I was a participant in a trial of the TIL therapy at NIH in 2012 for stage 4 melanoma. I chose to participate in this trial because it was retraining my own immune system to fight my cancer.
Within three months of treatment, 99% of my tumor load was gone (with the remaining was unknown if it was active malignant cells or scar tissue). By 15 months, there was no evidence left.
In the last 11+ years, I've had no further treatment and the melanoma has not returned. I'm very lucky to be a complete responder and have a long-term remission.
When TIL adoptive cell therapy works, it works well. It's amazing, and I'm thankful for Dr. Steven Rosenberg's life work in developing this.
Now that it's FDA approved, many other melanoma patients will have a shot to try a therapy that, for all practical purposes, can be a cure for a disease that not too long ago was a terminal death sentence.
Interesting. I had zero issues using my Amex in France and Switzerland this past summer. In fact, there was only one restaurant that I visited that wouldn't take it. I must have been lucky.
Yes, such treatments have been in trial for a couple decades at NIH, showing complete response in a segment of the patients for certain cancers. The therapies harness each individual's immune system to direct it's attack to the mutations specific to their tumors.
Iovance is on the brink (should have been approved in the next month or two, but has been delayed because of "staffing shortages" at the FDA) of getting FDA approval for Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes adoptive cell therapy.
Besides the special labs used for the cell processing (managed by Iovance), the therapy is not a whole lot different from stem cell transplants, so any hospital that helps patients with blood-bourn cancers can provide this new therapy to melanoma (and soon, other cancer) patients.
P.S. I'm an 11-year survivor post-TIL therapy for Stage 4 melanoma at NIH.
In elementary school in Wisconsin in the 70s, we lost our milk cartons in favor of the bagged milk.
Although it may have been sold as eco-friendly, the real driving reason was cost reduction: it was less expensive to package and transport milk in plastic bags than in small waxed cardboard cartons.
That is why CAR-T and personalized medicine are some hot topics right now. Essentially, the best medicine and treatment we have often just expand or aid our own body capacity to fight back. Cancer is especially problematic because our body often refuses to fight it.
Training an elite team of cellular terminators is the next step when the local forces are just not adequate anymore. But it is still so expensive.
I'm not sure how someone could get through with the incorrect identity unless their eye scan results in the record of someone with the same name.
The process for CLEAR is:
1. Stand next to the kiosk for recognition. For whatever reasons, the machines always seem to have problems with me, but eventually get a good scan and bring up the correct record.
2. Scan your boarding pass at the kiosk, which (supposedly) validates that you're on a flight at this airport and that your name matches what's on the boarding pass.
3. You're escorted to the TSA agent, the CLEAR agent vouches for you, and you just wave your boarding pass in the air to the TSA agent (no scanning).
Often (including this week), I get flagged to show my identification to the CLEAR agent and to the TSA agent. Ultimately, I could have gone through less hassle with simply the TSA Precheck line.
Many times the TSA Precheck line is actually faster. However, when that line is backed up (usually at certain airports like DCA), having CLEAR is a winner. YMMV
My son just graduated from Northeastern University's Khoury College of Computer Sciences.
At his Khoury College graduation celebration a week ago, this is the first time that the following oath was recited by the graduating class:
KHOURY COLLEGE OATH FOR COMPUTING
Today, I join the ranks of computer scientists worldwide.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings.
I will design and build computing systems that enhance the quality of daily life for individuals and for society.
I will protect the dignity of users and others affected by computing systems, respecting the diversity of all cultures, and safeguarding against threats to health and safety.
I will respect the privacy and rights of all people and recognize the special role I have in judiciously collecting, storing and using their information, and creating systems that aim to shape their behavior.
I will work for fair wages; honorably guarding my reputation and my colleagues in our work practices, while respecting the intellectual contributions of others.
I will improve the public understanding of computing and its consequences.
May I always act to preserve the finest traditions of my field, and may I long experience the joy of inventing the future through my endeavors.
>I will work for fair wages; honorably guarding my reputation and my colleagues in our work practices, while respecting the intellectual contributions of others.
What does this mean? What's an example of an unfair wage?
As a cyclist (on a designated bike path), I was hit by a small SUV in case #2.
The driver looked to the right and I thought our eyes connected, but he proceeded from the stop sign to make a right turn right into me. Fortunately, he stopped as soon as he knew he hit something and I only ended up under his bumper, with a slightly bent up bike and major bruise on my left thigh.
In this case, I would have actually been safer (and in better view of this driver) if I had been riding on the road.
Up to that time, I rode over 1,000 miles outside in the summer, mostly on roads. Now, I no longer trust traffic at all and ride mostly on the extensive bike trail system in Minneapolis-Saint Paul metro area, except when I consider the road to be a better option.
The thought of sharing the road with distracted drivers and other drivers who choose to be assholes to cyclists makes the road riding just too risky.
> 2. To the right for bicyclists riding up the wrong way of the street or on the sidewalk riding towards you.
Is biking the wrong direction on a bike path on a one-way street legal in the state or country that you were in? Are you surprised that you got hit when you were biking going the wrong way down a one-way street?
He was on a designated bike path. Without seeing the signage around the accident, it's hard to say who was really at fault here. But I would easily assume it was the driver.
Correct. The bike path was designated and two-way.
I was certain the driver saw me when he looked to the right and we made eye contact, but apparently he was looking in my direction beyond me toward the street.
To me there's a impedance mismatch between cars and bicyclists. I have known about 2 or 3 people in my life who have died in a biking accident -- one of those people I really liked as a kid.
On the other hand I have seen bicyclists (also electric scooters) riding at high speed on a sidewalk shoot out quickly into a low visibility intersection. If you were the driver at the wrong time wrong place you would hit that bicyclist, and probably feel bad about it.
Leisurely biking on the sidewalks I think is fine, but above a certain speed the bikes should be on the road obeying normal traffic laws.
Within three months of treatment, 99% of my tumor load was gone (with the remaining was unknown if it was active malignant cells or scar tissue). By 15 months, there was no evidence left.
In the last 11+ years, I've had no further treatment and the melanoma has not returned. I'm very lucky to be a complete responder and have a long-term remission.
When TIL adoptive cell therapy works, it works well. It's amazing, and I'm thankful for Dr. Steven Rosenberg's life work in developing this.
Now that it's FDA approved, many other melanoma patients will have a shot to try a therapy that, for all practical purposes, can be a cure for a disease that not too long ago was a terminal death sentence.