PROGRESS? PROBABLY

Linda with one of her more original quilts.

Probably 2010

The stooped figure on the left probably is me

It hit 93 at noon today.  Yesterday it was 91 at the same hour.  Both days I have bounced out of bed and headed for the desert to hike before breakfast, thus allowing myself a bit of exercise at minimum discomfort.  The rest of the day I spend indoors, sitting in front of this hungry damned computer.  I say it is hungry because at random times it suddenly eats a great chunk of whatever I am working on.  I wish I knew why.

I call it a damned computer because the heat has me out of sorts.  It is supposed to cool off soon; 93 is very hot for late winter, even in Borrego Springs.  If it hits 100 I’m out of here.

Yahoo featured an article on ovarian cancer yesterday.    It seems to have been distilled from a press release by Brown University and contains very little information that I can dig into.  I tried to obtain the original article using Google Scholar but with no luck.  There are four authors; three women in junior positions and one man who apparently heads-up  the lab.  This is a common pattern;men have the senior positions (and the better salaries), but most of the real work in is done by women.  Okay with me; women are smarter than men, and usually work harder.

The Brown group seems to have discovered that several related proteins, all called TAF with a number appended, are suspiciously represented in ovarian cancer cells.  Some are too prevalent, others too scarce.  These TAF proteins have been dismissed for years as just a workhorse in gene replication; they form parts of things called “transcription complexes” which are necessary for a gene to be “expressed”.  Now they also seem to be implicated in ovarian cancer.  How do they work?  They are always around; why do they suddenly go haywire?  If they are proteins, they must be “coded for” somewhere in the genome.  Is that where the problem lies?  Is there some epigenetic process involved?  Damned if I know; this stuff is fascinating, but it still is far beyond me.

 So, in my present state of ignorance all I glean from this article is that perhaps someday we will have another tool to combat ovarian cancer – and that molecular biology is very, very complicated.  The latter I already knew. 

MAN CONQUERS MACHINE. (for now)

Linda and Carolyn

Our house, probably 2010

Once again, perseverance and dumb luck enable man to triumph over machine.  It seems that I can post pictures using Google Chrome, but not Internet Explorer.  (Bill Gates: back to work!)  I have nothing to say;  I'll just try to post more pictures, as promised.  And this makes 200 blogs.  Onward to 400.  It is 91 here again today; I got in a nice walk before it got hot.

On San Juan Island,  not enjoying her margarita

You've seen this one before, but it is a nice one.

                                                 The baby is Laura Hanson, now grown and out of the nest.

NEARING A MILESTONE

This is my 199^th blog posting.  The first appeared on March 2, 2012.  This means that I have written one blog “essay” every 3.6 days, or 86.1 hrs.  I would pat myself on the back, except that I am so stiff that I have trouble reaching my feet, let alone a part of me that  I cannot see. 

Gracing and justifying those 199 blogs have been at least 175 pictures of my beautiful wife, Linda Joyce Beck.  I know that many of you read the text of these things, but I am sure that all of you enjoy the pictures.  As most of you will have noticed, the technology gremlins that infest every computer operated by anyone over 70 lately have maliciously  prevented me from posting any pictures,  no matter how hard I try.  I am flying back to Bellingham on Thursday  to take part in the graduation ceremony of my second grand-daughter, Olivia Beck Kelly.  I will wear full academic regalia, thus looking like something out of the 18^th century, and I will march in the precession.  While I am in Bellingham I will use my newer desk-top computer to post some pictures.  A bunch of them, in fact.  I hope you like them.

However, to justify this blog I need to tell you something about cancer.  The Economist  for March 1^st has an interesting articled about how much more terrible the burden of cancer is in the developing world than it is in  rich countries.   Here is the article:

http://www.economist.com/news/international/21597962-burden-cancer-falling-increasingly-heavily-poor-worse-aids : 

The gist:  Many African countries have no oncologists whatsoever, and rely on phone calls to U.S. doctors for treatment.  Many communities are in a remarkably unsophisticated state, so lots of time (and money) are spent on traditional treatments that – mostly – don’t work.  Developing countries are plagued by cancers (lung, for instance) that are being eradicated in the developed world.  (Or large parts of it – more than half of Russian, Chinese, and Indonesian men still smoke.)   Mammograms and PSA tests are often unavailable  in poor countries and, where available, usually are expensive.  To some extent our aid packages are misdirected:  cancer kills more people than HIV, malaria and tuberculosis combined, but receives only a “tiny fraction” of the monetary support. 

