Wednesday, 23 July 2008 is the day the UPMC Cancer Center and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute Director Dr. Ronald Herberman is to issue an advisory (pdf file link of the memorandum) on the possible health risks of cellphone use.

“Recently I have become aware of the growing body of literature linking long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer.

Although the evidence is still controversial, I am convinced that there are sufficient data to warrant issuing an advisory to share some precautionary advice on cell phone use.”

The advisory suggests certain measures to limit exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices, such as shortening the length of conversations or keeping the phones away from the head by text messaging or using headsets or speaker phone options. It also recommends that children not use cell phones except in emergencies.

Last year, reports were abound that cellphone use in not linked to brain cancer.

Now, Director Dr. Ronald Herberman believes that he is the first U.S. cancer center director to approve the release of such an advisory and is hopeful that his suggestions will spread to others within Pitt and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and also to the general public.

Now I am rattled and at the same time undecided about a personal opinion on this matter. (Especially not at this hour: I’m so sleepy! But I will definitely be not ’sleeping’ with my cellphone starting this very second! I swear.)

However, I believe it is better to be on the safer side as practicing precaution will do us all more good than harm.

Read more from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Do let us know.

Women that are exposure to chemical weed killers - pesticides and herbicides - may have a higher-than-normal risk of developing a particular form of brain cancer called meningioma as compared to women who weren’t exposed.

Meningiomas are slow-growing tumors that arise in the tissue covering the brain and spinal cord. They are one of the most common forms of brain tumor, and occur most frequently in middle-aged women.

Such were what a U.S. study result suggests as published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Researchers found that among more than 1,400 U.S. adults with and without brain cancer, there was no overall link between the disease and on-the-job exposure to pesticides or herbicides — chemicals used to kill plants, usually weeds.

However, a closer look at the data showed that women who had ever been exposed to herbicides at work had a two-fold higher risk of meningioma than women with no such exposure.

Find more details from India Reuters.

It’s April Fools’ day. However… in the cancer front, there’s no fool or fooling. Definitely, these aren’t for fools:

Brain cancer fears over heavy mobile phone use

Study: One Sausage Per Day Increases Bowel Cancer Risk by a Fifth

Fasting could help fight cancer

Hope over Tasmanian Devil cancer

Hey…easy on the practical jokes, okay? And don’t be so gullible yourself! He he he.

In late December 20106, former Yankee and current YES announcer Bobby Murcer was diagnosed with brain cancer.

Recently, a new MRI image revealed only a scar tissue and not a recurrence of cancer.

Well, that’s really good news, right?

There had been differing opinions among doctors about the meaning of the MRI, so as a precaution they scheduled a biopsy for Monday. Murcer had to wait two days for the official word.

“We received great news this morning,” he said in a statement issued by YES. “The biopsy revealed scar tissue. It showed no signs of cancer. We are very excited about this news. It’s what we had hoped for all along.”

Bobby Murcer was a professional baseball player for 17 seasons. He played for the New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs and back again briefly for the New York Yankees.

Source: NY Newsday

Previous study has already found no clear connection of cell phones (mobiles) to brain cancer.

Now, UK’s largest investigation on the possible health risks from mobile telephone technology found nothing.

No biological or adverse health effects has been found connected with long term use of mobile phones. The investigation’s results was so sure they said there is no use of further investigate the issue.

According to Professor Lawrie Challis, Chairman of MTHR (Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research) :

“This is a very substantial report from a large research programme. The work reported today has all been published in respected peer-reviewed scientific or medical journals.

The results are so far reassuring but there is still a need for more research, especially to check that no effects emerge from longer-term phone use from adults and from use by children.”

I’ve been using mobile phones for some ten years now and do not really think of any adverse health effects of its usage.

What do you think?

Source: University of Nottingham

The experimental compound cyclopamine was previously known to shut down a critical cell-signaling pathway (Hedgehog) in the most common and aggressive type of adult brain cancer: glioblastoma multiforme.

Now, according to Johns Hopkins scientists, cyclopamine have been able to successfully kill cancer stem cells thought to fuel tumor growth and help cancers evade drug and radiation therapy.

According to Charles G. Eberhart, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology, ophthalmology and oncology, who led the work:

“Our study lends evidence to the idea that the lack of effective therapies for glioblastoma may be due to the survival of a rare population of cancer stem cells that appear immune to conventional radiation and chemotherapy.

Hedgehog inhibition kills these cancer stem cells and prevents cancer from growing and may thus develop into the first stem cell-directed therapy for glioblastoma.”

Cyclopamine is chemically extracted from corn lilies that grow in the Rocky Mountains.

The findings of this Johns Hopkins have been reported in the journal Stem Cells published online on July 19.

Find more details from Science Daily.

Biologists from Boston College have identified KetoCal (a commercially available high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet designed to treat epilepsy in children) as a diet-based alternative method of treating brain cancer.

Ketocal has been found to significantly decrease the growth of brain tumors in laboratory mice.

According to Tom Seyfried, Boston College Biology Professor:

“KetoCal represents a novel alternative therapy for malignant brain cancer.

While the tumors did not vanish in the mice who received the strict KetoCal diet, they got significantly smaller and the animals lived significantly longer.

And compared to radiation, chemotherapy and surgery, KetoCal is a relatively inexpensive treatment option.”

KetoCal is manufactured by Nutricia North America and seemed to work by depriving the brain tumor cells of the glucose that they need for survival and growth.

Study results have been described in a recent issue of the online journal Nutrition & Metabolism.

Take note, this was just tested on laboratory rats and is a long way from human study.

Find more details from the press release.

[article abstract]

There is no clear connection between mobile phone use and malignant brain tumors -gliomas.

Such were the result of a study conducted in five Northern European countries, appearing in the January 19 online version of the International Journal of Cancer.

• Regular use of a mobile phone, duration of use, or the cumulative number of calls had no effect on the risk.
• The only indication of a potential effect was found among mobile phone users who had used a mobile phone for at least 10 years. They were found to have a slightly increased risk of a tumour on the side of the head on which they held the phone.

Anssi Auvinen, Research Professor at the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority:

“Even though the results do not indicate that mobile phone use increases the risk of cancer, we need more research data on long-term use.”

I’m not sure if I should be worried or not. But I guess we have to keep note that it’s not mobile phone use alone that would contribute to the development of brain cancers.

Read the full report from STUK/ Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland.