French police have arrested Jean-Claude Mas, whose breast implant firm Poly Implant Prothese sparked an international health scandal by using substandard silicon

(Reuters) - Jean-Claude Mas, the Frenchman who sparked a global health scare by selling substandard breast implants, was arrested on Thursday as Marseille prosecutors build a case against him for manslaughter.
    In the first arrests since the two-year-old scandal made headlines worldwide in December, Mas and a second executive at his now defunct company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were seized at their homes in southern France shortly after dawn.
    The detention could lead within hours to Mas being placed under formal investigation on suspicion of manslaughter and causing bodily harm. That could in due course lead to criminal charges, which would carry longer sentences than those he now faces in a fraud case expected to be tried around October.

Women who have been campaigning against PIP since French authorities banned its products nearly two years ago welcomed the move as giving them a sense that the law was now in action.
Health authorities in France and elsewhere have stressed that PIP's products carry no proven link to cancer, but surgeons report that they have abnormally high rupture rates. Responses to the problem have varied among different foreign authorities.
Thursday's arrests follow an investigation opened in Marseille, close to PIP's former premises, on December 8 after the death from cancer in 2010 of a woman with PIP implants.Mas and Couty can be held for up to 48 hours while a judge decides whether to open a formal probe and, if so, what bail conditions, if any, to set.A trial date could be years away, given the extent of inquiry required, but the graver manslaughter case could make it harder for Mas to avoid appearing in court later this year on other charges of fraud and deception.
That latter case targets half a dozen former PIP executives and could also carry prison terms for them of several years. It has dragged on as investigators have had to quiz up to 2,700 women who have filed complaints over PIP implants.

Mas, who sold some 300,000 implants around the world, has acknowledged that he used unapproved silicone but dismissed fears that it constituted a health risk.
Earlier in January, leaks from a police document showed Mas admitting to lying about the quality of PIP's implants and describing the women filing complaints against him as just seeking money. The comments sparked public anger against him.
PIP closed down in March 2010 after regulators discovered it was using a non-approved, industrial silicone gel, and pulled its implants off the market.

France has called for tighter European Union regulations on medical devices in wake of the PIP affair, saying suppliers of prosthetics should require the same sort of authorization as manufacturers of prescription medicines.

According to estimates by national authorities, over 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, more than 30,000 in France, 9,000 in Australia and 4,000 in Italy. Nearly 25,000 of the implants were sold in Brazil.
Women in 65 countries - mainly in Latin America and elsewhere in Europe - have received implants made by the company, which closed down in March 2010.
Health officials in Germany, the Czech Republic and Venezuela have advised women to have them removed but the medical advice in the UK, where 40,000 are affected, is that there is no need for all the implants to be removed, only those causing problems such as pain or tenderness.
In England, patients fitted with PIP implants by the NHS will have them replaced by the health service, while it will remove implants from private patients if their clinics refuse. The NHS in Wales said it would replace implants only when it was deemed medically necessary.
Women in Northern Ireland who received PIP implants for health reasons will have them replaced, but the NHS will only remove, not replace, those inserted for cosmetic reasons.
Scotland's Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said concerned women who had them fitted privately would be offered advice and the option of removal if necessary. There are no records of PIP implants being used by the NHS.

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Breast Cancer iPhone App Enlists Hunky Men to Remind Women About Self-Examination

A breast cancer app for iPhone, as well as Android, in which hunky men remind women to self-examine will be available in October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness month.

The Canadian charity Rethink Breast Cancer (RBC) has come up with an app called "Your Man Reminder."
Women can choose from six stereotypical male hunks, including the Boy Next Door, the Sports Jock, and the Business Man. A woman's hunk will pop up on her smartphone on a regular basis and remind her to do a self-exam. He will also offer her words of encouragement, such as "Give your breasts some TLC." TLC is breast awareness code for the words touch, look and check. Women can even choose the pose they want their man to make. The app will also offer scheduling options for doctors' appointments and a "signs and symptoms" tab, among other conveniences.

