Fat Talk Free Week!

This week is Fat Talk Free Week. This article in the Huffington Post really captures what the week is all about. Dr. Rosenberg describes "fat talk" as "comments like 'I feel so fat in these clothes,' or 'do I look fat?' It can also be saying to someone else, 'You look great, did you lose weight?' This implies that lost weight is the metric of looking good."

I know I used to make self-depreciating comments in high school and early in college - it's just such a part of our culture and I think in many circles it's an expected way for women to talk. Starting in college, I began to stop saying things like that, because I started to realize that making those comments isn't just dissing yourself - it sends a message to others as well. I can't count the number of times friends of mine (many of whom are much smaller than me) have commented negatively on some aspect of their body ("My arms are so gross," "I feel like a cow"), and I've thought - what does that say about my body and how it looks? Obviously, their intention is just to remark on their own body/express their opinions about themselves - not to insult anyone else, but I think people often forget that their negative comments send a message to others about what's acceptable and what's not acceptable in terms of body size.

Here are some articles I've read this week that you might find interesting:

Interview: James Hansen on the Tar Sands Pipeline protest, the Obama administration, and intergenerational justice - Jerry Cope, Huffington Post
I've become really interested in the Tar Sands pipeline - which, if you don't know about it, is basically a proposed project to have a large oil pipeline go through the United States to link crude oil from Canada to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast. Leading climate scientists like James Hansen (a UI grad and Iowa native who heads the NASA Goddard Institute) and environmentalists (such as Bill McKibben) have said this pipeline would be "game over" for the environment and have gotten arrested for protesting it. I really hope Obama rejects the proposal.


Pedestrians on streets designed for cars - Lisa Wade, Sociological Images
Features some great examples of problems in the built environment

Men with disabilities face increased risk of sexual violence - Whitney Blair Wyckoff, NPR

Can the 14th amendment defend itself? - Linda Kerber, CNN Opinion
I just saw Linda Kerber speak this morning at the law school and it was very interesting (my friend who attends law school told me about the lecture and invited me to come with her). Ms. Kerber talks a lot about the importance of historical context in understanding the constitution. The 14th amendment is not something I had thought a lot about, but I think her take on why it is important in terms of immigration is fascinating.

Film Underscores Koreans' Growing Anger Over Sex Crimes - Choe Sang-Hun, NYT
A recent South Korean film about the sexual assaults of a number of deaf students in a school and the lax punishments the perpetrators got has "tapped into the widespread anger of official reluctance to take sex crimes seriously, and over how justice is served." Nearly a 10th of the country's population has seen the film.

Early Detection

My friends joke that all I do is talk about cancer, and here I am - talking about cancer again. But big things have just happened in the cancer world! The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recently decided to not recommend using the P.S.A. test on healthy men to screen for prostate cancer. This decision came after the USPSTF reviewed five clinical trials that showed that the P.S.A. test often results in tests that cause needless complications and that it does not lower mortality. This is a controversial decision for some, especially since there are many men who believe the P.S.A. test saved their life and there are a number of groups who advocate for increased use of the P.S.A. test.

I think this article, the Shortfalls of Early Cancer Detection, brings up some very interesting points, in light of this new decision. Harris states that "scientists had found cancer cells in the blood of patients with seemingly tiny, localized cancers, suggesting that cancer cells could spread silently early in the course of disease. In that case, so-called early detection might not really be early, or of much value. Researchers coined the term 'biological predeterminism' to underscore how the cellular makeup of a given cancer — rather than when it was found — was most important in determining survival." (emphasis mine).

Early detection is a central part of cancer control, and I think it should continue be, especially for the cancers we have effective and proven-beneficial screening tests for (breast, cervical, and colorectal). With these three caners, early detection does make an impact on mortality, and increasing the use of the evidence-based screening tests is an important way to control cancer. But I think Harris makes a good point that maybe for some cancers, finding it early doesn't lead to decreased mortality, and that needs to be taken into account when considering which best course of action to take in terms of research. Although I think for some cancers, like lung especially, the development of an effective screening test would be very beneficial and could lower mortality, maybe there are other cancers where finding it early wouldn't necessarily lower mortality. Maybe for those cancers, a different route needs to be taken, like developing alternative treatments that are more effective.

Anyway, enough about cancer. I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'll be going to see the Old Capitol City Roller Girls play their last bout of the season, the Monster's Brawl. The Roller Girls and some people attending will be wearing costumes, so that should be fun!

