 73, of Arnold, Md. But a routine scan a year later found bad news: The cancer was back — this time in her other lung. "I was very disappointed," says Marder. She knew her prognosis was grim. "I decided at that point that ... I should think about the fact that perhaps this was going to advance rapidly at this point. And check and make sure: Is my will in order? What should I do so that my children aren't left with a mess to clean up in my house?" But Marder didn't give up. She started exploring her options, which eventually brought her to Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, where doctors are testing a new type of cancer treatment known as immunotherapy. "Immunotherapy for cancer means developing treatments to harness your immune system and using your own immune system to fight the cancer," says Dr. Julie Brahmer, an associate professor of oncology and Marder's doctor. Scientists have been trying to do this for decades. After all, our immune systems can fight off all kinds of health threats. So, why not cancer? But nothing seemed [...]

2015-02-11T08:10:05-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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New model proposed for predicting outcomes more accurately in HPV-related throat cancer patients

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: staff Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre are proposing a new model to enable doctors to predict outcomes more accurately for patients with throat cancers specifically caused by Human Papillomavirus (HPV). The findings are published online today in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Study investigators, Dr. Brian O'Sullivan, Lead, Head and Neck Cancer Site Group and Shao-Hui Huang, Research and Clinical Radiation Therapist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, have determined that a new model for classifying the most frequently seen throat cancers in our geographic location is needed. This classification incorporates individual patient factors including age and their smoking status with the traditional classification of the extent of disease, to offer a more personalized approach to predict outcomes and guide treatment. "Our study shows that the current model derived for smoking and alcohol related cancers is not suited for throat cancer caused by HPV, a burgeoning throat cancer population in the Western World, including Canada," says Huang. "This is the future of tumour staging. We need to consider the patient as a whole. Both individual factors, how extensive the disease is in the patient, and tumour biology should play a role in determining the best course of treatment." The purpose of a tumour staging system is to classify the disease into early, intermediate or advanced stage cancer. This classification helps determine treatment plans and can suggest what is likely to be the outcome. In recent years, it's been discovered that throat cancer caused by HPV behaves [...]

2015-02-11T07:56:14-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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How green tea can kill cancer cells: compound destroys disease while leaving healthy cells unscathed

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk Author: Lizzie Parry A compound in green tea has been found to kill mouth cancer cells while leaving healthy cells undamaged. While it was known the drink could help fight the disease, scientists say they have now worked out why. The breakthrough involved identifying the process by which the substance attacks cancer cells. This, it is hoped, will lead to new treatments for oral cancer, as well as other forms of the disease. A compound found in green tea has been found to kill off oral cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells undamaged. Scientists at Penn State have now identified how the process targets the disease Scientists at Penn State University, in the US, explored the specific mechanism by which the green tea compound is able to target the diseased cells. Earlier studies have shown that epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a compound found in green tea, killed mouth cancer cells without harming normal cells. But researchers did not understand the reasons behind the substance's ability to kill the cancer cells. Scientists now believe EGCG may trigger a process in the mitochondria - the powerhouse of a cell that produces energy - that leads to cell death. Professor Joshua Lambert, a specialist in food science and co-director of Penn State's Center for Plant and Mushroom Foods for Health, said: 'EGCG is doing something to damage the mitochondria. 'That mitochondrial damage sets up a cycle causing more damage and it spirals out, until the cell undergoes programmed cell death. 'It looks [...]

2015-02-04T08:23:54-07:00February, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Inherited factors linked to head and neck cancers in young adults

Source: www.news-medical.net Author: Oxford University Press An article published online today in the International Journal of Epidemiology pools data from 25 case-control studies and conducts separate analyses to show that head and neck cancers (HNC) in young adults are more likely to be as a result of inherited factors, rather than lifestyle factors such as smoking or drinking alcohol. Approximately 550,000 new cases of HNC are diagnosed worldwide annually, with an increased incidence in young adults (YA) also being reported. In particular, reports indicate an increase in tumours affecting the tongue and oropharynx among young adults in Europe, the United States, India, and China. Dr Tatiana Natasha Toporcov and colleagues pooled data from 25 studies from the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology (INHANCE) consortium to compare the role of major risk factors and family history in HNC for YA (45 years of age or younger) and older adults (over 45 years of age). Participants were surveyed about their history of cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and diet, as well as family history of cancer. In total, there were 2,010 cases and 4,042 controls in YA, and 17,700 cases and 22,704 controls in older adults. The attributable fraction (an estimate of the proportion of cases which could be avoided if the exposures were eliminated) for smoking on the risk of HNC was 20% in young women, 49% in older women, 46% in young men, and 64% in older men. The attributable fraction for drinking alcohol on the risk of HNC was [...]

