The sooner a disorder is diagnosed the faster it may be handled. For this reason, it is necessary in your case to be familiar while using the frequent lung cancer indicators. It has been believed they take place in about three-quarters of all sufferers. A number of the indications are prompted directly from the development from the tumor in the lungs even though some others are prompted by the effects the cancer has around the organs.

Coughing is certainly the most common of all lung cancer warning signs. you ought to see your general practitioner when you’ve got a persistent cough that doesn’t disappear right after a number of weeks. It is important to also find health care benefit in case the cough worsens with time.

A great number of smokers are utilized to getting a specific sort of cough. any improvements in it or even the physical appearance of new cough are usually signs of lung cancer progress. It is best to be careful to detect any these types of changes and explore them along with your health care supplier straight away. If you happen to had been cigarette smoking, but have quitted, you really should have the ability to observe the physical appearance of a new cough which may be considered a lung cancer symptom.

Coughing up blood is amongst the most severe lung cancer warning signs. It doesn’t arise in all sufferers, but it is simply not unheard of both. on the whole, the amount of blood coughed up is irrelevant. Even though you presume this has occurred for other valid reason, you should not exclude the improvement of the tumor. because of this, it is important for you to view a health care provider right away.

Soreness while in the chest may also be an indication that you have this dangerous condition. It normally takes place in a single from just about every 4 victims. The people who experience this symptom describe the pain as dull or aching, but rarely stubbing. The soreness inside the chest is frequently persistent. It might spread to other places within the body close to the chest.

Hoarseness can signal which you have lung cancer in addition. This symptom just isn’t instantly prompted by the tumor. It regularly happens when the tumor blocks section of the lung and/or causes inflammation. Shortness of breath is an alternative symptom that might be induced blockage in element of the lung, the spread from the tumor or by a collection of fluid from the lung.

When you have reoccurring lung infections, these types of as pneumonia and bronchitis, you might hold the issue too. The health care provider that is treating you may undoubtedly do the required testing, the moment he observes a pattern or reoccurrence.

Learn more about Cancer Survival Rate and Stage Three Lung Cancer Survival Rate here…

Women who suffer from hot flashes and other uncomfortablesymptoms of menopause may be able to find relief throughacupuncture, according to a new study.

The idea of having to lie still for 20 minutes with needlessticking out of you may not appeal to everyone. On the other hand,hormone replacement therapy — often employed to make menopause morebearable — has some problems of its own, including an increasedrisk of coronary heart disease, stroke and breast cancer.

So Turkish researchers recruited 53 postmenopausal women andassigned 27 of them to a five-week course of acupuncture (twice aweek for 20 minutes at a time) and 26 of them got sham treatmentsthat they thought were real. Women in the treatment group hadneedles inserted at 10 acupuncture points (bilaterally at ST36,LI4, KI3 and LR3, and also at EX-HN3 and CV3); women in the placebogroup were treated with blunted needles that didn’t penetrate theskin.

At the end of the study period, the women who got acupunctureshowed more relief from their symptoms compared to theircounterparts who got the fake treatment. Their hot flashes wereless severe (there was no change for women who got the shamtreatment). Both groups had improvements in their psychologicalsymptoms (as measured by the Menopause Rating Scale), though thebenefit was much greater for women who got acupuncture. Inaddition, estrogen levels were significantly higher for the womenin the treatment group compared to the controls.

Had there been more than 10 sessions, the benefits ofacupuncture might have been even greater, the researchers said. Theresults were published in the journal Acupuncture in Medicine.

Do video games make you feel better – or just twitchy? A study (underwritten by PopCap) finds casual video games are effective in reducing anxiety and depression.

Can playing casual video games be good for you? They might be if you suffer from clinical depression, according to the results of a new study carried out at East Carolina University (ECU) and underwritten by PopCap. the study followed 60 subjects suffering from clinical depression, and measured the effect that playing three family-friendly, non-violent games had upon their symptoms and mood. the result: subjects who played the casual games saw an average 57 percent reduction in depression symptoms compared to subjects who did not play the games, as well as improvements in overall mood and an average 20 percent reduction in anxiety levels.

“the results of this study clearly demonstrate the intrinsic value of certain casual games in terms of significant, positive effects on the moods and anxiety levels of people suffering from any level of depression,” said the director of ECU’s psychophysiology lab and biofeedback clinic Dr. Carmen Russoniello, in a statement. “given that only 25 percent of people who suffer from depression are receiving treatment, it seems prudent to make these low cost, readily accessible casual games video games available to those who need them. They should be made available at health clinics, community centers, online ‘medical sites,’ and given out by therapists as a means of intervention.”

The study tracked 60 subjects suffering from clinical depression, monitoring their biochemical, pyscho-physiological, and psychological states. half the subjects played PopCap’s Bejeweled, Peggle, and Bookworm Adventures games, while the rest were in a control group. the “video game group” saw across-the-board reductions in depression, with seven subjects classified as suffering from moderate to severe depression moving to minor or minimal depression categories during the study. the number of subjects classified as suffering from minor depression dropped from nine to four. Even physical symptoms of anxiety and depression improved by an average of 36 percent in to video game group.