    Tracie Snitker, who works for the public relations firm promoting the app, said Your Man Reminder targets young women who give little thought to breast cancer detection. "It's not a lot of fun to remind yourself to do a self exam," Snitker said. "And a busy woman has so many reminders in her phone for all kinds of things. With this app, you can have a cute guy to remind you to do it."
The charity itself is known for doing "provocative" marketing campaigns with "shock value," Snitker said. Previous efforts have urged women to "Save the Boobies!" In honor of its 10th anniversary, the organization will be throwing a BoobyBall next month.
      Asked whether the app would offend women, Snitker said: "He's not going to do it for you. It's about touching yourself, about knowing how your breast feels when it's normal. So later if there's a change, you'll know."

      "Young women are busy and often need a reminder to show their breasts some TLC,"  Rethink Breast Cancer executive director M.J. DeCoteau said in a statement: "Being aware of what your breasts regularly look and feel like is the key to early detection and what better way to remind you to check yourself than a friendly nudge from a hot guy."

Sources:
http://m.ibtimes.com/breast-cancer-iphone-app-218657.html

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Breastfeeding . Why Human milk is irreplaceable?

World Breastfeeding Week  1–7 August 2011

      World Breastfeeding Week is celebrated every year from 1 to 7 August in more than 120 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world. It commemorates the Innocenti Declaration made by WHO and UNICEF policy-makers in August 1990 to protect, promote and support breastfeeding.

      Breastfeeding is the best way to provide newborns with the nutrients they need. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is six months old, and continued breastfeeding with the addition of nutritious complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.

Introduction to Breastfeeding

          Breast milk is thought to be the best form of nutrition for neonates and infants. The properties of human milk facilitate the transition of life from in utero to ex utero. This dynamic fluid provides a diverse array of bioactive substances to the developing infant during critical periods of brain, immune, and gut development. The clinician must be familiar with how the mammary gland produces human milk and how its properties nourish and protect the breastfeeding infant.

             Clinicians play a crucial role in a mother's decision to breastfeed and can facilitate her success in lactation. Although a mother may not be aware of the evidence indicating that breast milk contributes to her baby's short-term and long-term well-being, she has developed certain attitudes and cultural beliefs about breastfeeding. The issue of bonding between mother and newborn may be a strong factor; however, stronger cultural or societal barriers may result in the decision to formula feed. Such issues must be understood for successful counseling. The mother makes her decision regarding breastfeeding prior to delivery in more than 90% of cases; therefore, her choice of infant nutrition should be discussed starting in the second trimester and continue as part of an ongoing dialogue during each obstetric visit.

          Breastfeeding or bottle feeding your newborn baby is a personal decision. If you choose to breastfeed, it will be helpful if you are in a supportive environment and have resources to assist you with questions you may have or problems that may develop. 

• Consider attending a series of La Leche League meetings or reading La Leche League's book on breastfeeding (The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding) before the birth of your baby.
  
  
• Ask other breastfeeding mothers for advice.
  
  
• A supportive network including other like-minded mothers helps with the commitments of this style of feeding.
  
  
• If you are undecided at birth time, consider a one-month trial. It is easy to go from breastfeeding to bottle-feeding.
  
  
• The first month of breastfeeding is the most difficult, so if you get through that period, the rest will be easier.

Campaign Video : "Breastfeeding: First food for champions!"  

Comparison with Formula-Feeding

• The ideal food for human infants is human milk. Human milk contains all the right ingredients—protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, and water—in just the right balance. No formula can make that claim. Infant formula manufacturers attempt to artificially duplicate human milk. Formula feeding is a practice that is relatively recent—about 60 years—compared to the beginning of humankind (not to mention all other mammals) relying on breast milk.
  
  
• Formula does not contain the disease-fighting factors or the digestive enzymes that breast milk has. The nutrients in formula are more difficult for a baby to digest and absorb than the nutrients in human milk, requiring the baby to handle excess waste. Some formulas may have a less than optimal composition by containing too much salt and/or not enough cholesterol, fats, lactose, zinc, and iron, among other nutrients.

• Some infants fed a cow's milk-based formula may develop allergies to the proteins in the cow's milk. Infants who are allergic to cow's milk often are also allergic to "hypoallergenic" (non-allergy-causing) soy formulas.
  
  
• During the early months, a formula-fed baby may develop signs of allergy to or intolerance of a particular formula. These signs may include the following:
  
  
  • Bouts of crying after feeding
    
    
  • Vomiting after most feedings
    
    
  • Persistent diarrhea or constipation
    
    
  • Colic with a distended tense painful abdomen after feeding
    
    
  • Generally irritable behavior
    
    
  • A red, rough sandpaper-like rash especially around the face or anus or in both places
    
    
  • Frequent colds and ear infections
    
    
  • Red itchy rash especially in the folds of the elbow and knee joints
    
    
• These signs, or the baby's preference, may lead you through a series of different formulas, often each more expensive than the last.
  
  
• Formula-fed infants may be exposed to a variety of environmental substances used during the preparation of the formula or carried as a minor contaminate from which breastfed infants are protected. 

Benefits of Breastfeeding

• With rare exceptions, breast milk is the preferred feeding for infants and confers unique benefits.
  
  Breastfed babies (for at least 6 months) may be at reduced risk for many acute and chronic diseases, including gastrointestinal tract infection (like diarrhea), lower respiratory tract infections (like a cold), urinary tract infections, otitis media (ear infections), and allergic reactions (like atopic dermatitis and asthma).
  The effect of breastfeeding in protecting against infection is well established. Infants who were fully breastfed for 6 months or more seem to have higher mental development when compared with infants who were never breastfed. Some studies show that the effects of breastfeeding may carry over and also protect young children and adolescents from becoming overweight.
  
  
• Milk has biologic specificity—meaning that every species of animal who breastfeeds their babies makes a milk that is unique for the young of that species.
  
  
• The amounts of nutrients change to match your baby's rapidly changing needs.
  
  
• The fat content increases during a feeding so that the baby gets the right amount of fat. Human milk contains the right kinds of fats along with an enzyme (lipase) that helps digest the fat.
  
  
• Cholesterol is high in human milk, lower in cow's milk, and very low in formulas. Cholesterol promotes brain growth and provides basic components of hormones, vitamin D, and intestinal bile.
  
  
• Milk (cow's, formula, and human) contains two main proteins: whey and casein. Whey is easier for humans to digest and is found in higher concentrations in human milk.
  
  
• Around 6 months of age, the baby's intestines mature and become less open to proteins that may harm the body as allergenic proteins (allergens). Giving only human milk until the intestines mature is the best way to keep potentially allergy-causing proteins out of baby's blood.
  
  
• Human milk includes helpful proteins not naturally found in milk made by cows or companies.
  
  
• Human milk is fresh and contains more lactose (sugar) than cow's milk. Formulas add sucrose or glucose (other types of sugars).
  
  
• Vitamins and minerals have a higher bioavailability in human milk. In other words, the body uses most of what is in the milk. There is very little waste.
  
  
• The germs in the baby's environment, to which the mother has been exposed, cause the mother to produce antibodies to that germ, which are passed on to the breastfeeding infant.
  
  
• Breastfeeding relaxes mother and baby.
  
  
• Women who breastfeed have a lower incidence of breast cancer.
  
  
• Breastfed babies tend to be healthier.
  
  
• Breastfeeding is less expensive.

Prepare for Breastfeeding

• There is really no physical preparation that is necessary for breastfeeding. Education about the benefits and practice of breastfeeding is the best preparation. Contrary to some popular beliefs, it is not necessary to "toughen up" or prepare the nipples in advance for breastfeeding. Some techniques of stimulating the nipples may actually be harmful.
  
  
• Sometimes women prepare for breastfeeding by exposing the nipples to air for a certain amount of time each day; while this has not been shown to be medically useful, it is likely not harmful either.
  
  
• Take a breastfeeding class. Your hospital may offer breastfeeding classes as part of the childbirth class. These classes can put you in touch with a lactation specialist who may later be your personal breastfeeding consultant.
  
  
• Join your local La Leche League or other breastfeeding support group. Call (800) LA LECHE to find your local leader.
  
  
• Talk with supportive friends who encourage your feeding choices.
  
  
• Learn proper positioning and latch-on techniques.

First Feedings

• Within a few minutes after birth, most babies can be introduced to breastfeeding. Relax. Most babies take a few licks, sucks, and pause. Sucking in frequent bursts and pauses is the usual pattern for the first few hours and sometimes even the first few days. The first milk the mother produces, colostrum, is the best food.
  
  
• Breastfeeding also helps the uterus contract, which helps stop uterine bleeding.
  
  
• Try to room-in with your baby. When you see your baby begin to open its eyes, look around, and put his or her fist into his or her mouth, then it is time to offer your breast.
  
  
  • Try to make the nurses understand that you wish to breastfeed and that your baby should not be given sugar water or formula without you and your health care provider being aware and consenting.
    
    
  • You may need to have the nurses actually put a sign on your baby's bed restricting bottle-feeding.
  
  
• Try latching the baby on at the first signs of hunger. Do not wait until the baby cries, or you will teach the baby to cry to get your attention. The baby will get upset more quickly the longer you take to respond.

  Conclusion :
 
          Human milk, in addition to its numerous nutrients that make it an ideal food source for the growing term infant, is a bioactive fluid that evolves from colostrum to mature milk as the infant matures. This bioactive fluid contains numerous factors and live cells that, in concert, promote the growth and well-being of the breastfeeding infant. Oliver Wendell Holmes said it best when he stated, "A pair of substantial mammary glands has the advantage over the two hemispheres of the most learned professor's brain, in the art of compounding a nutritious fluid for infants." With the ever-expanding knowledge resulting from current research, commercial formula clearly cannot replicate all of the valuable properties that are inherent in human milk.

Source:
world_breastfeeding_week
breastfeeding/article
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1835675-overview      
 http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/healthyliving/childfamily/Pages/CommonQuestions.aspx
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/HealthInfo/healthyliving/childfamily/Page  /EducationalMaterialsforBreastfeedingFamilies.aspx
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/baby-food-nutrition-9/default.htm
http://www.happybabyfood.com/health-nutrition/47/210-happybaby-nutrition-guide
 Age by age guide to feeding your baby  http://www.babycenter.com/0_age-by-age-guide-to-feeding-your-baby_1400680.bc

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Payment Rates May Affect Breast Cancer Treatment

Use of a costly breast cancer therapy called intensity-modulated radiation therapy is strongly influenced by what Medicare will pay for the treatment and where radiation oncologists practice, according to a new study. Researchers analyzed Medicare data for 26,163 women with localized breast cancer who had surgery and radiation therapy between 2001 and 2005. During that time, Medicare billing for the treatment, called IMRT, increased more than 10-fold (from 0.9 percent to 11.2 percent of patients).

The average cost for radiation treatment within the first year after breast cancer diagnosis was $7,179 without IMRT and $15,230 with it. Billing for IMRT was five times higher in regions of the country where the treatment was covered by local Medicare carriers than it was in areas where it was not covered, the researchers said. They also found that billing for IMRT was more common among patients treated in freestanding radiation treatment centers (7.6 percent) than among those treated in hospital-based outpatient clinics (5.4 percent).

The findings "suggest that with respect to breast radiation therapy, much of the variation in cost can be directly attributed to inconsistent treatment definitions and reimbursement rates authorized by Medicare and its intermediaries," concluded Dr. Benjamin D. Smith, of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and his colleagues. The study is published in the April 29 online edition of in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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Tissue Analysis May Help Predict Breast Cancer Outcome

An analysis of breast tissue may help doctors better predict outcomes for women with breast cancer, a new study reports. Researchers analyzed what they describe as "highways" of connective tissue in breast cancer tumors, and found that the way collagen fibers the main component of connective tissue are arranged may aid in a patient's diagnosis and help determine treatment. Collagen not only surrounds most body organs and helps provide structure for the body, it also tells cells how to behave, the study authors noted. Normally, a close-up of collagen resembles a jumbled path or a plate of cooked spaghetti.

In the new study, the researchers analyzed tumor cells from 200 patients with invasive breast cancer. The investigators found signs that the collagen began to act differently as the tumors progressed. "We think the cancer cells start to pull on the collagen and straighten it out, forming a track or highway on which the cells can migrate," study senior author Patricia Keely, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said in a university news release. As the highways became more developed, the prognoses for patients worsened, the study found.

