Eye redness occurs when blood vessels on the surface of the eye become dilated. Here are some common causes of red eyes, courtesy of the U.S. National Library of Medicine:
Taking antioxidant supplements won't protect against skin cancer and may actually boost the risk, at least in women, according to a new French study. "Taking into consideration our results, we are particularly concerned by the use of long-term supplementation, notably in sun-seekers and people wanting to look tanned [using beta-carotene]," said researcher Dr. Serge Hercberg, professor of nutrition at the Medical University of Paris.
The new findings come on the heels of a study, published in mid-August in the Archives of Internal Medicine, that found that antioxidants don't prevent heart disease risk in high-risk women. In the new French study, published in the September issue of The Journal of Nutrition, Hercberg's team looked at the effects of antioxidant doses on skin cancer. The research was conducted as part of a larger study that looked at the effects of antioxidants on cancer and ischemic heart disease.
Antioxidant nutrients are thought to reduce disease risk by cutting down on the unhealthy effects of "free radical" molecules that damage cells.
The researchers assigned almost 7,900 women and more than 5,100 men to take either an oral daily capsule of antioxidant or a placebo that looked the same. The antioxidants included 120 milligrams of vitamin C, 30 milligrams of vitamin E, 6 milligrams of beta-carotene, 100 milligrams of selenium and 20 milligrams of zinc.
"They are not high doses," Hercberg said. "They are at a level below a lot of pills you can find to buy over the counter."
The men and women were followed for about 7.5 years. In that time, 157 cases of any form of skin cancers were reported, including 25 melanomas, the most deadly form.
The team found that, in women, the incidence of all types of skin cancer combined was actually higher in the antioxidant group, and so was their incidence of melanoma.
But the incidence of non-melanoma skin cancers, when evaluated separately, did not differ between the antioxidant and placebo groups in men or women. In men, there was no difference in any form of skin cancer (including melanoma) between the two groups.
In the antioxidant group, 51 women developed skin cancer, while 30 in the placebo group did. Among the men, 43 in the placebo group and 33 in the antioxidant group got skin cancers.
As for melanoma, the incidence did not differ significantly between the men's treatment group -- 6 in the placebo group and 3 in the antioxidant group got it. But 3 women on placebo and 13 on antioxidants got melanoma -- a significant difference, the researchers said.
Antioxidant studies have yielded mixed results, Hercberg stressed. For example, in previous studies, researchers saw a higher risk of lung cancer in heavy smokers who regularly took high doses of beta-carotene.
Studies have suggested that antioxidant supplements might protect against prostate cancer incidence in men with low blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), Hercberg said. But research has also suggested that the nutrients might increase prostate cancer risk in men with a high PSA. PSA levels are a marker for pre-existing prostate cancer risk.
That could also be happening in the women who got more skin cancers after taking antioxidants, he theorized. If their skin cancer had already been developing, taking an antioxidant might not help, Hercberg speculated.
While the study is interesting, further research is needed to confirm it, said Dr. Ariel Ostad, a spokesman for the Skin Cancer Foundation and a New York City dermatologist not involved in the study.
He said the study did have one serious limitation. "It does not take into account sunscreen use," he said. If the participants tended not to use sunscreen, that could have affected the results.
Meanwhile, Ostad added, taking care in the sun is important, and "sunscreens are by far the most powerful" weapon to prevent skin cancers.
source : news.yahoo.com
Cancer survival has improved across Europe, with eastern European nations beginning to close the gap with western neighbours, according to a study covering the decade up to 2002, released Tuesday. The study, published in the British journal The Lancet, showed a clear link between high rates of survival and the amount spent on health, but pointed out that Britain lagged well behind other countries with similar national health budgets.
An accompanying editorial in the influential journal called for a "fundamental reassessment" of Britain's cancer policy in light of the fact that survival rates were comparable to eastern European countries that spent two-thirds less. "So has the cancer plan worked? The short answer is seemingly no," it concluded, suggesting that the National Health Service should be "divorced from political control and short-term political gains."
The 23-country study, the largest of its kind, said that the survival rate for the most common cancers -- colorectal, lung, breast and prostate -- and for ovarian cancer was highest in Nordic countries, with the exception of Denmark, and in central Europe.
It was somewhat lower in southern Europe, including Spain and Italy, lower still in Britain and Ireland, and lowest in eastern Europe.
Poland and the Czech Republic, however, showed sharp improvement across most major cancers in the period studied, suggesting that eastern European countries were closing the health gap.
From 1991 to 2002, survival rates in eastern Europe improved from 30.3 to 44.7 percent for colorectal cancer, from 60.0 to 73.9 percent for breast cancer, and from 39.5 to 68.0 percent for prostate cancer.
For patients diagnosed in 2000-2002, survival for patients across Europe with tumours was significantly lower than in the United States: 47.3 percent for men and 55.8 for women, compared to 66.3 and 62.9 percent respectively, the study noted.
The journal called for the development of a "pan-European cancer plan" to promote modern diagnostic and treatment facilities.
It noted in particular that Britain should emphasize earlier diagnosis of the disease.
source : news.yahoo.com
It was a routine procedure undertaken by thousands of Egyptian girls every year, but something went wrong and Budour Ahmed Shaker died while having her genitals cut in a rite known locally as "purification." The death of the 11-year-old schoolgirl at a private clinic in the Egyptian village Mughagha in June prompted the government to outlaw the custom of female genital mutilation, which is so widespread in Egypt that 95 percent of the country's women are estimated to have undergone the procedure.
But the ban may be hard to enforce and activists fear the practice may go underground as the vast majority of Egyptian families still view circumcision as necessary to protect girls' chastity. Most girls are cut by the time they reach puberty. Even in Mughagha, a village of low rise houses hemming the Nile, many women and girls say they want the procedure to be allowed but under more stringent medical supervision.
"If a girl is not purified, she will just go hook up with men. This protects women's honor. Otherwise it will become just like America here and girls will go with guys," said Asma Said, a 16-year-old secondary school student.
"Those who say it doesn't happen are lying 100 percent. There is not one person here not circumcised, and it will continue."
She like many of the schoolgirls in Maghagha who spoke to Reuters said they supported the practice, even if they were frightened of having it done.
The only girl who spoke against the practice was shouted down by her classmates until she conceded that genital cutting was a necessity.
"No one can get married without it," said the girl.
Another classmate, 15-year-old Nesma Radi, chimed in: "Egypt lives in peace and security because there is circumcision."
Egypt imposed a complete ban on female genital cutting -- also known as female genital mutilation or circumcision -- in June after Shaker died of an excessive dose of anesthesia while being cut at a private clinic in Maghagha.
Egypt's state-appointed Grand Mufti, the government's official arbiter of Islamic law, decreed in June that female genital cutting was forbidden by Islam, in his strongest statement yet against the practice.
In Egypt, the cutting is done on both Muslim and Christian girls and typically involves excising the clitoris and sometimes other female genitalia, often by a doctor. Side effects include hemorrhage, shock and sexual dysfunction.
Outside of Egypt and Sudan to the south, the practice is extremely rare elsewhere in most of the Arab world but is common in Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia.
More than 95 percent of Egyptian women had been circumcised, with the highest levels in poor families living in rural areas of the Nile valley in southern Egypt, according to an Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2005.
source : news.yahoo.com
Scholastic sports are a great way for children to get exercise and stay healthy. But young athletes also are at greater risk of injury to their growing bodies. Here are potential risks to keep in mind when your child is playing a sport, courtesy of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons:
