This article is based on a new research in which the researchers have made a new discovery where they have found that the individuals who are suffering from the stomach cancer can get a lot of benefits by having chemotherapy. In this article along with the research, we will mention a brief summary about stomach’s anatomy, understanding the cancer of the stomach, symptoms, diagnosis, staging, treatment, nutrition and follow up care so that our readers will have an extensive review and understanding on a lot of different topics that are mentioned above.

Stomach is a very important part of our digestive system. The stomach is a bag like structure that is connected above to the esophagus and below to the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine. The food moves down the esophagus and then enters the stomach with the contractions of the esophagus and then when it reaches the stomach, the food is being acted upon by the acid being produced in the stomach and is broken down into small particles so that when it passes through the rest of the gastrointestinal tract, the active ingredients can be absorbed through it very easily. The food stays for a period of about 2-3 hours in the stomach.

It is really important to understand for us as to how the cancer begins. We all know that the single living unit that our body is made up of is cell and these cells combine together to form tissue and these tissues combine together to form organs. The cells are what normally transforms and they then form a mass of tissue, which is known as tumor. The tumor can be either benign or malignant. The benign tumors are not life threatening and they are encapsulated, but on the other hand the malignant tumor is what metastasizes and thus causes lethal damage to the body and spread from one organ to another.

The process with which the malignant cancer metastasizes to other organ systems is through the lymph nodes, lymph vessels, blood vessels and direct invasions. The stomach tumor grows through the tissue and directly invades the organs such as pancreas, esophagus or the intestine. The other organs that the tumor spreads to include liver and lungs and the spread to these organs occur through the blood vessels, and the cancer cells can also spread to the entire body through the lymphatic system.

The exact reason why the stomach cancer occurs is not exactly known but there are a lot of risk factors that increases the development of this disease. The risk factors includes age and the people in which the stomach cancer occur are mostly 72 years or older. Other risk factors include sex, in which men are most likely to develop stomach cancer than women. Asians are the ones who are most commonly affected by stomach cancer. Another risk factor includes the ingestion of smoked, salted or pickled food and the people who are in a habit of eating these foods are at risk of developing the stomach cancer. H. pylori infection also increases the risk of the development of the stomach cancer, but there are very few people in whom this infection can lead to stomach cancer. People who smoke are also at increased risk of developing stomach cancer, as well as individuals who have a strong family history of stomach cancer are at high risk of developing it.

The symptoms that occur due to the development of stomach cancer include discomfort in the stomach, a feeling of being full, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as weight loss. It is not necessary that any individual who is going through these symptoms is suffering from the stomach cancer, but it is not necessary that the individual who is going through these symptoms is truly suffering from stomach cancer. If any one is going through these symptoms must contact the doctor and tell the physician of when these symptoms started and a detailed history of them so that it is easier for the doctor to make a diagnosis and to order the investigations.

The investigative procedure includes the physical examination in which the doctor palpates the abdomen to detect any masses. The upper GI x-rays of the esophagus and stomach and these x-rays are taken after a barium swallow because the barium makes the abdomen illuminated and helps to see as to what are the defects that are present. Endoscopy is another investigation in which the endoscope is being passed down the esophagus and the stomach is being visualized. With the endoscopy the walls of the stomach can be seen as well as biopsy of the stomach tissue is being obtained and the tissue sample that is being taken is then seen under the microscope and hence the diagnosis of cancer is being established.

In order to plan the treatment of a patient, it is very important that the stage of the cancer is being known. In order to understand the staging of the cancer, we will explain the TNM staging of cancers. In the TNM staging, the T stands for the size of the tumor, N stands for the nodal involvement, M stands for the metastasis. When the tumor is being diagnosed through histology, the next step is staging and then the tumor is being determined of its size, nodal involvement and the level of the metastasis, which helps to determine as to the prognosis, as well as to select the treatment options that would suit the best for the patient. If there is small size of the tumor and there is no nodal involvement and the tumor has not metastasized, then the patient undergoes chemotherapy and radiation depending on the decision of the physician. If the patient has a large tumor size and there is nodal involvement but no metastasis, then the decision can be to excise the tumor in its entirety so that it does not metastasize because it is going towards the trend of enlarging and involving the nodes. On the other hand if the tumor has metastasized then more conservative approach is being considered or the removal of the organ that has the metastasis is being considered to be excised, so every situation has its own way of its management and that will all be taken by your physician specialist.

The treatment of cancer is again as described above can be either radiation therapy, chemotherapy or surgery depending on the situation and therefore it is very important to analyze the situation in depth by your physician. Normally under such circumstances there is a board of doctors who sit together and put down the case and determine as to what would be the best approach in managing the situation and delineate the right steps of treatment. Once the steps are being delineated, your doctor will then share their decision with you and your family and will tell you of what options that they have seen are best for you and then they throw the ball in the patient’s court so that they could decide whether they are satisfied with the approach or not.

The doctor also explains the side effects of the therapies that the patient is going to have and that side effects differ from person to person. The side effects from the radiation therapy includes loss of hair, fatigue, malaise, low blood count, erythema of the skin, dryness of the mucosal membranes, connective tissue scarring and fibrosis etc. The side effects of the chemotherapy include nausea, vomiting, hair loss and bone marrow suppression.

It is really important for the individuals who are undergoing treatment to take the proper caloric requirements because nutrition is very important to be at its best because it will give more energy and will improve the health and will aid in the speedy recovery of the individual undergoing the cancer treatment. There are patients who really don’t like to eat much because of bad taste, these individuals can arrange for foods of their choice that they like the best and can also get help from a registered dietitian to help them plan their diet so that they are taking proper diet and maintaining the proper caloric requirements that they need on a daily basis.
According to the latest research it is being found that the patients who are suffering from stomach cancer can get a lot of benefit from chemotherapy before and after the surgery. This research was conducted over a span of more than five years where the doctors gave chemotherapy before and after surgery to the patients and it was found out that the patients who received the chemotherapy before and after the surgery had a 36% survival rate as compared to the 23% who only had surgery. The chemotherapeutic regimen that is being used in the patients suffering from stomach cancer includes epirubicin, cisplatin, and fluorouracil, and there are also newer drugs that are being available and under trial so that more beneficial therapeutic regimens are available to the stomach cancer patients.
This is a very big breakthrough because this therapeutic regimen increases the rate of survival of the individuals and thus it will be helping a lot of people who are suffering from stomach cancer. There is a very stunning statistic that has also been brought into attention, which is that there will be about 22,300 new cases that will be diagnosed this year and there will be about 11,400 people who will be dying because of this disease.

Depression is a very serious problem that is present in a lot of individuals throughout the world. It is very important for the people throughout the world to understand that there are a lot of people around them who are going through these feelings and they should be the ones who get the support from their family and friends and peers so that they are able to live a better life and are able to get themselves out of the clouds of dark. In this article we are going to discuss the relationship of depression and obesity.

Since depression is such a disastrous problem where the individual is just cocooned inside them, but if this is coupled with the obesity then it can be said very easily that this lethal combination can just lower down the life expectancy to a decade or so. Obesity is a chronic disorder and it affects millions and millions of Americans and is caused by a variety of factors. Obesity poses serious health risks and causes a lot of health problems that include coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, decreased mobility, joint problems, vascular problems, etc. Obesity alone accounts for about $100 billion in the health sector and the numbers are increasing at a very high speed.

It is not only the adults who are affected with obesity with depression, but there are also a lot of children who are victimized by this disease. The researchers who have been working on this subject have found that there are a lot of psychological factors that are involved in the relationship of this problem. They said that the families who are living in a very high stressed environment where the parents are in a constant fight with abusing each other verbally or physical abuse leads to the kids who are very depressed and this just have a very strong influence on the appetite of these children. In reaction to the abuse that they have to go through just leads them to be depressed and in order to combat the negative feelings, the kids just have then increased appetite to overcome those feelings that they are going through.

There was a study that was conducted on about 1000 children who were from the ages of 9 to 16 years.

