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Ask the Experts: Stress, diabetes and how to manage both
In many ways, stress and diabetes feed off one another in a vicious cycle. Research has shown that stress — particularly chronic stress — leads diabetics to make poor lifestyle choices. It also causes their bodies to release hormones that can destabilize blood sugar levels.
Diabetes causes stress, which in turn makes blood sugar control more different. To take control of stress, exercise.
At the same time, living and coping with diabetes is itself a long-term source of stress, especially when it involves frequent monitoring and management.
Thus, it is vital for diabetics avoid this cycle as much as possible by keeping their stress levels in check. City of Hope will be hosting an “Ask the Experts – Diabetes and Stress: What You Need to Know” event to help them do just that.Randi McAllister, Ph.D., clinical professor from the Department of Supportive Care Medicine, and Jinsun Choi, M.D., fellow from the Department of Clinical Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, will be speaking at the event.
Some tips for diabetics to manage their stress and minimize its effects include: Continue reading “Ask the Experts: Stress, diabetes and how to manage both” »
At the crossroads, translational lab speeds ideas into therapies
David DiGiusto, Ph.D., works at the intersection of science and medicine.
David DiGiusto at his laboratory, where he aims to rapidly turn novel ideas into viable treatments for serious illnesses.
As the director of the Laboratory for Cellular Medicine, he oversees stem cell research, product development and manufacturing. The manufacturing arm of the lab — the Cellular Therapy Production Center — is one of three onsite facilities at City of Hope that make investigational treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. In short, his lab is the bridge between basic research where bold ideas are born and the clinical trials that study promising, new treatments in patients.
Watch the video below to hear DiGiusto explain the how and why of manufacturing — and talk about the ultimate goal of his team’s HIV research. Continue reading “At the crossroads, translational lab speeds ideas into therapies” »
Fast-talking stem cell scientists compete in elevator pitch contest
A stem cell researcher steps into an elevator, followed by his congressman, a Wall Street Journal science writer and a wealthy philanthropist. As the doors close and the scientist pushes the button for his floor, the trio turns to him and asks, “So what do you do?”
Stem cells offer vast potential for curing diseases, but can scientists do a quick elevator pitch of their promising studies? Three City of Hope scientists gave it a shot. (photo credit: City of Hope)
The next 30 seconds of that scientist’s life could change his career; each of his elevator mates might be crucial to advancing his work. But he’s got to give a clear, comprehensible answer that will have them yearning for more before those doors open again.
When it comes to stem cell research — and the potential breakthroughs that could result — creating a so-called elevator speech is no easy feat. But that was exactly the challenge posed by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), the state’s stem cell agency. The institute asked attendees of its recent grantee meeting in San Francisco to give their best 30-second speeches about their work. They recorded the pitches and posted them on YouTube.
According to the CIRM contest webpage, the best three would receive “fame, the admiration of their colleagues, and a small prize.”
John A. Zaia, M.D., Aaron D. and Edith Miller Chair in Gene Therapy and chair of City of Hope’s Department of Virology, placed second in the principal investigator (PI) category.
Coming in at exactly 30 seconds, Zaia cut straight to the chase. “Our goal is to cure AIDS,” he said, “so that people with HIV infection don’t have to take medicines for the rest of their life.” Continue reading “Fast-talking stem cell scientists compete in elevator pitch contest” »
Ask the Experts: Banishing myths about colorectal cancer
March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, as many people may already know. But being “aware” of the disease means more than being able to recognize the disease’s risk factors, knowing its symptoms and getting screened regularly, points out a City of Hope expert on colorectal cancer.
On March 27, City of Hope experts will address the facts and myths about risk factors, symptoms, detection and treatment of colorectal cancer.
People should also be aware of the misconceptions surrounding this disease, said Marwan Fakih, M.D., co-director of City of Hope’s Gastrointestinal Cancer Program. After all, colorectal cancer kills more than 50,000 people in the United States each year, so being able to separate fact from fiction can only improve one’s chances of surviving, or not developing, the disease.
Fakih will address and dispel some of these myths when he speaks at this month’s “Ask the Experts: Colon Cancer – Get the Facts.” Julian Sanchez, M.D., assistant clinical professor in the Department of Surgery, and James Lin, M.D., gastroenterologist in the Department of Medical Specialties, will also be presenting.
Some of the common fallacies Fakih hears, and wants to banish, include: Continue reading “Ask the Experts: Banishing myths about colorectal cancer” »
For some cancer patients, the future is about those left behind
At City of Hope, doctors, nurses and social workers are committed to fighting with, and for, patients in their battle against cancer. That commitment doesn’t fade even if the battle ultimately is lost.
Because control over the end of life can make an enormous difference to patients, as well as those left behind, City of Hope works hard to give patients that control, leading them through a process of discovery, of reflection, of legacy.
Such an approach is, in itself, a breakthrough.
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“It’s really easy to avoid talking about death,” says Jeanelle Folbrecht, Ph.D., interim director of psychology at the Sheri & Les Biller Patient and Family Resource Center.
Even when the patient, his or her medical team and all of the family members agree that the goal has shifted from aggressively pursuing treatment to controlling pain, “it’s still so hard to say we’re at the end of life, that treatment is not going to work,” says Folbrecht. “Patients, families and sometimes even health-care professionals don’t want to upset people or say that a miracle is not going to happen or that a treatment is not going to be successful. It’s almost as if, if you talk about it, it might happen.” Continue reading “For some cancer patients, the future is about those left behind” »
At end of life, one patient tries to help her family go on
For everyone, life’s journey eventually ends. At City of Hope, doctors, nurses and social workers are committed to fighting with, and for, patients in their battle against cancer. That commitment doesn’t fade even if the battle ultimately is lost.
Because control over the end of life can make an enormous difference to patients, as well as those left behind, City of Hope works hard to give patients that control, leading them through a process of discovery, of reflection, of legacy.
Here’s one woman’s story …
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As she has for the past four years, Wendy Wilkins recently asked her City of Hope doctors to “just get me through the holidays” so she could spend one more Christmas with her husband and four sons. And for another year, they succeeded.
Apple Valley resident and cancer patient Wendy Wilkins, shown here with her family in 2010, says the time for agressive treatment is now over. (Photo courtesy of Wendy Wilkins)
Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2008, Wilkins underwent a double mastectomy, and the disease temporarily retreated. Yet it returned, reappearing in her bones, lungs, liver and, most recently, her brain. Now, says Wilkins, the time for aggressive, grueling treatments is over. “We’re trying to keep me out of pain and make the time I have left more special for my boys.”
The 37-year-old Apple Valley, Calif., resident faces the new year knowing it could be her last – yet she’s determined to help her family flourish without her. Through City of Hope’s Legacy Program, a team of social workers, child life specialists and psychologists are helping Wilkins and her family prepare for that transition.
Supportive care staff helped Wilkins and her family deal with the emotional side of her illness. “They helped me to know what to say to the kids and how to say it.” She and her husband, Brent, learned to hold family meetings that updated their boys without unduly frightening them.
She initially focused on powering through treatments to save her life, but City of Hope’s legacy program caused her to stop and reflect on the meaning of her life and what she wanted to leave behind.
Continue reading “At end of life, one patient tries to help her family go on” »
On World AIDS Day, scientific advances elicit optimism
World AIDS Day is marked this year with a renewed optimism that science and medicine could soon change the course of the disease — again.
First came the AIDS drug AZT, then the combinations of antiretroviral drugs known as AIDS cocktails. Both were significant advances that gave hope, and longer life expectancy, to patients with the virus. Now many experts are cautiously talking about cures as an eventuality rather than a dream. Part of that optimism is fueled by the gene therapies currently in development at City of Hope. Continue reading “On World AIDS Day, scientific advances elicit optimism” »
Super foods: A palatable way to defend against breast cancer
Science is proving that a trio of popular and tasty super foods could offer an effective way to prevent breast cancer. The findings are hard evidence that some foods can work against cancer.
