Headlines and Soundbites! Part (1)

When the UK newspaper, The Independent, analysed the 20 most shared stories in the past year with cancer in the headline, more than half included claims which health authorities or doctors had discredited. Yet many millions of people had considered them interesting enough to share on social media.
If fake news stories about politics can influence voting patterns, then could health stories about unproven treatments result in people eschewing their current medical treatment in favour of the latest recommendation in an article they see? Some fear these articles could be dangerous.

How are people supposed to know whether something they see on Facebook or Twitter is based on good science?

On Facebook, it can be tricky to spot the truth

 People need to be wary of what they read, but how are they supposed to know whether something they see on Facebook or Twitter is based on good science? Every day I get dozens of emails from PR companies, sometimes about very good research, sometimes about nonsense. Like other health journalists, I spend time working out how to spot which is which.

Claudia Hammond - Health Journalist - BBC

Cork Clinical Trial - Results!

Around 30 patients suffering from advanced melanoma cancer are being enrolled in a clinical trial in Cork, with early results indicating improved survival rates.

The trial involves a combination of two existing treatments.
Doctors are being encouraged to refer suitable patients for inclusion in the clinical trial which is being offered by Cork Cancer Research Centre at Cork University Hospital.
Scientists believe that by delivering an electrical impulse or shock directly to the tumour along with an immunotherapy drug called IPI and low dose chemotherapy survival rates will improve for advanced melanoma patients.
Doctors involved in the clinical trial believe the new treatment will be widely adopted and have described it as one of the first of it's kind in the world.

Nobel Prize Awarded for Medicine!

Japan's Yoshinori Ohsumi has won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology, for his discovery of how cells break down and recycle their content, which could lead to a better understanding of diseases like Cancer, Parkinson's and Type 2 diabetes.

"Ohsumi's discoveries led to a new paradigm in our understanding of how the cell recycles its content," the Nobel Assembly at Sweden's Karolinska Institute said in a statement on awarding the prize.
"His discoveries opened the path to understanding ... many physiological processes, such as in the adaptation to starvation or response to infection," the statement added.
Mr Ohsumi's work on cell breakdown, a field known as autophagy, is important because it can help explain what goes wrong in a range of diseases.
"Mutations in autophagy ('self eating') genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in several conditions including cancer and neurological disease," the statement said.




Mr Ohsumi, born in 1945 in Fukuoka, Japan, has been a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology since 2009.
"I am extremely honoured," he told Kyoto News agency.
The prize for Physiology or Medicine is the first of the Nobel prizes awarded each year.

Prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were first awarded in 1901, in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel.

Linking Alcohol to Cancer - Recent Survey

People lack awareness of link between alcohol and cancer, BMJ Survey 2016; 

  

Lustrous Wooden Cabinet with Health..

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 http://alcoholireland.ie/facts/alcohol-and-costs/

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Anne Gulland - Author affiliations

1. London

Most people do not link the consumption of alcohol with an increased risk of cancer, a report by Cancer Research UK has found.1

In a survey of 2100 adults in England, just 13% of respondents identified cancer when asked, “Which, if any health conditions, do you think can result from drinking too much alcohol?”

The survey also highlighted a lack of understanding of the link between drinking alcohol and the risk of developing certain types of cancer. When asked about seven different cancer types, 80% of respondents said that they thought that alcohol caused liver cancer, but only 18% were aware of alcohol’s link with breast cancer.

The study showed that only one in five people could correctly identify the previous recommended maximum number of units that should not be exceeded in a day, as recommended at the time the survey was carried out, in 2015.

Among drinkers, just one in 10 men (10.8%) and one in seven women (15.2%) correctly identified these recommended limits and used them to track their drinking habits.

Alison Cox, Cancer Research UK’s director of cancer prevention, said, “The link between alcohol and cancer is now well established, and it’s not just heavy drinkers who are at risk. This is reflected in the new guidelines issued by the UK’s chief medical officers that stated that the risk of developing a range of illnesses, including cancer, increased with any amount of alcohol you drink.”

In January this year the United Kingdom’s chief medical officers introduced new drinking guidelines,2 which recommended that men and women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol a week, spread evenly over three days or more. They also recommended that people abstain from alcohol for several days a week.

Ian Gilmore, chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said that the public’s lack of awareness of the link between alcohol consumption and cancer was “extremely concerning.”

