Author: Darby Jones

Indian Scientist Finds Way to Detect Colon Cancer as Easily as Diabetes
A collaborative study between four Indian institutes (National Institute Of Immunology, AIIMS, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad, St John’s Research Hospital, Bengaluru) and one French Institute, University of Strasbourg, have found a way to detect colon cancer as early as stage 1, to ensure effective patient recovery. According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), colon cancer is the third most common form of cancer in men and second most common form of cancer in women. Colon cancer is a form of cancer that is typically detected at a late stage, through a colonoscopy or immunohistochemistry. A study led by Dr. Sagar Sengupta from the National Institute of Immunology in India has found that a new method can detect colon cancer in stage 1 through his lab’s work on microRNAs. The study has found that microRNAs are small, single-stranded, non-coding RNA molecules that function in RNA silencing. They are known to fuse to the mRNA, or messenger RNA, molecules that code for proteins that inactivate or destroy them. Dr. Sengupta found that six microRNAs get upregulated in colon cancer cells. Lab experiments found that the cells have a higher probability to form cancer if there is an overexpression of these microRNAs. The levels of microRNAs are controlled by the master regulator protein, CDX2. ‘DNA damage sensitive microRNAs, or DDMS, were found to target a group of cellular proteins that maintain the genetic material’s original nature. In a statement, Dr. Sengupta said that the researchers believe the identified DDSMs can serve as an essential biomarker to detect colon cancer in the early stages. The next step is to determine if the DDSMs can be detected in blood. If so, colon cancer will be as easy to detect as diabetes.

World’s ‘Smallest Baby at Birth’ Home After Thirteen Months in Hospital
A baby born in June 2020 at Singapore’s National University Hospital, who is believed to be the world’s smallest baby to have survived premature birth, went home after over a year in the hospital. Kwek Yu Xuan was born almost four months early in an emergency C-section, weighing just 7.5 ounces — about as heavy as a softball or an apple. A registry managed by the University of Iowa lists an 8.1-ounce baby born in Germany in 2016 as the next-lightest baby to survive premature birth. Yu Xuan spent 13 months in the neonatal intensive care unit, and was reliant on “multiple treatments and machines” for survival, according to the hospital. They added that the child was “active, cheerful and responsive” during her stay. “Against the odds, with health complications present at birth, she has inspired people around her with her perseverance and growth. “We are happy for the little fighter and her family, and proud of the care provided by our team,” the hospital continued in a Facebook post. “Our best wishes to Little Yu Xuan as she continues to grow, thrive and beat the odds every day.” The baby is going home with chronic lung disease and pulmonary hypertension, two conditions that are common among extreme prematurity, but her doctors expect her to recover in time. “It was a difficult journey for Yu Xuan and we greatly appreciate the concerted effort and benevolent support from our colleagues, donors as well as the larger community who have contributed to her survival and growth,” said Zubair Amin, the head and senior consultant at the hospital’s Department of Neonatology. “This was a team effort that embodies the spirit of care and compassion.” Image source: National University Hospital Singapore

Target Joins Walmart in Paying Employees’ College Tuition
The Target Corporation has announced that it would pay the full cost of college tuition and textbook expenses for its U.S.-based part-time and full-time employees. The announcement comes just weeks after Walmart declared its plan for education benefits. The retail giant hopes its expanded benefits will attract and retain talent in a tight job market. More than 340,000 Target employees will be able to choose from approximately 250 programs at more than 40 schools and universities across the country. “Target employs team members at every life stage and helps our team learn, develop and build their skills, whether they’re with us for a year or a career. A significant number of our hourly team members build their careers at Target, and we know many would like to pursue additional education opportunities,” Melissa Kremer, chief human resources officer at Target, said in a statement. “We don’t want the cost to be a barrier for anyone, and that’s where Target can step in to make education accessible for everyone.” Target will also pay up to $5,250 annually for sub-master’s degrees and up to $10,000 for master’s degrees each year. The new education assistance benefit is part of Target Forward, a new corporate strategy that was unveiled earlier this summer. The latest moves by major companies — first by Walmart and then by Target — highlight just how competitive the labor market has become as the economy continues to rebound from the pandemic. There are a variety of reasons why employers are struggling to hire workers — inadequate compensation, tough working conditions or lingering concerns about Covid-19 — but Target's $200 million education investment over the next four years is poised to help bring talent to the company. Image source: Consumer Affairs

Iowa Couple Sends Books to Inmates to Show They Are Not Forgotten
Diane and Robert E. Findlay believe that showing kindness to others should go past what the person has done. The couple donates books to the Dallas County Jail, located just outside Iowa’s capital, Des Moines. The idea came from the faith-based book club that they participated in during the pandemic. “These are people who at various levels and for various reasons have made mistakes and they have a lot of time on their hands,” Diane said. “If we can help them use that time constructively … that’s a good thing.” To personalize the experience for each inmate, the couple sent surveys to the jail staff to be distributed to those behind bars in order to discover what type of books the inmates were interested in reading. "People were interested in every genre we presented, and there was like 21 of them from poetry to westerns and self-help and language … So we are working at trying to get all of those genres," Robert said. The couple also discovered someone wanted to learn Spanish, so they were sure to include a Spanish book along with the others sent to the inmates. There are now three carts full of books donated from the Findlays to the jail’s library room, and they are swapped out every few weeks. "The inmates have something to look forward to, they have something to do," said Adam Infante, chief deputy at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. "Idle minds cause problems sometimes and they're busy with that, which makes everybody a little less tense."

