A few weeks ago I posted on Star-Trek Borg-like technology (the "Borg" were aliens in that SciFi series from the 24th Century) being used for cancer therapy TODAY. This is another interesting tidbit which suggests we are really moving into a different era of treatment. Indeed it won't be long before we are out of the "cut,poison,burn" limited treatment set that mainstream medicine is always criticized for.

In a recent study, albeit in mice, scientists injected some nanoparticles made from a particular type of metal into the abdominal area where ovarian cancer cells were previously injected and growing. Then using powerful magnets they were able to move these ovarian cancer cell growths to one small area for extraction by minimal surgery (small incision). Using their methods, only cancer cells absorbed these nanoparticles, so only cancer cells were moved this way.

Truly amazing stuff. Here's the link for those who want to read more: J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2008.

As always, leave a comment if you have a moment. Please no animal rights stuff. I am all for limiting animal research, but in this case it would be literally impossible to do this in humans or any other model before testing in animals....

A recently published study out of the Dana-Farber Institute showed that patients with higher Vitamin D levels survived markedly longer after diagnosis. In the group of 300 patients they reviewed, the chances of dying from ANY cause was cut in half if Vitamin D levels were in the upper 25% of normal.

It's not clear whether supplementing Vitamin D in your diet will produce the same result, but a trial is planned. Also of note, this was not a study to determine if SUPER high levels help or not. This is all information from people who had Vitamin D levels within the currently defined "normal range". Vitamin D consumption in high doses can lead to significant complications, so no one is recommending that at this point.

These results, along with others in various diseases, including those published for ovarian cancer, are all pointing at the importance of Vitamin D. Standard recommended daily vitamin D supplementation ranges from 200 International Units (IU) per day for people under age 50 to 400 IU for folks between 50 and 70. That goes up to 600 IU for those over 70. But remember, it is very important to consult your physician(s) before taking anything beyond your routine diet and daily multivitamin.