September is Prostate Cancer Awareness month, and so this bit of news seems timely.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say they’ve cobbled together two unlikely elements into what appears to be a good preventative for prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men after skin.
The scientists combined an antimalarial drug called chloroquine with broccoli. Well, not broccoli exactly, but rather sulforaphane, a compound in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer.
Sulforaphane appears to prevent early-stage prostate cancer, but not late-stage because, hypothesized the researchers, a cellular mechanism called autophagy limits the ability of drugs to destroy late-stage cancer cells. Chloroquine inhibits autophagy.
It should be noted that no one is urging men to gobble down broccoli with a sprinkling of chloroquine. The broccoli is good for you, but the chloroquine can cause serious side effects.
Plus, the Pittsburgh study was conducted on mice. So while it’s encouraging news for the prostates of our little, furry friends, only more research will determine whether humans can somehow benefit.
Life in Big Macs
One hour of Pilates burns 238 calories (based on a 150-pound person) or the equivalent of 0.3 Big Macs.
Body of knowledge
The average human adult is comprised of roughly 7 octillion atoms. That’s seven followed by 27 zeroes. A big number, to be sure, but atoms are mostly empty space. If you could compress yourself into solid matter with no trapped space, your body would fit inside a cube less than 1/500th of a centimeter on each side. FYI: A typical fingernail is about 1 centimeter in width.
1 in 5 – Ratio of women under the age of 55 who experience no chest pain during a heart attack
–Source: Louise Pilote, McGill University Health Center
Phobia of the week
Homichlophobia – fear of fog
Two dudes – A common reply when emergency room doctors ask a patient who beat them up, as in “I was walking down the street minding my own business when these two dudes jumped me for no reason.” The implication is that if it had been just one dude the patient would have prevailed without serious injury.
Never say diet
The Major League Eating speed-eating record for potato wedges is 3.74 pounds in 8 minutes, held by the aptly named “Gravy” Brown. Note: Tim Brown’s nickname was coined during a 2006 grilled cheese sandwich-eating contest when observers reportedly noted a beige-tinted ooze flowing uncontrollably from his nostrils. Enough said.
This week in 1772, the soon-to-be state of New Jersey passed the first law in the United States to license medical practitioners. Exceptions were made for those who do not charge for their services or who engaged in the presumably benign activities of bleeding patients or pulling teeth.
“Call Me Trimtab”
On the headstone of R. Buckminster Fuller ( 1895-1983)
Fuller was a man of many talents and achievements: architect, designer, inventor and futurist. A trimtab is the smallest part of a rudder for a ship or airplane. It controls the direction of the craft. Fuller was likely alluding how much power one individual can have in the world.