<noframes> <body> Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer Researchers, clinicians and public health specialists are working diligently to find new ways of detecting, treating and preventing breast cancer. Their work begins with the National Cancer Institute- funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in Breast Cancer, one of six in the country. "The purpose of this SPORE is the integration of public health, clinical and molecular sciences to better investigate etiology, prevention and early detection in breast cancer and to devise ways to reduce breast cancer mortality," explains Shelton Earp, Lineberger's director and the SPORE's principal investigator. The SPORE has four components: * Public Health Intervention: strives to increase the use of mammography in under-served African American populations * Molecular Epidemiology: seeks to identify the environmental and genetic causes of breast cancer * Gene Discovery: identifies new molecular markers of breast cancer that can be used for early diagnosis and treatment * Clinical Developmental: Projects that produce innovative ideas for novel therapies or diagnostics Breast cancer can be successfully treated with greater than a 90 percent cure rate if it is detected early. But less than half of women age 50 and older in the United States have regular screening mammograms -- and the number is even lower in the African-American community. In all women, breast cancer incidence increases with age, rising rapidly after age 40. Almost 80 percent of all breast cancers occur in women over 50 years of age. The NC-BCSP is a long-term, comprehensive, multi-level community intervention program designed to increase breast cancer screening among older African-American women in five rural eastern North Carolina counties. Insomnia and Breast Cancer Importance of the study: Despite exhaustion and fatigue from treatment and stress, between 30% and 50% of cancer patients report problems falling asleep. This study set out to examine how common insomnia actually is in women with breast cancer. Study design: Three hundred women who had been treated with radiation for non-metastatic breast cancer completed a questionnaire designed to target women who had problems sleeping. Researchers then conducted phone interviews with just those women and evaluated the nature, severity, duration, and course of the women's insomnia. New drugs improve breast cancer survival Although women diagnosed with advanced breast cancer general do not have as good a prognosis as women diagnosed in earlier disease stages, significant improvements have been made. The introduction of new chemotherapy drugs in the last decade has resulted in longer survival times for these women, the findings of a new study suggest. As reported in the current issue of the journal Cancer, Dr. Stephen Chia, from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and colleagues assessed the outcomes of 2,150 women who were treated for metastatic breast cancer, cancer that has spread from the breast to other areas of the body. </body> </noframes>
