Humour: Therapy for a depressed man

A man walked into a therapist's office looking very depressed. "Doc, you've
got to help me. I can't go on like this. "

"What's the problem?" the doctor inquired.

"Well, I'm 35 years old and I still have no luck with the ladies. No matter
how hard I try, I just seem to scare them away."

"My friend, this is not a serious problem. You just need to work on your
self-esteem. Each morning, I want you to get up and run to the bathroom
mirror. Tell yourself that you are a good person, a fun person, and an
attractive person. But say it with real conviction. Within a week you'll
have women buzzing all around you."

The man seemed content with this advice and walked out of the office a bit
excited. Three weeks later he returned with the same downtrodden expression
on his face.

" Did my advice not work?" asked the doctor.

"It worked all right. For the past several weeks I've enjoyed some of the
best moments in my life with the most fabulous looking women."

"So, what's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem," the man replied. "My wife does ."

Cancer Research: Cancer therapy does not affect level of fitness

Getting cancer is an extremely serious issue, and even if you have a form of cancer that is easily treatable, there is the worry about whether the cancer treatment will leave you debilitated, physically weak, and dependent. There is the example of the cyclist Lance Armstrong who came back from intensive cancer treatment to win numerous Tour De France cycling trophies, a very high endurance test. In a study done on the physical fitness and endurance of cancer patients undergoing therapy, it was concluded that the level of cardiovascular fitness among cancer survivors remains unaffected by therapies (link to article):

"In order to prescribe an exercise programme, it's critical that we understand our patient's fitness level and whether or not treatment has had an impact on their cardiovascular health," she said. Researchers conducted a chart review of 49 women who attended a physician-directed fitness clinic for cancer survivors, founded and run by Priscilla Furth, the study's co-author. Test completion and heart rate recovery were not affected by treatment or age.

Cancer research: Personalizing treatment for lung cancer

One of the key areas of cancer research is to find more methods for personalizing cancer research. This article talks about some interesting leads in this area, including the use of cancer vaccines and targeted therapies to help people who have lung cancer, especially those who have had surgery; such treatment can help people avoid a recurrence of the cancer (link to article):

"Personalizing therapy is the key strategy for longer and better survival in lung cancer," said Prof Paris Kosmidis, head of the second Medical Oncology Department at Hygeia Hospital in Athens, Greece. "This is particularly important for early stage disease when following surgery, decisions about preventive therapy are based on specific prognostic and predictive factors."
At the conference, researchers will describe a gene signature that might predict which patients will benefit from the treatment. "Because the benefits of vaccination will be limited to a subgroup of patients, strategies to define these patients by means of biomarkers such as a genetic signature are of major clinical relevance, as only these patients might be candidates for vaccination in the future,” said Weder.

As we proceed on research, science keeps on finding weapons in the fight cancers; and one of the most worrisome issues for a patient who has had the removal of their cancer is whether the cancer will come back - this research points to indicators about how to prevent the delay.