In a remarkable example of interdisciplinary teamwork, astronomers are helping cancer researchers use computerized stargazing algorithms developed for spotting distant galaxies to identify biomarkers in tumors to determine how aggressive they are.
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Working with plastic parts containing BPA–in auto industries, for instance–may make women more vulnerable to breast cancer. Women in Toronto’s plastic automotive parts factories have complained about pungent fumes and dust that caused nosebleeds, headaches, nausea and dizziness.
In the November 19th edition of the Toronto Star, Jim Morris, Jennifer Quinn, Robert Cribb and Julian Sher quotes auto plant worker Gina DeSantis as saying, "People were getting sick, but you never really thought about the plastic itself." She has worked there for 30 years.
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Oral cancer, anyway. People who drink more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day are at about half the risk of death of these often fatal cancers compared to those who only occasionally or who never drank coffee.
There was a weaker link between decaf and staying cancer free.
In a recent study of almost 100,000 people who were cancer-free, almost 900 deaths due to oral/pharyngeal cancer occurred during the 26 years of follow-up. Although it is less common in the United States, oral/pharyngeal cancer is among the ten most common cancers in the world. Researchers found that consuming more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day was associated with a 49% lower risk of oral cancer. The association was independent of sex, smoking or alcohol use. read more
What if we could get a vaccine that would prevent us from getting cancer, by causing our immune systems to protect us from it–just like a flu shot does. This may be on the way.
Our immune systems have trouble recognizing cancer cells as dangerous, so it does not act to destroy them. But we may be able to manipulate our body’s defenses so they will attack cancer cells.
On the Life Extension website, Henry A. Davis quotes immunologist Kunle Odunsi as saying, "There is a slew of data indicating that an immune response can lead to better outcomes in cancer. The question is, how can we harness this power of the immune system?"
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