The Teal Warriors

New Delhi/Gurgaon: Ritu Bedi was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last year after experiencing abdominal pain and urinary problems for months. It was a blow from nowhere. Her family, and even the doctors treating her, had thought she might have been suffering from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or issues related to pre-menopause.

“The cancer was already in an advanced stage by the time it could be diagnosed. It took a major surgery and six months of chemotherapy at a New York hospital for me to get a new life. But not everyone is lucky,” says the 48-year old IT professional.

To spread awareness about ovarian cancer and its symptoms, Bedi has now started a unique ‘India Teal Warriors’ campaign on social media. September, she says, is ovarian cancer awareness month and teal is the awareness colour. “Teal is associated with ovarian cancer much like pink is associated with breast cancer,” said Bedi.

Her campaign on social media has become a rage with hundreds of people, many of them from Gurgaon, joining the Facebook page and posting messages in support. Many corporate houses, individuals and NGOs are lending their support by using the teal theme on company websites and social media. While a student of ITM University, Shreya, has painted her nails teal, a corporate employee, Kala has bought a teal T-shirt to participate in a ‘teal party’. “It is important even for young girls to know about the disease, as we can educate our mothers and grandmothers,” said Shreya.

A resident of Sector 56 in Gurgaon, Kala, on the other hand, also wants her male colleagues to join the campaign. “It is not only women who need to be educated about the disease, men, who are generally the decision-makers in a household, should also know about the disease,” she said.

The campaign is being supported by CanSupport NGO, which is encouraging women to get check-ups done. “The idea is to get women to pay attention to symptoms and get checked-up. Also, in our country people do not share information about diseases in family. We need to tell people that it is important to take preventive measures,” said Nikita Gupta, who is supporting the campaign too.

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Awareness crucial to surviving ovarian cancer

Not many people take time to learn about ovarian cancer – until it hits close to home.

With each passing year, 15,500 women die from this disease. Although there is no specific test to detect ovarian cancer, it is the ninth most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Typically thought of as a “silent” disease, ovarian cancer is actually noisy. We just tune it out.

Early signs and symptoms are vague, but a recent research study pinpointed a cluster of symptoms that occur more frequently in women with ovarian tumors, especially if they appear suddenly or last over an extended period of time. This triad consists of abdominal bloating, increased abdominal size, and urinary urgency. In the study these symptoms were reported almost daily in the women with ovarian cancer. Other research validates the notion of the early triad. Identifying this symptom index justifies ordering tests to evaluate them and legitimizes the expense of these tests to insurance companies.

Other changes to report include feeling full after a small meal, unexplained weight loss, indigestion, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue, and abdominal uterine bleeding. Ovarian cancer should be ruled out first instead of last and, if suspected, should be evaluated by a gynecologic oncologist.

A test to accurately detect early stage disease has yet to be perfected.

While scientists continue to pursue a variety of screening tests, mostly based on specific protein patterns and markers in the blood, doctors are forced to rely on a transvaginal ultrasound and CA-125 blood test.

Only half of women with early stage disease, however, have elevated levels of CA-125, signaling why a more specific and accurate screening test is vital. Further compounding early diagnosis, by the time a woman recognizes her symptoms, the cancer often is advanced.

Indicators that increase the risk of this disease include personal history of breast cancer, family history (maternal and paternal) of breast, uterine, ovarian or colorectal cancer, certain breast cancer genes, obesity, and use of fertility drugs, especially without achieving pregnancy.

Factors that decrease risk include oral contraceptive use, particularly of five or more years, childbearing, breast-feeding and tubal ligation after childbearing.

A few large studies have found that regular tea consumption is associated with a lower risk of ovarian cancer. Green, black and oolong teas were all effective.

Also, preliminary studies show that women who take low-dose aspirin daily reduced their risk by 20 percent. Researchers caution that more studies are needed before implementing daily aspirin therapy, so be sure to discuss this with your doctor.

Further guard your health by obtaining annual pelvic exams, knowing your family history and sharing it with your doctor, and becoming familiar with what is normal for your body. If you note the triad of symptoms frequently throughout the month, specifically request a transvaginal ultrasound and a biomarker blood test.

High risk women should discuss with their doctors the advantages and disadvantages of genetic counseling to gauge their risk of developing ovarian and breast cancer.

This is of particular importance for women with a personal or family history of these diseases, as well as having relatives with male breast or prostate cancers, because variations of specific genes have been identified in the development of some types of ovarian cancer.

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Awareness events conducted around the world

I-35W bridge lit teal for ovarian cancer awareness

Those who took a drive on Sunday night may have noticed the Interstate 35W Bridge has adopted a new hue – and there’s a reason for it.

