Have I been deceived, too?
We’re back in Florence from our holiday in Austria (we got back last weekend, actually), and I’m trying to catch up with a million different things, including laundry…but a few days ago a big translation plopped into my lap. So my plan of sifting through my photos and posting about our trip has been postponed…until I get some of this big beastie translated, at least…
But I just read an article, a very negative article, about curcumin, one that I couldn’t ignore. It was published recently in the “Scientific American.” Curcumin is actually defined as a “deceptive spice...
Source: Margaret's Corner - January 12, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Cats and presents!
Oh, this is such an adorable video for anyone who has cats…and also for anyone who doesn’t have cats, come to think of it! Note: not my cats, btw!
Okay, must get ready to leave now. Again, Happy Holidays to everyone…BUONE FESTE!!!!! (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 23, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
A new Italian study on the role of inflammation in myeloma progression
Well, since I have a gazillion things to do before leaving, I was going to forget about blogging until next year , but this morning a mostly Tuscan-made study caught my eye, and I just had to write about it: goo.gl/77intB
In a nutshell, the study proves that inflammation and the evolution of myeloma are closely connected. This is not entirely a surprise. I mean, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the word “myeloma” mentioned in the same sentence as “inflammation.”
But I found this study amazingly interesting and worth much more than a cursory look. So I’ll do my best to report on it, considering I’...
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 21, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Happy Holidays!!!
Dear me, my poor, abandoned blog! Life just keeps getting in the way (of my doing research and/or writing for the blog, I mean)…piles of things to do, piles of work (translations, students…), piles of house-related projects…closely following the U.S. presidential elections (YIKESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Sorry, couldn’t help my horrified/terrified self…), and, well, having fun, too.
Time just whizzes by, doesn’t it?
Speaking of which, now I am getting ready to take off with Stefano for the Xmas holidays. Wait a sec, wasn’t it September just a week or so ago? How did Xmas sneak up on...
Source: Margaret's Corner - December 19, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
“ Sometimes, whatever you do, things just don ’ t work out. ”
I’ve been very busy in this period…and I have a couple of studies to post about, but I just can’t get to them…so it’s a bit frustrating. But there you go. Life gets in the way of the blog, sometimes…actually, often! Anyway, today I decided to post the link to an absolutely fantastic BBC Earth video about the flame bowerbird’s (Papua New Guinea) strange and wacky, read: hugely entertaining!, courtship ritual.
I mean, check out those pupils! How does he do that??? Unbelievable. Never seen anything like it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this video as much as I have: goo.gl/e0N5tL
Take care...
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 23, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Photobombing Pammy
Just a cute post today…
In sequence, here are some photos I took last week of Piccolo (my black and white male cat) and Pammy.
I found them lying side by side on our bed, and for some odd reason they stayed in the same position even after I’d grabbed my camera (you know how cats can be…)…
But while I was busily snapping photos, Pammy got up, stretched her legs and started slowly walking toward me…and then…PHOTOBOMB!!!!!
For me, the funniest part of this sequence is that the expression on Piccolo’s face never changes…
(Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - November 12, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
“ Curcumin induces cell death of the main molecular myeloma subtypes, particularly the poor prognosis subgroups ”
I’ve written so many posts–more than 1500 since 2007–that I often can’t remember if I’ve already written about something or…not. So very frustrating sometimes…
Case in point: this morning I came across what for me sounded like a “new” study, that is, a study I hadn’t read yet. But it dates to 2015. How could I have missed it? I couldn’t remember posting about it, and searching my blog yielded nothing, nada de nada…
So here I am, sitting in front of my computer, puzzled (I mean, the more I look at this study, the more I KNOW that I have read it before&...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 24, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Normandy and Brittany … Mont-Saint-Michel …
Well, it’s taken a long time (!), but I finally got around to editing my second, and last!, post on our AUGUST holiday in Normandy (and a piece of Brittany, too). Here goes…
Honfleur. An absolutely lovely little town. Pretty Medieval houses. Well worth a stop and a tea break. See first two photos.