The researchers said that there is a hormonal pathway that is a link between the obesity and the depression, which is known as the hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal, which is also known as HPA axis. The researchers commented that there is a connection between these endocrine glands, which regulate the production of a lot of hormones through them, and the secretion of one hormone affects the secretion of another hormone and thus there is a process of check and balance between the different hormones. They also stated that this hormonal axis is also responsible for the release of the hormone called cortisol, which is the stress hormone, and this plays a very important role in the metabolism of energy along with many other functions. When an individual is under stress, there is a response being sent to the adrenal gland to secrete cortisol and this hormone causes the deposition of the fat around the abdomen, and this pattern of fat deposition is very damaging to health. It must also be noted here that the presence of the chronic stress also can emanate depression, which is only going to worsen the situation.
The researchers said that the presence of obesity, depression, as well as other behavioral disorders are also the cause of the abnormal functioning of the HPA axis and this is believe to cause obesity. This is a very complex problem and is thought to be a combination of both the social and biological factors. It is very difficult to asses that depression caused obesity or the obesity caused depression because both overlap with each other and it is really difficult to determine as to what started first, but in whatever the case both are very lethal problems and both need to be addressed as soon as possible because there is a lot of work that is needed to be done to get out of the depressed feelings as well as to control the major factors that are causing obesity. If this problem is being seen through the pathways, it is seen that when the individual is depressed, this just totally disrupts the pathway and causes the production of the stress hormones and thus causes obesity. On the other hand the obesity also disrupts the HPA axis and causes depression, therefore it is really important to combat one thing at a time, which will help to focus on the problem that is considered to be the primary factor by the physician or the psychologist who makes the diagnosis of the situation.

The researchers said that about 15% of the children who participated in the study were chronically obese and there were about 12% of the children who were obese at a point in time during their childhood or adolescence and they also added that in their perspective the situation of the children being obese and depressed was at very high rates as it was undertaken by the Disease Control Department.
The researchers also added that there are a lot of kids who are living an impaired quality of life and there is a high number of obese kids who belong in that category, this just not only put them at a health risk but also puts them at the risk of their lives. It was also added that the children who are obese, their quality of life is as bad as the kids who are suffering from cancer and that is something that needs to be taken that seriously and the researchers who were going through these researches were amazed to see the data that came up through studies that were being conducted. It is alarming for all of us and this is something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible because the future of a nation is with the future of the kids and their health is something that we need to care for.

Pancreas is a very vital organ of our body and our body depends on this organ to transport the glucose into the cells and this is being done with a hormone known as insulin. If the cells of the pancreas are being burnt out by excess production of insulin then the body will lose a very major function of production of insulin into the blood that would cause the transportation of the glucose into the cells. In this article we will discuss on what pancreas is and what are the different functions of the pancreas and what happens if an individual goes through the cancer of the pancreas and a research that shows that pancreatic cancer can be caused by red meat.

The pancreas is about 6 inches long and it is pear in shape. Discussing the anatomical location of the pancreas, the pancreas is located behind the stomach and it has a collecting duct system that collects the secretions of the pancreas and then transports it to the second part of the duodenum, which is the first part of the small intestine. We can divide the pancreas into three different parts, the first part is the head of the pancreas, which is the broader part of the pancreas, the other part of the pancreas is known as the body and the third part of the pancreas is known as the tail.

Pancreas is a very important organ and it does a lot of major functions in our body. Pancreas produces enzymes that help us regulate the digestive tract with the enzymes such as lipase, protease, and amylase. There are also hormones that are being produced by the pancreas and they are known as the insulin and glucagons. The portion of the pancreas that produces the digestive juices is known as the exocrine area of the pancreas and about 95% of the cancers of the pancreas originate from the exocrine pancreas. On the other hand the other part of the pancreas that produces the hormones is known as the endocrine pancreas. It is that only about 5% of the cancers originate from the endocrine pancreas.
The cancer of the pancreas is a very lethal cancer because it just grows pretty aggressively and that it does not take much time to become a full blown metastatic cancer. Another very important thing that needs to be taken into account right now is that this cancer is just surrounded by a lot of different organs such as stomach, small intestine, bile duct, which is a tube that is originating from gallbladder and that joins along with the duct of the pancreas and then opens into the second part of the duodenum, another organ that makes the bed of the pancreas is spleen, which functions to store the red blood cells and stores the red cells and also causes filtration of the red cells.

