Wednesday, 2. December 2009
One of the most preventable (and often very treatable) cancers is that of the skin. By taking care of your skin and checking it often for suspicious growths you should have no trouble from the effects of skin cancer.
Staying out of the sun is your best protection. Of course, that is not always possible so stay in the shade and avoid direct sunlight whenever possible. Hats and proper clothing are also positive ways to protect your skin for the sun’s harmful rays.
It’s important to remember that it is possible to be sunburned even when in direct sunlight. You may become sunburned during a cloudy day, or even when underwater in a swimming pool. You should use caution even in such situations.
Make sure you are wearing plenty of SPF fifteen or more sunscreen every time you go out in the sun. You should also make sure that you reapply it often for ways to prevent skin cancer. If you are sweating or swimming make sure that you reapply after each time.
Your children’s delicate skin should be protected from the sun. As you cannot apply sunscreen on baby under six months, you should protect them from direct sunlight, and cover their skin properly. For older children, apply or direct them to apply sunscreen, whenever they are out in the sun. Advise your children about the dangers of getting skin cancer through too much sunlight; and instruct them to stay in the shade as much as possible.
Keep an eye on your skin for any changes to the growths that are preexisting or new ones that appear suddenly. Watch for growths that increase in size or become irregular in shape. You should also watch for transparent or multicolored growths on your skin. If you have wounds or cuts on your skin that will not heal have them checked out by your doctor.
It is important that you examine your skin every month. Even though this should be part of your routine check up at the doctor’s office, it is also important to make it a habit to do so at home as well. This is one of the best ways to prevent skin cancer. Examining your skin on a normal basis will allow you to detect any abnormalities. That way, if you see anything that does not look right, you can get treatment right away before it becomes too serious.
If you are looking for ways ofpreventing skin cancer from entering your life. Prevention is always better than cure when skin cancer is being talked about. The most effective way to protect everyone from skin cancer is to minimize the amount of time you spend in the sun.
Posted in Cancer by Kathy Forcey -
Sunday, 29. November 2009
Only One In Every Ten Men Know About HPV
A new Danish study of nearly 21,000 Danish men, shows that only 1 in every ten men aged’ to 45 years, have knowledge of HPV – the virus which for men can lead to penile and anal cancer and cervical cancer for women. Evidence indicates, that men walks around believing that the HPV virus does not affect them. But men actually do have a great responsibility.
-They do, for the reason that HPV is a virus, primarily spread sexually. It is consequently really important that men are aware, that they are carriers in relation to women and cervical cancer and that they can get for example, penile cancer, anal cancer and certain forms of cancer of the head and neck region, “says researcher Ann Nielsen from the Danish Cancer Fighting, who is the foremost author of the survey.
The study shows that few men have knowledge of about HPV, and this is regardless of whether they are’ or 45 years.
-For women, studies illustrate that older women have greater knowledge of HPV rather than younger women. Yet this does not apply to men, says Ann Nielsen.
Even if there has been further attentiveness of HPV and vaccines, Ann Nielsen does not feel that it has reached the men yet.
-When we interviewed the men, there were an initial understanding of HPV. The first vaccine against cervical cancer was – at the time – just come on the Danish market, explains Ann Nielsen.
HPV is primarily sexually transmitted. Nowadays all girls born in Denmark in’96 or later are offered a at no cost HPV vaccination as part of the general vaccination program. Additionally, all girls born in’93,’94 and’95 received the offer of free vaccination. So far Danish boys will not be offered free vaccination.
Ann Nielsen points out that there really is a large need for information efforts towards men. – Not merely concerning sexual life. We also have to do with a target audience – fathers with children who are offered vaccination. It is tremendously essential that their awareness is high, when they should think about whether their daughter should be vaccinated, says Ann Nielsen.
Need for knowledge American research have also shown, that an increased focus on HPV means an increased knowledge. In the U.S., the number of anal cancer and head and neck cancer incidents has grown.
-We estimate that the same applies in Denmark. And we must not lose sight of the genital warts – something that many men and women suffer from. We estimate that around 10 percent of all men, at some time in their lives, become infected with genital warts.
Therefore, it is simply necessary to have knowledge and information out to the audience, says Ann Nielsen.
The study is published in European Journal of Cancer Prevention.
For additional information on HPV transmission and what you can do to protect yourself, please visit our website: HPV transmission
Posted in Cancer by Rudolf Michaels -
Thursday, 19. November 2009
Mesothelioma is a potential killer disease which mankind is facing these days. The cancer which is commonly known as mesothelioma disease is caused by the inhalation of asbestos fibers for prolonged period of time. In many cases, the patients do not survive for more than two years after diagnosis. The symptoms of the disease appear very late making it almost impossible for a timely detection and effective treatment.
Asbestos, which is a naturally occurring mineral, is widely used in industries for many purposes. Once inhaled the fibers settle in the mesothelium, which is a protective membrane that covers the important internal organs. This makes the cells to divide unnaturally resulting in the production of excess fluid. The side walls get thickened due to this extra fluid as a result of which the proper functioning of the organs is hampered.
Depending on the area of occurrence mesothelioma disease is divided into three. The pleural mesothelioma affects the lung cavities, the peritoneal attacks the abdominal cavities and the pericardial impairs the cavities of the heart. The pericardial is found to the most dangerous one among the three.
At the present time, there is no complete cure for mesothelioma disease. But life span can be increased a little further with traditional therapies like surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. The late diagnosis due to the delayed appearance of symptoms greatly influences the treatment procedure from being cent percent effective. In most of the cases the symptoms appear as the cancer reaches the final stages. If the diagnosis happens early, by any means there is possibility that the disease can be removed and the patient enjoys a healthy long life.
It is therefore very important that everyone, who had worked in asbestos-based factories, asbestos pits and family members of such employees to undergo periodical checkups. The usual symptoms are breathing problems and related illnesses like cough, fever etc. Being a rarity, all cancer centers are not manned or equipped to diagnose and cure mesothelioma disease. The patient should approach only those physicians who exclusively deal with the disease, which would greatly help in timely and accurate diagnose, which would be followed by aggressive treatment to root out the cancer.
If you liked this write up about mesothelioma lung cancer, then definitely check over this different web site all about mesothelioma symptom.
Posted in Cancer by Heidi Wingrain -
Thursday, 29. October 2009
Call it the arrow of cancer. Like the arrow of time, it was supposed to point in one direction. Cancers grew and worsened.
Cancer Society, in Shift, Has Concerns on Screenings (October 21, 2009)
Health Guide: Cancer
But as a paper in The Journal of the American Medical Association noted last week, data from more than two decades of screening for breast and prostate cancer call that view into question. Besides finding tumors that would be lethal if left untreated, screening appears to be finding many small tumors that would not be a problem if they were left alone, undiscovered by screening. They were destined to stop growing on their own or shrink, or even, at least in the case of some breast cancers, disappear.
“The old view is that cancer is a linear process,” said Dr. Barnett Kramer, associate director for disease prevention at the National Institutes of Health. “A cell acquired a mutation, and little by little it acquired more and more mutations. Mutations are not supposed to revert spontaneously.”
So, Dr. Kramer said, the image was “an arrow that moved in one direction.” But now, he added, it is becoming increasingly clear that cancers require more than mutations to progress. They need the cooperation of surrounding cells and even, he said, “the whole organism, the person,” whose immune system or hormone levels, for example, can squelch or fuel a tumor.
Cancer, Dr. Kramer said, is a dynamic process.
It was a view that was hard for some cancer doctors and researchers to accept. But some of the skeptics have changed their minds and decided that, contrary as it seems to everything they had thought, cancers can disappear on their own.
“At the end of the day, I’m not sure how certain I am about this, but I do believe it,” said Dr. Robert M. Kaplan, the chairman of the department of health services at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, adding, “The weight of the evidence suggests that there is reason to believe.”
Disappearing tumors are well known in testicular cancer. Dr. Jonathan Epstein at Johns Hopkins says it does not happen often, but it happens.
A young man may have a lump in his testicle, but when doctors remove the organ all they find is a big scar. The tumor that was there is gone. Or, they see a large scar and a tiny tumor because more than 95 percent of the tumor had disappeared on its own by the time the testicle was removed.
Or a young man will show up with a big tumor near his kidney. Doctors realize that it started somewhere else, so they look for its origin. Then they discover a scar in the man’s testicle, the only remnant of the original cancer because no tumor is left.
Testicular cancer is unusual; most others do not disappear. But there is growing evidence that cancers can go backward or stop, and researchers are being forced to reassess their notions of what cancer is and how it develops.
Of course, cancers do not routinely go away, and no one is suggesting that patients avoid treatment because of such occasional occurrences.
“Biologically, it is a rare phenomenon to have an advanced cancer go into remission,” said Dr. Martin Gleave, a professor of urology at the University of British Columbia.
But knowing more about how tumors develop and sometimes reverse course might help doctors decide which tumors can be left alone and which need to be treated, something that is now not known in most cases.
Cancer cells and precancerous cells are so common that nearly everyone by middle age or old age is riddled with them, said Thea Tlsty, a professor of pathology at the University of California, San Francisco. That was discovered in autopsy studies of people who died of other causes, with no idea that they had cancer cells or precancerous cells. They did not have large tumors or symptoms of cancer. “The really interesting question,” Dr. Tlsty said, “is not so much why do we get cancer as why don’t we get cancer?”
The earlier a cell is in its path toward an aggressive cancer, researchers say, the more likely it is to reverse course. So, for example, cells that are early precursors of cervical cancer are likely to revert. One study found that 60 percent of precancerous cervical cells, found with Pap tests, revert to normal within a year; 90 percent revert within three years.
And the dynamic process of cancer development appears to be the reason that screening for breast cancer or prostate cancer finds huge numbers of early cancers without a corresponding decline in late stage cancers.
If every one of those early cancers were destined to turn into an advanced cancer, then the total number of cancers should be the same after screening is introduced, but the increase in early cancers should be balanced by a decrease in advanced cancers.
That has not happened with screening for breast and prostate cancer. So the hypothesis is that many early cancers go nowhere. And, with breast cancer, there is indirect evidence that some actually disappear.
It is harder to document disappearing prostate cancers; researchers say they doubt it happens. Instead, they say, it seems as if many cancers start to grow then stop or grow very slowly, as has been shown in studies like one now being done at Johns Hopkins. When men have small tumors with cells that do not look terribly deranged, doctors at Johns Hopkins offer them an option of “active surveillance.” They can forgo having their prostates removed or destroyed and be followed with biopsies. If their cancer progresses, they can then have their prostates removed.
Almost no one agrees to such a plan. “Most men want it out,” Dr. Epstein said. But, still, the researchers have found about 450 men in the past four or five years who chose active surveillance. By contrast, 1,000 a year have their prostates removed at Johns Hopkins. From following those men who chose not to be treated, the investigators discovered that only about 20 percent to 30 percent of those small tumors progressed. And many that did progress still did not look particularly dangerous, although once the cancers started to grow the men had their prostates removed.
In Canada, researchers are doing a similar study with small kidney cancers, among the few cancers that are reported to regress occasionally, even when far advanced.
That was documented in a study, led by Dr. Gleave that compared an experimental treatment with a placebo in people with kidney cancer that had spread throughout their bodies.
As many as 6 percent who received a placebo had tumors that shrank or remained stable. The same thing happened in those who received the therapy, leading the researchers to conclude that the treatment did not improve outcomes.
The big unknown is the natural history of many small kidney tumors, many of which are early kidney cancers. How often do small tumors progress? Do they ever disappear? Do they all need surgical excision? At what stage do most kidney cancers reach a point of no return?
These days, Dr. Gleave said, more patients are having ultrasound or CT scans for other reasons and learning that there is a small lump on one of their kidneys. In the United States, the accepted practice is to take those tumors out. But, he asks, “Is that always necessary?”
