The Cancer Mortality Maps & Graph Web Site provides interactive maps, graphs (which are accessible to the blind and visually-impaired), text, tables and figures showing geographic patterns and time trends of cancer death rates for the time period 1950-1994 for more than 40 cancers.
Epidemiology: July 2004 Archives
From American Cancer Society News:
The Food and Drug Administration plans to create an oncology office to review drugs and imaging devices used in cancer diagnosis and treatment. The new Office of Oncology Drug Products will combine 3 existing areas within the FDA. The center is expected to open in 2005.
It is hoped the change will make the approval of cancer treatments more efficient and consistent.
For a small number of women with a genetic predisposition to developing breast cancer, regular screening with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be better than mammography at detecting tumors early, HealthDay reports.
Breast MRIs conducted annually were nearly 80 percent effective in picking up invasive cancers in these high-risk women, compared to the 33 percent effectiveness rating of annual mammographies, Dutch researchers reported in the July 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
LOUISBURG, Kansas (Reuters) -- The brown-and-white spotted calves appear happy and healthy as they amble through the tall grass of a northeastern Kansas field, never straying far from their mothers.
But back at the barn -- and in countless barns, feedlots, slaughterhouses and packing plants around the United States -- the health of cattle like these has become a hot-button issue.
Calls for widespread testing of the nation's beef supply have stretched from Tokyo to Arkansas City, Kansas, after the United States detected its first-ever case of "mad cow disease" in December.
The news sent shock waves through domestic markets and triggered an immediate halt to important international trade, including deals with Japan, which typically buys about $1.4 billion of U.S. beef annually.
A Progress Report on State Legislative Activity to Reduce Cancer Incidence and Mortality - July 2004
Report available at: http://www.cancer.org/downloads/GI/Mid-Year%20Report%20Single%20Page.pdf
Posted on Monday, July 26, 2004 @ 8:16 AM PDT by bjs
Physical symptoms that impact quality of life, such as nausea and shortness of breath, may predict shorter survival for patients with terminal cancer. A new study finds a patient's symptoms and results of quality of life assessments may provide important clues to an individual patient's prognosis. Psychosocial factors, such as anxiety or spiritual distress, did not predict shorter survival.
Article: http://www.scienceblog.com/community/article3397.html
Israeli blood key to experiment
Kerry Fehr-Snyder
The Arizona Republic
Jul. 26, 2004 12:00 AM
An experimental treatment using human plasma from Israeli blood donors will be tested at two Valley hospitals for patients with the most severe cases of West Nile virus.
A hospital in Tucson also is expected to participate in the expanded clinical trial sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.
Article: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0726trials26.html
The Full Report (7 MB, 585 pages) has been made available in its entirety, as a single PDF file. The report is also available as a collection of smaller PDFs arranged in a browse table based on the Final Report's table of contents. An Executive Summary (344 KB, 35 pages) of the Final Report is also available.
Friday, July 23, 2004 Posted: 11:53 AM EDT (1553 GMT)
SANTA ANA, California (AP) -- A 57-year-old man died from the mosquito-borne West Nile virus, becoming California's first human fatality from the illness since it arrived in the state last year, officials said.
The man died June 24 and is believed to have contracted the virus in Orange County where he lived, Robert Miller, a spokesman for the California Department of Health Services, said Thursday.
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/conditions/07/23/west.nile.ap/index.html
Last Updated: 2004-07-20 14:28:02 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By David Douglas
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most prostate cancers at first are driven by male hormones -- androgens -- but they then become androgen independent, often spreading to other areas of the body. At this stage, treatment is difficult, but a new "smart drug" holds promise.
Researchers have developed an antibody, J591, that homes in on a specific molecule on prostate cancer cells. With a radioactive isotope attached, the antibody produced an anti-tumor effect in an early-stage (phase I) trial involving men with androgen-independent prostate cancer.
