Can it prevent or treat prostate and cervical cancers?

Arizona Cancer Center researchers are working to clinically prove readily available green tea extracts can prevent cancers.

The curative powers of green tea have long been touted, but three human clinical trials here seek to scientifically prove – or disprove – that Polyphenon E, a green tea extract, can help prevent cervical cancer, prostate cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease – COPD – a precursor to lung cancer.

“A lot of people say green tea prevents this or prevents that,” said Dr. Francisco Garcia, who is heading a cervical cancer study. “We’re actually trying to see if that is true.”

But Sherry Chow, a co-investigator on the three studies, said, “There is no direct proof yet that green tea can prevent cancer. We’re doing the clinical trials necessary to move in that direction.”

The green Polyphenon E pills used in the study come from the National Cancer Institute, Chow said. Taking four small pills once a day offers the equivalent of the beneficial properties found in 16 cups of green tea, she said.

Garcia, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the UA College of Medicine and Arizona Cancer Center member, is working to see if cervical cancer can be prevented, and perhaps even be resolved non-surgically.

In the cervical cancer clinical trial, participants who have persistent human papillomavirus (HPV) infections or other high risks for cervical cancer take the pills for 16 weeks, Garcia said.

Half the participants get Polyphenon E, and half get a placebo, he said.

About 180 women will take part in the study, which is still seeking participants.

Call 318-7178 for more information on getting involved in the study.

“We’re looking for people with evidence of persistent HPV infection, abnormal Pap smears, or might have an an abnormal biopsy,” Garcia said.

Dr. Frederick Ahmann, a UA professor of medicine and surgery, is leading a study to determine if Polyphenon E could potentially impact prostate cancer.

Study participants are taking Polyphenon E for a few weeks before undergoing surgery to remove their cancerous prostate.

Tissue removed during surgery will be examined to see if the green tea extract reached the prostate and had any effect on tissues there, Ahmann said.

“It’s the first step, but an important test, to see if these substances will turn out to be useful,” Ahmann said. “There are theoretical benefits right now but we don’t know if green tea does anything.”

Participants are told the research will not help their situation, but will perhaps help people in the future, he said.

If this test – slated for completion by year’s end – is successful, future clinical trials could possibly determine if green tea can prevent or even cure prostate cancer, he said.

The COPD study is assessing whether the green tea pills can reverse some of the damage associated with the disease, said Chow, research associate professor at UA.

COPD, primarily caused by heavy smoking, is a disease that leads to a high risk for developing lung cancer, Chow said.

Dr. Iman Hakim, principal investigator and dean of the UA College of Public Health, is investigating whether green tea intervention can actually reverse some of the airway damage caused by COPD, Chow said.

Green tea components like Polyphenon E – a chemically defined, decaffeinated, catechin-enriched antioxidant green tea extract – are dietary supplements already available to the public, Garcia said.

“The issue is not whether you can get it, but whether it would do anything for you,” Garcia said.

“The big thing for me is to not oversell this concept. We are enthusiastic and hopeful, but the whole reason we are doing the trial is to see if these agents, which look so promising in the laboratory, really have a human application.”

Ahmann, who is working on a study to see if green tea extract can impact prostate cancer, agrees.

“Dietary supplements can be sold and touted as something you can do to try and help yourself without any true tested evidence that it works,” Ahmann said.

“We don’t believe that is the proper way to decide what people should or shouldn’t take. You should test something to see if there is a positive benefit before you suggest someone take something.”

And the public should be cautious of the quality of supplements being sold.

“The over-the-counter pills are not controlled by the FDA,” Chow said.

“You don’t know what is in them. They are so variable.”

The National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, has funded the three studies to the tune of $3.2 million, Chow said.

The COPD study has $1.8 million in funding, the cervical cancer study got $1 million and the prostate cancer study received $400,000, she said.

The Arizona Cancer Center led the way in proving that Polyphenon E is safe and could enter the bloodstream, said Chow, who led that investigation.