The most hazardous thing about the pancreatic cancer is that it just grows at a very fast pace and that it just invades the other organ structures around it and causes the spread of the cancer and that is something that is truly devastating for that individual. Like every disease, the cancer of the pancreas also shows its signs and symptoms that includes loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, loss of weight, pain in the upper abdomen, jaundice, as well as radiation of pain to the back. It must be noted here that these symptoms do not appear in the first phase of the cancer and becomes evident in the later stages and this makes it a very horrible disease, because since it spreads so fast in the body, it lessens the chances of survival of the individual.

If you are suffering from any symptoms that are being described as above, then it is recommended that you should get yourself examined by your doctor as soon as possible because these symptoms might represent pancreatic cancer. Your doctor will be sending you for the ultrasound examination and if there are any growths in the pancreas, then they can be seen through the ultrasound examination. Other investigations that can follow an ultrasound examination include a CT scan, as well as an MRI, which is also known as the magnetic resonance imaging. Another test that is done to check the status of the pancreas is the endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography through which a dye is being injected into the pancreas and the substance (tissue) of the pancreas can be seen and with the help of it, a biopsy can be performed, and then the tissue that is being drawn is stained and looked under a microscope to see if there are any signs of malignant cells in the specimen obtained. The test known as percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography is done to find out the cancer of the pancreas and along with that there can be seen as to what are the different ducts that are being blocked.

The cancer is being treated through different approaches depending upon the age of the individual, whether they are on any therapies or are undergoing through any other diseases. The first approach that can be adopted if the individual is healthy can be the excision and removal of the gland so that the tumor cells do not progress to any other organs that are close to the pancreas, another approach can be to treat the individual with the chemotherapy or the radiotherapy and these decisions can be taken by a physician or a board of the physicians to discuss and see as to what are the best approaches and the best medicines that can be started so that every thing is discussed in detail in the best possible interest of the individual.

There are other researchers that are being carried out to know as to what are the different things that can cause pancreatic cancer and it was found that the individuals who eat red meat are at high risk of developing pancreatic cancers. The researchers conducted a study in which there were about 61,000 women. These women were followed for over 17 years and it was being studied as to what effects they had with the use of fish, poultry and egg consumption. Along the passage of time it was being found that there were about 172 women who were being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The researchers went into studying the things as to what were the reasons that these women developed pancreatic cancer and it was found that these women were eating red meat over a long period of time whereas on the other hand the women who were using poultry were at a low risk of developing a pancreatic cancer. It was also found that there was no association of pancreatic cancer with the processed meat, fish or the eggs.

This study is going to help a lot in the better understanding of the development of the pancreatic cancer, as this is very important to understand the causes and to prevent that there is a large scale education that needs to be transferred to a lot of individuals so that they can understand that a healthy diet can prevent the development of pancreatic cancer and can save lots of people who can fall victim to this horrible disease.

Prostate is a male reproductive gland that functions to produce the fluid for the semen and that functions to transport the sperm during the male orgasm. If we study the structure of the prostate gland, it is being made of about 30% muscular tissue and the rest of it is glandular tissue. The prostate gland is present at the neck of the bladder and then it opens into the urethra to pass on the prostatic secretions along with the semen to add bulk to it. It is being reported that by the age of 70, almost all men have a little enlargement of the prostate. If that enlargement is not significant enough, then there are no symptoms that are evident, but if the enlargement becomes significant then it presents itself in the obstruction of the urethra, which in turn leads to the obstruction of the urine, which is a serious condition and that is something that is an acute condition and needs to be resolved immediately because the urine gets collected more and more in the urinary bladder and then the urinary bladder becomes distended and the urine needs to be taken out of the bladder or the bladder could get ruptured and the bladder distension itself is a pretty painful condition.

This prostate enlargement should not be considered as a cancer of the prostate because there is another condition of the prostate that exists known as the benign prostatic hyperplasia also known as the BPH or it could be prostatitis. Benign prostatic hyperplasia is not cancer but is a benign condition, however, the benign prostatic hyperplasia as well as the prostate cancer are the conditions that can coexist together. Benign prostatic hypertrophy beings in men over the age of 50 and the symptoms that are caused because of it includes a weak urinary stream, difficulty to initiate the urinary stream, frequent urination, frequent awakening at night to urinate, incomplete bladder emptying sensation or complete inability to urinate.

