I have some more details about events going on in and around Aberdeen for National Science and Engineering Week (12th to 21st March 2010). All are open to anyone (though you may have to register in advance for some events).
For a list of all the events in Aberdeen and a downloadable program, visit the Public Engagement with Science Unit at the University of Aberdeen – National Science and Engineering Week 2010.
The one most directly relevant to cancer is a talk by Dr Marianne Nicolson, a consultant medical oncologist with NHS Grampian. It is being held in the Suttie Centre at Foresterhill on Friday the 12th of March from 3-4 pm and is called “Quality MOdern Treatment on Study”. In fact, there are events running at the Suttie centre all day on Friday 12th March, you need to register and you can read more about the tours and talks on the Clinical Research Facilities Public Open Day website.
There are also shows on at the Satrosphere on Saturday the 20th of March “The secret life of the skeleton” and “Where did my dinner go” and a “Bring your own Brain Event” on the 18th of March at Kings Conference Centre in Old Aberdeen.
If you go to any of these events, please let me know what you think by leaving a comment below. Thanks.
Cancer Research UK carry out a survey every year to see how much people know about both cancer prevention and cancer screening and the work of the charity itself. I received a paper copy of the survey in the post this morning, but you can save a stamp and complete it online. You will be asked if you want to donate £2 a month to Cancer Research UK (but obviously you don’t have to).
I though I’d point out that National Science and Engineering Week starts, next week and runs from the 12th to the 21st of March 2010. You can find out more here. There are a couple of events in Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire, on the 13th of March there will be some events on at the new shopping centre, Union Square and Science at the Lighthouse in Fraserburgh. On the 20th of March there will be family discovery days at Satrosphere and the Maritime museum. For more information see the events database.
Moray Science Festival is also running now from the 2nd to the 6th of March, there are a whole range of family activities on the 6th of March at Moray College in Elgin. There are a whole range of free drop in events, hopefully it won’t be snowing! Caithness Science Festival and the Hebridean Science festival also run in March, there is more information on the STEM North website (scroll down to STEM events).
The chart shows whether there is good, conflicting or poor evidence for taking a specific food supplement. The size of the circle shows how popular a supplement is (based on Google hits). The height of the circle shows whether the evidence for taking it is good, conflicting or poor (the higher the circle the better the evidence). If you click on the diagram and then move your mouse over to the right hand side of the screen you can select the medical condition you are interested in. I chose cancer, so what does it show?
If you look at supplements and cancer there is strong evidence that beta-glucan and selenium are helpful (they are near the top) however, selenium is much more popular than beta-glucan as it has a much larger circle. You might be wondering why selenium also appears lower down the table, I need to investigate the studies in more detail to find out why. The circle at the top relates to “chemotherapy” and the one lower down to “cancer”, I’m not sure if they mean chemoprevention rather than chemotherapy?
Why do I like this chart?
It is based on a huge amount of data, over 1,500 abstracts, just to create one graph! It uses high quality studies found in pubmed and Cochrane (see my earlier post on “Where do scientists look for information on the web“). It only looks at studies in humans (not cells in a dish in the lab) and these studies need to be large, placebo controlled, this means the data is as reliable as it can be. Furthermore the information that the chart is based on is freely available, online, so you can follow it up yourself.
The author also has a book out so if you want to see a whole range of data presented this way have a look.
As an aside, I first saw data displayed in this “moving circles” format in a TED talk by Hans Rosling called “Hans Rosling shows the best stats you’ve ever seen“, this talk is about how people perceive the developed/developing world and how if you actually look at the data this world view is far too simplistic. This talk is well worth watching, it was recorded in 2006 and has been updated several times (the updates are good too). The talk discusses health in the broadest sense and argues strongly that data should be made publically available. Please watch it.
The Ig Nobel awards are given to research that makes you laugh and makes you think. It takes place at Dundee University on Saturday the 13th of March at 6pm. The event is open to the public and tickets are free (but you need to book in advance). You can book tickets online (under “Other Free Lectures“)
*
*
This years topics include:
how your underwear could save you from certain death,
why you should always keep a look out for flirtatious ostriches,
how to avoid problems when using with the word ‘The’,
who invented and wore the World’s first false nose AND
the best way to avoid sword-swallowing injuries from the author of the penetrating medical report “Sword Swallowing and Its Side Effects.”
If you can’t make it to Dundee then the event is being streamed, live, to the Kings College Conference centre in Aberdeen, again, tickets are free but you need to book in advance and be in your seat by 5:45 pm! It looks like being a good evening.
I have previously written about Gordon Brown and David Cameron’s views on cancer in the UK. This week Nick Clegg, the leader of the liberal democrats has been giving his opinions and they are on the Cancer Research UK website.
