In a recent interview with the Guardian, actor Michael Douglasrevealed that his throat cancer was apparently caused by performing oral sex.
Michael Douglas at the Behind the Candelabra premiere in Cannes. Photo credit: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images
When asked whether he now regretted his years of smoking and drinking which was thought to be the cause of the disease, Douglas replied: “No… because without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus. I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger it. But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer. And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it.”
This form of cancer is stage four and the actor endured an intensive eight-week course of chemotherapy and radiation. The treatment worked and Douglas is now more than two years clear of cancer.
HPV, the sexually transmitted virus best known as a cause of cervical and anal cancer and genital warts, is thought to be responsible for an increasing proportion of oral cancers.
Check out Chaz Bono 60 pounds lighter and proud of it. “I really like what I see in the mirror,” Bono recently shared in an exclusive with People mag.
Before and after losing weight - Courtesy CBS Television Distribution
“I’m feeling really good. Physically, my body feels just so much better,” Bono said. “I’m in a lot less discomfort when I exercise and am doing physical stuff. All of my numbers are all normal now, which is great—my blood pressure, my cholesterol. I just have a lot more confidence, and that feels really cool,” he continued.
What do you think of Bono’s transformation? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Angelina Jolie: “Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.”
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolieannounced exclusively to The New York Timeson Tuesday that she recently underwent a preventive double mastectomy after learning she was a BRCA1 gene carrier.
Angelina Jolie - Photo Credit: Getty
BRCA1 is a harmful mutation which produces a hereditary breast-ovarian cancer syndrome in affected families. A woman’s risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer is greatly increased if she inherits a BRCA1 mutation.
In the exclusive which is titled, “My Medical Choice,” Jolie candidly shares her story:
“MY MOTHER fought cancer for almost a decade and died at 56. She held out long enough to meet the first of her grandchildren and to hold them in her arms. But my other children will never have the chance to know her and experience how loving and gracious she was, the actress said.”
Jolie’s mother, actress and producer Marcheline Bertrand, died of breast cancer in 2007.
“My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy.”
The mega star said she finished three months of medical procedures on April 27 which included the mastectomies and reconstruction.
One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and the second leading cause of death in women. Each year it is estimated that over 220,000 women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer and more than 40,000 will die.
“Today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action. For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices. I acknowledge that there are many wonderful holistic doctors working on alternatives to surgery. My own regimen will be posted in due course on the Web site of the Pink Lotus Breast Center. I hope that this will be helpful to other women,” she added.
By LYNN ELBER, AP Television Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Dick Van Dyke is seeing doctors for an undiagnosed health problem, and he’s seeking advice online as well. “My head bangs every time I lay down,” the 87-year-old actor posted on his Twitter account. “I’ve had every test come back that I’m perfectly…
Johns Hopkins Medicine/AP - Specialists say the finding offers exciting clues for how to eliminate HIV infection in children. “Maybe we'll be able to block this reservoir seeding,” Dr. Deborah Persaud said.
Researchers said Sunday they had, for the first time, cured a baby born with HIV — a development that could help improve treatment of babies infected at birth. There is an important technical nuance: researchers insist on calling it a “functional cure” rather than a complete cure. That is because…
In November 1990 LIFE magazine published a photograph of a young man named David Kirby — his body wasted by AIDS, his gaze locked on something beyond this world — surrounded by anguished family members as he took his last breaths. The haunting image of Kirby on his death bed, taken by a journalism student named Therese Frare, quickly became the one photograph most powerfully identified with the HIV/AIDS epidemic that, by then, had seen millions of people infected (many of them unknowingly) around the globe. More than two decades later, on World AIDS Day, LIFE.com shares the deeply moving story behind that picture, along with Frare’s own memories of those harrowing, transformative years and we share them with you.
Credit: LIFE Magazine
Science has brought the world to the point where the end of AIDS – though not necessarily HIV – is in sight, according to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
And, she added, “It is science that will allow us to finish this job.”
The job, she has famously said, is to create an “AIDS-free generation” – something that once seemed like a pipe dream and now, after more than 30 years, seems increasingly possible.
In advance of World AIDS Day, Clinton outlined a five-point “blueprint” that she said will guide the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, in the next few years.
Central to the plan, Clinton said, is an emphasis on evidence and science.
“As a scientist, nothing could be more pleasing to me,” commented Myron Cohen, MD, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Cohen, one of the leaders in recent research that has emphasized the role of treatment in slowing the pandemic, told MedPage Today the blueprint amounts to “doubling down” on what PEPFAR has been doing for the past four years.
