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mhutch1366

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Posts posted by mhutch1366

    NIH: NCI Director speaks on eliminating cancer by 2015:

    in LUNG CANCER IN THE NEWS

    Posted

    A collaboration between government, industry, and research to look at the biotechnology available, and the mission of NCI over the next decade. Available on video cast ( I believe).

    ""On March 19, the Director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach will introduce the second speaker in a new lecture series, the “NCI Director’s Seminar Series“. Carl Feldbaum, president of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will give a talk entitled “Biotechnology and NCI: Partners in Bringing Patients the Next Generation of Cancer Therapy.” As with other speakers in this series, Carl Feldbaum is a nationally known leader involved in work that directly impacts the NCI’s challenge goal to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer by 2015. BIO, the organization he heads, represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 states and 33 nations.

    This is an exciting and innovative time for the biotechnology industry and for medical research, a time when collaboration can yield astounding results. Carl Feldbaum will give an overview of the biotechnology industry including what it has accomplished in cancer therapies, how it works, and how it is financed. He will address the importance of collaboration between the industry, government and academia, and he will touch upon issues such as conflict of interest and the taxpayer’s fair rate of return on the investment in research. There will be time for questions and discussion.""

    "The lecture will take place on Friday, March 19, from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. in Masur Auditorium in the Clinical Center (Building 10). It will also be webcast live at http://videocast.nih.gov.

    Sign Language Interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodation to participate in this event should contact Kate Haessler at 301-348-1662, or the Federal Relay Service at 1-800-877-8339.

    For more information, e-mail NCIDirectorslecture@matthewsgroup.com or visit the NCI Web site at http://cancer.gov/directorscorner"

    Susceptibility to lung cancer

    in LUNG CANCER IN THE NEWS

    Posted

    From a Conference report: Highlights of the 6th Joint Conference of the American Association for Cancer Research and the Japanese Cancer Association held Jan 25-29,2004 in Waikoloa, Hawaii, as reprinted in Medscape General Medicine 6(1), 2004 , Kris Novak, PhD. Posted 03/03/2004.

    Introduction ... " The Aim... was to bring together diverse groups of cancer researchers to share information..."

    SUSCEPTIBILITY TO LUNG CANCER:Many of the presenters at the conference are undertaking a broad, multifaceted approach to dissecting cancer pathogenesis. For example, Dr Margaret Spitz of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, and colleagues have incorporated epidemiologic, genetic, and molecular research to investigate individual susceptibility to lung cancer. Since only a fraction of long term smokers develop lung cancer, researchers are using a variety of approaches to identify these high-risk subgroups for prevention strategies. A combination of factors, including genetics, smoking history, diet and other environmental exposures contribute to this risk.

    In a recent study, Spitz's group evaluated the association between dietary folate intake and risk of lung cancer in a population of 470 histopathologically confirmed lung cancer cases, compared with 472 cancer-free individuals. Participants were matched for age, sex, and ethnicity. Spitz reported a significant inverse dose-response relationship between increasing dietary folate, and decreasing risk of lung cancer. A more pronounced inverse association between dietary folate intake and lung cancer risk was observed among subjects who drank alcohol, those who had smoked relatively more, those who did not take supplemental folate, and those who reported a family history of lung cancer. So there appears to be a possible protective role of dietary folate in lung carcinogenesis.

    One of the ways in which tobacco causes carcinogenesis is by inducing DNA damage -- DNA strand breaks, crosslinking,oxidation, or formation of adducts. Normalcells repair this damage through DNA repair pathways, but defects in this repair process can cause a cell to become cancerous. People with defects in DNA repair mechanisms, such as those with xeroderma pigmentosum, are more susceptible to lung tumors and other types of cancer.

    Spitz wanted to see if an individual's ability to repair damaged DNA was associated with lung cancer risk, so her group developed an assay to test the DNA repair capacity of an individual's cells.This assay tested the ability of cells to repair small circles of DNA called plasmids, which were damaged by the carcinogens benzo[a]pyrene -- a major constitutent of tobacco smoke. Her study involved more than 400 cases and 400 controls, and demonstrated that as an individual's DNA repair capacity increased, their probability of becoming a lung cancer patient decreased. Among lung cancer patients, those that had never smoked had the poorest DNA repair capacity, and long term smokers had the highest DNA repair capacity.

    Of note, the women in the trial had lower DNA repair capacities than men. Furthermore, white individuals had more efficient DNA repair mechanisms than African American individuals, a result that may explain some of the differences seen in cancer mortality between these 2 groups. There was also a correlation between dietary folat intake and DNA repair capacity in the healthy population, indicating that folate modulates DNA repair ability.

    Goes on to discuss DNA methylation and cancer prognosis, alternative ways to inactivate tumor suppressors, mechanisms of metastasis, tumor environment interactions (location within the body), and ends with a discussion of stomach cancer and Helicobacter pylori, with a tie in to the East Asian strains of H pylori, and a possible connection with the higher incidence of gastric carcioma observed in many East Asian countries.

    Just for fun, since it keeps coming up in discussions about non-smokers...

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    Platelets

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Bone marrow donation can be done while you're living, as can blood donation, or blood component donation.

    Organ donation, is a final gift.

    After cancer, nothing is useful medically for donation -- not blood, not bone marrow, not organs-- which hurts, because that's something I always strongly believed in.

    So those of you still healthy who are doing these unselfish thing....

    THANK YOU!!!

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    Just a thank you

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Wow. That's a big tumor. That's even bigger than mine, which was 14 cm plus...

    I am VERY glad it has shrunk. Hope the chemo continues to prove effective.

