| Nausea during chemo may be worse with psychological problems
In spite of antiemetics, postchemotherapy side effects continue to be common and may affect compliance to cancer treatment. Among the known factors associated with increased symptom severity are: younger age, treatment toxicity, expected severity, and distress, but little is still known about the role of other factors. The aim of our study was to investigate the role of individual differences related to sensory perception for posttreatment side effects. Hundred and twenty-five women receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer completed measures of absorption, autonomic perception, somatosensory amplification, trait anxiety, and expected severity at baseline. Pretreatment distress and posttreatment nausea, vomiting, and fatigue were assessed at the 1st, 4th, 6th and last cycles of chemotherapy.
Three Chemo Drugs Better Than Two for Advanced Head/Neck Cancers
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- The addition of the chemotherapy drug, docetaxel, to the standard two-drug regimen used for head and neck cancers improved the efficacy of the treatment while reducing the toxicity, two new studies report. .
TGen finds key prostate cancer gene
Scientists from TGen and other research facilities and universities have identified a gene that may be linked to an aggressive form of prostate cancer, a finding that researchers say could advance the treatment of the disease. The research eventually could yield a simple blood test to help doctors and patients determine the best course of treatment for the disease, scientists say. That would be an important step because physicians now have no way of knowing whether a prostate tumor is dangerous, prompting many unnecessary radiation treatments and surgeries that can have harmful side effects. The scientists believe the gene, called DAB2IP, aids in suppressing tumor growth. When the gene takes on a variant form, the body's natural protection is stripped away, allowing prostate cancer to spread unchecked, researchers say.
Dec 28th
Well, it's almost time for me to head off to Australia. Tomorrow, actually, but this might be my last chance to get in a blog before then. I will try to blog while there but won't promise. Christmas is over and it was quite a pleasant one. My son visited from Las Vegas and he said he had a good time. It looks like he is set on going back to college full time to qualify as an accountant. He did one class last semester and got an A, so it looks like he should do OK in that field. He has quite a bit of money coming to him for education from the time he spent in the United States Air Force; at least enough for about two years of college. We spent Christmas Eve morning at my wife's parents then headed to Pensacola Beach, Florida to where my wife's sister and family live. Lots of gifts were handed around and we all ate and drank too much.
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