growing up i never took that great of care of my teeth.
about a month ago i found a lump on the bottom back right side of my head ( people said you have lymph nodes there ? ) anyways, could that be the reason for me getting it? if i even do? i’ve been to the doctor and he said it was just a fatty tissue but its gotten bigger since then, so im pretty sure its something bad, what else could it be ?? im only 18 if that helps any.

Contrary to the popular perception, Selenium and vitamin E supplements do not thwart prostate cancerdefinedefine. In fact there are indications that they may prove to be unsafe for the human body.

According to media reports, a seven-year research on the effects of Vitamin E and selenium supplements on prostate cancerdefinedefine has been halted. This study was being conducted by U.S. National Cancer Institute and involved more than 35,000 subjects and 400 sites across the United States. The estimated cost of the study was 114 million dollars.

Dr. Eric Klein of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who worked on the study said, “As we continue to monitor the health of these 35,000 men, this information may help us understand why two nutrients that showed strong initial evidence to be able to prevent prostate cancer did not do so.”

Prostate cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. These cells may spread from the prostate to other parts of the body, especially the bones and lymph nodesdefine. Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating and erectile dysfunction.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. It is estimated that 186,000 cases will be detected this year, and the dreaded disease will claim close to twenty eight thousand lives.

As the news broke, the study partakers were asked to stop taking the two pills they’d been taking every day since the trial opened in 2001. National Institutes of Health stated, “The data also showed two concerning, but not statistically significant, trends: there were slightly more cases of prostate cancer in men taking only vitamin E and slightly more cases of diabetes in men taking only selenium.”

This is probably the end of the research named SELECT (SELenium and vitamin ECancer prevention Trial).

Source: http://www.themedguru.com

Washington, United States, November 7: A new research has uncovered a surprising link between migraine headache and lower risk of breast cancerdefine in women.

The first-of-its-kind study by Fred Hutchinson researchers suggests that women who suffer from migraine headaches have a lower risk of getting breast cancerdefine compared with women who do not have a history of migraines.

Findings of the new study, carried out by a research team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) in Seattle, Washington, suggest that women who have a history of migraines are 30 percent less likely to develop breast cancer, the most common tumor in women.

“Many of the triggers of migraine in women are known to be hormonally related, and also are important in the development of breast cancer,” said Christopher Li, MD, of FHCRC and the lead author of the study. “We now see a plausible relationship between hormonesdefine and migraines and breast cancer.”

Li, who reported his findings in the November issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, says that though the biological mechanism behind the association is not fully known, it is likely the same hormones that contribute to breast cancer playing a role in preventing migraines.

To reach their findings, Li and colleagues examined data from 3,412 postmenopausal women, more than half of whom had been diagnosed with invasive breast cancer.

The researchers found that migraine history appeared to curb the risk of the most common subtypes of breast cancer: estrogen-receptor and progesterone-receptor positive.

“We found that, overall, women who had a history of migraines had a 30 percent lower risk of breast cancer compared to women who did not have a history of such headaches,” said the authors.

Li hopes the findings could help health experts find new ways of reducing a woman’s risk for breast cancer. “This gives us a new avenue to explore the biology behind risk reduction. Hopefully this could help stimulate other ideas and extend what we know about the biology of breast cancer,” he said.

Breast cancer affects women of all ages equally although the risk increases with aging. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women, first being the lung cancer. Heart disease is dangerous mostly after the age of 65 but breast cancer can affect a woman at an age as early as 20. Thus, women need to be vigilant all their lives in order to prevent it from getting lethal.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 180,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States every year and almost 41,000 die because of it.

Migraine is an intense, often debilitating type of headache. It affect as many as 24 million people in the United States, and is responsible for billions of dollars in lost work, poor job performance, and direct medical costs.

This severe recurring headache, usually affecting only one side of the head, is characterized by sharp pain and often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and visual disturbances.

Source: http://www.themedguru.com

Washington, November 5: Discounting the long held belief, a daily dose of folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and other supplements do not help prevent cancers in women, a new American research suggests. However, fortunately, they don’t increase the susceptibility to cancers either.

For the study, the researchers at the Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School zeroed in on 5,442 women who had participated in the Women’s Antioxidant and Folic Acid Cardiovascular Study earlier.

Averaging 63 years, all women were either diagnosed for cardiovascular disease or had nearly a three times heightened risk of developing the disease.

During the 7 year study (April 1998 through July 2005), participants were randomly put on either a supplement pill containing 2.5mg of folic acid, 50mg of vitamin B6 and 1mg of vitamin B12, or a placebo pill.

Follow-up analysis revealed 379 invasive cancerdefine cases. While 187 in the active supplement group developed cancer, primarily breast cancer, 192 in the placebo group did so.

“This study shows that supplementation with the combined B vitamins provided no beneficial effect and no harmful effect. So in terms of cancer risk, this may not be an effective approach,” Zhang noted.

