This networking event called Let's Talk About Sex: Reclaiming Intimacy After Breast Cancer will focus on sexuality and intimacy after a breast cancer diagnosis.

Join Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBBC) on Wednesday, May 30, 2007, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia Marriott West in West Conschohocken, PA.

Featured speaker Kara Nakisbendi, MD will provide a candid and caring discussion about intimacy after a breast cancer diagnosis and how to reclaim sexuality to improve quality of life.

Discoveries have linked certain viruses to cancer growth. The hepatitis B virus is related to liver cancer. Women who develop cervical cancer have had a human papilloma virus (HPV) infection but not all women with HPV infection will develop cervical cancer. Stomach ulcers are likely caused by Helicobactor pylori, or H. pylori a bacteria and the ulcers can grow into cancer. Viruses attack cells in the body and once these cells are corrupted they begin to grow uncontrollably, eventually leading to cancer.

With these discoveries leads us to the knowledge that protecting the immune system in the body and keeping viruses at bay, is important in preventing cancer. Viruses enter the body through everyday activities like eating, breathing and sexual activity. Eating well, exercising and avoiding alcohol and cigarettes are good ways to keep your body's natural defenses functioning at their best. Staying protected with condoms during sexual intercourse helps protect you from sexually transmitted viruses and diseases. Learning healthy life style habits is the beginning of keeping cancer at bay. Focusing on nutrition, exercise, body weight, keeping toxins out of our bodies and our home environment ,and lowering stress will all help boost the immune system.

What a gift it would be if it were possible to sleep through cancer, literally sleep through the entire experience -- from diagnosis through the end of treatment -- and wake up on the other end of the bad dream. Unfortunately, this isn't possible. We must be alert and aware and active in our own plans for survival. All we are typically permitted are now-and-then naps and nighttime sleep -- if we can manage to actually sleep at night.

My sleep was never disturbed during my cancer journey. Night after night, just after my head hit my pillow, my body drifted right to sleep -- only waking for brief trips to the bathroom and to get out of bed the next day. I might have had an occasional sleepless night. But for the most part, I count myself as one lucky cancer patient, blessed with restful and regular sleep.

Not all cancer patients are privileged sleepers. And with all I was enduring during my own cancer ordeal -- emotions, hospitalizations, treatments, side effects, and pain -- it's a wonder I was able to manage so well in the sleep department.

Sleep is critical for maintaining strength and energy while fighting cancer -- while living life in general really. When nighttime sleep is disrupted, interrupted, or downright impossible, normal functioning and healing are compromised. So the quest for good, quality sleep should make its way to the top of your cancer to-do list. And if you are not sure just how to begin such a quest, consider these seven strategies for sleeping through cancer -- compliments of Marie-Helene Savard, doctoral student in psychology, and Dr. Josee Savard, associate professor and researcher of psychology at Laval University Cancer Research Center in Quebec, Canada.

• Set aside at least one hour to relax before going to bed.
• Go to bed only when you feel sleepy -- which is not the same as fatigue.
• If you can't fall asleep or can't go back to sleep after 20 or 30 minutes, get out of bed and leave the bedroom. Do something else -- and only go back to bed when you feel sleepy again. Repeat as necessary.
• Get up at the same time every day -- regardless of how much sleep you got. Use an alarm clock to wake.
• Use your bedroom only for sleep and sexual activities. Avoid reading, working, watching TV, or listening to the radio in the bedroom.
• Avoid napping. If you must take a nap, do so before 3:00 PM and for less than one hour.
• Keep realistic expectations about sleep -- avoid worrying about the amount of sleep you should have or the amount of time it takes you to fall asleep -- and try to become tolerant of your lack of sleep.

Sweet dreams.

Can sex cause breast cancer and will the cervical cancer vaccine offer protection against breast cancer? The human papilloma virus (HPV) known to increase cervical cancer risk might also be responsible for increasing breast cancer risk, according to a small study conducted by University of New South Wales researchers. HPV was discovered in the DNA of breast cancer tumors in almost half of the 50 women who participated in the study.

Researchers went on to indicate that women affected by HPV were approximately eight years younger at the time of breast cancer diagnosis than women who were not affected by HPV. They went on to speculate that HPV is not only spread through sexual activity but can be spread while bathing as the virus can be transferred from the genital area to the breasts.

