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Valenzuela, Carlos A

Articles by Valenzuela, Carlos A

Get Involved in the Fight Against Latino Cancer



Here are some ways you can get involved in the fight against cancer: Join Redes En Acción You're invited to join Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network and become part of a nationwide effort to fight cancer among Latinos. Redes, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute and directed by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of SaludToday and the Institute of Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, has spent 10 years reducing Latino cancer. Redes has generated more than $200 million in funding for cancer research, trained more than 200 students and professionals and conducted more than 2,000 community education events and developed bilingual educational materials. Join a Cancer Clinical Trial The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has a ...

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Community Health Centers Are Flourishing; Just Ask Salud America! Grantee Dr. Dudley



As hospitals struggle to balance the books and social service groups cope with budget cuts and heightened demands, community health centers across the state are flourishing, the Hartford Courant reports. Just ask Dr. Robert Dudley of the Community Health Center in New Britain, Conn. Dr. Dudley, a grantee of Salud America!, a national network led by the Institute for Health Promotion Research at The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, has seen his health center's medical personnel multiply and move from an empty limosine garage to a renovated building that opened in June after a $6.3 million project to expand and upgrade the space. He even dubbed the new exam rooms the "luxury suite." "You're the third person to be in this room, ever," he told his patient, a ...

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Join Redes En Acción & Help Fight Latino Cancer



You're invited to join Redes En Acción: The National Latino Cancer Research Network and become part of a nationwide effort to fight cancer among Latinos. Redes, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute and directed by Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez of SaludToday and the Institute of Health Promotion Research at the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, has spent 10 years reducing Latino cancer. Redes has generated more than $200 million in funding for cancer research, trained more than 200 students and health professionals and conducted more than 2,000 community education events and developed bilingual educational materials and PSAs. Watch a stirring video here or below about the program’s achievements among Latinos. Then join us! Also, watch the program’s six new PSAs ...

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Darker skin doesn’t mean melanoma immunity



Melanoma is on the rise among certain groups of dark-skinned Floridians, new research shows, Reuters reports. The study isn't sure why but does provide an important main message: "Just because you have darker skin pigmentation, whether you're Hispanic or black, does not make you immune to skin cancer," Dr. Robert S. Kirsner of the University of Miami told Reuters Health. Melanoma remains much rarer among blacks and Hispanics than among whites, which helps explain why public health efforts to prevent melanoma chiefly target the light-skinned. In the current study, for example, in 2004 there were about 26 cases of melanoma diagnosed for every 100,000 persons per year among U.S. whites, compared to 4 cases for Hispanics and less than 1 case for non-Hispanic blacks. Nevertheless, ...

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Colon Cancer Screening Rates Rise; Yet Latinos Least Likely to Get Screened



Between 2006 and 2008, the percentage of adults ages 50-75 who had undergone screening for colorectal cancer with a method recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force rose from 51.9 percent to 62.9 percent, according to new CDC figures published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. During the same time period, the percentage of women ages 50-74 who had received a mammogram in the previous 2 years declined slightly, from 81.5 percent to 81.1 percent. Adults ages 50-59, Hispanics, and persons with lower income, less than a high school education, and without health insurance were least likely to have been screened for colorectal cancer. Women ages 50-59, women with less than a high school education, American Indians and Alaskan Natives, women without health insurance, ...

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Cigarette Smoke Jolts Hundreds of Genes (from San Antonio Study of Mainly Mexican-American Population)



A new study shows lighting up a cigarette changes a person's gene activity across the body, a possible clue as to why smoking affects overall health—from heart disease to combating infections, LiveScience reports. A research team from Australia and San Antonio, Texas, analyzed white blood cell samples of 1,240 mainly Mexican-American people, ages 16-94, who were participating in the San Antonio Family Heart Study. They found that the 297 self-identified smokers in the group were more likely to have unusual patterns of "gene expression" related to tumor development, inflammation, virus elimination, cell death and more. A gene is expressed when it codes for a protein that then instructs, or kick-starts, a process in the body. The study found cigarette smoke could alter the level ...

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Millions, Especially Latinos, Need Cancer Screening



More than 22 million adults have not had screening tests for colon cancer, and more than 7 million women have not had a recent mammogram to screen for breast cancer as recommended, according to reports in a new monthly scientific publication called CDC Vital Signs. About a third of people are not getting colon cancer screening, which can detect the disease early when it is most treatable. This could be because they don't know they can get colon cancer, they don't have insurance or a doctor (a more likely case among Latinos), or their doctor hasn't recommended screening. Some women are not getting mammograms as recommended. About one of five women between the ages of 50 and 74 has not had a mammogram in the past two years. Latinas get screened at an even less frequent rate. The CDC ...

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Free iTunes App: LIVESTRONG English/Spanish Dictionary of Cancer Terms



The LIVESTRONG English-Spanish Dictionary of Cancer Terms by Springbox, Ltd., is available online as a free app from iTunes. By downloading the dictionary app, individuals can find definitions for cancer-related terms in both English and Spanish, searching more than 6,000 definitions provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Users can switch views between languages to facilitate translation. No Internet access is required for use of the app, a joint project of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and ...

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‘I Promise’ Video Campaign Supports Better Neighborhoods



The "I Promise" video campaign, from The Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink, features video vignettes of people's personal commitment to ensuring that all children have the opportunities and supports to thrive, grow and succeed. Watch the videos here or learn more from the video below: "I Promise" Video Montage from PolicyLink on ...

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