Hot MedFax

Great.  Now they've found a new cancer. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found when two certain genes come together during an abnormal but recurring chromosomal mismatch, they can be dangerous. The result is a chimera — a gene that is half of each — and that causes a tumor that usually begins in the nose and may infiltrate the rest of the face, requiring disfiguring surgery to save the individual, newswise.com reports.  Chimera is also a word used to describe a fire-breathing female monster with a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail. Scarily, the cancer strikes 75 percent of the time in women. Scientists at the Mayo Clinic have pinned down the genetic structure and molecular signature of this seldom-recognized type of cancer, according to newswise.com. It is rare, but how rare no one knows as most of the cases examined were initially diagnosed as various other types of cancer. “It’s unusual that a condition or disease is recognized, subse

I wish I was around for this, or at least, my cancer was, before I was (in my opinion) over-treated.    But a new test can allegedly tell if a breast cancer is going to spread.  Nix the chemo, radiation, and surgery, if not needed. (Doctors can't always tell, so they treat, "just in case.") Almost 40,000 women a year die of breast cancer, and many thousands more are diagnosed with it. According to newswise.com, currently marketed tests assess risk for breast cancer metastasis by looking for changes in gene expression or in levels of proteins associated with growth of tumor cells,”  “But those changes don’t reflect the mechanism by which individual tumor cells invade blood vessels, a necessary step for metastasis," said Joan Jones, M.D. , senior author of the JNCI paper, professor of pathology , of anatomy and structural biology and of epidemiology & population health at Einstein and attending pathologist at Montefiore Medical Center . "By contra

We've been told over and over how much being overweight or obese can affect our health. But what if it were to affect your treatment of cancer? A new study has found that calorie restriction, a kind of dieting in which food intake is decreased by a certain percentage, may improve outcomes for women in breast cancer. "According to a study published May 26th in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment , the triple negative subtype of breast cancer – one of the most aggressive forms – is less likely to spread, or metastasize, to new sites in the body when mice were fed a restricted diet," newswise.com reports. The Web site notes that when mouse models of triple negative cancer were fed 30 percent less than what they ate when given free access to food, the cancer cells decreased their production of RNA molecules that inhibit tumor growth. Researchers have found that these molecules, or genes, often increased in triple negative cancers that metastasize.  Breast can

Not sure I agree with t his but a new study has found that women who get false positives on mammograms only suffer for a short time.  It doesn't affect their overall well-being. As someone who (twice) received positive positives, I suppose I can't really comment on this.  But I can't believe that some women aren't, if not, scarred for life, at least thinking about life a little differently after that.   According to newswise.com, " Dartmouth researchers have found that the anxiety experienced with a false-positive mammogram is temporary and does not negatively impact a woman’s overall well-being." The Web site goes on to note that a nywhere from 40 to 60 percent of women who undergo routine screening mammography during a ten-year period will experience a false-positive mammogram (guess I beat the stats!).  Such mammograms require additional testing, sometimes involving a biopsy, to confirm that cancer is not present. Researchers have suspected that in

Worried about getting breast cancer?  Or, have it, and worry it will come back?  An astonishingly simple way to prevent both may be taking Vitamin D .   Many research studies have focused on whether Vitamin D is helpful in preventing cancer, according to Sheryl Wood at health.yahoo.com. But few studies have looked at whether vitamin D helps to increase survival in women who have had breast cancer, she writes. Recently published research showed that higher amounts of Vitamin D in the blood were associated with an increased chance of survival in breast cancer patients. Vitamin D - a fat-soluble vitamin - is important for regulating the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in our bones, according to Medical News Today. P ast studies revealed an association between low Vitamin D levels and an increased risk of premenopausal  breast cancer . The body's main source of the vitamin is from the sun, but some foods - such as oily fish, eggs and fortified fat spreads - contain the

Here's another reason to watch your cholesterol, if you're a woman.  A new study has found that high cholestrol can fuel breast cancer. Acting almost like an estrogen, according to newswise.com, a byproduct of cholesterol can functions like that hormone and grow and spread the most common types of breast cancers, researchers at the Duke Cancer Institute report. But statins do appear to reduce the threat. These days it's very confusing to know whether your cholesterol -- either "good" or "bad" -- is high enough for medication. I'm in this very boat myself.  My cholesterol level (which runs in my family) was very high, even after I lost weight and doubled my exercise.  So I'm on a low dose of a statin and it's helping keep my numbers where they should be.  I'd love to go off it, but when I tried it this summer, my levels shot back up. So looks like I'll be on it for life. Anyway, "The research for the first time explains