Pictures

I set up my Facebook and Twitter accounts a few days back, but I could not find a picture for my icon since I've not taken any pictures for quite a while. The last time I took any photo was during the US Open trip last summer -- I did not have pictures taken during my ski trip last December even though I had my camera with me.

I was never really into taking pictures, and as I get more contented(read:detached) with my life over the past a few years, symbolic things -- partying, taking pictures, etc -- have really faded away from the center of my life while I've been mostly busy with my readings and studies, and I am quite happy with that, most of the time.

But we do live by our experience and memories. And there are occasions you wish you had something to look at: a picture what brings back the memories -- bitter, sweet, and, of course, the nostalgic mixing of the bitter and the sweet. In an early morning of a Spring day, or an afternoon in the summer -- with downpour outside the window, I wish I had a picture.

Acceptance

I ordered this survival guide hoping to learn a bit more about chemo and radiation therapies. I was a little bit underwhelmed by the book because either I already know most of the stuff, or I don't quite agree with their suggestions. The chapter on "Mind and Body", however, turns out to be an unexpected good one. Here is one paragraph from this chapter:

The necessity of thinking positively is a myth. The whole spectrum of emotions, from negative to positive, is unavoidable and necessary. Not letting yourself feel how you feel, or getting upset at yourself being angry or sad, can backfire and cause you to feel even worse that you did before. On the other hand, a good cry or yell often is relieving and healing. Feelings provide us with vital information. Denying them or keeping them inside may in fact be the unhealthy choice.

This reminds of me something I read some time back: I was quite impressed with that post so that I could scoop it up pretty quickly. It talks about something along the same line: don't fight your feelings, accept them instead. Here are some excerpts:

Once we realize that its normal to feel all kinds of emotion and the only thing that pro-longs them or cuts them short is our mind fighting with them. For instance when your feeling irritable, scared or angry its normal and can be triggered by anything and is usually out of your control. Just as we have good days and bad days. These feelings if left alone and allowed to flow through your body would normally pass, they may not feel nice but they are natural emotions. What pro-longs them is our resistance to them its when we start fighting and fearing these feelings. When we start arguing in our minds saying “I should not feel like this, I want to feel relaxed, Why do I get frustrated so easily” all these questions and thoughts of resistance will pro-long the negative emotion and cause more suffering until something distracts you or things burn out after hours of internal fighting.

Sure you will feel negative emotions from time to time and they don’t feel nice. Just accept them, admit to yourself that’s how your feeling right now and don’t question them don’t start that internal fight inside your head, just let the emotions flow and feel them rush through your body. Once you start doing this you will see that you will start feeling less and less negative emotions and your mind will sway towards what it likes best……..Happiness!

I might add a little trick here based on good neuroscience actually. When you feel a bit down and moody, usually it's right brain that is in control. If you can get yourself into doing something procedural and detail-oriented, that would force you to use your left brain, which in turn will take the control from right brain. As the result, that change of mind will usually lift you out of the blues.

Omega-3, Omega-6 and Cancer

This is quite a compelling story with solid science behind it. Read it all. The message is quite simple actually: Omega-6 fats suppress your immune system and Omega-3 fats balance out this ill effect. So when it comes to fighting cancer, this makes a lot of differences.

One more evidence against Omega-6 fats: they are actually used in organ transplant operations to suppress immune system, that says a lot right there about how powerful they are. And that's the primary reason I am against going to Chinese restaurants: they use the cheapest fat, usually corn oil or soybean oil -- two of the nastiest fats you can have.

Again I am so convinced that the two most egregious offenders to our health are excessive Omega-6 fats and sugar, get rid of them, by all means.

Repair your immune system

This is pretty much what I've been practicing and preaching. Get rid of sugar, fake fats and don't mess up with your body, and you will be just fine since your genes want you fit and will make you fit.

7 deadly sins

Out of 7 sins -- lust, sloth, gluttony, wrath, envy, greed and pride, I tend to put the first four into an innate group: in one way or other they have some evolutionary roots. Lust gets your gene passed down; sloth makes you less stressed; gluttony helps you get through famines; and wrath might help ward off enemies.

The last three, however, are more learned or cultured, at least only unique to high primates. And the root of these three, I think, is pride. If we could just be a bit more humble, not just in the way we present ourselves to the outside world, but deep inside -- accepting the fact that we are just one human being out of the billions, the world would be much more peaceful and harmonious, and we all would be living a much happier life.

So if I had to pick my poison, I would commit some sins from the first group. I would not feel guilty if I could not help looking the hot lady passing by, or if I slacked off a bit sometimes, or if I lost my temper once a while. On the other hand, I will make conscious effort to remind myself that I am just another ordinary human being, trying to live as happily as I can, and, hopeful, making the lives of people around me a bit brighter.

What do you believe?

Call me a science junkie but that's just who I am: things need to make sense to me before I accept it.

I understand there are a lot very complex systems that we only know a tiny bit of them, like the whole ecosystem, human body, the economy, etc, as the result we can not get too hung up on reductionism. They are not designed or controlled by any deity, they evolve. That's why I am such a staunch believer and supporter of evolution. So when I look at any hypothesis, the very first question I have to ask is: does it make sense from an evolutionary perspective? And very hypothesis has to pass this simple test before we can move on to the empirical testing part.

So when it comes to medical research, what are those stuff I trust? First and foremost, they need to fit in the framework of human evolution from a single cell, to fish, amphibian, reptile, mammal, primate, and finally homo sapient. After nature invented something that works, it will keep it. That's why we still share a lot genes with fruit flies, even bacteria, as a matter of fact the whole energy production system in our body is still pretty much like bacteria.

The second test is about genetic and biochemical pathways. We already know a lot about genetics and biochemistry; A hypothesis should be able to explain the pathways involved.

And finally I need to see empirical evidences from controlled experiments, the causal links from the treatment effects, not the correlation from epidemiological studies.

Need a strong immune system to fight cancer

I am going through the old posts about cancer at Stephen' site, this is his take on cancer:

This raises the possibility that cancer is not simply the result of getting too old, but a very specific weakening of the immune system.

This is from empirical evidence obviously. But that evidence itself does not provide much hope here, the million dollar question is still that how to strenghten one specific individual's immune system. I need to read a lot more on immune system.

A new theory about cancer

This is an article I read in Economist last year. Here is the hypothesis in a nutshell:

Cancer may be caused by stem cells gone bad. If that proves to be correct, it should revolutionise treatment.

And here is the original article. I saved it into a Word file, the online version is gated.

Be careful of fructose

This is just a hypothesis, but a pretty good one, I have to say.

Now let's connect the dots. Excessive fructose, certain types of fiber, and wheat cause bacterial overgrowth and H2 production (if you believe the fructose-H2 connection). Elevated H2 causes overgrowth of H. pylori and possibly other pathogenic bacteria in the body. H. pylori lowers stomach acid, causing further overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine. This causes inflammation and increases the risk for digestive cancers.