Dr zur Hausen discovered type 16 HPV in 1983 by studying the biopsies of women diagnosed with cervical cancer. A year later, he cloned HPV types 16 and 18, the two forms of the virus responsible for approximately 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. His research led to the development of a vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer.

Dr zur Hausen will share his award with two French virologists, Dr Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Dr Luc Montageir, who are both credited with discovering the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) responsible for causing AIDS.

The 2008 Nobel Prizes for physics, chemistry, literature and peace are scheduled to be announced later this week.

To read more about the amazing scientists and discoveries that have earned the prestigious Nobel Prize, check out NobelPrize.org.

If you’d like to learn about other cervical cancer risk factors, you can visit MayoClinic.com.

Source: The New York Times

Related Links: Reuters; Gynecologic Cancer Foundation

Related Podcast: Nobel Prize in Medicine for Major Virus Discoveries from NPR

Tags: epidemiology; female cancers; Gardasil, gynecologic cancer; reproductive health; public health; sexually transmitted diseases; women’s health

The world-class swimmer earned his place on the Olympic team just a week after learning he has testicular cancer. Diagnostic tests indicate his malignancy is in the early stages, so Eric (with his doctor’s approval) has made the difficult decision to postpone his cancer surgery to pursue his dream of competing in the Olympics.

So far his choice is paying off. He placed second in his heat for the Men’s 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:10.29 and advanced into the semifinals.

By going public with his condition, the determined young man is also raising a lot of awareness about testicular cancer and inspiring cancer survivors around the globe.

As one famous testicular cancer survivor rooting for Eric said,

“I think at the Olympics he will swim like a man possessed because he’s been reminded of how fragile his life – and our life – is.”

Lance Armstrong

If you’d like to cheer on Eric during his quest for an Olympic medal, he is scheduled to compete again on August 13, 2008, at 10:56 a.m in China’s National Aquatics Center.

GOOD LUCK, ERIC!

Sources: ajc.com and The New York Times

Related Link: Times Online (UK)

Tags: oncology

Kind and generous folks offered me quilts, baseball caps or scarves, pill containers, stress balls, rides to the hospital, medical books and shoulders to cry on…it was all mine just for the asking.

I’m not just talking about the doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers involved in my treatment either. Along with the dedicated professionals who provided my medical care, there were relatives, friends, neighbors, nonprofit organizations, religious groups, fellow cancer survivors, co-workers and complete strangers offering to support me through those difficult days.

Most of the time I politely declined their offers telling would-be supporters I didn’t need anything while thanking them for their generosity. I could tell they really wanted to help, but I simply couldn’t think of anything I needed other than to be healthy again. After they got several assurances I would call if I ever changed my mind, they moved on and I continued with my life as a cancer survivor. Unable to help me directly, some did fundraising for scientific research (wonderful!), but many said they still wished they could do more.

Well, it’s been three years since my last treatment and I’m hoping some of those offers are still good. That’s because I’ve finally thought of something you can do for me and all the other cancer survivors out there: GIVE BLOOD.

I’m not sure why I didn’t ask sooner – maybe it was chemobrain. Back when I was in the military I, along with most of the people I worked with, regularly gave blood because…well…war and disaster relief are bloody businesses. Blood mobiles would routinely show up at our installation and we’d form a line, fill a bag, and enjoy a cup of juice afterwards. I guess most military professionals just figure donating is part of our duty to those we serve and serve with. (For similar reasons, civilian medical professionals tend to donate quite a bit too.)

After I started my cancer treatments, I couldn’t donate blood (turns out I still can’t — for now at least). That means I lost the opportunity to help my buddies in the oncology ward who are still battling for their lives.

The American Red Cross reports that every 2 seconds somebody in the United States needs a blood transfusion.

Every 2 seconds.

Thousands of those relying on lifesaving blood cells, platelets or plasma products are cancer patients. They may need blood because chemotherapy diminished their platelet supply, they could be a child with leukemia needing blood transfusions, or a breast cancer patient having a lumpectomy. They could even be a cancer survivor having an organ transplant.

All these cancer therapies and many more take blood – sometimes lots of blood.

