Saturday, November 7, 2009

“Stem Cells Save Breast Beauty” plus 3 more

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“Stem Cells Save Breast Beauty” plus 3 more

Stem Cells Save Breast Beauty

Posted: 06 Nov 2009 08:56 AM PST

When you receive the Seal you begin to care more for your health. And now you have some new options. Stem cells have just been used successfully in regrowing breasts damaged by removing cancerous lumps.

Many women get breast cancer, and many of them have cancerous lumps that can be removed. But many of them elect not to remove those lumps but remove the whole breast. Why? Cosmetics. If the whole breast is removed they can have an implant put in and the two breasts will still look the same. But if some lumps are removed from one breast, most often the two breasts are left looking quite different.

One breast will be natural, and the other breast will be a different size and often a different shape. This is the result of a "lumpectomy," and ugly word for a procedure that leaves women feeling ugly. Or the women with just some cancerous lumps can elect to have a mastectomy where their whole breast is removed and they get an implant. Since the implant looks like the other breast, many women go with the mastectomy.

That may all be changing soon. A new procedure recently tested in Japan takes fat from a woman's stomach or thighs and uses it to rebuild the tissue of the breast, using stem cells.

Now these stem cells are not embryonic stem cells, but created from the fat taken from the woman by liposuction. The stem cells come from half of the fat taken from her. The other half of the fat is mixed with the stem cells. So it is living tissue with some stem cells added as "starter culture" and can grow into healthy breast tissue, since the breasts are composed largely of fat.

Of course doctors (and already some patients) anticipate this process with excitement for its cosmetic possibilities. Fat can be taken away from where a patient does not want it and put where she needs it in one operation.

The ethics of cosmetic surgery are often dubious. God created you. He created your natural beauty. You do not need to change your natural beauty. It is beautiful the way you were made. But in cases like those of breast cancer survivors, cosmetics is not so doubtful ethically. A woman has every right to want to replace the diseased tissue in her breast with healthy tissue from elsewhere on her body.

And God wants that too. God wants to put that woman and her beauty He created back together. He did not cause her disease. He is the Healer, not the spreader of disease. Healing is what Jesus came to do. Many doctors are expecting uses for such procedures far beyond the "necessary" restoration of natural beauty after disease. They can be developed into the restoration of beauty after the effects of aging also.

But aging also happens naturally and happens to everyone--it is not the result of disease. If you do not eat the right foods and you smoke, among other health risks, you will age unnaturally. So there are ways to combat unwanted aging effects without reconstructive surgery. If you are recovering from disease, God wants you to be able to recover your beauty too.

But if you are aging then your beauty naturally changes (as long as you do not do the unhealthy things that will "age" you unnaturally) and to fight aging with stem cells is not natural recovery, but artificial. Everyone ages at least a little. When you are sealed you will begin to take care of your health more. The most power you have over your health is your diet after quitting bad habits. God will show you how to eat when you receive the Seal.

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The Second Most Common Cancer

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 02:58 PM PST

Question: What is the #2 type of cancer that successfully kills women in the United States?

Answer: Breast Cancer.

Second only to the mortality rate of lung cancer in women, breast cancer can affect any woman. After skin cancer, it is the most commonly diagnosed type of cancer affecting women. It is not yet know why some women get it while others do not, but there are known risk factors to cause breast cancer. While much rarer, men can get it as well. Specifically, the American Cancer Society predicts that approximately 178,000 women and 2000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer, every year.

RISKS

  • Age is a factor, as the older a woman gets, the more likely she is to develop it.
  • Breast cancer genes have been found, called BRCA1 and BRCA2, which seem to greatly increase the risk in women. Women who have familial history should get tested for these genes.
  • Overweight women tend to be more at risk.
  • Women who partake in hormone replacement therapy are more prone to ending up with breast cancer.
  • Birth control pills seem to escalate one's chances of getting it.

Other factors are consuming alcohol, not having any children, or having children after the age of 35.

Obviously, many women fall into many of these categories, meaning everyone should get regularly checked.

WHAT IS IT, EXACTLY?

Cancer is a malignant growth (tumor) that is exacerbated by uncontrolled, abnormal cell growth that can spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system. The abnormal growth is called the tumor; the cells that travel are called metastases. In other words, cells in a specific part of the body begin to grow out of control. Breast cancer forms in the breast tissue, forming a lump or a mass of extra tissue. Even though skin cancer is more commonly diagnosed in women than breast cancer, breast cancer is more universally feared by women than any other cancer known to man.

