In my mailbox...

...

Detecting Pancreatic Cancer Before It Begins was the subject line of a recent e-mail I received.


I was a subscriber to Newsmax magazine at one time and one of the 'benefits' is a seemingly endless stream of 'infomercial' e-mails from them. Along with financial and medical news, you get links to various products sold through the magazine. Certainly something you can 'opt out of' (I believe) if you like. But harmless enough and easy enough to delete as they are received.


This one caught my eye though. 'Detecting cancer before it begins'.

Huh..?? Would that not be like knowing the next card dealt at the blackjack table ...before it is dealt..?? Or knowing the tomorrow's Dow Jones Average closing number ...today..??

I know what they mean. Reading the accompanying article in e-mail confirms my thought.



The new technology information they are sharing is about 'partial-wave spectroscopy', a method for looking for subtle changes in the intracellular, the "nanoarchitecture", of a cell. Changes in the 'order' of components inside the cell could be early indicators of possible cancerous processes beginning. These changes might be visible some time before visible microscopy or other methods would indicate the possible presence of cancer.

Image source: xmatt via flickr dot com

So yeah, the thought and the intent of the message are well founded; just poorly expressed by an attention-seeking subject line.

Not like that is the first time that has ever been tried..!!


...tom...
.