Cancer research: Control your pain, control your cancer

Kinda strange topic, since, after all, cancer is controlled through the normal treatments, being chemotherapy, radiation, or through surgery. What does controlling pain have to do with being beneficial to cancer treatment, especially when you consider the case of cancer in children. Well, it is being found that an essential part of trying to make cancer treatment in children more effective is also by treating the pain caused by the cancer and by its treatment. Pain affects the body's immune system, and also has profound psychological implications (link to article):

Experts at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital suggest that tumours press on nerves, bones and organs; radiation can damage the skin and mucus membranes; and chemotherapy agents can cause harsh side effects. Moreover, acute pain increases a patient's heart and respiratory rates, metabolism, blood pressure and stress hormones. Children who are hurting need more oxygen.
"Chronic pain influences the immune system, so patients don't heal as well. Research also shows that patients don't breathe as well when in pain, causing a higher risk of pulmonary complications after surgery," said Dr Doralina Anghelescu, Anesthesiology Division at St. Jude. "Patients in pain don't eat as well or sleep as well either. Pain management benefits the whole body," Anghelescu added.

What this study suggests is that, especially in the case of children, pain management and emotional support be an essential part of the treatment, and even the family members of the patient should be part of understanding pain management.

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Cancer research: Keep up the good mood to increase your chances of survival

For those patients undergoing cancer treatment, many medical institutions also insist or recommend that they get counselling, and also ask family members to ensure that the mood remains light. This was seen as giving the patient more hope, a better chance of undergoing the various emotional and pyschological problems that afflict a person who is undergoing the trauma of cancer treatment. Now, it appears that there is actually scientific reasoning behind such a counselling and hope-for-better reasoning, since a study found that people who have good mental health and feel optimistic are actually better off in terms of their chances of surviving cancer than those patients who feel depressed (link to article):

People with cancer who are depressed are more likely to die than are patients with good mental health, psychologists reported Monday in the science journal Cancer. The study reported that death rates from cancer "were up to 25 per cent higher in patients experiencing depressive symptoms and up to 39 per cent higher in patients diagnosed with major or minor depression."
But Satin warned, "I want people to be cautious about this. We have not shown that depression itself causes mortality -- but we have a suggestion that this is possible." Satin cautioned against trying to match a specific patient's likelihood of death with the startling finding that death rates can be up to 39 per cent higher with depression that is serious enough to be diagnosed.

Even while scientists and researches try to find a link between cancer outcomes and mental health, it would anyhow be positive for people to try and ensure that cancer patients get all the help they need to have a more positive outlook to life.

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Cancer research: Brisk walking can reduce recurrence of breast cancer

Breast cancer threatens a large number of people the women the world over, and even though the condition is treatable, it is still a major issue. The other worry is that even when it is treated, there is a threat of the breast cancer recurring; some woman who face a high risk of breast cancer have been known to have a healthy breast removed after they have been treated to reduce the risk. Now, research has shown that exercise is a factor in the reduction of the risk of recurrence of breast cancer (link to article):

Thirty minutes of brisk walking every day can significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence, according to a new study. “Brisk walking - about 3.0 mph on a treadmill - for three to five hours per week, or about 30 minutes a day, can net big benefits for breast cancer survivors,” said Dr. Carolyn Kaelin, a Harvard surgeon, breast cancer survivor and author of The Breast Cancer Survivor’s Fitness Plan.
Recurrence rates and deaths from breast cancer decreased by 40 percent among those who exercise at least 3-5 hours per week, compared with those who were sedentary,” said Kaelin. “It does not need to be running a marathon, or biking a century, but rather simply walking briskly most days on a treadmill, at a shopping mall or around a track, that further reduces breast cancer recurrence for those who have been treated for the condition.

And of course, any kind of exercise such as brisk walking reduces the other health problems associated with a sedentary lifestyle such as cardiovascular problems, obesity, helps bring diabetes under control, and so on.

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HPV vaccine may protect against breast cancer

The Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is believed to be the most significant cause of cervical cancer, and to reduce the risk of cervical cancer, there is a Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine that is used for the people at high risk of developing cervical cancer. However, researches have known for some time from analysis of cancerous breast cells that strains of HPV have been found; it's just that there has been no medical confirmation that indeed, there is a causal link between the HPV and breast cancer. However, in a recent study, the link was much clearer based on genetic analysis of cancerous cells; and if this link can be made more clear (past studies have run the risk of contamination of the study material), then there is a brighter chance of the use of the HPV vaccine to protect women who have an enhanced risk (link to article):

Researchers at the University of New South Wales used genetic probes to test cancerous breast cells, and found several strains of HPVs, which are known to have a high risk of initiating cancer of the cervix. HPV has a causal role in 90-95 per cent of cervical cancers. "The finding that high risk HPV is present in a significant number of breast cancers indicates they may have a causal role in many breast cancers. Confirming a cancer-causing role for HPV in some breast cancers establishes the possibility of preventing some breast cancers by vaccination against HPV," said Dr Noel Whitaker, a co-author of the new report.