A similar study reported in the October issue of the same journal found that vitamin supplements and folic acid failed to slow cognitive decline in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

However, researchers did notice one intriguing trend. In the active supplement group, women aging above the average age were 38 percent less likely to develop breast malignancy and 25 percent less likely to develop any other type of tumor. But researchers highlighted the need to interpret these results with caution. “It’s something that needs further study,” lead author of the study, Dr. Shumin Zhang averred.

Despite the findings, researchers recommend eating a healthy diet rich in folic acid and other B vitamins (primarily found in green leafy vegetables and fortified cereals) or through daily supplements.

“There are really good reasons for women to take folic acid, especially if they’re planning on having a baby, because there’s really conclusive evidence that it can reduce birth defects. But, for the average woman in terms of cancer risk, folic acid and B vitamins don’t seem to increase or reduce risk,” Zhang averred.

The findings of the study feature in today’s issue of Journal of the American Medical Association.

Source: http://www.themedguru.com

There may be a health benefit related to those painfull migraines.

A study found that women who suffer from migraines are 30 percent less likely to get breast cancer. The researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suspect that hormones are the culprit.

One trigger of a migraine is a drop in estrogen. And higher estrogen levels are linked to the risk of the most common type of breast cancer. The researchers say more studies are needed to clarify the link between breast cancer and migraines.

women who take oral contraceptives for three weeks and then stop for a week to trigger menstruation tend to suffer more migraines during their hormone-free week. Women with higher levels of estrogen hormone are less likely to experience migraines, the researchers noted. The same hormone is known to stimulate the growth of hormonally sensitive breast cancer.

In the meantime, all women — regardless of whether they get migraines or not — should continue getting preventative breast exams.

Lung cancer or bronchogenic arcinoma, a life threatening disease, is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both of the lungs. While normal lung tissue cells reproduce and develop into healthy lung tissue, these abnormal cells reproduce rapidly and never grow into normal lung tissue. As a result, lump mass known as a tumor
are formed, disrupting the lungs and making it difficult to function properly. Tumors can be benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous). Benign tumors may grow causing discomfort and bleeding, but they do not spread to other parts of the body and can be removed. Malignant tumors grow aggressively, spread into other areas of the body and destroy normal tissue. The process of spreading the tumor is called metastasis (secondary tumors) and the areas of tumor growth at these distant sites are called metastases.

Usually lung cancer
, develops within the wall or epithelium of the bronchial tree. But it can start anywhere in the lungs and affect any part of the respiratory system. Lung cancer mostly affect people between the ages of 55 and 65 and often takes many years to develop. Once it occurs, cancer cells can break away and may spread to the lymph nodes or other tissues in the chest, including the lung opposite to where it originated. It may also spread to other organs of the body, such as the bones, brain or liver.

Washington, October 31: Indulging in physically strenuous household work besides some hardcore exercise can cut the risk of developing breast cancerdefine by almost a third, a news study suggests.

However, the protective effect of strenuous workouts was obvious only in normal-weight (body-mass-index of 25 and under) postmenopausal women, leaving behind overweight or obese women.

Under the study, as many as 32,269 postmenopausal women were monitored for 11 years. Participants were required to fill in detailed questionnaires inquiring the level of physical activity.

While scrubbing floors, washing windows, running, aerobics and cycling on hills, and fast dancing were categorized as vigorous activities, light household works like washing clothes, vacuuming and light exercise including walking and light jogging, general gardening were considered non-vigorous activities.

Vigorous workouts managed to slash the risk of developing breast cancerdefine by 30 percent in normal weight woman. On the other hand, it appeared to have no protective effect on obese or overweight women. Surprisingly, postmenopausal overweight or obese women stood a 30 percent higher chance of developing breast cancer, researchers cautioned.

Explaining the basis of the findings, lead researcher, Dr. Michael Leitzmann from the National Cancer Institute at the US National Institutes of Health, said, “Possible mechanisms through which physical activity may protect against breast cancer that are independent of body mass include reduced exposure to growth factors, enhanced immune function and decreased chronic inflammation œ variables that are related to grater physical activity and to lower breast cancer risk.”

The findings of the study are published in the current issue of the journal ‘Breast Cancer Research’.

Body Mass Indexdefine, a measure of weight in relation to height, is calculated by dividing the individual’s body weight by the square of his height.

As a thumb rule, people with a BMI:
lower than 16.5 – severely underweight
between 20 and 25 œ normal healthy weight
between 25 and 30 œ overweight
between 30 and 40 – clinically obese people
above 40 – morbidly obese.

Source: http://www.themedguru.com

Cosmetic treatments have come a long way in a relatively short period of time. Today, many of the procedures that are done in this area do not require traditional surgical methods to complete. With the advent of many skin resurfacing treatments and the introduction of laser surgery, conventional surgical methods are much less common than they once were. The good news is that current procedures are being refined all the time to make them less invasive and more effective. In addition, new treatments are being introduced all the time

.

Photodynamic therapy is one of the newest treatments used for cosmetic purposes today. This therapy combines the use of specialized light sources with medications that sensitize the body to receive the light treatment most effectively. The process of this treatment is threefold. First, administer the medication either topically or intravenously. Second, allow an incubation period for the medication to take effect, which can range from a few minutes to a few hours. Once the medication has properly sensitized the body to the light, the treatment can begin. There are different types of light that can be used for photodynamic therapy, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), blue light, red light and lasers. The type of light used will be determined by the type of treatment that is being administered.

