plus 3, Aspirin Cuts Cancer Deaths; Painkiller Can Boost Breast Cancer ... - InteliHealth |
- Aspirin Cuts Cancer Deaths; Painkiller Can Boost Breast Cancer ... - InteliHealth
- Now a cancer detecting kit on the anvil - New Kerala
- Aspirin might help reduce recurrence of breast cancer, study finds - Lexington Herald-Leader
- Study: Aspirin helps in the treatment of breast cancer - WBIR
| Aspirin Cuts Cancer Deaths; Painkiller Can Boost Breast Cancer ... - InteliHealth Posted: 18 Feb 2010 09:08 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. February 18, 2010 (Daily Mail) -- Women with breast cancer who take aspirin at least twice a week can more than double their chance of surviving, researchers say. The greatest protection comes from taking the drug on two to five days, a study has found. That cut the risk of dying by 71 per cent and the risk of the cancer spreading by 60 per cent. Taking aspirin on six or seven days cut the death risk by 64 per cent, but the risk of spreading fell only 43 per cent. The findings of the U.S. study provide the most compelling evidence yet of the power of the cheap painkiller. Previous research has suggested that aspirin can protect against bowel cancer, although results for other cancers, such as breast and prostate, were less clear-cut. The latest dramatic results came from a 30-year project tracking the health of 238,000 nurses. Lead researcher Dr Michelle Holmes, of Harvard Medical School, said: 'This is the first study to find that aspirin can significantly reduce the risk of cancer spread and death for women who have been treated for early-stage breast cancer. 'If these findings are confirmed in other clinical trials, taking aspirin may become another simple, low-cost and relatively safe tool to help women with breast cancer live longer, healthier lives.' Drugs in the same class as aspirin, including ibuprofen and naproxen, also lowered the risks, but paracetamol did not. Experts warned, however, that aspirin can have serious side effects, including stomach irritation that can lead to ulcers and even fatal bleeding. For some people the risk of harm is greater than potential benefits. Women newly diagnosed with breast cancer are advised not to take aspirin for the first 12 months as it can cause side effects while they undergo chemotherapy or radiation. Researchers are uncertain exactly how aspirin affects tumours but it could be by lowering inflammation. The study found that there were no beneficial effects for people who took aspirin only once a week . Dr Holmes said: 'Aspirin cannot be considered a substitute for conventional cancer treatments, and taking aspirin does have negative effects in some. 'More study is definitely needed to establish the cause and effect of aspirin on breast cancer. But for now, if a woman has breast cancer and is taking aspirin, she may take some comfort in knowing she might be doing something to help prevent her breast cancer from recurring.' Millions of people in the UK already take low-dose aspirin every day on doctor's advice to reduce the chance of a repeat heart attack or stroke. Others take it of their own accord for 'health insurance'. Most of the women in the new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, were taking aspirin to prevent heart disease. The Harvard team identified 4,000 breast cancer patients between 1976 and 2002 and followed them until their deaths or the end of the study in June 2006. Altogether 341 women died from the cancer. The Harvard study falls short of the research 'gold standard', however, because the women reported their aspirin use in questionnaires, rather than going through a controlled clinical trial. The next stage of drug development would normally be a large randomised study, but this may never happen. Not only is aspirin so cheap it will not make any money for drug firms, it could be hard to find a group of women with breast cancer who were prepared never to take aspirin during a trial. Nick Henderson of the European Aspirin Foundation, which represents the industry, said: 'The best evidence for aspirin in protecting against cancer has been from studies on bowel cancer. 'But this latest report adds to growing evidence that aspirin appears to have special effects in reducing cancer risk through a mechanism which has yet to be scientifically explained. However, I doubt it will be possible to carry out a proper clinical trial because everyone has heard aspirin may be useful. We're going to hold a conference to plan the way forward.' Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: 'Several studies have found that taking aspirin and related drugs is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, and this new study suggests that they might also help to stop cancer from spreading and improve a woman's chances of survival . 'But aspirin has risks as well as benefits, so we need large clinical trials to see if it can really save lives from breast cancer, and, if so, to work out what doses to use and how long to use the drugs for.' IBUPROFEN CUTS PARKINSON'S RISK IBUPROFEN can cut your risk of developing Parkinson's disease, a study has indicated. It found regular users of the painkiller, also sold as Nurofen, were 40 per cent less at risk of developing the disease. Those taking higher amounts of the drug ran a lower risk than those taking lower levels. About 125,000 Britons have Parkinson's, with 10,000 new sufferers diagnosed each year. It is a progressive neurological condition which destroys brain cells that control movement, including walking, talking and writing. It has been suggested that brain inflammation plays a role in triggering the disease, and ibuprofen's antiinflammatory activity may counter this. The U.S. research, by the Harvard School of Public Health, was presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Canada. (C) 2010 Daily Mail. via ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Now a cancer detecting kit on the anvil - New Kerala Posted: 18 Feb 2010 12:40 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Washington, Feb 18 : What if it were possible to buy a kit off the shelf for instant and accurate diagnosis of cancer, similar to a pregnancy test?