Here are some other articles I've read recently that you might be interested in:

Domestic Violence Law Repealed by Lawmakers in Topeka, Kansas - John Hanna, Huffington Post
Pretty upsetting.

Sexy Breast Cancer Ads: Provocative or Patronizing? - Kate Dailey, Daily Beast
I am not a big fan of sexy breast cancer ads and I think Dailey does a nice job of summing up some reasons why - the main one being that it can detract people from the fact that breast cancer affects real people, and the reason we should care isn't to "save second base," but rather to save people.

First Lady Targets World Record for Jumping Jacks - AP
Gotta love Michelle Obama. I think this is pretty fun.

The Mammotives Project Begins!

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The Iowa Cancer Summit just launched their social media campaign project, which is funded by the American Cancer Society, to help understand why women decide to get - or not get - screened for breast cancer. The project is call Mammotives. In addition to Mammotives.org, Mammotives is on Facebook and Twitter. All Iowa women, ages 40+, are welcome to join the conversation. Please spread the word too! We want to reach as many Iowa women age 40 and older as possible. For more information about the project in general, click here.   


I'm really excited for this project, which has been planned by my coworker Kelly Sittig, fellow MPH student Megan Lessard, and people at the American Cancer Society, along with other partners at the Iowa Department of Public Health and the Care For Yourself Program. Although I haven't been very involved in this project, my one claim to fame is that I helped come up with the name! Full disclosure: this awesome website, Wordriod, helped. Wordriod creates a bunch of natural-sounding new words based on what you type in and checks to see if they already exist on the internet. It's really fun!

Iowa Cancer Summit

The Iowa Cancer Summit was Monday and yesterday, and fortunately I was able to go yesterday. The Summit is an annual statewide event that brings together over 100 people involved in cancer control practices. A major theme at this year's Summit was the unveiling of the newly revised Iowa Cancer Plan, which is available to download online here. The plan is meant to guide cancer control practices across the state for the next 6 years and is separated into four major sections: Prevention, Screening, Treatment, and Quality of Life.

The keynote speaker this year was Dr. Laura Seeff, the Comprehensive Cancer Control Branch Chief for the CDC. Her talk was great; one of the take home messages was about the importance of policy and systems-level change, and that we should be sure to include efforts to change those instead of focusing only (or even primarily) on individuals. She also talked about the importance of working together with other chronic disease control efforts and groups dedicated to improving health in other ways to make sure we aren't all duplicating efforts and not being as effective as we could otherwise be.

One of my favorite parts of the Summit, however, was the Cancer Survivors Panel breakout session. Three cancer survivors spoke on the panel about their experiences. The speakers were Gail Orcutt, a radon-induced lung cancer survivor who is a tireless radon advocate and simply a wonderful person; Greg Cantwell, a stage 4 brain cancer survivor; and Gabbi DeWitt, whose mom passed away from cancer this spring. (The ICC, like the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, defines cancer survivors as those who have been diagnosed with cancer, those who are affected by a loved one's cancer, and caregivers). One major theme of their stories was the importance of having care coordinated. As a cancer patient, you see many different specialists, and sometimes they do not communicate with each other, meaning that major problems/complications can be overlooked and it can be very confusing. I was especially thankful for Gabbi's insights into the benefits of hospice. I think many times the focus in cancer treatment is how survivors are going to win their battle with cancer, but sometimes that is not possible, and that can be very difficult for people to accept or even want to talk about. Gabbi, who works in hospice herself, said that her mom was able to be on hospice care for 11 weeks before she passed, and that those 11 weeks were wonderful and "like a breathe of fresh air." Her mom was able to stay at home and spend time with her friends and family. For more information about hospice, here's a fact sheet from the National Cancer Institute.

This was the second Cancer Summit I've been able to go to, and it's always great to see so many great people dedicated to fighting cancer.
 
Anyway, before I got, here are some articles I've read this past week that you might find interesting:

Study Cites Increase in Throat Cancers from HPV - Denise Grady, NYT
Further support for the importance of the HPV vaccine and for the importance of vaccinating boys.


Hormonal Contraceptives May Raise HIV Risk for Men and Women - Scott Hensley, NPR Health Blog


Top 5 Unnecessary Health-care Costs - Jonathan D. Rockoff, WSJ Health Blog
"Doctors’ prescribing a brand-name statin, without first  checking to see if a lower-priced generic drug would cut a patient’s cholesterol sufficiently, results in $5.8 billion in excess health-care spending, according to the research letter published Oct. 1."


Should a Candidate's Weight be Part of the Conversation? - Katherine Hobson, WSJ Health Blog
My opinion to this question is a definite no.