HOW CLOSE IS MEDICAL SCIENCE TO CURING HEART DISEASE AND CANCER?

  From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82

July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30       3880   14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512         1151        189       712

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

Mar     2        1989     9490        1726       110      194

April   6         906     11787         4211       631       37

May    4         853    13667        3025      3786      59 

June   1          287    10637         2346      3205      95

 July   7          251      8440         1595        817      411

Aug    4          656    10120         1118         532     423 

Sept  22       2228      9326          839        279     124

Oct    6        2102      8255          543        315       59

Nov   3         1436      7830         186         458       23

Dec    1        1633      8475          266        477       28

Jan    7         2025      6729         148        285      140

       14          2303      7872         238        430      128

       21          2777      9091         396        489      103

       26          3143   10,554         606        575       94

Feb   2          2990   12,012         946        991      175

         3          2396   11,288         923      1100        82

Summary:  Better?

From the New York Times, the USA leads our allies in deaths per capita during this Omicron variant wave:

The World Health Organization provided the following;

Note that heart disease kills 9 million/year.  Consider that this current pandemic has been responsible for 5.7 million deaths in two years, so your odds of dying from a cardiovascular ailment are more than three times higher than COVID-19.

The U.S. National Center for Health Statistics provided the following table:

920,000 Americans died in the two years of COVID-19.  However, comparing 2020 and 2021, there were only 60,000 more deaths.    In any case, heart disease and cancer dominate the death statistics, with COVID-19 in third place.  The pandemic should end sometime later this year, but these noncommunicable ailments will be here for a long time to come.

So how close is medical science to curing cardiovascular and cancer causes of death?  Let me start with the former and provide the latest developments.

All the above indicate that heart disease remains as the leading killer.  Here is why you should be interested in a cure:  NEARLY HALF OF AMERICANS HAVE SOME FORM OF HEART DISEASE. 

• Your heart cannot regrow.  Every heart attack kills heart cells and muscles, and they can't regenerate.
• Aggressively treating high blood pressure and high cholesterol works.
• While new drugs have lowered LDL cholesterol, no success yet in erasing plaques.

• 
  Stem cell therapy to regenerate heart muscles looks promising.
• One good step is to get your flu shot, annually.  There is a direct link between flu and heart disease, and not catching the flu can reduce your chances of dying by the way most humans do.  Those who get the flu are six times more likely to have a heart attack.  Yet, the seasonal flu vaccination rate is less than 50%.
• The technology used in mRNA COVID-19 vaccines offers hope for treatment of heart disease.
• But will it be possible to PREVENT heart attacks with a vaccine?  Harvard researchers said that was plausible.  And that was eight years ago.
• AstraZaneca and Moderna Therapeutics are using mRNA technology to boost production of VEGF-A in areas of the heart.  Their vascular and cardiac regeneration developments began in 2012 and continue today.

Surprisingly enough, earlier this month WHO indicated that cancer was the leading cause of death worldwide with 10 million deaths.  Surprising because if you look at the top graphic, there is no clue of this apparent fact.  You would think your heart and blood circulatory systems were the main culprits.

•  Cancer arises from the transformation of normal cells into tumor cells.  Abnormal cells destroy healthy tissue.
• This occurs because of a person's genetic factors interacting with external agents: 
•  ultraviolet/ionizing radiation, 
• chemical carcinogens like tobacco smoke, alcohol and so on, and 
• biological carcinogens like virus and bacteria.  
• The older you are the more likely to have cancer
• The solutions are relatively simple:
• Avoid risk factors.
• Early detection and treatment.

Promisingly enough, genetic engineering is showing progress.  Gene, or CAR-T cell, therapy has recently cured two patients, from leukemia and another blood cancer.

President Joe Biden unveiled a plan this week to reduce the death rate from cancer by at least 50% over the next 25 years.  The Cancer Moonshot program he initiated while vice president has returned.  Of course he has a personal motivation, as his son Beau died of brain cancer.

However, there is as yet no cure for cancer.  There is no vaccine.  Fortunately, science should benefit from pandemic research, as for example by enhancing the T-cell response to tumors.  Early experiments show that the concept does shrink tumors in mice.  Other researchers are exploring ways to use the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to fight cancer by stimulating the body's immune system.  You can add cellular re-programming and protein replacement therapy.

In the meantime, it behooves you to help your body prevent cancer by exercising.  30 minutes of aerobic exercise 3 times per week, combined with strength training 2 to 3 times a week, would be a good first step.  What this does is reduce inflammation, keeping your weight under control and boosting your immune system.  If nothing else, exercise is a cheap way to minimize fatigue and enhance your quality of life.

One of the two torch bearers lighting the Olympic flame, opening the Beijing Winter Olympics, was Dinigeer Yilamujian (left), a 20-year old cross-country skier who was born in Xinjiang, home of the Uyghur minority.  The USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, Lithuania and the UK did not send any official government representative, mostly because of human rights issues dealing with the Uyghur Muslims.  New Zealand is not represented at all, including athletes, because of the pandemic.  Lithuania is not there because of something to do with Taiwan.  84 countries sent performers, including the U.S. and boycotting allies.

Of course, Vladimir Putin showed up, sitting alone, dozing off now and then, especially when the Ukraine team entered the arena.  Spectators are required to wear masks.  Guess who broke the law?

Of course Xi Jinping was prominent, and wearing a mask:

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