I was recently approached by "the Finders Keepers" site to do a small interview. Of course I said yes. If you want to find out more click here!
reading is sexy!
They are made from 100% biodegradable corn plastic, grown and manufactured in the U.S. The inks used are lead-free.
Stop getting a paper cup every morning and instead use this environmentally friendly alternative; it breaks down naturally in composting and is microwave safe.
And because it's corn-plastic, you can drop it on the ground and not worry about breaking it.
BPA-free Plastic!
Height: 9cm, Diameter: 8cm 16.50ea
And for those days when your mug is dirty, stick one of these on your bumper and let everyone know you care!
Atomic Ranch
A year or so ago a friend introduced me to Atomic Ranch magazine and I sat on his lounge room floor devouring issue after issue. So I'm guessing my sweet husband thought it would make a great Christmas gift. My first copy arrived in the mail today and here I am sitting with a nice cup of tea in my Hornsea cup, at my Parker and Chiswell dinging table looking out the window of my own little midcentury ranch in Frenchs Forest, dropping names here there and everywhere, feeling a lot like a mid century kind a gal!
Mmmmmm.... maybe I should stock this magazine.
in store now
1. Vintage mirror $140. Hand made Antler Boys $29
2. Glass jars from $12
3. Apothecary jars from $14
4. Salt rubs for food $19. Green Tea Candle 80+ Hours Burn Time $39
5. House Doctor vintage vases from $24. Deer ashtray $9. Vintage genie bottle $49
6. White rabbit money box $29.95. Deer $49. Olive wood mortar & pestle $89
7. White squirrel money box $29.95. Butter dish $29. Pie dish $36
An “Ah-Ha” Moment for the Oncology Community
This is my third attempt at writing this complex blog entry. The first two attempts were too cumbersome and convoluted; they did however help me crystallize my viewpoint.
Here’s the hypothesis…
Given relatively recent advances in genetic testing, the human genome project, the cancer genome project, and human cell molecular modeling, individual results from clinical cancer trials are being sorely underutilized.
Personally, I’m closest to head and neck cancer as I follow news stories on it daily. However, my hypothesis applies to all clinical cancer trials. I will use a head and neck clinical cancer trial as an example in support of this hypothesis.
There are a set of head and neck oncologists who believe that patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who do not respond to platinum-based chemotherapy have run out of treatment options and in turn have a very poor prognosis. See link in Reference #1 at the bottom of this blog entry. The article is about a paper presented at the 2010 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncologists) meeting and it backs up this assertion of a poor patient prognosis.
There have been early phase clinical head and neck cancer trials which on the surface have shown promising, but inconclusive results. See link in Reference #2 at the bottom of this blog entry to clinical trial NCT00442507 at www.clinicaltrials.gov. This was a phase II trial using a combination of Tarceva and Avastin that included 48 patients beginning in March 2007 and ending in January 2009. The results of that trial were printed in an article on www.cancerconnect.com (see Reference #3). On the surface the results of the clinical trial are positive, but lukewarm… Article headline, “Combination of Avastin® and Tarceva® Shows Promise in Head and Neck Cancer.” If you read the article it goes on to say, “Seven patients experienced a complete or partial disappearance of detectable cancer.”
Here’s the quandary. A group of oncologists at last year’s preeminent oncology event, ASCO, reported that the prognosis for recurrent head and neck cancer patients who failed platinum-based chemotherapy was poor. Yet, we have a study which completed in January 2009 where seven patients which fit the profile of this poor prognosis group experienced a complete or partial disappearance of detectable cancer. To my eyes, this is a major disconnect in viewpoints.
If, and this is a big “if,” one was able to use recently developed genetic testing to have pre-picked just those seven patients for this trial, the article headline would have read, “HEAD & NECK CANCER CURED IN SOME PATIENTS,” it would not be “Shows Promising Results.”
If I were part of the oncology community, this would be an “Ah-Ha” moment for me. What can we learn from those seven patients that will allow us to effectively use these targeted chemotherapies to save lives efficiently? I don’t know if the oncologists running this clinical trial have thought about exploring this path of reasoning. If my hypothesis is correct, they haven’t. In this example, I hope I'm wrong.
To test this hypothesis, I’m going to try and contact the oncologists for this clinical trial to understand where the results from this trial have led. Please remember, this is just one example. In a more strategic sense, what can we learn from all the other individual successes in all the other clinical cancer trials that have been recently completed or are in progress? My hypothesis says that the individual successes are being underutilized. More on this story as further facts are known.
Take care everyone.
References
==========
Ref #1 – 2010 ASCO Presentation article
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/25227
Ref #2 – Clinical Trial
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00442507?term=head+neck+tarceva+avastin&rank=7
Ref #3 – Clinical Trial results article
http://news.cancerconnect.com/combination-of-avastin-and-tarceva-shows-promise-in-head-and-neck-cancer/
Post Script
==========
I struggled with this blog entry. Another appropriate title would be, "Reverse engineering a cure for cancer."
.
