INTERESTING TIMES

The Cochrane folks have determined that mammography is no longer indicated as cancer screening for women of any age! Here's the brochure: http://www.cochrane.dk/screening/mammography-leaflet.pdf. You can get them in any language at: http://www.cochrane.dk/.

It occurs to me, as I weed through my email inbox, that modern attempts to mold public opinion are largely efforts to incite us to outrage. The most recent one to cross my viewscreen was an email claiming that the TSA's purpose is to humiliate people. This claim was based, in this story at least, on the fact that they required that a breast feeding mother pump her milk before boarding the plane. The story made multiple references to her breasts, as if the TSA was actually doing something to them. I sincerely doubt that the TSA thought she had filled her breasts with explosives, but if she somehow had, having the liquid out where it could be inspected would eliminate that question. But more practically speaking, it takes a long time to pump breast milk, and there aren't many toilets on an airplane. It seems logical to me to pump while you're on the ground and avoid spending 10+ minutes in the restroom on an airplane. It's not a safe or pleasant place to hang out anyway. And others might need the restroom. So all this commentary is really just to say that there is more to every story. Before you allow someone to manipulate your emotions toward bloodthirst, look at the other side(s) of the question. Outrage in many cases is simply a lack of understanding. And little as I like the TSA's methods, their goal is not humiliation of the public, it is safe air travel.

Mercola breaks it down quite well in this article.
Here's the latest (Aug 2011) study.

Excellent article here by Dr Schor, on Aspirin/Cox inhibitors for breast cancer prevention or prevention of recurrence:
http://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/article_content.asp?edition=1§ion=2&article=271&utm_source=Natural+Medicine+Journal+List&utm_campaign=6379125056-December_2011_Issue11_28_2011&utm_medium=email
Pearl: Over-expression of COX-2 occurs in about 40% of invasive breast cancer cases and is more common in large tumors, positive lymph nodes, ductal histology, and tumors that are high histological grade or hormone receptor–negative. Thus it makes even more sense to attempt to affect COX activity in women whose cancers fit these criteria.

I just found him because I searched for images under the word "interbeing". I am finding that I quite enjoy his work.

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Nuclear plants in Japan are melting down, and radioactive clouds are headed our way across the Pacific. We have time to prepare...but what should we do? I am full of ideas, but mind you, this is not medical advice! Just the random rantings of some stranger on the internet! With that said, maybe it is a good time to increase your antioxidant intake, and keep it high for the forseeable future. Also, because much radioactivity is carried from such events in the form of radioactive iodine, maybe it's time to fill all your iodine receptors with healthy non-radioactive iodine. That way you reduce the amount of radioactivity your body takes in. The thyroid is the #1 place that iodine is used, and guess where is #2? The breast! Yes. And especially in teenage girls, the risk of cancer if iodine levels are low is radically increased--even when no noxious clouds are headed our way. Studies after the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki showed that the people who survived best and had least symptoms of radioactivity poisoning were the ones with the highest iodine intakes. It even helps to take iodine after the exposure, but it's better to get it in preventatively.

Here's one explanation in the news:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/954256--explainer-how-iodine-pills-protect-against-radiation
( more on exactly what I'm doing---and on what NOT to do!!!! )

The latest estimates show that by 2030, 26.4 million people a year may be diagnosed with cancer, with 17 million people dying from it. Mercola has a post today about the top advances in treating cancer. First he gives the list of the top 12 advances of 2008 according to Web MD. He points out that Web MD now has a "partnership" with the FDA. He points out that 10 of the top 12 are drugs: Web MD supports the FDA which supports the pharmaceutical corporations. And then Mercola lists what he sees as the top three advances in cancer treatment, which I think are worth noting:
1) optimizing vitamin D levels
2) optimizing insulin levels
3) thermography for early detection of breast cancer

It turns out that breast cancer, like some other cancers, may spontaneously resolve on its own far more than oncologists want to admit. The recent study compares one group of nearly 120,000 women, aged 50-64, who were getting mammograms regularly, with another group of 110,000 women of the same age who were screened just once at the end of a six year period. What they found is that the group who was screened regularly had 22% more invasive breast cancers than the ones who were not. In situ cancers were excluded.
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