There was a popular medical theory, which suggested that the high fiber diet is going to keep your colon healthy and will prevent any cancer from occurring of the colon. But a new research is denying this long believed therapy.

The researchers were unable to find the supportive evidence to suggest that risk of colorectal cancer is decreased by the regular use of fiber.

It is still being said by the researchers that there are many other beneficial reasons that one should eat the recommended five to ten servings per day of fruits, vegetables and plenty of whole grains, which have a lot of fiber in them.

The researchers said that in spite of the fact that they were unable to find any connection between fiber diet and prevention of colorectal cancer, they said that high fiber diets do reduce the risk of heart diseases and diabetes according to various studies conducted.

The European research added that people who eat high fiber diet are less likely to develop colorectal cancer in about 40% of the patients as compared to the people who do not consume fiber in their diets at all.

The things that contain fiber content in them are fruits, vegetables and cereals, but on the soluble form of fibers have the ability to give a stool bulking effect, which is a source of providing health benefits.

There was an estimate given by the Canadian Cancer Society that in 2005, about 19,600 Canadians will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer and 8,400 will die of the disease. This disease is the second leading cancer, which kills both women and men.

In a recent study, there was a group of studies that was combined and it was found that in a population of about 725,000 there was a total of about 8,081 colorectal cancer cases identified.
On the basis of the data that was gathered from these people, it was found that the participants consumed an average of 13 to 28 grams of fiber daily. It was found that those who consumed most fiber were the ones who had a 16 percent lower rate of colorectal cancer than those who ate the least fiber rich foods. On the other hand when they adjusted for non-dietary risk factors such as exercise and for dietary factors such as red meat consumption, milk intake and alcohol, which believe to increase the risk of colorectal cancer, the benefits of fiber faded away.

The president of the Canadian Cancer Society said, “If we seriously want to reduce the risk of dying from colorectal cancer, we must immediately implement screening programs across the country.”

It is also recommended that all men and women with ages 50 to 74 must be screened for colorectal cancer with the help of a test known as fecal occult blood test, which is a laboratory test done on a stool sample. The doctors say that this test should be done every two years, and the positive tests must be followed up with a colonoscopy.

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A study had been conducted on women who had surgical procedures for endometrial cancer, were given chemotherapy after the surgery, and it showed to reduce the risk of recurrence of endometrial cancer in about 29 percent of the women and extended survival rate by 32 percent compared with radiation therapy.

The statistics show that endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic cancer in United States and the American Cancer Society estimates that in the year 2005, there will be about 40,900 women who will be diagnosed with this disease and about 7,310 women will die from this. This is something pretty challenging.
The study that has been conducted will prove benefit to about 15 to 20 percent of women with endometrial cancer who have advanced disease.

During this study the investigators compared the recurrence rates and overall survival between 194 women randomized to 5 months of chemotherapy with doxorubicin and cisplatin compared to that of 202 women randomized to about one and a half months of radiation to the abdomen. The women had stage III or IV endometrial carcinoma with residual disease after surgery.

After about 5 years of adjusting for disease stage, about 55 percent of patients receiving chemotherapy were predicted to be alive as compared to the 42 percent of whole-abdominal irradiation patients, and 50 percent and 38 percent respectively were predicted to be free of disease.

It is the first time that adjuvant chemotherapy has shown to extend survival rates in patients with advanced endometrial cancer.

This study has thus opened a new avenue for women who are suffering from endometrial cancer or even who are at high risk of developing this lethal disease.

There are other things that need to be discussed here, which are serious treatment-related adverse events, which are more common and more severe in the chemotherapy arm and treatment, which probably contributed to the deaths of eight patients, 4 percent, on the chemotherapy arm and five, 2 percent, on the radiation arm.

Thus the toxic effects of the chemotherapy are there and there is more research that is needed to know as if the two other chemotherapeutic drugs, which are carboplatin and paclitaxel will be as effective and with fewer side effects in women with advanced endometrial cancer.

I believe that constant search and the will to find a way will make its own path where researchers will find a better regimen for patients going through endometrial cancer.

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The doctors have come across a new strategy in which they say that switching tamoxifen to a different drug after two or three years of its use can boost breast cancer survival rate.

In this research doctors are trying to get a grip on the duration of treatment.

Tamoxifen has been the drug of choice treating breast cancer throughout the decades. The course of regimen of tamoxifen is that it should be taken for five years after the surgery and it decreases the risk of recurrence of breast cancer in half of the patients and improves the survival rate. The way this drug works is that it dampens the effect of estrogen hormone that acts as a fuel for growth of most of the tumors that occur in women after menopause.

