The Risk Factors For Cervical Cancer

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 03:29 Written by Natural Health Team Wednesday, 28 September 2011 03:29

Health Information about The Risk Factors For Cervical Cancer

is a slow-growing malignant cancer which starts off in the cells on the surface of the cervix. The cervix is the lower part of the uterus and is the muscle which connects the uterus to the vagina, which is also known as the birth canal. Cervical cancer is another type of uterine cancer.

The symptoms of cervical cancer may not appear until the later stages, but it can be detected with a pap smear test. Those at higher risk are encouraged to get the test done more often so the cancer can be caught in its early stage.

There are many risk factors for cervical cancer.

Cervical cancer is usually the result of the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is spread through sexual contact. This virus may not always cause cancer, but it can live in the body for many years before the cancer cells begin to form and spread. Those who have this virus are more likely to get the cancer.

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Young girls who became sexually active before the age of 18 are also more prone to get cancer from the virus. This is simply because the cells in their bodies have not fully matured, and are more prone to virus diseases.

Those who have or have had numerous sex partners, or have a partner who has had numerous other partners are also at risk for getting the HPV virus, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The larger the number, the greater the risk.

Those with other sexually transmitted diseases are also more prone to developing cervical cancer.

Tampons and condoms also play a role in causing this cancer.

Those who smoke are also at greater risk because cigarette smoke increases the risk of precancerous cells to form, and it also weakens the immune system.

Women who have many children and women who use birth control pills.

Those who have a weak immune system. The immune system needs to be strong in order to fight the virus and prevent it from taking over in the body.

It is interesting to note that nuns hardly ever develop cervical cancer, simply because they are not exposed to these risks.

A new cancer vaccine against the HPV virus is available, and young girls, and women all across the country are encouraged by medical professionals to get it. This vaccine promises protection against this virus, and it is estimated by 2022 there will be a great decline in cervical cancers due to this new vaccine. But it seems too early to be able to make those kinds of predictions, for the side-effects of the drug are not yet fully known.

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Top 10 Ways to Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 September 2011 03:28 Written by Natural Health Team Wednesday, 28 September 2011 03:28

Health Information about Top 10 Ways to Reduce the Risk of Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in American women and one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in women, second only to lung cancer. Research shows that 13% of all women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Although, no one knows the exact causes of breast cancer, but by educating yourself and taking control of some lifestyle factors, you can lower your risk of developing breast cancer.

Here are five simple things you can  take to reduce your risk of breast cancer:

1. Eat a Healthy Diet

Eating well is also important to improve your health and reduce your cancer risk. Take a good hard look at what you typically eat each day and incorporate the following suggestions to build a healthy diet plan for yourself:

- Add more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains to your diet. These foods are rich in antioxidants which help to prevent cell damage associated with cancer development.

- Processed and red meats: Cutting back on processed meats like hot dogs, bologna, and luncheon meat, and red meats like beef, pork and lamb may help reduce the risk of colon and prostate cancers. These foods are also high in saturated fat, so eating less of them and eating them less often will also help you lower your risk of heart disease.

- Consider avoiding alcohol. Moderate drinking can help protect against heart disease. Unfortunately, studies also show that regular and modest amounts of alcohol can raise your estrogen levels. Even one drink a day can expose breast tissue to higher hormone levels. Since some breast tumors are estrogen-sensitive, alcohol can increase the risk that the cells in that tissue will become cancerous. Limit your intake to lower your risk
 
2. Maintain your body weight

Maintaining a healthy weight is important to reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Research shows that being overweight or obese increases your risk for breast cancer. But don’t try to be size zero. Being very thin prior to the menopause or under 50 is also linked to increased breast-cancer risk. It makes your breasts more dense – and dense breasts have a fourfold higher breast-cancer risk. It makes sense to maintain a healthy weight for your height.

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3. Regular exercise

Some recent studies have found a small relationship between moderate exercise and decreased risk of breast cancer. Exercising regularly can help combat obesity as well which further lowers cancer risk. Aerobic exercises, such as swimming, brisk walking, jogging, and playing tennis are best bets as they are easy and enjoyable. Try to get 30 minutes of exercise at least 5 days a week.

4. Stop smoking

Tobacco smoke carries carcinogens, which can accumulate in fluid around the breasts. Active smoking can greatly raise your risk of breast and lung cancers, and passive smoking may also raise your risk. Get help to kick the habit and improve your long-term health. The evidence is piling up for a link between smoking and breast cancer. It”��s another good reason to stop smoking

5. Breastfeed if you can

New mother should breast-feed exclusively for up to six months – the evidence is convincing that mothers who brast-feed reducerisk of both breast and ovarian cancer by about 7 per cent.

6. Examine yourself

Regular screening tests for breast cancer, such as an annual mammogram and a breast exam during your annual checkup, allow you and your doctor to ensure that your breasts are as healthy as they can be. Screening also increases the likelihood that your doctor will find breast cancer early, when it is most treatable.  Have an annual mammogram starting at age 40, as long as your general health is good.  Do your breast self-exam on a regular basis.

