MSI Press Blog

  Cancer Diary: The Quiet Cancer There’s been a surge of interest lately in prostate cancer, due in part to the news about President Joe Biden’s health. I don’t know much about the specifics of his case, but the topic itself is an important one—and very often a quietly handled one, sometimes too quietly. Years ago, our parish priest confided in me—somewhat accidentally—that he had prostate cancer. What struck me most wasn’t the diagnosis, but the emotion attached to it: he was embarrassed . He didn’t want the congregation to know. I suppose he feared it was too private, too bodily, or too undignified to talk about. But I urged him to tell people. Not only did they have a right to know, they would want to know. They’d want to support him. He ended up doing just that. And I think, in the end, he was glad he did. People came out of the woodwork—not only to offer encouragement, but to share their own stories of prostate cancer and survival. Two parishioners even volunteered to drive h...

  Scientists at Nottingham Trent University have identified how a specific substance (a mutant) plays a key role in helping   prostate cancer   to spread and become harder to treat.  They hope the findings might offer new treatment options for aggressive prostate cancer. Read the full article HERE . For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop starting point for all things cancer, to make it easier for those with cancer to find answers to questions that can otherwise take hours to track down on the Internet and/or from professionals. The CCC is expanded and updated weekly. As part of this effort, each week, on Monday, this blog will carry an informative, cancer-related story -- and be open to guest posts:  Cancer Diary .   Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter  here  or on our...

  By the time, Carl was diagnosed, his cancer was metastized to his liver, lungs, bones, and upper stomach. After many biopsies and scans, the primary could not be found, and the cancer was officially labeled Cancer of Unknown Primary . Impaired Mobility: harder and harder to walk and climb stairs     We associated this with worsening of gout, which had been present for more than a decade     This could have been due as well to cancer-related hypercalcemia and bone cancer Frequent urination     We associated this with normal aging     This could have been related to  prostate cancer (not the case with Carl but the case with many) Pain in the side     We associated this with a gallbladder attack; it appeared similar to what our daughter, who had her gallbladder removed, had gone through.     We did not know that this same kind of pain is diagnostic of liver cancer. Frequent dozing off while working on the com...

  Carl did not like to walk. That was not the only thing that did him in, but it was one of the things that might have helped him. The benefits of walking can be immense: Walking increases muscular strength , especially lean muscle mass and functional strength. Walking a mile a day has been found to lower the risk of dying from breast cancer and prostate cancer . In addition, walking and  aerobic exercise diminishes the side effects of cancer and cancer treatment , such as fatigue, anxiety and depression. See also  Walking for Exercise | Cancer Today (cancertodaymag.org) . Walking can improve mental health , thanks to releasing endorphins. Walking can decrease the likelihood of diabetes . Walking can decrease bad cholesterol . Walking can decrease high blood pressure . Walking can reduce cardiovascular risk by 14%. Finally, walking a mile a day can cut risk of dying from prostate or breast cancer by 40% says one study .  For another MSI Press blog post on walking...

  Who would have thunk? There appears to be a link between skin cancer and acne. Well, every bit of forewarning helps -- especially in reminding all of us, not just those who suffer from acne, to wear sunscreen and not to lie around for hours tanning in the sun. If we weren't born with brown skin, well, that's life. Browning it in youth and risking skin cancer later is so not worth it! Take a look at the research HERE . It's not just the obvious skin cancer that acne might predict, it is also other kinds of cancers, like breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and some lymphomas.  And to muddy the waters, it could be that the propensity for skin cancer could be the reason for the acne. Shades of Schroedinger's cat -- or the old dilemma:: chicken or egg? For other Cancer Diary posts, click  HERE . Blog editor's note: As a memorial to Carl, and simply because it is truly needed, MSI Press is now hosting a web page,  Carl's Cancer Compendium , as a one-stop...

  Study Finds Specific Cancers Could Be Prevented by Exercise ,  as recently reported by MSN.  To cite a portion, " Jones [the researcher] and his team found that regular exercisers had a slightly reduced risk of developing cancer overall compared to non-exercisers. However, the associated lower risk was higher for head and neck, breast, and lung cancers in particular. At the same time, the team found no link between exercise and a reduced risk of other types, like colorectal and ovarian cancer, and they found a possible higher risk linked to exercise for two types of cancer, melanoma and prostate cancer. They also noticed a dose-response effect, meaning that more exercise seemed to have a more potent impact on cancer risk in either direction." Now, it seems that the study included walking, jogging, and running outdoors. Commonsense says that additional sun exposure might have been involved with the increase in skin cancer (but, certainly, hats and sunscreen will help). F...

  Vitamin supplements are the easy-to-obtain, off-the-shelf, magic pills that keep us healthy, right? Well, actually, some vitamins and supplements have been associated with an increased risk of certain types of cancer when taken in high doses. Here are a few examples: Vitamin A (Retinoids) : High doses of vitamin A supplements have been linked to an increased risk of lung cancer. Beta-Carotene : High doses of beta-carotene supplements have been associated with an increased risk of lung cancer, especially in smokers. Vitamin E : Some studies suggest that high doses of vitamin E supplements may increase the risk of prostate cancer. Folic Acid : Excessive intake of folic acid supplements may increase the risk of colon cancer. Selenium : High doses of selenium supplements have been linked to an increased risk of skin cancer. It's important to note that these associations are based on studies involving high doses of supplements, not the vitamins obtained from a balanced diet. Always co...