His university is participating in a countrywide study of people with small kidney tumors, asking what happens when those tumors are routinely examined, with scans, to see if they grow. About 80 percent do not change or actually regress over the next three years.
With early detection, he said, “our net has become so fine that we are pulling in small fish as well as big fish.” Now, he said, “we have to identify which small fish we can let go.”
Posted in Cancer by Aaron Winters -
Wednesday, 28. October 2009
LONDON (Reuters) – A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill esophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.
Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Center in Ireland treated esophageal cancer cells with curcumin — a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow color — and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours.
The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.
Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumors and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested.
But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat esophageal cancer.
Cancers of the esophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumors are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 percent.
McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die “using an unexpected system of cell messages.”
Normally, faulty cells die by committing programed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are ’switched on’ in cells, the researchers said.
But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this “switch being flicked’ made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signaling system.
U.S. researchers said in 2007 they had found curcumin may help stimulate immune system cells in the Alzheimer’s disease.
Posted in Cancer, Pure Water by Aaron Winters -
Sunday, 6. September 2009
When many people find out that they are suffering from cancer, they regard it as a death sentence. While depression is normal and understandable, giving up should not be the only choice. Because the more positive and upbeat you are then the more likely you are to survive cancer. One of the first things that you have to do is reconcile your hopes and dreams with your subconscious.
Work out what it is that you want to get from your treatment and whether it is realistic, go for it, then use your medical team to assist in those goals. There is never a single way to approach anything in life and this is as true for curing cancer as anything else. There are many choices that you can take, it may meander there or climb a mountain metaphorically. What is important to remember is the fact that it is your goal and your path, you have to go for it.
You need to create a plan and take specific steps and actions to get you from where you are now to where you ultimately want to be. It is important to focus on the how rather than the outer goal. For instance you may decide that you want to be a five year cancer survivor, but the important thing is how you are going to achieve that objective. If necessary make room in your life for new objectives, get rid of any extra baggage, now is the time to focus on yourself. That does not mean push your family away or ignore them, but it does mean saying no to things that you do not want to do. Women find saying no especially difficult, but somehow you have to find a way and reconcile your self conscious desires and your actions.
From a psychological point of view that reconciliation is important. When we deny ourselves what we really want to do, we create tension between out conscious desires and our subconscious desires. Your mind power and your subconscious mind work together and they fashion your reality. Lets use a parallel to help you visualize how this works. Your subconscious mind is the part of your mind that you are not aware of your thoughts, but if you ignore it, it can create tensions in our lives known as Freudian slips. Which means the subconscious has a way of telling us what we really want? On a conscious level we may want to be kind and understanding, but we can be petty and mean.
Our subconscious is rather like a fertile soil any seed at all can take root. These seeds are your habitual thoughts and the things that you believe in and eventually they will grow to produce a crop. So if you plant weeds then you will get weeds in abundance and if you plant fruit tress then you will get masses of fruit. Our conscious mind that deals with all our conscious thoughts is the cultivator; it can grow anything in the subconscious.
Our conscious mind can impart a sense of failure or a mindset that we cannot fail at anything. It will not allow ourselves to be distracted in whatever our subconscious wants. Our subconscious can not hold success and failure at the same time, because our subconscious cannot be conflicting, it wants one thing and one thing only. It is our conscious mind that is conflicting.
As isolated as you may feel right now, you are not alone. Cancer diagnosis is just the beginning of your story. Cancer survivors prove every day that this can be the beginning of a whole new positive chapter in your life. Join our unique community of cancer survivors to be right now and receive a FREE report on Cancer Survivor’s tips.
Posted in Cancer by Rita Goldman -
Friday, 4. September 2009
Many people are confused by the conflicting information that is out there about colon cleansing. The main concern is whether or not colon cleansing is safe or not. In no uncertain terms not only is colon cleansing safe it is vitally important that you cleanse your colon.
The colon almost never stops working it is like a machine that runs twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It is an incredibly efficient organ, but over time it can be clogged by food that could not be used or excreted from the body. As it clogs up it is less efficient and this has an impact on the entire body.
A second common benefit to colon cleanse treatments is an increase in energy. Thousands of people have reported increased energy after a colon cleanse. The method for this is not fully understood, but it is likely related to the increased speed of the metabolism.
Removing this barrier will allow the colon to function properly again. There are many herbal based supplements that are extremely efficient in removing this plaque like build up. They are all natural and sold in many health food stores as well as at online retailers.
The most effective and safest method of colon cleansing is to take an all natural herbal based colon cleanse supplement. You can find them online and they are very reasonably priced. The systems have been proven to be effective and are all natural so there is no reason to worry about taking them.
As you can see there are some surprising benefits to colon cleansing and not all of them are related to the digestive process. There are other benefits from colon cleansing as well, but in the interest of space we have only listed three for this column.
Ultra Cleanse Plus is a 100% natural colon cleanser that has been helping thousands of men and women to lose weight and keep it off. To learn more about Ultra Cleanse Plus read our full review at Ultra Cleanse Plus Review
Posted in Health by Casy Wigwire -
Monday, 31. August 2009
Researchers believe that even those of us who have a predisposition to some types of cancer might be able to decrease the risks by living a healthy lifestyle by adopting natural remedies for cancer.
A third of the most common cancers in the U.S. might be prevented by adopting healthier habits.
The trouble is, we have so many unhealthy choices that are more convenient and cheaper.
According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, AICR, a charity that encourages research on the relationship of nutrition and managing weight on cancer risk, there are three key things you can do to help yourself improve the odds of staying healthy and cancer free.
1. Stick to a mostly plant based diet ” that is predominantly fruits, veggies and whole grains, with little or no sugary, processed foods (fast foods too) as well as keeping intake of red meat to 18 ounces a week and salt intake to no more than 2.4 grams per day. Alcohol can be enjoyed in moderation, that is one drink a day for women, two drinks per day for men.
2. Keep your weight healthy – BMI between 21 and 23 is considered ideal for improving your odds. The lower end of the BMI range is even better when it comes to cancer risk. Its also important to try and avoid gaining weight as an adult, though if you have, losing even a few of those extra pounds can bring benefits to your body.
3. Exercise regularly – being moderately active for 30 minutes, working up to 60 minutes a day is also key. If your exercise routine is especially rigorous, thirty minutes a day is just fine. Limit how much time you spend in front of the TV or computer just sitting.
The data is pretty clear that we can make a significant drop in the cancer rate with these three changes, Karen Collins, a registered dietician and nutrition advisor for the AICR explains.
We can prevent about one-third of cancers with these changes. And if you add tobacco prevention, which reduces about 30 percent of cancers, over half of todays cancers could be prevented.
Of course these recommendations are not any guarantee of your future health, but they certainly improve the odds of staying healthier.
The experts believe that each healthy change helps encourage another one. If you are active you will eat better because good foods give you more energy, and the great feelings that come from exercise will keep you coming back for more.
Both these actions will have weight falling off, reinforcing your healthy habits and leaving you looking, and feeling, better than ever.
If you are worried about cancer risk, or you have a family history of the condition, its a worth talking to your doctor about genetic counselling to assess the risk.
This can help you and your family identify who among you might be at a greater risk, and involves taking a very detailed family medical history (disease information about your brothers and sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, children and grandchildren) so that the counsellor can work out your risk and guide you to the options open to you.
You may need a single, hour-long session, or several, depending on your needs for genetic testing or follow up.
Of course even if you, or someone you love, carries a greater genetic risk, that doesn’t at all mean you are going to get a disease like cancer. You can do something about it with understanding this article, and introducing some of the natural remedies for cancer, starting now to reduce your overall risk in the future.
Next – just head on over to the Daily Health Bulletin for more information on natural remedies for cancer, plus for a limited time get 5 free fantastic health reports. Click here for details on the 3 natural remedies for cancer research.
Posted in Cancer by Kirsten Whittaker -
