Guest guest Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 " Federally funded cancer research will continue to decline in real terms. Advocates were hopeful that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Cancer Institute (NCI) would receive significant budget increases after being flat-funded for the better part of the last decade. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the rest of the cancer advocacy community have advocated for increases of $4.2 billion for the NIH and $691 million for the NCI; bringing their overall FY 2011 budgets to $35 billion and $5.7 billion, respectively. While there is still a chance that funding for cancer research could be increased in either an extended continuing resolution or a budget passed once Congress returns to the Hill, continuing budget pressures make the prospect increasingly unlikely. " In addition to NIH and NCI, the continuing resolution also maintained spending levels for other programs important to blood cancer patients. Among them, the Geraldine Ferraro Blood Cancer Education Program, housed at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which will be funded at its FY 2010 budget level of $4.67 million. The program had been cut from the Administration's budget proposal sent to Congress in February and was the subject of appeals to Congress, so its inclusion in the continuing resolution is a positive outcome and a credit to blood cancer advocates. " " In the final days in session before members left for the campaign trail, Congress took action on several bills that affect blood cancer patients. Both chambers of Congress passed The Stem Cell Therapeutic and Research Reauthorization Act of 2010 (H.R.6081 / S.3751) and the bill now moves to President Barack Obama's desk to be signed into law. This measure would reauthorize a previous law that reformed the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), which operates a registry to find unrelated donors for patients who need a bone marrow or cord blood transplant. " LLS Advocacy Update - go to www.LLS.org ______________________ Vitamin D May Help Relieve Asthma October 19, 2010 " For years, medical experts have speculated that asthma may be linked to a deficiency of vitamin D. Though debate continues over how much vitamin D is enough, experts now believe they have uncovered an association between asthma and low levels of the " sunshine vitamin, " so called because our bodies can manufacture vitamin D when exposed to sunlight. " To better understand the relationship between vitamin D and asthma, researchers combed through asthma-related scientific articles published between 1950 and 2009. They discovered that asthma is more common among people with obesity, African Americans and people living in Westernized countries—the same groups that also have higher rates of vitamin D deficiency. " http://tinyurl.com/2g2vj4f __________________ This was the treatment in 1953 http://tinyurl.com/2dw8kth ____________________ FRIDAY, Feb. 20 (HealthDay News) -- " U.S. researchers say they've spotted a mechanism by which chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) progresses into a deadlier stage. The finding may improve patient outcomes, they said. The researchers found that when a molecular off-switch called glycogen synthase kinase (GSK) 3 beta becomes faulty in chronic stage CML cells, it fails to turn off another protein called beta-catenin. This enables pre-leukemia stem cells to develop into leukemia stem cells and increase their numbers, leading to the more dangerous " blast crisis " state of CML. " If we can predict when a patient is moving from the chronic phase in CML to the blast crisis stage, then we can hopefully intervene before it's too late, " study co-leader Dr. Catriona H.M. son, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine and director for Stem Cell Research at the s UCSD Cancer Center, said in a university news release. " http://tinyurl.com/2eh6d9s _____________________ " It is estimated that 4,870 men and women (2,800 men and 2,070 women) will be diagnosed with and 440 men and women will die of chronic myeloid leukemia in 2010. (http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/ 1975_2007/results_single/ sect_01_ta Table.01.pdf). The following information is based on NCI’s SEER Cancer Statistics Review Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Section (http://seer.cancer.gov/csr/ 1975_2007/results_merged/ sect_13_leukemia.pdf) ..Use the links on this page to learn more about each statistic type: a.. Incidence & Mortality, Survival,Lifetime Risk, & References http://tinyurl.com/26v3a8t ___________________ LIFETIME RISKS: posted to the SEER web site, 2010.Surgical Errors Continue Despite Protocols (Written by Roni C. Rabin) on 10/15/1 / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / " Despite a requirement that hospitals abide by a standard set of procedures to prevent surgical mistakes like operating on the wrong patient or the wrong body part, such errors continue to occur far too often, researchers are reporting. In the worst case reported, a chest tube was inserted into the wrong lung — the healthy one — and it collapsed, killing the patient. In other cases, surgeons removed a healthy ovary, operated on the wrong side of the brain, fused the wrong vertebrae and did procedures on the wrong eye, knee, foot, elbow and hand. " Based on rates from 2005-2007, 0.16% of men and women born today will be diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia at some time during their lifetime. This number can also be expressed as 1 in 635 men and women will be diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia during their lifetime. These statistics are called the lifetime risk. " The probability of developing cancer in the course of one's lifespan. Lifetime risk may also be discussed in terms of the probability of developing or of dying from cancer. Based on cancer rates from 2005 to 2007, it was estimated that men had about a 44 percent chance of developing cancer in their lifetimes, while women had about a 38 percent chance. of developing cancer. Sometimes it is more useful to look at the probability of developing The chance that a person will develop cancer in his/her lifetime. chronic myeloid leukemia between two age groups. For example, 0.05% of men will develop chronic myeloid leukemia between their 50th and 70th birthdays compared to 0.04% for women. (See Fast Stats for more detailed statistics, and Probability of Developing and Dying of Cancer for methodology. " http://tinyurl.com/2w3cp3c __________________ Losing Touch With the Patient ( By: PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D., October 21, 2010) " Several years ago I helped care for a man who had been hospitalized with a severe infection of the abdominal wall. When his primary doctors discovered that the bacteria responsible was resistant to most antibiotics, they quickly isolated him, moving him into a single room with a sign on the door proclaiming “Contact Precautions” and directing visitors to put on gloves, mask and gown before entering. Doctor and Patient Losing Touch With the Patient By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D. Published: October 21, 2010 a.. Recommend b.. Twitter c.. Sign In to E-Mail d.. Print e.. Reprints a.. ShareClose a.. Linkedin b.. Digg c.. Mixx d.. MySpace e.. Buzz f.. Permalink g.. Several years ago I helped care for a man who had been hospitalized with a severe infection of the abdominal wall. When his primary doctors discovered that the bacteria responsible was resistant to most antibiotics, they quickly isolated him, moving him into a single room with a sign on the door proclaiming “Contact Precautions” and directing visitors to put on gloves, mask and gown before entering. " But garbing up in all those items was not a straightforward exercise. The gowns, vast swaths of baby-yellow polyester, added an insulating and sweat-inducing layer. The masks were either so flimsy they fell off easily or so unyielding they muffled voices and steamed up eyeglasses. And the gloves had such generous finger pockets that the excess latex inevitably got tangled in the loops and ties of the gowns and masks or in the dressing materials and bedding of the patient. As the weeks wore on, we clinicians found ourselves minimizing our interactions, designating one team member to suit up and complete the work needed or shouting out updates and questions to the patient from the sterile safety of the doorway. " Increasingly isolated in these ways, he began to withdraw from everyone except his wife. His once daily declarations that he was going to “beat this infection” became less vocal, dimming to whispers, then disappearing altogether. He stopped turning to face us when we called out to him, choosing instead to continue staring blankly at the ceiling. In trying so hard to contain the infection, had we lost sight of the person? " http://tinyurl.com/2ds2qnr ___________________ FYI, Lottie Duthu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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