Health News: Synthetic cancer indicator: An artificial mole as an early warning system

                                                                 

ScienceDaily 
Date:
April 18, 2018
Source:
ETH Zurich
Summary:
Researchers have developed an early warning system for the four most common types of cancer. Should a tumor develop, a visible mole will appear on the skin.

Alongside cardiovascular disease, cancer has become the top cause of death in industrialised countries. Many of those affected are diagnosed only after the tumour has developed extensively. This often reduces the chance of recovery significantly: the cure rate for prostate cancer is 32 percent and only 11 percent for colon cancer. The ability to detect such tumours reliably and early would not only save lives, but also reduce the need for expensive, stressful treatment.

Researchers working with Martin Fussenegger, Professor at the Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering at ETH Zurich in Basel, have now presented a possible solution for this problem: a synthetic gene network that serves as an early warning system. It recognises the four most common types of cancer -- prostate, lung, colon and breast cancer -- at a very early stage, namely when the level of calcium in the blood is elevated due to the developing tumour.

The early warning system comprises a genetic network that biotechnologists integrate into human body cells, which in turn are inserted into an implant. This encapsulated gene network is then implanted under the skin where it constantly monitors the blood calcium level.

As soon as the calcium level exceeds a particular threshold value over a longer period of time, a signal cascade is triggered that initiates production of the body's tanning pigment melanin in the genetically modified cells. The skin then forms a brown mole that is visible to the naked eye.

The mole appears long before the cancer becomes detectable through conventional diagnosis. "An implant carrier should then see a doctor for further evaluation after the mole appears," explains Fussenegger. It is no reason to panic. "The mole does not mean that the person is likely to die soon," stresses the ETH professor. It simply means that clarification and if necessary treatment are needed.

The researchers used calcium as the indicator of the development of the four types of cancer, as it is regulated strongly in the body. Bones serve as a buffer that can balance out concentration differences. However, when too much calcium is detected in the blood, this may serve as a sign for one of the four cancers.

"Early detection increases the chance of survival significantly," says Fussenegger. For example, if breast cancer is detected early, the chance of recovery is 98 percent; however, if the tumour is diagnosed too late, only one in four women has a good chance of recovery. "Nowadays, people generally go to the doctor only when the tumour begins to cause problems. Unfortunately, by that point it is often too late."

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Science News Probiotics can protect the skeletons of older women

                                             

June 21, 2018

Source:

University of Gothenburg

 Summary:

Researchers have demonstrated that probiotics, dietary supplements with health-promoting bacteria, can be used to affect the human skeleton. Among older women who received probiotics, bone loss was halved compared to women who received only a placebo. The research opens the door to a new way to prevent fractures among the elderly.

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For the first time in the world, researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have demonstrated that probiotics, dietary supplements with health-promoting bacteria, can be used to affect the human skeleton. Among older women who received probiotics, bone loss was halved compared to women who received only a placebo. The research opens the door to a new way to prevent fractures among the elderly.

Brittleness of the bones, or osteoporosis, is characterized by porous and weak bones, which can cause them to break even when subjected to low loads, such as a fall from standing height. The proportion of the population with osteoporosis increases with age, and a majority of women over 80 years of age have the disease.

"Today there are effective medications administered to treat osteoporosis, but because bone fragility is rarely detected before the first fracture, there is a pressing need for preventive treatments," says Mattias Lorentzon, who is a chief physician and professor of geriatrics at Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg.

This is the first time that researchers have shown that it is possible to cut age-related bone loss in elderly women in half if they receive health-promoting bacteria, known as probiotics.

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sciencedaily.com

#Grannydumping

                                                     #Grannydumping
                                                                   
                                                 

      #Grannydumping : A secretive practice called "dumping" that illegally evicts elderly residents from nursing homes. 

I wrote an article in our newspaper that we own in Western North Carolina and I wanted to share it here. Granny dumping is a nationwide problem. It is important and needs to be stopped. Below is the article written today by me.

*My personal opinion is that the elderly are disrespected in our society. Maybe they're a reminder of where those are younger are going. Maybe it's just easier for us to ignore the elderly by shoving them into "homes" that they will be "cared for" and it eases guilt. Whatever the reason, or reasons, we need to figure it out. The elderly have paid their dues. It is not their choice to become vulnerable, it happens to everyone who lives that long. Just as children need to be protected and not ignore, so do the elderly. 

