Health News

Chemo help at home
Patients suffering from advanced bowel cancer will be able to undergo chemotherapy at home following the release of a tablet to treat the disease.The treatment, called capecitabine, has been used to treat breast cancer but will now be available to some of the 11,000 Australians diagnosed with bowel cancer each year.In clinical trials of 1200 patients from around the world, capecitabine showed improved rates for targeting tumors compared with existing treatments.The director of medical oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, John Zalcberg, said the tablet was a positive step in the treatment of bowel cancer because it was effective and less toxic than other treatments.
Professor Zalcberg said the tablet had fewer side effects than other cancer treatments - usually delivered by intravenous injection - because it targeted the tumor and destroyed less healthy tissue. The tablets are not toxic when swallowed but are converted to elements within the body that then begin to attack tumors, he said.
Professor Zalcberg stressed the treatment was not a cure for advanced bowel cancer, but offered patients more freedom and an improved quality of life. He said the tablet meant patients could take the treatment in their own home, allowing them to avoid some of the anxiety surrounding traditional chemotherapy.Capecitabine will be added to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme for the treatment of advanced bowel cancer tomorrow.

Health Issues Some important health news and lifesyles
	Will AIDS ever be cured The latest research on the resourceful HIV virus that causes the disease suggests a disheartening answer: Probably not. Just a few years ago, even some of the most sober-minded researchers wondered if the end of AIDS might be near. Perhaps the pills that miraculously changed HIV from a death sentence to a chronic infection would go the final step, they thought, eventually curing the infection by purging every trace of the virus from the human body. ALSO Rural U.S. AIDS patients can have it tough Drug company execs have multiple AIDS worries Such talk quickly faded. The new drug cocktails, amazing as they were, could not get rid of the virus. Even if all signs of it vanished for years, HIV was still lurking somewhere. Inevitably it roared back by the billions as soon as people stopped taking their medicines. Ever since that realization sank in, finding HIV's
	Chemo help at home Patients suffering from advanced bowel cancer will be able to undergo chemotherapy at home following the release of a tablet to treat the disease.The treatment, called capecitabine, has been used to treat breast cancer but will now be available to some of the 11,000 Australians diagnosed with bowel cancer each year.In clinical trials of 1200 patients from around the world, capecitabine showed improved rates for targeting tumors compared with existing treatments.The director of medical oncology at Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute, John Zalcberg, said the tablet was a positive step in the treatment of bowel cancer because it was effective and less toxic than other treatments. Professor Zalcberg said the tablet had fewer side effects than other cancer treatments - usually delivered by intravenous injection - because it targeted the tumor and destroyed less healthy tissue. The tablets are not toxic when swallowed but are converted to elements within the body that then begin to attack tumors, he said. Professor Zalcberg stressed the treatment was not a cure for advanced bowel cancer, but offered patients more freedom and an improved quality of life. He said the tablet meant patients could take the treatment in their own home, allowing them to avoid some of the anxiety surrounding traditional chemotherapy.Capecitabine will be added to the pharmaceutical benefits scheme for the treatment of advanced bowel cancer tomorrow.
	Feed Your Hair If winter's wrath robbed your locks of their usual luster, rejuvenate them with this homemade hair conditioning treatment from Christopher Mackin of Elizabeth Arden's Red Door Salon & Spa in Manhattan. You'll need a clarifying shampoo, mayonnaise (use the real stuff; this is going on your hair, not your hips), vanilla extract, and an egg. 1 Depending on the length of your hair, mix a half to a full cup of mayo in a bowl with three teaspoons of vanilla. Vanilla cuts the smell and thickens the mixture, while the fats from the mayo infuse hair with moisture. Add an egg to lend hair some shine. 2 Lather your hair with a clarifying shampoo (any brand will do) to rid locks of buildup. Let the shampoo sit on your hair for seven minutes, then rinse. 3 Apply mayo mixture to wet hair, beginning at the roots and working your way down, concentrating on the ends. After a few strokes with a wide-tooth comb, cover your hair with a shower cap or aluminum foil. This will lock in heat and allow the conditioner to penetrate the hair shaft. Let the goo sit for 30 minutes. Use a regular shampoo to wash away residue.
	Eating Right Splenda is the brand name of the new low-calorie sweetener sucralose. It's actually made from sugar, so it has a natural taste. Some fancy molecular tweaking makes it about 600 times sweeter than sugar -- so you save calories because so much less is needed. Splenda is showing up in many packaged foods, including pudding, pancake syrup, and fruit juice. (Look for the blue Splenda logo on labels.) The calorie difference can really add up. One glass of Ocean Spray Light low-calorie cranberry juice with Splenda has just 40 calories, compared with 140 calories in the regular cranberry juice.
	Health and the ageing process In Western society the over 65s are the most rapidly expanding age group. Although many young people fear getting old, for most people the latter part of their life can be a time of great enjoyment, activity and usefulness. �It's just my age, I have to expect this,� should never be a reason for anyone to ignore things which interfere with their lives. Ageing brings with it some inevitable restrictions, particularly in respect to physical fitness and mobility. In general this shows up as a gradual �slowing down� process. Everyday tasks will take a little longer. Muscles and ligaments become less flexible and elastic. The heart muscle can't pump as strongly as before. Less food is needed to provide the energy required for living. This �normal� ageing process is often not the main reason for many of the things that happen to older people. Often there is a treatable medical cause for what is happening.
	What are the symptoms of a heart attack? A heart attack causes pain or a feeling of great discomfort in the centre of the chest. It usually comes on fairly suddenly and lasts for more than 10 minutes. This pain or discomfort is often described as a pressure, a tightness, "like someone standing on my chest", "like a band around my chest". It is usually very severe but, in some cases, may only be moderate or even mild. The pain may spread to either or both arms, the shoulders, and often to the throat and lower jaw. This throat discomfort is frequently described as a choking feeling. Sometimes the arms feel heavy or useless, instead of having pains. Some patients do not get chest discomfort, but only get symptoms in their arms or throat.It is very important to understand that the symptoms of a heart attack may be mild and many patients wait far too long before seeking help. Other symptoms that may accompany chest pain are sweating, feeling sick and sometimes vomiting, breathlessness and collapse.
	These are tests you may encounter during your Pregnancy Ultrasound, performed at around 18-20 weeks, is the safest and least invasive way to check on the growing baby. Doctors can determine exact dates and detect problems such as spina bifida and cleft palate. It's also possible to check if there is more than one baby. Ultrasounds can't pick up all abnormalities, but they are reassuring.Nuchal translucency screening This is a newer test performed between 10 and 13 weeks. By measuring the thickness at the base of the neck, doctors can predict a woman's risk of having a baby with Downs Syndrome. Triple blood screening A triple blood screening test can be done between 15-18 weeks and again it can predict the risk of chromosomal abnormalities.There are other tests that check for genetic problems in the developing baby. These tests are invasive and, although they are a matter of choice, most doctors do recommend them for women over 35. CVS and amniocentesis both test for chromosomal problems like Downs Syndrome.

	Health & Lifesyles
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