‘Single shot’ breast cancer treatment to ward off radiotherapy ordeals

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 29 (ANI): A single half-hour “shot” treatment for breast cancer can now do away with a six-week course of tumour-destroying therapy, according to British doctors.

The radiotherapy treatment, which is for use in patients with early breast cancer after they have undergone surgery on the tumour, is showing positive results in early trials in patients.

The novel therapy is designed to kill remaining cancerous cells with a concentrated beam of radiation.

Currently, women with breast cancer undergo a five to six-week course of radiotherapy treatment after surgery, involving about 20 hospital visits.

The surgery is designed to conserve as much of the breast as possible, rather than a mastectomy where the whole breast is removed.

But the radiotherapy course can cause more general damage to the tissue and greater distortion to the breast.

The medics believe that, after the publication of trial data later this year, a single dose of intra-operative radiation therapy (IORT) could become more widely available and offer women a less gruelling and more cosmetically satisfactory outcome.

The procedure involves lowering a spherical applicator, ranging between a marble and a squash ball in size, into the tumour through the incision created during surgery while the patient is still under anaesthetic.

This applicator then gives out a uniform dose of low energy X-rays directly to the surrounding 2cm-deep area of the tumour bed.

The ten-year targeted intra-operative therapy trial aims to show that IORT is as safe and effective as a conventional course of radiotherapy.

Michael Baum, a British cancer specialist involved with the trial, said that the excitement surrounded the possibility that a one-shot treatment might be at least as effective and safe as conventional treatment.

Patients would then be able to move on to drug-based therapies, chemotherapy or hormonal therapy, as required.

Baum said that the portable machine, called the Intrabeam and manufactured by the Karl Zeiss Corporation in Germany, emits X-rays of a different quality to electron beam radiation, giving a different biological effect that “has the equivalent effect”.

“[The treatment] has a major complication of distorting the breast, and the breasts can end up different sizesIf this is shown to work [in the full trial results], many women will be spared six weeks of treatment going back and forth to the radiotherapy centre. Women would vote with their feet for this treatment,” Times Online quoted Baum as saying.

The study results will be presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brit docs call for smoking ban in cars, parks

March 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

London, Mar 24 (ANI): A number of British doctors have called for smoking to be banned in cars and parks in order to protect children.

The ban called by the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), says that millions of children are exposed to second-hand smoke at home, which is a major hazard to their health, and reducing the level of exposure should be a priority.

Although adults occupy most cars, it would be impractical to apply the ban only to cars carrying children, the college said.

In a major new report on the impact of passive smoking on children, the RCP says it is time to capitalise on the gains achieved by the ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, imposed in England in July 2007.

Experience from other countries shows extending the ban to a wide range of public spaces, including playgrounds and beaches, can be “popular and successful”.

Passive smoking is responsible for a huge burden of disease on children, including one in five of all cot deaths, 200 cases of meningitis, 22,000 cases of asthma, and 120,000 middle-ear infections a year.

An estimated two million children are exposed to tobacco smoke at home.

A ban on smoking in cars is necessary because the confined space increases the level of exposure and the harm caused.

Smoking should also be banned in places such as parks, stricter penalties should be imposed on shops that sell cigarettes to children, and the price of tobacco should be increased, the report says.

The recommendations were welcomed by health organisations but attacked by the tobacco lobby.

The smokers” group Forest said the claim that the health of millions of children was at serious risk was a “gross exaggeration” and that changing people”s behaviour should be achieved by “education and encouragement, not by legislation and enforcement”.

“If you ban smoking in cars, which is a private space, it”s a small step to banning smoking in the home,” the Independent quoted Simon Clark, the director of Forest, as saying.

“Both measures are unacceptable and unenforceable. We wouldn”t encourage people to smoke around children but adults should be allowed to use their common sense and act accordingly.

“These proposals go way beyond what is acceptable in a free society,” he said.

It is almost 50 years since the RCP published its landmark report highlighting the dangers of smoking in 1962, which marked a watershed in attitudes to the habit.

Up to that point, it had grown steadily in popularity, with more than 80 per cent of men smoking.

From the 1960s onwards, smoking started its long decline – today, around 21 per cent of adults smoke.

However, two-thirds of smokers say they want to give up, nine out of 10 of them for health reasons and fewer than three out of 10 for cost reasons.

Smoking is more popular with younger adults – among 20- to 24-year-olds, 31 percent smoke.

Children growing up with parents or siblings who smoke, in addition to suffering harm to their health, are 90 per cent more likely to become smokers themselves.

The report estimates the cost to the NHS of treating children for conditions caused by passive smoking at 27.3million pounds a year.

Smoking is banned in cars carrying children in some states in the US, Australia and Canada. The most stringent legislation is in Mauritius, where smoking is banned in all private vehicles carrying passengers.

“This report isn”t just about protecting children from passive smoking, it”s about taking smoking completely out of children”s lives,” Professor John Britton, chairman of the college”s Tobacco Advisory Group, which produced the report, said.

Professor Terence Stephenson, the president of the Royal College of Paediatrics, added: “We should be making cars totally smoke-free if there are children travelling in them. We strongly support the policy recommendations in this report.” (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hirsute women have no reason to feel helpless

April 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 17 (ANI): Excessive hairiness can be more than just a cosmetic problem, but women shouldn’t feel helpless because of it.

