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Three diets - Mediterranean, low-fat and low-carbohydrate - are equally effective in helping reverse blocked arteries, say Israeli researchers.
The study of 140 people, reported in the journal Circulation, found diet could reduce the fatty build up in arteries.
The Ben-Gurion University team found that by the end of the two-year study, the arterial wall had been cut by 5%.
Experts said the study was interesting, but diet was not a "magic bullet".
Atherosclerosis is a progressive condition in which the arteries thicken with fatty deposits, increasing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Article: March 2, 2010
Source: BBC News
Testosterone deficiency in young male cancer survivors often causes low energy levels and reduced quality of life, and these patients may benefit from testosterone replacement therapy, a new study suggests.
About 15% of male cancer survivors experience testosterone deficiency, which is a late side effect of chemotherapy or radiation therapy.
In this study of 176 young male cancer survivors and 213 young men without cancer, English researchers looked at the association between testosterone levels, quality of life, self-esteem, fatigue and sexual function.
The young male cancer survivors reported reduced energy levels, impaired sexual function and a markedly reduced quality of life. These problems were most severe in those with testosterone deficiency.
Article: Feb 22, 2010
Source: Cancer, news release
In some states, access to mammograms for women ages 40 to 49 has decreased since new breast cancer screening guidelines were released in November by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, according to a new survey.
The task force recommended that women at average risk for breast cancer should start having mammograms every two years at age 50 instead of annual screenings starting at age 40.
The online survey of more than 150 breast cancer health educators and providers in 48 states and the District of Columbia, conducted by the Avon Foundation for Women, found that respondents from a fourth of the areas surveyed reported changes in their states' early detection programs for breast and cervical cancer.
The respondents said that the task force guidelines and other factors, including budget cuts, have resulted in fewer women having mammograms or the elimination of early breast cancer screening programs for women younger than 50 offered through state-administered breast cancer screening programs.
Article: Feb 22, 2010
Source: Avon Foundation for Women
The diabetes drug metformin may help obese teenagers lose weight when combined with healthy lifestyle changes.
A new study shows that non-diabetic obese teenagers treated with metformin XR (extended release formulation) along with healthy lifestyle modifications had a more significant decrease in body mass index (BMI, a ratio of weight in relation to height used to indicate obesity) than those treated with lifestyle changes alone.
Researchers say although metformin is commonly used to treat obesity in teenagers without diabetes, there haven't been any studies to confirm its effectiveness as an obesity treatment.
Childhood obesity rates have more than tripled in the U.S. over the last 50 years, and nearly a third of all children in the U.S. are now considered overweight or obese. Obesity in childhood is associated with significant health risks, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and risk of heart disease as an adult.
Article: Feb. 1, 2010
Source: WebMD Health News
Two professional organizations have jointly issued new recommendations on the use of imaging modalities for breast cancer screening. The recommendations, compiled by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and the Society of Breast Imaging (SBI), appear in the January issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology.
The recommendations include the guidance that women with an average risk of developing breast cancer should start annual mammography screening at age 40.
This is in marked contrast with guidelines issued recently by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), which included a recommended start age of 50 years for routine biennial screening. The USPSTF issuance led to a firestorm of criticism, including from a number of coauthors of the new ACR/SBI guidelines.
One of the coauthors of the ACR/SBI recommendations, Phil Evans, MD, explained that they are the result of a 2-year consultation process.
These recommendations were not developed in response to the USPSTF recommendations
The impetus behind the recommendations was "gaps" in existing guidelines, such as those of the American Cancer Society, on how the various imaging technologies for breast cancer screening should be used, added Dr. Evans, who is director of the Center for Breast Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.
"These recommendations were not developed in response to the USPSTF recommendations," Dr. Evans told Medscape Oncology.
Nevertheless, the authors made late revisions to the paper after it was accepted for publication to comment on the USPSTF's controversial recommendations, Dr. Evans explained.
Much of the commentary about the USPSTF recommendations, including the comments in the newly published ACR/SBI recommendations, amount to a missed opportunity, suggested one radiologist approached for comment by Medscape Oncology.
The authors missed a great opportunity to acknowledge and discuss the harms of screening
"The [ACR/SBI] authors missed a great opportunity to acknowledge and discuss the harms of screening and provide true guidance to women and other physicians considering screening," said John Keen, MD, senior attending radiologist at the John H. Stroger Hospital of Cook County in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Keen has argued for a more balanced view of breast cancer screening, which presents the benefits of screening in absolute numbers and enumerates the risks for the potential harms, which include false test results, patient anxiety, unnecessary biopsies, overdiagnosis, and overtreatment.
