Free Republic

Dr. Ben Carson, the rising African-American Republican star who is considering a run for the presidency, endorsed a nutritional supplement made by a firm embroiled in controversy, including claims that it's a pyramid scheme selling 'scam' products. The revelation will damage Carson's standing as a moral crusader who aims to put an unassailable face on the GOP's anti-Obamacare health policies and could tank his future political plans. Mannatech, a multi-level marketing sales company that sells weight-loss products, skin creams and so-called 'nutraceuticals.' Carson began his relationship with the firm in 2004, speaking at its annual sales conference, and gave repeat...

. 2015-10-29 Presidential Election Observations by Free Republic's Patton@Bastogne Post GOP Presidential Debate (Three) on 2015-10-28 Jim Robinson's Free Republic Conservative website is the premier internet forum for political discussions. Since 1996 Free Republic's astute political observers have parsed and dissected Presidential Candidates better than anyone. Last night's GOP Presidential Debate Three (Colorado) featured several developments and suprises. Conventional MSM Pundits and George Will will predictably conclude that John Kasisch and Mike Huckabee are headed for the political exit. Dr. Krauthammer and George Will also may lament that "Yeb" Bush and Christ Christy will probably be "expelled" after Debate IV....

Even as Dr. Ben Carson touts his medical expertise as a qualification in his candidacy for President, he is stuck having to explain why he once claimed that his prostate cancer had been cured by a junk science supplement consisting of aloe vera and tree bark. Carson, who has rejected most modern scientific principles during his campaign as he is rejected climate change and other basics, has been caught on video making the claims as part of a pyramid scheme promoting the supplement , even as he denied any connection during the third republican debate. In what might be the...

The health and education editor of the student newspaper at one of Canada’s most prestigious universities has advised the world that Movember — the month-long pledge by men to grow hair above the upper lip to support men’s health awareness — is “sexist, racist, transphobic, and misinformed.” In his 1,120-word essay in The McGill Daily, Ralph Haddad calls “the idea of suggesting that men show solidarity with each other by growing moustaches” to raise awareness about prostate cancer and other issues “completely absurd.” “Moustache” is the over-lettered Canadian spelling of the word mustache, by the way. And McGill is generally...

Dr. Benjamin S. Carson, renowned chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, underwent a two-hour operation at Hopkins yesterday for prostate cancer and should be ready to go home by Saturday, his surgeon said. Although tests indicating whether the cancer had spread will take a few days to complete, Dr. Patrick Walsh said, the disease appeared confined to the prostate gland. If lab studies confirm that, he said, the possibility for a cure will be high. "Everything looked good," said Walsh, Hopkins' chief of urology. "I've said I think this is a curable cancer, and everything today looked compatible...

It’s time for retired archbishop Desmond Tutu to begin saying no to public events in order to conserve his health, his daughter said Thursday, as the Nobel laureate remained hospitalized for a persistent infection. Tutu, 83, was admitted to a Cape Town hospital on Tuesday where he is receiving an “intensive course” of antibiotics to fight a “stubborn infection,” the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation said earlier in a statement. […] Tutu’s illness is not related to prostate cancer, for which he has been treated for years, Mpho Tutu said. It is uncertain how long he will remain in...

Vitamin D can slow down or even reverse the initial prostate cancer or tumours without the requirement for surgery or radiation, says new research. While the researchers are not sure at this stage about the connection, they said vitamin D can at least slow down the multiplying nature of the tumour, which is crucial in initial stage prostate cancer. In many cases when the biopsy is taken, it requires 60 days for the inflammation from the biopsy to subside for an operation and during this supplements of vitamin D would be helpful, while under active surveillance, said researchers. “We do...

Amid reports that Iran' Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has been hospitalized in critical condition, Tehran has issued what it claims is evidence of his involvement in a public meeting with environmentalists to address Iran's natural resources On Tuesday, reports emerged claiming that the Islamic Republic's top cleric was taken into intense medical care, allegations which FARS news, an Iranian state news agency, dubbed as "Israeli driven rumors," even suggesting that the Jewish state has embarked on similar misinformation campaigns in the past. "In numerous occasions, they [Israel, Western Intelligence] have said he is ill and they've taken him to hospital,...

