Citizens in Berkley, MA, population 6,200 citizens in southeastern Massachusetts (source: Berkely fire chief) , say a local dump site is causing cancer.

In a story subtitled “What if where one chose to live dictated whether or not they died of cancer?,” the Taunton Gazette reports:

A group of neighbors on Burt Street claims this may be the case, because they say a toxic waste cleanup site may not have been properly purified.

The site is part of a North Main Street property, known as Cranberry Crossing, that was used from the mid-1930s to the 1960s as a tannery waste dumping ground.”

A developer plans to build on this land and residents are upset.

Chennai is the new name for Madras, a city on the east coast of southern India. Situated on the shores of the Bay of Bengal, this capital of the state of Tamil Nadu is India’s fourth largest metropolitan city and one of the 35 largest metropolitan areas in the world. Today’s news from Chennai includes this about early detection for prostate cancer, a prostate cancer conference with Australian input, and a push towards brachytherapy:

Apollo chief for prostate cancer checkup

Chennai, Jan 7: People above the age of 40 years should undergo check up for prostate cancer, which is on the increase in the country, Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Dr Pratap C Reddy said here today.

“I firmly believe that those in the age group between 40 and 50 years be checked periodically depending on the results of the first check up while for those above this age, I suggest an annual check up. It can be controlled and even cured if diagnosed in the early stages,” he said.

2 Adverse Cancer Studies – New York Times
In one report, researchers analyzed 26 randomized studies involving more than 73,000 patients and concluded that statins like Lipitor and Zocor had no effect on the risk of developing or dying from any form of cancer. Those findings appear Wednesday in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association.

The other study, in the current Journal of the National Cancer Institute, found that cholesterol-lowering drugs, including statins, were of no benefit in preventing colorectal cancer.

When local treatments for prostate cancer have failed, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) rises in the absence of symptoms, there is little consensus as to the best management strategy.

Calcitriol has been shown to prolong the doubling time of PSA in this context, but near-toxic doses are required.

We investigated the effect of the nutrient vitamin D (cholecalciferol), a biochemical precursor of calcitriol, on PSA levels and the rate of rise of PSA in these patients.

Fifteen patients were given 2,000 IU (50 microg) of cholecalciferol daily and monitored prospectively every 2-3 months.

In 9 patients, PSA levels decreased or remained unchanged after the commencement of cholecalciferol. This was sustained for as long as 21 months.

January 1, 2006 — A trio of innovations may enable physicians to plan prostate cancer patients’ treatment in real time and to implant cancer-killing radioactive “seeds” more accurately and efficiently, according to University of Wisconsin physicists.

Directional radiation system for brachytherapy under development in Wisconsin

Among the other major advances recognized by American Society of Clinical Oncology (American Society of Clinical Oncology) in 2005:

• The drug Herceptin was found to reduce the recurrence of HER-2-positive early-stage breast cancer by half when added to standard chemotherapy; the risk of death was cut by one-third compared with standard chemotherapy alone.
• Chemotherapy after surgery was found to reduce the risk of colorectal cancer recurrence. The drug oxaliplatin cut recurrence risk by up to 24 per cent.
• A large trial showed the drug Avastin – which starves tumours of the blood supply they need to grow – in combination with chemotherapy can significantly extend survival in patients with advanced lung cancer
• Avastin was also found to significantly improve survival for advanced colorectal cancer when used in conjunction with standard chemotherapy.
• Two different vaccines were effective at preventing 90 to 100 per cent of infections with human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus linked to cervical cancer.
• Canadian researchers found that people with an early form of the most common type of lung cancer lived longer if they were treated with chemotherapy after surgery to remove their tumor.

“This report demonstrates the important progress being made in all areas of clinical cancer research,” society president Dr. Sandra Horning said in a release Friday. “The message is one of hope – the advances identified by this report underscore the essential role of cancer research in finding solutions for a disease” that strikes millions of people each year.

Based on reports by SHERYL UBELACKER in Macleans and Cnews

ASCO – Reuters News – Professional
Low serum testosterone levels associated with worse prostate cancer outcome

Reuters reports that “Low serum testosterone levels are associated with a greater likelihood of positive surgical margins in radical retropubic prostatectomy for prostate cancer, according to a report, subtitled “Hypogonadism Represents Bad Prognosis in Prostate Cancer,” in the December issue of The Journal of Urology….

“We have to study more and more to understand the real meaning between low testosterone and prostate cancer,” Dr. Carlos Teodosio Da Rosa from Santa Casa Hospital, Porto Alegre, Brazil told Reuters Health.

Dr. Da Rosa and colleagues investigated the association between serum total testosterone levels and prognostic factors in 64 patients with localized prostate cancer who underwent radical retropubic prostatectomy.

Nearly 40% of men with low testosterone had positive margins in their surgical specimens, the authors report, compared with 14.6% of patients with normal testosterone.

Mean serum testosterone levels were significantly lower in men with positive margins (284.7 ng/dL) than in men with negative margins (385.7 ng/dL), the report indicates.

In contrast, Gleason scores, pathological stage, capsular perforation, and seminal vesicle involvement did not differ in men with normal or low testosterone.

“Since low testosterone may predict positive surgical margins, it is reasonable to suppose that it would represent a different prognosis in patients who undergo radical retropubic prostatectomy,” the investigators conclude. “As a consequence, these patients are more prone to present with prostate cancer recurrence and to require adjuvant treatment.”