H1N1 vaccination is garbage

First, they sold us a war - based on fraud.

Then, the economy collapsed - thanks to government tolerance for widespread financial fraud.

Now, these same people want you to roll up your sleeve and take an injection of something they have so little faith in they've already granted themselves legal immunity if - and when - it goes horribly wrong.

Swine flu hysteria is more government/media/industry fraud.

The so-called "science" behind vaccination is total garbage.

More and more, doctors are willing to stand up and tell the truth.

The "science" behind vaccination is garbage.

The consequences of getting it wrong are catastrophic.

The people pushing this the hardest are the same criminals who brought you the Iraq War and the meltdown of the US economy through financial fraud.

Just say "no" to being railroaded into allowing a dodgy set of chemicals, metals, and live viruses injected into your blood stream by venal idiots who have so little confidence in what they're doing they won't participate without getting total legal immunity in advance.

If you or a loved one are crippled by this vaccine, you will shoulder the burden yourself. The pharmaceutical companies and the government have exempted themselves from all liability.

Breast cancer changes with spread

A mammogram is used to detect breast lesions.

Nearly 40% of breast cancer tumours change form when they spread, a UK study shows.

The researchers say this could mean that patients require changes to their treatment regime.

They analysed 211 tumours which had spread to the lymph nodes in the armpit - the place where breast cancer tends to migrate first.

The study, by Breakthrough Breast Cancer scientists in Edinburgh, appears in Annals of Oncology.

Breast cancer is a complex disease with many different types which can be treated in different ways.

Breast cancer spreads to the lymph nodes in about 40% of the 46,000 women diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year.

Cancer cells which spread in this way are often more difficult to treat than those in the breast - so it is vital that women receive the most appropriate treatment.

Researchers were surprised to find the disease changed in such a high proportion of patients, and in so many ways, when it had spread.

For example, 20 tumours changed from oestrogen receptor (ER) negative to ER positive.

This change would mean hormone therapies such as tamoxifen, which would not have worked for the original tumour, could help treat the disease if it has spread.

Other tumours changed from ER positive to ER negative, which suggests those patients may be given treatments which will not benefit them - experiencing side-effects unnecessarily.

Surprising result

Lead researcher Dr Dana Faratian said: "We were surprised that such a high proportion of tumours change form when they spread beyond the breast.

"This suggests there is a need to test which type of disease a woman has in the lymph nodes, because it could radically alter the course of treatment she receives.

"We now need a clinical trial to see how these results could benefit patients."

Professor David Harrison, director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, said: "This research may show why some women whose cancer has spread to the lymph nodes do not respond to treatment.

"With an additional test we may be able to treat women more effectively and also make more efficient use of NHS resources."

The researchers stress that a clinical trial needs to be carried out to fully evaluate the benefits of testing cancer cells in the lymph nodes before it can be approved for use on the NHS.

Breast cancer accounts for nearly one in three of all female cancers and one in nine women in the UK will develop breast cancer at some point in their lifetime.

High HDL lowers cancer risk

MILWAUKEE - MEN may protect more than their hearts if they keep cholesterol in line: Their chances of getting aggressive prostate cancer may be lower, new research suggests.

One study found that men whose cholesterol was in a healthy range - below 200 - had less than half the risk of developing high-grade prostate tumors compared to men with high cholesterol.

A second study found that men with lots of HDL, or 'good cholesterol,' were a little less likely to develop any form of prostate cancer than men with very low HDL.

Both studies were published on Tuesday in Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

The two studies are not definitive and have some weaknesses. Yet they fit with plenty of other science suggesting that limiting fats in the bloodstream can lessen cancer risk.

'There might be this added benefit to keeping cholesterol low,' said Elizabeth Platz of Johns Hopkins University, who led the first study, which looked at 5,586 men aged 55 andolder who were in the placebo group of a big federal cancer prevention study done in the 1990s. -- AP

Curry kills cancer cells

A molecule found in a curry ingredient can kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday. -- PHOTO: AP

LONDON - A MOLECULE found in a curry ingredient can kill oesophageal cancer cells in the laboratory, suggesting it might be developed as an anti-cancer treatment, scientists said on Wednesday.

Researchers at the Cork Cancer Research Centre in Ireland treated oesophageal cancer cells with curcumin - a chemical found in the spice turmeric, which gives curries a distinctive yellow colour - and found it started to kill cancer cells within 24 hours. The cells also began to digest themselves, they said in a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

Previous scientific studies have suggested curcumin can suppress tumours and that people who eat lots of curry may be less prone to the disease, although curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly when ingested. But Sharon McKenna, lead author of the Irish study, said her study suggested a potential for scientists to develop curcumin as an anti-cancer drug to treat oesophageal cancer.

Cancers of the oesophagus kill more than 500,000 people across the world each year. The tumours are especially deadly, with five-year survival rates of just 12 to 31 per cent. Ms McKenna said the study showed curcumin caused the cancer cells to die 'using an unexpected system of cell messages'.

Normally, faulty cells die by committing programmed suicide, or apoptosis, which occurs when proteins called caspases are 'switched on' in cells, the researchers said.

But these cells showed no evidence of suicide, and the addition of a molecule that inhibits caspases and stops this 'switch being flicked' made no difference to the number of cells that died, suggesting curcumin attacked the cancer cells using an alternative cell signalling system. -- REUTERS

Coffee may halt liver disease

WASHINGTON - RESEARCHERS in the United States have found another good reason to go to the local espresso bar: several cups of coffee a day could halt the progression of liver disease, a study showed on Wednesday.

Sufferers of chronic hepatitis C and advanced liver disease who drank three or more cups of coffee per day slashed their risk of the disease progressing by 53 per cent compared to patients who drank no coffee, the study led by Neal Freedman of the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) showed.

For the study, 766 participants enrolled in the Hepatitis C Antiviral Long-Term Treatment against Cirrhosis (HALT-C) trial - all of whom had hepatitis C which had not responded to treatment with anti-viral drugs - were asked to report how many cups of coffee they drank every day.

The patients were seen every three months during the 3.8-year study and liver biopsies were taken at 1.5 and 3.5 five years to determine the progression of liver disease.

'We observed an inverse association between coffee intake and liver disease progression,' meaning patients who drank three or more cups of java were less likely to see their liver disease worsen than non-drinkers, wrote the authors of the study, which will be published in the November issue of Hepatology.

Even caffeine, the chemical that gives a cup of coffee its oomph, came under the spotlight, having been found in previous studies to inhibit liver cancer in rats, but drinking black or green tea had little impact on the progression of liver disease, although there were few tea drinkers in the study. -- AFP

Warning over fibroids treatment

UK doctors say a treatment for heavy periods caused by fibroids can seriously harm a subsequent pregnancy.

An Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital study looked at the outcomes of 215 pregnancies following uterine artery embolisation (UAE) treatment.

The researchers found much higher rates of miscarriage, caesareans and heavy bleeding after delivery, and call for caution in recommending the treatment.

The study appears in the journal, The Obstetrician and Gynaecologist.

UAE has been available as a treatment in the UK since 1995.

Pregnancy problems

The doctors pulled together the data from five small studies carried out in the UK, Czech Republic and Canada.

Fibroids are small, benign lumps of smooth muscle in the womb.

Sometimes, because of their number, size and location, they cause heavy period pain or difficulty in getting pregnant and treatment is needed.

Doctors at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital say as many as 40% of women of reproductive age have fibroids.

They found that the risk of miscarriage following UAE was 35% compared with a rate in untreated women of 10 to 15%.

The incidence of caesarean sections was much higher at 67% compared with a normal rate of 20 to 25%.

And bleeding after delivery was more than twice as common at 14% compared with 5%.

The babies tended to be smaller and they were more likely to present in an awkward position.

'Increase awareness'

Ertan Saridogan, who led the research, said although a large number of women had already undergone the procedure, there had been relatively little study of its long-term effects.

He said: "We do not offer it as a first-time treatment, but, for some women, surgery and other treatments do not work.

"We want to increase awareness of the pitfalls of this widespread procedure.

"I hope this will inform women before they make their decisions, so they can make an informed choice - they've been going at it blindly without realising what it might imply for their future pregnancies."

Henry Annan, from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said he agreed that care should now be taken in recommending the treatment.

"A proper randomised controlled trial of this procedure would take many years - it's important that patients should have some idea of the pros and cons of all the various treatments for fibroids."

Growing doubts about HIV vaccine

Doubts have been raised about the reliability of a trial suggesting success for a vaccine against HIV.

In the large-scale trial in Thailand, a combination of vaccines seemed to give volunteers a protective effect of 31%.

The US military and Thai government, who co-sponsored the trial, said the effect was not caused by random chance but was statistically significant.

But new data, being published at a conference in Paris on Tuesday, is believed to question that assertion.

It was the world's largest clinical trial of a HIV vaccine - involving 16,000 people in Thailand aged between 18 and 30.

Among the 8,000 volunteers who had been given the combination of vaccines, 51 had gone on to become infected with the virus.

Of the group given a placebo, there were 74 positive cases.

The numbers were small, but according to Seth Berkley of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative, the results were "exciting news and a significant scientific achievement".

He said: "Now we have got a vaccine candidate that appears to show a protective effect in humans, albeit partially."

Lack of detail

But there were concerns as well. Researchers were not able to indicate just how the vaccines were working.

And, as more data was given to scientists, the claims about statistical significance began to look increasingly shaky.

