COOL!

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080102/down-syndrome-may-curb-cancer?src=rss_public

Down Syndrome May Curb Cancer
Gene May Make Cancer Rarer in People With Down Syndrome
By Miranda Hitti
WebMD Medical NewsReviewed by Louise Chang, MDJan. 2, 2008 -- New research shows that the genetic roots of Down syndrome may protect against cancer.

The finding may lead to the creation of new cancer drugs, researcher Roger H. Reeves, PhD, a professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, tells WebMD.

Such drugs are a long way off, but "people with Down syndrome have now given us all the possibility of lowering the incidence of cancer in everybody," says Reeves.

That possibility lies in the DNA of Down syndrome, Reeves' team reports in tomorrow's edition of Nature.

People with Down syndrome have three copies of chromosome 21. People without Down syndrome have two copies of that chromosome. Some past studies have shown that cancer is rarer in people with Down syndrome, but not all studies have reached that conclusion.

To learn more about the link between cancer and Down syndrome, Reeve and colleagues studied mice with genes that make them likely to develop intestinal cancer. Some of the mice also had a third chromosome that gave them a condition similar to Down syndrome.

The mice with the extra chromosome were less likely to develop intestinal cancer and had smaller tumors than the other mice.

A gene called Ets2 -may get the credit for that pattern. That gene sits on chromosome 21, so Down syndrome provides an extra copy of the Ets2 gene -- and that abundance may repress cancer, Reeves notes.

He points out that the Ets2 gene had been suspected of causing -- not curbing -- cancer. But in Down syndrome, the extra copy of that gene may tip the balance in favor of cancer prevention.

"This is a new kind of gene which, if you overexpress it, represses tumor formation," says Reeves.

"If there were no such thing as Down syndrome, we probably wouldn't have found this because it wouldn't make a lot of sense to take these oncogenes that we thought were genes that cause cancer and try to express them at high levels to try to prevent cancer. But that's what happens" in their experiment, says Reeves.

He cautions that further studies are needed to see if that's true of other cancers, apart from the intestinal cancer his team studied in mice.

Reeves says he and his colleagues want to develop a potential drug that would boost Ets2 in people without Down syndrome to curb cancer.

It will take more work to see if that can be done safely, but the study "offers an explanation for why having three, rather than the normal two, copies of chromosome 21, the hallmark of Down syndrome in humans, provides some protection from solid tumors," writes David Threadgill, PhD, in an editorial published with the study.

Threadgill is an associate professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Merry Christmas!

Here are just a few....


Santa, I promise I have been a good girl all year long, but I am AFRAID I have to run right now.....
(that face cracks me up)



Ashlyn has a collection of Boyd's bears....she received this Christmas angel from Papa John and Grandma Denise!



woooo hoooo Spenser finally has his own digital camera!!!



Come on...let's get this present opening party going on!!



Mason, I could have sworn I saw a bag of coal in your stocking....whose gifts are those?



Here, have some popcorn with your present!



You can never go wrong with chocolate!

Nothing is impossible for God

The Cure for Disappointment -- "I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth, Nothing is impossible for me." Jer. 32 :27

author unknown
Quote:

"We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it's not over until he says so. We need to hear that life's mishap's and tragedies are not a reason to bail out. They are simply a reason to sit tight.
Corrie Ten Boom* used to say 'When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through.'...
The way to deal with discouragement? The cure for disappointment? Go back and read the story of God. Read it again and again. Be reminded that you aren't the first person to weep. And you aren't the first person to be helped. Read the story and remember the story is yours!"

It's about the Cross

I love this song by the group "GO FISH" - It's about the Cross
You can disable the song "God bless the last ones" by clicking on the pause button on the pink flash player to the left.

Wordless Wednesday

GIFTS

I had a really cool phone call today! A lady that I know called me up today to tell me that she was sitting there looking at a book that has Ashlyn's picture in it and was written by me! Her baby weighed 1 lb 10 oz at birth two weeks ago and she is staying at the Ronald McDonald house! She had no idea that the book even existed and I had no idea that there was a copy of it in the lending library at the Ronald McDonald House in Winston Salem! This was a very awesome feeling!!!! Isn't this GREAT!?!

I just found this video while surfing blogs tonight....
This video has an awesome message!


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We are also blessed with marvelous neighbors

Giving God the praise and glory-

that he deserves. God has been so good to us. I can't keep it inside because I just know that my insides would explode!! Praise God that I had 3 prayers answered in one weeks time! I feel like the heavens are pouring down upon my life. The first answered prayer was something that I have prayed about for at least 3 years. Good things come to those who wait....well I kept hope and faith that God would come through on this and he sure sent an angel our way. The second answered prayer I have been praying about for over one year... I won't lie, this one was a biggie and quite a miracle! :) The 3rd answered prayer was revealed to me on my birthday yesterday and honestly it really made my year!!! I thought I was going to come out of my skin when it happened. Even though only one of these prayers directly impacted my family, they were all of equal importance. God is so good....

Good reading from the blog "Chewing the fat"

Like someone else said... "dont' judge a book by it's cover"! You have to read this story....I love it! I can see this happening in my head....nice, young man with Down syndrome who is alone and goes to the checkout line to purchase a coat and uses a credit card..... go read for yourself!

I am having a extremely hard time posting this link...so just copy and paste...you will be glad you did!


http://davehingsburger.blogspot.com/2007/11/credit-where-credit-is-due.html