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Monday, December 13, 2010

Finger's tell-tale on men's prostate cancer

Would you believe it now? This is quite a breakthrough - why your index finger can tell you a lot about your getting prostate cancer.

How about that?
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Finger length predicts prostate cancer risk

PARIS - Men whose index fingers are longer than their ring, or fourth, fingers run a significantly lower risk of prostate cancer, according to a study published Wednesday in the British Journal of Cancer.

The chances of developing the disease drop by a third, and even more in younger men, the study found.

"Our results show that relative finger length could be used as a simple test for prostate cancer risk, particularly in men aged under 60," said Ros Eeles, a professor at the Institute of Cancer Research in Britain and co-author of the study.

Finger pattern could help identify which men should undergo regular screening, especially in combination with genetic testing or other risk factors such as a family history of the disease, she said.

From 1994 to 2009, Eeles and colleagues questioned more than 1,500 prostate cancer patients in Britain, along with 3,000 healthy control cases.

For more than half the men, the index was shorter than the ring finger. Compared to this group, men whose index and ring fingers were the same length -- 19 per cent of the cohort -- had a similar prostate cancer risk.

But when the index finger was longer, the risk of developing the disease dropped by 33 per cent.

Men under 60 were 87 per cent less likely to be in the cancer group.

The relative length of the two fingers in question -- set before birth -- appears to be a marker of different levels of sex hormones to which a baby is exposed in the womb, with less testosterone correlating with a longer index finger.

Earlier research has shown that testosterone promotes the growth of prostate cancer.

Underlying the unexpected connection between digits and cancer are two genes, HOXA and HOXD, that control both finger length and the development of sex organs.

Other studies have found a link between exposure to hormones before birth and the development of other diseases, including breast cancer and osteoarthritis.

- AFP/rl


Taken from ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Finger length predicts prostate cancer risk


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Thursday, December 2, 2010

We have moved!

Moving House (Usborne First Experiences)The Moving Survival Guide: All You Need to Know to Make Your Move Go SmoothlyThe Berenstain Bears' Moving Day (First Time Books(R))Moving Men 1545-12 8-Piece Furniture Slider SetWe're Moving (First-Time Stories)We have moved!

The renovation is not 100% done yet, but they are finishing touches only.

I was on leave from work for 3 days to do the unboxing and arranging and rearranging. That is usually the rigorous part of it. I'd usually go with the movers when they move the boxes and furnitures here and there, but for the 2nd batch, I stole away from them. I had to be in the flat for the houseworks!

Before the boxes came, we had to do a quick tidying up of the place. The usually debris and fine dust from the sawing and cutting and all others is quite a health hazard, so we did that before anything can be laid down on the floor. We did that on a Saturday night, and then concluded the neatening work on Sunday. So Monday morning was a clean day to unload and uncrate. it is not exactly a shining clean flat, but one that is now ready for transferring the whole motherload of things we brought from the other flat.

And today I'm back to work. 2 days, and I'd be again out for a weekend escapade with the whole family. It's been planned so long ago, last year actually, when we attempted, but was unsuccessful due to full booking on the rooms and all. So we thought of having it this year, and the booking was early, earlier than most folks would do, just to make sure we have slot available.

So, till then. We're next to the top, so I'll be snapping up some scenes, and be the judge whether or not they are nice pictures.

Au revoir!

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Tuesday, November 23, 2010

In less than a week...

And so, after all the trouble, after all the waiting time, after all the frustration and disappointments, we'd be occupying the new flat by next Monday!

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive: 101 Inspirational Stories about Counting Your Blessings and Having a Positive AttitudeCount Your BlessingsSusan Branch Counting Our Blessings ChairpadBracelet - B294 - Bangle Style 2 Pc Set - Inscribed with "Count Your Blessings Instead of your Crosses, Count Your Gains Instead of your Losses, Count Your Smiles Instead of Your Tears, Count Your Courage Instead of Your Fears, Count Your Health Instead of Your Wealth, Love Thy Neighbor as Much as Yourself" ~ Silver Tone MetalAnd all the while, we thought that the previous owner was simply buying time in order to be escaping the responsibility of reinstalling the balcony grills - a fixture which we deemed is necessary - due to the height, 11th floor, next to the highest in that block, but more importantly, we have kids. Small kids. Playful kids. Unrestrained kids. And a baby.

However, what we initially thought to be a buy-time game or escapade, we got the news that the grill permit was approved by the housing authority. And boy, it really took a time and a season in the review and approval process. I even sent a text message to the previous owner telling that it was taking a long time, while my other contractor only took a day for his renovation permit to get approved.

And how wrong we are in our assumptions!

On the other hand, there are lessons that we have learned some time ago, that were proven once again:

  1. Think through very well what you do when angry
  2. In your anger, do not lash out with unkind words
  3. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything
  4. If you aren't really sure of things, better don't think - thinking based on assumptions are usually wrong
  5. Patience is a virtue
  6. Live one day at a time
  7. Be thankful - count your blessings

Think through very well what you do when angry

Getting angry isn't the issue at all. It is when you do things out of control that is. When you let yourself be controlled by your anger, then the problem begins (or continues). When you drink, and you get drunk, and you let yourself loose, controlled by the liquor that you consumed, it is almost the same thing as being under the manipulation of your anger. And most of the time, you don't think when you are angry, simply letting your anger off, steaming out, crashing and hitting on anyone and anything that lies on your way to supposed 'anger dissipation' - to your regret later on.

