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Prostate Cancer Vaccine Wins US Approval

Note: The cancer vaccine is not a "cure" for prostate cancer. The "vaccine" which harnesses the body's own immune system to fight prostate cancer, has been approved for use by US drug regulators.

Provenge - which is designed to be used in men with advanced disease - is the first of its kind to be accepted by the Food and Drug Administration. Is it an expensive treatment? Each dose has to be individually tailored and it is estimated to cost $93,000 per patient.

It will add to, rather than replace, existing treatments, said experts. Researchers have been working on therapies that prompt the immune system to fight tumors for decades.

Potential success stories include an experimental vaccine for melanoma which is in the late stages of development.

This latest therapy is made by collecting special blood cells from each patient that help the immune system recognize cancer as a threat.

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Uncontrolled Brain Activity Linked to Epilepsy

Researchers have shed new light on the mechanism behind epilepsy attacks in the brain, revealing a potential new target for drug treatment.
Around 3 million people in the US have some form of epilepsy. Until recently the focus of research has been on cells called neurons, but a US study points to a completely different cell.

Nature Neuroscience journal reports its behavior may be key to uncontrolled brain activity behind the condition.

Epilepsy attacks, which can manifest as fits in some people, or "absences" in others, are caused by too much electrical signaling from the brain's neurons.

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Blame Your Genes if You Smoke Too Much

Smokers who find it hard to cut down or quit may be able to blame their genes, new research suggests. Scientists identified three genetic mutations that increase the number of cigarettes people smoke a day.

And several genes appear to dictate how likely you are to take up smoking and how easily you can quit. Three separate studies collected data from 140,000 people, with the results published in the journal Nature Genetics.

A previous study two years ago found a common single-letter change in the genetic code linked to nicotine addiction and lung cancer risk.

This new research confirms this discovery and also pinpoints two more genetic variants that seem to increase cigarette consumption among smokers.

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Study to Probe Cellular Phone Risk

The world's largest study on the safety of using mobile phones has been launched by researchers in London. The project will recruit 250,000 phone users across five different European countries. It will last between 20 and 30 years and aims to provide definitive answers on the health impacts of mobile phones.

Research to date has shown no ill effect, but scientists say those studies may be too short to detect longer term cancers and other diseases.

The study is known as Cosmos - the cohort study on mobile communications.

Wait a minute.... do you really think we will be using cellular phones like we do today 20 or 30 years from now?

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New Cancer Gene Therapy Result Hailed

During tests 90% of skin cancer tumors disappeared.

Scientists believe they may have made a "breakthrough" in using gene therapy to treat cancer tumors. Researchers at Strathclyde University in Glasgow have identified a technique for delivering genes to hard-to-reach tumors without harming healthy tissue.

During lab tests the "seek-and-destroy" therapy resulted in 90% of skin cancer tumors disappearing altogether. The team is now investigating the technique's effectiveness at treating different forms of the disease.

At present, most gene therapies cannot be delivered to tumors without harming surrounding healthy tissue.

The Strathclyde-led team investigated ways of doing so with the use of the plasma protein transferrin, which carries iron through the blood.

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Well-done Meat Doubles Bladder Cancer Risk

Charred meat can generate cancer-causing chemicals. Eating lots of meat, especially if it is overcooked, increases the risk of bladder cancer, say experts.

Frying, grilling and barbecuing until meat is charred can form cancer-causing chemicals, research shows. In a study, people whose diets included well-done meats were over twice as likely to develop bladder cancer than those who preferred meats rare.

The research findings, based on over 1,700, people were presented at a US cancer research conference. The University of Texas investigators found the risk was highest for those who ate well-done red meat such as steaks, pork chops and bacon.

These results strongly support what we suspected - people who eat a lot of red meat, particularly well-done red meat, such as fried or barbecued, seem to have a higher likelihood of bladder cancer. But even chicken and fish, when fried, significantly raised the odds of cancer.

Three major types of the cancer-causing chemicals, collectively called heterocyclic amines (HCAs), raised cancer risk by more than two-and-a-half.

So what can you eat these days? How about bugs? Are they safe?

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Internet Child Health Advice is Wrong

Many people use the internet to find health information and a new report out of England says a lot of that info is wrong.

Typing your child's medical problem into Google is unlikely to deliver much in the way of good advice, UK researchers have said. The research team used the search engine to find UK-based advice on five common issues, including breastfeeding and autism. Only about 200 of 500 sites offered correct information, Archives of Disease in Childhood reports.

Government-run sites were the only completely reliable source, they found.

Increasingly, parents are turning to search engines for a second opinion - or even a sole one - on medical matters.

Healthcare professionals should continue to strive to be the main source of information for patients but we should be aware that most will continue to use the internet to gather information. Many doctors, however, are concerned that the huge quantity of information and advice is at best unreliable, and in some cases misleading or even dangerous.

One earlier study looking at advice for children with a fever found only three out of 22 sites visited gave information which matched current "best practice" guidelines.

"But if it is on the web it must be true" says most people who surf the web.

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Pregnancy Exercise Can Slims Babies

Light exercise during pregnancy may improve the future health of a child by controlling weight in the womb, New Zealand and US researchers say.

Overweight or obese mothers are more likely to have larger babies which could be at higher risk of health problems later in life.

A study of 84 first-time mothers found exercise was associated with slightly lighter babies.

Given that large birth size is associated with increased risk of obesity, a modest reduction in birth weight may have long-term health benefits for offspring by lowering this risk later in life.

There is increasing evidence that the future metabolism of a child may be influenced by its environment in the womb, and that babies who are relatively heavy for their length may be more likely to be obese in future years.

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Prostate Drug May Cut Cancer Risk

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. A drug already used in men with enlarged prostates seems to cut the risk of prostate cancer developing, a large international study has shown.

A four-year trial involving more than 6,500 men found those who took Dutasteride had a 23% lower risk of prostate cancer than those who took a dummy pill.

The men in the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, were all at high risk of the disease.

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