cancer

Older Women with Gum Disease at Higher Risk of Cancer

August 11, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

From the time we were little kids, our parents were constantly on us about brushing our teeth at least once a day, usually before going to bed. Fifty to sixty years ago, it was all about brushing, brushing and brushing of our teeth.

Then about thirty to forty years ago, flossing became just as important as brushing. Many dentists started telling everyone to floss their teeth at least once or twice a day and many recommended brushing our teeth after every meal and before bed, to prevent the buildup of plaque and bacteria that harm the hard enamel layer on our teeth.

Then came the first visit to the dentist – a terrifying ordeal for many kids. They’ve all heard the horror stories of getting shots in their mouths, having dentists drill into our teeth and even pull them if necessary. If you are like me and have a genetic immunity to the vast majority of pain killers, visiting the dentist was truly something you wanted to avoid at all cost.

Tooth decay, fillings, root canals, caps, pulled teeth and dentures were the primary focus of things to avoid by brushing and flossing daily. However, gun disease also became a topic of importance to many dentists.

Today, the topic of gun disease carries more health importance as researchers learn more about it and its long-term effects, especially for older women, according to a new report:

“Now, a group of investigators at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo have just released data from a large cohort study, which showed that periodontal disease was associated with increased risk of several types of cancer in postmenopausal women, even in women who had never smoked. The findings from the new study were published today in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention in an article entitled ‘Periodontal Disease and Incident Cancer Risk among Postmenopausal Women: Results from the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Cohort’.”

“The SUNY Buffalo team assembled a prospective cohort study of 65,869 women aged 54 to 86 who were enrolled in the Women’s Health Initiative Observational Study. Using questionnaires administered between 1999 and 2003, study participants self-reported on their periodontal disease history. The researchers evaluated cancer outcomes through September 2013. Using an average follow-up time of 8.32 years, the researchers had identified 7149 cases of cancer. Analysis of all the data showed that a history of periodontal disease was associated with a 14% higher risk of developing any cancer.”

“‘Our study findings serve to provide further evidence that periodontal disease is linked to cancer and support the need for further investigation into how periodontal disease contributes to increased cancer risk,’ remarked lead study investigator Ngozi Nwizu, Ph.D., assistant professor of oral and maxillofacial pathology at The University of Texas School of Dentistry.”

Jean Wactawski-Wende, Ph.D., a professor in the department of epidemiology and environmental health and dean of the School of Public Health and Health Professions at SUNY Buffalo and a senior study investigator added:

“The esophagus is in close proximity to the oral cavity, and so periodontal pathogens may more easily gain access to and infect the esophageal mucosa and promote cancer risk at that site.”

Ladies, remember to brush and floss daily and use a good mouthwash like Listerine that helps kill harmful bacteria left behind after brushing. Our lives, diets and environments are already filled with one cancer risk causing item after another, so don’t fall victim to your own mouth and gums.

Vulvar Cancer Risks, Symptoms and More

August 4, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve discussed 4 of 5 major categories of gynecological cancers. We’ve covered urinary, ovarian, cervical and vaginal cancers. Today, we’ll discuss the fifth category of gynecological cancers – vulvar cancer.

Just to be clear, vulvar cancers are those that occur on labia major, labia minora (outer and inner genital lips), clitoris and vaginal opening. Nearly 6,000 women are diagnosed with vulvar cancer every year in the United States. Approximately 1,110 women die each year from vulvar cancer.

If diagnosed early at stage 1, vulvar cancer has a 5-year cancer survival rate of 98%. The 5-year survival rate for stage 2 is about 85%. That drops to about 74% if discovered at stage 3 and if not diagnosed until stage 4, the 5-year survival rate plummets to only 31%.

Like vaginal cancers, there are two main types of vulvar cancer:

Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of vulvar cancer, accounting for over 80 percent of cases. One particular subtype of squamous cell cancer is called Verrucous carcinoma. This form grows slowly, often looks like a large wart, and is associated with a good prognosis (outlook).

