Dubai Health Authority strengthens its medical tourism strategy

 The Dubai Health Authority recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU) with the Medical Tourism Association at the World Medical Tourism and Global Health Congress which took place in Los Angeles from 22nd to 24th September 2010
The Dubai Health Authority was the Diamond Sponsor in the Congress. With the signing of this MoU, both parties will work towards further strengthening the medical tourism sector in the Emirate of Dubai.

Dubai is already known to be one of the top tourism destinations in the world and the DHA is further building its healthcare capabilities, policies and regulations to ensure that Dubai enjoys the same position as a healthcare destination.

Dubai will host the prestigious regional Medical Tourism Congress, which will take place in February 2011 and will be held for the first time in the Middle East.

At the conference the DHA and the private sector will represent their centres of excellence in their related fields such as diabetes management, rehabilitation facilities, surgery etc. The conference will be a platform representing Dubai’s healthcare tourism strengths to the global medial tourism industry.
His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the DHA said, “In recent years, Dubai has seen a phenomenal growth in the health sector and this has been possible because of the vision of our leader, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, who has given significant importance to the health sector in the Dubai strategic plan 2015.

“Medical tourism is an integral aspect of healthcare, especially in the context of today’s globalised world and the DHA is keen to further strengthen and establish Dubai’s position on the medical tourism and global healthcare map.” 
Al Murooshid emphasised that the DHA considers the private sector to be its key stakeholder and thus encourages the sector to develop state-of-the-art healthcare facilitates in the Emirate of Dubai.

Over the years, the patient base indicates an increase in the number of regional patients who visit Dubai for treatment and thus the DHA sees tremendous potential in the growth of the medical tourism sector for the Emirate of Dubai.
He said that over the years Dubai has established itself as a healthcare hub for the Middle East region and is now looking to strengthen its position on the global healthcare tourism map.

Laila Al Jassmi, CEO of the Health Policy and Strategy Sector at the DHA seconded this opinion and said, “The medical tourism industry generates over 30 billion dollars worth of revenue annually. It is a huge industry globally and Dubai already has many factors that work to its benefit. At the DHA, we are strengthening our policies, regulations and further developing our healthcare capabilities to strengthen the medical tourism sector.
In terms of the GCC region, we are already witnessing an increase in the number of patient base and now we are keen to provide the international patient will lucrative healthcare opportunities in Dubai. At the DHA, we consider the private sector to be a key stakeholder and thus both the public and the private health sector in Dubai will be a part of the medical tourism conference which takes place in 2011.”

Al Jassmi said that the conference will hold international workshops and educational programs for the health sector to benefit from the experience of renowned global players who will be present at the conference.

The DHA and the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing are strategic partners in this initiative which aims to strengthen Dubai’s position as a global medical tourism hub.

UAE wins bid to host World Congress of Cardiology 2012

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, 30 June, 2010   Dubai, one of the seven Emirates in the UAE, has won the bid to host the World Heart Federation’s World Congress of Cardiology that will take place in 2012.

The prestigious congress takes place once in two years and is a platform where the global healthcare community and cardiologists from all over the world discuss the latest advances in the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease.
His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the Dubai Health Authority represented the Emirate of Dubai, UAE, at the World Congress of Cardiology which took place in Beijing, China from the 19th of June, 2010.

His Excellency Al Murooshid extended his thanks to Pekka Puska,  President of World Heart Federation and highlighted that Dubai is pleased to host such a prestigious conference.

Al Murooshid said, “We are proud to host this congress which will take place for the first time in the UAE and will be attended by over 20,000 delegates from across the world.  Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading cases of death globally and I assure you that Dubai will provide all its support to battle this disease both in terms creating awareness and further establishing specialized protocols and centers to tackle this disease.

“Such an esteemed congress, provides a platform where international experts can share state-of-the-art knowledge to combat this condition. As the Director General of the Health Authority for the Emirate of Dubai, I would like to mention that we are working at various levels to tackle this condition and the Dubai Heart Centre in Dubai Hospital is one such initiative that provides state-of-the art treatment for our population and the GCC region as well.”

His Excellency Al Murooshid expressed this thanks to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai( DTCM) and the UAE embassy in China for their support. He extended his special thanks  to H.E. Omar Ahmed Oudai Naseeb Al Betar, UAE Ambassador to China for his support and cooperation.

Al Murooshid said that over the past few years healthcare in Dubai has seen a tremendous growth and this has been possible because of the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Rule of Dubai who has given significant important to the health sector in the Dubai strategic plan 2015.

His Excellency Al Murooshid said that Dubai is aware of the huge impact that hosting this conference will have and that it will greatly contribute to further creating much-needed awareness about heart diseases.
The congress which was first held in 1950 in Paris, attracts people from over 100 different countries. The congress is an initiative of the World Heart Federation, a nongovernmental organization committed to helping people achieve a longer and better life through prevention and control of heart disease and stroke, with a focus on low-and middle income countries.

 His Excellency said that the DHA is aware of the importance of hosting such conferences and over the years Dubai has become a hub for international conferences due to its outlook, world-class infrastructure and strategic location in the Middle East and North Africa( MENA) region.

