Archive for the ‘Cancer’ Category
Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
In a recent study published in Cancer Causes Control researchers concluded that women with non-melanoma skin cancers were more likely to have smoked cigarettes than women without skin cancer. In the study researchers evaluated the relationship between cigarette smoking and non-melanoma skin cancers including basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Smoking histories were compared between subjects diagnosed with BCC and/or SCC and controls who were screened for skin cancer but were not diagnosed nor had a history of skin cancer.
There were 689 subjects (383 with skin cancer and 315 controls and 355 men and 343 women and all were white) in the study and questions were asked about years of smoking, how many cigarettes daily, and when those who once smoked had quit as part of the assessment. Results were stratified by sex and showed that smoking was associated with non-melanoma skin cancer overall, and that the risk increased by number of cigarettes daily, total years of smoking and pack-year smoked. Associations were especially strong for SCC in women which was more than two times as likely in those who had smoked for 20 or more years compared to the controls.
Among men there were positive associations between smoking and BCC and SCC but none were statistically significant. “However, among women, smoking was not associated with BCC, while highly statistically significant associations were observed for SCC. Women with SCC were almost two times more likely to have smoked 20 years or more. Men who had BCC were significantly more likely to have smoked for at least 20 years than men without cancer. A;though the study did find an association between smoking and skin cancer it did not prove a cause and effect. More research is needed.
Tags: research, skin cancer, smoking
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Friday, December 16th, 2011
A recent research study published in the Journal of The American Dietetic Association concluded that the effects of consuming fruit and vegetables seem to differ depending on the site of origin. Within the proximal and distal colon and that brassica vegetables such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli are associated with a decreased risk of these cancer. However, a lower risk of distal colon cancer was associated with eating more apples, and at the same time an increase of rectal cancer was found to occur with the consumption of fruit juices. The researchers acknowledged the earlier research on diet and colorectal cancer research that was contradictory and believe these results were related to not considering the site of the colorectaL cancer. In a case controlled study, the researchers explored the link between fruit and vegetables and cancers in three different parts of the bowel: proximal colon cancer, distal colon cancer, and rectal cancer. There were 918 subjects with a confirmed colorectal diagnosis and 1021 controls with no history of colorectal cancer. Extensive medical and nutritional questionaires were completed and all participants were assigned a socioecomic status depending upon their address.
Results showed that the consumption of brassica vegetables were associated with a reduced incidence of proximal colon cancer, and both fruit and vegetables seemed to reduce the risk of distal colon cancer. Distal colon cancer risk was significantly reduced with the intake of dark yellow vegetables and apples, but there was an increase risk of rectal cancer associated with the consumption of fruit juice. There was no risk of proximal colon cancer or rectal cancer associated with intakes of total fruit and vegetables. total vegetables or total fruit.
Tags: colorectal cancer, distal colon, fruit, proximal colon, rectal, research, vegetables
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Friday, December 9th, 2011
A recent study published in Cancer Epidemiology: Bio markers & Prevention concluded that long-term consumption of coffee may be associated with a reduced risk for endometrial cancer in women. The sample included 67,470 women enrolled in the Nurses Health Study who were followed for 25 years. During that time there were 672 cases of endometrial cancer in the sample and the results showed that drinking more than four cups of coffee daily was associated with a 25 percent reduced risk for endometrial cancer and drinking between 2 and 3 cups daily was associated with a 7 percent reduction. A similar association was found for decaffeinated coffee in which drinking more than 2 cups daily was associated with a 22 percent reduction for endometrial cancer. The author encouraged additional research.
Tags: coffee consumption, endometrial cancer, research
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Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
A new study published in the online edition of the British Journal of Cancer concluded that elevated blood sugar levels are associated with an increase risk of colorectal cancer. Women in the National Institute of Health’s Women’s Health Initiative Study were evaluated for fasting blood sugar and insulin levels before the study as a baseline and several times thereafter over a 12 year period. There were 5,000 women in the study and at the end of the 12 years 81 had developed colorectal cancer. Researchers found that baseline elevated blood sugar levels were associated with an increase colorectal cancer risk. Women in the highest 1/3 of baseline blood sugar levels were almost twice as likely to have developed colorectal cancere as the women at the lowest 1/3 levels. Similar results were found when researchers evaluated repeated blood sugar levels over the time period. There was no association between insulin levels and colorectal risk in the study.
