Much like acupuncture and tai chi have emerged from the realm of alternative medicine to take their rightful places as valuable mainstream treatments, so has biofeedback, a mind-over-body technique that trains patients to control typically involuntary bodily processes like blood pressure, stress, muscle tension and blood flow.

One expert describes biofeedback as "internal exercise, much like the physical exercise you perform at the gym. It's done with the head instead of the muscles." That's certainly been a very successful treatment option for Canadian skier Alexandre Bilodeau, who credited one form of biofeedback (bioneurofeedback) for helping him win his country's first Olympic Gold Medal at the recent Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Despite the mainstream acceptance, however, a 2008 American Cancer Society study that polled more than 4,000 cancer survivors found biofeedback, acupuncture/acupressure and hypnosis were rarely used by cancer patients.

An sidenote to readers of our daily blog: In the very same study, taking a supplement was a far more popular choice among cancer survivors.

healthfinder.gov February 4, 2010

WebMD June 27, 2007

Another measure of just how fast technology is racing to find solutions to vexing health issues hit home with me in a story about Dr. Jae Kwon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Missouri who is developing a sensor that would provide a means for patients to test for cancer in the privacy of their homes.

This smaller than the diameter of a human hair device called an acoustic resonant sensor uses micro/nanelectromechanical systems to detect the presence of diseases like breast or prostate cancer in bodily fluids.

Potentially, this device can be integrated with similarly smaller circuits to create compact, stand-alone systems to screen for various multiple diseases. Another promising upside: Results could be detected almost immediately, perhaps reducing the need for other tests -- think painful biopsies -- that require longer waiting periods before outcomes are fully known.

Dr. Kwon received a $400,000 grant last year to continue his studies on this fledgling point-of-care sensor, so all of this news is a whole lot of potential with an even huger upside at the moment. Which begs the aforementioned question posed in the headline above, especially if you're not terribly fond of relying on technology to help you solve one more health problem. How do you feel about this potential breakthrough?

EurekAlert February 17, 2010

MU (University of Missouri) News Bureau February 17, 2010

Although pancreatic cancer is rare, its touch is almost always fatal, a heart-breaking fact I learned first-hand during the summer of 2005. All the more reason to do whatever you can to lessen your odds, no matter how small they are.

Being an unapologetic lover of soft drinks for too many years, however, even I was surprised and a bit worried to learn how consuming more than two sugary, fizzy drinks a week nearly doubled a person's risk of PanCan.

Of the 61,000 middle-aged or older patients who participated in the Singapore Chinese Health Study over a 14-year span, only 140 cases of pancreatic cancer were reported, all things considered a very low number. Here's the kicker and, potentially, a huge problem for more of us than we'd care to admit: Patients who consumed two or more carbonated sodas a week -- the actual average was five -- increased their pancreatic cancer risk by 87 percent versus those who drank none.

The problem: Too many soft drinks -- filled to the brim with high fructose sweeteners -- may be increasing insulin levels in the body and contributing to pancreatic cancer cell growth.

But that's not all. Drinking sugary, sweet sodas regularly was generally an indicator of a riskier health profile overall, scientists say, making me wonder when I should start tapering off for good.

Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 447-455, February 2010

EurekAlert February 8, 2010

Yahoo News February 8, 2010

Pancreatic cancer may not be a silent killer for much longer, if a proprietary blood test developed by a New Jersey-based biophamaceutical company continues to identify patients in the early stages of this horrible disease in drug trials at a high clip.

According to a recent study that monitored 68 patients who had surgery for pancreatic cancer and 19 healthy controls, a blood test using the proprietary PAM4 antibody developed by Immunomedics detected the presence of all stages of pancreatic cancer in 81 percent of the participants (an improvement from a previous test that detected the disease in 77 percent of 53 pancreatic cancer patients.).

Overall, the blood test identified stage 1 pancreatic cancer 62 percent of the time, and its performance improved in stages 2 (86 percent) and 3 and 4 (91 percent). Another good sign: The false-positive rate for the blood test was just 5 percent, rarely noticing pancreatitis, an inflammation of the pancreas that's often confused with the more deadly pancreatic cancer.

healthfinder.gov January 21, 2010

CNNMoney.com January 21, 2010

One of the hardest feelings anyone fighting cancer faces is the monumental loneliness that comes from feeling you're fighting this battle all alone. Despite the good drug therapy that may be keeping you alive to fight another day. Despite doing all the "right things," like getting some exercise and eating the right foods. Despite all the hugs and kindness shown by people who love you unconditionally.

