Common cancer drugs may be more harmful to the brain than the tumor cells they are meant to destroy.

Cancer chemotherapy can damage the brain, killing crucial brain cells and causing key parts of the brain to shrink, according to the study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center and published in the Journal of Biology.

Laboratory tests have shown that dose levels typically used when treating patients killed 70-100 per cent of neural cells but just 40-80 per cent of cancer cells. Several types of healthy brain cell continued to die for at least six weeks after exposure. Even though the cancer drugs are targeted at replicating cancer cells, the researchers found that both replicating and non replicating brain cells were killed.

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I guess getting skin cancer from prolonged sun exposure or from the harmful ultraviolet rays was not enough, now we have the tanning salons added in the list too.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer said that Tanning beds have dramatically increased the risk of skin cancer in young users in their teens and 20s.

Its research also showed that tanning booths had no positive health effects.

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According to a new study, if you prefer having onions and garlic in your daily diet, you might have lower odds of certain types of cancers.

After analyzing eight different studies from Switzerland and Italy, researchers found that adults who have the highest intake of onions or garlic in their diet had the lowest risk in certain types of cancer. Among these the main were colon, ovarian and throat cancer.

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Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard said that Australia will spend $342 million USD on Merck and Co.’s Gardasil vaccine which can protect against 70 percent of cervical cancer in young women.

Australia had recently been in talks with distributor CSL Ltd. to bring down the price. The company readily agreed to cut down the prices by 27 percent.

PM Howard further added “Gardasil will be available for a nationwide vaccination campaign commencing next year. This remarkable Australian drug can be made cheaply available to women.”

Australia is all geared up to launch this unique wonder vaccine, free of cost for women aged between 12 and 26.

Your doctor must have told you a million times to have plenty of vegetables. Now your doctor has just another reason to say that because eating green, leafy vegetables may be as important as wearing hats and sunscreen in the prevention of skin cancer.

An eleven-year study by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research involving 1,000 people in Nambour, on the Sunshine Coast, investigated the impact of healthy dietary habits on skin cancer and found those who ate at least three serves of green leafy vegetables a week reduced their risk of skin cancer by up to 55 per cent.

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A synthetic steroid compound used to abort pregnancy could fight breast and ovarian cancer, caused by a mutant gene, from growing, according to researchers at the UniversityCalifornia, Irvine.

The research published in the December 1 issue of journal Science, revealed that by blocking the hormone progesterone in breast tissue cells, the drug can also prevent formation of tumors.

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