Found in the Media

Click on Links for full articles:

31JAN15 Bad Luck of Random Mutations Plays Predominant Role in Cancer, Study Shows - Some of us have thought this for quite a long time.


 30JAN15 Ron Walker's War on Cancer            This does seem to be a wonder drug and a huge effort is being made to introduce it to Australia.

 06JAN15 Amgen, Kite Pharma ink deal to develop cancer immunotherapies
02JAN15 Cancer often caused by ‘bad luck’, not genes. A step in the right direction but it will be a long time before we are sure of the exact cause(s).
17DEC14 People who feel younger may live longer
I've always though this along with a positive attitude always helps.  On the other side people with reactive depression do not seem to survive for very long at all.
16DEC14 The worrying danger of car exhaust fumes
Many of us have wondered about this for a long time but it will probably take even longer to fix it.


We owe Pfizer a lot, they turned penicillin into a practical medicine in a hurry when it was needed for WW2, it probably saved my life around 1947/48.  Good to hear that they are now getting involved with Gene Therapy which seems to have a very promising future.  We certainly need something like this for lung cancer, even if they get rid of the tumours we will still need something to restore the damaged lung cells to help us breathe normally again, I wish them all the best.


This article seems to offer a Legal rather than a Medical Solution but Mesothelioma moves so quick that it might be the best one.  

04DEC14 Alternative medicines 'can' pose risk during cancer treatment


Definitely worth watching this documentary:

"It follows four UCLH patients taking part in trials of some of the most advanced cancer treatments in the world".  Watch out for it on your local TV station.

Review by the UK Telegraph.



This article was first published in April 2014, it details how Sloane Kettering uses IBM's Watson to diagnose Lung Cancer.


This article has appeared in a few places recently, worth a look, it could save a few problems.
An excellent article on the realities of Stem Cells.

07AUG14 'World's smallest microscope' pinpoints overlooked cancer

Definitely a very useful tool for the surgeon.



There is probably no doubt that this is research in the right direction.


Strong links between cancers and the immune system have been suspected for at least a hundred years, this article looks at some very promising research.



This one is definitely worth reading.

These tests have been known for quite some time but the emphasis here seems to be on the ones where the pharmaceutical companies can make money, still worth a read though.


This is really good news especially considering how tight money is at the moment.  The end of the article comments on "Advanced Care Directives" for the elderly, I think everyone should have one, they are not just for chronic illnesses like cancer but would make your doctors and your family aware of your wishes in the event of an accident.
05MAY14 About Time
Novogen CEO Graham Kelly says he will make an anti-cancer drug at an affordable price.

31MAR14 The Movement for Human-centred Healthcare - this doctor would like to see changes in the way that hospitals care for patients.

4FEB14  Cancer now biggest killer in Australia, ahead of heart disease: WHO report

Very true, perhaps we should be looking at air pollution, food additives and the many chemicals that we use for cleaning and other household tasks.


This is an opinion not a scientific paper, it discusses the possible over-use of CT-Scans a subject the does need to be considered seriously.

Similar articles have appeared in the media, worth taking note.


Yes, the USA reports that cancer rates are down in the 34-45 year age group, these seem to be the ones who smoke less or not at all.  I'd hope that Australia could at least equal or even beat these figures with the high intensity non-smoking campaign that we have.  On the negative side the W.H.O. has indicated that our diet and air-pollution could now be carcinogenic, perhaps they should also look at all the chemicals that we use on so many things. 




This item has appeared on other TV stations, it is misleading and at the moment is just an idea looking for finance to further research.  A cure for cancer can really only be described as such when they have carried out successful clinical trials, even if this does happen it is likely to be ten years before it is available to cancer patients, most of them will be dead by the time that it arrives.  I do wish that the media would not publish claims in these exaggerated forms.  


03JAN14 Navigating Lung Cancer
Came across this booklet on the Internet today, its an HTTPS page so you may have to be registered to gain access.  I wish that this was available to me four years ago when I was first diagnosed with lung cancer, this booklet explains everything that a new patient needs to know, it is well written and easy to understand.it can also be printed if you find hard copies easier to handle.


18NOV13 Risk Calculator for Cholesterol Appears Flawed

Not directly related to Cancer but it does illustrate another misconception within the medical industry.  A two part documentary by Australian TV recently exposed many flaws in the treatment of cholesterol and demonstrated that it is not a reliable indicator of cardio problems. 

Related Articles: 

New Cholesterol Advice Startles Even Some Doctors

Questions for a New Class of Cholesterol Drugs

 

 

Pity they have to wait 60 days before this comes into effect, nevertheless it is a real good idea and will save lots of lives.


WHO cancer agency has classified air pollutants as carcinogenic, alongside tobacco and UV radiation.

 

07NOV Diet more Dangerous than Smoking.

It was mentioned in the popular media that statistically since 2010 diet became more dangerous than smoking, this was attributed to an American Health Organization but I am unable to find the original link.  My searches revealed plenty of comments on this theme. 

 

Girl, 8, in China's eastern province of Jiangsu 'youngest lung cancer patient'.  China today, could be the rest of the world tomorrow if we don't do something about pollution.


