Monday, September 21, 2009

Blood tests to detect cancers BERLIN

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_432521.html

Sep 21, 2009
Blood tests to detect cancers
BERLIN - TWO new blood tests could help doctors detect colon and stomach cancers simply, cheaply and early without the need for invasive procedures or unpleasant examinations, researchers said on Monday.

The tests, one developed by the Belgian biotech firm OncoMethylome and another by scientists in Germany, use blood samples to detect specific genetic signals of the disease and could help predict whether it is likely to spread.

Ernst Kuipers, a specialist in bowel cancer at Rotterdam's Erasmus University, who was not involved in the research, said the new tests marked a promising advance in the field of developing more convenient screening. 'The blood sample can be taken by nurses or primary care doctors without the need for special equipment or training,' Joost Louwagie of OncoMethylome said.

Ulrike Stein, who presented her findings with Louwagie's at the ECCO-ESMO European cancer congress in Berlin, said hers was the first test to be able to detect signals of a specific gene, called S100A4 and known to be linked to cancer, in the blood.

Dr Stein's test finds various types of cancer, including colorectal and gastric cancers, and had also shown potential in identifying patients whose cancer was likely to spread.

'Cancer patients have significantly higher levels of this S100A4 gene than people without cancer,' she said. 'Being able to detect this gene in the blood of the patient, you can monitor the disease course and you can continue to monitor it over several years and throughout various treatments.'

Colorectal cancer effects around one in every 17 people and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States and Europe, where a total of 560,000 people develop the disease each year, and 250,000 die from it.

Deaths can be reduced if the cancer is diagnosed early, when it is most treatable. Although current tests such as a colonoscopy internal examination or the analysis of stool samples are effective, they can be invasive, expensive and unpleasant.

Dr Stein and colleagues from the ECRC Charite University of Medicine and the Max-Delbrueck-Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin looked at daily blood samples from 185 colon cancer patients, 190 with rectal cancer and 91 gastric cancer patients.

They also analysed blood from 51 tumour-free volunteers. They found a signal of the gene at significantly higher levels in those with the cancers. There were even higher levels in patients whose cancer had spread.

Dr Louwagie's team collected blood before surgery from 193 patients known to have colorectal cancer, and from 688 people being screened using a colonoscopy internal examination.

They looked for two so-called methylation genes, SYNE1 and FOXE1, known to be linked to the formation of tumours, and found high levels in colorectal cancer patients, Dr Louwagie said. OncoMethylome said in August it was in advanced talks with several large companies over licensing rights to its colorectal test. -- REUTERS

Paralysed rats run again PARIS

http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Tech%2Band%2BScience/Story/STIStory_432521.html

Paralysed rats run again
PARIS - PARALYSED rats whose spinal cords had been severed from their brains were made to run again using a technique that scientists say can work for people, according to a study released on Sunday.

Consistent electrical stimulation and drugs enabled the rats to walk on their hind legs on a treadmill - bearing the full weight of the body - within a week of being paralysed.

With the addition of physical therapy, the rodents were able after several weeks to walk and run without stumbling for up to 30 minutes, reported the study, published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Remarkably, the animals could adjust their movements in response to stimuli despite the lack of signals to and from the brain: when the treadmill was reversed, for example, the rats walked backwards.

'This means that the spinal network is almost capable of cognitive processing,' explained Gregoire Courtine, a professor at Zurich University. 'It can understand that the external world is changing, and interpret this information to modify the way it activates muscle,' he told AFP by phone.

Earlier studies had shown that nerve networks in the spinal cord can produce limited motion in the muscles independent of the brain or sensory organs. But this is the first time that researchers have been able to restore normal or nearly normal functions. 'We can optimise the use of the circuitry in the spinal cord to the point where the animals can sustain full weight-bearing locomotion,' said Prof Courtine.

'In some cases they actually walked with more consistent locomotive patterns than non-injured animals.' The next step is to develop devices that can be implanted inside the body. We are now designing neuro-prostheses, arrays of electrodes that fit like a second skin between the vertebrae and the spinal cord,' Prof Courtine explained.

A strip measuring 3cm long and one hundredth of a centimetre thick, the device is described as 'minimally invasive' because it does not penetrate into the spinal cord.

Prof Courtine and colleagues are currently testing the neuro-prostheses on rats, and expect to have an interface for humans within four years. The new technique is designed to help patients with incomplete but severe injuries, such as those who cannot walk independently.