Adenocarcinoma accounts for approximately 8 percent of vulvar cancers. These cancers usually begin in the Bartholin glands, which are found just inside the entrance of the vagina and normally produce a mucous-like fluid that acts as a lubricant. Adenocarcinomas can also develop in sweat glands. Another related condition is Paget disease, in which the adenocarcinoma cells are restricted to the top layer of the skin of the vulva. Some patients with this condition may also have an area of invasive adenocarcinoma.

Some vulvar cancers are a form of melanoma (like skin cancer) in cells with pigments and it’s possible that some of these may be related to extended exposure to the sun – nude sunbathing.

Symptoms of vulvar cancer may include symptoms for other forms of cancer and other medical conditions, but the symptoms recommended to watch for include:

Persistent itching – this is an itch that just doesn’t go away. It often is worse at night, to the point of making sleeping difficult.
Pain – found at the vulvar areas listed above. The severity of the pain can vary, depending on the location, how far it has spread and what stage of cancer.
Abnormal patches of skin – These patches are often white, sometimes pink or red, and feel rough to the touch. If the vulvar cancer is a form of melanoma, the patch of skin may be darker.
Open sore(s) – this is a sore or ulcer that persists for more than a month. The sore may also be associated with a growth or lump.
Painful urination – generally, painful urination occurs during the early stages and if not a urinary tract infection, see your doctor as soon as possible.
Discharge or bleeding – any discharge or bleeding not associated with the normal menstrual cycle should be cause for concern.
Swelling – this is when the vulvar region swells larger than normal and the swelling persists.
Changes in shape and/or color – if you have a mole in the area of the vulva, any changes in its shape and/or color may be an indication of cancer.
Thickening of the skin of the vulva

Since a variety of the symptoms are also indicative of other conditions, if you have any of these symptoms, see your doctor. He or she might have to do a biopsy to determine if your symptoms are indicative of vulvar cancer or not. Once diagnosed via a biopsy, your doctor should refer you to a gynecologic oncologist – a person who specializes in female reproductive cancers.

You need to know your body intimately. As awkward as it may sound, you need to regularly look at your genitalia (use a mirror if necessary) and you need to touch and feel yourself regularly. Since some of the symptoms are changes in appearance and texture of the vulva, it’s necessary to know what you look and feel like when normal. Otherwise, you may not detect any changes as early which reduces your chance of surviving.

Risk factors for developing vulvar cancer include:

Age – about 80% of cases involve women over the age of 50.
Smoking – smoking has been attributed as increasing the risk of developing vulvar cancer, especially if the woman has been infected with high-risk HPV virus.
HPV – this is why it is so important to get the HPV vaccine.
HIV – having HIV increases the risk of developing vulvar cancer.
VIN – vulvar intraepithelial neoplasia – a precancerous condition where the abnormal cells are still restricted to the surface areas.
Lichen sclerosus – condition where vulvar skin gets thinner and itches a lot.
Cervical cancer – having cervical cancer increases the risk of cancer developing in the vulva and vagina.

If you are diagnosed as having vulvar cancer, the treatment will depend upon what stage the cancer was found. As in most other cancers, the three main treatment options are surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. This will depend upon your oncologist and the stage of your cancer.

Know your body and if you suspect anything, see your doctor. Be honest and open with your doctor. Don’t be too embarrassed or try to hide it from your doctor as that will only result in harm to yourself.

Living Drug for Common Form of Children’s Leukemia Passes 1st FDA Hurdle

July 21, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

Millions of Americans get some form of cancer. The cost of treating and fighting cancer reaches into the billions of dollars. One source lists the cost of cancer care in 2010 at $157 billion. Imagine how much could be saved if researchers could find a successful way to fight cancer that didn’t require traditional chemotherapy or radiation therapy? Millions of lives could be saved and total healthcare costs in the United States could be lowered enough to almost make a national healthcare system affordable – ALMOST.

Researchers working for Novartis, a large drug company may have made what some are calling the most major breakthrough in cancer treatment in decades. Dr. David Lebwohl heads up the CAR-T Franchise Global Program that developed the breakthrough technology.

The process has been named CAR-T cell immunotherapy and the idea is brilliant. Important immune T cells are removed from a patient. The scientists then genetically modified them so that they would target and attack just cancer cells. Once the T cells have been genetically modified, they are injected back into the patient where they travel through the blood stream to the cancer and attack it. Using the patient’s own T cells to fight cancer eliminates many of the harsh and debilitating side-effects of most chemotherapies and/or radiation therapies.

Many cancer patients will tell you that many of the treatments they undergo are almost worse than the cancer itself. The nausea, weakness, headaches, aches and pains that go with most treatments, often leave cancer patients unable to function. They end up spending hours, days and even weeks feeling sicker than a dog before they feel better.

Dr. Lebwohl commented about the new CAR-T cell immunotherapy, saying:

“It’s truly a paradigm shift. It represents a new hope for patients.”

The FDA Advisory Panel has endorsed the use of the new immunotherapy, which was initially developed to treat children and young adults with B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, that either doesn’t respond to standard treatment of they have relapsed. This form of cancer is the most common cancer that affects children in the United States.

With standard treatment, many children become cancer free, but at some time down the road may suffer a relapse. Others don’t respond to the standard treatment or cannot tolerate it. When this form of leukemia relapses, quite often the standard treatment is not nearly as successful.

The initial study for the new treatment was conducted at 25 different locations on 88 patients in 11 different countries. The patients ran in age from 3 to 23 and all had experienced a relapse that did not respond to standard treatment or they failed to respond to standard treatment to begin with. The drug developed to help genetically modify the patient’s T cells is known as tisagenlecleucel or CTL019, or the ‘living drug’. In the studies, 83% of the patients that received CTL019 saw their leukemia go into total remission.

Dr. Stephen Hunger, a doctor at Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia assisted in the study on the new immunotherapy. He commented about the need for such a treatment, saying:

“There is a major unmet medical need for treatment options.”

Other drug companies and researchers have tried to use similar forms of immunotherapy, but ran into a serious side-effect known as cytokine release syndrome. This is when the genetically modified T cells begin attacking some of the patient’s organs. In some cases, they attacked the brains, causing severe brain swelling and death.

So far in the study using CTL019, only a few patients developed the side effects, but none of those cases were fatal and all of the patients recovered. Dr. Timothy Cripe, an oncologist at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio commented about the drug, saying:

“This is the most exciting thing I’ve seen in my lifetime.”

Dr. Malcolm Smith, associate branch chief for the pediatric oncology at the Nation Cancer Institute, also commented about the study, saying:

“This is a major advance and is ushering in a new era in treating children.”

Since the researchers use a virus to help genetically modify the T cells, no one is sure if there are any long-term effects.

Getting the endorsement of the Advisory Panel, which voted 10-0 to endorse the new drug and treatment, is one of the first steps towards approval of the drug and treatment process. The FDA does not have to always take the endorsement of the Advisory Panel, but doctors and families of patients involved in the study are lobbying for approval.

While the new living drug, if approved, could save billions of dollars in cancer treatment, it’s probably not going to be cheap for patients to get. Novartis has not said how much the drug treatment will cost, but some analysts in the industry are estimating it could cost as much as $500,000 per infusion of the genetically modified T cells. Hopefully, it won’t cost nearly this much and is made readily available to the thousands of kids suffering from this form of leukemia.

How Scorpion Venom Could Help Save Lives and Millions of Dollars

June 22, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

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When I attended university, I used to volunteer in the venomous animal lab. Among the many things I got to do, I helped milk a variety of venomous snakes including several species of rattlesnakes and cobras. The venom was used for the production of anti-venom and for medical research, as there are many different properties found in venom, some which have been medically useful.

In addition to milking snakes for their venom, I spent a lot of time milking scorpions for their venom. I’ve had many people ask me how do you milk a scorpion and I jokingly respond with a very short stool. Actually, the proper way is to gently pick up the scorpion by the tail with a pair of forceps, but you have to make sure you don’t squeeze to tightly and injure the scorpion. Then you place a very small hollow glass tube called a pipette up to the tip of the scorpion’s stinger and then touch the venom sac, located just below the stinger, against a very low voltage current. The electricity causes the venom sac to contract, expelling the venom which is then collected in the pipette.

