I am still walking the hall, reviewing my life and walking forward to a new one.

Lots of love to those that love me!!!!

After a diagnosis of cancer, a person’s daily activity levels will likely decrease. This is especially true after cancer symptoms become more prevalent, and as more time is dedicated to doctor’s appointments and or treatment. Yet, regular exercise is essential to a person’s physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. For healthy people, it is usually a matter of time or priorities. For cancer patients, exercise can be painful or difficult, even though it is helpful.

In times past, people with cancer and other chronic diseases were encouraged to reduce their activity level and get rest. Today, according to the American Cancer Society , exercise is considered safe and possible for cancer patients. It can improve the way the body functions, and it promotes a better quality of life.

Exercise And Cancer

Fortunately, any movement or activity that does not cause pain or put too much stress on the body is good for cancer patients. Even patients of aggressive cancers like mesothelioma can benefit from exercise, as long as they can breathe comfortably and the activity does not put too much stress on their lungs. Gentle exercise may actually ease the pain of cancer and may contribute to the success of treatment.

Medical studies have shown exercise to be effective in reducing the risk of various types of cancer. In fact, research suggests that exercise may decrease the mortality rate for some cancers. Cancer patients who move their bodies and stay active decrease their chances of developing the side effects of lengthy bed rest, including weak muscles, stiff joints, and constipation.

Exercise is thought to increase a patient’s energy level so the body is more receptive to cancer treatment. It also improves the moods and outlooks of cancer patients, helping them stay positive through the process.

Exercise And Thoracic

Since mesothelioma and other thoracic cancers affect the lungs, it impacts a person’s ability to breathe. Later-stage patients cannot breathe comfortably without the help of oxygen tanks and machines. This decreased lung function makes exercise difficult, if not impossible, for people with mesothelioma.. Lung cancer and mesothelioma prognosis prognosis are typically brief when detected in later stages. As such, thoracic cancer patients should consult their physician for their blessing to commence physical activities.. In some cases, patients may be able to participate in physical activities such as short walks or physical therapy. Depending on how the patient feels, any type of activity can positively impact his or her life. Even gentle movements can boost a patient’s mood, increase the appetite, and relieve some of the aches and pains of cancer.

This is written by a new friend that asked me to post this on my blog.

Hope it inspires you all to get up and exercise after a cancer diagnosis.

thanks David

I really have found a new love for this song for some reason. Every Christmas one song pops out in my head and this year its that one in particular.

I would also like to wish everyone that is not dealing with cancer a Happy Thanksgiving!!

May this day bring everyone happiness!!!

January 1, 2020

Now that would be a miracle that I would love to see and be part of.

Cornell Chronicle Online Search Chronicle Online

Sept. 16, 2010
Researchers discover molecule that can starve cancer cells
cover of journal
This sketch (by Efraim Racker, the late Albert Einstein Professor of Biochemistry at Cornell) depicts a glutamine addict (symbolizing a cancer cell). Cornell researchers report on a molecule that can “block the addiction” and thus intervene against cancer.

By Stephanie Specchio

While overcoming an addiction is usually the healthy choice, cancer cells’ addiction to the amino acid glutamine is key to their vitality and growth. But Cornell researchers have discovered a molecule that can block cancer cells from using glutamine, thereby inhibiting their growth.

Researchers have long believed that starving cancer cells, little turbo-charged engines capable of metastasizing in even the most difficult of conditions, would break the glutamine addiction and help fight some cancers. But they have struggled for decades with how to accomplish this feat.

Now, they have discovered a molecule that does the job. Dubbed 968 by investigators, the molecule binds to the enzyme glutaminase, which inhibits cancer growth by blocking the cancer cells’ utilization of glutamine.

“Cancer cells demand a tremendous amount of energy,” said Richard Cerione, the Goldwin Smith Professor of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology in the Colleges of Veterinary Medicine and Arts and Sciences at Cornell and senior author of the research, which is the cover story in the Sept. 14 issue (Vol. 18:3) of Cancer Cell. “One of the key enzymes that fuels the process is glutaminase, whose activation in cancer cells can be blocked by the small molecule 968.”

The finding could lead to a new class of drugs, capable of halting cancer progression without harming normal cell growth, he said.

“This is the rebirth of a century-old empirical observation — that cancer cells have altered metabolisms — and further development of the discovery in the 1970s and ’80s that growth factor receptors and other signaling proteins are also altered in cancer cells,” said Cerione. “This new information now offers exciting possibilities for designing strategies to stop tumor growth, to effectively reverse cellular transformation.”
Richard Cerione
Cerione

After discovering that 968 inhibited glutaminase and effectively shrunk tumor cells in mice, Cerione and his research team tested the molecule to understand its effects on non-cancerous cells. Because the energy needs of normal cells are different than those of cancer cells, normal cellular functions are much less reliant on elevated glutamine metabolism, which means that 968 only impacts cancerous cells, Cerione said.

“We have effectively stopped the growth of breast cancer cells in the lab without affecting normal mammary cells,” said Cerione, who is now investigating the impact of 968 on other forms of cancer, including prostate, ovarian and pancreatic cell lines. “We’ve validated our target. The next step will be to commercialize a small class of molecules capable of stopping cancer cell growth in humans.”

Cerione and colleagues are currently working with the KensaGroup, of Ithaca, N.Y., to do just that, although he is quick to add that his work is not done. He will continue to explore the effects of 968 and glutaminase on cancer cells to obtain detailed information on how cancer cells re-program their metabolism to sustain their malignant characteristics.

“Our research has highlighted a previously unrecognized connection between the cell’s metabolic machinery and the signaling pathways and growth factor receptors that regulate cell growth,” said Cerione. “However, I believe that it is reasonable to suspect there is a broader role for these connections between metabolism and cell signaling that may well impact other areas in biology and biomedicine.”

Cornell co-authors of the research include postdoctoral associate Jianbin Wang (co-first author), and senior research associates Jon Erickson (co-first author), Kristin Wilson and Sekar Ramachandran.

The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
The glutamine addict

The cover article sketch (by Efraim Racker, the late Albert Einstein Professor of Biochemistry at Cornell and in whose honor the annual Racker Lecture is presented at Cornell every November, at which several Nobel laureates have lectured over the years, starting with James Watson of Watson and Crick double helix fame) depicts a glutamine addict (symbolizing a cancer cell). Cancer cells can become heavily reliant on glutamine metabolism to satisfy the biosynthetic and energy requirements for sustaining their malignant state. Thus, they are often referred to as being “glutamine addicted.” Cornell researchers report here that they have discovered a compound that can “block the addiction” and thus intervene against cancer.

“What makes the cover especially neat is that Racker was a champion of the idea that cancer is about altered metabolism. He was one of my mentors, and we argued about this all of the time over our weekly Saturday lunches, after I first came to Cornell as a young assistant professor,” says Professor Richard Cerione. “Thus, it has all come full circle as our work has led us to the importance of glutamine metabolism in cancer and so we thought it would be neat in a way to honor Ef’s ideas with a cover that used one of his sketches (in addition to being an outstanding scientist, he was a prolific artist and his paintings hang in some of the leading research institutions throughout the world).”