Shychemist
RSSPosts tagged with "Cancer"
Vinegar Cancer Test Spots Cervical Lesions, Reduces Death Rates By 31 Percent
A study of women in India, who lack access to usual cervical cancer testing, has found that a simple vinegar-based test cut death rates by 31 percent.
Cervical cancer claims more women’s lives than any other cancer in India, but many women lack access to pap smears, the test which successfully curbed cervical cancer related-deaths in high-income countries. In 1998, Dr. Surendra S. Shastri embarked on a study to test the efficacy of using acetic acid — basically a sterilized vinegar — to detect cancerous cells in the cervix. He found that 31 percent of the women who were given this vinegar test were able to find the cancer before it was too late, according to Forbes
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Lung Cancer Cure? Gene Therapy Eradicates Tumors in Mice
(Photo : Creative Commons) Scientists gave cancerous lab mice a gene therapy that turned off the production of the Myc protein, which causes tumor growth.
Lung cancer was cured in mice that had up to 200 tumors, with a gene therapy that blocked the production of a protein that drives tumor development.
Most gene therapy cancer treatments eventually fail because tumors eventually become resistant, and find other growth mechanisms that circumvent the therapy’s target genes.
This study, however, found that the lung cancer cure was effective after several rounds of therapy and had no evidence of only mild and reversible side effects. The next step is to adapt the treatment for safe testing in human clinical trials
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Gel Manicures Can Lead To Cancer
(Photo : (Creative Commons)) Gel manicures can lead to skin cancer because of the UV light used to cure the polish.
Gel manicures are the new fad among women who want their nails to be stronger and their nail polish to last longer. But the process of applying and hardening the finish may put women are risk for cancer according to a new study.
Dr. Chris Adigun, MD from the New York University School of Medicine, performed a study that linked the Ultraviolet light used in the procedure to higher rates of cancer.
Gel manicures seal the nail after the polish has been applied and UV light is used to cure the liquid to become hard and durable. But in the process the hands are being exposed to unregulated wavelengths of UV light that can damage the skin and cause cancer, similar to how tanning beds are known to cause cancer.
In 2009 a report was released detailing two middle-aged women who grew tumors on their hands after repeated gel manicure sessions.
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Tumors Deliberately Create Conditions That Inhibit Body's Best Immune Response
Mar. 1, 2013 — New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reveals that tumours in melanoma patients deliberately create conditions that knock out the body’s ‘premier’ immune defence and instead attract a weaker immune response unable to kill off the tumour’s cancerous cells.
The study also highlights a potential antibody biomarker that could help predict prognosis and identify which patients are most likely to respond to specific treatments.
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Feeling crabby about cancer conspiracy theories
You’ve all seen it at least once, maybe on your Facebook news feed, maybe on your Tumblr dashboard. Someone posts a link to a story about a new strategy of fighting cancer, and how pharmaceutical companies are keeping it secret because they can’t make bazillions of dollars by selling it. Usually, it’s something simple, like vitamins, but maybe it’s something you’ve never heard of, like neoplastons.
The person who posted it is usually outraged, outraged, I tell you. How dare these evil companies sit on something that could save untold millions of lives!! How dare this conspiracy be allowed to continue!!
Guess what? It’s BS. Next time someone posts a story like that, send them to read Cath Ennis’ defense of cancer research at The Guardian.
Guess what? Cancer is hard to fight. Unlike fighting an infection or something, you have to fight a piece of the human body, without killing the rest of the human body.
“… killing cancer cells while leaving normal cells unharmed is like trying to win an old fashioned infantry battle in which both sides are wearing the same uniform, except some of the enemy have slightly different shaped buttons, others have slightly longer bootlaces, others have slightly lacier underwear, and all have the ability to suddenly change clothes halfway through the fight.”
Especially once you realize that the people who are being accused of the conspiracy lose loved ones, and even their own lives, to cancer every year.
The only conspiracies out there are the ones that hold up false hope and bad science in order to insult hard-working people fighting the most difficult set of diseases that humans face. It should stop.
![revkin:
[My post building on this piece, “Single-Study Syndrome and the G.M.O. Food Fight,” is published at Dot Earth.]
Anti-GMO groups push new study claiming big impacts on longevity, cancer rates in rats fed Roundup-ready corn. Study has quickly attracted scientific criticism. One issue is the rat breed (they normally develop tumors after two years). Single-study syndrome?
