7/1/2004 New York, NY By Amy Norton Reuters Health Many healthy people who smoke or drink may have a genetic alteration in the cells of the mouth and throat that could signal an increased risk of developing cancer, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong. The genetic alteration affects the p15 gene, which is involved in the process that normally kills off cells when they go haywire. In many cancers, the p15 gene is methylated, meaning that it is turned off and is unable to perform its "tumor suppressor" function. The researchers' study of healthy adults and patients with head and neck cancers found that 68 percent of healthy smokers and drinkers showed methylated p15 in some of their oral cells. The same was true of 48 percent of the cancer patients, but only 8 percent of healthy adults who were non-smokers and drank only occasionally or not at all. The investigators say it is unclear whether the healthy men and women who showed signs of p15 methylation are in fact at increased risk of developing head and neck cancer, a group of diseases that includes cancers of the mouth, nasal cavity and throat. However, the findings do support the idea that "these p15 methylation changes are present in the very early stages of head and neck cancer development," study co-author Dr. Anthony Po-Wing Yuen told Reuters Health. He and his colleagues report on the study in the July 1st issue of the journal Cancer. That smokers and [...]

7/1/2004 Atlanta, GA By BD Powe and R Finnie Oncol Nurs Forum ; 31(4): 785-91. PURPOSE/OBJECTIVES: To assess the knowledge of oral cancer risk factors among African Americans. DESIGN: Descriptive; guided by the Patient/Provider/System Theoretical Model for cancer screening. SETTING: Community-based primary care center in a southern state. SAMPLE: 141 African Americans. The majority were female, had a 12th grade education, and had an income less than $10,000; 25% were smokers. METHODS: Participants were asked to identify whether each of 15 factors (i.e., seven risk factors and eight nonrisk factors) increased risk for oral cancer. One point was added for each correct response; therefore, scores could range from 0-15 points. Demographic data were collected. Research was designed to test knowledge of, and misconceptions about, oral cancer. FINDINGS: Only six participants correctly identified all of the risk factors. The majority recognized tobacco, but were not as aware of the effects of the sun, alcohol, and diet. Many erroneously identified factors such as hot beverages, poor oral hygiene, spicy foods, dentures, and mouthwash as risk factors. Those with higher incomes and those who visited their dentists in the prior year had more knowledge of risk factors. No differences were found in knowledge based on age, gender, education, or smoking status. CONCLUSIONS: Some patients are less likely to routinely visit a dentist and are less knowledgeable about the risk factors for oral cancer. Many of these risk factors are modifiable; therefore, patients need to be aware of the risks and have access to [...]

7/1/2004 By  Gina Shaw, Reviewed By Brunilda  Nazario, MD WebMD We've long known that aspirin reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes while increasing your chances of surviving them. But now this household drug may protect you in other ways, too. Newer evidence indicates that aspirin can also reduce the risk of cancer of the colon, esophagus, stomach, rectum, and prostate. And most recently, the humble aspirin has offered the tantalizing possibility that it may help protect against Alzheimer's disease. With all of these potential benefits, why aren't we dumping aspirin in the water as we do with fluoride? "Aspirin is the one drug I would take to a desert island with me," says Mark Fendrick, MD, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. "It costs two cents a day and its benefits are amazing. And if it had no side effects at all, we could give it to everybody." But Dr. Fendrick worries that the ever-growing list of diseases and disorders that aspirin and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) seem to combat drowns out information about the risks of this "wonder" drug. "When you take aspirin, the level of stomach protection is decreased and you're more likely to bleed. Thus, people who take aspirin regularly -- even in a buffered or coated form -- will have roughly double the likelihood of having a perforated ulcer or bleeding in the GI tract," explains Fendrick. "Relatively little attention is paid to this problem that [...]

6/30/2004 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC LL Patton, R Agans, JR Elter, JH Southerland, RP Strauss, and WD Kalsbeek J Public Health Dent, June 1, 2004; 64(3): 173-80 OBJECTIVE: This study assesses knowledge of oral cancer risk factors, clinical signs, and oral cancer examination experience among North Carolina adults. METHODS: A statewide random digit dial, computer-assisted telephone interview was conducted in 2002. Data from 1,096 respondents, with a response rate of 62 percent, were poststratified to 2000 census data by sex, race, and age group to produce population-based estimates. Knowledge of one sign of oral cancer, four or more risk factors for oral cancer, and having ever had an oral cancer examination were compared in logistic regression models using normalized weights. RESULTS: Fourteen (95% confidence interval [CI] +/-2) percent of adults had never heard of oral or mouth cancer. Risk factor knowledge was high for 56 percent (95% CI+/-3) and associated in a logistic regression model with younger age, feeling personal factors cause cancer, and nonuse of snuff. One sign of oral cancer (sore/lesion, red or white patch in mouth, and bleeding in the mouth) was correctly identified by 53 percent (95% CI+/-3) with significantly more correct responses from younger people, nonsmokers, and some college education. Only 29 percent (95% CI+/-3) reported ever having had an oral cancer examination when this procedure was described. Most respondents reported exams performed by dentists. In a weighted logistic regression model, older age, being dentate, nonsmokers, alcohol users, and those with some [...]

6/30/2004 FDA press release Food and Drug Administration News Laetrile - A Quack Medication to Treat Cancer Patients. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced the outcome of its investigative efforts by the Office of Criminal Investigations, conducted jointly with the United States Attorney's Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of New York and the New York Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), to bring to justice a businessman who had victimized cancer patients by heavily advertising and selling Laetrile, a highly toxic product that has not shown any effect on treating cancer. Jason Vale, president of the New York-based Christian Brothers Contracting Corp., was sentenced on June 18, 2004 to 63 months in prison and 3 years of supervised release by a United States District Court in the Eastern District of New York. "There is no scientific evidence that Laetrile offers anything but false hope to cancer patients, some of whom have used it instead of conventional treatment until it was too late for that treatment to be effective," said Dr. Lester M. Crawford, Acting FDA Commissioner. "This sentence sends a strong message that we will not tolerate marketing of bogus medicines." Following the investigation by FDA, the USAO, and the USPIS, the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of New York placed Vale's illegal sales and promotion of Laetrile -- also known as amygdalin, "Vitamin B-17", or apricot pits -- under injunction in April 2000. Defying the court order, Vale set up a shell [...]

6/30/2004 Washington DC By Craig Palmer The American Dental Association A new U.S. Surgeon General's report on smoking and health expands the list of illness and disease linked to cigarette smoking to include periodontal disease. The report released at a May 27 National Press Club news conference and posted online at the Office of the Surgeon General and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web sites is the 28th dating from the landmark 1964 report of Surgeon General Luther Terry, which cited cigarette smoking as a definite cause of cancers of the lung and larynx in men and chronic bronchitis in men and women. It is also the first in the series to report specifically on dental effects of cigarette smoking, although oral cancer and related premalignant lesions have been addressed in previous reports and the topic is addressed in Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General issued in the year 2000 and available at the surgeon general's Web site. American Dental Association tobacco policy is posted online at ADA.org. The dental section of the 960-page printed report of the U.S. Surgeon General reviews the epidemiologic evidence for smoking as a causal factor for the most common forms of nonmalignant oral disease. Its major conclusions: * the evidence is sufficient to infer a causal relationship between smoking and periodontitis; * the evidence is inadequate to infer the presence or absence of a causal relationship between smoking and coronal dental caries; * the evidence is suggestive but not [...]

6/29/2004 By Adam Marcus, Health Day Reporter Forbes.com Smokers have no doubt been barraged with warnings about the dangers of their bad habit, but those who use smokeless tobacco might also want to heed the health cautions. "Smokeless tobacco is not without health risks," said Dr. John Spangler, a family medicine specialist at Wake Forest University who studies tobacco use. "Although it doesn't seem to cause cardiovascular disease or cancers to the same rate that cigarette smoking does, it definitely does cause them." It seems a perfect time to stop, since May 31 has been designated an annual World "No Tobacco" Day, when smokers will put away their cigarettes in a gesture to good health. The American Cancer Society says people who use chewing tobacco and snuff face 50 times the risk of developing cancers in their cheeks and gums as those who don't chew. Every day, an estimated 24 Americans die of oral cancer -- nearly 8,800 a year -- according to the Oral Cancer Foundation. The habit is also linked to cancer of the pancreas, kidneys, prostate and possibly the breast, Spangler said. Chewing tobacco and snuff -- another form of the leaf that's put in the mouth -- should be a particular concern for America's youth. Nearly 10 percent of the nation's high school students (almost 16 percent of boys and 1.5 percent of girls) say they've used smokeless tobacco in the past month, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. One misconception about [...]

6/28/2004 A Z Reznick1, O Hershkovich1,2 and R M Nagler1,2 British Journal of Cancer Oropharyngeal cancer, which is usually squamous cell carcinoma, is the most common head and neck malignancy and accounts for 2-4% of all new cancers. It is primarily induced by exposure to tobacco. The paradigm of cigarette smoke induced oropharyngeal cancer's pathogenesis is based on the assumption that a constant direct attack of various cigarette smoke carcinogens causes widespread accumulating cellular and DNA aberrations in the oropharyngeal mucosal cells, in turn eventually resulting in malignant transformation. However, there is never a direct contact between cigarette smoke and the oropharyngeal mucosa. Saliva, bathing the mucosa from the oral cavity to the larynx, always intervenes, and cigarette smoke must first interact with saliva before it reaches the mucosa. The current study investigated the role of saliva in the pathogenesis of oropharyngeal cancer. A synergistic effect of cigarette smoke and saliva on oral cancer cells was demonstrated. This synergism is based on the reaction between redox active metals in saliva and low reactive free radicals in cigarette smoke, which results in the production of highly active hydroxyl free radicals. Thus, when exposed to cigarette smoke, salivary behavior is reversed, and the saliva loses its antioxidant capacity and becomes a potent prooxidant milieu. The devastating role of cigarette smoke-borne aldehydes was demonstrated as well. Based on these results and on our recent reports demonstrating that cigarette smoke destroys various salivary components, including protective ones such as peroxidase, the most important salivary [...]

6/27/2004 Pittsburgh, PA Dong Moon Shin M.D. University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Promising results from a study led by University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) researcher, Dong Moon Shin, M.D., suggest that treating head and neck cancer patients with a combination of the biologic agents retinoid, interferon, and vitamin E may lead to improved survival for patients with a locally advanced stage of the disease and result in few negative side-effects. Results from the study will be published in the June 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The phase II study focuses on patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), which has a low five-year survival rate after standard treatment including surgery, radiation therapy or both surgery and radiation. More than two-thirds of patients with SCCHN are diagnosed with stage III or IV cancer, which represent advanced stages of the disease, and are at high risk for disease recurrence or the development of second primary tumors (SPTs). “Given the poor survival rates from head and neck cancer, the study's overall survival rates of 98 percent at one-year follow-up and 91 percent at two-year follow-up, are very promising indications of the potential of this treatment for patients with locally-advanced head and neck cancer,” said Dr. Shin, professor of medicine and otolaryngology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and co-director, UPCI Head and Neck Cancer Program. “The finding that there are only mild to moderate negative side-effects from treatment, which primarily include flu-like symptoms and fatigue, [...]

6/25/2004 TORONTO, Canada University of Pittsburg release University of Pittsburgh researchers have found the combined PET/CT scanner is the most powerful imaging tool available for localizing, evaluating and therapeutic monitoring of head and neck cancer and may be equally useful for other cancers that are difficult to pinpoint. Results of a study showing PET/CT has a distinct advantage over PET or CT alone were presented today at the annual meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. According to the researchers, the prototype of the combined PET/CT machine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center is able to effectively localize cancerous activity in the head and neck, an area of the body that presents substantial challenges to other imaging methods because of densely packed tissue structures and the frequent involvement of lymph nodes. Separately, computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography (PET) do not provide images with the necessary combination of clear structural definition and metabolic activity that is achieved with the PET/CT. "The PET/CT tells us the exact size, shape and location of the cancer and provides a specific target for surgery or other treatment," said Carolyn Cidis Meltzer, M.D., associate professor of radiology and psychiatry and medical director of the UPMC PET Facility. "The PET/CT can also be used to help us develop the best course of treatment for an individual, then monitor that individual's progress during treatment." Head and neck cancers often have already involved lymph nodes when first discovered and can spread rapidly if they are not [...]