That's where ImermanAngels.org comes in, a non-profit organization founded by Jonny Imerman seven years ago under the premise that there's no greater means for supporting people fighting cancer than to help them make a connection with "angels" of the same age and gender who have beaten that very same kind of cancer. A survivor of testicular cancer for more than six years, the 34-year-old Chicagoan started the group because he yearned for a mentor -- a cancer survivor his own age to talk him through all the problems he'd face with living life -- he never found.

Although Imerman Angels is based in the Windy City, its network of mentors extends all over the world, not only to folks fighting cancer but to the caregivers who support them through it. Because voices speak louder than words on a Web page, watch the following video testimonial that does a far better job of describing how Imerman Angels helps to build special one-on-one relationship between cancer fighters and survivors that last a lifetime than I ever could.

Last month in this space, we told you about the fight many childhood cancer survivors may face with heart disease as they mature into adulthood. Evidently, the reverse may be true as well, specifically for patients undergoing heart transplants who have a greater risk of skin cancer.

Although it's no secret organ transplant recipients cope with a greater risk of skin cancers, Mayo Clinic researchers learned heart transplant patients are at least twice as likely to tackle skin cancer issues compared to those who receive new kidneys.

Based on health reviews of 312 heart transplant patients, nearly half developed skin cancer over the course of the 19-year study. Additionally, the incidence of squamous-cell carcinoma after the diagnosis of the first basal-cell carcinoma (the most common form of nonmelanoma skin cancer and the most easily treated one) was nearly 100 percent, within seven years. The primary culprits for this growing risk: The older age of the patient and the immunosuppressant drugs heart transplant patients take to prevent their bodies from rejecting their new organs.

Surprisingly, however, the mortality rate associated with skin cancer among transplant patients was very, very low: Only one transplant patient died from skin cancer.

Archives of Dermatology, Vol. 145, No. 12, pp. 1391-1396, December 2009

heartwire December 29, 2009

ScienceDaily December 24, 2009

If you needed any more evidence that the obesity epidemic is tied like a knot to cancer, this latest study from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) describes the process in which the breakdown of stored fats may create more aggressive and malignant cancer cells.

Using activity-based protein profiling, scientists discovered the amount of one specific enzyme -- monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL) -- that breaks down stored fats was also present in greatly elevated levels in aggressive cancers.

How this enzyme triggers cancer: When MAGL breaks down stored fats, it also generates high amounts of free fatty acids (building blocks of cell membranes and fatty molecules) that, in turn, produces molecules that promote the progression and growth of cancer. Because the plague of obesity is being "fed" by folks who eat great amounts of high-fat foods (constantly loading up on free fatty acids), blocking the activity of MAGL (not needed for cell survival) may curb the progression of cancer.

For those who enjoy taking a deeper dive into technical information, you may enjoy watching TRSI researchers discuss their findings in this interesting YouTube video lensed by Cell.

Cell, Vol. 140, No. 1, pp. 49-61, January 8, 2010

BusinessWeek January 7, 2010

La Jolla Light January 7, 2010

Although too many of us to count have been touched in some way by either cancer or Alzheimer's, you've rarely heard of both diseases affecting the same individual. And, at least among Caucasians, there's evidence that suggests a protective link between the two, based on a review of 3,020 seniors (age 65-older).

More than 160 and 522 patients had already been diagnosed with Alzheimer's or cancer, respectively, at the beginning, and roughly 850 more patients developed one condition or the other during the course of the study. Surprisingly, the risk of a future bout with cancer among patients who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at the start of the study dropped by an amazing 69 percent compared to folks who didn't have the mind-robbing disease in the beginning. And, among Caucasian patients, those who were already fighting cancer at the outset of the study were 43 percent less likely to succumb to Alzheimer's

The same didn't hold true for patients of color, however, specifically for folks treated for cancer at the beginning of the study who had a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's. Even though this finding sounds very distressing, researchers played down its significance due to the low number of patients tracked (29).

