Why Men's Health is a Feminist Issue

By: Adina Nack, Ms. Magazine

Jorge (not his real name) feared his girlfriend would dump him. He’d been diagnosed with genital warts before meeting her, and hadn’t yet told her about his infection. Jorge was being careful—no skin-to-skin sexual contact—but the disclosure was looming. So he’d done some research and learned what caused genital warts. Armed with that knowledge, he hoped that his girlfriend wouldn’t reject him, especially since he knew she could be protected from contracting warts “because of the Gardasil vaccine.”

It never occurred to Jorge that Gardasil, made by the pharmaceutical company Merck, could also have protected him. But that’s probably because it was only last October that the Food and Drug Administration approved a “male” Gardasil for preventing genital warts. And the FDA has yet to put its stamp on another promising usage of the vaccine for men: preventing cancer, especially highly prevalent oral cancers.

Since Gardasil was FDA-approved in 2006, it has received a huge marketing push for preventing cervical cancer in women. It has come into frequent—if sometimes controversial—use for females 9 to 26 years old because it’s designed to guard them, before they ever have sex, against contracting a virus that has been linked to cervical cancer.

That virus is HPV, human papillomavirus, which causes one-third of all sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the U.S. Gardasil offers protection against four of the 30 to 40 types of sexually transmissible HPV.

While it’s fear of cervical cancer that have motivated young women to get HPV vaccines, it can lead to oral, anal and penile cancers as well. In fact, the combined U.S. death rates for these cancers are at least twice that of cervical cancers. Oral cancers should be of particular concern, to both men and women. Some researchers believe that HPV may soon cause more oral cancers in the U.S. than alcohol or tobacco combined. Read More . . .

Nashville Area Dental Hygienists' Society's 2nd Annual Oral Cancer Walk

Nashville Area Dental Hygienists have completed their second successful walk for Oral Cancer. Along with the walk, local area dental hygienists did free oral cancer screenings for the public. Our event was held in Centennial Park located in the heart of Nashville. The walk started at 10:00am with pre-registration events at 9:00am. This year we had a silent auction and raffle with various items donated by local merchants such Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Wal-Mart, and Krogers. There were also several autographed items such as CDs, photos, baseball hats, and cowboy hats donated by various country music artists. There were over 100 registered walkers who received a ‘Boot Scootin’ t-shirt, goody bags filled with toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, chapstick and lots of other fun stuff. There was a DJ who provided music to get the walkers ready to boot scoot’ one mile through Centennial Park. Breakfast foods such as bagels and Krispy Kreme donuts, juice, water, and Starbucks coffee were available for the walkers. Cydney Miller, Mrs. Tennessee International, was there to help kick-off the walk and speak about cancer awareness and early detection. Two oral cancer survivors, Kathi Gill and Shaylynn Grant, also members of OCF, were there to participate in the walk and tell their personal stories. Nashville hygienists raised over $7,600 which will directly benefit The Oral Cancer Foundation. Another hit has occurred in Nashville, but it’s not a country artist……. It’s the local hygienists’ making a difference in their community.

Smokeless Tobacco Launches an Attack on US Market

Swedish Match, the manufacturer of General Snus brand has introduced a multi-million-dollar marketing drive intended for bringing the steam-cured tobacco pouches to wealthy tobacco-lovers in major markets across the nation. The General Snus are also promoted at high-end events, such as New York Fashion Week and several notable Film Festivals.

Snus are made and sold in cooled pouches packed in cans. The consumers put these tobacco items between cheek and lip and sip it getting their portion of nicotine. Snus is extremely famous among upscale professionals in Sweden, where the product saw the world for the first time almost two centuries ago. Whereas these products are still relatively unknown to the majority of American smokers, they are going through an outstanding growth of popularity since the initial nationwide launch in 2000, according to Swedish Match.

The latest General Snus promotional campaign – under slogan “Satisfaction: the Original Pursuit”— was launched at the Sundance Film Festival held in Salt Lake City in January, where Swedish Match has acquired sponsorship deal. Other venues for the marketing campaign include art shows in New York, Boston and Los Angeles, and New York’s Fashion Week.

Lars Hansson, the communication director for Swedish Match told the press that in Scandinavian countries snus has been generally used by the upscale audience, and that has been the major reason why the latest General Snus campaign is oriented at appealing to American fashionistas and white-collar professionals. Read More . . .

*Spit Tobacco Fact: The Nicotine content in a can of dip or snuff is approximately 144 milligrams, which is equal to about 80 cigarettes. In other words, one can of snuff or dip equals to about four packs or cigarettes.

Roger Ebert, No Longer Afraid to Show his Face to the World

It has been nearly four years since Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw and his ability to speak. Now television’s most famous movie critic is rarely seen and never heard, but his words have never stopped.

“It’s nice to think of all these great movies sloshing around and coming out as my voice,” he wrote in a column Sunday.

Ebert’s new voice is a mix of words he said on the DVD critiques for everything from classics like “Casablanca” and “Citizen Kane” to the cult porn film he wrote, “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.”

But his own words – taken from original recordings unearthed in warehouses at Warner Brothers, the Criterion Collection, New Line and 20th Century Fox – are a vast improvement, he said.

Since being diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002, and suffering numerous surgeries and some near-fatal complications, Ebert, of Chicago, lost the ability to speak, eat and drink. He uses a feeding tube and needs 24-hour nursing care.

Ebert, 67, who once dated Oprah Winfrey, appeared on her show a few weeks ago, talking in his new – and yet also old – voice.

He also appeared in last month's issue of Esquire Magazine, Read the full article here.