The Tucson center, which was the first to work with pure Polyphenon E capsules, is also the leader in investigating the preventive properties of the green tea compound, she said.

“We’re really excited about each one of our studies,” Chow said.

“We can’t wait to finish them and have more information to share with the public.”

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ON THE WEB

Arizona Cancer Center site: www.azcc.arizona.edu

Tucsonans are getting a noseful of plant parts as a second round of high pollen counts has hit the Old Pueblo.

Mark Sneller, owner of Aero Allergen Research and the sole pollen counter in Pima County, said the pollen counts dropped to 192 pollen grains per cubic meter of air last Friday after being in the 300s earlier in March.

But the count jumped back up to 359 Wednesday after winds blew through the area, he said.

Sneller also said that while some pollen generators such as mulberry, juniper and ash are fading away, others are just starting to bloom.

“Olive is going strong, along with ragweed and grass,” he said. “It will be quite a trying time for the next few days.”

On the Northwest Side, where there is an abundance of paloverde trees, residents may also be suffering because the trees are blooming with a vengeance.

Dr. Martin Bartels, a Tucson allergist, said he has seen an increase in the number of patients coming in to complain of allergy symptoms.

“We’re just coming into the midst of it,” Bartels said. “Patients really do need to get ready.”

He said that the allergy season appears to be lasting longer each year and that wind aggravates symptoms, especially in those who are already asthmatic or have respiratory problems.

“You probably want to be seen before you become miserable,” Bartels advised. “The better way here is to be proactive and work on prevention and you will end up on less medication in the long run. You will feel better and miss less days of work.”

The worst may be yet to come.

During the last week of April in 2008, Sneller counted 700 pollen grains per cubic meter of air. During that week the temperature was in the 90s and mesquite, palo verde, olive and ragweed caused the most problems.

“I would take off your shoes before entering your house,” Sneller said then. “Most of that stuff gets in the house by being tracked in.”

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On the Web

University of Arizona pollen calendar

http://allergy.peds.arizona.edu/southwest/calendars.html

Restrained after erratic behavior at gas station

Michelle Moreno wants to know why her husband died in Tucson police custody Jan. 31.

So do police.

Michael E. Moreno, 42 – an asthmatic diabetic with high blood pressure, according to his wife – had cocaine and alcohol in his system, said Dr. Eric Peters, a forensic pathologist in the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office who performed the autopsy on Moreno.

In the police account of the incident, Moreno banged his head against the sidewalk after police handcuffed him for his own protection while he was behaving erratically at a South Side gas station about 5 a.m.

Several news agencies, including the Tucson Citizen, reported it appeared he might have died from a self-inflicted head injury. But Peters suggested that head injuries may not have played a role in Moreno’s death.

His wife said she thinks her husband was banging his head because he couldn’t breathe and was thrashing around gasping for air.

Moreno was 6 feet tall and weighed 275 pounds, his wife said. Police at the scene estimated he weighed 300. Tucson police officers used two sets of handcuffs to restrain him because of his size.

The official cause of Moreno’s death is pending, Peters said March 31. He is “a third of the way through” his review of the police records in the case and won’t issue a ruling until he completes that review.

How much force was used by police and for how long will be key factors in the case, Peters said.

Several written reports of the incident by police officers involved in the struggle say Moreno was restrained on his stomach and that one officer had his knee on Moreno’s head and right shoulder while Moreno was facedown. One officer said Moreno was on his stomach “less than a minute” while he was being handcuffed. Another officer held his legs, at one point bending them at the knees.

One report said an officer kept Moreno’s head on the ground for some period of time, using his knee.

Moreno was trying to “buck” them off, police reports said.

Moreno stopped struggling and an officer checked Moreno’s pulse, the reports said.

The officer noted it had slowed and then he stopped breathing and became “unresponsive,” according to police reports.

One officer wrote, “Moreno was handcuffed for his own safety and went unconscious.”

Officers took off the handcuffs and an officer began chest compressions as Tucson Fire Department paramedics were called.

Paramedics took Moreno to nearby University Physicians Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 5:45 a.m.