The amount of venom is small, since the scorpions are small. We concentrated on local scorpions, mostly the larger hairy scorpion and the smaller and more deadly bark scorpion. It takes many scorpions to produce a gram of venom, which is then used for anti-venom and medical research. During my time there, I estimate that I milked at least half a million scorpions and never got stung while doing it.

That’s why the latest news on the use of scorpion venom in targeting cancer cells was so interesting to me.

Researchers discovered a compound in the venom of the death stalker scorpion that when combined with a dye that glows and then injected into a patient with cancer, it adheres to just the cancer cells. This allows doctors to use very treatments, including surgery, against the cancer cells or tumor without injuring or harming normal healthy tissue.

Researchers involved in the discovery said:

“It really has the potential to very much change how we do care.”

Dr. Rowena Schwartz, a doctor at the University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy commented on the new discovery:

“The excitement of it is that it’s a way to identify tumor tissue separate from healthy tissue.”

“I think it’s because a chemo toxin was identified was bound to the cancer tissue, and not to normal cells.”

“To take a venom from a scorpion and synthetically make it without the poison and then hook it to something that can be florescent under a laser light, means that then you can visualize it.”

“As we learn more about cancer cells and the difference between non-cancer cells, it gives you potential targets for treatment and in this case targets for visualization. And I think that’s one of the most exciting things that’s going on in cancer.”

The new targeting technique is still being tested, but if the tests continue to show the results they have so far, it could make a huge impact in cancer treatment. What’s more, it could save hundreds of millions of dollars in medical bills and healthcare costs.

One of the major drawbacks in treating cancer these days is the harming or destruction of surrounding healthy tissue. Quite often, much of the healing of the damaged healthy tissue adds to the lengthy recovery process and worse. The loss of healthy normal tissue can result in other medical complications.

If doctors could clearly see just the cancer cells and be able to differentiate them from surrounding healthy tissue, it would make removing just the cancer much easier and less invasive.

As Republicans in Congress try to come up with a workable and affordable replacement for Obamacare, the use of scorpion venom in marking of cancer cells, could drastically reduce the overall cost of a nationalized healthcare program, which in the long run, could save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Which of the More Common Cancers Will You Have?

May 17, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

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‘You have cancer’ is the phrase we all dread hearing from our doctor. Cancer is something that happens to other people, not you. However, do you know that the vast majority of Americans will hear that frightening statement from their doctor.

Knowing that, do have any idea of what the more common forms of cancer are?

To begin with there are over 200 different forms of cancer. Some are fairly rare and others are so common that you may not sleep well tonight after reading this.

In 2009, over 2 million Americans were diagnosed with just the 10 most common forms of cancer. The twelve most common types of cancer listed at the time and the number of cases diagnosed just that year per one source for 2009 were:

1- non-melanoma skin cancer – 1,000,000 cases

2- lung cancer – 219,440 cases

3- breast cancer – 194,280 cases

4- prostate cancer – 192,200 cases

5- colorectal cancer – 146,970 cases

6- bladder cancer – 71,000 cases

7- melanoma – 68,720 cases

8- non-Hodgkin lymphoma – 65,980 cases

9- kidney cancer – 49,000 cases

10- leukemia – 44,790 cases

Those were 2009 figures which tally up to 2,052,380 NEW cases of just these 10 types of cancer. In 2009, the US population was around 306,8 million people. While 2 million NEW cases of cancer may not sound that high compared to the entire nations population, consider the fact that each year there were about 2 million NEW cases, so combined with the 9 years prior to 2009, it’s safe to say that there were at least 20 million new cases of cancer diagnosed. To give you an idea of what the percentage is, put 100 people in a room and then realize that 6-7 of them will most likely be diagnosed with cancer or have already been diagnosed.

Since then, some cancers have been easier to detect and diagnose and others are just becoming more abundant. Part of the increases in some cancer rates are due to diets, lack of proper exercise, poor sleep habits, genetics and reasons unknown. Combining estimated figures from Cancer.net and the National Cancer Institute for 2017, for the same 10 common forms of cancer has risen to 4,138,970, more than double the number of cases diagnosed in just 2009. The same two sources estimate that at least 361,570 people will die this year JUST from these 10 forms of cancer. In that same room of 100 people, at least 12-14 will have been diagnosed with cancer in the past 10 years and at least 1 or 2 of them will die this year. Could it be you or someone you know?

