How falling back to standard time can affect the body

A small change in your routine can make a big difference to your mood says Colleen Carney, an expert on sleep and insomnia. As the director of Ryerson University's sleep and depression lab in Toronto she makes it her business to study the habits of successful sleepers and those who sleep too little or too much.

Carney says "even one poor night's sleep can lead to chronic insomnia" so the first Sunday in November, with the switch from daylight saving time back to standard time, is a good opportunity to review our general sleep habits.

"At this time of the year when we actually change the cues in the environment as we perceive them, we can feel some symptoms as we try and adjust to the new local time."

Although with the "fall back" we actually gain a precious hour of sleep on Sunday morning, says Carney, sleep hygiene is something that affects as all year round.  But we can take charge of our sleep routine, she says.  The consequences of poor sleep such as fatigue, concentration problems, and negative mood can often be avoided by practising a few simple sleep habits. 

'We think we outgrow the need for routines'

The main thing to remember, says Carney, is to keep a regular schedule.  She says we all know that babies and toddlers can become grumpy when their nap and sleep routines are disrupted. But it's just as important for adults to follow a routine.

"As adults, we think we outgrow the need for routines", says Carney. "We actually don't."  The fact is, she says, we all need a routine in order to set our internal clocks every day. That's why it's important to pay particular attention both in the spring when we switch to daylight time and in the fall when we switch back to standard time.  And a good night's sleep should not require effort. After all, she says, "sleep is the one thing for which too much effort can be counterproductive."

Carney offers five sleep tips to help you adjust to this weekend's time change and avoid the consequences of poor sleep in the future.

5 sleep tips

1. Get up at the same time every morning: If you change when you get up each morning it creates jet lag symptoms, such as drowsiness, sluggishness and mood changes.
2. Get enough sleep: If you fall asleep the second your head hits the pillow or you doze off at other times of the day you are probably sleep deprived. During times of sleep deprivation we get messages to sleep more.
3. Don't sleep too much: If you spend too much time in bed it sends messages to the brain that you should get less sleep and can cause depression and insomnia. During times of inactivity and over-sleeping, we get messages to sleep less.
4. Wind down before bed: Shut off your electronic devices and refrain from working an hour before bed to lower stress and create calm.
5. Eat well and exercise: Manage fatigue by staying hydrated, eating well and being physically active. 

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Movember moustaches may help find new prostate cancer tests

Money raised through past Movember men's health campaigns is helping fund the search for alternatives to PSA screening for prostate cancer.

That search has taken on added importance now that an official task force has recommended not using PSA testing to screen for prostate cancer.

Prostate-specific antigen — or PSA — testing measures the amount of that protein enzyme in blood. Higher levels may indicate the presence of cancer or infection in the prostate. Or sometimes they may not.

The test costs an individual about $30. In B.C., the province covers the costs, and its billed about $11.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men (excluding the skin cancers) and ranks third in number of deaths, after lung and colorectal cancer.

While the recommendations by the Task Force on Preventive Health Care don't mean the end of PSA testing — they are opposed by groups like Prostate Cancer Canada and the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network — efforts to develop other diagnostic tools are well underway.

For Stuart Edmonds of Prostate Cancer Canada, "PSA isn't the bad actor in this, it's actually decision-making along the process that's part of the problem, how the PSA is being interpreted or how men are being pushed or choosing to have treatment when actually treatment may not be necessary."

And Jackie Manthorne,  the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network's president and CEO, says: "Don't throw PSA tests out the window until we have something viable to replace it with."

This year, Edmonds' organization has already directed Movember Foundation-funded grants worth $10 million toward research on alternative diagnostic tools for prostate cancer.  The Movember campaign, best known for the moustaches grown to raise awareness about men's health issues, starts today. 

Spending on all prostate cancer research in Canada totalled more than $36 million in 2011, according to the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance.

Diagnosing prostate cancer with DREs and MRIs

At present, besides the PSA test, the only other widely used diagnostic technique is the digital rectal exam, or DRE. The DRE can only be done on the back of the prostate gland, although that's the site of 85 per cent of prostate cancers.

During the DRE, the doctor is feeling for lumps or hardened areas, which, if caused by cancer, mean the disease is more advanced.

Stuart Edmonds of Prostate Cancer Canada says genetic testing "is one of the areas there are likely to be big breakthroughs in the future." (Prostate Cancer Canada)

Edmonds says the DRE certainly has some value but notes there "have not been clinical trials on DREs alone and their effect on mortality." Men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer solely by a DRE, he notes.

