Odysseys of George

Just got this from a friend. Well just to alert all my friends and visitors.

Cancer update
Johns Hopkins
Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:

1. No plastic containers in micro.
2. No water bottles in freezer.
3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters. This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army MedicalCenter as well.

Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don’t freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic.

Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn’t bad but you don’t know what is in the paper. It’s just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.

He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

NOOR V. GILLANI, D.Sc
Principal Research Scientist
Adjunct Professor
Nat’l Space Science & Technol Ctr.
Atmospheric Science Department
(NSSTC, NASA-AL)
U. of AL in Huntsville(UAH)
Tel. 256 961-7942
email:gillani@nsstc.uah.edu
Fax. 256 961-7755

Checked in the medical literature :

Diry, M. Tomkiewicz, C. Koehle, C. Coumoul, X. Bock, K Walter. Barouki, R. Transy, C.
UMR-S 490 INSERM, UFR Biomedicale des Saints Peres, Paris, Cedex, France.
Activation of the dioxin/aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) modulates cell plasticity through a JNK-dependent mechanism
Oncogene. 25(40):5570-4, 2006 Sep 7.

Abstract:
Environmental chemicals such as dioxin adversely affect immune, neurological and reproductive functions and have been implicated in cancer development. However, the mechanisms responsible for dioxin toxicity are still poorly understood……Dioxin-induced effects occur 48 h post-treatment initiation, a time scale, which argues for a genomic effect of the AhR, linked to induction of target genes. This novel Ahr action on cell plasticity points to a role in cancer progression.

Have we heard of Minimal Access Surgery? Well it is quite self explanatory actually, a surgical procedure performed via a small access. However in such diversified community, explaining the procedure actually can be quite comical. “Itu guna laserkah?”, ” teropong punya potongka”, “luka kecik-kecik potongka” or even ” guna camera potong ka” are some of the ways patients ask us about the above procedure. Patients, most of them, have actually heard quite a lot about this procedure and knows that this is advances in medicine and surgery and has its benefits.

Then I have older and even young surgeons asking what is so interesting in such a procedure. Isn’t the conventional open chop-chop more surgically interesting? More “fast & furious”? My answer ” True and False”.

Well, conventional surgery is what most or all of us are used to. Therefore, it becomes easier and safer but actually that too after some learning curve.So now it becomes exciting.

MAS is the way of the future. Benefits clearly outweighs the complications when a procedure becomes a norm such as laparoscopic appendectomy and laparoscopic cholecystectomy.
Yes, for the surgeon it can be tedious and frustrating in the begining but when the challenge and preserverance are conquered, and the patient recovers with a definite difference from conventional surgery — satisfaction guaranteed. Surgery is art.

A beginner in lapaoscopic surgery, should not have any restriction to convert to open method when he or she is having difficulty.

So what are the benefits:
1.Reduced post operative pain
2.Easier / Better recovery with shorter hospital stay
3.Early back to work
4. Good cosmesis
5. minimal adhesions and wound infections

And the disadvantages:
1.increased short term complications usually due to technical errors

Minimal access surgery requires totally different skills than conventional surgery. For instance, surgeons need to learn different hand-eye coordination (‘psychomotor’) skills in order to manipulate the imaging and surgical equipment; tissue appears significantly different when
viewed from inside the body; care must be taken to avoid accidental damage.

So why not laparoscopic surgery?