His Excellency Al Murooshid highlighted that this conference in particular is crucial to creating awareness about a disease. He highlighted that the DHA has previously supported all awareness initiatives of the  World Heart Federation such as the ‘go red for women campaign’ which is held every year to  educate women about the risk of heart attack and heart disease.

Other delegates from the DHA that were present at the conference were Tony Batour Elzoghbi, Director of Governance and Internal Audit, Dr Obaid Al Jassim, Head of Cardiology Section at Dubai Hospital and Vice-President of Emirates Cardiac Society, Dr Nooshin Mohd Bazargani, Cardiologist at Dubai Hospital and Member of Emirates Cardiac Society, Professor J M Muscat-Baron, Professor of Medicine, Consultant Physician & Cardiologist, Clinical Dean, Clinical Faculty, Dubai Medical College and Dr Wael Almahmeed President of Emirates Cardiac Society and Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Medical Services, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, Abu Dhabi, UAE 

Smoking doubles dementia risk in late life

Heavy smoking during middle age can double the risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia two decades later, researchers said on Monday.
Smoking already causes millions of deaths each year from cancer and heart disease.
"Our study suggests that heavy smoking in middle age increases the risk of both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia for men and women across different race groups," Rachel Whitmer, a research scientist with Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California and colleagues wrote in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
They said smoking also causes cancer and heart disease. The new findings show it threatens public health in late life, when people are already more likely to develop dementia.
Whitmer's team analyzed data from 21,123 members of a health plan who took part in a survey when they were in their 50s and 60s.
About 25 percent of the group, 5,367 volunteers, were diagnosed with some form of dementia in the more than 20 years of follow up, including 1,136 people who were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a fatal brain disease in which people gradually lose their memories and their abilities to reason and care for themselves. It affects more than 26 million people globally.
People who smoked more than two packs of cigarettes a day had a higher risk of both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia.

"The increase in risk is not just for heavy smokers," Whitmer said in a telephone interview. "It's not if you smoke less you are in the clear, that is for sure."

She said compared with nonsmokers, those who smoked more than two packs a day had a 114 percent increased risk of dementia, a 157 percent increased risk of Alzheimer's disease and a 172 percent greater risk of vascular dementia.

Whitmer said it has been difficult to study the effects of smoking on brain health because heavy smokers often die from other conditions first.

"This is the first time someone has been able to look really over the long term," Whitmer said.

"We've known for some time that smoking is bad for your respective health," she said. "This really adds to our understanding that the brain is also susceptible.

The World Health Organization says 5 million people die every year from tobacco-related heart attacks, strokes and cancers. Another 430,000 adults die annually from breathing second-hand smoke.

A report last month said the worldwide costs of coping with dementia will reach $604 billion in 2010, more than one percent of global GDP output, and those costs will soar further as the number of sufferers triples by 2050.

It has been documented that smoking increases the risk of most diseases and mortality, but some studies have shown that smoking can reduce the chances of developing Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

"The link between smoking and risk of Alzheimer's disease, the most common subtype of dementia, has been somewhat controversial, with some studies suggesting that smoking reduces the risk of cognitive impairment," the authors wrote in the report, posted online on Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Minna Rusanen from the University of Eastern Finland and Kuopio University Hospital in Kuopio, Finland, analyzed data with colleagues from 21,123 members of a healthcare system who participated in a survey between 1978 and 1985, when they were between the ages of 50 and 60.
The diagnosis of Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia were made between January 1994 and end in July 2008. The patients were on average 71.6 years old at the time.
Of those patients studied, 5,367 participants, or 25.4 percent, were diagnosed with dementia during an average follow-up period of 23 years, including 1,136 and 416 in Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
Those of the patients who smoked more than two packs of cigarettes per day in their fifties had a very high risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer's in particular compared to non-smokers.
Race and sex were not factors in the study, the authors said.
Smoking is a known risk factor for stroke, and may help increase the risk of vascular dementia in a similar manner, the authors wrote.
The habit also contributes to oxidative stress and inflammation, believed to be important in the development of Alzheimer's disease.

Smoking may affect dementia development via vascular and neurodegenerative pathways, the authors write.

"Our study suggests that heavy smoking in middle age increases the risk of both Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia for men and women across different race groups. The large detrimental impact that smoking already has on public health has the potential to become even greater as the population worldwide ages and dementia prevalence increases."
The authors said it is the first study that studies "the amount of midlife smoking on long-term risk of dementia and dementia subtypes in a large multiethnic cohort."
Smoking is blamed for several million deaths per year from causes such as heart disease and cancer, according to background information in the article.

.Girls Want to Talk About Sex -- With Dad

By BELINDA LUSCOMBE

Mostly, the conversation that dare not speak its name, the most excruciating 25 minutes of either a parent or an offspring's life, The Talk, is left to Mom. Make lunch, do laundry, figure out where the thing is that goes on that other thing, tell kids about sex. But a new study from New York University suggests that young women could actually use a little more talk about intimate matters from their dads.

Yes, I know, eeeew. Previous studies have concluded that girls who have open communication with their fathers - about everything - tend to have intercourse later in life and also have fewer sexual partners, both of which can be very good for sexual and mental health. But do they actually have to talk about sex to have this effect? (More on Time.com: 5 Little-Known Truths About American Sex Lives)

While young women are still mostly influenced and informed on this subject by their mothers, Katherine Hutchinson, associate professor at the NYU College of Nursing, wanted to figure out whether fathers had a role to play. As part of a larger study examining family influences on adolescent sexual risk, she asked a representative sample of 250 or so women aged 19 to 21 what kind of impact their fathers had on their sex education.

