Curing Breast Cancer…

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) only accounts for 10-15% of breast cancer cases but this is often the most aggressive form

(they grow rapidly and are there are far fewer treatment options, and there’s a high risk of recurrence).

The phase 1 results from a clinical trial (albeit a small one) are cause for huge optimism.

16 patients in the trial all received three doses of a vaccine, with the majority developing a robust immune response and no major side-effects reported.

“Triple negative” means the cancer cells don’t have progesterone and estrogen receptors and don’t overproduce a protein called HER2.

This means that many traditional breast cancer drugs, which target HER2 or estrogen or progesterone do not work.

Instead this vaccine targets a protein called α-lactalbumin, which is present in a large majority of TNBC tumors.

The aim of this early human trial was to determine whether the vaccine produced the immune response the researchers were looking for.

Sixteen patients enrolled in the trial received three doses of vaccine, with two weeks in between each dose and their immune responses were assessed by measured.  

None of the participants reported any significant adverse effects from the vaccine. The vaccine was also successfully able to evoke a T cell immune response in 75 percent of the study volunteers,

There is still a long way to go, but this is a positive start!

Hangxiety: Anxiety After Drinking

You’ve just had a night on the slosh, you wake up feeling like the world is spinning, you feel miserable, everyone hates you, the world isn’t quite right…. hangover anxiety… but why does this happen?

When drunk, alcohol is percolating through your bloodstream meaning you have more of the neurotransmitter GABA – this chemical can alleviate anxiety and causes something known as “disinhibition” – you have a degree of fearlessness and may say and do things you normally don’t.

In the morning when you’re hungover, the brain tries to rebalance its concentration of neurotransmitter so you get less GABA related disinhibition and more of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate.

Basically reverse of what you experienced when drunk… you will be on higher alert, you’ll be more sensitive to things and likely more anxious (as well as a higher heart rate, mood swings, shakiness etc)

How do you stop this hangxiety?

Sounds boring but – reduce your alcohol consumption… there is no amount of alcohol that is technically “safe” for consumption but certainly cutting down the amount of units you have this Christmas will help your post-binge symptoms!

Also the classic post drinking activities of resting, rehydrating and eating will help lower those typical hangover symptoms.

Life Updates:

I hope you enjoyed listening to the free audiobook chapter I managed to swindle from the publisher’s and Audible – good feedback so far from you guys… but if you fancy reading the book with all the beautiful illustrations then I recommend pre-ordering the hardback (also helps to get it onto the best seller lists!). Under 2 weeks to go now!

The next week is various work and friend related Christmas parties – I’m surprisingly not one to indulge in too many social activities unless I NEED to.. so I’m being a grinch this Christmas and turning down a few invites so I can stay at home with the dog! (boring but definitely my idea of fun!)

For some reason it doesn’t feel as Christmassy this year as it did in previous years – is it just me? I haven’t heard THAT many Christmas songs on the radio…I haven’t see THAT many houses all decorated up etc. In fact I can’t believe Christmas day is just over a week away.. really snuck up on me this year.

The publishing PR team have organised a bunch of activities for me over the coming 2-3 weeks in the run up to and after my book launch so my December and January will be incredibly busy (outside work too!).

There is also discussions happening regarding a live event! I’ve always said how much I want to meet all of you.. the people who watched and follow my content and who’ve pre-ordered my book so it would be an incredible opportunity to be live on stage meeting all of you! Watch this space for updates on that!

What You Should Watch:

The Killer - Netflix

The Killer follows a character known as.. the killer (Michael Fassbender) – a mechanical and methodical assassin.

The movie starts of with the assassin on a standard hitjob.. which goes wrong and sets off a cascade of revenge, murder and fistfights. Interestingly there is a lot of slapstick comedy with some very tense action scenes and cold-blooded murder. One of the best movies I’ve seen this year!

What you should read:

Lord of the Flies

After witnessing the atrocities of World War II, William Golding (the author) was losing his faith in humanity and he was forced to interrogate the roots of human nature and violence. These musings inspired his first novel: “Lord of the Flies.”

We start with a plane crash on an island, with only a group of boys being the survivors.

At first they rejoice at the prospect of having an island all for themselves, but they quickly realise that they must live in an organized way if they ever want to go back home. As time goes by, they find it harder and harder to abide to the rules of civilization…

The story begins rather slowly, but from the third or fourth chapter, events follow at a very rapid pace. There is no part in the book where things calm down; instead the storyline slowly crescendos to its climax.

Fun fact: While teaching at Salisbury in the UK, William Golding would divide his pupils into gangs, start a fight and observe the reactions of the boys (true story). So Golding knew what he was writing about in The Lord of the Flies and thus delivered a realistic rendition of human behaviour in this book.

There are some very bloody and violent scenes in this book, but one in particular is horrible. This book is not for kids. This book is a masterpiece but it is a quick and very intense read and is unforgettable.

When Hot Feels Cold…

Don’t try this at home…but you might have noticed if you’ve ever stuck your hand in extremely hot water for a split second it actually feels cold.  

This phenomenon is known as paradoxical cold and here's why it happens:

Your body has thermoreceptors (which can detect hot and cold) and these receptors are actually situated quite close to one another so when something is extremely hot, it confuses and overwhelms them thus activating the cold receptors in addition to the heat receptors which is why super hot water can sometimes feel cold!

Basically you’re glitching out.