Reduce the Risk of Cancer: Eat Your Fruits and Veggies...(MORE:Fox News)
"Remember when your mom told you to eat your vegetables? When you couldn't get up from the table until you'd finished your broccoli, peas and carrots? When there was no dessert until you ate your green beans?

It seems that mom might have been on to something.

That's because fruits and vegetables have been shown to be among the best means to reduce the risk of cancer and other diseases. According to the Produce for a Better Health Foundation, "deeply hued fruits and vegetables provide the wide range of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and phytochemicals your body needs to maintain good health and energy levels, protect against the effects of aging, and reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Of course, there aren't any fail-safe methods to ward off cancer, but most experts..."

Live Long? Die Young? Answer Isn't Just in Genes - New York Times

"Yet even diseases commonly Yet even diseases commonly thought to be strongly inherited, like many cancers, are not, researchers found. In a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2000, Dr. Paul Lichtenstein of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and his colleagues analyzed cancer rates in 44,788 pairs of Nordic twins. They found that only a few cancers — breast, prostate and colorectal — had a noticeable genetic component. And it was not much. If one identical twin got one of those cancers, the chance that the other twin would get it was generally less than 15 percent, about five times the risk for the average person but not a very big risk over all.

Looked at one way, the data say that genes can determine cancer risk. But viewed another way, the data say that the risk for an identical twin of a cancer patient is not even close to 100 percent, as it would be if genes completely determined who would get the disease.

Dr. Robert Hoover of the National Cancer Institute wrote in an accompanying editorial: “There is a low absolute probability that a cancer will develop in a person whose identical twin — a person with an identical genome and many similar exposures — has the same type of cancer. This should also be instructive to some scientists and others interested in individual risk assessment who believe that with enough information, it will be possible to predict accurately who will contract a disease and who will not.”

Alzheimer’s disease also has a genetic component, but genes are far from the only factor in determining who gets the disease, said Margaret Gatz of the University of Southern California and Nancy Pedersen of the Karolinska Institute......"

New research shows restricting in food intake can help fight disease - [CLICK]

"A new study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine extends and strengthens the research that experimental dietary regimens might halt or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The study entitled “Calorie Restriction Attenuates Alzheimer’s Disease Type Brain Amyloidosis in Squirrel Monkeys” which has been accepted for publication and will be published in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, demonstrates the potential beneficial role of calorie restriction in AD type brain neuropathology in non-human primates. Restricting caloric intake may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.

“The present study strengthens the possibility that CR may exert beneficial effects on delaying the onset of AD- amyloid brain neuropathology in humans, similar to that observed in squirrel monkey and rodent models of AD,” reported Mount Sinai researcher Dr. Pasinetti and his colleagues, who published their study, showing how restricting caloric intake based on a low-carbohydrate diet may prevent AD in an experimental mouse model, in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

“This new breakthrough brings great anticipation for further human study of caloric restriction, for AD investigators and for those physicians who treat millions of people suffering with this disease” says Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “The findings offer a glimmer of hope that there may someday be a way to prevent and stop this devastating disease in its tracks.”

AD is a rapidly growing public health concern with potentially devastating effects. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have AD. Presently, there are no known cures or effective preventive strategies. While genetic factors are responsible in early-onset cases, they appear to play less of a role in late-onset-sporadic AD cases, the most common form of AD.....

Collectively, the study suggests that the investigation of calorie restriction in non-human primates may be a valuable approach towards understanding the role of calorie restriction in human AD pathology. The present study strengthens the possibility that calorie restriction may exert beneficial effects in delaying the onset of AD. The findings also elucidate the important relationship between the expression of longevity genes like SIRT1 in calorie restriction dietary regimens and mechanisms associated with the prevention of AD....

Study Condemns F.D.A.'s Handling of Drug Safety: consumers should be wary of drugs that have only recently been approved...New York Times..[CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE: FREE ON-LINE NYT REGISTRATION]:

¶WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 — The nation’s system for ensuring the safety of medicines needs major changes, advertising of new drugs should be restricted, and consumers should be wary of drugs that have only recently been approved, according to a long-anticipated study of drug safety.

The report by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, is likely to intensify a debate about the safety of the nation’s drug supply and the adequacy of the government’s oversight. The debate heated up in September 2004 when Merck withdrew its popular arthritis drug Vioxx after studies showed that it doubled the risks of heart attacks....

