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High Blood Calcium Tied to Cancer

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Men with elevated levels of calcium in their blood may have a much higher risk of getting fatal prostate cancer, US researchers said .

The findings indicate that a simple blood test may identify men at high risk for the most dangerous prostate tumors, and there already are drugs available that cut calcium levels in the bloodstream, the researchers said.

They tracked 2,814 men in a US government health survey in which they gave blood samples that revealed calcium levels. The men in the top third of blood calcium levels had 2.68 times the risk of developing fatal prostate cancer later in life compared to those in the bottom third, the study found.

“If serum calcium really does increase your risk for fatal prostate cancer, that’s wonderfully exciting because serum calcium levels can be changed,” Gary Schwartz of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, who helped lead the study, said in a telephone interview.

“One way to think of it is to think of the tremendous advances in the control of cardiovascular disease that occur from understanding that things like serum cholesterol predict heart attack,” Schwartz added.

Doctors have struggled to find ways to predict if a man who gets prostate cancer will have a tumor that poses little danger, as is often the case, or one that is a killer.

Blood calcium was not very predictive of whether a man would get nonlethal prostate cancer, but was highly predictive of whether a man would get a fatal case, the researchers wrote in the American Association for Cancer Research‘s journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The blood samples on average were given a decade before the cancer appeared, the researchers said.

A COMMON CANCER

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed form of cancer in men worldwide, with about 780,000 men diagnosed per year, and the sixth mostly deadly form in men, with about 250,000 deaths per year, the American Cancer Society said.

Schwartz said it is unclear whether it is the actual calcium or blood levels of parathyroid hormone, which is supposed to keep calcium levels at normal levels in the bloodstream, that is raising the risk. Either way, he said there are drugs that can lower them, including Fontus Pharmaceuticals Inc’s Rocaltrol, also called calcitriol; Genzyme Corp’s Hectorol (doxercalciferol); Abbott Laboratories‘ Zemplar (paricalcitol); and Amgen Inc’s Sensipar (cinacalcet).

People treated for high blood calcium usually have chronic kidney disease, which is associated with low vitamin D levels. Low vitamin D levels elevate parathyroid hormone levels, Schwartz said.

Halcyon Skinner of the University of Wisconsin, who also worked on the study, said there is little relationship between calcium in the diet and blood calcium levels, so these men would not benefit from eating less food rich in calcium.

Previous research had suggested a role for calcium in prostate cancer. In laboratory studies, parathyroid hormone and calcium promote the growth of prostate cancer cells.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Website on Pancreatic Cancer

It’s one of the most fatal cancers, yet little is known about it. What’s worse, more and more people are being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in recent years. The numbers may be small — 1-2 new cases per 100,000 people every year — but it’s enough to send alarm bells ringing. As it’s also a silent killer, few are aware of it till it’s late.

……………………………...CLICK & SEE THE PICTURES

However, the recent launch of a website on the disease could address this problem. Medical experts say there’s a definite rise in numbers, but unlike the west, there are no surveys to cite exact figures.

“If we look at individual hospitals, then there is an increase in the number of patients. In the last 15-20 years, these have grown five to 10-fold in my hospital itself,” says Dr Sudeep Gupta, assistant professor and oncologist, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai. National Cancer Registries are the other source of information. There are various reasons for the rise in pancreatic cancer cases. Some feel lifestyle changes and diet have resulted in an increase in all types of diseases. In that respect, pancreatic cancer is no exception. Others feel that more cases are coming to light as more people are reporting the disease.

Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer seldom detected in the first stage. The pancreas lies behind the lower part of the stomach. The symptoms — stomach pain, loss of appetite, jaundice — may not even manifest themselves till the disease has advanced. But once it happens, it’s almost fatal. In the US, pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths. Unlike certain cancers such as lung or breast, researchers have still not been able to pinpoint the exact reason for pancreatic cancer. “We can only guess that diet, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity could be the reasons behind the disease,” says Dr Shyam Aggarwal, senior consultant, oncology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi.