It is, he said, “a commitment to what has been evolving.”
PEPFAR is the main U.S. weapon globally against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with outlays of more than $6.6 billion in fiscal 2012 for treatment and prevention of HIV.
It is also, arguably, the most successful U.S. foreign policy initiative in decades.
The new blueprint for U.S. action comes as some of those involved in the global public health efforts are hailing recent progress, including lower rates of infections in newborn children and increasing numbers of people on treatment.
President Obama introduced a new word to the world on Friday at a rally in Fairfax, Virginia whereas he accused his opponent, Mitt Romney, of “Romnesia” for his ever changing positions .
Before nearly 10,000 supporters, Obama smiled, joked and wagged his finger as he mocked Romney’s earlier declaration that he was a “severely conservative” governor of Massachusetts.
Now that we’re 18 days out from the election, ‘Mr. Severely Conservative’ wants you to think he was severely kidding about everything he said over the last year,’’ Obama said in a speech devoted almost entirely to attacking Romney, and during which he gave little indication of what he would do in a second term if reelected.
Building in intensity, Obama continued: “He’s forgetting what his own positions are, and he’s betting that you will, too. I mean, he’s changing up so much and backtracking and sidestepping. We’ve got to — we’ve got to — we’ve got to name this condition that he’s going through. I think — I think it’s called ‘Romnesia.’ ”
The Romney campaign was not amused. “America doesn’t need a comedy routine; it needs a serious plan to fix the economy,’’ Romney senior adviser Danny Diaz wrote on Twitter.
Added Amanda Henneberg, a Romney spokeswoman: “Women haven’t forgotten how we’ve suffered over the last four years in the Obama economy with higher taxes, higher unemployment, and record levels of poverty. President Obama has failed to put forward a second-term agenda — and when you don’t have a plan to run on, you stoop to scare tactics.’’
The renewed skirmishing came as the other candidates converged on the key swing state of Florida ahead of Monday’s final presidential debate in Boca Raton, which is shaping up as critical in a race that polls show is tight nationally and in battleground states.
Vice President Biden and Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), spent their Friday rallying supporters in the Sunshine State, whose 29 electoral votes make it the biggest swing state prize. At one point, Ryan’s campaign jet rolled across the tarmac in Tampa past Biden’s Air Force Two.
Ann Romney and Michelle Obama, both important surrogates as the campaigns battle for an edge among women voters, have events scheduled for South Florida in the coming days. Female voters are a critical bloc that could determine who is elected on Nov. 6, and recent polls have shown Romney cutting into Obama’s lead among them.
With the economy still the key issue in the race, Obama got some potentially good news on Friday: New data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the unemployment rate dropped in 41 states last month, including many of the top swing states. Those included Florida, Colorado and Iowa. Yet Florida’s rate, at 8.7 percent, remains higher than the national average, and unemployment is still high across the country.
Romney prepared for the debate Friday morning in New York before flying to Florida. where he appeared with Ryan at a rally in Daytona Beach in the evening.
They spoke to a crowd of thousands of supporters who were warmed up to the singing of country music star John Rich of the group Big and Rich.
Romney said that Obama’s reelection effort has become the “incredibly shrinking campaign.”
“Have you been watching the Obama campaign lately. It’s absolutely remarkable,” Romney said. “They have no agenda.”But speaking to the tightness of this race, even as Ryan and Romney spoke, a crowd of Obama supporters gathered and shouted “Obama. Four More Years,” drowning out parts of Romney’s 20-minute speech.Romney’s debate partner, Sen. Rob Portman, as well as top advisers Stuart Stevens, Beth Myers and Dan Senor joined him on the flight to Florida.It was Romney’s commanding performance in the first presidential debate two weeks ago — along with Obama’s widely panned showing — that reconfigured a race in which the president had been ahead.Romney on Friday released a new television ad titled “Bringing People Together.” It emphasized his bipartisan credentials, though some Democrats in Massachusetts say Romney worked only sporadically with them during his governorship. But the Romney campaign also apparently senses vulnerability on the subject for Obama, whose political brand in his 2008 campaign was built around his ability to transcend partisan divides.Yet it was a highly partisan president who spoke on Friday in an open field at George Mason University in the critical battleground state of Virginia. Obama drew chants of “Four more years!” as he bounded onto a podium draped with two blue signs reading “Women’s Health Security.’’Obama portrayed Romney as a “throwback to the 1950s” who would restrict women’s rights, favor the wealthy and squeeze the middle class.During his riff on what he called “Romnesia,’’ Obama said: “I’m not a medical doctor, but I — but I do want to go over some of the symptoms with you because I want to make sure nobody else catches it.’’The crowd hooted.Obama then listed a series of what he called position changes by Romney, focusing on women’s issues. “You know, if you say you’re for equal pay for equal work, but you keep refusing to say whether or not you’d sign a bill that protects equal pay for equal work, you might have ‘Romnesia,’ ’’ Obama said. “If you say women should have access to contraceptive care, but you support legislation that would let your employer deny you contraceptive care, you might have a case of ‘Romnesia.’ ”The president drew his loudest applause by bringing up the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Chuckling, he said: “If you come down with a case of ‘Romnesia’ and you can’t seem to remember the policies that are still on your Web site, or the promises that you’ve made over the six years you’ve been running for president, here’s the good news: Obamacare covers preexisting conditions.’’“We can fix you up. We’ve got a cure. We can make you well, Virginia. This is a curable disease.’’
