Join us! June 30, 2016 Our Community, Our Health: Women's Heart Health

Register for the in-person event here

View the live stream link (6-7 p.m. EST) here

HealthStreet, a community-engaged research initiative at the University of Florida, and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, are hosting the 7th Our Community, Our Health event (OCOH) on women's heart health. This town hall meeting facilitates two-way communication between the community and researchers. We share ideas about priorities for health research and ways to communicate research findings and blends ideas for research from multiple stakeholders across the country.

Topic for the next OCOH:     Women’s Heart Health

Date:                                             June 30, 2016

Format:                                         Local reception (optional) 5:30 to 6 p.m. EST   

                                                                 Live streamed town hall 6 to 7 p.m. EST

Cancer prevention on-line curriculum from UF/IFAS Extension - now FREE

The UF IFAS Extension service has an on-line, self-directed cancer prevention program, Take Control to Reduce Your Cancer Risk, which is available to anyone at no cost. The program could be of interest to cancer survivors as well as their family members, who may be at high risk for cancer. It is targeted to adults of all ages.

Please share this information  wherever there may be an interest in learning about reducing cancer risk through lifestyle choices. The link to the registration page at UF is on the brochure and included here: http://tinyurl.com/TakeControlUF.

Cancer Connections news

There is a relatively new website managed by a coalition of organizations that help cancer patients and their families find financial assistance:

  cancerfac.org

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If you are interested in seeing how cancer cells spread:

Spying on Cancer   By Suzanne B. Robotti for the NIH

clik on the link below, or cut and paste, then watch an amazing video

directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/02/04/cool-videos-spying-on-cancer-cell-invasion/   

Published: February 5, 2016Some cancers are aggressive and fast-growing, requiring equally aggressive treatment. Most cancer deaths are caused by cancer that’s metastasized, or spread from the original location to enter the bloodstream and pop up in other, cancer friendly locations. Others are what H. Gilbert Welch calls “turtles”: slow moving and maybe not needing painful and debilitating treatment right away.

What if we could “spy” on cancer cells and actually see how they break off from a tumor and enter the bloodstream? Maybe we can: Here is a video released by the NCI (National Cancer Institute) that shows, in live time, breast cancer cells breaking from the tumor and entering the bloodstream.

Even better, it shows that those cells use tight ropes (collagen fibers) and have accomplices, a set of our own key immune cells, called macrophages.
This demonstrates the coming together of the key cells that create a TMEM:

‘Metastasis requires the presence of three cells in direct contact on a blood vessel wall: a tumor cell that produces the protein MENA; a peri-vascular macrophage (cells that guide tumor cells to blood vessels); and a blood-vessel endothelial cell. The presence of three such cells in contact with each other is called a tumor microenvironment of metastasis, or TMEM.’ –Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Other studies have shown that TMEM testing of breast cancer tumors have predicted the likelihood of metastasis.
Now that we know how cancer cells break out of tumors and enter the bloodstream, the next step is to slow or stop the process or — even better — to anticipate it. If scientists can figure out which tumors are going to release cells, we’ll know which tumors need aggressive care and which probably will sit around, bothering no one.

Cancer Connections on June 22

 

On June 22nd, Dr. David Ostrov (of the Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine at the UF Cancer Center) will discuss how researchers

are enhancing T cell responses in cancer patients, resulting in durable, beneficial effects against a diverse set of cancer cell types. Several approaches to boosting immune responses in cancer patients will be covered.

 

Dr. Ostrov's presentation will begin at 12:10, so please arrive at HealthStreet no later than 12 noon.

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directions to HealthStreet (2401 "old" Archer road)

http://healthstreet.program.ufl.edu/directions-to-healthstreet-2/directions-by-car/​ 

 

Call Erick at HealthStreet at 294-4871 by Tuesday the 21st if you would like to the take the free shuttle to and from the meeting.  The shuttle picks up at the Davis Cancer Center, the V.A., the U.F. Health cancer hospital, and at Hope Lodge, by reservation.

 

Feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested in hearing            Dr. Ostrov's presentation, or in attending future meetings.

 

2016 schedule of meetings and confirmed speakers

 

FRIDAY July 29         Dr. Robert Hromas

Aug. 24                       Dr. Thom George

Sept. 28                      Dr. Jonathan Licht  note change of date and speaker

Oct. 19                        Dr. Tina Lam

Nov. 9                         pending

Dec. 14                       Dr. Karen Daily

 

Hope to see you on the 22nd for a great presentation!

and please 'like' Cancer Connections' facebook page!

 

many thanks,

Barb