A single leukemia patient can use 8 units of platelets daily for 2 to 4 weeks. One liver transplant takes an average of 10 units of red blood cells. I never required donated blood products while I was in the military, but my I consumed a couple units once I had my oncology surgery.

That’s why I’m asking for your help now. It’s really hard for me to see people I care about fighting The War on Cancer knowing I can’t replace the blood somebody generously donated to help me. Until I’m eligible to donate again myself I’m doing what I can which includes asking you, our Cancer Research Journal readers, to help.

I realize most of you probably envisioned something a little different when you offered your support to me or other cancer patients, but please trust me when I say this is one the best ways you could ever help the cancer community.

So, if you’re healthy enough and it’s not against your personal convictions, please consider giving blood. If you’re up to it, make time to go regularly and bring a friend.

If you’re a cancer survivor — or some other survivor who isn’t eligible to donate blood products – remember you can still help the cause. Organize blood drives in your community or suggest blood donations to anybody offering you support. You can even post a suggestion or public service announcement on your own web site. Consider your efforts a payback to all those who helped you make it this far.

If you live in the US and would like to locate a blood donation center near you, visit the American Red Cross Give Life web site at www.givelife.org or ask the staff at your local hospital.

To everyone who finds a way to contribute, my heartfelt thanks. You are truly giving the gift of life.

Source: CancerResearchJournal.com

Technorati Tags: cancer support; charity

Why Columbus?

The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) is hosting a major cancer summit at Ohio State University on July 24-27, 2008.

Organizers of the summit are planning to bring together 1,000 leaders from across the country to discuss the future of cancer research in the United States. By bringing together cancer survivors, healthcare professionals, major media outlets and prominent politicians, the event hopes to raise awareness about the importance of legislation funding scientific research related to cancer prevention and treatment.

The summit will also help voters learn candidates’ plans for addressing the cancer epidemic before ballots are cast this fall.

Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain has already confirmed he will attend the 2008 LIVESTRONG Summit. Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama has yet to respond to LAF’s invitation. (If you know him, please encourage him to accept.)

Whether Senator Obama makes the time to attend or not, the summit is an important step in keeping cancer research on the national agenda. As LAF’s famous founder said,

“We have 10,000,000 cancer survivors in this country. If they all came together and said, that’s it, that’s our issue — we’re going to vote that way, we’re going to ask the hard questions, and we’re going to hold our leaders accountable, then that’s how you affect change.”

Lance Armstrong
Champion Cyclist, Testicular Cancer Survivor, Cancer Advocate

To learn more about government funding for the National Cancer Institute, visit the NCI Office of Budget and Finance web site at http://obf.cancer.gov/.

Source: LIVESTRONG Newsletter

Related Links: Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute; CancerAdvocatesCoalition.org

Technorati Tags: cancer awareness; government grants; election issues; national health policy; nonprofit organization

In 1991, President George H.W. Bush appointed Dr Healy the first woman director of the National Institutes of Health. She was also chosen to lead the American Red Cross during their response to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.

After being diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 1999, Dr Healy was surprised by some of the awkward comments and gestures she received from those who discovered she was a cancer patient. People who meant well would do inappropriate things like grabbing her hair to see if she was wearing a wig and one woman told her “It’s amazing how good you can look when you’re dying.”

Hoping to spare future cancer patients the discomfort of these difficult encounters, the doctor decided to include practical tips on cancer etiquette when she wrote her own book Living Time – Faith and Facts to Transform Your Cancer Journey.

One simple piece of advice she offers readers is to think about how you’d like to be treated before you start speaking. As the author says,

“One thing you don’t want to do is to instantly assume it’s terminal.”

Bernadine Healy, MD
Oliogodendroglioma Survivor

Living Time covers more than just cancer etiquette, it also contains Dr Healy’s personal and professional insights about cancer treatments and the future of cancer research. To read an excerpt from her book, click here.

Living Time is published by Bantam, a division of Random House, Inc. To find out if a public library near you carries it, check out WorldCat.org

If you’d like more tips on supporting a loved one with cancer, there’s a lot of useful information on the Common Questions on Caring and Helping web page published by Massachusetts General Hospital.