These two sources also list four additional common types of cancer which will yield about 212,630 new cases this year and around 85,000 deaths. Here are the 2017 estimates of new cases and death of 14 of the most common forms of cancer.

1- non-melanoma skin cancer – 3,000,000 cases – 2,000 deaths

2- lung cancer – 222,500 cases – 155,870 deaths

3- breast cancer (women) – 252,710 cases – 40,610 deaths – (male) – 2,470 cases – 460 deaths

4- prostate cancer – 161360 cases – 26,730 deaths

5- colorectal cancer – 135,430 cases – 50.260 deaths

6- bladder cancer – 79,030 cases – 16,870 deaths

7- melanoma – 87110 cases – 9,730 deaths

8- non-Hodgkin lymphoma – 72,240 cases – 20,140 deaths

9- kidney cancer – 63,990 cases – 14,400 deaths

10- leukemia – 62,130 cases – 24,500 deaths

11 – endometrial cancer – 61,380 cases – 10.920 deaths

12- liver cancer – 40,710 cases – 28,920 deaths

13- pancreatic cancer – 53,670 cases – 43,090 deaths *lowest % survival rate

14 – thyroid cancer – 57,870 cases – 2,010 deaths

Every great military leader says it’s best to know one’s enemy. The more you know about an enemy the better prepared you can be to defend against that enemy. Cancer is definitely an enemy to all of us. Not only is it a horrible and painful way to die, but it can cost tens of thousands of dollars in medical fees to try to fight and hopefully recover from.

Knowing which are the most common types of cancers and whether or not they tend to run in your family can be a huge advantage in helping you and your doctor to protect you from that enemy. Additionally, knowing more about each type of cancer and how things like diet, stress, lack of sleep and exercise can place you at more risk may also help you find a way to defend against it. In the near future, we hope to address some of these cancer forms more specifically to help you mount a strong defense.

New Key to Starving Cancer?

May 2, 2017 By Morning Health Team Leave a Comment

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We’ve all been hearing for years that eating red meat is bad for your health and may be linked to increased risks of developing cancer. The same reports say that we need to eat more vegetables and fruits to reduce our chances of developing cancer.

The American Institute for Cancer Research has a list of 10 Recommendations for Cancer Prevention. Number 4 on that list states:

“Eat more of a variety of vegetables, fruits, whole grains and legumes such as beans.”

Number 5 on that list states:

“Limit consumption of red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) and avoid processed meats.”

When you click on the link to red meats, you will find:

“To reduce your cancer risk, eat no more than 18 ounces (cooked weight) per week of red meats, like beef, pork and lamb, and avoid processed meat such as ham, bacon, salami, hot dogs and sausages.”

According to the World Health Organization, studies have shown that eating red meat increases the risk of colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

New research may suggest that the association of eating red meat and cancers may be due to some of the amino acids found in the proteins in red meat. Proteins are made up of amino acids, some of which, may have shown to feed cancer cells.

According to a recent report:

“Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the University of Glasgow found that removing two non-essential amino acids — serine and glycine — from the diet of mice slowed the development of lymphoma and intestinal cancer.”

“The researchers also found that the special diet made some cancer cells more susceptible to chemicals in cells called reactive oxygen species.”

“Chemotherapy and radiotherapy boost levels of these chemicals in the cells, so this research suggests a specially formulated diet could make conventional cancer treatments more effective.”

“The next stage would be to set up clinical trials with cancer patients to assess the feasibility and safety of such a treatment.”

Although many reports list serine as a non-essential amino acid, it does play an important part in helping to form the protective myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells. Too much serine has also been shown to be toxic to nerve cells, so there needs to be a balance.

In the report above, they also list glycine as a non-essential amino acid, yet WebMD.com, glycine has numerous purposes and is found in meat, fish, dairy and legumes. It has been shown to help in the treatment of schizophrenia and preliminary studies indicate that it may help regulate blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes.

While more research is needed to see if cutting out or reducing the intake of serine and glycine actually helps to starve cancer cells or increases the effectiveness of other cancer treatments, according to Dr. Oliver Maddocks, a Cancer Research UK scientist at the University of Glasgow:

“Our findings suggest that restricting specific amino acids through a controlled diet plan could be an additional part of treatment for some cancer patients in future, helping to make other treatments more effective.”

Early studies did indicate one drawback and that was using a serine and glycine free diet to help treat cancers with the Kras gene, such as many forms of pancreatic cancer. It seems that the Kras gene allows the cancer cells to make their own serine and glycine.

However, be warned before you go on a serine and glycine free diet on your own, that you may be risking your health needlessly. According to Professor Karen Vousden, Cancer Research UK’s Chief Scientist and study co-author:

“This kind of restricted diet would be a short-term measure and must be carefully controlled and monitored by doctors for safety. Our diet is complex and protein — the main source of all amino acids — is vital for our health and well-being. This means that patients cannot safely cut out these specific amino acids simply by following some form of home-made diet.”

New breakthroughs in the treatments of various forms of cancers are always being made and perhaps someday, researchers will find some of the secrets behind the formation of cancer cells and how to block their formation in the first place.

Time Zones & Sleeping in on Weekends Can Increase Risk of Cancer and More

April 7, 2017 By Morning Health Team 1 Comment

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For the past decade, we’ve been hearing a lot about getting enough sleep and what lack of sleep can do physically and mentally to a person. Most experts say that we should be getting 7-8 hours of quality sleep a night. Not getting enough sleep can make a person more susceptible to obesity, diabetes and increase the risk of some cancers and heart conditions. It also leaves a person mentally fatigued, interfering with their ability to function at the level they should be functioning at.

Allow me to say just how true this is…

About 15 years ago, I was sent to a sleep clinic by my doctor because my wife said I stopped breathing a lot when I slept. After the tests, the sleep clinic doctor shared the good and bad news with me. I had three separate and distinct sleep disorders, the worst of which was sleep apnea (this is the one where you stop breathing many times while sleeping). However, he then said that he could treat the sleep apnea or the other two, but it’s not possible to treat all three at the same time. So, I sleep with a CPAP machine that forces air into my nose and keeps me from stopping to breathe. The doctor also told me that to treat the sleep apnea, it can aggravate the other two disorders which he described as minor. The CPAP machine did help, but I also live in constant severe pain which also prevents me from sleeping well. On a good night, I am fortunate if I get a total of 4 hours of sleep during 8 hours of trying to sleep. Consequently, I am constantly fatigued and often fall asleep quite easily. Basically, I’m so tired that I can’t stay awake and but hurt so much I can’t stay asleep. Yes, I am obese, have Type-2 diabetes and my immune system is very compromised making me very susceptible to every bug that goes around.

With all that said, have you ever heard of ‘social jet lag’? It has nothing to do with flying in a plane from one time zone to another. Social jet lag is defined as getting up at a certain time during the week and then sleeping in on the weekends. While many people do this to catch up on their sleep, it is actually proving to interrupt our body’s circadian rhythm. Many functions in your body are controlled by your circadian rhythm.

According to one source:

Circadian rhythm:

A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24-hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants, animals, fungi and cyanobacteria.

In a strict sense, circadian rhythms are endogenously generated, although they can be modulated by external cues such as sunlight and temperature.

Circadian rhythms are important in determining the sleeping and feeding patterns of all animals, including human beings.

There are clear patterns of brain wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration and other biological activities linked to this daily cycle.

Breaking up the circadian rhythm disrupts the natural cycle of how and when things work in our bodies. This is why rotating shifts are very bad on one’s health, as is social jet lag.

But did you know that where you live in a time zone can also affect your circadian rhythm which in turn may increase your chances of developing a number of health conditions including cancer?

For example, take the Eastern Time Zone. It reaches from the east coast westward. A person living in the eastern part of the time, say Boston, gets up at 8am and it is daylight. The daylight helps trigger the circadian rhythm processes. Yet a person living in Ohio or northern Kentucky also in the Eastern Time Zone, who gets up at 8am may find that it’s still dark outside. Hence the activity of getting up and the darkness work oppositely on the circadian rhythm. One researcher said that for every 5 degrees of longitude westward within a time zone is equal to a 20-minute delay in sunrise.

