New effective leukemnia treatment. Big pharma did not initially want to fund it…

A new leukemia treatment is wowing even the researchers behind its creation, providing results beyond their wildest expectations.

Within three weeks, the tumors had been blown away, in a way that was much more violent than we ever expected, senior author Carl June, MD told Penn Medicine.

The treatment uses the body’s own t-cells to fight the tumors. The t-cells are removed from the body and then reprogrammed to attack the specific type of cancer cells, and ONLY THEM, and then reinserted into the body.

Pharmaceutical companies did not want to fund this research, probably as it was not a half-bad drug that could be patented and sold, but a genetic therapy that was envisioned at a university.

Update: In August of 2012 (One year after this blog post was first written), Novartis and the University of Pennsylvania announced a global research and a licensing agreement that gives Novartis exclusive licensing rights to the technology worldwide. Novartis is also contributing $20 million to build a Center for Advanced Cellular Therapies on the University of Pennsylvania campus that aims to develop and manufacture adoptive T-cell immunotherapies such as the CAR technology. – Well well, whadda ya now. Novartis saw a business opportunity after all…

In any case, extremely good news and it should work for other forms of cancer as well, if i have my microbiology correct, corroborated by the following statement:

Additionally, the team has engineered a CAR vector that binds to mesothelin, a protein expressed on the surface of mesothelioma cancer cells, as well as on ovarian and pancreatic cancer cells.

 

New method uses body’s own t-cells to kill cancer cells, and only those cells.

Here is some news on this:

http://www.cancernetwork.com/conference-reports/ash2012/content/article/10165/2119188

Success story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/health/a-breakthrough-against-leukemia-using-altered-t-cells.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

And here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/13/health/13gene.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Improve your memory and concentration

Are you finding it hard to concentrate? With everything that is going on in our world right now it’s nothing strange. Our brains are constantly bombarded by huge amounts of information to  process. Normally we can take this, but adding stress, maybe a little ADHD, bad eating habits, too much coffee and so on, we upset the brain’s normal functions, and deprive it of what it needs to work. After having studied the brain for over 7 years as a cognitive scientist, I’ve learned a bit about the neurological background to ADHD, memory loss and other mental problems associated with failing or low-performing memory

But I also know there is help.

Many have been helped by simple nature remedies that contain substances that help the brain and nervous system get back in balance. Clinical studies and testimonials back up these claims.

Read more on my webshop for memory medication, aimed at helping with memory and concentration.

Visit nature.imegastores.com now! You are already on your way achieving better concentration, memory and work performance. And You’ll be able to relax knowing that you are taking good care of your braincells!

San Jose Earthquake 4.3 – Surviving Earthquakes

USGS reports 4.3 magnitude and depth of 4.8 miles or 7.7km. No tsunami warning associated with this event.

Our world is not asleep, it’s not a rock. It’s a living breathing monster. San Jose Was struck at the time of writing about two hours ago by a 4.3 Richter scale magnitude earthquake.

What can we do to keep safe?

Prepare and keep a survival kit at home, in your car or at work. Contamination of water can be problematic, and loss of power hits the modern civilisation pretty hard. A survival kit is also never wrong for other emergencies, hurricanes, Tornadoes. Not that I’m trying to paint a terrifying picture here, You’ll probably be allright.

However, It’s not a bad idea to stock up on survival gear. In fact it’s first on CERI’s* list of what to do in an Earthquake.

(*Center For Earthquake Research and Information)

PREPARE YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY NOW

• Have an earthquake survival kit on hand.
• All family members should know how to turn off gas, water, and electricity.
• Plan family emergency procedures, and make plans for reuniting your family.
• Know emergency telephone numbers (doctor, hospital, police, 911, etc)
• Anchor heavy objects to walls (bookcases, wall units, mirrors, cabinets, etc.)
• Never place heavy objects over beds, and keep heavy objects lower than head height of shortest member of family.

Get a survival kit from CampingSurvival.com, or a similar store.  Better safe than sorry…

(You don’t see that many webpages with a design centered around dirt and rocks. It’s really quite refreshing. And i like the shovel )