Source: CNN

Related Links: Cleveland.com; getyourheadinthegame.org

Technorati Tags: cancer books; caregiving; cancer support; mixed gliomas; oncology

Grant Achatz is the head chef at Alinea, an upscale Chicago restaurant recognized as the best in the country by Gourmet Magazine. He’s also a tongue cancer survivor.

Last July, Achatz, an otherwise healthy non-smoker, was diagnosed with advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma. The disease had already spread through approximately 70 percent of his tongue and he was classified Stage IV.

After consulting several top oncologists, the 34-year-old father was faced with a difficult choice: have three-quarters of his tongue cut out or try an alternative treatment approach being practiced at the University of Chicago Medical Center. He knew the alternative method would be painful, but it might preserve his tongue so he decided to give it a try.

The alternative method (called combination therapy) changes the standard order of treatment from surgery, radiation and chemotherapy to chemotherapy, radiation and possible surgery later. This approach is designed to shrink or possibly eliminate malignant tumors and lesions prior to performing surgery so more of an organ’s tissue can be spared.

The chef’s case is being handled by a medical team which specializes in trying to save organs rather than removing them. This team of doctors includes oncologist Everett Vokes, head-and-neck surgeon Elizabeth Blair, and radiologist Daniel Haraf. As one members of the team said,

“We were offering him six months of pure misery. But we were also telling him that there was a 70 percent chance that he would be cured.”

Daniel J. Haraf, MD
Medical Director, Radiation Oncology
University of Chicago Medical Center

Achatz did experienced serious side effects which included loss of appetite, difficulty swallowing, hair loss, and painful skin burns, but he remained determined. He even created exciting new recipes while he was getting chemotherapy infusions, and his friend sous-chef Jeff Picus helped out by tasting them with his own expert palate.

The chef’s choice appears to have paid off – he’s been cancer-free for five months and his sense of taste is starting to return.

If you’d like additional information on oral/mouth cancers, you can get it on the National Cancer Institute and the Oral Cancer Foundation web sites.

Source: Associated Press Article from FOX News

Related Links: The New Yorker; NapaValleyRegister.com; The American Dental Association; ImTooYoungForThis.org

Technorati Tags: head and neck cancer; rare diseases; glossectomy; second opinions

Lori’s husband died in 2007 of neck cancer at the age of 49. Lori says that neither she nor Bobby gave any thought to annual screenings before his diagnosis at 47. They also had no idea that more than 7,000 Americans die of head and neck cancers annually.

Bobby’s cancer was discovered when he went to see a dentist to get a wisdom tooth removed.

But now she knows early detection plays a crucial role in cancer survival and she’s spreading the word at locations where there’s plenty of people to listen to her message: NASCAR races. While she travels the circuit she speaks to race fans and visits surrounding clinics encouraging adults to get screened for head and neck cancers every year, raising awareness about the symptoms, and reassuring the reluctant that detection is easy and painless. At the Kansas Speedway, health professionals from the University of Kansas Hospital offered free cancer screenings before the start of the race. As Lori explains,

“At a racetrack, we have a captive audience of 80,000 people. If we can reach a third of them, maybe it can make a difference.”

Lori Hamilton
Head and Neck Cancer Awareness Advocate

A study conducted by Johns Hopkins University found HPV-related oral cancers alone nearly doubled between 1973 and 2004. If you’d like to learn more about head and neck cancers you can visit Cancer.Net, a web site containing information from the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

Source: CNN

Related Links: wsbt.com; KansasCity.com; NASCAR.com; The Yul Brynner Head and Neck Cancer Foundation; Mouth Cancer Foundation

Related Video: Lori Hamilton, Wife of NASCAR Legend Bobby Hamilton, Urges from myspacetv.com

Technorati Tags: cancer advocacy; otolaryngology; squamous cell carcinoma

To recognize the important contributions of these visionaries, the USPS is offering a series of commemorative stamps entitled American Scientists. The individuals being honored in the new series are theoretical physicist John Bardeen (1908-1991), biochemist Gerty Cori (1896-1957), astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), and structural chemist Linus Pauling (1901-1994).