All that said, these findings tended to support previous studies that found brain degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease may share some of the same molecular underpinnings with cancer. These interesting connections could partly explain why an existing cancer drug may be used to fight Alzheimer's some day.

Neurology December 23, 2009

ABC News December 23, 2009

EurekAlert December 23, 2009

Seemingly by the second, science is coming to a better understanding of how specific genes affect your overall health, not to mention your driving skills. The very same can be said for a far more serious problem: Improved tracking of the genetic changes that may signal the unfortunate progression of cervical cancer to a treatment-resistant state, according to a recent study.

Past research has demonstrated that cervical cancer cells undergo numerous genetic changes but never traced how these alterations affect its progression to a lethal phase. Norwegian scientists discovered these genetic changes -- sets of biological processes and known trademarks of cancer linked to the loss or gain of specific genes along with genes linked to radiotherapy and chemotherapy resistance -- after examining and treating more than 140 patients diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Although the more widely common use of the Pap test has significantly reduced the number of American women diagnosed with cervical cancer over the past half-century, this brand of cancer remains a very deadly one, based on figures compiled by the National Cancer Institute. More than a third of the 11,000 women who were diagnosed with cervical cancer died from it in 2005 (the most recent year cancer stats are available), representing 2.5 percent of the total number of cancer deaths among American women. The news is far worse on the worldwide stage, however, as cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer among women and accounts for some 300,000 deaths every year.

Although there is much debate about the latest guidelines issued by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and whether women are being "overscreened" for cervical cancer and breast cancer, the most important message at the heart of Cervical Health Awareness Month is to be screened. If you have questions, EmpowHER and the National Cervical Cancer Coalition are good places to find answers.

EmpowHER January 4, 2010

ScienceDaily November 15, 2009

PLoS Genetics November 2009 Free Full Text Article

Just when childhood cancer survivors thought they were disease-free and out of the woods, a recent British Medical Journal study has found younger patients have a much higher risk of developing heart disease as adults. Even worse, the complications that lead to various cardiovascular risks -- among them inflammation of the heart, heart attack, heart valve problems and heart failure -- may occur up to 30 years after surviving cancer.

Those aren't the only dire numbers culled from this study of more than 14,000 patients who were diagnosed with cancer before age 21, between 1970-86, along with some 3,900 of their siblings. Cancer survivors were as much as six times more likely to suffer from heart-related diseases than their healthier siblings.

What's more, patients who survived Hodgkin's lymphoma as young people had an amazingly high 30-fold higher risk of cardiac death and an even greater 41-fold increase in mortality rates related to myocardial infarction, compared to the general population in the same age range.

Another worrisome link that harms younger cancer survivors later in life: The risk of heart problems was evident at lower exposures to radiation therapy and anthracyclines, antibiotics used to treat many kinds of cancer.

British Medical Journal December 8, 2009 Free Full Text Study

Telegraph.co.uk December 9, 2009

ScienceDaily December 10, 2009

Unfortunately, my concerns about the flagging health of older Americans as well as the folks who care for them was well-founded, according to a sobering report issued recently by the National Alliance for Caregiving. Almost a third of all adults -- roughly 65 million Americans -- currently serve as part-time caregivers, most of whom have jobs and their own families.

No surprise, the typical caregiver, based on interviews with 1,500 people, is a woman in her Baby Boomer years (late 40s) caring for a parent (often a mother) at least 30 years older than she is. The health issues that often necessitate the need for a caregiver:

* Alzheimer's

* Old age

* Cancer

* Stroke

* Heart disease

* Mental illness

According to the Family Care Alliance (FCA), people who tend to sick family members often don't see themselves as caregivers, and never even consider resources that could support them. In fact, the majority of programs focus on skills to improve the quality of patient care, not to support the caregiver, says FCA Program Director Donna Schempp.

All the more reason to check out my recent caregiving feature that includes some a number of valuable resources and suggestions for taking care of family members who care for us.

National Alliance for Caregiving: Caregiving in the U.S. 2009 Free PDF Reports

CBS News December 16, 2009

There's little doubt that negative emotions can be hazardous to your health, especially when cancer is in the picture. As in a previous study we featured in this space about absence lessening a spouse's ability to survive cancer, isolation can be a very deadly variable too.

