#oncology

[reasonsforhope]

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule Tuesday [April 9, 2024] that will require 218 chemical plants to reduce toxic and carcinogenic airborne pollutants, aiming to reduce the number of people with elevated cancer risk by 96% nationwide.

The rulings principally address chloroprene: used to make rubber products, and ethylene oxide, used primarily for sterilizing medical supplies. Long-term exposure to these chemicals and their manufacturing have been identified as possible carcinogens, or cancer-causing agents.

According to a report in the Washington Post, this can include lymphoma, leukemia, breast cancer, and liver cancer.

Across a strip of Louisiana and Texas where half of the 218 chemical manufacturing facilities set to be affected by the new regulations are located, cancer rates of these kinds are substantially higher than national averages, leading it to be colloquially called “Cancer Alley.”

EPA Administrator Michael Regan visited Cancer Alley during the open-comment period of the proposed ruling, and said that across the 85 miles dotted with communities, he failed to meet a single person who didn’t know a loved one or friend who had either developed cancer, died of it, or knew someone who had.

Once implemented, the ruling will reduce more than 6,200 tons of toxic air pollution each year, according to the Post."

-via Good News Network, April 15, 2024

[mindblowingscience]

Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel told AFP his company's experimental vaccine against melanoma could be available in as little as two years, in what would amount to a landmark step against the most serious form of skin cancer. Globally there were an estimated 325,000 new melanoma cases and 57 ,000 deaths from the disease in 2020. "We think that in some countries the product could be launched under accelerated approval by 2025," he said in an interview.

Continue Reading.

[theoddvet]

Work has had a few squamous cell carcinomas come in recently and I wanted to share just how pretty these can look, even when they are inflamed like this one is.

This invasive neoplasm typically consists of islands and trabeculae of keratinising (keratin-producing) stratified squamous epithelium. They can range from well differentiated like in this case, to more poorly differentiated and difficult to diagnose. The presence of keratin pearls (pictured in the top left and bottom right photos) is a huge help in diagnosing these neoplasms.

[thesaltyoncologist]

My ick is when another physician calls me, knowing I am also a physician, and still introduces themselves as Dr. Whomever.

[rogrogrog]

The brightest stars shine in the darkest of nights.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila

Nov. 20, 2023

[fleshwizard]

science doodles done at the lab during reunions

tertiary lymphoid structures

flow cytometry

leucocytes (back of the sketchbook)

neuroendocrine carcinoma

psoriasis

cellular leiomyoma

[birchf0x]

They Know Already Anyway?

What’s the harm in 5 more minutes?

House and Wilson.

[tmedic]

Today’s sky colour

[grangerandmore]

[raggednorth]

I spent a lot of time at the oncologist's office yesterday. I had labs, then waiting, then visited my oncologist, then more waiting, then my immunotherapy infusion, during which I had to sit and wait until it was finished. So, I worked more on my epp quilt!

[iheartvmt]

Please pray for me. This morning my big dog, Luthien, passed away.

We diagnosed her with an inoperable heart tumor a little over 6 months ago, and had been watching for worsening symptoms to know when to say goodbye, and she hadn't shown any. But one way this tumor can kill is by causing rapid heart failure, either from an arrhythmia or from cardiac tamponade. So it wasn't a surprise or sudden, not really, but it was so very quick. She did her normal morning routine -- ate her breakfast, pottied normally, sniffed the "newspaper" (the telephone pole at the end of the driveway), and hopped into the car to come with me to work. I stopped at the gas station for coffee, and when I came back out, she was collapsed and barely breathing. She was gone less than a minute later.

Once I'm feeling better, I'll probably write up the case study, partly to help me process, but also because the type of tumor she had is considered rare in dogs and would be good for y'all students to read.

[notesbyallie]

01.09.2023 // Happy first of September, but also WHERE did the summer go. I've been back at university for 6 weeks already so it's not as bad as previous years, but still wild to think about. I spent the day today in ear, nose and throat clinic and then had a quiz before we could get signed off. I'm really enjoying medical school this year, since we cover all of the topics and conditions that I am most interested in! It's making me even more excited to start working as a doctor soon.

[bpod-bpod]

Tumour Environment Effects

Combined immunotherapy (GVAX + anti-PD1) and targeted radiotherapy for pancreatic cancer not only promotes anti-cancer T cells but also immunosuppressive macrophages – insight for skewing therapy towards greater anti-tumour effects

Read the published research article here

Image from work by Junke Wang and Jessica Gai, and colleagues

Department of Oncology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA

Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, February 2024

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[theoddvet]

Time for another appreciation post for sarcomas because I came across a mother of one the other day:

1 - a relatively normal cancer cell with a prominent nucleolus (dark dot in the middle of the slightly lighter oval)

2 - a cancer cell showing an increased cell size and a large nucleolus

3 - a cancer cell who decided to become a beast with significant karyomegaly and a huge nucleolus

1 - a relatively normal cancer cell

2 - a super large beast with four nucleoli

1 - a normal sized cancer cell

2 - a cancer cell with two large nuclei of varying sizes (so a binucleated cell with karyomegaly)

3 - a cancer cell with karyomegaly and a large nucleolus

4 - me on an average monday

[dailyhistoryposts]

On This Day In History

October 4th, 1951: Henrietta Lacks dies of cancer.

Henrietta Lacks' cancer was the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line. HeLa cells are incredibly important in scientific research around the world. However, they were taken and used without permission, and the cell line is now incredibly lucrative while Lacks' family saw none of the profit.

[rogrogrog]

A young woman, only 39 years, came to my clinic this morning. She seemed fit, devoid of any diseases as most women in her age would be. The pulmonologist referred her for water on the right lung. She has stage IV lung cancer. I was deeply heartbroken as I listened to her story while she was sobbing incessantly. Her youngest child is only three years old. I was actually out of words this morning as I faced her-- I was unprepared. Why would a nonsmoker and young woman suffer such a diagnosis? At that moment, I empathized with her pain-- it was pure and piercing. 🙏

Photo taken from 53rd Street NYC.