Testing is also underway to show how effective magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, can be for detecting prostate cancer, Edmonds says.

A research article published by the medical journal The Lancet in August says, "A promising approach lies in the development of multiparametric MRI imaging technology of the prostate, which at present claims to selectively diagnose aggressive prostate cancers and avoid the diagnosis of many non-significant cancers."

If it happens, the price tag will likely be high. However, distinguishing between cancers that can kill and ones that men can live with is critically important when deciding treatment.

"Overdiagnosis occurs in roughly 40 per cent of cases detected by screening," according to The Lancet article.

Cutting edge research 

One of those Movember grants gives $5 million to a cross-Canada team for research to better identify "men who do or do not need aggressive treatment by providing accurate information about risk at diagnosis," and to "develop novel molecular diagnostic tests to predict which men are likely to develop aggressive cancer," says Prostate Cancer Canada.

A surgeon performs a robot-assisted prostate tumorectomy using ultrasound imaging on April 10, 2014 at the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, France. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty)

The team is led by John Bartlett of the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research.

A smaller grant went to a team headed by Dr. John Lewis at the University of Alberta. Its goal is to develop tests that look at a particular protein to predict the outcome of a prostate cancer when it's diagnosed. 

"These tests could tell us if the patient is at high risk for developing aggressive metastatic disease or if that patient's disease is in a benign state," Lewis says. 

Lewis says they hope to have an initial clinical test within three years and a blood test in less than 10 years.

New diagnostic tests

Two other Movember grants in Canada are going to research on biomarkers that may lead to a new test to diagnose prostate cancer.

Robert Day at the University of Sherbrooke is looking at developing a diagnostic test that Prostate Cancer Canada says could "complement or even replace PSA."

Their research will focus on an enzyme Day's team discovered, sPACE4, that shows up at abnormally high levels with prostate cancer and can be correlated with the severity of the tumour.

A team from the University Health Network in Toronto, under Bharati Bapat, has a grant to develop a DNA-based biomarker test that can predict if a patient has an agressive prostate cancer.

They are studying genes called microRNAs found in a patient's urine, for example, and comparing them to the patient's symptoms, etc.

They hope that could lead to a test that can predict if a man has prostate cancer and how aggressive it will be.

Edmonds says genetic testing "is one of the areas where there are likely to be big breakthroughs in the future."

Meanwhile, Mats Daugaard at the Vancouver Prostate Centre is researching a sugar structure, CSA, that is found at high levels when prostate cancer is present. 

Daugaard says he is very optimistic his research will lead to "making diagnosis more accurate and making it, possibly, earlier."

He says studying the sugar could also lead to better therapy to target the cancer. His research grant comes from funds donated at Safeway stores. 

Prostatic stones

A brand new area of research that has promise for detecting prostate cancer involves analyzing prostatic stones.

The red arrows show bacterial imprints on prostatic stones, seen with scanning electron microscopy. Infection-induced inflammation of the prostate may lead to cancer. (CNRS/PLOS One)

These poppy-seed-sized stones, mostly consisting of calcium phosphate, have been found in almost all surgically removed prostate glands. 

But now, scientists with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Tenon Hospital in France have found that with infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, they can determine whether there is or has been an infection of the prostate, even asymptomatic infections.

This is potentially important because scientists have linked infection-related inflammation with cancer of the prostate, as well as other organs.

To apply this knowledge to diagnosis, Dominique Bazin, research director at the CNRC, says doctors could find the stones with a CT scan. If present, that should "trigger an investigation by doctors," Bazin told CBC News.

Bazin said his team recently used the same techniques to examine small calcium deposits in breast tissue and says the initial findings, not yet released, are "quite exciting" for early detection of breast cancer.

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Radical rest homes: Old people should live everywhere

It sounds like a bit of an oxymoron: "Radical Resthomes."

But that's the theme that Janet Torge and her website have been expounding. Radically different from the stereotype.

Aren't seniors' residences boring places for bingo, movie afternoons and white bread sandwiches with the crusts cut off? Or worse, prisons for the incarcerated elderly?

Not in Torge's world. For 30 years she has been imagining and re-imagining a different way of growing old.

Then, a little while back, she heard a Sunday Edition documentary about the Baba Yaga's House — a group of aging feminists in Paris who designed a vibrant community where they could grow old together. And that helped focus some of her ideas. 