Professor James Lawson of the University of New South Wales explained that "We know that the virus explodes out of the cell and is spread by touch, so it's fairly obvious that it could be spread by sexual activity to the breast, you could also argue that it would be spread by washing and bathing."

Because the study was a small one, Australia's National Breast Cancer Centre director Dr. Helen Zorbas is hesitant to accept the study as conclusive in showing a link between HPV and breast cancer. "There are a lot of hypotheses into what may cause breast cancer and it's important that we do research to try to investigate them. But a study of 50 cases is very small."

Cervical cancer was once the most common cancer in women. But between 1955 and 1992, the number of cervical cancer deaths dropped by 74 percent -- thanks to increased use of the Pap test, a screening tool that can find changes in the cervix before cancer develops and can also detect cancer in its most curable stage. The Pap test is still widely used. And the cervical cancer death rate continues to drop four percent every year.

In 2006, about 9,700 new cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States. About 3,700 women will die from the disease. Non-invasive cervical cancer is believed to be four times more common than the invasive form of the disease. Nearly all of these cases can be cured.

Cervical cancer typically occurs in women between the ages of 35 and 55 and rarely in women under the age of 20. It affects mostly Hispanic women, and African-American women develop the disease 50 percent more often than non-Hispanic white women. Women most as risk for cervical cancer are smokers, those with HIV or chlamydia infections, those with diets low in fruit and vegetable consumption, those who between 1940 and 1971 took the hormonal drug DES, and those who have taken oral contraceptives for extended periods of time. Women who have had multiple pregnancies, have a family history of the disease, and have a low socio-economic status are also at risk. Those most at risk, however, are women with human papilloma virus.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) is the most common risk factor for cervical cancer, and some experts believe a woman must have HPV to contract cervical cancer. There are 100 different types of HPV, 13 of which are likely to cause cervical cancer through sexual contact. There are usually no symptoms of HPV, but possible signs of cervical cancer can include vaginal bleeding, unusual discharge, pelvic pain, and pain during sexual intercourse.

There are two ways to stop cervical cancer. First, women can protect themselves against HPV. Protection comes in the form of delaying sexual activity, limiting the amount of sexual partners and their partners, using condoms (thought to be 70 percent effective) and receiving the cervical cancer vaccine, recommended for use in females ages 11-26. The vaccine is most effective for women who have never been sexually active. Second, women can receive regular Pap tests in order to catch pre-cancers. Pap tests are recommended for women three years after their first sexual encounter and before the age of 21 -- and then every year after that.

An abnormal Pap test typically prompts a colposcopy -- a technique that uses a scope to examine the cervix. Diagnosis usually stems from a combination of other scoping methods, pelvic exams, imaging tests, and biopsies used to confirm the presence of cancer and to stage the disease. Stages range from 0-4.

For non-invasive cervical cancer, surgery -- ranging from removal of the cancerous tissue to hysterectomy -- may be the only treatment necessary. For invasive forms of the cancer, surgery is often followed by radiation and chemotherapy. Women interested in preserving their fertility should discuss options with their physicians.

The state of cervical cancer has come a long way over the years. And this year, two critical developments emerged. In June 2006, the FDA approved the first drug for late-stage cervical cancer. The drug, Hycamtin, is recommended for use in combination with chemotherapy. Also is June, the cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, was released. Both developments are monumental -- and both will undoubtedly help decrease the already-dropping cervical cancer death rate.

For more information about cervical cancer, visit the following sites:

American Cancer Society
Mayo Clinic
Medline Plus
National Women's Health Information Center

Bicalutamide (Casodex) is an antiandrogen or hormonal therapy. Daily treatment with bicalutamide is shown to cut the risk of progression of prostate cancer by 44 percent. It can also reduce the overall risk of death by 35 percent.

The study was done on 1370 patients who were randomized to receive either radiation and a placebo or radiation and 150mg once a day tablet bicalutamide.

The findings showed that patients with locally advanced prostate cancer receiving the bicalutamide faired better than those with the placebo. This may be a more suitable treatment instead of castration therapies which can adversely affect the patients quality of life.

