A Christchurch couple who helped run a "pioneer" bowel-screening programme in the city four years ago are frustrated a national screening programme is not being rolled out sooner.
Derek and Lynn Anderson lost their 46-year-old daughter to cancer this year.
Lisa Mitchell died from ovarian cancer in June after the disease was not found until it had spread to her bowel.
The Andersons have advocated for a national bowel-screening programme for more than four years after helping their Rotary club run a pilot programme in Christchurch in 2008.
"One person dies every seven hours from bowel cancer," Derek Anderson said.
"It's 15 hours for breast cancer and 20 hours for road deaths, but you hear so much more about those. We thought we'd do something about this."
The programme involved GPs in Redcliffs and Riccarton sending letters to 800 patients aged between 55 and 65, with no previous history of bowel cancer, encouraging them to buy a self-testing kit from the clinic for $5.
He said 387 people bought kits.
Forty-six tests came back with a positive result, requiring a colonoscopy for further investigation.
"We found a few cancers," Anderson said.
The Government last year decided to start a pilot bowel-screening programme in the Waitemata district, but a national programme was still several years away.
The Ministry of Health-led pilot would run for four years, offering bowel screening to people aged 50 to 74 who were eligible for publicly funded healthcare.
Anderson said early intervention was the best way to save lives, and the screening programme needed to be rolled out across the country as soon as possible.
"I'd like the trial to be sped up, but I know it's a matter of finance."
There was also shortage of doctors who could perform colonoscopies and remove any growths found in the bowel, he said.
He called for more training for health professionals, including training nurses to perform the tests.
Lynne Anderson said she was pleased the pilot was happening, but wondered how many people would die while it was completed.
SIGN: Recognising bowel cancer Bowel cancer ? also known as colorectal cancer or colon cancer ? is any cancer affecting the colon and rectum. Most bowel cancers start as benign growths, called polyps, on the wall of the bowel. They do not produce symptoms and most are not pre-cancerous. Up to 75 per cent of bowel cancer is curable if caught early.
SYMPTOMS INCLUDE: Rectal bleeding without any obvious reason. Change in bowel habits, such as going to the toilet more often or having looser stools for several weeks. Abdominal pain. Lumps or mass in the stomach. Weight loss. Tiredness.
Continually be mindful of your posture. Sustaining upright posture will help you to eliminate lower back pain, or at a minimum decrease it drastically. Poor posture may result in a aching back, so by being conscious of the issue you can efficiently cut down on the chance of a aching back. Your reward for following this assistance will probably be less lower back pain and a lot more huge smiles!In case you have repeated back aches and pains, smoking could be the major reason for your difficulties. Smoking may cause disc deterioration in your spine, and minimizes blood circulation.
To diminish your back pain, ensure you bodily exercise on a daily basis. A few simple exercises construct wonders to all your back pain. Undertake doing crunches and pelvic thrusts (all the while over your lower back, raise your knees, and just click your back into the floor).
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Many people have found that a regular routine of those two simple exercises genuinely lessens their back pain.
Clinic healthy posture and make it an endless focus. Sitting at the laptop or ranking for extended periods of time can certainly be uncomfortable, specifically if you allow your own circumstances to supply in to the recession. Remain assemble the times you try to sit or base and keep your spine as precise as easy to alleviate any additional force on the bones.
If you suffer from back pain, you are aware how considerable may perhaps interfere with every aspect of your health. Back pain can impact the quality and capability of simple daily activities like bathing, attaining an item through the shelf, several sleeping. Locate actions you can take to combat back pain, rustic, handcrafted lighting. Here are some great tips.
It can be estimated that two thirds of people will go through having a significant episode of lower back pain one or more times inside their lifestyle. The majority of people feel a precise incident causes the rear ache to show up. The truth is, lower back pain generally is preceded from a cumulative set of scenarios.
Even when you shouldn?t beverage many liquor if you suffer from an unsatisfactory back, taking in a modest amount of red red wine could actually support relieve lower back pain. Wine helps your muscle mass to relax, and thus, it might be a fantastic approach to improving your rest so long as you apply it in moderation. Ingesting an occasional glass of red red wine might be a wonderful remedy for a painful back.
Prices is important lounge chair if back pain is an issue for you. A comfortable reclining chair certain can feel nice, however it is not made with the health and fitness of these lower back in mind. A chair that pushes you to keep healthy posture is a better option. Stick to one single that has a firm lower back and a comfortable seat.
Anytime you are driving near or meeting for a long time, you happen to be using your lower back in danger. Purchase lower back pads that are designed to support for lower back difficulties. You will discover these web based or simply at your neighborhood drug store.
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They?ve got different styles of assistance pads, and you simply need to locate one that you simply feel comfortable employing.
To avoid back pain and shock you must deal with the thing you happen to be raising, flex at the knees, tuck inside your stomach muscles and avoid jerking or rotating. If you jerk, perspective or flex at the waistline you happen to be most likely to obtain hurt or make any established back pain more painful.
Sporting appropriate shoes that assist and cushion your feet may help stop lower back pain. When your footwear is definitely the completely wrong sizing or perhaps is not comfortable, your posture can shift, mailing ache in your back.
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When you can?t give up great heels, limit just how long you use them and employ insoles to include convenience.
If you have lower back pain, place with your knees and hips in an position around 90 degrees. You?ll really feel stress-free and comfortable, stretches out your muscle mass and finishing the pain. If the will not appear to be to help you, try experimenting with different placements to discover one particular which works for you.
Healthy posture is amongst the most vital elements using a nutritious lower back! Back pain could be an horrible hurdle within our daily lives several give us complication all the while we attempt to rest! One of the best actions you can take to all your lower back is keep correct posture all the while walking or ranking fairly a few absolutely whilst you are meeting so preserve spine precise and avoid any ahead bending.
