Stomach Cancer

Antibiotics can help prevent stomach cancer in people who carry a common strain of bacteria known to cause ulcers, a study has found. The Chinese study, reported in today's Journal of the American Medical Association, adds to the already strong evidence that Helicobacter pylori bacteria can cause stomach cancer, a disease especially prevalent in Asia but far less common in the United States. Still, experts said the findings do not solve the dilemma of whether and how to treat carriers of the bacteria.

Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the Republican takeover of Congress in the 1990s, has died. He was 63. Blankley's wife, Lynda Davis, says he died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. He had been suffering from stomach cancer. Blankley was an executive vice president with the Edelman public-relations firm in Washington. Before working for Gingrich from 1990 to 1997, he spent six years in the Reagan administration in a variety of positions, including speechwriter and policy analyst.

NEW YORK -- Stomach cancer patients live longer if they get chemotherapy before and after surgery, British researchers report. Chemotherapy cut the risk of death by a quarter compared with surgery alone, according to the study published in today's New England Journal of Medicine. It also shrank tumors and discouraged a return of cancer. The results provide a new option for the treatment of operable stomach cancer, Dr. John S. Macdonald, of St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York, wrote in an accompanying editorial in the journal.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Gene Bartow, who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA and later began the athletic program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has died, UAB officials said. He was 81. Mr. Bartow, who was the president of the company that owns the Memphis Grizzlies and FedEx Forum, died Tuesday at his Birmingham, Ala., home after a battle with stomach cancer. "Coach Bartow is a beloved figure in college basketball and in the lives of many players and fans," said UAB's athletic director, Brian Mackin.

CHICAGO — Scientists are puzzling over a surprising increase in stomach cancer in young white adults, while rates in all other American adults have declined. Chances for developing stomach cancer are still very low in young adults, but the incidence among 25- to 39-year-old whites nonetheless climbed by almost 70 percent in the past three decades, a study found. National Cancer Institute researchers and colleagues examined new cases from 1977 to 2006 of cancer in the lower stomach, which can be caused by chronic infection with a common bacteria called H. pylori.

DALLAS -- Robert Gemberling, a former FBI special agent who investigated President Kennedy's assassination and Lee Harvey Oswald's role, died Dec. 4 of stomach cancer. He was 82. In his 20 years of service as a Dallas FBI agent, Mr. Gemberling focused primarily on coordinating Dallas investigations of the 1963 JFK assassination and Oswald. He prepared reports for the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination.Following his retirement from the FBI in 1976, Mr. Gemberling continued to contend that Oswald acted alone.

LONDON — People who take many bone-strengthening drugs for several years may have a slightly higher risk of esophageal cancer, a new study says. Researchers analyzed the records of nearly 3,000 people with esophageal cancer and compared each case to five other similar people who didn’t have the disease. Researchers also looked at about 10,000 people with bowel cancer and about 2,000 people with stomach cancer. The study included more than 90,000 people who were followed for about 8 years.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Gene Bartow, who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA and later began the athletic program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, has died, UAB officials said. He was 81. Mr. Bartow, who was the president of the company that owns the Memphis Grizzlies and FedEx Forum, died Tuesday at his Birmingham, Ala., home after a battle with stomach cancer. "Coach Bartow is a beloved figure in college basketball and in the lives of many players and fans," said UAB's athletic director, Brian Mackin.

Tony Blankley, a conservative author and commentator who served as press secretary to Newt Gingrich during the Republican takeover of Congress in the 1990s, has died. He was 63. Blankley's wife, Lynda Davis, says he died Saturday night at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington. He had been suffering from stomach cancer. Blankley was an executive vice president with the Edelman public-relations firm in Washington. Before working for Gingrich from 1990 to 1997, he spent six years in the Reagan administration in a variety of positions, including speechwriter and policy analyst.

NAIROBI - A Kenyan man who was believed to be the world’s oldest pupil has died at the age of 89, five years after he entered primary school so that he could learn to read the Bible, his family said yesterday. Joseph Stephen Kimani Nganga Maruge died Friday at Nairobi nursing home. He died of stomach cancer, said his granddaughter, Anne Maruge. Mr. Maruge accomplished his biggest goal, being able to read the Bible, but he remained shy of completing primary school. “In the morning he used to wake up early to read the Bible before going to school,’’ Maruge said.

