Lifeboat Foundation

Some elements of travel are the same for everyone. Clothing and toiletries, for instance, are generally a packing staple. Many people bring prescription drugs for chronic conditions, too.

But what if you have cancer? Are there any specific travel considerations you should keep in mind? We went to neuro-oncologist Ashley Aaroe, M.D., for advice.

Here are seven questions she recommends asking your care team before a trip.

Exercise has many health benefits, from improving brain health to strengthening bones and muscles. Included in the vast array of advantages associated with exercise is cancer prevention and control.

The scientific literature suggests that physical activity mobilizes immune cells, activating them to fight cancer. This idea prompted an investigation into the interplay between exercise and immunity, the results of which were recently published in Scientific Reports.

The study investigated how 10-minute exercise sessions impact immune cells in patients recently diagnosed with breast cancer. The exercise regimen in the study consisted of pedaling a supine bicycle (laying on the back while cycling the legs) for ten minutes. This type of activity, considered “acute exercise,” is loosely defined as single bouts of physical activity. Acute exercise directly impacts circulation, and when the blood starts pumping, immune cells travel throughout the body, becoming more likely to encounter cancerous cells.

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to all industries, including humanoid robotics. Supply chain disruptions and labor shortages have affected development and production. However, the industry has shown resilience, finding ways to resume manufacturing and sustain revenue.

In the ever-evolving robotics industry, challenges like supply chain disruptions and labor shortages demand strategic solutions. Diversify suppliers, build strong relationships and adopt just-in-time manufacturing for resilience. Embrace remote work, upskill the workforce and leverage automation. Monitor risks, maintain buffer stock, foster innovation and network with peers. These strategies ensure the continued growth and success of robotics companies amidst adversity. By staying agile and proactive, the robotics industry can overcome obstacles and lead the way to a transformative future.

Looking ahead, the healthcare industry presents a promising avenue for the application of humanoid robots. From providing security to dispensing pharmaceuticals and assisting patients, humanoid robots could revolutionize healthcare delivery.

Additionally, the strategy only works for mutations that have already been defined. Not all tumors have the same mutations, and some cancers manifest a wide array of mutations, but “it happens that colorectal cancer is one of those that has a small set of very common mutations,” said Cooper.

The technique must also translate to humans, though Cooper pointed out, “This is one of those cases where scaling up to humans might actually help it because everything is bigger, so there’s more target DNA and more biosensors you can fit into the gut.”

If further developed and approved for human use, the engineered bacterial biosensors could be used for other applications, such as rapid diagnosis of gut infections. Additionally, shifting from a detection model to a therapeutic mode, the same bacteria could be engineered to release anti-tumor agents upon detecting tumor DNA, rather than sending a signal that they’ve detected it.

After a highly lauded research campaign that successfully redesigned a hepatitis C drug into one of the leading drug treatments for COVID-19, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory are now turning their drug design approach toward cancer.

In their latest study, published in the journal Communications Chemistry, the team used neutrons and X-rays to draw a roadmap of every atom, chemical bond and electrical charge inside a key enzyme that belongs to a metabolic pathway that cancer cells dramatically overuse to reproduce.

This new information essentially helps pave the way for developing new drugs that act as roadblocks along the metabolic pathway to cut off the supply of vital resources to cancers cells. The drugs would be designed to target highly aggressive tumor-forming cancers that too often become terminal such as lung, colon, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

Thoughts.

Some studies of fish oil supplements have shown a higher risk for atrial fibrillation with marine omega-3 fatty acids. Is it real? What are the implications for patients taking these capsules?

The tiny, floating blobs of mini-hearts were straight out of Frankenstein. Made from a mixture of human stem cells and a sprinkle of silicon nanowires, the cyborg heart organoids bizarrely pumped away as they grew inside Petri dishes.

When transplanted into rats with heart injuries they lost their spherical shape, spreading out into damaged regions and connecting with the hosts’ own heart cells. Within a month, the rats regained much of their heart function.

It’s not science fiction. A new study this month linked digital electrical components with biological cells into a cyborg organoid that, when transplanted into animal models of heart failure, melded with and repaired living, beating hearts.

A previously unstudied protein in the framework of osteoarthritis may be critical in the prevention of the disease, according to groundbreaking new research published in the journal Science Advances, which included work by Justin Parreno, an assistant professor at the University of Delaware.

Osteoarthritis is an irreversible, painful and debilitating condition of the joints characterized by breakdown of the cartilage that cushions the ends of the bones, called articular cartilage. It occurs most often in the hands, knees or hips and is the most common type of arthritis, affecting more than 32.5 million Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Parreno was a doctoral student at the University of Toronto when he found that the protein called adseverin helps keep the articular cartilage healthy. This is the first time a specific protein associated with cell structure has been identified to be protective against osteoarthritis.

Tumor cells are known to be fickle sleeper agents, often lying dormant in distant tissues for years before reactivating and forming metastasis. Numerous factors have been studied to understand why the activation occurs, from cells and molecules to other components in the so-called tissue microenvironment.

Now, an interdisciplinary Cornell University team has identified a new mechanism regulating tumor growth in the skeleton, the primary site of breast cancer metastasis: mineralization of the bone matrix, a fibrous mesh of organic and inorganic components that determines the unique biochemical and biomechanical properties of our skeleton.

The team’s paper, “Bone-Matrix Mineralization Dampens Integrin-Mediated Mechanosignalling and Metastatic Progression in Breast Cancer,” published Aug. 7 in Nature Biomedical Engineering. The co-lead authors are research associate Siyoung Choi and doctoral student Matthew Whitman.