Older Women With HER-2 Breast Cancer May Want to Reconsider Herceptin

FIRST PERSON | New research shows that older women with HER-2 breast cancers are at a higher risk for heart problems than previously thought. The risk is intensified when used as part of a cancer treatment containing anthracycline drugs for chemotherapy. Science Codex reports that Yale University published the study.

At age 50, I do not consider myself an older women. This new study is important to me, as I have HER-2 positive breast cancer and I am currently in treatment with Herceptin. Although this study focuses on the senior population, it is well known that Herceptin increases the risk in all patients, independent of age, for heart failure. That is why my oncologist insists I have a MUGA scan once every three months until my treatment is complete.

Yale University’s Research

The Yale study looked at 45,536 women on Medicare who had early-stage breast cancers. What they found was Herceptin use jumped from just 2.6 percent in 2000 to 22.6 percent in 2007. Most older women are excluded from clinical trials. How Herceptin reacts with an older breast cancer population is not well documented.

The study placed women with breast cancer into groups for comparison. One group did not receive any adjuvant (post-surgical) treatment with chemotherapy or Herceptin. When compared to this group, women who had adjuvant treatment with Herceptin only had a 14 percent higher rate of heart failure. Women who had a combination of Herceptin and an anthracycline treatment for breast cancer showed a 23.8 percent increase in heart problems. Those that only used an anthracycline had 2.1 percent increase in heart failure or cardiomyopathy.

Implications

This study clearly shows that more research into real-life use of Herceptin is needed. While it works well for some women, in others it does not work at all. For women who suffer from heart failure as a result of breast cancer treatment with Herceptin, they must wonder if the treatment was worse than the disease.

I am concerned that my Herceptin treatment may trash my heart in order to help rid my body of early-stage cancer. At stage 1 — with no signs of it being in my lymph system — is Herceptin overkill? How many other women are in my shoes, where fear of recurrence drives them to treatments that may cause more harm than good. I would like to see more research into using Herceptin for non-metastatic, early-stage breast cancer. We may find that older women with early-stage HER-2 positive breast cancers will opt out of Herceptin treatments due to the high risk of heart damage.

Lynda Altman was diagnosed with breast cancer in November 2011. She writes a series for Yahoo! Shine called “My Battle With Breast Cancer.”

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Jamaica to abolish slavery-era flogging law

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaica is preparing to abolish a slavery-era law allowing flogging and whipping as means of punishing prisoners, the Caribbean country’s justice ministry said Thursday.

The ministry said the punishment hasn’t been ordered by a court since 2004 but the statutes remain in the island’s penal code. It was administered with strokes from a tamarind-tree switch or a cat o’nine tails, a whip made of nine, knotted cords.

Justice Minister Mark Golding says the “degrading” punishment is an anachronism which violates Jamaica’s international obligations and is preventing Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller‘s government from ratifying the U.N. convention against torture.

“The time has come to regularize this situation by getting these colonial-era laws off our books once and for all,” Golding said in a Thursday statement.

The Cabinet has already approved repealing the flogging law and amendments to other laws in the former British colony, where plantation slavery was particularly brutal.

The announcement was welcomed by human rights activists who view the flogging law as a barbaric throwback in a nation populated mostly by the descendants of slaves.

“We don’t really see that (the flogging law) has any part in the approach of dealing with crime in a modern democracy,” said group spokeswoman Susan Goffe.

But there are no shortage of crime-weary Jamaicans who feel that authorities should not drop the old statutes but instead enforce them, arguing that thieves who steal livestock or violent criminals who harm innocent people should receive a whipping to teach them a lesson.

“The worst criminals need strong punishing or else they’ll do crimes over and over,” said Chris Drummond, a Kingston man with three school-age children. “Getting locked up is not always enough.”

The last to suffer the punishment in Jamaica was Errol Pryce, who was sentenced to four years in prison and six lashes in 1994 for stabbing his mother-in-law.

Pryce was flogged the day before being released from prison in 1997 and later complained to the U.N. Human Rights Committee, which ruled in 2004 that the form of corporal punishment was cruel, inhuman and degrading and violated his rights. Jamaican courts then stopped ordering whipping or flogging.

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After Garbo, Leigh, no defining “Anna Karenina”: Knightley

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Film adaptations of “Anna Karenina” have featured the likes of Greta Garbo and Vivien Leigh, but Keira Knightley isn’t fazed about measuring up to such silver screen luminaries with a new cinematic take on Leo Tolstoy‘s classic novel.