A Missouri University (MU) researcher is developing an acoustic resonant sensor (ARS), tinier than a human hair that could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. "Many disease-related substances in liquids are not easily tracked," said Jae Kwon, MU assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering. "In a liquid environment, most sensors experience a significant loss of signal quality, but by using highly sensitive, low-signal-loss acoustic resonant sensors in a liquid, these substances can be effectively and quickly detected," adds Kwon. Kwon's real-time ARS uses micro/nano-electromechanical systems (M/NEMS), which are devices tinier than a hair width, to directly detect diseases in body fluids. The sensor doesn't require bulky data reading or analysing equipment and can be integrated with equally small circuits, creating the potential for small stand-alone disease-screening systems, said an MU release. Kwon's sensor also produces rapid, almost immediate results that could reduce patient anxiety often felt after waiting for other detection methods, such as biopsies, which can take several days or weeks before results are known. --IANS
Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
| Aspirin might help reduce recurrence of breast cancer, study finds - Lexington Herald-Leader Posted: 17 Feb 2010 10:24 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Nonetheless, if the findings can be replicated in a large controlled trial in which women are randomly assigned to take aspirin or a placebo, the common drug could provide an important way to reduce deaths from the disease, said Dr. Lori Pierce of the University of Michigan, a breast cancer spokeswoman for the American Society for Clinical Oncology. Breast cancer is expected to strike more than 192,000 American women this year, killing more than 40,000 of them. Whether aspirin ultimately proves beneficial or not, doctors cautioned that women being treated for breast cancer should not take the medication. It can interfere with the therapy, producing severe side effects. The research is not without foundation. Metastasis is clearly linked to inflammation, and aspirin reduces inflammation. Studies in laboratory dishes show that aspirin can inhibit the growth and invasiveness of breast cancer cells and stimulate the immune system to attack the cells. Dr. Michelle Holmes of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said she would not yet recommend that breast cancer patients in remission begin taking aspirin solely for that purpose. But those taking it for other reasons, she said, might inadvertently be helping themselves prevent a recurrence. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Study: Aspirin helps in the treatment of breast cancer - WBIR Posted: 17 Feb 2010 01:05 PM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Studies have touted the benefits of aspirin to prevent heart disease and cancer. Now there's evidence that aspirin may also prevent cancer already in the body from spreading. A Harvard review of 4,000 breast cancer survivors finds a simple aspirin can cut the chance of that cancer spreading or death by 50 percent. "If it bears out, then this might be one more thing that women with breast cancer can do to live longer and better," said Harvard doctor Michelle Holmes. In fact, women who took two to five aspirins a week lowered their risk of metastasis 60 percent and death by 71 percent. "That would seem to imply that there really was some sort of anti-inflammatory effect going on to help these women to live longer," Dr. Holmes said. Researchers found similar benefits from drugs called "nsaids" like ibuprofen. Dr. Wayne Frederick heads Howard University's Cancer Center. He calls this study promising. "I absolutely would be interested in having my patients take aspirin if this, in truth, prevents them from dying from recurrence," Fredrick said. But that's a long way off. Scientists say they need more research to prove whether a simple aspirin can help women live longer. This was an observational study which means patients reported how much aspirin they took. Scientists will need to conduct a large clinical trial to verify aspirin?s benefits Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. |
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