These latest findings in a series of reports from the University of Chicago investigating the connection between social isolation and breast cancer development on Norway rats (very social creatures, as are humans) underscore just how harmful loneliness, stress and isolation can be, especially for females.

Rats kept in isolation or subjected to stressful situations (like the smell of a predator) were more likely to produce the stress hormone corticosterone, and it took them longer to recover from stressful situations than rats living in small groups. Moreover, isolation had a greater impact on the formation of tumors than the availability of high-energy food.

The numbers paint an even grimmer picture.

* Rats living in isolation developed 135 percent more tumors than those in groups.

* Tumors grew by more than 8,000 percent among isolated rats.

* Overall, stress and isolation increased a rat's risks of developing cancer more than three-fold.

Insciences.org December 7, 2009 Free PDF Study

EurekAlert December 7, 2009

Studies are growing about the benefits of drinking coffee, with this latest one reporting the reduced risks of aggressive prostate cancer in men by as much as 60 percent compared to those who drank no coffee at all.

Researchers tracked the health of some 50,000 men who documented their intake of coffee every four years over the course of the two-decade-long study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

Men who drank six or more cups of Joe every day (about 5 percent of the male patients surveyed) enjoyed a 60 percent drop in advanced cancer risks, but the benefits fell sharply based on how much a man drank. Drinking half as much coffee every day, about three cups, cut a man's risks of aggressive prostate cancer by only 20 percent.

Don't buy a bigger coffee pot of the office just yet, however. A recent report on coffee consumption, this time conducted in Europe, found higher intakes of caffeine may be responsible for ventricular arrhythmias, abnormal rapid heart rhythms originating in the lower ventricles of the heart.

Science Daily December 8, 2009

Wall Street Journal Health Blog December 8, 2009

Just as negative emotions can affect your chances of surviving cancer, all the positives you allow yourself to feel every day can be just as powerful for your continued good health. That, and a few good jokes...

Nothing illustrates this point better than the ongoing story of Linda Hill, a single mother of seven, who has fought cancer virtually her entire adult life. Linda may be missing a few body parts -- both breasts, her thyroid and colon are gone, along with 70 polyps, thanks to cancer -- but she's never lost her wicked smart sense of humor, fueling an unparalleled tenacity for life and hysterical line of cancer-themed T-shirts and related products.

Rather than choosing to hunker down for the fight of her life -- Linda's grudge match with cancer has lasted nearly three decades -- this Bountiful, Utah, native laughs in the face of cancer with pithy sayings like Of course, they're fake... The real ones tried to kill me, Stupid Ideas 101: 1. Run with scissors 2. Play with matches 3. Skip the Colonoscopy and I lost my colon, But I'm still full of CRAP! on t-shirts and an assortment of ancillary products she sells in local stores and on her Web site.

If you still doubt what strong emotions can do for your health, a recent University of Kansas study demonstrated how positive feelings are linked to better health, even in situations where basic needs weren't adequately met.

NPR December 15, 2009

Salt Lake Tribune November 4, 2009

Roughly six months after the American Cancer Society released their own rosy report, the downward trend in American cancer rates -- based on data culled from the CDC, National Cancer Institute and other research entities -- continues, albeit slowly.

The mortality rate among cancer patients fell 1.6 percent annually from 1999-2006 as did the number of new cancer diagnoses by less than 1 percent (during that same period). Still, more than a half-million Americans will die from cancer and almost three times as many patients will be diagnosed with it every year, according to the report.

But, it's no surprise taking better responsibility for your health can pay huge dividends when it comes to cancer prevention. Taking current colon cancer rates into consideration, without lifestyle changes, treatments or extra screenings, deaths linked to such cancers are projected to drop 17 percent from 2000-2020 just by themselves. Factoring in the aforementioned preventative measures, however, mortality statistics for colon cancer could be slashed by an amazing 50 percent over time.

Lifestyle changes identified in the study that would accelerate the positive trend in reducing cancer risks among all Americans:

* Eating a healthier diet.

* Better moving through exercise.

* Smoking cessation.

* Keeping off the extra pounds.

Cancer, December 7, 2009

MedlinePlus December 8, 2009

USA Today December 8, 2009