Archive for September, 2008

Combining the new drug trabectedin with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin provides clinical benefit to women with relapsed ovarian cancer, according to new results.

The combination, which importantly does not include a platinum drug, challenges the current standard of treatment for women whose cancer recurs at least 6 months after first-line treatment, said Associate Prof. Bradley J. Monk from the University of California Irvine Medical Center.

“This trial, which included almost two-thirds such women, challenges this traditional paradigm and suggests that a non-platinum doublet is also effective in this setting,” he said.

“Trabectedin represents a ‘new chemical entity’ in North America and if approved by the FDA, would be an important new option for women with recurrent ovarian cancer.”

Trabectedin, a synthetic version of a compound first isolated from sea-squirts, has been granted marketing approval in Europe for the treatment of patients with advanced soft tissue sarcoma.

In the latest trial, an international group of researchers studied the combination in 672 women whose ovarian cancer had progressed after first-line therapy.

Half the women received pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 30 mg/m2 over 60 min plus trabectedin 1.1mg/m2 over 3 hours every 3 weeks, the remainder received pegylated liposomal doxorubicin 50 mg/m2 alone every 4 weeks.

We all know, for almost a decade, the effects of alcohol. In moderation, alcohol is good for heart.

But, now, new researches are showing a strong relation between alcohol and breast cancer, an important health concern among women.

It reports that alcohol consumption is directly related to the occurrence of breast cancer.

So, women who drink alcohol are at greater risk of developing breast cancer. Moreover, the risk is directly proportional to the alcohol consumption quantity.

In other words, an increase in the alcohol consumption quantity increases the risk of breast cancer development.

Scientists have recently estimated that the woman’s risk of developing breast cancer rises by six percent for every additional amount of alcohol consumption on a standard daily basis.

The recent evidence recommends that all types of alcohol–wine, beer and whisky—increases the risk of breast cancer.

So, remember that the type of alcohol–wine, beer or whisky—you take makes no difference, it differs only with the alcohol consumption quantity.

The incidence of breast cancer is more among post-menopausal women, who consume alcohol excessively. It is because alcohol is a major risk factor for the development of most common form of breast cancer.

The results of a new study support an interaction between severe life events, psychological distress, and breast cancer.

“Young women who are exposed to severe life events more than once should be considered as a risk group for breast cancer and treated accordingly,” Dr. Ronit Peled said.

Peled, from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, and colleagues studied 255 women younger than 45 years old who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and compared them with 367 healthy women of a similar age.

The team evaluated interactions between breast cancer and severe life events — such as the loss of a parent, close relative or spouse, or the divorce of parents before age 20 — and mild to moderate life events — e.g., separation from a spouse, loss of a job, an economic crisis, or severe illness in a close relative.

After correcting for potentially influential variables, their analysis revealed a positive association between exposure to more than one adverse life event and breast cancer.

For these women, the risk of breast cancer was increased by 62 percent. “It wasn’t enough to be exposed to one life event, a woman had to be exposed to more than one event,” Peled said.

Today, most women are still unaware of the fact that one of the most dangerous factors for the rise in heart-related problems is the ongoing substitution of healthy natural fats with artificial fats called trans fats.

These fats are largely artificial and synthetic. The fat is available only a minute amount in animal meat and a few dairy products.

Trans fats are also known as trans-fatty acids or hydrogenated fats. The trans-fat is a synthetically produced fat made by heating vegetable oils at high temperature and adding hydrogen to the vegetable oil (under pressure) through the process called hydrogenation.

Hydrogenation process makes the vegetable oil more stable by solidifying it and thus makes the oil a stiffer fat, a fat that is solid at room temperature. That is the reason why trans fats are different from other fats – saturated fats, polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats.

The polyunsaturated fats (available in vegetables) are good to the health, which lowers the cholesterol. Saturated fats are bad and trans fats are far worse than both.