Surgery is usually the best treatment. “But in most cases, it’s ruled out as the disease is already in an advanced stage,” says Dr Malay Nandy, senior consultant, oncology medical, Fortis Healthcare, Delhi. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are the other options. However, 80% cases are likely to relapse post surgery and after that, survival is a matter of six months only. Experts say only 10% survive after five years of treatment.

The surgery is complicated and involves the Whipple’s procedure, wherein the pancreas are removed. Unfortunately, India has very few oncologists with the expertise to perform this complicated surgery. As so little is known about this disease, the recent launch of a website, www.pancreaticcancerindia.com , touted as the first comprehensive one in Asia on pancreatic and peri ampullary cancers, is welcome. The interactive website will give patients access to the latest research on the disease and to specialists who will answer queries. “It will help patients get information from the best in the field. What makes it more relevant is that it will be totally in an Indian context,” informs Aggarwal.

Sources: The Times Of India

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Testicular Cancer

Testicular cancer forms in a man’s testicles, the two egg-shaped glands that produce sperm and testosterone. Testicular cancer mainly affects young men between the ages of 20 and 39. It is also more common in men who

*Have had abnormal testicle development

*Have had an undescended testicle

*Have a family history of the cancer

Click to  see the pictures.>…....(01).……..(1)…..(2)…...(3)……..(4).……………….

..
…………………………………Male reproductive system…Testicular lumps
.Symptoms include pain, swelling or lumps in your testicles or groin area. Most cases can be treated, especially if it is found early. Treatment options include surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy. Regular exams after treatment are important. Treatments may also cause infertility. If you may want children later on, you should consider sperm banking before treatment.

Source:National Cancer Institute

Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.This is purely for educational purpose.

Click to learn more in detail about Testicular Cancer

Click to read BBC news on A laddish website for lads’ disease

How Can I Prevent Testicular Cancer?

Cause and Prevention of Testicular Cancer

Testicular Cancer – Prevention

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Mapping the Face

New research into how the face stores fat could lead to more effective anti-aging strategies, better facial reconstruction techniques, and may even help doctors assess heart-disease risks.

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Compartmentalization: The face has a new map.

In the fight to protect our faces from the ravages of aging, gravity is one of our biggest enemies. As we get older, Newton’s favorite force pulls everything from our brows to our chins south, and despite the claims of the multibillion-dollar anti-aging industry there is only so much we can do to pull back. And new research indicates that the face is a much more complicated battlefield than previously thought.

Rather than being a single area, the face is made up of not one, but 16 anatomically distinct compartments that gain and lose fatty tissue independently of one another over time, scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center announced in a recent issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. The discovery is upending previous assumptions about the face’s structure, and its implications may reach beyond better face-lifts to a new understanding of obesity.

“For the last 100 years or so, we thought that facial skin and fat were held up by a handful of ligaments, and that the visual effects of aging come as those ligaments break down and gravity takes over, says James Stuzin, a plastic surgeon in Coconut Grove, Fla., who was not involved in the study. œIt turns out we got that wrong.

One clue into the face’s complexity is the fact that it does not age uniformly. As your cheeks begin to sag, for example, the area around your eyes may remain young and sprightly looking. This led Rod Rohrich, a professor and plastic surgeon at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the study’s lead author, to speculate that something might be separating sections of the face from one another. To test this theory, he and his colleagues injected blue dye into the faces of 30 cadavers. Rather than disperse evenly, which is what you’d expect if the face were a single area, the dye only spread throughout a specific facial area, depending on where it was injected. In all, they found eight distinct compartments on each side of the face.

Human anatomy has been studied for over 500 years, says study coauthor Joel Pessa, an assistant professor and plastic surgeon at UT Southwestern.  œItâ’s pretty unusual to see something this new at the macroscopic, anatomical level.
This illustration shows how blue dye settled in two of the 16 distinct fat compartments in the face as documented by researchers.

The compartments themselves are created by membranes that carry blood vessels to the face. Ligaments, once thought to play a leading role, are really the posts along an intricate series of membrane fences, according to the research. Knowing where these membranes are located, and where they intersect, may aid in the design of more specific flaps—tears of skin that plastic surgeons move from one area of the body to another. This could improve facial reconstruction techniques for those who’ve been injured in accidents or combat.

