US cancer death rates in decline, national report finds

Dana-Farber president: Trends are encouraging, but more improvements are needed

2011-04-02

(Press-News.org) BOSTON—A report from the nation's leading cancer organizations shows rates of death in the United States from all cancers for men and women continued to decline between 2003 and 2007. The findings come from the latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer. The report also finds that the overall rate of new cancer diagnoses for men and women combined decreased an average of slightly less than 1 percent per year for the same period. Edward J. Benz, Jr., MD, president of Dana-Farber Cancer in Institute in Boston, called the news encouraging, but cautions we still have a very long way to go in our fight against cancer. "Overall, the rate of cancer deaths is falling, but not by a lot, not nearly enough," said Benz. "But considering that the incidence of cancer continues to increase, while the number of deaths is flat or falling a little bit, it does suggest that efforts of prevention, early detection, and better treatments are having a positive impact." The report is co-authored by researchers from the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the American Cancer Society. It will be posted on the web site of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on March 31, and will be published in the journal's May 14 print issue.

The authors emphasized the need to focus further on reducing the cancer burden in the population as a whole through prevention, detection and treatment of cancer. "One of the best ways to avoid dying of cancer is to prevent it in the first place," added Dr. Benz. "This involves making lifestyle adjustments, such as not smoking, being careful about exposure to the sun, diet and exercise, and being careful about exposure to chemicals in the workplace. Patients also need to be sure to participate with their primary care physician in the kinds of screening that can pick up cancers very early." ### Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (www.dana-farber.org) is a principal teaching affiliate of the Harvard Medical School and is among the leading cancer research and care centers in the United States. It is a founding member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center (DF/HCC), designated a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute. It provides adult cancer care with Brigham and Women's Hospital as Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women's Cancer Center and it provides pediatric care with Children's Hospital Boston as Dana-Farber/Children's Hospital Cancer Center. Dana-Farber is the top ranked cancer center in New England, according to U.S. News & World Report, and one of the largest recipients among independent hospitals of National Cancer Institute and National Institutes of Health grant funding.

EDITOR'S NOTE: A video interview with Dr. Benz is also available online at: http://resources.dana-farber.org/pr/media/

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Pitt-Stanford research suggests aimless proteins crucial to disease

2011-04-02

PITTSBURGH—Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Stanford University discovered that a supposedly inactive protein actually plays a crucial role in the ability of one the world's most prolific pathogens to cause disease, findings that suggest the possible role of similarly errant proteins in other diseases. The team reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that Toxoplasma gondii—the parasitic protozoa behind toxoplasmosis—attacks healthy cells by first injecting them with pseudokinases, which are enzymes that have abandoned their ...

LateRooms.com - Watch Toots and The Maytals in Cairns

2011-04-02

Reggae legends Toots and The Maytals are playing in Cairns next month in a preview to their show at Byron Bay's Bluesfest. The group have been together for more than four decades, having risen to prominence in 1964 with their debut album I'll Never Grow Old - Presenting The Maytals. Including remastered records and greatest hits compilations, the band have released more than 50 LPs. They are even credited with coining the word "reggae" on their 1968 hit single Do The Reggay. Although their first album won critical acclaim, it was not until they launched tracks ...

The first non-trivial atom circuit: Progress toward an atom SQUID

2011-04-02

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Maryland (UM) have created the first nontrivial "atom circuit," a donut-shaped loop of ultracold gas atoms circulating in a current analogous to a ring of electrons in a superconducting wire. The circuit is "nontrivial" because it includes a circuit element—an adjustable barrier that controls the flow of atom current to specific allowed values. The newly published* work was done at the Joint Quantum Institute, a NIST/UM collaboration. Ultracold gases, such as the Bose-Einstein ...