Farmer Liu Qiyuan poses among survival pods that he built and has also dubbed 'Noah's Arc', in a yard at his home in the village of Qiantun, Hebei province, south of Beijing on December 11, 2012. Inspired by the apocalyptic Hollywood movie '2012' and the 2004 Asian tsunami, Liu hopes that his creations consisting of a fibreglass shell around a steel frame will be adopted by government departments and international organisations for use in the event of tsunamis and earthquakes. Liu has built seven pods which are able to float on water, some of which have their own propulsion. The airtight spheres with varying interiors contain oxygen tanks and seatbelts with space for around 14 people, and are designed to remain upright when in water.?/Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
BEIJING Chinese police have detained more than 500 people from a fringe Christian group for spreading rumors about the world's impending end, state media reported Tuesday.
In western China's Qinghai province alone, police arrested more than 400 members from the religious cult group, state-run China Central Television said Tuesday.
Police seized leaflets, video discs, books and other apocalyptic materials in the recent arrests of more than 500 people across eight provinces and regions, from the prosperous east coast to less developed western China, state media reports said.
The detentions come ahead of Friday, Dec. 21 - a date some say the Mayans prophesized would be the end of the world and which was the subject of the apocalyptic movie "2012."
Those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, which is also called Eastern Lightning, after a phrase from the Bible's Book of Matthew. Widely regarded as a heretical Christian sect, the group preaches that Jesus has reappeared as a woman in central China. It has been accused of targeting Christians, kidnapping and beating them to force conversions.
11 Photos
Instinct for survival: Ways we've tried to stave off apocalypse
Chinese society has been in tumult as decades of rapid free-market economic growth discredit communist ideology, loosen social controls and pull hundreds of millions from the countryside to the cities. Into the spiritual void have rushed traditional Buddhist groups and Daoist practices, as well as evangelical Christian churches and other spiritual groups, some with unorthodox and apocalyptic visions.
Eastern Lightning first appeared around 20 years ago, and the official Xinhua News Agency said that its members had "recently latched on to the Mayan doomsday prophesy to predict that the sun will not shine and electricity will not work for three days beginning on Dec. 21."
A public notice on the web site of Qinghai provincial government said local police are waging a "severe crackdown" on the group described as a cult with "strong political penchants." The government urged the public to inform the police of any illegal propaganda, gathering and preaching by the group.
The CCTV report called the group a cult and accused it of attacking the party and the government, though it did not give any specifics.
The state-run Huashang website last week, citing local authorities, reported that the group is urging followers to "exterminate the great red dragon" - a reference to the Communist Party - "and found a country under the rule of Almighty God."
There?s plenty you don?t know about Internet promotion. It does not matter your level of expertise in marketing; anyone involved in Internet marketing can learn something that can be useful in boosting their business. The advice in this article will help your internet marketing business to improve.
Press releases can really draw more visitors to your web site. Ensure that your press release is accurate and target the information to a specific audience. Needless to say, a great press release can create a buzz around your business.
TIP! Earning and maintaining your clients? trust is crucial. As you develop your marketing plan, you should only consider facts and statistics that are easily proven and valid.
If you want your PageRank to skyrocket, put a limited-time offer on your site. If you make the deal compelling enough, your PageRank will improve, even if the promotion itself isn?t a big moneymaker for you. Retail stores have used this strategy for years by using ?loss leaders.?
Many people respond to titles. Let them know you?re the boss and this will add a lot of credibility when selling a product. Try labeling yourself as ?CEO? or ?President? of your business.
Use the word ?fast? in your ad campaigns, with strategic placement of it throughout your sales pages. Time is given a monetary value in the minds of consumer, so fast service may allow you to increase your profits.
TIP! Design your banners to be subtle and not annoying to visitors to your website. Rather, try and have them look like links that can be clicked on to get access to more content.
A volume discount for customers who buy a lot from you can be a powerful tool to add to your Internet marketing campaign. You can offer them fifteen percent off if they spend over $100. This helps to get your customers to add products on.
Submit free materials to the various online directories who will list them without charging you. Using multiple directories will increase your exposure and your site traffic. The same can be done with e-books, e-newsletters, articles and more.
To advertise your product, you should create a sort of FAQ. For each issue or question, write a helpful answer, and be sure to mention your products as a solution. Write the questions so that your products are the answers without making it look like obvious product placement.
TIP! Post your customer?s comments in the comments section of your website. Oftentimes, people are interested in see what others buyers have to say about the product and enjoy seeing the experience others had.
Another option is to sell bundled merchandise at a discounted price. Make sure that the terms of what you?re offering are clearly stated and easy to find.
It?s important that you appear to be a user-friendly business to your customers, and this means that you should think about getting the right type of error page (500 page). This happens when a code stops working for you. Genetic error messages just display a message that the connection timed out. Customers will be less frustrated and more understanding if they do not get a generic error message.
Give your customers a price break for buying multiple items. Even the wholesale prices will leave you with some profit, but you will be selling much larger quantities than before.
TIP! Whether you?re writing content for your website or for messages delivered via email, use plenty of headlines. Your headlines should be both informative (sharing news about important new products and offers) and catchy.
Small sellers may be overwhelmed by how competitive the online market is. You can make your business more competitive by frequently resetting the prices of your products, and comparing them against those of your closest competitors. Try to build a store in the marketplace so that clients can access all your items.
Keep in mind that your website?s look and functionality are just as vital to your business as a more traditional in-store shopping experience. To avoid causing problems for your online customers, check all of your site?s links, ads, graphics, and checkout code regularly. If there are problems with the site and the people cannot to where they want to go in a quick manner, there is a good chance you will lose that customer.
Consider creating polls and placing them beside different content on your webpage. This will enable you to understand what your viewers think of your site. This will make your customers feel included in the business, and it will assure that your site will have plenty of content that they will find very appealing.
TIP! Are you ready for an internet marketing tip? When you set up your landing page, make sure it is apparent what the subject and objective is. The landing page should be focused on sales.
One way to build a reputation as a credible business is by selling advertising spaces on your page to other vetted businesses in your market. If potential customers notice that impressive firms are linked with yours, they will gain greater confidence in your offerings. In the future, their larger customer base will think of you when they think of them.
In your email, you must include a call to action which inspires your customers. They could subscribe to your service or visit your site. You will be able to find out how well your emails to your customers are working.
Attention to detail is important when it comes to the pages on your site. Your company name should be placed prominently at the top of every page of your website. Customers may have several tabs or pages open, and they need to see easily which site they?re on at any given time.
TIP! You want to put ads all over the Internet to give yourself as much exposure as possible. Companies such as Google?s AdSense are a popular choice for this.
The word ?guarantee? should be used in your internet promotion ad. Your customers want to know they will not get ripped off if they purchase your product. The only limit to what you can guarantee is what you decide it to be. A lifetime or 90-day guarantee is most common. Look at what you are selling, and select the guarantee that will fit best.
Read up on marketing studies that show what techniques are and are not effective in webpage design and marketing on the internet in general. Some of the psychological factors that effect how you perceive things can impact what you read online and what you click on. If you fully understand the implications of these connections, you can apply that knowledge to drive profits.
Thankfully, there is a wealth of information around that can make you a better Internet marketer. You need not study the topic intensively, either. Tips like these can help you be successful. Across the web, you can find simple, easy-to-use ideas to improve your Internet promotion. Stay alert for ways to keep making improvements in your strategies and techniques.
TIP! One part of your marketing strategy is about your competition. Follow their sites and try to determine what is helping or hindering their efforts.
Jenelle of "Teen Mom 2," Honey Boo Boo, and Conda Britt of "Biggest Loser."
By Anna Chan and Ree Hines, TODAY
Sometimes you just can't script the bizarre things that happen on television. And thanks to reality TV programming -- whether the shows focus on lifestyle or competitions -- the "Oh no they didn't!" moments are seemingly endless. That was certainly the case this year, especially with TLC's introduction to Honey Boo Boo and her clan.?
Though the little tyke and her family generated plenty of talk, they weren't the only ones who left viewers laughing, scratching their heads or fuming.?
'Here Comes Honey Boo Boo' Nothing could have fully prepared reality TV audiences for the reality of Honey Boo Boo and her family. But ready or not, when the show premiered in August, it was time to redneckognize the fact the bunch wasn't going away any time soon. For some, the fun-loving family's mere prime-time presence made for one great big jaw-dropper. But for those who watched all of the roadkill-munching and mud-flopping action, there was one simple moment that topped them all: When Mama June taught us all to make "sketti." The ingredients? Topping the pasta and meat is a mixture of a massive glob of butter(-like spread) and ketchup -- microwaved to perfection.
'Teen Mom 2' Amber who? Original "Teen Mom" Amber Portwood made her share of big mistakes prior to putting herself in jail, but rather than that being the end of law-breaking tales for MTV's franchise, "Teen Mom 2's" Jenelle Evans is following in Amber's footsteps and making truly unbelievable decisions when it comes to time behind bars. Some might say she's been even more frustrating to watch than Amber. Case in point? On the Nov. 26 episode, after learning that her probation officer is offering her a 16-day jail sentence instead of a 45-day sentence for violating probation, Jenelle tells her attorney that she can't start serving the day she is supposed to. Her excuse? No, not life-saving surgery. Not child-care issues. What, then? Second row seats for a Ke$ha concert. We kid you not. Jenelle even got "all these feathers" in her hair just to go see her "idol"! (Check out the young mom's 2009 "Tik Tok" video.)
'Toddlers & Tiaras' It seems safe to say that most moms (and dads, for that matter) don't ever want to see their precious little kids puffing on cigarettes. But then again, most moms aren't trying to win a costumed beauty pageant at any cost. Destiny's mom, however, was. "Toddlers & Tiaras" viewers must have been as shocked as the pageant judges were when they heard Lisa Christian tell her tyke, "Don't forget to smoke!" before the wee one took the stage with a prop cigarette to portray Sandy from "Grease." One judge spoke for everyone when she said of Lisa, "What is she thinking?!" And that was nothing compared to what prosecutor-turned-talk-host Nancy Grace had to say when she booked Lisa on her show.
'The Biggest Loser' There was no shortage of gasp-worthy moments on "Biggest Loser" this year. In fact, most of those moments centered on outspoken and outrageous contestant Conda Britt. But the participant some viewers (and fellow contestants) called a bully only played a bit part in real the shocker of the season -- the walkout. Yes, the people who were lucky enough to have landed a coveted spot on the weight-loss ranch decided that the reality show just wasn't "fair" (due to an all-too-common twist in the game) and threatened to walk right off the show if things continued as planned. Even more surprising? Two "Losers" actually made good on that threat and threw away their chances to make it to the finals and compete for the $250,000 grand prize or any other prize -- or even the right to just step up on the scales on finale night.