American Scientists Stamps from USPS

These innovative, award-winning scientists are credited with increasing our understanding of superconductivity, metabolic disease, proteins, molecular biology and the universe, among other things. As one USPS official said during a stamp dedication ceremony held March 6th, 2008, at Madison Square Garden,

“We are here to honor four extraordinary individuals who pushed back the frontiers of knowledge on behalf of all mankind.”

James C. Miller III
USPS Board of Governors

The new stamps are the second grouping in a USPS series designed to recognize people who’ve made lasting contributions to the scientific community.

Budding geniuses, science teachers, and other postal patrons who’d like to dress up their letters or grant applications may purchase the 41-cent stamps online at the USPS Postal Store and US Post Offices.

If you’re interested in reading or listening to more about men and women who’ve changed the world with their commitment and research, you can find some great articles and podcasts on the Nobel Prize.org web site.

Source: Postal News

Related Links: Caltech Today; National Postal Museum; India eNews; the Dispersal of Darwin

Technorati Tags: inventors; stamp collecting; philatelist; cancer stamps

Individuals raised in traditional Korean cultures are often taught to maintain a solemn demeanor, especially when they’re outside their own home. Smiling is considered appropriate, but public displays of stronger emotions like laughing or crying are usually discouraged and can feel unnatural especially to members of Korea’s older generation.

Cancer patients everywhere commonly experience periods of depression following diagnosis, chemotherapy or other phases of treatment. Studies show that laughter can expand blood vessels, stimulate circulation and impact serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain linked with happiness and sleep.

Cancer survivors in western societies frequently report that humor and joking with fellow patients helped them get through the treatment process, yet Korean patients sometimes miss out on that potential benefit because they’re unaccustomed to expressing themselves in that manner.

One hour of group laughter therapy each Friday was enough to help Jung-Oak Lee, 64, fight off the depression she felt after two years of chemotherapy treatments for colon cancer. She travels almost two hours to join 100 laughter therapy patients at Seoul National University Hospital and admits that she still sometimes thinks laughing out loud is “a bit low class.”

Nurse and laughter therapist Lim-Sun Lee leads Seoul National’s sessions which include jokes, show-and-tell confessions, mimicking, giggling, laughing and even dancing. Cancer patients from six years old to senior citizen age and their families are invited to participate so they can experience the therapeutic powers of laughter. As nurse Lee describes,

“Laughing is considered positive, but many people still don’t know how to let it out. But all it takes is four sessions. After that, they start cracking up.”

Lim-Sun Lee
Nurse, Seoul National University Hospital

If you’re a cancer patient or caregiver with symptoms of depression, tell your doctor right away – they’ll help you find the therapy that works best for you.

Source: ABC News

Related Links: American Cancer Society; The New York Times

Related Podcast: The Growing Popularity of Laughter Therapy from NPR

Technorati Tags: mental health; coping; alternative medicine; oncology nursing; patient-centered care; natural healing; cancer support groups

This year’s ACS honors will go to:

Karen Allison, CPNP
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York

Karleen Habin, RN
Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts

Kathy Lopeman, RN
Central Peninsula Hospital, Soldotna, Alaska

Dolores Moorehead
Women’s Cancer Resource Center, Oakland, California

Robert Parker, MD
Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York

Mace Rothenberg, MD
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee

Kris Sargent, RN
Mercy Regional Cancer Center, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Blue Walcer
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California

ACS has been recognizing the achievements of dedicated cancer caregivers with the Lane W. Adams Quality of Life Award since 1988. As one ACS official said,

“These awards exemplify the exceptional hope, inspiration, and support these exceptional people provide daily to cancer patients and their families. These extraordinary awardees deserve to be recognized for their inspirational efforts to make a difference in the fight against cancer.”

Elmer Huerta, MD, MPH
National Volunteer President, ACS

Source: American Cancer Society, Inc

Related Links: Looking in at Iowa; MediLexicon

Related Podcast: Geriatric Care – How to Hire a Caregiver from the Medical University of South Carolina

Tags: humanitarian; community service; nursing; patient-centered care