Tag: Medical Research

Is This A ‘Death Panel’?

I recall back in the days Obama and his push for healthcare the GOP and its minions of stupid kept on and on on the meme of his ideas would create ‘death panels’ and Americans would pay with their lives.

Does anyone else remember those idiot statements?

Well here is one for the d/bags on the Right….those ‘death panels’ may be back.

Since both Sue and I are fighting cancer I keep an eye on the doings that could be news for others that suffer as well…..and news from the Lord High Executioner’s office is not promising.

… all purchasing is frozen using government purchase cards; researchers cannot submit abstracts to meetings or manuscripts to journals; hiring is stopped entirely for 90 days — though it is unclear if that time frame may change — and all job listings must be pulled down; and of course, no external communications at all, and any activity remotely considered DEI-adjacent is stopped.

It is difficult to overstate the damage this can do to both cancer research and treatment. The NCI has around 3,500 employees, and is the largest cancer research funding body in the world. It supports the dozens of NCI-designated Cancer Centers around the country, and helps coordinate clinical trials across more than 3,000 sites. Though the list of prohibitions didn’t necessarily target them directly, there are reports of canceled appointments for patients set to enter some of those clinical trials.

Across NIH, researchers as well as administrators and support staff are some combination of terrified, angry, and confused. One employee told me they simply didn’t know what to do — meaning, literally how to spend the work day — once the commands to stop all purchasing, travel, and more came down. Another source within a different NIH institute said, “I feel like every time we try to keep things moving, we get another directive to stop.” Another pointed out that this will also affect training the next generation of doctors and researchers — interviewing for the NIH’s Graduate Partnership Program, in which graduate students at other universities work in NIH labs, has been suspended, and if that doesn’t lift within a month or so then there will likely be no such visitors next year.

https://www.splinter.com/trumps-assault-on-nih-will-kill-people-with-cancer

Is this the ‘death panel’ that the GOP warned us about in the past?

Seems to me that there is evidence that it is just that and it is different from the Obama claim because that is examples here and with Obama there was just bullshit.

I will continue to watch and write when something is said or done….our health is important and should not be fucked with in any way by any minor dictator in waiting.

Update:  Trump has rescinded the order for there was a major wave of blow back from states and organizations.

But I look for an end run along the same lines just in different language….he has not given up.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

IST Health Minute

+++Let me say from the onset I am not offering medical advice just offer up some recent studies that could effect you and your health….please see your doctor before starting any new plans of action for your health+++

It is Sunday and I would like to offer a wee bit of FYI…..as we grow older we fight many health battles….most common of them is blood pressure and weight….I offer up a few looks at both of these problems….

Last Sunday I posted on some news about high blood pressure and according to the response it was about as popular as a turd in a punch bowl….or people just do not care about their health….I decided to try again and re-post it….

For The Blood Pressure Watchers

Next the other thing that us seniors seem obsessed about is watching our weight…..there is some research that says we need not be tied tom those scales….

There are good reasons to step away from the scale. It can be a place of supreme stress, in a society that prizes thinness and stigmatizes fat. Then there’s the mounting scientific evidence that weight–and, accordingly, body mass index–are unreliable indicators of health. 

Cardiorespiratory, or aerobic, fitness is a much better predictor of all-cause mortality and heart disease risk than BMI, according to a comprehensive review published November 12 in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. People classified as overweight and obese who had high cardiorespiratory fitness were not at higher risk of death or chronic diseases like hypertension than their thin counterparts. They also had 2-3-fold lower mortality risk than those of “normal weight” but with low fitness, per the recent research. It’s just the latest entry into the litany of studies demonstrating that fitness and fatness are far from mutually exclusive.

“Once you factor in fitness, BMI really didn’t have much statistical predictive ability at all,” says Siddhartha Angadi, senior author on the November analysis and an associate professor of Kinesiology at the University of Virginia. “The risks of being unfit are far greater than the risk of carrying a few extra pounds,” he adds.

https://www.popsci.com/health/tracking-fitness-without-bmi/

Again this is not medical advice just FYI on subjects I found while searching the web….please check with your doctor before altering any of your health routine.

