Long-term use of low-dose aspirin reduces colon cancer risk, U.K. researchers find.

Low-dose aspirin takers have a 24% lower risk of colon cancer and a 35% lower risk of dying from colon cancer, find University of Oxford researcher Peter Rothwell and colleagues.

‘The new findings on the effect of low-dose aspirin should be included in advice given to the public,’ Rothwell says in a news release.

The findings are based on analysis of 20-year follow-up data from five clinical trials. All of the studies were performed before sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy became widespread methods of screening for colon cancer. It’s not clear whether better screening reduces the benefit seen for aspirin.

And aspirin can have serious side effects, including severe stomach bleeding. While low doses of aspirin reduce this risk, people should consult a health care provider before adding aspirin to their daily health regimen.

However, the findings suggest that aspirin has a particular effect on more aggressive and faster growing colon cancers, particularly those in the proximal colon, which can be detected by colonoscopy but not by sigmoidoscopy.

This makes the study findings significant, says Alison Ross, senior science information officer at Cancer Research U.K.

‘This is the first large study to show that low doses […]

No Comments

Although no one wants to talk about it, 9/11 is still hurting America. That terrible day inflicted a wound of public fear that easily reopens with the smallest provocation, and it continues to bleed the United States of money, lives, and goodwill around the world. Indeed, America’s response to its fear has, in turn, made Americans less safe and has inspired more threats and attacks.

In the decade since 9/11, the United States has conquered and occupied two large Muslim countries (Afghanistan and Iraq), compelled a huge Muslim army to root out a terrorist sanctuary (Pakistan), deployed thousands of Special Forces troops to numerous Muslim countries (Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, etc.), imprisoned hundreds of Muslims without recourse, and waged a massive war of ideas involving Muslim clerics to denounce violence and new institutions to bring Western norms to Muslim countries. Yet Americans still seem strangely mystified as to why some Muslims might be angry about this situation.

In a narrow sense, America is safer today than on 9/11. There has not been another attack on the same scale. U.S. defenses regarding immigration controls, airport security, and the disruption of potentially devastating domestic plots have all improved.

But in a broader sense, America has become […]

No Comments

Campaigning has evolved from the days when a candidate had to directly interact with voters to win over their support. While most still show up at diners and grasp hands at community events, it is seen more as evidence of the candidates’ hard work and connection to the people rather than a way to win over individual votes.

Today, receptive voters can be reached using detailed databases and kept in the loop with targeted e-mails and personalized messages via Facebook. Voters who want to hear from candidates can look at YouTube channels and sign up for Twitter feeds.

At the same time, technology has added to the perils of public events.

‘Almost everybody has a video camera inside their telephone, so pictures and video are rolling at a moment’s notice and can be on YouTube in an hour,’ said former Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.). ‘That has brought advice from campaign handlers and consultants to tighten up how and what you’re saying, and who you’re saying it to.’

Even then, candidates can get in trouble. Angle has come under criticism this week after video from a closed event revealed her telling a room of Hispanic students that ‘some of you look a little more […]

No Comments

MESQUITE, Nev. - Candidates and outside interest groups are expected to spend at least $50 million in Nevada’s 2010 federal election campaigns, mostly on advertising, but it’s unclear how much that will influence the state’s voters - if at all.

The targets of this spending spree, like those in other close races around the country, are the people who play golf at the Falcon Ridge Golf Club in this town of 25,000 northeast of Las Vegas. Or the folks who shop at the nearby Wal-Mart or hang out at the Stateline Casino, where many of the regulars are unemployed or retirees living on fixed incomes.

These Nevada voters will have a big say in the outcome of two of the nation’s most closely watched races: The U.S. Senate contest between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Sharron Angle - polls show a dead heat - and the U.S. House of Representatives race for Nevada’s 3rd Congressional District between Democratic incumbent Dina Titus and Republican Joe Heck.

Campaign ads help candidates influence voters, just as any advertising affects a consumer’s view of a product, whether it’s soap or cereal. Ads can boost a little-known product’s visibility, and cement a product image in the […]

No Comments

Matt Taibbi’s unsparing and authoritative reporting on the financial crisis has produced a series of memorable Rolling Stone features. He showed us how Goldman Sachs, that ‘great vampire squid’, played a central role in creating not only the housing bubble but four other big speculative booms that filled its coffers while wrecking the American economy. He explained how Wall Street banks cooked up schemes that helped decimate municipal budgets and cost countless jobs, and how Wall Street lobbying led to a financial reform bill that won’t prevent another meltdown. Taibbi builds on that eye-opening work in his new book, Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That is Breaking America, due out from Spiegel & Grau on November 2. In this exclusive excerpt, he describes how our cash-strapped country is auctioning off its highways, ports and even parking meters at fire sale prices – and finding eager buyers in the unregulated sovereign wealth funds of oil-rich Middle Eastern countries.

Editors – Rolling Stone

———-

In the summer of 2009 I got a call from an acquaintance who worked in the Middle East. He was a young American who worked for something called a sovereign wealth fund, a giant state-owned pile […]

No Comments