#breast cancer younger women

[rose-in-a-fisted-glove]

So um,

Yesterday, I learned that apparently, no one talks to Ashkenazi trans girls or women about breast cancer.

If you are taking female HRT, you are at a similar risk of breast cancer as a cis woman. And Ashkenazi women are at a higher risk than the average woman due in part to gene mutations.

Unfortunately, despite that, not all health insurances cover routine mammograms for trans women.

This makes it super super important that you do your monthly Breast Self-Exams (BSE) at home.

I've copied a video on how to perform a BSE below, but just a note that Ashkenazi women are more prone to breast cancer in general and at a younger age, so please if you do feel anything, make an appointment with your doctor

[saint-ambrosef]

"Rates of breast and thyroid cancer for women under 50 rose from 2002 to 2021, while men in the same age group had declining rates of melanoma and prostate cancer. - A new report shows that cancer cases are shifting from men to women in the United States and from older to younger adults. - For the first time, cancer rates in women ages 50 to 64 have surpassed those in men, the report found. - The reasons for the trend aren’t known — doctors raised factors such as alcohol consumption, lack of exercise and diets high in ultra-processed foods as some potential factors."

Damn. I wonder what has happened to women in the last several decades that hasn't happened to men, that could possibly cause increase in cancers in the thyroid and breasts, as well as contribute to feminine obesity/weight-gain struggles, and that is hyper-normalized in our culture from a young age despite being known to have carcinogenic health effects. 🤔🤔🤔🤔 Guess we'll never know.

[fozmeadows]

TERFism really is just white beauty politics in a pseudo-feminist hat, because there's simply no escaping the fact that every concern-trolling argument TERFs make against transition, and particularly towards trans men, boils down to the worst thing you can be is an ugly woman, where "ugly" is code for "insufficiently young, white and/or traditionally feminine."

The ridiculing of trans women, for instance, centers disgust at the idea of anyone with traditionally "masculine" features attempting to pass as female, which - as has been well-documented by this point - frequently sees butch women, women of colour, older women, tall women, strong women, and any other woman who doesn't fit this dogwhistle standard of prettiness caught in the crossfire. Masculinity is incompatible with beauty, this logic goes, and all women must be beautiful. Ergo, the more masculine you appear, the less female you are. TERFs, of course, will try to deny their active participation in anything so ragingly unfeminist as policing women's bodies in pursuit of a narrow physical ideal, and yet, as the recent furor over Imane Khalif has roundly shown, this is exactly what they end up doing: an endless reinvention of new and shittier forms of phrenology to explain why this woman or that is not, in fact, really a woman.

Accepting trans women who don't, by conventional standards, pass, means accepting the femininity of women - both cis and trans - who diverge from these beauty standards: who have facial hair or receding hairlines, deep voices or big hands and feet, who are muscular or tall or strong-jawed, who are either incapable or undesirous of pregnancy, or one of a thousand other things we're told (despite the fact that humans are not a strongly dimorphic species) are exclusively masculine traits. But trans women who do pass engender a different terror: the fear that beauty is not an exclusively "feminine" inheritance, such that someone deemed a man might natively posses it and thereby render "real" feminine beauty somehow less special.

And then we have the scaremongering around trans men, which frequently presents as "concern" over, specifically, impressionable girls and young women being tricked into harming their healthy bodies by the nefarious Trans Cabal. That this same concern is never extended to adult women is the giveaway, because adult women are, by this reckoning, inherently less valuable, being neither as pretty nor as fertile as their younger counterparts. It's already too late to prevent their inevitable descent into the ugliness of ageing, and either they're parents already (in which case, their biological purpose has been served, thus rendering their identities past that point moot) or else have been written off as too old for childbearing anyway (which adds to their irrelevance).

Which makes it all the more ironic how many of the stated negatives of transition for trans men dovetails with things the cis female body normally does as it ages and/or postpartum. Long-term binding is decried for the way it causes the breasts to sag or deform and the nipples to enlarge, for instance, when this is exactly what happens as a consequence of pregnancy and breastfeeding. An increase in facial and body hair is common for post-menopausal women, let alone those with PCOS. Plenty of women naturally have deep voices, with many growing raspier regardless with age, while both ageing and childbirth inevitably alter the appearance of genitalia, sometimes radically. Even top surgery, the procedure most maligned as "butchery," has its cis analogues: not only for survivors of breast cancer or those who, due to genetic predisposition towards aggressive forms of it, opt for preventative mastectomies, but those who undergo breast reduction surgery, whether for cosmetic or health reasons - while some women, on yet a third hand, are natively flat-chested.

Taken together, then, what unifies the demonizing fear of trans women and the infantilizing dismissal of trans men by TERFs is an obsession with a specific, youth-and-Eurocentric-based notion of female beauty, where being deemed too masculine in either direction is the disqualifying factor. In TERFlandia, masculinity therefore becomes a synonym for ugliness: trans women can't shed it sufficiently to be counted at any age (unless they pass, which is a prospect too terrifying to countenance), while trans men must be stopped at all costs from embracing it (unless they're already old, in which case they no longer matter). Which is not to say that transphobia more broadly lacks for other avenues of attack; it's just that concern around trans bodies and the necessity of controlling them inevitably circles back to beauty, youth and fertility as the abiding hallmarks of womanhood, and as soon as you point this out, all the other arguments start to unravel.

