Cancer Immunotherapy Using the immune system to treat cancer.
Foot Health
It is important to stay healthy from head to toe, including your feet. There are 26 bones and 33 joints in your foot and ankle, making the possibility for issues very high. From sprains and fractures, to ingrown toenails, bunions, corns, and athlete’ s foot, we may find ourselves hiding our foot problems in a pair of shoes. But overlooking foot health can lead to greater problems if left untreated. Taking a few simple steps to ensure foot health is easy to do:
u Keep feet clean and dry. u Make sure to trim toenails regularly and straight across. u Wear shoes that fit properly. u Don’ t ignore discolored or cracking toenails. u Wear shoes in public places to avoid fungal infections.
Overall Health
Overall health and well-being starts from the inside out. Begin by providing your body with the nutrients it needs to work properly. You will have more energy and feel better every single day that you eat healthy, nutritious foods, drink plenty of water, and get in some exercise. While physical wellness is crucial for a healthy life, it is important not to overlook mental wellness. This includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. Mental health is important throughout all stages of life from childhood to adulthood. While good physical health directly affects mental health, you should care for your mental health in different ways.
u Love yourself and treat yourself with kindness and respect. u Surround yourself with people who make you happy. u Meditate and / or pray to provide yourself with time to silently reflect on all of the positive aspects of life. u Try something new to break away from the daily grind. u Get help when you feel like you cannot help yourself. n
Cancer Immunotherapy Using the immune system to treat cancer.
What is it? Cancer immunotherapy uses a person’ s own immune system to fight the disease. This treatment has become an important part of treating certain types of cancers because of how it can benefit the patient. Immunotherapy can be used by itself or in conjunction with other types of treatments.
Types of Cancer Immunotherapy Cancer immunotherapy can be broken down into two categories, those that boost the immune response and those that enable the immune response.
• Monoclonal antibodies( mAbs): These types of man-made immune system proteins can be made to attack very specific parts of a cancer cell.
• Immune checkpoint inhibitors: This drug can allow the immune system to go full force to recognize and attack cancer cells.
• Cancer vaccines: Just as the flu vaccine, cancer vaccines are put into the body to start an immune response against the disease.
• Other immunotherapies: Non-specific cancer immunotherapies are not made to specifically target cancer cells, but instead they are made to stimulate the immune system so that it will respond better to cancer cells.
Immunotherapy in Clinical Trials Clinical trials are research studies done to determine whether certain medications, treatments, or devices are safe and effective for humans. The studies follow strict scientific standards and require more testing than typical treatment.
Clinical trials are broken down into three phases:
• Phase I: This phase tests to show whether a certain drug is safe for human use. Phase I trials typically last several months to a year and are conducted on individuals who have tried other treatments without success. The patient base is small due to the uncertainty of the treatment.
• Phase II: This phase gives more insights on how well a particular treatment works. A larger sample of people is tested and the trial will last about two years. Dosages may vary between patients within the phase II clinical trial.
• Phase III: This phase is to test the new treatment, which has worked well in many people, against the standard of treatment for a particular disease. This phase is randomized, as the doctor does not choose which patients will receive the trial treatment and which will receive the standard treatment.
Effectiveness
The treatment of immunotherapy cannot be measured as quickly as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Results of treatment may even get worse before they improve because of an inflammatory reaction from the body. Doctors call this a delayed response and it is common in immunotherapy treatment. There are times when a tumor can shrink or remain stable, but not disappear completely, which is called a partial response. Many of these responses are lasting for years, giving hope to patients who have exhausted other treatment options.
Cancer Immunotherapy Research
As cancer immunotherapy research continues to expand and uncover viable treatment options, research continues to develop new ways to treat cancer. Some of these include newer, more powerful monoclonal antibodies( mAbs), pairing immunotherapy with additional drugs to attack cancer cells, continued research into cancer vaccines, and other ways to boost the immune system. n
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