The Thin End

New research indicates that taking vitamin D supplements may help prevent a potentially serious side effect of a revolutionary form of anti-cancer therapy. The findings are published early online in CANCER , a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society (ACS). An important capacity of the immune system is its ability to distinguish between normal cells in the body and those it sees as “foreign.” This lets the immune system attack the foreign cells while leaving the normal cells alone. To do this, it uses “checkpoints.” Immune checkpoints are molecules on certain immune cells that need to be activated (or inactivated) to start an immune response. Immune checkpoint inhibitors help the immune system recognize and combat cancer cells, and although these treatments have helped many patients and have prolonged lives, they can cause side effects such as colitis, an inflammatory reaction in the colon.  “Immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis can limit the use of such life-saving

As I write, it is 3.0 am, and I cannot sleep. Several images I remember in my life flash before me as in one of those old newsreels they used to show in cinemas. These images arise from the 'Black Lives Matter' protests at the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in America. Here in the United Kingdom, we must confront our racist past and present, as statues of prominent slave traders are taken down or pulled down. In 1970, on a cold, wet December day in Warsaw, the then West German Chancellor Willy Brandt laid a wreath at the memorial of the Jewish ghetto. I remember it. The lasting image of that day was a photo taken when Brandt unexpectedly fell to his knees in front of the memorial and remained still for half a minute on the wet stone floor - that half a minute seemed an eternity. Somehow, the world seemed to pause and take a deep breath. Willy Brandt said, 'No German is free of History'— and nor are we. We will only defeat racism if we acknowledge r