Gilmore said, “The chief medical officers have been clear in their new alcohol guideline that there is no level of drinking which can be considered ‘safe’ from these risks. As the CMOs emphasise, the public have a right to know about the link between alcohol and cancer and other health risks, so that they can make an informed choice about their drinking habits.”

View Abstract

Recommended Articles:

1. Effect of policy, economics, and the changing alcohol marketplace on alcohol related deaths in England and Wales.
   Nick Sheron et al., The BMJ, 2016
2. Review of moderate alcohol consumption and reduced risk of coronary heart disease: is the effect due to beer, wine, or spirits.
   E B Rimm et al., The BMJ, 1996
3. Estimating the population at risk
   Philip Sedgwick et al., The BMJ, 2012
4. Science commentary: Why wine might be less harmful than beer and spirits
   Abi Berger et al., The BMJ, 1998
5. Alcohol and blood pressure: the INTERSALT study.
   M G Marmot et al., The BMJ, 1994

 

1. Alcohol Plays A Huge Role In Cancer Deaths In The U.S.
   Medical News Today, 2013
2. Reduce alcohol consumption, say new guidelines
   Yvette Brazier, Medical News Today
3. Coffee Linked To Reduced Liver Cancer Risk
   Catharine Paddock PhD, Medical News Today, 2007
4. Alcohol and the Brain: Healthy or Harmful?
   Bret S. Stetka, MD, Medscape, 2015
5. Just one or two drinks a day could increase risk for certain cancers
   Honor Whiteman, Medical News Today, 2015

  

 

 

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Aspirin trial to examine if it can stop cancer returning

The world's largest clinical trial to examine whether aspirin can prevent cancers returning has begun in the UK.

About 11,000 people who have had early bowel, breast, prostate, stomach and oesophageal cancer will be involved.

Uncertainty about the drug's possible anti-cancer qualities has led to fierce medical debate in recent years.

If it is proven to work, scientists say it would be "game-changing", by providing a cheap and effective way to help more patients survive.

During the study, funded by the charity Cancer Research UK and the NIHR - the research arm of the NHS - patients will take a tablet every day for five years.

Researchers will compare groups of patients taking different doses of aspirin with people taking dummy (placebo) pills and check for any recurrences of cancer.

Dr Fiona Reddington from Cancer Research UK said: "The trial is especially exciting as cancers that recur are often harder to treat so finding a cheap and effective way to prevent this is potentially game-changing for patients."

The trial will run across 100 UK centres, involving patients who are having or have had treatment for early cancer, and will last up to 12 years.

But scientists warn that aspirin is not suitable for everyone and should not be used without medical advice.

Taking the drug every day comes with a serious health warning as it can cause side effects such as ulcers and bleeding from the stomach, or even the brain.

View more here on BBC/Health

Breath test 'could give clues to stomach cancer risk'

A simple breath test could help predict whether people with gut problems are at high risk of developing stomach cancer, an early study shows.

It detects chemical compounds in people's breath, in an attempt to distinguish unique "breath prints" in those with risky pre-cancerous changes.

Experts say if proven in large trials, it could spot patients on the brink of cancer so they can be treated earlier.

But more work is needed to validate the test, which appears in the journal Gut.

In most Western countries stomach cancer is diagnosed late when the chance of survival is poor. This is partly because symptoms - such as indigestion and pain - can be mistaken for other diseases.

Scientists believe earlier detection may help improve the prognosis.

The new "nanoarray" breath test builds on earlier work from researchers in Israel, Latvia and China.

It relies on the idea that people with cancer may have unique breath signatures - containing minute chemical compounds that are not found in the breath of people free from the illness.

Researchers studied breath samples from 145 patients. Around 30 of these were already known to have stomach cancer.

The rest had been referred for investigations because of concerning symptoms. They did not have full-blown cancer - but some had worrying changes that doctors call "pre-cancerous" that could develop into malignancies.

View full report on BBC/Health 

Office workers 'Too Sedentary'

Office workers need to get up and move around more, according to a new campaign in the UK - 'On Your Feet Britain'.

It says sitting for long periods at work is linked to a host of health problems, which are not undone by working out in the gym.  It is calling on people to stand regularly, walk around more and embrace ideas such as standing meetings or standing desks.