The answer was: very little. And, surprisingly, a lot of the women, most of whom were sexually active, wished their fathers had told them more. Specifically, they wanted to hear stuff only guys would know, about how to communicate with men and what the carnal landscape looked like from a male's vantage point. "They felt that if they could have been more comfortable talking with their fathers about issues around sex, they might have been more comfortable talking to boyfriends or potential sexual partners about them," says Hutchinson, whose study was published in the Journal of Family Issues. "And they wanted to know how to negotiate intimacy issues with men." (More on Time.com: Study of American Sex Habits Suggests Boomers Need Sex Ed)

So does this mean dads should be the ones sitting down and explaining where we all come from? "I'm not a big proponent of The Talk, whether it's from a mother or a father," says Hutchinson. "It takes away from the normalcy of sexuality." She advocates instead for ongoing communication with kids about their bodies, sexual development and sexual issues, so that the subject is not so fraught. But she feels dads could weigh in on how to politely tell a guy you don't want to have sex with him, or that you're not ready for sex with anyone right now, or that you want him to wear a condom.

One note of warning to dads: probably best not to bring the subject up while the guy your daughter likes is in the room. Awkward.

Aspirin May Help Beat Prostate Cancer

One of the world's most ubiquitous and pedestrian drugs -- aspirin -- may cut the risk of dying for men who have prostate cancer that has not yet spread beyond the gland, a new study suggests.
In looking at the records of more than 5,000 men with prostate cancer, 2,000 of whom were taking aspirin or another blood-thinning drug, researchers presenting at the annual meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in San Diego report that the risk of dying from the cancer was reduced by more than half.
"We show that patients taking anticoagulant [blood thinning] medication had better outcomes with regards to prostate cancer death and that this benefit was most prominent in patients who had high-risk disease," said study lead author Dr. Kevin Choe, a radiation oncologist with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. High-risk tumors are more aggressive and thus more likely to eventually kill the patient.
Choe spoke at a Monday ASTRO teleconference.
Of the blood thinners used in the study, aspirin was the one which seemed to account for most of the benefit, the researchers said
There has already been some evidence that cancer and the body's coagulation system might be linked in some way.
"Cancer patients tend to develop clots in their legs and lungs more frequently and also patients who develop clots in their legs and lungs tend to develop cancer more frequently," Choe noted. "We hypothesized that anticoagulant medication may lower the chance of death from prostate cancer in men who have localized prostate cancer."
And, at least according to this retrospective review of medical records, this did indeed appear to be the case. Retrospective studies -- where researchers look back over previously collected data, looking for associations -- are not as reliable as prospective trials, however.
The study included 5,275 men diagnosed with prostate cancer that had not yet spread beyond the prostate gland and had been treated with surgery or radiation. Of the almost 2,000 patients on anticoagulants in the study, 1,649 were taking aspirin, 428 warfarin, 287 clopidogrel (Plavix), 26 enoxaparin, and 408 a combination of blood thinners.
After an average follow-up of about seven years, only 1 percent of men who had been taking an anticoagulant had died versus 4 percent of those in the control group. At 10 years, 4 percent of those taking one of these medications had died versus 10 percent in no-blood thinner group.

This translates to a risk reduction of about 50 percent, the researchers calculated.

The chances of the cancer spreading to the bone were reduced while PSA (prostate-specific antigen) blood levels -- thought to be a marker for cancer's advance -- were also better controlled.
"This benefit was seen whether these patients were treated with surgery or radiotherapy," Choe added.
Cancer cells are coated by platelets when they enter the bloodstream and are on their way to spreading. This protects them from immune cells and also helps them stick to their next location, Choe explained. Anticoagulants may work by interfering with this process.
But Choe said he is not ready to recommend routine aspirin use in men diagnosed with prostate cancer.
"It's premature to say that aspirin should be used in a standard-therapy way in all patients with prostate cancer," he said. "But we may expect to see this benefit in those who are taking aspirin for other [usually cardiovascular] reasons."
Aspirin also comes with some risks of its own, including stomach bleeding, Choe pointed out.
A second study, conducted in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and also being presented at ASTRO, suggests that a combination of hormone therapy plus radiation may be the best treatment for men who have locally advanced prostate cancer with a high risk of returning.
This usurps the previous view that hormone therapy was useless or even "unkind or toxic," said study lead author Dr. Malcolm Mason, a radiation oncologist with Cardiff University in Wales.
This trial, the largest of its kind, involved about 1,200 men who were randomly chosen to receive hormone therapy alone or a combination of that and radiation.
An initial review at six years suggested that those taking the combination therapy had a 43 percent reduced risk of dying from prostate cancer, while side effects were not "major," Mason said. "If the figures from the interim analysis are similar to the final analysis, we would expect a 43 percent reduction in the chances of death from prostate cancer in men with this regimen," he said.
"We feel these results are practice changing," Mason added. "The standard treatment for localized, high-risk prostate cancer for people who are fit for radiotherapy should be a combination of hormone therapy plus radiotherapy."
Experts note that studies presented at scientific meetings do not face the same peer-review scrutiny as those published in reputable journals.

