Along with federal emergency agencies, the U.S. Army, with its combat readiness and organizational mobility, responds rapidly to natural and manmade disaster situations at national, state, and local levels.

U.S. Army North (ARNORTH) supports the Department of Defense’s response efforts during wildland fire and hurricane season by deploying on short notice into perilous environments to respond quickly and effectively to protect lives, property, critical infrastructure, and natural and cultural resources.

Did You Know?
 The annual hurricane season in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico runs 1 June through 30 November, but fire is now a year-round threat, and the number and severity of wildland fires has increased.
 The U.S. military has been an important partner in wildfire suppression since the early 1900s when Army Soldiers served as firefighters in Western U.S.
 2021 was the 40th time that federal military ground forces have been mobilized to support wildland firefighting response efforts.
 Whereas most Army missions involve deploying overseas, ARNORTH is unique in its commitment to serving in the homeland helping protect people, property, and federal lands.

Since 2005, ARNORTH has responded to more than 40 storms including Hurricanes Katrina and Maria and several fire disasters including the 2021 Dixie Fire in California. On August 18th, join MAJ Wesley Todd and 2LT Lane Harwell as they discuss the role of the U.S. Army in disaster relief efforts including wildland fires, hurricanes, and more. Also learn about how Soldiers can serve their country and local communities in times of challenging weather events.

Interview is courtesy: U.S. Army

#hurricanes #flooding #heat #wildfires #storms #soldiers #usarmy #support #weather #land #drought #tornadoes #federal #emergency #naturaldisaster #missions #response #community

The post DEVASTATING FLOODING SUMMER HURRICANES, EXTREME HEAT, WILDFIRES AND STORMS LOOM AS SOLDIERS IN THE U.S. ARMY STEP UP TO SUPPORT COMMUNITIES IN NEED appeared first on Good News!.

NIH study advances personalized immunotherapy for metastatic breast cancer

An experimental form of immunotherapy that uses an individual’s own tumor-fighting immune cells could potentially be used to treat people with metastatic breast cancer, according to results from an ongoing clinical trial led by researchers at the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Center for Cancer Research, part of the National Institutes of Health. Many people with metastatic breast cancer can mount an immune reaction against their tumors, the study found, a prerequisite for this type of immunotherapy, which relies on what are called tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs).

In a clinical trial of 42 women with metastatic breast cancer, 28 (or 67%) generated an immune reaction against their cancer. The approach was used to treat six women, half of whom experienced measurable tumor shrinkage. Results from the trial appeared Feb. 1, 2022, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

“It’s popular dogma that hormone receptor–positive breast cancers are not capable of provoking an immune response and are not susceptible to immunotherapy,” said study leader Steven A. Rosenberg, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Surgery Branch in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research. “The findings suggest that this form of immunotherapy can be used to treat some people with metastatic breast cancer who have exhausted all other treatment options.”

Immunotherapy is a treatment that helps a person’s own immune system fight cancer. However, most available immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, have shown limited effectiveness against hormone receptor–positive breast cancers, which are the majority of breast cancers.

The immunotherapy approach used in the trial was pioneered in the late 1980s by Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues at NCI. It relies on TILs, T cells that are found in and around the tumor.

TILs can target tumor cells that have specific proteins on their surface, called neoantigens, that the immune cells recognize. Neoantigens are produced when mutations occur in tumor DNA. Other forms of immunotherapy have been found to be effective in treating cancers, such as melanoma, that have many mutations, and therefore many neoantigens. Its effectiveness in cancers that have fewer neoantigens, such as breast cancer, however, has been less clear.

The results of the new study come from an ongoing phase 2 clinical trial being carried out by Dr. Rosenberg and his colleagues. This trial was designed to see if the immunotherapy approach could lead to tumor regressions in people with metastatic epithelial cancers, including breast cancer. In 2018, the researchers showed that one woman with metastatic breast cancer who was treated in this trial had complete tumor shrinkage, known as a complete response.

In the trial, the researchers used whole-genome sequencing to identify mutations in tumor samples from 42 women with metastatic breast cancer whose cancers had progressed despite all other treatments. The researchers then isolated TILs from the tumor samples and, in lab tests, tested their reactivity against neoantigens produced by the different mutations in the tumor.

Twenty-eight women had TILs that recognized at least one neoantigen. Nearly all the neoantigens identified were unique to each patient.

“It’s fascinating that the Achilles’ heel of these cancers can potentially be the very gene mutations that caused the cancer,” said Dr. Rosenberg. “Since that 2018 study, we now have information on 42 patients, showing that the majority give rise to immune reactions.”

For the six women treated, the researchers took the reactive TILs and grew them to large numbers in the lab. They then returned the immune cells to each patient via intravenous infusion. All the patients were also given four doses of the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) before the infusion to prevent the newly introduced T cells from becoming inactivated.

After the treatment, tumors shrank in three of the six women. One is the original woman reported in the 2018 study, who remains cancer free to this day. The other two women had tumor shrinkage of 52% and 69% after six months and 10 months, respectively. However, some disease returned and was surgically removed. Those women now have no evidence of cancer approximately five years and 3.5 years, respectively, after their TIL treatment.