So rein in your anger. It won't be putting you under its control. You won't fuel its engine, and you won't be swayed by its uprooting power. You would have stayed your ground.


In your anger, do not lash out with unkind words

The most evident display of anger is our words, seconded by our actions. As violent as our actions, are our cutting words and remarks. And boy, how wrong we are about the way we handle and think about our words. It has been a common rebuttal when we were kids, to say,

Sticks and stones may break my bones,
But words will never hurt me.

but that is not true at all. The physical pain is gone in a day or two, the bruises go away with time, wounds heal and while there is a scar, the pain is no longer felt.

But not our words. They remain embedded in our brain, and brought up from time to time when similar conditions occur and recur, hurting our feeling and ego afresh.

So restrain your hands, but more than that, restrain your tongue. It isn't just our spoken words anymore, because we actually can send cutting remarks in our text messages and e-mails, and in all other forms of high-tech-gadget-using communications.


If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything

Count Your BlessingsSusan Branch - Counting Our Blessings - PillowThe old saying still is valid, and so, keeping things in perspective, I'll keep it short: if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything. There is always the tendency to be saying a word or two that is misplaced, and even with well-meaning intentions, those misplaced words will spark the flame that fires up the misunderstanding and miscommunication.

As Solomon says it, "In the multitude of words, sin is not lacking", and if you want to avoid that, keep away from many words. Talk only when necessary. And be quick to listen instead. Arguments don't die with continuous flow of scathing words and remarks. And remember, the one who talks more is usually the guilty party.


If you aren't really sure of things, better don't think - thinking based on assumptions are usually wrong

Boy, this is another area where we show our commonality as men, though strong, are but weak. Really an irony. We claim to be the top of the created kingdom, but fall so easily, especially with the faculty that we say separates us from all other creatures - our brain. We tend to misuse our brain more than our lower-in-the-rank counterparts.

Why is this so? Because a man's intellect is usually strongly influenced by his emotions. And it is in this area where we mostly go wrong. There is intuition, but emotion is completely different, and when emotion paints and colors our intellect, and we start thinking and assuming, we are led down the wrong path.


Patience is a virtue

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Think Positive - 21 Inspirational Stories about Role Models and Counting Your BlessingsPeace Like a RiverCounting your BlessingsSusan Branch 'Counting Our Blessings' 2'6x4' Oval Hand Hooked RugThere's always a classic example of how patience plays a very important role in our life. But I am sure that you can think of one in your life where it really happened. And more of when it didn't - when you were impatient.

Point is, you know the difference between being patient and being impatient, where a lot of battles have been won simply by exercising a great deal of patience. For patience, to be the real virtue that it is, patience has to be in overflowing abundance. There is no such thing as an abrupt patience, or a spontaneous patience, or a "God, grant me patience. And I want it now!" thing. You have to have it, and have abundantly.

Why is that?

When it is needed, it is needed like in a sudden, and it is needed in great amount.

So if you don't have that overflowing dam of patience, when the gate is opened, the trickle that you have won't be enough. You need to flood the situation with your deep and abundant patience.


Live one day at a time

When patience is in play, it is teaching you to live one day at a time. And what better way of exhibiting patience than by living one day at a time?

There are many, many things in our life that simply has to wait until the next day. There is no such thing as expediting things, and hoping that it will be completed all in a day.

It doesn't mean that you slow down to a stop, and quit doing things and leave them be. It simply means, sit down and find out what is important, and all the rest can wait. And while many things can't wait, or seem so, pray that you will have the wisdom to sift through the rubble and know which is which.

When everything has been put in their proper places, you'll be thrilled that what you've been pursuing for so long and spent all your energies on are vain things, a chasing after the wind.

If you know what is important in your life, your steps will get some direction, your path will show some clearance, and your vision will start clearing up. The rest will simply be brushed off to the sides.

So live one day at a time.


Be thankful - count your blessings

Count Your Blessings: The Healing Power of Gratitude and LoveCount Your Blessings (Little Blessings Line)One Hundred Brachos - Counting Your Blessings 100 Times A DayRay Conniff - We Wish You A Merry Christmas (6 Medley songs)Into Your GloryAnd if you live until tomorrow, count your blessings. The Bible talks about 'singing new songs' to the Lord. And Morrison explained this is not singing a new song every day, but telling in detail daily the blessing and blessings that you receive from God.

Simply, if you can't tell in detail, then you are not mindful of the good things that you get from the Lord. But when you are able to list down in detail what you have, and not fret about what you don't have, or what will not have, then you have learned to be a contented man, a blessed woman, one who can live each day at a time, who won't be distracted (not that you are not affected) by the unpleasant things happening around, but that you can rise above the situation, and be able to face each day with a peaceful heart and mind - and be thankful.

