Excess Visceral Fat Tissue Raises Cancer Risk
One of the many detrimental consequences of carrying excess fat tissue is an increased risk of cancer. Visceral fat generates chronic inflammation in addition to other forms of metabolic disruption, and that inflammation speeds the development and progression of all of the common age-related conditions, cancer included. The epidemiological research noted here is one way of looking at the numbers behind this relationship. When considering the number of people who are harming their health by being overweight, it is interesting to note the fact that progress in medical technology is still keeping pace to reduce mortality in l...
Source: Fight Aging! - October 6, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs

Latest Legal Settlements Suggest Hazards of Making Pharmaceutical Regulation More Lenient, as is Apparently Favored by New FDA Leader
DiscussionAll the cases discussed above were of behavior that could have harmed patients.  Many of the companies involved had records of previous ethical misadventures.  While a few cases resulted in corporate guilty pleas (to misdemeanors), none resulted in monetary penalties that would have much impact on the companies ' finances, and none resulted in any negative consequences for people who enabled, authorized, directed or implemented the bad behavior.These, just the latest in the march oflegal settlements by large health care organizations, again demonstrate how often and how seriously pharmaceutical companie...
Source: Health Care Renewal - October 1, 2017 Category: Health Management Tags: adulterated drugs Celgene crime deception FDA impunity legal settlements market fundamentalism Novo Nordisk revolving doors thalidomide Source Type: blogs

Wheat Belly: Quick and Dirty #3
In view of the many new readers on the Wheat Belly Blog, many of whom have not yet had an opportunity to read the book but are eager to get started, here is the most recently updated Wheat Belly Quick & Dirty summary. It summarizes the essential dietary strategies of the Wheat Belly approach to 1) avoid all products made from high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat that wreak health destruction along with all other grains, and 2) create a diet that is otherwise healthy and appropriate for all members of the family. In particular, I’ve tried to clarify some items that were unclear in previous versions. This is the lifestyle ...
Source: Wheat Belly Blog - September 28, 2017 Category: Cardiology Authors: Dr. Davis Tags: Wheat Belly Lifestyle autoimmune blood sugar bowel flora cholesterol Dr. Davis Gliadin gluten gluten-free grain-free grains Inflammation joint pain low-carb Weight Loss Source Type: blogs

Complications After Cancer Linger
My least favorite phrase is ' with your medical history we need to be sure ' . I have been hearing it since my first cancer diagnosis. Even though my two cancers, thyroid and breast, are not what are considered the most horrible kinds, they both could recur and kill me anytime they want.What it has meant over the year is that I have always been sent for more tests than anyone else. I need more blood tests and scans than anyone else. Now as I have developed more ailment such as RA, its harder to treat. One of the costs of my cancer treatment is osteopenia - in a family full of women with osteoporosis, all of a sudden I am m...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - September 21, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: cancer history cancer treatment crankiness Source Type: blogs

Novo Nordisk $58 Million Settlement and REMS - Off Label Prosecution Still Alive and Well
Novo Nordisk will pay roughly $58.7 million to resolve claims that the company’s sales force downplayed the importance of mandated United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warnings about the cancer risks of its diabetes prescription, Victoza. In a civil complaint filed on September 5, 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the government asserted claims under the FDCA, alleging that at the time of Victoza’s approval in 2010, the FDA required a Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) to mitigate the potential risk in humans of a rare form of cancer associated with the drug - Medul...
Source: Policy and Medicine - September 13, 2017 Category: American Health Authors: Thomas Sullivan - Policy & Medicine Writing Staff Source Type: blogs

Doctoring Between The Lines
I don ' t know about anyone else but I have a primary care and then an oncologist, breast surgeon, endocrinologist, rheumatologist, pain management, orthopedic surgeon, meds therapist, social worker therapist, dentist, and periodontist. They all have their own specialties and focuses on specific portions of my body. But I swear they like to color outside the lines.Last week my rheumatologist started commenting on my regimen to control my acid reflux from my hiatal hernia. How does heart burn relate to my rheumatoid? And why did I need to explain it to her?In the past six months my pain management doctor has been messing wi...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 27, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: being a patient doctors Source Type: blogs

Cancer Discrimination and Bias
We live in a society full of bias which leads to racism, discrimination, fear and hatred. The media recently has reflected this with headlines full of racism, bias, discrimination, alt-right vs alt-left, protests, anti-protests, riots, deaths, fear, hatred and more. But it reminds me that there is bias, fear, and discrimination for those of us with cancer.We are born one way and learn about bias, fear, and discrimination based on where we start. With a cancer diagnosis, all of this is turned upside down and we learn about more bias, fear and discrimination based on that single word ' cancer ' .First, let me say times are c...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 20, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: bias cancer bonds discrimination fear of cancer Source Type: blogs

Breaking In A New Doctor
I was disappointed when my endocrinologist left for a new hospital. But I can understand that as the mother of two small children she needed a shorter commute to be able to achieve a good work/life balance. However, that meant I needed a new endocrinologist. I met him yesterday.Before I met my endocrinologist after I had an appointment with my rheumatologist who is a nice woman in her late 50s/early 60s who has been a doctor for many years. In contrast my endocrinologist joined the hospital in early July after his residency. This means he is a kid, literally. I think I have clothes older than he is.When I met him, my first...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - August 17, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: doctors endocrinologist thyroid cancer young doctors Source Type: blogs

MKSAP: 34-year-old man with episodic palpitations
Test your medicine knowledge with the MKSAP challenge, in partnership with the American College of Physicians. A 34-year-old man is evaluated for episodic palpitations of 8 months’ duration. The palpitations last 5 to 10 minutes and then resolve spontaneously. They are usually associated with sweating and anxiety. Medical history is significant for thyroidectomy for medullary thyroid carcinoma diagnosed at 12 years of age. His father has also undergone thyroidectomy for medullary thyroid cancer. His only medication is levothyroxine. On physical examination, blood pressure is 164/92 mm Hg, pulse rate is 106/min, and...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - July 29, 2017 Category: General Medicine Authors: < a href="http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/post-author/mksap" rel="tag" > mksap < /a > Tags: Conditions Endocrinology Source Type: blogs

The Decline and Fall of Informed Consent
By RICHARD GUNDERMAN, MD and JAMES LYNCH, MD Richard Gunderman Margaret Edson’s 1999 Pulitzer Prize winning play, Wit, tells the story of the final hours of Vivian Bearing, PhD, an English professor dying of cancer.  Early in the course of her disease, one of her doctors sees the value of her case from a research point of view and asks her to enroll in a clinical trial of an investigational therapy.  In the film version of the play, which stars Emma Thompson, he hands her a two-page informed consent form to sign.  Wit deals with many timeless features of terminal illness, death, the care of the dying, and the meanin...
Source: The Health Care Blog - July 7, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: John Irvine Tags: Uncategorized Clinical Trial Informed Consent Source Type: blogs

Live Life the Fullest
Don ' t let anything hold you back in your pursuit to live life to the fullest. You want to experience everything and anything (well except maybe eating insects, flydiving, going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, or other really weird things). Get out there and do as many as many things as you can.I think I want to say that I don ' t think you need to constantly push yourself to do something every minute. Sometimes you need to sit there and appreciate what you just accomplished. You should also share your experiences with others who might benefit from what you have done.Do not let your health hold you back. Okay, if you brea...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - July 5, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: fun living with cancer respect terminal ailments Source Type: blogs

Fainting: Frightening, but seldom serious
One minute you’re feeling a bit woozy; the next thing you know, you’re flat on your back wondering what happened. No matter what you call it — swooning, passing out, or fainting —the experience is surprisingly common. About a third of people say they’ve fainted at least once. Although often harmless, fainting can cause injuries and sometimes signals a problem with the heart or circulatory system. “Witnessing a faint can be scary, because it can look like the person has died,” says Harvard professor Dr. Lewis A. Lipsitz, director of the Division of Gerontology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the In...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - June 28, 2017 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Julie Corliss Tags: First Aid Heart Health Injuries Safety Source Type: blogs

An Interview with Orthopaedic Oncologist Dr. Vincent Ng
Dr. Vincent Ng is an orthopaedic oncologist with the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and an Assistant Professor or Orthopaedics with the University of Maryland School of Medicine.  Dr. Ng specializes in treating bone cancer and soft tissue sarcoma.  Below he answers common questions about orthopaedic oncology. What is an orthopaedic oncologist? How do they differ from surgical oncologists? “An orthopaedic oncologist specializes in bone and soft tissue tumors.  I treat any adult or pediatric patient with any bone or soft tissue tumor/lesion/mass, whether benign or malignant, whether it is...
Source: Life in a Medical Center - June 2, 2017 Category: Universities & Medical Training Authors: UMMC Tags: Cancer Doctors bone cancer oncology orthopedics Source Type: blogs

How Long Are You On the'Hook' For A Recurrence?
After cancer, we always wonder ' will it come back? ' Actually, we don ' t just wonder, we obsess over this. For a long time, we think every little owie is probably cancer. We can only get our life back on the rails when we learn to cope with this. But still then every so often we still freak ourselves out about something. And life goes on.But post cancer, every so often our doctors tell us something we don ' t like and we go back on that cancer roller coaster. Time goes on. Years start to roll by.... We assume we are good because its been a decade or two....Now I must ask the question ' how long are you on the ' hook ' fo...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - June 1, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: breast cancer cancer recurrence post cancer Source Type: blogs

Once Upon A Time, I Was A Healthy Person
I have many friends who, after cancer, get back to their old lives for the most part. I ' m not talking about that ' new normal ' bull, but just doing normal things like going back to work, taking part in all their family activities and all sorts of regular, every day life things.Me, I did not get to go back to my regular life after breast cancer. My body had other plans for me. It decided it was time to fall apart.After breast cancer, I got gall stones and had my gallbladder out six months after radiation ended. That winter I slipped on the ice, landed on my left hand and started all my lymphedema crap.The following fall ...
Source: Caroline's Breast Cancer Blog - May 31, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: ailments being healthy being me Source Type: blogs