National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

When you think of October images of pumpkins, spider webs, ghosts, ghouls, and goblins often spring to mind. However, there is one uninvited ghoul that lingers throughout this month waiting to claim another victim: Breast Cancer. In 2005 alone, there were over 188,000 people (both men and women) diagnosed with breast cancer and over 41,000 deaths from the disease. Instead of October being the month of scare tactics and spooky decorations, this year make October a month to wear something new, a pink ribbon to support breast cancer awareness, survivors living with it or who are in remission, and those who weren’t so lucky. Although breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer (the first being skin cancer) among women and being the 7th leading cause of death, males are also susceptible, as twenty men in North Carolina have recently found out. (The twenty had been ingested the same water from a Marine Corps base decades ago, which may help form a possible link to the disease.) Share and Enjoy:

New prostate cancer vaccine shows promise

There are many health concerns today when it comes to illnesses, but one of the number one health concerns for a man to consider is prostate cancer. There are already treatments available for this type of cancer, but now there is a new one to consider. Provenge, which an experimental treatment vaccine for advanced prostate cancer, has met researchers’ goal in a key trial that is needed to get FDA approval. This news was recently announced by Dendreon, which is the company that makes the vaccine Provenge. Mitchell Gold, M.D. and the president and chief executive of Dendreon, said that they believe that this vaccine is truly a breakthrough for the prostate cancer community a testament to the promise of the field for cancer immunotherapies. Provenge is a biologic drug that is given by infusion to spur the immune system to help fight against advanced prostate cancer that does not respond to anti-androgen treatment. Share and Enjoy: