Cancer, Cancer Treatment

The combination of estrogen plus progestin, which women stopped taking in droves following the news that it may increase their risk of breast cancer, may decrease their risk of colorectal cancer, according to a report published in the January issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

“Compared to women who had never taken these hormones, the use of estrogen plus progestin was associated with a reduced risk of colorectal cancer,” said Jill R. Johnson, M.P.H., a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Data from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study show that higher than normal insulin levels are an independent risk factor for breast cancer.

Study investigators, led by Dr. Marc J. Gunter at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, examined the association between breast cancer and blood parameters at study entry in 835 women who later developed breast cancer and 816 who did not. All of the women were postmenopausal and none were diabetic at baseline.

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A study that was published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that vitamin B supplements did not protect people taking them from developing cancer, although past research has suggested it did have the aforementioned effect.

Lead author of the study Dr. Shumin Zhang of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, along with his team, looked at 5,442 female health-care professionals throughout the United States, all of whom had been taking a supplement including vitamins B6, B12 and B9 (also known as folic acid) daily over a period of about seven and a half years.

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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22 — A new study suggests that people with advanced colon cancer who have a particular gene mutation won’t benefit from the medication cetuximab (Erbitux).

While the drug can add months to the lives of people without a mutation in a gene called K-ras, those who have the mutation won’t see any benefit from this additional therapy, reports the study, which is published in the Oct. 23 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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Signs and Symptoms A lump that appears in the breast that feels at variance with the surrounding breast tissue is typically the first symptom or indication of the presence of breast cancer.
The prestigious Merck Manual has indicated that, in the vast majority of breast cancer cases, it is the woman herself who first discovers the presence of a lump. The first medical indication of breast cancer, as stated in the reviews of the American Cancer Society, is usually discovered when the patient is subjected to a mammogram upon the advice of her doctor. Another indicator of breast cancer is the presence of hardened tissue found in the lymph nodes located under the armpits or in the region of the collarbone. Alterations in the size or shape of the breast, skin dimpling, nipple inversion, or discharge from a nipple may be regarded as alternative indications of the presence of breast cancer. The incidence of pain is not a reliable determinant for the presence of the cancer. Such an observation may in fact be more indicative of other breast related issues such as mastodynia. An appearance that can resemble skin inflammation is caused when breast cancer cells attack the small lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. Such a characterisation is known as inflammatory breast cancer. The onset of pain and swelling, the presence of warmth and redness all across the breast, together with a skin texture which has the appearance of the outer skin of an orange, are all initial characteristics associated with inflammatory breast cancer. Pagets disease of the breast is yet another, somewhat complex, symptom. This syndrome, which refers to the association of several clinically recognizable features, presents skin changes which are synonymous with eczema, such as redness and mild flaking of the nipple skin. The presence of a tingling sensation, of itching, increased sensitivity, burning, and pain are all characteristics associated with the advance of Pagets syndrome. Another symptom may involve a discharge from the nipple. It has been found that a good proportion of women diagnosed with Paget’s also experienced a lump in the breast. There are times when breast cancer occurs as a metastatic disease. As such, it represents a cancer that has spread beyond the original source and into neighbouring areas. This type of breast cancer will give rise to symptoms that depend on where the metastasis is situated. The bone, liver, lung and brain are where Metastasis is most commonly found. An occult breast cancer can sometimes manifest itself in the form of unexplained weight loss. Another symptom could present itself in the form of fevers or chills. Further determinants of metastatic breast cancer can take the form of bone or joint pains, as well as jaundice or possibly even neurological indications. It must be remembered that some of these symptoms are non specific, and as such may be applicable to many other illnesses. In this respect, therefore, it has been found that many symptoms of breast disorder do not actually turn out to represent an underlying presence of breast cancer. To establish this notion, benign breast diseases, such as mastitis and fibroadenoma of the breast, are more common causes of breast disorder symptoms. Since there is a distinct possibility of acquiring an underlying breast cancer at almost any age, then the appearance of a new symptom should be taken seriously by both patients and their doctors. Breast Cancer How To Succeed Peter Radford writes Articles with Websites on a wide range of subjects. Breast Cancer Articles cover Background, Classification, Signs and Symptoms, Risk, Prevention, Treatment. Website has many more. View his Website at: breast-cancer-how-to-succeed.com View his Blog at: breast-cancer-how-to-succeed.blogspot.com

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On Wednesday, Avie Products revealed that they would be releasing a new product aimed at fighting against breast cancer, called ?Cue.?

Scheduled to be launched in the United States this month, October being the Breast Cancer Awareness Month, ?Cue? is an electronic waterproof device designed to remind women to regularly examine their breasts, as a means to early detect anything that might be wrong and consequently present themselves to the doctor for a thorough consultation.

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Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. announced that together with its subsidiaries, it has received final approval from U.S. FDA for several Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDA).

Approval was received for generic hydocodone bitartate with acetaminophen (APAP) tablets. Approval was also received for generic Aredia(R), pamidronate disodium for injection USP, generic Lopid (R), gemfibrozil tablets, USP, and generic Phenargan(R), promethazine hydrochloride tablets.

MONDAY, Jan. 5 — Deanna Babcock’s heart stopped beating on July 20, 2007. Just like that.

“I was swimming in a pool at North Carolina State University, doing normal laps,” recalled Babcock, who was 23 years old and in excellent health, or so she thought. “My strokes started getting sloppy, and I coasted to a stop face down.”

Jim Stoltz’s heart stopped on July 20, 2009. “I was sitting at my desk,” said Stoltz, 66, who is an accountant who lives in Flanders, N.J. “I don’t recall much. I simply went under my desk. I woke up five days later in the hospital.”

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I always thought I had fairly healthy eating habits. However, when I went for my first chemotherapy treatment, I met with a Nutritionist who went over what I should have in my diet during treatment and then beyond. One of the first things I was told was to maintain my current weight. Chemotherapy drugs are given to you based on your body weight and if your weight fluctuates during the course of the treatment, then it can change the effects of the medicine. So if you were thinking of going on a diet to lose weight, youll have to put that on hold until after your treatment is completed. You may even be surprised that you may gain weight because of the foods you eat due to the change in your taste buds. More about that later Next, we discussed me eating foods that had a high source of Iron, protein and calcium as well as eating lots of fruits and vegetables. Keep in mind that while we had this conversation prior to starting the chemo, all the suggestions I received about what foods to eat was put on the back burner because one of the side effects of the chemo is that it alters your taste buds considerably. So, just know that what you should eat may not be what you actually end up eating because your food just doesnt taste normal.
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Vitamins are beneficial for your health ? no medical officials are denying that. Many are encouraged to take vitamin supplements to compensate for the vitamins they can no longer get from food, from different reasons.

Consequently, millions of Americans are trying to stay healthy ? or healthier ? by taking vitamins. Despite the obvious benefits, these vitamin supplements do not reduce one?s chances of developing heart diseases, breast cancer or having strokes. This information is the result of two large, very important studies that were just published today.

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