Due to growing responsibilities in other areas, today I'm wrapping up my duties as a Life Sciences blogger with Weblogs Inc. (Diabetes, Cancer, Cardio) 

I've been blogging here since last December and must say that it has been a joy for me to have been a member of the Weblogs Inc family for these past several months and to have had the privilege of blogging with them. 

I want to thank Senior Editor, Judith Meskill, for her oversight and patience, as well as Weblogs Inc founder Jason Calacanis for giving me the opportunity. Mostly, I want to thank those of you who are regular readers of this blog. It's always been my hope that something that was said served to inform you about advances in research regarding your particular disease and provided practical information to assist you in combating it. I've made several friends along the way, and will miss the opportunities to interact with you.

Personally, blogging for the Life Sciences blogs has been a real education for me. I've learned a great deal that, hopefully, will translate into me taking better care of my own health.

I wish to both you and Weblogs Inc prosperity, good health, and a fond farewell.

African-Americans and other minorities in the U.S. face greater colorectal cancer risks than whites, according to a new study.

The results show that minorities are up to 60 percent more likely to have colorectal cancer diagnosed at an advanced stage - and up to 30 percent more likely to die from the disease - than whites.

Blacks are hardest hit by colorectal cancer, but researchers say this is the first study to compare colorectal cancer risks within smaller racial and ethnic subgroups.

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S. The risk of death depends largely on the stage at which the disease is diagnosed, treatment, and as this study suggests, ethnic group.

Exposure to everyday sources of radiation, mostly medical X-rays, raises the risk of cancer but not by much and there is no clear line between a harmless dose and a disease-causing dose, a panel of prominent scientists reported on Wednesday. The panel said that there is no threshold below which exposure can be viewed as harmless.

The panel asserts that people should think twice about having unnecessary high-dose X-rays such as the full-body CAT scans.

The report from the National Research Council updates 1990 findings based mostly on survivors of the 1945 atomic bomb attacks against Japan, about 45 percent of whom are still alive. 

While checking my email in Yahoo! yesterday, I saw this very cool interactive banner for a program by the Centers for Disease Control called Screen for Life, an online intiative to create awareness of the need for colorectal cancer screening.

The banner was interactive and a mouse-over provided me with more information. Since I'm always scavaging the web for information on cancer, I decided to click-thru, something I rarely do on ad banners.

The website is equally as impressive and, while providing you with lots of information, really centers on getting you to do one thing, download a PDF factsheet about the disease.  

If you're over the age of 50, and I'm almost there, let me encourage you to do what the CDC says, get screened!

Whether you agree with his politics, and many on both sides of the aisle don't, you have to admire the tenacity shown by Sen. Arlen Specter in the face of his latest bout with cancer.

Specter has five weeks to go in a six-month course of chemotherapy while, at the same time, facing a challenge to his political career. He is Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and you know what a tough time they've had lately. Sen. Specter is right up in the middle of it with no intention of laying down.

His signature line is, "I've beat a brain tumor, I've beat bypass surgery, a lot of political opponents, and I'm going to beat this too."

We want to give a shout out to two of Weblogs Inc's most popular blogs, Engadget and Autoblog. Both of them made the list of Time Magazine's Top 50 Coolest websites.

Engadget made it in the Lifestyle and Culture section tied with Gizmodo (but we won't talk about them since they aren't a part of our enclave), while Autoblog was included (tied with Jalopnik) in the Blogs section.

If you're not familiar with them - and you should be - Engadget is a "gadget" blog as the name implies. Autoblog...well, I'll let you guess. Congrats to both of them for being accorded this prestigious honor.

It appears this blog has become a sort of clearinghouse for people to express their well-wishes and appreciation to Peter Jennings regarding his bout with cancer. To date, we've received more comments on the post Peter Jennings Says Thanks, written back on April 30, than any other we've done.

One commenter said, "We miss you very much, Peter; and our whole family prays a great deal for your physical and mental endurance and rapid recovery." 

Another expressed a similar sentiment, "Peter, My husband and I surely do miss you in our nightly newscast. I try to find out how you are doing but have been unsuccesful. Please know I (and I am sure many others) pray for your full recovery."

Perhaps you'd like to let Mr. Jennings know how you feel. While we can't guarantee he will see these, I know he would be appreciative of each one. If you'd like to join others in expressing your appreciation and encouragement, click here. 

Skin cancer is the fastest growing cancer in the U.S., claiming one life per hour. One out of every five children will grow up to develop skin cancer, which also is the leading cancer killer of women between the ages of 20 and 30.

In an effort to educate people,  today Major League Baseball is kicking off its biggest campaign yet to help raise awareness and prevention of skin cancer.

