May 17, 2002

In This Issue: 
Gleevec Update, Vitamin D, Vegetables, Chemo During Pregnancy, Survey of Health Website Users, Wellness Community, New Drug and New Funds for Blood-Related Cancers

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THE LATEST NEWS
UK Says Evidence Lacking for Widespread Use of Gleevec

Study Shows How Vitamin D Fights Colon Cancer

New Drug Offers Promise Against Blood-Related Cancers

Vegetarian Diet May Protect Against Breast Cancer

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NATIONAL WOMEN'S HEALTH WEEK: MOMS ON MEDS
In honor of Mother's Day and National Women's Health Week, the federal Office of Women's Health just published a list of resources for pregnant women who need medicines. The list includes government and nonprofit organizations offering consultation to individual women and their doctors related to taking medicines while pregnant. For example, MotherRisk.org has information about chemotherapy during pregnancy as well as issues concerning radiation therapy. Since there is a great need for more information about how specific drugs affect pregnancy and since it would be inappropriate to study drugs' affects on pregnant women by giving them unnecessary meds, groups have formed Pregnancy Registries. The registries serve as a surveillance study that enrolls already-pregnant women taking medicines and tracks their babies' health.
http://www.fda.gov/womens/registries/learnmore.html

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SURVEY ON INTERNET USE FOR MEDICAL INFORMATION
The Health On the Net Foundation (HON) helps to set ethical standards for web sites and conducts annual surveys on what people need from the medical internet. Many health websites use the survey results to improve features, navigation, and content of their websites. Whether you are a patient, a care-giver or a health professional, your survey responses can help determine current trends and improve the quality of the medical websites. If you want to fill out the brief questionnaire, go to: 

http://www.hon.ch/Survey/quest_internet.html 


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NEW FUNDS FOR BLOOD-RELATED CANCERS
Blood-related cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma account for 11 percent of all cancer deaths, but they receive less than 5 percent of the research funding from the National Cancer Institute, according to advocates. This should change since President Bush signed the Hematological Cancer Research and Education Investment Act this week. Dwayne Howell, President of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, joined President Bush as he signed into law legislation that provides for blood-related cancer research and education on these diseases. "This is a tremendous achievement for blood cancer advocates," said Howell. "This puts blood cancer solidly on the federal government's agenda..." See the full story of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_news_detail?item_id=69577

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WELLNESS COMMUNITY OFFERS FREE SERVICES
The Wellness Community is a national non-profit organization that provides education, support and hope to people with cancer and their loved ones. All of the services provided at The Wellness Community facilities are free of charge and all clinical programs are operated by licensed psychotherapists. Wellness Community programs include support groups, family groups, mind/body programs, physician and nurse lectures, relaxation and visualization, nutrition, exercise and others. Currently there are 22 Wellness Community facilities nationwide and many of their services are available online, including support groups. 
http://www.wellness-community.org/about/about.htm