HIGH CALCIUM DIET, SUN AND WHOLE MILK LINKED TO OVARIAN CANCER

Research from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and and other U.S. health and academic institutions shows a diet high in calcium and low in lactose (milk) may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer in African-American women. The work, which appears in the latest edition of the British Journal of Cancer, also found sun exposure in the summer months may reduce the risk of developing the disease in this population.

Ovarian cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer death among women in the U.S., according to the National Cancer Institute.

The associations were evaluated among participants in the African-American Cancer Epidemiology Study, which is an on-going population-based case-control study of ovarian cancer in African-American women in 11 states including New Jersey. 

Investigators found that both lactose intake and consumption of whole milk were significantly associated with an increased risk of ovarian cancer risk in African-American women, while skim and low-fat milk were not. No association was found for cheese or yogurt products.

Calcium intake, whether through food and/or supplement, was associated with a decreased risk of disease. While researchers found no association between dietary and supplemental vitamin D intake and ovarian cancer risk. 

Results also showed that increased sun exposure may reduce ovarian cancer risk in this population.

source: science daily

GENE MUTATIONS UNIQUE TO COLON CANCERS IN AFRICAN AMERICANS DISCOVERED

Scientists who last year identified new gene mutations unique to colon cancers in African Americans, have now found that tumours with these mutations are highly aggressive and more likely to recur and metastasize. 

Case Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers, a research collaboration which includes University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center and Case Western Reserve University, who last year identified new gene mutations unique to colon cancers in African Americans, have found that tumors with these mutations are highly aggressive and more likely to recur and metastasize. These findings partly may explain why African Americans have the highest incidence and death rates of any group for this disease.  

The study will be printed in the December 2016 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) by members of a research team that a year ago found 15 genes in African Americans that are rarely or never detected as mutated in colon cancers from Caucasians. The current study investigated the outcomes associated with these mutations in African American colorectal cancer. This study is significant because it helps shed further light on why colorectal cancers are more aggressive in African Americans. 

The researchers examined 66 patients who had stage I -- III colorectal cancer and found those patients positive for the mutations had an almost three times higher rate of metastatic disease, and stage III patients positive with mutations were nearly three times more likely to relapse compared to patients without the mutations.

Source: science daily

EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD BULLYING MAY PERSIST FOR LONG

Childhood bullying inflicts the same longstanding psychological trauma on girls as severe physical or sexual abuse. A recent study of 480 college freshmen showed harmful effects of bullying may linger for years, negatively affecting victims' mental health well into young adulthood.

Participants in the study were assessed on their exposure to a variety of traumatic experiences -- including bullying, cyberbullying and crimes such as robbery, sexual assault, and domestic and community violence -- from birth through age 17. Students also reported on their psychological functioning and symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

The students who experienced bullying as children reported significantly greater levels of mental health problems than their peers.