Finally, two items of good news come out of this dreadful affair in which Aboriginal families stopped chemotherapeutic treatment for their leukemic daughters and sought nonsensical pseudoscientific treatment in Florida. While one of the children passed away this winter, the other, known in the media as “J.J.”, is being reported as feeling well. Could it … Continue reading
Tag Archives: tumour
Read: Making “Quackoncology” Respectable
I hate to start the week with a depressing article, but I must pass this along. From the fantastic blog Science-Based Medicine, David Gorski reports on the latest development in a horrifying trend: integrative oncology, in which otherwise respectable medical bodies end up promoting Reiki and naturopathy to their medical and scientific audience. “Let’s just put … Continue reading
Cracked Science Video 4: Irreproducible
We often hear the science corrects itself in the long run, but how efficient is this mechanism? Jonathan Jarry reports that reproducibility in the scientific literature is not always a given. (Des sous-titres en français seront bientôt disponibles!) Just so you are not too demoralized, the landscape may be changing: http://www.nature.com/news/journals-u… http://www.nature.com/news/metascienc… Continue reading
Jargon: Chemotherapy (A treatment modality by which potent chemicals kill fast-growing cells)
Chemotherapy: A medical treatment modality, commonly used against cancer, by which strong chemicals are used to destroy rapidly dividing cells. One of the classic characteristics of cancer cells is that they divide uncontrollably: they can thus be killed by agents that target fast-growing cells. Unfortunately, chemotherapeutic drugs also, by their very nature, target healthy cells … Continue reading
Jargon: Tumour Suppressor (A gene whose underexpression can help drive cancer)
Tumour suppressor: a gene whose regular function is to inhibit the division of a cell. When the expression of this gene is blocked, the cell divides much more than it should, which can lead to cancer. A useful analogy is that of a car. When the expression of a tumour suppressor is disrupted, it can … Continue reading
Jargon: Oncogene (A gene whose overexpression can help drive cancer)
Oncogene: a gene whose regular function is to promote the division of a cell. When the expression of this gene is increased, the cell divides much more than it should, which can lead to cancer. A useful analogy is that of a car. When the expression of an oncogene is disrupted, it can be like … Continue reading
Read: What Did the Public Get from Angelina Jolie’s Double Mastectomy
Via @CaulfieldTim, a very interesting article by David Kroll for Forbes on what the public understood from the well-publicized double mastectomy Angelina Jolie chose to undergo. Here’s a fascinating excerpt about the public’s perception of risks: “While the researchers addressed other issues, their most striking reminder on the overall impact of any health reporting relates … Continue reading
Jargon: Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (a type of anticancer drug)
Tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI): a drug which blocks the action of a type of protein called a “tyrosine kinase”, which can otherwise be stuck in the “on” position in certain types of cancers. An overactive tyrosine kinase can lead to uncontrolled cell growth (i.e. cancer); a TKI can be used to reduce this undesired activity. … Continue reading
Listen: Famous Tumours on RadioLab
One of my favourite podcasts, RadioLab, is rerunning one of their popular episodes “Famous Tumors”, with a recent update. If you want to know about cancer and are looking to add a really cool, virtuosically edited podcast to your weekly audio ritual, check out this latest instalment of RadioLab. Continue reading
Cancer: The Nature of the Beast
Horror writer H.P. Lovecraft wrote in Supernatural Horror in Literature that “the oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”. I would argue that nowhere is this more visible in modern medicine than where the “C” word is uttered. Cancer. This simple … Continue reading
Cracked Science 