Tuesday, November 29, 2011

You Are More Likely to Develop the Same Cancer Again

The only thing worse than being told that you have developed cancer again after you have been diagnosed cancer free or in remission, is being told you have the same type of cancer as the one that you have just beaten. Researchers in a study in Denmark have found that the incidence of getting the same cancer type is almost twice as high as getting another type of cancer. This especially applies to cancer associated with tobacco such as gum, lung, and others. They didn't mention the fact that a remission only means that the cancer could come back, but the data was probably from those that were cancer free although I cannot speculate as to that.

Here is the article:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/Hematology/29902

Monday, November 28, 2011

Medicine Has Come a Long Way in the Last 10 Years

Today, I'm doing something a bit different. Instead of look at what's been happening rather recently in medical developments and funding, we're going to take a look at what has been developed in the last, almost 11 years. Since 2000, there have been some great discoveries. Some have immediate applications, while others promise to have many utilizations. Let's take a quick look, shall we?

In 2000, both the government funded, Human Genome Project and the privately funded, Celera Genomics came out with a rough draft of our human genome. This is the map of all of our genes as humans. With this discovery, much is possible. Not only can they see what each gene possibly does, they can also find ways to cure disease and increase health and lifespan with certain genes.

While not a breakthrough, anti-smoking laws and bans have increased the air quality in certain spaces and businesses, which should lead to healthier lungs and less incidence of lung cancer, or so the laws are intended. Also, increase information sharing between doctors may lead to increased awareness of disease and quicker patient look-up on their records.

Heart disease deaths have decreased a dramatic 40% since a quarter century ago. The reason is better medication, better procedures, and more knowledge. Now, they can destroy blood clots, the reason for the heart attack or stroke, with medications they didn't have before. They also have stints and other surgeries designed to give you a better chance of dealing with heart disease or cure it altogether, depending on your condition.

While stem cells from embryos has fueled controversy and has been suspended and in some places, rescinded, stem cell research from people such as children and adults has helped in finding ways to combat various diseases. This will remain a hotbed of research for some time to come.

Herceptin and Gleevec are two newer cancer medications that have helped many people survive cancer and have opened the door to newer technology in the anti-cancer drug arena.

The therapy used to extend those with HIV/AIDS lives has also paved the way for other treatments such as lung cancer and heart disease.

Robotics for surgery has made surgery less invasive and more precise. Things you only dreamed of when watching television and movies over a decade ago, have become more prevalent and are now reality in some places. More to come in the near future.

While Hormone Replacement Therapy, widely used prior to 2003 for menopause, has been discovered recently to lead to breast cancer and other maladies, the good news is that it also has been shown to lower bone fractures and prevent certain cancers such as colorectal. While this seems to be the case many times where one thing hurts you here but helps you here, there is positive to all of this. By recognizing the aspects that help, researchers and doctors will be able to isolate and utilize the helpful abilities of these therapies for prevention.

Finally, functional MRI's, aka fMRI, have been developed to not only advance psychology, but also to gather much information such as brain cancer, autism, memory disorders, and even psoriasis, a skin condition.

For further reading, here you go:

http://www.medpagetoday.com/InfectiousDisease/PublicHealth/17594

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Great Sports Legends Dinner Raises $10 Million for Paralysis

The Great Sports Legends Dinner hosted back in September helped to raise $10M for the Buoniconti Fund to help cure paralysis. It was hosted by Nike and the spotlight celebrity, although not a sports legend but a legend of a different kind, dazzled the crowd. We're talking of Diana Ross here. It is held each year at New York's famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel. The M.C. was well known Bob Costas and the Humanitarian Award went to Hall of Famer, Jerry Rice. There were more celebrities and pro athletes than can be named, but the point was that they were all there to show their support both physically and financially for curing paralysis.

Read more about the story here:

http://www.themiamiproject.org/page.aspx?pid=984

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Scientist and Chairman of Scripps wins Nobel Award

Bruce Beutler, who is the chair of the Scripps Institute's Research Department in Genetics has won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is just one of many on the Scripps staff and board that have won the Nobel Prize. Another reason that they are on the cutting edge of technology and development and a pivotal key in the fight against diseases and finding their cures.

Here is the article:

http://www.scripps.edu/philanthropy/landing/newsletter/2011_11_focuson.php?origin=1111atfpr&tr=y&auid=9890666

Monday, November 21, 2011

New Website coming

I didn't post much last week, but that was because I have been meeting with people about a new website. Part of what we do is to raise awareness for disease research and the breakthroughs in the research field. However, the other part is that we take help raise donations to various disease research to help them find a cure. Hopefully, we shall have a new website for donations within the near, foreseeable future. In the meantime, though, we shall keep watch for new developments and information on the state of donations and funding for disease research.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Projections for Funding in Research Look Promising

The projections for fiscal year 2012 look promising as the National Institute of Health (NIH) have issued their projections and past funding data dating back to 2007 in lieu of Congress's increased transparency on funding to the public. While the numbers do not show the breakdown of funding within each category of disease such as where the money is coming from in funding cancer, it at least gives a breakdown by disease so that we, as the everyday person can see overall figures. The numbers are in millions and are rounded and they also seem to contradict what the NIH had stated before that funding was predicted to be cut in the coming years. I guess we shall have to wait and see.

