Exercise tied to better colon cancer survival odds

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People with colon cancer who spend more time walking and fewer hours on the couch are less likely to die over the seven to eight years after being diagnosed, a new study suggests.

The findings don't prove exercise itself boosts a person's survival chances, researchers said. But the pattern held even after the study team took into account how advanced patients' cancers were, their age and other aspects of their diet, lifestyle and health.

"Any activity is better than none," including walking, stretching and gardening, said Peter Campbell, the lead researcher on the study from the American Cancer Society.

"Five to ten minutes at a time is fine, and the type of activity we're talking about here, this isn't marathon running or climbing the Alps."

Campbell's analysis included about 2,300 people who developed colon cancer out of an initial pool of 184,000 volunteers in a cancer prevention and nutrition study launched in 1992.

Over an average of eight years after their diagnosis, 846 people with colon cancer died - including 379 from cancer.

The researchers found that study participants who exercised the most - equal to two and half hours of walking per week or more - both before and after being diagnosed were 28 to 42 percent less likely to die during the follow-up period than those who barely exercised at all.

Spending six or more hours of leisure time on the couch daily before diagnosis, compared to less than three hours, was tied to a 36 percent higher chance of dying. Being sedentary after a cancer diagnosis was linked to a 27 percent increased risk of death - although that particular finding could have been due to chance, the researchers noted this week in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

To account for the fact that very sick people can't exercise, Campbell and his colleagues excluded anyone who died within two years of their last survey, and found similar results.

Researchers have known for a while that obesity and exercise affect a person's risk of getting colon cancer in the first place, said Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, who has also studied exercise and colon cancer survival.

"The question when you're a patient with colorectal cancer is, ?Do those things matter once I get the disease? Are there things I can do in addition to standard treatment to reduce my risk of recurrence?'" he told Reuters Health.

Researchers said there are a couple of possible explanations for why exercise, both pre- and post-diagnosis, might benefit people with cancer.

"What we think is at least part of what is happening is, people are going into surgery and adjuvant treatment in a more fit state," Campbell told Reuters Health.

In addition, he said, "If you're active both before and after diagnosis, there are a lot of changes that occur in your blood," such as in levels of insulin and other hormones.

"There are a lot of systemic changes that occur that probably decrease your chance of recurrence and ultimately dying."

People in the study who exercised regularly were less likely to die in general and of cardiovascular disease - such as heart attacks and lung disease - in particular. For those patients, exercise likely has the same benefit as for cancer-free people, Campbell said.

"Patients that have colon cancer, about two-thirds of them survive after five years and what they end up dying of is what all older people end up dying of, and that's usually cardiovascular disease."

He said people with colon cancer should discuss with their doctors when they can get back to physical activity. Some patients with anemia, for example, might want to hold off on exercise, and others who are immune compromised should probably avoid public gyms.

Meyerhardt recommended that people who exercised before their diagnosis return to that level of activity. Those who are new to exercise should take small steps toward increasing their activity, he added, such as walking and physical therapy.

However, Meyerhardt emphasized, exercise isn't a substitute for standard colon cancer treatments like surgery, and in some cases, chemotherapy.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/WhX6oU Journal of Clinical Oncology, online January 22, 2013.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/exercise-tied-better-colon-cancer-survival-odds-192228962.html

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Worms: A Zimbabwe snack, from tree to dinner table

In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 16, 2013, Mpokuhle Ncube finds a mopane worm in a tree in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 16, 2013, Mpokuhle Ncube finds a mopane worm in a tree in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this photo taken Monday Jan. 7, 2013, members of the Nkomo family eat a meal of mopane worms and cooked maize meal outside their home in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 16, 2013, Amalinda Ndlovu shows her catch while harvesting mopane worms in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this photo taken Sunday Jan. 16, 2013, Mpokuhle Ncube hangs from a Mopane tree in search of mopane worms for harvesting in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