The researchers acknowledged that the use of pembrolizumab, which has been approved for some early-stage breast cancers, may raise uncertainties about its influence on the outcome of TIL therapy. However, they said, treatment with such checkpoint inhibitors alone has not led to sustained tumor shrinkage in people with hormone receptor–positive metastatic breast cancer.

Dr. Rosenberg said that with the anticipated opening early this year of NCI’s new building devoted to cell-based therapies, he and his colleagues can begin treating more individuals with metastatic breast cancer as part of the ongoing clinical trial. He noted that this new immunotherapy approach could potentially be used for people with other types of cancer as well.

“We’re using a patient’s own lymphocytes as a drug to treat the cancer by targeting the unique mutations in that cancer,” he said. “This is a highly personalized treatment.”

About the Center for Cancer Research (CCR): CCR comprises nearly 250 teams conducting basic, translational, and clinical research in the NCI intramural program — an environment supporting innovative science aimed at improving human health. CCR’s clinical program is housed at the NIH Clinical Center — the world’s largest hospital dedicated to clinical research. For more information about CCR and its programs, visit ccr.cancer.gov.

About the National Cancer Institute (NCI): NCI leads the National Cancer Program and NIH’s efforts to dramatically reduce the prevalence of cancer and improve the lives of cancer patients and their families, through research into prevention and cancer biology, the development of new interventions, and the training and mentoring of new researchers. For more information about cancer, please visit the NCI website at cancer.gov or call NCI’s contact center, the Cancer Information Service, at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit nih.gov

#cancer #rosenberg #national #institute #health #research #breast #immunotherapy #patients #metastatic #tumor #fight #lymphocytes #oncology #infiltrating #immune #response #cells #dna #science

The post National Cancer Institute Researcher — Exciting Finding in Fight Against Breast Cancer (And Potentially Others) appeared first on Good News!.

ORIGIN of the Bill:

1. B. Tina Ebey – citizen of San Jose, California

2. To my knowledge no similar bill has been introduced in any previous session.

1. PROPOSAL SUMMARY.

The proposal will authorize bonds to fund live feed satellite coverage into every fire station in the state to cut the response time of our honorable firefighters and increase speed and accuracy of advance warning to affected citizens.

2. PROBLEM.

At present most firefighters are on call. Based on research, firefighters too frequently lack access to the latest data regarding fire movements. This results in unnecessary delays for the firefighters to reach critical areas. It also results in firefighters not being able to alert citizens in a timely and efficient manner.

3. SOLUTION.

This proposal addresses the need for immediate live feed coverage into every station so that the firemen can carefully monitor their geographic area. Surveillance will include computer signaling of potential trouble spots to be investigated. In response multiple approaches can be initiated including surveillance drones, alerts through smartphone apps or live crews for additional protection.

4. COST.

TBD

5. ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT.

Firefighters

Silicon Valley Technology Leaders

US Government Weather Satellites

Citizens

Medical Professionals

Teachers

6. ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT.

Global warming is increasing the potential for longer, hotter summers, droughts and more fires in California, putting firefighters and citizens at greater risk. The proposal would:

1. Employ use of existing technology used to protect our State, the people and the firefighters.

2. Enhance the effectiveness of current methods of fighting fires with comprehensive live feed coverage.

3. Gives the firefighters the ability to respond more efficiently by being deployed to target an fight fires in their geographic area.

7. ORGANIZATIONAL OPPOSITION.

None at present.

8. ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION.

1. We have enough fire protection in the State.

2. The State can not afford any more expenditures.

3. Fires have become a fire hazard we have to learn to live with.

9. BACKGROUND INFORMATION.

Notes enclosed below.

10. CONTACT.

B. Tina Ebey

408-216-0278 home office

The post Concerned Citizen B. Tina Ebey shares her solutions for the Fires in California. appeared first on Good News!.

For the full story, go to http://goodnewsplanet.com/habitat-for-humanity-emergency-housing-update/

The post Kip Scheidler appeared first on Good News!.

Habitat for Humanity’s first-ever fleet of 24 Habitat Mobile Response Units is en-route from Atlanta to assist communities in New York and New Jersey recovering from Hurricane Sandy. Donated by Chevrolet, the vans that will be specially outfitted with tools and equipment donated by Lowe’s and Bosch in Charlotte, N.C., on their way to the New York metro area. With winter upon us and many families in need of help, these response units will facilitate Habitat efforts in communities affected by Hurricane Sandy.

Habitat’s “Repair. Rebuild. Restore.” effort to assist in the long-term recovery of communities affected by Hurricane Sandy is underway and will provide families in need with critical home repairs, rehabilitations /reconstruction, weatherization and new construction. Upon its arrival, the Habitat fleet will immediately be put into service in Staten Island, N.Y., and Union Beach, N.J., where volunteers will be working to help rebuild affected communities. On Thursday, the mobile response units will be deployed to a dozen Habitat affiliates in the greater New York metropolitan area to carry out extensive clean-up and repair efforts.

Kip Scheidler, Sr. Director of Habitat for Humanity International’s Disaster Response, is available for interviews next Tuesday to discuss the new Mobile Response Units and Habitat’s ongoing recovery efforts in the Northeast U.S. Following the storm, Habitat for Humanity International launched a multi-phase response to help affected communities. For more info, visit www.habitat.org.

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