National Marrow Awareness Month is observed in November. This is a time to recognize transplant physicians, pioneering researchers, and selfless donors who make life-saving stem cell and bone marrow transplants possible, according to according to OriGen Biomedical. “Their combined efforts embody the true meaning of hope, healing, and humanity,” according to the company. With this in mind, let’s explore how bone marrow donations can help others, recognize donors, and educate others about marrow and stem cell donation.
What is Bone Marrow and Why is it Needed?
About 18,000 people in the U.S. with leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and other serious blood disorders need a bone marrow or stem cell transplant to survive every year, according to the Columbia University Herbert ...
When the holidays season is in full swing, families and friends gather to enjoy time together over warms meals and plenty of dessert. But sometimes food spoils the party. Every year, foodborne diseases sicken 1 in 6 Americans (48 million people), hospitalize 128,000 people, and kill 3,000 people, according to the CDC. Let’s tackle how we can prepare food safely and keep the holidays healthy.
What Is Food Poisoning?
You can get sick with food poisoning after swallowing certain germs like salmonella. Common symptoms include: Diarrhea
Stomach pain or cramps
Nausea
Vomiting
Fever “Most people have mild illnesses [from food poisoning], but some infections spread by food are serious or even life-threatening. Some people may need ...
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, leader of Salud America! and a cancer health researcher at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, joined a special episode of The Cancer Letter Podcast in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month to discuss cancer, policy, and communities. In the podcast episode, Dr. Ramirez joined with Dr. Ruben Mesa, executive director of the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Dr. Luis Carvajal Carmona, associate vice chancellor and professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at University of California, Davis. The trio discuss federal policy impact on cancer, including the non-medical drivers of health, research investment, and AI. It’s really been a mission of mine to really raise the flag on the importance ...
November is National Family Caregivers Month (NFCM)! NFCM is an opportunity to recognize family caregivers across the country and “raise awareness of caregiving issues, educate communities, and increase support for caregivers,” according to the Administration for Community Living. “Being a caregiver can bring joy and purpose, but it can also lead to stress, exhaustion, and worry about mental health for both you and your loved one,” according to Mental Health America. With this in mind, we've compiled a list of where tools and resources for family caregivers can be found.
Latinos and Caregiving
"Family caregivers include parents, friends, neighbors, and even children, and they span across
all ages, races and ethnicities, incomes, and communities," according ...
Cancer continues to be a leading cause of death for Latinos and all people in the US. But thanks to modern medicine, which includes cancer screenings, prevention techniques, and treatments, the number of cancer survivors is on the rise. Researchers are constantly working on new ways to mitigate and manage cancer and symptoms. However, some of these can come from unlikely places. For instance, researchers have found a link between the COVID-19 vaccine and the cancer immune system, according to a new publication in the journal Nature. Let’s go over the findings and what they mean for cancer patients.
Research Findings on COVID-19 Vaccine and Cancer
The discovery was made when researchers were developing mRNA vaccines for brain tumor patients back in ...
Yolanda “Yoli” Barrera Day wasn’t aware she had stomach cancer. Not very many do because from a health standpoint, stomach cancer looks like any other gastrointestinal ailment. But for Yoli, stomach cancer preyed on her advancing age. After months of suffering from symptoms such as extreme fatigue and shortness of breath, Yoli was diagnosed with gastric adenocarcinoma. It was a diagnosis that most may deem a death sentence, but not Yoli. Yoli was determined to make it out the other side and help others do the same by becoming a health leader and supporter for change.
Deceptive Symptoms Hiding Stomach Cancer
It was early 2021 and Yoli was feeling more tired than usual. While the exhaustion was draining, it wasn’t enough to raise ...
Myth: Vaccines are linked to autism. Truth: In 1998 there was a scientific paper that linked the MMR vaccine to autism. These claims were refuted, and the paper was retracted. There have since been several other studies examining the relationship between the vaccine and autism, but no link has been found, according to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. It’s easy to see how incorrect information is spread, disseminated, and accepted. These falsehoods can be dangerous and, when it comes to public health, deadly. And with social media at the epicenter of the threat of incorrect information, it’s never been more imperative to learn how to be better prepared to recognize and correct it. That’s why mySidewalk, an online data visualization platform, ...
We know smokers have an increased risk of dementia. Now new research suggests that quitting smoking, even after later in life, can slow cognitive decline. Researchers from the University College of London collected data from more than 9,000 participants ages 40 and older across 12 countries. “They matched people who had quit smoking with continuing smokers according to their starting cognitive scores and other characteristics, including sex, age, education level and birth country,” according to NPR. Results showed verbal fluency declined at a rate roughly half for those who quit smoking compared to that of their smoking counterparts. For memory, the decline was reduced by 20%. Let’s dive deeper into this study and what this can mean for those who quit smoking.
Why ...
On a late October night, Linda Mota woke with a start. While her mind should have been consumed with choosing a family Halloween costume, her thoughts were elsewhere. “I was laying down and something inside of me told me, check your side,” she said. What Linda felt wasn’t overwhelming, but it was clear there was a small lump there, resembling the shape of a little ball. She initially dismissed what she found, but her intuition continued to scream at her that something was amiss. “Something inside of me told me, ‘No. you need to get checked, you need to get checked,’” she told herself. It turned out she had breast cancer.
Linda Mota and Her Startling Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer in the ...