'Project Runway' There's usually some griping when "Project Runway" asks its designers to create fab looks for non-model-sized women, but that moaning is generally directed at the task. Not so in season 10. Designer Ven Budhu made his frustration known by making jabs at his size 10 model, Terri Herlihy, who was there because her friend submitted her for a glam makeover. After what seemed like endless comments about her size, Terri was fighting back tears, and angry viewers took to social media to blast the designer hopeful for his behavior. After the show aired, Terri told The Clicker just how horrible the experience was, calling it "adult bullying at its best." The show's mentor, Tim Gunn, was also appalled by Ven. The fashion guru said that the editing was "especially kind" to the designer, adding,?"He was especially atrocious."
'Dancing With the Stars' Boo! Hiss! Those aren't exactly the sounds one expects to hear in the glam and glitz-filled ballroom of "Dancing With the Stars," but for a couple of brief moments in the show's 14th season, that's just what an angry audience delivered all the same. It first happened when head judge Len Goodman and the gang decided to follow up a round of big praise with a round of tiny scores for an excellent team paso doble performance. The in-house crowd let the esteemed panel know just what they thought of that call, as they did again when the judges failed to give Melissa Gilbert and ballroom bad boy Maksim Chmerkovskiy their fair due later in the show.
'Dancing With the Stars' -- again! Some shows just deliver more surprises than a single entry can cover. Case in point? The second "Dancing With the Stars" season of 2012 might just have topped its own previous ballroom boos when the all-star cast had to say so long to former Cheetah Girl Sabrina Bryan. History repeated itself for the Disney star as she left the bash in week six, following a strong performance, just as she did back season five. Viewers weren't the only ones shocked. Judges Carrie Ann Inaba clutched her gut when the results were announced, while her fellow panelist looked on slack jawed.
Which reality TV moment did you find most shocking in 2012? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.
TAMPA, Fla. - A jury has found a Plant City man guilty of second-degree murder.? It took jurors almost six hours to reach a verdict in the trial of Lawrence Dickey.
Dickey, and his wife, Beatrice, attended a Journey concert last September. Investigators say later that night, Dickey attacked his wife with a baseball bat, in their Plant City home, while she slept.
Earlier Wednesday, the prosecution and defense gave closing arguments.
Prosecutors argued Dickey knew what he was doing. Assistant State Attorney Ronald Gale said, "He's not about, at 1:00 in the morning, to go out and play a game of softball.? He has that evil intent.? He's not getting that baseball bat for any other purpose than to use it on his wife."
But the defense claimed the act wasn't premeditated. Robert Fraser, Dickey's attorney, said, "What was he thinking?? Where is the evidence of reflection?? Where is the evidence that he thought about this for a nanosecond?? There isn't any!"
Closing arguments lasted about an hour then Dickey's fate was in the jury's hands.
When jurors later found Dickey guilty, Beatrice's son, Matt Kirkland, was in the courtroom. He said he was hoping for a tougher penalty. Kirkland said, "We'll try to get him at the sentencing hearing. I'll be able to speak and let the judge know what kind of guy he actually is instead of just the little, his crying act on the stand."
Sentencing is scheduled for January 25th. Dickey could get 20 years to life in prison.
Copyright 2012 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Temple researcher shows diabetes, blood pressure link to colon cancer recurrence, survivalPublic release date: 20-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Steven Benowitz steven.benowitz@tuhs.temple.edu 215-707-4784 Temple University Health System
(Philadelphia, PA) By all accounts, a combination of colon cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure can be a recipe for medical disaster. Now, a new study led by a surgical oncologist and researcher at Temple University School of Medicine and Fox Chase Cancer Center has shown just how deadly this mix can be. In a retrospective analysis of more than 36,000 patients with colon cancer, investigators showed that those with early stage disease and diabetes or high blood pressure two components of metabolic syndrome have a greater risk for the cancer returning after treatment and of dying compared to patients with colon cancer who do not have either condition.
"Although metabolic syndrome has been linked to colon cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., previous work looking at its effect on mortality has not adequately accounted for cancer stage or treatment," said senior author Nestor Esnaola, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, Professor of Vice-Chair of Clinical and Academic Affairs in the Department of Surgery at Temple University School of Medicine. "Our results suggest that patients with early stage colon cancer who also have diabetes or hypertension may need to be followed more closely for recurrence and could potentially benefit from broader use of adjuvant chemotherapy." Dr. Esnaola and his team reported their findings December 20, 2012 in an early online publication in the journal CANCER.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that affects one in five American adults and which can include diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of good cholesterol and high amounts of lipids in the blood.
To better understand the effect of metabolic syndrome on colon cancer outcomes, Dr. Esnaola and his team linked data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, a large population-based database, to Medicare data from 1998 to 2006 on 36,079 patients with colon cancer, including 7,024 patients (19.5 percent) who were identified as having metabolic syndrome. They analyzed the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on colon cancer recurrence and overall survival, controlling for various sociodemographic factors, tumor factors, other medical conditions and cancer treatment received.
"Metabolic syndrome as a whole had no apparent effect on colon cancer recurrence or survival," said Dr. Esnaola, who is also an attending surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center. "When we teased out and analyzed the effect of each of its components, however, the data told a different story."
The researchers found that among patients with early stage disease, patients with diabetes or high blood pressure had a significantly greater risk of cancer recurrence rate and death after treatment. For example, 47.7 percent of patients who did not have diabetes were still alive five years after diagnosis compared to only 41.3 percent of patients with diabetes. When the researchers looked more closely, they also found that cancer recurrence rates at five years were approximately 8 percent higher in patients with diabetes or hypertension.
In contrast, the analysis showed that patients with abnormally high levels of lipids in the blood had a lower risk of recurrence and death from colon cancer. Overall, 39 percent of patients with normal lipid levels were still alive after five years, compared to 52.7 percent of patients with abnormal levels. Cancer recurrence rates were approximately 11 percentage points lower in patients with abnormal lipid levels.