While you may be saying big deal, you may find what else the research found to be insightful:

Social jet lag has been linked to various conditions including obesity and diabetes, Caporaso said. In the new study, the researchers focused on cancer.

Cancer and the biological clock

In the study, the researchers looked at data on 4 million white adults who had been diagnosed with cancer between 2000 and 2012. The people in the study lived in more than 600 counties in 11 states, all within the continental U.S.

Results showed that for every 5 degrees of longitude toward the west that a person lived from the eastern edge of their time zone, his or her risk of developing any type of cancer increased by 3 percent in men and 4 percent in women.

The researchers also looked at people’s risk of developing specific cancers.

For example, men who lived in the western-most region of a time zone had a 4 percent greater risk of prostate cancer, and 13 percent greater risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a cancer that affects white blood cells, compared with men who lived in the eastern-most regions of a time zone, the researchers found.

Women living in the western-most regions had a 4 percent greater risk of breast cancer, a 12 percent greater risk of chronic lymphocytic leukemia and a 10 percent greater of a type of uterine cancer compared with women living in the eastern-most region of a time zone, the researchers found.

Keeping to a set schedule of getting up at the same time every day is much healthier than sleeping in on the weekends, but then again so is living towards the eastern edge of your time-zone.

10 Reasons Peter Diamandis Thinks The End of Cancer & Disease is Near

January 11, 2017 By Ed O'Keefe Leave a Comment

For his 2017 “kick-off” blog, Peter Diamandis has reviewed more than 52 weeks of science and technology breakthroughs. He discovered that scientists have made huge strides in research and testing in 2016 that make the end of cancer & disease a real possibility in the near future.

Most well known as the Founder of the X-Prize, Diamandis is also the Co-Founder and Vice-Chairman of Human Longevity Inc. (HLI), a genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the healthy human lifespan.

Here are his top 10 reasons we should all have faith that the end of cancer and disease is in sight.

Cancer Immunotherapy Makes Strides (Extraordinary Results): Immunotherapy involves using a patient’s own immune system (in this case, T cells) to fight cancer. Doctors remove immune cells from patients, tag them with “receptor” molecules that target the specific cancer, and then infuse the cells back in the body. During the study, 94% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) saw symptoms vanish completely. Patients with other blood cancers had response rates greater than 80%, and more than half experienced complete remission.

In China, CRISPR/Cas9 used in First Human Trial: A team of scientists in China (Sichuan University) became the first to treat a human patient with an aggressive form of lung cancer with the groundbreaking CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technique.

NIH Approves Human Trials Using CRISPR: A team of physicians at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine had their project of modifying the immune cells of 18 different cancer patients with the CRISPR-Cas9 system approved by the National Institute of Health. Results are TBD.

Giant Leap in Treatment of Diabetes from Harvard: For the first time, Harvard stem cell researchers created “insulin producing” islet cells to cure diabetes in mice. This offers a promising cure in humans as well.

HIV Genes Cut Out of Live Animals Using CRISPR: Scientists at the Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center at Temple University were able to successfully cut out the HIV genes from live animals, and they had over a 50% success rate.

New Treatment Causes HIV Infected Cells to Vanish: A team of scientists in the U.K. discovered a new treatment for HIV. The patient was treated with vaccines that helped the body recognize the HIV-infected cells. Then, the drug Vorinostat was administered to activate the dormant cells so they could be spotted by the immune system.

CRISPR Cures Mice of Sickle Cell Disease: CRISPR was used to completely cure sickle cell by editing the errant DNA sequence in mice. The treatment may soon be used to cure this disease, which affects about 100,000 Americans.

Eradicating Measles (in the U.S.): The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that after 50 years, they have successfully eradicated measles in the U.S. This is one of the most contagious diseases around the world.
New Ebola Vaccine Proved to be 100% Effective: None of the nearly 6,000 individuals vaccinated with rVSV-ZEBOV in Guinea, a country with more than 3,000 confirmed cases of Ebola, showed any signs of contracting the disease.

Eradicating Polio: The World Health Organization has announced that it expects to fully eradicate polio worldwide by Early 2017.

You can read more from Peter Diamandis’ blog here.