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The Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program in NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences is funding four population-based case-control studies of meningioma. Investigators are collecting information on potential risk factors, including cell phone use, from individuals diagnosed with intracranial meningioma and comparing them with control subjects matched by sex, ethnicity, geographic location, and age. These studies represent the first concentrated effort to examine environmental and genetic risk factors for meningioma.
Lung Screening Trial Results and Ovarian Cancer Analysis Published
Primary results from the National Lung Screening Trial show a 20 percent reduction in deaths from lung cancer among heavy smokers who were screened with low-dose helical computed tomography (CT) compared with those screened by chest X-ray. The findings, which appeared online in the New England Journal of Medicine, confirm initial findings from the study reported in November 2010 and include the rate of false-positive results. For more information, read the NCI press release.
In a study reported in Nature, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network has analyzed the genomic changes found in ovarian tumors from 500 patients, providing the most comprehensive and integrated look at any cancer type to date. TCGA is jointly funded and managed by NCI and the National Human Genome Research Institute. The NCI press release is available online.
New Graphic Tobacco Warning Labels Backed by Research
For the first time in more than a quarter century, the look of a pack of cigarettes sold in the United States is changing, thanks to nine new graphic tobacco warning labels released last week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
By the fall of 2012, tobacco companies will be required to cover half of the front and back of cigarette packs and cartons with the warnings, which include images of cancer-ridden lungs, rotting teeth, and an infant surrounded by secondhand smoke. Read more > >
Common Gene Mutation Found in Hairy Cell LeukemiaThe V600E mutation in the BRAF gene may occur frequently in the disease
New Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise against Tumors in MiceViruses with DNA from healthy human tissue triggered an antitumor immune response
Researchers Scrutinize Genetic Variants Linked to MelanomaFive DNA variants emerge as the most promising markers of susceptibility
Barrett Esophagus May Progress to Cancer Less Often than ThoughtDifferent diagnostic criteria for condition may limit applicability to U.S.
A Conversation with Dr. Martha Linet on Cell Phone Use and Cancer Risk
Dr. Linet discusses the forthcoming IARC monograph that classifies exposure to mobile phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Read more > >
Imaging Boot Camp for Cancer ResearchersNCI's annual Cancer Research Imaging Camp trains junior researchers in cutting-edge imaging technology
Featured Clinical Trial: Adding Targeted Therapy to Treatment for Esophageal CancerWill adding trastuzumab to chemoradiotherapy before surgery reduce recurrences?
FDA Update
- Potential Cardiac Risks Associated with Smoking Cessation Drug
- Diabetes Drug May Increase Risk of Bladder Cancer
Cancer.gov Update
- NCI Launches International Clinical Trials Portal
- In Memoriam: PDQ Board Member James Nachman
- DCEG Training Program Receives Langmuir Award
- NCAB Meeting Held This Week
- NCI Hosts BSA Meeting June 20
- Telephone Workshop for Cancer Survivors to Focus on Late Effects
- Japanese Translators of the Bulletin Visit NCI
Selected articles from past issues of the NCI Cancer Bulletin are available in Spanish.
The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), which was established in 1937. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases.
For more information about cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov.
NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at email@example.com.
Featured Article
New Graphic Tobacco Warning Labels Backed by Research
For the first time in more than a quarter century, the look of a pack of cigarettes sold in the United States is changing, thanks to nine new graphic tobacco warning labels released last week by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). By the fall of 2012, tobacco companies will be required to cover half of the front and back of cigarette packs and cartons with the warnings, which include images of cancer-ridden lungs, rotting teeth, and an infant surrounded by secondhand smoke.
The warnings will also be required to cover 20 percent of all forms of cigarette advertising, including magazine and newspaper ads, brochures, coupons, retail or point-of-sale displays, and Internet advertising. The new warnings are intended to encourage current smokers to quit and to deter nonsmokers, especially young people, from ever taking their first puff.
"The new graphic warning labels will be the toughest and most effective tobacco health warnings in this country's history, and they tell the truth," said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a White House news conference on June 21. "With these warnings, every person who picks up a pack of cigarettes is going to know exactly what risk they're taking."
The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, signed into law on June 22, 2009, gave the FDA the authority to regulate tobacco products and required the implementation of new graphic health warnings. Last November, the FDA presented 36 proposed images, from which the nine final images were chosen.
"The final nine images were selected based on a number of important criteria," FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg noted at the White House press conference. "We took into account public comment from approximately 1,700 stakeholders, including experts and industry [representatives], some of whom submitted scientific research studies," she explained.
The FDA also conducted a national study to gauge people's response to graphic cigarette health warnings. It was the largest such study ever conducted, involving some 18,000 participants, Dr. Hamburg said.
"We examined how effective the proposed warnings were at communicating the health risks, as well as [their] ability to encourage smokers to quit and [whether] they discourage nonsmokers—particularly kids—from ever wanting to smoke," she added.
In addition to the large color images, every warning will include the number for the national network of smoking cessation quitlines, 1-800-QUIT-NOW, and educational text, such as "cigarettes cause cancer," "cigarettes are addictive," and "tobacco smoke can harm your children."
Evidence Supports New Warnings
More than 30 countries and jurisdictions already require graphic health warnings on tobacco packages. NCI's Tobacco Control Research Branch has funded a number of research projects studying the impact of graphic health warnings as they have been implemented in different countries.
"Clearly one thing that stands out in our research is that the more gruesome the warning, the greater the effect in being noticed," said Dr. K. Michael Cummings of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, who led one of the research projects supported by NCI. "We also see that warnings that are pictorial and reflect truthfully the harm caused by cigarettes tend to affect knowledge and beliefs about the risk of smoking," he said. "The pictorial warnings certainly do a better job than what we've seen with text-based warnings."
Dr. David Hammond, of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, another NCI-supported researcher, agreed, saying, "The use of pictures ensures that [the warning labels] can be understood by low-literacy populations, including very young children. The warnings incorporate some of the best practices based on evidence: they are relatively large, they will appear on the front and back of [cigarette] packs, and at least some of the warnings include information that will engage on an emotional level."
Providing information on how to stop smoking directly on cigarette packaging and ads has also demonstrated positive outcomes. "We know from a number of studies that including information that allows smokers to immediately address the health threat posed in the warning messages, such as providing a quitline number or a Web site address where people can get help to stop smoking, will stimulate quit attempts and help [them find] evidence-based support to help them quit," Dr. Cummings said. (In addition to using 1-800-QUIT-NOW, smokers can get help to quit through www.smokefree.gov.)
Dr. Cummings indicated that more research will be needed to understand how often to rotate the warning messages and what new topics should be added to the labels so that consumers are adequately informed about the risks posed by tobacco products. For example, the lack of harm reduction from filtered and low-tar cigarettes and why nicotine addiction is so difficult to overcome are topics that could be considered for future warning labels.
Never Too Late to Quit
Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin appeared at a second news conference to express her support for the new warnings and to provide perspective on the current state of tobacco use in the United States. "With a lot of effort, our nation has reduced tobacco use by half since [the] first Surgeon General's Report in 1964," she said. "However, since 2003, our progress has stalled. One in five adults in the United States continues to smoke. One in five adolescents smokes. Tobacco use remains the leading cause of preventable death in the United States and is responsible for more than 440,000 premature deaths every year."
In addition to loss of life, tobacco use has significant financial consequences. "Almost $200 billion is lost per year in the U.S. alone from increased health care costs and lost productivity costs," said Dr. Lawrence Deyton, director of the FDA Center for Tobacco Products. "We must work together to make tobacco-related death and disease part of America's past, not our future," he added.
"Despite enormous progress, tobacco use remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. and is a leading cause of cancer health disparities," added Dr. Robert Croyle, director of NCI's Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences. "We are very enthusiastic about the potential for the new graphic health warnings to contribute to reducing our nation's tobacco burden."
—Dr. Regina Benjamin, U.S. Surgeon General
Dr. Benjamin encouraged smokers who want to quit to consult their doctors. Patients who are advised by their doctors have a 66 percent higher success rate, she explained. When smokers quit, the risk of heart disease drops sharply after just 1 year, and the risk of stroke falls to about the same as a nonsmoker's after 2 to 5 years. Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, and bladder are cut in half after 5 years, and risk of dying of lung cancer drops by half after 10 years.
"Quitting at any age and at any time is beneficial," said Dr. Benjamin. "It's never too late to quit, but the sooner you do the better."
A Long-Term Commitment
One concern about the new warning labels is the potential for consumers to become desensitized to the images and the associated health warnings. Dr. Hamburg stated that the FDA will regularly evaluate the success of the images and make changes as necessary. Any future changes will be proposed based on research and evaluation and through rulemaking that includes public notice and the opportunity for public comment.
In addition to updating the cigarette warning labels, regulators may want to consider a more comprehensive public education campaign on tobacco, suggested Dr. Hammond. He noted that increasing taxes and other policies that raise the price of cigarettes also reduce tobacco use.