Abstract Here, we propose a new strategy for the treatment of early cancerous lesions and advanced metastatic disease, via the selective targeting of cancer stem cells (CSCs), a.k.a., tumor-initiating cells (TICs). We searched for a global phenotypic characteristic that was highly conserved among cancer stem cells, across multiple tumor types, to provide a mutation-independent approach to cancer therapy. This would allow us to target cancer stem cells, effectively treating cancer as a single disease of “stemness”, independently of the tumor tissue type. Using this approach, we identified a conserved phenotypic weak point – a strict dependence on mitochondrial biogenesis for...

Men who have a vasectomy face an increased chance of developing prostate cancer and a higher risk of contracting the most aggressive form of the disease, a study has found. The Harvard research on 50,000 men, the largest study to examine the link between sterilization and cancer, found that those who had the procedure had a 10 percent greater chance of developing the disease. It also found a sharp increase in the risk of contracting the most aggressive form of prostate cancer, although this type of the disease is still relatively rare. The dangers appeared to be highest among men...

Prostate cancer could be a sexually transmitted disease caused by a common infection passed on during intercourse, scientists are claiming. Research by the University of California found a sex infection called trichomoniasis supported cancer growth when a team of scientists tested human prostate cells in a laboratory. Trichomoniasis is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection and is understood to have infected an estimated 275 million people around the world. …

los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling is battling cancer, sources have confirmed to ESPN.com. The news was first reported by the New York Post. The Post, citing sources, reported that the 80-year-old Sterling has been battling prostate cancer for an extended period of time. Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million by commissioner Adam Silver earlier in the week after racist remarks he made were published by TMZ. Silver has urged the league's owners to force a sale of the Clippers, which they can do with approval from three-fourths of the league's 30 owners.

Congress is more unpopular than ever, but some Members are better than its reputation. One of them is Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who announced on Friday that he'll leave the Senate at the end of this year. Mr. Coburn's second term doesn't officially end until 2016, but he is battling a recurrence of prostate cancer and said he felt he could "best serve my own children and grandchildren by shifting my focus elsewhere" than Congress. Mr. Coburn's tenure on Capitol Hill has been notable for his convictions on behalf of limited government combined with a determination to do more...

U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn will finish out the current congressional session and then resign from his seat nearly two years before his term is scheduled to end, he said in a statement released late Thursday. […] Coburn, a physician from Muskogee, recently was diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer, but said his decision was not about his health. …

WASHINGTON – Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn has been diagnosed with a recurrence of prostate cancer and is seeking treatment. A spokesman says Coburn, a survivor of a 2011 bout with the disease, is "undergoing further evaluation and treatment." Coburn has battled colon cancer and melanoma in the past.

N.Y. tax checkoff funds for cancer research sit idle Since 2005, New York taxpayers have donated $1.8 million through their income tax returns to aid the fight against prostate cancer, but researchers have yet to see a dime.

Not all early-stage prostate cancer diagnoses are alike. While some patients have aggressive tumors, others have slow-growing, low Gleason score tumors that may not require treatment, but instead can be monitored with regular clinical evaluations. But distinguishing between prostate cancers that require treatment and those that do not is still a major challenge.Researchers at Columbia University in New York City have now identified a 3-gene signature that could indicate whether a particular early-stage prostate cancer is indolent. The test relies on a tissue sample, and along with a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test and a histology assessment, could help clinicians make...

One of the curcumin–thalidomide hybridsCancer researchers in the US and China have combined the turmeric spice pigment curcumin and the drug thalidomide to create hybrid compounds that can kill multiple myeloma cells.Multiple myeloma is the second most common type of blood cancer, killing 20% of affected patients each year. The drug thalidomide, banned after causing birth defects when given during pregnancy in the 1950s, was recently rediscovered and approved for the treatment of multiple myeloma. Thalidomide works by disturbing the microenvironment of tumour cells in bone marrow. However, it disintegrates in the body. Curcumin, a yellow pigment from the common...

Flynn self-published his first book, "Term Limits," in 1997 before landing a publishing deal. "Term Limits" became a New York Times bestseller. Most of his books centered on the character Mitch Rapp, a counterterrorism operative. He averaged a book a year.

A new genetic test to gauge the aggressiveness of prostate cancer may help tens of thousands of men each year decide whether they need to treat their cancer right away or can safely monitor it. The new test, which goes on sale Wednesday, joins another one that recently came on the market. Both analyze multiple genes in a biopsy sample and give a score for aggressiveness, similar to tests used now for certain breast and colon cancers. Doctors say tests like these have the potential to curb a major problem in cancer care — overtreatment. Prostate tumors usually grow so...