As the face ages, not only do ligaments break down, empowering gravity, but each compartment gains or loses fat independently of its neighbors. While plastic surgeons have long understood that part of the aging equation involves facial fat loss (a process they refer to as deflation), they may have underestimated its role in shaping the appearance of older faces. “Some of what looks like sagging, is really just deflation in deeper compartments,” says Pessa. “Knowing this will allow us to approach facial rejuvenation in a much more precise and individualized way.”

Researchers are looking into whether the case is the same for the rest of the body. “It opens a whole new avenue of investigation,” says Stuzin. “Now we can look at fat storage in a very scientific manner.” Scientists already know that people who store fat in certain regions of the body face a greater risk for developing heart disease. But Rohrich and Pessa’s research shows that common terms like “intra-abdominal” may actually refer to several distinct compartments. And that may lead to better predictions of risk. “Rather than saying ‘you store fat in the abdomen,’ we’ll be able to say, ‘you store fat in the deep axillary fat compartment’.” says Pessa. “It will be a much more fine-tuned diagnosis—but that’s a few years down the road.”

Source:NEWSWEEK

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Abnormal Nipples

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There are two main types of nipple abnormality: retraction into the breast and disorders affecting the skin on or around the nipple. although these abnormalities are most often caused by minor problems that are easily treatable, any changes in the condition of the nipples should receive medical attention because, in rare cases, they may indicate breast cancer....click & see

Possible causes:
Inversion of the nipples may occur during puberty if the breasts do not develop properly. this type of inversion is usually harmless, although it may later make breast-feeding difficult. Nipple inversion may also occur in the previously normal breast as a result of inflammation of the milk ducts behind the nipple. This condition most often affects women who are breast-feeding. Changes in the structure of the breasts as they age may cause the nipple to be drawn into the breast in older women. Less commonly, nipple inversion that develops in adulthood may be due to breast cancer.

\Many women develop fine cracks and tender areas on their nipples during the first few weeks of breast-feeding. these cracks are most often the result of the baby not taking the whole nipple into his or her mouth properly when feeding. leaving your nipples wet after a feed can also cause them to become sore and cracked. cracked nipples often cause stabbing or burning pain as the baby starts or stops feeding and may become infected, causing inflammation of the breast tissue.

Dry, flaky patches of skin that occur on or around both nipples may be due to eczema. eczema is usually itchy and tends to occur in several sites on the body. however, occasionally, skin changes on the nipples that resemble eczema are in fact caused by paget’s disease of the breast, a rare form of cancer that originates in the milk ducts. unlike eczema, paget’s disease rarely develops on both nipples and does not heal. this type of breast cancer often causes soreness and bleeding from the nipple and is often associated with a breast lump.

What might be done?
Your doctor will examine your breasts, paying particular attention to your nipples. if nipple inversion has occurred in adulthood but is not related to breast-feeding, your doctor may arrange for ultrasound scanning or breast x-rays to look for breast abnormalities. if a breast lump is found, cells or fluid may be taken from it using a needle and syringe and examined under the microscope for cancerous cells. If you have a persistent rash on or around a nipple, your doctor may take a skin sample to look for cancerous cells.

Occasionally, it is possible to correct nipple inversion that has been present since puberty by gently drawing the nipples out between your thumb and forefinger every day for several weeks. Suction devices, such as nipple shells, which are temporarily worn in your bra, can also help draw out the nipple.

If your nipples have become cracked, washing and drying them carefully and applying a moisturize may help. make sure that you wash the moisturizer off before breast-feeding. You should also avoid plastic-lined breast pads which may become damp and encourage infection. infection is usually treated with antibiotics and eczema can be improved by hydrocortisone cream.

If cancer of the breast is discovered, you will be referred to a specialist for treatment, and further tests, including blood tests and x-rays, may be done to find out if the cancer has spread to other body organs. if paget’s disease is diagnosed, the affected skin will be surgically removed along with surrounding tissue. if a lump is present, treatment can include surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

Click for more knowledge ….(1)……...(2)..……...(3)
Problem with abnormal nipples as a male

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Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies.

Resources: http://www.charak.com

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