When the time comes to improve the next generation of cigarette labels, the United States may want to look to countries like Canada or Australia, Dr. Hammond added. Graphic warnings have appeared on cigarette packs in Canada for almost a decade, and, beginning next year, the Australian government will require all cigarettes to be sold in "plain packages"—packages stripped of colors or symbols with the exception of the brand name written in a standard font.
"Given that tobacco use remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States, NCI needs to maintain this commitment to tobacco cessation and control research over the long term if the country is to significantly reduce the cancer burden," said Dr. Hammond.
—Jennifer Crawford
Cancer Research Highlights
Common Gene Mutation Found in Hairy Cell Leukemia
A gene mutation that occurs in melanoma and other cancers has now been detected in hairy cell leukemia (HCL), a rare cancer of the blood. The mutation, called V600E, occurs in the BRAF gene and appears to contribute to the disease, researchers reported in the June 16 New England Journal of Medicine.
All 48 patients with HCL in the study had the mutation. Patients with HCL produce large numbers of abnormal B lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. These abnormal cells appear "hairy" under a microscope and give the disease its name.
Dr. Enrico Tiacci of the University of Perugia, Italy, and his colleagues began by sequencing the complete exome (that is, all protein-coding regions of the genome) of both tumor and normal cells of a patient with HCL. This revealed five variants that were found specifically in tumor cells but not in normal cells, one of which was the V600E mutation in BRAF.
Little is known about the other four affected genes, but BRAF is often mutated in cancer, and the V600E mutation occurs frequently. The researchers then found this mutation in 47 other patients with HCL; it was, however, absent from 195 additional patients with other B-cell lymphomas or leukemias who were tested.
The presence of this mutation could serve as a diagnostic tool to help doctors distinguish HCL from cancers that have similar features, the study authors wrote. Further research, they noted, is needed to determine the frequency of the V600E mutation in a larger patient group and to clarify whether mutations in other genes may cooperate with BRAF mutations in the development of HCL.
Drugs that target the effects of BRAF mutations are in development, such as vemurafenib (PLX-4032). When the authors treated cells from HCL patients with the BRAF inhibitor PLX-4720, they observed biochemical changes that indicated a reduction in the activity of a growth-promoting pathway. These inhibitors could be tested in patients whose disease does not respond to initial treatment with other agents or who relapse, the authors said.
The study findings are both "unexpected" and "very interesting," said Dr. Robert Kreitman of NCI's Center for Cancer Research. "The [V600E] mutation is a potential target for treatment and diagnosis, and it may also play a role in why normal lymphocytes become hairy cells," added Dr. Kreitman, who leads clinical trials in HCL. (See "Treating Multiply Relapsed or Refractory Hairy Cell Leukemia" and "Eliminating Hairy Cell Leukemia Minimal Residual Disease.")
New Cancer Vaccine Shows Promise against Tumors in Mice
A series of intravenous (IV) vaccinations with a virus carrying fragments of DNA coding for normal human prostate tissue surface antigens cured cancer in about 80 percent of mice with established prostate tumors, new study findings showed.
The study, published online June 19 in Nature Medicine, was led by Dr. Richard Vile of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and Dr. Alan Melcher of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre in Leeds. If the new approach can be translated from mice to humans, such vaccines could "be readily constructed for off-the-shelf use and [could] be easily delivered" intravenously, the study authors wrote.
The researchers created the cancer vaccine by inserting an extensive "library" of DNA fragments from normal human prostate cells into a mutated form of a virus called vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV). Each VSV particle carries a different DNA fragment, and each fragment holds the code for making a particular human prostate antigen, a piece of protein capable of triggering an immune response.
When the researchers injected the virus particles intravenously into mice bearing prostate tumors, the DNA fragments, known as complementary DNAs (cDNAs) that coded for surface antigens, were translated in the mice into a wide range of human prostate antigens.
Bolstered by VSV itself, which produces a strong immune response, the antigens triggered an immune reaction that selectively targeted prostate tumor cells while sparing healthy prostate tissue and other normal mouse tissues. Injecting the vaccine directly into prostate tumors was not nearly as effective as intravenous injection and produced signs of an autoimmune response in the mice.
"By expressing all of these proteins in highly immunogenic viruses, we increased their visibility to the immune system," Dr. Vile said in a news release. "The immune system now thinks it is being invaded by the viruses, which are expressing cancer-related antigens that should be eliminated."
The researchers found that tumors in mice were cured more effectively with nine IV injections given every other day than with a series of three or six IV injections. Tumor cells that survived an initial round of three IV vaccinations "were readily treated by second-line virus-based immunotherapy" using DNA fragments that coded for antigens on the surfaces of resistant tumor cells, the study authors wrote.
Dr. James Gulley of NCI's Center for Cancer Research, who studies human cancer vaccines but was not involved in the current work, said that a possible strength of the new approach "is the large number of potential antigens that can be targeted," although he said that this might also make it harder to monitor the immune response to a similar vaccine in human studies. Dr. Gulley also noted the challenges inherent in taking promising vaccine approaches from mice into the clinic.
The method described by Dr. Vile and his colleagues is just one approach being explored in the search for effective cancer vaccines in humans, Dr. Gulley added. "I don't think it really matters in the end what initiates an immunologically relevant killing of tumor cells," he said. "The key is to get the immune system trained to kill the tumor cells, and it may be that multiple vaccine approaches will demonstrate similar effectiveness."
Researchers Scrutinize Genetic Variants Linked to Melanoma
Researchers have identified five genetic variants that appear to be the most promising markers of susceptibility for melanoma from a set of 745 variants that have been linked to the disease in published studies. The results of this meta-analysis, which included 145 genetic association studies in melanoma, appeared online June 21 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Each of the five variants showed a statistically significant association with melanoma at the genome-wide level and had "strong epidemiological credibility," Dr. Alexander Stratigos of the University of Athens Medical School in Greece and his colleagues found.
To conduct the analysis, the researchers collected and catalogued all genetic association studies published in the field of melanoma, including results from recent genome-wide association studies. Working with colleagues around the world, they then conducted a systematic meta-analysis for each genetic variant identified. For each variant that showed a statistically significant association with melanoma in the meta-analysis, the authors also assessed the epidemiologic evidence supporting such an association.
The strongest associations with melanoma included variants within genes that play an important role in determining the color of skin, hair, and eyes. This finding may reflect the fact that these variants had been tested in the original candidate gene studies precisely because of their effects on pigmentation, a well-known risk factor of melanoma, the study authors noted.
Nonetheless, the confirmation of some of these variants in genome-wide association studies
"strongly supports their contribution to melanoma susceptibility," Dr. Stratigos wrote in an e-mail. "Whether their effect on melanoma risk is exclusively through their influence on pigmentation, or also partly independent of that, cannot be assessed with our systematic meta-analysis approach," he added.
The results provide "an integrated perspective of the accumulated evidence of genetic associations" in melanoma, the authors concluded. Their evidence is available online at the MelGene Database, which provides "a regularly updated field synopsis of genetic association studies performed in melanoma," according to the site.
Barrett Esophagus May Progress to Cancer Less Often than Thought
The risk of Barrett esophagus (BE) developing into esophageal cancer may be lower than previously thought, according to one of the largest studies of its kind. The study was conducted in Ireland, where the clinical parameters for diagnosing BE are different than they are in the United States. As a result, the implications of these results for care in the United States are unclear. The study was published online June 16 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Esophageal cancer incidence has been rising dramatically in the United States, with an increase of 300 to 400 percent in the last 30 years. BE is a strong risk factor for the development of esophageal cancer. Current clinical guidelines advise that people who have BE without evidence of significant cellular aberrations, known as dysplasia, undergo an endoscopy every 3 to 5 years, with more frequent endoscopies in people whose BE has more significant dysplasia.
In this study, researchers followed more than 8,500 BE patients who were listed in the Northern Ireland Barrett Esophagus Registry. After a mean follow-up of 7 years, 79 participants had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, 16 with cancer of the gastric cardia (the junction between the esophagus and stomach), and 36 with high-grade dysplasia, meaning that the esophageal tissue had severe precancerous changes. The combined incidence of all three outcomes was 0.22 percent per year, lower than what has been seen in previous studies. Consistent with previous studies, cancer risk was higher among men and in patients over 50 years of age.
In addition to showing a lower risk of progression than previously seen, the study "makes it possible to more accurately determine risk in subgroups and to estimate changes in risk of progression over time," wrote the study's lead investigator, Dr. Shivaram Bhat of Queen's University Belfast, and his colleagues.
However, only 46 percent of the BE patients in the registry had changes in the esophageal lining (identified during an endoscopy) known as specialized intestinal metaplasia (SIM), a condition which is used to diagnose BE in the United States. The remaining patients had been diagnosed with BE based on the presence of less severe changes to the esophageal lining, determined via a biopsy. The combined incidence of progression from BE to esophageal cancer, gastric cardia cancer, or high-grade dysplasia in patients with SIM was 0.38 percent per year. Patients without SIM at their first biopsy had a much lower incidence of progression, just 0.07 percent per year.