Never to neglect symptoms, All about Brest Cancer

How common is breast cancer?

In 2010, experts predict 1.5 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with breast cancer. It is the most common form of cancer in women in the UAE and globally. According to the Health Authority Abu Dhabi's 2009 Annual Report, in Abu Dhabi alone, more than 130 women develop breast cancer each year.
For years, women over the ageof 45 were considered most at risk, but today, as an increasing number of younger women are being diagnosed, being aware of the signs and getting symptoms checked out early is key to increasing your survival chances. According to Zeina Kassem, oncology clinic manager at American Hospital Dubai, "Women diagnosed with early breast cancer through early detection, where the cancer is small and has not yet spread, have a more than 90 per cent chance of survival or cure - especially with the tailored treatments that arenow available for different types of breast cancer."

What are the symptoms?

A breast lump is the first symptom in nine out of ten breast cancers. Other symptoms to look out for are: thickening in an area of the breast; a change in the size or shape of a breast; dimpling of the skin; a change in the shape of your nipple, particularly if it turns in, sinks into the breast, or has an irregular shape; blood stained discharge from the nipple; a rash on a nipple or surrounding area; or a swelling or lump in your armpit.
Like breast lumps, these signs don't necessarily mean cancer, but getting them checked out by your GP will determine whether they are benign or need further treatment. Remember, catching the cancer in its early stages will give you the best chance of successful treatment.

Does taking the contraceptive pill increase the risk of developing breast cancer?

Research has shown that usingoral contraceptives (birth controlpills) appears to slightly increasea woman's risk of breast cancer,but only for a limited period of time. Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than ten years ago do not appear to have any increased breast cancer risk.

What should you do if you find a lump or develop any of the symptoms?

"The most important thing is never to neglect it," says Zeina. "Seek medical help immediately so that treatment won't be delayed - this might save your life. Research has proved, time and again, that early detection is key to curing women of breast cancer."

What is the best defence against breast cancer?

According to Zeina, self examination is the most effective screening method. For a five-step guide on how to self examine, visit www.breastcancer.org/symptoms.
As well as regular self examinations, clinical screening is vital. According to medical experts, women over 20 should have a clinical examination by their doctor each year, while women over 45 should have annual mammograms.
Consultant radiologist Dr Victoria Stewart, explains: "Screening aims to detect cancer before it has spread, so it is the best defence. In Muslim countries such as the UAE, breast screening can be a sensitive issue and sometimes requires the permission of the husband, so men also need to be aware of the importance of breast screening and diagnosis. I have had a situation where a woman who we knew had a cancer would not let us take a biopsy without her husband's permission. So education and awareness in places like the UAE is important."

How are pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding linked to reducing breast cancer risk?

There is significant scientific evidence of a fundamental link between a woman's child-bearing history - how many children she has, how old she was when she had them and whether she breastfed or not - and her likelihood of developing breast cancer. "Essentially, if a woman has many children and breastfeeds them for quite a while, her risk of breast cancer is much reduced," Professor Valerie Beral, professor of epidemiology at Oxford University and a leading expert on the risks and causes of breast cancer, is quoted as saying in an interview with Cancer Research UK. "We know from very thorough worldwide data with hundreds of thousands of women and comparison groups that a pregnancy isn't what's protective, it's actually a birth. A pregnancy lasts nine months and it gives you life-long protection against breast cancer… We really should be finding out why this is - it must be some of the hormones that are produced that make the breasts change and so a treatment over a number of months at a young age could give you life-long protection - that's where we should be heading."

What other factors are related to risk?

Like most cancers, the single biggest risk factor for breast cancer is increasing age. According to Cancer Research UK, there is a simple reason for this: cells have to ‘go wrong' to turn into cancer cells and the longer we are alive, the more time there is for that to happen. There is nothing we can do to reverse the ageing process, but regular self examination and screening will help to detect early signs of breast cancer while it is still in its primary stages.
According to Dr Aaron Han, chief of pathology at American Hospital Dubai, controllable risk factors include certain lifestyle choices, such as smoking and obesity. Studies have shown that regular exercise can lower your risk by about a third.

Excessive alcohol consumption and hormone replacement therapy can also increase your risk. "We know that alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer - you can estimate that of the 45,000 cancers in the UK, about 5,000 of them are caused by alcohol. Another factor is hormone replacement therapy, there are about 1 million women using HRT and that's another 1,000 fewer breast cancer cases if no women were taking it," says Professor Beral. Family history is another risk factor.

Is it possible to be tested for cancer genes?

Anyone with a strong family history of breast cancer should be tested for cancer genes because if they are at risk, screening at a young age is vital. Dr Stewart explains, "If you have a strong family history such as your mother or even your father's aunt having been diagnosed at an early age (below 50), then you may need early screening. There are certain computer programs which now calculate your risk and whether you require early screening, so if you have a strong family history then it is advisable to visit a family history clinic where they can calculate the risk."

He says both a mammography and an MRI can be used for more accurate screening as an MRI is more sensitive. "We know that there are certain people who carry genes which predispose them to having cancer. The most well-known are BRCA1 and BRCA2. These people are at substantially increased risk of developing breast cancer, men included, and often have mastectomies prophylactically to pre-empt it."