Shiuan Chen studies super foods. (Photo by Walter Urie)
City of Hope’s Shiuan Chen, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Cancer Biology, has studied the cancer-fighting potential of foods for decades. His early work began with mushrooms. In the years since, he’s added blueberries and pomegranates to the list.
Chen has found these foods have natural chemicals that can put the brakes on breast cancer.
Most breast cancers need estrogen to live. Breast cancer cells use the enzyme aromatase to make lots of estrogen. Chen found that mushrooms and pomegranates make compounds that block aromatase.
And blueberries may prove to be even more important. They make a chemical that can combat so-called triple-negative breast cancers, one of the toughest forms to treat. These tumors don’t need estrogen to grow. Worse, they remain unaffected by some of the most current and effective breast cancer drugs.
Using a concentrated extract of blueberries, Chen and his colleagues showed that triple-negative tumors could be stopped in laboratory models.
Chen recently told NBC Los Angeles about his work.
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Check out Super Foods recipes on Facebook.
How do you take the measure of a man?
Warren Buffett’s recent revelation about his prostate cancer diagnosis re-opened the debate over age and prostate cancer screening and treatment. At 81, Buffett falls outside of the commonly used guidelines that men over 75 don’t need to be screened for prostate cancer.
The United States Preventive Services Task Force made this recommendation in 2008, noting that most men over age 75 who develop prostate cancer die from other causes. Since prostate cancer in older men tends to develop slowly, experts say, these men do not need treatment that can cause incontinence and other side effects.
Interestingly, the task force announced its prostate cancer screening recommendations a year before it unveiled its recommendation that breast cancer screening should begin at 50 instead of the current 40 years of age. There was sustained public outrage over the breast cancer screening recommendations, but little hubbub over the guidelines on prostate cancer.
We should remember that guidelines are created to help the majority of people, and individuals can fall on either side of that bell curve — developing prostate cancer earlier or later in life than the typical patient. Men are encouraged to talk with their doctor about their personal health concerns and whether screening is right for them.
Timothy Wilson, M.D., Pauline and Martin Collins Family Chair in Urology and chief of the Division of Urology & Urologic Oncology, shares his thoughts in this video about the value of prostate cancer screening.
When leukemia moves in, it makes itself right at home
Cancer cells will do whatever it takes to stay alive, and a City of Hope research team has discovered the sneaky way some leukemia cells can cause cancer after treatment. In this video, Ravi Bhatia, M.D., describes how cancer stem cells that cause chronic myelogenous leukemia, or CML, hide out in bone marrow and change their environment to protect themselves.
Bhatia, who directs the Division of Hematopoietic Stem Cell and Leukemia Research, and his colleagues published their study in the April 16 issue of the journal Cancer Cell.
Cancer cells can change the area around them to make conditions better for cancer to grow. In the case of a pancreatic tumor, for example, cancer cells can hide the tumor away from the immune system or encourage the pancreas to grow new blood vessels to feed the tumor. Cancer cells can change the immediate area surrounding the tumor — what scientists call the microenvironment — to help the tumor out.
Leukemia affects the bone marrow microenvironment in a similar way. It turns the area into a space that’s friendlier to leukemia cells. Even if powerful modern medicines successfully kill mature leukemia cells, leukemia stem cells can hide away in the bone marrow, manipulate it and emerge to cause CML again if patients stop taking the drugs.
Researchers think the information may lead to new strategies to counter CML. If scientists can better understand how the disease makes these long-term changes to the microenvironment, they may be able to find better treatments that can wipe out all leukemia cells and prevent them from returning. His team is continuing its investigations.
