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Posts with tag UK
Posted Jul 26th 2007 3:27PM by Brian White
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Lung Cancer, Colon and Rectal Cancer
Although much of the UK is undergoing bans on public smoking -- Scotland included -- the country still
has the highest cancer rates in the entire United Kingdom.
New figures this week note that Scottish citizens have a 15% better chance from dying due to cancer-related causes.
Among Scottish men, the top three cancers included prostate, lung and colorectal. Among women, breast, lung and colorectal cancers were most prevalent.
When it comes to lung cancer, I have to wonder if the
recent smoking ban will have any effect on future Scotland cancer-related deaths. We'll have to wait and see, I guess.
Posted May 27th 2007 9:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Daily news, Celebrity news
Cancer Research UK is about to increase its wealth -- once a signed honeymoon photograph of the Prince and Princess of Wales is auctioned.
The photograph reportedly came from an unnamed member of the Royal Household and had been purchased by a collector. Taken on the Royal Estate at Balmoral just days after the wedding of Charles and Diana, it's Diana's signature prominently displayed on the photograph -- it reads,
Lots of Love, Diana.
The auction, organized by a businesswomen whose lost her mother-in-law to breast cancer, will take place on June 9 at a charity ball at the London Marriott Hotel, Grosvenor Square. It is expected to sell for £3,000.
Posted May 16th 2007 9:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Research, Daily news
UK researchers have developed a 3D laboratory model of human breast cancer, specifically ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). The model, complete with normal cells and tumor cells, should help experts understand how the disease develops in its early stages, and it could replace the need for experiments in animals.
About one in five breast cancers in the UK start out as DCIS. Researchers wanted to learn more about how the early cancerous changes in cells develop into larger tumors, and they chose to fashion a 3D test tube model because it is more complex than a layer of cells in a Petri dish.
Once this experiment is proved successful, it could reduce and perhaps replace animal studies.
"With breast cancer, there is an urgent need to move away from animal research models because their similarity to human cancer can be so poor," says one expert who explains this model could help revolutionize breast cancer research -- because unreliable research costs time, money, and lives, both animal and human lives.
Posted May 9th 2007 9:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: All Cancers, Daily news, Celebrity news
British Royal Prince William is following in his mother's footsteps as he takes on the role of president for the Royal Marsden Hospital, the first facility in the world dedicated to cancer treatment and research specific to the causes of cancer.
The largest comprehensive cancer center in Europe -- with partner The Institute of Cancer Research -- this hospital serves more than 40,000 patients from the UK and abroad annually.
"The Royal Marsden does an extraordinary job in treating thousands of cancer patients every year," said Prince William in a statement. "I am delighted and honoured to become president."
Posted Feb 23rd 2007 11:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Research, Obesity, Daily news, Womb Cancer
Findings from an international study suggest that women with a waist size of more than 34 inches are more likely to develop cancer of the womb than women who boast slimmer waistlines.
The study, funded in part by the British charity
Cancer Research UK, sized up 223,000 women worldwide and determined that women with a waistline less than 31 inches have half the risk of developing womb cancer than their heavier counterparts.
There has been a significant rise in cases of womb cancer in Britain. And the link between the disease and weight gain is most prevalent among postmenopausal women who have never used hormone replacement therapy or the birth control pill.
According to the National Sizing Survey conducted in 2004, the average British woman now has a 34-inch waist. This is more than six inches bigger than the average size of a woman in the 1950s, says Dr. Lesley Walker of Cancer Research UK.
"Women are larger than they were when they existed on a wartime diet and were generally more active and this is having serious consequences," Walker says.
More than 6,000 women in the UK are diagnosed with womb cancer each year. The disease kills about 1,000 annually.
Posted Feb 23rd 2007 10:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Drug, Research, Daily news, Cancer Survivors
Breast cancer drug tamoxifen, designed to cut recurrence in women with estrogen-receptor positive disease, has been shown to continue working long after women stop taking the drug. And two studies suggest it might also offer long-term protection for healthy women with high risk of developing breast cancer.
