According to researchers, the less educated individuals, which include primarily the poorer Americans, did not experience the same drop probably due increased smoking rates and other risk factors of oral cancer prevalent among them. The frequency of oral cancer death among these people is also more as they mostly do not have the privilege of having timely and proper health care. Similar trend is noticed in death rates of other cancer types like breast cancer and lung cancer.

The research conducted for finding out oral cancer death rates among Americans was carried out by a team of researchers under Doctor Amy Chen. During the study, data of throat and mouth cancer patients diagnosed with the conditions from 1993 to 2007 in 26 US states was collected. It was found that 19,300 adults aged between 25 and 64 years died during this period due to these cancers. The study found that rate of oral cancer deaths dropped by 2-5% every year from 1990s to the 2000s, on an average.

By the time the study ended, these cancer types were found to kill 3 and 6 out of each 100,000 white and black men respectively every year. On the other hand, 1 out of every 100,000 black and white women is known to encounter death annually due to throat or mouth cancer. When these numbers were segregated according to education levels of individuals in question, it was found that the drop in frequency of oral cancer deaths was only noticed among whites who have at least completed their college education and the blacks who are educated at least up to high school levels.

During the study, the researchers came to know that women, who were being prescribed metformin for a minimum of 10 times as treatment of their diabetes are at lower risk of developing tumors compared to women who didn’t take the drug ever or got it prescribed less than 10 times. These findings from the study got published in Gynaecologic Oncology, a famous medical journal.

Other than the above mentioned study, currently several other studies are going on at different corners of the globe for finding out how efficient inexpensive drug is as an anti-cancer agent. A group of scientists of North Carolina’s Duke University are currently conducting a study to find out whether metformin can help in preventing breast cancer in obese women having hypertension and high blood cholesterol levels. On the other hand, some German researchers are trying to find out whether metformin can offer protection against breast tumor through the strengthening of immune system in a way that it stops the malignant cells from taking hold and destroys them completely. In some other part of the world, metformin is also tested to find out whether it can prevent cancer forms like lung and prostate cancers.

However, the study taking place in UK is the first one to show evidences that the drug can help in preventing ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer is a big issue in United Kingdom as every year it causes over 4,000 deaths in the country.

Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation is a cancer treatment pioneered by the doctors working at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute. The research is overseen by a radiologist, Doctor Karin Leifland. According to Dr. Leifland, in the future this newly developed technology can be used as an alternative of surgeries for treating women in early stages of breast cancer. Similar therapeutic procedures, involving use of radio-frequency ablation, are already is use in treatment of bone, kidney and liver cancers. Dr. Leifland stated that the procedure is similar to that of boiling eggs. During the procedure, the tumors are heated up to an extent, which allows killing cancer cells, but without harming any of the surrounding tissues. Dr. Leifland mentioned that this treatment is particularly suitable for women having tumors smaller than 2cm and contained within one lump. She has assured that the patient will not experience any scarring or pain due to the procedure and will be able to get back to normal life only within some minutes of undergoing the treatment.

During a Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation, using ultrasound for guidance, the doctor will insert a thin electrode (having a diameter similar to that of a needle) into the tumor’s center. This will be followed by application of electric current through the inserted electrode for heating the tumor up to a temperature of 90 ° C; this will kill the tumor without causing any harm to its surrounding tissues. Later, this dead tissue takes the form of an undamaging scar within the breast. A patient required to undergo a single session of Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation for getting rid of a tumor. After the treatment, mammograms and MRI scans are done for checking the condition of the woman after 1, 6, 12 months and then once in every year for ensuring that the cancer has not recurred. In case, the patient requires further treatment like chemotherapy, it can be carried out following the normal procedure after completion of the Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation.

During 3 studies for finding out the effects of Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation, over 80 patients were treated with this procedure. On each instance, the therapy appeared to be successful. So far, these patients have been followed up for a period of up to 2 years and till date none of them has been experienced a recurrence of cancer.

Dr. Leifland mentions that this technology might be particularly effective for women having slow-growing cancers of the breasts, elderly women who cannot undergo surgeries due to their health conditions and women having underlying medical problems like respiratory disorders and diabetes. Moreover, a Preferential Radio-Frequency Ablation costs much less than breast cancer surgeries. Dr. Leifland believes that within the next 5 years, this treatment procedure will become the mainstream treatment for breast cancer. However, still the medical world needs to wait before declaring this treatment procedure as a main breast cancer remedy.

Cancer Council of Australia has recently reported that their estimates are suggesting 2 in every 3 Australians will get diagnosed to be suffering from skin cancer before reaching the age of 70 years and the most common form of the disease would be squamous cell carcinoma or SCC. Till date, no medical study could find out the gene responsible for causing skin cancer; as a result the only available treatment option for the disease is surgery.

Prof. Jane said that during the study he and his team found that a gene, which plays a vital role in the skin development of fetuses, is not present in the tumor cells of adult SCC. Although the main focus of the study was skin cancer, the researchers discovered that even SCC tumors arising from other tissues do not have this protective gene. This includes head and neck cancers, cancer types having extremely poor prognosis.