[uyuforu]

Hello uyuforu english is not my mother language so I'm sorry.many readers say that jungkooks wife have big chest and I had read at some place when the poster said that saggitarius and Pisces in the four house gives big chest so is it because he have saggitarius in the four house in bride personal chart?i'm sorry if you did not understood 😔

Hello! Don't worry it's not mine either, I even realize I miss some words when I write, because I'm so into what I write I forget >v< Anyway, I'm gonna discuss this here!

-> So technically, for JK's natal chart, we can say that DC in Cancer (and so 7H in Cancer) to me is a big factor here. I didn't talk about the DC or 7H yet in his chart, so this is why this has never come out here. I did his BPC before so I'll talk about placements there after :) So when it comes to his Natal Chart, the DC in Cancer is to me the first sign. First, it means the FS is someone who looks very young. She could be younger too, mostly with the fact that his Mercury aspects his Venus in his NC! This is an indicator in a male NC of a younger spouse! If we look at his 7H which is in cancer and so ruled by the moon which is in his 8H in Virgo (=Mercury), his future spouse could be younger than him of 1 or 2 years around, it just means she is not so young compared to him.

-> Coming back to the 7H & DC Cancer in his NC, this placement usually indicates who the native will marry, his marriage & partnerships. So it tells details about the future spouse generally too. Because it's in Cancer, it indicates a young spouse but also a feminine spouse. Cancer is influenced by the moon, making the native's FS having a feminine appearance. Also, it can make the FS pretty curvy. So the his FS having curves, bug chest, big butt, and hourglass figure wouldn't shock me at all. She has a body that people would consider "perfect" to have children (please takes this lightly).

-> I actually read somewhere that JK has another placement that indicate the native having big chest but mam, have you seen this man? He BIG. So it works for him too lmao.

-> Coming back to his FS in his natal chart, JK is Venus Libra. If we focus on the physical, that means he is attracted to beautiful and harmonious face. Don't forget beauty is relative. So he will def attract a very beautiful spouse. Because the 7h has moon influence (cancer), it makes the FS look innocent childish like (looking like a doll and way younger than her real age), good looking, silky and smooth skin. She could have a moderate height but still a bit smaller than JK, a round face, fair skin, big eyes, and soothing and very cute voice. And because the moon falls in his 8h in Virgo (mercury), it will also make her look young! She will be witty, smart, funny, talkative. And the DC having a 7° (libra) makes her feminine features very important. She will look like the Venus goddess! And let's not forget while cancer can indicate curves and breast, libra rules the ass lol. This woman got an amazing body.

-> Let's move to JK's BPC! The moon being in the 1st house (appearances) in libra.... yeah gurl. It also aspects Jupiter! Which also aspects mars in this chart! She got those curves for sure. BUT, the DC in this chart is in Pisces, which can make her feel uncomfortable with it, she could hide it, wear a lot of baggy clothes or just feel uncomfortable with showing those parts. But you are right about the IC in Sagittarius. Sag placements are sexualized actually. For ex: my first best friend was a sag sun and her puberty hit her very young (9yrs old). She started to get curves around 10 and I remember guys at school either made fun of her or told dirty jokes about her (AT 10 YRS OLD). Yet she was pretty confident about it because it was her sun. So she doesn't necessarily feels that confident about it, but this placement makes her curvy side even more logical. It could make her have beautiful ass. And Venus in the 9H= curvy breast and body. Also I noticed women with gemini placements have a big smile! The Venus here is in gemini, she could have a very charming smile or often appear smiling. Or even laughing! And the Mars is aspecting the ASC... listen, she is very hot too. I think she has many indicators that would make people either very attracted to her... or just very jealous. I already talked in the BPC analysis how many people can have a crush on her easily and how charming she is. So it wouldn't shock me her body and appearance was part of the reason why.

Hope it helped!

- uyu

back to index ; ask ; requests ; rules

[roisinivy]

September is PCOS Awareness month. Last year I made a post including all of the common symptoms. As it's nearly a year since my diagnosis, I thought I would share my story of being diagnosed...

I started showing symptoms of having polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS for short) when I was 14, in 2018. I went 9 months without a period, started growing body hair in places that are not considered 'normal' for women, gained a lot of weight, started getting very oily skin and acne.

When my mum queried this with a doctor, she was told I was just a teenager having an irregular phase and that no doctor would seriously look at a diagnosis for me until I was at least 16.

(what my mum didn't know is that I was being groomed and had been assaulted, which is when I developed binge eat disorder, which also accounted for the weight gain...)

By the time I had turned 16 in 2020, covid had put the uk into a second nation wide lockdown and completely ruined an already struggling NHS.

I didn't see a doctor about my PCOS until a month before I turned 19, due to all of the backlog.

