Quantia / Brain tumors and methylated C-MET

Nice presentation on Quantia. They presented a case of a "disruptive Doctor" who was reported by staff as being "late", "not responsive to call" and "being rude to staff". Pretty much led me to agree with them. But through due process, heard the Dr's response to these accusations, I was able to give him some slack and another chance. Often we rush to condemnation without knowledge of other people's values and perspective. The key to finding the truth is due diligence! The lack of institutional due diligence led to misconstruction and mistakes!
We also attended a talk on Brain tumor, one of the resistant cancers, about importance of finding methylated C-MET as it gives a positive prognosis, responsiveness to treatment, and high pseudo-progression rate on MRI. This all is relevant to our Targeting therapy. An interesting observation to make is that, in cancers that are resistant, the response rate is consistently hovering around 15-30%. This is seen with Avastin in Brain cancers and Ipilimumab in Melanoma. This is pointing to the fact that we still have not reached the main target to apoptosis, or that we need sequential additional hits, or have not closed a loophole! We need to go back to the drawing board!

Reminder as needs still huge: Border Women Strike for Visibility

By Ambreen Ali Nov. 16, 2010 – 10:46 a.m.

The Obamas had visitors waiting for them when they returned from their Asia trip this week.
Eight women from El Paso, Texas, have been holding daily vigils outside the White House since Nov. 8 in an effort to get government funding for their community.
They have also been on a hunger strike since that date, relying on water and a mixture of water, sugar and salt to restore electrolytes.
It’s a drastic step for what they say is a desperate situation — unemployment and poverty levels that are among the highest in the country.

“We’re basically invisible,” Lorena Andrade, one of the activists. “We had to come here to make ourselves visible.”
The group called La Mujer Obrera, or The Working Woman, wants Congress and the White House to fund a commission that would direct development funds to the border community.
One model could be the Appalachian Regional Commission, set up by President John F. Kennedy in 1964. The women hope President Barack Obama or the first lady will consider a trip to the region such as the one that inspired Kennedy to create the panel.
They delivered a letter to Michelle Obama on Monday, appealing to her woman to woman.
“We are not victims,” they wrote. “We are rebuilding our communities with dignified courage. As women, we know we have and are exercising, the right to determine our own destiny.”
El Paso’s Rep. Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat, helped set up a government commission for the region’s development, but it remains unfunded.
La Mujer Obrera has three demands: for the government to organize a summit of federal agencies to discuss border needs, set aside money for the border commission, and promise to include local women in the decision making.
They have already laid out those demands in meetings with the Departments of Agriculture, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. They expect to meet with the State Department later this week.
The women say they want to be home for Thanksgiving, but they are willing to stay if their demands are not met.
“We get a lot of support and acknowledgment but we want something in writing,” Rubi Orozco, a spokeswoman for the group, said. “We have left before with that kind of pat on the head, and it doesn’t materialize into anything.”
Orozco said there was an irony in border residents having such few resources when so much money is spent on border security.
“The region gets loads of money but it goes to the fence and security,” she said, adding that the jobs for those projects rarely go to locals.
Many of the women active with the group are former garment workers who lost their jobs when the factories in their area moved to Mexico.
Today, they have refurbished those factories into day care centers and shops to sell imported artisan handiwork from Mexico.
“This is another definition to border security,” Cindy Alford, also with the group, said. “Genuine border security has to include sustainable communities.”http://www.congress.org/news/border-women-strike-for-visibility/