Breast density, which is increasingly used as a marker of breast cancer risk, is associated with the use of multivitamins, a new study shows.

The report, published this month in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, raises questions about advice routinely given to women to take a multivitamin. However, because the study is not a randomized clinical trial, it’s not clear if multivitamin use contributes to a woman’s breast density. It may be that the type of woman who takes multivitamins is more likely to have other risks factors linked to dense breasts.

Breast density describes the relative amount of different tissues present in the breast. A dense breast has less fat than glandular and connective tissue. On a mammogram, a dense breast looks mostly white, whereas a fatty breast looks dark gray.

Numerous studies have shown that breast density is an important breast cancer risk factor, and women with extreme density may have a two- to six-fold increased risk of breast cancer. In addition to its role in breast cancer risk, breast density makes it difficult to identify cancer on a mammogram, potentially increasing the risk that cancer will be diagnosed at a later stage. - See Multivitamins Linked With Breast Density for the complete article.

GO for regular checkups, do breast self-exams and get your mammograms on time, and chances are you’ll detect breast cancer early on, when it is most treatable. But what about prevention? Short of radical surgery, are there steps you can take to reduce the risk?

Turns out there are.

True, immutable factors like genetics, a family’s medical baggage and just being born female determine much of the risk of breast cancer. And, as with all cancers, that risk increases with age: a 30-year-old woman’s chances of developing breast cancer over a 10-year period are less than half of 1 percent, or 1 in 234, while a 60-year-old has a 3.5 percent risk, or 1 in 28. (The often-heard “one in eight” figure refers to the lifetime risk that women face.)

But there is now solid evidence that lifestyle can play a role as well. Choices that have an effect include how much alcohol a woman drinks (none is best), the amount of physical activity she gets (the more the better) and whether she takes hormones (the less the better). Doctors also urge women to keep their weight down, as obesity increases the risk of developing breast cancer during the postmenopausal years.

“Breast cancer is a disease of how much estrogen you have in your body,” said Heather Spencer Feigelson, strategic director of genetic epidemiology for the American Cancer Society, and these seemingly disparate factors — alcohol, physical activity and hormone pills — affect levels of estrogen and other hormones. - See Reducing Your Risk for Breast Cancer for the complete article.

On April 29, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Amitiza (lubiprostone) for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome with Constipation (IBS-C) in adult women aged 18 and over. With this approval, Amitiza becomes the only FDA-approved medical treatment for IBS-C available in the United States.

As a treatment for IBS-C, Amitiza should be taken twice a day in 8 microgram doses with food and water. Patients and their health care professionals should periodically assess the need for continued therapy.

IBS
is a disorder characterized by cramping, abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea.
causes a great deal of discomfort and distress.
affects at least twice as many women as men.
Amitiza Safety and Effectiveness
The safety and effectiveness of Amitiza were established in two major studies involving 1,154 patients diagnosed with IBS-C. Most of the patients studied were women (approximately 8% were men). The effectiveness of Amitiza in men was not conclusive for IBS-C. More patients treated with Amitiza reported that their IBS symptoms were moderately or significantly relieved over a 12-week treatment period than patients who received placebo (inactive substance).

Side Effects
Common side effects of Amitiza include nausea, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Other rare side effects include urinary tract infections, dry mouth, fainting (syncope), swelling of the extremities (peripheral edema), difficulty breathing (dyspnea), and heart palpitations.

Who Should Not Take Amitiza?
children and men
patients suffering from severe diarrhea or patients with known or suspected bowel obstructions
patients with kidney or liver impairment, pregnant women, or nursing mothers
Amitiza is manufactured by Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Bethesda, Md., and Takeda Pharmaceuticals America, Inc., Deerfield, Ill.

Source U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Fewer than half of Americans can recognize the top five warning signs of stroke, information that could help save thousands of people from death and disability, the U.S. Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

Their report uncovered significant disparities in awareness, with whites, women and people with higher levels of education much more likely to be aware of individual stroke warning symptoms and call for an ambulance than others.

"These findings indicate a need to increase awareness of stroke warning symptoms in the entire population, and particularly among blacks, Hispanics, men and persons at lower education levels," the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

Stroke warning signs include sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side; sudden confusion or difficulty speaking; sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance; sudden trouble with vision in one eye or both; and severe headache with no known cause.

To determine awareness of these warnings, the CDC in 2005 surveyed more than 71,000 people by telephone in 13 states and the District of Columbia.

They found that only 44 percent could identify all five stroke warning signs. Some 38 percent were aware of all stroke warnings symptoms and said they would call an ambulance first if they thought someone was having a stroke or heart attack. - See Americans still unclear about stroke warning signs for the full article.

People with diabetes are twice as likely to have arthritis, putting them in a double bind as the pain in their joints keeps them from getting the exercise they need to keep both diseases at bay, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

They found that more than half of U.S. adults diagnosed with diabetes also have arthritis, a condition that makes them far less likely to exercise.

The association was independent of age, gender or body mass index (BMI), a measure of obesity.

"The prevalence of arthritis in a diabetic population is astoundingly high," said Dr. John Klippel, president of the Arthritis Foundation in a telephone interview.

"Over half the people with diabetes have arthritis. If in fact you have both conditions, you are quite unlikely to be physically active," he said. - See Half of diabetics in U.S. have arthritis, CDC says for the full report.

Depression in women and stroke in men are critical factors in the development of Alzheimer's disease, French researchers report.

They analyzed data from almost 7,000 people over the age of 65 in three French cities. None of them had dementia, but about 40 percent had mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study.

They were assessed two and four years later. Of those with mild cognitive impairment at the start of the study, just over 6.5 percent developed dementia over the next four years, about half had no change, and about one-third regained normal levels of cognitive ability.

