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The above link points to a page containing about 36 links. Each of those links points to a page containing other links. The combination of links leads to hundreds and possibly thousands of pages. An area of interest will lead the reader to a wealth of information.

The first link Read Me First advises on the need to use caution when dealing with cancer treatment claims because usually a life is at stake.

A cancer victim?s primary interest is usually therapies. Therapies & Protocols contains links to dozens of pages that deal with different methods of doing basically the same thing; boosting the immune system.

Another section provides information on eleven different cancers. They include:

Bladder
Bone
Brain
Breast
Colon
Lung
Leukemia
Lymphoma/Hodgkin’s
Melanoma
Pancreas
Prostate

The Politics of Cancer  will likely cause a rise in blood pressure because we are pawns in a game of which we are not even aware.

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Latest Cancer News

—      Sun Savvy Sadly Lacking Among Americans

—      Vaccines for Ovarian and Breast Cancer in Trials

—      Tiny RNA Molecules Control Breast Cancer’s Spread

—      BRCA Mutations Don’t Up Breast Cancer Risk Equally

—      No Change in Cancer Care ‘Race Gap’ Since 1990s

Nov. 9, 2006 — CBS newsman Ed Bradley died of leukemia in New York this morning. He was 65.

Bradley worked for CBS for 35 years and was a reporter on the CBS newsmagazine, 60 Minutes, for 26 of those years.

Details of Bradley’s illness — including the type of leukemia he had and when he was diagnosed — were not immediately made public.

Leukemia is a cancer that begins in the blood cells. Its exact cause is not known.

About Leukemia

There are four common types of the disease:

—      Acute myeloid leukemia: About 11,930 new cases expected this year in the U.S.; affects adults and children.

—      Chronic myeloid leukemia: About 4,600 new cases estimated for this year; mainly affects adults.

—      Acute lymphocytic leukemia: About 3,900 new cases expected this year; mainly in young children, but can affect adults.

—      Chronic lymphocytic leukemia: About 9,700 cases expected this year; usually seen in people over 55.

Common leukemia symptoms include:

—      Fevers or night sweats

—      Frequent infections

—      Feeling weak or tired

—      Headache

—      Easy bleeding and bruising

—      Pain in bones or joints

—      Swelling or discomfort in abdomen (from enlarged spleen)

—      Swollen lymph nodes, especially in the neck or armpit

—      Weight loss

Such symptoms aren’t sure signs of leukemia. Only a doctor can diagnose the disease.

Leukemia symptoms may be acute, meaning they start suddenly and worsen quickly. Or they can be chronic, starting mildly and worsening gradually.

Treatment depends on the type and extent of the disease and can include chemotherapy, biological therapy, radiation therapy, and bone marrow transplantation.

Doctors often can’t say why one person gets cancer and another doesn’t. But several risk factors have been tied to leukemia, including:

—      Exposure to very high levels of radiation

—      Working with certain chemicals, such as benzene and formaldehyde

—      Chemotherapy

—      Down syndrome and certain other genetic diseases

—      Human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-1), which causes a rare type of chronic leukemia

—      Myelodysplastic syndrome, a blood disease that makes acute myeloid leukemia more likely.

—      Smoking and tobacco use

Most people who get leukemia do not have any risk factors. Leukemia does not usually run in families. But in very rare cases this can happen with chronic myeloid leukemia.

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Acute leukemia is a rapidly progressing disease that results in the accumulation of immature, functionless cells in the marrow and blood. The marrow often can no longer produce enough normal red and white blood cells and platelets. Anemia, a deficiency of red cells, develops in virtually all leukemia patients. The lack of normal white cells impairs the body’s ability to fight infections. A shortage of platelets results in bruising and easy bleeding. Chronic leukemia progresses more slowly and permits greater numbers of more mature, functional cells to be made.

In the United States, about 2,000 children and 27,000 adults are diagnosed each year with leukemia. The incidence of leukemia is more common in men and boys than girls and women, and also more likely to occur in white people than black Exposure to high-energy radiation (such as World War II atomic bomb explosions) and intense exposure to low-energy radiation from electromagnetic fields (such as power lines and electric appliances like electric blankets) have been linked to leukemia. Studies are being conducted to further understand this link.

