Cancer

Rush University Medical Center (USA) embarks on a research study to ascertain how microbial imbalances may impact diseases such as breast cancer.

Irish researchers find that curcumin, an extract found in the curry
spice turmeric, promotes death of cancer cells.

American Cancer Society identifies hazardous toxic pollutants and urges new thinking on cancer prevention.

US National Cancer Institute researchers find that regular moderate-to-vigorous exercise in the ten-year period preceding menopause may help reduce the risk of breast cancer later in life.

In that previous studies have suggested potential associations between exercise and prostate cancer risk reduction, Jodi A. Antonelli, from Duke University Medical Center (North Carolina, USA), and colleagues enrolled 190 men who underwent prostate needle biopsy and found that those who were moderately active (engaging in 9 or more hours of metabolically active exercise a week) were significantly less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Since the mid-20th century, the risk of dying from cancer has been on a steady decline.  Eric Kort, from the Van Andel Research Institute (Grand Rapids, Michigan USA), and colleagues used mortality data from 1955 to 2004 from the World Health Organization's Statistical Information System, tracking the burden of cancer death in individuals born as early as 1875.

Quicker identification of patients with bowel and stomach cancers, as well as rapid, population-wide screening for these types of tumors.

Men with fasting levels of insulin that are elevated but still within the normal range may be at increased risk of prostate cancer. Demetrius Albanes, from the National Cancer Institute (Maryland USA), and colleagues studied 100 men with incident prostate cancer and 400 age-matched controls within the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study in Finland.

In that a substantial body of evidence supports an association between chronic inflammations and/or infections with cancers, Mine Tezal, from The State University of New York, Buffalo (USA), and colleagues assessed the effect of advanced gum disease (chronic periodontitis) on the prevalence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Conditions such as chronic pain, cancer and diabetes, require medications that cannot be taken orally, but must be dosed intermittently, on an as-needed basis, over a long period of time. Researchers led by Daniel Kohane, from Children's Hospital Boston (Massachusetts, USA) have devised an innovative drug delivery technique to turn dosing on and off, deliver consistent doses and adjust doses according to the patient's need.