My doctor ordered a blood test, and an ultrasound of my ovaries at a nearby hospital. The blood test was completed within a week, but it took me 6 weeks to get my first scan. I am still a virgin, and due to being sexually assaulted when I was younger, I was extremely nervous about having something in me and to have a nurse/doctor see me like that.

The external ultrasound was incredibly painful, having a bladder full of two liters of water pushing down onto you. The nurse couldn't get a good enough view, so I went to relive myself before having what would be my first of three ultrasounds.

The nurse took one look at my scan and confirmed I definitely had polycystic ovaries, she could also see I had ovulated. I knew I would be having my first period in 4 months in December of 2023. This was the last period I had, it was the worst I'd had in a very long time.

On my first scan, a large cyst was spotted, so I would need a second one due to the size of it.

It was roughly the size of a ping-pong ball. My ovaries are also swollen to about three times the size they should be.

By my second scan, it had disappeared. I had a third as a precaution, which was also clear of anything concerning.

I then started taking Cerelle birth control in February.

I have had two bartholin cysts (infection of the vagina), hives, extremely sore breasts on and off, nausea, low libido, acne, increased body weight, tiredness, rashes and so much more caused by my birth control...

But it's preventing me from having an increased risk of developing cancer when I'm older, masking my symptoms so that I can have a 'normal' life whilst living with PCOS.

Although I still grow a better beard than my 18 year old brothers thanks to the increase androgen lol

I don't know how long I'll stay on birth control, or if I'll have to use other treatments, but this is my PCOS journey so far.

[haggishlyhagging]

To a surprising degree, healthcare today still focuses on aspects of the science that were adopted during the witch-hunts: the spirit of aggressive domination and the hatred of women; belief in the omnipotence of science and of those who exercise it, but also in the separation of body and mind, and in a cold rationalism, shorn of all emotion. To begin with, the medical realm tends to perpetuate the impulse to dominate and subjugate, the beginnings of which Carolyn Merchant plots out in her book. And sometimes this is taken to cartoonish lengths: in December 2017, a British surgeon was tried for lasering his initials onto the livers of two patients during organ-transplant operations. And this attitude can be at its worst in practice on female patients. First, as Florence Montreynaud notes, "Women's organs are mapped out with men's names," like flags affixed to various parts of our anatomy. She explains:

“The canals connecting each ovary to the uterus were, until 1997, known as the Fallopian Tubes, after the Italian surgeon who first described them in detail in the sixteenth century—before they became the uterine tubes. The little sacs inside the ovaries where, between puberty and the menopause, an ovocyte matures every month are the Graafian follicles, named after Regnier de Graaf, a Dutch doctor in the seventeenth century. The glands that secrete liquid moistening the vulva and vaginal opening are called Bartholin's glands, after the seventeenth-century Danish anatomist. Worse still, in the twentieth century a pleasure zone within the vagina was given the appellation the ‘G-spot,’ celebrating the initial of the German doctor Ernst Grägenberg.

“Imagine the equivalent for men: Garrett Ander-son's corpus cavernosum or J. C. Wright's canals . . .”

Men's stranglehold on the profession is far from a broadly abstract force, either. The world of healthcare—especially when it comes to gynecology and reproductive rights—seems keen to exercise ongoing control over women's bodies and to ensure its own unlimited access to them. As if in never-ending reiteration of the joint project of taming nature and women, it seems these bodies must always be reduced to passivity, to ensure their obedience. For example, Martin Winckler questions why, in France, the annual gynecological check-up is considered an "immutable ritual," a "sacred obligation," from puberty onward, even if were in perfect health. According to Winkler, there is no justification for this practice.

“The idea that we must undergo ‘from the onset of sexual activity, and then every year’ a gynecological exam, a breast exam and a smear test ‘so as not to miss anything’ (i.e., in order not to miss a cervical, ovarian or breast cancer) is medically unsubstantiated, especially for women younger than thirty, among whom cancers are very rare and, in any case and as a rule, tend not to be discovered in generalist check-ups. And then, a year later, if the patient is doing well, the doctor can renew her contraceptive prescription without examining her! Why? It's quite simple: if the woman is feeling well, the likelihood that the doctor will find ‘something’ is almost nil. Then, frankly, why harass her about the check-up in the first place?”

Why indeed? This ritual turns out to have some grim stories associated with it. Winckler recounts the case of two adolescents whose doctor (also the mayor of their local authority) insisted on a gynecological and breast exam every three months. But the point of the institution, whether annual or more frequent, appears to be ideological more than anything else: it's about maintaining surveillance of women's bodies. Blogger and journalist Marie-Hélène Lahaye notes the eloquent title of a French obstetricians and gynecologists newsletter which, in June 2016, opposed widening the remit of independent midwives: the doctors denounced measures that would damage women's "medical surveillance . . ." For Mary Daly, this ritual perpetuates a state of anxiety in women from all walks of society—a situation comparable to that born of the pressures of beauty conventions— and constitutes a substantial drain on their resources.

