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January
23, 2009
News
Headlines
Imatinib Suppresses Breast Cancer Bone
Metastases by Inhibiting Osteoclasts New Screening Protocol Suggested to Improve
Cervical Cancer Detection Study Sees
No Eye Cancer Risk From Cell Phones FDG-PET Helps Assess Recurrent Colon
Cancer Postsurgical Radiotherapy
Delay Not Harmful in Glioblastoma
Cancerpage news is updated daily, Monday
through Friday, and on the weekends as
warranted. More than 22 new
articles have been added to cancerpage news since the last newsletter.
To see ALL the latest stories, go to the
cancerpage.com search page and click on Submit (but
leave search field black.)
Reducing The Ouch During A Mammogram
The FDA warns women looking for less ouch during their mammogram to talk
to their doctor about how to get the safest pain relief. An alert was
issued with a public health advisory about the use of over-the-counter skin
numbing products. "When applied to the skin surface, they can be absorbed
into the blood stream and, if used improperly, may cause life-threatening side
effects, such as irregular heartbeat, seizures, breathing difficulties, coma, or
even death," the FDA warns.
The advisory discusses a recent study published in the
journal Radiology that
investigated the use of lidocaine gel compared to acetaminophen and
ibuprofen to relieve discomfort during mammography exams. The study favored the
gel but the FDA urged women to talk to their doctors because it was a small
study and a larger study could yield different results. Read the whole alert and
what it said to women preparing for
mammograms here.
Salmonella
Update
Better safe than
sorry.
Here's the latest from the FDA on the peanut butter products that have been
recalled because of the potential they could make you sick --- or worse --- especially
if your immune system is compromised. This link has a list of
companies and products. More than 125 products are covered including some
petfoods. AT THIS WRITE
THERE
IS NO INDICATION THAT ANY
OF THE PEANUT BUTTER NATIONAL NAME BRANDS SOLD IN JARS IN RETAILS STORES ARE
EFFECTED,
but the FDA
says: "We ask consumers to determine if commercially prepared and manufactured peanut butter
or peanut paste containing products such as cookies,
too. Several deaths may be tied to the
outbreak.
Cancers Caused by Viral
Infections
International researchers now estimate 1 in 5
cancers worldwide can be blamed on an infection of one sort or
another. International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified six
viruses associated with the origin of certain types of cancer: Epstein-Barr
virus (EBV); Kaposi sarcoma associated herpesvirus / human herpesvirus 8
(KSHV/HHV8); human papillomavirus (HPV); hepatitis B virus (HBV); hepatitis C
virus (HCV); and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), as well as the
bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). A 7th virus was recently isolated:
the human polyomavirus (MCV), which appears to be associated with a rare tumour,
Merkel cell carcinoma. In
the first meeting of its kind, leading scientists are getting together in Lyon, France this
weekend to discuss ways to identify new cancer causing viruses and control
them.
In the Lab/In the
Clinic
Chemo (Fluorouracil or 5-FU) with folinic
acid after surgery for operable pancreatic cancer increases 5-year survival by a
third, according to research published in the British
Journal of Cancer
this
week. This confirms previous research which suggested patients who
had surgery and chemotherapy had better a chance of survival than patients who
only had surgery.
Harvard researchers have concluded smoking can be blamed
for most male cancer deaths. Using National Center for Health Statistics
data, they compared death rates from lung cancer to death rates from all other
cancers among Massachusetts males. The assessment revealed that the two rates
changed in tandem year-by-year leading the authors to conclude that the very
close relationship over twenty-five years between lung and other cancer death
rates suggests a single cause for both: tobacco smoke. Read
more about the research here
.
Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota think they may have
figured out how to turn measles virus vaccines into a cancer killing machine.
Publishing in the journal The Prostate , Mayo researcher Dr. Evanthia Galanis said prostate tumors disappeared
in a fifth of the mice treated. Read about
the lab research here
.
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