Sgt. Fabian Pacheco, a spokesman for the police department and a former homicide detective, issued a statement last month about Moreno’s death:

“We too, as a department, have some unanswered questions regarding the in-custody death of Mr. Moreno.

“It is because of this that we have a board of inquiry; that we make sure that we have answers to all these unanswered questions.

“The important thing to remember is that the Tucson Police Department is one of few agencies nationwide that conduct board of inquiries” into in-custody deaths.

Pacheco said it is “inappropriate” for him to answer specific questions about the incident until the board issues its report, including questions about how long police restrained Moreno. He didn’t know when the report would be finished. A similar review of a man shot to death by police in May was just released.

The board will determine if officers followed proper procedure and provide a timeline of police actions at the scene, he said.

Chief Deputy Pima County Attorney David Berkman said police have not presented the case to the county attorney for review.

A December report by Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, a Chicago-based organization that provides legal training to law enforcement, warns police agencies about custody deaths when suspects are placed facedown and pressure placed on their backs. The restraint can result in what is commonly called compressional asphyxia.

“Police trainers must be aware of potential deaths from compressional asphyxia. Officers must be taught to avoid putting their body weight on a confined person as soon as active resistance has ended or the person has been adequately restrained from causing harm to himself or others,” the report states.

An April 2006 FBI advisory also discussed the problems of placing an individual in a prone position on his stomach and said it should be done as a last resort.

The AELE report, though, also warns that even when officers relax their restraining efforts, suspects may still die if they have drugs in their system or health problems.

Moreno could not breathe on his stomach, his wife said. To sleep, he needed a positive pressure machine that forced air into his lungs after he was diagnosed with sleep apnea a couple of years ago. He also had asthma, she said.

Patients with apnea stop breathing for short periods while they are asleep.

Tucson police spokesman Officer Chuck Rydzak said all TPD officers are taught during basic training various techniques for safely taking combative individuals into custody.

Officers are taught not to leave someone in a prone position for more time than it takes to handcuff them. The suspect should be placed on his side, in a seated position or standing position after he is handcuffed, he said.

Officers are taught not to exert pressure on a suspect’s back while he is prone because that could result in respiratory strain and a subsequent heart attack.

Rydzak said officers were taught last year how to properly subdue a suspect with multiple officers, each taking an arm, leg and the head so as not to exert excessive force and not concentrate any force on the midsection.

In the more than 50 pages of Tucson Police Department documents reviewed by the Tucson Citizen, it is clear that Moreno’s behavior was erratic as police arrived.

Police said their involvement with Moreno began when they got a “disturbing the peace” call at 4:52 a.m. and arrived at 5:01 a.m. at the Diamond Shamrock gas station at Campbell Avenue and the Benson Highway on the city’s South Side.

Moreno was banging his head and his wallet against the glass door and windows of a gas station, witnesses told police. He took a broom he found there and pounded it against the glass.

The broom handle broke, but not the glass, reports said.

No one was harmed by his actions, though one officer had a scratch on his arm after the struggle.

Police say in their reports they did not use pepper spray or a Taser on Moreno.

Police said Moreno was rolling around on the ground when they arrived at the gas station

“At one point during the incident, Moreno was on the ground and banging his head into the sidewalk,” a police report states.

He spoke but his words were unintelligible, police said.

An officer who saw him drive his truck into the gas station said he appeared to be intoxicated, reports said.

Inside his truck police found a receipt for a motel room and a substance that appeared to be cocaine, but police won’t say if tests confirmed it until the board of inquiry is completed.

They also found two glass tubes with flowers in them and a metal scouring pad.

Such pads are used to strain cocaine while it’s cooked into crack for smoking, police said. Small glass tubes can be used as crack pipes, they said.

Moreno had $299 in his pocket.

They also found in the truck a copy of a missing person report his wife had made about him.

Moreno was a Nogales native and a Tohono O’odham Nation member who had family in the Tucson area. He attended schools in Nogales and served in the Army from 1984 to 1987, his wife said.