There is also a genetic component to leukemia. Certain genetic conditions predispose people to leukemia. For example, those children with Down Syndrome are more likely than the general population to develop this type of cancer.

Another risk factor for developing leukemia is exposure to certain toxic chemicals, such as benzene and formaldehyde. Also, some of the chemotherapy drugs used to treat other types of cancer may increase a person’s risk of getting leukemia. However, this risk is very small when compared with the often-enormous benefits of chemotherapy.

There are many factors that will determine the course of treatment, including age, general health, the specific type of leukemia, and also whether there has been previous treatment.

At Cancer Treatment Centers of America, we use many tools to help you fight leukemia on all fronts. A powerful combination of traditional and new, innovative therapies are provided by cancer experts who work with you to determine the appropriate combination of therapies, which may include:

—      Autologous Stem Cell Transplant allows for a more aggressive treatment of certain cancers, including leukemia. In an autologous stem cell transplant, you are your own donor. Your bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells are taken from you (harvested), frozen until needed, then given back to you (transplanted) after you have received high doses of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or both, to destroy your cancer cells.

—      Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant is when your bone marrow and immune system are replaced with new, healthy bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells from another person. Traditionally, most of the allogeneic stem cell transplants have been performed using stem cells collected from the bone marrow, but the use of peripheral blood stem cells is rapidly increasing.

In addition to traditional cancer treatments, CTCA enriches your treatment by offering complementary and alternative therapies such as naturopathic medicine, nutritional therapy, mind-body medicine, image enhancement and spiritual counseling. CTCA is with you every step of the way in what truly is the fight of your life.

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leukemia cancer articles : A Short Classification Of Leukemia Cells. Child Leukemia - Generalities, Symptoms and Treatment. Leukemia. Chronic Leukemia - A Less Dangerous Cancer, But Harder To Treat. Signs-Symptoms And Life-Expectation In Acute Leukemia. The Benefits of Green Tea for Cancer and Leukemia. Fight Leukemia with a Pre-Sale Ticket Car Wash Fundraiser. Leukemia and What Online Writers Can Do to Help. What Is Acute Myelogenous Leukemia?. How Is Leukemia Treated?. How You Can Help Raise Money For The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Help Find A Cure.

The most common form of malignant tumors in children is the acute lymphocyte Leukemia and it is known to affect about 2500 pediatric patients every year. The acute forms of Leukemia develop rapidly and spread to the entire body in just a few months if left untreated. Knowing how to recognize the disease seems to be most important as Leukemia can lead to death in a very short time if not treated properly.

Leukemia develops inside the bone marrow and spreads to the lymph nodes, liver, spleen and nervous system. Cancerous marrow cells produce abnormal blood cells; insufficient or inefficient red blood cells lead to anemia, a low number of white blood cells leaves the body helpless to infections, and decreased number of platelets caused bruising and bleedings. General symptoms like headaches, weakness or vomiting also occur when the cancer reaches other main organs.

No way of prevention is known to us today as leukemia cannot be linked to any lifestyle factors. A good life expectation can only be reached if a doctor is seen immediately when symptoms occur and a proper treatment is quickly administered.

The most specific diagnose is the bone marrow biopsy when a small amount of marrow is extracted from the thighbone with a needle. The microscopic examination of the tissue can establish the presence of cancerous cells inside the bone marrow. Further analysis includes blood tests for searching changes in number and function of the three vital blood cells. In Leukemia a risen number of white cells are found together with a decreased number of red ones. Through the blood tests certain diagnose of the particular form of blood cancer can be established.

Cancer cells are dangerous as they divide very quickly and an efficient primer treatment with chemotherapy must stop their multiplication. More types of chemotherapeutics are required to kill all cancerous cells as Leukemia is known to spread very rapidly throughout the whole body. The drug therapy is a long-lasting process and can produce several side-effects such as hair loss, infections, tiredness, nausea, anorexia and vomiting. New ways of therapy are searched that should only affect the cancerous cells unlike conventional drugs. The stem cells transplantation targeting to replace the lost marrow working cellularity seems to give hopeful results.

