Ever think that a cup of joe was more than the habitual pick-me-up you needed every morning? A study has shown that caffeine actually causes more skin cells damaged by ultraviolet radiation, a major causative agent in nonmelanoma skin cancer, to enter their programmed cell death cycle (apoptosis).
A few days ago, I attended a symposium put together by MD Anderson Cancer Center and Baylor College of Medicine. The topic: Development of Non-Coding RNA for Cancer Therapy. Having been out of school for over half a year, I thought I might find it difficult to keep up with the material that was covered, but fortunately, my mind hasn’t gone to mush quite yet. 
I’ve always envisioned myself in one of two medical specialties – neurological surgery or oncology; since this symposium was about the latter, I was eager to see what new therapies are on the horizon for oncology.
Think about how often you or your friends use their cell phones. Taking a quick look at my mom’s call history, she was on her cell for an average of two hours a day for the month of July. All that radiation… sheesh. Cancer and other associated brain disorders are an obvious certainty for her. Or are they?
With over a million new cases diagnosed each year in the United States, skin cancer is indeed a widespread reality. In fact, this form of cancer accounts for roughly half of all newly diagnosed cancers. Even with this fact, very few are informed about the risk factors, symptoms, and treatment of this potentially preventable and curable condition.