Granny Dumping is nothing new. It has gone on for decades. Once in awhile, a story of an elderly person getting dumped will hit the news. People do get mad, we throw up our hands and say how terrible it it. This shouldn't happen! And when the next story becomes news, we do it again. It makes us feel better, which I guess makes us feel we did something. But we really don't do anything.  Below is an article from 2014. I could go back to the 1990's, I am sure there are stories for as long as nursing homes and hospitals have existed.*

Experts: 'Dumping' Of Nursing Home Residents Happens More Frequently

State Officials Don't Track Violations

Monday, May 19, 2014, 8:00am by Mike Simonson 

A secretive practice called “dumping” that illegally evicts elderly residents from nursing homes might be happening more often than previously thought.

Nursing home resident Greg Lundholm said St. Francis in the Park in Superior has its good points, but it’s still a nursing home. He needs 24-hour care so this is his life. What he insists on is it be his choice to stay there.

“I figure it’s my decision, my right. Just because I’m here, I don’t give myself up, my rights and everything. They don’t get thrown away,” Lundholm said.

State and federal nursing home regulations are supposed to safeguard against illegal evictions, a practice called dumping. But John Hendrick, state Elder Law Center chief counsel, said he's seeing more and more cases of dumping. The reason? Money.

“Both on the state and federal level, the Medical Assistance program has been tightened up, the financial incentives are to use the beds for people who can privately pay because the Medical Assistance payment is substantially less,” Hendrick said.

Hendrick said some homes will use reasons other than financial, like unruly behavior or mental illness, as an excuse to kick out a resident. But this practice is so secretive that the state doesn’t track violations.

“A lot of nursing home regulation is done somewhat privately, and even though it should be a public record, increasingly those records are not available," he said. "It does make it difficult and it does make it difficult for family members that are trying to get legal recourse after something happens."

Not only are records often unavailable, but Hendrick said that a national report says for every case of dumping reported, 20 cases go unreported.

**Read full article on wpr.org

The following article is on Forbes.com Nov 2, 2017 

Carolyn Rosenblatt , CONTRIBUTOR

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

If you have an aging loved one who ever has to go to a nursing home, beware of a nasty practice in which some of these facilities engage. Some elders among us are low income and receive Medicaid. Some live in nursing homes, as they need full time care. It may not affect your own family, but certainly could affect an elder you know. Medicaid recipients are vulnerable and can be subject to terrible treatment, including being kicked out of a home just because they have to get temporary treatment at a hospital. It is disgusting to think that a nursing home will not only violate the law in refusing to allow its own resident back into the home after going to a hospital, but it will callously separate spouses by doing so. Neither has the luxury of choice. One spouse can stay while the other gets the boot?

AARP Foundation

Nursing Home evicted Ms. Single

That's what happened to eighty-two year old Gloria Single who lived at Pioneer House, a nursing home that accepts Medicaid residents. She and her husband lived there together until she went to a hospital, expecting to return to Pioneer after she was released from the hospital. Instead, after she was medically cleared to return, Pioneer House refused to let her come home, thereby cruelly separating her from her husband. She now is staying in another home, still hoping to be with her husband again.

Ms. Single would have been voiceless but for the advocacy of AARP Foundation, the affiliated charity of AARP. According to Foundation attorney Kelly Bagby who, with other lawyers, represents Ms. Single in a case against the nursing home, Ms. Singleton has a clear legal right to return to the place where she lived, and the nursing home's practice of dumping her is a growing trend, according to attorney Bagby, who has repeatedly faced this issue. The law prohibits it and the law is ignored. The lawsuit alleges that she is a victim of a corporate policy of evicting low-income residents to make room for more lucrative Medicare or private pay residents. In other words, they dump Medicaid people so they can make more money on other residents who are paid by better sources than Medicaid.

Says another of Ms. Single's attorneys, Matthew Borden of BraunHagey & Borden, "Everyone deserves to spend their last days with their loved ones". In the Single case, the hypocrisy of Pioneer's corporate website advertising is startling. It says that the owner, RHF Foundation's "concern for the whole person includes residents, their families and staff and RHF strives to be fair in all relationships". In their case, concern seems to be directed solely toward the bottom line, not the resident and her family. Pioneer claims to be part of a faith-based organization.

