'Cancer cells simply melt away': Miracle drug amazes Australian researchers after lengthy trials.

Cancer patients are finally catching a break, as Australian researchers have tested a miracle drug that leads to big improvement in a majority of cases, and total recovery in some. The drug targets a specific protein that helps cancer cells survive.

The Melbourne-based trial took place over four years and tested 116 patients. It was shown by researchers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre that the drug Venetoclax can greatly reduce cancer blood cells.

Positive results were seen in 79 percent of cases involving patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Some patients who had previously undergone treatment were left as good as new after agreeing to the new pill trials.

This is indeed historic news, as it marks the first trial of a medicine that is the result of three decades of research. "Here we are a bit under 30 years later in collaboration with WEHI and pharmaceutical companies here and in the US having proved that's achievable," head of haemotology, Professor John Seymour, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

"This is a completely new class of drugs and there is no other drug or medicine previously available that has had the ability to inhibit this BCL-2 protein," he said, adding that the drug’s benefits also spread to other forms of cancer and leukemia than those tested.

Their results are published Thursday in the journal New England Journal of Medicine.

Success stories were heard from many chronically sick patients. One, Rodney Jacobs, 63, who owns a record shop in Melbourne, told the newspaper he was referred to the trial in 2012 after other therapies, including chemotherapy. Jacobs could not get a break.

"It was looking pretty bleak at that stage," he told the paper. "The results have been nothing short of stunning... I've had little or no side effects and I slowly got myself back to work with my business and slowly but surely I have a relatively normal life."

source:www.rt.com

Use of Plastic Tea Cups can cause cancer.

source:IndiaTV news

'UK astronaut' Piers Sellers on living with cancer.

British-born astronaut Piers Sellers says he is now living life at "20 times normal speed" after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Dr Sellers, originally from Crowborough in East Sussex, is the deputy director of Nasa's science and exploration division.

The 60-year-old was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer in late October.
"It did motivate me to concentrate my thoughts," he told the BBC.
"I'd been feeling rough for about six or nine months, getting progressively more ill.
"The outlook in terms of expected longevity was a bit of a shocker.
'This is home'
He has written an article for the New York Times in which he shares his thoughts on climate change.
He said: "I could look down and I could see cities and rivers and ship wakes and aircraft contrails.
"It's a very small world and it's pretty much all we've got.
"Leaving the home planet, looking back and then coming back again made me realise this is home."
source:http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-35374271

Chris Christie Makes His Charge

The New Jersey governor on why senators make lousy presidents and how his focus on New Hampshire is paying off.

Chris Christie on Tuesday is an introduction and two answers deep into his 47th town-hall meeting in New Hampshire so far, at an American Legion post. He’s surrounded by about 250 voters with the slightly feral look of people who understand their influence in choosing the next Republican nominee. There are also several moles, plotting a social ambush.

The New Jersey governor calls on a small woman, a college student probably, who doesn’t have a question but “a quick suggestion,” by which she means a demand to “ban fossil-fuel extraction.” Other kids start to stand up one by one, shrieking catchphrases about climate change, but Mr. Christie bares his full bridge-and-tunnel pugnacity: He shouts them down instead. “You know I won’t. I won’t ban fossil-fuel extraction, because it’s stupid,” he yells, fixing the instigator with a gelid stare that lasts so uncomfortably long that you almost feel sorry for her.

source:http://www.wsj.com/articles/chris-christie-makes-his-charge-1452297381?ru=yahoo?mod=yahoo_itp

Former Ohio Rep. Oxley dies of cancer

Former Ohio GOP Rep. Mike Oxley, who helped write landmark anti-fraud legislation following a wave of corporate scandals that brought down Enron Corp. and WorldCom Inc., died Friday.

He was 71.

Oxley died in his sleep in McLean, Va., from a type of lung cancer seen in nonsmokers, wife Patricia Oxley said.

He was chairman of the Lung Cancer Alliance board of directors.

"Few things are more difficult than having to say goodbye to a friend,” said recently retired House Speaker John Boehner, a fellow Ohio Republican. “Mike Oxley and I were friends for more than 30 years. … He was as skilled as a legislator as he was quick with a smile. He loved to serve, and he loved those he served,”

Oxley left Congress in 2007 after 25 years in the House, where he devoted most of his time to issues involving corporate oversight and insurance protection.

He led an effort to investigate failed energy giant Enron and helped create new accounting requirements in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

The law reshaped corporate oversight after accounting scandals in 2001-2002 at Enron, WorldCom and other major corporations exposed inadequate internal controls and auditors who had become too cozy with the companies whose books they examined. Those corporate scandals and others wiped out retirement accounts, cost investors billions and pushed people out of work.

Small companies later complained that the law Oxley helped to create also brought added costs to comply with requirements for reports on their internal financial controls.

Pro-business conservatives argued that a board established to oversee the accounting industry and the industry's own regulators had violated the separation of powers and challenged the law in court.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2010 agreed that the law violated the Constitution's separation of powers mandate. But its decision required only a slight change in allowing the removal of members of the oversight board.

In the House, Oxley was chairman of the financial services committee, which has jurisdiction over banking and Wall Street issues.

The Blade newspaper reported in 2003 that after Oxley became chairman, he had raised $920,000 from securities and investment firms, $740,000 from insurance companies, $480,000 from banks and $330,000 from accountants. Oxley said the reports of fundraising influencing policy were ludicrous.

Oxley, a former FBI agent, advocated giving police greater ability to unscramble encrypted computer files. He was the chief House sponsor of legislation requiring operators of commercial websites to restrict young people's access to sexually explicit material.

He was an FBI agent for three years before he was elected to the Ohio House in 1972. He won a special election to the U.S. House in 1981 by 341 votes to fill a vacancy caused by the death of GOP Rep. Tennyson Guyer.

Oxley rarely faced a close election after that, especially since his district in rural northwest Ohio was one of the state's most solidly Republican seats and included his hometown of Findlay.

Following his retirement, Oxley became a lobbyist in the financial sector. He was also a member of the University of Findlay board of trustees and active with Miami University of Ohio, his alma mater.(http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/01/former-ohio-rep-oxley-dies-cancer.html)