Until and unless the symptoms start to occur because of the benign prostatic hyperplasia, the doctors do not think that the treatment is necessary for the benign prostatic hyperplasia, but if the symptoms are occurring then the treatment is required. This condition can be treated with the medications, as well as nonsurgical procedures that are done to remove the excess tissue such as the heat procedure.
There have been researches that are done and it has been found that the men who are obese are at an increased risk of recurrence of the cancer even if they have undergone the radiotherapy and the chemotherapy for the prostate cancer. The researchers said that there are a lot of mechanisms in which the obesity can promote the development and the progression of the cancer. They added that this combination or link of obesity with different cancers is being established by studying the different populations, experimentations and doing clinical researches on humans.

The studies have been carried out in which they have mentioned that the prostate cancers are present in the countries and the socioeconomic groups where the diet is rich in sugar, fat, red meat and is pretty less in the fiber, fruits, as well as the vegetables. Since it has been found out that the cancer is linked to obesity, there have also been studies that have proved along with time that the individuals who have been going through cancer and have been able to fight well against the cancer and are able to have been cured from that are at an increased risk of developing the cancer again if they are following a trend of gaining weight and are getting obese at a very high rate. Controlling the weight not only improves the chances of not having a recurrent cancer, but it also improves the quality of life of the individuals who are suffering from diabetes or other cardiovascular diseases.

There are many cancers that are known to occur because of the excess of fatty tissue inside the body. There are a lot of hormones that are involved in obesity and they play a role in the initiation and the promotion of the cancer at almost all levels. There are about four mechanisms that are being known in which the increased hormone secretion can cause promotion of cancer development. In the first mechanism, obesity leads to the production of the growth promoting steroid hormones and these can bind to the nuclear receptors in the hormone dependent tumor cells. The second mechanism is that the free hormone levels are affected by hormone-hormone interactions as in the case where the upper body obesity is associated with the reduced sex hormone binding globulin levels that leads to the increased free levels of circulating estrogen and testosterone. The third mechanism is that the steroid hormone action can trigger increased oxidant stress promoting cell proliferation and DNA damage. It has been known that the androgens have shown to increase the oxidant stress in the cancer cells of the prostate and that the defensive process to combat the oxidant effects that are shown to be impaired during the early phase of the cancer.

Therefore it is being shown that the paracrine factors and the hormones that stimulate the production of the steroid hormones in the cancer tissue is increased in obesity. It is also being noted that a lot of the paracrine factors that are the cytokines are being produced by the fat cells and the white blood cells. The increased levels of the cytokines are linked with obesity and these levels go down with weight loss. At earlier times, there were a lot of people who lost their lives to the infections, but these days the trend has changed and a lot of people are losing their lives to the diseases such as cancer and heart diseases.

The fact on which it is determined that the individual is overweight or underweight is the body mass index also known as the BMI, which is a ratio of height to weight. It was also found that the individuals who were obese were likely the ones who were diagnosed with prostate cancer at a younger age and these were mostly African Americans.

With this research, the scientists are hoping that they will be able to devise strategies with which they will be educating the masses between the link of obesity and the prostate cancer and what are the different possible ways with which they can take control of their increasing weight so that there is a lesser chance for them to develop the prostate cancer.

There are a lot of people throughout the world who are suffering from the lung problems such as asthma, COPD etc. and there have been a severe decline in the normal respiratory capacity when these individuals are exposed to an allergenic environment. There have been a lot of researches that have been conducted and there have been a lot of new medicines that have been brought out in the market that have helped millions of people throughout the world. There have been researches that have been still carried out to find as to what are the different ways that the people who are suffering from lung problems can benefit from those researches.