Discount Vouchers are the Saviour of High Earners Looking to Off-Set Income Losses

2011-04-02

Discount vouchers are no longer just for the less well off, according to independent money saving website DiscountVouchers.co.uk, which reported recently that the traffic from ABC1 visitors on its site was at a record high with 61% of the two million-plus who logged on last month from the top income groups. The report comes around the same time as the latest research from the BBC* found that UK households suffered a loss of 1.6 per cent of real income after tax - a loss of GBP365 compared with figures for 2008. However, high tax payers are losing out worse still and ...

Closer look at cell membrane shows cholesterol 'keeping order'

2011-04-02

VIDEO: The purple "tails " of the lipid molecules that form the cell membrane are far less orderly in the absence of cholesterol than when cholesterol is present, a finding made possible... Click here for more information. Cell membranes form the "skin" of most every cell in your body, but the ability to view them up close and in motion cannot be rendered by many experimental techniques. A team of scientists working at the National Institute of Standards and Technology ...

LateRooms.com - Julian Joseph Trio to Play at Norfolk Venue

2011-04-02

The Norwich Arts Centre is set to welcome a crowd of jazz fans for next month's performance by the Julian Joseph Trio. Taking place on Thursday April 28th, the show will feature a range of original compositions from the pioneering pianist and bandleader. Having toured the globe, drawn comparisons with the great Duke Ellington and presented the weekly Jazz Legends show on BBC Radio 3 for six years, Joseph is one of the most respected figures in British jazz. Known for combining the genre with elements of classical music, he is a virtuoso performer who has also premiered ...

LateRooms.com - Cornwall Visitors to Enjoy Trevithick Day in Camborne

2011-04-02

Camborne in Cornwall is due to hold its annual celebration of the area's industrial heritage on Saturday April 30th. The community event is known as Trevithick Day after Richard Trevithick, the inventor and pioneer of high-pressure steam power who was born close by in 1771. Trevithick's inventions helped to increase the efficiency of engines used to pump water from the lower levels of tin and copper mines in the south-west, while he also laid claim to the first full-scale working railway steam locomotive. People visiting Camborne on April 30th will encounter street ...

A measurement first: NIST 'noise thermometry' system measures Boltzmann Constant

2011-04-02

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have for the first time used an apparatus that relies on the "noise" of jiggling electrons to make highly accurate measurements of the Boltzmann constant, an important value for many scientific calculations. The technique is simpler and more compact than other methods for measuring the constant and could advance international efforts to revamp the world's scientific measurement system. The Boltzmann constant* relates energy to temperature for individual particles such as atoms. The accepted value ...

LateRooms.com - Enjoy One Night with Elvis in Bournemouth

2011-04-02

Fans of The King have an opportunity to enjoy One Night with Elvis at the Bournemouth International Centre (BIC) later this year. The event will take place on Friday May 6th and promises to deliver an Elvis Presley tribute show like no other, as award-winning performer Lee 'Memphis' King will be in town. King is considered a cut above the average Elvis impersonator, as he was previously named the world's top tribute artist at the prestigious Collingwood Elvis Festival in Canada. Songwriter and actor PJ Proby, who made demo recordings for Presley in the early 1960s, ...

Microreactors: Small scale chemistry could lead to big improvements for biodegradable polymers

2011-04-02

Using a small block of aluminum with a tiny groove carved in it, a team of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University is developing an improved "green chemistry" method for making biodegradable polymers. Their recently published work* is a prime example of the value of microfluidics, a technology more commonly associated with inkjet printers and medical diagnostics, to process modeling and development for industrial chemistry. "We basically developed a microreactor that lets us monitor ...

Identification of chemical constituents and blood-absorbed components of Shenqi Fuzheng extract based on UPLC-triple-TOF/MS technology

Emergency department physicians vary widely in their likelihood of hospitalizing a patient, even within the same facility

New clinical practice guideline on the process for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease or a related form of cognitive impairment or dementia

[Press-News.org] US cancer death rates in decline, national report finds
Dana-Farber president: Trends are encouraging, but more improvements are needed

US cancer death rates in decline, national report finds

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: