A new study has warned that diabetes sufferers are more prone to developing breast and colon cancer and at an even higher risk of dying from them.

Dr Kirstin De Bruijn said that previous studies have examined the association between diabetes and dying from cancer but death from specific types of cancer has not been well-studied.

“Our meta-analysis is the first to combine incidence and death from breast and colon cancer, while excluding all other causes of death. We have investigated the link between diabetes and the risk of developing as well as the risk of dying from these cancers,” she said.

Dr De Bruijn, a PhD student in the Surgery Department at the Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and colleagues analyzed results from 20 trials that had taken place between 2007 and 2012, involving more than 1.9 million patients with breast or colon cancer, with or without diabetes.

They found that patients with diabetes had a 23 percent increased risk of developing breast cancer and a 38 percent increased risk of dying from the disease compared to non-diabetic patients.

Diabetic patients had a 26 percent increased risk of developing colon cancer and a 30 percent increased risk of dying from it compared to non-diabetic patients, the findings showed.

Bruijn said that the results for breast and colon cancer incidence in patients with diabetes are consistent with other meta-analyses, additionally their meta-analysis showed a higher risk and a stronger association between diabetes and death from breast and colon cancer than previously reported.

Bruijn said that cancer patients, who are obese and diabetic, are an already more vulnerable group of individuals when it comes to surgery, as they have an increased risk of developing complications both during and after surgery.

Source: http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com

Mobile dermatology applications may help people learn about UV rays or keep tabs on their moles, but they are not a substitute for seeing a doctor, researchers said Wednesday.

They searched online stores and found over 200 dermatology apps, half of them made for non-doctors. Those included sunscreen recommendation guides, mole photo storage apps and tools meant to help diagnose melanoma.

“I am very hopeful that these applications will increase access to medical knowledge,” Dr. Robert Dellavalle, a dermatologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Aurora, said.

However, “The biggest concerns are people getting the wrong information,” Dellavalle, the study’s senior author, told Reuters Health. Only a few of the apps were clearly made by medical professionals, the researchers noted.

The study follows an announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday that it will regulate a subset of medical apps intended for doctors.

Those include apps that can “be used as an accessory to a regulated medical device,” such as one that would allow a doctor to make a diagnosis based on a photo sent via the app.

For their study, Dellavalle and his colleagues searched the Apple, Android, BlackBerry, Nokia and Windows app stores for products related to dermatology. They found 209 apps, including 10 with at least 35 reviews at the time.

The most frequently reviewed apps made for the general public included Ultraviolet ~ UV Index (bit.ly/14S9caG), SPF (bit.ly/16r6HBY), iSore (bit.ly/18pY0nh) and SpotMole (bit.ly/18pMavp).

Of those, Ultraviolet ~ UV Index currently has the highest reviewer ranking at between 4 and 5 on a 5-star scale. The app shows the UV index for the user’s current location.

SPF calculates how much time a user can be in the sun based on skin type and UV index, and iSore has a directory of skin conditions with a “graphic picture” and treatment information. SpotMole is designed to check photos of moles for signs of cancer.

About half of the apps were free. The rest cost an average of $2.99, the researchers reported Wednesday in JAMA Dermatology.

They said both patients and doctors should “maintain a healthy sense of skepticism” when it comes to using dermatology apps. That is especially true for apps that claim to help spot conditions such as skin cancer and could delay a real diagnosis.

For instance, a recent review of smartphone apps that use algorithms to analyze skin lesions found they weren’t always good at predicting which ones were cancerous (see Reuters Health story of January 16, 2013 here: reut.rs/13EoYqz).

IMPROVING PATIENT ACCESS

Some of the most promising apps are ones that connect patients in remote areas to dermatologists, such as through video chats, Dr. Karen Edison, a dermatologist from the University of Missouri in Columbia, said.

The researchers found eight of those so-called tele-dermatology apps.

Dermatologists are in short supply in many parts of the country, Edison, who wasn’t involved in the new research, said.

“I think it’s time to use technology to make us more available,” she told Reuters Health.

“I support the use of technology in getting access to dermatology expertise for patients who would not otherwise have access to that expertise as well as for convenience for patients … if it can be done in a high-quality way that takes patient safety into account.”

She said it’s important for doctors evaluating remote patients to know if they have access to medication or can see a dermatologist in person to do a biopsy, if necessary. That means an app that relies just on sending pictures and diagnoses back and forth, for instance, isn’t likely to be very helpful, Edison said.

Dellavalle said the world of dermatology apps is currently a “buyer-beware atmosphere.”