Torge, a freelance documentary film producer, lives in Montreal and wants to see similar experiments take hold in Canada, for men and women; alternatives to the profit-driven, regimented seniors' residences popping up all over the country.

She has found hungry audiences, many of them women in their 50s, 60s and 70s wherever she goes.

"I am 67 years old," she says. "I have no registered pension plan, I still work."

Montrealer Janet Torge wants us to start talking about new ways of living as we age. (Photo courtesy Janet Torge / CBC)

For Torge, money has always been tight and a couple of years ago she downsized from a 7 ½ room apartment.

She now lives on the first floor of a small duplex she bought with her son, who lives with his family on the second floor.

"It works perfectly for now," says Torge. But she is not sure it's going to last

"How will I pay my bills if I get sick and can't work?" she asks. "Who is going to be my caretaker? Will I have to totally depend on my son and daughter in law?"

Women in the audience in this Ottawa backyard nod their heads in agreement.

'Not getting it'

Torge has spoken to a number of groups over the last year about her ideas of alternative living arrangements for seniors.

She talks about the effect the growing number of seniors will have on families and on the economy.

Living arrangements

Finding the right architectural and interpersonal design — the right amount of togetherness or solitude — can be a life-long challenge. 

Today, many people are experimenting with things like co-housing, tiny portable houses and with radical de-cluttering, not to mention off-the-grid hermitage. 

This season, The Sunday Edition is paying special attention to people doing it a little differently. 

And so if you know about an original kind of living arrangement — or have put together one yourself — please let us know about it by visiting our website, or emailing the program at: thesundayedition@cbc.ca.

If you're really alternative, you can sit down and write a letter to The Sunday Edition, CBC Radio One, P.O. Box 500, Station A Toronto, M5W 1E6.

"There are a whole bunch of businesses that are trying to figure out how to make money off us," she says. "Cars are being designed so we can get in and out of them. There are cool-looking walkers."

But Torge says the housing industry has "really got it wrong."

She recently attended a presentation by federal civil servants on the future of seniors' housing, and left disappointed "because it is all about quantity of seniors and not about the quality of the lives that we want to live. They are not getting it."

Torge says she often hears housing experts promoting institutional living, but says "I do not want to lose my decision-making about where I want to live."

"When I look at what is an alternative," says Torge, that means "to me you create the rules of your own living. You do not walk into somebody else's rules."

Torge says there are all kinds of alternatives to large institutions for seniors. She says there is no problem coming up with ideas, though some of them require having a bit of a nest egg to start things off.

In Montreal, Torge has started Radical Resthome discussion groups, and was surprised when people in their 40s and 50s showed up wanting to participate and start planning alternative living arrangements.

"When do we do this? This is the big question that everybody has," she says. "I do know that it will happen after you have accepted that you have to downsize and before you get sick. Those are the only parameters I know. You will have to learn to share with others."

Build a network

Torge's vision is to build a Radical Resthomes network so that all those with real housing alternatives can share their experiences, resources and solutions to problems.

"We're going to run up against some real challenges as we age, get ill and need help.

"If a housing project in Saskatoon has figured out how to deal with a housemate who is getting dementia, I want to know what they came up with. We have to help each other if we want to stay in control of our lives."

Torge says that over time she has finally defined what makes a real "radical resthome."

They are "run and managed by the people who live there," she says. "Residents look after each other, and when help is needed resources come to you, you are not shipped out. And we die in our own beds, not in an institution."

Torge says that years ago someone asked the urban planner Jane Jacobs where old people should live and she said "everywhere." That's also one of the parameters.

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Nicholas Popowich talks about life with Down syndrome

Nicholas Popowich is a 24-year-old studying theatre and working in Regina. (Nicholas Popowich)

Nicholas Popowich is an ambitious 24-year-old.

He spends half of his working week studying theatre arts at the University of Regina, and the other half working at a SaskTel kiosk in a Regina mall. He dreams of taking his acting career to Broadway or Hollywood and says he would like to get married and have children some day, too.

"My aspirations are very normal," Popowich said. "Maybe I would like to retire one day, maybe I would like to run my own business. Maybe I can see myself really putting myself out there."

Popowich is a member of a national committee called Voices At The Table Advocacy. The group, run through the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, aims to educate the general public on what living with Down syndrome is like.

He's sharing his experiences for National Down Syndrome Awareness Week. 

Popowich says he confronts ignorance on a regular basis. He says people have misconceptions about people who have Down syndrome, and it can be tough to convince them to break those misconceptions.