Does benign breast disease increase the risk of breast cancer?

According to Dr Stewart, there is no evidence of increased cancer risk in cases of benign breast disease. "It covers the whole spectrum of changes including cystic changes and cysts which usually do not turn into cancer and can come and go. Fibroadenoma is another very common benign breast disease. It is a fibrous lump in the breast a bit like fibroids in the uterus. Often people just feel a lump which is a bit of breast tissue which is a bit swollen - but the take-home message is: if you feel a lump which is not normal for you, get it checked out," says Dr Stewart. Benign lumps need only be removed if they are causing discomfort.

Early detection cuts risk of breast cancer

Women must conduct self-examinations and cut the risks associated with their lifestyles

The scourge of breast cancer is a challenge which cuts across ethnicity, social status and location. It is a disease to which researchers the world over have committed to finding a cure, determining factors such as genetics, lifestyle, environment, medical history, diet, smoking or alcohol usage — in short, seeking answers under every stone.

For women who contract the disease, it is a frightening and life-changing event. There is no single hard and fast method of treatment: Lumpectomy or full masectomy? Radiation or chemotherapy? Termoxofin or not? These are all treatments to which there is no simple answer. What is helpful in every case, though, is a full explanation of the treatment options available, given the results of the latest medical treatments and research. For women who face this disease, every treatment option needs to be made available to ensure that they have the best chance of survival possible.

Whatever the treatment, it is well established that early detection is essential to increase the odds of overcoming breast cancer. Self-examinations, regular check-ups from medical professionals and annual mammograms are proven methods to detect the disease.

And knowing the risks associated with your family and lifestyle are essential.

Screening is key to breast cancer prevention

Breast cancer has become a major health challenge worldwide and requires huge efforts to catch the disease at the early stages, Dr Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Health, said.
He was speaking at the launch of a nation-wide campaign in United Arab Emirates that underscores the importance of early detection and will run from Sunday to Thursday, November 11.
Hassan said 84,000 women have been provided clinical tests since the screening programme was initiated in 1998. He said it is one of the leading programmes not only in the UAE but in the Gulf and Arab countries.
"WHO [World Health Organisation] studies show that breast cancer is a challenge for health systems all over the world and requires cooperation of all parties to fight the disease," he said.
Early detection has helped bring down the number of deaths and this year the National Screening Programme intends to drive home the point to women that early screening is the most effective intervention that leads to a 95 per cent cure rate, according to Dr Hajar Al Hosani, director of the national screening programme.
She said breast cancer is the second cause of death among women in the UAE.
The director did not mince her words when she announced that despite the various gains in the fields there are still drawbacks, including a shortage of local expertise in the field of screening mammography.
The other drawback is the lack of a population registry (of breast cancer cases). There are also cultural and socio-educational barriers for accepting breast screening, she said.
The target population of the screening programme will be women over the age of 40 and about over 240,000 women will be screened, which is about 15 of the total women's population (according to the 2009 statistics).

carrots may ward off breast cancer

Eating lots of carrots and cruciferous vegetables -- collard greens, cabbage, broccoli -- could reduce breast cancer risk, particularly an aggressive form common among African American women, suggests a large new study.

The researchers looking at data from the ongoing Black Women's Health Study did not find a similar benefit from fruit intake.

Previous studies of the relationship between fruit and vegetable consumption and breast cancer in white women have led to conflicting results, and no prior research has investigated this link separately among African American women, lead researcher Dr. Deborah A. Boggs, of Boston University, told Reuters Health in an e-mail.
Boggs noted her team's earlier work showing that a so-called "prudent diet" high in vegetables, fruits, whole grains and fish led to a lower risk of estrogen receptor-negative breast cancers among African American women.
The ER-negative form of breast cancer, which is insensitive to the hormone estrogen, is more common in this population than among white women. It is also more difficult to treat and more often fatal than estrogen-sensitive cancers.
Overall, breast cancer is the second leading cancer-killer for both African American and white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Approximately 1 in 8 American women will develop the disease at some point in life, although age, heredity and environmental factors can increase an individual's risk.
Boggs and her colleagues wanted to find out whether fruits and vegetables drove the beneficial effect they saw in women eating the prudent diet and whether specific varieties are particularly protective.
They tracked the diets and health of more than 50,000 African American women from across the U.S. for 12 years. About 1,300 of the women developed new cases of breast cancer during that period, 35 percent of them ER-negative.
The researchers found, however, that women who ate at least two servings of vegetables a day had a 43 percent lower risk of ER-negative breast cancer compared with women who ate fewer than four servings of vegetables each week.
Further, they identified certain types of vegetables that appeared to reduce the risk of all types of breast cancer, including broccoli, collard greens, cabbage and carrots.

Women who ate three or more servings a week of carrots, for instance, had a 17 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer than women who ate carrots less than once a month.

The results for all vegetables held after accounting for other potential breast cancer risk factors, such as physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and education level, as well as consumption of other components of the prudent diet, the researchers report in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Still, it is too early to determine if this is a true cause-and effect-relationship, they note. High vegetable consumption could mark a healthier lifestyle in general or some other unknown mechanism that accounts for the apparent protection. Vegetables' cancer-staving power needs to be confirmed in further studies, the researchers write.