Diagnosing BE in patients without SIM "could meaningfully bias the results," wrote Dr. Douglas Corley of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research in an accompanying editorial. In the patients with SIM, he noted, the incidence of progression to cancer was only slightly lower than prior estimates. "The current study…provides general support for many paradigms underlying current thoughts about the management of Barrett esophagus," explained Dr. Corley. Further studies will be necessary to determine "whether surveillance or treatment actually decrease cancer deaths and the development of better techniques for risk stratification."
The conflicting diagnostic criteria for BE "makes it difficult to compare these results with other studies," agreed Dr. Asad Umar of NCI's Division of Cancer Prevention. The findings, he continued, "need to be analyzed with caution, as the practice of endoscopic and pathologic evaluations varies greatly among practices and research groups."
A Conversation With
Dr. Martha Linet on Cell Phone Use and Cancer Risk
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) published a synopsis of its forthcoming Monograph on the Evaluation of Carcinogenic Risks to Humans online June 22 in Lancet Oncology. The monograph classifies exposure to mobile phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans." Dr. Martha Linet, chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch in NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, discusses the IARC working group's decision and summarizes some of the ongoing research on mobile phones and cancer risk.
Is there evidence of an increased risk of cancer from mobile phone use?
Most studies to date have not found an association between cell phone use overall and the development of tumors. However, there are a handful of studies that have shown an association with increased risk for glioma among the small number of cell phone users who reported the highest level of call time. Among the positive studies, results are conflicting and don't show a dose-response. In addition, there is no biologically plausible mechanism or animal evidence for how cell phones might cause cancer.
Why are there inconsistencies among the studies?
Most of the studies are based on data from interviews about cell phone use patterns from brain tumor patients and control subjects. We know that this kind of self-reported data is not necessarily accurate. Patients may be more likely to over-report use than controls, or they may mis-recall on which side of their head they held their phone. Cell phone technology has changed dramatically over time, and the studies cover different periods. The way people use cell phones has also changed over time, which makes accurate recall more difficult.
In addition, none of the epidemiologic studies measure actual radiofrequency exposure to the brain; the exposure is estimated from interview data.
How has the epidemiology community responded to IARC's decision to classify mobile phones as "possibly carcinogenic to humans?"
There's been a lot of lively debate among epidemiologists and interest at epidemiologic meetings. We have identified some gaps in the research, which ongoing studies are attempting to address. The three major gaps are: none of the studies—including Interphone, a large international study on cell phone use of more than 5,000 patients in 13 countries who had either glioma or meningioma—have a large number of long-duration, heavy-intensity cell phone users. So, risks associated with high exposures are based on fairly small numbers.
Second, there are no published studies of cancer risk among people who began using phones as children or adolescents.
Third, the animal studies have been limited to date, but the National Toxicology Program has a very large, well controlled study of rodents under way, involving thousands of rodents. Results are expected in 2014.
Would you describe some of these forthcoming studies?
There is a large European study, involving mostly Nordic and northern European countries, called COSMOS, that is following 250,000 people 30 to 59 years of age with repeated interviews, comparisons with cell phone subscriber data, and periodic linkage with cancer registry data.
There are several NCI-funded studies in the United States looking at cell phone and radiofrequency exposure and risk of meningioma and other brain tumors in different populations. (See the sidebar for more information.)
And there is another European-funded initiative called Mobi-Kids that is modeled after Interphone. Mobi-Kids is studying brain tumor risk associated with cell phone use among people 10 to 24 years of age.
What is the main takeaway from all this?
The IARC working group classified cell phone use as a possible carcinogen. If one keeps in mind that possible means "maybe," that fits with the positive reports but overall inconsistent data. The studies under way addressing key research gaps will provide important information that should clarify questions not addressed by the research to date, and it will be important to continue to monitor incidence trends in brain tumors.
The steps suggested by the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to reduce exposure include reducing the length and number of calls made from cell phones, using landline phones instead of cell phones, and switching to a cell phone with a hands-free device.
Of course, one of the most important general safety recommendations is to not use cell phones while driving.
This is the seventh article in a series of stories related to new technology in cancer research. You can read more articles in the series here.
Imaging Boot Camp for Cancer Researchers
In a basement lab, a group of students gently place a tumor-bearing mouse into the bore of a small-animal MRI machine to test several methods for distinguishing cancer from surrounding fat cells. Upstairs, another group of scientists rotates through three optical imaging stations, observing the different ways that visible and infrared light can be harnessed to visualize cancer cells in a mouse. At the ultrasound table, a young researcher uses a receiver to deliver a burst of energy to a small tumor in vivo, lighting up a contrast agent designed to bind to and highlight tumor blood vessels.
NCI's annual Cancer Research Imaging Camp, sponsored by the Cancer Imaging Program (CIP) and held June 19–24 this year at Washington University in St. Louis, provides a one-of-a-kind immersive experience for junior scientists eager to incorporate modern imaging methods into their research. Trainees can't possibly gain a comprehensive understanding of imaging technology in 6 days, but that's not the goal of the program, explained Dr. Kenneth Krohn, professor of radiology, radiation oncology, and chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle and an instructor at Imaging Camp since its inception.
"What we want them to take away is that there are lots of evolving technologies, and that the most important thing is for them to formulate their research questions first and then find the best technology to answer those questions." What researchers should avoid, said Dr. Krohn, is using an imaging method in their research simply because they are familiar with it, or because it has been the only thing available to them.
Although some Imaging Camp participants have experience with one or more of the methods taught during the week, many are learning these methods for the first time.
By the third day of this year's program, Dr. Ashley Snider, an assistant professor of medicine and lipid researcher at the Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H Johnson VA Medical Center, and novice imager, had already picked up some ideas. She is working on a collaborative project with two senior cancer researchers, looking at how colon cancer forms in patients with ulcerative colitis. Dr. Snider plans to test some of the techniques she learned at Imaging Camp to monitor the overproduction of blood vessels and track drug delivery in the colon.
"I had never done in vivo imaging before camp," she said. "We'd seen in cells and in animals that an inflammation-associated lipid…contributes to carcinogenesis, but we want to take that work to the next level and monitor the response of tumors to inhibitors we're developing with in vivo imaging. That's why I'm here."
Setting Up Camp
The idea for Imaging Camp sprang from NCI's Imaging Integration and Implementation (I2) group, which was set up in 2004 to encourage greater use of imaging in cancer research. Early on, the group recruited Dr. Bonnie Sloane, distinguished professor and chair of pharmacology at Wayne State University, as a liaison to the CIP to help cancer biologists gain a better understanding of imaging techniques. She identified a basic lack of training as the main barrier to greater use of imaging in cancer biology.
"If you're trained, it's easy to use a technology. But if you don't understand the modalities and the pluses and minuses of each, you don't know how they could help answer your research questions," she explained. Conceived in 2005 and launched in 2007, Imaging Camp draws junior researchers from diverse disciplines that intersect with cancer biology and treatment.
"It's amazing how imaging has infiltrated this field completely," commented Dr. Suresh Mohla, associate director of NCI's Division of Cancer Biology, who co-chaired the Imaging I2 group. "More and more people are using whole-animal imaging to monitor tumor progression, to understand the behavior of tumors and surrounding cells. It's opened up a whole new perspective on how cancer develops in vivo that wasn't available before, and this program is contributing to training the next generation of cancer researchers in these innovative techniques," he continued.
"We hope that the Imaging Camp students will become the experts of the future, and train their own students. Since we can't train hundreds each year, we're trying to sow the seeds," Dr. Mohla explained.
Labor of Love
For its first 2 years, the camp was hosted by Duke University before the mantle was passed to Washington University in St. Louis in 2009. Beginning next year, the camp will be held at Vanderbilt University. Each year, the all-volunteer faculty members come from these and a dozen other institutions around the country to teach, and many have been instructors since the program began.
The planning—including logistics, recruiting new instructors, and managing the animal models required for the program—takes a good part of the preceding year, explained Drs. Joseph Ackerman and Joel Garbow of Washington University, who have served as the program hosts for the past 3 years.
"But it's such a labor of love for these faculty," said Dr. Anne Menkens, program director of the CIP's Molecular Imaging Branch and NCI coordinator of Imaging Camp. "We don't have to spend any time cajoling people into participating. Training the next generation is what drives them."
The student-to-faculty ratio is kept almost one-to-one; having only 25 students attend each year allows for nearly constant interaction between the imaging experts and the trainees. The faculty often learns new facts about cancer biology from the students, recounted Dr. Cristian Badea, a physicist and associate professor of radiology at Duke who has served as an instructor since Imaging Camp's first year.