Radiotherapy - Induced Skin Changes and Quality of Life

Quality of life is broadly recognized within oncology as an essential component of cancer care and has been studied extensively in patients with breast cancer.1 Yet, among the three pillars of breast cancer treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy), research on radiotherapy-related quality of life has lagged behind. Specifically, the study of quality of life as it relates to normal tissue effects in patients with breast cancer is woefully understudied. The reasons for this relative lack of attention are unclear, but the results are worrying. Insufficient understanding of the effects of radiotherapy on quality of life can impair doctor—patient communication, inhibit therapeutic progress, and limit a patient’s understanding of radiotherapy and its outcomes. Therefore, the report of the START trials today in The Lancet Oncology, by Hopwood and colleagues, is much needed. 2 It makes an important contribution to the area of radiotherapy by looking at several aspects of quality of life (breast, arm, and shoulder effects, and body image). In doing so, these researchers show a consideration of the patient’s point of view that is too often absent.

The study’s findings provide a strong foundation for further pursuit of understanding of the patient’s experience of adverse skin changes after radiotherapy. Indeed, at least five areas of future research are readily apparent. 40% of women reported moderate or striking concerns for at least one body image item up to 5 years after treatment, and body image concerns did not differ between radiotherapy regimens. This combination of results suggests the first two directions for future research: scale development and interventions. First, with regard to scale development, the body image scale used in the study was designed to measure overall body image, rather than breast satisfaction per se. Therefore, development of a scale specifically to assess breast body image is needed to understand better the clinical effects. Second, with respect to interventions, the finding that body image scores did not differ between radiotherapy regimens suggests that, at this time, a purely medical intervention strategy (e.g., variation of radiotherapy regimens) might not be sufficient to improve body image. A more comprehensive approach might be needed. For example, in broader scientific published work, behavioral medicine approaches (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapy) have been shown to be effective for enhancement of body image.3 Third, the researchers do a very nice job of following up patients for 5 years after radiotherapy. However, the acute treatment period is not examined. This time presents unique challenges to women, including impositions on their schedules and steadily increasing physical discomfort and changes in breast appearance. Fourth, no information was presented about the ethnic origin of the population. Such information is vital because it indicates the generalisability of study findings. . . Read More.

Research Opportunity for Head & Neck Cancer Patients, 3 months past diagnosis

Researchers at the University of Washington are conducting a study exploring the impact of head and neck cancer on participation in everyday communication activities. They are developing a questionnaire to be used in future research and in speech clinics. Participants are needed to complete a set of questionnaires about living with head and neck cancer. The information from this study will be used to test the questionnaire that is being developed. The information will also help us learn more about people’s experiences living with head and neck cancer.

Participants in this study will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires. You may fill these out at home on your own schedule. They anticipate that it will take you about an hour to complete all the questionnaires. You can take breaks as you need to and complete them at a pace that is comfortable for you. You may fill out these questionnaires online OR on paper forms that we will mail to you.

You are eligible to participate if you are an adult age 18 years or older. You must have been diagnosed with one type of head and neck cancer at least three months ago. You must be living in the community (e.g. at home or in assisted living). Nursing home residents are not eligible for this study. You must use speech as your primary method of communication. You may use writing or augmentative devices to help you communicate, but most of your communication must be by speaking. It does not matter what kind of treatments you have had for your condition. They are seeking racial and ethnic diversity. Minorities are strongly encouraged to participate.

You will receive $20 for completing the questionnaires (your choice of a $20 check or $20 gift card to Amazon.com). Participation in this study is voluntary. You are free to stop your participation at any time. Your participation is not related to any medical care you are receiving at any facility. Your participation is not related to your involvement in any support or advocacy groups.

More information about this study is available at: http://staff.washington.edu/cbaylor

If you have questions or are interested in participating, you may contact us using the contact method you prefer (please state that you were refereed by the Oral Cancer Foundation):

Email: commpart@u.washington.edu (please remember we cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information sent via email)

Phone: 206-221-3563 (you may leave a voicemail with your mailing address if you would like a questionnaire mailed to you)

Mailing address: You may contact either:
Tanya Eadie, Ph.D., Dept of Speech and Hearing Sciences, 1417 NE 42nd St., Seattle, WA 98105

Carolyn Baylor, Ph.D., Box 356490. Dept. of Rehabilitation Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

5 Superfoods to know about

Why do some cultures live longer and healthier with lower rates of diseases like diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's? Well the answer may simply be the foods they eat everyday. So why not give them a try? What do you have to loose?

2. Turmeric Tea - You usually see the yellow spice turmeric in Indian curries, giving them characteristic color. But those long lived ladies of Okinawa slurp this spice in tea daily. Studies have shown that turmerics a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.

4. Mustard Greens - In Icaria, Greece, 1 in 3 people lives to the age of 90, making the Greek island one of the areas designated as a "blue zone," where people enjoy superior longevity. There are also no cases of Alzheimer's disease reported there despite many people living to a ripe old age. One of the nourishing foods they enjoy are mustard greens. High in vitamin K (most Americans are deficient in this nutrient), the spicy greens are good for your blood and bone strength. Try them as the Icarians do: lightly boil then toss in a pan with a little olive oil and lemon.

5. Barramundi Fish- If the Barramundi fish were a human, he would be a tree-hugging, salad-loving vegetarian. The Barramundi, hailing from the coast of Australia, eschews his fellow fish, dining on plankton instead. That means he doesn't load up on mercury-packed smaller fish and has extremely low levels of the toxin, which is especially important for pregnant women. Free of mercury, but full of heart- and brain-healthy omega-3s, the Barramundi, which is becoming more popular in the US, is a shoe-in for one of the top 5 superfoods. Bonus: the white meat is light, flaky and delicious.