Female cancer victims 'more likely to be left by partners

Women who are informed that they have cancer or another serious illness are seven times more likely to become separated or divorced than men who receive similar news, the findings of a new study suggest 

Writing their findings up in the journal Cancer, a team of specialists based at the University of Utah Huntsman Cancer Institute have reported that, on average, 12 per cent of patients ended up divorced or separated over the five years to December 31st 2006 

While this average was deemed to be generally in line with the US average as a whole, looking closer the team discovered that men who become critically ill only have a three per cent chance of seeing their marriage break down 

In comparison, 21 per cent of women who are diagnosed with cancer or another serious condition end up separated or divorced, with an average of six months passing between diagnosis and a split 

Lead researcher Dr Marc Chamberlain, who is a practicing oncologist, conceded that the state of marriages prior to illness was not known 

He added, however: 'But the striking part is with life-threatening illness, how often women are abandoned compared to men. That does not speak very well of my gender 

Earlier this month, experts at Imperial College London reported that they have made a breakthrough in the fight against cancer, having identified a means of stopping cells forming around cancerous tumours

Lung cancer breakthrough drug very encouraging

Despite the fact that it has only been tested on animals so far, charities have widely welcomed the news that a potential new drug for treating one of the most virulent forms of lung cancer has been identified by London scientists 

The team from Imperial College London has reported that the drug PD173074 was successful in destroying 50 per cent of tumours in mice genetically engineered to suffer from small cell lung cancer 

While the researchers now intend to follow up their animal testing with full clinical trials, the treatment is still a long way off being made available for people with lung cancer 

Even so, the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation has welcomed the development as a great step forward 

The charity's chief executive Rosemary Gillespie said: 'We're always very encouraged and very pleased to see potential new drugs in the pipeline, particularly as there are so few treatments for lung cancer and because at the moment the outcomes for people who are affected by the disease generally are poor 

'The drugs that join production and development today are going to be the treatments of tomorrow,' she added 

According to the latest figures from Cancer Research UK, lung cancer is the second most common form of the disease in the UK

خوردن قهوه شانس ابتلا به سرطان پرستات را کاهش میدهد.

Scientists claim to have found a link between coffee consumption and a reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer 

While it is too early for doctors to start advising their male patients to take up the habit of regular coffee drinking, data presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Conference revealed a strong inverse association between coffee consumption and the risk of advanced prostate cancers 

In the study led by Kathryn Wilson, a postdoctoral fellow at the Channing Laboratory, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health, researchers found that men who drank the most coffee had a 60 per cent lower risk of aggressive cancer than those who did not drink any coffee 

'Coffee has effects on insulin and glucose metabolism as well as sex hormone levels, all of which play a role in prostate cancer. It was plausible that there may be an association between coffee and prostate cancer,' said Dr Wilson 

This is the first study of its kind to look at both overall risk of prostate cancer and risk of localised, advanced and lethal disease 

'Few studies have looked prospectively at this association, and none have looked at coffee and specific prostate cancer outcomes,' Dr Wilson revealed 

'We specifically looked at different types of prostate cancer, such as advanced versus localised cancers or high-grade versus low-grade cancers 

However, caffeine itself is not the key factor in this association, Dr Wilson claimed. The researchers are unsure which components of the beverage are most important, as coffee contains many biologically active compounds such as antioxidants and minerals 

'Very few lifestyle factors have been consistently associated with prostate cancer risk, especially with risk of aggressive disease, so it would be very exciting if this association is confirmed in other studies,' said Dr Wilson 

'Our results do suggest there is no reason to stop drinking coffee out of any concern about prostate cancer 

The researchers hope this association might also improve their understanding of the biology of prostate cancer and possible chemoprevention measures

احتمال سرطان پرستات در مردان طاس کمتر است

Men who go bald at an early age may be less likely to develop prostate cancer, new research suggests 

Scientists at the University of Washington School of Medicine and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre set out to explore the relationship between early-onset male pattern baldness and prostate cancer risk 

They analysed 999 cases of prostate cancer - all of whom were diagnosed between 2002 and 2005, aged 35 to 74 - and a further 942 healthy volunteers 

Publishing their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, the researchers revealed that men with prostate cancer were less likely to have experienced hair loss at 30 years of age (19.8 per cent) than those without the disease (25.2 per cent) 

Meanwhile, men who had started going bald at age 30 were 29 per cent less likely to develop prostate cancer in the future than those with a full head of hair at that age 

The study authors concluded that early-onset male pattern baldness 'was associated with a reduced relative risk of prostate cancer' 

They called for further research to shed light on the reasons for the link 

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in British men and tends to affect those over the age of 70