Request for Question Clarification by
bcguide-ga
on
06 May 2003 22:29 PDT
Hi randomrob-ga,
I'm not sure if this is what you have in mind so I'm posting it as a
clarification. The site is http://www.mdlinx.com/hemeonclinx/index.cfm
They are not affiliated with any specific treatments. These are
articles that appeared in peer reviewed journals. I really don't know
if they were submitted to JAMA first and then to another journal where
they were accepted.
When you get to the main site, click on alternative therapies.
Registration is required. You can register as a healthcare consumer.
They have a newsletter that is sent every few days with the latest
articles on alternative therapies in cancer research. The following
are a few that are listed:
May 02, 2003
Role of Lycopene in Prostate Cancer - American Health Consultants -
Hot Topics in Healthcare
Several epidemiological studies have found an inverse association
between lycopene consumption (a major carotenoid found in tomatoes,
watermelon, guava, apricots, and pink grapefruit) and prostate cancer
risk. This article will review the current scientific evidence linking
intake of lycopene with a reduced risk of prostate cancer...
April 14, 2003
Use of complementary/alternative medicine among paediatric patients -
European Journal of Pediatrics
Conclusion: Of the paediatric patients, 53% had tried
complementary/alternative medicine, which was used as a supplement to
conventional medicine although we did not know how long it was used.
Paediatric patients should be interviewed about their use of
complementary/alternative medicine with regard to side-effects,
interactions or lack of compliance with conventional medicine...
Complementary Medicine Use among Women Enrolled in a Genetic Testing
Program - Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention
Conclusion: Any potential effects of the genetic information itself on
CAM use, and any possible relationship of CAM use to other risk
reduction behaviors, require further research...
April 11, 2003
Anticancer effect and immune induction by hyperthermia of malignant
melanoma using magnetite cationic liposomes - Melanoma Research
These results suggest that hyperthermia using MCLs is an effective
therapy for melanoma, since this treatment can kill the tumour cells
not only by heat but also by inducing an immune response...
April 08, 2003
Gamma-linolenic acid therapy of human gliomas - Nutrition
Conclusions: Based on results of the present and previous studies, we
believe that GLA is a safe antitumor agent and that higher doses of
GLA should be investigated in future studies...
April 03, 2003
Clonal expansion of CD8+ BV8 T lymphocytes in bone marrow
characterizes thymoma-associated B lymphopenia - Blood
We propose that BV8 CD8+ T cells may play a role in the pathogenesis
of this immunodeficiency syndrome...
April 02, 2003
Herb-Drug Interactions - American Health Consultants - Hot Topics in
Healthcare
The use of herbal remedies has expanded widely in the last decade.
Sales of dietary supplements in the United States doubled every two
years between 1991 and 1999..This article will focus on the
interactions between herbal remedies and pharmaceutical drugs.
Research in this area has been slow to develop, in part because of a
failure to recognize the significance of the problem...
March 31, 2003
Antineoplastic activity of honey in an experimental bladder cancer
implantation model: In vivo and in vitro studies - International
Journal of Urology
Conclusion: Bee honey is an effective agent for inhibiting the growth
of T24, RT4, 253J and MBT-2 bladder cancer cell lines in vitro. It is
also effective when administered intralesionally or orally in the
MBT-2 bladder cancer implantation models. Our results are promising,
and further research is needed to clarify the mechanisms of the
antitumor activity of honey...
March 24, 2003
Chronic pain and the use of conventional and alternative therapy -
Family Practice
Chronic pain is a common problem affecting about half of the general
population. This has implications for the utilization of both
conventional and alternative health services. The aim of this study
was to determine the use of conventional and alternative practitioners
and medicines amongst individuals with chronic pain in the
community...
March 18, 2003
Chemo versus nutritional therapies: Is a conflict of interest
compromising fair evaluation of alternative cancer treatments? -
Natural HealthLine
The common practice in which oncologists (cancer specialists) not only
prescribe chemotherapy to their patients but actually sell them the
drugs. This practice represents a serious conflict of interest, since
most oncologists now rely on drug sales to bring significant amounts
of revenue into their offices...
There are many more available at this site.
If you search pub med
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed
for "alternative therapies cancer"
you'll find some additional references such as:
Bennett MP, Zeller JM, Rosenberg L, McCann J.
The effect of mirthful laughter on stress and natural killer cell
activity.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2003 Mar-Apr;9(2):38-45.
Kim DJ, Shin DH, Ahn B, Kang JS, Nam KT, Park CB, Kim CK, Hong JT, Kim
YB, Yun YW, Jang DD, Yang KH.
Chemoprevention of colon cancer by Korean food plant components.
Mutat Res. 2003 Feb-Mar;523-524:99-107.
Fujiki H, Suganuma M, Kurusu M, Okabe S, Imayoshi Y, Taniguchi S,
Yoshida T.
New TNF-alpha releasing inhibitors as cancer preventive agents from
traditional herbal medicine and combination cancer prevention study
with EGCG and sulindac or tamoxifen.
Mutat Res. 2003 Feb-Mar;523-524:119-25.
Yun TK.
Experimental and epidemiological evidence on non-organ specific cancer
preventive effect of Korean ginseng and identification of active
compounds.
Mutat Res. 2003 Feb-Mar;523-524:63-74.
Jatoi A, Ellison N, Burch PA, Sloan JA, Dakhil SR, Novotny P, Tan W,
Fitch TR, Rowland KM, Young CY, Flynn PJ.
A phase II trial of green tea in the treatment of patients with
androgen independent metastatic prostate carcinoma.
Cancer. 2003 Mar 15;97(6):1442-6.
Alternative therapies are getting to be more mainstream and serious
scientific research is taking place. While the move to accept
non-traditional medicine is new and the results are not questionable,
responsible doctors are not likely to forego traditional treatments in
favor of alternatives. However, many doctors are beginning to combine
alternative therapies with more traditional treatments.
Quackwatch (http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/altseek.html)
is a good site for getting an objective view of alternative
treatments.
The problem is that so many false claims have been hyped that, as a
patient, it is extremely difficult to sort out what works from what
someone claims is a miracle cure because it worked on a few patients.
The latter can cost you much more than money if you entrust your life
to a phoney treatment. On the other hand, it seems clear that doctors
have a strong financial interest in continuing to use the drugs and
treatments that the big companies produce. The side effects of these
can be very serious. It's not easy to make life and death decisions
when the information is filtered through a profit motive - on either
side.
If this is an acceptable response, please let me know and I will post
it as an answer.
Search terms: cancer alternative therapies discussions research
Regards,
bcguide-ga
