Experts have revealed that breast cancer survivors may experience problems with certain mental abilities several years after treatment, regardless of whether they were treated with chemotherapy plus radiation or radiation only.

The study indicated that there might be common and treatment specific ways that cancer therapies negatively affect cancer survivors` mental abilities.


Previous research had suggested that chemotherapy could cause problems with memory and concentration in breast cancer survivors.

To compare the effects of different types of cancer treatment on such mental abilities, Paul Jacobsen, PhD, of the Moffitt Cancer Centre and Research Institute in Tampa, and his colleagues examined 62 breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy plus radiation, 67 patients treated with radiation only, and 184 women with no history of cancer.

Study participants completed neuropsychological assessments six months after completing treatment and again 36 months later.

The study confirmed that chemotherapy could cause cognitive problems in breast cancer survivors that persist for three years after they finish treatment.

In addition, the investigators found that breast cancer survivors who had been treated with radiation (and not chemotherapy) often experienced problems similar to those in breast cancer survivors treated with both chemotherapy and radiation.

They did not find that hormonal therapy (such as tamoxifen) caused cognitive difficulties.

"These findings suggest that the problems some breast cancer survivors have with their mental abilities are not due just to the administration of chemotherapy," said Dr. Jacobsen.

"Our findings also provide a more complete picture of the impact of cancer treatment on mental abilities than studies that did not follow patients as long or look at mental abilities in breast cancer survivors who had not been treated with chemotherapy," he added.

India, once the epicentre of polio, marked its first full year without a new case of the crippling disease on Friday, but the US taxpayer, who has been generously supporting India's polio fight, may be pulling the plug on funding.

India's success leaves just three countries where polio is still endemic. When India was polio ravaged, it was one of the four countries along with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria to be known by the acronym PAIN.
India's success in fighting polio, which has cost almost $2 billion and several nationwide immunisation programs, has been credited to decades of work by the Indian government, Rotary International, along with the US government-funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. According to the Washington Post, the US has spent more than $2 billion around the world since the WHO launched the global eradication campaign in 1988.

"Federal funding for global health programs now faces sharp cuts from Tea Party lawmakers and others worried about the deficit," warned The Hill.

"House Republicans last year voted to cut funding for global health by more than $1 billion from 2010 levels. A House and Senate conference committee last month ended up agreeing to slash President Obama's request for $9.1 billion by 9.2 percent, or $840 million."

Lawmakers have had to resort to sharp cuts in global health programs as America is running a $15 trillion debt and its own entitlement programs are on the brink of insolvency.

Officials with the CDC say US funding and experience were key to beating back polio in India.

"Since 1999, CDC has provided more than $113 million to India for technical, programmatic and laboratory support and purchase of oral polio vaccine," Kevin De Cock, the CDC's director for global health, told The Hill.

In India, De Cock said, the CDC "worked side-by-side with the government of India in designing and maintaining WHO's highly effective national polio surveillance system" while "CDC disease detectives and laboratory experts [were] on the ground working with global and local partners to investigate outbreaks and rapidly stop their spread."

Back at CDC headquarters in Atlanta, De Cock said, health experts "collect and analyze the latest information on eradication progress and share with those on the ground so strategies are adjusted based on the science."

The US government has shown huge commitment to eradicating polio in India, but if state funding dries up India will have to rely more heavily on Bill Gates who has made eliminating polio a centerpiece of his efforts to use his Microsoft fortune to change the world.

"We must build on this historic moment and ensure that India's polio program continues to move full-steam ahead," Gates said in a statement released by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Gates said India had demonstrated that polio can be halted "when countries combine the right elements political will, quality immunisation campaigns, and an entire nation's determination."

The study, conducted this month by the food safety and standards authority of India, found milk was adulterated with skimmed milk powder and glucose, or more shockingly hydrogen peroxide, urea and detergent.

Hydrogen peroxide is used in bleach, while urea is commonly used in fertilizer.

"Consumption of milk with detergent may cause health hazards and indicates lack of hygiene and sanitation in the milk handling," the regulator said in a report.

"Addition of water not only reduces the nutritional value of milk but contaminated water may also pose health risks."

A health ministry official declined to comment on the report.

India has long struggled with adulteration of food and milk by unscrupulous traders. Almost 70 percent of the 1,791 samples taken nationwide were contaminated or watered down, according to the report.

Out of 33 Indian states, non-fat adulterants were found in all the milk samples from West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand. This adds to concern about West Bengal's faltering health and safety standards. In December, an adulterated batch of bootleg liquor killed at least 125 drinkers in the eastern state.

The deaths came a few days after a hospital fire killed 93 people in the state's capital Kolkata.

New Delhi fared worse than most states, with as many as 70 percent of the samples tainted. The western state of Goa and eastern state of Puducherry conformed to the standards, with no indication of adulteration in their milk.

Scientists are set to launch a series of investigations after previous ones failed to identify the cause of a mysterious disease that has killed over 100 people and left over 2,000 others infected in several districts in northern Uganda.

The disease which was first reported in September 2009 has since been dubbed 'nodding disease' because it leaves its victims nodding.

It has since spread to five districts in the region which include Kitgum, Lamwo, Pader, Agago and Amuru.

Mr Richard Nduhura, minister of state for health in charge of general duties, said that the two previous samples and tests carried out by Centers for Disease Control (CDC) scientists in Atlanta US failed to identify the cause of the disease.

Mr Nduhura, who is leading a fact finding mission in the affected areas which are also recovering from a two decade long insurgency, told the residents on Friday that a team of scientists from the ministry of health, World Health Organization and CDC is going to carry out new tests.

"We are going to handle and give this matter (disease) the attention it deserves.

''We are going to work with you (residents) to find out the cause and solution to this problem.
''We are going to carry another round of tests to establish and identify the disease," he said.

Odisha has alerted all its district authorities in view of the detection of a bird flu case in the state, an official said Monday.

"The government sent samples of around 300 birds, mostly crows and poultry, to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal, during last fortnight after hundreds of crows died in some parts of the state," Satyabrata Sahu, secretary of the fishery and animal resources department, told IANS.
"The laboratory informed us on Sunday that a poultry bird was found positive for bird flu," he said, adding the bird which was found positive for HSN1 virus belonged to Keranga area of Khordha district.

We have asked the Khordha district administration to monitor health of all the birds, he said. The movement of birds from the affected area has also been stopped, he said.

The government has also asked the collectors of all 30 districts to remain alert and draw samples from birds that have flu-like symptoms.

Besides, officials at the world famous Chilika Lake and Bhitarkanika wildlife sanctuary have been told to keep watch on the migratory birds. Both the places are home to lakhs of winter migratory birds.