CLICK TO READ MORE: Published September 10, 2006: If you're not yet convinced that fish oil should be slipped into the water supply, consider this: Scientists have created genetically modified pigs that can produce the omega-3 fatty acids normally found in seafood.

Though this omega bacon isn't sizzling just yet, the researchers believe the cloned creatures are necessary because if omega-3s grow any more popular, we'll need to dig up new sources for what some consider the "miracle drug" of the century.

The strongest evidence shows that a diet rich in omega-3s fights heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends fish and fish oil to reduce heart attack risk and to help those who already have had one. They also are suggested for people with high triglycerides, which are important fats found in the blood. Heart disease, obesity and diabetes are associated with high triglycerides.

But omega-3s, nutrients that have antiinflammatory properties, may have a rainbow of other therapeutic uses, including treatment of arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, exercise-induced asthma, macular degeneration, depression, attention-deficit disorder, autoimmune disorders and breast and liver cancer, just to name a few. (See sidebar, Page 6.) Preliminary studies have shown that the use of omega-3s may even help prevent premature labor.

ABC VIDEO: : Chinese Herb Offers Hope for Alzheimer's Patients:
"EXCITING NEWS ABOUT A CHINESE HERB THAT SOME DOCTORS FEEL MIGHT DO MORE TO HELP ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS THEN ANY DRUG CURRENTLY ON THE MARKET.AS MEDICAL REPORTER KATHY FOWLER EXPLAINS, LOCAL DOCTORS ARE RECRUITING PATIENTS TO STUDY THIS HERB FOR THE FIRST TIME.Kathy Fowler:THIS HERB IS CALLED HUPERZINE A... IT'S AN EXTRACT FROM MOSS THAT GROWS IN CHINA. CHINESE DOCTORS USE IT TO TREAT ALZHEIMER'S PATIENTS AND NOW LOCAL DOCTORS ARE TESTING IT TO SEE JUST HOW GOOD IT IS......"

Human stem cells help blinded rats -CLICK FOR MORE: "Human embryonic stem cells can partly restore vision in blinded rats, and may offer a source of transplants for people with certain eye diseases, researchers at a U.S. company reported on Thursday The finding, published in the journal Cloning and Stem Cells, might offer a way to use stem cells that now exist in laboratories, the researchers said.

"We have developed a technology that we hope can be used to treat degenerative eye diseases such as macular degeneration," said Dr. Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Massachusetts, who led the study. "We have demonstrated that these human embryonic-stem-cell-derived cells can rescue visual function in animals that otherwise would have gone blind," Lanza said in an e-mail.

Stem cells are a kind of template cell for the body, producing the various tissue and cell types. Those taken from days-old embryos are especially malleable, and can produce any cell or tissue found in the body. Their use and production is controversial, however, with opponents saying it is unethical to use human embryos in this way. They say there are plenty of good experiments to be done using so-called adult stem cells, and scientists are racing to find potential therapies using both kinds of cells.

President George W. Bush restricted federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research to a few lines, or batches, of cells that existed as of August 2001. Private companies such as Advanced Cell Technology can do as they like, and Lanza's team used some of those batches from 2001 as well as other batches produced using private funds.....

CLICK FOR TULANE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
NEW ORLEANS - Soy protein helps lower total cholesterol, low-density lipid "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides, and slightly raises high-density lipid "good" cholesterol, according to a Tulane University study published in the Sept. 1, 2006 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

The Tulane study gives strong support to the notion that soy protein should be part of a comprehensive dietary intervention for the prevention and treatment of high blood cholesterol levels. Replacing foods high in saturated fat, trans-saturated fat and cholesterol with soy foods, such as tofu or soy milk, should be beneficial to cardiovascular health.

Kristi Reynolds, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a team of Tulane colleagues analyzed data from 41 different studies on the effects of isolated soy protein on blood cholesterol levels.

The studies analyzed by the team were all randomized controlled trials conducted from 1982 through 2004 among adult participants. A total of 1,756 adults participated in these trials, with 27 of the 41 trials carried out in the United States.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL STORY: "Alzheimer's PredictorTwo complementary brain scans can pick up Alzheimer's before it happens.By Brad KlozaSeptember 19, 2006 | Mind & Brain


"Whether it's misplacing your keys or forgetting a phone number, lots of people wonder when simple lapses in memory might be an early sign of Alzheimer's. Now researchers are working on software that might help predict who's really at risk.