"We have identified a novel collagen-signature system that may become a very useful addition to the tools clinicians use to determine a breast cancer patient's prognosis," Keely explained. The research is published in the March issue of the American Journal of Pathology. Commenting on the study, Dr. Priscilla A. Furth, a professor of oncology and medicine at Georgetown University's Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, described it as an example of "valid basic research." However, "before any new prognostic test can go into practice it must be extensively validated. This publication is a first step that might trigger additional research to examine the utility of this type of analysis in different settings and by different groups," said Furth, who was not involved with the study.

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Drop in Breast Cancer Among White Women May Have Stalled

Many American women abandoned hormone replacement therapy after a 2002 study found the treatment was tied to higher breast cancer risk. A sharp drop in breast cancer incidence among whites was observed soon after. However, a new study suggests that the 2002-2003 decline in breast cancer incidence among white women did not continue through 2007. The data suggests that the drop in breast cancers linked to women abandoning hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has now bottomed out.

Breast cancer rates among U.S. white women fell by about 7 percent between 2002 and 2003 after the release in 2002 of findings from the Women's Health Initiative study that linked HRT with an increased risk of breast cancer. To examine whether that trend has continued, American Cancer Society and U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) researchers reviewed breast cancer data collected from 2000 to 2007 by NCI Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registries across the country.

The analysis revealed that the sharp decline in breast cancer rates among white women that occurred between 2002 and 2003 did not continue between 2003 and 2007. Instead, breast cancer rates among white women remained relatively stable from 2003 to 2007. "Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy certainly had accounted for an increase in the incidence of developing a breast cancer. The use of postmenopausal HRT had sharply declined after multiple reports proved this relationship," noted one expert, Dr. Sharon M. Rosenbaum-Smith, a breast cancer specialist and surgeon at the Comprehensive Breast Center at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Medical Center in New York City.

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Breast Cancer Treatment May Lead to Hip Fracture

Middle-aged breast cancer survivors face an increased risk for hip fractures, a condition normally uncommon in women younger than 70, a new study has found. Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago say that this may be because early menopause caused by breast cancer treatment and the effects of breast cancer drugs could weaken the bones by the time women reach middle age. The finding came from a study of six women who had survived breast cancer and, in their early 50s, were being treated for hip fractures.

Most of the women did not have osteoporosis, but they did have lower-than-normal bone mineral density (osteopenia). This suggests that rapid changes in bone architecture caused by chemotherapy, early menopause and adjuvant breast cancer therapy may not be detected on a bone mineral density test, said Dr. Beatrice Edwards, an associate professor of medicine and orthopedic surgery and director of the bone health and osteoporosis program Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine, who led the research.

The women had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, and their treatments had included lumpectomy, radiation therapy and chemotherapy with cytoxan and adriamycin for one to four years before they broke a hip. All of the women were perimenopausal at the time of the fracture. In four of the women, their breast cancer had grown in response to estrogen, and their cancer therapy had included aromatase inhibitors to prevent their bodies from making estrogen. Recent research has linked aromatase inhibitors with possible bone loss in women.

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Breast Cancer Outcome: Your Doctor Matters

How doctors choose to treat their breast cancer patients and whether those treatment choices follow established recommendations may play a larger role in whether a cancer returns than experts have believed. In a new analysis looking at 994 women with ductal carcinoma in situ, the most common type of noninvasive breast cancer, researchers found treatment variations from surgeon to surgeon are significant, and may account for up to 30 percent of recurrences.

"Treatment variation is a troubling but well-known phenomenon in health care," said study author Andrew W. Dick, a researcher at RAND Corp. in Pittsburgh. The report is published online Jan. 3 and in the Jan. 19 print issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. "The reason it is surprising in this case is that the variation is quite large, and related to factors that are very important in health outcomes," Dick said.

Those factors include having "negative margins" meaning that cancer cells are more than 2 millimeters away from the removed tissue's edge and getting radiation therapy after breast-conserving surgery. The variation by surgeon in treatments accounted for 15 percent to 35 percent of cancer occurring in the opposite breast in the next five years and 13 percent to 30 percent of recurrences over 10 years, the investigators found.

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