The statement of Prof Jane in this regard mentions that virtually all SCC tumors checked by the researchers working under him possessed almost undetectable percentage of that particular gene; this forced the researchers to believe that the absence of the gene has links with occurrence of squamous cell carcinomas.  The researchers then successfully showed that eliminating this gene results in knocking out of the signal that is responsible for stopping the skin cells from growing. As a result, abnormal growth of skin cells begin, which eventually leads to cancer. Successful identification of the driving gene of SCC will help in developing strategies to prevent and treat squamous cell carcinomas of the skin and other organs.

Tissues in a wound-like condition allow cancerous tumors to grow in size and spread. This new study showed that silibinin helps in removing molecular billboards responsible for signaling a wound-like condition, which in turn aids to stop spreading of lung cancer.  Milk thistle extracts have been used for treating ailments related to our gallbladder and liver for thousands of years. This is the first time when a study has revealed milk thistle’s ability of curing lung cancer.

The cells can possess chains of signals one after another, which finally result in formation of the end products. iNOS and COX2 are the end products that act as enzymes responsible for our immune system’s inflammatory response towards the perceived wounds. Both these end products can result in growth of tumors. The far upstream of the signaling chains, which results in formation of the above mentioned unwanted end products are STAT3 and STAT1. STAT3 and STAT1 are the transcription factors that allow blueprint of our DNA to form a bond with the proteins responsible for continuing the signal cascades and promoting production of iNOS and COX2.

If we manage to stop STAT3 and STAT1, the chain leading to formation of iNOS and COX2 will be broken successfully. This will eventually prevent the lung cancer tumors from growing. Dr Tyagi, in her report suggested that silibinin can effectively stop STAT3 and STAT1 and thus it can prevent growth of lung cancer. During the study the research team also compared the effects of anti-cancer drugs normally used for treating lung cancer with the effects of milk thistle.

According to Dr Harit Chaturvedi, who is the head of Max hospital’s surgical oncology department, this invention will appear as a real boon for lung cancer patients of India provided it will be affordable. He mentioned that lung cancer ranks second in the list of most commonly occurring cancer types among Indian population. This cancer type is common in India due to the extreme prevalence of tobacco consumption in the country. Out of the cases of lung cancer in India, 90% are NSCLC, the most aggressive form of the disease. Statistics suggest that over 85% of the patients get diagnosed with the disease when they already reach an advanced stage of the cancer. The survival rate among patients diagnosed with lung cancer in stage 1 is 70%; the survival rate drops to 20% when the disease gets diagnose din stage 3.

According to Dr Chaturvedi, majority of lung cancer patient report to doctors when they are in stage 4 of the disease. This statistic increases the importance of the TG4010 vaccine. This vaccine will slow down spreading of the disease and will enhance the effects of chemotherapy; as a result, patients in stage 4 of lung cancer will have a better life expectancy or survival rate. The TG4010 vaccine is designed for stimulating the patient’s immune response towards MUC1 (the protein that is produced in large amounts by cancerous tumor cells in the lungs) and activating their immune system for attacking and destroying the cancer cells.

Dry mouth, a condition medically referred to as xerostomia happens due to lack of production of saliva in one’s mouth. Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, the director of the Integrative Medicine Program of  MD Anderson and also a researcher involved in the study stated that dry mouth although appears to be a benign health complication affects actions like speaking, eating and sleeping significantly. He mentioned that decreased production of saliva or stoppage in saliva production can act as the trigger of microbial growth, permanent nutritional deficits and bone infections.

86 individuals suffering from nasopharyngeal carcinomas and undergoing radiation therapy as treatment of the disease took part in the study. Out of them 40 patients were treated with acupuncture thrice a week for 7 weeks during which they also received radiation therapy. The remaining 46 patients were only provided with regular care along with radiation therapy. After 7 weeks the researchers monitored intensity of flow of saliva in all 86 participants using a specially drafted Xerostomia Questionnaire. A person scoring below 30 was considered to be absolutely free from dry mouth or to be suffering from a mild form of the disorder.

Again, after a month of completion of radiation therapy, it was found that 54.3 % of the patients obtaining acupuncture along with radiation therapy scored over 30 on the Xerostomia Questionnaire while the percentage of patients scoring over 30 among the ones not receiving acupuncture was much higher at 86.1%. After 6 months, the percentage of participants scoring over 30 on the Xerostomia Questionnaire was respectively 24.1% and 63.6% for participants receiving acupuncture and not receiving acupuncture along with radiation therapy.

This new cancer vaccine is named as PANVAC vaccine; during the trial, the vaccine got administered to patients once in a month. The trial showed that the vaccine assisted the immune system of the patients’ body in identifying proteins generated from the cancer cells. As the body started identifying these cells, it destroyed them more efficiently.

Once experimental application of the vaccine resulted in complete remission of the disease; the woman did not have any symptom of cancer remaining in her body after completing the course of PANVAC vaccine.

The study done to find out the effects of this cancer vaccine got published in the recent edition of medical journal Clinical Cancer Research. Average age of the participants taking part in the trial was 57 years; majority of them underwent wide range of other types of cancer treatment. According to the researchers conducting the trial, the effects of PANVAC vaccine could have been dampened due to those harsh treatments.

