Tag: Cancer

p53 is both your genome’s guardian and weakness against cancer – scientists are trying to repair or replace it when it goes awry

Understanding Science

Prosper Obed Chukwuemeka, University of Pittsburgh (from The Conversation) Cancer arises when your cells grow uncontrollably and refuse to die when they should. Normally, your body is equipped with regulatory processes to prevent this chaos. One such mechanism involves a protein called p53. Often dubbed the “guardian of the genome,” this protein plays a pivotal role in ensuring that your cells grow, divide and die…

See more

“Forever chemicals”, farmland, and cancer

Intersections

For many years, farmers across the United States have been encouraged by the Federal Government to spread sewage from homes and factories on farmland as fertilizer. This sludge, obtained from wastewater treatment plants, was rich in nutrients, and it helped keep the sewage out of landfills. But research now shows that this black sludge (called “biosolids”) can contain heavy concentrations of chemicals that can increase…

See more

Air pollution: one of the world’s greatest public health threats

Quick bibliographies

“Air pollution is one of the world’s greatest public health threats, reducing global life expectancy more than smoking, alcohol or childhood malnutrition. Recent studies estimate that fine particulate matter called PM2.5—pumped out by cars, factories, woodstoves and wildfires—causes nearly nine million premature deaths annually.” [Greenspan, J. (2023). Air Pollution Is Really Dangerous, Even More New Evidence Shows: Dirty air has been linked to poor health outcomes, ranging from suicidality…

See more

p53 and cancer

Quick bibliographies

p53 is a tumor suppressor protein that is the most commonly mutated gene in tumor/cancer cells. p53 is the most important and most widely studied of the tumor suppressor genes. Mutations in p53 are found in approximately 50% of all human cancers. The most studied tumor suppressor function of p53 is tied to apoptosis (programmed cell death). Cancer therapies that involve mutated tumor suppressor genes…

See more

Drinking alcohol and the risk of cancer: what do Americans believe?

Featured Article

Can drinking alcoholic beverages cause or increase the risk of developing cancer? Yes. But do Americans believe that? An update to the Drinking alcohol: how much is too much? bibliography; for the most current version of the bibliography, see — https://sciencebibliographies.strategian.com/drinking-alcohol-how-much-is-too-much-2/. Featured article (this article has been added to the Science Primary Literature database): *Kiviniemi, M. T., Orom, H., Hay, J. L., & Waters, E….

See more

Can viruses do good things?

Quick bibliographies

Can viruses be beneficial? Did they aid the development of life on this planet? Can they be used in treating cancer? Can they protect plants against drought and cold temperatures? Can they protect against infection? Are they, in fact, essential for life on Earth? See the background and the research … Background: *Nuwer, R. (2020). Why the world needs viruses to function. BBC Future. *Quammen,…

See more
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.