The British actress’s turn in the title role in the timeless story about a beautiful married socialite in 1870s Russia who embarks on a passionate affair with a cavalry officer, follows the 1935 version starring Garbo and the 1948 film with Leigh. It is released in the United States on Friday.

“Although there have been many famous actresses play her, there’s never been a definitive version of ‘Anna Karenina,’” Knightley said in an interview. “I think it’s partly because of the relationship you have with the character. She poses more questions than she answers, so it’s always open to different interpretation.”

Knightley stars opposite Jude Law as her husband, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the dashing Count Vronsky, and teams up again with filmmaker Joe Wright in their third film together after previous book-to-film collaborations with 2007′s “Atonement” and 2005′s “Pride & Prejudice.”

The film debuted at the Toronto film festival to warm reviews for Knightley‘s performance. Critics have said the film is overall technically and visually accomplished but lacks a cohesive emotional punch.

Adapted by playwright Tom Stoppard, Wright’s “Anna Karenina” takes place mostly in a theater setting and sees the title character more high-strung and less sympathetic than in previous incarnations.

The director said he cast Knightley, 27, because he felt she could tap into all the internal elements of Anna.

“She was 18 when we made ‘Pride & Prejudice‘, just a kid,” said Wright. “I’ve seen her develop from stunning ingénue to great actress. I felt that she was stronger, braver, even less conforming than she had been before.”

Knightley, newly engaged to musician James Righton, said she stood in moral condemnation over Anna,- “But am I any better than her? No.”

“I think we’re all her,” she added. “That is why she’s so terrifying. We all have bits of her personality within us. We can be wonderful, we can be loving, we can be full of laughter and full of life, and we can also be deceitful, malicious, needy and full of rage.”

WORLDS AWAY

While “Karenina” cements the perception of Knightley as a go-to actress for period pieces that also includes films like 2008′s “The Duchess” and 2004′s “King Arthur,” her career wasn’t always associated with roles grounded in the past.

Knightley spent the 1990s working in the British film and television industry before gaining international attention in the 2002 teenage soccer movie “Bend it Like Beckham.” After that, the actress said she was offered “an awful lot” of films in the teenage genre.

“The one thing that I knew right from the beginning was that I didn’t want to get into those high school movies,” she said. “I was never that interested in being a teenager. I was always interested in worlds away from my own.”

She credits the “massive” success of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise – which saw her play Elizabeth Swan in the first three installments – as an integral part of her career and “a lot of the reason I was able to do other kinds of smaller films, because my name would help in financing them.”

Coming up, Knightley takes a turn away from costume dramas, in “Can A Song Save Your Life?” – a musical drama that sees her starring as an aspiring singer who meets a down-on-his-luck record producer, played by Mark Ruffalo. She’s currently shooting a reboot of the Tom Clancy thriller “Jack Ryan.”

“I got to the end of ‘Anna Karenina’ and I realized that I’d done about five years of work where I pretty much died in every movie and it was all very dark,” she said. “So I thought, okay, I want this year to be the year of positivity and pure entertainment.”

(Reporting by Zorianna Kit, editing by Christine Kearney and Patricia Reaney)

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Canada’s Carney says rate hikes “less imminent”

TORONTO (Reuters) – Interest rate hikes have become less imminent than the Bank of Canada once expected, although rates are still likely to rise, central bank Governor Mark Carney said in an interview published on Saturday.

“Over time, rates are likely to increase somewhat, but over time, so a less imminent timing relative to our expectation,” Carney said in an interview with the National Post newspaper.

Canada’s economy rebounded better than most from the global economic recession, and the Bank of Canada is the only central bank in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that is currently hinting at higher interest rates.

But Carney has also made clear that there will be no rate rise for a while, despite high domestic borrowing rates that he sees as a major risk to a still fragile economy.

“We’ve been very clear in terms of lines of defense in addressing financial vulnerabilities,” he said in the interview. “And the most prominent one, obviously, in Canada, is household debt.”

He said the bank was monitoring the impact of four successive government moves to tighten mortgage lending, which aimed to take the froth out of a hot housing market without causing a damaging crash in prices.

A Reuters poll published on Friday showed the majority of 20 forecasters believe the government has done enough to rein in runaway prices, preventing the type of crash that devastated the U.S. market.

