Tips on how to reduce exposure to cell phone radiation

How do you cope with the fact that the cell phone, the means of communication by which million of people communicate, may cause brain cancer?

News that exposure to the phones' radio frequency and electromagnetic fields may put consumers at an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, will likely have panicked users reaching for their land lines.

While there no direct evidence that cell phones will give you cancer, there are proven way to help you reduce your risk:

If you're going to talk on your cell phone, go hands free.

These devices emit far less radiation than the actual phone, according to the Environmental Working Group. If you're alone, you could also use the phone's speaker mode.

Got a weak signal?  While it seems counterintuitive, that's the time when radiation is the strongest. The fewer bars you have, the more important it is to wear that headset.

Like to talk on your cell phone while you drive? Be aware that your iPhone may be more dangerous while you're in the car.  The reason?  While your phone is searching hard for a signal, it's emitting more radiation.

We've all become used to having our phones within a moment's grasp. But think twice before you keep it in your pocket or on your belt, right next to your body while you're chatting, advises the environmental group.

Little kids shouldn't talk on cell phones for more a few minutes – their brains absorb more radiation.  Tell Grandma to call on the land line.

Some phones cause more radiation to be absorbed by the human body.  Here are a few to consider avoiding, according to the group.

1. Motorola Bravo (MB520) AT&T 1.59 W/kg
2. Motorola Droid 2 GlobalVerizon Wireless *1.58 W/kg
3. Palm PixiSprint1.56 W/kg
4. Motorola Boost i335Boost Mobile 1.55 W/kg
5. Blackberry Bold 9700AT&T, T-Mobile1.55 W/kg
6.Motorola i335Sprint 1.55 W/kg
7. HTC Magic (T-Mobile myTouch 3G)T-Mobile 1.55 W/kg

DO NOT USE OBSERVATION FOR PROSTATE CANCER PATIENTS YOUNGER THAN 65 YEARS OF AGE

Radical prostatectomy appears to be a wise choice for men with early-stage prostate cancer who are younger than 65 years, according to new data from a Swedish randomized clinical trial that compares surgery with "watchful waiting."
The study shows that, at 15 years, the cumulative incidence of death from prostate cancer was 14.6% among 347 men randomized to prostatectomy and 20.7% among 348 men being observed without treatment.
However, the survival benefit was confined to men younger than 65 years of age, according to the study authors, led by Anna Bill-Axelson, MD PhD, from the University Hospital in Uppsala, Sweden.
For men older than 65 years, survival was highly similar in the 2 groups.
The new data from the ongoing Scandinavian Prostate Cancer Group Study Number 4 (SPCG-4) appear in the May 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
It has been conducted in men with predominantly symptom-detected early prostate cancer. All the men had clinical stage T1 or T2 disease, well or moderately well differentiated histologic findings, and a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level of below 50 ng/mL.
"This is the best information we have to date on the extent to which treatment will influence outcomes in men with early prostate cancer," said H. Ballentine Carter, MD, from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Carter was not involved with the study and was approached for comment by Medscape Medical News.
However, the results do not rule out the value of watchful waiting or active surveillance, said Dr. Carter.
"The study strongly supports the role of treatment and the role of surveillance," he said.
The results from this study indicate that a patient's age — and related life expectancy — are apparently pivotal to receiving benefit from watchful waiting in early prostate cancer, Dr. Carter explained.
He interpreted the study findings for clinicians and patients.
"If you are young and have a long life expectancy — 15 years or more — then you need to be treated for prostate cancer," he said, adding that this even applies to men with very-low- or low-risk prostate cancer.
"If you are an older man — 65 to 70 years old — and you have low- or very-low-risk disease, your first consideration should be whether or not treatment is necessary," he pointed out. Such men should "consider being monitored."
Dr. Carter described the randomized controlled trial as a "very, very important paper," saying it was "very carefully done" research.
The fact that Dr. Carter advocates for possible surveillance among certain older men is in keeping with what he knows from his own experience.
He is the senior author of a recently published study of 769 men enrolled initially in active surveillance in which there have been no known prostate-cancer-specific deaths after an average follow-up of about 3 years.
"This study offers the most conclusive evidence to date that active surveillance may be the preferred option for the vast majority of older men diagnosed with a very low-grade or small-volume form of prostate cancer," he said about his study.
Men With Low-Risk Disease Also Benefited From Treatment
SPCG-4 enrolled men from 1989 to 1999; they now have a median follow-up of 12.8 years, which allowed the authors to make 15-year estimates.
The study authors had previously shown that radical prostatectomy provided a survival benefit as well as a reduction in the risk for metastases (J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008;100:1144-1154). The updated data continue to show these benefits, but over a longer period of time.
The "most important new finding" from SPCG-4 is that a subgroup of men with low-risk disease received a survival benefit from radical prostatectomy, said Matthew Smith, MD, PhD, in an editorial accompanying the study. Dr. Smith is a radiation oncologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center in Boston.
Low risk was defined as a PSA level of less than 10 ng/mL and a tumor with a Gleason score of less than 7 or a World Health Organization grade of 1 in the preoperative biopsy specimens. There were a total of 124 men in the radical-prostatectomy group and 139 in the watchful-waiting group who qualified as low risk.
With respect to death from prostate cancer among these low-risk men, the absolute between-group difference at 15 years was 4.2% points (6.8% for the radical-prostatectomy group vs 11.0% for the watchful-waiting group). This corresponds to a relative risk of 0.53 (95% confidence interval, 0.24 to 1.14; P = .14), according to the authors.
This survival benefit for the low-risk men who received surgery might, however, not be "relevant" for many men who have low-risk prostate cancer detected today, Dr. Smith points out.
That is because most of the men in SPCG-4 had cancers detected on the basis of symptoms rather than by elevated PSA levels.
To illustrate what differences can arise out of these varying methods of detection, Dr. Smith notes that, in SPCG-4, the number needed to treat with prostatectomy to prevent 1 death at 15 years was 15. "The predicted number needed to treat is substantially greater for contemporary men with low-risk prostate cancers detected by PSA screening because the rates of death from prostate cancer are lower in this group," he writes.
Surgery Benefit Only in Younger Men: Novelty Questioned
The study authors say that their finding that only younger men benefited from surgery is novel in the literature. "The finding that the effect of radical prostatectomy is modified by age has not been confirmed in other studies of radical prostatectomy or external-beam radiation" they point out.
They suspect that, contrary to their findings to date, surgery might have some survival benefit for some older men.
"The apparent lack of effect in men older than 65 years of age should be interpreted with caution because, owing to a lack of power, the subgroup analyses may falsely dismiss differences," they write.
The data have hints that surgery has a positive effect in at least some older men, they say.
"At 15 years, there was a trend toward a difference between the 2 groups in the development of metastases," they write about the watchful-waiting and surgery groups.
The study stipulated that men treated with surgery who progressed should receive hormonal therapy (as opposed to observed men who progressed — they received surgery). That might have allowed some men to die from other diseases, say the authors. "Therefore, competing risks of death may blur the long-term effects of treatment," they write.
This study was supported by grants from the Swedish Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health. One of the coauthors reports serving on the advisory board of Pfizer and receiving lecture fees from Astellas. The other authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