One such study found the drug decreases risk of hormone-sensitive breast cancer by 39 percent over 20 years. Another shows a 34 percent decrease for up to eight years after the therapy concludes.
Published in the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, one study -- the International Breast Cancer Intervention Study, or IBIS -- looked at 7,145 women at high risk of breast cancer. And for the first time, clear evidence has surfaced in support of the merits of tamoxifen after the completion of treatment.
IBIS study participants took either a daily dose of tamoxifen or a placebo for five years. At the eight-year mark, 87 women who took the actual drug were diagnosed with estrogen-receptor positive breast cancer. And 129 women in the placebo group were diagnosed with the same disease.
In the second study, researchers from the Royal Marsden Hospital in London investigated 20-year data on 2,471 healthy women at high risk of breast cancer who took tamoxifen for six or seven years. Similar results were found.
Despite the benefits of tamoxifen as a preventative treatment, the drug is not currently approved for this use in the UK, where breast cancer is the most common form of female cancer.
Posted Jan 4th 2007 10:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: All Cancers, Research, Daily news
This just in from a survey conducted by Cancer Research UK:
More than one in four British adults believe cancer results from nothing more than fate. That's 27 percent of the adult population claiming cancer risk comes down to fate and is not linked to human predisposition or behavior.
Clearly, there are proven cancer-reducing behaviors -- like stopping smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, eating fruits and vegetables, and avoiding the sun -- and the fact that so many adults don't realize that half of all cancer cases can be prevented by lifestyle is alarming.
Dr. Lesley Walker, director of information at Cancer Research UK, says education is key for this group, dominated by British residents living in the most deprived areas of Britain and those over the age of 65.Posted Sep 27th 2006 6:00PM by Kristina Collins
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Pink products
The UK's Cancer Research All Join Together Campaign will sell pink and white rubber ducks for breast cancer awareness month. The rubber duck will raise funds and also come with information on being breast aware.
Lesley Walker, director of cancer information at Cancer Research UK, explains "Relaxing in the bath is an ideal time for women to notice any abnormal change in either breast. It is very important for women to know what is normal for them and bath time is a great time to look for any changes"
Five British women, who are survivors of breast cancer, are portrayed in the campaign that will be displayed in over 600 Cancer Research UK shops nationwide throughout breast cancer awareness month.
Rub a dub dub....
Posted Sep 11th 2006 11:33AM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Chemotherapy, Stomach Cancer, Teen Cancers, Daily news
In a tragic event of unfortunate misdiagnosis, The
Daily Mail is reporting that teen Stacey Stephenson died of stomach cancer after repeatedly being diagnosed with acid indigestion. At the beginning of summer, Stephenson began having digestive problems related to eating. When she visited the doctor, she was told she suffered from acid indigestion and given a prescription to combat acid indigestion.
However, several weeks later, when the young woman of 19 noticed her symptoms had not improved, she returned to see the doctor again. Again, she was told she suffered from acid indigestion. Shortly after, she went with friends to Greece on holiday. During holiday in Greece, the stomach pain became severe and she sought medical attention. An X-ray revealed a stomach tumor and this is when her stomach cancer diagnosis was made. Her family came to Greece to bring her home to England.
Once home, Stephenson was admitted to hospital and scheduled to undergo chemotherapy, but she became so weak from chemotherapy-induced kidney failure that she passed away in the hospital. Obviously, the doctors who initially saw this young woman dropped the ball when it came to following up on the potential causes of her stomach ailments. She was responsible about her health and sought medical attention for her stomach problems.
But so many of us dismiss acid indigestion and digestive problems as an after-effect of our modern diet and the stressors of every day living. We do not always take these symptoms seriously -- and we should. For more information on indigestion, visit the Medline Plus
indigestion webpage.
Our sympathies go out to the Stephenson family for the shocking and sudden loss of their daughter.