If indeed further research establishes a much clearer causal link, then the lives of a percentage of people who die from breast cancer can be saved.

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Article: Whole grains can give health benefits, countering diabetes and cancer

As part of a healthy diet, it has always been recommended to have whole grain as part of the dite. Remember when you pop off to get some bread, and the whole grain bread is advertised as the more healthy one, the type that is more beneficial to your health. You already know that, but here is some advice in the form of a study that recommends having more of whole grain, since it helps against both diabetes and cancer (link to article):

“Research shows that whole grains are good for your heart, lower risk of diabetes and stroke, and may help prevent certain cancers. They also help in managing weight,” she said. Sandon said that whole grains are chock full of good-for-you nutrients including fiber, folate and niacin, vital B vitamins, and magnesium.
She advised that people should by rule look for the words “Made with whole grain” and “100 percent whole grain” on packages. She gave other going-with-the-grain tips, which include swapping whole wheat breadstuffs for white rolls and breads, using whole wheat bread crumbs for stuffing.

This scientific advice will not be unknown to a number of people, but because whole grain stuff does not taste the same as the more processed stuff (food articles), people do not readily adopt whole grain; another byproduct of this attitude is that whole grain made items are not so readily available.

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Cancer research: Virus that causes cervical cancer also causes penile cancer

Not too many people have heard of penile cancer, that is, cancer that affects the penis; and it is rare, with only around 1% of total cancer cases in the United States and Europe being those of penile cancer. The cancer can cause mutilations, and affects a higher number (upto 10% of all cancer patients) in certain parts of Africa and Asia. Penile cancer starts at the tip (also called the glans) of the penis, and spreads from there. Some of the common symptons of penile cancer include:
* A wart-like growth or lesion
* An open sore that won't heal
* A reddish rash
* Persistent, smelly discharge under the foreskin
The good news is that research has establised that the virus that causes cervical cancer also causes at least half of penile cancer cases, and hence, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, used against cervical cancer, can also be used against penile cancers (link to article):

Dr. Silvia de Sanjose and colleagues reviewed cases of penile cancer reported in clinical studies between 1986 and 2008 and found 46.9 percent of tumors were associated with HPV.
Nearly all of these were linked to HPV strains 16 and 18, the two types that most commonly cause cervical cancer and which are targeted by Gardasil and Cervarix, they wrote in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.
Merck reported results of a clinical trial last November showing that Gardasil was effective in preventing lesions caused by the virus in men.

Finding that an existing medicine can be used in the fight against cancer is always great news.

Cancer Research: Some anti-psychotic drugs could fight against cancers

Antipsychotics (also called neuroleptics) are a group of psychoactive drugs commonly but not exclusively used to treat psychosis, which is typified by schizophrenia. Common conditions with which antipsychotics might be used include schizophrenia (as discussed above), mania, and delusional disorder. They might be used to counter psychosis associated with a wide range of other diagnoses, such as psychotic depression. These antipsychotic drugs can have a range of side-effects, causing many patients to stop taking them.
However, sometimes there are positive side effects. Research into finding medicines or chemicals that can help in the fight against cancer is one of the most researched areas in medical science. Cancer cells are much more rapidly growing than the normal cells in the neighborhood (surrounding body region), and it is by stopping the nutrients that nourish these cancer cells that antipsychotic drugs take effect (link to article):

According to a preliminary finding in the current online issue of the International Journal of Cancer, the anti-psychotic drug, pimozide, kills lung, breast and brain cancer cells in in-vitro laboratory experiments. Rapidly-dividing cancer cells require cholesterol and lipids to grow and the researchers suspect that pimozide kills cancer cells by blocking the synthesis or movement of cholesterol and lipid in cancer cells.
To test the idea, the researchers combined pimozide with mevastatin, a drug that inhibits cholesterol production in cells. The two drugs were more lethal in combination against cancer cells than when either drug was used alone. "The combination of pimozide and mevastatin increased cancer cell death," says UNSW researcher Dr Louise Lutze-Mann, a co-author of the study. Although side-effects are associated with the use of high doses of these drugs - such as tremors, muscle spasms and slurred speech - these effects are considered to be tolerable in patients where other treatments have failed and the drugs will only be used short-term.

Any research that helps in the fight against cancer is welcome, given that even with so many decades of research against cancer, it is still a fight; even effective treatment can have some bad side effects.