Prostate Cancer Risk Factors
A risk factor is anything that may increase a person's chance of developing a disease. It may be an activity, such as smoking, diet, family history, or many other things. Different diseases, including cancers, have different risk factors. In general, all men are at risk for prostate cancer. However, there are specific risk factors that increase the likelihood that certain men will develop the disease, including the following:Age is a risk factor for prostate cancer, especially men age 50 and older. More than 80 percent of all prostate cancers are diagnosed in men over the age of 65. Race: Prostate cancer is nearly twice as common among African-American men than it is among Caucasian-American men. Japanese and Chinese men native to their country have the lowest rates of prostate cancer.
Diet: Data suggests that the diet consumed in Western industrialized countries may be one of the most important contributory factors for developing prostate cancer. The following information regarding diet and its effect on the risk for prostate cancer include men who eat a high-fat diet may have a greater chance of developing prostate cancer. Dietary fiber intake may decrease the progression of prostate cancer. Soy protein lowers fat intake, and the isoflavones in soy have been found to inhibit the growth of prostate cancer. Vitamin E and selenium Vitamin E, an antioxidant, combined with selenium, has been shown to inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animals. Carotenoids Carotenoids containing lycopenes have been shown to inhibit the growth of human prostate cancer cells in tissue cultures. The primary source of lycopenes is processed tomatoes in tomato juice and tomato paste. Obesity Obesity not only contributes to diabetes and high cholesterol, but has also been associated with some common cancers including prostate cancer.
Vasectomy, BPH (benign prostatic hyperplasia), or STD (sexually transmitted disease) Researchers have looked at whether men who have had a vasectomy, BPH, or those who have had exposure to STD’s are at increased risk for prostate cancer. Some studies suggest a link, while others don’t. Family history of prostate cancer. A father or brother with prostate cancer doubles a man's risk of developing prostate cancer. The risk is even higher for men with several affected relatives. Geneticists divide families into three groups, depending upon the number of men with prostate cancer and their ages of onset, including the following: Sporadic - a family with prostate cancer present in one man, at a typical age of onset. Familial - a family with prostate cancer present in more than one person, but with no definitive pattern of inheritance and usually an older age of onset. Hereditary - Five to 10 percent of prostate cancer cases are considered hereditary. Genetic Approximately 9 percent of all prostate cancers and 45 percent of cases in men younger than age 55 can be attributed to a cancer susceptibility gene that is inherited as a dominant trait (from parent to child).
For more information visit: www.prostacet.com
Menopause Symptoms and Memory Loss
While you may experience the misery of hot flashes and mood swings as you enter menopause, one thing you can't blame on the "change" is memory loss.
In the latest study that exonerates menopause as a cause of impairing the ability to recall, Taiwanese researchers compared the memory of hundreds of women before they had any menopausal symptoms to their memory as they entered menopause.
They found the women who were going through the menopausal process scored as well or nearly as well on five different cognitive function tests. Results of the study are to be presented Oct. 4 at the American Neurological Association annual meeting in Toronto.
"When women go into perimenopause, they don't need to worry about cognitive decline," said Dr. Jong-Ling Fuh, an attending physician at Taipei Veterans General Hospital and an associate professor of Yang-Ming University School of Medicine.
The researchers said the myth of memory loss during menopause is a perception some women have because as they went through menopause, they felt their memory wasn't as sharp as it had been before. Studies suggesting that hormone replacement therapy might protect against dementia strengthened that belief. However, a large study later found that in older women, hormone replacement therapy not only didn't help protect women from dementia, but could actually increase the risk.
To try to answer the question of whether menopause did have any effect on memory, Fuh and her colleagues studied nearly 700 premenopausal women living on a group of rural islands between Taiwan and China. The Taiwanese government restricted access to these islands until the 1990s, so the authors report that the study's population was nearly homogeneous, which would help rule out other potentially causative factors of memory loss.
The women were between the ages of 40 and 54. None of them had had a hysterectomy, and none took hormone replacement therapy during the study.
All took five cognitive tests designed to assess their memory and cognitive skills at the start of the study, and then again 18 months later.
During the study period, 23 percent of the women began to have symptoms of menopause.
The researchers then compared the memory of the women who had entered menopause to those who had not, and found very little difference. In four of the five tests, there were no statistically significant differences in the two groups of women.
Only on one test was the difference statistically significant, and that difference, said Fuh, was very slight. This test was designed to assess verbal memory and involved showing the women 70 nonsensical figures. Some of the figures were repeated during the test, while most were not. The women were asked whether they had seen the figure earlier.
"For women, menopause does not mean you'll develop memory loss," said Dr. Raina Ernstoff, an attending neurologist at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Mich. As you're going through perimenopause and experiencing symptoms like hot flashes, she said, you may feel lousy and have trouble sleeping, which might temporarily affect your cognitive skills.
"I don't think declining estrogen levels are what causes memory loss," said Dr. Steven Goldstein, an obstetrician/gynecologist at New York University Medical Center in New York City. "It's not like your memory is bopping along, doing fine and then takes this big dive during menopause, like bone density can."
Both Ernstoff and Goldstein said they weren't aware of many women who believed that menopause might cause significant memory loss. They also both felt that results from this group of women who were so homogeneous might not apply to different groups of women, such as those living in more industrialized society. And they both said that other factors that weren't studied could play a role in memory loss, such as hypertension, which can contribute to vascular dementia.
