Author: Dr. William Rassman

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Not Hair Loss News – Aggressive Prostate Cancer Genes Discovered

Snippet from the article:

Treating prostate cancer has always been trickier than most patients anticipate. Unlike other cancers, most prostate tumors are slow-growing and emerge late in life, so the majority of men affected are more likely to die of other causes than their cancer. For up to 15% of cases, however, the disease can be fast-moving and life-threatening, and because doctors don’t have good ways of separating these aggressive cases from the less dangerous ones, many physicians and patients prefer to err on the side of over-treatment. Recent changes to prostate screening recommendations advising men not to get routine blood tests that can signal the disease have made matters more confusing for men worried about the disease.

That may soon change, thanks to a test that can pick out the slow-growing cancers from the faster-growing ones. Researchers at Columbia University report in the journal Cancer Cell that they have identified two genes that are likely driving the most aggressive cases of prostate cancer. Other scientists had linked the genes, FOXM1 and CENPF, to cancer, but none had connected them to prostate growths. And more importantly, none had figured out that the two genes’ cancer-causing effects only occurred if they are turned on at the same time.

Read the rest — The Genes Responsible for Deadly Prostate Cancer Discovered

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Not Hair Loss News – Aspirin Lowers Cancer Risk?

Snippet from the article:

It’s being touted as the latest anticancer wonder drug, it costs just pennies a pill and is probably in your medicine cabinet right now.

A growing body of research is showing that people who take a daily dose of aspirin may be lowering their risk of a variety of seemingly unrelated cancers, including colon, breast, esophagus and skin cancer.

Now a study published this month in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute found that women who took a daily dose of aspirin cut their risk of ovarian cancer by as much as 20 percent.

That study, combined with earlier research, is prompting patients and doctors to wonder if more people would benefit from taking a low dose of aspirin and possibly other nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs.

Read the rest — Aspirin shows promise in lowering cancer risk

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Not Hair Loss News – Alzheimer’s Disease Found Much More in Women Than Men

We now know that there is a gene that contributed to Alzheimer Disease. It is called ApoE4 and is found roughly in 15% of the population. Although males carrying the gene are only slightly more likely to get the disease, women had a 180% increase in the incidence of those carrying the gene. The gender specific nature has not been explained. Why am I writing this for a Hair Loss Blog is because we all have parents and you might find that this information becomes valuable if your parents are over 60 year old.


2014-08-25 08:59:55Not Hair Loss News – Alzheimer’s Disease Found Much More in Women Than Men

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Not Hair Loss News – Cancer Death Rates Are Declining in the US

Snippet from the article:

Cancer death rates continue to decline in the United States for both men and women. Experts say the four major cancers, lung, colorectal, breast and prostate, account for more than two-thirds of the decline.

In 2001, a routine PSA blood test helped John Nemeth, 77, of Glendora detect prostate cancer at a very early stage. Twelve years later, the cancer is gone after undergoing a minimally invasive treatment.

According to 2013 National Report Card on Cancer, success stories like Nemeth’s are on the rise. Deaths from the top four cancer killers are dropping.

From 2001 to 2010, lung cancer deaths dropped 29 percent, a faster rate than in previous years.

Read the rest — Cancer death rates drop 29 percent over decade

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Not Hair Loss News – Heart Failure and Cancer Risk

Snippet from the article:

People with heart failure are also more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, according to a new study that followed older adults with and without heart problems.

The findings don’t prove that heart failure, when the heart can’t pump enough blood to the rest of the body, causes cancer. Researchers said more studies are needed to determine what might explain the link.

“People have not really considered any association of heart failure and cancer together, at least not developing cancer after diagnosis,” said Dr. Adrian Hernandez, a cardiologist at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina.

Read the rest — Heart failure tied to higher cancer risk: study

The study was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The article points out that some heart drugs may increase cancer risks, or that people with heart failure are getting more tests done and seeing their doctors more often.