Gus Cairns, who works with UK HIV information charity NAM, said: "This particular study was in the awkward position of producing a result that was only just statistically significant.

"This means there was a one in 26 chance that the results could be due to pure chance - and that this may not reflect anything at all.

"That's difficult. And there is also subset analysis of this study that if you only look at the people who strictly adhered to the protocol - ie took all their vaccine doses - then it becomes not statistically significant."

The problem is that the initial figures given for the numbers infected included all those who got HIV once the trial started, including those who got it in the course of the six-month regime of injections.

But if these were excluded, as they would be in many trials, then the numbers change - and so do the claims of a protective effect.

Study power reduced

These details have been substantiated by the US military HIV research programme.

In an update to the study, they indicated that if you looked at the data in this way, it does not reach statistical significance and the study's power is reduced.

Researchers are expected to give a more detailed breakdown at the Global HIV vaccines meeting in Paris.

Many scientists have been upset that the initial information about the trial came out via a press conference, rather than via a peer reviewed journal.

But according to Dr Aland Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV vaccine enterprise, the issue of how the information came out does not matter.

"At the end of the day what matters to me is the long run. If that work doesn't hold up that's fine, we'll hear no more of it.

"If it holds up, and we'll only know that over the weeks and months ahead, then it is an important contribution - and whether we heard those results on 24 September or 24 October it doesn't matter in the long run."

Pepsi sorry for girl-getting app

SAN FRANCISCO - US SOFT drink giant PepsiCo has apologised for a free iPhone application crafted to help men seduce women and keep records of conquests but the program remained available on Tuesday.

Pepsi's 'AMP Up Before You Score' iPhone application categorises women into 24 types and then uses the Apple smartphone's Internet capabilities to link users to information about them and what they like. AMP is an energy drink made by PepsiCo.

A 'translator gadget' powered by Google Translate

'Let's say you meet a girl who is way into being green and you need a vegan restaurant stat; we've got you covered,' a voice-over maintained on Tuesday in an online Pepsi video about the AMP at YouTube.

'If you are anticipating a successful night, the Before You Score app gives you up to the minute information, feeds, lines and much more to help you amp up and talk to 24 different types of ladies.'

Nightie to remember

Types of women listed in the application include punk rocker, bookworm, aspiring actress, artist, and sorority girl.

A 'Keep a List' feature in the program reportedly prompts users to add women's names and encounter details to a 'brag list' if they 'get lucky'. -- AFP

Phone-tumour link tenuous

Research has failed to establish any clear link between use of the mobile and cordless phones and several kinds of cancer. -- BH FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON - STUDIES on whether mobile phones can cause cancer, especially brain tumours, vary widely in quality and there may be some bias in those showing the least risk, researchers reported on Tuesday.

So far it is difficult to demonstrate any link, although the best studies do suggest some association between mobile phone use and cancer, the team led by Dr Seung-Kwon Myung of South Korea's National Cancer Centre found.

Dr Myung and colleagues at Ewha Womans University and Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul and the University of California, Berkeley, examined 23 published studies of more than 37,000 people in what is called a meta-analysis. They found results often depended on who conducted the study and how well they controlled for bias and other errors.

The use of mobile and cordless phones has exploded in the past 10 years to an estimated 4.6 billion subscribers worldwide, according to the UN International Telecommunication Union. Research has failed to establish any clear link between use of the devices and several kinds of cancer.

The latest study, supported in part by the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, examined cases involving brain tumours and others including tumours of the facial nerves, salivary glands and testicles as well as non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

It found no significant association between the risk of tumours and overall use of mobile phones, including cellular and cordless phones. -- REUTERS

New prostate surgery not better

CHICAGO - MEN who have less invasive prostate cancer surgery - often done robotically - are more likely to be incontinent and have erectile dysfunction than men who have conventional open surgery, US researchers said on Tuesday.

Many men, especially those who are wealthy and highly educated, favour minimally invasive surgery because they assume the high-tech approach will yield better results, but the evidence on that is mixed, the team reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr Jim Hu of Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston said that the use of minimally invasive surgery has taken off since the introduction and heavy marketing of robot-assisted surgery, such as the da Vinci system made by Intuitive Surgical Inc.

The system consists of robotic arms, controlled from a console, that allow surgeons to perform less invasive surgeries. Hospitals advertise the systems as being able to reduce trauma, blood loss, risk of infection, scarring and often pain.

While both approaches fared equally well as a cancer treatment, they found that men who got the minimally invasive approach had shorter hospital stays, were less likely to need blood transfusions, and had fewer breathing problems after surgery than those who got conventional surgery.

But they were also more likely to have complications involving the genital and urinary organs, and they were more often diagnosed as having incontinence and erectile dysfunction than men who got open surgery. -- REUTERS