Again, like Gordon Brown and David Cameron he starts off by saying that “early detection is key” he then goes on to say “so we’d scrap age limits on screening for a start”. I almost stopped reading the interview at that point, that statement made me want to weep. There are age limits on screening for a very good reason, it is to stop unnecessary harm being done to people. Age limits are set by looking at the scientific evidence, based on studying hundreds of thousands of cases. Age limits for cancer screening are NOT arbitrarily plucked from thin air in order to discriminate against people (younger or older) than the ages screened, they are based on getting maximum benefit for as many people while causing minimum harm to people who don’t have the disease, as well as reducing false-positives (healthy people who test positive that don’t have the disease being screened for) For instance, there is no point in giving a 20-year-old woman a mammogram, their breast tissue is too dense for the mammogram to show any meaningful information and mammograms use radiation, which carries a small degree of risk of causing a tumour. The statement that “we’d scrap age limits on screening” shows little understanding of either science or medicine, hardly encouraging for a party leader.
Nick Clegg’s seems to have less concrete views on the government’s role in public health, admitting that it’s nots “government’s job to tell people how to live their lives” and he isn’t into GP bashing (assuming all delays in diagnosing cancer are the GP’s fault) instead opting to increase the time GP’s can spend with their patients. However he seems to be keen on the idea that you can register with a GP near your work. This is fine as long as your are healthy, as soon as you need a home visit then this system soon becomes a lot more difficult to put into practice.
What do you think? Is this what you want to see from the leader of the liberal democrats?
Cancer Research UK have produced 4 short videos about detecting cancer early. The videos are each 5 minutes long and discuss breast cancer, bowel cancer, lung cancer and mouth cancer.
Obviously there are lots of other types of cancer and there are also links to early signs and symptoms of other types of cancer. You can embed these videos in your website or you can email them to a friend. As with all videos on the web, it’s probably best if you have broadband and you’ll need to install flash for it to work.
For some reason, when I embed the videos they all start with the mouth cancer one, you just need to click on the pictures at the bottom to find the ones on breast bowel and lung cancer.
Spot Mouth Cancer Early
What do you think of these videos? Do you find them useful, please feel free to leave a comment below.
Figures out this week show that 96 % of people who were urgently referred and then diagnosed with cancer were treated within 62 days. This means the 95 % target has been reached every quarter for the past year. The average wait was 35 days. NHS Grampian treated 96.8% of people within 62 days.
By 2011 the Scottish Government want all patients to start treatment within 31 days of “the descision to treat”. This is part of the Better Cancer Care stratagey. Not everyone agrees that this 31 day rule is a good thing. I’ve blogged before about cancer waiting times and how statistics alone aren’t a great way of judging services. If you want to read the details you’ll find the full report on the ISD website.
The local cancer research charity CRANES – Cancer Research Aberdeen and North East Scotland, have been able to give a grant of £23,000 to Aberdeen University. This is going to be used to research the links between obesity and cancer. To start the study they will be looking at people who have been treated for breast can prostate cancer and who could benefit from losing weight. The money will be used to employ a dietician who will work with people who have finished their treatment. The long term aim is to produce a programme suitable for people who have had cancer to help them improve their overall health and fitness by diet and excercise. There is more information here.
As the title says, this isn’t about cancer but it is about science, on Monday the 15th of February, there will be a talk at Foresterhill about diabetes, over 22, 000 people in Grampian have diabetes so this will probably be of interest to a lot of people. The talk is open to anyone and is in the new Suttie Centre, it runs from 6-8pm. The Suttie Centre is a building between the main door for ARI and the Institute for Medical Sciences, the postcode is AB25 2ZD if you are trying to find it by satnav. You can find a map and more details of the other Cafe Med talks on this leaflet.
Another local project is “Better by Miles“, which is launched by the Rowett today, it’s aim is to get kids to think about the food on their plate and how far it has travelled. It’s aimed at children from 7 years and up.
I have some more details about events going on in and around Aberdeen for National Science and Engineering Week (12th to 21st March 2010). All are open to anyone (though you may have to register in advance for some events).
Cancer Research UK carry out a survey every year to see how much people know about both cancer prevention and cancer screening and the work of the charity itself. I received a paper copy of the survey in the post this morning, but you can save a stamp and complete it online. You will be asked if you want to donate £2 a month to Cancer Research UK (but obviously you don’t have to).
I found a fascinating website today called “
I have previously written about 
Cancer Research UK have produced 4 short 
The local cancer research charity 
As the title says, this isn’t about cancer but it is about science, on Monday the 15th of February, there will be a talk at Foresterhill about 