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Not Hair Loss News – Carrots Can Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk?

Snippet from the article:

Scientists have found that regularly eating the brightly-coloured vegetables appears to reduce the risk of prostate cancer by almost a fifth. Men who included carrots as part of their regular diet, eating them at least three times a week, were 18 per cent less likely to develop a prostate tumour, according to findings published in the latest European Journal of Nutrition.

The study, by scientists at Zhejiang University in China, pulled together the results of ten smaller studies from different parts of the world looking at the anti-cancer effects of carrots. This type of research, called a meta-analysis, is performed when findings from lots of studies with small numbers of patients produce conflicting findings. Some research has suggested carrots do protect the prostate against disease, others have found little or no benefit.

Read the rest — They help you see in the dark – now carrots can reduce the risk of prostate cancer

Always remember to eat your vegetables.

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Not Hair Loss News – Duration of Prostate Cancer Hormone Therapy Questioned

Snippet from the article:

For some men with prostate cancer, hormonal therapy to beat the disease could be safely cut from three years to half that time, a new clinical trial suggests.

When men have cancer that is confined to the prostate gland but at high risk of worsening, one treatment option is radiation therapy plus drugs that cut testosterone levels, because this male hormone feeds the cancer.

Right now, doctors routinely give that hormonal therapy for two to three years, during which time men may suffer unpleasant side effects.

But that routine is based on a clinical trial from the 1990s that found that adding three years of hormonal therapy to radiation could cure certain prostate cancers. That doesn’t necessarily mean three years is ideal.

Read the rest — Could Duration of Prostate Cancer Hormone Therapy Be Halved?

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Not Hair Loss News – Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease Linked?

Snippet from the article:

Two new studies published this week lend credence to the idea that when it comes to exercise, there apparently can be too much of a good thing.

In the first study, led by Dr. Nikola Drca (Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden), and published online May 14, 2014 in Heart, investigators report that men 30 years old, who exercised for more than five hours per week, had significantly higher risks of developing atrial fibrillation later in life compared to men who exercised less.

The report also showed that older adults who walked or rode their bicycle for about an hour per day had a significantly lower risk of atrial fibrillation compared with older adults who almost never participated in such recreational physical activity.

In the second study, led by Dr. Ute Mons (German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany), also published in Heart, researchers studied the association of self-reported physical activity in 1038 subjects with stable coronary heart disease and confirmed previous findings of an increased risk of adverse events among inactive patients. However, they also found those who participated in daily “strenuous” physical activity had an increased risk of dying from cardiovascular causes.

Read the rest — Too Much Exercise: Studies Report J-Shaped Link Between Exercise and CVD Risks

I guess it boils down to: “Bike riding for older folks is good. Exercise for 30 year olds is bad.”


2014-05-20 13:44:52Not Hair Loss News – Exercise and Cardiovascular Disease Linked?

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Not Hair Loss News – European Men Are 11 cm Taller in the Last Century

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The average height of European males increased by an unprecedented 11 cm between the mid-nineteenth century and 1980, according to a new paper published online today in the journal Oxford Economic Papers. Contrary to expectations, the study also reveals that average height actually accelerated in the period spanning the two World Wars and the Great Depression.

Timothy J. Hatton, Professor of Economics at the University of Essex and the Research School of Economics at Australian National University in Canberra, examined and analysed a new dataset for the average height (at the age of around 21) of adult male birth cohorts, from the 1870s to 1980, in fifteen European countries. The data were drawn from a variety of sources. For the most recent decades the data were mainly taken from height-by-age in cross sectional surveys. Meanwhile, observations for the earlier years were based on data for the heights of military conscripts and recruits. The data is for men only as the historical evidence for women’s heights is severely limited.

Read the rest — Average Height of European Males Has Grown by 11 Centimeters in Just Over a Century

Researches theorize it could be due to better living conditions, better nutrition education, and better health systems, along with a decline in infant mortality rates.