CraigBrownLaw

Mesothelioma Study Results

CraigBrownLaw — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 06:26:51 +0000

A promising study was reported in the December 15, 2011 American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. You can read the abstract for yourself here: http://ajrccm.atsjournals.org/content/184/12/1395.abstract

Adenoviral-mediated interferon-α2b gene transfer appears to hold some promise in treating mesothelioma. Although a real breakthrough may be a long way off, the good news keeps slowly accumulating.

Filed under: Mesothelioma

Old Jungmann Farm House – Buckholts

CraigBrownLaw — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:39:03 +0000

The Jungmanns were nice enough to send me this old photo of the original farm house that was right here where our “new” 50-year old house is. One the back Mrs. Jungmann had written simply “this is where our kids were raised.” For the older Buckholts people this brings back memories. One man in Cameron told me about skating around the old, slick wood floors in his socks. I’m not sure what year they tore it down, but ’46 seems like a good estimate for when our house was put up in its place.

Filed under: Farm & Family

Charlton Heston knows how to read Hemingway

CraigBrownLaw — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:24:14 +0000

I must admit that Snows of Kilimanjaro is one of those short stories that I picked up about 10 ten times over the years but never finished. Then someone gave me the CD of Charlton Heston reading it. Now I am reading and re-reading. Heston’s performance is brilliant. No one can talk about writing, the war (to end all wars), painful death, painful life, riches, women and just plain drunkenness the way Heston can when he’s quoting Hemingway. One of my favorite lines: ”He had destroyed his talent by not using it, by betrayals of himself and what he believed in, by drinking so much that he blunted the edge of his perceptions, by laziness, by sloth, and by snobbery, by pride and by prejudice, by hook and by crook.” How true for how many of us, only God knows.

Filed under: Random Musings

The John Deere 8530 beats my old IH

CraigBrownLaw — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:13:20 +0000

Went out to watch Lonnie Dodd skillfully moving dirt out of one of the tanks on Rick’s farm. Quite a machine. I am adding this to my Christmas list. Yeah. Santa, about the last few years, well, it’s a long story…

Filed under: Farm & Family, Random Musings

Date Night Buying Cattle Cubes

CraigBrownLaw — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:08:59 +0000

We have about one night away to ourselves every six months or so. What better time to pick up a few extra sacks of cattle cubes at Tractor Supply?

Filed under: Farm & Family

Drought 2011

CraigBrownLaw — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 05:05:33 +0000

There is no doubt that the drought has been catastrophic in Buckholts. We had less than 10 inches of rain through December 1. Here are a few photos of the extent of the damage. Unfortunately my photos of the house pasture on fire didn’t turn out very well. We had 1,500 feet of brand new fence destroyed (and three girls with a permanent fire phobia) but otherwise the wild fires didn’t do too much damage on our farm.

Filed under: Farm & Family

Metallic Hip Implant Fails at Alarming Rate

CraigBrownLaw — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:35:02 +0000

Researchers are finding more and more that all metallic hips are causing what doctors refer to as a “biological dead zone”. In this “dead zone”, strands of tissue stained gray and black along with strips of muscles that no longer contract can be found.

Over a decade ago, some researchers warned that these all metallic hips can shed tiny pieces of metal that posed potential health threats to patients, yet those warning were not heeded and now there is a growing health crisis among hip replacement patients.

Often, patients are bounced from doctor to doctor to diagnose the problem and some doctors do not have the knowledge or the tools to properly diagnose a defective hip implant.

According to an investigative article by the New York Times, the particles that are shed by these hips pose a special threat because “scavenger cells dispatched by the body to neutralize the debris convert it into biologically active metallic ions. In some patients, a chain reaction begins that can destroy tissue and muscle.”

All metallic hips seem to be failing at a rate three times as high as those replacement hips made of both metal and plastic components. In the first six months of this year, the FDA received more than 5,000 reports about problems with the all metal hips.

By: R. Stone

Filed under: Public Safety

Mesothelioma drug fails trials

CraigBrownLaw — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 16:28:38 +0000

There have not been many breakthroughs in the treatment of mesothelioma, with the median survival rate for those diagnosed with the disease remaining at an average of 12 months. Researchers hoped they had found a drug that would increase this survival rate. This did not prove to be the case.

An experimental chemotherapy treatment known as Vorinostat recently failed a Phase III trial after it did not achieve a significant improvement in progression-free survival of pleural mesothelioma patients.

“Unfortunately, there was no benefit with regard to overall survival compared with placebo,” said Lee Krug, M.D, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Six hundred and sixty patients participated in the clinical trial across 92 sites, but Krug said there were no differences in response rate or survival benefits among the test group and placebo group. This was the largest Phase III trial of its kind for advanced mesothelioma cases.

While it is regrettable that the drug did not deliver as hoped, it is encouraging that larger trials are being attempted. This deadly disease deserves more attention by researchers for both earlier detection and better treatment.

Filed under: Mesothelioma

Buckholts Coyotes Look Healthy

CraigBrownLaw — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:53:58 +0000

I like this shot of a healthy 5HH Farm coyote who got in the path of the game camera on the 5HH Farm. Looks like I’m feeding them lots of rabbits. The time stamp probably confirms why I never see coyotes anymore: I never stay up late!

Filed under: Farm & Family

Willie Nelson Smoking Pot? No Way.

CraigBrownLaw — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 18:50:04 +0000

Shocked and dismayed. I can’t sleep. I mean, what kind of role model? Damn, damn, damn. I thought… I thought… Not Willie. Surely not Willie.

Yes, Willie Nelson was busted for having some pot on his tour bus. I personally can’t believe it. It is probably part of the government conspiracy to end Farm Aid or something.

Free Willie!

Filed under: Random Musings