Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Wonderings. I hope that you have a nice, enjoyable Easter weekend and get ample “family” time. So, if you’re reading this on Sunday, I appreciate it, but get back to your family. You can catch this later Sunday or Monday.. Oh, and if you’re visiting, safe travels to you. Regardless, grab whatever beverage that you need and let’s proceed.
The James/Wexner
Study Identifies a Likely Key Driver of Colorectal Cancer Development and Progression
A new study identifies a molecule that is a probable driving force in colorectal cancer and suggests that the molecule could be an important target for colorectal cancer treatment and a valuable biomarker of tumor progression.
“We found that miR-135b is up-regulated in both sporadic and inflammatory bowel disease-associated colorectal cancer, and that its up-regulation is associated with tumor stage and poor clinical outcome,” says principal investigator Carlo M. Croce, MD, chair of molecular virology, immunology and medical genetics, and director of Human Cancer Genetics at Ohio State and the OSUCCC – James.
Some more progress in James-led research. We’ve got to keep ahead of this stuff..
New Emergency Department at The James
The new James/Wexner will have an Emergency Department geared towards the special conditions experienced by cancer patients.
Those of you who play along with us during Fall liveblogs know my propensity for helping make stadium sound effects on third down as a way to manage my ADD help the team. As such, today’s news hit me with a bit of both nostalgia and sadness… The band that gave us the bell may be no more. We’ve only got one choice for today’s soundtrack, then… Happy Wednesday!
For Those About To Rock…. Fire!
Buckeye 411
Boyd Crowder still decidin’ whether to itemize or take the standard deduction.
Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Wonderings. Basketball season is finally over. Congratulations to the UConn Huskies for winning the men’s and the women’s NCAA Championships. Let the good times roll in Storrs, CT. The OSU football team’s Spring game was yesterday, but I’m sure that I’ll have some thoughts in next week’s edition.
The James/Wexner
Well-Known Cancer Gene NRAS Produces Five Variants, Study Finds
A new study shows that a gene discovered 30 years ago and now known to play a fundamental role in cancer development produces five different gene variants (called isoforms), rather than just the one original form, as thought.
The study of the NRAS gene by researchers at the (OSUCCC – James) identified four previously unknown variants that the NRAS gene produces. The finding might help improve drugs for cancers in which aberrant activation of NRAS plays a crucial role. It also suggests that NRAS might affect additional target molecules in cells, the researchers say.
The isoforms show striking differences in size, abundance and effects. For example, the historically known protein (isoform 1) is 189 amino-acids long, while one of the newly discovered variants, isoform 5, is only 20 amino-acids long. Isoform 5 was the most aggressive variant in proliferation and transformation assays.
The last sentence and a half are not surprising. A smaller, “stripped-down” gene is much more likely to reproduce more quickly than its “bigger” brethren. As such, the isoform 5 variant may be the most dangerous of the five that were identified. As long as I’m on genes..
Here’s an article by Rameek Roychowdhury MD, PhD that explains genomics and its use at The James. It is a good, short overview, and a very good read.
Bruce came to visit Ohio last night… and at least one person had a great time at the event. UPDATE: Video Evidence. So, today’s soundtrack is one of my favorite songs from The Boss… even if it’s somewhat new, it’s still a classic.
Ohio State Quarter Back
Buckeye 411
G Bruno
Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Wonderings. Basketball season is over, if you’re an Ohio State fan. And probably if you’ve gotten into any NCAA pools, as well. The Spring sports are well under way, and we have some time before OSU’s Spring Game. Grab whatever beverage that you need and let’s proceed.
The James/Wexner
An Overview of the BR-002 Trial in Breast Cancer:
Julia White, MD, professor, director, Breast Radiation Oncology, vice chair, Clinical Research, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses the BR-002 trial, which will evaluate the rate of complete tumor ablation of breast cancers that are less than or equal to 2 centimeters.
Ablation refers to local methods that destroy the tumor without removing it. Ablation treatment of tumors does work. They do a tremendous job of it at The James.
Keeping up:
If you want to keep current with cancer research and treatment at The James, you can sign up to their blog.
For the Ohio State Buckeyes and their fans, the meaningful basketball season ended two weeks ago in the NCAA first round loss to Dayton, However, not for us intrepid writers at tBBC. Despite our favorite team being knocked out of the tournament and our brackets in shambles, we’re still thinking basketball.
We put together a quick survey amongst ourselves of our favorite coaches in the Big Ten. By “favorite”, I mean regardless of school affiliation, who would you like to play for? The coaches were ranked on a scale of 12 to 1, with a ’12′ signifying “I’d actually pay to play for this person” and a ’1′ as “You’re kidding, right?” As the responses poured in, I decided to throw a standard deviation calculation at them as an attempt to get some feel for the consistency in how a coach was viewed by our staff. The smaller the “StD”, the more the response were clustered around the average, hence the more consistently the tBBC staffers thought of a coach. More or less..
And here is tBBC B1G Coaches Poll:
There is no coincidence that Thad Matta is a favorite among tBBC Staff.
| Coach | Avg | StD |
| Thad Matta | 11.7 | 0.45 |
| Tim Miles | 9.0 | 1.41 |
| Tom Izzo | 8.7 | 4.28 |
| Fran McCaffrey | 7.8 | 0.89 |
| John Groce | 7.3 | 2.45 |
| Pat Chambers | 6.3 | 1.79 |
| Matt Painter | 6.0 | 2.05 |
| Chris Collins | 5.7 | 3.27 |
| John Beilein | 5.3 | 2.74 |
| Rich Pitino | 4.5 | 2.17 |
| Bo Ryan | 4.2 | 3.56 |
| Tom Crean | 1.5 | 0.89 |
There you have it. So, where would you rank the B1G coaches?
Happy Wednesday, and happiest birthday to the young Buckeye in my avatar photo. Given all of the excitement here on the left coast over the past weekend, my choice for today’s soundtrack was pretty much decided for me. Thoughts and prayers go out to our friends in Chile and South/Central Americas as well…
Ken has his beverage, I have mine
Buckeye 411
G Bruno
Welcome to this week’s edition of Weekend Wonderings. The basketball season is over for both the men’s and women’s teams, Spring football practice has begun and we are only a couple weeks away from the Spring Game. Grab whatever beverage that you need and let’s proceed.
The James/Wexner
We have a couple of items this week.
The Ohio State University, through the Ohio State Innovation Foundation, has signed an exclusive world-wide licensing agreement with MedVax Technologies, Inc., for the licensing of groundbreaking cancer peptide vaccine technologies.
The anticancer vaccine technologies are designed for the treatment and prevention of cancers associated with the HER2 protein. These include breast, ovarian, lung, colon and pancreatic cancers, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. The commitment by MedVax will allow innovative clinical trials for various cancers to be conducted in the near future.
Anticancer agents that target a cell-cycle regulatory protein to inhibit tumor growth might actually promote the development and progression of certain B-cell lymphomas, according to a new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The study indicates that inhibiting CDK4, a regulator of the cell cycle, promotes genetic instability and the development or progression of B-cell lymphomas that are driven by the MYC oncogene.
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