A cancer specialist is advising postmenopausal women to take heed of abnormal vaginal bleeding as it could be a sign of endometrial cancer, which has overtaken cervical and breast cancers to become the most prevalent gynecologic cancer in the nation over the past decade.
“The government’s year-long endeavor to promote regular pap smears may have helped bring down the prevalence of cervical cancer in this country, but noticeable increases in the number of women adopting a Western-style diet and not having children in recent years have greatly raised the endometrial cancer incidence rates,” Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Division of Gynecologic Oncology doctor Wu Chen-hsuan (吳貞璇) was quoted by the Chinese-language United Daily News as saying at a cancer and health forum on Saturday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s statistics, the prevalence of cervical cancer dropped by nearly 50 percent between 2000 and 2010, while that of endometrial cancer increased by 82.3 percent during the same period, which was equivalent to an average of more than 1,700 new endometrial cancer cases each year.
Wu said long-term exposure to estrogen increases a woman’s risk of endometrial cancer, and because estrogen levels were lower during pregnancy, women who have never been pregnant are exposed to estrogen for a longer time and are thus more susceptible to developing the cancer than women who have had children.
Overweight women are also vulnerable to the cancer as they are more prone to infertility, Wu said.
A noticeable increase in blood flow during menstruation or abnormal vaginal bleeding after menopause are common symptoms experienced by nearly 95 percent of endometrial cancer patients, Wu said, advising postmenopausal women who experience those symptoms to seek medical care rather than mistaking them as a “sign of rejuvenation.”
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition