Stand Up To Cancer

Farrah Fawcett, who died just a few weeks ago after a three-year fight against cancer, has received a posthumous Emmy nomination for her documentary "Farrah's Story," which detailed her struggle with the disease. Her nomination is in the category "outstanding nonfiction special" and is the fourth of her career.
http://goldderby.latimes.com/awards_goldderby/2009/07/farrah-fawcett-receives-posthumous-emmy-award-nomination-for-farrahs-story-tv-news-1357986.html

This San Francisco Chronicle article outlines twelve ways to protect your skin from the sun this summer. Some you could probably predict, like that broad-spectrum sunscreen is best; others, including the correlation between caffeine and reduced skin cancer risk, may surprise you. The piece also advises that you get a great dermatologist, that you cut the tanning bed from your routine and that melanoma can hide under your toenails, where, if you're as addicted to pedicures as I am, you might not notice it until it's too late.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2009/07/16/hearstmagbeauty347799.DTL

Researchers at Northwestern University may have identified certain "landscape genes" that can help predict how long a patient with brain cancer will live - and could lead to better treatment for the disease. The complexity of the "landscape" model "helps explain the lack of therapeutic efficacy of strategies targeting single gene products," according to the researchers. Attacking the most important landscape genes could lead to a more guided approach to eradicating the cancer.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/CancerPreventionAndTreatment/Story?id=8082862&page=2

New research indicates that there could be a connection between heavy drinking and prostate cancer. According to a study in the journal Cancer, men who drank heavily - defined as four or more drinks per day at least five days out of the week - were twice as likely to develop aggressive prostate tumors as their teetotaling peers. Additionally, though the drug finasteride has been shown to be effective in cutting non-drinkers' and moderate drinkers' risk of developing the disease, it had no impact on the risk level for heavy drinkers.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE56C5MA20090713

The most recent issue of Cancer also reports that the incidence of thyroid cancer in the US has been steadily increasing since 1980 - and scientists are still looking for an explanation. For a while now, experts have written off the uptick to better screening, but new research indicates that "you cannot simply explain this by increased screening, there's a real increased incidence," according to the study's lead author, Amy Chen. She proposes that environmental, dietary and genetic issues be further explored.
http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/-gen/628934.html

Finally, I loved this article about a Lilly Oncology on Canvas, a travelling exhibition of art by cancer patients, survivors, friends, family and caregivers. Twenty-five pieces are on display at the new Community Cancer Center in Roseburg, Oregon. Said a cancer center volunteer who works in art therapy, "It just really gets to my heart. I've worked with people like this. They think nobody loves them, that nobody wants to touch them. I think when your mind is healing, your body can heal."
http://www.nrtoday.com/article/20090715/NEWS/907159976/1055

That's all for this week, but I'll be back next Thursday with more.

--Cat