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HEALTH TIPS WEEKLY - Thursday, July 5, 2007
"News That Keeps You Healthy"
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New factor in breast cancer prediction
ROCHESTER, Minn.,--A U.S. study suggests women with at least
three sites of cellular atypia in breast tissue are nearly
eight times more likely to develop breast cancer. "The most
commonly used tool for risk prediction in women with atypia
is the Gail model, which may predict inaccurately because
our study shows that family history does not change risk
significantly in women with atypia," said Dr. Amy Degnim,
a Mayo Clinic surgeon and study author. "Our findings indi-
cate women with atypia have a higher absolute risk for
breast cancer than previously estimated. This risk is 25
percent over 25 years and is much higher in women with mult-
iple areas of atypia and calcification." While the study
found family history didn't further increase risk, age at
diagnosis of atypia did affect risk, with women under age
45 more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer com-
pared with women diagnosed with atypia after 55. "With the
ability to stratify the risk of breast cancer in women with
atypia, we can have more informed discussions with our pat-
ients regarding their personal risk," said Degnim. The study
is reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
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Electricity used to kill cancer
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.,-- U.S. researchers said Monday that
focused electric pulses can puncture holes into cancer
cells, killing those cells without using extremes of heat or
cold that can damage other tissues. In laboratory experimen-
ts, a one-minute test utilizing irreversible electroporation
destroyed 92 percent of tumors in mice, said Rafael Davalos,
assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Virginia
Tech in Blacksburg. "The key to this is that it is relativ-
ely simple to perform in places such as community hospitals
or in resource-limited setting," Davalos told United Press
International. "We have already completed laboratory experi-
ments in the test tube and in animals," he said. "We expect
to begin human trials with this process within a year."
In the treatment, small, needle-like electrodes are posit-
ioned around the tumors and electric micropulses are fired.
The electric charges open holes in the cell membranes, some
of which do not close and cannot be repaired by the cell.
These holes are fatal to the cell.
WHO foresees 1 billion smoking deaths
BANGKOK,-- World health experts predicted in Thailand Monday
1 billion people will die of tobacco-related illnesses this
century unless governments act to curb smoking. "Tobacco is
a defective product. It kills half of its customers," said
Douglas Bettcher, head of the World Health Organization's
Tobacco Free Initiative. "It kills 5.4 million people per
year and half of those deaths are in developing countries.
That's like one jumbo jet going down every hour." With smo-
king rates increasing in many developing countries, the
annual death toll would rise to 8.3 million within the next
20 years, Bettcher said at the start of an international
conference in Bangkok. However, he said if governments raise
taxes, ban advertising and made more public areas tobacco-
free, smoking rates could be cut in half by 2050, the Paki-
stan Daily Times reported. "It's a completely preventable
epidemic," Bettcher said. "If we do that, by 2050 we can
save 200 million lives."
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DNA sequencing might become less expensive
EVANSTON, Ill,-- U.S. Nobel Laureate James Watson, co-disc-
overer of DNA, recently became the first person to have his
own genome mapped -- and it cost $1 million. That price
makes such a procedure out of the reach of most people. But
the National Institutes of Health would like to bring the
price down to $1,000 by the year 2014. One promising method
for speeding DNA sequencing times, and thus reducing its
cost, is nanopore sequencing, in which DNA moves through a
tiny hole, much like thread going through a needle. The
technique can detect individual DNA molecules, but the DNA
passes through so quickly it's impossible to determine the
sequence. Using a theory based on classical hydrodynamics,
a Northwestern University researcher now has explained the
nature of the resistive force that determines the speed of
the DNA as it moves through the nanopore, which is just five
to 10 nanometers wide. That understanding could help scien-
tists figure out how to slow the DNA enough to make it read-
able and usable. Associate Professor Sandip Ghosal and coll-
eagues detailed their research in the June 8 issue of the
journal Physical Review Letters.
Diabetes leads to prosthetic boom
WASHINGTON, -- A spike in the number of U.S. amputees due
to diabetes-related complications has turned into a boom in
the long-dormant prosthetics industry. U.S. government stat-
istics show the number of amputees has risen by almost
750,000 over the past 10 years to 1.9 million -- and 60 per-
cent of those people lost limbs due to diabetes-related com-
plications, The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. The
trend has helped the prosthetics industry enjoy significant
revenue growth -- from $340 million in 1996 to almost $600
million in 2006, government numbers suggest. Experts say the
sales increase is the greatest since the modern prosthetics
industry was created during the Civil War. Carlos Sambrano
-- manager and former owner of Life-Like Prosthetics in
Torrance, Calif. -- said he had an average of two or three
patients a day five years ago, but now sees about eight pat-
ients daily. He said as many as 70 percent of his clients
suffer from diabetes, up from about 25 percent when he open-
ed the shop 30 years ago.
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New male infertility finding reported
MANHASSET, N.Y.,--U.S. scientists have discovered a specific
factor in immune cells regulates human semen and seems to
determine whether a man will be fertile. Yousef Al-Abed and
colleagues at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research
isolated an immune substance called macrophage migration in-
hibitory factor, or MIF, in semen samples from infertile and
reproductively healthy men. The semen was collected from men
after a period of sexual abstinence. The scientists had no
idea whether a specific sample came from any of the 68 men
who had problems conceiving or from the 27 healthy controls.
The researchers found those with infertility problems had
MIF levels that were either too high or too low. Those who
had no problems conceiving had levels that were just right.
When the scientists added MIF to lab dishes filled with
healthy sperm, it decreased the count and impaired their
motility. If MIF has a role in infertility, Al-Abed and col-
leagues said they wonder whether it might work as a form of
male contraception. The findings, which could lead to a dia-
gnostic test to determine fertility status, appear in the
journal Molecular Medicine.
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