The experts expect Canadian housing prices to fall 10 percent over the next several years, but they do not expect the recent property boom to end in a U.S.-style collapse.

(Reporting by Janet Guttsman; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Springsteen, McCartney, Kanye set for Sandy show

NEW YORK (AP) — Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and Kanye West will hit the stage at a Superstorm Sandy benefit concert next month at Madison Square Garden.

MSG announced Thursday that Billy Joel, The Who, Alicia Keys and Jon Bon Jovi will also perform at the Dec. 12 show, dubbed “12-12-12.” More performers will be announced at a later date.

Proceeds from the concert will go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund to benefit those affected by Sandy in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Sandy’s assault more than two weeks ago created widespread damage and power outages throughout the area.

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AcelRx pain treatment as effective as standard care in trial

(Reuters) – AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc said its drug-device combination for post-operative pain was at least as effective as the standard of care, suggesting it has the potential to replace the current treatment.

AcelRx plans to file for marketing approval for the device in the third quarter of 2013, Pamela Palmer, co-founder and chief medical officer of AcelRx said on a conference call with analysts.

The company’s stock jumped 42 percent to a year high of $ 4.55 in heavy volume trade on Thursday, making it the third biggest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq.

AcelRx tested its ARX-01 Sufentanil NanoTab patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) system against intravenous (IV) PCA with morphine on 359 adult patients in a late-stage study.

Initial data from the study also showed that the NanoTab System was significantly better than intravenous morphine.

In terms of the efficacy, ease-of-use and patient satisfaction, it was a great response, Guggenheim Partners analyst Louise Chen said.

“There are other pain drugs out there, but in terms of a drug-device combo like this, I am not currently aware of anything that’s out there or that is as far along as this, Chen said.

The treatment could bring in peak sales of $ 247 million in 2018. However, if the company’s ARX-01 technology replaces the standard therapy, peak sales could top $ 3 billion, Chen added.

Intravenous PCAs with morphine are commonly used on patients in hospitals to manage pain after a surgery. However, opioids such as morphine can cause side-effects such as nausea and vomiting, and also carry the risk of causing addiction.

“Given the significant shortcomings of intravenous morphine, we believe with superiority data from a sublingually administered analgesia will go a long way in creating strong demand and usage in the hospital setting,” Cowen & Co analyst Edward Nash wrote in a note.

AcelRx said its NanoTab device, which consists of a handheld system, provides a non-invasive and more mobile way of treating pain. Instead of morphine, the device administers sufentanil, another opioid that has relatively fewer side-effects and is already widely used in labor and cardiac surgeries.

The late-stage study tested ARX-01 Sufentanil NanoTab in patients who underwent major abdominal or orthopedic surgery.

AcelRx is testing the same device with different drugs in three other late-stage studies involving patients that have undergone other types of surgeries.

Analyst Nash said data released on Thursday improves the company’s chances of finding success with the other ongoing late-stage trials as well.

Analysts Chen and Nash both have a price target of $ 3.20 on AcelRx’s stock. Nash has an outperform rating on the stock, while Chen rates it a buy.

(Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon)

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A father's anguish in Gaza

Jihad Misharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (AP)

Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic correspondent who lives in Gaza, tragically became part of the story he's been covering on Wednesday, when an Israeli airstrike killed his 11-month-old son.

A chilling photo showing Misharawi carrying his son's body through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was published by the Associated Press and printed on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post.

According to Paul Danahar, the BBC's Middle East bureau chief, Misharawi's sister-in-law was also killed in the the airstrike that hit his home in Gaza. Misharawi's brother was also seriously wounded, Danahar said.

"This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza," BBC World editor Jon Williams wrote in a memo to colleagues. "We're fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It's a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues."

At least 10 Palestinians, including Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jabari, were killed during the Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, Palestinians officials said.

Israel launched the operation in response to successive days of rocket fire coming out of Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile, warned Jabari's assassination "had opened the gates of hell."

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A father's anguish in Gaza

Jihad Misharawi carries his son’s body at a Gaza hospital. (AP)

Jihad Misharawi, a BBC Arabic correspondent who lives in Gaza, tragically became part of the story he's been covering on Wednesday, when an Israeli airstrike killed his 11-month-old son.

A chilling photo showing Misharawi carrying his son's body through al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City was published by the Associated Press and printed on the front page of Thursday's Washington Post.