There is another class of drug, which is known as aromatase inhibitors, which keep estrogen from being made in the first place, and it also prevents the risk of blood clots, as well as endometrial cancer as tamoxifen does. The companies that make this drug are listed as follow: AstraZeneca PLC’s Arimidex, Pfizer Inc.’s Aromasin and Novartis Pharmaceuticals’ Femara.

Aromatase inhibitors work as does tamoxifen, but the main thing that needs the major consideration is to keep the patient alive and that is what the biggest challenge is that lies ahead and the main concern of the healthcare providers.

Thus the researchers have come to the conclusion by doing various studies that after two or three years of tamoxifen, the patient should be switched to aromatase inhibitors as the results indicate that women who were switched to Arimidex after being on tamoxifen for a few years had a 29 percent more likely survival rate to be alive 2½ years later. About 4.5 percent of the women who continued on tamoxifen died, as compared with only 3.3 percent of those who switched to Arimidex.

Women who switched drugs also had a 41 percent lower risk of having cancer again.

The other study was conducted on women was with the drug Femara, who had completed the initially recommended five years of tamoxifen.

The study showed that women taking Femara had significantly lower rates of cancer recurrence than those who received just tamoxifen. Though doctors do not know the optimal length of time Femara or any other aromatase inhibitor should be taken.

I believe that this research would bring hope to all the women who are going through this lethal disease.

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Stroke is sudden loss of brain function, which is caused by either blockage or rupture of an artery. The scientists conducting a research on stroke found out that when a person suffers from stroke, there are about 2 million nerve cells that are dying every single minute, which results in loss of 14 billion synapses, and 8 miles of never fibers. The researchers also added that every hour that passes by under the effect of stroke, the brain ages 3.6 years. So this just makes stroke an emergency that needs immediate medical attention.

Brain is the most important organ of our body, as it controls and performs so many functions in our body. The damage that occurs from stroke to the brain is purely devastating. The symptoms and signs that occur after a stroke depend on the area of the brain that is affected. The symptoms that are most common are either weakness or paralysis of one side of the body with either partial or complete loss of voluntary function or either sensation of the limb or limbs.

The diagnosis of a stroke depends on clinical history and examination. Tests are performed on patients to know for sure as to what areas of brain are affected and how much area is involved that is damaged by stroke. An echocardiogram can be performed to look for blood clots in heart. Another important test, which is ultrasound of the carotid arteries, is done to look for stenosis that may be a cause of impaired blood circulation to the brain.

Just on the basis of the fact that a person has slurred speech, it should not be concluded that a person had stroke, because there are other brain disorders that mimic the same symptoms that are seen in stroke such as subdural hematoma, viral encephalitis, etc.

Stroke is a deadly thing that might lead one to lose speech, paralyzed on one or both sides, affect memory and leave individuals bedridden throughout their lives. It is always important to act as fast as you can. It is race against time to help the person who had stroke.

I hope that this article provides you with a good level of awareness about stroke. In my next coming articles, I will be discussing about how to act when you see a person suffering from stroke.

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Many people die every year and everyone who dies has a cause of death. Every year about 32,000 people in US die because of suicide. The reasons that make basis of death are just tidal waves swallowing people up and suicide is one of that waves.

There is a newly conducted research that suggests that antidepressants lead to suicides, even though in very small numbers, but still is a reason for that.

The scientists conducted a study on a drug taken by children, named, Strattera, which is a treatment given for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and this drug is very much like the drug Effexor, which contains the warnings about suicide. The study was conducted on 1,357 children who were given Strattera, and 5 out of 1357 children said that they had suicidal thoughts and on the other hand there were about 857 children who were given placebo and they said that they had no suicidal ideation.

These were very concerning results as this has been proven through the study that though the number of children who have suicidal thoughts is very less, but still they make about five people who might lead to connect to the number of 32,000 people who commit suicide every year. This is a very alarming situation.

On the other hand it is very common in adults having suicidal thoughts, almost 20% of adults who are going to high school have suicidal thoughts.

The statistics that are pretty encouraging is that the rate of the suicide has dropped from 25% to about 19%.

Some of the researchers say that antidepressants are preventing the risk of suicidal rates, and they base their facts that they did autopsy on two youths who had committed suicide but they never found any trace of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) in their body, which strongly suggests that antidepressants are not linked with suicides.

