On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred when a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine, releasing 90 times the radioactivity of the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Sixteen years later, award-winning filmmaker Maryann De Leo took her camera to ground zero, following the devastating trail […]
Opposite effect: Protein widely known to fight tumors also boosts cancer growth
Search for a description of “p53” and it becomes clear that this human protein is widely known for its cancer-fighting benefits, leading to its renown as “the guardian of the genome.” Scientists at the University of California San Diego have published a new study challenging that description. Studying the “wild type” version of p53 (WTp53), […]
Tokyo Contaminated & Not Fit for Habitation
I am standing here to tell you that the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe is not over. I evacuated to Kansai three years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Where do you think I evacuated from? I evacuated from Tokyo. Do you know that Tokyo has serious radioactive contamination？ Tens of millions of people in East […]
France takes Roundup weed-killer off market after court ruling
French authorities on Tuesday banned the sale of a form of controversial weed-killer Roundup following a court ruling that regulators failed to take safety concerns into account when clearing the widely used herbicide. Roundup, owned by Germany’s Bayer after its purchase of US agro-giant Monsanto last year, contains glyphosate which environmentalists and other critics have long believed […]
Radiation Therapy May Increase Diabetes Risk In Childhood Cancer Survivors
Childhood cancer survivors treated with total body or abdominal radiation may have an increased risk of diabetes, according to a report in the August 10/24 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. This correlation does not appear to be related to patients’ body mass index or physical inactivity. “As a result of […]
Pectin Power: Why Fruits And Vegetables May Protect Against Cancer’s Spread
Scientists have found a new possible explanation for why people who eat more fruit and vegetables may gain protection against the spread of cancers. They have shown that a fragment released from pectin, found in all fruits and vegetables, binds to and is believed to inhibit galectin 3 (Gal3), a protein that plays a role […]
Even Low Exposure To X-rays, Gamma Rays Increases Cancer Risk, Study Finds
Exposure to X-rays and gamma rays, even at low-dose levels, increases risk of cancer. That is the bottom line of a comprehensive five-year study by a National Research Council (NRC) committee that included Stanford’s Herbert L. Abrams, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. “There appears to be no […]
Acupressure relieves long-term symptoms of breast cancer treatment, study finds
A new study finds acupressure could be a low-cost, at-home solution to a suite of persistent side effects that linger after breast cancer treatment ends. Researchers from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center reported in 2016 that acupressure helped reduce fatigue in breast cancer survivors. In the new study, they looked at the impact […]
Contagious cancers are spreading among several species of shellfish
Direct transmission of cancer among some marine animals may be more common than once thought, suggests a new study published in Nature by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). The study, led by Stephen Goff, PhD, the Higgins Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics and the Department of Microbiology & Immunology […]
Solving its insolubility, researchers discover method to deliver curcumin to cancer cells
In India and other countries in Southeast Asia, curcumin is often used as a spice in cooking, particularly chicken or fish. It is known for its therapeutic effect and as a way to kill germs present in raw meat. Recently, scientists have also discovered that curcumin, a naturally occurring substance isolated from the Curcuma longa […]