Experts described inactivity as "one of the biggest" challenges in health.

Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers and poor mental health have all been linked to sedentary behaviour.

View Study here: Sedentary Time and Its Association With Risk for Disease Incidence, Mortality, and Hospitalization in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysisSedentary Time and Disease Incidence, Mortality, and Hospitalization

The effect is found even in people who class themselves as fit, such as those who cycle to work, if they also spend long periods of time sitting.

Prolonged sitting is thought to slow the metabolism and affect the way the body controls sugar levels, blood pressure and the breakdown of fat.

The campaign is a partnership between the group Get Britain Standing and the British Heart Foundation (BHF) charity.

Their survey of 2,000 office workers suggested:

• 45% of women and 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet at work
• More than half regularly eat their lunch at their desk
• 78% office workers felt they spent too much time sitting down
• Nearly two-thirds were worried sitting at work was having a negative impact on their health

View more on BBC/Health here

Fitness linked to lower cancer risk

Very fit men in their late 40s are less likely to get lung cancer and colorectal cancer than unfit men, a study in JAMA Oncology suggests.  Their high fitness levels also appear to increase their chances of surviving cancer if they are diagnosed later on.

University of Vermont researchers said even small improvements in fitness could help to reduce cancer risk.

View study in JAMA Oncology: Midlife Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Incident Cancer, and Survival After Cancer in Men

Cancer Research UK said investigating links between men's fitness levels and cancer risk was a new approach. Being physically active and eating a healthy, balanced diet are already known to be important factors in reducing people's risk of developing cancer and other diseases.

But study author Dr Susan Lakoski said it would be more beneficial to tell people how much they needed to improve their fitness in order to reduce their risk of cancer to acceptable levels.

This could come in the form of a personalised plan, which should start with measuring their cardio-respiratory fitness.

This study of 14,000 men aged between 46 and 50, in Texas, tested their cardio-respiratory fitness levels at the outset by making them run on a treadmill to the point of exhaustion.

After that, their fitness levels were regularly tested over an average of six and a half years between 1971 and 2009.

Between 1999 and 2009, 1,310 of the men had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, 200 with lung cancer and 181 with colorectal cancer.

The study found that the men with high levels of fitness in middle-age reduced their risk of lung cancer by 55% and their risk of colorectal cancer by 44%, compared with the men with low levels of fitness - those who took more than 12 minutes to run or walk a mile.

View more on BBC/Health here

Antenna-like structures found on immune cells for first time

A team of NUI Galway scientists have found that cells of the immune system have a previously undescribed ability. In a paper just published Journal of Cell Biology, the scientists describe the presence of primary cilia on immune cells. These antenna-like structures are found on almost all cell types in the body, but since the 1960s, it has been thought that they do not arise in blood cells.

Professor Ciaran Morrison of NUI Galway’s Centre for Chromosome Biology, who co-authored the paper with Dr Suzanna Prosser, explains the significance: “The paper is of scientific interest because it provides new information about how ciliation is controlled. Also, we have shown that immune cells do at least have all the material they would need to make primary cilia. The next question is whether the cells make cilia in the body.”

View article here: Centrin2 regulates CP110 removal in primary cilium formation

The 60 scientists led by 11 Principal Investigators at the Centre for Chromosome Biology in NUIGalway are dedicated to understanding many different areas of chromosome biology, such as how cell proliferation is controlled, the structure and maintenance of the genome, precise control of genome duplication and how genes are expressed. Their work is critical to the ongoing scientific battle against cancer and other areas including human reproduction and fertility and genetic diseases such as Huntington’s Disease.

View full Press Release on NUIG here

Understanding resistance to cancer drugs

Pioneering new drug treatments are showing great promise in the treatment of many cancers.

The BBC's Panorama programme spent 18 months following a group of patients at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London on a range of treatments, many of which target specific genetic mutations which drive cancer growth.

Some patients whose cancer had spread and been given months to live have kept the disease at bay for years, and the treatments increase the chance of curing patients whose disease is caught early enough.

The trials at the Royal Marsden are part of a unique collaboration with the Institute of Cancer Research - where doctors divide their time between studying the disease in the laboratory and seeing patients in hospital.

Dr Udai Banerji works at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and The Royal Marsden.

He explains the challenges of tackling resistance to cancer drugs.

