cancer – Page 3 – Learning, Science and Society

There’s something about the dark and cold of February that chills like no other month we know. But do not be disheartened, gentle readers! For today we offer not one, but two stories that promise hope, optimism, and , who knows, maybe even a long term cure for the terrible disease of cancer. So, without further ado:

Welsh Wizard You may have heard of Duran Duran, but what about Sir Christopher Evans? According to Maria Lally of the Independent, [1] Sir Christopher has been on the trail of a cancer cure since he was six years old, when his family in Port Talbot bought him his first chemistry set. Not only has he been working with Andy Taylor, a key member of Duran Duran. but he and his organisation are at the forefront of research, pioneering new techniques such as Lutetium-177. In an age of selfish aggression and violence, it’s nice to come across someone who has devoted his time to the public good!

Rwanda hope Cervical cancer is a deadly killer, blighting lives and quashing the hopes of millions. One sure way to eliminate it is better vaccines. But how to get a vaccine programme underway in world full of ignorant superstition, where all the money is spent on armaments and SUV motor cars? One country showing the way ahead is the plucky little East African State of Rwanda who realised the solution was social, not medical. To quote Nature, [1] the key insight was

As Rwanda shows, strong, trustworthy and reliable collaboration between all stakeholders is key

For us, the key concept is stakeholder. Get everyone onside, and you’ll be amazed what you can achieve. Degrading, despising and turning people into others is the sure way to fail. In anything.

So before you utterly surrender to the late winter blues, here are two stories to show that someone, somewhere out there is refusing to bend. And, maybe, Spring is just around the corner after all.

[1]https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/other/top-cancer-specialist-explains-why-it-s-time-to-rethink-what-stage-4-means/ar-BB1hKxsp?cvid=30ca68cc771a4e11a5de2db2c08c992c

[2]https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00241-2?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=5093011eda-briefing-dy-20240202&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_ (via Nature briefings)

#cancer #medicine #celsis #cancer awareness trust

Reason is the tool we use to turn facts into knowledge. Societies which use reason will have better lives, on the whole, than societies based on belief. Here are three stories which illustrate the practice of reason, by scientific research, demonstrate exactly that.

Cohort Studies of Cancer It’s nice when wet chemistry work in a lab, all white coats and benches, is combined with data analyses and number crunching- both sides get more out of their skills. Here, Cancer Research report on their programme TRACERxEVO which looks at the long term evolution of lung cancer in a group of patients, It’s already throwing up findings like molecular markers which might indicate when a tumour could return, helping treatment patterns and diagnoses in all kinds of ways. That has to be better than applying crystals, right?

https://news.cancerresearchuk.org/2022/11/09/tracerx-evo-a-new-programme-to-transform-lung-cancer-research/?urn=765570556&utm_medium=email&utm_sou

Zapping the the Zombies to stay young The Science desk at the Mail never sleeps, not even over Christmas Here’s one about a new protein called HKCD1 which seems to work at the level of mitochondria and lysosomes, thereby removing tired old cells from the body’s metabolism and allowing fresher, younger ones to come on through, as t’were. Has to be more value long term than all those extravagantly priced creams you see advertised in all those glossy magazines!

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12918377/protein-removes-zombie-cells-cancer-alzheimers-disease.html

INTERLACE-reducing the fear of Cervical Cancer We’ll let Cancer Research speak for themselves here, and just embed a link for the hyper-interested:

Over the last decade, the number of deaths from cervical cancer has decreased by around a sixth (18%) in females in the UK (2017-2019). Thanks to INTERLACE, a clinical trial we funded, that rate could decrease even further. INTERLACE showed that giving people six weeks of chemotherapy before standard cervical cancer treatment of chemoradiation (CRT) could cut the risk of death or of the disease progressing by 35% when compared to CRT alone.“This is the biggest improvement in outcomes in this disease in over 20 years,” said Dr Mary McCormack, the lead investigator of the trial.

Surely this is better than just praying?

For over twenty years now, we have made a small but steady donation to Cancer Research UK The individual monthly sums are tiny. But their steady accumulation, above all as a stream that CRUK can rely on, makes a tangible difference. If everyone did it, it would pay for no end of new scientists and techniques like the ones above. And, as have said before on these blog pages, discoveries in one area have a happy way of spilling over into others. And so our last link is to their donations page Go on, give them a go. Even £2.00 a month will slowly build, and you won’t know you’re doing it.

Overseas readers-is there something like this in your country?

https://donate.cancerresearchuk.org/donate

#ageing #protein #rationalism #cancer

Tag: cancer

Beat the winter gloom with two great stories on cancer

Three good news stories: where there is reason , there is hope