The Cancer Society fears the effect on cancer sufferers if Dunedin loses neurosurgery.
Chief executive Mike Kernaghan and board member Dr Blair McLaren, a medical oncologist, outlined their concerns for cancer patients and their families if the South Island’s neurosurgeons are all based in Christchurch.
Dr McLaren, clinical leader of oncology for the Southern Blood and Cancer Service, warned the prospective change may also put at risk a long-standing national cancer contract for radiosurgery, which had neurosurgery input.
Dunedin Hospital was the only provider of radiosurgery in New Zealand.
Dr McLaren was concerned about the effect on sufferers – and their families – if they had to be transferred to Christchurch.
“It’s about disrupting a family at a critical phase of their life.”
He believed the situation was governed by “political” motivations, rather than clinical.
The focus must be on the patients.
When Southland and Otago oncology services were merged in 2008, delivering treatment close to patients’ homes was made a priority.
Centralising administration of a service did not mean centralising treatment, he said.
Some treatments, including radiotherapy, were only available in Dunedin. (more…)
On the average, one child is diagnosed with cancer in the state each week.
The actual figure is most probably higher because the ‘one per week’ statistics is merely based on records kept by the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and the Sarawak Children’s Cancer Society (SCCS).
SCCS vice-president Wong Kok Ping told The Borneo Post at SCCS’s 9th Charity Food Fair here yesterday that on the average, SGH and SCCS records showed a total of more than 50 cases.
“This does not include patients admitted to the private hospitals,” he pointed out.
For the first seven months of this year, 32 children had been diagnosed with various types of cancer. (more…)
SAN Divine, CA, June 18, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ — Late the Laurels Award-winning Rachael Ray Present contacted EMLab P&K for bacterial analysis. The demo desired to substantiate that old makeup and model supplies entertain bacterium and could be potentially prejudicial to the user.
EMLab P&K provided microbiology analysis and microbial consulting for the Rachael Ray Show. EMLab P&K tested several beauty products and ran state-of-the-art bacterial speciation tests along with E.coli, fecal and total coliform tests for each sample. The results of the bacteria tests can be viewed in the segment “Is Your Makeup Making You Sick?” on Rachael Ray’s website at……… (more…)
Several Northward Bay mortal patients instrument person to travelling to City for follow-up assessments after monthly clinics held here for decades were cut.
Sean Barrette, people relations serviceman for the City Regional Hospital, said the “skirting” clinics in cities such as Northwestern Bay and Timmins ended June 1 because there are not sufficiency medical oncologists – a person health-care write.
“Fundamentally, in arrangement for waiting nowadays to be restored and to avoid oncologist burnout, there had to be changes for follow-up want,” Barrette said.
“Volumes of cancer patients are always increasing,” he said, adding the regional centre has been functioning for a couple of years without a full complement of specialists. “It starts to eventually wear on those who are there.”
There were 285 patient visits at the clinics held twice a month in 2009, but Barrette said not all cancer outpatients will be forced to drive to Sudbury for their check ups every six or 12 months.
He said radiology oncologists will still hold clinics in North Bay when appropriate.
“Nobody likes to see any type of reduction in services, but this will ultimately benefit cancer patients. Acute treatment patients will be seen quicker,” he said.
Tiziana Silveri, vice president of surgery and maternal child at North Bay and District Hospital, said teleconferencing will also be an option for some outpatients, noting the quality of the technology has improved greatly.
And Silveri said the chemotherapy clinics providing active treatment are still being held in North Bay.
A sun protection intervention program that encouraged fourth-graders to wear hats outdoors as a skin cancer prevention measure significantly increased hat use at school, a study by researchers at the University of South Florida College of Medicine found. The program, however, had no effect on self-reported hat use at home or on measures of skin pigmentation.
The study is published online this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The researchers report outcomes through the first year of a two-year follow-up from the Sun Protection of Florida’s Children program, a cluster randomized trial.
“This study shows it is possible to successfully put into place an educational program that leads to sustained use of hats for sun protection at school – an intervention that may limit sun damage early in life,” said principal investigator Richard Roetzheim, MD, MSPH, a professor in the USF Department of Family Medicine.
Getting children to wear hats and protective clothing to shade their skin is important, because people receive as much as 80 percent of lifetime sun exposure before age 18, Dr. Roetzheim said. “There is no such thing as a healthy tan. Tanning is the skin’s attempt to protect itself from damage done by the sun, and many skin cancers that adults develop are from exposures during childhood.”
USF researchers followed nearly 2,500 fourth-graders at 22 elementary schools in Hillsborough County, FL. Half of the schools (1,115 students) were assigned to the sun protection program and provided lightweight, tightly-woven hats with wide brims designed to shade the most vulnerable parts of the head, face and neck. The hats are worn while playing outside; one remains at school and another goes home with each student. Half of the schools (1,376 students) were in the control group and did not receive hats.
Students in the intervention schools received information about the importance of sunscreen, but educational sessions throughout the school year emphasized the added benefits of hats for sun protection. Researchers measured voluntary hat use at school by direct observation, and hat use at home was monitored by student self-report. A subgroup of 378 students (178 in the intervention group and 200 in the control group) were examined for any changes in skin pigment melanin and in number of moles on the skin. More melanin, or more or larger moles, indicates sun damage.
At control schools, the percentage of students observed wearing hats while playing outside (activities like recess, physical education and lunch) essentially did not change during the school year. At the intervention schools, overall hat use increased by 42 percent during the school year – ranging from little change at a few schools to a high of 75 percent.