10 Tips for a 10 minutes healthy shopping spree

For all the moms, hostelites, working professionals, freelancers or for that matter single men and women out there, life doesn't fit into neat little routine blocks, does it?

After all, time saved is time earned! And who wants to spend hours and hours doing mundane chores at home and then heading to the supermarket to shop for the coming week. But, when it comes to shopping for healthy food items one does not need to compromise on quality. So we thought, why don't we put together our top 10 tips which will help you shop in 10 minutes or less, without compromising on the nutritious front. Game? Read on!

Prepare a grocery list for one entire week's meals. This will save you from making multiple trips to the grocery store and will also help you in making sure you buy only what you need.

Stick to your grocery list. With new health items hitting the market every second day, you could be in that store for a long time. Keep a list handy, tick items as you buy them, and you're out in a jiffy.

In order to stock healthy fast food at home, compartmentalise your shopping list in a way that all the food items are written under a separate column focusing on the perimeter of the store. Based on your neighbourhood supermarket's isles system, divide your shopping list.

Once a month, when you have ample time for food shopping in your hands, go for bulk shopping, if possible. Basic stapes such as tomato ketchup, flour, chilli sauces, oregano, rice, pasta and so on should be bought in bulk.

Avoid depending on 2-minute processed snacks. Instead opt for a variety of sauces, herbs (both fresh and dry), and fruits (both fresh and dry). Replace buying too much of tinned, processed foods with fresh homemade pastes and whole wheat products.

Stock your kitchen with easy-to-find healthy food items in order to maximize health benefits. Go for cheeses labelled as fat-free or reduced-fat, products with zero gram trans fat and whole grain stamp items. Fat free milk or low fat milk and products which say 'low in saturated fat and cholesterol' are good choices.

Avoid shopping right after work as busy evenings mean crowded stores. Try shopping over weekends.

Do eat a protein rich snack such as almonds or peanuts or a whole fruit before shopping. This way you'll avoid mindless bingeing while shopping.

Get your choices right. Select wisely when you are shopping and don't give in to the temptation. Choose a burger which is made of 100% whole grain bread instead of the white bread option. Go for low-fat dressings or better still just take ingredients such as lemon, parsley, honey, chilli flakes, mixed herbs, vinegar, soya sauce and prepare your own homemade hygienic dressing.

Tell your friend who shares your fitness routine or weight loss goal to accompany you. This will help you stick to your healthy weight management goals without getting distracted or tempted.

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