Supporting Hope
Gestational diabetes: Take action to reduce disparities
Gestational diabetes may not receive as much attention as the type 1 and type 2 variants, but it can have equally serious consequences for both mother and child. Worse, its prevalence is growing in the United States.
Gestational diabetes is easily manageable once diagnosed, but that’s only one step in combating the condition. Researchers and clinicians hope to get funding to further study gestational diabetes so they can not only reduce disparities in its incidence but ultimately prevent it altogether.
Although often temporary, gestational diabetes is linked to a variety of complications, especially if left unmanaged. These include pre-eclampsia, a greater likelihood of Caesarean section delivery, urinary tract infections in mothers and infants, and higher perinatal morbidity and mortality. Gestational diabetes also increases the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes for both mother and child.
Further, because the condition disproportionately affects minority populations, better research, treatment and advocacy are needed, according to a paper in the Spring 2013 issue of Clinical Diabetes.
The paper was co-written by Raynald Samoa, M.D., assistant professor in City of Hope’s Department of Clinical Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism, Wilfred Fujimoto, M.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle and Amy Wotring, the American Diabetes Association’s associate director of federal government affairs.
“Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, and African-American women are at a disparately higher risk for GDM [gestational diabetes mellitus] or its long-term effects than non-Hispanic white women … therefore, diagnostic testing and prevention measures should be undertaken during postnatal follow-up,” they wrote. Continue reading “Gestational diabetes: Take action to reduce disparities” »
Rally for Medical Research: Scientists protest from D.C. to Duarte
Current news headlines seem to focus on the across-the-board federal budget cuts — known as sequestration — as the primary threat to U.S. biomedical research. But this is not the only straw that broke the camel’s back. A chronic decline of public funding has weakened the country’s scientific efforts for years.
To support the Rally for Medical Research, City of Hope will be holding its own local rally. The Duarte event will include a viewing of the D.C. rally and speakers pushing for increased NIH funding.
On Monday, researchers are gathering to say, “Enough is enough.”
More than 170 organizations — from comprehensive cancer centers to research advocacy groups — and thousands of survivors, researchers, clinicians, business leaders and members of the general public aim to make their voices heard at the Rally for Medical Research on April 8 in Washington, D.C., with satellite events throughout the nation. Their goal: Convince U.S. policymakers to make medical research funding a national priority.
One of those events will be at the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics & Tumor Immunology. As a national leader in biomedical research, few institutions can predict the impact on research, and patients, better than City of Hope.
Sequestration, which took effect March 1, slashed funding to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by more than 5 percent — about $1.5 billion. It was a heavy blow, but only the most recent one. The NIH budget has been stagnant for nearly a decade, resulting in an estimated $5.5 billion — about 30 percent — loss since 2003 because funding has not kept pace with the rate of biomedical inflation, which is around 3 percent each year.
As funding dwindles, researchers fear the country’s ability to cope with an aging population and a growing burden of chronic diseases — including cancer and diabetes — will follow. NIH funding is a key factor in finding treatment breakthroughs for patients with these diseases. Continue reading “Rally for Medical Research: Scientists protest from D.C. to Duarte” »
Vote to convince LIVESTRONG to help boost City of Hope’s palliative care program
Palliative care focuses on helping seriously ill patients cope with debilitating symptoms, pain and distress to improve their overall quality of life. City of Hope has long been at the forefront of this field and has even developed training programs to help other health-care providers and institutions build and improve their palliative care programs.
Your vote can convince LIVESTRONG Foundation to support City of Hope’s palliative care program
And now, we need your help to further advance the research and practice of quality palliative care.
Physicians in City of Hope’s Department of Supportive Care Medicine have applied for a grant from the LIVESTRONG Foundation. Your vote on the LIVESTRONG Foundation Community Impact Project site could be the breakthrough they need to get that funding.
The grant will help City of Hope prepare an application to The Joint Commission, a leading health-care quality monitoring organization, for Advanced Certification for Palliative Care.
This Joint Commission certification recognizes inpatient palliative care teams that demonstrate exceptional patient- and family-centered care by comprehensively addressing the spectrum of physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs while they are being treated for serious illnesses. And improving their quality of life may benefit their treatment outcomes and boost their survival odds, too. Continue reading “Vote to convince LIVESTRONG to help boost City of Hope’s palliative care program” »
For maximum impact, donate blood platelets – and save three lives
Drives for blood donations are a common occurrence, but platelet apheresis — in which the platelets are filtered out of the bloodstream for donation — is considerably less well-known. City of Hope hopes to change that.
The blood-clotting components are essential to cancer patients being treated with a bone marrow transplant.
A platelet donation can support up to three lives and may be as valuable as 18 units of whole blood. (Photo credit: Keith Brofsky)
“Platelets are the lifeline for our patients during their transplants,” said Kasie Uyeno, manager of City of Hope’s Blood Donor Recruitment Program. “Until the new marrow engrafts and starts producing blood cells and platelets, the patients are dependent on transfusions … some require multiple platelet transfusions every day for weeks.”
Maintaining a supply of platelets is not easy. Unlike other blood products that can be chilled or frozen, platelets have to be stored at room temperature; this gives them a notoriously short shelf life of five days.
Given City of Hope’s stellar reputation in hematology and bone marrow transplants, it’s no surprise that there is a continuously high need for platelets. Continue reading “For maximum impact, donate blood platelets – and save three lives” »
100 years of cancer survivorship and counting: The journey to cure
One hundred years of cancer survivorship looks much different than it did not too long ago. In the near future, it will look even different. We’ll explain — and illustrate.
Rendering of City of Hope’s 2013 Tournament of Roses Parade float, “Journey to Cure.”