The "Play Smart When It Comes to the Sun" program again is being done jointly with the American Academy of Dermatology. This year's annual initiative is expanded with a greater overall visibility to the public and will include the Shade Foundation created by Shonda Schilling, wife of Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and a skin cancer survivor.

As you know yesterday was the first day of summer, and so it's incumbent upon me to remind you to take care of you and your family's skin. Melanoma and other forms of skin cancer are directly related to exposure to the sun.

Here's a list of sites you ought to visit to learn more:

Skin Cancer Foundation 
Medicine Plus: Skin Cancer
American Academy of Detmatology 
Dove.com Skin Care 
American Cancer Society: Melanoma

Nine-time New York City Marathon champion Grete Waitz, who also won the first women's World Championship marathon and was silver medalist in the first women's Olypic marathon, has been diagnosed with cancer and is undergoing treatment in her native Norway.

Waitz, 51, the first woman to run the 26.2-mile distance in less than 2 hours, 30 minutes, won New York from 1978-80, 1982-86 and 1988. She also won the London Marathon twice (1983, 1986) and was a five-time world cross-country champion. 

Colo-rectal cancer drug Erbitux showed potential in prolonging survival of patients in a Phase II, or mid-stage trial, German drugs and chemicals group Merck said Thursday.

Merck said the drug, when combined with therapy using a chemical called irinotecan, could improve survival for patients whose cancer had spread beyond the bowel and who could not be operated on.

The company's goal is to market Erbitux in combination with radiation and to market Erbitux on its own as a treatment for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck cancer.

However, the ridiculously high cost of the drug may put it out of reach for many cancer patients. Several reports I've seen put the cost anywhere from $4,400 per month, to upwards of $150,00 for a year's supply. Which begs the question, why do these drugs cost so much?

Being designated by the National Cancer Institute as a Comprehensive Cancer Center qualifies as a big deal in anyone's estimation. Stanford University is stepping up efforts to land that prestigious federal designation for its cancer treatment center -- and the experts and dollars that would be likely to follow.

Though the university won't formally apply until February, they have recently hired a new deputy director with more than a decade's experience running another comprehensive center. And officials are working on a 1,600-page application, consolidating the center's researchers, scientists and clinicians, and performing practice inspections to prepare for the ones the institute conducts as part of the application process.

Fewer than 40 U.S. cancer centers have Comprehensive Cancer Center status. NCI awards the Comprehensive Cancer Center designation to facilities that have programs in three main areas: basic research, clinical care and prevention and control.

The FDA has approved new labeling for the last-chance lung cancer drug Iressa (gefitinib), saying that after Sept. 15 the medicine should be limited only to patients who are already benefiting from its use, the agency announced Friday.

The Food and Drug Administration stopped just short of withdrawing the lung cancer pill Iressa from the market, restricting access to the drug to existing or previous users and to patients in clinical trials.

The action follows the failure of the drug, developed by AstraZeneca, to prolong lives in two clinical trials. This is the first time the F.D.A. has restricted use of a cancer drug that had received so-called accelerated approval.  

I spent the better part of this day with my sons. We had lunch and they surprised me with a new DVD player as my gift. For many dads on this day, perhaps a "gift" children should recommend, at least the ones age 50 and older, is that they be screened for prostate cancer.

In the United States, prostate cancer has the dubious distinction of being both the most common cancer diagnosed and, if caught early, the least deadly.

About 200,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. While the cancer grows so slowly that most men do not need treatment, 30,000 die annually from the disease, making it the No. 2 cancer killer of American men, second to lung cancer.

Prostate cancer is often referred to as the "male breast cancer." It has a slightly higher death rate than breast cancer, but the disparity between the resources devoted to breast cancer advocacy and research and those designated for prostate cancer is unsettling to say the least.  

I talked about 13 year old Taylor Matthews in the previous post. She is an amazing young lady with an amazing story. Part of it is that she is determined to raise funds for research to cure pediatric cancer. Thy way she's doing it is through an ecommerce website, Taybandz.

Any item purchased on this site will help fund childhood cancer research. In fact, according to the site, "when you make a purchase, you will have contributed more money per person than the Federal Government commits yearly to fund pediatric cancer research."

Her goal is to raise public awareness about childhood cancers and to fund research that may one day create a cure. To date Taylor has generated net proceeds to fund pediatric cancer research of over $300,000. She is currently funding the solid tumor research lab at Children's Hospital of NY-Columbia Presbyterian. How many 13 year-olds can say that!

All profits from the sale of tay-bandz will be donated to non profit 501(c) (3) organizations engaged in Pediatric Cancer research and care. 96 cents of every dollar raised since inception has gone directly to research. 

The wrist-bands only cost $2.00 each. So what do you say, let's go pay Taybandz a visit and give them some business and more money to fight pediatric cancer!