September is Cancer Awareness Month for: Gynecologic cancer, Ovarian cancer, Leukemia and Lymphoma, Prostate cancer, and Thyroid cancer. Know the facts about each, and think about taking some of the suggested actions to support awareness. As the infographic shows–Cancer touches everyone. It’s important that we take the opportunity these Awareness months offer to learn what preventative […]
Clearly growing up with abusive parents is no great shakes no matter how you look at it. Early abuse has been correlated with later-life depression, stunted brain development, anxiety, alcohol abuse–and I’m just getting started. But, even knowing how damaging early childhood abuse is, a study caught my eye that surprised me, and brought home […]
Even when still available, Thioridazine was anything but a first-line drug in treating psychosis or schizophrenia–and that was before it was withdrawn from the market. In the class of the first-generation or ‘typical’ antipsychotics, its main purpose was to treat the symptoms of schizophrenia–but the National Institute of Health felt it was dangerous enough that they […]
April 27, 2012 by candidaabrahamson
Remember C. Glenn Begley from “‘A Fine Mess We’re In’: Majority of Cancer Research Findings Not Replicable“? He made somewhat of a splash by asserting that the war on cancer is partially being lost due to sloppy research practices. Ring a bell? Here goes: The failure to win “the war on cancer” has been blamed […]
April 26, 2012 by candidaabrahamson
”A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money” ~attributed to Everett Dirksen Unfortunately for us, the phrase goes differently–and, in cancer research, we’re already talking about ‘real money.’ A retraction of a scientific paper on cancer here, a retraction there. . .and pretty soon you’re talking about a real fiasco–for scientists, […]
April 25, 2012 by candidaabrahamson
‘The failure to win “the war on cancer” has been blamed on many factors, … But recently a new culprit has emerged: too many basic scientific discoveries… are wrong.’~C. Glenn Begley It’s nothing new. Over 3 decades ago the problem was well-known, as memorialized in the premier journal Science, in its article “Reevaluation of cancer data […]
So back to Henrietta Lacks and her overly hardy–some say virulent–cervical cancer cells. You may recall from last post that Ms. Lacks’ cells, entitled HeLa, were taken without her permission, and without recompense to the family. They were nabbed by one Dr. George Gey, head of tissue research at Johns Hopkins, where Ms. Lacks was treated. And […]
Henrietta Lacks was young, poor, unassuming, African-American. From Virginia, she earned her living as a tobacco farmer, happily married, had five children, and died of cervical cancer at 31. But her story doesn’t end there. In pain and bleeding as the cancer took its toll, she was tested for syphilis and treated for venereal disease–but certainly […]
September 3, 2012 by rfinkel
1