"Every camp is a new experience. People bring all kinds of expertise, and I learn new things every year from the participants," he said. "I think the future of imaging is multidisciplinary, and while we're here we can start to break down the barriers of communication between the disciplines."
Through these conversations, "the students learn to talk to the imagers, the lingo, what to ask about their research," Dr. Sloane elaborated. "This is critically important because a lot of [imaging technology] is so sophisticated, a lot of junior people who haven't been exposed to it can be intimidated."
Creating Collaborations and Professional Relationships
Imaging Camp emphasizes collaboration and cooperation. The process begins on the first night, when participants present their current research and solicit ideas from the audience—both faculty and fellow students. Sharing continues in the halls as students are encouraged to swap papers and suggestions, many of which have led to collaborative projects among the trainees, said Dr. Menkens. The collaboration and cooperation continues in formal question-and-answer sessions designed to make sure that every question reaches the most appropriate experts.
The faculty also helps point the new imaging researchers toward potential mentors, bringing the trainees into their own extensive networks. "We encourage them to use the expertise of the camp to help them find a laboratory to work with that has that technology they need," said Dr. Krohn.
Sometimes those mentors are Imaging Camp faculty. Dr. Sloane has hosted a former Imaging Camp student who wanted more optical imaging experience. Dr. Samuel Achilefu, a professor of radiology at Washington University, who has run the optical imaging program at Imaging Camp for the past 4 years, is proud that several former students from Imaging Camp have collaborated with his group.
Some of these collaborations have turned into major projects. Dr. Garbow is participating in the first year of research on a grant won by Dr. Cheryl Jorcyk, an associate professor at Boise State University who attended Imaging Camp in 2009. "By chance we sat down next to each other at dinner, and when we stood up we had a research plan," remembered Dr. Garbow.
Their research project, funded by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, combines Dr. Jorcyk's expertise in the biology of breast cancer metastasis with Dr. Garbow's experience in imaging small-animal models of cancer. "I think our project is a model for the way collaborations might develop through this kind of training program," concluded Dr. Garbow.
Cancer Research Imaging Camp Students
Every year, 25 students are selected for the Cancer Research Imaging Camp. They come from diverse backgrounds, including chemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology, and even comparative oncology. Read profiles of three students and their interest in imaging training below.
Dr. Monique Spillman
Assistant Professor of Gynecologic Oncology
University of Colorado, Denver
For her research on the effects of estrogen and progesterone on ovarian cancer, Dr. Spillman had previously developed a mouse xenograft model and used fluorescence to detect cancer cells within the abdomen, but that technique "lacks sensitivity for deep lymph node metastases," which is an area of translational research she and her colleagues hope to explore, she explained. Lymph-node staging for women with early-stage ovarian cancer, which is vital for determining appropriate treatment, currently requires extensive surgical sampling. An in vivo imaging probe that recognizes deep metastases "would be less invasive and more informative," and could also be used in her laboratory to better understand the biology driving the spread of ovarian cancer to lymph nodes.
Dr. Vijay Ramakrishnan
Postdoctoral Researcher in Hematology
Mayo Clinic
Dr. Ramakrishnan has been testing novel drugs and drug combinations on human multiple myeloma cell lines and in cells taken from patients, examining the role of bone marrow stromal cells and endothelial cells in disease progression. "We know that the bone marrow stromal cells and endothelial cells interact, but we don't understand how that interaction affects disease progression and response to chemotherapy," Dr. Ramakrishnan explained. He hopes to develop an animal model to monitor these interactions noninvasively in vivo. But before he attended Imaging Camp, Dr. Ramakrishnan had no experience with imaging. "[My colleagues and I] think both in vivo and live-cell imaging are going to be very informative as to how these cell-cell interactions are altered after treatment with particular chemotherapy agents," he said.
Dr. Jackie Wypij
Assistant Professor of Veterinary Clinical Medicine
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
As a member of the Comparative Oncology Trials Consortium, Dr. Wypij not only works on clinical trials of novel therapies for pets with cancer, she also looks for ways to translate her knowledge to human cancers. "There's a big black box between mouse and human research, and maybe our patients can fill this in. The genetics in some canine and feline cancers are quite close to some human cancers," she explained. "People are interested in having their pets participate in trials. They want to do it for their pets, but they also feel good about giving something back, that they might be helping people in the future as well." Her group does a lot of clinical imaging for dogs and cats, but "we don't yet incorporate the advanced research imaging methods into our research and trials, and that's what I'd like to do, particularly to look for biomarkers we can use for testing new treatments," she elaborated.
Featured Clinical Trial
Adding Targeted Therapy to Treatment for Esophageal Cancer
Name of the Trial
Phase III Randomized Study of Radiotherapy, Paclitaxel, and Carboplatin with versus without Trastuzumab in Patients with HER2-Overexpressing Esophageal Adenocarcinoma (RTOG-1010). See the protocol summary.
Principal Investigator
Dr. Howard Safran, Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
Why This Trial Is Important
Esophageal cancer that is confined to the esophagus and nearby lymph nodes (locally advanced disease) is often treated with a combination of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery (called trimodality therapy). Although trimodality therapy sometimes cures the disease, relapses are common, and many patients ultimately die from their disease. New strategies are needed to help prevent recurrences in patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer.
Samples of tumor tissue removed during biopsy or surgery indicate that about 20 percent to 30 percent of esophageal cancers express a growth factor receptor protein called HER2 (that is, the tumors are HER2 positive). Treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin), a drug that targets HER2, improves the survival of women with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, and the drug markedly decreases cancer recurrence and improves the survival of women with earlier-stage HER2-expressing breast tumors. Doctors hope that trastuzumab may likewise reduce disease recurrence and improve the survival of people with HER2-positive esophageal cancer.
A recent phase III trial involving patients with advanced gastroesophageal and gastric cancers has bolstered the case for using trastuzumab in esophageal cancer. In that trial, patients with HER2-expressing tumors that could not be removed surgically (unresectable disease) were treated with chemotherapy and trastuzumab or with chemotherapy alone. Patients who received trastuzumab were more likely to respond to treatment and lived about 2.4 months longer.
In another trial, researchers at Brown University, led by Dr. Safran, conducted a pilot study of trastuzumab combined with chemotherapy and radiation therapy followed by surgery in 19 patients with locally advanced HER2-positive esophageal cancer and showed that the combined therapy was safe. They now want to see if adding trastuzumab to potentially curative therapy will help patients avoid disease recurrence and death.
In this phase III clinical trial, people with confirmed HER2-positive locally advanced adenocarcinoma of the esophagus will be randomly assigned to receive preoperative radiation therapy and chemotherapy, with or without trastuzumab. Following surgery, patients assigned to the trastuzumab arm of the study will receive maintenance therapy with trastuzumab for 1 year. The study is designed to determine whether the addition of trastuzumab improves disease-free survival and overall survival.
"The recurrence rate in locally advanced esophageal adenocarcinoma is very high, and we can only cure about 25 percent of the patients we treat with trimodality therapy," said Dr. Safran. "In [HER2-positive] breast cancer, trastuzumab reduces recurrence by about 50 percent. So one would hope that, in patients with esophageal cancer, it will have that same reduction in recurrence."
For More Information
See the lists of entry criteria and trial contact information or call the NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237). The toll-free call is confidential.
FDA Update
Potential Cardiac Risks Associated with Smoking Cessation Drug
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has updated the prescribing information label on the smoking-cessation drug varenicline (Chantix) to warn that the drug may increase the risk of certain cardiac events in people with underlying cardiovascular disease.
The change is based on findings from a clinical trial of 700 smokers who have cardiovascular disease, according to a safety announcement issued by the FDA on June 16. Trial participants were randomly assigned to receive varenicline or a placebo for 12 weeks and were then followed for an additional 40 weeks without treatment. Although cardiac events "were infrequent overall," the agency noted that "certain events, including heart attack, were reported more frequently in patients treated with Chantix than in patients treated with placebo."
Other cardiac events included small increased risks of chest pain, the need for coronary revascularization procedures, and peripheral vascular disease. The two most common events in patients taking varenicline were nonfatal heart attacks (7 versus 3 among those taking the placebo) and coronary revascularization procedures (8 versus 3). Five of the seven patients who required a revascularization procedure were from the same group of participants who had had a nonfatal heart attack.
Physicians should be aware of these risks and discuss the benefits and potential risks of varenicline with their patients who have heart disease, the agency stated in the announcement. In July 2009, the FDA added a "black box" warning about the increased risks of neuropsychiatric symptoms associated with their use to the labels of varenicline and another smoking cessation drug, bupropion (Zyban).
Diabetes Drug May Increase Risk of Bladder Cancer
Use of the diabetes drug pioglitazone (Actos) for more than 1 year may increase the risk of developing bladder cancer, according to a June 15 safety announcement from the FDA.
The announcement is based on a 5-year interim analysis of a 10-year prospective cohort study of safety data being conducted by the drug's manufacturer, Takeda Pharmaceuticals. The study includes more than 193,000 patients who are part of the Kaiser Permanente Northern California health plan. All patients in the study are 40 years of age or older and have been diagnosed with diabetes.