"People treat me poor, treat all of us poorly," Popowich said. "Just thinking, 'Man, these people are just uneducated people'. Its not my fault... I am not retarded at all. Being educated is the best anyone can be."

Despite the challenges others' misconceptions can create, Popowich does not dwell on them for long. 

Popowich said he wants people to realize that those with Down syndrome are regular people.

After sharing his insight on ignorance and his own negative experiences, he returns the conversation to his dreams, and the positive things in his life. He has a love for painting and creating. He draws inspiration from the works of Picasso and other pop culture icons. 

National Down Syndrome Awareness Week runs from November 1-7. 

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Time change can cause symptoms similar to jet lag

A small change in your routine can make a big difference to your mood says Colleen Carney, an expert on sleep and insomnia. As the director of Ryerson University's sleep and depression lab in Toronto she makes it her business to study the habits of successful sleepers and those who sleep too little or too much.

Carney says "even one poor night's sleep can lead to chronic insomnia" so the first Sunday in November, with the switch from daylight saving time back to standard time, is a good opportunity to review our general sleep habits.

"At this time of the year when we actually change the cues in the environment as we perceive them, we can feel some symptoms as we try and adjust to the new local time."

Although with the "fall back" we actually gain a precious hour of sleep on Sunday morning, says Carney, sleep hygiene is something that affects as all year round.  But we can take charge of our sleep routine, she says.  The consequences of poor sleep such as fatigue, concentration problems, and negative mood can often be avoided by practising a few simple sleep habits. 

'We think we outgrow the need for routines'

The main thing to remember, says Carney, is to keep a regular schedule.  She says we all know that babies and toddlers can become grumpy when their nap and sleep routines are disrupted. But it's just as important for adults to follow a routine.

"As adults, we think we outgrow the need for routines", says Carney. "We actually don't."  The fact is, she says, we all need a routine in order to set our internal clocks every day. That's why it's important to pay particular attention both in the spring when we switch to daylight time and in the fall when we switch back to standard time.  And a good night's sleep should not require effort. After all, she says, "sleep is the one thing for which too much effort can be counterproductive."

Carney offers five sleep tips to help you adjust to this weekend's time change and avoid the consequences of poor sleep in the future.

5 sleep tips

1. Get up at the same time every morning: If you change when you get up each morning it creates jet lag symptoms, such as drowsiness, sluggishness and mood changes.
2. Get enough sleep: If you fall asleep the second your head hits the pillow or you doze off at other times of the day you are probably sleep deprived. During times of sleep deprivation we get messages to sleep more.
3. Don't sleep too much: If you spend too much time in bed it sends messages to the brain that you should get less sleep and can cause depression and insomnia. During times of inactivity and over-sleeping, we get messages to sleep less.
4. Wind down before bed: Shut off your electronic devices and refrain from working an hour before bed to lower stress and create calm.
5. Eat well and exercise: Manage fatigue by staying hydrated, eating well and being physically active. 

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Canada won't issue visas to residents of Ebola outbreak countries

Canada is following in Australia's footsteps and has closed its doors, effectively immediately, to people from the West African countries battling Ebola.

In a move that puts Canada at odds with the World Health Organization, the federal government said Friday it is suspending the issuance of visas for residents and nationals of countries with "widespread and persistent-intense transmission" of Ebola virus disease. As well, work on permanent residence applications for people from the affected countries is also being suspended.

The stress on countries with widespread transmission provides an out for the US., which currently still has at least one active Ebola case within its borders. At present only three countries meet the definition of widespread and persistent Ebola transmission: Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

An international law expert denounced the move, saying it was a violation of the International Health Regulations, which Canada helped to draft in the aftermath of the 2003 SARS outbreak. And David Fidler, of Indiana University, said the decisions of Canada and Australia to close their doors to the citizens of the affected countries runs the risk of destroying the IHR, as the treaty is called.

"The whole thing that so many years and so many efforts and so much money was spent on just seems to be disintegrating in this Ebola panic," Fidler said of the treaty.

"And to have countries like Australia and Canada be in the forefront of this is even more disheartening, because they had been shoulder to shoulder with us trying to build these regimes, these approaches and to keep us focused on having a disciplined approach in a [disease] crisis."

"Now they are back to allowing fear and politics drive responses to a disease threat. And we know that only ends up in a bad place."

Case-by-case exemptions 

The change was announced Friday in the Canada Gazette. In a news release issued some hours later, the government said it was taking "new precautionary measures to protect the health and safety of Canadians."