Have a wonderful day and try to relax and enjoy yourself….and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Starving Prostrate Cancer

It is the last Sunday in 2024 and what better time to inject some of my now famous FYI?

This info is merely for FYI…..please check with your medical professional before starting or changing any health practices.

As someone who is being treated for cancer I am always looking to pass on any news I find that may help others with their struggles.

Some research is being done in a new way to treat prostrate cancer….

Scientists at Indiana University School of Medicine have discovered a new way to attack prostate cancer by cutting off its supply of essential nutrients.

Their groundbreaking research, published in Science Signaling, reveals how targeting certain proteins in cancer cells can slow tumor growth and potentially lead to more effective treatments for one of the deadliest cancers in men.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the United States.

Current treatments focus on blocking testosterone, a hormone that prostate cancer cells need to grow.

Unfortunately, tumors often become resistant to these therapies, leaving patients with fewer options.

The new research offers hope by identifying a different approach: starving the cancer cells of amino acids, which are critical nutrients for their survival and rapid growth.

The research team, led by Dr. Kirk Staschke and Dr. Ronald C. Wek, explored how prostate cancer cells respond when deprived of amino acids.

Normally, when nutrients are low, a protein called GCN2 kicks in, helping the cells produce more fuel to keep growing. The researchers hypothesized that blocking GCN2 would weaken the cancer cells.

While inhibiting GCN2 did slow tumor growth, it didn’t kill the cancer cells completely. The team then uncovered the cancer’s “Plan B”: a protein called p53. In prostate cancer, p53 remains functional (unlike in many other cancers) and helps the cells survive by restricting cell division and gathering nutrients.

By targeting both GCN2 and p53, the researchers found they could effectively destroy prostate cancer cells. This dual approach exploits unique vulnerabilities in prostate cancer’s metabolism, cutting off its ability to adapt and survive.

This discovery provides a fresh avenue for developing treatments.

While more research is needed, targeting GCN2 and p53 simultaneously could become a powerful strategy to combat prostate cancer, especially in cases where current therapies fail.

Dr. Staschke emphasized the importance of this finding, saying, “Our study reveals a way to starve prostate cancer by exploiting its dependence on essential nutrients. This dual-target approach could be a game-changer.”

he study was a team effort, with contributions from graduate students Ricardo Cordova and Noah Sommers, along with scientists from Rutgers University and the University at Buffalo. The research highlights the potential for collaborative science to tackle tough medical challenges.

While still in early stages, this research provides a promising path for new prostate cancer treatments. By understanding how these tumors survive and adapt, scientists are one step closer to finding better ways to fight this deadly disease.

(knowridge.com)

I hope this will be helpful for those that need treatment….but please before you do anything consult your oncologist and other medical professionals.

Enjoy your last Sunday of the year and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

All That Cancer Research

Once again we have arrived at a Sunday and the day that I try to help my readers with subjects that may not be readily available for them.

Since my better half, Sue, has been battling cancer I try to keep up with all the research that is available….and then I read something like this and it just sends me into a spiral….

Cancer research is big business, sorry to pout it that way, and there have been some fraud going on….

Dana-Farber was rocked this January by a blog post by Sholto David, a molecular biologist and internet data sleuth, in which he presented evidence of widespread data manipulation in cancer research published by leading researchers including the institute’s CEO and COO. David reportedly contacted the institute with concerns about 57 papers, 38 of which were ones for which the institute had “primary responsibility for the potential data errors.” The institute has requested retractions for 6 of them and initiated corrections for 31.

These data manipulations, to be clear, were not subtle. (David’s fairly bombastic blog post announcing the evidence calls it “pathetically amateurish and excessive.”) Many of the cases he identifies involved reusing the same images over and over in different figures, with different labels, and with the figures having been clumsily rotated or stretched in Photoshop or a similar image editor. Plots of data collection on different days are mysteriously perfectly identical. Test results are visibly copied and pasted.