In this photo taken Monday Jan. 7, 2013, Mpokuhle Moyo with her baby on her back, carries a bucket full of mopane worms to her home in Gwanda, Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

GWANDA, Zimbabwe (AP) ? In Zimbabwe as well as most parts of southern Africa, mopane worms are a staple part of the diet in rural areas and are considered a delicacy in the cities. They can be eaten dry, as crunchy as potato chips, or cooked and drenched in sauce. I decided to document the harvesting, preparation, sale and consumption of the worms, and found the preparation somewhat stomach-turning. But the worms can be mighty tasty and they're very nutritious. Here's everything you always wanted to know about mopane worms but were afraid to ask.

THE MOPANE WORM

The worm is the large caterpillar of the Gonimbrasia belina species, commonly called the emperor moth. It is known as a mopane worm because it is found chomping the leaves of mopane trees after it hatches in summer. It has also burrowed its way into literature, finding its way, for example, into the pages of Alexander McCall Smith's series about The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, set in neighboring Botswana. At least one of the characters munches on dried mopane worms.

THE HARVEST

After six weeks of rain, the mopane worms can be seen clinging to, and feeding on, the leaves of the mopane trees in rural Gwanda, an arid cattle-ranching area in southern Zimbabwe. Amanda Ncube normally fetches firewood to sell and looks after the family cattle, but when it's worm-harvesting season she joins other women and a few men in collecting the worms, which are as long as the width of two hands and as thick as a cigar. She slowly plucks them from the lower branches before climbing partway up the tree to shake off the higher ones. The more stubborn ones that cling to the leaves and branches are pried loose with a long stick. The worms excrete a brown liquid once they make contact with a human hand, leaving the pickers' hands wet and slippery. As they harvest the worms, the women and men move from one tree to another until their buckets are full. A thick slimy green fluid comes out as Ncube carefully squeezes out the entrails from a mopane worm she has just plucked from a tree. While some worms are prepared on site, other harvesters wait until they are back home where they squeeze out the entrails of the worms before leaving them to dry for a few days in the hot African sun. During harvest season, the porches of mud-walled homes are covered with thousands of worms, laid out to dry.

THE MARKET

At the local market, mopane worms are quite popular with residents who buy a cup or two of them and eat them immediately. The market is abuzz with activity, with most stalls strategically displaying the delicacy so people cannot miss them. Vendors offer free samples. The mopani worms are graded according to size and the area where they were harvested. Picky buyers ask about their provenance before buying, favoring worms from one district over another because, to the connoisseurs, worms from one area taste different from those from another.

HIGH PROTEIN

The mopane worm is a healthful and cheap source of nutrition.

A Zimbabwean nutritionist, Marlon Chidemo, says the worms are high in healthy nutrients and contain three times the amount of protein as beef. He says eating worms is less taxing on the environment than consuming beef because it takes far fewer leaves to produce worms than it does feed to produce the same amount of beef.

WORMY BUSINESS

Dried mopane worms have become a multimillion-dollar industry, even exported to countries like South Africa and Botswana. They can be found in African restaurants in Paris.

PREPARATION

Once they've been dried out, they can be eaten straight away. They can also be cooked in a spicy or peanut butter sauce and served with pap, a maize porridge.

Having grown up eating the mopane worms, I have never had the opportunity to see how they harvest and prepare them until now. While the process is rather disgusting, the worm can be a pleasure to eat as a starter or a side dish. The taste is reminiscent of salty potato chips. Malawi's first President Hastings Kamuzu Banda preferred his just like that, simply dried and then eaten as a snack like chips. Banda was known for carrying around pocketsful of worms that he would also offer to children.

A RECIPE

Here is a Congolese recipe that AP's special Africa correspondent Michelle Faul describes as "one of the tastiest" for mopane worms.

Mopani Worms for four people.