Article: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/07/20/eline/links/20040720elin023.html
Antibiotic treatments did nothing, researchers say
Tuesday, July 20, 2004 Posted: 9:29 AM EDT (1329 GMT)
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A year on powerful antibiotics did nothing to relieve the chronic health problems reported by Gulf War veterans, demolishing the theory that so-called Gulf War syndrome is caused by a bacterial infection, researchers say.
The bacterial-infection theory "is off the table at this point," said Joseph F. Collins, a VA Maryland Healthcare System researcher and one of the study's authors. "It's disappointing, but the results are definitive: This is not the smoking gun."
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/conditions/07/20/sickvets.ap/index.html
By Tim Parsons
School of Public Health
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is one of 12 sites testing a new vaccine to prevent anthrax. The phase II trial will evaluate the safety and immunogenic response of a new recombinant anthrax vaccine, known as rPA102. The vaccine candidate consists of recombinant protective antigen, a synthetic protein that induces antibodies designed to prevent illness by neutralizing anthrax toxins, and aluminum hydroxide to enhance the immune response. Different formulations of rPA102 will be given to 480 healthy volunteers. Each formulation will contain varying concentrations of rPA.
Article: http://www.jhu.edu/~gazette/2004/19jul04/19anthra.html
From Yahoo News:
Enough new-generation anthrax vaccine to dose 25 million people: That's first on the government's shopping list under a massive new program to develop and stockpile antidotes to biological and chemical weapons.
Article: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=534&e=4&u=/ap/20040715/ap_on_go_co/terror_vaccines
President Fidel Castro attends the document’s signing
BY REYNOLD RASSÍ -Granma daily staff writer-
ON July 15, and for the first time in 40 years, a cooperation agreement was signed by Cuban and U.S. companies for the transfer of biotechnological technology directed at developing vaccines against cancer. The agreement was signed between the CancerVax Corporation and the Center for Molecular Immunology at the International Conference Center in Havana.
Article: http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2004/julio/vier16/30cancer.html
Fri Jul 16, 2004 04:18 PM ET
By Susan Heavey
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to speed up government approval of new cancer therapies by creating an office dedicated to medicines, the agency announced on Friday....
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5695126
Sat Jul 17, 2004 07:34 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outbreaks of a deadly bird flu in Asia require tough precautions against the emergence of a new virus strain that could sweep through the human population, the World Health Organization said.
Thailand, the world's fourth largest chicken exporter last year, has seen avian flu hit 15 of 76 provinces over the last two weeks. Since late last year, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia also have reported cases.
"While these outbreaks, thus far, remain restricted to poultry populations, they nevertheless increase the chances of virus transmission and human infection," WHO said in a statement issued late Friday.
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5697598
Last Updated: 2004-07-13 16:24:37 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The bird flu virus called H5N1, which has proved fatal to humans in Thailand and Vietnam, has the potential to spread globally, new research suggests.
The H5N1 virus has become widespread in southern China and is not easily eradicated, the authors note in the science journal Nature. The virus spreads like wildfire among chickens, ducks and other birds, and as experience has shown, it can infect humans.
So far, the virus cannot be passed from person to person, but that may change if the virus gets a chance to swap genes with other flu viruses -- a process called genetic reassortment -- in humans or other mammals.
Article: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/07/13/eline/links/20040713elin021.html
Last Updated: 2004-07-13 15:35:37 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Megan Rauscher
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Ovarian cancer is often referred to as a "silent" disease, only becoming apparent at advanced stages. A new finding, however, may make it easier to detect the disease at early stages when it is more curable.
Investigators have found that lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is present at elevated levels in the blood of women with ovarian cancer, including those with early stage disease. LPA thus might be of use as a biomarker.
"In healthy women, LPA is typically present only at very low levels," Dr. Rebecca Sutphen from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Florida told Reuters Health. ...
Articel: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/07/13/eline/links/20040713elin014.html
Wed Jul 14, 2004 03:39 PM ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A drug-resistant "superbug" found in hospitals has a close cousin that is affecting athletes, prisoners and small children in growing numbers across the United States, disease experts said on Wednesday.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA can become fatal if not treated with the right antibiotics, said Dr. Daniel Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5671334
-- Scott Roberts
WEDNESDAY, July 14 (HealthDayNews) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved new software designed to help radiologists detect solid lung nodules from computed tomography (CT) scans.