People with depression, those taking anticholinergic drugs (which influence chemical signaling in the brain), and those with a variation in the ApoE gene (a known risk factor for dementia) were more likely to progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

The researchers also found that risk factors varied according to gender. Men with mild cognitive impairment were more likely to be overweight, diabetic and to have had a stroke. Men who'd suffered a stroke were almost three times more likely to progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia. - See Alzheimer's Disease Risk Factors May Be Gender-Specific for the complete report.

A daily aspirin may give women modest protection against the most common type of breast cancer, U.S. government researchers said on Wednesday.

The finding reinforced earlier research indicating regular use of aspirin might reduce the risk of so-called estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, which makes up about three quarters of breast cancer cases.

Researchers led by Gretchen Gierach of the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, found that women who took aspirin daily cut their risk of developing this type of breast cancer by 16 percent.

"If aspirin is truly risk-reducing, it would be a very exciting finding," Gierach said in a telephone interview.

Estrogen receptor or ER-positive breast cancer is fueled by estrogen and aspirin may interfere with this hormone's activity.

"Even though it's a small reduction in relative risk, since ER-positive breast cancers are the more common types, if this result is confirmed to be true it could have potentially a big public health impact," Gierach said. - See Aspirin seen cutting risk of type of breast cancer for the full report.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Relistor (methylnaltrexone bromide) to help restore bowel function in patients with late-stage, advanced illness who are receiving opioids on a continuous basis to help alleviate their pain.

Opioids are often prescribed on a continuous basis for patients with late-stage, advanced illness to help alleviate pain. This includes patients with a diagnosis of incurable cancer, end-stage Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) from emphysema, heart failure, Alzheimer’s disease with dementia, HIV/AIDS or other advanced illnesses.

Opioids can interfere with normal bowel elimination function by relaxing the intestinal smooth muscles and preventing them from contracting and pushing out waste products. Relistor acts by blocking opioid entrance into the cells thus allowing the bowels to continue to function normally.

“This new drug will be helpful to patients who experience severe constipation associated with the continuous use of morphine or other opioids, which are an important part of care for patients with late-stage, advanced illness.” said Joyce Korvick, M.D., deputy director of the Division of Gastroenterology Products, FDA.

Relistor is an injectable medication. It can be administered as needed, but not to exceed one dose in a 24 hour period. The recommended starting schedule is one dose every other day as needed for patients with late-stage advanced illness. Relistor is not recommended for patients with known or suspected intestinal obstructions.

Common side effects include abdominal pain, gas, nausea, dizziness and diarrhea. If severe diarrhea, vomiting, nausea or abdominal pain occurs while taking Relistor, patients should discontinue use of the medication in consultation with their health care professional.

The safety and effectiveness of the drug was demonstrated in clinical studies conducted by the sponsors. The two randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled studies involving a total of 287 participants were conducted over a four month period. The median age of the study participants was 68 years, and 51 percent of the participants were women. In both studies, all patients had advanced late-stage illnesses with a life expectancy of less than 6 months. Prior to treatment with Relistor, participants had either less than three bowel movements in the week prior to treatment or no bowel movement for more than 2 days. Patients who were treated with Relistor had a significantly higher rate of elimination than those receiving placebo. The safety and effectiveness of Relistor have not been studied in pediatric populations.

Relistor is manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc., Philadelphia, PA., and Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY.

Source FDA Approves Relistor for Opioid-Induced Constipation

Although smoking is the No. 1 cause of lung cancer, viruses may also contribute to the development of this fatal disease, new research suggests.

Dr. Arash Rezazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Kentucky presented their findings at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva.

For the study, the researchers examined lung cancer tissue samples taken from 23 patients, all smokers. Six samples tested positive for HPV, although one case resulted from cervical cancer that spread to the lungs. The remaining five HPV-positive samples comprised the following stains: HPV-16, HPV-11, and HPV-22.

“The fact that five out of 22 non-small-cell lung cancer samples were HPV-positive supports the assumption that HPV contributes to the development of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC),” the study authors say in a news release, Webmd.com reports.

“We think HPV has a role as a co-carcinogen which increases the risk of cancer in a smoking population,” Dr. Rezazade said.

He added that more study needs to be done in the near future. “In terms of HPV, our finding is pretty controversial. And this is just the beginning of the road. There is much more work to be done. But it's important to know that being infected with this virus does appear to increase lung cancer risk.”

However controversial or not the findings of the study are, they raise an intriguing question: Could an HPV vaccine similar to Gardasil, the one approved to protect women against cervical cancer, also help thwart lung cancers? - See Viruses May Increase Lung Cancer Risk

Anesthesiology researchers from University of Toronto have come to the aid of people suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as they are at high risk for respiratory complications during and after surgery. Taking the new test, these patients will be able to know for sure if they have sleep apnea or not.

The test, called STOP test, is very simple containing just four yes/no questions and can be taken without the help of a physician. The questions are as follows: Do you snore loudly? Do you often feel tired, fatigued or sleepy during daytime? Has anyone observed you stop breathing during sleep? Do you have or are you being treated for high blood pressure?

If a patient answers “yes” to two questions, this means he/she is at high risk for sleep apnea, anesthesiologist Frances Chung, M.D. study lead author said, according to the Washington Post. “This patient may need to be monitored for oxygen saturation after surgery and may need more nursing care. Identifying patients with OSA is the first step in preventing postoperative complications. Untreated OSA patients are known to have a higher incidence of difficult intubation, postoperative complications, increased intensive care admissions and greater duration of hospital stay,” he added. - See New Test to Detect Sleep Apnea before Surgery for the complete report.