It raises the question: Assuming that there was some misconduct behind the copied-and-pasted images, how were people so emboldened to commit such blatant fraud, so publicly, for such a long time? How much grant money was secured on the basis of fabricated data, and how much was the crucial fight against cancer set back by inaccuracies promulgated in these papers?

And perhaps most importantly, is this only the tip of the iceberg?

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24086809/fake-cancer-research-data-scientific-fraud

This story raises questions for me….if the research is faked then are the treatments really doing any good?

What happens to those faking the test results?

Cancer research is a multi-billion dollar cash cow for some….what is the government doing to stop this sort of fraud?

All good question but with few answers.

Sorry to be a bummer on this Sunday.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

 

Those Were The Days

I admit it….I was a acid rock fan….those were the days….Bennies, Dex, Yellow Jackets, Acid, Weed, ‘shrooms, etc…..

But recent scientific research has shown that some of the magic drugs of my youth can be beneficial in treating PTSD……

Those magic mushrooms that grow liberally in cow dung could indeed have properties that could help those suffering from PTSD……

Want to quit smoking or alleviate depression? In a few years you might be taking the psychedelic “magic” in magic mushrooms—if the FDA ever agrees, the New York Times reports. Researchers from John Hopkins University suggest the FDA should reclassify psilocybin—the psychedelic drug in hallucinogenic mushrooms—to a Schedule IV drug, meaning it can serve a medical use and isn’t likely to trigger addiction or abuse. It would be like sleeping pills, but not a simple prescription: “We believe that the conditions should be tightly controlled and that when taken for a clinical reason, it should be administered in a health care setting” under professional guidance, study co-author Matthew Johnson tells Fortune.

Published in Neuropharmacology, the study looks at psilocybin data going back to the 1940s. “In the 1960s, they were on the cutting edge of neuroscience research and understanding how the brain worked,” says Johnson. “But then it got out of the lab.” Research stopped partly because the hippie counterculture embraced mind-altering drugs like mushrooms and LSD, but a recent cultural shift has seen professionals adopt “microdosing” to increase productivity, and consumers—particularly women—use psychedelics to alleviate anxiety and depression. And while psilocybin poses some health risks, Johnson says in a press release it’s safer than other surveyed drugs. But don’t hold your breath: FDA approval could take more than five years.

Another drug of choice in those days was the sugar cubed “ACID”…LSD…..and yes they are finding it useful in moderation……go figure (we could have told them that but no one would listen)….

“Microdosing” on psychedelic substances like LSD—ingesting just enough to heighten cognitive faculties, enhance creativity, improve concentration and alleviate depression—is currently back in vogue among people not normally associated with anything remotely ‘countercultural’ in the USA.

The term psychedelic was coined in 1958 by British psychiatrist Humphrey Osmond and is derived from the Greek words psyche (“soul, mind”) and delein(“to manifest”), hence “soul-manifesting,” the implication being that psychedelics can access the soul and develop unused potentials in the human mind. It’s a contention that’s gaining increased acceptance in mainstream universities.

https://theantimedia.com/political-significance-lsd/

Fascinating stuff, eh?

Some related reading……

https://www.alternet.org/speakeasy/martharosenberg/why-are-suicides-climbing-military-lets-look-drugs-being-prescribed

https://lobotero.com/2016/05/06/the-war-on-drugs-failed-so-why-isnt-it-over/

For your musical enjoyment…..

Diabetics–1 Or 2

Sunday and the sun is shining and the garden is starting to bud out….my radishes are all up….looks like it will be a good year for a yield from the garden……so onward…..

I live in Mississippi the state with the highest concentration of Diabetics in nation…..we are also the most obese state…in short the least healthy state of the 50…..

Everyone knows that Diabetes has two types….type one and type two…..but could that be wrong?

