Cancer Linked to Depression?

It's perfectly understandable that having cancer could plunge anyone into depression. However, a study conducted in 2009 has hinted at the possibility that it could also occur the other way around: being seriously depressed could be indicative of an underlying cancer. Should this theory prove to be correct, then people diagnosed with depression would be prescribed to undergo various medical tests to detect tumors instead of the usual antidepressants.

As written by Colette Bouchez in her 2009 blogpost, this premise has been featured online, discussed under the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. Accordingly, neuroscientists from the University of Chicago have found viable proof identifying hidden tumors to be the culprit behind the biochemical changes alluding to depression. With this comes the possibility that depression could strike the patient long before the actual formation of the cancerous tumor.

However, although researchers hold strongly to their belief that depression could have resulted from biochemical changes directly induced by the tumor cells, no confirmed explanations exist regarding the exact causes that brought them about. However, according to one theory, the reason could be traced to cytokines, immune cells that ward off illnesses, whose reaction to bacterial infections is through behavioral alterations.



Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Three Helpful Tips on Staying Cancer-Free

Despite the fact that someone has yet to come up with an exact cancer-prevention method all of us can use, there are three measures we can undertake to help us steer clear of the big “C.” They are as follows:


* Ditch the smoking habit for good.


Accordingly, kicking the smoking habit reduces your cancer risk tremendously. The cigarette alone has been attributed to a variety of cancers, namely; lung, esophagus, mouth, throat, cervix, larynx, kidney, bladder, stomach, and pancreas.


* Go easy on the booze.


There is a very good reason why they always advise drinkers to moderate their booze intake. Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to a great number of breast cancer cases as well as cancers of the esophagus, liver, mouth, and lungs.


* Be wary of your sun exposure.


For all its life giving components, the sun could also pose serious cancer risks if you are not careful. Both kinds of its ultraviolet rays (UVA and UVB) have been ascertained to damage the skin, putting it at risk of acquiring skin problems, early wrinkling, and even skin cancer.


Contributed By: Maris Modesto

Lights Out!

Do you sleep with the lights on? If you're afraid of things that go bump in the night while you sleep, it's high time you grow up and start sleeping in total darkness. As nature would have it, keeping the lights on during bedtime puts your health at serious risk. And as to what serious danger this is, it is none other than the big “C” (cancer) itself.

As published in a Reader's digest article in July 2009, sleeping with artificial lights on causes your body to slow down its melatonin production, which eventually causes cancer. A popular theory that has been circulating for years now, it is advocated by findings from various researches. Accordingly, artificial light at night raises the risk of prostate cancer among men (based on a research by the University of Haifa in Israel) and breast cancer among post-menopausal women(based on the study of Harvard researchers).

So the next time you catch yourself about to turn on your night-light prior to bedtime, stop! Ghosts may scare the crap out of you, but for all you know, they're nowhere as real or frightening as the cancer risk of sleeping with the lights on.

The experimental stem cell

Breast-growing approach, called Neopec, will allow breast cancer victims to re-grow breasts within six months – eliminating the need for implants or cosmetic surgery.

It would also destroy the need for foreign bodies being inserted such as silicon implants.

The Melbourne-based Bernard O''Brien institute of Microsurgery, which pioneered the procedure, could revolutionise the billion-dollar international cosmetic surgery industry by allowing women to grow their own bigger breasts naturally.

Five women will undergo the radical surgery within weeks ahead of a three-year-trial.

If successful, the procedure could become widely available to breast cancer patients.

The revolutionary technique relies on surgeons implanting a biodegradable synthetic breast-shaped chamber beneath the skin on a woman's chest to act as a scaffold for the new breast to grow in.

They then redirect a blood vessel from the woman's underarm through the chamber to a 5ml piece of the patient's own fat, which spontaneously grows to fill a fist-sized space and forms a new breast over the next four to six months.

The fat tissue stops growing when it reaches the chamber to ensure the desired shape and size, while the chamber degrades after the breast is formed allowing for a simple one-operation process.

"We strongly believe that if this works this will replaces silicone implants. It is a much better product because if you get fatter or thinner it does the same thing and it naturally forms as a natural breast implant," the Daily Telegraph quoted Bernard O''Brien Institute director Professor Wayne Morrison as saying.

Stem Cell Technology New Cancer Treatments

Indianapolis researchers are developing technology which could lessen negative side affects during stem cell transplants for cancer patients. general Biotechnology's apparatus pumps bone marrow stem cells through a especially designed tube. The fiber filled tube moderately cleans the Dimethyl Sulfoxide preservative from the bone marrow transplant whiles still maintaining the cell’s efficacy. DMSO is a usually applied preservative which increases the shelf life of cells, but can cause complications with patients when it is injected into their system.

“There has been a demand for this technology as long as frozen bone marrow transplants have been used to treat patients. This project originated through our company’s mission of listening to physicians and specifically developing technologies to meet critical needs,” said Erik J. Woods, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of General BioTechnology. “Over 30,000 people a year in this country receive this type of procedure, our hope is that our system will help yield better outcomes with fewer complications.”