British doctors have warned that hirsutism is likely to be a sign of an underlying medical condition. But, worry not, for help is at hand.

The docs said that five to 15 percent of women have excess hair, and a hormone disorder the most likely cause in many cases.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the cause in 70 percent to 80 percent of cases.

Report author, Dr Rebecca Swingler, a specialist registrar in obstetrics and gynaecology at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol, said the condition can be particularly upsetting for young women.

In addition to PCOS, rarer causes of excessive hairiness include certain tumours and thyroid dysfunction, as well as the use of certain drugs.

According to Swingler, mild cases can be treated cosmetically, but in moderate to severe cases, hormone therapy, such as the oral contraceptive pill and other treatments are present.

Weight loss may also help reduce high levels of the male hormone testosterone which can be an underlying factor in cases of excess hair.

“Often women have spent many years trying to cope with their hirsutism before they seek professional help,” The BBC quoted Swingler, as saying.

“Women need to look at themselves in the context of their family and ethnicity and what is ‘normal’ for them.

“If they notice a change in the pattern of hair growth or they notice they having to wax more often then they should seek help,” she said. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Buying drugs on the net can adversely affect your body

April 16, 2009 By Leave a Comment

London, Apr 16 (ANI): Buying drugs on the Internet can seriously damage your health, warn doctors.

British doctors have issued a stark warning to people who buy medicines over the Internet after it emerged one in four has treated patients made ill by them.

According to docs, people face a “minefield” when it comes to purchasing online, with many sites offering fake medicines and promoting online doctors and advisers who have no professional qualifications.

A poll of 423 doctors for GP newspaper found 25 per cent have treated patients for adverse reactions caused by medicines bought over the Internet, reports The Scotsman.

Dr Sarah Jarvis, a GP and spokeswoman for the Royal College of GPs, said: “Surveys looking at many online medications suggest that the proportion of counterfeits is enormously high and that many of them contain very worrying ingredients.”

Dr Bill Beeby, prescribing lead for the British Medical Association’s GPs’ committee, said: “When it comes to buying drugs on the internet, it is a minefield.

“People just don’t know what they’d be getting. I wouldn’t advise any of my patients to go down that route.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Health News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Now, premature ejaculation spray that delays orgasm 6 times longer than normal

April 7, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 7 (ANI): Science is trying its level best to improve people’s sex lives -and the latest offering from scientists is a spray which helps men last six times longer in bed.

Developed by British doctors, the treatment – used five minutes before sex – can extend love-making time from seconds to almost four minutes.

The study has been published in the April issue of BJU International.

To reach the conclusion, three hundred men with clinically diagnosed lifelong premature ejaculation (PE) from 31 centres in the UK, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, were randomised into two groups.

Two hundred used the PSD502 spray, which contains 7.5mg of lidocaine and 2.5mg of prilocaine, and 100 used a placebo spray with no active ingredients.

Every time they had intercourse during the three-month study period, each couple measured the time from vaginal penetration to ejaculation with a stopwatch.

The men were asked to abstain from sexual activity or masturbation for 24 hours before each recorded encounter.

The time from penetration to ejaculation increased from an average of 0.6 minutes to 3.8 minutes in the medicated group and to just 1.1 minutes in the placebo group.

When these figures were adjusted to take account of any variations between the two groups, these showed that the treatment group were able to last 6.3 times longer after penetration when they used the spray. The placebo group lasted 1.7 times longer.

“Premature ejaculation can be a very distressing condition for men and can cause distress, frustration and make them avoid sexual intimacy” says lead researcher Professor W Wallace Dinsmore from the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, UK.

The research team used the evidence-based definition of lifelong PE developed by the International Society for Sexual Medicine to select their study subjects.

This states that ejaculation occurs within about one minute of vaginal penetration in the majority of encounters.

“Because this definition was only launched in 2008, studies have yet to determine the prevalence of lifelong PE in the male population” says Professor Dinsmore.

“But previous research suggests that as many as 40 percent of men will experience premature ejaculation at some time in their lives,” the expert added.

The 300 men who took part in the phase three, multicentre, double-blind, randomised study had an average age of 35. The majority had used other treatments before, the most common being oral antidepressants.

After three months of treatment the researchers reported that 90 percent of the men in the treatment group were able to delay ejaculation for more than one minute following vaginal penetration, compared with 54 percent in the placebo group.

Seventy four percent of men in the treatment group managed to last more than two minutes before ejaculation, compared with 22 percent in the placebo group. 62 percent of men in the treatment group said their orgasms were ‘good’ or ‘very good’ after three months, compared with 20 percent before the study started.

The figures for the placebo group were slightly lower at the end than at the start. Also, a significantly higher percentage of the patients and partners in the treatment group reported improvements when it came to perceived control, personal distress, satisfaction with sexual intercourse and interpersonal difficulties.

“Our study shows that when the PSD502 spray was applied to the man’s penis five minutes before intercourse it improved both sexual performance and sexual satisfaction, which are key factors in treating premature ejaculation” says Professor Dinsmore.

“It was well tolerated by both patients and their partners, with no systemic side effects and a low incidence of localised effects and was rated favourably by the majority of users.

“We believe that this shows that PSD502 offers significant advantages over other therapies being developed for the treatment of premature ejaculation,” the researcher added. (ANI)

Filed Under: Science News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,