Here’s the hypothesis…
Given relatively recent advances in genetic testing, the human genome project, the cancer genome project, and human cell molecular modeling, individual results from clinical cancer trials are being sorely underutilized.
Personally, I’m closest to head and neck cancer as I follow news stories on it daily. However, my hypothesis applies to all clinical cancer trials. I will use a head and neck clinical cancer trial as an example in support of this hypothesis.
There are a set of head and neck oncologists who believe that patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who do not respond to platinum-based chemotherapy have run out of treatment options and in turn have a very poor prognosis. See link in Reference #1 at the bottom of this blog entry. The article is about a paper presented at the 2010 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncologists) meeting and it backs up this assertion of a poor patient prognosis.
There have been early phase clinical head and neck cancer trials which on the surface have shown promising, but inconclusive results. See link in Reference #2 at the bottom of this blog entry to clinical trial NCT00442507 at www.clinicaltrials.gov. This was a phase II trial using a combination of Tarceva and Avastin that included 48 patients beginning in March 2007 and ending in January 2009. The results of that trial were printed in an article on www.cancerconnect.com (see Reference #3). On the surface the results of the clinical trial are positive, but lukewarm… Article headline, “Combination of Avastin® and Tarceva® Shows Promise in Head and Neck Cancer.” If you read the article it goes on to say, “Seven patients experienced a complete or partial disappearance of detectable cancer.”
Here’s the quandary. A group of oncologists at last year’s preeminent oncology event, ASCO, reported that the prognosis for recurrent head and neck cancer patients who failed platinum-based chemotherapy was poor. Yet, we have a study which completed in January 2009 where seven patients which fit the profile of this poor prognosis group experienced a complete or partial disappearance of detectable cancer. To my eyes, this is a major disconnect in viewpoints.
If, and this is a big “if,” one was able to use recently developed genetic testing to have pre-picked just those seven patients for this trial, the article headline would have read, “HEAD & NECK CANCER CURED IN SOME PATIENTS,” it would not be “Shows Promising Results.”
If I were part of the oncology community, this would be an “Ah-Ha” moment for me. What can we learn from those seven patients that will allow us to effectively use these targeted chemotherapies to save lives efficiently? I don’t know if the oncologists running this clinical trial have thought about exploring this path of reasoning. If my hypothesis is correct, they haven’t. In this example, I hope I'm wrong.
To test this hypothesis, I’m going to try and contact the oncologists for this clinical trial to understand where the results from this trial have led. Please remember, this is just one example. In a more strategic sense, what can we learn from all the other individual successes in all the other clinical cancer trials that have been recently completed or are in progress? My hypothesis says that the individual successes are being underutilized. More on this story as further facts are known.
Take care everyone.
References
==========
Ref #1 – 2010 ASCO Presentation article
http://www.medpagetoday.com/HematologyOncology/OtherCancers/25227
Ref #2 – Clinical Trial
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00442507?term=head+neck+tarceva+avastin&rank=7
Ref #3 – Clinical Trial results article
http://news.cancerconnect.com/combination-of-avastin-and-tarceva-shows-promise-in-head-and-neck-cancer/
Post Script
==========
I struggled with this blog entry. Another appropriate title would be, "Reverse engineering a cure for cancer."
.
Sounds in the Woods
I discovered Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu a few years ago while I was looking for something beautiful, gentle and calming to play in the shop. I have this little thing where I go to the Aria award winners in Best World Music, they always seem to be such amazing albums and this is where I discovered Geoffrey. If you have time read his bio, I can't begin to list the amazing things this extremely talented blind multi-instrumentalist has achieved. Australian music at it's very best.
Well hello handsome!
I think I just found a new man for all my single girl friends! Meet Mr. Lovesong... and his friends.
MATILDE BELDROEGA, is designed by the very talented Rita Pinheiro, all Matilde Beldroega dolls and other items are handmade and unique. All the materials are chosen with great care and the finished products are so very very cool.
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| Mr Lovesong taking his clothes off... |
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| Marble |
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| Mr. Mustache of course. |
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| Orange who I think should be called Saffron. |
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| Mr. Green Plaid Jacket who looks a lot like my hubby when he has his holiday beard on! |
Knitted Gum Balls
Glass
One of the big trends at this years trade fairs in Sydney was vintage glass with a very apothecary influence. We have a great range coming in store from a few different suppliers around the end of April.
Natural News -Twelve unsustainable things that will soon come to a disastrous end on our planet
This guy, Mike Adams just speaks so much sense. Lovely article pulling so many of our global problems together in one simple piece.
(NaturalNews) If you look around what's really happening in our world today, there's an inescapable pattern that curiously emerges: Much of what's going on is simply unsustainable. It can't go on for much longer, in other words. And it must collapse due to the laws of economics or physics... click to continue reading
Jill Bliss
Oregon based illustrator Jill Bliss takes doodling to a whole new level. I love her detail and intricacies in nature and the world around her. Her talent for interconnecting people plants and animals is breathtaking. When we owned Pulp we stocked a lot of Jill's products, since branching off into another direction we will only be stocking the divine notecards below. Enjoy!
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