More than 30 million Americans have diabetes, but a study published Thursday in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology concludes we’ve been thinking about the disease all wrong. The BBC reports diabetes is typically separated into type 1—an immune system disease—and type 2—mostly seen as the result of an unhealthy lifestyle. About 90% to 95% of diabetics are classified as type 2, according to Medical News Today. But: “Diabetes is not the grey mass we have been calling type 2,” researcher Leif Groop tells the Guardian. “There are really subsets of the disease that require different treatment.” Groop’s team studied 14,775 diabetics and determined diabetes should actually be broken into five “genetically distinct” clusters. They are:

  • Cluster 1: Severe autoimmune diabetes. Essentially the same as type 1.
  • Cluster 2: Severe insulin-deficient diabetes. As in cluster 1, strikes young and healthy people, but the immune system isn’t at fault.
  • Cluster 3: Severe insulin-resistant diabetes. Bodies of largely overweight people no longer respond to insulin being produced.
  • Cluster 4: Mild obesity-related diabetes. Patients are very overweight but have metabolisms closer to normal than patients in cluster 3.
  • Cluster 5: Mild age-related diabetes. Mild form of diabetes developed by older people. The most common cluster.

Each cluster has different risks associated with it, and patients could respond better to different treatments, researchers say. “I think it will mean a more individualized therapy [and] a better quality of life,” Groop says. (A study found moderate drinking may lower the risk of diabetes.)

What does this actually do?  Will it matter when treatment is called for?  Is this a good thing or was it just a waste of time and energy?

Time for me to sit in the garden and sip a bourbon and enjoy the sunshine on my old body…..be well, be safe……chuq

Your Colon Is Calling

Back when I was growing up if I got sick my grandmother made sure that the colon was working…..she believed that a healthy colon was the key to good health….

After reading this report on some medical research may bear her belief out…..

It seems that there is a pill, an electronic pill, that can be swallowed and the research can be sent to your mobile phone….interesting….I can get all kinds of things on my mobile phone weather, stocks, news…..but info on my colon…now there is a new twist….excuse me I need to take this, my colon is calling.

An electronic gas-detecting pill could help in diagnosing gastrointestinal ailments, including irritable bowel syndrome.

Scientists from Melbourne’s RMIT University first unveiled their swallowable capsule early in 2015 in the hope it would it would help doctors work out what foods were problematic for their patients by detecting and measuring intestinal gases produced by gut bacteria.

Now they have released results from the first human trials of the capsule, which collects information about the gases and transmits it to a hand-held device and mobile phone for doctors to read.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/09/gas-sniffing-pill-that-transmits-from-the-gut-passes-first-human-trials

At least it can be swallowed and not shoved up your butt…that is something……

Sunday and a good day for some wine and cheese….have a safe day and I will return tomorrow with lots more stuff….chuq

The Tale Of Unit 731

A Wednesday and another of the professor’s history classes….(save the groans and moans for after the class)……

Does anyone remember your history?  Like Operation “Paper Clip” when at the end of the war in Europe teams of Americans rush to scoop up German scientists before the Soviets could do so.  Many of these “scientist” committed war crimes or at least looked the other way while they were being committed…all in the name of science.

These people got a free ride and avoided prosecution because of their “skills”.

Well Japan was not left out either……they had an infamous research unit called Unit 731 that carried out horrendous experiments on humans all in the name of science……and the US did the same as they had in Germany……they searched the countryside for these criminals so their “expertise” could be used by the US……

Upon my request, both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center have released copies of a December 1998 letter from DOJ official Eli Rosenbaum to Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In the letter, Rosenbaum admitted to Cooper that after World War II the United States government had classified records pertaining to a Japanese military unit that engaged in biological warfare experimentation and field trials on humans.

The letter, one of two released to this author, confirmed the U.S. “essentially assisted Japan in covering up the atrocities perpetrated by the unit.”

Source: Department of Justice Official Releases Letter Admitting U.S. Amnesty of Unit 731 War Criminals

Just as with the scientists in Germany….the US profited off the suffering of others by giving the Japanese war criminals a “get out of jail free” card.

That makes us as much a war criminal as those that committed the horrendous experiments.