According to Paul Danahar, the BBC's Middle East bureau chief, Misharawi's sister-in-law was also killed in the the airstrike that hit his home in Gaza. Misharawi's brother was also seriously wounded, Danahar said.

"This is a particularly difficult moment for the whole bureau in Gaza," BBC World editor Jon Williams wrote in a memo to colleagues. "We're fortunate to have such a committed and courageous team there. It's a sobering reminder of the challenges facing many of our colleagues."

At least 10 Palestinians, including Hamas military chief Ahmed al-Jabari, were killed during the Israeli airstrikes on Wednesday, Palestinians officials said.

Israel launched the operation in response to successive days of rocket fire coming out of Gaza. Hamas, meanwhile, warned Jabari's assassination "had opened the gates of hell."

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‘Angry Birds Star Wars’ Is More Addictive Fun Fans Want [REVIEW]

Last month, Rovio announced a major partnership with Lucasfilm to create Angry Birds Star Wars. The game, out this week, represents a hybrid of the two powerful brands, and provides enjoyable gameplay for fans of both franchises.

[More from Mashable: Viral Video Recap: Memes of the Week]

For those unsure about the union, “I find your lack of faith disturbing.” Rovio has shown in Angry Birds Star Wars that it can create a fun, challenging game that doesn’t besmirch our favorite characters. Instead, laugh at images of Stormtroopers as pigs and Chewbacca as a giant, furry bird.

Angry Birds Star Wars doesn’t deviate from the main concept behind the series. The slingshot is back, and you’ve got to propel birds towards their swine foe to knock them over and destroy their fortresses. This is Rovio’s bread and butter, but it seems like each iteration of the game has been more creative, and asks more from players; Angry Birds Space added depth to the gameplay by including physics challenges, such as zero-gravity and planetary orbit.

[More from Mashable: iPad 4: A Turbocharged Tablet With Nothing to Do [REVIEW]]

Likewise, Angry Birds Star Wars creates new challenges by adding Star Wars-inspired powers to all of the birds, based on which character they portray. Red Bird, a.ka. Luke Skywalker, can swing a lightsaber to destroy objects he’s about smash into, or to take out an enemy. The bird version of Obi-Wan Kenobi can use The Force to push over obstacles while flying. Unsurprisingly, both of these powers are extremely fun to use (a lightsaber will always add entertainment value to whatever you’re doing).

The entire main cast of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is represented in bird form; each has their own power to master. Similarly, many of the films’ settings are portrayed in the game by beautifully drawn backgrounds. The levels that take place on Tantooine feature the planet’s two suns setting on the horizon.

Angry Birds also reenact classic Star Wars movie moments in cutscenes that appear between every few levels. While they may be corny, the scenes will bring a smile to any player’s face, especially when encountering the Jawas or bounty hunter Greedo rendered as birds or pigs.

There are many other touches to Angry Birds Star Wars that clearly demonstrate the game’s developers are passionate Star Wars superfans. For example, there are classic sounds that make nerd hearts flutter, such as the blaster noise that goes off whenever players hit a level’s high score. The sound editing also incorporates the film’s score with some cartoony remixes.

While Angry Birds Star Wars is playable on mobile, tablet and PC, it’s a better fit for larger screens. Players won’t be able to enjoy the tiny details of the world, not to mention the art and cinematics, as much when screen size is smaller. Targeting Angry Birds’ powers to small, specific spots also proves more difficult.

This is a must-download for fans of either franchise, and Rovio has made it available on virtually every platform at launch. Angry Birds Star Wars is out now for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone, Mac, PC and Windows 8, for either $ 0.99 or $ 2.99.

Title Screen

The Angry Birds Star Wars title screen. The HD version is available for tablets, Mac, PC and Windows 8.

Click here to view this gallery.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Diabetes rates rocket in Oklahoma, South

NEW YORK (AP) — The nation’s diabetes problem is getting worse, and health officials say the biggest changes have been in Oklahoma and a number of Southern states.

The diabetes rate in Oklahoma more than tripled over 15 years, and also boomed in Southern states like Kentucky, Georgia and Alabama.

Most cases are the kind of diabetes linked to obesity. Health officials believe extra weight explains the increases in the South and Southwest. They also say the rates overall are up because people with diabetes are living longer.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the state report Thursday.

The diabetes rate more than doubled in several Northern states, too, including Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio and Maine.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

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