The video game group demonstrated both short- and long-term benefits from playing: subjects in the video game group showed improvements in depression and anxiety after 30 minutes of game play compared to the control group, as well as long-term benefits spanning the month-long study.

The study claims to be the first to measure the impact of video games in reducing depression and anxiety. Results of the study should be available from the ECU Web site, although the link was not working at time of publication.

Study Suggests Supplement May Provide Relief for Symptoms of Premenstrual Syndrome

Jan. 19, 2011 — A supplement containing vitamin E and essential fatty acids may help reduce symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), Brazilian researchers report in Reproductive Health.

Of 120 women with PMS or the more severe premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), those who took 1- or 2-gram capsules of vitamin E and a combination of gamma linolenic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and other polyunsaturated acids daily showed marked improvements in their PMS symptoms at six months, compared to women who received dummy pills.

The capsules were provided by the Brazilian supplement company Hebron Farmaceutica.

The women who received the higher 2-gram dose of the new supplement showed greater improvements in PMS symptoms than those who received the lower 1-gram dose, the study shows.

PMS symptoms were assessed over six menstrual cycles using the Prospective Record of the Impact and Severity of Menstruation (PRISM), a standardized tool that measures PMS symptoms and their intensity.

Precisely how these supplements combat the symptoms of PMS is not fully understood. But the researchers speculate that the essential fatty acids may affect production of chemicals called prostaglandins, which, in turn, reduce the effects of the hormone prolactin. Too much prolactin or an abnormal response to this hormone may cause PMS symptoms.

The physical and emotional symptoms of PMS symptoms can range from the mild to severe; they usually begin five to 12 days before menstruation and disappear once menstruation starts.

“The results of the current study present some evidence in support of the use of essential fatty acids in PMS patients,” conclude researchers who were led by Edilberto A. Rocha Filho, MD, of the Federal University of Pernambuci in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil.

The new supplement was safe and the fatty acids did not raise women’s total cholesterol levels.

Potential PMS Remedy

“A lot of women don’t like to talk about PMS because it is the brunt of bad jokes, but PMS symptoms are no joke and can range from the annoying, like acne and bloating, to serious mood and sleep disruptions,” says Donnica Moore, MD, president of Sapphire Women’s Health in far Hills, N.J. “PMS is a serious medical problem that affects a majority of women to varying extents.”

“This PMS remedy in the new study can’t be interpreted as a cure, but it is very promising option for women with PMS,” she says. ”The only cure for PMS is menopause.”

Other PMS treatments include oral contraceptives which stop ovulation, exercise, antidepressants, calcium and vitamin D supplements, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, Moore says. “Some women respond to all of the above, and some don’t respond to any.”

More PMS treatments are needed, agrees Samantha Meltzer-Brody, MD, director of the perinatal psychiatry of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Center for Women’s Mood Disorders.

“Currently available treatments only help half of women with PMS, which means that the other 50% continue to struggle. So anything that shows a promise, such as essential fatty acids, and has minimal side effects, would be a useful contribution,” she says.

Women who think they may have PMS should keep a daily mood-rating diary and follow their moods for two months consecutively, she says. “Really track how your mood fluctuates and correlate it with your menstrual cycle.”

The first step is to make lifestyle changes such as eating a healthy diet and taking a daily multivitamin, exercising, minimizing caffeine intake, and getting good sleep, she says.

These may help minimize PMS symptoms. Also, “Talk to doctor about available options, which would include oral contraceptives and antidepressants,” Meltzer-Brody says.

Also, cancer specialists are hoping to develop an ?electronic nose? to detect tumours, based on dogs? extraordinary ability to smell hidden cancers that their owners are totally unaware of.

So, how exactly can owning a pet boost your health?

Simply stroking a dog can have a powerful pain-relieving effect.

Researchers at Loyola University in Chicago found patients who had undergone joint-replacement surgery were able to halve the amount of painkillers they needed if they were able to pet a dog.

Patients reported major improvements in their emotional and physical wellbeing when an animal was around.

It?s not clear whether the dog acts as a diversion from pain or that the act of stroking somehow dampens down pain signals reaching the brain.

Similar research at Warwick University has found that having a dog or cat helps women beat the pain and fear of breast cancer.

Mental health is probably where the evidence to support the benefits of pet ownership is strongest.

A study carried out in the late Nineties showed it could have a significant impact on depression. Researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles tested the theory by studying the interaction between men who had Aids and dogs.

Male Aids patients who didn?t own a pet were about three times more likely to report symptoms of depression than men who did not have the disease. Depression rates among men with Aids who owned a pet were much lower. they were only about 50 per cent more likely to have mental health problems than men without the disease.

High blood pressure is a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes.

Commonly prescribed drugs known as Ace inhibitors are very effective at keeping it under control. however, they cannot stop blood pressure going up when the body is under stress. That?s where dogs and cats come in.