Blood cancer can reoccur and therefore a treatment with stem cells can give more effective results. If Leukemia cannot be treated, doctors try ways of making the patient’s life with cancer easier by relieving the symptoms. About 85% of the children that have survived 5 years without cancer reoccurring are considered to have been cured.

—      Raising Eyebrows to Cure Leukemia - Six Personal Factors in Determining One’s Outcome

—      Decisions Upon Leukemia Treatment

—      Gleevec Therapy Method For Leukemia

—      Symptoms of Chronic and Acute Leukemia

—      Leukemia 101: What You Need to Know About

—      What is Leukemia?

—      Leukemia-Lymphoma Cancer And Himalayan Goji Juice Shows Positive Results in Cancer Research

—      Statistic Data on Leukemia

—      Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in Children

—      Benzene Exposure Can Lead to Acute Myleogenous Leukemia

—      Leukemia- A Battle Lost

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The prognostic value of immunophenotype in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has varied based on the methods used, surface markers studied, and therapy administered. From April 1991 to September 1996, samples of leukemic marrow or blood from 259 eligible and evaluable adult ALL patients entering dose-intensive Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) front-line treatment protocols were prospectively studied for immunophenotypic classification by multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) in a central laboratory. A B-lineage (B-LIN) phenotype was expressed in 79% of cases, with one third coexpressing myeloid antigens. A T-lineage (T-LIN) phenotype was expressed in 17% of cases, with one quarter coexpressing myeloid antigens. Since the advent of more intensive CALGB therapy which incorporated cyclophosphamide and the early use of L-asparaginase into the backbone of daunorubicin, vincristine and prednisone, together with central nervous system prophylaxis for adult ALL, no significant differences in response rates, remission duration, or survival have been seen in those patients coexpressing myeloid antigens. The T-LIN phenotype was associated with younger age (P = .01), a higher male to female ratio (P = .01), higher white blood cell count (P = .001) and hemoglobin (P < .001) levels, presence of a mediastinal mass (P < .001), and longer survival (P = .01) and disease-free survival (DFS) (P = .01) when compared to patients with a B-LIN phenotype. The 3-year probability of survival and DFS (95% confidence interval [CI]) of T-LIN adult ALL was 0.62 (0.46 to 0.76) and 0.62 (0.44 to 0.77), respectively. Comparatively, the 3-year probability of survival and DFS (95% CI) of B-LIN adult ALL was 0.42 (0.35 to 0.50) and 0.39 (0.31 to 0.47), respectively. The number of T markers expressed in T-LIN ALL cases was shown to have prognostic significance. In particular, patients expressing six or more markers compared with patients expressing three or fewer markers had longer DFS (P = .003) and survival (P = .004). The presence of the Philadelphia chromosome was significantly associated with B-LIN ALL cases which coexpressed CD19⁺, CD34⁺, and CD10⁺ (49%; P = .003), whereas the majority of t(4;11) cases were. The knowledge gained from this study of MFC of a large number of patients will permit a reduction in the number of antigens to be evaluated in future studies. Overall, this should lead to cost savings without loss of valuable information. A rational approach for future studies would be to use four-color flow cytometry (instead of the current three-color) to help further streamline the study of immunophenotype of adult ALL by MFC.

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Look for Symptoms of Leukemia

Things You’ll Need

—      Internet connection

—      Computer

Step One

Learn about the latest risk factors regarding leukemia. Although there are no proven risks as of yet, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is currently conducting several in-depth studies.

Step Two

Notice the symptoms of leukemia in yourself and your loved ones. Severe anemia, light-headedness, frequent nosebleeds and bleeding from the gums could be signs of a problem in your blood.

Step Three

Educate yourself on the other signs of leukemia, brought about when the cells leave the bone marrow and enter other parts of the body. Symptoms here can include seizures, vomiting, blurred vision and trouble keeping one’s balance.

Submit to Leukemia Cancer Testing

Step One

See your doctor if you suspect you are ill. He or she will first test to see if you are anemic, a condition that occurs when you are short of red blood cells.

Step Two

Allow your doctor to test for swelling in any of your organs, especially the spleen and liver.

Step Three

Tell your doctor about any unusual symptoms, including joint or bone pain.

Step Four

Ready yourself for a major shift in your lifestyle should you receive a leukemia diagnosis. Patients normally must follow a strict diet and medical process and the treatments are normally lengthy.

Step Five

Explore the leukemia diagnosis process further at the American Cancer Society Web site (see Resources below).

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However, skin renews itself throughout adulthood, injuries heal and hair grows. Right to the end of our lives, we have cells which are very unspecialised, can divide often and help the organism to regenerate and repair itself. These cells are called adult stem cells. To date, adult stem cells have been found in nearly every body tissue, for example in the skin, the brain, the blood, the liver and the bone marrow.

Biological function of adult stem cells

If body tissue is damaged, stem cells head for the damaged area and advance the process of healing. However, day-to-day processes in the human body also rely on stem cells: our erythrocytes only live for about 120 to 130 days, by which time they have become too old, cannot transport enough oxygen and have to be replaced. This task is taken over by the haematopoietic stem cells that can be found in the bone marrow. According to theoretical calculations, about 350 million new erythrocytes are formed every minute. Most of the other somatic cells are also replaced regularly: liver cells after 10 to 15 days, white blood cells after 1 to 3 days.

In theory, the body has its own repair system. So why do people still become terminally ill? And why does the organism age if it has the ability to regenerate itself?

Limits of regeneration

One established theory is that special messengers lure adult stem cells to the damaged area; However, they often do not arrive in sufficient numbers, or may even fail to arrive at all because the artery is blocked. The damaged area then only heals very slowly, or may not heal at all if the cause of the disease is not eradicated. It might also be possible that some diseases develop covertly and are not recognised as being in need of repair. Another problem: adult stem cells also age. They have much higher regeneration potential than differentiated somatic cells, but it seems that this potential is exhausted after 130 years at the latest. Up to now, the oldest woman in the world lived in France and reached 122 years of age. The process of aging cannot be stopped. However, with the help of modern medicine, it is possible to abstract stem cells from the body, to clean them, concentrate them and then apply them to the diseased area. In many cases, the physiological healing process can be enhanced.

Stem cells from cord blood

Nowadays, a lot of parents have their newborns’ cord blood frozen in order to give their children the chance to resort to their own adult stem cells in the event of a serious disease. In principle, this does make sense, because these cells seem to be less differentiated than the cells in the blood of adult organism, and they have higher potential for changing into different types of cells. These stem cells are also less immunological and therefore might be suited to use in foreigners. But nevertheless, certain restrictions have to be taken into consideration. Problems are inevitable if providers do not obtain and store the stem cells in compliance with the globally valid “Good Manufacturing Practice” quality standards, or if the stem cells are not isolated from the cord blood and the blood bottle is frozen throughout. While no hospital is allowed to use the cells in the first case, the cells suffer damage through the use of anti-freezers and the comparatively long time needed for unfreezing. In both cases, the stem cells are rendered practically worthless.

There are some further aspects that have to be considered when extracting stem cells from cord blood. Predispositions to diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s, leukaemia or other types of cancer can be saved in one’s own stem cells, thus making it possible to transmit the disease further. Moreover, only a limited number of stem cells remain in the cord blood. However, as a certain minimum of cells is needed for therapy, researchers are today working on the increase of adult stem cells outside the body; the XCell-Center is also taking part in this research. If the breakthrough comes, it might be assumed that the disposal of stem cell depots will soon become common practice. An article from the professional journal “The Lancet” shows that the unique possibility of obtaining stem cells from cord blood is already realistic. It says that since 1989, more than 7,000 transplantations have been carried out worldwide using stem cells from cord blood.

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A spokesman and pharmacologist in Purdue’s research explained how this worked. As he explains it, cancer cells that survive chemotherapy can develop resistance to the agent originally used as well as to other, even unrelated, drugs. This phenomenon is called multi-drug resistance (MDR). One of the main ways that cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs is by creating an intercellular pump which  is capable of pushing anticancer agents out of the cell before they can kill it. On average, only about two percent of the cancer cells in any given person might develop this pump—but they are the two percent that can eventually grow an expand to create multi-drug-resistant tumors.