New York University brain researchers Susan De Santi and Lisa Mosconi are part of a team developing software that they say will help tell the difference between a person who's just getting old and one who's on the road to Alzheimer's. The software combines information from two different types of brain scans: MRI and PET.

The software takes advantage of the strengths of these two types of brain scans, and each helps mitigate areas where the other is weak. MRI, for instance, is a very good tool to study the inner makeup of the brain and to pinpoint precise locations. PET is much less precise, but does a good job of showing where the brain is using sugar, the energy source of living cells. Plunges in energy use could signal decline in brain function, and the researchers decided to focus on the hippocampus, a part of the brain known to be affected in Alzheimer's.

"What we are trying to do is to find a measure that would predict decline from normal aging to Alzheimer's disease," says Mosconi. "And it looks like the hippocampus is particularly involved in early Alzheimer's disease..."

more: Scientists may have found a new cause of Alzheimer's disease symptoms.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and colleagues have been studying genes known as "presenilins," known to be mutated in people with an inherited form of Alzheimer's disease.

Until now, presenilins have been primarily known for their role in forming the plaques that riddle the brains of Alzheimer's patients. But this new study, published in the Sept. 8 issue of Cell, found that presenilins may also control the balance of calcium within cells.

"YES, DOCTOR, IT CAN BE DONE: MRIs MADE SAFE FOR PEOPLE WITH MODERN DEFIBRILLATORS AND PACEMAKERS"

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Media Relations and Public Affairs

September 18, 2006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

- Low-energy "fix" for machine, other steps vastly reduce risk

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have painstakingly figured out how to safely perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on men and women who have any one of 24 modern types of implanted defibrillators and pacemakers.

Henry Halperin, M.D., and his team have developed a combination of methods that reduce the risk of life-threatening meltdowns and other complications posed by MRI's ability to charge and manipulate the electrical properties of cells to produce real-time images from inside the body.

"We have turned a once exceptional procedure into one that is now a routine at Hopkins," Halperin says.

Among other things, the Johns Hopkins group reprograms the devices, fixing them to a specific sequence. This makes the implanted devices "blind" to their external environment, reducing the potential for their electronics to confuse the radiofrequency generated by the MRI with an irregular heartbeat and preventing misfires. They also turn off the defibrillators' shocking function for the brief duration of the MRI scan, about 30 to 60 minutes.

Also changed is the amount of electrical energy used at peak scanning in MRI. The Johns Hopkins team reduced the strength of the electromagnetic field by half, from as much as 4 watts per kilogram to 2 watts per kilogram per patient.

"This lower-energy scan still provided images of sufficient quality to make an accurate diagnosis in more than 90 percent of cases tested," Halperin said in an article published in the Sept. 18 issue of the journal Circulation, reporting on 55 of more than 100 patients scanned at Johns Hopkins so far.

Their report comes just two years after the same journal published the team's initial, positive findings in animals, stirring fierce debate at several international conferences as to whether or not MRI could truly be made safe.

Since 2004, the Johns Hopkins team says its expanded use of MRI has made more than a dozen potentially life-saving diagnoses, despite the fact that the tiny, battery-driven heart devices, which help the body's main pump maintain a beat, have long been considered unsafe and off limits for testing.

"The risk to patients of burning heart tissue or misfiring is still there," Halperin cautions. "But our results show that with appropriate precautions, MRI is a safe and effective diagnostic tool to use for those with modern implanted heart devices." An electro-physiologist and professor of medicine, radiology and biomedical engineering at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute, Halperin has long led efforts to expand access to MRI.

Except for research purposes, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has not authorized any implanted cardiac device for MRI testing. But Halperin says opening up this diagnostic option is important for the estimated 2 million Americans, many of them elderly, who have these implanted devices but who are also denied the benefits of the quick and accurate images that MRI provides.

"Once these precautions are better understood and further refined, we hope policy makers will see fit to review current restrictions on scanning anyone with a device," says lead author Saman Nazarian, M.D., a cardiac electrophysiology, clinical and research fellow at Johns Hopkins.

"These images are critical to early diagnosis of certain cancers of the brain, head and neck, and to guide invasive procedures," he notes.