Recently, a prominent epidemiologist published a "balance sheet" of the harms and benefits of mammography to help patients and physicians with mammography decision-making.
"Most women consider the greatest harm to be breast cancer," said Dr. Evans, who added that this was a "personal belief" based on clinical interaction and not on any research finding.
Mammography remains the most important test a woman can undergo to reduce her chance of dying from breast cancer
"Screening mammography remains the most important test a woman can undergoto reduce her chance of dying from breast cancer," he summarized.
Increasingly Complex
The new joint imaging recommendations are an outgrowth of previous recommendations from the ACR but are a first issuance for the SBI, said Dr. Evans.
The message about breast cancer screening with imaging used to be fairly simple
"The message about breast cancer screening with imaging used to be fairly simple: mammography should begin at age 40," explained Dr. Evans, who is president of the SBI.
However, with the addition of other methods for screening, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound, and related data on their uses, the message has become more complex, added Dr. Evans.
"Most women are not at high risk for breast cancer and therefore should undergo mammography. For the other 15% to 20% of women who are at high risk, there might be additional tests, including MRI and ultrasound, that make it possible to detect breast cancer more effectively," he summarized.
The ACR/SBI's recommended start ages for screening depend on a patient's risks. Those at high risk for breast cancer should start screening from a younger age, they suggest.
Recommendations for High-Risk Patients
No data exist on the optimum age to start screening mammography in women at increased risk for breast cancer
The following are recommendations for high-risk patients. However, the authors acknowledge that these recommendations are based on consensus opinion "no data exist on the optimum age to start screening mammography in women at increased risk for breast cancer," they explain.
For BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation carriers or untested first-degree relatives of a BRCA mutation carrier, an annual mammogram and annual MRI are recommended starting by age 30, but not before age 25.
The same recommendation is made for women with a lifetime risk for breast cancer of 20% or more on the basis of family history.
Also, for women with a history of chest irradiation between the ages of 10 and 30 years, an annual mammogram and annual MRI are recommended starting 8 years after treatment, with the MRI not starting before age 25.
Finally, among women with a personal history of breast cancer (invasive or ductal carcinoma in=C3=82 situ), annual mammography is recommended after the dateof diagnosis; annual MRI or ultrasound can "also be considered."
However, Dr. Keen told Medscape Oncology that this recommended use of MRI, especially among women in their 30s, is controversial.
MRI and ultrasound have not been shown to save anyone's life
"There are 2 problems with earlier screening of high-risk women. The first is that MRI and ultrasound have not been shown to save anyone's life," said Dr. Keen.
Indeed, the ACR/SBI authors acknowledge that only screening with film mammography has been shown to reduce mortality.
Dr. Keen continues: "The second is that radiation is an increasing problem in younger women. A study published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2005 estimated that there are 1.2 to 1.9 radiation-induced breast cancer deaths per 1000 high-risk women screened in their 30s for a decade."
Medscape Radiology recently reported on a Dutch study that found high-risk women (because of BRCA status or family history) exposed to chest-area radiation before age 20 had an increased risk for breast cancer.
Further Notes About MRI and Ultrasound
The new recommendations note that MRI should routinely be used for the contralateral breast at the time of diagnosis in all women. "This will detect another cancer in at least 3% of women," said Dr. Evans.
MRI has advantages and disadvantages compared with mammography, highlighted Dr. Evans. Some of its limitations include the need for an intravenous infusion/injection, spatial confinement/potential for claustrophobia in patients, and greater cost.
"MRI finds more breast cancer than mammography but has a higher false-positive rate than mammography," he said.
In terms of costs, the ACR/SBI authors say that adding MRI to mammography increases screening costs by more than $50,000 per cancer detected.
Ultrasound can be considered in high-risk women for whom MRI is not suitable. Ultrasound can also be considered in women with dense breast tissue as an adjunct to mammography, note the ACR/SBI authors.
Dr. Evans is an unpaid member of the Scientific Advisory Board of Hologic, Inc, which manufacturers and markets film and digital mammography-screening products. Dr. Keen has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
J Am Coll Radiol. 2010;7:18-27.