'For these people, it is highly likely that this approach will improve their function,' he said. The mix of electrical stimulation and physical therapy may be enough to restore significant mobility in many patients, but the addition of drugs 'would be extremely beneficial,' he added. -- AFP

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

How to Live a Long Healthy Life (BBC)

How to Live a Long Healthy Life (Part 5 of 5) - Living to 101 - BBC Horizon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKJq_D-JRss&NR=1


The Worlds Oldest People (Part 1 of 5) - Documentary
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCfnPJrZMTk


72 Year-Old Man Body Building Every Day
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUvjXQHt6QQ&feature=fvw

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Green Tea 2

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20060912/green-tea-for-long-life?page=2

Green Tea for Long Life?
Japanese Study Shows Link Between Green Tea Drinkers and Lower Death Risk (continued)
More Benefits for Women?
Why do women seem to get more of a benefit from green tea than men do?

Kuriyama and colleagues note that the men in their study smoked more cigarettes than women did. And smokers, overall, got less of a benefit from green tea than nonsmokers.

But Cheng says it's related to estrogen. Green tea studies consistently show a greater effect for women than for men, he says. He suggests that green tea's active ingredients may interact with the female sex hormone estrogen to boost a heart-protective effect.

Green Tea: No Effect on Cancer
Kuriyama and colleagues found no evidence that green tea protects against cancer death.

Kuriyama says that was a surprise to him, as "abundant" evidence from animal and test-tube studies suggests that green tea ingredients fight cancer.

But he notes that the current findings are in line with other, smaller studies that find green tea has no effect on several specific kinds of cancer.

Green Tea Warnings
While it's yet to be proved that green tea really will protect you against early death, there's a lot of evidence that green tea is safe -- with two major exceptions.

Cheng warns that green tea contains vitamin K. Vitamin K affects blood clotting. People taking the blood-thinning drug Coumadin, he says, should not start drinking more green tea.

And Kuriyama warns against drinking your green tea piping hot.

"Drinking green tea at high temperature may be associated with increased risk of esophageal cancer," he says. "Therefore, I recommend that green tea should be consumed at moderate or low temperature."

What's the bottom line? For Lichtenstein, the message is to go ahead and drink green tea if you like it. But to prevent heart disease and stroke, what really works is a healthy diet and daily exercise.

Neither Kuriyama nor Cheng would disagree with that. But they both recommend green tea, too.

"I personally drink two to three cups of green tea per day," Kuriyama says. "On the basis of our study results, I would like to recommend the drinking of green tea to my friends and my family because our findings are the best evidence at present."

Cheng says green tea is much better for you than oolong tea or black tea, which lose some healthy properties during fermentation. But that's not why he drinks it.

"I drink two cups a day because I like it," Cheng says.

Green Tea

Green Tea for Long Life?
Japanese Study Shows Link Between Green Tea Drinkers and Lower Death Risk
By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD
Sept. 12, 2006 -- People who drink at least a pint of green tea each day have a lower risk of death, a Japanese study shows.

The lower overall death risk among green tea drinkers appears to be due to a lower risk of death from heart disease. And the benefit of green tea is especially pronounced in women, find Shinichi Kuriyama, MD, PhD, Tohoku University School of Public Policy in Sendai, Japan, and colleagues.

Green tea is a very popular drink in Japan. But some people drink more than others do. Women who drink five or more 3.4-ounce cups of green tea every day cut their risk of heart disease by 31% compared with women who drink one or fewer 3.4-ounce cups. Men who drink this much green tea cut their heart disease risk by 22%.

"Green tea may prolong your life through reducing heart disease and stroke," Kuriyama tells WebMD. "Our findings might explain the differences in mortality profile between Japan and the United States. The Japanese age-adjusted rate of mortality due to [heart disease and stroke] is about 30% lower than that of the United States."

The findings appear in the Sept. 13 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Green Tea: Might Americans Benefit?
Kuriyama's study is based on data collected since 1994 among more than 40,000 healthy Japanese people aged 40 to 79. More than 86% of the study participants remained in the study for 11 years. Participants filled out detailed questionnaires about their daily diets and health.

The study was conducted with meticulous care. But Kuriyama is quick to point out that this kind of study can't prove green tea has any beneficial effect. Proof comes only from a clinical trial in which some people get green tea and others do not. The Kuriyama study shows only that there is a link between green tea and lower death risk -- not that green tea causes lower death risk.

Alice H. Lichtenstein, DSc, director of the cardiovascular nutrition research program at Tufts University's Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, is underwhelmed by the Kuriyama study.

"This is association, not causation," Lichtenstein tells WebMD. "The Japanese are so different from us in terms of diet and lifestyle. The data -- at this point -- do not support the hypothesis that adding green tea to your diet will significantly reduce your risk of heart disease or stroke. But stay tuned."

Kuriyama points to a Dutch study that suggests Westerners may benefit from green tea. That's also the opinion of green tea researcher Tsung O. Cheng, MD, of George Washington University Medical Center.

