Climbing steps with smoldering myeloma
Yesterday Stefano and I drove to Siena with a couple of our best friends and their dog. Ah, what a glorious day! Sunny but not too sunny, cool but not too cool. In short, perfect weather.
When we first arrived, we went to have an espresso at Nannini (you simply have to do that…it’s practically the law in Siena…just kidding! ), then ambled down to Piazza del Campo, Siena’s most famous, shell-shaped square…certainly one of the most lovely squares in Italy.
We’ve been to Siena before, many times, and I’ve posted photos of these day trips, but yesterday we had a different perspective...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll myeloma Siena Torre del Mangia Source Type: blogs
Climbing steps with myeloma
Yesterday Stefano and I drove to Siena with a couple of our best friends and their dog. Ah, what a glorious day! Sunny but not too sunny, cool but not too cool. In short, perfect weather.
When we first arrived, we went to have an espresso at Nannini (you simply have to do that…it’s practically the law in Siena…just kidding! ), then ambled down to Piazza del Campo, Siena’s most famous, shell-shaped square…certainly one of the most lovely squares in Italy.
We’ve been to Siena before, many times, and I’ve posted photos of these day trips, but yesterday we had a different perspective...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll myeloma Siena Torre del Mangia Source Type: blogs
An “ Essential ” piece of nonsense …
As I mentioned in my March 4 2017 post, Dr. Michal Heger, University of Amsterdam, wrote a strong rebuttal to the “Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin” review, which was recently published in the journal “Nature.”
Interestingly, Dr. Heger and I, independently from each other, wrote our rebuttals based mainly on the fact that the review authors hadn’t looked at (or worse, had ignored) all the PubMed curcumin clinical trial results. If they had only checked out PubMed, which wouldn’t have been all THAT difficult, they would have found evidence negating their theory…
But in that case, ...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 10, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
New study: polydatin blasts myeloma cells to smithereens
Discussion part, where the researchers state that polydatin was found to be less toxic to normal cells. Does that mean it was somewhat toxic to normal cells, though less so, compared to cancer cells? I couldn’t find an answer…can anyone else find it?
Reading on, we see that polydatin (or PD, for short), “functioned as a tumor suppressor in MM cells. The proliferation of MM cells decreased and apoptosis increased progressively along with the increasing concentrations of PD.” Super duper…again.
The study concludes that “PD effectively suppressed cell growth and induced apoptosis and auto...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 9, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll cancer Japanese knotweed myeloma polydatin Source Type: blogs
Backyard birding
I needed a break today, an easy one, so I thought I’d write a post about what is going on in our backyard. Amazing stuff!
Premise no. 1: Stefano and I love watching and photographing birds…all types of birds…puffins in particular, as you know if you’ve been reading my blog for at least a year. That said, we still aren’t very good at identifying bird species and often need to resort to friends and/or our birdwathing manual, but at least now, after years of birding, we don’t just say: “Hey, did you see that BIRD fly into the yard just now?” but rather, “Hey, did you see that blue tit over there?”
Prem...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 7, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Cancer cells may prefer fats to sugar
I just read a fascinating new study about cancer cells slurping up lipids rather than glucose, as has been thought for a long time. I’m in a bit of a hurry now, but I thought I’d go ahead and publish the link: goo.gl/7x0eDs
By the way, please have a look at the comment that Charlotte left on my previous post, the one about the negative curcumin review. Dr. Michal Heger, University of Amsterdam, wrote a strong rebuttal to the review (Charlotte provides the link), and, interestingly, he had one of the same objections that I had, namely, that the review authors hadn’t looked at (or worse, had ignored) PubM...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 4, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll curcumin Michal Heger Source Type: blogs
“The Essential Medicinal Chemistry of Curcumin”
Conclusion: all my neighbors have dogs.
Of course, you’d say that’s ridiculous. And you would be right.
You can’t just consider the specific trials that support your theory.
This means that if you are making sweeping statements about curcumin, it is indeed NOT “beyond the scope” of your work to look at ALL the trials that have results. But that is what seems to have occurred here.
Note: the review authors tell us that they chose these trials because the data is available on the clinicaltrials.gov website. Um, I’d like to point out that there are curcumin clinical trial results in PubMed, too…
Let...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 2, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll curcumin Source Type: blogs
Curcumin kills malignant mesothelioma cell lines
Well no, it’s not myeloma, but mesothelioma (but its acronym is MM, too), which is a terrible cancer with poor survival rates, high resistance to conventional therapies, etc.
Previous studies have showed that curcumin might help in the treatment of mesothelioma, but the one I read about today has just come out, and it’s from the University of Rome, Italy (I always have a soft spot for Italian studies…): goo.gl/AkwLBg Interesting…Poor mice, though…!!!
From this link, you can read more about it, if you want. And if you want to have a look at the abstract, click on this link: goo.gl/ytXK0c
IR...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 28, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll curcumin mesothelioma Source Type: blogs
Another weird turmeric story
Again, as with my Romeo the cat story, I didn’t think I’d be writing a post about my most recent experience with turmeric, so I didn’t take any photos to document what happened. But I decided to write about it anyway, because my experience might be of help to others who might find themselves in a similar predicament.
A few months ago, right before the Xmas holiday, an odd-looking, spot appeared on my left arm, seemingly from one day to the next (I probably just hadn’t noticed it). It had a crust on it, and it was a bit oozy (I’ll spare you too many details!).
I didn’t know what it was...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 24, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Confirmed: vitamin D helps prevent acute respiratory infections
I just read this in the February 22nd issue of the “Harvard Gazette”: “A new global collaborative study has confirmed that vitamin D supplementation can help protect against acute respiratory infections. The study, a participant data meta-analysis of 25 randomized controlled trials including more than 11,000 participants, has been published online in The BMJ.”
This is such important news for those of us who have impaired immune systems. I’ve written a bunch of posts on the vitamin D topic, as you probably know, referring, e.g., to the important studies carried out by the Mayo Clinic (2009)...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 22, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Romeo: a cat and curcumin story …
Before I begin, let me assure you that what I’m going to write today isn’t, er, fake news.
Mostly, I will be giving you more details of a story that I told here back in December of 2014, which is the story of how we adopted our seventh cat, Pammy. And I have a good reason for giving you these details…it has to do with curcumin, as you might have figured out from the post’s title…
So this isn’t just another cat story that has no other purpose than entertainment. It actually has a point. An interesting one, methinks. Therefore, please bear with me until the end…But first, I must introduce you to R...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 19, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Love that beagle!
I hope you enjoy this HILARIOUS video as much as I did! Delightfully entertaining run, indeed! (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 17, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
A rare clay used by B.C. aboriginals kills bacteria resistant to antibiotics
Wow. First of all, I would like to thank a blog reader, D., for the bit of news that I “announced” in the title of my post. Here’s the link to the Vancouver Sun’s article: goo.gl/5x8zCf.
And I quote: “The grey-green clay, known as Kisolite, has been used for centuries by the Heiltsuk First Nations to treat a range of ailments, including ulcerative colitis, arthritis, neuritis, phlebitis, skin irritation, and burns. Locals have also historically used the clay for eczema, acne and psoriasis. Now, UBC researchers say the clay exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pat...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll kisolite Source Type: blogs
The new cat tower
I know it’s been a while since I last posted, but that’s just…how it goes. Everything is fine with me, pretty much…I’ve been very busy…working (teaching English, translating; even this past weekend), and so on…
My post on our Austrian Xmas holiday is taking forever, mainly because I have to decide which–of my two billion photos!–to use. But the post is coming along…should be done soon.
I also received the negative curcumin review (see previous post), yes, the entire shebang, but I haven’t gone beyond a couple of pages. For one thing, reading something like...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
My cats
I know it’s been a while since I last posted, but that’s just…how it goes. Everything is fine with me, pretty much…I’ve been very busy…working (teaching English, translating; even this past weekend), and so on…
My post on our Austrian Xmas holiday is taking forever, mainly because I have to decide which–of my two billion photos!–to use. But the post is coming along…should be done soon.
I also received the negative curcumin review (see previous post), yes, the entire shebang, but I haven’t gone beyond a couple of pages. For one thing, reading something like...
Source: Margaret's Corner - February 13, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