No overall increase in bladder cancer risk was seen in those using pioglitazone compared with those who had never taken the drug. Patients who had been taking the drug for 12 to 24 months, however, had a 40 percent higher risk of developing bladder cancer than people who had never taken it.
"Although there was no overall increased risk of bladder cancer with pioglitazone use, an increased risk of bladder cancer was noted among patients with the longest exposure to pioglitazone, and in those exposed to the highest cumulative dose of pioglitazone," the FDA reported.
French health officials recently announced similar findings from a much larger retrospective study of 1.2 million patients taking pioglitazone. Based on the finding, health officials in France halted the use of pioglitazone. In addition, German health officials have ordered clinicians not to prescribe the drug to new patients.
The FDA has advised U.S. physicians not to prescribe pioglitazone for patients with bladder cancer and to use it "with caution" in those who have been treated previously for bladder cancer. "The benefits of blood sugar control with pioglitazone should be weighed against the unknown risks for cancer recurrence," the agency stated.
Cancer.gov Update
NCI Launches International Clinical Trials Portal
NCI has launched the International Collaboration in Clinical Trials portal, a site designed to strengthen international alliances in cancer clinical trials. The portal provides a central location for online resources that will help investigators outside the United States navigate the legal and regulatory issues that come with collaborating on clinical trials with U.S.-based research groups.
Legal, regulatory, logistical, and financial hurdles often delay international clinical trials, and clinical investigators from other countries sometimes need step-by-step guidance on launching a study protocol or joining a U.S. cooperative research group. Moreover, international cancer researchers typically have questions about NCI's role in clinical trials and how the U.S. clinical trials process works in general.
NCI conducted in-depth interviews with clinical cancer investigators from more than 11 countries to determine what should be included in the new portal. Based on those interviews, the portal provides background information on NCI-designated cancer centers, U.S.-based clinical trials cooperative groups, and NCI's international programs.
A section of the site is dedicated to answering common questions about biospecimen collection, clinical trial ethics, insurance, drug labeling and distribution, and quality assurance. As international investigators navigate through the portal, they will find links to registration forms and laws that regulate U.S. clinical trials.
"This new portal on Cancer.gov will help NCI's existing partners—and prospective new partners—navigate hurdles to keep up momentum of our clinical trial alliances," said Dr. Ted Trimble, acting director of NCI's Center for Global Health. "Collaborating internationally on cancer clinical trials enables progress in cancer treatment and screening. Completing larger trials across multiple countries can ensure that new methods have a global reach."
In Memoriam: PDQ Board Member James Nachman
Dr. James B. Nachman, 62, who served for 13 years as a member of NCI's Physician Data Query (PDQ) Pediatric Treatment Editorial Board, died June 10 while on a rafting trip with friends in the Grand Canyon.
Dr. Nachman was an internationally renowned authority on the medical management of hematologic cancers in adolescents and young adults and an acknowledged expert in bone cancer and soft tissue sarcomas. He was a professor of Pediatrics and director of the Leukemia/Lymphoma Program at the University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital.
Dr. Nachman was also a leader of the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and lymphoma study committees of the Children's Oncology Group, which is part of NCI's Clinical Trials Cooperative Group Program. He was a member of the American Society of Hematology and the American Society of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, as well as a co-founder of the International Ponte di Legno ALL Study Committee.
After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1970, Dr. Nachman went on to earn his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University Medical School in 1974. He completed his residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in hematology/oncology at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago before joining the faculty of the University of Chicago as an assistant professor in 1980. He was promoted to associate professor of Clinical Pediatrics in 1985 and professor in 1999.
Survivors include his father, Dr. Adolph Nachman; his brother, Robert; and his sister, Cathy.
DCEG Training Program Receives Langmuir Award
NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) last week won the inaugural Alexander D. Langmuir Award for Training Program Excellence and Innovation. Dr. Jackie Lavigne, chief of DCEG's Office of Education (OE), accepted the award during a ceremony at the 3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
The award highlights epidemiology training programs that emphasize research experience and skills development, the application of epidemiology principles and advanced methods, and the importance of collaborative and integrative epidemiologic approaches.
"This award acknowledges NCI's training program for having developed and implemented creative educational offerings that effectively train future leaders in epidemiology," said Dr. John Vena, the award committee chair.
Under the guidance of experienced mentors, DCEG fellows design and execute research studies, analyze data, and interpret and publish the results. DCEG also offers fellows practical opportunities to develop professional skills, including giving research presentations, planning scientific events, mentoring, and grant writing. Current and recent DCEG fellows are lead authors in most of the top journals in the field—evidence of the program's success.
The award honors the memory of Dr. Alexander D. Langmuir, who created the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a combined training and service program for epidemiologists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NCAB Meeting Held This Week
The 158th meeting of the National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) was held yesterday and today on the NIH Campus in Bethesda, MD.
Dr. Harold Varmus opened the meeting with the NCI Director's Report. The board then heard presentations on a number of topics, including the Pharmacodynamics and Therapeutics Functional Working Group, the 12th Report on Carcinogens, and the results from NCI's National Lung Screening Trial.
The agenda is available online, and an archived videocast of the meeting will be posted in a few days.
NCI Hosts BSA Meeting June 20
NCI's Board of Scientific Advisors (BSA) met June 20 on the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. In addition to a report from NCI Director Dr. Harold Varmus, the meeting included presentations on the cancer Bioinformatics Grid (caBIG) and NCI's Provocative Questions project. NCI Deputy Director for Clinical and Translational Research Dr. James Doroshow provided an update on the current shortage of drugs for cancer and other diseases.
In response to a request from the NCI director, BSA chair Dr. Richard Schilsky of the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine reflected on his experience serving on the board for more than a decade. Among other remarks, Dr. Schilsky noted that there is "enormous talent" on the board and offered some thoughts about how NCI might best use this talent moving forward. A group discussion followed.
Dr. Schilsky and other board members who have completed their terms were recognized. These included Dr. Paul M. Allen of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis; Dr. Christopher J. Logothetis of the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center; Dr. Todd R. Golub of the Broad Institute; Dr. James K. Willson of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center; Dr. Jean Y. J. Wang of the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine; and Dr. Edith A. Perez of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL.
A PDF of the agenda is online, and a videocast of the full meeting is available here.
Telephone Workshop for Cancer Survivors to Focus on Late Effects
The final telephone workshop in the annual "Living With, Through, and Beyond Cancer" series will be held July 12 from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. ET. Part IV of the series is titled "Fear of Recurrence and Late Effects: Living with Uncertainty."
The free series offers cancer survivors, their families, friends, and health care professionals practical information to help them cope with concerns and issues that arise after treatment ends. The workshops are presented by CancerCare in collaboration with NCI, LIVESTRONG, the American Cancer Society, the Intercultural Cancer Council, Living Beyond Breast Cancer, and the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship.
Speakers for the July 12 workshop are Richard Dickens of CancerCare, Dr. Merle Mishel of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Dr. David Spiegel of the Stanford University School of Medicine.
These workshops are free; no phone charges apply. To register, visit the CancerCare registration page.
If you missed any of the earlier workshops in the series, you can listen to Part I: Chemobrain, Part II: Weight Changes After Cancer Treatments, and Part III: Stress Management for Caregivers online.
Japanese Translators of the Bulletin Visit NCI
The staff of the NCI Cancer Bulletin met with Takako Tadokoro, vice president of the Japan Association of Medical Translation for Cancer, on June 10. The association translates NCI Cancer Bulletin articles and other NCI materials into Japanese. These translations, Tadokoro explained, provide information about cancer to ordinary people in Japan, where, she said, very little cancer information is available for a nonscientific audience.
Dr. Takefumi Komiya, a clinical fellow in NCI's Medical Oncology Branch and a volunteer translator, arranged the meeting.
Japanese readers may find the translations online.


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What happens next with Detroit's financial crisis? Can city officials do anything at this point to keep an emergency manager from stepping in?
"When you're billions of dollars in the hole and you don't have any money coming in, you're either going to go bankrupt and dissolve or you're going to have to get this emergency manager," state senator Rick Jones told Fox 2's Tim Skubick this week.
Meanwhile, Mayor Dave Bing says give us another chance, again.
"We've got plans coming out of our ears," he told reporters Thursday.
As we wait for the governor to decide Detroit's financial future, he dropped this hint.
"This is an issue that's structurally been there for decades," he said at a press conference Thursday.
But local union leaders say we've been under state control since the consent agreement, and that's not working so well either.
"You had the state for the last ten months been running this ship, and it's steadily going down," Ed McNeil told Fox 2's Amy Lange.
Joining Huel Perkins and Charlie Langton on our panel to discuss are:
Ed McNeil, who represents the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 25 and says no matter who is in charge, it is unfair to balance the books on the backs of workers.