The authors say that bicalutamide "has additional quality of life benefits relative to castration in terms of maintaining sexual interest, physical ability, and bone mineral density".

Women diagnosed with cervical or uterine cancer, or are at higher risk for these cancers, need to require their sexual partners to wear a condom during sex, as semen appears to speed up the progression of cervical and uterine cancer, according to the results of a study done by UK Medical Research Council researchers.

Researchers found that high levels of prostaglandin present in semen might promote and fuel the growth of certain cancers for women. The hormone prostaglandin is produced by the reproductive glands of women and the levels of prostaglandin primarily regulates how much the uterine lining thickens and sheds each month. Semen contains a prostaglandin concentration 1,000 times higher than women normally produce in their own bodies.

The introduction of semen might promote cervical cancer and uterine cancer, as cervical and uterine cancer cells have prostaglandin receptor molecules on their surfaces. While it is known the human papilloma virus (HPV) might lead to cervical cancer, the researchers feel there might be other factors that fuel the development and spread of these cancers for women. Many women are infected with HPV at some point in their life, but not all women will go on to develop cervical cancer from the infection.

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.

Only half of prostate cancer survivors who suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED) said that it was an issue that concerns them, according to a survey conducted by Harvard Medical School in Boston researchers, and therefore do not speak with the doctor about sexual difficulties or ask for help with therapy that might make a difference -- like being prescribed Viagra.

In this study the researchers learned that it also depends on the type of prostate cancer treatment that influenced whether a man was bothered by ED. Over 75 percent of men who underwent radical prostatectomy asked for help the most; about 50 percent of men who were treated with brachytherapy asked for help; and less than 40 percent of men who were treated with external beam radiation spoke with the doctor about ED in expressing concern about sexual difficulties.

Researchers explained that men who undergo radical prostatectomy will experience a sudden loss of ability to achieve an erection, and then erectile function gets better. But for men who are treated with radiation therapy, the erectile dysfunction problems gradually worsen over time, and these are the men most likely not to speak about it.

According to the researchers, "Additional study is clearly warranted to clarify whether radiotherapy patients are simply more accepting of treatment-induced declines in sexual function or if their less frequent use of such assistance measures represents an important, and unmet, healthcare need."

When you are in a chat room, belong to an email discussion list, or for that matter, read a blog, you cannot be certain all of the time the other person is who they are representing themselves to be, and on some occasions, they are frauds with evil intent.

When it comes to blogs in the cancer community, given time in reading the blog, I have found most people are who they say they are -- but when it comes to chat rooms, there is a higher probability that the identity of the participant could be different than the person is in real life.

In Leeds Today, a news story has been published exposing a pervert who pretended to be a boy named Ricky with cancer, for the purposes of luring a teenage girl into a sexual encounter. Ricky was really a 45-year-old married man named Glen Marwood. But the 17-year-old girl believed his chat room story and began to offer emotional support and encouragement as Ricky went through cancer treatment. She became attached to Ricky and felt the relationship was developing romantically. Which is what Marwood was hoping and had planned.

Almost all conversation and approval efforts regarding Gardasil, the new vaccine that prevents cervical cancer, has been about girls and women. Medical experts and researchers are recommending that boys and men receive the cervical cancer vaccine too. They suggest this is a necessary step if there is to be an effective elimination of cervical cancer originating from infection of human papillomavirus (HPV).

At this time, the recent approval for the vaccine only speaks to the use for girls aged 9 to 26. But both women and men become infected with HPV, and it does not make sense that only one half of the population at risk for infection are being vaccinated.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) almost 80 percent of U.S. women by age 50 will be exposed to one of the 100 strains of HPV, known to cause genital warts and cervical, vulva and vaginal cancer in women.

"Vaccine prevention strategies work when they are applied in a gender-neutral fashion," stated Bradley Monk, author of the commentary addressing this issue published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology. "For example, polio, measles, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, rubella, mumps, and Haemophilus influenza B have been nearly eliminated in the United States as a result of this strategy."

There is no doubt that the new cervical cancer vaccine -- Gardasil -- is revolutionary. But writer Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council, shared yesterday on the washingtonpost.com that the public should consider two cautions when digesting the news of this breakthrough medical advance. He urges us, first, to understand that the vaccine is not 100 percent effective. It is 100 percent effective for the strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) it targets -- but it leaves 30 percent of HPV strains that cause cervical cancer untouched. And it does not prevent all cases of genital warts either. So it is largely effective. But it does not completely eradicate the disease.