Research carried out among New York City stockbrokers with high blood pressure showed readings were much more likely to remain stable during stressful periods if the high-flying financiers had a pet they could bond with, especially if they were single.

Researchers concluded: ?This study shows that if you have high blood pressure, a pet is very good for you when you?re under stress and pet ownership is especially good for you if you have a limited support system.?

Exercise is crucial in the fight against childhood obesity. One of the biggest advantages of owning a dog is the ?enforced? exercise that comes with having to take it for regular walks.

British scientists studied 78 inner-city primary schools in England and found children in homes with dogs were more active than those without.

Using a sample of more than 2,000 nine and 10-year-old children from London, Birmingham and Leicester, they found one in 10 lived in a household with a dog.

The study measured the number of steps walked and time spent in light or moderate to vigorous physical activity and found a dog not only helped children stay fit but reduced their long-term risk of obesity and diabetes.

A US study in 2008 found owning a cat could slash the risk of heart attacks and strokes by up to 40 per cent.

Doctors at the University of Minnesota admitted they were surprised after they tracked 4,500 people and found significantly higher death rates from heart disease among those who did not have a cat.

Although previous studies had found health benefits among dog owners who walked their pets regularly, there had been little evidence to suggest cat-lovers got the same advantage.

It?s thought that stroking a pet as it sits on your lap can cut levels of stress-related hormones in the blood. Prolonged exposure to raised levels of these hormones is known to raise the risk of heart disease.

Visiting pets have become a popular event for the elderly in many nursing and residential homes across the UK in recent years.

There is solid science to back up the effects they can have. As early as 1993 French scientists found contact with pets helped agitated Alzheimer?s patients become much calmer and in some cases allowed nursing staff to reduce the amount of sedatives used.

In a report in medical journal The Lancet, the French researchers wrote: ?A particularly agitated patient, who would spend the whole day pacing to and fro, would stop to caress a cat for a whole hour.?

Owning a cat or a dog can lower the risk of non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma, an aggressive type of cancer, by nearly a third. Potentially fatal, it affects about 9,000 people a year in the UK.

Owning a pet may help protect against cancer by aiding the immune system. Non-Hodgkin?s lymphoma strikes the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and glands that transports infection-fighting white blood cells round the body.

Yet pet owners are almost 30 per cent less likely to get it than those who have never kept animals. Researchers found the longer the family had kept pets, the greater the protection against the disease.

Dogs have a sense of smell said to be 100,000 times more sensitive than that of a human. That gives them an extraordinary ability to detect changes in the body we are unaware of.

Last year, French scientists found dogs could tell which men had hidden prostate cancer just by smelling samples of their urine. they did so by recognising the scent of a particular molecule produced by the cancer cells.

Other research suggests dogs can smell if their owner has a malignant mole and even detect the presence of lung tumours in a person?s breath. Scientists believe cancer cells emit volatile organic compounds in urine which only dogs can smell.

The breakthrough could lead to a new test to detect prostate cancer before a man develops any symptoms. Nearly 32,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed every year in the UK and 10,000 men die from it.

DURHAM, N.C.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–An article published recently in Psychosomatic Medicine 72:(November) 897-904) showed that the Williams LifeSkills video training program can reduce stress in individuals who care for a relative with Alzheimer’s disease. The impact of the 5-week video training was significant: depressive symptoms, perceived stress, anxiety and blood pressure were all reduced. These improvements were maintained or even enhanced six months after the video training was delivered. in this controlled study, caregivers were alternately assigned to two groups: one that participated in a video-delivered plus telephone coaching coping skills training program and another group that was wait-listed and received the training later.

“People who care for the 5 million Americans afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease are usually family members and they have been found to be at increased risk of developing both physical and mental health problems”

“People who care for the 5 million Americans afflicted by Alzheimer’s disease are usually family members and they have been found to be at increased risk of developing both physical and mental health problems”, commented Virginia Williams, President of Williams LifeSkills, the developer of the program and lead author on this paper. “These individuals are extremely stressed, and usually don’t have the time or the financial resources to attend more formally delivered coping skills programs. The advantage of the Williams LifeSkills video training is that is not only less costly, but can be viewed and studied in their home at times most convenient for the caregiver”.

Redford Williams, a co-developer of the training program and Professor of Psychiatry and Medicine at Duke University, added, “few stress reduction programs for caregivers have been shown to produce improvements in both psychological and biological stress markers. in this study, 116 caregivers were recruited over a 2-year period and were assessed before and up to six months later for both psychosocial and biological markers of stress. Compared to those in the wait list group, caregivers receiving video coping skills training not only reported lower levels of anxiety, perceived stress and depression, but were also found to have clinically meaningful reductions in blood pressure.”

Williams LifeSkills is a North Carolina based company that develops coping skills training programs to reduce physical and emotional stress in a wide variety of populations, including medical personnel, cardiac patients, teens and law enforcement officers. more information about Williams LifeSkills and its coping skills programs can be found at williamslifeskills.com

Reference: Psychosomatic Medicine 73:000–000 (2011)