For more information visit: http://stemcellumbilicalcordblood.com/tag/stem-cell-cancer-treatment/

Concept: Cryotherapy / C.I.C. A New, Better Approach to Cancer

The long wait is over and many of us did not know this that cancer is already curable thanks to the technology of new cryo-surgery they say that this type of method is already existed and the only hospital who apply this method is in china at Fuda Hospital-Guangzhou they take a histolic approach in treating cancer. Cancer therapy goes much further than just chemotherapy,radiation and conventional surgery. Along with their award winning history of successful using cryosurgery to remove solid tumors, Fuda uses immunotheraphy as the key treatment to enhance greatly the immune system - specially after hash chemotherapy to slow the spread of cancer , prevent metastasis and improve general health. Using Fuda Method we believe it is necessary to apply two lines of approach which is of equal importance and complementary to one another:


What is Immunotherapy (CIC)?

Basically refers to everything that research has shown to boost the immune system and restrict the effects of the cancer and its associated symptoms. Immonunotherapy is a general term that refers to the range of cutting edges as well as traditional medicines that we combine to enhance the body's immune system. Immunotherapy includes such therapies as:

- Cytokine Include killer Cell's (CIK)
- Dendritic Cells (DC)
- Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCM)
- Mixed Vaccines


All the components in our CIC been shown to have a strong inhibiting effect on cancer. Immunotherapy is especially good for preventing metastasis and recurrence slowing the growth of cancer, improving general Health, and boosting the immune system after immune-suppressing effects chemotherapy

What is Cryosurgery?

Cryosurgery is an important technique for the removal and destruction of tumors. It destroys tumors by using cycle of freezing and thawing. By using probes that are inserted in the tumor a ice ball is formed at the tip of the probe. This ice ball grows larger and larger until it completely envelopes the tumor: Once the temperatures falls below -40 Celsius, ice crystal form within the cancer cells Once this it occurs, cell death is almost certain.

Cryosurgery's destructive effects on tumors are due to two major mechanisms:one immediate, the immune system of the patient becomes more sensitive to the type of the cancer being destroyed by cryosurgery. Basically, the body's immune system becomes more aware of that specific cancer and raises an alarm the to rest of the immune system to attack that particular cancer. Any primary tumor tissue undamaged by the cryosurgery. Basically, the body's immune system becomes more aware of that specific cancer and raises an alarm the rest of the immune system to attack the particular cancer. Any primary tumors tissue undamaged by the cryosurgery is more likely to destroyed by the immune system after cryosurgery. this response is called the 'cryo-immunological response.

Facts About Smoking and Our Environment

Smoking endangers the health of smokers and non-smokers alike. What many people don't realize is that this nasty habit also endangers our environment.
Since time immemorial, we have been told over and over again about the detrimental effects of smoke on one's health. On top of this, we have also been informed about the lethal effects of second-hand smoke, which affects non-smokers who are unfortunate enough to inhale it simply because a smoker is among them. Yet, the factual knowledge concerning the negative effects of smoking on our environment is something not all of us know about. Reasonably speaking, the facts about smoking and our environment does not show a pretty picture. Let us learn what they are:

• Obviously, since smoking is air-borne, it contributes to the already polluted atmosphere we have. Specifically, of the 4,000 harmful chemicals a cigarette contains, two of its gases have been confirmed to contribute to the negative green house effect, which is the culprit for the global warming the world is experiencing at present. These gases are are carbon dioxide and methane.

• Although the smoke coming from the cigarette of one smoker is negligible, the smoke coming from billions of smokers throughout the world generates enough poisonous gas to aggravate our already terribly polluted air. Even if we do not do the math, we can easily tell that on a daily basis, the amount of smoke contributing to environmental pollution would eventually add up.

• Pollution generated by smoking is not limited to the air. It also affects the land and water. Just look at all the cigarette butts and ash being dumped on the ground and swept along in canals or other bodies of water, and you will understand why this is so.

• The most serious environmental effect of smoking could be more attributable to the production of cigarettes than smoking itself. In manufacturing cigarettes, four miles of paper are used per hour simply for rolling and packing them. Paper, as we all know, comes from trees, and for every 300 cigarettes manufactured, one tree goes to waste. The trees that are supposed to filter out the pollution from the air are instead being used to contribute to it. Ironic, isn't it? Moreover, the tobacco industry has refused to resort to upgrade their technology in an attempt to reduce their consumption of trees because this means a big portion has to be taken out of their profit annually.

• In 120 countries, tobacco is the most popularly grown crop that is not intended for food. The land being occupied by the aforementioned can be used instead for growing other food crops; this means being able to feed up to 20 more million people.

• The tobacco plant necessitates chemicals and pesticides to keep it healthy, for it is classified as a sickly plant. These chemicals and pesticides are absorbed into the ground. They also go up to the air. All in all they worsen pollution.

• The number one cause of indoor pollution is burning tobacco.

Summary:

Since time immemorial, we have been told over and over again about the detrimental effects of smoke on one's health. Yet, the factual knowledge concerning the negative effects of smoking on our environment is something not all of us know about. The facts about smoking and our environment does not show a pretty picture. If smoking endangers smokers and non-smokers alike, then it is logical to assume that this nasty habit also endangers our environment on the whole.

Resource Box: Maricel Modesto is a writer and editor who writes for various health and lifestyle magazines.