[UPDATE 10 p.m.: The food researcher and writer Marion Nestle, a supporter of GM labeling, called the study “weirdly complicated” in an excellent look at the work posted by Tim Carman of the Washington Post.]
[UPDATE Sept. 20, 6:45 a.m.: In Rosie Mestel’s Los Angeles Times article, one scientist said the combination of a tumor-prone rat breed and small sample size created big problems: “Another red flag was that tumor rates didn’t increase in line with the dose of GMOs fed to animals, as scientists would expect to see if the genetically engineered corn were to blame, said Kevin Folta, a plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Instead, ‘you are likely seeing variation of normal tumor incidence in a small population of rats,’ he said.”]
For a broader view of the literature on animal diets and GM, read this review paper from 2011: ”Assessment of the health impact of GM plant diets in long-term and multigenerational animal feeding trials: A literature review”
Abstract:
The aim of this systematic review was to collect data concerning the effects of diets containing GM maize, potato, soybean, rice, or triticale on animal health. We examined 12 long-term studies (of more than 90 days, up to 2 years in duration) and 12 multigenerational studies (from 2 to 5 generations). We referenced the 90-day studies on GM feed for which long-term or multigenerational study data were available. Many parameters have been examined using biochemical analyses, histological examination of specific organs, hematology and the detection of transgenic DNA. The statistical findings and methods have been considered from each study. Results from all the 24 studies do not suggest any health hazards and, in general, there were no statistically significant differences within parameters observed. However, some small differences were observed, though these fell within the normal variation range of the considered parameter and thus had no biological or toxicological significance. If required, a 90-day feeding study performed in rodents, according to the OECD Test Guideline, is generally considered sufficient in order to evaluate the health effects of GM feed. The studies reviewed present evidence to show that GM plants are nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts and can be safely used in food and feed.
[UPDATE, Sept. 20: For more on risks, Roundup-ready corn (the variety used in the study) and the herbicide Roundup, read geneticist Michael Eisen’s June blog post: “#GMOFAQ How Bt corn and Roundup Ready soy work, and why they should not scare you.”]
Some good points on why people shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions over this study. If a second study that is conducted in a better way confirms the results, by all means, worry.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mam2779fgw1qalacuo1_500.jpg)
[My post building on this piece, “Single-Study Syndrome and the G.M.O. Food Fight,” is published at Dot Earth.]
Anti-GMO groups push new study claiming big impacts on longevity, cancer rates in rats fed Roundup-ready corn. Study has quickly attracted scientific criticism. One issue is the rat breed (they normally develop tumors after two years). Single-study syndrome?
[UPDATE 10 p.m.: The food researcher and writer Marion Nestle, a supporter of GM labeling, called the study “weirdly complicated” in an excellent look at the work posted by Tim Carman of the Washington Post.]
[UPDATE Sept. 20, 6:45 a.m.: In Rosie Mestel’s Los Angeles Times article, one scientist said the combination of a tumor-prone rat breed and small sample size created big problems: “Another red flag was that tumor rates didn’t increase in line with the dose of GMOs fed to animals, as scientists would expect to see if the genetically engineered corn were to blame, said Kevin Folta, a plant molecular biologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Instead, ‘you are likely seeing variation of normal tumor incidence in a small population of rats,’ he said.”]
For a broader view of the literature on animal diets and GM, read this review paper from 2011: ”Assessment of the health impact of GM plant diets in long-term and multigenerational animal feeding trials: A literature review”
Abstract:
The aim of this systematic review was to collect data concerning the effects of diets containing GM maize, potato, soybean, rice, or triticale on animal health. We examined 12 long-term studies (of more than 90 days, up to 2 years in duration) and 12 multigenerational studies (from 2 to 5 generations). We referenced the 90-day studies on GM feed for which long-term or multigenerational study data were available. Many parameters have been examined using biochemical analyses, histological examination of specific organs, hematology and the detection of transgenic DNA. The statistical findings and methods have been considered from each study. Results from all the 24 studies do not suggest any health hazards and, in general, there were no statistically significant differences within parameters observed. However, some small differences were observed, though these fell within the normal variation range of the considered parameter and thus had no biological or toxicological significance. If required, a 90-day feeding study performed in rodents, according to the OECD Test Guideline, is generally considered sufficient in order to evaluate the health effects of GM feed. The studies reviewed present evidence to show that GM plants are nutritionally equivalent to their non-GM counterparts and can be safely used in food and feed.