Of those scanned in the study, 31 had a pacemaker and 24 had an implantable defibrillator. Only modern devices - pacemakers made after 1996 and defrillators manufactured after 2000 - were tested, Nazarian says, because the latest models were deemed to be safer than older versions. Newer models are made of titanium, a non-magnetic metal, he points out, and they are smaller and more lightweight and have better protection from the radiofrequency energy of the MRI scanner.

Using a single scanner, a 1.5 Tesla by General Electric, the Johns Hopkins group was able to help plan artery-opening procedures for more than a half-dozen in the test group; improve measurements of tumor growth in nine others; and detect two strokes, a benign brain mass and a blood clot in the spine that had been missed by alternative imaging from CT scanning.

Nazarian cautions that only physicians specially trained in MRI safety, or with access to specialists familiar with the specific precautions taken in his study, should undertake this approach. "It is also important at this time to restrict MRI use to those with implanted devices specifically tested, and scanners of the same type and magnetic strength as that used in our study," he adds.

All study participants were closely monitored during the scans with electrocardiography and pulse oximetry, and staff members were on hand to resuscitate patients in the event of an emergency.

All subjects were over age 19 and were followed from three months to six months to look for any post-test heart damage or changes in the devices' programming.

Patients were disqualified from testing if they had any leads placed on the surface of the heart or leads that were capped with metal, and therefore not connected to the battery and at greater risk of overheating. Leads are the electrical components connecting the device to the heart muscle, and when the leads are attached to the battery or embedded in the blood vessels, they are less likely to be overheated by the MRI field.

An analysis of records showed that scans provided definitive answers to physicians' diagnostic questions 100 percent of the time for conditions affecting areas outside the chest, and 93 percent of the time for conditions that affected the heart and the upper body. In the latter category, the remaining 7 percent of the scans were too distorted by imaging artifacts from the implanted devices to make a clear diagnosis.

Device monitoring showed that lead sensing did not fluctuate or change during the scan. Battery measurements showed that scans did not deplete or strengthen the battery's charge. Indeed, pacemakers and defibrillators performed successfully after the scans without any premature firing or false alarms.

Pacemakers and defibrillators are implantable devices used to treat people with an abnormal heartbeat, a condition known as arrhythmia. More than 2.2 million Americans are living with arrhythmia. It can occur in a healthy heart and be of minimal consequence, or it can lead to more serious heart disease, stroke or sudden cardiac death.

Funding for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health, and the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. Halperin is a paid consultant to defibrillator manufacturer Medtronic, and co-investigators Ronald Berger, M.D., Ph.D., and Albert Lardo, Ph.D., are paid consultants to Guidant Corp., another device manufacturer. Co-author David Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D., has also received honoraria from General Electric Health Care for presentations. None of these companies provided funding for the study, and the terms of the physicians' arrangements are managed by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.

Other investigators in this research, conducted solely at Johns Hopkins, were Ariel Roguin, M.D., Ph.D.; Menekhem Zviman, Ph.D.; Timm Dickfeld, M.D., Ph.D.; Robert G. Weiss, M.D.; and Hugh Calkins, M.D.

A complete listing of heart devices made safe for MRI scanning is provided below.

-- JHM --

LIST OF TESTED IMPLANTED CARDIAC DEVICES

Pacemakers with Satisfactory MRI Testing

Manufacturer: St Jude
1. Pacesetter AFP (262)
2. Trilogy (2360)
3. Entity (5326)
4. Affinity (5130, 5330)
5. Integrity (5142, 5342, 5346)
6. Identity (5172, 5370, 5376, 5380, 5386)

Manufacturer: Guidant
7. Vigor (1232)
8. Discovery (1272)
9. Insignia (1194, 1290)

Manufacturer: Medtronic
10. EnPulse (AT-500, E2SRO1, E2DRO1)
11. Kappa (701, 901)
12. Prodigy (7860)
13. In Sync BiV (8040, 8042)

Defibrillators with Satisfactory MRI Testing

Manufacturer: St Jude
14. Photon (V-194, V-230, V-232)
15. Atlas (V-240)
16. Epic (V-197, V-235, V-239)

Manufacturer: Guidant
17. Prizm (1850, 1851, 1852, 1860, 1861)
18. Contak (1823, H119, H170, H175)
19. Vitality (T125, T135)

Manufacturer: Medtronic
20. Maximo (7232)
21. Gem-II (7273)
22. Gem-III (7275)
23. Marquis (7274)
24. InSync (7272)