So it really depends on the effects of the drug on a person to make a decision as to whether or not these drugs should be taken or not because the study suggests that some children who take SSRIs do become hostile after taking these medicines.

So if you need to take these medicines, be in very close contact with your physician.

I hope you will make the right choice.

Related: Learn about Cymbalta – An antidepressant medication

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A compound from vitamin A, which is used to treat acne is now being used to treat diabetic foot ulcers, which heals the ulcers, according to a recent research.

There have been studies that were conducted previously that suggested low incidence of topical Retin-A helping in wound healing in patients with diabetes.

There was a clinical trial that was conducted by researchers on about 24 volunteers who had diabetic foot ulcers with no evidence of infection, circulatory or neurological issues in the lower extremities. After that the patients were given treatment for four weeks with daily topical application of 0.05 percent tretinoin solution and the wound size was assessed every two weeks.

The patients then completed the study, and out of a total of about 24 ulcers, 10 ulcers got completely healed at the end of the therapy. To the researchers surprise there was essentially no side effects from the therapy, although some of the patients had mild discomfort at the site of the ulcer.

The researchers said that to their surprise the results were quite amazing because tretinoin is an irritating compound and they were not thinking that the patients would have been able to bear its effects, but to their surprise the patients tolerated it quite well and also had pretty good results from this intervention.

So the researchers are thinking that when other forms of therapies are not working for diabetic foot ulcers, they can use this approach to help heal the diabetic foot ulcers.

Related: Home remedies for Diabetes

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More than a third of 7 million annual deaths each year can be prevented only if people prevented the major risk factors for cancer.

The major contributing factors to most of the cancers are as follows: Alcohol, obesity, poor diet, unsafe sex, and lack of exercise, which cause approximately 2.5 million deaths throughout the world in the year 2001.

All these deaths could have been avoided either the risks would have either be reduced or eliminated from the lives of those people.

Researchers say that the best game plan is to prevent the risk factors in order to reduce the high death rates that happen every year and this can be achieved solely by prevention.

Smoking is linked to multiple cancers, which include lung, mouth, stomach, bladder and pancreatic cancers and that can be avoided by quitting smoking and adopting healthy habits.

The total lung cancer deaths account to about 1.25 million, which is a pretty huge figure.

Obesity contributes to colorectal and breast cancer in countries with high-income.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) through unsafe sex causes cervical cancer in women, and this occurs mostly due to the lack of screening and clinical services.

Air pollution is a big threat and risk factor to cause cancer, especially in developing countries where they burn coal as a fuel.

Liver cancer is linked to hepatitis infection, which is caused by contaminated syringes in poor countries as well.

So from the above data we can clearly understand that there are a whole lot of causes that can be prevented from occurring and this mostly depends on the level of awareness that is being brought about in the communities where people know as to what are the factors that are causing them and how they can save themselves from having these catastrophic illnesses.

Here are a few types of cancers explained: Bladder Cancer, Brain Tumors, Breast Cancer, Ovarian Cancer, Pancreatic Cancer, Multiple Myeloma, Lung Cancer, Leukemia, Laryngeal Tumor, Lymphomas and Hodgkin’s Disease, Head and Neck Cancer, Colon and Rectal Cancer, Cervical and Uterine Cancer.

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There are many risk factors that are laid out for people who are suffering from heart diseases such as diet high in cholesterol, high blood pressure, lack of exercise etc., but there is also a pretty important factor that is being researched regarding patients suffering from heart diseases, which is that they should not go through any thrill rides such as roller coasters or fun rides, which are high speed.

The basic way with which these rides effect the human body is increased heart rate and thus this can result in heart attacks and irregular heart rhythms and can ultimately lead to sudden cardiac death.

In order to back their research, the team of scientists asked for volunteers who were made to go through a roller coaster ride and among those volunteers were men and women. During the roller coaster rides, the volunteers showed to have a tremendously increased heart rate and in about 44% of the volunteers it increased to an extent where it caused irregular heartbeats.

The researchers said that about 44% of the volunteers who had irregular heart rhythms had been in that state for about five minutes after the ride.

The researchers also asked the operators of the roller coaster to keep a defibrillator on hand just in case if any of the people having a joyride might develop into a sudden cardiac arrest.

The researchers also added that there are a whole lot of people who have cardiac problems, which are not yet diagnosed as of yet and they are the ones at the highest risk of developing severe irregular beats or either going into a cardiac arrest, and people who feel that they cannot go through such rides, MUST not take them, as this could be pretty disastrous for them.

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