“We’re trying to make wearing hats a cool and popular thing to do as well as an acceptable health behavior, so it was encouraging to see that hat use didn’t decline after the initial spike at the beginning. It actually increased as the school year wore on.” Dr. Roetzheim said…. (more…)
Recently, Celgene Corporation (NasdaqGS: CELG – News) completed the acquisition of the privately held Gloucester Pharmaceuticals for $340 million in cash coupled with $300 million in future milestone payments. The deal is aimed at bolstering Celgene’s portfolio of cancer drugs. The deal is expected to be neutral to Celgene’s earnings in 2010 and accretive in 2011…. (more…)
Actor Michael C. Hall, who plays a serial killer in the TV seriesDexter,said this week that he has been battling cancer but the treatment is almost finished and the disease is in remission…. (more…)
Showtime’s Nick Charles, the blow-by-blow announcer on “ShoBox: The New Generation” since the series’ inception in 2001, is returning to ringside after battling bladder cancer since August, the network announced.
Charles was diagnosed with stage IV urothelial carcinoma over the summer but announced Friday that he is 80 percent in remission and that his doctors have given him the go-ahead to resume working.
He will be back on the air for the Jan. 29 “ShoBox,” which is will be headlined by bantamweight prospect Chris Avalos facing Jose Nieves at the Tingley Auditorium in Albuquerque, N.M., working with analysts Steve Farhood and Antonio Tarver. Charles turns 64 the following day.
“I never really lost hope and faith that I’d be back on ‘ShoBox’ working with the finest people I know professionally and personally,” Charles said. “The boxing community has been overwhelmingly supportive. Their inspiration has moved me deeply. As important to me though are the fans of ‘ShoBox’ who have expressed to me beyond all expectations their concern and encouragement through a difficult illness.”
During Charles’ absence, Al Bernstein, who pulled double duty while also working as an analyst on “Showtime Championship Boxing,” and Curt Menefee filled in.
“We are thrilled to announce the return of Nick Charles to ‘ShoBox,’” said Showtime’s Ken Hershman, who heads the network’s sports division. “Nick is one of the great guys in our business. His strength and perseverance through this ordeal has inspired all of us. We continue to offer our support and love and we look forward to Jan. 29 when Nick returns to the mic.”
Charles, who was treated at University of Texas M.S. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, has been off “ShoBox” since July 31, although Top Rank hired him to call the international telecast of the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto fight on Nov. 14…. (more…)
A Greencastle breast cancer survivor reveals how her Christian faith helped her get through the journey of her cancer diagnosis and treatment in her recently published book, “He Provides the Shoes: Walking with God Through Breast Cancer.”
Karen Holmes was 43 when she was diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer in February 2006.
“With no family history of the disease and a healthy lifestyle — including regular exercise and a healthy diet low in saturated fat — I was very surprised about my cancer diagnosis,” said Holmes who is the mother of young daughters and had worked as a nurse. Her husband, Dr. Brian Holmes, is a neurosurgeon.
The book is a detailed journal of her two years of cancer treatments. She had a lumpectomy followed by four months of potent chemotherapy and then a year of less toxic chemotherapy that included the drug Herceptin, which is designed for those who are HER-2 positive (25 percent of breast cancer victims are HER-2 positive).
An evangelical Christian, Holmes kept a journal of what she was feeling during those two years. It included her relationship with Jesus Christ, her Protestant faith and her family.
Holmes’ experiences with breast cancer helped her realize how much she needs God.
“When you’re frightened and caught off guard, God will walk with you every step of the way,” the author said.
and try to encourage others, too,” she said….. (more…)
Bionovo, Inc announced the publication of their results from its phase-1B clinical trial of Bezielle (BZL101) for metastatic breast cancer. The results of the study are available online in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment and demonstrate that Bezielle continues to be safe and well tolerated with clinical evidence of anticancer activity in a heavily pretreated population of women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. Preliminary results from this study were released previously by the Company.
The purpose of the phase-1B clinical trial was to identify the maximum tolerated dose of Bezielle and to determine the safety and feasibility of the company’s novel, oral, anticancer treatment. A total of 27 women with late stage breast cancer were enrolled to the phase-1B trial. The 27 enrolled women had failed an average of six prior therapies since diagnosis with metastatic breast disease and expected survival pre-trial was 90-120 days. To date, a total of 48 women with advanced breast cancer have been treated with Bezielle in two early phase clinical trials.
“We are encouraged by the results of the Company’s second phase-1 trial in women with advanced breast cancer and feel the oncology community is equally enthusiastic about Bezielle as our manuscript was accepted by the most widely read breast cancer specific peer reviewed journal in two days,” said Mary Tagliaferri, president and chief medical officer of Bionovo. “There are currently over 160,000 women in the United States living with advanced breast cancer who are eagerly awaiting an oral anticancer drug that can extend life without profoundly diminishing quality of life. We believe Bezielle will be an important new anticancer agent because its biological selectivity allows the drug to kill cancer cells without affecting normal cells resulting in dramatically fewer side effects.”
“In the age of sequential monotherapy as the treatment approach for women with metastatic breast cancer, Bezielle is one of the most exciting new therapies under investigation today,” said Banu Arun, Department of Breast Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, University of Texas, Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas. “At our center, where over 3,000 women are newly diagnosed with breast cancer each year, there is great patient demand for oral drugs with minimal toxicities for the treatment of any stage breast cancer. Bezielle is the exact type of drug our patients are seeking and the favorable clinical results in Bionovo’s two early stage clinical trials among a heavily pretreated patient population are extremely encouraging.”
“While safety and maximum tolerability were the primary endpoints of this second phase 1 trial, Bezielle demonstrated promising clinical efficacy in both phase 1 trials affording some women with long periods of stable disease without dramatically altering their day to day quality of life, which is a significant advancement,” said Alejandra Perez, director of the Breast Cancer Center at the Memorial Regional Hospital Cancer Institute, Hollywood, Florida….
