Scientists at Harvard University have discovered a new way of fighting cancer. They created a vaccine that is a fingernail sized implant that is put directly under your skin. They have already tested it on mice with melanoma and it cured them completely. What it does is it attracts cells to the disk and exposes them to antigens which reprogram them to go to the nearest lymph nodes and produce cells to attack the cancer. The body can’t do this on its own because it doesn’t recognize cancer cells as foreign.
Dr. Joanna Owens said “This study provides some useful insights into how we can effectively train the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer cells. The use of an implant to deliver the vaccine is particularly interesting and the results look encouraging but more research is need to see if the technology can be scaled up and adapted for use in people.”
More information of this new vaccine can be found at http://ecancerawareness.com/cancer-news/small-cancer-fighting-disk-blasts-tumors-away-healthnews/
I would like to know if they have started trials in humans yet because this sounds like a major breakthrough.
I would also like to know if it would cure more than just melanoma.
Archive for November, 2009
Cancer Fighting Disks
Among other innocent things Gingerbread man are though of as harmless decorations and delicious cookies. But as cute as little gingerbread men and other such Christmas tree decorations are, they are terribly toxic. Bill Doucette and his team of researchers of Utah State University found this when Hill Air Force Base in Salt Lake City Utah had found high levels of dichloroethane and trichloroethylene (or DCA and TCE) in the air. Which was later found to have contaminated a groundwater reservoir. They were put on the investigation and after installing vapor removal systems that didn’t seem to be working did they pinpoint the place of the problem at the certain homes that these machines didn’t seem to work at. They went into the houses expecting to find some toxic household cleaners but it wasn’t so. They sampled the air in each room and found a basement that was packed with DCA. They emptied the room and put everything in the garage. They watched as in a few days the DCA levels from 82 micrograms per cubic meter down to 0.37 while the air in the garage went to undetectable levels 10 μg/m3. (yah it doesn’t make any sense to me either, but its undetectable.) After a while they found it to be in plastic gingerbread ornaments and other such Christmas tree decorations.
DCA is a toxin that is threatening to ones health if exposed to it for too long a period of time. High levels of DCA is a national problem it’s everywhere and it only takes one little gingerbread man to make the level of the air too high.
Do you have an unknown toxic gingerbread man? Do you think any other festive ornaments could be secretly toxic? Is it more dangerous that something as innocent as a gingerbread man is toxic more than if say a plastic snake was toxic?
For the site:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/49897/title/Case_of_the_toxic_gingerbread_man
Tickle, Tickle, Tickle
Have you ever thought about why certain people are ticklish and how you even become ticklish? When reading an article about it from the Boston Globe I found out about how Robert R. Provine explains the ticklish sensations that are common in a lot of people. He says that it has a social component, that by being tickled by someone you know you somehow become extremely sensitive. Provine states that when tickling a stranger you probably wouldn’t get the same results compared to tickling someone close to you.
These sensations can also be useful in survival, for example when something is crawling on you. Tickling is most affective on sensitive skin and places that are more venerable to injury or pain.
Another article found called the physiology of laughing and tickling says that when being tickled it triggers both pain and touch sensors in your skin. For more information about both of these articles on tickling check out these sites:
http://www.boston.com/globe/search/stories/health/how_and_why/120197_2.htm
http://www.tomveatch.com/else/humor/paper/node33.html
Questions for you:
1. Why are some people more ticklish than others?
2. Why are people ticklish in different areas of their body, why not have everyone have the same ticklish spot?
Fantastic Fibers
From: http://www.aftau.org/images/content/pagebuilder/19403.jpg
Over 70% of burn victims die from infections, but now there is a new kind of wound dressing invented by Prof. Zilberman, which if successful will drastically reduce this number. Prof. Zilberman’s new invention dissolves after the wound is healed and can administer antibiotics at the same time. These new fibers, which don’t have a name yet, protect the burn until it is no longer needed then it melts away. It is designed to mimic the skin and the way he skin lets fluids in and out. If it lets the fluids out too quickly the burn will dry out, if it’s to slow there is risk of increased contamination.
