The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new warning labeling change regarding bevacizumab (Avastin) a cancer drug currently in use to treat colorectal cancer, that state an increased risk for a brain-bleeding condition and potential nasal septum perforation that can create a hole in the nose for those patients being treated with Avastin. The rare brain-capillary leak can trigger headache, seizure, blindness and other vision and neurological problems.

The FDA has published a letter sent by Genentec to healthcare providers notifying them of the new warnings, available as a pdf document.

In the meantime, Avastin's drug maker Genentech has asked for FDA approval for the drug in the treatment of advanced lung cancer and breast cancer.

Maybe I have been weaving my way through the web for too many years that shades my perspective cynical and jaded but there are few internet destinations I trust outright. Certainly not when it comes to purchasing drugs. Questions of purity, reliability of ingredients and quality immediately come to mind. Equally at issue is the folly of self diagnosis and self prescribing medications for self described illness or malady.

UK doctors have reported that a woman, who diagnosed herself with chronic fatigue syndrome and, on the advice of a neighbor, bought oral steroids from an online pharmacy in Thailand, is going blind as a result of the drugs she took.

The Northwest Arkansas Morning News is featuring a story about Nicole Young, and her new non-profit Message In A Bottle project, that is providing inspiration to cancer patients and their families with hand-written messages delivered in a bottle.

Young, who is now 33, was first diagnosed with ocular melanoma, a rare eye cancer, three years ago while she was seven months pregnant. The diagnosis of cancer was made after she experienced blindness. Last fall, the doctors found tumors in her liver. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

Young says she knows all about the emotional and physical pain that cancer patients and their families go through, and she came up with the idea of writing messages of inspiration and delivering them to patients and their families facing cancer as a way to bring happiness and hope. To date, Young has been delivering her messages in a bottle to local cancer patients but she hopes to be able to do this on a worldwide basis.

To read more about Young, who at the age of 8, wrote, published and delivered the Lakeside News to neighbors featuring interviews, gossip and a comedy column, read Cancer Patient Bottles Inspiration. She needs help to make her messages in a bottle dream a worldwide reality.

Traditionally, the medical community has focused its resources on cancer treatment in saving lives. Rather recently, there is a growing trend and interest in cancer prevention. As a result, there is more awareness and conversation about the causes of cancer, and the ways to prevent cancer. Although less than ten percent of the population links cancer risks to obesity, one of the leading lifestyle factors that is known to raise the risk for cancer is obesity. The Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University conducted an online survey that revealed rather startling results. When it comes to obesity, half of the people who responded to the survey said they would give up a year of life rather than be obese. In addition, they indicated they would walk away from their marriage, give up the possibility of having children, be depressed or become alcoholic rather than be obese.

It gets more extreme. Five percent said they'd rather lose a limb than get fat, while four percent said they'd rather be blind than be overweight. Of those who responded, three percent were underweight, 41 percent were normal weight, 21 percent were overweight, 21 percent were obese and 14 percent were very obese. There is something desperately sad about the truth of how we feel about being fat. Being overweight is not good. Maintaining a healthy weight is good. However, it seems being fat is dangerously weighted in more than our concern for health. The psychological pain appears profound for many even considering the possibility of being overweight and illustrates the lengths people would be willing to go to be thin. Alcoholism? Loss of limb? Blindness?