The government said the move does not affect Canadians in West Africa; Canadian health-care workers helping in the effort to contain Ebola will be permitted back into Canada, the release said. As well, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander retains the discretion to grant entry on a case-by-case basis in exceptional circumstances "where travel is essential and in Canada's interest."

"The precautionary measures announced today build on actions we have taken to protect the health and safety of Canadians here at home," the news release quoted Alexander as saying.

The move was quickly criticized by NDP health critic Libby Davies.

"A visa ban isn't a solution. The World Health Organization and the World Bank have both spoken out sharply against international travel bans, so the experts we're relying on to fight Ebola are saying this is not the right approach," Davies said in an email.

"The Conservative government seems more interested in public relations than in acting on recommendations from public health experts."

'The fear factor is way too high'

Earlier this week Australia issued a blanket ban on visas for resident and citizens of the West African countries struggling to cope with the most devastating Ebola outbreak the world has ever witnessed.

That move was slammed Wednesday by Dr. Margaret Chan, the director general of the World Health Organization, who said closing borders will not stop spread of the Ebola virus.

"I understand the fear in the community, but the fear factor is way too high and out of proportion to the risk," Chan told Bloomberg News in an interview. "No evidence exists to support the effectiveness of travel bans as a protective measure."

Both countries may soon have to try to produce some evidence to support their actions. Under the International Health Regulations, they will have to explain these decisions to the WHO.

The IHR are designed to help the world fight infectious disease outbreaks that have the potential for international spread. When they were revised and strengthened in 2005 after the SARS outbreak, an emphasis was put on not penalizing countries that are experiencing outbreaks because doing so may incite countries to cover up epidemics rather than disclose them.

During SARS, the World Health Organization issued travel advisories directing people around the world to avoid places battling outbreaks. It is a tool the organization has never used again.

One of the places hit with a travel advisory was Toronto.

Clement, Baird denounced SARS travel advisory

Ontario's then health minister, Tony Clement — now president of the federal treasury board — was incensed by the WHO's move. Another prominent member of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's cabinet, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird was also part of the Ontario government that roundly denounced the WHO for the travel advisory, which emptied hotels and conference centres in Canada's largest city.

In fact, Clement led a delegation to Geneva — an extraordinary move, given that the WHO only deals with national governments, not lower level governments within a country — to demand the WHO rescind the travel advisory against Toronto. The travel advisory was lifted shortly thereafter.

Under the IHR, countries agree not to restrict trade or travel over and above what is recommended by the WHO during Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. The WHO declared Ebola an international public health emergency on Aug. 8 and in doing so said countries should not close their borders to the West African countries struggling with Ebola. It has repeated that advice several times since.

The IHR stipulate that countries that go beyond the WHO's recommendations have to back up their decisions with solid rationale.

"You have to explain yourself. And you have to show that your measure, which is more restrictive than what WHO is recommending, is based in science and public health principles," Fidler said in an interview.

"There isn't a public health or scientific justification for what Australia and Canada are doing. Therefore they are in violation of their obligations under the international health regulations."

'A violation of international law'

Fidler said that Canada and Australia — both major contributors to international public health efforts and supporters of the WHO — are taking these actions is particularly disheartening.

"You think about Australia and the leadership it's taken in global health on the tobacco issue. You think about Canada and the contributions it has made to global health over the years — maternal and child health, supporting WHO, CIDA."

"Canada is known as being a champion of well-informed, scientifically based, evidence-solid policies. Then something like this happens and it's not only disappointing, it's also a violation of international law. And both Australia and Canada have the capacity to deal with this issue in a way which doesn't have such adverse effects on these West African countries which are suffering from this unprecedented epidemic."

In fact Canada actually receives very few travellers from the affected countries. Research done by University of Toronto expert Dr. Kamran Khan showed that only about 1.5 per cent of people travelling from those countries in any given year come to Canada.

A recent study Khan and colleagues published in the journal The Lancet showed the three countries — among the world's poorest — are not major contributors to international travel. Their combined travel made up half of one per cent of all international air travel in 2013. The figure would be expected to be substantially lower this year, as many air carriers have cancelled flights to the countries. Flights from Liberia are down 51 per cent, from Guinea 66 per cent and Sierra Leone 85 per cent.

The latest figures from the WHO suggest at least 13,567 people have been infected since this Ebola outbreak began, and 4,951 have died.