A famous oncologist of the current generation Dr. Elizabeth Poynor, who was not a part of this study, stated that it is always extremely exciting to know about new discoveries in the field of biologic treatment. She mentioned the excitement should not be less or more based on whether the discovery is a small or big one. The fact that the discovery is resulting in positive results gives enough reason to be happy and hopeful. Dr. Poynor mentioned that the women taking part in the trial were carrying cancers that were most difficult to treat and several other cancer treatments have failed to improve their condition.

Liver cancer:
Excess consumption of alcohol results in liver degeneration, which eventually turns into a serious condition known as cirrhosis of liver. Cirrhosis of liver is a risk factor for liver cancer. Medical studies conducted over the years suggest that intake of excess alcohol damage cells of our body, particularly the liver cells. Damage to the cells is manifested in form of structural and genetic changes in them, which in turn results in occurrence of cancer.

Cancer of organs involved in digestion, oral cancer and esophageal cancer:
Statistics suggest that alcoholism is the topmost cause of cancer in the esophagus, mouth, throat and other parts of our upper digestive tract. Medical experts say that whether or not one is at risk of developing cancer in these organs depends on how much alcohol he is consuming and not on the frequency or duration of use. An individual’s risk of suffering from cancer of the above mentioned body parts increases even further is he smokes or uses tobacco in any other form.

Lung cancer:
Similar to smoking, consumption of alcohol also affects our lung functions, which might result in several respiratory and pulmonary diseases. Lung cancer is also a possibility. A study carried out in the New York University has found evidences that establish consumption of the hard alcohol in excess amount as a risk factor of cancer in the lungs. However, there are also studies that suggest that even consuming alcohol in moderation can result in occurrence of cancer in the lungs.

Breast cancer:
Although the breast tissues are not linked with digestion of alcohol, several studies have found association between breast cancer and alcohol intake. Currently available statistics suggest that as much as 10% of the breast cancer cases can be linked with alcoholism.

The energy needs of a cancer patient or a patient undergoing cancer treatment is more compared to a normal human being. The body of the cancer patients demands extra nutrients for maintaining healthy muscle mass, repairing the damaged tissues and fighting the secondary infections. Decrease in appetite in patients undergoing cancer treatments like cytotoxic medications, radiation or chemotherapy makes the act of meeting the nutritional requirement of the cancer patient’s body more difficult. With guidance from a dietician, the daily caloric intake of cancer patients can be maintained successfully. A vegetarian diet containing all the essential nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates and proteins taken from plant sources is ideal for cancer patients.

The two most serious concerns for a cancer patient is malnutrition and weight loss. Treatment procedures like radiation and chemotherapy might result in side effects like change or reduction in the patient’s sense of smell and taste, which makes some of the foods they used to like before receiving the treatment unpalatable. Other ill effects of cancer treatments like pain in the throat and mouth, diarrhea, nausea end up decreasing the patient’s appetite, which in turn results in severe weight loss.

Lacto-ovo vegetarians i.e. individuals who consume dairy products and eggs besides vegetables can obtain nutrients like vitamin D, riboflavin, vitamin B12 and calcium from milk products and eggs. They can also prepare a number of tasty protein rich food items using these food products. One example such a food an item is smoothies prepared by blending fruits and soft tofu. For adding more interesting flavors to this item, one can use almond or peanut butter; they will act as the source of healthy fat and protein. Most cancer patients find the vegetarian foods to be more alluring due to their taste alterations.

The most integral part of a vegetarian diet consists of vegetables and fruits. The antioxidants present in vegetables and fruits make the immune system of the cancer patients stronger and thus they can fight the disease more effectively. A strong immune system also helps these patients to combat the ill effects of cancer treatment. Fibers present in the legumes, vegetables and fruits on the other hand work by preventing constipation, which is a common side effect of certain cancer medications.  Cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower and broccoli contain phytochemicals that might possess the ability of inhibiting the growth of tumors. Cancer patients suffering from pain in the throat can prepare smoothies using these vegetables for making the process of consumption simpler and painless. The lacto-ovo vegetarians can add yogurt, cottage cheese or milk to the smoothies.

Avoiding weight loss after cancer treatment becomes extremely difficult for the vegans; eliminating eggs and dairy products from the diet makes meeting the daily nutritional needs of these patients extremely difficult. Food types like trail mix, peanut butter, fortified soymilk or soy-yogurt and tahini are some of the common sources of fat and protein that can be added to the diet of vegan cancer patients. The dried beans act as source of iron and protein for these patients; they can have them in form of puree if they find it difficult to swallow solids. At times, doctors recommend them to consume vitamin B12 based nutritional supplements for preventing vitamin deficiency.

As cancer makes an individual more susceptible towards developing a secondary infection, cancer patients must consume vegetables and fruits only after washing them carefully. Citrus foods might aggravate the cancer signs like esophageal inflammation and mouth sores; thus often doctors ask cancer patients to consume all acidic fruits including the citrus fruits.