7. Get plenty of sleep in a dark room

This is one of the best ways to manage stress! Sleep gives the body time to rest, repair and heal. Sleeping in a dark room encourages the production of the hormone melatonin, which reduces the risk of breast cancer. Plenty of sleep might be 7 hours for some women and 9 hours for others.

8. Hormone Replacement Therapy

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is sometimes prescribed to women as a means of alleviating discomfort associated with menopause. Research indicates that women who have received HRT for five years or more may be at a heightened risk for breast cancer. However, the heightened risk seems to occur primarily in women using combined (estrogen and progesterone mixture) HRT, as opposed to estrogen-only HRT. However, estrogen-only HRT increases risk of uterine cancer. The elevated breast cancer risk appears to be reversible in that women who discontinued HRT for five or more years show no more increased risk for breast cancer than women who never used it in the first place. Talk to your doctor about your risks and benefits with regard to HRT.

9. Avoid chemicals and harmful substances in our environment

A clinical review in the February 2004 issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that up to 75 percent of all cases of cancer are caused by environmental and lifestyle factors. For example, substances found in some plastics, certain cosmetics and personal care products, pesticides (such as DDE), and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) may contain harmful substances.

10. Get enough vitamin D

There are many studies that demonstrate women with higher levels of vitamin D have significantly lower rates of breast cancer. People can get vitamin D through sunlight and through their diets. Some people get vitamin D by taking vitamins. Good food sources include milk, eggs, tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, and in some breakfast cereals.

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Young drivers who take risks on the road have a greater risk of mental health problems

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 September 2011 07:20 Written by Natural Health Team Tuesday, 27 September 2011 07:20

Health Information about Young drivers who take risks on the road have a greater risk of mental health problems

Young adults who involve in risks while driving are more suseptical to experience psychological distress, including mental health problems such as anxiety and depression reveals research published ahead of print in Injury Prevention. Teenagers are good at talking on the phone. But they’re not such good drivers — especially if they’re trying to do both at the same time.

Teen drivers dangerously divide their attention

Most young drivers are engaged in distracted driving even though almost all are aware that it’s dangerous.

Almost nine out of 10 young drivers (86%) have driven while distracted, even though 84% say they know they shouldn’t. More than one-third of the young drivers said they had nearly crashed because of their own or someone else’s distracted driving.

Young drivers have more accidents and are more likely to be involved in a accident in which someone dies than older drivers, and risky behavior is known to contribute to crashes involving young inexperienced drivers.

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Psychological distress, such as depression and anxiety, has been linked to uncontrollable behavior in teenagers, including unprotected sex, smoking and high alcohol consumption. World researchers have therefore started out to find if there was any similar link between psychological distress and risk taking by young drivers, like speeding, not wearing a seat belt and using a mobile phone while at the wheel. Studies show the youngest drivers have the highest crash rates and highway accidents are the leading causes of death for people ages 15 to 20.

Researchers in Queensland, Australia requested 761 young fresh young drivers to fill out an online questionnaire to assess their psychological distress and their normal driving behavior. The young drivers were aged 17-25 years and had a provisional (intermediate) driver’s license which entitled them to drive unaccompanied.

Psychological distress alone was found to result for 8.5% of the supposed risky driving behavior of young drivers. The distress level was greater in women than in men; 9.5% of the variance in risky driving could be explained due to psychological distress in women compared with 6.7% in men.

The authors suggested that similar research could be used to identify young drivers who are most at risk of psychological distress and therefore causing a greater accident risk on the road through risky driving behavior.

“Young drivers presenting to medical and mental health professionals could be screened for current psychological distress, particularly if they have incurred injury through risky and unruly behavior,” they quoted.

These drivers should be targeted with specific road safety countermeasures and efforts should be made to improve their mental wellbeing by monitoring them for signs of depression and anxiety at an early stage.

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What is breast cancer? Whom is at risk for breast cancer?

Last Updated on Wednesday, 21 September 2011 09:27 Written by Natural Health Team Wednesday, 21 September 2011 09:27

Health Information about What is breast cancer? Whom is at risk for breast cancer?

Women are approximately 100 times more likely to develop breast cancer than men; women are at higher risk primarily because of growth effects of female hormones such as estrogen. In addition, those age 55 and older are much more likely to develop this cancer than those under 55. Research indicates that about two-thirds of all breast cancers occur in individuals 55 and older.

The most obvious and common symptom is a lump on the breast that feels different from the surrounding breast tissue. It is believed, according to studies done by Merck, that approximately 80% of all breast cancer cases are discovered as a lump by the individual. However, lumps can also be found not only in the breasts, but in the collar bone as well as the armpit.

Other signs that breast cancer may be developing include:

nipple discharge
changes in the size, shape, or feel of the breast
skin dimpling
inversion of the nipple

It is notable, that not all forms of breast cancer can be detectable by a sign or symptom during the initial stages. Periodic mammograms should be undergone by the patient as recommended by a physician.

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To diagnose breast cancer, a physician will need to surgically remove and test a sample of the tissue. This is known, more formally, as a breast biopsy. The most common procedures for conducting a biopsy include:

ductal lavage
fine needle aspiration
core needle biopsy
large core surgical
open surgical incision

Once the tissue has been removed through a biopsy, it will be sent to a lab where it is examined through a microscope by a pathologist to determine if its cancerous. Fortunately, in more than half of all biopsies, the sample tissue is found to be benign (non-cancerous). If the tissue is cancerous, however, the next step that will be performed is to determine which stage the cancer is currently in.

Treatment for Breast Cancer

The treatment of breast cancer is dependant upon the condition of the patient i.e. whether the malignant cells have spread to other parts or is it localized to one breast or two breasts etc. Depending on the severity, treatments are suggested. The widely used treatments for breast cancer are given below.

There are two types of surgical methods for treating this disease. They are the Lumpectomy and Mastectomy. Lumpectomy is employed when there is just a lump or a small tumor and this is only a minor operation. This will not disfigure the breasts or there will not be any notable changes in the shape of the breasts nor will it have any after effects. Mastectomy is utilized if there are two or more lumps in the breasts and also if the tumors are larger than usual. In this surgery, the lumps are removed along with lymph nodes as well just to ensure that the cancer does not spread or resurface after the operation.

This is probably another widely used technique to cure breast cancer and is not as invasive as the surgical treatment. This utilizes the services of X-rays or the gamma rays or any other rays which are capable of penetrating without any harm to destroy the cancerous cells. The treatment is very quick as it takes only around fifteen to twenty minutes for its completion. Some of the popular radiation therapies are Targeted breast cancer radiation therapy, accelerated partial breast irradiation etc. However, these methods are not as effective as the surgical methods because the survival rates of the patients treated with radiation therapy is not very convincing.

Chemotherapy involves the use of certain drugs that inhibit the further growth of malignant cells and also destroying the malignant cells present. There are many types of chemotherapy and they are neoadjuvant, adjuvant and palliative chemotherapies. The popular drugs used for the chemotherapy treatment of breast cancer are tamoxifen, Herceptin, Aromatase inhibitors, cyclophosphamide, fluorouracil, taxotere, Adriamycin etc.

Other methods of treatment include hormone therapies, biological therapies, angiogenesis and antiangiogenetic therapy.

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Sex During Menstruation Problem, WHAT IS THE RISK

Last Updated on Saturday, 17 September 2011 03:28 Written by Natural Health Team Saturday, 17 September 2011 03:28

Health Information about Sex During Menstruation Problem, WHAT IS THE RISK

If there is one aspect that has become commonplace in the everyday lives of women, are the various situations associated with menstrual period. From PMS to disorders in the regular cycle of menstruation.

To clarify ideas on the subject and make clear what is not normally what policies, is to be accepted as such, we talked to the OB / GYN Drove Ernesto Alvarez, who said that regular menstruation is occurring approximately every month in an exact period between every 21 to 35 days. If it occurs within that period or more than 35 days, it is considered that there is a mess.

At different stages of life of women, expected changes in the menstrual cycle. For example, in adolescence, esasprimeras periods tend to be anovulatory (not ovulating) so it happens a little hormonal disorder that makes those periods typically are irregular, with a major or minor bleeding than expected. In that first year or two waiting periods are not regular.

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Later, when the woman is well developed and reaches the stage of late adolescence, young women, or 30 years, periods should be regular. When a woman is 40 or passing cleave these, perhaps at 45, they become somewhat irregular again and this time is due, usually because estrogen levels begin to decrease because the ovaries begin to fail, which produces disorders of menstruation. These disorders consist of irregular flows in algunasmujeres decrease and in others may increase.

Among the various menstrual disorders are:

1. Menorrhagia: When the flow is excessive.
2. Poligomenorrea: that instead of regular menstruation becomes too common.
3. Oligomenorrhea, if menstruation is very low.
4. Metrorrhagia: irregular when the time period in which they occur. For example, every 15 days demo spends two months, after 20 days, etc.

Usually when these changes occur should seek some kind of pathology, almost always has to find a disease. If not, you can think of hormonal disorders, peroes necesariohacer studies to discover the cause.

Colic

Other conditions associated with menstruation that is not really a disorder, such as dysmenorrheal and that means there are a lot of pain during menstruation. At this point, the gynecologist said that normal is not suffering so much pain during the menstrual period and that women support it because they believed that this is normal. The grandmothers and mothers have passed the false belief, but the cramps during menstruation should not be so intense as to disturb the patient.

You may feel some cramping, but if the woman should take drugs to excess, if absent from work, if you are lying on a bed, if you alter your mood, plus nausea, vomiting, headaches, etc., We must investigate. If cramping occurs before menstruation, you think of a PMS or something more severe known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder.

FIRST MENSTRUAL

The age of menarche has changed little in recent years and each region has its own characteristics. For example, in countries north COMOESTAS States and Europe, is very typical menstruating women between 14 and 15 years, but in Panama occurs earlier, between 11 and 12, but is also seen at 9 years which does not have a specific reason so far.

With all due respect, he *is* a gay man after all…
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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