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Easy Rider star, Dennis Hopper, dies of prostate cancer at the age of 74 years...

What Dennis Hopper's Death Can Teach Us About Prostate Cancer

By Toni Brayer MD on Jun 1, 2010

When Dennis Hopper died of prostate cancer at age 74, my husband asked me, "Hey, I thought prostate cancer didn't kill men and it is slow growing." Well, he is right about it usually being slow growing, but prostate cancer is still the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in men. His question made me realize that there are some facts that everyone should know about prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is very rare in men under age 40, and the incidence increases with age. African-American men are at higher risk, and Asian and Latin men are less likely than white guys to get it. We do not know why these ethnic differences occur. Family history is important, and men with an affected brother or father are twice as likely to get prostate cancer. Although genes are undoubtedly responsible, there are no genetic tests that can predict it. Some studies show obese men and men who eat large quantities of red meat and dairy products are more at risk. A vasectomy doesn't seem to matter, nor does exercise or prior prostatitis.

Prostate cancer grows slowly, and the PSA (prostate specific antigen) test or a digital rectal exam can screen for an enlarged prostate. The PSA test can be false positive for many reasons, and the only way to diagnose suspected prostate cancer is by a biopsy. The most important marker for a cancer in the prostate is the "Gleason" score. This grade (1-10) tells us how advanced or aggressive the cancer is. The pathologist can see if the cells are suspicious for atypical changes or are high-grade. The extent of the tumor determines the stage.

Once a cancer has been diagnosed, graded and staged, the confusing choices of treatment come into play. Because most prostate cancer occurs in older men and it is slow growing, many men choose "watchful waiting". By following PSA tests and ultrasounds, we can determine if the cancer is growing. For many men, nothing more needs to be done, because the cancer causes them no problems. For younger men or men with high Gleason scores, treatment is usually surgical removal of the prostate or radiation of the prostate gland. Radiotherapy can also occur with seed implantation of radioactive material. Hormone therapy or cryoablation is also used less often.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation and the Mayo Clinic have more good info if you wish to delve further.

RIP, Dennis Hopper. I think I'll take a stroll down memory lane and rent "Easy Rider" again. I haven't seen it for 40 years!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Hopper

http://www.prostate.org.au/articleLive/pages/What-is-Prostate-Cancer.html

http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10741176&ref=rss

Same sex marriage has been approved by the New York State legislature...

Supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage rallied after it was announced that the State Senate would vote on the measure in Albany. It has now been signed into law at the New York State legislature in Albany.

The marriage bill, whose fate was uncertain until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 in a packed but hushed Senate chamber. Four members of the Republican majority joined all but one Democrat in the Senate in supporting the measure after an intense and emotional campaign aimed at the handful of lawmakers wrestling with a decision that divided their friends, their constituents and sometimes their own homes.

A total of 823 same sex couples were to be wed in New York City yesterday on what has been described as a historic day for the American Gay Rights movement. The state government had legalised same-sex marriages exactly one month earlier, after weeks of negotiation and protests by religious leaders.

I'm sure that things will never be the same for many people in New York, the rest of America and around the world. A huge precedent has been set in this state which won't be reversed like a similar law in California some time ago.

Acknowledgements: New York Times

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/25/us-gaymarriage-newyork-idUSTRE75N5ZA20110625

http://msn.nzherald.co.nz/relationships/news/article.cfm?c_id=41&objectid=10740940

http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_marr.htm

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Another Facebook privacy blurp...

Just as our friends at The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reporting about a start-up that rats you out to potential employers based on your drunken or otherwise ill-advised social-media posts, our pals at TechCrunch have gotten a tip about another Facebook privacy burp.

And if you're prone to posting nekkid Jedi videos of yourself, it could be a bit embarrassing.

True, the glitch wouldn't likely have affected your job prospects, unless you'd friended your maybe-new boss, but it could have scandalized grandma or junior.

As TechCrunch's Jason Kincaid reports, the glitch had to do with restricted-access settings for videos posted to Facebook and shared with supposedly designated friends.

It seems that the titles, thumbnails, and descriptions for videos were mistakenly visible to all of a user's friends, regardless of which had been granted access to the clips. And a list of people tagged in each clip was visible as well.

The videos themselves weren't watchable by all, but sometimes--as Kincaid rightly points out--a thumbnail can be worth a thousand naughty words (as can a title or description of considerably fewer). We'll leave it to you to imagine the horrifying shared-with-dorm-buds, spied-by-mom scenarios. (We hope all you have to do is imagine them. If not, you have our sincere sympathies.)

Of course, it's not the first time something people thought was private on Facebook really wasn't. After all, the company has a way of changing privacy policies without telling, or of quietly adding new privacy-related features on an opt-out basis, leaving users to scramble to change their settings once the news hits the fan.

TechCrunch's Kincaid reports that Facebook says the glitch has been fixed and that it existed, in Kincaid's words, for "just over a week." That's about the time it seems to be taking the ostensibly privacy-conscious Facebook rival Google+ to acquire 7 million or so new members. (Ouch.)

