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Diagnostic Testing - A Mixed Blessing? |
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| Happy Holiday All !
There has been a lot of controversy in the recent news about the benefits and risks of many diagnostic tests. The first few articles in this newsletter discuss this, and the rest are of general interest.
As you all know by now, I am not a proponent of extensive medical testing. Excessive testing often results in more tests which can be quite invasive and introduce more harm than good. The jury is still out on many of these tests, so use your own discretion.
There is much you can do to stay healthy and avoid unnecessary tests. The balance of the articles in this newsletter discuss some of these natural health aids.
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| Prostate Cancer Screening; Is This a Teachable Moment? |
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Prostate cancer screening has resulted in substantial overdiagnosis and in unnecessary treatment. It may have saved relatively few lives. Results from this article and recent results from prostate cancer screening and prevention trials demand reflection about what we as a society have done and are doing.
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| Watchful Waiting - Viable Option for Low-Risk Prostate Tumors |
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Many men panic when first facing a diagnosis of prostate cancer and this panic sometimes causes them to rush into treatment they will later regret. It is interesting to note that, in this study, no significant difference in mortality rates occurred among men who deferred treatment compared with those who underwent therapy.
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| Reconsider screenings for breast and prostate cancer, experts say |
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In an opinion piece published in the October 21st issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), experts from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the University of Texas (UT) Health Science Center explain that overall breast and prostate cancer rates are higher and far more men and women are being treated. However, the incidence of aggressive or late stage cancers has not been significantly reduced at all. Bottom line: the huge and highly hyped effort to screen the adult population for breast and prostate cancers has not brought about the anticipated decrease in deaths.
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| Thousands of New Cancers Predicted Due to Increased Use of CT |
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Computed tomography (CT) scans are widely used and are an invaluable tool for medical imaging. However, the possible overuse of CT scans and the variability in radiation doses might subsequently lead to thousands of cases of cancer, according to findings from 2 new studies published in the December 14/28 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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| The Effectiveness of Screening for Prostate Cancer |
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Screening for prostate cancer is done commonly in clinical practice, using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests or digital rectal examination (DRE). Evidence is lacking however, to confirm a survival benefit among screened patients.
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| BMJ editorial questions the effectiveness of mammography |
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This article in the British Medical Journal presents some interesting facts about mammography that many women may not be aware of.
Unfortunately, the current controversy about testing has become more of a political football rather than a personal health decision. Mammography incurs radiation. In some cases it is justified, but in others it can cause more problems than it solves. This article attempts to remove the politics and put the decision back where it belongs, between a woman and her doctor, based on risk and benefit.
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| Alternative health treatments get a boost from WHO |
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A declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) could raise the profile of traditional or alternative health treatments such as acupuncture and herbal medicine.
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| Cutting Edge Cancer Research: Top 10 Cancer Fighting Supplements |
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Nutrition plays an important role in every stage of the fight against cancer: resisting it, suppressing its development and reducing its spread. Many nutrients are involved, and most are available as supplements: vitamins and minerals, certainly, but also all sorts of plant compounds, friendly bacteria and specialized fats, like omega-3 fatty acids.
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WebSite and Personal News |
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You may notice that this newsletter has a new top logo. I have recently changed my business name from:
Prostate Health Naturally, LLC to Health Naturally, LLC
This change is mainly to recognize that I have many female clients as well as men, and to make my business, website, and product lines more female friendly. All of our products are being relabeled with the new name as we use up the old labels.
As I mentioned in my last newsletter, my new website,
is operational and its entry page is now the home page for both websites. Thus, you will be able to seamlessly move from men's issues to women's issues and back. Some of the pages, like the newsletter archive and the products section will be shared between both sites. Starting around the first of the year, I will be adding lots of information to the new site pertaining to female issues.
A while ago, I implemented a basic search facility to the Prostate Health Naturally site. This search facility utilized the Google Search Engine which posed some problems. First, indexing of the site happened on Google's schedule rather than mine, so new material was not always available when you searched for it. Second, The google search loaded up advertisements which are distracting. This week, I have implemented a completely new search facility which overcomes these problems. New information is available as soon as I put it on the site, and the pop-up advertisements have been eliminated.
To implement a search, simply click the "Site Search" button located at the top left of every main page. You will then see a search screen where you can enter a keyword (or keywords) to search the site for. Direct links to the articles found will allow you to quickly find and view information on many topics.
Our newsletter archive contains copies of all previous newsletters. A link to the archive is on every main page of the website just below the newsletter sign-up box and also in the "page links" section of each newsletter issue.
As always, if you enjoy this newsletter (or hate it), feel free to contact me with your comments. And, if you really like it, please forward it to a friend using the "Forwarding" link below.
Jim Occhiogrosso Health Naturally, L.L.C.
239-498-1547 | |
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