Burn victims don’t usually die from the burn itself but from secondary infections that get into the wound. The great thing about this new product is that it can administer antibiotics right to the burn, preventing these types of infections. Prof. Zilberman is in the early stages of testing this product and so far it has passed physical and mechanicals test proving that it can withstand different bacterial infections.
www.sciencenews.com
Do you think this invention will be as helpful as they make it sound?
Is this that much better than the classic wound dressings?
Is it really necessary for the fibers to dissolve after they are not needed?
Our calls are killing us
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/silly_a1804/2279068004/
Over the last decade, a $30 million study on the negative effects cell phones have on people was conducted. It was done in 13 countries and tested 12,800 people. The results found that long-term cell phone use can cause brain tumors. The radiation from cell phones transmitting signals is what causes tumors. When cell phones are on in people’s pockets, they are still emitting radiation. Here is the original article: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/study_cell_phone_cancer_link_D1uu62C2zscTFCnzQTeZwO
Here is the website that gives all the details on the study conducted. It is called “Cell phones and Brain Tumors: 15 Reasons for Concern.” It tells all of the reasons why cell phones are bad, including they damage DNA, and that children are at more of a risk to develop cancer from cell phones than adults. Here are some statistics from the publication:
• For every 100 hours of cell phone use, the risk of brain cancer increases by 5%
• For every year of cell phone use, the risk of brain cancer increases by 8%
• After 10 or more years of digital cell phone use, there was a 280% increased risk of brain
• For digital cell phone users who were teenagers or younger when they first starting using a cell phone, there was a 420% increased risk of brain cancer.
I was interested in this topic because it has been frequently discussed in my house lately.
My dad recently stopped keeping his cell phone on all the time in his pocket because he read about the effects of radiation. This report really scared me, and I don’t even want to use cell phones anymore, let alone own one.
Do you think that, with today’s excessive cell phone use, more people will get brain tumors in the future?
Would you be willing to give up cell phone use to avoid brain tumors and cancer?
Here is another site that tells about radiation from cell phones: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cell-phone-radiation2.htm
I mean any alcohol. It used to be that people thought only red wine helped you, but in recent studies data shows that any type of alcohol would raise your HDL or “good” cholesterol noticeably. This helps to describe what is know as the “French Paradox” where even though an entire group of people indulge themselves on what we as Americans see as high fat foods, such as pastries and sweets, they still have a low level of heart disease. This could be dude to the constant moderate consumptions of alcoholic beverages in this country.
Now you might be like, “Whoa! Hold on. Americans drink all the time.” Well yes they do, but not the same as most Europeans and certainly not in a safe manner. It’s all about the different cultures. In Europe alcohol is like water, it’s just something you have to drink with dinner or when you are thirsty. However in America it is used for intoxicating ones self to a point where it is easier to talk to the opposite sex and forget about the paper that is due the next day. At least you don’t have any homework for a few hours, but this kind of drinking is unhealthy and can cause liver damage, problems with the law, and in many cases death. This study is based on the term moderate drinking; which is defined as one or two drinks a day for a man and one drink a day for a woman. And just so you all know one drink is described as 12 ounces of beer, 4 ounces of wine or 1 ounce of 100-proof spirits.
Americans using alcohol.
So what do you guys think? Is Americas health problems and obesity due to irresponsible drinking? Is Europe’s good health and low heart disease due to moderate drinking? And why are the paradigms of drinking different in America and Europe.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_92070.html
Beware of the Blame Bug
Is shifting blame becoming contagious? Two professors, Nathanael Fast and Larissa Tiedens, think so. They conducted several experiments that concluded that people who publicly blame others are causing the action to spread. This is interesting to me because it is a very plausible idea. I can see how this could begin to cause a big problem in society.
They say that the reason blame spreads so quickly is because it makes people think that their self-image is being attacked. This causes them to become defensive. They then try to “protect” themselves by shifting blame onto others.
Fast says, “When we see others protecting their egos, we become defensive too… We then try to protect our own self-image by blaming others for our mistakes, which may feel good in the moment.” Both professors believe that the action of blaming has negative effects on people, companies, and society as a whole. It can ruin reputations and cause businesses to fall apart.
As Fast puts it, “Blame creates a culture of fear,” because when people are scared of being blamed for something, they are less willing to take risks. This damages their creativity and lowers their ability to learn from their mistakes.