There was a time, in the recent past in fact, when cancer patients had access to few effective treatments, and the time between diagnosis and death was short. It was so short that — were one to add up the months and years between diagnosis and death — it would have taken many patients to reach the 100-years-of-life mark. No more.
Five participants in the upcoming Tournament of Roses Parade exemplify the longer lifespans, and hope, now available to cancer patients. These five participants — all cancer survivors, all former City of Hope patients — will be aboard City of Hope’s float in the upcoming parade. Their combined survival since diagnosis totals 100 years.
Continue reading “100 years of cancer survivorship and counting: The journey to cure” »
Fiscal cliff endangers medicine, research and health of country
Talk of the “fiscal cliff” has largely focused on the impact to the military and potential job losses should the package of spending cuts and tax increases take effect as scheduled in January. But scientific and medical research would also be impacted, with potentially damaging effects for years to come.
Whether the “fiscal cliff” is a one-way route to economic doom or an exercise in political theater likely depends on one’s perception. Regardless, if U.S. legislators don’t approve a budget plan, then mandatory spending cuts affecting medical and scientific research will take effect, with far-reaching consequences.
One report says the National Institutes of Health alone would lose more than $2.5 billion in funding. Linda Malkas, Ph.D., who leads City of Hope’s basic science research efforts, and understands the real, long-term costs that mandatory cuts would have.
Continue reading “Fiscal cliff endangers medicine, research and health of country” »
Why does Michelle Gearhart-Pash embrace cancer?
If there is anyone whose spirit embodies the word indomitable, it is Michelle Gearhart-Pash. She has battled six separate occurrences of breast cancer and bested the disease every time.
Michelle Pash
Rather than retreat to her own life and avoid all talk about cancer, Gearhart-Pash has become a shoulder to lean on, a person to talk to and an advocate for others as the chair of City of Hope’s Patient and Family Advisory Council. That’s a group of patients and caregivers who give feedback and recommendations on City of Hope patient-care services.
“I don’t have a problem hearing someone’s story,” she says. “People ask me if they can have a friend or co-worker talk to me, and I always say ‘of course.’”
Continue reading “Why does Michelle Gearhart-Pash embrace cancer?” »
A stomach bug means bad news for lymphoma
Usually, we hate salmonella.
It’s the reason you’ve got to make sure your chicken is cooked through. These bacteria cause food poisoning so serious it can even be deadly to people with weakened immune systems.
We may yet learn to like salmonella if City of Hope virologist Don J. Diamond, Ph.D., has his way.
Diamond is leading studies to turn the household bug against diseases such as non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He plans to take advantage of a surprising trait of salmonella: The bacteria naturally seek out tumor cells.
Salmonella as a cancer-fighter isn’t a new idea. But Diamond has his own twist.
Using funds from his 2012–13 Tim Nesvig Lymphoma Fellowship, Diamond is improving a weakened, safe form of salmonella he says “performed beautifully in the laboratory, but had disappointing results in the clinic.” He and his team are amping up the bacteria’s natural cancer-finding ability.
So far, they’ve published exciting results in melanoma and pancreatic cancer. Ultimately, they hope to use the souped-up salmonella to help the body fight lymphoma. The plan: The bacteria travel to cancer cells and then push the body’s natural defenses to fight the cancer.
The scientists expect that a resulting treatment would be gentler on patients than the treatments of today.
That would be a good development coming from a bug that’s usually bad news.
Cancer patients need more people like Bob over the summer
Bob Williams has made platelet donations a habit for almost 20 years. (Photo by Thomas Brown)
Here’s a guy who’s not shy of commitment. Bob Williams, Ph.D., makes the drive to City of Hope from Covina, Calif., every few weeks to sit in a chair and have blood pulled out of his arm. Oh, and then it goes back into his arm — most of it, anyway.
Williams, 79, regularly donates platelets, which help blood clot. A machine removes them from his blood, returning the rest of his blood to his body. Platelets are important to patients with cancer and other diseases, because patients often need blood transfusions to make it through intensive therapy. Williams can relate because his own daughter had cancer, and he started donating during her treatment in the 1990s. That was 400 donations ago.
He shows no sign of stopping. “I am a Virgo; we like routines,” he says jokingly.
People like Williams are critical to cancer patients. At City of Hope, patients go through about 5,000 units of blood each month. Blood products have a limited shelf life, too. While whole blood may be stored for up to 56 days, platelets last only five days. Continue reading “Cancer patients need more people like Bob over the summer” »
Get the scientists of the future off to a good start
It used to be that kids with a curious mind about science had a range of choices to support their cravings, from Mr. Wizard to Bill Nye the Science Guy. These days, it seems easier to be a geek than a nerd. But if the 1980s taught us anything, it can be cool to be a nerd.
These cool kids may turn into the adults making major discoveries in labs tomorrow. That’s the hope of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which aims to stimulate kids’ and teens’ interest in science.
The NIH awarded City of Hope and the neighboring Duarte Unified School District a five-year, $1.3 million grant that creates partnerships among researchers, teachers, schools, museums, science centers and other education organizations to improve life science literacy in the U.S.
“One of the things really lacking in the profession of science is a pipeline of students — particularly under-represented minority students — who are enthusiastic about research,” said Susan Kane, Ph.D., professor in the Division of Tumor Cell Biology at City of Hope, who will oversee the grant.
This summer, 20 students who will be juniors and seniors next fall will work in City of Hope’s Community Teaching Laboratory. Next fall, Kane and her colleagues will visit second-grade classrooms in Duarte and bring fifth and eighth graders to City of Hope for an up-close science education.