Posted Aug 31st 2006 3:00PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Prevention, Celebrity spokesperson, Testicular Cancer, Events, Services
We are all adults here. I am assuming we are all adults here. If not, before you follow the link to this video, you might want to do it when the kids are not in the room. Not because there is anything they should not see, but because knowing kids the way I do, they might ask what the lady in the video is doing with the plum.
There are times when you just don't feel like being creative enough to explain innuendo in a way that prevents the school calling the next day to discuss what your child is discussing in class about daddy watching the
lady with the plum video. The translation of double entendre can take interesting detours when repeated during graham crackers and milk time.
After all, as a parent, you are already explaining away the sexual innuendo of children's shows like Cow and Chicken, Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Fairly OddParents, Johnny Bravo, The Ren and Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, and SpongeBob SquarePants.
Back to the lady with the plum. It's a bit of genius if you ask me.
Rachel Gets Fruity! is part of the Everyman campaign to raise awareness on the ease and simplicity of a testicular self exam. It's short, sweet and to the point. Starring pop star Rachel Stevens, the video is sexual suggestive in a soft porn kind of way. There is no nudity. It's likely to grab attention of the audience it is aimed at and effectively raise awareness. Because awareness needs to be raised.
According to a survey, only 28 percent of men check their testicles regularly for signs of testicular cancer. The Everyman campaign is attempting to change that in innovative and creative ways. Here's the
Rachel Gets Fruity! video. To find out more information on the Everyman campaign and other efforts Everyman is involved in to raise awareness, go
here.
Posted Aug 30th 2006 6:30PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Opinion, Diets, Nutrition, Vitamins and nutrients, Daily news, Cancer Caregivers
Some campaigns just make me sad. UK's Age Concern, a charity that works to promote the health and welfare of older citizens, has launched a campaign called
Hungry To Be Heard because it seems nine of of ten nurses do not have time to make sure elderly patients are getting enough to eat during their stay in the hospital. As a result, over half of the elderly patients are at risk for malnutrition. As hospital patients, if the elderly are malnourished, they simply are not going to recover or heal as quickly; they are at greater risk for post-surgical complications and they suffer a higher rate of death.
Continue reading Hungry To Be Heard: older hospitalized patients going hungry
Posted Aug 22nd 2006 8:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: Drug, Daily news
I feel fortunate to have received every cancer drug I needed to fight my breast cancer -- Adriamycin, Cytoxan, Herceptin, and every nausea pill, pain capsule, and anti-anxiety formula on the market. I got exactly what doctors thought I needed -- without worry about availability or funding or politics. I am lucky. Some in the UK are not so lucky.
Two targeted therapies for bowel cancer will not be used in Britain's state-run health system, according to NICE -- the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. NICE, the country's financial watchdog, determined the high cost of the medicines meant their use was not compatible with the best use of resources. Patients are angry because these same two drugs -- Avastin and Erbitux -- are used widely in the United States and in much of Europe. And while neither drug offers a cure for bowel cancer, both treatments have been shown in clinical trials to extend life expectancy by four or five months in some patients.
Based on doses given during the trials, it is estimated that the average cost of treating one patient with Avastin would be around 16,800 pounds and with Erbitux -- about 11,700 pounds. Apparently, this is too much. But according to Hilary Whittaker of the charity Beating Bowel Cancer, the decision to deprive patients of this medication is a scandal. I agree. And for these patients, I am sad.
Posted Jul 8th 2006 10:00PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, Politics, Daily news
Hopefully this doesn't happen too often, but one hour after Observer sports writer Bill Elliott was diagnosed with prostate cancer, his wife Val was diagnosed with breast cancer. That a couple would both be diagnosed with cancer within an hour of each other is stunning, but equally stunning is the lack of sameness when it comes to cancer treatments in National Health Service priority funding and the tally in quality of life and human costs. Unfortunately, the difference in treatments appears to be common.