    It makes me very happy that you have each other... love is a beautiful thing....

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    The storm before the calm

    in CAREGIVER RESOURCE CENTER

    Posted

    Hi Mark,

    What Dean Carl advised, is what I do under a different guise.....

    Worrying never fixed nothing. So don't.

    Distract yourself. Rent all the movies you ever wanted to see.

    Eat well. Cook up a storm.

    Go out and do something you've wanted to do for a while.

    Say your prayers when you catch yourself thinking about it, and then go look for the zebra.

    I would get lost in rented movies, steaks, and trashy novels.

    You guys can hug and smooch and all that other stuff too.

    And the time passes.

    As Becky is one of my favorite people here, I hope her scans are good.

    The further out from treatment you get, the more likely the scans are good. My doctor told me that. He is always right. After all, I'm still here.

    Keeping you in my prayers nonetheless....

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    combined modality advice

    in SCLC GROUP

    Posted

    Get a second opinion.

    I am not sure a bone marrow biopsy is usual under the circumstances, I'd think a bone scan or pet would cover that.

    I had rad and chemo together, no worse together than chemo alone.

    Everyone is different, though.

    Just my two cents.

    xOXOX

    MaryAnn

    nutrition?

    in SCLC GROUP

    Posted

    I was given ScandiaShake, also a powdered mix, by the nurse at NIH radiation oncology. It packs more calories than ensure, like twice as many, and if you throw in ice cream and 12 oz milk instead of 8 the calories are almost 1000. I have more than a dozen packages left of the mix. I saw it sold at Giant once. If anyone really wants it it comes in choc, van, strawberry, please pm me.

    MaryAnn

    Tbone or Tbone's Family

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    I love the night noises, especially the peeper frogs....

    I'd love to join you for the fishing trip.. sounds fun... but...

    I have two daughters who between them have to give a small dance performance between sets at an Irish dance Friday night while the other one bathes a 15.5 hand horse who doesn't like his face washed, and clean his saddle and bridle, because Saturday and Sunday there are horse shows EACH DAY as well as St Patrick's Day Parades... and good ole mom is the taxi. I couldn't be more blessed, unless it was to hear the frogs and birds at my place by the highway.

    I'll adopt all you guys any time. I love family, and unfortunately mine is tiny tiny. Good luck in the fishing... and please don't push TBone in. He needs his sleep... lol... :lol:

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    Scans...

    in HOPE

    Posted

    Hey, all!!

    New scans showed pleural effusion the same or slightly reduced. Surgeon wasn't thinking this is any kind of problem. See TEST RESULTS Category.

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    Apparently pleural effusion is a normal response...

    in MEMBER UPDATES

    Posted

    Apparently some degree of pleural effusion is a normal response to injury or inflammation. My surgeon has expressed no real concern as he does not see a tumor mass anywhere, and the amount of fluid is unchanged or moderately decreased.

    He told me a story about a child with a large prosthetic (chest wall) who was wrestling with his cousin on Christmas. These were growing boys, maybe early teens.... well, they crashed onto the coffee table. Broke the coffee table. Prosthesis was fine. Hospital scan showed... pleural effusion in response to the injury later that same night.

    I do remember coughing very hard for about a month while clearing a series of chest colds, the end of December and into January.

    The other thing the surgeon mentioned was, he didn't want to stick a needle or anything else into the chest cavity because he might compromise the sterility of the prosthesis, which would then HAVE TO COME OUT and be replaced. I'd just as soon not have a panel representing 5 ribs be removed and replaced, thank you very much!!.

    Thank you for your prayers and good wishes. The end of the month I'm 4 years from initial diagnosis, in August when I go back for more scans it will be 4 years post surgery. And they've added... A VIRTUAL BRONCHOSCOPY to the panel of CTs. Wonders never cease!!

    Also got to see the young resident who assisted, who is now married and launching his own career. He'd like to come back to NIH eventually...

    So that's the GOOD NEWS for today.

    Love to all,

    XOXOXOX

    MaryAnn

    Stuck!

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Heather,

    Mine wasn't permanent, although I think it ran a good year and change.

    I still have to watch taking too large a gulp of water, though, for I will find I cannot swallow it....

    Most of this stuff gets better, too slowly, over time....

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    bobmc, back in town, & in the hospital;

    in NSCLC GROUP

    Posted

    Hey bobmc,

    Sorry you and airplanes and pressure didn't mix well.

    Keep your lungs as clean as your swing, and maybe Costa Rica on your next pass....

    kidding aside, glad you got home in one piece and got things taken care of. Things turned out well, considering where you were and what was going on.

    Speedy recovery,

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    IN MEMORY OF DEANCARL

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    Dean,

    Well, Whoa!! Good deal all around!!

    Now if we could only bottle Dean Carl's wisdom and Beckyflake's humor and sell it to benefit this site...... hmmmm....... :lol::lol::lol:

    Congratulations, Dean Carl.

    This forum is a welcome addition for all of us.

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

    pain after radiation

    in GENERAL

    Posted

    MiniGeorge,

    My physical therapist used to refer to radiation as the gift that keeps on giving and giving and giving.....

    The radiation damage heals itself in healthy tissues by making a kind of fibrous tissue, which is less elastic than the normal muscle and stuff. If you let it heal without the stretching and dexterity exercises, it will start to draw tighter and tighter, and can become really uncomfortable.

    Throw that in on top of a surgical site........

    Just my two cents worth. Exercise helps. Pain meds help.

    Normal just ain't gonna happen, in my experience.

    Good luck,

    XOXOX

    MaryAnn

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