Many doctors are so sure of their rights that they can cross the line into illegality without even noticing. In 2015, an internal note sent out by the South Lyon medical faculty inviting its gynecology students to practice vaginal examinations on patients sedated for operations was picked up online. On social media, as Marie-Hélène Lahaye reports, numerous doctors and students were offended by reminders that every medical action requires the patient's consent and that the introduction of fingers into the vagina meets the legal definition of rape. Some of them protested that there was "nothing sexual" in the practice and that they took "no pleasure at all" in it, thereby offering a brand-new and daring revision to the definition of rape. Others jumped from frying pan to fire by arguing that, if they were to respect procedure and request the patients' authorization, the latter might well refuse it. After reading and hearing from these quarters that vaginal and rectal exams were neutral acts without any sexual aspect, Lahaye suggested on Twitter that, in this case, the medical students could train in this work by practicing on each other: "I admit this was not received with wild enthusiasm."

Another problematic ritual: the parade of medical personnel who show up when a woman is in the midst of giving birth and each in turn insert two fingers into her vagina to assess her cervical dilation, without requesting consent nor even informing her beforehand, and sometimes without being overly gentle either. Lahaye invites us to imagine the equivalent for other body parts: you are at the dentist and, at regular intervals, unfamiliar people come into the room and insert their fingers into your mouth; or you are seeing a specialist for a rectal exam and a dozen people take turns putting their finger into your anus . . . "Such a practice," Lahaye concludes, "is inconceivable in any of the medical disciplines except obstetrics, the one that's all about access to women's genitals." We see here, in an extreme form, the assumption that women's bodies belong to everyone but themselves, which is found to differing degrees throughout society and explains why we are not expected to kick up a fuss over the odd pat on the bottom.

-Mona Chollet, In Defense of Witches: The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women are Still on Trial

[fite-club]

the thing that's going over so many younger trans guys' heads is that, yes, the primary form of discrimination faced by trans men is that our existence is constantly forgotten and/or erased-- but that in of itself is not targeted discrimination.

testosterone isn't a controlled substance because the pharmaceutical industry wants to prevent people from transitioning, it's because it's a performance-enhancing drug and athletes are banned from using it. pregnant trans men don't have to stop taking T because doctors don't want them to be trans, it's because there is so little research and data on pregnant trans men that we have no idea what the risks and complications of the hormone interactions are. trans men having trouble making appointments or getting insurance coverage for "women's health issues", being left out of discussions about abortion or breast cancer, and everything about where we're at with phalloplasty... it's because the people in these institutions either don't know we exist or can't imagine there's that many of us. that is bad, that is discrimination, this is the kind of fight for visibility we need to be having. but pretending that these are problems because society as a whole has something against trans men in particular, is an unhelpful and unrealistic way to think about this stuff. that's not why we're marginalized. there is no "anti-masculinity" problem.

[lais-a-ramos]

i usually don't talk about personal stuff, but, since i'm still waiting for the public university that i get my free therapy from to clarify whether the program continues or not, this is a rare venting post ig...

well, earlier today i attended the funeral of one of my paternal aunts.

she died yesterday, and we got the news late at night.

as it's common for many working class Brazilian families, there are, like, 4 houses in the same terrain that belonged to my late grandpa, so, we all sort of lived together, and it was a huge shock for all of us.

other relatives, who live in the same town as us, also appeared to show support.

i overheard a cousin of mine (who is younger than me and recently lost her own mom to breast cancer, which just shows how strong she is to come back to the place she grew up to support the remaining aunts, one of which is her grandma) saying this aunt died of pulmonary embolism, after she was diagnosed with pneumonia last week.

my dad also said something earlier this week about lung damage, if i remember correctly.

me and my big sis, we suspect that this aunt either got covid or was suffering from the consequences of long covid, since she was looking weaker and more fragile in the past 2,3 years or so.

but, since the health unit she was admitted has a pretty basic infrastructure, as it's common for small towns here, we might never know for sure, bc we don't even know if it occurred to the doctors to get her tested...

i wasn't particularly atached to her, but it's still very painful, bc, with the terrain thing i said above, i still grew up with her and she was a psrt of my childhood...

but, most of all, it's particularly painful bc of the son she left.

he has down syndrome, but, as it's also common for the lives of working class ppl here in Brazil and i assume South America in general, he never had access to the type of multidisciplinary healthcare support that he needed and is a person with high support needs, which means he depended on his mother for almost everything.

in the days she was still at the health unit -- which can't be called a hospital, bc it's this type of unit we call here "unidade de pronto atendimento" and serves to provide medium complexity healthcare -- he frequently asked to my other aunts and relatives when his mom would come back.

he is not completely abandoned, since my other aunts, who helped said aunt to take care of him, are still alive and will take care of him, which is a relief ofc...

but they are also elderly women, and way older than his late mother.

and, most of all, it's been devastating way beyond words to hear the poor guy crying and having panick attacks as these aunts and my other relatives tried explaining to explain to him that his mom won't come back to go to church with him ever...

bc, really, there are no words to describe how terrible it all is...

it's also a pretty average working class Brazilian experience, as you guys can see by the stuff i mentioned above...

and, i don't even know what's the takeaway from this story i'm telling...

i guess it's just to give an insight of what life here in this country can be, you know, besides all the venting and stuff...