According to a latest research, the scientists have found that the beta-carotene that is present in the different foods can really help the individuals who are suffering from the lung function capacity either through the different lung problems or either through the declining lung capacity because of the age factor. In the study that was being carried out for well over ten years it was found by analyzing and comparing the breath tests of the different subjects that the individuals who have levels of beta carotene in their blood, which is an antioxidant have about 20% more lung function capacity than the individuals who had very low levels of the beta-carotene in their blood. It was also stated that increase in the levels of the beta-carotene counteracts the effect of one year of aging, which is a remarkable discovery in terms of benefiting millions of people throughout the world.

Another factor that really impairs the lung function capacity is the habit of smoking that is being done by millions and millions of people throughout the world. Smoking not only impairs the lung function capacity of the individuals, but also is a leading cause of cancer in these individuals. Thus in this study it was found that if the beta-carotene is combined with vitamin E, which is also an antioxidant, it was found that it prevented the decline of the lung function capacity due to smoking. There are a lot of smokers throughout the world and the smoking habits of these individuals vary, like there are people who smoke one pack per day, there are some who smoke two packs per day and there are some who smoke half a pack a day or even less. So, the effect of smoking in each of these individuals is different. Obviously the individuals who are smoking more are the ones who are at greater risk of smoking hazards in terms of decreased lung function capacity as well as developing cancer. According to the study it was found that the smokers who are smoking greater than a pack a day and they do not have good levels of beta-carotene as well as vitamin E levels in their blood are the ones who develop and show twice the decline in the lung function capacity. There are also physicians who stated that the smokers who want their lung function capacity to improve, must quit smoking because the right vitamins to improve the lung function cannot help them much.

The research that was conducted on finding that the antioxidants help improve the lung function capacity was conducted on about 1,194 individuals who were all adults and they were of the ages from about 22 to 44, were enrolled in the study. Out of these individuals there were about 40% of the individuals who were lifelong smokers. The data had been documented for all of the individuals throughout the study so that a proper comparison can be made and the conclusions can be derived from them so that it can be seen clearly as to what are the effects of these vitamins on the lung function capacity. When the lung function of these individuals was measured, it was done by doing a forced expiratory volume test, which is also denoted as FEV1, whereas 1 represents the forced expiratory volume in one minute time. The results that were derived from these tests showed that the beta-carotene truly protected the lung function capacity of the individuals over the span of eight years in the general population and it was also found that the individuals who were getting beta-carotene and vitamin E protected a lot of the lung function capacity of the individuals, which in general terms is pretty worse if seen in the general population who are heavy smokers and do not have enough beta-carotene and vitamin E in their blood.

A fact that is known regarding the lung function capacity is that the forced expiratory volume in one minute, (FEV1) decline gradually every year to about 29.8 milliliters. It is also a fact that is being brought into documentation, which shows that the individuals who have low beta-carotene and vitamin E in their blood levels are the ones who get a decline of about 36.5 milliliters after a year. It was also brought into light that the individuals who are obese are the ones who suffer the most in terms of rapid lung function capacity every year and that the beta-carotene can really help these individuals to overcome the hazards of decreased lung function capacity so that these individuals live their life at the fullest and prevent themselves from gradually deteriorating health.

This research was conducted on the theoretical basis in which the researchers believed that the oxidative stress might contribute to the obstruction of the airway over time and that is why they started looking at the blood levels to see as to how much of the level of the antioxidants is present in the blood of the individuals and what is the current lung function capacity of these individuals so that they can see whether their theory is correct. They mentioned that the beta-carotene and the vitamin E were the only antioxidants that have showed the benefit of preventing the decline of the lung capacity. It was also added that vitamin E was helpful only in the heavy smokers.

Along with the antioxidants that help the lungs, the researchers said that the importance of a healthy diet has its own ground, as these supplements alone cannot help to keep the lungs strong and healthy to perform their function at the same status over the long run. So the importance of a healthy diet has its own place and that the people who are suffering from the lung problems must take a healthy diet along with the antioxidants in a combination so that the best results can be achieved.

An important note that needs to be made here is that the individuals who want to start taking beta-carotene must consult their physicians first because the individuals who are high smokers and are taking high amounts of beta-carotene are the ones who are at twice the risk of developing the tobacco related cancers. The women who are non-smoking and take high doses of beta-carotene show a reduced risk of cancer.

This research is going to help millions of people throughout the world and they will be able to live a much better life than what they had been living for quite some time.