This is important because all of these things are bad news for the future. People need to learn how to avoid these negative effects. First they need to become aware that they are wrongly shifting blame, and then they need to take responsibility for their own actions and publicly admit that they have made a mistake. When blaming others for something that they’ve actually done, it is best to do it privately.
More people should read about this topic so they can become aware of the importance of accepting blame for their actions when necessary, and allow our society to continue to excel in creativity and integrity.
Click here for the original site.
Here are some links to more sites talking about this topic.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/43/20091120/860/ttc-blame-game-can-be-as-contagious-as-e.html
A recent Oxford University study has identified how cancer cells have the ability to anchor themselves to blood vessels in the brain. The cancer cells have a protein on their outer surfaces called integrin that is necessary for them to have the ability to stick to blood vessels, and begin to grow. Metastasis is the process of cancer breaking out from the initial tumor, and spreads to other parts of the body. So, since cancer travels through blood cells, it’s easy for cancer to travel fast, and grow efficiently because they don’t have to grow a blood vessel themselves for nutrients and oxygen.
Creating a drug to target the integrin will be key in stopping the growth of cancer in the brain. This is significant because 20% of cancer patients will develop metastasis cancer in the central nervous system. Also finding that 95% of cancer cells originate from blood cells, rather than nervous calls, it just takes cancer researchers one stem closer to finding a cure. Dr. Helen George says, “This is an important part of the puzzle. Our research shows that cancer cells which spread to the brain latch on to blood vessels, paving the way for new and much-needed treatments to tackle cancers that have spread to the brain, in the future.”
I thought this was a really cool article because they figured out what was necessary to stop the growth of cancer in the brain. Also, gaining more knowledge about cancer, and understanding how it grows, and functions will only get us closer to finding a cure for something that has the potential to attack and kill anyone.
To check out this article, click here
From: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fishgirl7/3305624391/
EVERYONE has, at one point in their high school years, put off studying until 10 o’clock the night before. But now there is good news for those who seem to like those late night cram sessions. A team of German scientists have developed a nasal spray that gives those the cram sessions a little boost. Not only does it help you maintain information, but also gives you a good night’s sleep.
To test this theory, Lisa Marshall, co-author of the study, from the Department of Neuroendocrinology at the University of Lubeck in Germany and colleagues had 17 fit young college students spend two nights in the lab. Researchers tested the spray before and after sleeping because sleep is thought to help the brain solidify long-term memories while purging extraneous details from the day Each night the subjects would be given a story to read. . Then, half of the students were given the nasal spray into each nostril which contained interleukin-6 and the other half was given placebo fluid. The next morning they were all asked to write down as many words from the story as they could remember and those who had received the IL-6 could remember more words than those who were given placebo fluid.
Researchers explain that a molecule from the body’s immune system (interleukin-6) when administered through the nose helps the brain retain emotional and procedural memories during REM sleep.
“If a nasal spray can improve memory, perhaps we’re on our way to giving some folks a whiff of common sense, such as accepting the realities of evolution,” said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “This is exciting piece of interdisciplinary science, since IL-6 had previously been considered a by-product of inflammation, not an agent that affects cognition.”
Do you think this is going to lead to further studies to help with memory loss?
How much would you pay to get your hands on this new “medication”?
Arsenic Water?
Researchers are trying to identify that a sequence of events that arsenic trapped in the sediment of the Ganges Delta is finding its way into the Bangladesh drinking water. Bangladeshis switched to wells to help them get their water do to the bacteria in there ponds and rivers that they were getting water from. In the early 80s, researchers realized that the wells were harming Bangladeshis people with a new poison arsenic.
The underground sediment contained arsenic. Researchers determined that microbes digesting organic carbon were freeing that trapped arsenic but still researchers didn’t know where the carbon was coming from. Using test plot, the researchers found that the organic carbon comes from shallow ponds that were for flood protection. The carbon compound sinks in the pond water and seeps underground where the bacteria digest them giving them the perfect chemical conditions to free up the soil’s arsenic. The groundwater flow then brings the arsenic water to the wells. The future wells were dug deeper to the lower arsenic part of the ground.
What do you think that Bangladeshis should do to help their town?
What could they put into the wells to counter the Arsenic?