(and, YES, i know that other countries on the Global South still got it worse.

in fact, even here in Latin America.

it's just that it's still fucking terrible that we have to endure this type of stuff every day bc of economic inequality and other social issues)

maybe it's just a reminder that life and death are way bigger than all of us idk...

just a reminder of one of those "remember you are mortal" moments that life throws at us sometimes...

yeah, sounds about right.

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/conditions/cancer/the-little-known-cancer-thats-linked-to-the-gut/

“The surge in cases of cancer in the under-50s has made many of us worry, with bowel, breast and lung cancers among those increasing most rapidly. But what is more surprising is that rates of aggressive gallbladder cancer have risen even more sharply, affecting many more women than men, particularly those who have had children. It’s also more likely in those who have suffered from the common problem of gallstones.

The figures are alarming, with cases having doubled in British people aged between 24 and 49 in the past three decades, according to Cancer Research UK. But the good news is that there are measures you can take to limit the risk of the disease, through changes to your diet and lifestyle.

Here, our experts explain what exactly the cancer is, the reasons it is spiking in younger people and what we can do to increase our chances of avoiding it.

What is gallbladder cancer?

The gallbladder is an apple-sized organ near the liver and is primarily responsible for storing bile, a substance produced by the liver and used by the body to break down the fats we eat.

Thousands of years ago, humans might have eaten one big meal every few days and “we might have needed that extra boost of bile to help us digest it, if the liver couldn’t produce it fast enough,” says Dr Anita Balakrishnan, a consultant hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgeon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital and an associate lecturer at the University of Cambridge..

“The gallbladder is a vestigial organ, like the appendix – now we don’t really need it for normal digestion, and sometimes it causes trouble.’”

Cancer occurs when healthy cells in the gallbladder develop genetic mutations that cause them to grow and multiply out of control. Just over 1,000 cases have been diagnosed in the UK each year, equivalent to about three per day and, “sadly, it’s an aggressive cancer,” says Dr Balakrishnan.

What are the risk factors?

According to Cancer Research UK, women account for 71 per cent of cases. In women who have given birth, particularly those who have had five or more children, the risk is increased.

The reason for this is not fully known, but women are two to three times more likely to suffer from gallstones, which are a major risk factor for gallbladder cancer. Oestrogen can increase cholesterol levels in bile and decrease gallbladder contractions, which can lead crystals to form in the bile and create stones. During pregnancy, the gallbladder also grows in volume.

“Having gallstones doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll get cancer, but they cause inflammation of the gallbladder, which puts people at a higher risk,” says Mr Shahid Farid, a consultant surgeon with a specialism in gallbladder surgery at Nuffield Health Leeds Hospital.

People with a family history of gallbladder cancer are five times more likely to develop the disease, and it is more common in people of Asian descent.

Smoking and obesity also increase the risk, with the rise in obesity since the mid-1990s believed to be a major factor in the increase in cancer among younger people, in particular.

What are the main symptoms, treatment and survival rate?

Unfortunately, gallbladder cancer is often a silent disease which becomes symptomatic only in its later stages.

“Any symptoms people have are usually non-specific, such as tiredness and perhaps some abdominal discomfort,” says Mr Farid.

Eventually, symptoms can include jaundice, pain in the upper right abdomen, weight loss, nausea and vomiting. “By that stage, it has usually grown beyond the gallbladder and is at an advanced stage,” he says.

It is often detected by chance during operations, for instance to remove gallstones, and if it is contained within the gallbladder, the five-year survival rate is 60-70 per cent. If it has spread to local tissues or lymph nodes, survival rates are almost 30 per cent, while if it has spread to more distant areas, rates are under 5 per cent.

If possible, treatment involves surgery, along with chemotherapy.

What can we do to minimise our risk?

1. Maintain a healthy weight

Being overweight and obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, after smoking. Several studies have found a link between an increased risk of gallbladder cancer and a BMI of over 25, with the World Cancer Research Fund stating that the risk increases by 25 per cent per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI.

One recent Norwegian study found a concerning 47 per cent increased risk in women per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI, while the increased risk in men was smaller and not statistically significant. It also showed a decreased survival rate for overweight and obese women with gallbladder cancer.

“Eating a healthy diet and staying within a healthy BMI range will help avoid gallbladder cancer,” says Dr Balakrishnan. “Giving up smoking and keeping alcohol consumption under recommended limits is also vital.”

2. Look after your microbiome

In recent years, scientists have increasingly focused on the microbiome, the ecosystem of bacteria which populates the gut, when searching for causes of the increase in early-onset cancers.

“Research into the influence of the microbiome on cancers including gallbladder cancer is still in its early days, but it’s only logical that it plays a part,” says Mr Farid. “Our microbiome can contribute to inflammation, and that can predispose us to cancer.”

A Chinese study from 2023 investigated the microbiome of patients with biliary tract cancers, of which gallbladder cancer is one. It found patients with the disease had increased levels of the Enterobacteriacae bacteria, and decreased levels of others including Clostridia, suggesting an imbalance. Both are associated with inflammation.

