Two astonishing medical breakthroughs....

[S-Des]

60 Minutes has been really good lately, especially the last two weeks. Two weeks ago there was a story that covered the unexpected side-effects of Gastric Bypass surgery. In a room full of people who've gone through the procedure (which has become safer than most other forms of surgery), not only had every person lost weight and lost the desire to binge eat....every individual who had been previously diagnosed with diabetes had every trace of it disappear within days of their surgery. It's not to the point where they are recommending someone with diabetes should go in for the GB surgery, but that day may not be too far into the future. A fairly safe procedure (1 in 1000 deaths) that eradicates a lifelong disease that has enormous financial costs and takes a huge physical toll on it's victims. Amazing.....


Of course, that was the small fish in the pond. This week's show had a story of a man with no medical training who may have stumbled onto the cure for cancer (possibly all of it). I can't possibly do the story justice, so I recommend anyone to go to 60 Minutes' web site and view this potentially life-changing story. The bottom line is that the man had the flash of insight and decided to try building a radio-wave machine to see if he could heat small areas of a hot dog (yeah, if this works the story will always be that the solution came from a hot dog ). When he was able to accomplish that, he took the discovery to two cancer treatment specialists who did independent research. It's moved onto animal testing, where all tests have been successful so far. They estimate it will take 4 years (if everything continues to pan out) for it to move to human testing.

Here's my favorite exerpt....

"This technology may allow us to treat just about any kind of cancer you can imagine," Dr. Curley told Stahl. "I've gotta tell you, in 20 years of research this is the most exciting thing that I’ve encountered."

That's because Kanzius impressed Curley with another remarkable idea: to combine the radio waves from his device with something cutting edge - space age nanoparticles made of metal or carbon. They are so small that thousands of them can fit in a single cancer cell. Because they’re metallic, Kanzius was hoping his radio waves would them heat up and kill the cancer.

"If these nanoparticles work then we truly have something huge here," Kanzius told Stahl.

Enter Rick Smalley, another cancer patient at M.D. Anderson and the man who won the Nobel Prize for discovering nanoparticles made from carbon. As luck would have it, Dr. Curley was called in one day to examine Smalley. Before leaving, he asked him for some of his nanoparticles.

"I proceeded to tell him what I wanted to do and that I thought they would heat. He looked at me with sort of a studied long look and didn’t say anything. And then he looked at me and said, 'It won’t work,'" Curley remembered. "And just laughed and said, 'Well, look, I'll give you some. But don't be too disappointed.'"

When it actually did work, Curley told Smalley, who simply said, "Holy Shit!"

Although there have been false alarms in the past (so no one should get too excited), wouldn't it be consistent with human nature if the worst disease in our history was eradicated by someone who knew nothing about medicine?


Here is the link to both stories. http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml

 

[impressive]

Although there have been false alarms in the past (so no one should get too excited), wouldn't it be consistent with human nature if the worst disease in our history was eradicated by someone who knew nothing about medicine?

I love it.

So often it takes someone who's not programmed to think like all the other researchers. I wonder how many such breakthroughs are lost because the person who has the ideas doesn't have the persistence to push them.


I'm not at all surprised by the diabetes (Type II only, I'm assuming) story. Well, the "within days" part surprises me a little -- but not the "every trace of it" disappearing part. My borderline diabetes disappeared, too -- with nonsurgical weight loss and a low-carb lifestyle.

 

[neonlyte]

Fabulous science!

 

[S-Des]

I love it.

So often it takes someone who's not programmed to think like all the other researchers. I wonder how many such breakthroughs are lost because the person who has the ideas doesn't have the persistence to push them.


I'm not at all surprised by the diabetes (Type II only, I'm assuming) story. Well, the "within days" part surprises me a little -- but not the "every trace of it" disappearing part. My borderline diabetes disappeared, too -- with nonsurgical weight loss and a low-carb lifestyle.

Here's the part dealing with it....