Tags: blood sugar levels, colorectal cancer, insulin, research, women
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Friday, November 25th, 2011
A new study published in the journal Molecular Carcinogenesis concluded that silibinin, a major component of milk thistle, stopped the spread of lung cancer in mice lung cancer cells.
The researchers explained how it works as follows. In a cell there may be a chair of signals, one leading to the next, to the next and eventually to an end product. It is possible to eliminate the end product by breaking a signaling chain in the above process. The end product is COX2 and iNOS and are enzymes involved the inflammatory response to perceived wounds and both can aid tumor growth. Further back in the signaling process leading to these unwanted enzymes are STAT1 and STAT3 that allow the blueprint of DNA to bind with proteins that continue the signaling cascade leading eventually to the production of COX2 and iNOS and the growth of lung tumors. By intervening to stop STAT1 and STAT3 you interfere with the chain and the end result of COX2 and iNOS and the development of lung tumors. The researchers found that silibinin, a derivative of milk thistle, was able to do this. Compared to the multi-million dollar drugs that interfere with these and other parts of the chain, the naturally occuring silibinin blocked the expression of COX2 and iNOS and also the migration of existing lung cancer cells. The researchers stated “What we show is that STAT1 and STAT3 may be promising therapeutic targets in the treatment of lung cancer , no matter how you target them. And also that naturally derived products like silibinin may be as effective as today’s best treatments.”
Tags: lung cancer, milk thistle, research, silibinin
Posted in Cancer, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Friday, November 18th, 2011
Research presented at the 76th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology concluded that physicians who listen to Mozart while performing colonoscopy may increase their detection rate over doing the procedure without music.
In the randomized, controlled study, two experienced endoscopists completed at least 1,000 colonoscopies with or without Mozart music and the detection rates were compared with their baseline rate before the study. For the first doctor the polyp detection rate was 67% with the music and 30 percent without the music. This is higher that the doctors prestudy baseline rate of 21 percent. For the second doctor , the polyp detection rate was 37 percent with the music, and 40 percent without. These are higher than the prestudy baseline rate of 27 percent. Adenomas are a type of colon polyp that are considered a precursor for invasive colorectal cancer so it is important to identify and remove these polyps. The researchers said “Anything we can do to get those rates up has the potential to save lives.” There is a large body of research that shows that clearing the colon of polyps significantly reduces colorectal cancer mortality and when detected in its earliest and most treatable stage, the survival rate for colorectal cancer exceeds 90 percent. This study has a small sample but the results may assist doctors to improve their detection rates of colon polyps.
Tags: Cancer, colonoscopy, colorectal polyps, Mozart music, research
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Friday, November 4th, 2011
A new study reported in Cancer Prevention Research concluded that men who ate a low-fat diet with fish oil supplements from 4 to 6 weeks before having their prostate removed had slower cancer-cell growth in their prostate tissue than men who ate the typical high-fat Western diet. The cell membrane of both healthy and cancer cells in men on the low-fat diet with fish oil supplements also showed changes in that there were higher levels of omega-3-fatty acids from fish oil and lower levels omega-6-fatty acids from corn oil. Researchers also found that blood from patients using the low-fat supplemented by fish oil diet slowed the growth of prostate cancer cells in a test tube whereas blood from those on the typical diet did not. The researcher said “The findings that the low-fat, fish oil diet reduced the number of rapidly growing cells in the prostate cancer tissue is important because the rate at which the cells are dividing can be predictive of future cancer progression. The lower the rate of proliferation, the lesser the chances that the cancer will spread outside the prostate, where it is much harder to treat.”
The study included 48 men followed over 6 weeks. Men in the low-fat fish oil supplemented diet group were provided food to assure that they followed a low-fat diet supplemented with fish oil The diet provided 15 percent of the calories from fat and was supplemented with 5 grams of fish oil daily. The typical diet provides 40 percent of the calories from fat and usually has high levels of omega-6 fatty acids from corn oil and low levels of fish oil that provides omega-3 fatty acids and that have been found to reduce the incidence of heart disease and to fight inflammation that has been associated with certain types of cancer.
The researchers warn against generalizing from this study because of the small numbers and short period of study. Another study in planned that will include 100 men with prostate cancer who have elected to wait and see without any treatment but will receive biopsies and check-ups. The study will randomly divide men into two groups-the low fat fish oil supplemental diet and the typical western diet and follow them for 1 year to evaluate the effect of diet on prostate cancer cell proliferation.
Tags: fish oil, low fat diet, prostate cancer, research
Posted in Cancer, prostate cancer, research | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
Research presented at the 10th AARC (American Association for Cancer Research) International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research held in late October concluded that drinking lots of water may provide some protection from bladder cancer for men. Subjects participating in the study were 47,909 men who are part of the prospective Health Professional Follow-Up Study (HPHS) over a 22 year period. At enrollment in this long term study in 1986, men were between ages 40 and 75 years of age. Subjects answered a questionaire about fluid intake every 4 years. Results showed that a high total fluid intake of more than 2,531 milliliters daily (just over 5.35 pints) was associated with a 24% reduced risk for bladder cancer in men.
This association was found between fluid intake and bladder risk in this group 10 years ago. The association was weaker now that earlier and may result from the higher association found between younger men and fluid intake. Researchers also found that men drink fewer fluids, especially water, as they age. Although they warned against generalizing these results, researchers suggested that doctors should recommend fluid intake for aging men.
Tags: bladder cancer, fluids, research
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Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
A new study reported by DiabeticLive.com and published in the November issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology concluded that having diabetes improves the chances of survival of patients diagnosed with lung cancer. Using data from 3 studies the researchers analyzed a cohort of 1,677 patients with lung cancer within a clearly defined geographical area with a large and stable population. The relationship between lung cancer, diabetes and survival were analyzed.
Findings demonstrated that lung cancer patients who had diabetes had higher survival rates than lung cancer patients without diabetes. These rates were as follows: At the one year mark, survival of those with lung cancer and diabetes was 43% compared to 28% in those with lung cancer only: at two years the rates were 19% verses 11 %, and at 3 years were 3% verses 1%. The research team stated that “the fact that patients with diabetes mellitus showed a lower frequency of metastatic disease may partly explain the survival benefits in patients with diabetes mellitus because the majority of the patients with lung cancer die of metastasis and not of the primary tumor.” However, as we adjust for stage of disease in our analysis this potential advantage can hardly explain the observed benefit in patients with diabetes mellitus.” In addition increased survival was demonstrated in one study where all patients had advanced lung cancer.
The researchers did not discuss the exact cause of the relationship, stated the relationship warrented further study, and recommended against withholding standard cancer treatment in patients who have both lung cancer and diabetes.
Tags: diabetes, lung cancer, research, survival rates
Posted in Cancer, diabetes, lung cancer, research | No Comments »
Friday, October 21st, 2011
Recent research published in BMC Public Health concluded that a never married man is 35% more likely to die from cancer than a man who is married and women in the same situation had a 22% increased risk of dying of cancer.
Researchers examined the changes in cancer survival over the past 40 years (1970 to 2007) and compared these differences with marital status (married, never married, divorced/separated, or widowed).
The number of cancer deaths for 13 common cancers were tracked including breast, prostate, malignant melanoma, colon and lung in more than 44o,ooo Norwegian men and women. During the early part of the study (1970 to 1974) never-married men were 18% more likely to die from cancer than married men. This gap increase in more recent data between 20005 and 2007 in which men who had never married were 35% more likely to die from cancer. The gap also increased from women during the same period from 17% to 22%.
Thus, the study showed that the unmarried have a greater risk of mortality from cancer regardless of age, education, site of tumor, time since diagnosis, and cancer stage and cancer risk increased for both unmarried men and women over the 40 year period. However, there was not much change in cancer rates for those who were widowed or divorced. Cancer death rates in men who were never married seemed to steadily rise over time compared to married men and was much higher in unmarried men over 70.
Reseachers believe differences seen in rates may be related to such factors as better general health,better adherence to to treatment regime and follow-ups, and emotion support received by the spouse.
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Tags: cancer survival, marital status, research
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