We begin a new month and not much has changed for the good in this country.
Locally–The Dog Days of Summer and the temps are 110+ and we are entering into the most active months of the hurricane season….so all eyes on the tropics.
Personal–Yesterday I got juiced (chemo) and it takes a couple of days to bounce back from the funk. I have harvested the last of the plums now I have to wait for Spring…..nothing says Summer in the South like fresh tomatoes and ice cold watermelon….I am enjoying both while I can.
Onward!
Since I am in a struggle with cancer I am always looking for info I can pass on for anyone that may be in a similar situation. There is some news, possibly good on the treatment aspect of the disease….
A universal cancer vaccine in development could help rev up the immune system against tumors and supercharge the effects of existing cancer therapies, an animal study suggests.
Similar to vaccines for viral infections like the flu, many cancer vaccines are designed to help the immune system recognize specific proteins. However, while conventional vaccines aim to prevent disease, cancer vaccines are currently being developed to clear away cancers already growing in the body and to help prevent treated cancers from coming back.
Nonetheless, conventional vaccines and cancer vaccines often work similarly. The flu shot trains the immune system to look for unique proteins found on the surface of influenza viruses, while cancer vaccines typically teach immune cells to spot unique features of cancer cells.
But there’s a challenge: These cancer proteins of interest can often be unique to individual patients, meaning each cancer vaccine may need to be specially formulated for each patient. Although it’s possible to craft such personalized vaccines, they take time to make — and, in the interim, the patient’s cancer mutates, potentially causing the vaccine to be less effective.
“It can be months from the time you get a patient’s specimen to when they actually have a personalized therapy,” said study senior author Dr. Elias Sayour, a pediatric oncologist at University of Florida Health. Sayour and colleagues wondered if they could design a cancer vaccine that would not require this personalization and instead ignite a general immune response to keep cancer at bay.
Any improvement in the detection and treatment of cancer can only be for the better.
Let’s talk environment for a few moments….
Remember when ‘acid rain’ was all the rage? Well it’s back!
Acid rain may have a sequel, and like most sequels, it’s arguably worse.
While the world’s first bout of acid rain (at least, in modern times) came from increased concentrations of sulfuric acid produced largely from coal plants, this new anthropogenic source is possibly more pervasive, more persistent, and more sinister. Its name is Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), a kind of “forever chemical” that, for decades, has been steadily increasing in rain water—but not just rain water.
Countries around the world have found increasing concentrations in groundwater, arctic ice cores, wine, and even human blood. In fact, TFA is likely the most pervasive form of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl (PFAS)—technically, a subclass known as ultrashort-chain perfluoroalkyl acid (PFAA)—on Earth due in part to the fact that longer-chain PFAS degrade into TFA via incinerators or sewage treatment plants. They’re also used in refrigerants instead of chlorofluorocarbons and hydrochlorofluorocarbons, which were famously known to deplete the Earth’s ozone layer.
In October of 2024, a team of European environmental scientists raised the TFA alarm, stating that a rise in concentration could be considered a threat to “planetary boundaries”—a system designed to make sure the planet remains habitable for human life (which we are doing a real bang-up job at following).
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a65490375/forever-chemical-tfa/
Yet another breakthrough on the plastic pollution thing…..
A low-cost material made from clay—common in British soil—and vitamin B2 could one day help clean up pollution using only sunlight.
Developed by researchers in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology (CEB), the new material—Flaponite—combines a clay base with compounds derived from vitamin B2, also known as riboflavin, to create a sustainable photocatalyst. It’s affordable, recyclable, and designed to work in water under visible light—offering a promising new approach to breaking down environmental pollutants without harsh chemicals or high energy use.
The research demonstrates how the material can break down model pollutants in lab conditions—a crucial first step in developing real-world water purification or green chemical processing technologies. The paper is published in the journal Catalysis Science & Technology. It was selected to feature on the cover of the journal—a bold design created by Ellis, Fruk, and graphic designer David Bainbridge.
https://phys.org/news/2025-07-clay-based-material-tackle-pollution.html
Something needs doing about this problem and this is a promising research but as with so many other promising discoveries this may be the last we ever hear about this./
Coke will be offering a soda made with real cane sugar instead of HFCS…..what are the differences?
Cane sugar is refined from the crystallized juices of sugar cane, which is cultivated in warm climates around the world and in the southern United States.
High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is also derived from the refining of a U.S.-grown plant, corn, and gained popularity since the 1980s for being cheaper to produce. But while cane sugar, known scientifically as sucrose, is made up of 50% glucose and 50% fructose molecules, high-fructose corn syrup can contain variable amounts of fructose.
HFCS 42 (which contains 42% fructose and 58% glucose) is primarily used in processed foods, cereals and baked goods, whereas HFCS 55 (which contains 55% fructose) is often found in sodas, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
That is all I have the strength for today…..I apologize for this ‘Dump’ is not as detailed as previous editions….enjoy your Summer Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”
It might be too late for us, but I hope the cancer vaccine can offer some benfits to future generations. Good news about the clay/plastics too. Instead of offering different sugars in Coke, they should be thinking about banning all sugars added to drinks and food, in my opinion. Have a restful day, chuq.
Best wishes, Pete.
THe plastic thing….there have been many things come to light and then disappear….I hope this is not one. the vaccine is indeed good news if it pans out but cancer is a strange bird and will take mountains of research. I have no problem with real sugar it is the alternatives that I do not trust. chuq
exactly. And kids get hit with it, because of so many cereals in their diets.
HFCS, among other things, can cause diabetes, it can cause obesity. When we were kids, nearly every class in any grade had maybe two fat kids, one girl, one boy. Now they are the norm, not the novelty. Beware of any product that is touted as sweetened but “contains no sugar”.
I agree….junk food has been our downfall and it just keeps getting worse with a deteriorating economic system. chuq