“Three tips to help make your cancer treatment more effective.”

If you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, we suggest that you discuss these three tips with your doctor. They may help minimize the side effects of treatment and help you have a more successful outcome.
ONE: Double-check your dosing
When used properly, chemotherapy medication kills cancer cells with minimal harm to normal cells. But here’s the tricky part: Too much chemotherapy can make you sick. Too little, and your cancer will continue to grow. Dosage for many chemotherapy drugs is based on your height and weight. To be sure you get the correct dose, make sure your doctors and pharmacist know your correct height and weight measurements.
TWO: Manage pain aggressively
Pain and nausea are among the unfortunate side effects of cancer and its treatments. But there’s good news: There’s a range of medications that can help. If you’re feeling the side effects of cancer and/or your treatment, don’t be afraid to ask your doctor to manage your pain more aggressively.
THREE: Follow through with your treatment as directed
There’s a wide variety of treatments for cancer. But even the best treatment won’t be as effective if you don’t follow through with it as directed. For example, some medications that are used to help prevent breast cancer from coming back must be taken for 5 years. At Medco, we know of women who have discontinued their treatment early. As a result, they haven’t received the full preventative benefit of the treatment.
Important new study
Many women who take tamoxifen for breast cancer don’t respond to it. That’s why Medco is undertaking a new study to determine whether a genetic test can be used to tell whether a patient will respond to this medication. Such a test could save precious time for breast cancer patients who don’t respond to tamoxifen and who might require an alternative medication.
If your prescription program is managed by Medco and we notice a safety issue with your medication, an Oncology Pharmacist will work with your doctor to help make sure that you’re getting the most effective treatment.

“Are you taking the right medication for a neurological or psychiatric disorder?”

Neurological disorders include epilepsy, migraine headaches, and Parkinson’s disease. Depression and schizophrenia are psychiatric disorders. As it turns out, many of the medications used to treat neurological conditions are also used to treat psychiatric conditions. There are a number of treatment options for each, but it’s important to make sure you’re getting the right medication for your specific illness.
Watch for drug interactions
Everybody being treated for a neurological or psychiatric disorder should be especially watchful for harmful drug interactions. Some of these medications can be dangerous if taken in the wrong combination or by people with certain conditions, such as heart disease. These medications can cause side effects that may not be as easy to detect, due to the symptoms of the neurological or psychiatric disorder itself.
Know your treatment options
Is your treatment working? Is it affordable? Are there unexpected or unwanted side effects? There are many alternatives for treating neurological and psychiatric disorders. So it’s always worth considering a change in medication if you’re not happy with the outcome, side effects, or price.
Keep your doctor informed
Always tell your doctors about all the medications you’re taking. If one of your doctors makes a change in your medication, be sure to tell your other doctors. This will help you avoid the risk of a drug interaction and allow you to get the full benefit of the treatment. And if Medco manages your prescription program and we notice a safety issue with your medications, a Neurology/Psychiatry Pharmacist will work with you and your doctor to help make sure that you’re getting the most effective treatment.

“Don’t let your arthritis give you an ulcer.”

What kind of arthritis do you have?
There's a lot of confusion about arthritis, which is a painful and potentially disabling condition affecting the joints. The confusion comes from the fact that there are different types of arthritis and many different types of treatment. Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis.* This condition comes from wear and tear on your joints. So it's not surprising that if you live long enough, there's a good chance you'll get osteoarthritis. Other common types of arthritis include gout and autoimmune arthritis—such as rheumatoid arthritis—which occurs when your body's immune system attacks your joints.
Treatments and side effects.
Most people with osteoarthritis can manage their pain by taking over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol®, Advil®, or aspirin. For other people, arthritis treatment requires prescription medication for pain management. It is important to remember that some prescription and over-the-counter medications can cause ulcers, especially if you take them day in and day out for weeks at a time. If you are over 65, have heart disease, or take the blood thinner warfarin, you are especially at risk.
What you can do
If you have to take arthritis medicine every day, you may want to ask your doctor or pharmacist if there's a medication you need to take with it to help protect your stomach from an ulcer. The good news is that there are many such medications available. If your prescription program is managed by Medco and a medication safety issue arises, an Arthritis/Pain Management Pharmacist will work with you and your doctor to help make sure that you're getting the most effective treatment.
So don't let arthritis slow you down more than it has to. The right treatment can go a long way toward helping you live as active a lifestyle as you can.

