By Ricki Lewis “DCIS isn’t really cancer. You have nothing to worry about,” said my oncologist confidently. “Then why am I having a mastectomy in four days?” I blurted. “DCIS doesn’t spread. So it isn’tCategory Archives: Breast cancer
Don’t Tell Me My DCIS Isn’t Cancer! | #AACR18
By Ricki Lewis “DCIS isn’t really cancer. You have nothing to worry about,” said my oncologist confidently. “Then why am I having a mastectomy in four days?” I blurted. “DCIS doesn’t spread. So it isn’tPosted by in AACR, Breast cancer, DCIS, featured
dbGaP 10th Anniversary Symposium June 9, 2017
dbGaP (the NIH database of Genotypes and Phenotypes) is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year! We are proud to support over 850 studies and 1.6 million samples. We invite you to join us at the dbGaP 10th Anniversary Symposium to … Continue reading 
Posted by in Alzheimer's disease, Bioinformatics, Breast cancer, collaborative research, dbgap, GWAS, NIAGADS, NIH, PhenX, SRA, What's New
Where was the dog born? Plus mammogram changes once again
ANIMAL GENOME OF THE WEEK: CANIS LUPUS FAMILIARIS So is this a trend, the animal genome of the week? Last week pigs. This week, dogs. First things first: dog origins. A perennial hot topic, thePosted by in ancient DNA, Asia, Breast cancer, DCIS, dogs, Evolution, featured, genetics, Genome, Genomics, health care, mammogram, On Science Blogs, Research, united states, women
Small Talk: When Bacterial Chatter Gets Invasive
Sticks and stones may break our bones but microbes’ “words” may hurt us. Breast cancer is a threat to men and women worldwide. Like all cancers, the known causes are attributed to genetics and carcinogens, but recently, scientists have begun … Continue reading
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Posted by in Aggregators, Breast cancer, fun, Images, microbes, microbiome, quorum sensing, Topic Focus, tumor, Worth A Thousand Words
Convex Clustering and Synaptic Restructuring: the PLOS CB May Issue
Here are some highlights from May’s PLOS Computational Biology Convex Clustering: An Attractive Alternative to Hierarchical Clustering The recently developed method of convex clustering preserves the visual appeal of hierarchical clustering while ameliorating its propensity to make false inferences … Continue reading
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Posted by in Breast cancer, cancer, cell biology, community, computational biology, Memory, neuroscience, PLOS Computational Biology, sleep
Assessing Breast Cancer Risk: Beyond the Angelina Effect
On April 30 at 7:30 PM, I’ll be part of a panel on Health Link with Benita Zahn, WMHT TV, to discuss the genetics behind the “Angelina Jolie effect” that has catalyzed testing for the BRCA mutations that increase risk for breast … Continue reading
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Autism Gene Discovery Recalls Alzheimer’s and BRCA1 Stories
Discovery of a new gene behind autism cleverly combines genetic techniques new and classic. Autism has been difficult to characterize genetically. It is probably a common endpoint for many genotypes, and is a multifactorial (“complex”) trait. That is, hundreds of genes … Continue reading
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Posted by in Alzheimer's disease, Autism, BRCA1, Breast cancer, CTTNND2
No Ice Buckets or Pink Ribbons for Very Rare Genetic Diseases
As enthusiasm for dumping ice on one another fades with autumn and October brings pervasive pink, I wish that attention would turn to families confronting diseases not as well known as ALS and breast cancer. HOW RARE IS RARE? According … Continue reading
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Thinking about Angelina
Writing in Forbes, David Kroll has a very thoughtful take on Angelina Jolie’s announcement that she had a preventative double mastectomy after learning that she was at exceptionally high risk for developing breast cancer. While taking nothing away from Jolie’s bravery in writing about her choice, Kroll raises concerns about health care access, gene patents, “certainty” in medicine, and the influence of celebrity (which could be both positive and negative in this case):
On the one hand, I am stunned by the bravery of this high-profile woman to not only undergo such a transformative surgery and then write about it in the nation’s newspaper of record less than three weeks later…On the other hand, I do worry that the ensuing publicity surrounding her announcement might evoke some magnitude of panic in women with breast cancer, particularly those who don’t have BRCA1/2 gene mutations or cannot afford to have the testing done…My primary concern is that some women with breast cancer may think that they are not being aggressive enough with their current treatment plan. – David Kroll