  And so forth.  Read it yourselves.

Oh, p.s. - it hit 91 here today.  If I see 100 two days in a row I'm heading north!

 

YEAH, YEAH - STILL NO PICTURE. I'M WORKING ON IT!

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a vaccine against ovarian cancer?  Well, there isn’t – but some of our star Fred Hutch/W. Washington researchers are trying to chase one down.  They are even running a Phase I clinical trial, now enrolling women with Stage 3 or 4 ovarian cancer who are in remission.  Other restrictions apply, as well.  I hope darned few of my loyal readers qualify for this trial, but any who do might want to check this link:

http://www.pocrc.org/project-5.html

POCRC stands for Pacific Ovarian Cancer Research Consortium.  The Hutch project I attempt to help is an important component of POCRC.  The PI of this particular POCRC project is Dr. Nora Disis.  I have never met Dr. Disis, but from random reading she seems to be a powerhouse.  Once again:  Go get ‘em, Nora!

 

SEVERAL UNRELATED ISSUES

OKAY, DAMMIT:  I AM USING AN OLD LAPTOP LOCATED AT MY BORREGO SPRINGS PLACE, & THE DAMNED THING WON'T LET ME POST PICTURES.  I will keep trying.  And I will post multiple pictures.  Don't abandon ship!

It is Saturday, March 8^th, 2014 and I have been at my place near Borrego Springs CA for nearly three days.  The high temperatures each day so far have approached 90, which seems pretty darned hot to someone accustomed to winter in the Pacific Northwest.  I have been telling everyone who asks that I will re-migrate when it gets too hot down here.  That nearly occurred about this time Wednesday as I descended from the San Gorgonio Pass (elevation 2216 ft.) toward Palm Springs (elevation somewhere in the negative range.)  My jeep doesn’t have air conditioning, but it does have a thermometer that purports to give outside temperatures.  I watched as it rose from 81 in Beaumont ,the summit of the pass, inexorably upward toward 90.  Something in me kept saying “You’re going to go home when it gets too hot: if it hits 90, fling a U-turn.”  Fortunately it topped out at 89, so I continued on my way.  I’ll get used to it, I guess.

Incidentally, they are making a movie here right now, starring Ewan McGregor.   There are about a half-dozen big vehicles (and many small ones) parked at the entrance to the Font’s Point wash.   Nobody seems to know what the movie is about.  Maybe a sequel to Lawrence of Arabia?  Or Dune? 

Unrelated trivia:  I have been here three days and soon will have been out to dinner for the third time.  Don’t feel sorry for me.

Bad news:  The outfit I attempt to help at Fred Hutch has had its grant-renewal application rejected.  The main problem, I am sure, is a tight budget.  We will press on.  I hope to help.

More bad news:  The number one ace in my old racket – paleomagnetism – has just died.  His name is Ted Irving, and for many decades he has been one of the people in this world that I most admired.  I had the privilege of working with him for many years.  He was 88.  Bladder cancer. 


 

 

SOME COOL STUFF FROM THE ECONOMIST

Friday Harbor during her second chemo

She didn't let cancer take over her spirit.  Brave beyond my comprehension. 

 

It is snowing in Bellingham.  I have 3 inches of the stuff on my deck, and more is accumulating rapidly.  Sure, for you folks from the great northern steppes this is nothing, but here it is a moderately big deal.  For instance, the 4^th St hill in front of my house is now the haunt of sleds and snowboards.  A few cars came up early on, but for the last few hours the only motorized objects I have seen out there are a pair of emergency vehicles, and a tow truck.  This is a good day to stay inside and pack for Borrego Springs.  I intend to leave in three days’ time, when it is supposed to rain.  I have lived in the Pacific NW for 45 years, so rain is my natural habitat. 