Sen. Coleman Young, Junior, son of the late mayor of Detroit, who says all these reports are just a prelude to a state takeover and possibly the sale of the city's assets.
And Nolan Finley, Editorial Page editor for the Detroit News and co-host of the PBS show "MIWeek." He's the lightning rod of the local press, conservative and provocative.
Click on the video player above to watch the "Let It Rip" discussion unfold. Plus, tell us your thoughts by posting in the "Comments" section below.
25 FOX DriveDedham, MA 02026
Phone (781) 467-2525

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Miss Pumpkin Embroidered Trick or Treat Bag
There's no trick to figuring out who owns these goodies, stashed in their very own personalized Embroidered 3-D Trick-or-Treat Bag!
We custom embroider the name of your little "ghoul" in the curly font style shown in coordinating black thread, claiming complete ownership of the bounty of treats inside!
Whimsical and fun design features a smiling girl pumpkin with a pretty pink bow accent, ready to stash their treats from house to house.
Design features 3-D intricate appliqué and embroidered detail, making the bag stand out from all the rest!
· Quality constructed from 100% durable, felt fabric, each panel filled with polyester batting.
· Features contrast stitching on the handle & top edge opening and reinforced handles at stress points to handle their heavy collection year after year.
· Measures a generous 7 1/2"H x approximately 9" in diameter to handle small or larger loads.
· Each one is meticulously handcrafted; sizes will vary.
· Surface clean; do not machine wash. Treats shown not included.
Huge discounts! HURRY! While quantities last!
Personalized Gifts ClearanceCheck out the personalized gifts sale for great deals and discounts. Find great personalized gifts at rock bottom prices in our PersonalizationMall.com clearance store! You can still count on the same great quality, free personalization and fast shipping that you have come to expect from PersonalizationMall.com on these seasonal or closeout gifts. Act fast since supplies are limited! Check back frequently as new deals are being added all the time!


text:
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Salon International de la Lingerie 2013
21 comments:
You're so good at lingerie too..ReplyDelete
I love furry warm soft socks.. and I do find French Lingerie so very pretty.
This must have been fun..You sure get out:)
I think I love Pip:)Replies
Hip Hip for PIP STUDIOS!Delete
They hide the hips too
Love the Vintage look in French Lingerie ;)ReplyDelete
Carol, I am sure you are lounging in cocooning clothes, aren't you? ;-)ReplyDelete
The silk dotty PJs are to die for!!ReplyDelete
Where can we buy them?
- Anonymous1:10 PM
Your total immersion into Paris life is inspirational. Thanks for taking us all along for the journey. Be well. KathrynReplyDelete
Love the journal entries. Went in to the oldest brassiere shop in Paris, could barely turn around, and quickly left. If only...ReplyDelete
Carol, your blog post made me sorry I didn't go see the show.ReplyDelete
I missed seeing you at the Sketchcrawl, maybe next time?Replies
It was a gazillion cats or a sketchcrawl..
You do the math.
The cats won out!!
Great post, but I'm not ready to give up pastries. No until I still try a cannelle. Once I read the description, I was shocked that my life was so incomplete. The lingerie is pretty, but I'm more of a lounge type, too.ReplyDeleteReplies
Evidently all none-French people wanna lounge around.Delete
And eat caneles!
This still doesn't stop me from eating the sweet things, Carol! ;-) My goodness you're having fun. Oh-la-la!ReplyDelete
Love the ribbon that looks like a bra strap on your journal page! As for the models - even if I looked like that ( a huge IF) I don't know how they have the nerveto walk around in public like that!ReplyDelete
As for your intended "rabbit food" please regard the vegetation at Longears off limits.
The Van Clef & Arpel photo remindeds me of when I was about 20 and my husband took me to Tiffany' s and bought my first pair of diamond earrings. Little did the poor man know , how easy it is for me to get a habit for such things :)ReplyDelete


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Use these Disney Shake It Up Sticker Sheets to decorate notebooks, lockers and more! Kids absolutely love stickers, especially when they coordinate with your child's party theme. They make terrific prizes for games, and fun fillers for favor boxes, too. Package includes (4) Sticker sheets that are 7" high x 4" wide. This is an officially licensed Disney product. Read More
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Logan is taking our Summer Opera Education Class: "Putting it Together." We asked her to share her experiences throughout this 8-week interactive class. Updates will be posted weekly. Enjoy!
Week Five: Putting it Together: Design it!
Tonight, we had the chance to ask questions and gain insight on set design through a talk show-like interview between Portland Opera's General Director Christopher Mattaliano and Set Designer Curt Enderle. We learned about the process of designing a production, how creative ideas get flowing, and we even got a sneak peak for this season's production of Postcard from Morocco by Dominick Argento.
The first question asked was of course, "What is a set designer?" The obvious answer is, "The one who designs the set" but there is much more to it than that: props, scenery, mechanics, lighting, etc. are all part of this ambitious position. Mr. Enderle gave us a brief description of how he came into set design beginning in his undergraduate study. He originally studied business, but became involved in collegiate stage productions and workshops and fell in love with theater and pursued that field of study as well. By studying both theater and business, Mr. Enderle gained knowledge and skills that are perfectly suited for a set designer, such as art history and fine arts classes, computer programming languages, computer science, etc. It seemed to me that these skills were divided into two different categories of art and engineering, however they are fused together to help bring drama and music to life. Because Mr. Enderle mastered that fusion of art and engineering, he had a firm grasp on how to use backgrounds, props … to help the narrative move forward in a production.
The Hampton Opera Center | 211 SE Caruthers St, Portland, OR 97214 | Main 503-241-1407 | Box Office 503-241-1802
2013/14 Opera Season | Privacy Policy | Employment | Auditions | Rentals | Resident Artist Program | website by Level OS


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Oct 02, 2012 | 03:41 PM
| Frank Haflich
Allegheny Technologies,
Cowen & Co.,
Gautam Khanna,
Mark Hokanson,
Frank Haflich
LOS ANGELES Allegheny Technologies Inc.s (ATIs) common stock has been downgraded by investment firm Cowen & Co. LLC due to "anemic" prospects in some of its major markets.
Cowen analysts Gautam Khanna and Mark Hokanson lowered their rating of ATIs shares to "neutral" from "outperform," citing the impact of an "anemic" U.S. economic outlook on ATIs stainless markets and pricing trends in....
LOS ANGELES Allegheny Technologies Inc.s (ATIs) common stock has been downgraded by investment firm Cowen & Co. LLC due to "anemic" prospects in some of its major markets.
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Are you stocking more inventory today than 18 months ago?
We actually don't know who his investors are. At the point when we are ready, we will investigate further. There are just so many things to handle and there are a lot of items to be considered with the project."
-- Charles C. Mitchell, Barstow city manager


text: Under the Skin trailer Wednesday, September 04, 2013 2:14 p.m. by Matt Z Here's a very quick look at Under the Skin, starring Scarlett Johansson: Jonathan Glazer directs this movie which is about an alien, that is seen in human form traveling across the land. Johnansson plays the sexy alien and men find her irresistible. Can you blame them? So what if she's hunting them.


text:
Merciless Angel
Fury and vengeance lurked deep in his emerald eyes; piercing into they soul of whoever looked at him. It was his guard against ever letting anyone come in. He acted like he didn't care—that the world meant nothing to him—but I could see the agony and yearning behind the barrier. He would never admit these emotions of weakness though. Because to him showing weakness was worse than death. Live to kill, Kill to live, and love only to suffer, was his personal motto. He said he would never love anyone or anything, because there was nothing left of a soul in his body. But I didn't believe him for a second. Angels were created to love...and he was an angel...a merciless Angel.
Please note that I started this story a long time ago, and my writing has improved a lot
Hunger. Thirst. Lust. Pain. All unavoidable things. Things that no matter what you do; they come back. Always in the back of your mind like bees--stinging your brain over and over again until you kill them. But some things don't have to be unavoidable…things like death.
I could avoid death forever; but did I really want too? Did I want to walk this earth forever, searching for something I may never find? Did I want to fight endlessly, never loosing? This city was a clot of death, destruction, unjust behavior, and filled with monsters. Literally. Was this where I wanted to spend eternity? Did I truly want to spend eternity anywhere on this desolate earth?
The answer to all these questions is simply no. I didn't want to walk this earth forever, fighting and killing. I didn't want to stay in this empty city filled with demons. But it doesn't matter what I want. Because I have to stay in this city and do what I was brought here to do. It's not my choice…and it never will be. Not everything is about me of course, but the majority of things are.
Chapter 1- (Destiny's POV)
"Destiny, could you please turn your music down for one second and listen to me?" Frank commanded from beside me. I opened my eyes sighing exuberantly in the process, and paused my Ipod before turning to face him.
"What do you want Frank?" I asked, already irritated with the predictable behavior of yet another father figure.