"Although we did not have data on medication for these patients, we suspect that the higher survival and lower recurrence rates observed in patients with high lipid levels in our study group were likely due to the protective effects of statins," Dr. Esnaola said. Statins are drugs that are widely used to lower cholesterol and lipid levels and have been shown to lower the risk of developing colon cancer in people.
"To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date controlling for cancer stage and treatment that has analyzed the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on colon cancer recurrence and survival," said Dr. Esnaola. "The adverse effects of diabetes and hypertension in early stage patients and apparent protective effect of high blood lipids observed in our cohort suggest that when it comes to metabolic syndrome and cancer outcomes, the devil is in the details."
Dr. Esnaola currently is investigating the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on other cancer types, and plans to confirm these results in a larger set of data that contains information on cancer stage, treatment and medication. "In the interim, our results underscore the need for clinical trials to define the true benefits of (the diabetes drug) metformin and statins in patients with early stage colon cancer," he said.
###
Other investigators contributing to this research include: Yang Yang and Baorui Liu, Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; and Patrick D. Mauldin, Myla Ebeling, Thomas C. Hulsey, Melanie B. Thomas, and E. Ramsey Camp, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
This research was supported in part by the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Health, Education, and Research Foundation.
About Temple Health
Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System and by Temple University School of Medicine.
Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $1.4 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the "Best Hospitals" in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Fox Chase Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; and Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices. TUHS is affiliated with Temple University School of Medicine.
Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools. Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 720 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, Temple University School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to U.S. News & World Report, TUSM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation.
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Temple researcher shows diabetes, blood pressure link to colon cancer recurrence, survivalPublic release date: 20-Dec-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Steven Benowitz steven.benowitz@tuhs.temple.edu 215-707-4784 Temple University Health System
(Philadelphia, PA) By all accounts, a combination of colon cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure can be a recipe for medical disaster. Now, a new study led by a surgical oncologist and researcher at Temple University School of Medicine and Fox Chase Cancer Center has shown just how deadly this mix can be. In a retrospective analysis of more than 36,000 patients with colon cancer, investigators showed that those with early stage disease and diabetes or high blood pressure two components of metabolic syndrome have a greater risk for the cancer returning after treatment and of dying compared to patients with colon cancer who do not have either condition.
"Although metabolic syndrome has been linked to colon cancer, the third leading cause of cancer death in the U.S., previous work looking at its effect on mortality has not adequately accounted for cancer stage or treatment," said senior author Nestor Esnaola, MD, MPH, MBA, Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology, Professor of Vice-Chair of Clinical and Academic Affairs in the Department of Surgery at Temple University School of Medicine. "Our results suggest that patients with early stage colon cancer who also have diabetes or hypertension may need to be followed more closely for recurrence and could potentially benefit from broader use of adjuvant chemotherapy." Dr. Esnaola and his team reported their findings December 20, 2012 in an early online publication in the journal CANCER.
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions that affects one in five American adults and which can include diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, low levels of good cholesterol and high amounts of lipids in the blood.
To better understand the effect of metabolic syndrome on colon cancer outcomes, Dr. Esnaola and his team linked data from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) program, a large population-based database, to Medicare data from 1998 to 2006 on 36,079 patients with colon cancer, including 7,024 patients (19.5 percent) who were identified as having metabolic syndrome. They analyzed the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on colon cancer recurrence and overall survival, controlling for various sociodemographic factors, tumor factors, other medical conditions and cancer treatment received.
"Metabolic syndrome as a whole had no apparent effect on colon cancer recurrence or survival," said Dr. Esnaola, who is also an attending surgeon at Fox Chase Cancer Center. "When we teased out and analyzed the effect of each of its components, however, the data told a different story."
The researchers found that among patients with early stage disease, patients with diabetes or high blood pressure had a significantly greater risk of cancer recurrence rate and death after treatment. For example, 47.7 percent of patients who did not have diabetes were still alive five years after diagnosis compared to only 41.3 percent of patients with diabetes. When the researchers looked more closely, they also found that cancer recurrence rates at five years were approximately 8 percent higher in patients with diabetes or hypertension.
In contrast, the analysis showed that patients with abnormally high levels of lipids in the blood had a lower risk of recurrence and death from colon cancer. Overall, 39 percent of patients with normal lipid levels were still alive after five years, compared to 52.7 percent of patients with abnormal levels. Cancer recurrence rates were approximately 11 percentage points lower in patients with abnormal lipid levels.
"Although we did not have data on medication for these patients, we suspect that the higher survival and lower recurrence rates observed in patients with high lipid levels in our study group were likely due to the protective effects of statins," Dr. Esnaola said. Statins are drugs that are widely used to lower cholesterol and lipid levels and have been shown to lower the risk of developing colon cancer in people.
"To our knowledge, this is the largest study to date controlling for cancer stage and treatment that has analyzed the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on colon cancer recurrence and survival," said Dr. Esnaola. "The adverse effects of diabetes and hypertension in early stage patients and apparent protective effect of high blood lipids observed in our cohort suggest that when it comes to metabolic syndrome and cancer outcomes, the devil is in the details."
Dr. Esnaola currently is investigating the effect of metabolic syndrome and its components on other cancer types, and plans to confirm these results in a larger set of data that contains information on cancer stage, treatment and medication. "In the interim, our results underscore the need for clinical trials to define the true benefits of (the diabetes drug) metformin and statins in patients with early stage colon cancer," he said.
###
Other investigators contributing to this research include: Yang Yang and Baorui Liu, Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, China; and Patrick D. Mauldin, Myla Ebeling, Thomas C. Hulsey, Melanie B. Thomas, and E. Ramsey Camp, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.
This research was supported in part by the Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Health, Education, and Research Foundation.
