David McLean

The health impact of smoking and obesity and what to do about it

PART ONE: TAKING STEPS TOWARDS HEALTH 1 Introduction: Planning to Reduce the Risks of Chronic Disease 2 Risk Factors and the Burden of Disease 3 The Economic Cost of Risk Factors B.C. Risk Factor Plan (1) 4 Risk Factor Targets around the World B.C. Risk Factor Plan (2) 5 The Benefits of Reducing Risk Factors B.C. Risk Factor Plan (3) PART TWO: FROM SETTING TO ACHIEVING TARGETS 6 Tobacco Control Evidence (1): Preventing Uptake 7 Tobacco Control Evidence (2): Smoking Cessation 8 Tobacco Control Evidence (3): Second-Hand Smoke, Specific Populations, and a Summary 9 Tobacco Control Evidence (4): Cost-Effectiveness 10 Lessons from the Tobacco Wars PART THREE: ONE RISK TO RULE THEM ALL 11 Obesity and Tobacco Control: New Territory and Established Pathways 12 Obesity Control Evidence (1): Reducing Energy Intake 13 Obesity Control Evidence (2): Increasing Energy Expenditure 14 Obesity Control Evidence (3): Combined Approaches, Cost-Effectiveness, and a Compendium 15 Important Issues in Obesity Control B.C. Risk Factor Plan (4) 16 Collaborating for Health 17 Conclusion: Four Fundamentals for Reducing Risk Factors Notes Index

Recent Advances in Real-Time Raman Spectroscopy for In Vivo Skin Cancer Diagnosis

A large-scale clinical study established that real-time Raman spectroscopy could distinguish malignant from benign skin lesions with good diagnostic accuracy. Recent independent skin cancer Raman measurement validated previous findings.

In-Vivo Skin Roughness Measurement by Laser Speckle

Skin surface roughness is an important clinical property for aging process and pathological changes of the outmost organ of the body. Physicians use skin roughness as the key diagnostic feature to detect warts, actinic keratoses, and psoriases, and to differentiate benign seborrheic keratoses from malignant melanomas. Additionally, skin roughness has been used to monitor medical and cosmetic treatments for eczema, scars, stretch marks and wrinkles.

Overview of the Topic

This comment is found in a German report covering what were probably the first documented cases of second primary cancer (SPC) [1]. In the intervening 120 years, the research focus on this important area of oncology and epidemiology has been established and gradually intensified. Recently, investigation of prevention options has begun to dominate the agenda. It is well known that cancer survivors are at risk for recurrence of the primary cancer. The chance of getting a so-called SPC is also increased. Simply put, a SPC is a new primary cancer developing in a person with a history of cancer. Interest in SPCs has paralleled the extraordinary improvement in curing primary cancers, which in turn has increased both the longevity and the absolute number of survivors. The concomitant reduction in mortality rates attached to (in particular) cardiovascular disease has augmented the general increase in longevity. Accordingly, the cumulative incidence of SPC has grown, essentially driven by patients surviving long enough for other cancers to develop. It is accurate to say that the SPC story has expanded as a by-product of increasing health awareness, early diagnosis of primary cancers and therapeutic success. The outcome of these forces is that SPCs are now more common; indeed, as a class they are estimated to be the sixth most common form of malignancy in the world [2]. Consequently, research on such cancers has intensified. The last comprehensive textbook on the area covered data up to about 1997 [3]. It appears that the volume of publishing since that point has already matched the academic output in all the previous decades combined. There are 3 imperatives that have prompted the continuing wave of research and analysis. First, there is a need to completely understand the epidemiology of SPC. This

Community-Based Prevention:: Reducing the Risk of Cancer and Chronic Disease

This book presents community-based prevention programs as longterm sustainable strategies for combating the risk of cancer and chronic diseases. The authors argue that to be most effective, prevention programs must take a comprehensive approach, addressing common risk factors of many chronic diseases. This is achieved through such health strategies as increasing physical activity, improving nutrition, and preventing tobacco use through community engagement, education, and health promotion; the goal of all of these being to generate action and empower the public. International in scope and divided into three parts, the book: provides context to the importance of these programs and the roles of community-based educators; offers case study examples of existing successful health promotion programs in different countries; and examines strategic components that are crucial to the successful execution of programs. The inclusion of case studies allows for valuable comparison of these programs, highlighting the impact on specific populations, and offering insight into how other programs are run in an attempt to inspire health promotion in other regions. An important contributor to the success of these programs is the focus on smaller, more manageable regions with programs specifically geared to the community’s health needs and special care paid to ethnocultural factors and other social determinants that exist in the community. The authors do examine the generalizability of such programs and the specific factors that must be addressed in tailoring programs to different regions; this is especially necessary where there are multiple risk factors that contribute to illness. These programs incorporate all levels of health promotion, including individual healthy behaviours, factors involved in making healthy choices, and the social determinants of health. However, a challenge with such programs is the time it takes to attain results of preventive efforts, which is why, the authors highlight, it is crucial to have long-term, sustained investment. The role and impact of community-based educators take centre stage in Community-Based Prevention: Reducing the Risk of Cancer and Chronic Disease. Without the presence of community-based educators, the preventive strategies raised in the book risk healthist moralizing. The authors suggest that these educators are crucial for preventing the displacement of blame onto at-risk individuals, thus protecting the public against this common outcome associated with preventive health care. As such, the intended readers of this book are policy planners and policy-makers interested in establishing or revising chronic disease prevention programs, community program leaders, and others interested in preventive health initiatives. This book may be useful for undergraduate and graduate courses related to health and policy. An important aspect is the avoidance of an overly academic feel in order to help narrow the gap in knowledge translation, which makes it an accessible tool for a broader lay audience. Partnerships among researchers, health organizations, and the community are important in preventive efforts to establish and act on common goals, and the authors stress that communication and cooperation are essential to identifying needs and ensuring success of targeted programs. This book makes an appeal to health policymakers to consider community-based prevention education programs in efforts to succeed with broader prevention agendas. As such, the focus on illness prevention in this book is a refreshing response to the often singular focus on reactive health care.

The prevention of second primary cancers : a resource for clinicians and health managers

* Overview of the Topic * Meaning of Second Primary Cancers * Importance of Second Primary Cancers * Framework and Methodology * Lymphomas * Leukemias * Breast Cancer (Female) * Lung Cancer * Cancers of the Head and Neck * Gastrointestinal Cancers * Genitourinary Cancers * Gynecologic Cancers * Skin Cancers * Pediatric Cancers * Summary of Significant Second Primary Cancer Associations * Population Health Priorities Subject Index.