Moreno and Michelle were together eight years and have three young children. He lived in Idaho with his family but was in Tucson working a temporary truck driver job.

He had recently been disappointed by the loss of his long haul trucker job in early November after a minor collision while training a rookie driver, his wife said.

His sister helped him get a job here in mid-November driving a cement truck for a construction company.

She paid for his plane fare to Tucson and he started work around Nov. 18, his wife said.

He was staying with relatives here and planned to return to Idaho when the job ended, Michelle Moreno said.

At Christmas, he took a break and drove to Idaho to bring the family to Tucson to celebrate Michelle’s birthday Dec. 27, and to visit with family here and in Sells.

He told his wife he had been taking all his medications for asthma, high blood pressure and diabetes, she said.

On Jan. 16, during her visit here, the couple had an argument and “he got kinda wild and left,” she said.

When he didn’t call, Michelle and the children took a bus back to Idaho.

She filed a missing person report with authorities here.

On Jan. 24, Moreno resurfaced. He called her in Idaho to apologize, she said. She didn’t ask him where he’d been or what he had been doing. She still doesn’t know.

It was the last time they spoke.

“He told me he was sorry he made us ride the bus home, that he had one more job to do and then he was going to come home,” she said.

Michelle said her husband “was not an alcoholic.”

Nor was there any indication he was a drug user, she said.

She said he told her he took drugs “back in his younger, wild days. I never asked.”

In the hours before his run-in with police, he left his daughter’s home in Marana and checked into a motel in Tucson, according to police reports.

Michelle Moreno said she is baffled by police reports that say Moreno banged his head against the sidewalk repeatedly after officers had handcuffed him.

“I asked (police homicide Detective Lisa Miller) what he was saying and why they didn’t try to stop him from hurting himself,” she said.

“She said the officers couldn’t understand him,” and that officers try to keep people from hurting themselves, Moreno said.

“This doesn’t sound like my husband at all,” Moreno said.

The death and not knowing why he died is “just mentally and emotionally draining,” she said.

“Everybody is looking for a little closure. It’s hard, with all the doubt going on.”

“He was so happy he had a job down there. It’s sad when you can’t do nothing about it (his death).

Moreno is survived by his mother, who lives in Sells, his sister, an adult daughter in Marana and his children with Michelle, Kevin, 4; Quintin, 7 and daughter Dailyn, 6.

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Moreno’s diagnosed chronic illnesses

Diabetes

Asthma

High blood pressure

Sleep apnea

Moreno’s medications

Metformin: 500 mg

Prescribed twice a day for diabetes

Propranolol: 10 mg twice a day for high blood pressure

Aspirin: 81 mg once a day to prevent blood clots

Lisinopril: 5 mg once a day for high blood pressure

Advair: two medications: a steroid anti-inflammatory and a bronchodilator for asthma control

Proventil: short-acting bronchodilator for emergency episodes of shortness of breath

Source: Michelle Moreno

El Rio Community Health Center will host its annual Cover the Uninsured Fair on March 24.

The fair provides eligibility screenings for uninsured Pima County residents. Residents can meet with representatives of a variety of health-related agencies, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the American Lung Association of Arizona.

Some of those agencies are expected to provide limited health screenings. El Rio will also offer free healthy food with demonstrations on portion sizes.

The fair will be from 3 to 5 p.m. at the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center, 101 W. Irvington Road.

The Tucson Interfaith HIV/AIDS Network will have a volunteer orientation Tuesday at its office, 1011 N. Craycroft Road, No. 301.

In a press release, volunteer coordinator Kim Talerico appealed to those who have lost jobs.

Volunteering, Talerico said, will provide meaningful work, help people network, stay engaged in society and meet new people or even open a new field of employment.

There are volunteer opportunities for various skill levels and amounts of time to commit.

The group also will have volunteer orientations in May, July, September and November. For more information, call Talerico at 299-6647.

Three stories about unplanned pregnancy and reproductive health care caught my attention this week.

The first came as an e-mail from the mother of Kaitie Noland, a senior at Desert Christian High School.

