Archive for the ‘Cancer / Oncology’ Category

Had a “senior moment” lately? You know, those sudden, momentary lapses when you just can’t seem to remember the most common things. For most of us, we will experience what physicians term normal cognitive aging. Now, Columbia University researchers say that elevated blood glucose levels that occur naturally when we age may contribute to age-related cognitive decline. “This is news even for people without diabetes since blood glucose levels tend to rise as we grow older. Whether through physical exercise, diet or drugs, our research suggests that improving glucose metabolism could help some of us avert the cognitive slide that occurs in many of us as we age,” reported the lead investigator. Although regularly checking your blood sugar level isn’t recommended for non-diabetics, daily exercise is recommended for everyone (especially diabetics) because it contributes to normalization of blood glucose.

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Michigan State University researchers are suggesting that improper dieting may result in a weakened immune system that can increase your chances of getting hit hard by the flu. When looking at mice receiving adequate nutrition versus a lower calorie diet, those on the diet were not able to produce the amount of immune cells needed to fight an infection, despite consuming adequate quantities of vitamins and minerals. Although this was a mouse study, we probably didn’t need it to tell us why the results make sense on a human scale. Our bodies need energy in order to fight infections, and although vitamins and minerals are necessary, they do not provide the majority of energy we need to fuel our bodies - that role is reserved for carbohydrates, fats and proteins. This is why I always tell my patients to eat well and sleep well during flu season. Therefore, don’t believe the old saying telling you to “starve a fever.” It simply is not true.

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The American Chemical Society reports new evidence that humans can make their own salicylic acid (SA), the compound largely responsible for aspirin’s effects on pain, fever, and inflammation. SA is a naturally occurring substance that can be obtained directly from eating fruits and vegetables. Researchers have previously shown that vegetarians have much higher levels of SA in their bodies (sometimes as high as in those who take low doses of aspirin). Now, the same research group claims that new evidence suggest that our bodies can actually manufacture SA from compounds we consume in our diet. Could SA be one of the chemicals responsible for the health benefits of a vegetarian diet? Numerous studies have shown that vegetarians seem to have a lower risk of obesity, coronary heart disease (which can cause heart attacks), high blood pressure, and diabetes.

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Does America have a sociocultural obsession with food? You be the judge. On a recent trip to the mall I happened upon a myriad of food scented products, mostly in the form of moisturizers. Some of the flavors included pumpkin pie, strawberry shortcake, vanilla bean, cinnamon bun, and hot chocolate. And now Burger King is marketing their very own fragrance - with the scent of meat. Called “Flame” the spray is, according to the company, “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat”. Why would anyone want to smell like charbroiled meat? I will not place judgment until I’ve sniffed it myself. But, I do wonder why anyone would want to eat a cinnamon bun, then turn around and lather themselves with cinnamon bun-flavored cream. Perhaps it just appeals to us on a gustatory level. I can’t complain, I love to eat. But, I also can’t help but wonder if this is a healthy obsession.

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A British baby due this week will become the first child to be born with certainty that it does not have the BRCA1 gene mutation. Approximately 5% to 10% of breast cancers are believed to be due to genetic mutations inherited from parents - the most common being the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes.  Because the British couple conceived through in virto fertilization, they were able to screen for cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, and now BRCA1, at the 6 to 8 cell stage prior to implanting the embryo into the mother’s womb. All the women on the father’s side of the family have developed breast cancer, which is why the couple decided on genetic screening. Women who inherit the BRCA1 gene have up to an 80% increase in risk of developing breast cancer.

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Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) was widely pulicized in the 1990s as the human form of the cow disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is contracted from eating contaminated beef. However, there are sporadic forms of CJD that can occur for unknown reasons - unrelated to eating meat. Now, researchers have found a new variant of this fatal disease that appears to advance faster, causing dementia and even the loss of ability to speak and move. It is yet unclear what the cause is, but scientists speculate that an interaction with a genetic component may be likely.

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Last month physicians in Germany reported that a man co-infected with leukemia and HIV is free of both diseases two years after receiving a bone marrow transplant. The excitement centers around the use of bone marrow from a donor who has natural immunity to the HIV virus. Approximately one in 1,000 Europeans and Americans have an inherited genetic mutation which prevents HIV from attaching itself to our immune cells. This is a very unique case in that a matched donor just happens to be one of those who have immunity to HIV. However, researchers at UC Davis are actively working on a cure by playing on the same idea - by replacing HIV-infected individuals’ immune systems with genetically engineered stem cells that are resistent to the HIV virus.

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The American Cancer Society kicked off their 33rd annual Great American Smoke Out yesterday in an effort to help smokers quit. The goal of the event is to get smokers to quit for one day, in hopes that the day will inspire them to remain smoke-free for good. Smoking is the major risk factor for lung cancer, the top killing cancer globally in both men and women. Studies have found by calling 1-800-Quit-Now, a free service in the US, a person’s chances of successfully quitting tobacco more than doubles.

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Exercise is known to reduce cancer risk. Just how and why is unclear. On the contrary, decreased sleep appears to be correlated with an increased risk of cancer, according to a new study presented this week at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual research meeting. It is unclear why this is the case, but scientists found that among the women 65 and younger who engage in exercise, those who had less than 7 hours sleep a day had higher overall cancer risk, suggesting that much of the cancer-preventive benefit that might come from exercise could be undermined by lack of adequate sleep. Sleep, after all, is critical for general bodily repair and recovery.

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Research presented this week at an American Heart Association conference warns of the potential dangers headphones can impose on implanted pacemakers and defibrillators. In a study of 60 people with these devices researchers found when headphones were about an inch from the device, interference was detected nearly one-fourth of the time — in four of the 27 pacemaker patients and 10 of the 33 with defibrillators. A pacemaker even reset itself in one patient. This interference occurs whether the headphone is plugged in or not. The reason this happens is because headphones, especially small earbud types, contain neodymium, one of the most powerful and concentrated magnetic substances. Dr. Kenneth Ellenbogen, a heart device expert at Virginia Commonwealth University and a spokesman for the heart association, said the solution is simple: “Keep your headphones on your ears and when they’re not on your ears, you shouldn’t put them over your chest or your pacemaker.” Although headphones are still safe to use, in general it is a good idea to keep small electronics at least a few inches away from any implanted cardiac devices.

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