We can boost the diversity and good bacteria in our microbiome with fermented foods such as kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi, and prebiotic foods like mushrooms, onions, garlic, asparagus, leeks and apples, which feed the bacteria in our gut.

Good bacteria such as Clostridia can naturally be found in food such as vegetables, while high-fibre foods such as fruit, wholegrains and nuts will also nurture the microbiome.

3. Avoid fried, fatty foods and sugary drinks

The link between different types of diet and higher rates of gallbladder cancer is still being researched, but some studies have highlighted certain principles by which it’s best to live.

Eating too many fatty and fried foods have been linked to an increased chance of getting the disease because they raise cholesterol which is linked to gallstones, which are in turn strongly linked to gallbladder cancer.

Red meat, and particularly processed meat containing nitrates, is also associated with a higher risk, so cutting down to 455g of cooked lean red meat per week is recommended.

Drinking sugar-sweetened and artificially sweetened beverages has been shown to double the risk of gallbladder cancer when individuals drank 400ml or more per day. This is thought to be because increased sugar consumption is linked to a higher BMI, and also to Type 2 diabetes, which increases the risk of cancer.

Ultra-processed foods (UPFs) are linked to a higher incidence of all cancers, and researchers believe they may be a major driver of the increase in cancers among under-50s. “Reducing the amount you consume and eating unprocessed food where possible is best,” says Mr Farid.

4. Eat the DASH diet

One Swedish study revealed that two types of healthy diet are associated with a lower risk. One is the Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension, or DASH, which includes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and lean protein from chicken, fish, beans and nuts. It avoids foods high in salt, saturated fat, and added sugar. The second is the Mediterranean diet, which follows very similar principles.

One Indian study reported that eating sweet potatoes was associated with a lower risk of gallbladder cancer, along with green chillis, radish, mango, orange and melon – all of which contain high levels of antioxidants.

5. Exercise regularly

Regular physical activity has been shown to be likely to reduce the risk of gallbladder cancer, and studies have shown it can increase the diversity of the gut microbiome.

“Exercise also promotes cell turnover in a different way to when you’re sedentary,” says Mr Farid. “It also reduces the amount of fat and also inflammatory cytokines in your blood. So it’s one of the most important things you can do to modify your risk of many cancers, including gallbladder.””

[lantur]

thoughts, (tw for discussions of mortality and cancer)

The rest of the country is enjoying spring, blooming flowers, green grass, and leaves on trees, as evidenced by my trip to St. Louis last week. Here it is gray and snowy, and that's not helping my mood.

I've had a lot of emotions over the news, in the last two weeks, that Olivia Munn was diagnosed with cancer and had a double mastectomy and is undergoing treatment, and Kate Middleton has also been diagnosed with cancer. Both pieces of news hit me hard. Both women are in their early 40s. Ever since I lost my dad to cancer, hearing anyone's diagnosis of cancer is like a gut punch. I think of Chadwick Boseman, who died at 43. I think of my mother-in-law who is a cancer survivor, and I think of Derek's best friend's wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33 and had aggressive surgical intervention.

I think of my two best friends from high school, both of whom lost their younger brothers to cancer at 17. I think of my mom's cousin who died from glioblastoma, a brain cancer, in her early 50s, and my sister-in-law's mother, who died at the same age from cancer.

After my dad was diagnosed with cancer at 69 and died at 70, after I heard of our friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer at 33, I fully wrote off the idea of getting old. Saving money for retirement? Fuck that. I don't expect to live that long. I've prioritized travel so much over the last few years, especially over the last two - because with all the loss I've seen and all the loss and the illness that has occurred, I truly believe I'll be blessed if I even live until my mid-50s. I'm 31 and I feel like I have 15 years tops.

I know that's crazy, and that worldview has been very much impacted by the losses I have experienced and seen, but it's the truth. It really affects the way I live my life, the choices I make.

It's a hard way to live, but it's also oddly liberating. Every day is a gift. If I make it through my 40s, it's a gift. I'll make the most of every year I have and experience life to the fullest for as long as I can.

It also leads to an interesting perspective about money. Saving for the future is not a thing that is important to me. With that being said, I still catch myself stressing about these ever-growing grocery bills :/ before I remind myself that it doesn't matter.

[nuadox]

US: Breast cancer deaths have decreased by 44% since 1989, despite an increase in cases

- By Nuadox Crew -

Breast cancer rates in the U.S. have been rising, particularly among younger women and Asian Americans, according to a study by the American Cancer Society.

From 2012 to 2021, breast cancer cases increased by 1% annually, with rates growing faster for women under 50 than those older. Asian American women saw the most rapid increase in incidence, possibly linked to immigration patterns. Despite this, the breast cancer death rate has declined by 44% since 1989, preventing over 517,900 deaths.

However, the benefits of medical advancements have been unevenly distributed. Black women have a 38% higher mortality rate than White women, despite having lower breast cancer incidence, due to systemic racism and less access to quality care. Native American mortality rates have remained unchanged since 1990. The report calls for more racial diversity in clinical trials and improved access to high-quality screening for underserved women.

In April, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended that women begin biennial breast cancer screenings starting at age 40, adjusting its previous guidance.

Read more at AFP/Medical Xpress

Scientific paper: Angela N. Giaquinto et al, Breast cancer statistics 2024, CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (2024). DOI: 10.3322/caac.21863

--

Other recent news:

China's BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System: The final two satellites for China's independently-developed BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System were launched in September, completing the system. President Xi Jinping has been closely involved in the project, emphasizing its importance for China's economic and social development.

Step Aside, Bolts: Discover the future of stronger structural connections with interlocking metasurfaces.

Tech NL Innovation Week: The tech sector in Newfoundland and Labrador (Canada) has seen significant growth, now employing nearly 10,000 people. The industry recently gathered to celebrate achievements and discuss the future.

California Governor's Tech Bill Deliberations: Governor Gavin Newsom is carefully considering a high-profile bill aimed at regulating the tech industry, particularly AI companies. He recently vetoed the bill, citing concerns about stifling innovation.

Dark Matter and Mars' Mysterious Wobble: Scientists are exploring changes in Mars' orbit as a potential new way to study dark matter.

Methane Emissions from Dairy Farms: New research indicates that methane emissions from slurry stores on dairy farms could be significantly higher than previously thought.

Antarctic Krill Carbon Storage: Scientists have discovered that Antarctic krill store as much carbon as key coastal habitats like mangroves and salt marshes.

Weight Loss Habits: A study has identified two key habits linked to a lower BMI, offering new insights into weight management.

Linus Pauling's Electron Bonding Theory: A breakthrough study has validated the existence of a stable single-electron covalent bond between two atoms, confirming a century-old theory by Linus Pauling.

[bearberrythief]

Realizing a lot of things I took as being uncomfortable with how women are sexualized are, in fact, disphoria, made a lot of things make sense.

I was an early bloomer. I started developing breasts at nine. The boys I was friends with instantly started treating me differently. I didn't like it, but I thought my breasts would stay small. They didn't. I was into the drawer of beige and black large cup sizes by the time I was thirteen, decidely larger than my peers, larger than my Mom, than most of my teachers.

I spent hours of my youth staring at my new breasts imagining a sharp kitchen knife making neat incisions, the skin peeling back neatly and that same blade perfectly removing the wet lumps of tissue, areolas cut to a manageable size, the skin folding down and leaving me with a perfectly flat chest. I learned that sometimes women lost their breasts to cancer, and I fanatsized about needing a masectomy. Sometimes, I wouldn't imagine a knife. I'd imagine my fingers digging into the skin and tearing them from my chest in two big handfuls, and it would hurt, but I'd be free. I imagined them withering away into nothing, of them simply sloughing away at a touch, being trimmed away with a giant pair of scissors, frozen off like a mole, melting away like wax.

I hated how big they were, that I couldn't hide them. I felt the same thing about my hips, but the violence of my thoughts about my breasts overwhelmed me. It didn't help that they were decidely above average, a full G cup. I thought if I was beautiful, if I learned how to dress with them, I would be happy. I played a confident, feminine woman at home in my body. But I never stopped feeling like my breasts belonged to someone else, being surprised and horrified that this was my body.

(I still remember the pain and disappointment when my first boyfriend told me he only talked to me in the first place because he liked big boobs and I had the best he'd seen on a real person. It was a cold reminder of how other people saw me)

I finally got a breast reduction when I was twenty one, and I was so happy they were smaller, in the average range instead of the big tiddy range, but I was also profoundly disappointed they weren't small enough. I still had big boobs. Some of those violent fantasies returned, my fresh incisions peeling open like flower petals, the unwanted tissue falling away. We're so sorry, the doctors would say, there were complications we had to remove more. It's all right, I'd reply serenely, it's not your fault this isn't so bad. When I recovered, i felt so ungrateful in my disappointment. My back didn't hurt anymore, my breasts were still large, but averagely so, I didn't have to tailor my clothes anymore, I wasn't being catcalled regularly anymore. Why was I disappointed? Why couldn't I be happy? I got what I wanted.

I started dressing much more conservatively as I got older. Higher necklines. Looser fits. A therapist pointed it out to me once, asked me if I was dressing to try and hide my body. No, I lied, I used to wear tight clothing when I was younger to try and be beautiful to try and take up less space this is me dressing comfortably. I stopped taking photos of myself that showed anything but my face. I didn't look at myself in the mirror. I couldn't hide them they were still too large. My partner ignored my breasts for the most part, a blessing.(The nerves were weird after surgery anyways.) I healed more from surgery, and the scar tissue softened. I hated it. I wished they were hard and small again, like when I looked at myself with the bandages freshly removed, the incisions still red and angry.

I switched to progesterone only birth control in an effort to stop my period. I cried when I realized the hormones meant my breasts got bigger. Shit man, I thought to myself, I'm probably nonbinary anyways maybe I should have just gotten top surgery. I ignored that thought for years until, eventually, I bought a binder. I was too scared to try it on for months. I tried it on after months of it sitting in my sock drawer and put on one of my partners sweaters over it. I could still tell I had breasts, but the binder and the loose sweater made them flat enough that I could imagine myself without them. It was like I was seeing myself for the first time in years.