"I would think that the effect of green tea is worldwide," Cheng tells WebMD. "There is no reason why it should be beneficial in the Eastern world and not in the West. I hope that Westerners will begin to drink more green tea, too. A person would drink two or more 8-ounce cups per day for maximum benefit."

Japanese Health food

Web Japan > NIPPONIA No.29 > Special Feature*

NIPPONIA No.29 June 15, 2004


Special Feature*
The Key to a Long Life Is What You Eat
One reason why life spans are long in Japan is the food. The traditional diet is basically a recipe for long life. What types of food and what combinations of ingredients help people live longer? Here we examine Japanese traditional cuisine to discover some secrets to extending life.
Text and food preparation by Nagayama Hisao
food culture historian and lecturer at Seibu Bunri University of Hospitality
Photos by Uchida Tamotsu


The basics: rice, one soup, three side dishes
Front left: Rice, Japan's staple food, contains oligosaccharide (good for the intestines) and gamma amino butyric acid (helps stabilize blood pressure). If you cook the rice with foxtail mullet, its ample B vitamins and zinc will raise the nutritional value.
Center left: Soybeans simmered with carrots and kombu seaweed, all seasoned with soy sauce and sweetened with sugar. The many elderly in rural Japan eat lots of soybeans.
Rear left: Simmered root vegetables (taro potatoes, daikon radish, carrot, burdock root). Root vegetables have plenty of nutrients and dietary fiber. Cutting the vegetables fairly large keeps the fibers long and makes you chew well. Chewing a lot stimulates brain cells.
Rear right: Sashimi (raw fish or shellfish) is dipped in soy sauce before eating. Because the fish is not cooked, it retains more nutrients. The bowl in the photo contains tuna, sea bream and squid. Tuna meat from the belly, called toro, is especially high in DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), whih helps prevent dementia.
Center: Nuka-zuke, vegetables pickled in a fermented paste of rice bran, salt and water. Rice bran contains body-strengthening Vitamins B1 and E, and the yeast fungus and lactic acid bacteria that develop during the fermentation process improve digestion.
Front right: Miso soup, standard fare at the Japanese table. It is made by dissolving miso bean paste in a stock made from dried bonito shavings or other ingredients.
Tofu and wakame seaweed go well with the soup, and are a favorite combination offering high-quality protein and calcium.


Food for healthy living, decade after decade
The Japanese have the longest life expectancy in the world, averaging 78 years for men and 85 for women. The number of centenarians rose to 20,561 in 2003, the first year there were more than 20,000. The number increases yearly, and is sure to increase in 2004 as well.
Diet is obviously related to health, so there can be no doubt that the food the Japanese have eaten over the years is an important factor promoting their long life spans. The traditional Japanese diet, part of the nation's culture since ancient times, is attracting more and more favorable attention abroad, especially in the West. Eating Japanese style is good for the health and provides access to many nutrients that retard cell aging. Thanks to their diet, the Japanese have slowed the aging process more than any other people on earth. Many appear remarkably young for their age, however old they may be.

The basics: rice, one soup, three side dishes
The Japanese diet is based on what we call ichi ju san sai—three side dishes eaten with miso soup and the staple food, which is rice boiled in plain water. The three side dishes consist of one main and two lesser dishes. This ichi ju san sai pattern was developed by the military class in the Muromachi period (14th to 16th centuries), and became the standard that continues to this day.
The main side dish has non-vegetable protein, often fish. The fish might be served raw, as in sashimi, or it might be simmered or grilled using any number of recipes. One of the two lesser side dishes, generally simmered and seasoned, may feature taro potatoes, daikon radish, carrots, burdock root, or kombu seaweed. The other lesser dish may include natto (fermented soybeans), tofu, cooked beans, boiled vegetables steeped in a soy-sauce-flavored broth, or ingredients seasoned in sweetened vinegar. The meal always comes with pickles—perhaps a vegetable pickled in a rice-bran paste, or umeboshi, a pickled Japanese apricot.
The ingredients generally depend on the season. The Japanese are fond of eating things in season because food is tastiest when fresh, and because the taste can be brought out without following some complicated recipe. When fresh, food does not need rich seasonings or a long cooking time, and most of the health-giving vitamins and nutrients are retained. Japanese cuisine is simple to prepare and high in natural nutrients.
What are the main life-extending nutrients in Japanese food?



NIPPONIA

Special Feature* Wonders of Japan Living In Japan
Plastic Food to Savor with the Eyes Japanese Animals and Culture
Bon Appetit! Japan Travelogue Cover Interview In Japan Today

Sunday, August 9, 2009

http://www.cancertutor.com/Other02/CheckFast.html

http://www.cancertutor.com/Other02/CheckFast.html

Treating Stage IV Cancer Patients

by R. Webster Kehr
Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc.

