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A team from the Vancouver Cancer Center presented findings at the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology that patients being treated with radioactive "seeds" (chunks of metal) and 3D printed "shields" survive twice as long as those undergoing conventional therapy.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men, developing primarily in those over the age of 50. In 2012 there were 1.1 million reported cases with 307,000 deaths worldwide, and any improvement in treatment is bound to improve many lives. Brachytherapy is a highly cost-effective method, even though it requires long training and much experience to produce consistent results, according to James Morris, who led the Vancouver study.
Even with brachytherapy, though, there is room for improvement. Because the tumor is close to the radiation source, the dosage used is lower and thus the side-effects for healthy tissue aren't as bad. Still, implanted seeds release radiation in all directions.
A simple solution to minimize side-effects has been developed by researchers at Louisiana Tech University and University of Mississippi Medical Center. They created customizable 3D-printed shields for the low-dose-rate radioactive seeds used in prostate brachytherapy. The shields were made using a combination of plastic-forming raw material and barium sulphate, a chemical that is compatible with the human body's innards but also effective in stopping radiation.
This Brachytherapy gives those diagnosed with prostate cancer another option, for everyone else there's lycopene for prevention.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:06AM
In megadoses, mate, in megadoses and it "may cause" - RFTLinked carefully
As the normal dose of vitamin C is between 60 and 90mg/day (the linked), a megadose ( x 10^6) would mean between 60 and 90 kg of vitamin C/day; and even that is not guarantee to cause you troubles... hehe.
(I guess one would need to take the "megadose" term as an "poetic license" in the linked - Mayo clinic or not, can't expect medics and biologist to use the multiplier prefixes correctly, can we? One can only hope the pharmacists are able to "translate" when preparing a custom formula)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Tuesday April 28 2015, @02:40AM
Hm, the link says "the upper limit is 2,000 mg a day." Whatever this Mayo clinic is ;) I'm not sure, where you're getting the 10^6 multiplier from.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 28 2015, @03:06AM
Wikipedia entry [wikipedia.org]:
Seems prestigious enough not to be about the gluey stuff Maccas decorate their burgers with.
The linked on Vitamin C [mayoclinic.org] to which I was answering, states:
The usual meaning of the mega- [wikipedia.org] unit multiplier is "a factor of one million".
But... maybe the guys in Mayo clinic still use imperial or maybe, doctors as they are, have other meaning for the multiplier, possibly an esoteric or mystical one, you decide.
Because I can't really get how the factor=(max dose over normal dose)=(22..33) can translate as "mega".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Geotti on Tuesday April 28 2015, @05:18PM
I guess, megadose just means "a large dose" in this context. See, e.g. Merriam-Webster [merriam-webster.com]
Coincidentally, the example provided by MW is:
He took megadoses of vitamin C.
I've also encountered the use of megadose to refer to an overdose [of i.e. heroin].
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Jesus_666 on Tuesday April 28 2015, @07:56AM
"Vitamin megadose" and "megavitamin therapy" both refer to the same thing: Taking huge amounts of one or more vitamins (with vitamin C being so popular it got its own Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org]) with intended results going from a modest "it's better for you" all the way to "vitamin C can cure everything" depending on who you ask.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday April 28 2015, @10:14AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford