Cancer

Heart disease and stroke are second and third leading causes of death in Minnesota

The Minnesota Department of Health today announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed the department will receive $963,000 to address heart disease and stroke in Minnesota. The funding, which begins this month, may be renewed annually for the next five years.    » read more »

Illegal scheme markets supplements as cure for cancer, improved health

July 5, 2007 -- DALLAS – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today charged Coppell-based Mannatech, Inc., its owner, Samuel L. Caster, and several related entities with operating an illegal marketing scheme in violation of state law. Today’s enforcement action stems from a large-scale investigation by state authorities, who examined Mannatech’s dubious claims about the health benefits of its products.    » read more »

June 29, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) and John Kerry (D-MA) yesterday introduced legislation to develop new technologies in the fight against prostate cancer.

“This much needed legislation mirrors the investment the Federal government made years back in advanced imaging technologies for detection, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. We all know that investment in technology has saved many lives,” Senator Boxer said.    » read more »

New Discovery Could Lead to Advances in Diagnosis and Therapy

LA JOLLA, CA, June 19, 2007—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that a cytokine called pleiotrophin stimulates the progression of breast cancer in both animal and cell culture models. The study, which tested three separate models to determine the role of inappropriate expression of pleiotrophin, found that it produced striking increases in aggressiveness of the breast cancer cells themselves.    » read more »

June 14, 2007 -- DAVIS, CA -- With a technology transfer agreement announced today, the first compact proton therapy system – one that would fit in any major cancer center and cost a fifth as much as a full-scale machine – is one step closer to reality.

Proton therapy is considered the most advanced form of radiation therapy available, but size and cost have limited the technology’s use to only six cancer centers nationwide.    » read more »

Jun. 13, 2007 -- DALLAS – Texas Governor Rick Perry today signed HB 14 into law, creating the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and dedicating $300 million in general obligation bonds to annually fund scientific research aimed toward finding a cure for cancer. In his State of the State Address, the governor proposed a $3 billion cancer research trust fund, calling on lawmakers to join the fight against this disease and bring Texas to the national forefront of research efforts.    » read more »

June 12, 2007 -- In the early 1980s, volatile organic compounds (VOC) were discovered in some of the water systems serving housing areas on Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Exposure to certain VOCs may cause adverse health effects, including cancer. Since 1991, the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has been examining whether individuals who were exposed to the contaminated drinking water are likely to have adverse health effects.    » read more »

Analysis undertaken in response to health concerns from PFC contamination of area drinking water

June 7, 2007 -- Overall cancer rates in Washington and Dakota counties are very similar to the rest of the state, even slightly lower, according to a new report released today by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). In addition, the rates and types of cancers that occurred within specific communities in those two counties were generally on a par with other communities in the metropolitan area, the report says.    » read more »

It's a coping strategy with many benefits

June 05, 2007 -- ROCHESTER, Minn. -- A cancer diagnosis doesn't dictate the end of exercise and activity. The June issue of Mayo Clinic Women's HealthSource covers how exercise can help people with cancer, during and after treatment.

Numerous studies have shown that regular physical activity and exercise help control cancer side effects, help maintain muscle tone and stamina, reduce stress, improve overall health and possibly improve survival.    » read more »

June 02, 2007 -- CHICAGO -- A unique examination of one treatment center's use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in new breast cancer patients has found MRI to be superior to mammography in finding additional tumors in a breast in which cancer has already been diagnosed, and in detecting new tumors in a patient's supposedly healthy breast.    » read more »

June 03, 2007 -- CHICAGO -- North Central Cancer Treatment Group researchers based at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., have discovered that low doses of a drug used to prevent epileptic seizures and to treat nerve pain caused by shingles substantially reduces hot flashes in patients who are undergoing anti-hormonal treatment, or androgen-deprivation therapy, for prostate cancer.    » read more »

15 May 2007 -- Another African epidemic is taking the spotlight, cancer. Experts say aging and infectious diseases are increasing Africa's cancer burden. A new non-governmental group is trying to raise global awareness of the problem and held a meeting recently in London that brought together African health ministers and other interested participants.    » read more »

10 May 2007 -- Two studies appearing this week in the New England Journal of Medicine confirm that a new vaccine is effective in preventing cervical cancer, a disease that kills almost 300,000 women around the world each year. But some observers worry that many unanswered questions still surround the new vaccine. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

When it was approved by U.S. regulators a year ago, health officials were very excited about what was billed as the first cancer vaccine.    » read more »

May. 09, 2007 -- "For too long cancer has destroyed not only the lives of those who develop this insidious and often incurable disease, but also the lives of family and friends who bear witness to the debilitating effects of cancer. The action taken by the House today holds hope for millions of cancer sufferers that some day – perhaps over the next decade – the cure for cancer will be found by researchers working in Texas.    » read more »

May. 08, 2007 -- "Good afternoon. In early February I initiated a national debate by ordering the widespread use of the HPV vaccine, which protects women from the deadly human papillomavirus that serves as the most common cause of cervical cancer.

Since then, the legislature has countered that order with the passage of House Bill 1098; a bill which awaits my action by today.

During that timeframe, a debate which affects real lives has been hijacked by politics and posturing.    » read more »