Gene Bartow, who succeeded John Wooden at UCLA and later began UAB's athletic program, has died, UAB officials said. He was 81. Bartow, who was the president of the company that owns the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies and FedEx Forum, died Tuesday evening at his home in Birmingham, Ala., after a battle with stomach cancer, said university spokesman Norm Reilly. "Coach Bartow is a beloved figure in college basketball and in the lives of many players and fans," said UAB athletic director Brian Mackin in a statement.

**½ NORMAN Directed by: Jonathan Segal Written by: Talton Wingate Starring: Dan Byrd, Emily VanCamp, Richard Jenkins At: Boston Common Running time: 97 minutes Rated: R (language, apparently; plays as PG-13) As if being a high-school outsider wasn't hard enough. Norman's mother died in a car crash, and now his father is dying of stomach cancer. Understandably, at 18, Norman can hardly control his emotions. In a moment of weakness during an argument with a friend, he lies and says he's the one dying of cancer, which of course makes things worse.

LONDON — People who take many bone-strengthening drugs for several years may have a slightly higher risk of esophageal cancer, a new study says. Researchers analyzed the records of nearly 3,000 people with esophageal cancer and compared each case to five other similar people who didn’t have the disease. Researchers also looked at about 10,000 people with bowel cancer and about 2,000 people with stomach cancer. The study included more than 90,000 people who were followed for about 8 years.

CHICAGO — Scientists are puzzling over a surprising increase in stomach cancer in young white adults, while rates in all other American adults have declined. Chances for developing stomach cancer are still very low in young adults, but the incidence among 25- to 39-year-old whites nonetheless climbed by almost 70 percent in the past three decades, a study found. National Cancer Institute researchers and colleagues examined new cases from 1977 to 2006 of cancer in the lower stomach, which can be caused by chronic infection with a common bacteria called H....

NAIROBI - A Kenyan man who was believed to be the world’s oldest pupil has died at the age of 89, five years after he entered primary school so that he could learn to read the Bible, his family said yesterday. Joseph Stephen Kimani Nganga Maruge died Friday at Nairobi nursing home. He died of stomach cancer, said his granddaughter, Anne Maruge. Mr. Maruge accomplished his biggest goal, being able to read the Bible, but he remained shy of completing primary school. “In the morning he used to wake up early to read the Bible before going to...

SAN FRANCISCO - John “Marmaduke’’ Dawson, a longtime Grateful Dead collaborator who co-wrote “Friend of the Devil’’ and developed a devoted following with his psychedelic country group New Riders of the Purple Sage, died Tuesday from stomach cancer in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He was 64. Mr. Dawson had retired to Mexico several years ago, said Rob Bleetstein, archivist for the band. With the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Mr. Dawson founded New Riders in 1969 to showcase his songs along with Garcia’s pedal-steel guitar playing.

SAN FRANCISCO - John “Marmaduke’’ Dawson, a longtime Grateful Dead collaborator who co-wrote “Friend of the Devil’’ and developed a devoted following with his psychedelic country group New Riders of the Purple Sage, died Tuesday from stomach cancer in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He was 64. Mr. Dawson had retired to Mexico several years ago, said Rob Bleetstein, archivist for the band. With the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia, Mr. Dawson founded New Riders in 1969 to showcase his songs along with Garcia’s pedal-steel guitar playing.

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat has a large gallstone, a Palestinian hospital official said yesterday, as the weakened Palestinian leader broke his Ramadan fast and underwent more medical tests at the urging of his doctors. The gallstone is not life threatening and can be easily treated, the official said. Palestinian officials have insisted Arafat, 75, was recovering from a lengthy bout of the flu. However, a Palestinian doctor who has examined Arafat recently said he has been inexplicably exhausted in recent weeks.

MEXICO CITY - Andrés Bermúdez, who made a fortune as a "tomato king" and history by becoming the first migrant living in the United States to win a mayoral election in Mexico, has died of cancer. He was 58. Mr. Bermúdez, a flamboyant lawmaker for President Felipe Calderón's National Action Party, or PAN, died Thursday at a hospital in Houston. He had battled stomach cancer since March. Mr. Bermúdez first crossed illegally into the United States in 1973, hidden in a car trunk with his pregnant wife.

The state's highest court ruled yesterday that doctors can be held liable for negligence that reduces a patient's chance of survival, even if the patient's prospect for recovery was already less than 50 percent. Medical malpractice lawyers said the decision from the Supreme Judicial Court could help patients who previously had little chance of collecting damages from physicians. "The SJC has finally recognized the rights of victims of medical malpractice to be compensated for . . . the loss of that person's chance to survive a horrible medical condition...