Caen. The Medieval part of this city was almost entirely destroyed during World War II, but I still very much liked it, its liveliness, lots of cafés and good eateries. Stefano, however, had eaten something he shouldn’t have (!) back in the city of Le Havre and spent more than 24 hours in our hotel bed, q...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 13, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
“ This pill could make your dog (and maybe you) live longer ”
That is the title of a FASCINATING article by CNN’s senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, about an experiment involving a few very sick dogs and a compound–also a drug–called rapamycin, discovered in the dirt of Easter Island (it’s a bacterial by-product…yum yum!) and mainly intended for humans with cancer and transplant patients. The article is so full of twists and turns that I am not even going to try writing a synopsis…Here is the link: goo.gl/Tdsis8
But I do have a few comments, as always. Ah yes, rapamycin is being studied in myeloma treatment, too…A number o...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 6, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Elizabeth Cohen myeloma rapamycin Source Type: blogs
Does turmeric really help protect us from cancer?
That is the question posed by a program called “Trust me, I’m a doctor,” which was recently broadcast on BBC2, a channel that I cannot get here in Italy, unfortunately. I heard about it from some friends in the UK, and then I got to work and found a bunch of articles about the program, one of which I will share with you today.
The program’s presenter, Michael Mosley, and his team of doctors decided to look into the claims that turmeric can “cure” everything from depression to cancer. So they devised an experiment, which they carried out on 100 volunteers. You can read about it here...
Source: Margaret's Corner - October 2, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll BBC2 I'm a doctor Trust me Source Type: blogs
Voting from the heart
I considered staying silent on this matter. I really did. But then this morning I watched a powerful video that I really wanted to share with you. Here it is, courtesy of ABC News: goo.gl/Wgl2lb
It’s no secret that I’m a Democrat, a registered Democrat in Massachusetts. I’ve posted about it here on the blog. This year, though, I feel more strongly than ever before about what I see going on in the U.S. presidential campaign. This year, I really fear for my country…and this has never happened to me before, not even when I really disliked the other party’s candidate.
And this year, for the first...
Source: Margaret's Corner - September 29, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll clinton housing crisis trump Source Type: blogs
Watch and wait. A new blood cancer website
I have a VERY important and exciting announcement to make today:
We finally have a NEW website dealing with the issue of watching and waiting for blood cancers. It discusses issues that are very near and dear to us, particularly “cancer-protective nutrition” and “supplements with CLINICAL evidence.” YAY!
“Watch and wait” doesn’t mean we have to sit back, do nothing, and just wait for the inevitable to happen. No way. There is a lot we can do, as I think I have shown in all these years…The worst thing is to feel helpless, but–as we can read on the homepage of thi...
Source: Margaret's Corner - September 19, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Terry Golombick Watch and Wait Blood Cancers Source Type: blogs
Cancer caregivers face difficult demands
I just read about this interesting new study on cancer caregivers and thought I should give you the link: goo.gl/8WsC4s
I’m not in this phase, the “needing care” phase, luckily, but I have definitely thought about it. Anyway, this article is not just for caregivers…it’s for us, too. Have a look! (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - September 15, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll cancer caregivers Healthday Source Type: blogs
Normandy, August 2016
Continuing with my August holiday posts, I decided not to go for the standard format, that is, “on August 10 we did this, on August 11 we did that, blablabla,” which would turn out to be super boring, but rather jot down my thoughts about some of the places we visited…a bit similar to random diary entries.
So here goes…
When our friends arrived from Italy a few days later, we left Paris, and our Normandy adventure began.
The town of Giverny was our first stop. Giverny is famous for one of its inhabitants, Claude Monet, one of my favorite painters ever!!!, who lived and worked there from 1883 u...
Source: Margaret's Corner - September 13, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
Antidepressants seem to weaken bones
I just read this bit of news: it looks as though antidepressants have a negative impact on bones.
A Columbia University study found that people who took Prozac for at least a year were at a higher risk of bone fractures and depletion. So if you are taking “some selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI),” especially any containing fluoxetine, you should definitely have a look at this “New Scientist” article: goo.gl/gYr8hs
Note that not all SSRIs have a similar effect on bones… (Source: Margaret's Corner)
Source: Margaret's Corner - September 7, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Source Type: blogs