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Remedy or ripoff? 5 things to watch out for

With hundreds of natural-sounding treatments on store shelves vying for our attention, it's hard to know what works.

And with sales of natural supplements, diet treatments and personal care products in the billions of dollars, many consumers look at products and wonder: Is it a cure-all or a cash-grab?

CBC's Marketplace looked at four popular treatments, a detox cleanse, an anti-aging skin cream, a popular cold remedy and a diet treatment and tested the promises they make. The episode "Remedy or Ripoff?" airs tonight on CBC-TV on at 8 p.m. (8:30 p.m. NT).

Follow the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag #toogoodtobetrue.

To avoid getting lured in by marketing tactics, here are five signs to watch for that may indicate the product in your hand is more ripoff than remedy.

1. "Clinically proven"

While this can sound like a product gets the scientific stamp of approval, it's worth giving this label a second glance, Perry Romanowski, a cosmetic chemist based in Chicago, told Marketplace co-host Tom Harrington.

"On the one hand it does mean that some sort of testing was done," he says.

"But the term clinically proven or clinically tested doesn't have any industry standard. There's a wide range of what that actually means."

And, he adds, any testing that was done may not cover all of the product's claims.

It often depends on the quality — and type — of study that was done.

Marketplace investigated an expensive anti-aging skin cream and found that some of the clinical research was self-reported effects by a small group of women.

Marketplace also tested the science behind a cold treatment. What did the studies show? If you take the pills for 17 cold and flu seasons, you should get one less cold. 

2. Promises quick results

Dr. George Dresser, a toxicologist, pharmacologist and internal medical specialist at Western University in London, Ont., is wary of health products that promise fast results.

He says the "desire for quick fixes — the idea that you can take something for six days, seven days, 30 days, and end up with an immediate improvement in your health — is a very attractive concept."

Some popular diet treatments on the market may sell pricey products, but it may actually be the diet plan that's the key to any weight loss.

"If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight, and that's true on any program," Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, a specialist in nutrition and weight loss, told co-host Erica Johnson.

3. Celebrity endorsement

A big celebrity endorsement may give many treatments the air of respectability.

A U.S. Senate panel looking into bogus diet product ads took Dr. Mehmet Oz to task for touting weight-loss products on his syndicated television show. (Lauren Victoria Burke/Associated Press)

But as the U.S. Senate hearings with Dr. Mehmet Oz last summer made clear, celebrity endorsements, even by prominent a celebrity doctor, don't necessarily mean that the product is better or even works.

"When you call a product a miracle, and it's something you can buy and it's something that gives people false hope, I just don't understand why you need to go there," Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill said to Oz at the hearing on bogus diet products held in July.

"I don't get why you need to say this stuff because you know it's not true."

4. "Natural"

A very appealing catch-all term, the word natural can, in fact, mean very little.

Almost anything can be considered to have a natural origin, says Romanowski, and even naturally derived ingredients can still be highly processed.

"The reality is that any company can call their product natural and there's a fair amount of greenwashing that goes on in the cosmetic industry.

"They take a regular product, sprinkle in some extract, put it in a green package, give it a grassy kind of scent and call it natural."

5. Trendy scientific buzzwords

"Detoxification," "stem cells" and other medical-sounding terms can give a treatment the sheen of science, but there are reasons to give these products a skeptical look.

Research done by the U.K. research group the Voice of Young Science found that among popular detox regimes, no two companies defined "detoxification" the same way.

Romanowski says that including a graph or a molecule in advertising or packaging can make consumers believe a product's claims.

"Marketers have known for years that if you make something sound sciencey and techy, that makes people think, naturally, that it's going to work better, even when the terms are just made up," he says.

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Movember moustaches may help find new prostate cancer tests

Money raised through past Movember men's health campaigns is helping fund the search for alternatives to PSA screening for prostate cancer.

That search has taken on added importance now that an official task force has recommended not using PSA testing to screen for prostate cancer.

Prostate-specific antigen — or PSA — testing measures the amount of that protein enzyme in blood. Higher levels may indicate the presence of cancer or infection in the prostate. Or sometimes they may not.

The test costs an individual about $30. In B.C., the province covers the costs, and its billed about $11.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men (excluding the skin cancers) and ranks third in number of deaths, after lung and colorectal cancer.

While the recommendations by the Task Force on Preventive Health Care don't mean the end of PSA testing — they are opposed by groups like Prostate Cancer Canada and the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network — efforts to develop other diagnostic tools are well underway.