Noland, who is firmly against abortion rights and in favor of abstinence until marriage, has organized a baby fair for teen mothers. It starts at 8:30 a.m. Saturday at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 400 E. University Blvd.

“As a Christian I believe that Jesus had grace for me and that I can show that grace to others,” said Noland, 18. “And my heart is for teen moms.”

She said she had a friend who became a teen mom and it really opened her eyes to how much help teen moms need.

“I have admiration for her. It’s amazing how well she does with a child,” Noland said.

The fair will provide information on the proper use of a car seat, who to contact if your baby accidentally ingests a poison, drowning and fire safety, shaken baby syndrome, the developmental stages of children and health relationships.

Truth be told, I wasn’t going to write about Noland’s fair because I feel that any program for teen moms that doesn’t address how to prevent future pregnancies is woefully inadequate.

Also, I was more interested in a second story I’ve been following – the anti-abortion bill working its way through the Legislature. One of its key provisions would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense emergency birth control on moral grounds.

I say, keep your morals off my uterus.

Then, on Wednesday afternoon, news broke of the arrest of a University of Arizona sophomore accused of attempting to murder a baby she had just birthed in a dormitory.

Sarah E. Tatum allegedly gave birth in a dorm shower, put the newborn in a plastic bag with her dirty clothes and tied the bag shut. Police called to the scene found the baby in the bag “gasping for breath.”

A hallmate, who described Tatum as nice and brilliant, told the Daily Wildcat that Tatum tried to conceal the pregnancy and denied it to anybody who asked.

The details are still emerging, but, so far, fit the pattern of other cases of this nature.

A young women gets pregnant and keeps it a secret, most likely for fear of disappointing her family. Paralyzed into inaction, she neither ends the pregnancy nor acknowledges it by seeking prenatal care.

She gives birth alone, which has to be a terrifying experience. And there she is, physically and emotionally exhausted, with a baby she hasn’t told anyone about and isn’t prepared to mother.

She imagines the shock, disappointment and anger of her family when she appears with a baby. It must seem, in the moment, that the only course of action left is a desperate one.

Let’s be clear. There’s no justification for abusing a baby. It’s a heinous crime.

But I can only imagine that Tatum must have been very confused and scared if she did what she’s alleged to have done.

And I think when the story is known in its entirety, it will only underscore the need for society to stop fighting about women’s choices and, instead, support women in making wise decisions about using birth control and dealing with unplanned pregnancies.

Frankly, I wish social conservatives would stop hindering women’s access to birth control and abortion. But I couldn’t disagree with Noland when she told me that lecturing young women who are already pregnant isn’t productive and we should instead help them get what they need to become good mothers.

If Tatum had the benefit of society’s unconditional support, perhaps she wouldn’t be facing charges for the attempted murder of her son.

If all women had society’s unconditional support for their choices, perhaps we wouldn’t keep hearing this same story.

Anne T. Denogean can be reached at 573-4582 and adenogean@tucsoncitizen.com. Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726-6767.

Pima Community College is hosting community forums dealing with health care.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, the college is hosting a forum on health care in Pima County featuring Dr. Lane P. Johnson.

Light refreshments will be served.

Other forums are March 26, “Cancer and Its Prevention;” and April 19, “Diabetes Management” with Elyse Hammet, a nurse practitioner.

The forums are at the college’s West campus, 2202 W. Anklam Road.

For further information call 206-4500.

Tom Bush is the recipient of the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s 2009 Robert Ross National Personal Achievement Award.

MDA spokesman Bob Mackie said Bush developed and managed the association’s Web site after moving here from a 30-year career with the state of New Jersey. He retired from MDA in 2004.

He served on Oro Valley’s task force that helped create Coyote Run, the accessible transportation service that helps the disabled remain mobile in the community.

Bush also was a commissioner of the city of Tucson Disability Issues Commission and was a voice for the disabled on several other panels that aim to increase accessibility.

The MDA’s national headquarters are in Tucson.