Again, the Facebook glitch applied to friends only, so strangers couldn't get in on the action. Still, if you're thinking of looking for a job anytime in the future (or showing up to a family reunion), you might not want to trust privacy settings to, um, cover your tail in regard to raunchy posts. (And that sort of thing may well be the case with Google+ too, if what some see as that service's recent mishandling of user monikers is any indication.)

You could, we suppose, throw privacy to the wind altogether and post that nekkid Jedi clip on YouTube. Who knows? It might go viral and land you not just a job but a whole new career. May the Force be with you.
...

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-20082767-93/facebook-glitch-exposes-private-videos/#ixzz1TAtILf4G

New Zealand has been described as a credible Mossad target, and it is plausible that the four young Israelis at the centre of spying claims could well have been on a training mission, according to Gordon Thomas, an author who resides in Britain and has written extensively about Isreali spy agency Mossad. Trainees known as katsas in Hebrew, were typically planted overseas in groups of four after finishing their training. They would then be observed by an instructor, and possibly another team of operatives.

The four caught in the Christchurch earthquake, as discussed in my last post here at "Kiwipete", one of whom, Ofer Mizrahi, was killed by falling concrete while in that 'white van' along with three colleagues who managed to escape from the van, and reportedly left New Zealand within twelve hours - were unlikely to be full Mossad agents but may have been handpicked as trainees during compulsory military service.

Mr Thomas also stated that American and British intelligence agencies, the CIA and MI6 had offices based in Auckland and held high-level meetings with NZ spy bosses from the SIS afterthe Christchurch earthquake.

The agencies wanted to know what had sparked a Security Intelligence Service investigation into the group of Israeli backpackers. They also wanted to know the details regarding the investigation and what passports the four had in their possession. At that time the late Ofer Mizrahi would have still been in the van until he was taken to the morgue. Five passports were later found on his body. I wonder who is in possession of these passports now?

Thomas believed New Zealand was a credible Mossad target because of the threat from al Qaeda terrorist cells operating into the Pacific rim area.

He also believed that Israel was very interested in what NZ spy agencies knew, what they were sharing with other intelligence services and how good they were at obtaining information.

A United States embassy spokesman allegedly declined to comment on Thomas' claims about CIA staff working in Auckland. " It is longstanding US policy not to comment on alleged intelligence matters."

The British High Commission apparently gave a similar response.

Nothing is forthcoming from NZ Prime Minister, John Key, who is in the United States and had a thirty minute meeting planned with President Barack Obama. It would have been interesting to have been a fly on the wall during that meeting.

I would also discuss the comments of New Zealand Green Party MP, Keith Lock, who drew attention to previous work for israeli intelligence by the leader of a private search and rescue team which flew to Christchurch after the February earthquake. This was the USAR team that was found illegally in the 'red zone' in the Christchurch CBD and was removed by armed police there.

PM Key had said investigations by multiple NZ agencies were sparked by the behaviour of the three surviving Israelis who had fled NZ after the quake. His office also refuses to discuss operational details of the SIS or police investigation. Mr key is also Minister for the SIS.

The person responsible for the USAR team coming to NZ,Hilik Magnus, needed to give more details because he has admitted to serving in the Isreali Defence Forces as an elite paratrooper specialising in 'special operations' - obviously part of Israeli special forces operations.

In conclusion, I would be very interested in the conversation that PM John Key had on the day of the earthquake in any one of the four telephone calls he had with his Israeli counterpart. Also what truth there is in the claim by one of the four Israelis discussed above, a Mr Guy Jordan, who claimed to be just a 'backpacker" caught up in the earthquake - a welder from Israel trying to travel in NZ. Yeah right! And I believe in the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus! But then again I might be wrong?

All hell is breaking loose in New Zealand media circles. The 6.3 earthquake that further destroyed Christchurch's CBD on February 22 2011, earlier this year, also revealed some underhand and possibly illegal behaviour by a number of Israeli nationals. A white van containing four of these Israelis trapped three people and left one of them dead. They finally freed themselves and left their dead companion behind - he was one of the 181 victims of the earthquake. They allegedly photographed the van and met Israeli officials in another part of the central city. Within twelve hours they had left New Zealand. The body of a man, Ofer Benyamin Mizrahi, aged 23 years from the Kibbutz Magal near Haifa was taken to a morgue, identified and searched after being recovered from the van several days after the quake. Five passports were found on his body.

On the day of the earthquake an unaccredited search and rescue squad from Israel was rejected by NZ authorities and discovered in the sealed off "red zone" by armed police who removed them from the area.

Other points of interest were the NZ Prime Minister, John Key, receiving four calls that day from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. What were the calls about?

Israel's ambassador in the Pacific, Shemi Tzur, based in Australia, booked flights to Christchurch, where he visited the morgue. Israel's civil defence chief left Israel for Christchurch as well. I discussed the urban search and rescue team which had not been accredited by the UN above.

There is a suspicion that the Israeli officials were more concerned about finding Mr Mizrahi than being concerned about the safety of Israeli nationals.

