Acupuncture for Cancer Treatment beta-Actin Antibody|beta-Tubulin Antibody - By: Mariano Pollard

has taken up a health issue. The previous one in 2001 led to creation of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, with billions from governments and private groups such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Now even rich nations are cash-strapped, and it's unclear whether private groups will step in. Asked whether the U.N. meeting would alter its focus, the Gates Foundation indicated it would not. "Unfortunately, there is a lack of comparable investment in infectious diseases, which disproportionately affect the world's poorest," said a statement from the foundation. "Our priority will continue to be investing in cost-effective treatments that lead to maximum impact and fill in a gap where other resources are not invested." However, advocates say there are disparities in chronic diseases, too. "The common belief that cancer is a problem of rich countries is a misconception," said Dr. Eduardo Cazap, president of the Union For International Cancer Control.

Dr. Ala Alwan, assistant director-general of the World Health Organization, agreed. "Most countries in Africa are currently overwhelmed with their increasing demand" from cancer patients, and the region also has the highest rates of stroke and high blood pressure in the world, Alwan said.

In Ghana, 23 million people are served by two oncology centers; the country has four cancer doctors and no specialist cancer nurses, said Dr. Allen Lichter, CEO of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, an organization of cancer specialists. The society has trained more than 2,000 doctors in developing countries on cancer care and plans to do more. Africa also remains the only region in the world where infectious diseases, maternal-infant health problems and poor nutrition still kill more people than noncommunicable diseases do. Worldwide, stroke and heart-related diseases account for nearly half of all noninfectious disease deaths - 17 million in 2008 alone, WHO says. Next is cancer (7.6 million deaths), followed by respiratory diseases such as emphysema (4.2 million). Diabetes caused 1.3 million deaths in 2008, but that's misleading - most diabetics die of cardiovascular causes.

The U.N. chose to focus on those four diseases and their common risk factors: tobacco use, alcohol abuse, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and environmental carcinogens.

They have varied impact around the world:
-Europe and North America. These regions are paying the price of too much eating, too little exercise and smoking: heart disease and diabetes dominate. Cancers that are more prevalent with age - breast and prostate - reflect long life spans in these regions where treatment is widely available. In Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, lung cancer is the dominant cancer in men. Europe has the highest smoking prevalence in the world: 29 percent.

When prescription medications aren’t enough to ease nausea and vomiting caused by chemotherapy drugs, specialists at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston now turn to an unconventional treatment: acupuncture.

Growing evidence suggests this centuries-old technique, which involves the insertion of small needles just below the surface of the skin, can help treat nausea and other common side effects of cancer drugs. In a 2008 study by researchers at Germany’s Saarland University, for example, 23 children undergoing chemotherapy who received acupuncture were significantly less likely to need anti-nausea medications.

First studied in the West for its ability to relieve acute and chronic pain, acupuncture is also being used to ease a condition called peripheral neuropathy, which results when nerves are damaged by toxic cancer drugs. Acupuncture also may help alleviate hot flashes, a common side effect of treatment for breast cancer.

But the most surprising benefit from acupuncture is relief from xerostomia, a condition that occurs when radiation damages or destroys salivary glands, causing extreme dryness of the mouth. A common side effect of treatment for head and neck cancer, xerostomia can make it difficult for patients to swallow or eat. Acupuncture can help. “Although we don’t yet know exactly how it works, acupuncture appears to be able to restore salivary function in some patients, offering really significant relief,” says Barrie Cassileth, M.D., who directs the integrative cancer program at Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

In a 2009 study at M.D.

About the Author

Barron Gustavo, a Bachelor of Arts Degree from The big apple University in 1989 and a Juris Doctorate from Benjamin And. Cardozo School of Regulation in 1992, served being a solid academic foundation with regard to Ericâs professional pursuits.Anti-beta-Tubulin Antibody, Anti beta-Actin, Anti-beta-Cateni

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