Sprigg also believes that parents should determine whether or not their young girls get the vaccine -- that it should not be mandatory. Mandating the vaccine might be in order if HPV was spread through blood or casual contact. But it is not -- it is spread by sexual contact. And families of young girls might best address this issue through education on behavioral issues alone, without interference from the government.

The wonder of the cervical cancer vaccine is not in question by this writer and the council he represents. But there is often a full picture that lingers behind good news and sensational headlines. And Peter Sprigg offers his take on what he believes lingers behind.

While the effectiveness of a seaweed extract acting as a potent inhibitor of human papilloma viruses, HPV, that can lead in some cases to cervical cancer, has not been tested in any human clinical trials -- in the lab it has impressed the National Cancer Institute researchers who have been studying it.

According to researchers, carrageenan extracted from marine red algae (seaweed) showed a thousand-fold greater potency compared with other inhibitors they have tested in halting HPV.

Dr. John Schiller, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, who was involved in the development of the HPV vaccine, made the carrageenan discovery.

Schiller cautions that the results do not prove that carrageenan will work as a practical HPV topical microbicide. However, the positive results in the lab, together with the fact that carrageenan-based over-the-counter products are already available -- make carrageenan look even more promising to researchers in blocking the sexual transmission of HPV.

The new cervical cancer vaccine is effective for about 70 percent of the HPV viruses that can cause cervical cancer. It is also an expensive vaccine that might prove cost prohibitive for low-income women in economically distressed countries. The researchers think, if carrageenan proves as effective in human clinical trails as it has in the lab, the inexpensive carrageenan could be a significant benefit in the prevention of HPV.

One researcher, Dr. Connie Trimble, an HPV researcher at Johns Hopkins University, feels so positive about the recent advancements and discoveries in relation to cervical cancer that she said, "With all the potential tools now, we could really start to think about the end of cervical cancer. Between the vaccines and some of the prophylactics -- wouldn't that be a medical success story!"

Ralph Ginzburg, American author, editor, publisher, photojournalist and outspoken advocate of free speech, has died after battling multiple myeloma. According to the Washington Post, among his supporters were playwright Arthur Miller, journalist I.F. Stone and attorney Melvin Belli.

While Ginzburg earned a degree in accounting, it was journalism that he pursued as a career, working for Esquire magazine, NBC, Reader's Digest, Collier's, LOOK -- and was known for his unorthodox methods of using disguises including that of a clergyman to gain entrance to news events. Ginzburg's first publication was An Unhurried View of Erotica, which explored the undercurrent of pornography in English literature. He went on to publish Eros, a periodical containing articles and photo-essays on love and sex, and later still The Housewife's Handbook on Selective Promiscuity. Ginzburg, self-described as a brandied fruitcake of a publisher, was convicted in 1963 for violating federal obscenity laws for promotional activities in publishing books and magazines on erotica and art.

In 1962, Ginzburg was granted an exclusive interview with 17-year-old Bobby Fischer, Portrait of a Genius As a Young Chess Master published by Harpers. According to all accounts, the interview of the reclusive chess genius is still a popular read today. Ginzburg was 76.

The new cervical cancer vaccine has certainly brought to light a great deal of information about one of the major causes of cervical cancer -- the human papilloma virus, HPV. According to statistics, 50 percent of sexually active adults are infected with HPV. In most cases, a woman will not experience any symptoms if she has contracted HPV through sexual activity, and HPV resolves itself in most cases. However, in a small number of cases, a woman infected with HPV will go on to develop cervical cancer.

University of Washington researchers have released a report stating that the proper use of condoms can offer effective protection against infection from the human papilloma virus, HPV, about 70 percent of the time for young sexually-active females. Condoms need to be used with every sexual encounter. The researchers of this study emphasize that the practice of using condoms does not afford 100 percent protection.

The new cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, is reported to offer 100 percent protection from HPV infection, but is only recommended for young girls before they become sexually active. Condoms might provide some protection for women already sexually-active and not candidates for the cancer vaccine.