‘Modern Family’ Actress Julie Bowen Helped Rescue Hiker Who Fainted
Actress Julie Bowen and her sister helped rescue a hiker when she fainted at Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. “They could have just ignored me, passed on, but they didn’t,” the hiker, Minnie John, told CNN. “She could have gone on – she must have had a busy agenda that was disturbed because of me. They treated me, a stranger, with love and respect.” John described the events in a three-part series on Facebook, where she also shared photos of the experience. She and her family traveled to Utah to see the Delicate Arch, one of the park’s most popular sights. John said she began feeling dizzy and lightheaded as they neared the end of the trail “All I remember is sitting there with my head in my hands secure on the rock,” John wrote. “Next thing I hear someone with a familiar voice kept asking me questions. I wondered if I might be watching tv. “My eyes were closed and they said I will be fine and they were cleaning my face and bandaging me up. I heard that familiar voice saying I am going to be ok, a doctor is cleaning me up.” That doctor happened to be Bowen’s sister, Dr. Annie Luetkemeyer. The siblings ran to John when they saw she’d fainted and found she had a broken nose. John is diabetic and was severely dehydrated and had low blood sugar at the time of the incident. She said that Luetkemeyer, an infectious disease specialist, took care of her right away. “They were so down to earth, so genuine, so sweet: Not at all how you might expect a big actor or a big doctor to be – which they are. They were just so humble, so loving,” said John. “I knew I’d never meet them again but I appreciated and admired the human part of what they did – selfless, not selfish,” she said. “We tend to forget the daily kindnesses we encounter. We’re blind to everything around us and don’t imagine that people will be so good, kind and caring.” Image source: Minne John / Facebook

Atlanta Police Officer’s Act of Kindness Caught on Camera
Officer S. Thomas was caught on camera giving a pair of shoes to a barefoot man in the parking lot of an Atlanta grocery store. The officer said she noticed a man walking without shoes in the rainy parking lot one day while she was working her beat in Zone 5, which covers most of downtown Atlanta. “I was working my beat and I saw a man with no shoes on, or they were badly damaged. So, I asked him if he would still be here when I came back,” Thomas said in an interview. She left to get a pair of socks and shoes only to find the man had left the area while she was gone. She kept the pair of shoes in the trunk of her car, hoping to run into him again. The next day, as Thomas was working her extra job at a grocery store, she spotted the same man walking outside, barefoot. She quickly went to her car and grabbed the pair of shoes. As she handed them over to the man, a bystander saw the interaction and recorded a video that later went viral on Instagram. In an interview after the interaction with the homeless man, Thomas said that she is a sneaker head and often keeps an extra pair in her car in case she comes across someone who may need them. “It’s never a time that I don’t think about others due to the fact I haven’t always been able to give,” Thomas said, fighting back tears. “So now that I’m able to, I just like to help.” Thomas said she does stuff like this all the time, but never does it to be acknowledged. “I didn’t expect this at all,” she said. One person commented, “Her heart is pure and so is her soul, i love officer Thomas, she’s always been that way.” Atlanta Police Department said in a Facebook post, “Officers with APD routinely show care and consideration to the citizens of the City of Atlanta and perform random acts of kindness without seeking applause. These interactions never make the news. These deeds are just part of any given day for our men and women in blue.” Image source: Fox News

Las Vegas Nurse Pampers Patients on Her Days Off
Brooke Johns is a Las Vegas-based ER nurse that goes above and beyond her call of duty. She has been in her profession for two and a half years at Southern Hills Hospital, where she sees people at their most vulnerable. Johns began volunteering with patients after her friend was in the hospital battling an illness five months ago. "Her hair was very snarled, she was too weak to brush it out herself and it was something she was very worried about," she told KNTV. "So, one of the times I was up there I was able to brush out her hair and braid it and just talk with her." Now, she brushes or braids the hair of any patient who would like the service. Johns hopes her act of kindness will help those needing human connection while hospitalized, especially at a time when many patients are not allowed to have visitors. "There's something therapeutic about the human touch, as well," said Johns. "Human talking, human touching, it's that connection that we're all hard-wired for." "COVID is going around and there's a lot of isolation," said Sierra Stein, a former patient of Johns. "You can't have visitors or someone to come in with you or hold your hand and to have someone just to be able to braid your hair makes you feel like you're at home again." Other nurses at Southern Hills have followed Johns’ lead, joining in to braid patients’ hair and spend quality time with them. “Nurses, in general, get into this to help other people,” said Johns. She does not plan to stop there. Once visitation restrictions are lifted, she intends to dress up as Elsa from “Frozen” to visit patients at Sunrise Children’s Hospital. Image source: KNTV