"Don't talk to me like you're a pouty five year old; act your age for once." He grumbled, his perfectly trimmed mustache twitching impatiently.
"Do you even know how old I am?" I challenged innocently. His eyes narrowed resentfully.
"You're..." He paused, clearly stumped by the question. "...sixteen and much too young to live in Chicago by yourself."He said a matter-of-factually.
"I'm not living by myself, I'm living with Ryan." I told him for the fifth time. "Remember, he's my brother. And by the way, I'm seventeen." I stated, agitated already. Frank acted like such a know it all, yet he didn't know a thing about me. I clicked the play button on my Ipod and turned it up to block out his angered answer.
I was so sick of Frank. I had only know him for a couple of months, but it was enough of him forever. My mom had gone through many boyfriends in the last few years, and Frank was her latest. He was "stable" as she had put it. He had a retirement fund already, a steady job, and had accomplished so much. My mom thought some stability in life would be good for me.
Of course, like everything she did, she forgot to actually consider what I thought. She never took the time to think about if I even wanted a father, or wanted to meet any of her 'boy toys'. I was used to it by now, because I had met so many, but I still wasn't down with it.
I had moved so many times in the last five years from her crazes that I had actually lost count. I had traveled all over the United States and Canada, never staying anywhere for more than half a year. I never got the chance to make friends, and a boyfriend was completely out of the question.
I would go to school, and pretty much just shut up and do my work. Although sometimes I would start a few fights, disrespect the teachers, or start a fire, they couldn't punish me because I would already be moving across the country. For the first few moves I had argued with my mom and begged her to stay, but I was accustom to it now.
Truthfully, I was always fine it just being my mom and me, but lately she had suddenly needed companionship, so I would constantly be helping get ready for dates or shopping for 'sexy clothes.' She was like a teenage girl obsessed with boys, except she wasn't actually a teen. Though she was quite young to be a mother.
Her and my dad had 'hooked up' on several occasions when they were young; one time producing my brother, and another time producing me. My mom said we were blessings, but I couldn't believe her. Her life had changed for the worst when she was fifteen, and she had been struggling ever since.
My dad left after I was a few days old, so it wasn't like I missed him. Sure, I wished my mom had someone that would balance her out, but I didn't feel the need for a male presence in my life. One bossy parent was enough.
So that's why I was moving to Chicago to live with Ryan. My mom deserved the chance to let her romance with Frank grow, and I didn't want to be an obstacle. Plus, I was sure it would be easier to live with my almost twin brother. We were the same in spirit and soul, and I was positive we would get along just fine.
Maybe this would be my new beginning. Maybe I would find the thing that would make me fight to stay there. Maybe, and maybe not. It was just a new adventure that I was ready to take on.
"Please fasten your seatbelts, we are preparing to land." The female attendant's voice rang over the intercom. I clicked my seatbelt in and got ready to see my newest home.
"This place is a dump." Frank grumbled, shaking his head as the taxi drove through the cluster of cars. I couldn't agree in the least.
In this city breathtaking city you could barely tell if it was night or day. All the lights of buildings and billboards twinkled against what part of the dark sky you could see. Throngs of people covered the sidewalks and streets. Every store I had ever heard of seemed to all be on the same street. The skyscrapers towered over all the tiny shops, and the thousands of windows reflected the bright lights.
"It's…amazing!" I breathed as I continued to look out the window. "Look at all the lights! And the people! Their so colorful and unique!"
"Destiny, be serious! Look at all the homeless people! They cover the street like bugs. And all the prostitutes and gangs! How can anyone want to live here?" He snorted in disgust.
"How can anyone not want to live here? Think of all the cool people you could meet? And all the great parties and concerts?" I half screamed, completely blissful.
"You're not making me feel any better Destiny. You can't trust anyone here. Not unless you want to end up in Tokyo missing a kidney."
"Don't be so uptight Frank." I rolled my eyes. I think I had finally found my favorite place in the world. I couldn't wait to explore this giant city.
"I'm not uptight; I'm just responsible and realistic. I can't believe your mother agreed to let you live here." In the reflection of the window I saw him shaking his head still.
"She trusts me. She knows that I'm street smart and I can take care of myself. And she knows that Ryan will help out." I stated in her defense.
"That boy doesn't know the difference between drugs and candy." Frank growled. I turned away from the window to glare at him.
"Did you just diss my brother?" I asked in awe. I loved Ryan more than anything. Ryan was my favorite person in the world, and I had missed him terribly for the last year.
"No, I just told you a fact."
I sighed loudly and turned back to the window. I just had to get there, then Frank would be out of my life. Well, at least for a while.
"563 Greenwald Street." The taxi driver announced as he slowed down. I scrambled out of the taxi quickly as it came to a full stop.
"This is where he lives?!!" Frank yelled in surprise. I looked up. I didn't think it was so bad. It was rundown sure, but it was downtown, and it was better than some places I had lived as a child.
"Yup." I replied. I opened the trunk of the taxi and grabbed my two suitcases. Frank told the taxi driver to wait for a few minutes while he got me settled in.
"He's in 3B." I announced as we entered the building. The inside was worse than the outside. The wallpaper was falling off, green moss piled in the corners, and it looked like it had never been dusted or cleaned. I was sure Frank wanted to say something, but he kept his lips in a tight line.
We climbed up the ancient stairs that felt like they could collapse any second if too much weight was put on them. I tried not to breath, because I was sure that the air mixed with dust and other chemical smelling substances wouldn't be good for me.
Once we reached the third floor Frank looked like he was going to have a fit right then and there. The hallway had no visible lights, and the floorboards had huge gaps between them that looked like someone had tried to glue them together with gum. It was a comical scene, and I felt like laughing.
"Just take a deep breath." I said calmly. Not waiting for an answer I walked forward to the door with 3B painted on it. I knocked three times. After a few seconds I heard light steps and then the door opened.
"Ryan!" I yelled. I dropped my suitcases, cringing as the floorboards shifted, and jumped into my brothers arms. His familiar smell soothed every nerve in my body. He smelt musky with a hint of mint.
"Hey baby sister. I missed you." He whispered into my hair. I pulled back and inspected him. He was taller, probably around 6'1. His hair was shorter than I remembered, put in a spiky style. His eyes seemed a shade of blue darker, but his smile was same.
"I missed you too!" I said, and I gave him another hug.
"Nice to see you again Ryan." Frank said politely as he stepped forward sticking his meaty hand out awkwardly.
"Always a pleasure." Ryan said as he shook his hand.
"Nice place you have here." Frank said sarcastically. Ryan nodded, stifling a laugh.
"Come in." Ryan said moving to the side, his arm still around my waist. Frank looked over into the small, messy apartment and shook his head.
"Wish I could, but I have a taxi waiting downstairs. And I'm sure Destiny is sick of me." He said quickly.
"Um…Thanks for bringing me Frank. Tell my mom I will call her tomorrow." I said civily.
"Sure, sure. Have fun kids." He urged. He reached out and squeezed my arm then turned back to shuffle down the dark hallway.
I turned to smile at Ryan, and he smiled back. Then he stuck out his hand and gestured to the door.
"Ladies first."
I grinned, feeling more at home than I ever had before.
*note* All characters are mine, along with the plot and ideas
Views: 2865
hehe, can't wait still, every week i check up, cos im always gonna be there ;)
Awww. Sorry thats it taken me so long but my laptop broke, and the first chapter of Forsaken angel went with it:s
The first chapter of the sequel was posted under the new discussion: Fallen Angel Series; Forsaken Angel. I sent out an email for it...that is what we are talking about right? I haven't got the second chapter of it done yet.
I didnt get an email :(
Can I have the link please?
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Ford, General Motors, Honda, Chrysler, even Audi and BMW are all showing plug-in and electric cars at the North American International Auto Show this year. The latest FOXe report features some of those vehicles, such as the 2014 Cadillac ELR, a gasoline electric plug-in that gets about 35 miles on a battery charge. The ELR uses a power system similar to the Chevy Volt, with all of the luxury appeal Cadillac is known for. "Here we've got a fully sporty vehicle that's a plug-in, takes advantage of the new technologies that we have and also looks great, and I'm sure it's fast," says auto show-goer George Baibak. The ELR costs upwards of about $75,000 which is still less than the luxury electric Tesla Model S. Tesla sold nearly 20,000 Model S sedans in 2013. Over at Ford the green technology is more budget friendly. "Not only are there federal incentives but in some cases there's state incentives that bring the price down. So, this C-MAX Energi, for instance, is $32,500 but then you bring on incentives and it's less than 30 thousand dollars," says Mike TInskey of Ford Motor Company. Ford is showing six hybrids or plug-in hybrids this year. Even Smart cars are catering to those interested in electric vehicles. You can customize a mini electric drive for about $13,000 and they even sell e-bikes, a hybrid bicycle with an electric motor. VIDEO: Click on the video player above to watch the report from Fox 2's Robin Schwartz
WJBK-TV | Fox 2 16550 West Nine Mile Rd.Southfield, MI 48075Main Station: (248) 557-2000Newsroom: (248) 552-5103


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Lori and her schoolgirl friend had a whole night of studying planned for the big test. But really, you only live once, so why waste that time studying when you can have hot lesbian sex? And they´re not just playfully kissing and touching here; they´re all about making each other cum hard, as they strip naked and scissor until their pussies are dripping.
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Out of 489 vehicles that passed through, six traffic citations were issued at a Northwood OVI checkpoint Friday night, none of them for operating a vehicle under the influence (OVI).
Northwood Police, along with the Lucas County DUI Task Force, conducted a sobriety checkpoint on the 2500 block of Woodville Road.
Here is a breakdown of citations issued:
Expired plates: 1
No operator's license: 2
No seat belt: 2
Warrant arrest: 1
Although there were no OVI arrests, a short distance from the checkpoint, Oregon Police arrested an individual for OVI involved in an injury crash on IR 280.
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Question by Hector Sanchez: what is one of the highest paying career groups today? Best answer: Answer by Obama is a loserMany of the highest-paying careers are also careers that are in high demand, thanks to a shortage of qualified people. Most high-paying careers require several years of postgraduate education. This extra schooling often means those in top-paying careers will…
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Did a Dog Play Cupid for You?
Dogs are great icebreakers and matchmakers
Please note comments are moderated. After being approved your comment will appear below.
Submitted by Leslie | February 8 2012 | Permalink
On April 1 (April Fool's Day!) 2011 I posted an ad for someone who would like to join me in stimulating intellectual discussions while walking our dogs. In what turned out to be a wonderful twist of fate, a very attractive, single man answered my ad. We got together for dinner, drinks, and to let our dogs meet each-other on a chilly Alaskan spring night. The dogs' meeting went off without a hitch, so we made plans to see each-other again soon after. But I knew we were meant to be when, on our second date, which consisted of watching a movie and power-lounging on the couch, I left the living room briefly and returned to find my little princess sprawled comfortably in his lap. I believe my comment was "Oh my gosh, that's pathetic." We have become best friends, are very much in love, and are planning a future together...and all because of our pooches. :)
Submitted by Rayne | February 8 2012 | Permalink
A big part of the reason I fell in love with my husband of 15 years is, soon after we met, my Boston terrorist puppy, Daisy, cornered my cat under the bed and managed to get her eyeball punctured. We saved the eye with diminished vision, but not until we sat up several nights - all night - taking turns cradling her in our laps. I think this happened around our third date and when I saw how loving he was to my dog - well, that was pretty much it. We have since loved two cats and five dogs and he has always been attentive, kind, concerned and loving to them. Me, too!
Submitted by Jill | February 8 2012 | Permalink
Magi came to me because the shelter she was at was going to put her down because she came into season. I worked at a vet at the time and the shelter allowed me to take her home because they knew I would have her spayed asap. I was not in the market for another dog and only took her to save her life.
Once we got home, it was apparent that my elderly shelter rescue and Magi clashed. Fights broke out all of the time and one time it resulted in stitches. I couldn't have that in my house of 4 dogs, so I set out to find Magi a good home.
Curtis was and still is a co-worker of mine. He was recently divorced and thought a dog would be good for him since his ex took his two dogs in the divorce. I sent him with Magi for a few days to see how they got along together.
They hit it off great together. They were good for each other. Magi was his company and he was Magi's world. I had to keep an eye on her because I felt I had betrayed her by giving her up. I wanted a great life for her and had to make sure this was it.
I would go over to his house to check on her. I had him enroll her in an obedience class that I helped with. I even got him to show her in obedience and he got a few titles on her. Needless to say, Curtis and I spent a lot of time together. We started out as friends and, in time, it became more.
We started dating. Dated for about 5 years before he popped the question at a dog show in Calgary. We got married a year later. My golden retriever, Cedar, was our ring bearer. I am not sure who was more proud of Cedar in that part, me or Curtis.
Magi came back to live with me and my dogs and it was okay because Casey had gone onto the bridge and didn't have to deal with Magi. Curtis has been with me through 4 dogs passing and 3 puppy beginnings. Magi is gone now, but she will always be in our hearts as the dog who brought us together.
I have found that it isn't easy to find a guy who will put up with and love my dogs as I do, but I think I found a keeper.
Submitted by Ann | February 9 2012 | Permalink
Two and a half years ago, on a gorgeous Minnesota fall afternoon I was at the dog park with my 3-year-old rescued Golden Retriever, Juno. She normally isn't one to play with other dogs (she's more of a people-dog) but on this particular day she found a friend — a big fluffy Golden/Shepard mix named Presley. I was happy to see her frolicking around with another dog, but even happier to see the cute guy with that dog! So I started chatting with him and we ended up walking through the park together while our dogs played and ran ahead of us. That turned out to be the first of many dates walking through the park with our dogs. I truly believe our dogs brought us together. On the two-year anniversary of that day in the dog park he proposed to me! We will be married in September and we couldn't be happier! We are planning on having an engagement photo session in the dog park where we met, with the furry match-makers at our sides.
Submitted by Kimberly B. Lawler | February 9 2012 | Permalink
Molly, a rescue Lab pup, was terrified of men when she came to live with me. She never liked any young men until a particular guy dropped by one day.
Oddly, Molly had an unreal fit of affection. She was all over him every time she saw him! I wasn't romantically interested in him but my dog loved this man so much and, well, we all know a dog is a great judge of character. So, what did my dog, Molly, see in him? She saw a lot: compassion, kindness, intelligence.
Molly, Michael and I lived together, went to graduate schools, got jobs, bought a house. We adopted another dog and we got married. Molly waited to leave us until just after our one and only baby was born, right before she turned 14 years old.
Nearly 30 years have flown by since the first visit happened. My husband and I know our wonderful life together is due in large part to our beautiful, smart rescue Lab, Molly, who helped us to see the possibilities.
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The Gourmand Extraordinaire's Pick of Porcelain, Crystal and Edible Delicacies
Restaurateur Alain Ducasse continues our Christmas gift series by revealing his love for the finer things, from the "cookpot" he designed for slow-cooking vegetables to an
Hermès agenda, in this short by Marcus Gaab. The godfather of French haute cuisine, Monsieur Ducasse has a total of 25 restaurants and 19 Michelin stars to his name. Despite the gastronomic traditions associated with this time of year, his favorite part of Christmas is seeing his children open their presents: "The moment feels so magical!" he exclaims. Below, the culinary master details choice indulgences for grown-up gourmet lovers.
Porcelain asparagus centerpiece by Jean-Paul Gourdon
His creations bring nature to life with such simplicity and refinement. I like to offer my guests a bespoke experience, so I asked him to craft this series of vegetables specifically for my restaurant in London [Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester].
"Cookpot" porcelain dish (created by Pierre Tachon and Alain Ducasse)
My favorite seasonal cookpot is the gratin of winter fruits and vegetables with white mushroom duxelles. It's very tasty and comforting for this time of year.
Crystal candy dish by Lobmeyr
I would fill this with my favorite sweets: passion fruit caramels, salted caramels and nougats. The best place to keep a candy dish in the home is always within reach!
Erbe porcelain coffee cups by Taitu
I am a big fan of an espresso. These cups are created by an artisan near to Milan—I love the design and simple shapes. I use them in my country inns in Tuscany (L'Andana; La Bastide de Moustiers) and Provence (L'Hostellerie de l'Abbaye de la Celle). I love the fact that you can mix and match the cups and plates.
Macaroons by Pierre Hermé
My favorite flavor is an intense, rich chocolate. Given as a gift, a box of three macaroons is the perfect number to enjoy after a meal—more if they are to be enjoyed on their own.
Hermès agenda
I love beautiful stationery and Hermès uses wonderful leather for theirs. This object is the embodiment of good craftsmanship. The agenda is also a timeless piece. It's a collection of memories that you can return to by just flipping the pages.


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Fox 2 crews were on the scene when Kelly Evans received word that her 11-year-old son, Connor Grabowski-Cracchiolo has been found.
The FBI told her that he is South Dakota with his father Mark Grabowski.
Mark and his son Connor were reported missing on August 30 after Conner's mother Kelly went to pick the boy up at Grabowski's Milford home.
A warrant was issued for Grabowski who is accused of unlawful retention of a child.
Fox 2 has learned that Grabowski may have been planning to move to Costa Rica to start a new life.
There have been news reports claiming he played for the Detroit Lions in the 1980's. The Lions organization say he was never on the team. Grabowski is known to be the owner of the Anytime Fitness gym located on Highland Avenue in Milford.
Fox 2's Roop Raj is in Richmond, Macomb County and will have a live report from Kelly Evan's house with the latest development on this ongoing story.
205 N. Michigan AvenueGround FloorChicago, IL 60601Station Operator: (312) 565-5532Newsroom: (312)565-5533