CNN & The Washington Post contributed to this report.
Reported by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com Obamacare to unleash crushing new taxes, trillions in debt, huge job losses, and it doesn’t even cover natural medicine (NaturalNews) By now, we all know the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate portion of Obamacare by…
This March 22 file photo shows the Supreme Court in Washington. A new poll finds that Americans overwhelmingly agree the health care system has problems, but cannot agree on a solution.(Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP/File) As the US Supreme Court prepares to announce its ruling on President Obama’s health-care…
Robin Roberts arrives at the 84th Annual Academy Awards held at the Hollywood & Highland Center on Feb. 26, 2012, in Hollywood, Calif. (Credit: Getty)
The news anchor announced Monday she had the devastating disease.
“Bone marrow donors are scarce and particularly for African-American women,” Roberts wrote Monday. “I am very fortunate to have a sister who is an excellent match, and this greatly improves my chances for a cure.”
More than 10,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with blood-related disorders every year, according to the National Marrow Donor Program. Often the best treatment is a bone marrow transplant. During the procedure, a donor’s stem cells are directly transfused into the sick patient’s bloodstream. The patient’s new cells multiply over time to create healthy bone marrow.
Unfortunately, the chance of finding a match on the national registry is as low as 66% for African-Americans and other minorities, compared with 93% for Caucasians.
CNN contributed to this report.
Follow @eotmpr on Twitter for breaking world news.
Doctors stunned by the twins who share the same brain, can hear each other’s thoughts and see through each other’s eyes
Photo credit: Barcroft Media - Happy: Four-year-old conjoined twins Tatiana and Krista Hogan who have amazed doctors by seeing through each other's eyes
(DailyMail.co.uk) Conjoined twins Krista and Tatiana have stunned the world’s medical experts by seeing through each other’s eyes.
The pretty four-year-old twins have two separate bodies but share the same brain.
The girls have a conjoined thalamus, the part of the brain that sends physical sensations and motor functions to the cerebral cortex, allowing them to hear each other’s thoughts and see through each other’s eyes.
But it wasn’t until their proud mum Felicia Simms saw them playing that she discovered that they could see through each other’s eyes.
She said: ‘When they are playing, one of the girls will reach over and grab something from her sister’s side and know exactly where it is without possibly being able to see it.
‘It’s absolutely awesome to watch them sometimes because there’s no way she can see the toy she is reaching for and it’s just incredible.’ The girls also seem to experience each other’s emotions.
‘If one of the girls is hurt, the other can feel it and if you discipline one the other will also cry.’
The girls, from Vernon, British Columbia, Canada,have been receiving constant medical care since they were born.
Paediatric neurosurgeon Doug Cochrane, who has looked after them from birth, confirmed they can see through each other’s eyes.
He said: ‘The twins are sharing signals from the other twin’s visual field.
‘One twin may see what the other twin does, as the brain of one of the girls receives electronic impulses from the retina of the opposite twin.’
Felicia and her childhood sweetheart, Brendan 26, were unaware their daughters were conjoined until she was five months pregnant.
She underwent an ultrasound scan which diagnosed the twins as having a condition known as Craniopagus.
Felicia said: ‘The doctors told me: ‘The twins are joined together. Further tests are needed, but at the moment we know they are linked in some way’.
‘I felt like someone had hit me with a sledgehammer.It all seemed unreal, surreal really, like I was living in a dream and about to wake up.
‘But seeing them on the ultrasound, it suddenly all became very real. Whatever happened though, I knew I was going to give them the best possible shot at life that I could.’
