Medicine & Hygiene

Mammography: A crucial approach towards early cancer detection

ostad — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 02:38:30 -0700

By: Amir Yashar Tashakor

The increasingly importance of the Mammography in early detection of Breast cancer can be inferred by The Canadian Cancer Society’s new advertisement campaigns, aimed at educating Canadians, especially middle aged women, of the crucial role Mammograms and similar procedures play in early tumour detection. In fact no other imaging technique has been nearly as successful in providing physicians with X-ray imagery of the breast, containing suspiciously overactive cell division or spots of calcium granulation, both of which may be characteristics of a malignant tumour. Although the procedure has been used for over thirty years, its recent standardization has added to its convenience and popularity. Patients’ entering a Mammography should not expect any surprises. A machine holds the breast in place [while the patient is seated] in order to prevent blurs in the image produced.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins

david — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:01:08 -0700

John Hopkins Hospital issued a "Cancer Update" detailing how cancer spreads and recommending methods for treating the disease.

Heart Disease & Women:How High Is Your Risk?

iranliAdmin — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 15:28:55 -0700

Heart Disease & Women:How High Is Your Risk?

Excerpted from The Planned Parenthood Women's Health Letter, May 1995, Vol. 2, No. 3

WHO: Hookah smoking as dangerous as cigarettes

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:57:31 -0700

Although more scientific research is necessary, the World Health Organization said Tuesday in Geneva that water-pipe smoking may pose the same health risks as cigarettes.

"Using a water pipe to smoke tobacco is not a safe alternative to cigarette smoking," the U.N. health agency said in a seven-page document on the practice. "Contrary to ancient lore and popular belief, the smoke that emerges from a water pipe contains numerous toxicants known to cause lung cancer, heart disease and other diseases."

The WHO "advisory note" warned using water pipes to consume the tobacco usually exposes a person to more smoke over a longer period of time than do cigarettes. Preliminary research suggests hookah smoking poses many of the same dangers as cigarettes and may involve "some unique health risks," the agency said.

New TB vaccines in development lauded as protection against all strains

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:52:54 -0700

WASHINGTON -- New tuberculosis (TB) vaccines in development have the potential to provide protection against all strains of the disease, including multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB strains.

The finding was announced here on Wednesday by Dr. Jerald Sadoff, president of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, at the International Conference on Global Health.

Aeras, the non-profit organization dedicated to creating new TB vaccines, is working to develop at least one new TB vaccine regime for infants and one for adolescents within seven to nine years.

The agency and its partners have the largest TB vaccine pipeline in the world with six vaccine candidates in or expected to be in the Phase I-II trials in 2007.

Dr. Sadoff's announcement comes as the new, deadlier strains of TB -- including MDR and XDR -- are spreading around the world.

Bird flu virus change lowers vaccine effectiveness

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:48:00 -0700

A change in bird flu virus strain H5N1 has diminished the effectiveness of vaccines against the disease among poultry, local newspaper Pioneer Thursday quoted a local official as saying.

Bird flu vaccines are produced according to the gene type Z found in bird flu virus strain H5N1 in 2003 when Vietnam was first hit by the disease, but another gene type called G was detected in 2005, said Nguyen Tien Dung, head of the Ultra-Virus Department of the Veterinary Institute under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The gene type Z and type G are not very similar, so the vaccines are more effective to the type Z, and less effective to the type G, he said, noting that first infected poultry with the type G in Vietnam were mainly smuggled.

Vietnam is strengthening bird flu vaccinations among fowls nationwide, using the vaccines imported mainly from China and the Netherlands, according to the ministry's Department of Animal Health.

Accidents kill 100,000 Chinese children every year - report

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 11:42:02 -0700

Accidents of different types are the biggest cause of death for Chinese children aged under 14, with 100,000 children dying from accidents every year, says a report released by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday.

Traffic accidents and drowning are the main causes of death, and slips and animal attacks are the main causes of child injuries, according to the report.

The center obtained the results by analyzing children accident documents published in the past half a century and checking data from the center's disease monitoring stations nationwide.

It is estimated that 10.1 million Chinese children are injured every year, but only 8 million see doctors. Accidents are the cause of death of about 101,000 children and the cause of handicaps for 404,000, figures from the report show.

Watch out for bones that break easily

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:01:07 -0700

By IBNlive.com

Wednesday May 16, 2007