The ImageChecker CT CAD software highlights areas of the image that appear to be solid nodules, which can be cancerous. The software, the first of its kind for use with CT chest exams, is manufactured by R2 Technology Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif.
Article: http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2004/07/14/hscout520094.html
Coordinator says U.S. spends more than rest of world
Wednesday, July 14, 2004 Posted: 1:56 PM EDT (1756 GMT)
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- The United States on Wednesday rejected a call at the International AIDS Conference for a $1 billion contribution next year to the global fund that has become the centerpiece of U.N. efforts against the disease.
"It's not going to happen," U.S. AIDS coordinator Randall Tobias said in an interview, noting that Washington already is by far the world's largest donor to the cause.
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/conditions/07/14/us.aids.ap/index.html
People infected with the Sars virus can be treated by taking antibodies from others who have recovered from the disease, research shows.
The Swiss researchers who have developed the technique believe it could be adapted for use against other infections too.
It may provide a fast method to combat emerging diseases, and, perhaps, biological attacks.
The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
Last Updated: 2004-07-12 15:11:29 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A microbe similar to a virus that causes mammary tumors in mice appears to be implicated in human breast cancer -- particularly in Tunisian women -- researchers report in the medical journal of Cancer.
Dr. Paul H. Levine of The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Washington, DC, and colleagues note that since the discovery of the mouse mammary tumor virus, or MMTV, there has been an ongoing search for a human virus.
Article: http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2004/07/12/eline/links/20040712elin025.html
People infected with the Sars virus can be treated by taking antibodies from others who have recovered from the disease, research shows.
The Swiss researchers who have developed the technique believe it could be adapted for use against other infections too.
It may provide a fast method to combat emerging diseases, and, perhaps, biological attacks.
The research is published in the journal Nature Medicine.
BBC Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3889111.stm
Nature Medicine Article
Monday, July 12, 2004 Posted: 7:37 AM EDT (1137 GMT)
BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Scientists have played down hopes that an AIDS vaccine could be developed within the next few years.
Researchers even said they could be forced to go back to the drawing board if the current batch of drugs, all focused on one approach, fails.
Seth Berkley, President and Chief Executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, said the number of potential vaccines in clinical trials had doubled since the millennium but that more research was needed
Article: http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/07/12/aids.conference/index.html
By Mari N. Jensen
July 08, 2004
N O T E
Contact Information
Therese A. Markow
520-621-3323 (office)
520-626-2772 (lab)
tmarkow@arl.arizona.edu
Michael Worobey
520-626-3456
worobey@email.arizona.edu
Biologists from the University of Arizona in Tucson are teaming up with health officials from the Mexican state of Sonora to learn more about the mosquitoes that carry dengue and West Nile viruses and about the disease-causing organisms.
The reported number of dengue fever cases in Sonora has been increasing in the last several years, and the disease appears to be moving north. The dengue fever season in Sonora is seasonal and peaks mid-October, after the summer rainy season
Article: http://uanews.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/UANews.woa/2/wa/SRStoryDetails?ArticleID=9425
Wed Jul 7, 2004 05:25 PM ET
By Gene Emery
BOSTON (Reuters) - The PSA blood test widely used to detect prostate cancer can also predict who is most likely to die from the disease, researchers said on Wednesday.
The study, in this week's New England Journal of Medicine, added to evidence that the rate of increase in prostate-specific antigen level may be more important for predicting cancer than the actual PSA number.
Article: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5612533
By Linda A. Johnson
Associated Press
July 8, 2004
A fast-spreading mutant strain of syphilis has proved resistant to the antibiotic pills that are offered to some patients as an alternative to painful penicillin shots.
Since the late 1990s, doctors and public health clinics have been giving azithromycin to some syphilis patients because the long-acting antibiotic pill was highly effective and easy to use. Four pills taken at once were usually enough to cure syphilis.
