Life: October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

An easy thing to do is to wear something pink to help the awareness movement. It serves the purpose if someone gets mammogram, quits smoking, revises diet, changes lifestyle, or however creates environment that goes toward stopping cancer (that does not have to be limited to breast cancer, but whatever) or makes patients' and their family's lives easier.

[even something subtle like watch strap or wrist band should be fine]

For people who like something more tangible, there are some fundraising events like "Real Men Wear Pink" by American Cancer Society (which is legit, in case you are cautious), and you can contribute to it.

Besides, (unfortunately), it may not be difficult to find your link with breast cancer. 

Based on NCI's estimates, about 44,130 people (43600 female, 530 male) in the US are predicted to die of breast cancer in 2021. They are not a small number. Although lung cancer is the biggest killer with 131,880 deaths, which is followed by colorectal cancer with 52,980 deaths and pancreatic cancer with 48,220 death, breast cancer makes the 4th in cancer deaths.

In terms of new cases, breast cancer is the biggest among all cancers (281,550 female 2,650 male).

For me personally, I had two friends who died of breast cancer in her 30's and 40's. Their lives were cut short.

My sister got one several years back. I don't really see any cancer in my family, so it was one of freak sporadic case. She went through surgery and chemo and is alive fine now. I am thankful for her survival. 

My postdoctoral research was funded by DOD breast cancer research program. It helped my career and I am also thankful for that.

You may or may not be a person who pays attention only when it hits close to home. Yet, it would be important to be reminded of this cause. 

"October is Breast Cancer Awareness month."

Life: Two "cancer report" mangas from Japan (Why there is no such useful/educational essay mangas in the US?)

 I picked up two "cancer report" mangas in Japanese Amazon.

[By Hirunama (left) and by Ruri Fujikawa (right)]

Many mangas are "graphic novels" that tell long fictions, like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Demon slayer (Japanese), or Marvel comics (US). But there is a category in manga called "essay manga". The two mangas I picked up are by two mangakas each of whom got cancer in her 30's (one stage 4 colon, one stage 1b ovarian), went through surgery and chemo, and is alive to tell her own cancer story in essay manga format. 

I found them quite informative in terms of what happens in cancer treatment from the standpoint of a patient. Also, they can be quite real and emotional.

In an episode, the mangaka befriended with a roommate (Mrs. A) in her hospital. Later, Mrs. A let her know that she would stop treatment, implying that her cancer is beyond treatment. Two months later, Mrs. A's husband let the mangaka know about Mrs. A's passing. 

The mangaka brought some sweets to Mrs. A's altar. Mrs. A's diet was restricted due to GI tract obstruction. They talked about the sweets to have, once their cancer treatments are done.

Sometimes, it is something "real" like this that hits you. We don't always need an outrageous Hollywood epic story to feel it.

In the US, this kind of manga seems non-existent, while I found at least several of this kind of manga in Japanese Amazon.  

Maybe because manga is not as common in the US as in Japan. Maybe the number of mangaka is much less in the US than in Japan. Maybe just "essay manga" format is less known.

Cancer patients are there both in the US and in Japan. But not everyone can report their experience in the manga format. Of course, there are publications on survivors' recounts and advices for cancer patients in the US. As a person, US patients may be using blog or other ways (or not to talk about "the c-word" at all).

As a format, manga has to be visual. The format is naturally presented objectively, if not theatrically. Professional mangakas are trained to tell stories in the format.

While, writing on survivors' recounts tend to be narratives or train of thoughts, with less consideration for how they look. Not everyone is trained to talk about their experience in an objective manner, anyway.

Real stories told by professional narrators with communication in mind (mangakas). No wonder these essay mangas are so effective. 

Someone in publication business in the US should consider publishing this kind of essay mangas for medical education or liaison to public.

I picked them up thinking that they may help my professional learning on how cancer treatments are done in clinic and how they are perceived by patients in real world. 

I got to admit, my reading motivation is not always from pure curiosity. But I've learned a lot. 

They were actually entertaining in an unorthodox way, too. I enjoyed reading them both.

Dance: reloading dance

 We all had the covid break. Dance events were gone since March 2020 until mid 2021. 

Good thing about dancing is that once you reach a certain level, the dance stays as your muscle memory. Somewhat like riding a bicycle or swimming.

If it was a body builders' gym work of sorts, you may lose it quickly as fast as you lose muscles. But dancing can be maintained easily by watching videos and imaging the dance. Much of dancing is how you use your body, a neuro-muscular control at a subconscious level. It does not simply rely on muscle strength, but on the art you've got.

Yet, we can "forget" how to dance. I use dance videos to reload dancing. For example, before going to West Coast Swing (WCS) party, I watch WCS videos like this.

[Madjam 2013 Open Strictly Swing finals] (not my video or music)

This is a little old (from 2013), but it records entire finals in a 29 minutes video, so it is quite handy to keep playing. You can find your favorite dancers or moves. I like a few moments that are drawing good long energy flow line in the space (something like 4:37-4:45). We can see moves popular at the time (like the arm catch-drop, 2:50-2:57). 

The way I see it, starting in mid 2010's, "full body" kind of dance became more popular in WCS (among some leading professionals, anyway). I should be able to update such dance style evolution with newer videos. Don't know where WCS is heading to after covid break, though (yet).

In "open" category, the dancers are mostly professionals. The category is strictly swing, for which dancers enter as couples (so that they can prepare for some flashy moves beforehand), but they do not know what songs will be played (hence, on spot musical interpretation is needed). 

The dances cannot be as polished as in fully choreographed dances. The judges would factor entertainment to the viewers. After all, they need to dance as champions; meaning that they need to entertain the viewers/WCS dance community members attending the event.

One thing I have to remember is that the dances presented here are too good for regular social dances. Imaging the same energy flow and speed may be too much too fast for the most casual dancers you will see on the local dance floor. Assessment and adjustment are needed in social dance.

In terms of range of dancing, WCS covers a wide area, is a dynamic dance, and is more visual. 

Visual dances (ballet, ballroom, other entertainment dances) do better in videos. Sensual dances (wiggly bachata or kizomba, subtle Argentine Tango in close embrace, etc) are harder to capture their niceness in film from a distance.

Body usages and energy flow patterns for visual dance and sensual dance are different.

Unless you know the difference and adjust your move, you can be good in one but be stumbling in another. An awesome sensual bachata dancer with great hip motions can suck at salsa, showing her feet are not really catching up with the distance she has to move. And vice versa. A salsa dancer with quick feet can be like a stiff doll in a sensual dance.

All these are a part of fun of dancing. Although covid is still filling up ICU with patients (mostly unvaccinated), I am glad that people started dancing again.

Science: Translational Advances in Cancer Prevention Agent Development (TACPAD) workshop 9/13-14/2021

 Yesterday and today (9/13-14/2021), Cancer Prevention and early detection group of the NCI (National Cancer Institute) was hosting online workshops, titled "Translational Advances in Cancer Prevention Agent Development (TACPAD)".

When "cancer" research is brought up, people think it is about therapy and cure. Sure, it is 90% true, budget-wise. Most of the cancer research money goes to therapy. But a segment of cancer research is dedicated to prevention of cancer. Cancer prevention is a part of the NCI's research portfolio.

Cancer is easier to deal with, when they are at an early stage, or even earlier at pre-cancerous lesion. Indeed, pre-cancerous lesions seem to be something that pops up and disappears, and only small number of pre-cancerous lesions can develop to "real" cancer.

Cancer prevention studies deal with these early lesions and agents and events that influence them.

For example, NSAIDs like aspirin or naproxen (Aleve) are well known to reduce cancer risk in colon. Dietary components like EGCG in green tea and organosulfur compounds in broccoli work well to prevent cancers at least in animal experiments and are favorites for many health articles. 

The focus of this 2021 workshop was cancer immuno-prevention, including cancer preventive vaccine, immunomodulatory reagents, and their combinations. The focus reflects current trend. As this is 2021, much interest was shown toward mRNA vaccine. Translating cancer therapeutic reagents such as "immune checkpoint inhibitor" and testing whether they can serve as cancer preventive agents is another approach presented and discussed.

During development, cancer can acquire ways to disarm attacking immune system. "Immune checkpoint inhibitor" is a way to disable the immune-disarming ability of cancer. The "Immune checkpoint inhibitor" agents can make cancer visible to immune system again.

Well, theory and paradigm are being set. The question is, "does it work?". Testing agents and answering the question is somewhat of a trench warfare for scientists and researchers. This two-day workshop was showing how this front is doing.