View the Panorama programme BBC documentary 'Can you cure my cancer' here on YouTube

FREE Public Lecture on Cancer

Date: Tuesday 17 February

Time: 7-9pm

Venue: Bailey Allen Hall, Áras na Mac Léinn, NUI Galway

Donations welcomed 

or you can donate on the night.

All proceeds are in aid of the following charities:

Irish Cancer Society, Cancer Care West, NBCRI and Galway Hospice.

Govt approves bill requiring calories on menus

Restaurants and takeaways look set to be compelled to display calorie details on their menus.

The Cabinet has approved proposals requiring food outlets to post the information at the point where the food is ordered, whether at tables or counters.

Drafting legislation is expected to start immediately and should be ready for enactment by next year.

Minister for Health Leo Varadkar said the move is a simple but effective way of encouraging people to choose a healthier option.

"I am very concerned about levels of overweight and obesity in Ireland. Latest figures indicate that nearly two out of every three adults, and one in four children, are overweight or obese.

"This presents real risks for health and well-being and causes a high percentage of many of the chronic diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes," Minister Varadkar said.

The proposed laws will require all menus, including boards, leaflets, digital menus or other forms, to display the amount of calories alongside the price in the same font size and colour. 
View on RTE/Health here

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Cancer-killing stem cells engineered in lab

Toxin-producing stem cells (in blue) help kill brain tumour cells in the tumour cavity (in green)

Scientists from Harvard Medical School have discovered a way of turning stem cells into killing machines to fight brain cancer.  

In experiments on mice, the stem cells were genetically engineered to produce and secrete toxins which kill brain tumours, without killing normal cells or themselves.  Researchers said the next stage was to test the procedure in humans.

A stem cell expert said this was "the future" of cancer treatment.

The study, published in the journal Stem Cells, was the work of scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.

For many years, they had been researching a stem-cell-based therapy for cancer, which would kill only tumour cells and no others.

They used genetic engineering to make stem cells that spewed out cancer-killing toxins, but, crucially, were also able to resist the effects of the poison they were producing.

They also posed no risk to normal, healthy cells.

In animal tests, the stem cells were surrounded in gel and placed at the site of the brain tumour after it had been removed.

Their cancer cells then died as they had no defence against the toxins.

View more information here

Berries in cancer therapy experiment

The berries grow in wetlands and swamps

Wild berries native to North America may have a role in boosting cancer therapy, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Scientists suggest chokeberries could work in combination with conventional drugs to kill more cancer cells.

But the UK research is at an early stage, with experiments carried out only on cancer cells in laboratories.

Cancer Research UK says much more work is needed to test the effectiveness of berries, particularly in human trials.

Researchers from the University of Southampton and King's College Hospital, London, tested a berry extract on pancreatic cancer samples.

Pancreatic cancer is particularly hard to treat and has an average survival period of just six months after diagnosis.

The study found that when the berry extract was used, together with a conventional chemotherapy drug called gemcitabine, more cancer cells died than when the drug was used alone.

They believe compounds known as polyphenols in the berries may reduce the number of harmful cells.  And the team previously carried out similar early work on brain cancer cells.

Henry Scowcroft, at the charity Cancer Research UK, said: "It's far too early to say from this small laboratory study whether chemicals extracted from chokeberries have any effect on pancreatic cancer in patients.

"And the findings certainly don't suggest that the berries themselves should be taken alongside conventional chemotherapy.

"But innovative approaches are urgently needed to improve treatment for people with pancreatic cancer - a disease for which there has been precious little progress over recent decades."

Bashir Lwaleed, a senior lecturer at Southampton University, who carried out the study, said: "We need to do more research to understand how the chemotherapy and berry work together.

"At the moment we cannot suggest people go out and buy supplements - we are still at the experimental level."

View more on BBC/Health 

BowelScreen - The National Bowel Screening Programme is now available to men and women aged 60-69

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer among men and women in Ireland

The National Bowel Screening Programme has said that all those on the register will be invited for their first screening by the end of 2015.

More than 130,000 men and women aged 60 to 69 have already been invited to date.

The free screening involves a fast home test every two years and people can check if they are on the register by contacting 1800-454555.

Screening will be extended to those aged 55 to 74 at a later stage.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer among men and women in Ireland, with almost 2,400 new cases identified each week.

More information is available at www.bowelscreen.ie