2015-01-25T10:21:44-07:00January, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Keratinization may be prognostic in certain head and neck cancers

Source: www.healio.com Author: T. Cooper Keratinization may be prognostic for patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, according to results of a retrospective, cross-sectional study. The greatest prognostic value may be among patients who have p16-negative and nonbasaloid tumors, as well as those who are smokers, results showed. Keratinization may result histologically following hematoxylin-eosin staining that is associated with adverse outcomes in head and neck cancers, particularly oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma. Hadi Seikaly, MD, FRCSC, professor of surgery and divisional director and zone section head for otolaryngology – head and neck surgery at the University of Alberta, and colleagues assessed the prognostic value of keratinization in a large cohort of patients. Subgroup analyses evaluated results based on p16 status, basaloid differentiation and smoking status. The researchers used a prospectively collected database to identify 208 patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed and treated at a single tertiary cancer center between 2002 and 2009. The mean age of the patients was 58.4 years (range, 32-95 years), and the male-to-female ratio was 3.4 to 1. The analysis included 146 smokers, 59 nonsmokers and three participants for whom smoking data were not available. Tissue microarrays were generated from each patient’s specimens stained with hematoxylin-eosin and immunohistochemical markers. Each image was scored for the presence of keratinization and/or basaloid differentiation, as well as p16 status. Five-year disease-specific survival based on keratinization served as the primary outcome measure. Of the 208 samples, 112 were nonkeratinizing. The 96 patients with keratinizing samples were more likely to [...]

2015-01-25T08:45:52-07:00January, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Patients undergoing radiation therapy benefit from animal assisted therapy

Source: radiationtherapynews.com Author: staff According to a recent study published in the Journal of Community and Supportive Oncology, therapy dogs can help improve the emotional state of some cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy. The study, developed by Mount Sinai Beth Israel researchers, found that cancer patients who are undergoing intensive multi-modal concomitant radiation therapy together with chemotherapy for gastrointestinal, head and neck cancers, benefited from therapy dog’s visits in terms of their emotional well-being and life quality, even during therapy phases where physical decline was more pronounced. This research was funded by The Good Dog Foundation, a provider of professionally trained therapy dogs, Zoetis, an animal health company and the Pfizer Foundation. “This study is the first such definitive study in cancer, and it highlights the merits of animal- assisted visits using the same scientific standards as we hold for the cancer treatment itself. It shows the importance of an innovative environmental intervention during cancer treatment,” Stewart B. Fleishman, MD, principal investigator and Founding Director of Cancer Supportive Services at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, said in a news release. “Having an animal-assisted visit significantly improved their quality of life and ‘humanized’ a high-tech treatment,” he said. “Patients said they would have stopped their treatments before completion, except for the presence of the certified Good Dog Foundation therapy dog and volunteer handler.” “Thanks to this rigorously designed study, we now have strong evidence that pet therapy is an effective tool to help cancer patients get through challenging treatments,” added Gabriel A. [...]

2015-01-17T12:32:13-07:00January, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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Kramer: Our cancer risk is not written in the stars

Source: http://www.cancerletter.com/ Author: Matthew Ong, reporter with The Cancer Letter The stochastic process of stem cell divisions should not be equated with bad luck, said Barnett Kramer, director of the NCI Division of Cancer Prevention, focusing on misinterpretations of the “Bad Luck” paper by Cristian Tomasetti and Bert Vogelstein, of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Kramer spoke with Matthew Ong, a reporter with The Cancer Letter. Matthew Ong: What was your overall impression of the Tomasetti and Vogelstein paper? Barnett Kramer: I found the paper interesting. What they did was they didn’t generate any new experimental evidence, obviously. They searched the literature for reports on numbers of stem cells and number of divisions of the stem cells. They used well-accepted concepts that the risk of mutations or number of mutations are relatively constant for a given cell division—in statistical terms, a stochastic process—that is, any given division, you don’t know which gene is going to mutate, but for every given division, you can predict, relatively accurately, how many mutations are going to occur in the division. You just don’t know which cell it’s going to happen to. But if you have enough cells, then a statistical analysis of this stochastic process gives you, generally, a pretty good idea of how many mutations there are, and the number of mutations to be a risk factor for cancer. MO: What were the authors trying to achieve in their analysis? MK: They took well-known concepts, went to the literature, looked for the number [...]

2015-01-17T12:26:27-07:00January, 2015|Oral Cancer News|
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