Tag Archives: Blogroll

The jackdaws of Pitigliano…

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Margaret

Yesterday evening Stefano and I got back  from our four-day holiday in the Maremma area of Tuscany. Absolutely amazingly incredibly stunningly gorgeous. And also refreshingly non-touristy compared to other parts of this lovely Italian region (not that I’m biased at al ...

Curcumin holds promise as treatment for brain tumors…

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Margaret

Even though I’m so amazingly busy these days–a gazillion-billion things to do–I just had to stop for a few minutes in order to post the link to a new curcumin study. Here’s an easy-to-read summary: http://goo.gl/w0Nl6 By the way, this link may take ...

Mad about stilts…and more…

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Margaret

Yesterday, at the end of the afternoon, Stefano and I decided to go to the Parco della Piana, a bird reserve in the town of Sesto Fiorentino, in the province of Florence. Our new bird watching “haunt.” It’s a great time of year for bird watching, and things ...

Magnesium and CRP, bacteria (shudder) and how capsaicin may protect the heart, too…

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Margaret

I really shouldn’t be reading any Science Daily articles today…I should be working instead…but a few items caught my attention, so I’m going to post the links. Ah yes, procrastination…I know, I know. I’m an expert in that field!   Before ...

My tulips and a new Simon’s Cat video…

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Margaret

Here’s the link to a new Simon’s Cat video: http://goo.gl/dgPPu And here are some photos of my tulips…love the colors…so beautiful they almost seem fake (but they’re not! I took the photos earlier today). And these are just the first ones… ...

Grandpa’s iPad, cat hair and some stunning news about popcorn…

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Margaret

I’m reading and reading…just not ready to post anything today. Not of a serious nature, anyway.   But I just got this from a friend (whom I met via the blog, incidentally…), and it made me laugh out loud, even though I don’t understand one word of Ge ...

Gabbianello and Parco della Piana

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Margaret

Here are some of the photos that I took yesterday in two different bird reserves.  In the morning we went to the WWF’s Oasi di Gabbianello, which I’ve written about in previous posts. It’s located near the town of Barberino di Mugello…about a half h ...

It’s a tough life…

Posted on March 24, 2012 by Margaret

We’re going bird watching, while the cats…(the dimensions in this photo are totally off, by the way: Pinga is about one-quarter of the size of Piccolo, my black and white male…)

Is cancer outwitting personalized medicine?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Margaret

A few days ago I read a fascinating article titled “Is cancer outwitting personalized medicine?” It’s a “must-read”: http://goo.gl/Ityrk And then this morning I watched a short “Patient Power” video (February 21, 2012) on personalized treatment, si ...

There’s something in that box…

Posted on March 21, 2012 by Margaret

Random readings…

Posted on March 19, 2012 by Margaret

This is going to be a busy work week for me, so I probably won’t be able to spend much time doing research and writing. I have some extra translating work to do, which is good for our household budget, of course… But I will continue to find time for my daily read ...

Meeting with Prof. Gertz: patient-friendly approach and causes of myeloma…

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Margaret

Today’s post is based mainly on what I remember from the meeting with Prof. Gertz, Mayo Clinic (see previous posts), and on my fabbbbbulous friend DB’s notes. By the way, DB, thanks for going to the meeting with me! A patient-friendly approach. Since Prof. Gertz kindly o ...

Meeting with Prof. Gertz: are statistics useful to us or not?

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Margaret

I thought I’d focus today on the discussion we had about statistics. A woman (the blog reader who told me she wished she’d known about curcumin earlier) said that when she was diagnosed with smoldering myeloma, her doctor told her that she had only three years to live. E ...

Meeting with Prof. Gertz, take two…

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Margaret

First of all, I’d like to mention that day before yesterday I wrote Prof. Gertz a quick note, telling him I’d written my first post about the meeting in Campi Bisenzio. He kindly wrote back, letting me know that my post was, and I quote, very accurate. Later that day, h ...

Meeting Prof. Gertz…

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Margaret

I really enjoyed meeting Prof. Gertz on Saturday (see previous post). A down-to-earth, sensible, approachable doctor who explained difficult concepts in a way that was easy for everyone to understand. I’m happy to say I learned some new things, and I also learned how t ...

What I’m doing on Saturday in Campi Bisenzio, and some good news…

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Margaret

First, the good news. Actually, this simply confirms what I (well, all of us) already knew: my numbers are stable. Rock solid. You see, I went to see my doctor yesterday. I should point out that this is my family doctor, not my hematologist. But this guy is absolutely brilli ...

Vitamin D intake in patients with multiple myeloma…

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Margaret

A blog reader (thanks, Ron!) gave me an interesting bit of news this morning, but I had to leave for work and didn’t have time to share it with you. Now that I’m back home again, here goes… First, though, I’d like to thank my friend “Sherlock.&# ...

MGUS may increase risk of developing infections…

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Margaret

Today I’d like to post the link to a very interesting article published recently in the “Myeloma Beacon”: http://goo.gl/jIhKJ Here’s my own experience, which I’ve written about on the blog: in 2005 (= the year of my SMM diagnosis; progression f ...

The patient’s environment matters…

Posted on February 27, 2012 by Margaret

A week or so ago, a friend sent me this “Atlantic” article, published in its July/August 2011 issue: http://goo.gl/jd1ow I found it absolutely fascinating, even though I can’t help but disagree with some parts of it (you can imagine which…). I just h ...

The Australian MGUS and SMM-curcumin trial data just got published…(Part 2)

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Margaret

Yesterday morning I received a Google Alert about this important trial. A few blog readers also “alerted” me to its existence (thanx!). I tracked down and devoured the full study. As mentioned in yesterday’s post, you can read the abstract here: goo.gl/bcVx ...