For Stuart Edmonds of Prostate Cancer Canada, "PSA isn't the bad actor in this, it's actually decision-making along the process that's part of the problem, how the PSA is being interpreted or how men are being pushed or choosing to have treatment when actually treatment may not be necessary."

And Jackie Manthorne,  the Canadian Cancer Survivor Network's president and CEO, says: "Don't throw PSA tests out the window until we have something viable to replace it with."

This year, Edmonds' organization has already directed Movember Foundation-funded grants worth $10 million toward research on alternative diagnostic tools for prostate cancer.  The Movember campaign, best known for the moustaches grown to raise awareness about men's health issues, starts today. 

Spending on all prostate cancer research in Canada totalled more than $36 million in 2011, according to the Canadian Cancer Research Alliance.

Diagnosing prostate cancer with DREs and MRIs

At present, besides the PSA test, the only other widely used diagnostic technique is the digital rectal exam, or DRE. The DRE can only be done on the back of the prostate gland, although that's the site of 85 per cent of prostate cancers.

During the DRE, the doctor is feeling for lumps or hardened areas, which, if caused by cancer, mean the disease is more advanced.

Stuart Edmonds of Prostate Cancer Canada says genetic testing "is one of the areas there are likely to be big breakthroughs in the future." (Prostate Cancer Canada)

Edmonds says the DRE certainly has some value but notes there "have not been clinical trials on DREs alone and their effect on mortality." Men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer solely by a DRE, he notes.

Testing is also underway to show how effective magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, can be for detecting prostate cancer, Edmonds says.

A research article published by the medical journal The Lancet in August says, "A promising approach lies in the development of multiparametric MRI imaging technology of the prostate, which at present claims to selectively diagnose aggressive prostate cancers and avoid the diagnosis of many non-significant cancers."

If it happens, the price tag will likely be high. However, distinguishing between cancers that can kill and ones that men can live with is critically important when deciding treatment.

"Overdiagnosis occurs in roughly 40 per cent of cases detected by screening," according to The Lancet article.

Cutting edge research 

One of those Movember grants gives $5 million to a cross-Canada team for research to better identify "men who do or do not need aggressive treatment by providing accurate information about risk at diagnosis," and to "develop novel molecular diagnostic tests to predict which men are likely to develop aggressive cancer," says Prostate Cancer Canada.

A surgeon performs a robot-assisted prostate tumorectomy using ultrasound imaging on April 10, 2014 at the Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon, France. (Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty)

The team is led by John Bartlett of the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research.

A smaller grant went to a team headed by Dr. John Lewis at the University of Alberta. Its goal is to develop tests that look at a particular protein to predict the outcome of a prostate cancer when it's diagnosed. 

"These tests could tell us if the patient is at high risk for developing aggressive metastatic disease or if that patient's disease is in a benign state," Lewis says. 

Lewis says they hope to have an initial clinical test within three years and a blood test in less than 10 years.

New diagnostic tests

Two other Movember grants in Canada are going to research on biomarkers that may lead to a new test to diagnose prostate cancer.

Robert Day at the University of Sherbrooke is looking at developing a diagnostic test that Prostate Cancer Canada says could "complement or even replace PSA."

Their research will focus on an enzyme Day's team discovered, sPACE4, that shows up at abnormally high levels with prostate cancer and can be correlated with the severity of the tumour.

A team from the University Health Network in Toronto, under Bharati Bapat, has a grant to develop a DNA-based biomarker test that can predict if a patient has an agressive prostate cancer.

They are studying genes called microRNAs found in a patient's urine, for example, and comparing them to the patient's symptoms, etc.

They hope that could lead to a test that can predict if a man has prostate cancer and how aggressive it will be.

Edmonds says genetic testing "is one of the areas where there are likely to be big breakthroughs in the future."

Meanwhile, Mats Daugaard at the Vancouver Prostate Centre is researching a sugar structure, CSA, that is found at high levels when prostate cancer is present. 

Daugaard says he is very optimistic his research will lead to "making diagnosis more accurate and making it, possibly, earlier."

He says studying the sugar could also lead to better therapy to target the cancer. His research grant comes from funds donated at Safeway stores. 

Prostatic stones

A brand new area of research that has promise for detecting prostate cancer involves analyzing prostatic stones.

The red arrows show bacterial imprints on prostatic stones, seen with scanning electron microscopy. Infection-induced inflammation of the prostate may lead to cancer. (CNRS/PLOS One)

These poppy-seed-sized stones, mostly consisting of calcium phosphate, have been found in almost all surgically removed prostate glands. 

