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By Dr. Lauren Feder

More women are diagnosed with breast cancer in America than any other cancer. Fortunately, treatment has come a long way, indicated by the  89% of women who had a five- year survival rate from 1999-2006 (National Cancer Institute). But early detection still plays a vital role in optimizing a breast cancer patient’s chances for full recovery. Women today understand the importance of annual mammograms and monthly self examinations, but many women have not tried or even heard of another early detection exam available to them: breast thermography.

Breast thermography, also known as Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) is a simple, safe non-invasive test of the breast. Thermography can provide early detection of breast conditions beyond what is possible through monthly self-exam, doctor exam or mammogram.  Thermography works by taking infrared images of the breast that detect minute temperature changes associated with breast inflammation and tumors. Having this information allows for the earliest possible intervention and treatment.  It involves no radiation, discomfort or pain, and the entire thermography scan takes about 15 minutes.

What is the difference between a thermogram and mammogram?
Breast thermography plays a role in early detection and monitoring of abnormal physiology, including breast cancer, and is considered a screening device. Mammograms, on the other hand, are used to precisely locate an abnormal area and are considered a diagnostic tool. Breast thermography does not replace mammography. Rather, the two are considered complementary to each other.

Who can benefit from thermography?
All women can benefit from breast screening with thermography. It is especially appropriate for younger women (age 30-50) whose denser breast tissue makes it more difficult for mammograms to be effective. Thermography is also an ideal choice for women of any age who, for any number of reasons, are unable to undergo routine mammography. Thermography can provide a clinical marker to the doctor or mammographer, pinpointing a specific area of the breast that needs particularly close examination.

There are no conditions that make thermography inadvisable and it can be safely and effectively utilized by women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or have implants.  It should be noted, however, that breasts are more highly vascularized, meaning they have more blood vessels during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Such vascularization can make baseline screening through thermography more difficult. Typically, thermography will only be used on a pregnant or breastfeeding woman suffering from a specific complaint such as a lump, discomfort or infection. Baseline routine screening should ideally be done 3 months after a woman has stopped breastfeeding.

What are the early breast cancer detection guidelines?
There is no single method for the early detection of breast cancer. Using a combination of methods will increase your chances of detecting cancer in an early stage. These methods include:

• Mammography for all women who are aged 40 or older.
• Regular breast thermography (DITI) screening for adult women of all ages.
• A regular breast examination by a health professional.
• Monthly breast self-examination.
• Personal awareness of changes in the breasts.
• Readiness to promptly discuss any such changes with a doctor.

These guidelines should be considered along with your background and medical history.

Can thermography detect breast cancer?
It takes years for a tumor to grow, thus the earliest possible indication of abnormality will allow for the earliest possible treatment and intervention. Thermography can play an important role in monitoring breast health and assisting in early detection.

Breast cancer tends to grow significantly faster in younger women:

        AGE                                       AVERAGE TUMOR DOUBLING TIME

Under 50 years old                         80 days

50 – 70 years old                          157 days

Over 70 years old                           188 days

The faster a malignant tumor grows, the more infrared radiation it generates. For younger women in particular, results from thermography screening can lead to earlier detection and, ultimately, longer life.

Doctors do not yet know how to prevent breast cancer. However, you can increase your chances of detecting breast cancer in its earliest stages by understanding the need for and participating in an early detection program.

About 20% of biopsied breast lumps are cancerous. If you find a lump, act quickly–when cancer is found early there are choices for treatment, and with prompt treatment the outlook is good. In fact, most women treated for early breast cancer will be free from breast cancer for the rest of their lives. So be sure to maintain an early breast cancer detection regimen that includes annual mammograms and monthly self exams. And consider whether adding thermography to your regimen is the right choice for you.

About the Author
Lauren Feder, M.D. specializes in homeopathy, pediatrics and primary care medicine.  Known for her holistically minded approach and combining the ‘best of both worlds,’ Dr. Feder is a frequent lecturer for parents and professionals and is the author of Natural Baby and Childcare and The Parents’ Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations. www.drfeder.com

Susheela’s team explains that anemia in pregnancy, which can lead to maternal and infant mortality, continues to plague many countries despite nutritional counseling and maternal iron and folic acid supplementation. This is the first examination of fluoride as an additional risk factor for anemia and low-birth-weight babies.

Anemic pregnant women living in India, whose urine contained 1 mg/L fluoride or more, were separated into two groups.  The experimental group avoided fluoride in water, food and other sources and ate a nutritious diet per instruction.  The control group received no instructions. Both groups supplemented with iron and folic acid.

Results reveal that anemia was reduced and pre-term and low-birth-weight babies were considerably fewer in the fluoride-avoidance group as compared to the control. Two stillbirths occurred in the control group, none in the experimental group.

Susheela et al. writes, “Maternal and child under-nutrition and anemia is not necessarily due to insufficient food intake but because of the derangement of nutrient absorption due to damage caused to GI  (gastrointestinal) mucosa by ingestion of undesired chemical substances, viz. fluoride through food, water and other sources.”

Fluoride avoidance regenerated the intestinal lining which enhanced the absorption of nutrients as evidenced by the reduction in urinary fluoride followed by rise in hemoglobin levels, they report.

Could the same thing be happening in the United States? State University of New York researchers found more premature births in fluoridated than non-fluoridated upstate New York communities, according to a presentation made at the 2009 American Public Health Association’s annual meeting.

Previous published research shows fluoride can interfere with the reproductive system (http://www.fluoridealert.org/health/repro).

Current Science reports that adverse reactions of fluoride consumption are known to occur including reducing red blood cells, reducing blood folic acid activity, inhibiting vitamin B12 production and the nonabsorption of nutrients for hemoglobin biosynthesis.

“Citizens must demand that water fluoridation be stopped,” says attorney Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc.  ”It’s disturbing that public-health officials and organized dentistry continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence revealing fluoride to be non-nutritive, unnecessary and unsafe,” says Beeber.

White Chocolate Bark

Ingredients
1/2 cup whole, shelled, salted pistachios
16 ox. good white chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup medium-diced, dried apricots

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. Using a pencil draw an 8″X10″ rectangle on a piece of parchment paper
3. Turn the parchment paper over so the pencil mark doesn’t get on the chocolate and place it on a sheet pan
4. Place the pistachios in one layer on another sheet pan and bake for 8 minutes.  Set aside to cool.
5. Place three quarters of the white chocolate in a heatproof glass bowl and put it into the microwave on high for 30 seconds (time it with your watch for accuracy)
6. Stir the chocolate with a rubber spatula, return it to the microwave for another 30 seconds, then stir again
7. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted
8. Immediately stir in the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it’s completely smooth (if you need to heat it a little more, put it in the microwave for another 15 seconds)
9. Pour the melted chocolate onto the parchment paper and spread it lightly to fill the drawn rectangle
10. Sprinkle the top evenly with the cooled pistachios, the cranberries and apricots. 
11. Press the nuts and fruit lightly so they will set in the chocolate
12. Set aside for at least 2 hours until firm or refrigerate for 20 minutes
13. Cut or break the bark into 16 pieces and serve at room temperature

Until then, check out these images of celebrities like Sandra Bullock, Diane Kruger and Maggie Gyllenhaal in Lanvin.

What does egg donation mean?  Participating in egg donation – egg donation recipients (of donor eggs) and egg donors - need to know as much as they can about this special fertility treatment.  For starters, the egg donation definition…

Egg donation is the process by which a woman provides one or more eggs (or ova or oocytes) for purposes of assisted reproduction or biomedical research.   The process of taking eggs from an egg donor, fertilising these donor eggs with the male partner’s sperm in the laboratory dish and transferring the resulting embryo.

This form of collaborative reproduction isvsometimes compared to sperm donation, but an egg donation process involved more commitment and time for the egg donor and more physical involvement.  

It’s a process in which a woman may donate eggs through in vitro fertilization to another woman.  When an egg donor provides her donor eggs to help an infertile woman.  The egg donor’s ovaries are stimulated by drugs to produce extra eggs, which are retrieved during the egg donation process. 

The act of donating eggs to someone else for use in attempting pregnancy through in vitro fertilization to persons who need donor eggs to conceive.

When a female donates her egg(s) for another female to use via IVF because she either lacks eggs, has poor quality eggs, is genetically predisposed to a problematic pregnancy or unhealthy child.

For women who lack good quality eggs, have premature ovarian failure or do not want to risk passing on a known genetic disease.  The process takes eggs, usually from a younger woman – in fertile years, fertilizes them with the male gametes, known as sperm and places them into the patient’s uterine lining.  This is usually after the fertilised egg has grown to what is known as a blastocyst – a fertilised egg cell that has more cells than can be counted.