"Most Americans do not meet the recommendation of five servings of vegetables per day, based on a 2,000-calorie diet, and African Americans in particular eat fewer vegetables on average than do whites," said Boggs.

"It is clear that, in addition to potential protective effects against breast cancer, higher vegetable consumption can lead to many health benefits, including lower risk of cardiovascular disease," she added. "Therefore, we recommend that African American women try to increase their daily intake of vegetables to meet the established guidelines."

Low-dose aspirin may cut colon cancer risk

A new analysis suggests that taking a low dose of aspirin may modestly reduce the risk of developing colon cancer or dying of the disease.
But experts say aspirin's side effects of bleeding and stomach problems are too worrisome for most people to take the drug for that reason alone. A U.S. health task force specifically recommends against it for those at average risk.
Previous studies have found a daily dose of at least 500 milligrams of aspirin could prevent colon cancer, but the adverse effects of such a high dose outweighed the benefits. Now, researchers say a low dose, equivalent to a baby or regular aspirin, also appears to work. But side effects are still a concern.
The European researchers pooled the 20-year results of four trials with more than 14,000 people. Those studies were designed to study aspirin's use in preventing strokes, not colon cancer.
The researchers tracked who developed the disease through cancer registries and death certificates in Britain and Sweden, where the studies were done.
They found those who took a low dose daily for about six years reduced their colon cancer risk by 24 percent and their risk of dying from the disease by 35 percent. That was compared to those who took a dummy pill or nothing. There seemed to be no advantage to taking more than a baby-sized dose.
The studies used European baby aspirin of 75 milligrams and regular aspirin, 300 milligrams. US. baby aspirin is 81 milligrams and regular aspirin, 325 milligrams.
Some researchers said the drug would benefit certain people, though no one should start taking aspirin daily without consulting their doctor.
If taken in high doses over a long period, aspirin can irritate the stomach, intestines and bowel, causing lesions and major bleeding.
"Anyone with any risk factors such as a family history (of colon cancer) or a previous polyp should definitely take aspirin," said Peter Rothwell, a professor at the University of Oxford and one of the paper's authors. The finding also "tips the balance" for anyone considering aspirin to prevent heart attacks and strokes, he said.

No funding was provided for the study and it was published online Friday in the journal Lancet. Rothwell and some of his co-authors have been paid for work by the makers of anti-clotting drugs like aspirin.

Other experts warned against aspirin for the general population.
"It's not for everybody," said Robert Benamouzig, of Avicenne Hospital in Bobigny, France, who co-authored a commentary in the Lancet. He said he would advise some of his high-risk patients to take aspirin, but only after explaining its side effects.
Scientists think aspirin works by stopping production of a certain enzyme linked to cancers including those of the breast, stomach, esophagus and colon.
The trials analyzed in the Lancet paper were done before the widespread introduction of screening tests like sigmoidoscopies and colonoscopies. Rothwell said taking aspirin would still help, because the drug seems to stop cancers in the upper bowel, not usually caught by screening tests.
Colorectal cancer is the second most common cancer in developed countries, and there are about 1 million new cases and 600,000 deaths worldwide every year. The average person has about a 5 percent chance of developing the disease in their lifetime.

Romantic love the best painkiller

In a study involving a group of lovelorn Stanford undergrads, researchers discovered that high-octane romantic love might be a natural analgesic.

Love's painkilling effect isn't just that the person is distracted by thoughts of the loved one -- although that works, too. Instead, the researchers found that feeling "head-over-heels" activates the same dopamine-oriented centers of the brain that tune in to illicit drugs such as cocaine.

"These pain-relieving systems are linked to reward systems," said Dr. Sean Mackey, senior author of a paper appearing online Oct. 13 in PLoS One. "Love engages these deep brain systems that are involved with reward and craving and similar systems involved in addiction."
"This gives us some insight into potential ways of further probing and ultimately translating that into treatment for pain," added Mackey, who is chief of the pain management division at Stanford University School of Medicine.
The authors recruited 15 Stanford undergrads who were "wildly, recklessly in love," said Mackey, adding that the recruitment process took "only days."
"It was the easiest study I've ever recruited for," he said. "Within hours they were all banging on my door, 'Study us! Study us!' When you're in that kind of love, you want the world to know about it."
The besotted 7 men and 8 women, who were still in the newly smitten phase of their relationships, came to the study with a picture of their beloved.
Researchers flashed the picture of the beloved while inflicting pain with a handheld thermal probe. As a control, participants were asked to name every sport that doesn't involve a ball, a form of distraction, while also activating the probe.
"To our pleasant surprise, both love and distraction reduce pain to an equal amount and that was good because it more fully allowed us to compare them," Mackey explained.
The pain relief afforded by looking at the picture of the beloved seemed specific to that act -- when participants were asked to look at a picture of an equally attractive and familiar acquaintance, their pain levels did not recede.

Functional MRI imaging of the participants' brain also revealed that, "the brain systems involved in distraction are entirely different from those involved in love," Mackey said. "In distraction, there was a much higher level of the newer corticol systems involved with classic attention and distraction."

