Wrap Up On The Week

Calif. regulators warn of pot's cancer capability

It might take Californians a puff or two to get their heads around an apparent contradiction recently enshrined in state law. The same marijuana smoke that doctors can recommend to ease cancer patients' suffering must soon come with a warning saying it causes the disease.

State environmental regulators last month voted to place marijuana smoke on its list of hundreds of substances known to cause cancer. The decision could lead to warning signs in medical marijuana dispensaries and labels on packaged pot within a year.

A voter-approved measure made medical marijuana legal in California in 1996. Key backers included patients with serious illnesses such as cancer and AIDS who said pot helped them manage pain and nausea.

Medical marijuana advocates sought to downplay the significance of the state's decision, arguing researchers have long known that the smoke contains cancer-causing compounds.

"This does not mean in any way that those carcinogens that appear in smoked marijuana, smoked cannabis, have any kind of causal relationship to cancer," said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, a pro-medical marijuana group.

Regulators disagree. Scientists with the state's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment reviewed 27 studies of the links between marijuana and cancer in humans. Though not all the studies showed a link, regulators found that "marijuana smoke was clearly shown, through scientifically valid testing according to generally accepted principles, to cause cancer," according to an agency statement.

Dr. Thomas Mack, a University of Southern California epidemiologist and chairman of the committee, said the decision to list marijuana smoke as a cancer-causing substance should not surprise anyone.

Source and More
http://www.physorg.com/news165936031.html
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Are Persons with Down Syndrome Protected Against Some Forms of Cancer?

Down syndrome (DS), or Trisomy 21, is defined by an extra copy of chromosome 21 in all cells. In humans there are normally 2 copies of each of 23 chromosomes for a total of 46 in each cell; in DS there are 47.

An extensive review of literature available in 1998 showed that the distribution of cancer in DS in quite different than in the general population (GP). A number of epidemiological studies identified then, or published since, have confirmed that DS is associated with a marked increased risk of leukemia. Increased risks of incidence of or mortality from lymphomas and a few solid tumors have also been reported. On the other hand, a number of studies have suggested that other solid tumors are less common in persons with DS than in the general population. A potential DS-related protective effect against some cancers has been suggested, and this has encouraged a number of studies of a possible genetic mechanism of tumor suppression related to DS.

Source and More
http://www.healthnews.com/disease-illness/are-persons-down-syndrome-protected-against-some-forms-cancer-3404.html
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What Is Psychotherapy? What Are The Benefits Of Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy consists of a series of techniques for treating mental health, emotional and some psychiatric disorders. Psychotherapy helps the patient understand what helps them feel positive or anxious, as well as accepting their strong and weak points. If people can identify their feelings and ways of thinking they become better at coping with difficult situations.

According to Medilexicon's medical dictionary, psychotherapy is "Treatment of emotional, behavioral, personality, and psychiatric disorders based primarily on verbal or nonverbal communication and interventions with the patient, in contrast to treatments using chemical and physical measures." Simply put, psychotherapy aims to alleviate psychological distress through talking, rather than drugs.

Psychotherapy is commonly used for psychological problems that have had a number of years to accumulate. It only works if a trusting relationship can be built up between the client and the psychotherapist (in psychology "client" can mean "patient"). Treatment can continue for several months, and even years. Psychotherapy may be practiced on a one-to-one basis, or in pairs, and even in groups. Generally, sessions occur about once a week and last one hour.

Source and More
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/156433.php