Note: This article in Russian: Click Here

Important Notes

Note #1:

Read this article at least once a month. Stage IV cancer is where almost all of the research of the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. is focused and the owner of Cancer Tutor is a member of the Board of Directors of the ICRF. Developments will hit this web page faster than other single page on the Internet.
Note #2:

Read this article in its entirety AT LEAST TWICE, even if you think you have found your answer. There will be several important sections in this article that apply to your situation!!
Note #3:

NOTE: For those on a very limited budget, also see this article on inexpensive cancer treatments:
Inexpensive Cancer Treatments
Note #4:

For those women who are pregnant, who may be pregnant or who may become pregnant, it is very important to read this article:
Article Regarding Pregnancy and Cancer
Note #5: How to Search This Website

When you need more information about a particular product or situation (such as a type of cancer), it is easy to search this website. As an example, suppose you want to search for the pages that mention germanium. Just type this into the Google search engine:
site:www.cancertutor.com germanium
Or suppose you want to search for articles that mention lung cancer. In this case you have to use double quotes, thusly:
site:www.cancertutor.com "lung cancer"

About This Article

The first two years I was researching alternative cancer treatments, I did not fully understand that some alternative cancer treatments were FAR STRONGER than other alternative cancer treatments.

It actually came as a shock to me that some alternative cancer treatments were simply not strong enough for some situations that advanced cancer patients were facing.

Armed with that revelation, I started to research which of the alternative cancer treatments were strong enough for almost any cancer patient. It was this research which led to this article and the "ranking" of the strengh of alternative cancer treatments on this unique website.

I also learned that "testimonials" need to be understood in context. For example, a testimonial for a newly diagnosed liver cancer patient, who had been cured with carrot juice and a strong cancer diet (i.e. the "cancer diet" is a list of the foods which are allowed and are NOT allowed during treatment) may not be strong enough for an advanced cancer patient and may even inadvertently mislead an advanced cancer patient into using a treatment which was not strong enough for their situation.

The point is that for advanced cancer patients, a completely different and complex set of concepts, attitudes and treatments must be used to treat their cancer to give them signficant hope for survival.

At any given time the Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc. is researching several alternative cancer treatments. It is critical to check back with this article from time to time to see if any new treatments qualify as "Stage IV" alternative cancer treatments (or see the home page of this website to see if there are any new "Stage IV" treatments.

This article for advanced cancer patients, over time, grew to such a size it has been broken down into "Chapters." There was simply no other way to deal with the massive size of this article due to the vast number of issues which advanced cancer patients must understand.

Before the link to each chapter, there will be a brief explanation of the chapter.

Chapter 1 - Introduction to Treating Advanced Cancer

This chapter is the "Big Picture" of dealing with advanced cancer. It provides the overview of what the patient needs to understand about treating cancer.
Introduction to Treating Advanced Cancer

Chapter 2 - The Key Issues of Treating Advanced Cancer

This chapter digs a little deeper than the prior chapter and gets more specific about what an alternative cancer treatment needs to do.
The Key Issues of Treating Advanced Cancer

Chapter 3 - For Those on Prescription Drugs

This is a critical chapter for those who are using alternative cancer treatments and prescription drugs, such as chemotherapy or pain killers or even radiation. There are many conflicts between these two types of treatments.
For Those Using Prescription Drugs

Chapter 4 - The Cardinal Rules

Going into even more depth, and even discussing specific supplements to accomplish specific tasks, this chapter details the "Cardinal Rules" an advanced patient needs to understand. For example, one cardinal rule explains how to determine whether your alternative cancer treatment is working or not. This chapter is the first of the very critical cancer treatment chapters!!
The Cardinal Rules

Chapter 5 - The Stage IV Treatments

This chapter is a listing, with detailed comments, of the "Stage IV" alternative cancer treatments. These are the crown jewels of alternative cancer treatments for advanced cancer patients.
The Stage IV Treatments

Chapter 6 - Special Situations

This is a critical chapter for almost all advanced cancer patients. This article discusses dealing with special situations, such as very fast spreading cancers, dealing with pain, dealing with tumors, etc.
Special Situations

Chapter 7 - The "Type of Cancer" Articles

This chapter offers specific suggestions for dealing with specific types of cancer, such as lung cancer, brain cancer, etc.
The "Type of Cancer" Articles

Chapter 8 - Other Supplements and Devices

Generally speaking, "Stage IV" cancer treatments are too strong to be combined with each other because you do not want to kill too many cancer cells too fast. This chapter lists a number of treatments and devices which can compliment the Stage IV treatments without killing too many cancer cells too fast.
Other Supplements and Devices




Please Support Alternative Cancer Research:

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Independent Cancer Research Foundation, Inc.
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Click here to read the FDA required disclaimer:
FDA Required Disclaimer and Discussion of Key Terms
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About R. Webster Kehr