On the other hand, "in love, very primitive, reptilian brain systems that are classically involved with the reward systems that motivate our basic drives were involved," he said.
Although the students in this study were at an age when love is often in the air, Mackey believes the results would easily translate to older folks.

"This doesn't require you to be an undergraduate at a university to fall head-over-heels in love," he said. "Even older people can do that."

Nor would someone have to be in the initial throes of a love affair to benefit from love's soothing effect.

"This gave me a greater appreciation that, for a patient in chronic pain, being in a loving relationship may actually provide some analgesic benefit," Mackey said.

Still, love can be an elusive prospect for many. Dr. Joe Contreras, chair of pain and palliative care at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, believes that distraction might be more a more accessible (but often ignored) pain remedy.

Finding ways to distract yourself is "definitely something that is unfortunately underutilized, I believe, because our [medical] system does not incentivize it and insurance companies don't pay for it," he said.

And Anna Ratka, professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences at Texas A&M Health Science Center's Irma Lerma Rangel College of Pharmacy in Kingsville, inserted a note of caution.

"This is still very far from [being useful clinically]," she said. "In my opinion, this is just another demonstration of the fact that pain is an extremely complex phenomenon and it's heavily dependent on perception, and that is actually very different across people."

Walking may help save memory

Walking about six miles a week appears to protect against brain shrinkage in old age, which in turn helps stem the onset of memory problems and cognitive decline, new research reveals.

"We have always been in search of the drug or the magic pill to help treat brain disorders," noted Kirk I. Erickson, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and the study's lead author. "But really what we are after may be, at least partially, even simpler than that. Just by walking regularly, and so maintaining a little bit of moderate physical activity, you can reduce your likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease and [can] spare brain tissue."

A report on the research, which was supported by the U.S. National Institute on Aging, is published online Oct. 13 in Neurology.

Erickson and his colleagues began tracking the physical activity and cognitive (or thinking) patterns of nearly 300 adults in 1989. At the start, all participants were in good cognitive health, they averaged 78 years old and about two-thirds were women. The researchers charted how many blocks each person walked in a week.

Nine years later, they were given a high-resolution MRI scan to measure brain size. All were deemed to be "cognitively normal."
But four years after that, testing showed that a little more than one-third of the participants had developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
By correlating cognitive health, brain scans and walking patterns, the research team found that being more physically active appeared to marginally lower the risk for developing cognitive impairment.
But more specifically, they concluded that the more someone walks, the more gray matter tissue the person will have a decade or more down the road in regions of the brain -- namely the hippocampus, the inferior frontal gyrus and the supplementary motor area -- that are central to cognition.
And among the more physically active participants who had retained more gray matter a decade out, the chances of developing cognitive impairment were cut in half, the study found.
However, the researchers stressed that the relationship between walking and gray matter volume appears to apply only to people who regularly walk relatively long distances that equal about six to nine miles a week.

Walking more than the six- to nine-mile range, however, did not have cognitive benefit, the study found.

"That's because the size of our brain regions can only be so large," Erickson said, adding that the opposite isn't true. "So with no exercise, there can be significant deterioration and decay with age."

However, he added, "what we often tend to think of as an inevitable component or characteristic of aging -- memory decline and brain decay -- is clearly not inevitable. There's plenty of evidence now, and this study is part of that, that shows that we can retain our brain tissue and retain our memories well into late adulthood by maintaining an active and engaged lifestyle."

Dr. Steven V. Pacia, chief of neurology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, described the study's finding as both "intriguing" and an "undoubtedly positive message to send to the public."

"My first reaction to studies like this is that only in America do we have to prove to people that it's good to walk," he said with a chuckle.

"But it stands to reason that being active as we age is going to have a beneficial effect on the brain, just as being inactive is going to have a negative impact," Pacia noted. "Because the brain lives in the environment of the body."

But there may be a catch. "This is just an observational study," Pacia noted. "And while we may assume that the relationship between the brain and activity is a prevention-of-atrophy issue -- just like it is with muscle and bone -- this study doesn't actually prove that. We don't yet know enough about the use-it-or-lose-it notion with respect to brain and exercise. So we do need more research to look at that."

Chile Miners: Rescued Foreman Luis Urzua's First Interview - 'We Were Waiting For Death. We Were Consuming Ourselves

Speaking from a hospital bed at the San José mine, shift foreman Luis Urzúa - the man who kept the Chilean miners alive for two months - said his secret for keeping the men bonded and focused on survival was majority decision-making.
"You just have to speak the truth and believe in democracy," said Urzúa, his eyes hidden behind black glasses.
As nurses, doctors and psychologists rushed around him in a chaotic scene, the world's most famous foreman sat in bed, his arms folded across a thick chest, and spoke about making tough decisions 700 meters below ground when all hope seemed lost. "Everything was voted on ... We were 33 men, so 16 plus one was a majority."
However, as the first accounts of life for the trapped miners emerge, a complicated picture of squabbles, disagreements and even physical confrontations suggests that the official version may be rather sanitized.
Like a ship's captain, 54-year-old Urzúa was the last to leave after 70 days trapped below the Atacama desert. He was winched to the surface shortly before 10pm local time yesterday, amid extraordinary scenes of emotion and celebration across Chile.
President Sebastián Piñera greeted him with tears in his eyes. "You're not the same after this and neither are we," Piñera told him. "We will never forget this."
The government hailed the men as models of solidarity, but in a separate interview with the Guardian, Richard Villaroel, another member of "los 33", said the truth was not so simple. There was the waiting for death, the hopelessness, the petty squabbles and the nagging, unspoken fear of cannibalism.
Villaroel painted a more complex picture of the drama than the official version which has dominated media coverage. "We were waiting for death. We were consuming ourselves - we were so skinny."
Speaking as the men were whisked to a hospital in the nearby town of Copiapó, the 23-year-old mechanic said the mood inside the collapsed mine had swung wildly from despair and division to euphoria and unity.
The first 17 days were the worst - before a probe from the surface punched through to their cavern, as the miners prepared for a lonely, drawn-out death by starvation.
Villaroel thought he would never see his unborn child. "I was afraid of not meeting my baby, who is on the way."
Some men were so despairing that they climbed into bed and would not get out.
Immediately after the collapse at the mine at lunchtime on 5 August, Urzúa sent men to investigate. Some drove a pickup, inching up a ramp. With clouds of dust limiting visibility to less than a meter, they were unable to see the path and crashed. "We were trying to find out what we could do and what we could not," said Urzúa. "Then we had to figure out the food."
The daily food ration from the meager stocks was about half a spoonful of tuna or salmon. Villaroel said: "We talked about it at the first meeting we had when we were trapped. We all agreed that we would all share the food that was there. You just had to rough it. Every 24 hours eat a small piece of tuna. Nothing else."
Their bodies shriveled. Villaroel lost 12 kilograms (about 25 lbs.). "We were getting eaten up, as we were working. We were moving, but not eating well. We started to eat ourselves up and get skinnier and skinnier. That is called cannibalism, a sailor down there said. My body was eating itself up."
Did the men fear cannibalism of the other type? Villaroel paused. "At that moment no one talked about it. But once [help came] it became a topic of joking, but only once it was over, once they found us. But at the time there was no talk of cannibalism."
The water in the mine the men were forced to drink was polluted. "It had a bad taste. It had lots of oil, from the machines, but you had to drink it."
Urzúa tried to instill a philosophical acceptance of fate. "Every day [he] told us to have strength. If they find us they find us, if not, that's that. Because the probes [drilling towards the men] were so far away so we had no hope. Strength came by itself. I had never prayed before, but I learned to pray, to get close to God."
Villaroel said the men divided up into work groups. "We the mechanics were part of one group, we took care of the trucks. Other people organized the food, rationed it."
When the probe finally reached the men, euphoria swept them. "It was huge happiness for us all. We sang the national anthem as soon as the tube arrived. We painted it. With so much adrenaline in that moment we could not think."
Once the miners realized they would be saved they signed a "blood pact" to not reveal all that happened beneath the Atacama desert, he said.
In a video-conference with relatives last week, Dario Segovia, a 48-year-old drill operator, made a not-so-cryptic allusion to troubles: "What happens in the mine, stays in the mine."
One secret, it seems, is the division that plagued the group for a time. Despite the pact, there are several cracks in the official version of steadfast unity and solidarity between "los 33".
The earliest suggestion of divisions came in the first video the miners sent up: only 28 featured. The other five - Juan Aguilar, Raúl Bustos, José Henriquez, Juan Illanes and Villaroel - were nowhere to be seen.
Where were they? The authorities offered no explanation. José Villaroel, Richard's father, said the mechanic had been upset at colleagues who "showed off" for the camera. When relatives sent down cameras for each miner, Villaroel was among a small group who sent them back up.
Another miner, Osman Araya, told his brother Rodrigo that three groups had formed and that there were squabbles over space and work practices. Daniel Sanderson, a miner on the surface, said he received a letter from one of the trapped men describing disagreements which escalated into physical confrontations. "They broke into three groups because they were fighting. There were fist fights," said Sanderson, who ended his night shift and left the mine just hours before the collapse. Asked to describe the nature of the conflicts, Sanderson, replied: "That's part of the pact".
The Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that the five missing from the video had been working for a separate sub-contractor and had formed their own group dynamic - living apart from the others and plotting their own escape strategy involving tunnels. The division ended when the sub-contractor boss, who was on the surface, ordered the five to integrate.
An early test of the "pact" will be whether the men equally share income from the interview fees, book royalties, movie rights and gifts that are likely to flood in.
They have reportedly agreed to sign a legal contract promising to pool the bonanza. With some men likely to earn far more than others - notably Urzúa and Mario Sepúlveda, a natural showman – there may be temptation and pressure from families to make individual deals.
The men, in dressing gowns and slippers, got a glimpse of the attention their story has generated by peering out of their hospital windows and seeing throngs of journalists below. An estimated 1 billion people around the world watched the televised rescue.
Some of the men were expected to go home as early as today. Three required dental surgery and one was recovering from pneumonia, but otherwise the miners were in good shape, said Jorge Montes, the hospital's deputy director.
President Piñera visited the men and promised to review labor rights and health and safety laws.


This article and interview with Luis Urzua was written by Guardian Latin America correspondent Rory Carroll, reporting from Copiapo, Chile, and correspondent Jonathan Franklin, reporting from the San Jose mine, in context here: www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/14/chile-miner-luis-urzua-interview