There are many uses for this new photodynamic therapy. One of the first functions of this procedure was for cancer treatment. Currently this therapy is used to treat certain types of lung cancer, esophageal cancer and pre-cancerous conditions found in the esophagus known as Barrett’s syndrome. It can also be effective in removing cancer and pre-cancerous lesions found on the skin. In addition, this therapy is currently being studied for use in treating cervical cancer, prostate cancer and some types of brain cancer.

On the dermatology front, in addition to treating pre-cancerous skin conditions, this therapy can also be used on acne, psoriasis and rosacea. It has been used on warts, scars and wrinkles with some success as well. It has not been shown to be particularly effective in removing birthmarks or moles. The type of treatment that is being conducted helps the doctor know what type of light to use, how long the sessions need to be and how frequently treatments should be repeated.

Photodynamic therapy is beneficial to the patient on many levels. First, this treatment has proven to be a highly effective means of treating many diseases and conditions that do not necessarily respond will to other forms of treatment. Risk and side effects are fairly minimal and may include some pain and redness in the area. However, this therapy is still very new to the medical community, and it is difficult to predict what the long term effects of these treatments might be.

Photodynamic therapy is quickly gaining popularity with patients and the medical community alike, which is making it easier to find clinics and doctors that are equipped to handle this procedure correctly. If you have any of the conditions listed above, it might be worth talking to your doctor about whether this therapy is the right choice for you.

A study of more than thirty thousand postmenopausal American women, reported in BioMed Central’s open access journal Breast Cancer Research, has revealed that a sedentary lifestyle can be a risk factor for the disease “ even in women who are not overweight.

While an Investigator at the National Cancer Institute of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Michael F. Leitzmann led a team of researchers who followed the 32,269 women for eleven years and found that vigorous activity may protect against breast cancer, independent of body weight control.

Vigorous activity was judged to include things like heavy housework (scrubbing floors, washing windows, heavy yard-work, digging, chopping wood) and strenuous sports or exercise (running, fast jogging, competitive tennis; aerobics, bicycling on hills, and fast dancing).

Leitzmann said, “Notable strengths of our study include its large sample size, prospective design, high follow-up rate, and availability of relevant known or suspected breast cancer risk factors. These features enabled us to minimize any effects from other factors apart from exercise.”

Interestingly, the authors found that non-vigorous activity, such as light housework (vacuuming, washing clothes, painting, general gardening) and light sports or exercise (walking, hiking, light jogging, recreational tennis, bowling) was not protective. Furthermore, vigorous activity was only protective in lean women and not those who were overweight or obese. According to Leitzmann, “Possible mechanisms through which physical activity may protect against breast cancer that are independent of body mass include reduced exposure to growth factors, enhanced immune function, and decreased chronic inflammation, variables that are related both to greater physical activity and to lower breast cancer risk”.

The authors added, “An alternative explanation for the stronger apparent effect of vigorous activity among lean over heavy women is that heavier women may misreport non-vigorous activities as vigorous ones”.

(Published at Health News Track on October 31, 2008 – today)

The new technique offers better imaging of smaller tumors and may also improve surgical options when fertility-sparing procedures are being considered.

“Small lesions are often difficult to image, but imaging their full extent is important in surgical planning,” said study author Nandita deSouza, F.R.C.R., professor and co-director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research Group at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, U.K. “By adding this technique to image the diffusion, or movement, of water within tissue, we can improve the accuracy of detecting small tumors.”

The American Cancer Society estimates that 11,070 American women will be diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer in 2008. Largely attributable to increased use of the Pap test, cervical cancer death rates declined 74 percent between 1955 and 1992 and continue to decline by nearly 4 percent annually.

“Cervical cancers increasingly are being picked up at an earlier stage,” deSouza said. “This procedure causes no more discomfort than a Pap test and the diffusion-weighted imaging itself only takes 84 seconds.” The entire procedure takes approximately 15 minutes.

In the 22-month study period, 59 women, ages 24 to 83, were accepted for inclusion into the study and placed into two groups. Group 1 consisted of 20 women awaiting biopsies due to abnormal cervical tissue development at screening and 18 women who had invasive cervical cancer confirmed by biopsy. Group 2 consisted of 21 women in whom it was necessary to evaluate the presence of the invasive disease.

The patients underwent high-resolution MRI with the addition of a ring coil inserted into the vagina and positioned around the cervix. The coil was designed specifically to image the cervix and enabled measurement of diffusion of water within the tissue cells. The researchers found that the diffusion of water was reduced in cancerous tissue compared to normal tissue.

“Measurement of water diffusion enabled us to differentiate cervical cancers from the normal glandular lining of the cervix,” deSouza said. “Use of these measurements in conjunction with conventional MRI makes detection of early stage cervical cancer easier. I am hopeful that this technique will be used routinely in the future in patients with suspected small tumors.”

(Published at Health News Track on October 23, 2008 – 1 day ago)