Ernstoff also pointed out that the education backgrounds can play a large role in memory loss. Fuh acknowledged the researchers did attempt to control the data for educational differences.
SOURCES: Jong-Ling Fuh, M.D., attending physician, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and associate professor, Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; Steven Goldstein, M.D., obstetrician/gynecologist, New York University Medical Center, and professor, obstetrics/gynecology, New York University School of Medicine, New York City; Raina Ernstoff, M.D., attending neurologist, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Mich., and member, Alzheimer's Board of Detroit; Oct. 4, 2004, presentation, American Neurological Association, Toronto.
For more information visit: www.menozac.com
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Cause of Hair Loss in Teens and Adults
Cause of Hair Loss in Teens and AdultsThere are many causes of hair loss. Both men and women can obtain it. It can be because of nutritional deficiency, hormone imbalance, stress, and diseases. But generally the most common cause of it is called adrogenetic alopecia. It is the medical term for hair loss or baldness.Adrogenetic refers to the influence of androgens (male hormones), and genetic predisposition to balding can be the reason of such a hair loss.Genetic is not that simple, and also the hair loss case. Just the presence of someone in your family of balding is not enough to predict that you will also become bald. It is really hard to predict who will go bald and how fast will it be. That is why planning for hair restoration will be very important for those people who gets alarmed about it.
Normal man and women produce androgenic hormones. Dihydrotestosterone, androsteinedione, testosterone (DHT) is the most common. For men Testicles and adrenals are the one to produce it. For women ovaries and adrenal glands are the one to produce. These hormones are important for both sexes. But have different concentrations, and this is more predominant for males than females. This in part, differentiates the genders. Exposure of hair follicles to DHT, in a susceptible person, in a period of time leads to male and female pattern to baldness or the so-called adrogenetic alopecia. There is no exact age for balding occurrence.
Balding is a process, simple yet this fact is often ignored. This process can be slow or rapid. It usually starts at late teens. Illnesses and medical conditions is one of the causes of hair loss. Such as thyroid disease and diabetes, can cause hair loss. Those people with liver and kidney diseases and lupus can also have baldness. Adult women and teen girls can have hair loss due to hormone imbalance in polycystic ovary syndrome.Medications such as acne medicines cause hair loss. Amphetamines in diet pills can also cause hair loss. And the very known medication that causes hair loss is chemotherapy.
Alopecia areata is a skin disease than causes hair loss on the scalp and sometimes on the body. It is an autoimmune disease. The own immune system is the one to damage the hair follicles. Alopecia areata starts as small bald patches and can progress to total baldness.Trichotillomania is a psychological disorder in which a person pulls his/her own hair that can also lead to hair loss. Hair treatments and styling the hair gives tension to scalp and hair becomes damaged and leads to hair loss. Nutrition is also one factor of baldness because of lack of protein, vitamins and minerals that sustains the hair. Disruption of hair cycle growth is also a problem. Like delivering a baby, getting anesthesia, or having surgery.
For more information visit: www.provillus.com
Breast Implant Dangers
Occasionally, breast implants may break or leak. The saline fill is salt water and will be absorbed by the body without ill effects. Older implants with silicone gel can leak also. If this occurs, one of two things may occur. If breakage of the implant shell that has a contracture scar around it, then it may not feel like anything has happed. If the shell breaks and there is not a contracture scar, then leakage into the surrounding tissue results in a sensation that the implant is deflating. The leaking gel may collect in the breast and a new scar may form around it. In other cases gel can migrate through the lymphatic system to another area of the body. Breaks may require a second operation and replacement of the leaking implant. If the gel has migrated it may not be possible to remove all of the silicone gel. This silicone gel is the what some say is related to the initiation of connective tissue disorders.
For silicone gel and saline-filled implants, some causes of rupture or deflation include : damage by surgical instruments during surgery, overfilling or underfilling of the implant with saline solution (specific only to saline-filled breast implants), capsular contracture ,closed capsulotomy , stresses such as trauma or intense physical manipulation ,excessive compression during mammographic imaging, placement through umbilical incision ,site injury to the breast, normal aging of the implant ,unknown/unexplained reasons.
FDA completed a retrospective study on rupture of silicone gel-filled breast implants. This study was performed in Birmingham, Alabama and included women who had their first breast implant before 1988. Women with silicone gel-filled breast implants had a MRI examination of their breasts to determine the status of their current breast implants. The 344 women who received a MRI examination had a total of 687 implants. Of the 687 implants in the study, at least two of the three study radiologists agreed that 378 implants were ruptured (55%). This means that 69% of the 344 women had at least one ruptured breast implant. Of the 344 women, 73 (21%) had extracapsular silicone gel in one or both breasts. Factors that were associated with rupture included increasing age of the implant, the implant manufacturer, and submuscular rather than subglandular location of the implant.
The most common complication of breast implants is capsular contracture, a tightening of the scar tissue that the body produces around the implant as a natural part of healing. Additional surgery may be required either to remove the scar tissue or to remove—and perhaps replace—the implant. In a prospective clinical study of saline-filled breast implants conducted by Mentor, the cumulative, 3-year, by patient rates of a first occurrence of capsular contracture Grades III and IV were 9% for the 1264 augmentation patients and 30% for the 416 reconstruction patients. In a prospective clinical study of saline-filled breast implants conducted by McGhan, the cumulative, 3-year, by patient rates of a first occurrence of capsular contracture Grades III and IV were 9% for the 901 augmentation patients and 25% for the 237 reconstruction patients.
For more information visit: www.breastactives.com
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