This is about Breast not Lung Cancer, it does illustrate the problems caused by the Pink Campaign which has turned into a misleading industry in many countries.



We've suspected this for a very long time, good to hear that the experts agree.



A very interesting new drug, its in the very early stages of testing at the moment and could be five to ten years before it gets to the market, lets hope that some of us can hang on until then.



 I like the thinking in this article, we need a bit more speed in bringing new drugs to the market.  There are plenty of promising drugs in the early testing stages, these could be of great benefit to existing patients except that most of the existing patients will be dead by the time that they reach the market.  Does it really take ten years of testing whilst people are dying?  Penicillin was only tested on one person before it went into full production towards the end of WW2, it ended up saving millions of life; actually they used another untested version to go into full production, the real clinical trials were the first patients.  UK was a bit busy with that D-day thing so they went to USA to get it produced in large quantities.  They knew that it would grow well in corn syrup so they approached a firm that made corn syrup sweeteners for soft drinks, they were called Pfizer, look at them now.  I was one of the early civilian patients for this new wonder drug, I'd been almost suicidal with mastoid pain for weeks, they'd tried many different medicines, in those days most things were liquorice water with a bit of aspirin thrown in, one day the Doc said I'm giving you this new drug, it should get rid of your pain, having heard this so many times I didn't believe him but it did work, I took the first dose in the chemist's shop, 20 minutes later I felt the relief running through my body and another 10 minutes and I felt great.

17SEP13 Looking for lessons in cancer's 'miracle' responders

This is the way that it really is.  A very small percentage of patients are lucky, to them some medications are a miracle cure but the vast majority of those on the same medication die.  We know it has something to do with genetic make-up but at the moments the experts do not know what.  There was a lot of promise when the human genome was decoded, we were told not to expect any cures for at least ten years, that deadline has long passed and we do not seem to be any closer nor does it now seem that anything useful in genetics is likely to crop up for a few more decades.

 

14SEP13 Lung cancer carries a stigma - no need to click, here's the full article:

People with lung cancer suffer from a stigma associated with their illness, according to a study.
A group of researchers in Oxford, England, have interviewed 45 patients with lung cancer about their illness. They learned that, whether they smoked or not, the patients felt stigmatised. They felt that they were blamed for their illness, whether or not they smoked (some had never smoked) because of the general ‘anti-smoking’ climate in the UK.
  
The feeling of guilt led to many people with lung cancer concealing their illness and not sharing their problems with doctors, family or friends. Some felt the media had added to their problems with negative cover about smoking and others blamed tobacco companies. The researchers say that those who are campaigning against smoking should be aware that images of ‘dirty lungs’ can be upsetting for those with lung cancer, whether or not they smoke. Some more sensitive way of deterring people from smoking could be used.

I've certainly found this to be true. Many people that I considered to be good friends avoid me now.  They are not nasty about it, they just sort of look the other way, never call back or do not reply.  It's as if I now frighten them or something like that.  I'm glad though that a small number have kept in touch and their support has enabled me to keep going. 

 

16AUG13 Gene study uncovers origins of many common cancers

This is quite a breakthrough.  I did read recently that from next year UK will be testing 97 genes of cancer patients,  definitely a step in the right direction. 

05AUG13 Australian cancer patients have highest survival rate in world 

Not a new article but it does confirm that if you must have cancer Australia is the best place to be.  

"An international comparison shows Australia leads the world with just 33 deaths for every 100 new cases of cancer.This compares with the world average of 58, Western Europe's 38 and North America's 62."

 

 30JUL13 A couple of interesting things today, first on the 5-2 diet first mentioned in the BBCs Horizon Program on the 6th August 2012 by Michael Mosley.  Roughly our bodies are normally in Go-Go mode constantly duplicating cells even those with faults in them that might cause Diabetes, High Cholesterol, Cancer and many other things.  Roughly if you reduced your calorie intake on just two days a week your body goes into repair mode fixing faulty genes before they are later replicated, this can help with the various diseases.  I just found this link to a 20 Page Document that analyses the program and gives much detail for those who wish to carry out research with Google.   The next item is about a possible vaccine for most forms of cancer.  This one works with dogs and the next stage will be to test it on humans.  Last year there was a similar treatment for arthritis which was developed for horses then dogs using stem cells taken from the patient's own body, it was successfully transferred to humans.  The whole process did not take very long because there are less restrictions on using material from the patient's own body.




Claims diagnosis better than a doctor's.




New Molecule Targets Proteins Inside Cancer Cells - Trials likely to start in a year.




02FEB13 - Could going veg lower your risk of heart disease? 

As a vegetarian I've known this for about thirty years.



16JAN13 - Drug industry bets on new blockbusters in 2013

I wish them well but we have been waiting for some of these blockbusters for quite some time.





Worth a read, those of us follow the cancer papers are aware that there is a lack of direction and claims about anti-oxidants maybe misleading.




A bit more on the spin used in cancer articles.

 
DNA pioneer James Watson takes aim at "cancer establishments


04JAN13 - Immune system 'booster' may hit cancer

Like most good research this is still in the early stages and will take several years to develop and test fully but it does sound like a good path to go down.



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