Some of the latest research on acetogenins reported that they were capable of shutting down
these intercellular pumps, thereby killing multi-drug-resistant tumors. Purdue researchers
reported that the acetogenins preferentially killed multi-drug-resistant cancer cells by blocking the transfer of ATP—the chief source of  cellular energy—into them. A tumor cell needs energy to grow and reproduce, and a great deal more to run its pump and expel attacking agents. By inhibiting energy to the cell , it can no  longer run its pump. When acetogenins block ATP to the tumor cell over time, the cell no longer has enough energy to operate sustaining processes—and it dies. Normal cells seldom develop such a   pump; therefore, they don’t require large amount of energy to run a pump and, generally, are not adversely affected by ATP inhibitors. Purdue researchers reported that 14 different
acetogenins tested thus far demonstrate potent ATP-blocking properties. They also reported that
13 of these 14 acetogenins tested were more potent against MDR breast cancer cells than all
three of the standard drugs (adriamycin, vincristine, and vinblastine) they used as
controls.

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Leukemia, a type of cancer, starts in the inner, soft portion of your blood-forming cell bones, known as bone marrows. This happens when excessive growth of white blood cells is present in your blood, referred to as leukocytes.

Under normal conditions, the blood-forming or hematopoietic cells in your bone marrow produce leukocytes in order to protect your body from infection caused by bacteria and viruses.

However, when some of the leukocytes are broken and stay in their immature state, they turn out to be poor fighters of infection that excessively multiply and never die as should be the case.

Leukemic cells then build up and decrease the manufacturing of oxygen-carrying eythrocytes (red blood cells), normal leukocytes and platelets (blood clotting cells)If left untreated, then the excess leukemic cells overpower your bone marrow and enter your bloodstream, eventually invading other body parts like the spleen, lymph nodes, liver as well as the central nervous system consisting of the spinal cord and brain.

Leukemia symptoms

In children, due to defect of white blood cells that fight infection, they can experience intensified infections and fever episodes.

Other common leukemia symptoms include:

1.        Bleed and bruise very easily, going through recurrent nosebleeds or bleed unusually long after going thru minor cuts.

2.        Aching joints or inside the bones, sometimes bringing about a limp

3.        Swollen or inflamed lymph nodes

4.        Poor appetite

5.        Abnormal tired feeling

6.        Become anemic and experience shortness of breath during playing.

Forms of leukemia

Leukemia and leukemia symptoms can be either chronic or acute and myelogenous or lymphocytic.

In acute leukemia, the abnormally produced blood cells generally are blasts which remained immature thus can not anymore perform their normal tasks. The blasts rapidly increase so the disease quickly worsens.

In chronic leukemia, a few blast cells can be present but generally these are more mature or developed cells that can perform some normal tasks.

These cells appear to be mature but not entirely normal, because these live much longer and result to certain types of white blood cells accumulation. The blasts increases not as rapidly as in acute leukemia, therefore worsens gradually.

Myelogenous and Lymphocytic leukemia refers to the 2 different types of cells where leukemia began. Lymphocytic leukemia grow from lymphocytes and Myelogenous leukemia grow from monocyte white blood cells or granulocyte white blood cells.

Treatment

There are 2 stages of luekemia treatment namely induction therapy and maintenance therapy. The main focus in induction therapy is to lessen leukemic cells and induce a remission.

Remission is the stage whereby the cancer already is responding well to treatment or it is under control.

Remission may be either complete or partial. When the cancer is within complete remission all symptoms and signs of the cancer disappears. Partial remission means the cancer has shrunk but did not disappear completely.

Remissions may last from several number of weeks to years. Complete remissions can go on for years and can be confirmed cures.

The second stage of leukemia treatment happens after an individual suffering from leukemia goes totally into remission. This stage aims to kill remaining cancer cells and extend the remission period for as prolonged as possible.

1.        Chemotherapy uses drugs in order to kill leukemia cancer cells.

2.        Radiation therapy employs x-rays or other forms of high-energy rays in order to shrink tumors and kill leukemia cancer cells.

3.        Bone marrow transplant is a procedure wherein the patient’s affected bone marrow is changed with a healthy marrow.

Note that most cancers may be prevented or avoided by making changes in your diet or lifestyle which can lessen risk factors. In leukemia, unfortunately no risk factors are known; therefore it is difficult to prevent it.

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