The confrontation between the USAR team and armed policemen is understood to have led later to some intense diplomatic tension.

However a forensic analysis team sent by the Israeli government was welcomed in Christchurch and worked on victim identification.

Later the NZ Security Intelligence Service (SIS) became suspicious about the passports found on Mizrahi's body, the immediate flight back to Israel by his three comrades within just 12 hours, and the high-powered Israeli interest shown in the earthquake,the behaviour of the so-called search and rescue team in the CBD "red zone" and a mysterious seventh Israeli, in New Zealand illegally and reported missing in the quake, then weeks later was reported to have left the country.

The Israeli ambassador, Shemi Tzur, has dismissed the NZ claims as "science fiction" suspicions that agents of Israel's secret service,Mossad, had been caught up in February earthquake. Maybe, maybe not! New Zealand has had experience with the Mossad before. John key denies the Israeli connection.

However the breaking story in New Zealand is whether Israeli spies hacked into New Zealand's national police computer? That will be the basis for another story here, perhaps, later down the track. The United Kingdom has their phone hacking controversy, we may well have our own.

A pressure group has poured scorn on British arms giant BAE Systems after it was revealed the defence company was developing 'environmentally friendly' munitions - including lead-free bullets.

The company allegedly plans to make 'quieter' warheads (don't wake up the neighbours?) to cut the noise pollution, 'eco-friendly' rockets, and grenades with fewer cancer-causing chemicals. The company is also planning to work towards slashing carbon emissions from jet aircraft and armoured cars.

The Campaign Against Arms Trade group called BAE's moves 'laughable'. But in reply the company said it wasn't embarrassed at all about its efforts or a statement on its website that "lead used in ammunition can harm the environment and pose a risk to people."

I don't think people care whether bullets are environmentally green or brass coloured - they all kill you!

http://www.greenhealthwatch.com

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Many of us have successfully or unsuccessfully given up that revolting habit of smoking. It is not easy - despite the physical problems in circumventing the nicotine addiction through the use of patches and gums etc, there are the psychological problems associated with giving up smoking.That was the most difficult part for me.

When I decided to quit the habit in 1991 after smoking for over 30 years there was really only one successful aid and patch - Nicotenelle (the spelling may not be accurate) that was manufactured by a Swiss drug company.

When I decided to quit, the new nicotine patch had become so popular in New Zealand that supplies ran out for three months.This actually worked to my benefit - I had three months to psychologically prepare for giving up the drug whose addictive qualities are allegedly stronger than heroin.

So when the patches became available I was able to beat the habit in ten weeks rather than the recommended twelve weeks. I have never back-slided, relapsed and had a smoke. It was not easy especially when socialising and having a drink down at the local rugby club. But I was successful and that three months delay in getting those patches worked to my psychological advantage.

If only there was an easier way. Well maybe there is. What is it you may ask, puffing on your foul smelling fag?

A new vaccine is holding promise for 90% of quitters who relapse. This is not a paid advert, but the readers digest have reported that after six monthly injections, users of NicVax nicotine antibodies were built up, just like they would to diseases. If you smoke while you are on the injections your bloodstream is flooded with nicotine. The antibodies attach themselves to the nicotine's molecules, making them too big to cross into the brain's pleasure centre. The results are that any smoking buzz is killed off!

Unlike some anti-smoking drugs, the vaccine doesn't act on the central nervous system, which may result in less side effects such as a dry mouth or sleeping difficulties. In clinical trials, heavy smokers with high antibody levels were twice as likely to quit for a year. The vaccine should now be avialable in the US, and then released worldwide.

So much for all that! My way way is better and permanent - get yourself psychologically prepared first. Then its all to do with your willpower!

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Young men with a lean physique at 18 years actually have a lower chance of dying from cancer than their obese counterparts of the same age.

Young men with the lowest body mass index at 18 years were 35% less likely to die from cancer than those with the highest BMIs, according to a study by British and American researchers.

The findings, published this month in the ANNULS OF ONCOLOGY, also showed smoking and physical activity as a young adult didn't affect results.

Obesity at 18 years is agreater risk for cancer than obesity at middle age, according to the study, one of the largest to look at at the effect of weight in young adulthood on risk of cancer death later in life. Early adulthood obesity was associated with dying from cancers of the lung, skin, esophagus and kidneys, the study showed.

"Keeping your weight healthy as a young adult reduces your chances of developing cancer later in life," said the study author, Medical Research Council researcher Linsay Gray.

Acknowledgements: Washington Post

World's longest bridge opens in China...

The Chinese government has unveiled the world's longest over-water bridge, which stretches 42.5 kilometres across Jiaozhou bay.

It is predicted the impressive structure, which took 10,000 workers more than four years to build and cost over $1.4 billion, will carry 30,000 cars per day.

The six-lane earthquake-proof bridge links China's eastern port city of Qingdao to the island of Huangdao and will halve travelling time.

Li Qun, the local Chinese Communist party secretary, said: “It is a magnificent and very advanced bridge.”

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