While there are many types of breast cancer, and a patient can be diagnosed with more than one type, it is divided into two main categories: invasive, or non-invasive. As the name would imply, non-invasive are usually easier to cure. One's odds of beating cancer are increased significantly if discovered early in all cases.

The following two types of cancer are the most common of both categories:

  • DCIS, which stands for ductal carcinoma in situ, is a non-invasive type. It is located in the ducts of the breast and remains there without invading the tissue. It is easily detected via mammograms.
  • IDC, or invasive ductal carcinoma, is the most common type of invasive breast cancer. It begins in a milk passage/duct, and breaks through the wall of the duct to invade breast tissue. From the tissue, this cancer can metastasize to other parts of the body, often spreading rapidly.

If you are reading this article because you found a lump in your breast, take some comfort in knowing that most lumps in the breast are benign (non-cancerous). Most are fibrocystic cysts, which are just fluid-filled sacs forming scar-like tissue in the breast, feeling like a lump and can be quite common in menstruating women. It may be an abnormal growth but won't spread, and won't kill you. However, women prone to benign growths are at higher risk.

In any case, if you find a lump in your breast, remain calm, but make an appointment with your doctor immediately.

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Advances in Breast Reconstruction Surgery

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 02:16 PM PST

For breast reconstruction, two techniques are commonly used. The first one involves using the patient's own tissue, from the abdominal area, which is the most common, or the back or buttocks. Tissue from pigs or cadavers is a newer option and won't lead to any pain in another part of the body, as the tissue isn't harvested from the patient. Also, patients may opt for a prosthetic implant, either done in permanent or temporary fashion. A temporary prosthetic implant will require staged visits and saline injections into the expandable implant.

The typical recovery time for a breast reconstruction is six weeks, but that depends on the patient's condition and the surgery techniques used. Reconstructions using harvested tissues take longer to recover from than prosthetic implants. If a patient opts for a prosthetic implant, she can recover and be back to work before a month is up, though additional doctor visits may be required if the prosthesis needs to be expanded.

If you're considering breast reconstruction surgery, make sure you have everyone on your medical team, not just your plastic surgeon, involved. This way, you can understand the implications of the surgery on your breast cancer treatments and get input from all sources. Know all of the risks that could occur with the type of surgery you choose, and find out as much information as you can about the different options you have in breast reconstruction. Talk to others who've undergone reconstructive surgery to find out their experiences.

Over the past few years, advances in the techniques used for breast reconstruction surgery have come far and helped make the experience better for women who opt for the surgery.

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How to Prevent Chemical Estrogens That Cause Breast Cancer

Posted: 05 Nov 2009 06:26 AM PST

High levels of estrogen is the most known way of increasing the risk of breast cancer. Another one is to reduce the total amount of time you are exposed to the estrogens over the course of a lifetime. The more years you menstruate , the greater your risk of cancer. Both an early menarche and a late menopause create years of increased risk of cancer. Girls with the earliest manarche, before age 14 , have a 30% increased risk of cancer. Women who have a later menopause, say age 55, have a 50% higher risk of breast cancer than those who whose menopause occurs before age 45. The most fascinating evidence comes from Catholic nuns studied in Europe over 300 years ago. These nuns had a markedly higher risk of breast cancer than married women with children. They obviously weren't being studied at the time for estrogen levels, or in any systematic, scientific way. But in hindsight we recognize the cause of their cancer was the interrupted estrogen flow.

Prevention
Plant-Based Organic Diet
This is the safest and best way to reduce exposure to chemical estrogens. If red meat has a high fat content, excess estrogen or chemical estrogens may be present in the fat. By eliminating meats, you cut a large source of animal fats that can store pesticides and other chemical estrogens. By eating organic foods from farms that have never used pesticides, you minimize the the risk of ingesting chemical estrogens. The plants also provide protection against breast cancer with antioxidants and and weak estrogens that block the estrogen receptor.

Lean Meats
There are meats that contain lesser amounts of injected or chemical estrogens. Look for organically produced beef and poultry. Than trim poultry of skin and fat. By trimming these sources of fat before cooking, you ensure that you are not consuming potential carcinogens trapped in the fat. Also look forsafer meats such as venison, turkey, rabbit, quail, and pheasant, all of which have far fewer chemical estrogens.

Low-Risk Seafood
As great as omega-3 fatty acids are for breast protection, there is the added risk of chemical estrogens in the fat. Cold, deep, saltwater fish, harvested as far away as possible from contaminated mainland estuaries, are safest. Those include tuna, seabass, red snapper, arctic char, halibut, and orange roughy. Some innovative producers are also, making chemical-free fish. For instance a norwegian fish farm has a deep, pollution free fjord where it now produces salmon.

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