Ingredients: 500 grams dried mopane worms; three tomatoes, diced or 1 can of tomatoes; two onions, diced; 1/2 teaspoon turmeric; three fresh green chilies, finely chopped; three cloves of garlic, finely chopped; tablespoon of fresh ginger, finely chopped. Soak dried worms in water for 3-4 hours to reconstitute. Fry onions in groundnut oil on medium heat until translucent. Add turmeric, chilies, garlic and ginger. Fry for about five minutes. Add tomatoes and cook on low for about 20 minutes until spices are well blended. Add drained worms and cook until they have softened a bit but still are a little crunchy. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pap, called sadza in Zimbabwe. Enjoy.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-01-24-Zimbabwe-Worms!/id-f219fa1d410648b7b34214c3db250775

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Gilda's Club chapter in Wis. sticks with name

MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Stung by the overwhelmingly negative reaction to removing the name of original "Saturday Night Live" cast member Gilda Radner from a cancer support group's title, a Wisconsin chapter is borrowing one of the comedian's catch phrases for its next announcement: Never mind.

Gilda's Club Madison will remain just that, group leaders told The Associated Press on Wednesday. The board voted last week to keep the name after an avalanche of criticism in November when it announced it was switching to the more generic Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin, in part out of concern that young people today were unfamiliar with Radner, who died of ovarian cancer in 1989.

"It really struck a chord with folks and all of us agreed we want people to come to Gilda's and get the help that they need," said Wayne Harris, chairman of the board for the Madison chapter. "If this is what it takes to make that happen, we're all as a group happy to make it happen."

The intention of changing to a broader name was honorable, Harris said. "In retrospect, we probably should have thought that through or understood it more," he said.

Anger over the name change, which was supposed to take effect this month, came from members of the local Gilda's Club chapter, fans of Radner who saw it as a slight to a woman who confronted cancer with dignity and humor, leaders of other clubs who reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the name, as well as Radner's husband, actor Gene Wilder.

"We started receiving emails right away," said Lannia Stenz, director of the Madison chapter. "For the most part it was simply asking 'Why did you do this? Please reconsider.' It was really, truly passionate feedback. We had some people who were angry but at the base of everything it was the love of Gilda and her story."

Reaction to the news led to a flurry of positive comments Wednesday on the Gilda's Club Facebook page and on Twitter.

"At the end of the day it's a good win," said LauraJane Hyde, who runs the Gilda's Club chapter in Chicago. "Gilda's roots were improv. As she would have said, 'Make mistakes work for you.'"

Ron Nief, a professor at Beloit College in southern Wisconsin who has made a career out of studying how generations view the world differently, said he was glad to know that Radner still resonates with people and has not been forgotten.

But Nief also said he thought the decision to keep the name was more about securing future donations and less about honoring Radner.

"They are an organization that does very good work and in order to do it they have to raise money and the name is related to their ability to raise funds," Nief said.

Stenz, leader of the Madison chapter, said the potential loss of donations "was not as much of a factor in our decision to retain the name." She said it was driven more by feedback from its board, Gilda's Club members and people in the community.

Stenz and Harris said the goal of the name change was always about making clear the group's mission, not to remove Radner's memory.

"We were just talking about changing the name that we went by legally," Harris said. While Radner would have still been a part of the organization, "in the end, they want to see Gilda's name out front," he said.

Paintings and drawings of Radner line the walls of the Madison-area chapter, which is located in the suburb of Middleton. One depicts her on top of Madison's state Capitol. Another imagines her sitting along the shores of Lake Mendota on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

The meeting rooms are named after her "Saturday Night Live" characters, including New York-street smart reporter Roseanne Roseannadana; speech-impeded talk show host Baba Wawa, a parody of Barbara Walters; and out-of-sync editorialist Emily Litella who would say, "Never mind," after being told of her confusion.

