07 NOV 2019 by ideonexus
"Scandals" - Animals Evolved from Cancer Cells
Panchin knows the idea of cancer-derived animals sounds far-fetched — so much so that, in the paper, he and his co-authors refer to them as Scandals (an acronym for “speciated by cancer development animals”).
[...]
According to Panchin’s three-step scenario, a Scandal would start off as a cancer, but not just any cancer. It would have to be transmissible, so that it wouldn’t die when its host did. Then the cancer would have to spread to other species, and then independently evolve... 1 
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notes14 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
One in 1,000 to 500 Chance of Cancer from Childhood CT Scan
The first study to assess directly the risk of cancer after CT scans in childhood found a clear dose-response relationship for both leukemia and brain tumors: risk increased with increasing cumulative radiation dose. For a cumulative dose of between 50 and 60 milligray or mGy (mGy is a unit of estimated absorbed dose of ionizing radiation) to the head, the investigators reported a threefold increase in the risk of brain tumors; the same dose to bone marrow (the part of the body responsible fo...
1 14 MAR 2016 by ideonexus
1.9 Cases of Leukemia per 10,000 CT Scans in Children
In the breakdown of results, the study authors from Group Health Research Institute and University of California, Davis note that the risk of developing leukemia was highest from head scans for kids under age 5 with a rate of 1.9 cases per 10,000 CT scans. Younger children and girls seemed more susceptible to solid cancers than older kids and boys. Every 300 to 390 scans of a girl’s abdomen or pelvis was associated with the development of one solid cancer. The study estimates that 4,870 fut...31 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF) Lowers Cancer Risk
A well-established, graded, inverse association exists between cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as all-cause mortality in numerous healthy and clinical adult populations.1- 3 Compared with those classified in the lowest CRF category (<7.9 metabolic equivalents [METs]), individuals in the highest CRF category (≥10.9 METs) have a 1.6- to 1.7-fold lower risk of CVD and all-cause mortality, respectively.4 Accordingly, measurement of CRF via for...
1 From Time Magazine article on the study:
Here’s the best part: it doesn’t take a lot of exercise to have a big health impact, Lakoski found. “Just a small improvement in fitness made a difference in survival of those that developed cancer,” she says. Compared to men who could run 12-minute miles on the treadmill at age 50, men who ran slightly faster 11.5-minute miles had an additional 10% decrease in cancer death and an extra 25% decrease in cardiovascular death among those who developed cancer in the study.
07 MAR 2015 by ideonexus
The History of Cancer is Long
The battle of living things against cancer began so long ago that its origin is lost in time. But it must have begun, in a natural environment, in which whatever life inhabited the earth, was subjected, for good or ill, to influences that had their origin in sun and storm and the ancient nature of the earth. Some of the elements of this environment created hazards to which life had to adjust or perish. The ultraviolet radiation in sunlight could cause malignancy. So could radiations from cert... 1 notes
notes13 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Fundamentals of Cancer
Cancer, we now know, is a disease caused by the uncontrolled growth of a single cell. This growth is unleashed by mutations—changes in DNA that specifically affect genes that incite unlimited cell growth. In a normal cell, powerful genetic circuits regulate cell division and cell death. In a cancer cell, these circuits have been broken, unleashing a cell that cannot stop growing.
That this seemingly simple mechanism—cell growth without barriers—can lie at the heart of this grotesque an... 1 notes
notesIt is a mutated cell, a renegade, the key is to keep it from mutating.
21 JUN 2013 by ideonexus
Cancer as a Microevolutionary Process
The body of an animal operates as a society or ecosystem whose individual members are cells, reproducing by cell division and organized into collaborative assemblies or tissues. In our earlier discussion of the maintenance of tissues (Chapter 22), our interests were similar to those of the
ecologist: cell births, deaths, habitats, territorial limitations, and the maintenance of population sizes. The one ecological topic conspicuously absent was that of natural selection: we said nothing of co... 1 notes
notesCancer evolves within us, growing by natural selection in rebellion against the environment of our body's ecosystem.
19 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Why Cell Phone Radiation Does Not Cause Cancer
Physics explains why no links were found. The microwaves used in cell phone transmissions do not have enough energy to break the chemical bonds of DNA, which is how cell mutations occur and cause cancer. How do we know this? Light and other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including microwaves, radio waves, infrared waves, and ultraviolet light waves, are all forms of radiation. A single unit of radiation is called a photon. A photon can be thought of either as a particle or as a wave. ... 1 notes
notesAn explanation of radiation, it's different wavelengths, and why microwave radiation cannot damage a cell because it cannot break molecular bonds.
12 JUN 2012 by ideonexus
An Optimistic View of the Rise of Cancer
The fact that death from cancer is on the increase is not only a problem of medicine, but its at the same time testifies to the wonderful efficiency of medical science... [as it] enables more persons top live long enough to develop some kind of cancer in old and less resistant tissues. It means people are living long enough to get cancer.
25 APR 2012 by ideonexus
The Link Between Smoking and Cancer
The risk of developing carcinoma of the lung increases steadily as the amount smoked increases. If the risk among non-smokers is taken as unity and the resulting ratios in the three age groups in which a large number of patients were interviewed (ages 45 to 74) are averaged, the relative risks become 6, 19, 26, 49, and 65 when the number of cigarettes smoked a day are 3, 10, 20, 35, and, say, 60—that is, the mid-points of each smoking group. In other words, on the admittedly speculative ass... 1 notes
notesRisk increases with the amount smoked. Saved here for historical reference.
