The rate of new cancer cases in the U.S. appears to be dropping for the first time, according to a report released this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. In addition, cancer death rates continue to fall steadily as they have for several years thanks to improvements in both cancer detection and treatment.

The annual "Report to the Nation" on cancer shows that the rate of new cancer diagnoses among men dropped 1.8 percent a year between 2001 and 2005, while the rate for women dropped just over half a percent a year. The drop was seen across all racial groups examined. Also, the cancer death rate among men and women continued to drop, by an average of 1.8 percent a year through 2005. However, cancer remains the second leading cause of death for Americans with only heart disease claiming more lives.

Much of the gains were made in the rates of some leading cancers including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. The declines are largely due to increases in cancer screening, and for breast cancer, to a decrease in the use of hormone replacement therapy. Lung cancer rates also decreased but only for men, likely because smoking rates fell for men before they did for women, which allowed men to reap the benefits sooner. In contrast, the rates of lung cancer in women, kidney cancer, melanoma, and several others cancer types continue to rise.

While the declines in cancer rates were small, most between one and four percent, the fact that death rates continue to fall as well suggests that the improvements are real, rather than caused by, for example, people skipping screening appointments, allowing existing cancers to go undetected.

Experts question whether the gains can be maintained in the face of the economic downturn. Declining budgets for cancer research and decreased adherence to cancer screening and surveillance programs threaten to reverse the trend, just as the milestone of a decline in overall cancer rate is finally being attained.

If you are concerned about your cancer risk, talk to your doctor about what you can be doing to decrease your risk. Read the American Cancer Society guidelines for the early detection of cancer at the American Cancer Society’s Website. To get personalized answers to your questions about cancer, ask the experts on Healia Health Communities or join the Healia Health Community for Cancers.

_{Photo: DefMo, Flickr, Creative Commons}

Do you experience heartburn twice a week or more? This Thanksgiving week, November 23 – 29, 2008, marks the 10^th annual Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) Awareness Week, an effort to raise awareness about this common condition that causes chronic heartburn. GERD affects an estimated 5% to 7% of the global population and as many as 10% of Americans at any one time.

GERD occurs when acid from the stomach seeps up (refluxes) into the esophagus causing pain and leading to tissue damage. There is no single cause of GERD, but the disease occurs more frequently in smokers and people who are overweight or obese.

It is no coincidence that GERD Awareness Week takes place during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. Family gatherings are often an occasion to overeat, which can lead to heartburn by causing the stomach to secrete large amounts of stomach acid. If you only experience heartburn at annual family gatherings, you probably do not have GERD. However, if you have heartburn again later in the week, perhaps after eating leftover turkey, it may be a good idea to talk to your doctor about GERD.

The most frequently reported symptoms of GERD are heartburn that recurs several times a week and acid regurgitation (often described as a bad taste in the mouth or the back of the throat), but the disease can also cause other symptoms such as morning hoarseness, bad breath, and chronic sore throat. Most cases of GERD can be treated effectively through lifestyle changes and the use of daily medications.

However, if GERD is not treated properly, over time serious complications can occur. Acid eating away at the lining of the esophagus can cause inflammation (called esophagitis) which can lead to erosions in the lining of the esophagus, bleeding, and narrowing of the esophagus tube that make it difficult to swallow and may even cause breathing problems. A small subset of patients with GERD develop Barrett's esophagus, a precancerous condition of the esophageal lining that is a risk factor for a type of cancer called esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Many people with symptoms of GERD do not seek treatment because they think their symptoms are normal. To combat this fact, the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD) designated GERD Awareness Week in November 1999 to raise awareness about the symptoms of the disease and the possible complications.

Throughout this week, the urges people who experience symptoms of GERD are urged to call the IFFGD heartburn helpline or see a physician as soon as possible. There are many treatment options that can help people with GERD get relief from their symptoms and reduce the likelihood that complications will develop.

To receive information and support regarding GERD call the IFFGD Heartburn Helpline at 1-888-964-2001. For more information about GERD and the chance to connect with others who have the disease, join in the conversation at the Healia Health Community for GERD.

_{Photo: VirtualErn, Flickr, Crative Commons}

A recent study reports that babies who are born in autumn are more likely to develop asthma than babies born at any other time of year. According to the study, newborns with birthdates four months before the peak of cold and flu season have a 30% greater risk of developing childhood asthma than other babies.

Researchers at Vanderbilt University examined the records of 95,000 infants and their mothers in Tennessee. They found that all babies who had a clinically significant lung infection called bronchiolitis at any time during infancy were at increased risk of asthma, but autumn babies had the greatest risk.

While it was already known that babies born during the fall in the Northern Hemisphere have a greater risk of developing asthma, this study is the first to connect that increase with the timing of peak viral activity in the winter months.

The increase in asthma risk may be related to a common respiratory virus called the respiratory syncytial virus or RSV that is responsible for many of the cases of cold-like symptoms experienced by adults and children each winter. Most children are infected with RSV early in life, with infections occurring most often between the ages of 3 and 6 months. The virus usually clears up without serious complications. However, in some cases it can lead to bronchiolitis which, as this study demonstrates, is associated with greater asthma risk.

The researchers propose that while genetic risk factors probably predispose some children to developing asthma, RSV infection during the winter may be the environmental trigger that activates those asthma risk genes. If so, this suggests that preventing RSV infection in newborns could prevent them from developing asthma.

So should you call your child’s pediatrician and ask for an RSV vaccine shot? Unfortunately, no such vaccine yet exits, but several pharmaceutical companies have RSV vaccines in development. There is a drug called Synagis (palivizumab) that provides passive immunity against RSV but it must be administered monthly at a cost of around $2000 per dose and it is usually reserved for babies at high risk of RSV complications (such as those born premature).

For now, parents of newborns born in autumn should take precautions to try to prevent spreading RSV infection to their baby. A simple way to help prevent RSV infection is to wash your hands often, especially before touching your baby. Other tips for RSV prevention include insisting that others wash their hands before touching your baby, keeping people with colds or fevers away from your baby, avoiding contact with other young children, and making sure your baby is not exposed to tobacco smoke.

For more information on asthma, see the Healia Health Guide on Asthma or ask the online community at the Healia Health Community for Asthma. If you have asthma and your symptoms worsen during the wintertime, you may be able to better control your asthma symptoms. See the Healia Health Guide on Uncontrolled Asthma for more details.

_{Photo: Havenga, Stock.xchng, Creative Commons}

In what could be a major breakthrough for the use of tissue engineered organs, doctors from four European universities report replacing portions of a woman’s trachea (windpipe) with a new trachea made with the woman’s own stem cells. The technique will allow the woman, named Claudia Castillo, to avoid a lifetime of anti-rejection drugs and may also mark a turning point in the quest to grow new organs for use in transplants.

The procedure involved obtaining a donor trachea from a deceased patient, then used a special technique to strip away all the living, cellular material from it leaving behind only a scaffold of non-living connective tissue. The doctors used a sample of Castillo’s bone marrow to obtain adult stem cells then coaxed them to become cartilage-producing cells called chondrocytes. These cells were then used to seed the donor trachea on the outside, allowing the cells to migrate into the donor tissue and take up residence. The researchers used a similar process in order to line the inside of the donor trachea with epithelial cells.

Castillo elected to receive the transplant after a case of tuberculosis destroyed part of her trachea and one of the tubes that connect it to the lungs (bronchus), making it difficult for her to breathe and leaving her prone to infections. Her only other option was to have her lung removed, which would significantly reduce her respiratory capacity. Now, four months after the transplant, the 30 year old patient has near normal respiratory function and is showing no signs of rejecting the transplant.

The doctors believe the same technique might be used to engineer other hollow organs such as the intestine, bladder, or reproductive tract. If so, science will be that much closer to achieving the holy grail of tissue engineering: growing entire new organs in the lab.

To find out more about tuberculosis or other lung diseases, join the Healia Health Community for TB or the Healia Health Community on Lung Diseases.

_{Photo: NASA Kennedy Space Center (NASA-KSC)}