About Temple Health
Temple Health refers to the health, education and research activities carried out by the affiliates of Temple University Health System and by Temple University School of Medicine.
Temple University Health System (TUHS) is a $1.4 billion academic health system dedicated to providing access to quality patient care and supporting excellence in medical education and research. The Health System consists of Temple University Hospital (TUH), ranked among the "Best Hospitals" in the region by U.S. News & World Report; TUH-Episcopal Campus; TUH-Northeastern Campus; Fox Chase Cancer Center, an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center; Jeanes Hospital, a community-based hospital offering medical, surgical and emergency services; Temple Transport Team, a ground and air-ambulance company; and Temple Physicians, Inc., a network of community-based specialty and primary-care physician practices. TUHS is affiliated with Temple University School of Medicine.
Temple University School of Medicine (TUSM), established in 1901, is one of the nation's leading medical schools. Each year, the School of Medicine educates approximately 720 medical students and 140 graduate students. Based on its level of funding from the National Institutes of Health, Temple University School of Medicine is the second-highest ranked medical school in Philadelphia and the third-highest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. According to U.S. News & World Report, TUSM is among the top 10 most applied-to medical schools in the nation.
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TORONTO (Reuters) - The Canadian dollar weakened slightly against its U.S. counterpart in early trade on Monday as commodity-linked currencies dipped after the Reserve Bank of Australia said mining investment had likely peaked.
While the euro strengthened against the greenback and global shares approached a three-month high on signs of compromise in U.S. talks to stop automatic tax hikes and spending cuts hurting the economy next year, the Canadian dollar dipped.
"CAD has weakened off a little since yesterday's close, it's been a bit of a volatile morning," said Camilla Sutton, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank.
"Interesting because the euro touched a new high overnight but CAD is failing to make new gains."
At 9:14 a.m. (1414 GMT), the Canadian dollar stood at C$0.9846 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0156, slightly below Monday's North American close at C$0.9837 versus the U.S. dollar, or $1.0166.
"All the other commodity currencies are also slightly weaker partially on the RBA's minutes, which highlighted that the investment boom in the mining industry is likely peaking, as well as a focus on employment, so that seems to be pulling down commodity currencies a little bit," Sutton said.
Australia's central bank said it decided to cut interest rates this month rather than wait because it saw further evidence that the peak in the mining investment boom was near, while the non-resource sector showed no signs of picking up.
The Reserve Bank of Australia expects the mining investment boom to peak sometime next year, according to minutes of the bank's December 4 meeting, released on Tuesday.
Canadian government bond prices were mixed, slipping across the long end. The two-year bond was down 0.5 Canadian cents to yield 1.155 percent, while the benchmark 10-year bond shed 16 Canadian cents to yield 1.841 percent.
(Reporting By Andrea Hopkins; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) ? One of the first things newly elected Decatur mayor Don Kyle did this month was to hand over the keys to the mayors issued vehicle to the fire department.
The mayor says the vehicle was too much vehicle for what he?believes?are the needs for a mayor and the SUV is better suited for the fire department.
The?$21,000 red Ford Flex crossover former Decatur Mayor Don Stanford asked for when he was in office is now being retrofitted for official fire department use.
Mayor Kyle will still receive a fuel kickback for his personal?vehicle?use while on official duty.
Every culture has a different take on technology-based communications. In an earlier post we found that the United States and Europe are similar in their use of computer-mediated dialogue. However,? professionals in Asian Pacific countries differ in their use of computer-mediated methods. Due to globalization, social networking, e-mail, teleconferences, conference calling, and even text messaging have become more and more prevalent among recently industrialized Asian Pacific countries.
?Social Networking:?In a paper presented at the Thirty Second International Conference on Information Systems, titled ?East Meets West: Connectivity and Collaboration through Effective Information Systems, the study?s authors found that a country?s social orientation plays a role in the use of social networking sites, IM, mobile phone use, and other mediums. ?Western?cultures value independence, individualism, autonomy, and self-achievement. In contrast, Asian cultures emphasize interdependence, harmony, relatedness, and connection.? The study stated that American professionals had larger social networks with short-term, broad, ?connections through social media and were more apt to connect with strangers and exhibit fewer group identities and boundaries. In Asian Pacific countries, most professionals valued multi-faceted, close,? long-term relationships with their contacts. Thus, they are more discriminating in choosing connections and there are higher boundaries among groups. Westerners tended to be more explicit when it comes to social media information, while Asian nations often use it to share high-context information in a way that assumes the other party understands the issue.
Rich Communication:?Asian Pacific countries preferred richer forms of communication, such as face-to-face, video conferencing and multi-party online chats. Participants did not feel satisfied with asynchronous communication, such as e-mail or social media messages. Those from the United States had high regards for asynchronous communication and didn?t hesitate to send a quick e-mail. While instant messaging (IM) is popular in Asia, these real time exchanges did not resonate as much with Western professionals. Professionals in Asia also believed strongly that negotiations require a rich communication medium.
Choosing a Means to Communicate:?Participants from Asian Pacific countries differentiated their social contacts and tailored the form of communication to best relay a message to those individuals. United States professionals often relied on e-mail and social media to reach a mass audience, taking the less personal approach. In addition, Asian professionals also decided the level of sentiment based on their hierarchy in an organization.
Information Sharing:?Countries, such as the U.S. and U.K., ?share codified, external, and transferable knowledge, and use an explicit communication style.? Professionals from Asian Pacific nations, ?are characterized less verbally explicit communication and more reliance on internalized understanding. Members of these cultures share situational, rational, and context-based knowledge, and they frequently express in an indirect and nonverbal style.?
Due to differences in culture and technology preferences, professionals communicating on a global level will be best served keeping the recipient?s culture in mind. This way one can tailor their communication style in a way that enhances collaboration despite the distance.
We have all seen the news stories or heard about a situation where a caregiver takes financial advantage or physical abuse of a senior.
These events can happen when there are too many people involved in managing a caregiver or if the wrong people are doing the managing. ?When that happens it can be a recipe for communication issues or even worse.? Problems also happen when family members become in involved in usurping the authority and over site of the employer home care agency.
The best way to reduce the chances of the above to happen? is to hire a qualified home care agency that is going to give you piece of mind that your loved one is cared for and that someone is checking in frequently and let them manage.
Here are some tips to follow to reduce the chances of a problem developing with a private caregiver or agency caregiver.
1. ?If? family siblings are managing the caregiver chose one sibling as the ?manager? of the caregiver preferably someone with the skill set to deal with the issues.
2. ?If you have chosen a home care agency let the agency manage their caregivers and you can interact with the agency contact with suggestions and such. ?Make sure you choose an agency that demonstrates effective management practices during your interview with them.
3. ?If ?the family is managing the caregiver put in effective controls for all financial transaction involving client and caregiver. ?If you use a home care agency ask for their recommendations and audit the process.
4. ?Utilize a care manager to ensure the plan of care you want is in place. ?Ask the home care agency their program to ?manage the care plan and if they have care managers in place.
5. ?Maintain a professional relationship with caregivers, respect your loved ones boundaries and make sure those boundaries are intact.
Putting into practice these tips and you will be able to protect your loved one and maintain a professional working relationship with your caregiver.
Contact ComForcare Home Care Services for all of your elder care needs. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable care to our seniors, veterans and disabled in the San Francisco Bay area. Call (415) 689-8567.
DETROIT -- The finance chair for the Republican National Committee told a Michigan tea party gathering this summer that Detroit's plummeting population and lack of a mayoral machine to get voters "to stop playing pool and drinking beer in the pool hall" has decreased its influence in elections.
In the video, Weiser, the state's former GOP chairman, can be seen telling attendees what his thoughts were heading into the Nov. 6 presidential election, which President Barack Obama won.
Detroit ? which is more than 80 percent black and votes almost overwhelmingly Democratic ? isn't to be feared as much because the city's population has dropped below 700,000 people and there no longer are strong, mayor-led machines to get voters to the polls, Weiser said.
There is "no Coleman Young machine. No Kwame Kilpatrick machine. There is no Dave Bing machine," he said. "There's no machine to go to the pool halls and the barbershops and put those people on buses, and then bus them from precinct to precinct where they vote multiple times.
"And there's no machine to get 'em to stop playing pool and drinking beer in the pool hall. And it does make a difference."
Young was Detroit's first black mayor and served nearly 20 years in the office. Kilpatrick resigned in 2008 during his second term while facing perjury and other charges related to text-messaging sex scandal. Bing, a professional basketball Hall of Famer and former businessman, was elected mayor in 2009.
"Obama has hired a lot of people to go help him get that vote out," Weiser continued in the video. "But if you're not from Detroit, the places where those pool halls and barbershops are, you're not going to be going at 6:30 in November. Not without a side arm."
The Rev. David Bullock, chairman of the Michigan Rainbow Push Coalition, characterized the remarks as racist.
"Detroit is much more than pool halls and barbershops," Bullock told the Free Press. "There are churches, there are parks, there are universities. It's disheartening that the political culture in Michigan and much of the country is so subversively and racially charged."
The comments also drew a sharp response by Michigan Democratic Chairman Mark Brewer.
"We have a major Republican figure in Michigan and nationally who is making racist stereotype remarks about voters in Detroit," Brewer said.
Weiser, an Ann Arbor businessman and Michigan Republican Party chairman from 2009-10, later told the newspaper his comments were "never intended to be racist" and that he didn't intend to offend anyone by his statements at the tea party meeting in Milford, northwest of Detroit.
He said he believes voter fraud occurred in Detroit during Young's and Kilpatrick's time in office and defended his statements.
"I don't think there's anything negative about pool halls and barbershops," Weiser told the newspaper Friday "There are many other places I could have talked about that would have had negative connotations.
"Since when is it a stereotype to talk about the fact people drink beer in pool halls? What do you think they drink? Soda pop?"
He also defended his view of crime in Detroit, a city with one of the highest violent crime rates in the country.
"I challenge you to find anyone who says you can walk around the neighborhoods of Detroit at 6:30 in the morning and not find it dangerous," Weiser said.
Following the Sandy Hook tragedy, the Westboro Baptist Church is unsurprisingly stirring up controversy by doing one of the things they do best: being assholes and picketing funerals. Your friendly, faceless, neighborhood hacking group Anonymous has responded by doing what they do best: publishing stolen information, in this case, about the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. More »
FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2009 file photo, cattle graze in a illegally deforested farm near Novo Progresso in the northern Amazonian state of Para in Brazil. After decades trying to protect rapidly shrinking forest, Brazil has turned to the digital world and launched a new platform called BVRio that allows growers with more untouched forest on their land than is legally required to sell ?quotas? to farmers who fall short, one hectare at a time, for a price that will be determined by supply and demand. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 16, 2009 file photo, cattle graze in a illegally deforested farm near Novo Progresso in the northern Amazonian state of Para in Brazil. After decades trying to protect rapidly shrinking forest, Brazil has turned to the digital world and launched a new platform called BVRio that allows growers with more untouched forest on their land than is legally required to sell ?quotas? to farmers who fall short, one hectare at a time, for a price that will be determined by supply and demand. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 15, 2009 file photo, a deforested area burns near Novo Progresso in the northern Amazonian state of Para in Brazil. After decades trying to protect rapidly shrinking forest, Brazil has turned to the digital world and launched a new platform called BVRio that allows growers with more untouched forest on their land than is legally required to sell ?quotas? to farmers who fall short, one hectare at a time, for a price that will be determined by supply and demand. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Landowners who broke Brazil's environmental laws by clearing their farms of native forest used to have just one way to make right with government inspectors: plant trees. Now, they can clear their names by just pointing and clicking.
After decades trying to protect rapidly shrinking forest, Brazil has turned to the digital world and launched a new platform called BVRio that allows growers with more untouched forest on their land than is legally required to sell "quotas" to farmers who fall short, one hectare at a time, for a price that will be determined by supply and demand.
From environmentalists to landowners, all sides agree the privately developed tool could revolutionize Brazil's ability to protect the world's biggest rainforest while enforcing the country's just-enacted environmental law.
Under the rule, growers have to keep a "legal reserve," or a minimum amount of native growth on their properties ranging from 20 percent to 80 percent of their land, depending on the type of vegetation. The trading platform launched this week allows farmers to find and negotiate directly with each other.
For landowners, the new tool will be a boon, said founder Pedro Moura Costa. Buying a forest quota will likely be cheaper, and it certainly will be easier, than replanting a corresponding amount of native vegetation. About 400 property owners pre-registered with BVRio before its start.
"Planting trees, for someone who might be in an entirely different business, is very hard," Costa said. "Going into BVRio and meeting their legal requirements in seconds is much easier."
Environmentalists believe the legislation will protect the integrity of each biome, or ecosystem, because quotas are only allowed to be bought and sold within biologically similar areas. For example, a farmer in the central Brazilian "cerrado" biome can't sell his extra quotas to an Amazonian cattle rancher who clear-cut tropical rainforest and needs an acre of trees.
That creates an incentive for owners of intact biodiversity-rich forest to keep it that way, said Paulo Barreto, a senior forestry researcher at Imazon, an environmental watchdog agency.
"This was something that was really needed," he said.
Saving what's left of Brazil's rainforests, and reviving swaths of destroyed vegetation, is key to the planet's health.
The Amazon jungle's capacity to absorb carbon dioxide is held as one of the world's most important defenses against global warming. The country's second-largest biome, the coastal Atlantic forest, is a biodiversity hotspot with 60 percent of the country's threatened species.
With such protection in mind, a diverse group of farmers, environmentalists and business have welcomed BVRio, with the BV standing for Bolsa Verde or "Green Stock." Two key elements, however, still need to be in place for the market to actually prevent environmental destruction, Barreto said.
First, the system has to remain transparent, so environmental organizations can check satellite images of areas being used as offsets to make sure they remain untouched. State governments also need to continue registering landowners and ramping up pressure to ensure the forest code is obeyed.
Under the new law, farmers have to register their properties with state governments and get land-use licenses, which provide additional guarantees that the forest quotas being traded through BVRio correspond to real standing trees. Enforcement and verification remain up to state governments.
"There is a demand now because the pressure is strong," Barreto said. "Now they'll have to continue in their role of enforcing the rules regarding the 'legal reserve.'"
To be sure, that demand created by the new environmental legislation has given the forest exchange tremendous lucrative potential, Costa said. Brazil has about 5 million rural properties, and about 4 million of them don't meet the minimum vegetation requirement, he said. It's hard to estimate the potential value of the market once it matures, but it could reach into multiple billions of dollars, he said.
Costa should know, as one of the first to bet on carbon credits trading. In 1997, he co-founded EcoSecurities, a for-profit business that developed carbon credits and greenhouse gas offsets a full year before the U.N. convention on climate change that resulted in the Kyoto Protocol.
"We saw the birth and growth of the carbon market and thought it would be interesting to replicate that," he said.
While critics had charged that carbon-offset markets created legal means to appease regulators without fostering real changes in behavior, Costa said BVRio provides incentives to keep forested areas intact, instead of replanting areas that have been cleared.
"The use of quotas can be a great mechanism for consolidation (of forested areas)," he said.
Business leaders such as Marina Grossi, president of the Brazilian Business Council for Sustainable Development, said it's often difficult for companies to comply with environmental legislation. Laws are complex, and can require businesses venture into unfamiliar activities such as planting. Mechanisms such as BVRio make the whole process easier, she said.
"Companies want to follow the new regulation, but how? What's the most effective way?" she asked.
Quotas existed under previous legislation, but enforcement of deforestation rules was so lax, and finding trading partners was so difficult without a platform such as BVRio, that nobody bothered to buy and sell quotas.
Growers such as Mauro Lucio Costa, president of the Association of Rural Producers of Paragominas and no relation to the founder of BVRio, are ready to jump on the opportunity. He said there's great demand for the service among producers in his corner of the Amazon.
Once known for losing forest faster than nearly any other part of the Amazon, the rural municipality of Paragominas has virtually halted illegal tree burning and logging by ramping up enforcement, but also by promoting local economies that don't require cutting down jungle.
An effort such as BVRio would help that by fixing monetary value to a tree left standing, making it potentially worth more than one that's been cut. The landowner who sells a forest credit on BVRio can also sell carbon credits for the same property, and reap other fiscal incentives from keeping the forest untouched.
"This is the fastest, most intelligent way for us to make up the deficits we have," the grower said via a video call, wearing the headset upside down so he could keep on his trademark cowboy hat. "We have many producers in Paragominas who want to become law-abiding. We have a lot of producers who want to buy in."
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Public release date: 20-Dec-2012
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We have all seen the news stories or heard about a situation where a caregiver takes financial advantage or physical abuse of a senior.