But now, scientists with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Tenon Hospital in France have found that with infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy, they can determine whether there is or has been an infection of the prostate, even asymptomatic infections.

This is potentially important because scientists have linked infection-related inflammation with cancer of the prostate, as well as other organs.

To apply this knowledge to diagnosis, Dominique Bazin, research director at the CNRC, says doctors could find the stones with a CT scan. If present, that should "trigger an investigation by doctors," Bazin told CBC News.

Bazin said his team recently used the same techniques to examine small calcium deposits in breast tissue and says the initial findings, not yet released, are "quite exciting" for early detection of breast cancer.

22.45 | 0 komentar | Read More

Double-gloving, better face protection added in new guidance on Ebola gear

The UN health agency is updating its guidelines for health workers dealing with the deadly Ebola virus, recommending
tougher measures such as doubling up on gloves and making sure the mouth, nose and eyes are better protected from contaminated droplets and fluids.

But the World Health Agency says the choice of equipment is much less important than the way it's used.

Dr. Edward Kelley, director of service delivery and safety for WHO, told reporters Friday the updated guidelines call for wearing one of two materials for gowns or coveralls and "an absolute recommendation for double-gloving that didn't exist before."

Doctors Without Borders already recommends some of its staff in high-risk jobs, like cleaning Ebola treatment centres or handling bodies of Ebola victims, wear two or three pairs of gloves.

Meanwhile, two people are suspected of having Ebola after coming into contact with a two-year-old girl who died of the disease in Mali last week, according to data from the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
 
An epidemiological presentation by both agencies, given on Thursday and seen by Reuters on Friday, breaks down the girl's journey from Guinea to Mali with her grandmother, five-year-old sister and her uncle, and shows she may have had contact with 141 people in all, 57 of them yet to be identified.

One of the 84 contacts who have so far been traced is suspected of having Ebola but has not been tested, the presentation shows. Another four suspected cases have been tested. Three showed negative results, with one result yet to come in.

Elsewhere, Liberia has opened one of its largest Ebola treatment centres yet in Monrovia, bracing for a new wave of infections even as officials express hope the disease is on the decline.

The World Health Organization said this week that the rate of infection in Liberia appears to be falling but warned that the response effort must be kept up or the trend could be reversed.

 Despite the signs of hope, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said Friday that the memory of the sick and dying lying at home or in the streets with no place to go is still fresh.

22.46 | 0 komentar | Read More

Microbicides an 'empowering tool' to prevent HIV infection in women

Microbicides, products specifically aimed at protecting women from HIV without the need to negotiate condom use, are missing in the scientific response to the AIDS pandemic, say researchers working to bridge the gap.

In North America and Europe, HIV is most prevalent in the gay population. But in sub-Saharan Africa, where the virus has taken the greatest toll, the face of the epidemic is a young African woman, said Elizabeth Bukusi, deputy director of research and training at the Kenya Medical Research Centre.

South Africa has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS compared to any other country in the world, according to UNAIDS. (Themba Hadebe/Associated Press)

"We need an option that women have the choice about using," Bukusi said. "If she can't protect herself because her partner will not put [a condom] on, we need her to have something she can use to protect herself."

At Crossroads, a poor township with one of the highest rates of HIV in South Africa, residents are recruited for various HIV prevention studies. In return, participants are offered health care and the community receives educational and recreational programs.

For two years, Ntanda Kiwana has attended a clinic for monthly checks as part of a trial to see whether a vaginal ring with a long-acting microbicide embedded in it can prevent women from becoming infected.

"I don't even feel it," she said.

Prof. Sharon Hillier of the University of Pittsburgh is principal investigator for the Microbicide Trials Network, directing  research projects in seven countries.

"I think microbicides are just the kind of empowering tool that give women the chance to control their own health," Hillier said.

There are several microbicide designs that work to provide a physical barrier to keep out HIV and other sexually transmitted viruses from attaching to the vaginal walls or boost natural vaginal defences, such as by manipulating acidity levels.

So far, one study has shown a microbicide gel is partially effective against HIV. Researchers say two large studies reporting results in 2015 will likely confirm and possibly surpass that finding.

Two trials with microbicidal rings will release results shortly after. If the trials are successful, the products could be available to use commercially in a few years.

The HIV Research for Prevention Conference in Cape Town ends tomorrow.

22.46 | 0 komentar | Read More