But now researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have found at least 10 percent of syphilis samples from patients at sexually transmitted disease clinics in four cities had a strain resistant to azithromycin.
Article: http://www.indystar.com/articles/4/160822-3374-010.html
Mexico City, July 7, 2004 (PAHO)—Rotavirus "is a major, major public health priority" for Mexico and for the Americas, Mexican Health Minister Dr. Julio Frenk said today at the opening of a global symposium on rotavirus, where health experts will spend three days discussing the latest information about the deadly disease.
Dr. Frenk told some 400 people attending the meeting that deaths from diarrheal disease "have dropped dramatically" in Mexico, since strong measures were taken to control it after the cholera epidemic that struck the Americas in 1991
Posted on Sun, Jul. 04, 2004
Tracking skeeters is not an exact science
By Brenden Timpe
Herald Staff Writer
Life in a graveyard can be tough.
Tough enough, that is, without the highest concentration of mosquitoes in the city of Grand Forks. That's exactly what Robin Purcell, manager of the Memorial Park Cemetery, must deal with, according to mosquito trap data from the city Public Health Department.
You won't hear Purcell complain, though. He's had it worse. According to data through June 21, the trap in his cemetery yields a daily average of 39 mosquitoes - five more than the second highest-yielding trap, and 12 more than the city average. But it's an improvement over a few years ago, he said, when his trap was catching as many as 700 mosquitoes per day and registering 10 times more than traps in the rest of Grand Forks.
Article: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/9077056.htm
July 4 (Bloomberg) -- French researches have concluded that more than 300,000 cows in France contracted bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, between 1980 and June 2000, the Telegraph reported on its Web site.
About 50,000 of the infected animals entered the food chain, the newspaper said, citing a report by researchers at France's Institute of Health and Medical Research. The study, ``The Unrecognized French BSE Epidemic,'' is published in Veterinary Research, the newspaper said.
Article: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=71000001&refer=europe&sid=aWtySbz5mpnY
Associated Press
Posted on Mon, Jul. 05, 2004
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - South Dakota congressional candidates say the U.S. Department of Agriculture should consider holding information on possible cases of mad cow disease until it is sure of tests.
Last week, the USDA eliminated mad cow disease as the cause of sickness in two head of cattle. But the cases raised questions about reporting incidents before results were certain.
The USDA has said it will continue announcing initial "inconclusive" results from rapid screenings to be open about its findings.
Sen. Tom Daschle urged caution. "As jittery as the markets are, we need to be prudent as possible about releasing
Article: http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/9084222.htm
By Enid Tsui in Hong Kong
Published: July 6 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: July 6 2004 5:00
An independent committee has criticised senior Hong Kong officials for their poor handling of last year's Sars crisis, which killed nearly 300 people in the territory and devastated the economy.
In a report based on a seven-month probe, the inquiry blamed public health administrators for poor communication to the public, failure to introduce effective quarantine, and mismanagement of hospitals. Among those criticised were Yeoh Eng-kiong, secretary for health, welfare and food, and Margaret Chan, former director of health.
Dr Yeoh apologised in public yesterday but did not offer to resign. Ms Chan was head-hunted by the World Health Organisation last summer based on her Sars experience.
Mon Jul 5, 2004 04:21 PM ET
By Lorraine Orlandi
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A new vaccine against rotavirus, one of the world's chief killers of children, is due to be launched in Mexico as soon as this year and will mark a sea change in how major companies market drugs worldwide.
GlaxoSmithKline submitted its oral vaccine Rotarix to Mexican authorities for approval and conducted clinical trials with more than 60,000 children in one of the largest such studies ever, Dr. Bruce Innis, vice president for Latin America research and development at GSK, said in a telephone interview on Monday.
In launching the vaccine in Mexico, the company "reverses the history of vaccine development in the last 50 years, in which new products are introduced in the United States
Article: http://www.reuters.com/printerFriendlyPopup.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=5590293
