Cancer Care

CHICAGO — Leading U.S. cancer scientists said that five years of flat federal funding of cancer research is threatening to undo major strides made against the disease.

Nancy Davidson, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, said researchers had experienced a $500 million decline in real spending during “the longest sustained period of flat funding” in memory.
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Storrs, CT (Sports Network) - Connecticut men’s basketball coach Jim Calhoun announced Friday that he is being treated for a form of skin cancer.

Calhoun spoke at a press conference Friday and said he underwent a procedure on his upper right neck on May 6. The cancer was removed, along with a small portion of the salivary gland and 37 additional lymph nodes from lower in the neck.
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Big business is lining up behind a Senate bill that would require drug and device makers to publicly report their payments to doctors.

If that seems surprising, consider that Vermont, Minnesota and a few other states already have such laws in place, and others are considering legislation. Industry may have decided it’s better to deal with a single, federal law rather than a patchwork of state rules.

In letters supporting the bill, PhRMA and Advamed, the drug and device trade groups, both say it’s key that the bill expressly overrides any state laws requiring disclosure.

Those letters were posted online today, along with letters from AstraZeneca and Merck, who also come out in favor of the bill (and also highlight the importance of a single, national standard). Eli Lilly got on board last week. Language adding preemption of state laws was added to the bill after discussions with industry.

The bill, whose key backers include Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), would require companies to disclose payments to docs who received $500 or more from a single company over the course of a year, starting in 2011. Total payments are likely to run into the billions of dollars.

YREKA - Yreka’s Greenhorn Grange is hosting a benefit concert for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Kanybl Kaow is playing on Saturday, May 24, to raise money for the foundation. The concert begins at 6 p.m. and ends when it’s over. No drugs or alcohol will be allowed at the concert.
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(NaturalNews) Women who live and work in cities have a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer than women who live in the country, according to research conducted by the Princess Grace Hospital in London and presented to the Radiological Society of North America.
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How to Gain Mobility, Strength, and Confidence in Life Again
The Pink Ribbon Program Employs the Power of Pilates to Uniquely Address the Issues that Breast Cancer Survivors Face…and Achieves Phenomenal Results

Dealing with the crushing news of having breast cancer is a half the battle. The other half is getting through the recommended treatments and embracing life again. You’re physically and mentally zapped. Few women know the secret to getting back to 100 percent again, and one woman is on a mission to change that.
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How to Gain Mobility, Strength, and Confidence in Life Again
The Pink Ribbon Program Employs the Power of Pilates to Uniquely Address the Issues that Breast Cancer Survivors Face…and Achieves Phenomenal Results

Dealing with the crushing news of having breast cancer is a half the battle. The other half is getting through the recommended treatments and embracing life again. You’re physically and mentally zapped. Few women know the secret to getting back to 100 percent again, and one woman is on a mission to change that.
(more…)

Due to a wide variety of factors, many of them media-related, breast cancer has come to be seen as a “White womens’ disease.”
As the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Komen Race for the Cure, the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world, with well over 1 million participants since 2005, the agency is making a real effort to show that breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis among African American women. But it doesn’t have to be fatal. (more…)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - People with HIV have a much higher risk for many cancers, including anal cancer, but a lower risk for prostate cancer, researchers said on Tuesday.

Some types of cancers like Kaposi’s sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma have long been associated with people infected by the AIDS virus.

The study focused on trends from 1992 to 2003, finding that these two types of cancer became relatively less common among HIV-infected people in the United States. But other cancers are on the rise among these patients, who are living longer thanks to anti-HIV drugs.
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Tiny fibres used in tennis racquets, bicycle frames and some electronic equipment could be as dangerous to inhale as asbestos, experts warned on Tuesday.

A new study has linked the fibres, carbon nanotubes, with mesothelioma, a cancer of the lung lining. Thousands of Britons have died after contact with asbestos, which can trigger the disease.

Carbon nanotubes, which are about 1/50,000th the size of a human hair, are extremely strong and able to transmit electricity.

They have been used in around a dozen products including tennis racquets, baseball bats and electronics but experts predict their use will significantly increase in coming decades.

Prof Ken Donaldson, of the University of Edinburgh, has shown that one type of nanotubes damages the lungs in the same way as asbestos.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology on Wednesday, show that in tests in mice, long, thin versions of the particles were able to penetrate the outer walls of the lung. They cannot be expelled and provoke scarring and inflammation, eventually leading to mesothelioma, often decades later.

Dr Anthony Seaton, from the Institute of Occupational Medicine, Edinburgh, warned that those involved in the manufacture of the particles were most likely to be exposed to airborne particles, particularly as the industry is predicted to grow rapidly and be worth more than £1 billion by 2010.

Dr Noemi Eiser, medical director at the British Lung Foundation, said: “It is imperative that the questions raised by this research are answered before the commercial use of long carbon nanotubes becomes widespread. We must be vigilant about preventing future exposure.”

Source : www.telegraph.co.uk