[UPDATE, Sept. 20: For more on risks, Roundup-ready corn (the variety used in the study) and the herbicide Roundup, read geneticist Michael Eisen’s June blog post: “#GMOFAQ How Bt corn and Roundup Ready soy work, and why they should not scare you.”]
Some good points on why people shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions over this study. If a second study that is conducted in a better way confirms the results, by all means, worry.
Marijuana Compound May Halt Cancer Spread
A chemical compound in marijuana could stop the spread of many forms of aggressive cancer, according to a pair of scientists at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco.
Sean McAllister and Pierre Desprez found that the compound cannabidiol was capable of switching off the gene responsible for metastasis in many kinds of aggressive cancers without producing the psychoactive properties of the cannabis plant.
McAllister and Desprez first detected its potential five years ago after they found that the compound stopped the proliferation of human breast cancer cells in the laboratory, according to a paper published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
[…]
“We started by researching breast cancer,” said Desprez. “But now we’ve found that Cannabidiol works with many kinds of aggressive cancers—brain, prostate—any kind in which these high levels of ID-1 are present.”
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Improved Brain Tumor Diagnosis
ScienceDaily (Sep. 19, 2012) — UK scientists have made a breakthrough in a new method of brain tumour diagnosis, offering hope to tens of thousands of people.
Researchers, led by Professor Francis Martin of Lancaster University, have shown that infrared and Raman spectroscopy — coupled with statistical analysis — can be used to tell the difference between normal brain tissue and the different tumour types that may arise in this tissue, based on its individual biochemical-cell ‘fingerprint’.
Spectroscopy is a technique that allows us to analyse light by breaking it into its component parts and studying the resulting pattern or spectrum.
Currently, when surgeons are operating to remove a brain tumour it can be difficult to spot where the tumour ends and normal tissue begins.
But new research published online in Analytical Methods this month has shown it is possible to spot the difference between diseased and normal tissue using Raman spectroscopy — a type of spectroscopy which works effectively on living tissue, giving accurate results in seconds.
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Cause of Chemotherapy Resistance in Melanoma Found
ScienceDaily (Sep. 17, 2012) — Researchers with UC Irvine’s Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a major reason why melanoma is largely resistant to chemotherapy.
UCI dermatologist Dr. Anand Ganesan and colleagues found a genetic pathway in melanoma cells that inhibits the cellular mechanism for detecting DNA damage wrought by chemotherapy, thereby building up tolerance to cancer-killing drugs.
Targeting this pathway, comprising the genes RhoJ and Pak1, heralds a new approach to treating the deadly skin cancer, which claims nearly 10,000 U.S. lives each year. Study results appear online in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
“If we can find a way to turn off the pathway responsible for this resistance, melanoma tumors would suddenly become sensitive to therapies we’ve been using for the last 20 years,” said Ganesan, assistant professor of dermatology and biological chemistry at UCI.
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Cancer Mom Saved by Accidentally Coughing Up Entire Tumor
A 38-year-old woman from UK coughed up a tumor a year ago and has been told that she is now free of cancer.
Claire Osborn was stunned when a 2cm lump flew out of her mouth as she was coughing. When the mother of six children took the lump to her doctor, she was told that it was an aggressive type of throat and mouth cancer called metastatic adenocarcinoma.
Doctors had initially diagnosed her with a 50 percent chance of survival and she had to undergo an operation to see if there were still cancer cells in her body. The first scan in February revealed that there were no other tumors in Osborn’s body, and after a scan last week, doctors told her that she is entirely free of cancer.
“The consultant turned round to me and said, ‘It appears you have coughed up your cancer. Congratulations,’” she said, according to the Daily Mail.
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About Shychemist
This is mostly a science themed blog.
Other things I will blog about:
-Politics (mostly canadian politics)
-Music (a lot about Bloc Party = my favourite band)
-Humour
-My personal life
If you're only interested in science, please click on the link below titled "Only the #Science!". I also have dedicated links for music, my photography and my personal life.
I am Canadian; 24 years old and live near Vancouver, Canada.
Photography is a hobby of mine. I'm shy and don't have many friends but I do enjoy talking to people. I'm friendly so send me a message. :)
I've graduated from a 2-year program called Chemical and Environmental Technology at BCIT.
I don't automatically follow back; I only follow those that I find interesting. I have wide ranging interests so chances are I'll find something I like from most people.
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