Radner was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986. She sought support from The Wellness Community in California, and in 1991, her friends and family started Gilda's Club on the East Coast to honor her legacy. The name was inspired by something Radner said after her diagnosis: "Having cancer gave me membership in an elite club I'd rather not belong to."

Gilda's Club Worldwide merged with The Wellness Community in 2009, and the joint headquarters in Washington changed its name to the Cancer Support Community. Local chapters were given the choice of keeping their names or changing it. Of the 53 chapters worldwide, 23 are known as Gilda's Club.

Together, the chapters deliver $40 million a year in free care to about 1 million cancer patients and their families, said Linda House, executive vice president of the national Cancer Support Community. The Madison chapter has about 2,200 members.

Stenz said she hoped the Madison community that Gilda's Club serves will embrace its decision to keep the name.

As far as lessons learned from the experience, Harris had a simple takeaway: "We're not changing our name again."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gildas-club-chapter-wis-sticks-name-171947151.html

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Dutch, Britons, Germans warned to leave Benghazi

LONDON (AP) ? Britain, Germany and the Netherlands urged their citizens Thursday to immediately leave the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi in response to what was described as an imminent threat against Westerners. European officials told The Associated Press that schools were among the potential targets.

The warnings come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton testified to Congress about the September attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi that killed four Americans, including the ambassador to Libya. They also come as French troops battle al-Qaida linked militants in Mali and follow the deaths of dozens of foreigners taken hostage by Islamist extremists in Algeria ? though it remained unclear if those two events were linked to the latest concerns about Libya.

The foreign ministries of the three countries issued statements variously describing the threat as specific and imminent but none gave details. Germany and Britain urged their nationals still in Benghazi to leave "immediately," while Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Thijs van Son said that "staying in this area is not to be advised."

Schools, businesses and offices of non-governmental organizations were among the possible targets, according to two European officials familiar with the threats made and who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted by name in the media. They refused to give any other details.

It was not immediately clear how many people could be affected; Britain's Foreign Office said likely "dozens" of its citizens were in the city, while van Son said there are four Dutch citizens registered as being in Benghazi and possibly two more. A German Foreign Ministry official, who requested anonymity because government policy did not allow him to be quoted by name, said there are "very few" German citizens in and around Benghazi.

Several countries have for months advised against all travel to the city, especially after the U.S. mission was attacked, and local residents said that many foreigners had already left in recent weeks.

Air Malta said that Thursday's flights between the Mediterranean island and Benghazi had been canceled following the British advice. The airline said its next flight to Benghazi was scheduled for Tuesday of next week, adding that "the airline will review the situation on an ongoing basis." Air Malta said flights to Tripoli were not affected.

Benghazi, a city of 1 million people, is a business hub where many major firms employ Westerners. It also was where the Libyan uprising against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi began in 2011. Gadhafi was eventually toppled and killed after NATO backed the rebel movement, and the Arab country has since struggled with security. Al-Qaida-linked militants operate in the country alongside other Islamist groups.

Adel Mansouri, principal of the International School of Benghazi, said U.K. and foreign nationals were warned in the last few days about a possible threat to Westerners.

He said the school's teachers were given the option of leaving but decided to stay. The school has some 540 students. Most are Libyan, with some 40 percent who hold dual nationality. Less than 5 percent are British while 10 to 15 students have U.S.-Libyan nationality, Mansouri said. Classes were not due to resume until Sunday because of a holiday Thursday.

"We told the British ambassador we are staying, and we'll be in touch," said Mansouri, himself a Libyan-British dual national. "We don't see a threat on the ground."

Saleh Gawdat, a Benghazi lawmaker, said French doctors who were working in Benghazi hospitals have left the city and that the French cultural center has closed out of concerns about potential retaliation over the French-led military intervention in nearby Mali, which began two weeks ago.

Violence in Benghazi has targeted both foreigners as well as Libyan officials in recent months, with assassinations, bombings and other attacks.