Incredibly rare, only eight cases have ever been documented and just three of those have survived the birth.
When the girls were born by caesarean section they weighed just six-and-a-half pounds.
The girls had separate bodies but were joined just above the ear and Krista was pumping and filtering the blood through her kidneys.
‘She is basically keeping both of them alive,’ Felicia says.
‘Their brain is knitted together so any attempt to split it could be fatal to one or both of them.’
Felicia, who is also mum to Rosa, Christopher, and Shaylee, said she never considered a termination but says she received hate mail over the years since the twins’ birth.
‘They called the girls freaks,’ she explains. ‘The nameless letters said that I should never have had them.
‘But I didn’t pay them much heed. After all if they weren’t prepared to give up their names, then why should I care.’
The family agrees Krista is the bossy one of the pair, while Tatiana is more laid-back and follows Krista wherever she wants to go.
Felicia said: ‘Tatiana is definitely the more laid back girl.
‘She does what her sister tells her most of the time, Krista is the bossy one. I call her my little bully.’
The twins' grandfather pushes the girls in a customised pram
The profile of HIV and AIDS patients in California has shifted significantly since the disease first made headlines 30 years ago, reflecting the success of drugs to extend patients’ lives and the failures to stem the spread of the disease in diverse communities.
A statewide analysis of health data [PDF] completed in recognition of World AIDS Day, celebrated today, reveals the changing face of patients in the state, including an increase in older patients and rising rates of infection among blacks and Hispanics.
The review by the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development also shows that hospitalization rates among HIV and AIDS patients have plummeted since 1988, reflecting the power of antiretroviral drug cocktails to keep the condition in check.
Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, said in a conference call with reporters yesterday that he was a family doctor in Redding in the 1990s when he saw young men return to their families to die.
“We’ve come a long way since then,” he said. “There have been miraculous advances in treatment, yet we’ve still got a ways to go.”
Among the findings:
Patients are older. In 1988, 24 percent of HIV/AIDS patients were 20 to 29 years old. In 2008, that age segment represented only 7 percent of the state’s patients, and 40- to 49-year-old patients were the largest segment, representing 40 percent of cases.
What started as a white man’s disease has changed. While the number of white patients living with HIV or AIDS has nearly doubled since 1988, the numbers more than tripled among black patients and went up nearly fivefold among Hispanics.
Hospitalization rates have fallen dramatically. They were at a high in 1992, when there were 464 hospitalizations for every 1,000 people with HIV or AIDS. The low was in 2008, when the hospitalization rate fell to 129 hospitalizations per 1,000.
Public health authorities endorsed HIV testing as a major means of stemming disease transmission, saying as many as 20 percent of people living with the condition don’t know they have it.
The report warns that the gains in patient stability and longevity might be reversed if access to antiretroviral drugs is limited.
Whitney Engeran-Cordova, senior director of public health for the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the organization has been watching the trends discussed in the new report and is seeking solutions.
He said the group has done intense advocacy in states such as Florida and Ohio that proposed limiting access to AIDS Drug Assistance Programs that pay for drugs that help freeze disease transmission and progression. The group also has called on drugmakers to curb the $11,000 annual price tag on the drugs.
The organization also has done outreach in minority communities and sent mobile HIV testing vans to black neighborhoods.
Engeran-Cordova said the latest data changing the way the advocacy community works has been a finding that as many as 40 percent of people who learn they have HIV take no steps to seek health care. “They feel fine, or they’re scared,” he said.
He said his group is sending volunteers with iPads to testing sites and getting appointments for people who test positive at their network of clinics. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is also advocating for more widespread HIV testing, including at the emergency room.
“If we don’t do something systemic,” he said, “then we’ve lost the battle.”
There is a new more powerful strain of Gonorrhea that was just recently discovered by scientists in Japan, a discovery they’re calling “both alarming and predictable.” The new strain, called H041 cannot be killed by any currently used treatment for gonorrhea.
Gonorrhea has become increasingly resistant to antibiotics for several years now, and the percentage of cephalosporin-resistant gonorrhea cases in the U.S. is on the rise, according to CDC reports.
Now Playing on EOTM Radio
EOTM TV Network |Trending Videos
When you’re done watching this episode, checkout some of our top shows or learn more about us!
EOTM TV – The source for breaking news, pop culture, indie films, music videos, celebrity interviews, talk interactive radio and so much more. EOTM is here with all your new media, radio, entertainment, public relations, marketing and event solutions. Our goal is to partner with you to create, facilitate and grow.
