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Topics: cancer, cancer.im, heather skien, mackay base hospital, social networking

A GLOBAL social networking site for cancer patients, set to go live in two weeks, has earned the praise of Mackay nurses.

Mackay Base Hospital clinical nurse consultant for cancer services Heather Skien said the Cancer.im site was a "great" initiative for patients to use during and after their treatment. (Note: site not yet functional)

The site is set up like Facebook with sections for users to organise and manage their treatment plan, research doctors and healthy eating tips and create a cancer support network.

Ms Skien said she'd noticed more patients "going online" in the last few years.

"Even the older ones are getting family members to teach them how to use the internet," she said.

"It starts with them getting online to see the outcome of their diagnosis, which isn't always good, and it leads to other sites, like forums."

A support network was vital for cancer sufferers, Ms Skien said.

"Once you hear that you have cancer you don't remember anything else," she said. "You really need people around to support you."

Ms Skien said parents of young children with cancer were now using online networking sites to connect with their doctors in Brisbane.

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Social networking site aimed at linking cancer sufferers

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians can avoid becoming cancer victims if they pay heed to the risk factors and lead healthier lifestyles, said Deputy Health Minister Datuk Rosnah Shirlin.

She cited activities like smoking, physical inactiveness and alcohol consumption as prime factors that lead to the deadly disease.

Infection by several types of viruses, such as human papiloma virus (HPV) and hepatitis B virus can also cause cancer.

HPV infection is the main risk factor of cervical cancer and hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) is one of the factors that cause liver cancer, said Rosnah in a statement here to mark World Cancer Day.

Rosnah said the theme of this year's event Cancer Did You Know? will focus on correcting misconceptions and improving people's knowledge about the dreaded disease.

She said over 12 million people worldwide will die from cancer by 2030 and all it takes for Malaysians to be free of the disease, the fourth biggest killer in the country, is awareness and early detection. Ministry statistics of that year showed lung cancer as being the biggest killer, accounting for 17.5% of cancer-related deaths. This was followed by breast cancer (10.2%) and colorectal cancer (8.5%).

Rosnah said a high percentage of cancer related deaths were attributed to late detection.

A third of all cancers are actually avoidable if detected early, she said, advising Malaysians to quit, or not to start smoking, maintain an ideal body weight, be physically active and reduce alcohol intake.

The percentage of cancer deaths in this country can be reduced if cancer is detected early and treatment immediately given, she said, calling on high-risk groups, such as people having a family member who had been diagnosed with cancer, to go for a screening.

Rosnah said breast cancer screening, through examination and mammograms, and cervical cancer screening, through pap smears, are available nationwide at all Health Ministry and National Population and Family Development health facilities.

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12. 'Lead healthier lifestyles'

London, Feb 3 (IANS) Tobacco may have been dubbed a killer, but a genetically altered version of the plant could provide a low cost cure for deadly rabies, says a study.

University of London scientists have developed an antibody from genetically engineered tobacco plants to prevent the virus from attaching to nerve endings around the bite site and from travelling to the brain.

"Rabies continues to kill many thousands of people throughout the developing world every year and can also affect international travellers," said Leonard Both, researcher and study co-author work from the Hotung Molecular Immunology Unit at St. George's, University of London, The FASEB Journal reports.

"An untreated rabies infection is nearly 100 percent fatal and is usually seen as a death sentence.

"Producing an inexpensive antibody in transgenic plants opens the prospect of adequate rabies prevention for low-income families in developing countries," said Both, according to a London statement.

Both and colleagues "humanized" the sequences for the antibody so people could tolerate it.

Then, the antibody was produced using transgenic tobacco plants as an inexpensive production platform.

The antibody was purified from the plant leaves and characterized regarding to its protein and sugar composition.

The antibody was also shown to be active in neutralizing a broad panel of rabies viruses, and the exact antibody docking site on the viral envelope was identified using certain chimeric rabies viruses.

"Although treatable by antibodies if caught in time, rabies is bad news," said Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal.

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Tobacco plant can cure rabies

Migrating Your Content from Joomla! 1.0 to Joomla! 1.5
This video training topic is migrating your content from Joomla! 1.0 to Joomla! 1.5 See more Joomla! training videos at JoomlaForBeginners.com

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Excerpt from:
Migrating Your Content from Joomla! 1.0 to Joomla! 1.5 - Video

RSForm Pro form properties overview
The form properties are very important part of any form. RSForm Pro provides a ton of flexibility and can also seem a little confusing if you have never looked at it before. This tutorial goes over basic form properties so that you can make your own Joomla forms.

By: Richard Bankert

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RSForm Pro form properties overview - Video