A new report indicated that cancer rates in the US are continually dropping by at almost one percent per year. Moreover, the same study found out that cancer-related deaths are also going down by 1.6 per cent annually. This trend was observed between 2003 and 2007.

The researchers also noted that this is the first time they observed a decrease in the death rate of women with lung cancer. Lynn Ries, co-author of the report, said that the decline we are seeing right now is caused by women quitting smoking.

The report was conducted by several researchers from different groups; one of which is the American Cancer Society. The report was published online on the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Thursday.

Unfortunately, even though there is a notable decrease in cancer rates among adults, the same is not true among children. In fact, there are increasing numbers of diagnosed cancer patients in children. Ries, however, pointed out that death rates among children decreased. She also said that the reason for the rise in the occurrence of cancer among children is still unclear.

If there are changes in variables among women and children with cancer, the numbers remained the same among men. The report said that there could have been a decrease in cancer diagnosis among men, only that the statistics of prostate cancer has raised.

Ries said that this report was particularly difficult to organize because cancer is not just one disease. There are different kinds of cancer and some of them increase in number, while others decrease. She also said that men and women follow different kinds of trends in terms of cancer diagnosis.

Diabetes is already tagged as one of the silent killers because it is linked to various complications such as kidney failure. Now, evidences that diabetes can also be linked to cancer are emerging.

A recent study reported that women with diabetes have generally increased their risk of developing cancer by 8 per cent. Men, on the other hand have 9 per cent higher risk of having cancer (excluding prostate cancer).

Moreover, the study found out that the possibility of dying from cancer will increase significantly if you have diabetes.

On a lighter note, the same study concluded that diabetes can be related to the decreased incidence of prostate cancer among men. Reasons behind this are still unclear but the researcher’s data indicated that if you include cancer of the prostate on the mix, men’s chances of getting cancer from diabetes is reduced by 4 per cent.

Lead author Gabriel Lai will present the study before the American Association for Cancer Research on Sunday in Orlando, Florida. Research findings are still thought of as preliminary studies until they are published in a journal.

The study participant’s diabetes was self-reported. Also, the researchers did not indicate whether it is Type 1 Diabetes or Type 2. Furthermore, the study did not indicate information about diabetes management and the kind of medication the participants took. The study head, Gabriel Lai, however said that most of the participants have Type 2 Diabetes as it is more common than the other type.

As of the moment, it is still unclear whether it is the illness per se that is causing the increase risk of cancer, or the medication connected herewith.

Medicare is worried about thousands of people making a deal with their physicians. The deal is patients will pay their doctors a fixed yearly fee, regardless of whether or not those patients will need the services of their physicians. The physicians are also under contract to see their patients the minute they need their doctors, and give them undivided attention.

Medicare said that this kind of arrangement threatens Medicare and the medical care overhaul envisioned under the Barack Obama administration.

“Concierge medicine” – or what they call the deal between patients and doctor wherein people will pay their physician an annual fee for exclusive treatment – poses a threat to people who cannot afford the $1,500 annual fee. In this set-up, physicians will limit their practice among patients who can “afford” them, leaving those who cannot lesser time with doctors.

Medicare recipients are said to be the most vulnerable in this situation. Medicare’s financial issues are pushing doctors to reconsider their participation in the program. This means Medicare members are faced with possible short supply of primary care physicians. A greater problem is anticipated because the new health law is expected to insure 30 million more people.

John Rother, director of AARP, said that their concern is the explicit medical delineation between people who have money and those who do not. He also said that if this continues, Medicare will stop being as universal as its objective.

Concierge doctors say that it is never about the money and the intention is not to put down those who cannot pay for their services. They simply prefer this kind of set-up because they can focus on a few numbers of patients instead of juggling a thousand patients at a time.

The Massachusetts state department of education announced Friday that expired foods were found in public school cafeterias. An average of a dozen schools around the state reported to have received shipments of foods six weeks past its expiration date.

Last month, the same problem was encountered in Boston and it has since been detected in the entire state.

John Connolly, city councilor of Boston, said that most students from Boston belong to families whose incomes are low enough to avail the discounted or even free food at school. Thus, the councilor is worried that because of the past-date foods shipped to schools, the students might be receiving food of no or low nutritional value.

Because of these events, school board members and officials are asking the Agriculture Department to place a more standardized system of determining expiration dates. The situation is exacerbated by USDA guidelines that say food can be eaten past their expiration dates.

Foods in schools are supplied by USDA and they are stored from four different warehouse facilities. JC Considine, spokesperson of Elementary and Secondary Education of Massachusetts, said that this issue is contained in one of the warehouses. The said facility delivers food to schools in the northeastern part of Massachusetts.

However, Considine was firm on saying that food from all four warehouse facilities will be reviewed. Connolly said that they already discovered mismanagement in the inventory of food inside the warehouses resulting to expired foods delivered in schools. These discoveries pushed revamping of menu planning and inventory management.

The price of the drug that prevents premature birth was slashed by more than 50 percent after the FDA decided to keep its cheap version available in the market.

KV Pharmaceutical Company, the company that was first granted exclusive production and marketing of the same drug, reduced the price to $690, Friday.

Although $690 per weekly dose is still pricey, it is a huge improvement from its original price of $1,500. Moreover, the company said that they will give rebates and discounts to women who cannot afford the drug even at $690.

The price cut was announced only two days after the Food and Drug Administration decided to allow small pharmaceutical companies to continue making generics of the drug priced at $10. This has been the case before KV Pharmaceutical Company gained exclusive rights on selling the drug February this year.

Many doctors supported KV Pharmaceutical Co. because this can assure proper regulation of the drug and its quality. However, they were taken aback when they found out how expensive the drug will be.

FDA already said that they have no control over food and drug prices. However, following public uproar on the massive price increase, FDA announced that they will not stop other pharmaceutical companies from selling the drug.

Gregory J. Divis Jr., chief executive of KV Pharmaceutical Co., said that the price of Makena – the drug’s brand name – is justified as $1,500 is a small price to pay to ensure an unborn child’s health. He further said that they spent millions of dollars on researches conducted for drug development.

A recent study said on Wednesday, that patients who have had liver transplant and quit smoking, will decrease their risk of developing cancer. Researchers from Spain reviewed data of liver transplant patients between 1990 and 2009, and found out that those who quit smoking had lesser tendencies of getting smoking-related cancer, than those who did not.

The identified smoking-related cancers in their study included lung, head, esophageal, and kidney cancer. Of all the patients in this study, 26 patients developed smoking-related cancer after their liver transplant.

Previous studies will tell us that long duration of treatment that causes immunosuppression among liver transplant patients increases the risk of developing cancer. This current study, however, showed no association between the two.

Instead, this research proved that quitting cigarette smoking after a liver transplant will decrease your risk of getting cancer. The same way that smoking after a liver transplant will increase ones risks of developing cancer.

Dr. J. Ignacio Herrero, said that because smoking has been proven to be a major risk factor for malignancies after a liver transplant, we need to perform screening and intervention programs aimed towards lowering this risk. This will also give us an opportunity to help lower the statistics of post liver transplant patients who develop smoking-related cancers.

This particular research study supported by the International Liver Transplantation Society and the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases will be published on Liver Transplantation journal’s April issue.

Nine patients from different hospitals have died in Alabama after they have received an intravenous nutrition therapy. Health officials say the feeding bags that were given to the patients were contaminated with a certain bacteria.

The bacteria, identified as Serratia marcenscens, were first discovered in the patients before authorities performed cultures on the intravenous infusion called total parenteral nutrition or TPN.

The bacterial outbreak affected 19 patients from six hospitals in Alabama. However, it was still unclear whether the bacteria caused the patients’ deaths. Out of the 19 patients who have received the parenteral nutrition, nine of them have died.

Total parenteral nutrition is an artificial method of giving feeding solution through injection. Infection is the most common complication of TPN and deaths usually arise from shock.

An investigation was instigated on March 16 when two Alabama hospitals reported unusual case of bacterial infection in highly susceptible patients. The Centers for Disease and Control Prevention is also helping with the investigation along with Alabama Department of Public Health.

