Ayurvedic Medicines

Ok, you may have already had the intuitive notion that the forests of the world benefit human health, that we rely on them even. However, a recent World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report makes the connection a little more clear and precise. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 23-25% of global disease burden could be alleviated [ Help Protect the Forests, for Your Health from Green Living Ideas ]

This week Taiwan announced their intention to create 50 “low-carbon villages” by the end of 2011. According to Taiwan’s Environmental Protection Agency (TEPA), the plan is to recruit two or more village-level districts in each city or county each village to cut emissions using a range of tactics, from limiting car or scooter trips and [ 50 Low-Carbon Villages in Taiwan from Green Living Ideas ]

Alternative medicines may have appeal due to “voodoo magic,” as you put it, but if they have real effects on patient health (whether it be through interactions with physician-prescribed drugs, overdoses, or whatever else), … BUT–” alternative medicine” can be actively toxic (viz

Gout is very common among Americans, in fact there are more than 5 million people in the United States alone still struggling with it. Although there are lots of medicine/pills to get rid of gout, these medicines are only effective in getting rid of gout for a period of time.

One of the challenges of scientific conferences, at least the ones I attend, is that the investigators have a tendency to rush through a high volume of highly interesting slides at a fast pace, meaning ones notes end up looking like a chicken scratched them out and then a spider with wet feet ambled over them for good measure.  Teasing out the nuggets is sometimes a challenge, “what was I thinking when I scrawled that?” And so it was with the plenaries at the American Association of Clinical Research meeting in DC this week. Looking at the notes from Charles Sawyers and Bert Vogelstein’s plenary talks on the prostate cancer and the cancer genome, respectively, is particularly apt as you can see in the photo on the right! Every time I listen to one of Prof Vogelstein’s talks I learn something new and the last lecture makes more sense too.

Arthritis natural remedies may hold some promise for arthritis sufferers looking for effective treatments with reduced risk of side effects. Natural remedies can be tried on their own or as supplements to prescription medicines and other treatments. Many patients have reported some relief from natural remedies, so it may be worth considering such remedies as a part of your treatment strategy.

Yesterday afternoon I returned from DC and the annual American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) meeting tired but exhilarated. Despite the Europeans unfortunately stranded by the Icelandic volcano, business continued as usual with many presenters doing their talks by teleconference to live slides in the room.  Quite a few researchers also FedExed their posters, so people could still peruse them and an envelope was provided for business cards or questions.

The Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy is “a camp where teachers go and learn about math and science through fun ways!” All free of charge! We are so lucky to have ExxonMobil Teacher Camp! A wonderful one-week intensive professional development program is  for third- through fifth-grade teachers – all expenses paid by [ Exxon To Teach Your Kids Climate Science – For Free! from Green Living Ideas ]

After being here in DC a day, it didn’t take me long to realise that everyone is using a hodge podge of hashtags including #AACR, #AACR10 and even AACR or AACR 2010.  Some researchers are tweeting without hashtags, so do check out others commentary such as Prof W Eldeiry too as everyone is attending different sessions.  The poster sessions are huge here, three different sections, twice a day as well as a multitude of education sessions, mini symposia and plenty of preclinical, genomic and biomarker research. I’ve therefore captured them in the Cover It Live widget below for easy tracking of everyone’s tweets.  The event will until Wednesday, when the meeting finishes. The big focus this year seems to be on relating translational medicine to clinical research, which is a great thing.  The big event today is the plenary at 9.45am when some famous names in translational research will be talking.  I can’t wait! For those following in the backchannel, do feel free to join in and follow the event remotely.

The other day while travelling home on a long train journey, I was browsing the NY Times app on my iPhone and came across an interesting story about multiple myeloma in the Health section : “For many patients with cancers like chronic lymphoma, chronic myelocytic leukemia and now multiple myeloma, longevity lies in the ability of science to remain one step ahead of the malignancy by unraveling its genetic and molecular underpinnings and producing treatments tailored to counter them.” Now, I don’t think there is actually something called chronic lymphoma (non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL), chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), yes), but you get the gist of what the reporter is saying – acute deadly hematologic cancers are gradually being turned into chronic diseases.