Where should the line be drawn?

Are You An Organ Donor?

The weekend arrives and I find stuff that is just too weird for words………

In the past I have written about organ donation…….I believe that it is a wonderful thing that one person can do for another……and I do not condemn anyone who is a donor……I have a problem with it and that is my problem………. no one else…….

The question has been asked………I am not an organ donor……not from some religious or otherwise equally ignorant reason.  I am not because I refuse to give my organs to be used in a transplant and the hospital and doctors make money off my gift.  I do not want my gift of life to buy a new cigarette boat for some self-centered surgeon.  When they donate their gifts then anyone can have every organ I have to give…..until then what is mine stays mine…….

I bring this all up because of something I read while reading a legal blog…….

Families who bury loved ones whose body has been looked at by a medical examiner may not be burying their whole bodies. And New York’s highest court ruled yesterday that it’s OK. The unusual case involves the death of 17-year-old Jesse Shipley of New York City in a 2005 car crash, reports the AP. After his parents buried him, classmates visiting the morgue on a field trip months later noticed his name on a jar with a brain inside. His parents got it back, had a second burial, and sued the city. They won $600,000 in court, but yesterday’s ruling by the state’s Court of Appeals reversed that, reports Capital New York.

“At most, a medical examiner’s determination to return only the body without notice that organs and tissue samples are being retained is discretionary,” wrote Judge Eugene Pigott Jr. for the majority. “Therefore, no tort liability can be imposed for either the violation of the common-law right of sepulcher or public health law.” A dissenting judge argued that the practice violates age-old customs and beliefs about funeral rites, but Elie Mystal at Above the Law thinks the majority got it right. “We don’t have a law that says you have to put back what you can legally take out, and we probably shouldn’t,” he writes. “Sometimes, that organ stuff is evidence. Other times, it’s science. Even when it’s not those things, the dead person is dead already.”

Okay this is BS…….so it is legal for these twats to keep my parts?  What is preventing them from selling organs to the highest bidder?  What about the family?  Do they get a voice in this?  This is America where GREED is king!

Whatcha think?  Should this be allowed?

On The Road To Designer Babies?

Finally!  The weekend and I can kick back and do something religious….like sleep.

Did anyone see the movie Gattaca?  I believe it was about choosing what your baby will look like…a designer baby…..I am sure there have been a dozen or more movies that touch on this type of DNA manipulation…….looks like life is about to mimic art…….

Advances in DNA research are fairly common these days, but a new study out of China seems to qualify for bombshell status: Scientists there edited the genes of human embryos for the first time, reports Nature. This gets into controversial and “ethically charged” territory, notes the MIT Technology Review, because if a mistake is made at the embryonic level, the mutation could get passed on to future generations. It also raises a whole new set of concerns about “designer babies.” To dampen the controversy, the researchers out of Sun Yat-sen University did not use embryos capable of developing into babies. As they explain in Protein & Cell, they used a new gene-editing technique called CRISPR/Cas9 on 86 embryos to try to modify a gene responsible for a blood disorder. Things did not go well.

“Only 28 had the defective sequence removed, and an even tinier fraction of those ended up with the ‘pasted-in’ healthy genetic sequence,” reports Quartz. Worse, mutations were introduced elsewhere. Researchers stopped the experiment, calling the technique “too immature.” Critics not only agree, they want a moratorium on all such work. “There needs to be careful consideration not only of the safety but also of the social and ethical implications of applying this technology to alter our germ lines,” a Harvard researcher tells NPR. At National Geographic, Carl Zimmer compares the controversy to the early days of human cloning and suspects “this week will go down as a pivotal moment in the history of medicine.” This particular experiment may have tanked, but it’s not a “deal-breaker” for the technology, he writes. But, as with cloning, society may now have to make some decisions about what’s appropriate. (Read more about why some scientists want to halt gene editing in humans.)

I kinda have a problem with this…….I understand the medical side of it but this is one of those things that will quickly become a money making enterprise…….does Khan come to mind here?