I started imagining the knife again, skin peeling away in a thin sheet, the fog of anesthesia, the strange feeling of drains in my side, and the dull ache around shiny red incisions. I longed for it, a fish hook in my ribcage tugging gently. It didn't feel like violent desire anymore, so I let it pull me.

[frances-baby-houseman]

Heads up, friends with boobs! Guidance has been reversed and is now back to recommending that everyone start getting mammograms at 40, regardless of risk.

(this is a gift link!)

[gretakatharinaa]

pressure - about male mental health

When I was in sixth grade, the teacher handed out exams we took a week before. Obviously, everyone was nervous about their grade. The boy behind me, a good friend at the time, didn’t pass the test.

I turned around only to see him panicking. "It’s just one grade and it’s the beginning of the school year" I said, hoping he would worry less. 

"No, you don’t understand!" He answered, his voice seemingly shaking from panic "I won’t be able to finish school with grades like this!"

"We’re in sixth grade!" I said, surprised by his train of thoughts.

And then, he went on to say something my eleven year old self hadn’t thought yet once:

"No you don’t get it. If I get a bad grade now and I don’t get better, don’t finish school or i finish but with a bad average; I will get a bad job and won’t make enough money. One day I have to feed a whole family, like, four people or something. I can’t do that without money"

When I was in seventh grade, there was this boy in my class. We weren’t that close but did talk to each other from time to time. 

One day, I don’t remember why, he came to me crying about some problems he had at home. Nothing too serious but serious enough to make him feel bad.

I consoled him and after a while, he stopped crying. We hugged and he thanked me for being there for him. He paused and said: "Please don’t tell anyone I cried, it’s so embarrassing. The boys will make fun of me if they knew."

As a teenager, i used to visit my grandparents a few times a year. Their neighbors' kids would always come over to my grandparents farm because their dad was an alcoholic and sometimes hard to be around.

"Maybe your dad needs to go to therapy, maybe he needs to talk about stuff" I told them once, while we were feeding the chickens.

The older sister answered: "Our dad doesn’t want to talk about feelings."

Her younger sister bent down to pet a chicken and without even looking at us she chimed in "He never really talks about anything. He just drinks." and she said it like it's the most normal thing in the world.

Male mental health is something rarely talked about. It’s something people experience. The boy feeling the financial pressure of a family 20 years in advance, the boy being too scared to openly cry or the girls feeling abandoned by their dad.

In 2021, 75% of the suicides in Germany were committed by men. This shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us as I’m sure you’ve all heard that suicide amongst men is extremely high - as opposed to suicide amongst women.

The question is, why is that?

For starters, men chose more lethal and violent means which decreases the amount of attempted self-killings. Most of the time and unfortunately, their methods are successful. 

Their communication style is also very different: Men may be less likely to openly express their emotions or seek help, leading to a lack of emotional support.

Further on, there is also this stigma around mental health: Societal expectations and traditional gender roles may discourage men from admitting vulnerability or seeking mental health support.

When it comes to substance abuse (alcohol included!), since there are higher rates among males, there is a great possibility of drugs contributing to an increased risk of suicidal behavior.

In some cases, the men that do seek help (or at least try) often get dismissed, misdiagnosed or go unnoticed by doctors or any professionals due to stereotypes.

It’s interesting, I myself know of girls or women who have gone to the doctor or gyno with problems and were dismissed as overreacting. A few years back, my doctor wouldn’t want to take me in for a breast cancer exam „because the later I know, the better“ ?! When I wanted to quit birth control, my doctor said and I QUOTE: „Ugh, do you know how many girls come crying to me about the side effects of birth control? I mean, are you even aware that you will get pregnant if you stop taking it? Are you ready for that?“

So trust me when I tell you I know what it’s like to not being taken seriously regarding your health. And many men suffer greatly. It’s already hard to work up the courage and be a man in this society that wants to change his mental state, let a lone then being dismissed as „just stressed“ or „not that serious, maybe work out more“.

After that, who would give therapy or and doctor another try? And who could blame men for pulling back on socializing.

Which brings me to my next point: Social isolation is something men are often more prone to, thus resulting in the bottling up of feelings and in some cases, severe drug abuse. 

It’s a deep dark rabbit hole.

So, what’s the solution? 

As usual, the answer isn’t easy or short.

I think, and this is just my personal opinion, we should start early on:

To avoid the mental load building up over the years, we need to start educating and re-educating about mental health and the expressions of emotions from an early age on.

At school, at home, everywhere. We need to praise kids for carrying out their emotions, not punish them. 

We need to force our male friends to talk about the things that bother them and keep a promise of confidentiality, creating a safe space. 

We also need better doctors, less stereotypes and of course more equality, but that’s a given.

We need to look left and right, to see if there is someone struggling with their words. 

We need to get rid of alcoholic dads and pressured boys.

i really hope to give my son the emotional freedom my male friends didn't have.