The hospitals affected include Cooper Green Mercy, Baptist Prattville, Baptist Princeton, Baptist Shelby, Medical West and Select Specialty Hospital in Birmingham.

The product has been withdrawn from the market on Thursday. The manufacturer of the feeding bag has not commented yet. Officials say the feeding products no longer pose threat while investigation is focused on how to prevent such incident in the future.

The 10 infected patients who survived from the outbreak are still admitted and being  monitored in the hospital, health officials said on Tuesday.

The nuclear problems in Japan emphasize one critical gap in the medical field- experts only have had a few proven ways to help treat people who have already been exposed to massive amounts of radiation.

Last week, two workers from Japan’s nuclear power plants were hospitalized due to radiation burns. Low levels of radioactive iodine were reported, Tuesday, at some areas in southeastern China. Some traces were also discovered in Seoul to as far as Britain and eastern United States.

The crisis in Japan raises concern among people as to how radiation emergencies can be effectively treated. Some experts are already developing drugs that will treat radiation poisoning, as well as the first tests that will determine who among the exposed people would need rapid treatment.

However, these possibilities are still in preparation, and not yet ready.

In the United States, radiobiology laboratories such as the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute are now in search for more methods to treat people against radiation exposure. The laboratory is working with Oncova Company to develop one possible treatment called Ex-Rad.

Since 2008, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority have invested millions for radiation testing and anti-radiation treatment.

Currently, only a few are proven effective for radiation injuries. These include antibiotic therapy, providing blood-clotting platelets and hydration therapy for acute radiation syndrome, as well as overall poisoning.

Potassium iodide is usually given to prevent long-term effects. However, World Health Organization advises the public not to drink the pills unless health officials recommend them to. Gregory Hartl, WHO spokesman, says the drug has its risks.

A study conducted by the US National Cancer Institute confirms that the likelihood of developing a second cancer after radiation therapy is very low. The long-term study of about 600,000 cancer survivors showed that only 8 per cent of that population developed secondary cancer due to radiation therapy.

The researchers said that among many others, lifestyle and genetic risks are the ones that would likely pre-empt a second cancer.

Amy Berrington de Gonzales, lead researcher, said that the result of the study is a very powerful tool physicians may use to device a treatment plan for their patients. She further said that patients can now be assured that the benefits of undergoing radiation therapy outweigh its risks.

This is the first ever study that was able to quantify the risks that radiation treatment may cause.  It was published 30^th of March online on The Lancet Oncology.

The research was conducted for 30 years on many different kinds of cancer. Among them are prostate, breast, brain, cervical, and lung cancer. Researchers noticed that development of lung cancer also vary from one cancer type to another. For example, they noticed that it is more predominant among breast and cervical cancer patients.

Elizabeth Ward acknowledges the fact that radiation therapy post risks towards cancer patients. However, she is firm on saying that the benefits outweigh the risks. She also said that thanks to recent technology, we are now more successful on preserving healthy cells during radiation therapy.

A group of influential doctors said that “Facebook depression” may now be added to the list of potential risks associated with social media. They said that obsession to this online site will most likely exacerbate teenage depression. However, some researchers argue that it cannot be considered a separate diagnosis, but rather an extension of the despair teens feel.

Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, pediatrician and author, said that the concept of Facebook makes it extra difficult for teenagers who already have self-esteem issues. Because almost everyone posts real-time status updates and photos of them having a great time, Facebook can cause some kids to feel left out and “out of the loop.”

She further said that not being among the “in group” in Facebook is more devastating than eating alone in a cafeteria or other real high school encounters that causes depression to teenagers. She said this because social media gives people a twisted idea of what really goes on in real life.

Abby Abolt, a 16-year old sophomore, said that she is not personally affected by the drama facebook causes but she can totally understand why this can pose a threat to other teenagers like her.

Right now, many pediatricians urge parents to monitor their kids’ online activities so that cyber bullying, Facebook depression, and even “sexting” are avoided.

Gaby Navarro, an 18-year old senior student said that Facebook can be a worldwide platform for bullying. Some kids posted snotty remarks on her friend’s Facebook wall and so she can really imagine how huge of an impact Facebook has on some kids.