Here is the article:

http://report.nih.gov/rcdc/categories/

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Mayo Clinic Researchers Link 2 Genes to M.S. Therapy

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota have linked 2 genes that could prove pivotal in therapy for treating multiple sclerosis. This differs from many studies that have only looked at which people get m.s. and why we get the disease, rather than an actual treatment. While still in the early phases and so far limited to studies on mice genomes, this is a great start into locating our own genes as humans.

Here is the article:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2009-rst/5409.html

Cancer Survivor to Ride Almost 200 Miles for Cancer Cure

Ricky Rinehart is planning on riding almost 200 miles, 197 to be exact, from Yuma, AZ to Phoenix, AZ to raise money for curing cancer. He is celebrating his one year anniversary since doctors successfully operated on his esophageal cancer. It's people like Ricky that give us all hope for the future. We need to follow his lead and raise money for the cure, not just for cancer, but for other diseases as well. We wish you all the best Ricky Rinehart.

Here is the article:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/news2011-sct/6496.html

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Celebs Get In On the Action at MDA event

The Muscular Dystrophy Association hosted a televised event that featured many different singing celebrities such as Celine Dion, Darius Rucker, Lady Antebellum, J-Lo, Jordin Sparks, Martina McBride, Steven Tyler, and Randy Jackson to name a few. It was to raise money and awareness for Muscular Dystrophy and other muscle degenerative diseases. It's part of their 'Make a Muscle, Make a Difference' campaign.

Here is the article:


http://www.mdausa.org/news/110901telethon-talent.html

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Susan G Komen doing their part for St. Louis

St. Louis is the beneficiary of three quarters of a million dollars in funding to help African American women living in the city in prevention of breast cancer. They realized that African American women were dying at a higher rate compared to other women in St. Louis so they decided to step in and help to preserve some valuable lives. This again shows that Susan G. Komen is dedicated to helping all survive breast cancer and end its ill effects.

Here is the link:

http://ww5.komen.org/KomenNewsArticle.aspx?id=19327353805

Monday, November 7, 2011

Scripps Research Institute at it again

The Scripps Research Institute has recently found some anti-cancer compounds with researchers at M.I.T. These findings were published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences," earlier this year in March. If these are truly as good as we hope, this could lead to a cure in the not too distant future. Here is the article for your perusing.
http://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20110321/cravatt.html

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Funding being cut even more

Here is another article stating that funding is low and that to get funding for certain disease research, they might have to take from the budget of other areas.

http://www.dallasnews.com/health/diseases-cures/headlines/20110517-disease-research-funds-fall-victim-to-budget-woes.ece

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Help Find a Cure

Hello everyone. Every year millions are affected by debilitating and harsh diseases such as breast cancer, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and muscular dystrophy. Others are affected either through disease or from accidents and develop paralysis. As of this date, none have been cured and a cure could still be a long way off. But fret not, researchers are working diligently to find cures for these diseases and conditions. The biggest drawback is in the funding. It is reported from the head of the National Institute of Health, or N.I.H., that funding could reach an all time low. This is where individuals like you can come in and take up the cause, whether through fundraisers or just in donating. 


One way we want to help is through donations to various disease research and development facilities and organizations that are on the cutting edge toward finding a cure. Our non-profit company, Candlelight Foundation Incl, uses only these types of research institutes that receive mostly funding from private donations toward finding a cure. We are called Candlelight Foundation because candles provide light just as there is a light at the end of the tunnel of hope for finding these cures. With your help, we can all do our part. The proceeds go to these very research and development institutes. Visitors can choose which disease research that their proceeds will go to. Almost everyone has either known someone, had someone a friend has known, or even themselves has been afflicted by one of these diseases or conditions.


The point of this blog is to increase awareness as well as to help raise funds to help find a cure. At Candlelight Foundation Inc., we believe in finding cures. That's why a motto of ours is For the Cure. Feel free to browse our site or just post on this blog any concerns or thoughts that you have in this area of disease research as well as any personal experiences you may have that you feel free to share. Everyone is welcome and none will be discriminated against. Please keep the responses on point and absolutely DO NOT chide or berate anyone else's posts. Thank you, Justin Roth.


WWW.CANDLELIGHTFOUNDATIONINC.ORG