Last week’s Economist was a high-grade ore cart of medical information. I am not in the mood to write summaries, so I invite you to read for yourself.

The first article gives you an insight into the economics of drugs.  It may make you hate Big Pharma a little less.  Here it is:  http://www.economist.com/news/business/21596557-there-are-reasons-hope-latest-biotech-boom-will-not-be-followed-another

This next one is a book review.  The book reviewed describes the birth and growth of a small biotech company, of the sort that have been springing up like spring crocuses for the last decade.  I haven’t read it and probably won’t.  The review is interesting, though.  http://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21596489-how-pharmaceutical-world-evolving-when-times-were-changing

Finally, there is an encouraging article about a novel method to combat metastasis in breast cancer.  The method has obvious ramifications for other kinds of cancer.  Re-read my blog on metastasis of a few days ago.  Here is the new article:  http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21596501-better-way-understand-metastasis-secondary-goals

There is a teeny problem here, however.  The Economist won’t let you read more than one article (per month?  week?) free.  I get the print edition so I can read all I want.  They (the Economist) ask you to “register”, for up to three freebies.  As soon as I post this I will see what “registering” entails.  I will let you know by means of a Comment.

Now to find a suitable picture.

 

 



HUTCH REPORT ON OVARIAN AND PROSTATE CANCER

Henley on Thames

If she were standing there now she would be knee deep in water

Notice how I always seem to pose her with the sun directly in her eyes. 

 

The monthly Fred Hutch newsletter just popped up on my computer.  I really shouldn’t write another blog today; I have churned out two in the past two days, and I risk boring you to death.  However, it is snowing, I have done my knee exercises, and Olympic coverage won’t start for several hours.  I could take a nap, but I think I’ll risk another blog instead.

You can see the newsletter by clicking on

https://bay172.mail.live.com/default.aspx?id=64855&owa=1&owasuffix=owa%2f#n=1562242092&fid=1&mid=7f000bb3-9b55-11e3-b9fe-00215ad96b8e&fv=1

There are three items that are of particular interest.  One concerns the benefits of coffee for men with prostate cancer.  Another describes a method to predict the course of ovarian cancer, using a new technology developed at the Hutch.  The third, of great interest to me, describes the effects of Vitamin E and selenium on the risk of contracting prostate cancer.

I have written about prostate cancer before (3/27/12, with five Comments, all by me.)  Most of the argument at that time revolved around whether or not to use PSA measurements to predict the presence and virulence of prostate cancer.  I also reported preliminary results concerning whether or not coffee is good for you (5/30/12).  Well, this newsletter describes experimental results that indicate that – yes – coffee helps with prostate cancer.  The experiment followed men who already had prostate cancer.  Those who drank as little as one cup per day had a significantly lowered risk of cancer recurrence or rapid growth.  Men who drank up to four or more cups also benefitted, but not by much more.  They also followed tea drinkers, who experienced no benefit at all.  There is some speculation as to why coffee might help, but I will spare you – it is a bit “biofuzzy”.  My take: I drink coffee all the time and I’m going to keep right on doing it.

Ovarian cancer continues to be a tough nut to crack.  Several Hutch scientists have learned that the quantity of TILs active in an ovarian-type tumor will help predict how long the victim will live.  TIL stands for “tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes”   Lymphocytes are part of the immune-systems arsenal.  The more TILs, the better.  The Hutch scientists have developed a method for measuring TIL concentrations.  I find this report less than exhilarating.  We want to fix it so that women do not DIE of OVCA, not predict how long they will last!  But, I guess every little bit of knowledge helps.  I hope. 

Finally, there is a report on the effects of high doses of selenium and vitamin E on the occurrence of prostate cancer.  I find this particularly interesting because, not too many years ago, I was part of a nationwide trial (called SELECT) to see if these two substances helped to ward of prostate cancer.  After a few years the trial was abruptly stopped, and now I know why. Far from preventing prostate cancer, Vitamin E and selenium actually ENCOURAGE it.  Woops!  Back to the drawing board.  But, anyway, I drink lots of coffee and  I’m too old to worry about this kind of stuff.