Killing Cancer

Chemotherapy can make a patient of an advanced non-small cell lung cancer, can, according to the statistics, live few time more than one patient who is not trying chemotherapy. But although chemotherapy seems the only way to alleviate the grief caused by lung cancer, there is actually another way. 

There is a drug called Erlotinib (Tarceva®) which attacks the cells that proliferate due to the cancer inside the lungs. It, according to a clinic study, “targets a protein called the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR).” The EGFR causes cells to divide, and to eventually create tumors; That is, Erlotinib attacks directly to the source of creation of tumors, and consequently, attacks the protein that is found at high levels in patients with lung cancer.

A study conducted to test the drug was carried and the results were encouraging for long-time smokers. Between August 2001 and January 2003, scientists took round 700 people with advanced NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer), who were randomly given half of them the new drug and the other half placebos. Ming-Sound Tsao, M.D. of the University of Toronto in Ontario lead the research, and concluded that patients who took the drug showed a 6.7 months survival probability, meanwhile patients who did not showed a 4 months survival chance.

It seems like this is the drug smokers would apply to buy when their cancer gets worse, but is this something all nice and sweet? Would smokers buy this drug?

More Information

 Media coverage: Youtube

Clinic Article

The drug: Erlotinib

Google vs Drug trafficking

It is a well know channel to sources of information around the world. It is what we use most in our day-to-day life. It is a tool for the easy access to contact and information. I’m talking about internet. But, despite its multiple applications, it is still full with trashy information that is not worth searching for; however, it can be used by the people for the people.

People face many problems every day, from the bill we all have to pay to some hard times we face at work, but there is a problem that is affecting everyone’s life in the United States, and more specifically, in Latin countries such as Mexico or Cuba. I’d like to refer to Drug trafficking.

According to Victor Hugo Michel, website Nuestraaparaterendicion.com journalist, Drug trafficking is a phenomenon that has, so far, taken the lives of 24.102 people. Those people were in Cartels (Criminals groups dedicated to commercialize with illegal stuff), and these groups are often involved in skirmishes with other Cartels, being hitmen killing members of enemy criminal factions as a result. Such amount of dead people does not include the figures of the most violent cities in Mexico, such as Guerrero or Michoacán.

What are authorities doing? Nothing that could qualify as useful, but the work titled Knowing where and How Criminal Organizations Operate Using Web Content by the researchers Viridiana Rios (Mexican) and Michele Coscia (Italian), proves that Internet (Google) can also be a great tool for investigation and the tracking of criminal organizations. That report shows the big scale gathering of information, which being relied only upon the effort of police or authorities wouldn’t be enough; on the contrary, are people who give information and several online papers re being used as sources of information too.

Is there any media Coverage? Yes, there is. The work of the previously mentioned researchers is based on statistics and data collected and given through internet channels of information.

So, do you think mass media helps? Would you help organizations with anti-criminal orientation to develop their work?

Works cited

Article here

Media coverage

Media Coverage: Harvard

Statistics