Heroic Bystanders Save Man in Wheelchair From NYC Subway Tracks
A startling video captured the moment a man fell out of his wheelchair and onto the subway tracks at the Union Square station in Manhattan. Without any hesitation, a stranger jumped onto the tracks to pull the man to safety just before the train rolled into the station. With the help of some other bystanders on the platform, they were able to pull the man up as the train started coming around the corner.

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"This afternoon in Union Square a man in a wheelchair somehow ended up on the subway tracks," the Twitter account @SubwayCreatures posted on Thursday with the 40-second clip. "Luckily, a Good Samaritan jumped down and rescued the man about 10s before the train came into the station. Huge shoutout to whoever the guy is who jumped down to help!" Police say the incident happened around 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 4. The man who fell from his wheelchair was taken to Bellevue Hospital and is in stable condition. The video quickly went viral on social media, and while there were comments about people recording the incident instead of helping, the woman who captured the moment said she hopes people take positivity from the situation. Dr. Rob Davidson responded to the video on Twitter with, “There are very good people in this world who care about others. Sometimes we need a reminder.” “Need to know where to get a taxi or bagel? Do not ask us New Yorkers. Need your life saved? Ask,” tweeted Keith Olberman. Image source: Subway Creatures

Rescuers Save Stranded Killer Whale
A 20-foot-long killer whale was stranded on a rocky shore on Prince of Wales Island near the coast of British Columbia. Several good samaritans spotted the orca and pumped seawater on the animal to keep it cool and keep the birds away. It appeared the whale was lodged in seaweed-covered rocks. A National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration official made it to the beach by early afternoon and asked people to stay away. “This animal is in a situation where it is exceedingly stressed,” said Julie Speegle, a NOAA spokeswoman. “The more humans nearby, the more it will be stressed.” Speegle said the whale was vocalizing, whistling and making pulsing calls as more killer whales were spotted in the area. A group of British Columbia-based marine biologists were able to determine the whale was a 13-year-old juvenile. Thanks to the rescuers’ efforts, they successfully kept the whale safe and cool, and it was able to swim back out to sea several hours after first being spotted. The tide rose high enough to refloat the whale around 3 p.m. At least five other killer whales have been stranded around Prince of Wales over the last 20 years, and all survived. Whales are known to chase seals and sea lions towards the shore, and often get stuck when the tide goes out. “They’ve all rejoined their families after stranding, and they’ve all gone on to survive and live normal, healthy lives,” said Jared Towers of Canada’s department of fisheries and oceans, which monitors whale movements. Image source: NY Post

Israeli Woman Donates Kidney to Gaza Boy
As Idit Harel Segal was turning 50, she decided to give a gift instead of receiving one. She was going to give one of her kidneys to a stranger. Segal is a kindergarten teacher from northern Israeli, and hoped her generous act would inspire others in a land of constant conflict. She was also inspired by her late grandfather, a Holocaust survivor, who told her to live meaningfully. Segal reached out to a group that matches donors with recipients, a search that lasted nine months. Finally, Segal was matched with a 3-year-old Palestinian boy from the Gaza Strip. She wrote a note to him that said, “You don’t know me, but soon we’ll be very close because my kidney will be in your body. I hope with all my heart that this surgery will succeed and you will live a long and healthy and meaningful life.” Israel and Palestine had just finished an 11-day war. “I threw away the anger and frustration and see only one thing. I see hope for peace and love,” Segal wrote. “And if there will be more like us, there won’t be anything to fight over.” Segal’s husband opposed the plan, and her father stopped talking to her. She lost three relatives in Palestinian attacks, so her family was against it. “Everyone was against it. My husband, my sister, her husband. And the one who supported me the least was my father,” Segal said during a recent interview from her home in Eshhar. “They were afraid.” To speed up the process, the father of the Gaza boy, who was not a match for his son, was told by the hospital that if he were to donate a kidney to an Israeli recipient, the boy would “immediately go to the top of the list.” So, on the same day his son received a new kidney, the father donated one of his to a 25-year-old Israeli mother of two. Segal’s kidney helped save the boy’s life, resulted in a second donation from his father and established a bond between members of perpetually warring groups. She visited the boy the night before his surgery and has maintained contact with his parents. Segal said that her husband and children understand now, and her father called her the night before surgery. “I don’t remember what he said because he was crying,” Segal said. Then, she told him that her kidney was going to a Palestinian boy. “Well,” he said, “he needs life, also.” Image source: Israel Hayom