Article: January 6, 2010
Source: Medscape Medical News
Christmas party revelry is only weeks away - and with it the high spirits that contribute every year to a marked increase in sexually transmitted diseases. Even during the Second World War seasonal jollity resulted in a rise in the (already increased) rate of STDs.
One sexually transmitted infection with which about 70 per cent of sexually active people are, often unknowingly, confronted at some time, but usually throw off without lasting complications, is HPV, the human papillomavirus. HPV is popularly known as the genital wart virus, but this term irritates doctors who specialise in cervical cytology. They always refer to it as HPV and emphasise that although there are 80 HPV strains only two of these - HPV 16 and 18 - are responsible for about 75 per cent of cervical cancer cases. Another 11 strains of HPV have been shown to cause such tumours occasionally. Two other strains of HPV - 6 and 11 - result in unsightly genital warts, an affliction that frequently necessitates regular attendance at hospital clinics.
As 99.7 per cent of all cases of cervical cancer can be shown to have resulted from HPV infection, and more than 75 per cent of sexually active women have at some time been infected by HPV, the search for a vaccine that would spare women this hazard was intense.
Two vaccines have been licensed for use in this country. The one selected for the government vaccination campaign - and for the private scheme at Boots - is Cervarix. This protects against HPV strains 16 and 18, the two types usually responsible for cancer. The other vaccine is Gardasil, which not only protects against HPV 16 and 18 but also guards against 6 and 11, the strains that cause genital warts. There has been a suggestion that possibly it won't provide quite such lasting protection as Cervarix against 16 and 18.
Article: November 10, 2008
Source: The Times
More than a million women a year are missing out on the benefits of hormone replacement therapy, a leading doctor warns. The number of prescriptions for HRT has fallen from 6.2million in 2001 to a predicted 2.6million for this year as a result of alarming research findings. In the first five months of this year alone, there were 18 per cent fewer prescriptions compared with the previous year.
But evidence has shown the study that sparked fears over the treatment was flawed. Dr John Stevenson, HRT expert at London's Royal Brompton Hospital, said the health scares had been a "disaster" for women's health. He warned that the NHS faces a long-term rise in female patients with fractures and heart disease, which are conditions that HRT combats. "Women now coming into the menopause are too scared to go on to HRT and I think it is a disgrace," said Dr Stevenson, who is chairman of the charity Women's Health Concern. "It has been a huge catastrophe for women and women's health and there is no doubt that women have suffered unnecessarily because of this." In the UK two million women were taking HRT at its 2001 peak but the number has now plunged to one million. Dr Stevenson added: "For most women suffering from menopausal symptoms I would advise them to have HRT without question. There is nothing else that is nearly as effective as HRT."
Article: September 20, 2008
Source: The Daily Mail
Screening Is Key To Cervical Cancer PreventionJanuary was National Cervical Cancer Screening Awareness Month. "Cervical cancer is the only gynaecological cancer that can be prevented by regular screening, and Pap smear screening is probably the single most important preventative measure that a woman can take to prevent the development of cervical cancer," said Dinh. Dinh says the HPV vaccine is potentially one of the most exciting developments in the fight against cervical cancer, but points out that annual Pap smear screenings are still the best way to prevent this disease.
Article Date: 09 Dec 2007; |
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A Single Bone Mineral Density Test Helps Predict 'Silent' Spinal Fractures Years LaterSpinal fractures are the hallmark of osteoporosis, but one of the problems with diagnosing them is that they often have no symptoms," said Jane Cauley, Dr.P.H., professor of epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. "Many women may be walking around with multiple fractures and not even know it." "Our study... also provides evidence that a simple and non-invasive bone density test can help identify those at risk." (Bone Density Scan) If you are concerned about osteoporosis, and/or would like to book an appointment for a bone density scan, please contact us.
Article Date: 18 Dec 2007; |
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Researchers Identify Indicator Of Ovarian Cancer"Ovarian cancer is often difficult to diagnose because symptoms are often recognised in the late stages of the disease when ovarian cancer is fundamentally incurable," said Lead Researcher Dr. Richard Moore, assistant professor in the Program for Women's Oncology at Women and Infants' Hospital / Brown University. "Our research was directed at identifying those unique characteristics or 'biomarkers' of the disease that might one day help us detect this disease earlier." "Our results show testing women suspected of ovarian cancer for both CA-125 and HE4 could possibly lead to a screening and diagnostic tool," adds Moore. "This is exciting news, particularly for women in the earliest stages of the disease when it is most treatable."
Article Date: 30 Dec 2007; |
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