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Personalized Cancer Therapy Continues to Make Important Advances

Many people think of cancer as a single disease, and for many years the only treatment was to cut out tumor tissue that could be seen. However, the history of cancer is that we have gradually subdivided malignancies into multiple categories. First was the site of origin (lung, colon, breast, and so on); the second was based on what it looked like under the microscope (an adenocarcinoma vs a squamous cancer, for example); and a third was the extent of the tumor – whether it stayed in the organ of origin or spread to lymph nodes, lung, bone, and other organs.

Therapy regimens gradually evolved to treat each of these categories differently, with standard treatments tailored to the specific situation, and this type of increasingly customized therapy has been extremely important...

The Scourge of Long COVID – And a Drug to Prevent It

The peak of COVID-19 infections might be behind us – at least until the next “variant of concern” of the SARS-CoV-2 virus appears – but the scourge of long COVID lives on. And on.

As defined by the CDC, “post-COVID conditions” encompass a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing symptoms or health problems that people experience at least four weeks following an acute COVID infection. They can include severe fatigue that worsens with exertion, fever, or various respiratory, cardiac, neurological, musculoskeletal, or digestive system symptoms.

Long COVID’s manifestations can be serious, even fatal. Last year, Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly and his colleagues described major adverse cardiovascular outcomes at one...

As COVID Infections Continue, Long COVID Numbers Rise

Although most people who get COVID recover within a few days or, at most, weeks, we cannot ignore that this infection has already killed some 1.1 million Americans, and the death toll is currently about 4.000 per week. In addition, even those with only mild infections can experience the syndrome of "long COVID," which is marked by persistent, sometimes debilitating symptoms that last for months or even years following the acute infection.

According to a recent article in Nature Reviews Microbiology by Scripps Research’s Dr. Eric Topol and coworkers:

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Clinical Trials That Will Shape Medicine in 2023

Here are the eleven from Nature, plus two bonus picks from me.

1. A diabetes drug, exenatide, for Parkinson's disease. The choice of Dr. Roger Albin, Professor of Neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School, was the Phase 3 (late stage) clinical trial of exenatide for Parkinson's disease (PD). The drug is a GLP-1 agonist, which mimics a type of naturally occurring gut hormone, and is currently used in older patients to treat Type 2 diabetes.

Exenatide showed beneficial effects on nerve cells in laboratory tests, which raised the possibility that it might slow down or stop the degeneration of PD in patients. An open-label trial in patients with PD who self-administered the drug for...

ACSH Dispatches Round-Up: Oprah, Spice, Tanorexics, and More

ACSH/Staff, Oprah/Cranks, Meat/Breasts, HRT/Lungs, Sun/Skin, Spice/Island

by Elizabeth Wade

ACSH welcomes two new staffers

We'd like to extend a warm welcome to the two newest members of the ACSH team: art director Anthony Manzo and research intern Curtis Porter. Curtis will be taking over as writer of Morning Dispatch this week, as I prepare to leave to start my Fulbright scholarship in Mexico.

Could watching Oprah be dangerous for your health?

ACSH staffers were impressed by an article in Newsweek criticizing Oprah for allowing junk science to be espoused on her popular television show. "When she invites guests like Jenny McCarthy on to talk about the supposed vaccine-autism link, Oprah doesn't provide any balance," says ACSH's Dr. Elizabeth...

Turning Up The Heat on the Noble Lie

The EPA insists that poor air quality in America is a terrible killer and must be regulated regardless of the economic burden imposed. But with no evidence to justify such a claim, this is nothing more than a Noble Lie.

Steve Milloy, a biostatistician and lawyer, conducted a study to examine if small particulate matter in air pollution was linked to acute deaths. Using publicly available death certificates, he found no such correlation. Furthermore, using hospital discharge data, he found no link between ozone levels and asthma attacks in the Sacramento area.

In March 2017, James Enstrom published a paper that reanalyzed the data from the American Cancer Society’s Cancer Prevention Study (CPS II), which examined PM_2.5 levels and their impact on all-cause...

Health and Safety Tips for Your Summer Vacation (2005)

Whether you are traveling around the world or relaxing at home, a safe, healthy vacation will add to your enjoyment. Here are some health and safety tips to keep in mind when planning your summer vacation.

The Dark Side of Summer Sun

Sunbathing is a favorite summer activity -- but perhaps it shouldn't be. In fact, sunbathing has only been popular during this century. Why be wary of acquiring a tan? First, sunburn may ruin your vacation. In addition, the large body of evidence indicates that the long-term effect of severe sunburn may be an increased likelihood of various types of skin cancer.

It is far better to prevent sunburn than to deal with it after the fact. There is relatively little that you can do for sunburn; cold compresses or cool baths...

Health and Safety Tips for Your Summer Vacation

The Dark Side of Summer Sun

Sunbathing is a favorite summer activity but perhaps it shouldn't be. In fact, sunbathing has only been popular during this century. Why be wary of acquiring a tan? First, sunburn may ruin your vacation. In addition, it is now thought that the long-term effect of severe sunburn may be an increased likelihood of various types of skin cancer.

It is far better to prevent sunburn than to deal with it after the fact. There is relatively little that you can do for a sunburn; cold compresses or cool baths may relieve...

The Organic Food Nutrition Wars

A few weeks ago, the world of organic food proponents was rocked by new research that organic food was not any more nutritious than conventionally-grown food. Consumers have long been interested in knowing if the extra money they have been shelling out for organic food is justified and the subject, therefore, is of much interest.

A Little Bit of Background

Food nutrients include minerals (trace elements), vitamins and antioxidants. Up until about ten years ago, people interested in nutritional differences between organic and conventional food concentrated on nutrients such as minerals and vitamins. Nitrates were not thought of as a nutrient but were included in many studies. In recent years, emphasis has shifted to differences in antioxidant content....

Tsunami: Tragedy as a Teacher

Tragedies are great teachers, but unfortunately too many people draw the wrong lessons from them. Not too long ago, major tragedies were interpreted as some form of divine retribution for our sins. Now, geology (plate tectonics and volcanology), meteorology, other sciences offer hope for preventative and ameliorative actions.

A tragedy of the magnitude of the Indian Ocean tsunami brings out the best and the worst in the twenty-four-hour TV news cycle, the Internet, and massive print coverage. There is now room for interviews with experts on every aspect of the issue -- its causes, likely short- and long-term consequences, and the most effective means of delivering assistance. With the seemingly wall-to-wall coverage, we will inevitably hear from those who, like the doomsday...

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