Ex YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki's last letter released months after death from lung cancer

NEW YORK, Nov 28: YouTube released a statement from its former CEO Susan Wojcicki, three months after she died of lung cancer at age 56. The letter was written just weeks before her death. The time of the letter was planned to coincide with November as it is Lung Cancer Awareness Month.

In the letter, Wojcicki shared the lessons she learned from the life-threatening disease. She highlighted how lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related death in women and said that she planned to use her time and resources fighting for cures for cancer.

"At the end of 2022, I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had almost no symptoms and was running a few miles a day at the time. I had never smoked so I was totally shocked with this diagnosis. My life changed dramatically after that day. I decided to resign from my role as CEO of YouTube, to focus on my health and my family. I was able to live an almost normal life, thanks to modern medicine," she wrote.

Wojciki resigned from her post at YouTube after the diagnosis but continued to serve on boards of Salesforce, Planet Labs and Waymo. In her letter, she also shared her goals for the future.

"Having cancer hasn’t been easy. As a person I have changed a lot, and probably the most important lesson I have learned is just to focus and enjoy the present! Life is unpredictable for everyone, with many unknowns, but there is a lot of beauty in everyday life. My goals going forward are to enjoy the present as much as possible and fight for better understanding and cures for this disease," she wrote.

Tata Memorial Hospital warn patients after Navjot Singh Sidhu’s claims on cancer cure

MUMBAI, Nov 24: Oncologists from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, refuted claims made by Navjot Singh Sidhu regarding his wife’s recovery from stage 4 breast cancer.

Cancer patients should not delay or stop their treatment by following unproven remedies, the oncologists said after former India cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu claimed in a press conference that his wife Navjot Kaur defeated stage 4 cancer with dietary and lifestyle changes.

In a statement on X, the Director of Tata Memorial Hospital, Dr C S Pramesh, said, “Parts of the video imply that starving the cancer by not eating dairy products and sugar, consuming haldi (turmeric) and neem helped cure her ‘incurable’ cancer.”

These comments have no high-quality evidence to support them, the statement signed by 262 oncologists from the Tata Memorial Hospital said.

While research is going on for some of these products, currently there is no clinical data to recommend their use as anti-cancer agents, the statement added.

“We urge the public to not delay their treatment by following unproven remedies, but rather to consult a doctor, preferably a cancer specialist, if they have any symptoms of cancer. Cancer is curable if detected early and proven treatments for cancer include surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy,” the statement issued in ‘public interest’ read.

Posting a clip of from Sidhu’s press conference on X, Dr Pramesh said, “Please don’t believe and get fooled by these statements regardless of who it comes from. These are unscientific and baseless recommendations. She got surgery and chemotherapy that were evidence based, which is what made her cancer-free. Not the haldi, neem etc.”

In the press conference, Sidhu elaborated on his wife’s regimen, claiming that she consumed lemon water, raw turmeric and apple cider vinegar. This was followed by neem leaves, tulsi, and juices from pumpkin, pomegranate, carrot, amla, beetroot, and walnuts. He also emphasised the use of water with a pH level of 7 as a critical component of her treatment.

According to Sidhu, these dietary measures were instrumental in starving cancer cells, but his assertions lacked citation of scientific evidence.

Dr Pramesh addressed the potential damage caused by such claims and highlighted the collective responsibility to counter misinformation.

This US Woman Ages 34% Slower. Her Longevity Routine Costs Just $12 A Day

NEW YORK, Nov 7: A US woman was recently recognized by the "Rejuvenation Olympics" for achieving a slower ageing rate than billionaire Bryan Johnson, known for using his son's blood to maintain a youthful appearance.

Julie Gibson Clark, a dedicated biohacking enthusiast, has managed to slow her ageing process by an impressive 34% compared to the average person. As the daughter of a NASA astronaut, Ms Clark has drawn on both discipline and innovation, sharing that her daily longevity routine costs just $12 a day.

Ms Clark's progress was validated by the Dunedin PACE blood test, which examines biomarkers associated with ageing.

Her commitment to health began in childhood, inspired by her father, a former NASA astronaut from the 1970s Skylab missions, who taught her to view food as fuel and prioritize nutrition for optimal performance.
Although Ms Clark, now 56 and a professional recruiter, embraced these principles more earnestly in adulthood, her focus has since turned to longevity and stress reduction, aiming to stay active and healthy to fully enjoy life and time with her teenage son, the Business Insider reported.

Over the past 25 years, Clark has steadily refined her personal health regimen. Starting with dietary supplements and home-cooked meals in her 30s to address chronic acid reflux, her approach eventually expanded. She eliminated alcohol and phased out antidepressants, crediting her improvements to dietary and lifestyle changes.

Clark keeps her routine flexible, making adjustments that align with her core intention- a long, fulfilling life centred on travel, learning, and family.

"You've got to figure out your 'why,' your intention, and your resources," Clark told Business Insider, emphasizing the importance of a clear, sustainable goal in biohacking.

Ms Clark's method prioritizes affordability and simplicity, diverging from high-cost interventions. Rejecting short-term "beach body" trends, she views her practices as lifelong. Her routine builds slowly, adding new habits one at a time until they feel as natural as brushing one's teeth.

Her daily routine includes morning prayer, a 7 AM workout followed by a sauna and cold shower, and a meditation break in the afternoon. Clark describes her post-workout sauna and cold shower as a "mini spa" experience, a cornerstone of her wellness routine.

Diet plays a central role, with Clark aiming for a pound of vegetables each day, focusing on a colourful mix from purple carrots to sweet potatoes. She balances this with lean proteins like chicken, eggs, and locally sourced meats.