Studies confirm that about 80 percent of diabetics go into complete remission following the operation. Obesity is considered one of the major causes of type 2 diabetes, but here's something odd: when you have the gastric bypass operation, your diabetes goes away long before you lose the weight.

For Travis, the man who lost 260 pounds in seven months, it took "about a week and a half" before he was rid of diabetes and off all his medication.

Another male patient named Bill said it took him four days. "I went into the hospital on Friday, came home on Monday and dumped my pills," he told Stahl.

This spontaneous remission puzzled Italian surgeon Francesco Rubino, now at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center. "We wanted to know what is making diabetes remit. We thought it could have been something to do with the small bowel," Dr. Rubino says.

So he began performing the bypass on diabetic rats, and realized that when he disconnected the top of the small intestine, an area called the duodenum, the diabetes disappeared. Then, he reversed the operation.

When he reattached it, the diabetes came back.

This was a pivotal discovery. By merely blocking food from traveling through the duodenum, Rubino sent diabetes into remission, proving the effect was independent from weight loss. This meant diabetes could essentially be removed with a scalpel.

As for the cancer cure, there's a lot of cynicism right now. Some people think it's not going to work on humans because of antibodies, some think the drug companies will find a way to stop it. The sad part of the story is that the Nobel scientist died soon after the successful test with the nanoparticles, and it's doubtful that Kanzius will live long enough to see it tested on a human (although he's going to try a bone marrow transplant). He said he just wants to live long enough to see the first person be cured to see the smile on their face. What a beautiful human being.

 

[inlovewithyourghost]

I can't tell you how much it makes me smile to see this posted here. Personally, I think you can get your hopes up about the cancer research... And while that is my opinion... it's a very educated opinion. My father works closely with him. I try to keep up and follow the research, as my mother has a specific type of brain tumor that would be able to be treated with it. I've also personally been in John Kanzius's basement, and seen the research in action. He's an amazing man. Incredibly humble. And one of the most intelligent individuals I've ever known. His wife is wonderful, too.

 

[S-Des]

I can't tell you how much it makes me smile to see this posted here. Personally, I think you can get your hopes up about the cancer research... And while that is my opinion... it's a very educated opinion. My father works closely with him. I try to keep up and follow the research, as my mother has a specific type of brain tumor that would be able to be treated with it. I've also personally been in John Kanzius's basement, and seen the research in action. He's an amazing man. Incredibly humble. And one of the most intelligent individuals I've ever known. His wife is wonderful, too.

I can't recommend watching the segment highly enough for anyone that's been moping around here lately, obsessed with politics and whatever. This guy just killed me. When he talked about wanting to come up with an answer, not for himself but because of the kids he saw in the cancer ward....Holy shit, I almost cried listening to it on my Ipod. Seriously, this man will restore your faith in humanity.

 

[impressive]

By merely blocking food from traveling through the duodenum, Rubino sent diabetes into remission, proving the effect was independent from weight loss. This meant diabetes could essentially be removed with a scalpel.

VERY interesting. Thanks!

 

[inlovewithyourghost]

I can't recommend watching the segment highly enough for anyone that's been moping around here lately, obsessed with politics and whatever. This guy just killed me. When he talked about wanting to come up with an answer, not for himself but because of the kids he saw in the cancer ward....Holy shit, I almost cried listening to it on my Ipod. Seriously, this man will restore your faith in humanity.

Absolutely... Even if it worked today, it wouldn't save him. It would kill too many cells in his body at one time for his body to be able to recover from it. He'd planned on stopping all treatment and just dying in peace at home... but then when the inspiration hit, and things really started rolling, he decided to keep fighting, in the attempt to make it come to fruition sooner. All he wants is to live long enough to see one person cured... and then he'll let go.

There's also a great deal of research that hasn't yet been released to the public that is going to absolutely blow peoples' minds when it finally comes out. It really is exciting. And it's a Real hope.