Pet safety and first-aid classes will be offered from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, 3450 N. Kelvin Blvd.

This comprehensive emergency preparedness course teaches cat and dog owners signs of a distress and what to do in an emergency.

The class covers diseases, plus desert, household and other dangers to pets. Registration is required. Cost is $45.

For more information, call Pennie Liebig at 881-7406, or e-mail pliebig@hssaz.org.

University Medical Center’s liver transplant program has been certified by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Now that the hospital is certified, Medicare will cover the cost of liver transplants done at the hospital.

“We had to demonstrate the wealth of experience and expertise we have at UMC before they would cover the cost,” said Nance Conney, director of UMC Transplant Services. “Now that we are accredited by CMS, additional insurance companies also will recognize us as a center of excellence.”

To qualify, a hospital must do at least 10 liver transplants in 12 months in addition to proving sufficient clinical experience, patient care, superior outcomes and expert staff.

“UMC exceeded the CMS requirement of 10 transplants in 12 months by performing a record 23 liver transplants in 2008,” said Dr. Rainer Gruessner, chairman of the department of surgery at the University of Arizona.

Of those transplants, 12 were performed on pediatric patients. Seven of those were infants.

“We now are ranked in the 30th percentile of all pediatric liver transplant programs in the country,” said Dr. John Renz.

In Arizona, two other hospitals are certified by CMS to do liver transplants – the Mayo Clinic and Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center, both in Phoenix.

In February 2006 UMC announced that it was restarting its liver transplant program after a four-year hiatus.

UMC is also CMS certified to do combination heart and lung transplants, heart transplants, kidney transplants, lung transplants, pancreas and pancreas/kidney transplants.

According to the hospital, liver transplants are generally done because of hepatitis C, cirrhosis due to alcohol, autoimmune diseases and biliary atresia, a rare condition in infants in which the common bile duct between the liver and the small intestine is blocked or absent.

Question: I have been told by my son’s psychologist that he has attention deficit disorder. I am wondering what you think about medicating a 6-year-old as opposed to natural treatment, such as diet, exercise and routine.

I also wonder how I can get him to do homework without both of us getting frustrated. It takes him a long time to get through something that should take a few minutes. He’s only in first grade and he already hates homework.

Answer: Quite frankly, some people who are not qualified to diagnose ADD are making that diagnosis in huge numbers today – teachers, counselors, psychologists.

On top of that, if you look at the symptoms that come with ADD, my guess would be that half the kids in America would have seven of those 10 basic symptoms.

I would urge you to get a second opinion from a medical doctor. And I think lots of exercise is a great idea.

As a reminder to everyone, once you make a diagnosis – ADD in this case – does that become license in a parent’s eyes to tolerate behavior that is unacceptable?

I would err on the side of caution. Six is awfully young to be medicated on an ongoing basis. If you end up going that route, medication needs to be carefully monitored by a physician. There’s evidence that young kids should not be on medication 365 days of the year. In my opinion, it would make sense to not medicate during summer months.

Now let’s tackle the homework question. First-graders should have very little homework. I’ve seen so many situations where homework is just busy work.

To get you involved with your child’s homework on a daily basis, in my opinion, is a prescription for disaster.

There are thousands of homes across our country where a simple half-hour assignment turns into a battleground, with moms and dads screaming, slammed doors and lots of tears.

Let your child know, “We all have work in life. Mom works. Dad works. Homework is your responsibility and you are expected to do it well.” For the most part, kids will measure up to that expectation.

If a child is truly struggling, consider if he or she is ready to be in first grade. If you feel the child needs extra help, how about the teacher helping, or finding a junior high or high school kid to help little Fletcher with homework? That neutral person is not likely to get into the hassles that you are experiencing.

I think it’s a shame young kids are turned off by what ought to be a wonderful learning experience.

Dr. Kevin Leman is a Tucson psychologist and author of more than 30 books, including “Have a New Kid by Friday.” E-mail questions to whatsupdoc@tucsoncitizen.com. Photo by Tom Spitz Photography.