SAY NO TO PLASTIC …

The following article was written in the LA Times in September shortly after Patrick Swayze died of pancreatic cancer.

The article is filled with up to date information you and your family should be aware of.  Pancreatic cancer is a silent killer.  Symptoms of the disease are vague, which is why it is usually detected only it its advanced stages.

November is Pancreatic Cancer Awareness month.

With Patrick Swayze’s death today comes a highly public reminder that the cure rate for pancreatic cancer is abysmal. This year, an estimated 42,470 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease. And an estimated 35,240 will die.

Smoking can increase risk, as can obesity, diabetes, family history and other factors. But there simply aren’t obvious signs of the disease in its early stages, and detection can often come too late. (Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer earlier this year; hers was indeed caught fairly early.)

The disease is broken down into two basic types: exocrine tumors and endocrine tumors, as the American Cancer Society explains. Exocrine tumors are the most common and are usually malignant. Endocrine tumors are much more rare and the malignancy rate is more complex. (Steve Jobs was diagnosed with the endocrine type several years ago.)

The National Cancer Institute offers a good overview of the disease. Of special note, it includes a link to clinical trials.

Besides studying genetic factors and trying to improve detection, researchers are trying to improve the effectiveness of the drugs now commonly used to treat cancer of the pancreas – and to devise new therapies as well.

Here’s an overview of new treatment approaches, according to the American Cancer Society. Included targeted therapies that attack only specific types of  cells or vessels, immune therapies that bolster the body’s ability to fight the disease and more.

Similarly, the Lustgarten Foundation offers descriptions of the Pancreatic Cancer Genome Project and the Pancreatic Cancer Biomarker Initiative specifically. The former identified specific mutations and signaling pathways and is expected to shape research for years to come. The latter aims to find new detection and screening options.

For a truly impressive, or inspiring, database, there’s this list of pancreatic cancer researchers and their projects, via the Pancreatic Cancer Research Map. It’s searchable by investigator, area of research, state, etc.

And, for a sample of recent research into pancreatic cancer, the Pancreatic Cancer Research Center at Johns Hopkins University offers a selection of presentations.

All of which is to say, the work continues.

– Tami Dennis

If you haven’t viewed the art of Chris Jordan take some time,  and do yourself a favor.  His ability translate social and environmental concerns into visual art we can all understand is immense.

He has published several books including “Intolerable Beauty – Portraits of American Mass Consumption”, “In Katrina’s Wake – Portraits of Loss from an Unnatural Disaster”,  “Running the Numbers – An American Self Portrait”, and “Running the Numbers II – Portraits of Global Mass Culture”.

Click the link below from Daily Art Fix and Enjoy!

Chris Jordan: Awareness Through Art

Posted using ShareThis

Last week Target, the fifth-largest U.S. retailer in 2008 and CVS announced plans designed to reduce the number of single use plastic bags their customers carry out of their 7,000 stores every year.

Target  plans to give customers a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag they use to pack their purchases at all 1,700 Target stores nationwide.

CVS’ plan is to give customers  who choose to participate cash bonuses for not using plastic bags is more cumbersome.

Customers must ante up 99 cents to purchase a green tag that will be affixed to their own reusable bags when they shop.

When used in conjunction with their CVS cards (four times) customers will receive an additional $1 cash bonus they buy something but don’t request plastic bags.

Green activists,  working to reduce and eliminate single use plastic bags were naturally buoyed by the announcement.

While this is a small step forward, it is none the less, it is worth noting that Target Australia completely banned the use of single use plastic bags in last year in 2008! Here. Green activists are watching to see how soon other retailers follow suit.

In an article  USA TODAY noted

[...] the two programs could keep billions of plastic bags out of the environment and nudge other big retailers to take similar steps, says Allen Herskowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

According to Allen Herskowitz, senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, both programs could keep billions of plastic bags out of the environment. “Plastic bags are the most ubiquitous form of waste on the planet,” Herskowitz says. “They are among the most deadly forms of marine debris, lethal to threatened species of marine mammals throughout the world.”