Just to be clear, the term "nursing home" refers to rehab facilities, long term care facilities where skilled care is available, and places where people are often sent for therapy of various kinds after the person has been treated in a hospital. If your own aging loved one is ever mistreated, threatened with being evicted or dumped from a nursing home, know that he or she has rights that can be enforced. The place to start is with the Office of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman. The ombudsman is assigned the task of being the liaison between the facility and the resident or resident's family. The ombudsman individually does not have the power to enforce the law nor represent a resident but can communicate with those involved and work on solutions. Ms. Singleton's eviction went from the ombudsman to California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a consumer advocacy nonprofit organization, to the attorneys who now represent her.

Our low income, most vulnerable aging loved ones can seek justice, though it will take family members, ombudsmen, and other advocates to get them to the capable attorneys willing to take up their causes. The attorneys at AARP Foundation work vigorously to enforce their rights. The plight of those who live in these homes long term is not always visible to the public. Mistreatment may be concealed unless someone steps in to speak for them and the right organizations lead to the right lawyers to demand accountability by these nursing homes. An impaired elder like Ms. Single cannot speak up and stand up for herself. Nursing homes get away with dumping residents like her.

Ms. Single was treated worse than some people treat their dogs and cats. Having worked in nursing homes myself, I was appalled to learn of this callous practice. It is our hope for her here at AgingParents.com that justice will be done and she can be reunited with her husband before it is too late.

Carolyn Rosenblatt, RN, Elder Law Attorney, Healthy aging and protecting our elders, AgingParents.com, AgingInvestor.com

Read full article on Forbes.com 

Rosie O'Donnell : My brother Ed wrote this

                                                       

Rosie O'Donnell will be the first to tell you, she's not perfect. Who is? We all have flaws. I like her... I tend to be a big mouth at times. Isn't it odd that when women speak up, speak loud, stand up, they are loud mouths, even bitches. Not so with men. He's confident, he's strong, powerful.

Anyway, I took a look at Rosie's blog today and wanted to share what her brother wrote on December 17, 2017. 

I am sharing this now, as I sit here watching the vote on it's way to confirm this tax bill that will take away healthcare for so many and alter lives in other negative ways. 

my brother ed wrote this

December 17, 2017

“These are dark and desperate times in our democracy.

Did the Founding Fathers or for that matter any seated Congress repeatedly try and pass laws that vast majority of Americans did not want?

Did they do so in the middle of the night? On bills that had not be read by the voters? Adding trillions to the national debt? Taking services from those who can least afford it, even children? Transferring more wealth to the wealthy and corporations from the lowest income members of our society.

This is madness. America is looking out for a hero, can you be that hero?

Someone, somewhere needs to stand up to this. Congress is voting on bills that are barely written, much less vetted that will negatively impact the majority of Americans for years to come. It needs to be stopped.

Let’s start with the ACA. For six months or more this was debated by Congress and the changes proposed did not pass. So what happens when it doesn’t get passed? The Congressional leadership throws it into a tax bill for a portion of the cuts that they did not get when they couldn’t pass the bill. An estimated 13 Million Americans will not have insurance based on this.

State and local taxes no longer being able to be deducted, or capped at a rate that is ridiculously low, is nothing more than a punitive action against the states that did not vote for the current Administration. These states are the ones which already contribute the most to the federal government. This will have a major impact on the housing market and economies of these states. This will no doubt negatively impact which funding to the federal government. Did no one in Congress take Economics?

Then there are the inappropriate and bizarre additions to this tax bill.

• Setting up 529 college savings accounts for unborn children? With millions of graduates saddled by student loans (which the bill would not have tax deductible interest), young people not being able to afford college and the solution is 529 plans for fetuses? In a tax bill no less?

• Finally, churches endorsing candidates? How about they pay taxes for the privilege? And then there is the separation of church and state. You want to throw out the First Amendment – you need to change the Constitution – not throw this in a tax bill.

America was founded as a country with rights for all citizens with a legislative process that has worked for over 200+ years. This is not the way things are supposed to run in our great democracy. This bill will further concentrate the wealth in the hands of a few and will detrimentally impact the lives of those who are least able to deal with it.

I believe you are a moral person who is looking to do the right thing. The right thing to do here it to take the time to come up with a plan that works for ALL Americans not just the privileged few.

I leave you with the words of the Bible:

If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

— 1 John 3:17

Please work to stop this madness and vote against the proposed tax bill. America is holding out for a hero. You can be that hero.”