Colleague Health Editor Jo Revill, in
Both have cancer. But why can't one get the best care? takes a look at the difference between the treatment Elliot will receive for his prostate cancer compared to the treatment Val will receive for her breast cancer.
According to Revill, breast cancer currently enjoys ten times more funding than prostate cancer. From very glamorous campaigns, such as Ralph Lauren's
Fashion Targets Breast Cancer, supported by models such as Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell,
Helena Christensen and Giselle Bundchen. She muses that pictures of men in underpants highlighting prostate cancer do not have quite the same appeal as sexy women in white T-shirts.
After a lumpectomy, Val was put on an expensive and successful chemoprevention drug to prevent breast cancer recurrence.
However, for Bill, the options offered are limited. The treatment that his physician recommended that gives him the best odds of survival -- a brachytherapy -- was denied because of costs. Brachytherapy is a proven therapy where 100 radioactive seeds are implanted within the prostate gland in order to kill cancer cells through radiation. The alternative? Radical prostatectomy -- the surgical removal of the prostate with two major side effects -- impotence and incontinence.
Bill could pay privately for brachytherapy, but he wonders what happens for men who cannot afford the better treatment. You can read about Bill and Val's story in depth
here. You can listen to Bill and Val talk about the outrage they feel over the inequities in cancer treatment as they speak with Jo Revill in an audio interview
here.
Posted Jul 8th 2006 4:36PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Breast Cancer, Prevention, Research, Fundraisers
Breakthrough Breast Cancer, UK's leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research and education, has hands down and without argument, some of the best fundraising campaigns around. They are fun and innovative and trendy. In a recently announced fundraiser, they are inviting gardeners with a "passion for digging, sowing and cultivating their gardens" to host a garden party for friends to raise money for cancer charity -- or to sell cuttings from the garden and donate the proceeds to cancer charity.
According to Breakthrough, Linda Clegg from Keighley, West Yorkshire has been using her garden to raise money for Breakthrough since 2000, she says: "When my friend Norma called to say she had been diagnosed with breast cancer it was a huge shock. She really impressed me when she told me months later, that she had become a £1,000 Challenger. Little did I guess that I too would be diagnosed with breast cancer and subsequently have been bitten by the bug to raise funds for Breakthrough's research."
"It was difficult during my six months of chemotherapy, but my husband was a tower of strength through it all. When I look back now some very positive things to came out of that dreadful time."
Now in its 15th year, Breakthrough's £1,000 Challenge is the charity's longest-running, fundraising campaign. Once a fundraiser reaches the £1,000 target, Challengers can honor someone they love by having their name permanently displayed on the £1,000 Challengers' Wall, at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre. Over 5,000 supporters have become Challengers so far, and to date have raised over £12 million.
The Breakthrough Breast Cancer green-fingered gardening challenge certainly isn't the only fundraiser they have launched. To find out more,
go here. Not only can you sign up to participate in existing fundraisers, it's quite possible learning about what people are doing to raise money for cancer research and services will inspire you to original ideas of your own.
Posted Jun 19th 2006 8:36PM by Dalene Entenmann
Filed under: Prevention, Politics, Obesity, Nutrition, Cancer prevention foods
In
television ban on junk food ads, I posted about UK's Food Standards Agency, FSA, recommendation for a ban on television advertising of junk foods in an effort to curb the continuing weight gain of children. The Telegraph UK is reporting that the
FSA will be taking the ban one step further by suggesting that the ban extend to all forms of media, including websites, computer games, cinemas, packaging and school sponsorship.
This is a brainstorming effort of potential actions that might be taken in the campaign against childhood obesity. Other suggestions being batted about is a store loyalty card that rewards consumers for choosing healthy foods over junk food containing high levels of salt, fat and sugar.
According to the Telegraph UK, there was a White Paper published two years ago in which the government promised to take action against food advertisers who target children by early next year. In what has been called a draconian regime, the FSA has devised a system of nutrient profiling to identify offending food products. The obesity issue is real. Is this the answer?
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