He recommended patients cross-reference information they get from apps with other resources and talk with their doctor before making any treatment decisions based on apps.

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One of the deadliest aspects of a cancerous tumor is its ability to grow and spread, assimilating and destroying healthy cells throughout the body.  Controlling this lethal expansion, known as metastasis can be a difficult endeavor. But now, researchers have revealed that a notoriously fickle protein may be the key to stopping cancer’s rapid development.

Displaying ‘mood swings’ that researchers compare to those of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the protein E2F sometimes boosts tumor cell growth and at other times suppresses it.  According to the researchers at Oxford University who discovered E2F, they have found a way to block the abnormal protein’s change into the deadly “Mr. Hyde” – a move that results in cancer cell death.

In a study published in the journal Molecular Cell, the researchers explained E2F’s dual nature for the first time and how it can be an extremely effective target for new cancer treatments.

“We discovered this protein originally in the early 1990s, and since then we’ve discovered quite a lot (about it),” study author Nick La Thangue, a professor in the department of oncology at Oxford, told FoxNews.com.  “It’s a target, regulated by a tumor suppressor gene… and the pathway has been shown to be abnormal in virtually all tumor cells, which drives the proliferation forward.”

According to La Thangue, when E2F is functioning properly, it is a crucial tool for cell regulation.  As Mr. Hyde, the protein helps healthy cells grow, but when a cell becomes damaged or sick, the protein reverts to Dr. Jekyll and signals for the cell to die.  This process is called apoptosis, and it helps to prevent the buildup of DNA errors or the development of cancer.

However, when cancer cells do start to grow in the body, the gene that encodes E2F becomes mutated, and the protein loses its ability to foster cell death. Instead, it remains permanently in its “Mr. Hyde” state, enhancing the cancer cells’ ability to flourish.  La Thangue noted that while E2F is found in all cells of the body, tumor cells have much larger amounts of the protein.

In their study, the researchers explained that E2F’s double nature is controlled by two slightly different enzymes.

“It’s an enzyme modification, and it’s quite an unusual modification called arginine methylation,” La Thangue said. “It’s actually quite amazing stuff, because there are two different types of arginine methylation, and they differ by a small amount of chemistry.  One form provides a (molecular label) that makes the cell proliferate, and the other makes it die.”

The enzymes attach these molecular labels on different part of E2F, and they act as flags that either signal cell proliferation or signal cell death.  In cancer cells, the enzyme responsible for cell proliferation is hyperactive and ultimately overpowers the enzyme for cell death.

Upon understanding this biological mechanism, La Thangue said he and his colleagues have identified drug compounds that target the overactive enzyme, which he hopes to use to develop an effective new chemotherapy treatment for the future.

“We have a program aimed at developing small molecule drugs that target this enzyme,” La Thangue said.  “While it’s not coming out tomorrow, at the same time, it’s not 10 years away.  I’d say we’re a few years away until we move to clinical trial.”

La Thangue is confident that this new drug could be extremely beneficial for patients, as it could finally control metastasis in nearly all cancers.

“One of the beauties of this is that it’s a pathway which is abnormal in the vast majority of human tumors,” La Thangue said.  “It’s not tumor cell specific; it’s very generic.”

Source: http://www.samachar.com/

A simple measurement of the sweat gland activity of a depressed person can nearly accurately determine if they have suicidal propensity, a new research has claimed.

Lars-Hakan Thorell, associate professor in experimental psychiatry at Linkoping University, one of the researchers behind the study, said that blood pressure, blood circulation and activity in the sweat glands of the fingers can reveal if a person is suicidal.

In the German-Swedish study, 783 depressed in-patients in Germany were tested for hyporeactivity – reduced ability to react to various stimuli. A suicidal depressed person reacts differently to environmental changes, compared to a healthy person.

The test found that hyporeactivity was present in up to 97 per cent of depressed patients who later committed suicide, compared to just 2 per cent of the depressed patients who were not hyporeactive.

But the study also shows there is no relation between the severity of depression and hyporeactivity.

Hyporeactivity can be measured by the test person listening to a pattern of tones, while the body’s reactions are measured via sensors on the fingers. The first time they hear a tone, virtually all people react. This is a general orientation reaction which occurs automatically.

But when the tone is heard again, the reaction decreases amongst some people: the hyporeactive.

The study has been published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research

Source: http://article.wn.com/view/2013/09/25/Finger_sweat_can_reveal_depressed_persons_suicidal_tendencie/#/related_news