According to a recent study, in women’s body, for every five percent increase of saturated fat, the risk of heart disease rises by seventeen percent, whereas an increase of two percent in trans fats rises the risk of heart disease by ninety-three percent.

Nearly one third of all American women are between the ages of 40 and 60, which means more than 37 million women are most likely in the midst of the menopause transition.

Three out of four women transitioning into this period experience hot flashes, characterized by a feeling of mild warmth, a flushed appearance with red blotchy skin, rapid heartbeat, perspiration or a chilled feeling.

Women may experience hot flashes for a couple or several years. There is a range of severity and frequency in hot flashes.

Some women may just feel a little warmer than usual on occasion, or could experience several uncomfortable episodes throughout the day and night. Night sweats can wake some women from a sound sleep, creating lack of rest.

“If the hot flashes are severe and interrupting your life and you are not responding to common remedies or lifestyle changes such as diet and exercise, then perhaps it is time to discuss with your physician prescription options such as low-dose estrogen therapies,” says Dr. James Simon, Clinical Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology.

Low-dose estrogen therapies have become a growing trend in medical publications, and in fact, many newspapers and magazines now encourage their use.

Giving birth to a baby is a dream of every woman. When you have any difficulty in becoming pregnant, it can be the most distressing issue for you.

But don’t worry; there are certain ways that you can implement in your regular routine to improve your fertility.

However, there can be certain things like ovulation problems, age, damaged fallopian tubes that you can’t change. But, don’t lose your hope till the end.

Ways to improve fertility!

Here are few ways that you can easily employ in your regular lifestyle to improve your chances of getting pregnant.

Focus on your diet!

You might have already know the fact that healthy food is very essential for you to stay healthy and fit. You have to essentially include at least five servings of fresh fruits and vegetables in your routine diet.

Make your regular diet well balanced with essential nutrients and vitamins. You should also include various antioxidant foods in your regular diet to avoid infections and inflammations.

Watch your weight!

Proper body weight that is healthy for your height is very essential to improve your fertility. If your body mass index is more than 29, you can have very less chances to get pregnant.

A U.S. study says women who have more than five alcoholic drinks at one sitting are at increased risk of having unsafe sex and contracting sexually transmitted diseases.

Researchers at John Hopkins University medical school in Baltimore looked at the correlation between binge drinking and risky sexual behaviors in women.

They interviewed patients at an urban clinic for sexually transmitted infections to explore the link.

In their study, the researchers found that women who binge drink are at increased risk of practicing unsafe sex, including having multiple partners and engaging in anal sex, leading to high rates of gonorrhea.

“The link between binge drinking and risky sexual behavior is complex,” said Heidi Hutton, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the medical school and an author of the study.

“We wanted to examine one component of that relationship, whether binge drinking increased the risk of engaging in sexual behaviors and having STDs. We found … that binge drinking increased STD risk for women.”

“Binge drinking results in a decreased ability to make clear decisions,” noted Geetanjali Chander, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, “and can enable individuals to engage in behaviors that they would not if sober.

Heart diseases are the main leading cause of death for most of the women, when compared with men.

Every minute that passes, another female dies with some sort of heart problem.

Certain heart diseases, which are mainly responsible for causing death, can mainly include coronary heart disease, heart failure, peripheral arterial disease, and also stroke.

That’s why as a woman, it becomes your responsibility to take care of yourself to prevent various types of heart diseases in your healthy life.

However, your genes play a vital role to determine whether you can develop heart complications or not, but there are certain steps recommended by experienced heart experts to avoid heart problems. Here are some of the most important steps to reduce heart disease risks:

Important steps to reduce the risk of heart disease

Maintain appropriate body weight!

If you succeed in maintaining your body weight at reasonable levels, with respect to your height, then you can dramatically reduce heart risks in your life.

A proper body weight normally assists in controlling your cholesterol level, blood sugar level and also blood pressure of your body. Once if you keep these particular things in control, you can certainly reduce the risk of heart disease in your life.