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Symptoms Are A Poor Screening Tool For Ovarian Cancer

February 7th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News, Research

Tags: Bloating, Feeling Full, Obstetrics And Gynecology, Ovarian Cancer, Pelvic Pain, symptoms

Thanks to Toni Brayer for pointing out this new study on ovarian cancer symptoms published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

This study confirms previous studies which found that ovarian cancer, long thought to be a silent disease in its early stages, does indeed have symptoms. The problem is that those symptoms – bloating, urinary frequency, pelvic pain, early satiety – are common, non-specific and, according to this new study, 99% of the time not due to an underlying ovarian cancer.

That’s good news, of course, for women with these symptoms. But bad news for those hoping for a means of early detection for ovarian cancer, since early symptom recognition is neither sensitive nor specific enough to be useful as a screening test on a population basis. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*

Classic Study: There’s No Safe Threshold For Cigarette Smoking

February 7th, 2010 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, Research

Tags: Addiction Medicine, Cigarettes, Primary Care, Quitting Smoking, smoking, smoking cessation, Tobacco Control, Tverdal

The journal Tobacco Control has on its website a list of the top 10 most read articles each month. One paper that has been near the top ever since it was published in 2005, was written by Dr Kjell Bjartveit and his colleague Dr Tverdal, on “Health consequences of smoking 1-4 cigrettes per day.”

The study included 23,521 men and 19,201 women, aged 35–49 years when they were initially screened for cardiovascular disease risk factors in the mid 1970s and followed them up to 2002. The researchers calculated the total risks of death and relative risks adjusted for confounding variables, of dying from ischaemic heart disease, all cancer, lung cancer, and from all causes, and examined the effects of regular smoking of only a few cigarettes per day. Read more »

This post, Classic Study: There’s No Safe Threshold For Cigarette Smoking, was originally published on Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..

Early Puberty Linked To Aggression in Women

February 5th, 2010 by Nancy Brown, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research

Tags: Aggression, Childhood Development, Early Puberty, Pediatrics, Peer Pressure, Psychiatry, Psychology, puberty, Women

Interesting title, eh? A University of Queensland study has reported in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology that females who experience puberty before the age of 12 may be more aggressive, which seems perfectly expected to me!

Young girls who experience puberty are frequently the tallest kids in their classrooms, the first ones to have breasts, and are likely to be teased and approached in a sexual manner by older males! This context means they are more likely to date earlier, have opportunities to drink, smoke and become sexual earlier, etc.. In fact, these girls, although they get in more trouble at teens, tend to grow up to be very strong and resilient women – characteristics frequently correlated with aggression!

I am simply not surprised by these results but do hope that the results encourage schools, medical professionals and others who work with preteens to notice pubertal changes and help young girls deal with the pressure and changing peer and social status that comes with puberty.

Photo credit: xinem

This post, Early Puberty Linked To Aggression in Women, was originally published on Healthine.com by Nancy Brown, Ph.D..

Once You Have Lung Cancer, Should You Bother To Quit Smoking?

February 4th, 2010 by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D. in Better Health Network, News, Research

Tags: Addiction Medicine, BMJ, Lung Cancer, Never Too Late To Quit, Oncology, Quit Smoking, smoking cessation

Most smokers dread lung cancer. They are aware that by continuing to smoke the chances of developing lung cancer are increased 20 times, and that once it has developed the treatment is unpleasant and prognosis poor. Many patients (and unfortunately many clinicians) assume that once you have lung cancer it is too late to quit.

This week a new report was published in the BMJ, based on a review of the evidence that smoking cessation after diagnosis of a primary lung tumour affects prognosis. The study, by Drs Parsons, Daley and Aveyard at the UK Centre for Tobacco Control Studies, combined the data from 10 studies. They found that those who quit smoking after diagnosis were significantly less likely to develop another tumor and significantly more likely to still be alive 5 years later. Read more »

This post, Once You Have Lung Cancer, Should You Bother To Quit Smoking?, was originally published on Healthine.com by Jonathan Foulds, Ph.D..

How To Reconstruct A Belly Button (Umbilicus)

February 4th, 2010 by RamonaBatesMD in Better Health Network, Health Tips, Research

Tags: Belly Button, How To Reconstruct, Neoumbilicoplasty, Plastic Surgery, Scar, Umbilicus

The umbilicus is perhaps the only scar that all of us want.  The umbilicus forms after birth as a result of the placental cord being transected as the infant is “detached” from his/her mother.  As the stump of the cord necroses, the scab falls away as the base heals leaving a scar:  the umbilicus.

The umbilicus has been described as a depressed scar surrounded by a natural skin fold that measures 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter and lies anatomically within the midline at the level of superior iliac crest.

Neoumbilicoplasty in simple terms is the creation or reconstruction of a new umbilicus to replace the missing or deformed umbilicus.  (absence of defined umbilicus, photo credit) Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Suture for a Living*