As women age their ovaries ability to produce good quality eggs (ovarian reserve) begins to diminish.  Using donated eggs enables woman experiencing difficulties the chance to become pregnant and carry an egg donation pregnancy to have a baby through egg donation.  This provides immense hope and is considered a saving grace for thousands of people who would otherwise not be able to conceive.
 
Both egg donors and recipients of donor eggs remain anonymous and confidential.  Generally egg donation recipients consider woman who have similar physical traits, but may consider other traits – such as intelligence levels and/ or personality traits. 

More information on egg donation can be obtained from baby2mom Egg Donation Agency, a reputable and world class egg donor agency, assisting people worldwide to conceive through South African egg donation.

The number of eggs donated can be any thing from zero to over 30.  All egg donors respond differently to the egg donation treatment and accordingly no two egg donors will be the same.  Similarly no two eggs will be the same.

Egg donation is for the purposes of aiding conception, not for any research.

Donor eggs may actually be fertilised by donor sperm as well – depending on the fertility of the male involved or if there is even a male involved in the egg donation baby.

Egg donation recipients are offered counselling to ensure that they understand the process of receiving donor eggs – not their gene material.

In an effort to explain and facilitate an improved understanding of the egg donation process and program, an egg donation definition as described above gives some elaboration on what exactly an egg donation program entails.

Sour Cream Peach Tart

Ingredients
1 Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
6 large peaches, quartered
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 tablespoons butter, cubed

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 425ºF.
2. Unroll pie crust; press into a dark coated tart pan. Par bake shell for 10 minutes. Let cool.
3. Lower oven to 350ºF.
4. Mix egg yolks, sour cream, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/4 cup flour. Pour into bottom of tart shell.
5. Toss peaches in ⅓ cup flour, ½ cup sugar and lemon juice. Arrange over sour cream mixture in tart.
6. Place cubes of butter over peaches.
7. Bake 1 hour 45 minutes.

Pasta Salad with Grilled Tuna and Roasted Tomatoes

Ingredients
8 plum tomatoes, about 1 1/4 pound total, halved lengthwise
2 tablespoons plus 1/2 cup olive oil
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1 pound pasta shells
2 pounds tuna fillets, each about 3/4 inch thick
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 pound fresh mozzarella cheese, finely diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

1. Preheat an oven to 450°F. Prepare a hot fire in a grill.
2. Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and toss with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Arrange them, cut sides up, on the sheet and season with salt. Roast until tender, about 20 minutes. Let cool, then cut in half crosswise.
3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot three-fourths full of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until al dente (tender but firm to the bite), about 10 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold running water and drain again. Set aside.
4. Brush both sides of the tuna fillets with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Season well with salt and pepper. Place on the grill rack 4 to 6 inches above the fire and grill until lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Turn and cook for 3 to 4 minutes more for medium, or until done to your liking. Transfer to a cutting board, let cool and cut into 3/4-inch cubes.
5. In a food processor or blender, combine the basil leaves and the remaining 1/2 cup oil. Pulse or blend until chopped to a coarse puree. Add the vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Pulse or blend until combined.
6. In a large bowl, combine the pasta, tomatoes and any accumulated juices, tuna, mozzarella, parsley and basil dressing. Toss gently and serve.

A new “Mindfulness” section on NAMI’s Hearts and Minds website includes a 10-minute video of guided mediation, along with information about other holistic methods  to complement medication and therapy and help a person to gain greater control over the recovery process.

Practices covered include basic meditation, guided imagery, yoga and Tai Chi, and creative outlets such as writing, art, music and dance.

Ed Knight of Colorado Springs says he uses meditation to help control hearing voices and panic attacks: “Without the combination of meditation and medication, I would be in and out of the hospital very frequently. I haven’t had a panic attack in several years and I have ceased to hear voices.”

“Medication and therapy are crucial to recovery, but everyone’s experience is different,” said NAMI Executive Director Michael Fitzpatrick. “Hearts and Minds offers a holistic dimension for managing mental illness. Some practices will work for some people, but not for everyone. In the end it comes down to what works for you.”

“Outlets for self-awareness exist in every state and local community. They can be pursued individually or in groups. Every outlet can make a contribution to recovery,” Fitzpatrick said.

Mental illnesses include major depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other diagnoses.