New treatment for advanced melanoma shrinks tumors

Drug reduced tumors in 80 percent of patients, study says, but effect may be fleeting

“An experimental targeted cancer drug shrank advanced melanoma tumors in 81 percent of patients with the deadly and hard-to-treat cancer, doctors said Wednesday.

The findings were part of an early phase study used to determine the best dose of the experimental drug PLX4032, now in late-stage clinical trials. It is designed to target tumor cells with a mutation in a gene called BRAF. The drug is made by Roche and privately held Plexxikon.

In two patients, tumors went away completely. In 24 others, the tumors shrank by more than 30 percent, the team reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The team said 81 percent of 32 patients with a BRAF mutation showed complete or partial shrinkage of their tumors.”

I enjoy looking for unique vintage movie posters

This movie poster came out when I was a junior in high school.

1967 USA, documentary

(Don't Look Back)

Director D.A. Pennebaker

featuring Bob Dylan

UK
1974 reissue
20×30 $200

From The Posterman

Cat-tossing lady: I didn't mean to cause 'distress'

I’m filing this story under “I’ve Seen It All.”

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U.K. woman says 'it's just a cat' in response to uproar; she later apologizes

“Cat got her tongue?

After saying "it's just a cat" in response to the uproar over her decision to throw a neighbor's cat into a trash bin, Mary Bale apologized Tuesday for her actions and said she will work with investigators who are looking into the matter.

"I want to take this opportunity to apologize profusely for the upset and distress that my actions have caused," Bale said in a statement.

“I cannot explain why I did this, it is completely out of character and I certainly did not intend to cause any distress to Lola or her owners. It was a split second of misjudgment that has got completely out of control.”

Dog who ate beehive wins unusual pet insurance award

“A Labrador that ate a beehive containing pesticides and thousands of dead bees won an award on Monday that recognized the most unusual pet health insurance claim in the United States.

Ellie, who fully recovered from her encounter with the beehive in southern California, beat a border collie that ran through a window to get at a mailman, and a terrier that bit a chainsaw.

She won a bronze trophy in the shape of a ham, and basket of toys and doggie treats.

The winner was announced on Monday by the Veterinary Pet Insurance Co (VPI) and selected from a dozen pets nationwide.”

photo source – This smiling girl is a stand-in for Ellie.

Mother Nature to the Rescue: new microbe discovered eating Gulf oil spill

Is this to good to be true? Is it possible the environmental impact from the spilled oil will be considerably lessened by this tiny microbe?

Read on and see what you think.

'Great potential' for dispersing oil in deep sea, researchers report

“A newly discovered type of oil-eating microbe suddenly is flourishing in the Gulf of Mexico and  gobbling up the BP spill at a much faster rate than expected, scientists reported Tuesday.

Scientists discovered the new microbe while studying the underwater dispersion of millions of gallons of oil spilled since the explosion of BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig.

Also, the microbe works without significantly depleting oxygen in the water, researchers reported in the online journal Sciencexpress.”

More tainted food: Meats sold at Walmart recalled for bacteria

If it’s not eggs (see below), then it’s meat (see below).

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380,000 pounds of deli products possibly tainted with listeria

Roast beef and ham that was distributed to Walmart delicatessens nationwide and sold in sandwiches has been recalled because it might be tainted with potentially harmful bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday.

No illnesses have been reported from the 380,000 pounds of meat products that were made by Zemco Industries in Buffalo and may contain Listeria, agency spokesman Gary Mickelson said.

"It's believed most of the affected products have already been consumed," he said. The sandwiches have been removed from store shelves nonetheless.

Incoming aircraft is part of the fun at the noisiest beach in the world

Imagine the perfect vacation. Sunny weather – check, sand volleyball – check, nice white beach – check, and an airplane is landing right above your head?!

That is what you’ll get if you are staying in Maho Beach resort in the Caribbean.

 

Even with the warning signs (shown above) people act like this is a great way to play! They pull out their cameras and get all crazy taking photos from odd angles. Call me picky, but this beach is too insane for me!

Growing Monument: slow, steady progress with Crazy Horse

The giant face of Chief Crazy Horse is slowly taking shape at the Crazy Horse Memorial that is being carved out of Thunder Mountain in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota. The massive undertaking, originally the creation and idea of Polish-American artist and sculptor Korczak Ziokowski, was started in 1948, and it might be the largest sculpture in the world measuring when completed at 641 feet wide and 563 feet high. The head of Crazy Horse is 87 feet high. In comparison, the faces of the US president carved in Mt. Rushmore are 60 feet high. Ziokowski with approval from Chief Standing Bear and other Native Americans envisioned not only a monument to Native Americans, but also an educational and cultural center that currently includes the Indian Museum of North America, the Native American Cultural Center as well as workshops for Native American. Ziokowski and his relatives have refused government funding for the non-profit project and instead rely on donations and admissions to the memorial for funding to complete the Crazy Horse Memorial.

(Bottom) The Crazy Horse Memorial at Thunder Mountain is lit up in the evening prior to the laser light show in the Black Hills near Custer, South Dakota on Aug. 11, 2010.

Carl’s Corner: A sampling of Dahlias from his backyard

My friend Carl Young has been having a lot of fun with his camera lately. He has over 200 varieties of Dahlias and about half are in bloom right now. The rest are late bloomers for a variety of reasons. One has been the erratic weather. Photos by Young.

Here’s a list of 10 Controversial Psychiatric Disorders

The proposed revisions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) have spurred debate over what illnesses to include in the essential psychiatric handbook. Everything from gender identity disorder to childhood mood swings has come under fire, and it's not the first time. The history of psychiatry is littered with impassioned fights over controversial diagnoses.

#10. Hysteria -

In the Victorian era, hysteria was a catch-all diagnosis for women in distress. The symptoms were vague (discontentment, weakness, outbursts of emotion, nerves) and the history sexist (Plato blamed the wanderings of an "unfruitful" uterus).

The treatment for hysteria? "Hysterical paroxysm," also known as orgasm. Physicians would massage their patients' genitals either manually or with a vibrator, a task they found tedious but surprisingly uncontroversial. More contentious was the practice of putting "hysterical" women on bed rest or demanding that they not work or socialize, a treatment that often worsened anxiety or depression.

According to a 2002 editorial in the journal Spinal Cord, the diagnosis of hysteria gradually petered out throughout the 20th century. By 1980, hysteria disappeared from the DSM in favor of newer diagnoses like conversion and dissociative disorders.

GO HERE TO READ THE OTHER NINE