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Our morbid fear of cancer makes us do crazy things. Who haven’t heard of an uncle or a relative who self-medicated? We fool ourselves by taking dubious alternative treatments advertised on the net. In desperation, we turn a blind eye when we aren’t even sure if it works or it has lethal side effects. Particularly, if you got cancer, you try almost anything in the hope that you can get a cure. No need to beat ourself with a stick.

Rimso-50 or DMSO

Here is one whacky alternative treatment that gets the eager attention of cancer stricken people. This product failed the clinical trial at phase 1. Testing was halted for safety concerns. We’re aware that if a product doesn’t make it at phase 1, it doesn’t qualify for FDA approval. Rimso-50, DMSO or dimethyl sulfoxide is an industrial by-product of paper making. It was promoted in the early 60s as an alternative cancer treatment. more…

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In disbelief, we’ve watched the events unfold as that 9.8 earthquake shook Japan, one of the world’s largest economy. Then it was followed by a huge tsunami that wrought devastation – lives lost, infrastructures damaged – and misery. We’ve thought that Japan, a small but technologically advanced nation with safeguards on disasters would ride this out effortlessly. We’ve been mistaken. Here may come the meltdown of a damaged nuclear reactor!
It’s a global concern. But should we really be concerned? more…

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Advances on cancer treatment are always associated with hard work and new technology. There had been a lot of work which deciphered things about our bodies most especially at the cellular level. We’ve come to know more of our genes, the study of which is called genomics. And someone thought that cancer is a genomic abnormality. According to Danny Hill, an inventor and a scientist, an advanced view of cancer is not about those genes. Genes are more like ingredients in a menu. What those ingredients produce – the proteins – are what are important in cancer. This new mind boggling concept of cancer research is called proteomics. Hopefully, it will tell us what went wrong and how to fix it. more…

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We can tell a lot about a person knowing his or her origins. It doesn’t define the whole person but it can give us a clue about his or her behavior in certain situations. The same is true with animals, bacteria and viruses. Suppose we apply this to the origins of cancer. But where does cancer really come from?

Some history

To date, our knowledge on the origins of cancer is focused on a causative agent, the so-called action-reaction theory. An excellent example is cigarette smoking or exposure to industrial compounds for some years. The causative agent produces an increased mutation in the genes of the cells of the lung and causes cancer. 15% of cancer causation is explained by this theory. This developed in the 1950s. But it doesn’t explain treatment resistance, metastasis and cancer recurrence. What behavior of cancer actually kills? more…

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Who says world Olympic champions are safe from cancer? Just like the brilliant innovator Steve Jobs, a world famous US gymnast Shannon Miller was diagnosed with cancer late last year. She’s a two-time all-around world champion, winning seven Olympic medals, two of them at the Atlanta Olympics. She also won nine medals from other world championships. more…