When you are able to list down everything that you are receiving from the Lord, good and bad, and still thank God in everything, then you are able to sing a new song every day. You'll be living one day at a time, and will be able to count your blessings, and give thanks spontaneously.


Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithfulness extends to all generations!


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Monday, November 8, 2010

Dads, beware of belly bottoms!

Australian study finds diabetes link to flabby dads

SYDNEY - Men with high-fat diets are more likely to have diabetic children, research showed Thursday, in the first study linking a baby's health to what their father ate.

The study tracked a group of rats that were fed fatty foods until they were obese and showing precursory signs of type 2 diabetes and were then bred with females of average weight, explained lead researcher Margaret Morris.

Morris said that despite being reared on a strictly healthy diet, their offspring developed impaired glucose tolerance and insulin production when they reached young adulthood.

"If what we seeing here in a rat translates to a human it may well explain the emerging earlier rates of diabetes in younger and younger people," said Morris, from the University of New South Wales.

Rather than passing their ill health onto their children genetically Morris said the metabolic issues appeared to have come from damage done to the rats' sperm by their diet. It was the first study to uncover such a link, she added.

"We've known for a while that overweight mums are more likely to have chubby babies, and that a woman's weight before and during pregnancy can play a role in future disease in her children," she said.

"But until now, the impact of the father's environment - in terms of diet - on his offspring had not been investigated."

Morris said the message of the research, published in the latest edition of Nature, was that "blokes as well as women need to eat healthier, reduce smoking and reduce alcohol excess" before having children.

- AFP/rl


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Australian study finds diabetes link to flabby dads
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Thursday, October 28, 2010

Men with prostate cancer at higher colon cancer risk: study

And this is one more thing that men should be watching out for.
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WASHINGTON - Men who have prostate cancer have a higher risk of developing colon cancer than men who do not have prostate cancer, US researchers said on Tuesday.

Researchers at the University at Buffalo (UB) in New York state found in a study of more than 2,000 men that patients diagnosed with prostate cancer had significantly more abnormal colon polyps, known as adenomas, and advanced adenomas than men without prostate cancer.

Most colon cancers begin as adenomas, the researchers said as they presented the findings of their study at the annual meeting of the American College of Gastroenterology in San Antonio, Texas.

"Our study is the first to show that men with prostate cancer are at increased risk of developing colon cancer," said report author Ognian Pomakov, an assistant professor at UB's department of medicine.

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in American men, only behind lung cancer. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in men and women in the United States.

The researchers reviewed the patient records, colonoscopy reports and pathology reports, as well as data on the prevalence of adenomas, advanced adenomas, cancerous adenomas and their location within the colon, in 2,011 men who had colonoscopies at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Buffalo.

When the researchers compared the colonoscopy results from 188 men diagnosed with prostate cancer with the rest of the patients, they found that the prostate cancer patients had significantly higher prevalence of abnormal polyps and advanced adenomas compared to the rest of the study sample.

Forty-eight per cent of prostate cancer patients had adenomas, compared to 30.8 per cent of the men without prostate cancer. More than 15 per cent of
prostate cancer patients had advanced adenomas compared to 10 per cent of the men without prostate cancer.

Pomakov stressed the importance of men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer having routine screening for colon cancer and called for larger studies to be done to determine if screening for colorectal cancer should begin earlier for prostate cancer patients than the currently recommended age of 50.

- CNA/al


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Men with prostate cancer at higher colon cancer risk: study
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About menopause: Scientists move closer to early menopause test

Would you like to have babies even in old age? This may be a sign of hope...
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LONDON: New research into the genetics of early menopause may lead to a simple test that could allow women to make decisions sooner about having children, according to a British study published on Monday.

One in 20 women starts the menopause before the age of 46 - which can affect chances of conceiving as early as a decade beforehand.

The study, by scientists from the University of Exeter and the Institute of Cancer Research, found that four genes working in combination appear to significantly raise the risk of early menopause.

The findings could eventually help identify women at greater risk, allowing them to make earlier decisions about starting a family.

Menopause usually occurs when the number of remaining eggs in the ovary falls below around 1,000. But the factors which determine how quickly the egg reserve depletes are less well understood.

The research, published in Human Molecular Genetics, looked at 2,000 women who had experienced early menopause and a similar number who had entered the menopause at the normal age.

It found that the presence of each of the four genes appeared to have some influence on the timing of the menopause. When more than one of the genes was found in the woman's DNA, the effect was even more pronounced.

"It is estimated that a woman's ability to conceive decreases on average 10 years before she starts the menopause," said Dr Anna Murray, who led the research.

"Therefore, those who are destined to have an early menopause and delay childbearing until their 30s are more likely to have problems conceiving.

"These findings are the first stage in developing an easy and relatively inexpensive genetic test which could help the one in 20 women who may be affected."

Susan Seenan of Britain's Infertility Network, which supports women who are infertile as early as their twenties as a result of early menopause, welcomed the findings.

"It's early days yet, but we would welcome any research that may help women to plan ahead and make earlier decisions about having children," she said.

- AFP/de


From ChannelNewsAsia.com; source article is below:
Scientists move closer to early menopause test
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