In addition to the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. mission, an Italian diplomat's car was fired on by militants in Benghazi. The consul, Guido De Sanctis, wasn't injured in the attack earlier this month, but the incident prompted Italy to order the temporary suspension of its consular activities in the city and send its foreign staff home.

Islamist extremists in the area are often blamed for targeting security officials who worked under Gadhafi, as a kind of revenge for torturing or imprisoning them in the past. Many city residents also blame Gadhafi loyalists who they say are trying to undermine Libya's new leaders by sowing violence.

Ibrahim Sahd, a Benghazi-based lawmaker and politician, said that the new government is putting together a plan to beef up security in the city and this "might have worried the Westerners of a backlash."

Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist with links to al-Qaida who is now an analyst at London's Quilliam Foundation, said other groups inspired by the terror network have been gaining a following since Gadhafi's fall. There have been nearly a dozen attacks against Western targets in Libya recently, he said.

"It's the same al-Qaida ideology that is driving these militants," Benotman said.

He added, however, that the militants were unlikely to target oil or gas installations in Libya because they need support from the population. "Targeting these installations would turn Libyan workers and tribes against them," he said.

Oil companies working in other parts of Libya said they were aware of government warnings to citizens but there were no immediate plans for evacuations.

____

Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Juergen Baetz in Berlin, Maggie Michael in Cairo, Paisley Dodds and Gregory Katz in London and Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dutch-britons-germans-warned-leave-benghazi-172459493.html

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Harry Morton: Dating Demi Moore?!?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/harry-morton-dating-demi-moore/

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Boy Bands NKOTB, 98 Degrees, & Boyz II Men Reunite For Tour!

Boy Bands NKOTB, 98 Degrees, & Boyz II Men Reunite For Tour!

Veteran boy bands New Kids On The Block, 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men are teaming up for a 28-date North American tour this summer! The Package Tour will begin in Uncasville, Connecticut on May 31 and continue on to venues in the United States and Canada. The boy band tour was announced this morning ...

Boy Bands NKOTB, 98 Degrees, & Boyz II Men Reunite For Tour! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/01/boy-bands-nkotb-98-degrees-boyz-ii-men-reunite-for-tour/

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The Garmin cycle computer reviewed and compared

Are you looking for the best Garmin cycle computer? If you are you have come to the right place. I have tried many different bicycle computers over the years and out of all the different brands and models I have had the fortune (and misfortune, in some instances) to use I can say that the Garmin cycle computer is the best in its class. It doesn't matter what Garmin cycle computer you buy, you won't regret it.

"So what's so good about the Garmin cycle computer?" This is an easy one.

1) Garmin cycle computers are tough, durable and well made. In my opinion, they are the most durable bicycle computer available.

2) Garmin cycle computers are a fully sealed unit which means they are totally waterproof and can be used in all weathers. I can personally vouch for this as I have used my Garmin cycle computer in torrential rain and it still works fine.

3) Garmin cycle computers require no set up, i.e. they are a "plug and play" and can be used on any bike. If you have a road bike and a mountain bike this means you can switch between the two with ease.

4) Garmin cycle computers are logical and user friendly, which makes them so easy to use.

5) Garmin cycle computers rely on GPS technology to calculate speed, distance, altitude etc. which makes them very accurate.
All Garmin cycle computers are wireless which means no cable ties wrapped around your bike and no risk of getting your feet, pedals, handlebars etc. caught up in any wires.

6) Garmin cycle computers can be removed from the bike when you park up for a drink stop, which means they computer can't be pinched.

7) A Garmin cycle computer is full of technology and they look awesome too.

The above is true of all Garmin cycle computers, regardless of the model you buy. Obviously, the top end Garmin cycle computers have more features and technology but all Garmin cycle computers in the range have the basic features above.

If you want to find out what Garmin cycle computer models are available, and a bit more about each one please check out the Garmin Cycle computers below.

Source: http://www.squidoo.com/garmin-cycle-computer

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