Launch of Columbus lab renews attention on grounded $1.5 billion project

After years of delays, NASA hopes to launch this week a European-built laboratory that will greatly expand the research capability of the international space station. Although some call it a milestone, the launch has focused new attention on the space agency's earlier decision to back out of plans to send up a different, $1.5 billion device -- one that many scientists contend would produce far more significant knowledge.
The instrument, which would detect and measure cosmic rays in a new way, took 500 physicists from around the world 12 years to build. But with room on the 10 remaining shuttle missions to the space station in short supply, many fear that it will remain forever warehoused on Earth, becoming the most sophisticated and costly white elephant of the space era.
As a result, the imminent launch of the $1 billion Columbus laboratory -- the kind of scientific workspace that the station's backers always said would be its reason for being -- will take place under something of a cloud.

Firefight in Fallujah

Afghanitan Dco 2nd plt 1-158 fire fight

Britain's navy ill-equipped for a major WAR

LONDON: Britain's navy is no longer equipped to fight a major war because of years of underfunding and cutbacks, a newspaper said Sunday, quoting what it described as a leaked Ministry of Defense report.

A UK-based newspaper said the navy would have to struggle even to repeat its role in the Iraq war and is ``far more vulnerable to unexpected shocks'' because of its ``under-resourced'' fleet of ``aging and operationally defective ships.''

The paper said the report was ordered by Defense Secretary Des Browne and concludes: ``The current material state of the fleet is not good; the Royal Navy would be challenged to mount a medium-scale operation in accordance with current policy against a technologically capable adversary.''

Asked about the report on Saturday night, the Ministry of Defense said it always declines to comment about ``leaked documents.'' But it said it issued a statement saying: ``The government values the Royal Navy greatly,'' has invested billions of pounds (dollars/euros) in new ships and submarines, and ordered two new aircraft carriers ``which will be state of the art technology and allow us to project force around the globe.''

The ministry said the new ships will be far more capable than their predecessors.

MMA divided on boycott of elections

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Saturday failed to reach a final decision to boycott the general elections but deferred withdrawal of nomination papers till December 15.

“We have decided to keep all options open till the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers which was also necessary to keep the MMA intact,” a central leader of the MMA told ‘The News’ after a meeting of the alliance leadership held here at the residence of Qazi Hussain Ahmad to discuss the issue.

Sources said that following suggestions from MMA Secretary-General and JUI (F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI,) which was represented by its Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmad and Secretary-General Syed Munawwar Hassan, agreed to stop their candidates from withdrawing nomination papers.

The sources said Maulana Fazlur Rehman was of the view that as the announcement to boycott the elections was conditional, therefore, any party of the MMA should not take any decision in haste. Other parties also supported the same stance.

A central leader of the MMA after the meeting said that the proceedings were held in a very cordial atmosphere and there was no criticism of each other. “We have agreed to continue the process of consultation to reach a final decision,” Qazi Hussain Ahmad said while briefly talking to newsmen after the meeting. He welcomed the proposal of All Parties Conference as part of the process of consultations.

He was of the view that the opposition parties should take a decision about boycotting the elections collectively. He reiterated demands about lifting of emergency immediately, and restoration of the judiciary to the pre-November 3 status, saying that fair elections are not possible in the prevailing situation.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman said he would welcome the APDM committee and try to convince them about his stance on participating in the elections. To a question, he said that a final decision would be taken before the holding of the elections. “We are trying to convince each other,” the Maulana said when asked to comment on the committee constituted by the APDM to convince him to boycott elections. He said he considered the decision of boycotting the polls as wrong but still he was ready to continue dialogue with other opposition parties on the issue.