Vegetable flavonoid promising for cancer treatment

I remember wondering a while back why I loved green beans so much when they didn't appear to have an especially high food value/nutrition. A few years ago I was excited to learn that green beans, in fact, contain something called flavonoids (a recently discovered nutrient) that were really good for you. Hurray, I thought. My body's wisdom does work after all.

Today I found this on the value of flavonoids as tools in sensitizing cancer cells--but not healthy ones--so that they will react more intensely to standard cancer treatments such as chemo and radiation.

Researchers are talking about trying to synthesize this element and use it in stronger doses to further boost cancer cell death. Now that's one of my favorite topics--taking advantage of nature's wisdom.

Healthcare reform or bust?

Interesting discussion here on how the financial and credit crisis in American is causing upheaval in the healthcare industry and is expected to continue to do so. Hospitals delaying construction; purchases of high technology gadgets canceled; doctors delaying retirement because of investment losses.

Good coverage on both sides of the issue--the negatives but also the positives that could come out of it. That our fascination with high-tech stuff hasn't made the quality of care higher, so maybe we can learn to do things better instead of throwing money at them. That we have a huge number of people without insurance and therefore with little or no access to healthcare, so maybe this is a good time to institute reform. That doctors delaying retirement could mean we won't suffer quite so soon such a shortage of general practitioners as is expected as the baby boomers age.

Also both presidential candidates claim they will not forget about their healthcare reform agendas--and one source claiming that the fact that the government just paid $600 billion to bail out Wall Street is a clear sign that health care will never receive top priority. It'll be interesting to see what happens after the election.

Secrets of Nanotechnology for non-scientists - video conference

If you live in one of the states that's got a location, this sounds like it's worth attending. The Nanotechnology Colloqium is presenting a video-conference lecture through the auspices of the University of Texas by Jan Beck, PhD--whose credentials as an expert on nanoscale engineering are impressive.

The blurb says you don't have to know math or quantum physics to understand how the materials are made and how they act. Lots of real world examples of nano-materials in action. Read the announcement and register here--the date is Monday, October 20, from 12:00 to 1:30 CT.

In Chicago, it'll be broadcast at Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart Building, room 21210 West 31st Street. The rest of the locations are in Texas--congrats to Chicago for snagging a venue.