

Cure for Radiation Sickness Found? - darshan
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3748014,00.html

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nopassrecover
Great research and could maybe be used to help destroy cancer cells without
destroying normal cells during radiotheraphy etc. (although so long as the
cancer cells don't suddenly get immune to radiation etc. as well).

On another note, is there any reason why they had to exlicitly state that the
scientists were of Jewish descent? The only possibility that comes to mind for
making this explicit is that this is the reason they got Israeli investment?

~~~
endtime
It's an Israeli newspaper; if a Russian-American scientist made the discovery,
I'm sure the Russian papers would mention that fact as well.

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nopassrecover
Yeah I guess I see a difference between those two.

They are not saying an Israeli-American but a Jewish-American. The emphasis is
not on nationality but on ethnicity.

However, I won't pretend to understand the cultural sensitivites involved (I'm
Australian).

~~~
endtime
Yep, Israel and Judaism are a bit tricky when it comes to religion vs.
ethnicity vs. nationality.

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jacquesm
a bit more balanced and less hyperbolic article:

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7341336.stm>

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warfangle
Thanks-- it doesn't have giant flashing skyscraper ads with position:fixed
either.

~~~
maukdaddy
Yes, because above all else I judge the quality of news based on their CSS.

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giardini
It's probably a megadosage of vitamin E or a related compound. Studies from
Nagasaki and Hiroshima showed that survival was highly correlated with vitamin
E levels.

If you take large amounts (>2000 IU or more) of vitamin E your skin won't
sunburn as badly and possibly not at all depending on how much you take. The
more vitamin E, the less the sunburn. There's no practical maximum dosage.

Instead your skin will feel warm but won't hurt. It won't turn so red and in
particular it won't blister and peel. You _will_ tan. Rather than die off
quickly with massive inflammation, the skin loses cells slowly so that in
about a week there will be a slight graininess to the skin.

It does help, although not as much, to take large doses of vitamin E _after_ a
sunburn. I'd recommend at least 10,000 IU for an adult sunburn.

Here's a link (low dose = 400 IU):
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11873518?dopt=Abstract>

Quotes from the linked article: "vitamin E at a dose of 400 IU/kg acts as a
good radioprotectant against lethal doses of cobalt-60 radiation."

"Vitamin E was more efficacious when given subcutaneously than when given
orally." Which is why I recommend very high oral dosages.

~~~
dmm
Isn't Vitamin E fat-soluble? Is it safe to consume such high levels for
extended periods?

~~~
giardini
like vitamin A, Vitamin E is fat-soluble. But an overdose of vitamin A can
kill you.

In contrast there is no LD50 level defined for vitamin E IIRC. There are
anecdotal descriptions of unpleasant side-effects (e.g., diarrhea) but these
are vague and may be the result of consuming a large amount of oil at one time
(vitamin E is usually taken in oil solution), without ramping up the daily
dosage slowly. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever died or suffered
permanent ill effects from taking vitamin E.

Vitamin D is also fat-soluble but much less toxic than vitamin A. You may have
had your doctor recently test your blood for vitamin D levels. If you test low
(and most do) you may be given a prescription of vitamin D of 50,000 units
twice a week for 10 weeks or so. As recently as two years ago many doctors
would have become alarmed should you tell them you took a vitamin D dose
higher than 400 units/day. Obviously something has changed: vitamin D has
proven to be much less toxic and far more efficacious than rumour and folklore
medicine has said it was:

[http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-13-vitamin-d-
tes...](http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2008-07-13-vitamin-d-tests_N.htm)

The revised recommendations for vitamin D were slow in coming. I had for years
seen rickets in otherwise well-nourished children resulting from parents
slathering sunscreen on their offspring before every outing. Nieces and
nephews were affected by the overzealous recommendations of the American
Academy of Dermatology. After all this time vitamin D proves to be a keystone
ingredient to preventing cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, indeed most diseases.

My point is that, just because a vitamin is "fat-soluble" doesn't mean that
megadoses will hurt you. Most of the lore associated with the term is from
vitamin A's history.

If you get a serious sunburn or burn take a big dose of vitamin E. It will
help and, unlike CBLC102, it is cheap and readily available _today_.

If you fear nuclear terrorism then my recommendation is to buy a bottle of
vitamin E and put it on your kitchen shelf. Next time a nuclear bomb goes off
in your neighborhood take a mouthful and run like hell.

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JulianMorrison
This sounds useful for other cell-suicide problems, such as stroke damage.

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ramidarigaz
This is awesome. It alleviates one of the greatest fears of nuclear strikes,
aside from the destruction.

I know there have been several discussions floating around about dirty bombs
and nukes that could be used in terrorist attacks, and it has seemed to me
that what most people are afraid of is not the bomb itself, but the fallout.
This could be a huge relief for those fears.

~~~
flipbrad
cancer rates would still be astronomic for anyone exposed to the fallout.
worse, perhaps.

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CamperBob
Keeping radiation-damaged cells from undergoing apoptosis sounds like a great
way to make _sure_ you get cancer.

/scratches head, sure I'm missing something

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extension
_One risk of preventing cell death is that defective cells may be allowed to
survive which could then turn cancerous.

However, the researchers found no sign of this happening in the laboratory
tests on mice._

It doesn't stop cancer, it stops cell death from radiation, which incidentally
_may_ allow higher doses of radiation therapy.

~~~
biohacker42
Mice are tiny and very short lived. Cancer rates in mice don't translate well
to cancer rates in humans.