She particularly enjoys spinach, which she keeps on hand for easy summer meals and blends into a mid-morning "greens latte" in colder months. Rich in fibre, vitamins, and phytochemicals, Clark's vegetable-heavy diet supports longevity, providing a range of health benefits backed by science.

Medical professionals endorse her choices. Dr Dean Sherzai, an expert in dementia prevention, recommends leafy greens for brain health. Clark's diet, which includes Omega-3s and B vitamins for brain function and energy, is further bolstered by leafy greens to address common magnesium deficiencies.

New research also suggests that hormone therapy and vitamin D supplementation could support healthy ageing in postmenopausal women. Studies have associated vitamin D and calcium intake with a reduced risk of certain cancers in women, adding further benefits to Clark's nutritional approach.

Consuming WHO-Recommended Amount Of Sodium Could Prevent Heart And Kidney Diseases In India: Lancet Study

GENEVA, Nov 2: Complying with the WHO-recommended levels of sodium intake could avert three lakh deaths du to heart and chronic kidney disease in 10 years, a modelling study by the World Health Organization has estimated.

High levels of sodium -- an ingredient of salt -- are one of the main dietary risks of death and disability. Packaged foods are a major source of sodium intake in high-income countries, and increasingly becoming so in low- and middle-income countries.

However, researchers, including those from The George Institute for Global Health, Hyderabad, said that India has no national strategy for sodium reduction despite people consuming double the recommended intake and increasing amounts of packaged foods.

The WHO recommends under two grams of sodium a day, which is roughly the same as less than a teaspoon or five grams of salt a day.

Published in The Lancet Public Health journal, the results suggested substantial health gains and cost savings within the first ten years of compliance, including averting 17 lakh cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, and seven lakh new chronic kidney disease cases, along with savings of USD 800 million.

The authors said that the results from the modelling make a strong case for India to mandate the implementation of WHO's sodium benchmarks, especially as people are increasingly consuming packaged food.

Slashing sodium intake in the population by 30 per cent by 2025 is one of nine global targets recommended by WHO for the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.

Countries, including the UK, Argentina, and South Africa, have shown that setting targets regarding sodium content in packaged foods along with engaging food manufacturers to reformulate sodium to meet the targets, can effectively lower levels across packaged foods, and thereby reduce intake in the population, the authors said.

In India, few interventions address the issue of consuming high levels of sodium, they said.

Launched in 2018 by the Food Safety and Standard Authority of India under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the current national initiative, 'Eat Right India', aims to educate people about healthy eating, including cutting down on sodium, the researchers said.

However, how adopting sodium targets for packaged foods could potentially impact intake across the country's population was not known, they said.

New Treatment Shrinks Man's Aggressive Brain Tumour By Half In Breakthrough Trial

LONDON, Oct 30: In a remarkable development, a man's brain tumour shrank by half within weeks after undergoing a new form of radioactive therapy. Paul Read, 62, from Luton, became the first participant in a trial targeting glioblastoma, a typically fatal cancer with an average survival rate of 18 months, the BBC reported.

Conducted at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (UCLH), the therapy involved injecting low levels of radioactivity directly into the tumour to eliminate cancer cells. Dr Paul Mulholland, the trial's designer, described the results as "remarkable" given the aggressive nature of Read's tumour.

Surgeons initially removed as much of the tumour as possible, then implanted an Ommaya reservoir-a small medical device under the scalp. The treatment, ATT001, is administered weekly for four to six weeks and works by delivering potent, localised radioactivity, damaging cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue.

Read first experienced symptoms last December, including a severe headache and facial drooping. After surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, doctors discovered his tumour was regrowing in July and offered him a place in the new CITADEL-123 trial at UCLH.

"I fully expected the tumour to come back due to its aggressive nature. I was open to trying anything else," Read said. "I'm not afraid of any of this. We all have a hand of cards to play, and you don't know which ones you'll get. It'll be wonderful if this helps me, and if it doesn't, it may help someone else."

Dr. Mulholland explained that the targeted approach allowed the drug to be highly effective against the cancer cells. He added that while this is an initial human study with cautious dosing, they plan to increase the radiation levels and number of participants in the future.

Calcium, Vitamin D3 tablets among 49 drugs that fail quality tests

NEW DELHI, Oct 26: Calcium 500 mg and Vitamin D3 tablets manufactured by Life Max Cancer Laboratories were among the drugs that failed quality test. The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has published its monthly report for September, identifying 49 pharmaceutical products that did not meet the required quality standards out of a total of 3,000 sampled drugs.

The CDSCO also flagged four medicines, manufactured by fake companies, as spurious.

The non-standard drugs have been recalled on a batch-wise basis as part of CDSCO's efforts to ensure public safety.

According to CDSCO Chief Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, only about 1% of all drugs tested failed to meet quality benchmarks, indicating that the stringent monitoring measures are effectively controlling substandard drug production.

Some of the flagged products included Metronidazole tablets by Hindustan Antibiotics, Domperidone tablets from Rainbow Life Sciences, and Oxytocin injections by Pushkar Pharma.

Other notable mentions were Metformin by Swiss Biotech Parentarels, Calcium 500 mg, Vitamin D3 250 IU tablets by Life Max Cancer Laboratories, and PAN 40 from Alkem Labs. Paracetamol tablets produced by Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Ltd were specifically highlighted for quality issues.

Additionally, the list included a Gauze Roll Non-Sterile Roller Bandage and Diclofenac Sodium tablets among others.

This monthly vigilance action by CDSCO is part of a concerted effort to reduce the presence of non-standard quality (NSQ) drugs in the market.