The Minnesota Ovarian Cancer Alliance (MOCA) lit the bridge in teal on Sunday night to mark the start of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month to raise awareness of the disease. September marks the month long awareness campaign, which includes the group’s 15^th annual walk and run at Roseland Park in Edina on Saturday.

An estimated 3,500 supporters are expected to take part on the HOM Teal Strides for Ovarian Cancer. The event raises money for research and programming. So far, MOCA has provided $ 4.5 million toward research.

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Upcoming 5k to raise awareness for ovarian cancer research

Louisville, Ky. – September is national cancer month, and a local organization is hosting an event for ovarian cancer awareness with a 5k walk.

The Whisper Walk 5k for ovarian cancer awareness will be held on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The walk will be held at the Douglass Hillpool parking lot at 501 Gatehouse Lane.

The walk is in memory of Dee Edwards. For every $ 100 raised, adults will be entered into a drawing for a $ 100 Kroger gift card. Students under 18 will be entered into a drawing to win $ 50 cash.

There is also an event at El Toro Mexican Restaurant on Thursday. For the whole day, 15 percent of customers’ total bill will be donated back to Ovarian Awareness of Kentucky in memory of Dee Edwards and in honor of all those survivors still fighting.

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Birmingham to ‘Turn the Town Teal’ in support of ovarian cancer research

Teal ribbons are going up around Shain Park in September as part of Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.

Jacqueline Bayley never saw it coming.

In 2009, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was 31 years old and in good health when she decided to see her doctor about a lingering stomach ache. Less than three years later, she passed away.

“She was blindsided by her diagnosis,” friend Eleanore Schroeder said. “But that’s the tricky part of ovarian cancer – a lot of patients are diagnosed too late because the symptoms are vague and easily confused with less serious symptoms that women commonly have.”

For the next several weeks, Schroeder and other organizers will “Turn The Town Teal” (TTTT) by tying teal ribbons around Shain Park in an effort to bring awareness to this disease.

“Teal is the ovarian cancer research color” she said, adding the ribbons will have information on them about recognizing the early warning symptoms.

It’s the third year of the TTTT campaign, which is taking place in Royal Oak, Northville and other local communities throughout Michigan.

Baldwin Public Library Board Trustee Andy Harris also was a close friend to Bayley and is helping with the campaign.

“She was one of the most energetic, dynamic, intelligent people I ever knew,” said Harris, who met Bayley and her husband through Schroeder in 2003. “She had a vibrant spirit that we miss to this day.”

In addition to the promotional campaign, Schroeder established the Jacqueline E. Bayley foundation (www.jeb-foundation.org) to raise awareness about ovarian cancer. The foundation recently partnered with the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute in developing more effective ovarian cancer screening and earlier detection methods.

“She was one of the spirited and talented people I ever met,” said Schroeder. “We miss her terribly.”

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Cheerleaders, community members don ribbons to raise awareness for Ovarian cancer

West Windsor – Members of a Pop Warner Cheerleading team as well as community members and students gathered on Thursday.

Among those who donated teal ribbons for Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month was 13-year-old West Windsor resident and cheerleader Alyssa Wagner, who battled cancer the year before.

Wagner, also a Grover Middle School student, has been cancer free for a year.

The ribbons would later be tied to trees at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South on Sunday.

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Support Connection Hosts Educational Webinar For Women With Ovarian Cancer

YorktownHeights, N.Y. – Support Connection Inc. will host a free educational webinar for women with ovarian cancer.

It will take place on Tuesday, September 23, from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

This free program is available to women nationwide. For those without computer access, it is also possible to participate via toll-free teleconference. The program is being held in September in recognition of National Ovarian Cancer Awareness month.

The speaker is Dr. David Spriggs, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Spriggs is head of the division of solid tumor oncology and Wintthrop Rockfeller chair of medical oncology.

The webinar will focus on issues pertaining to women with ovarian cancer, including those experiencing a recurrence. Topics will include: the latest information in the development of drugs for advanced ovarian cancer; advances in immune therapy. A question and answer period will follow. Discussion will be facilitated by a Support Connection staff member.

The program is free. Women interested in participating should call Support Connection in advance to register and receive instructions, call Support Connection at 914-962-6402 or 1-800-532-4290.

This program is presented by Support Connection as part of their 2014 “Tune In and Take Charge!” campaign.

In addition to the daily care of women with gynecologic cancers, Spriggs runs clinical trials testing new, targeted drugs, and oversees a small research laboratory looking for answers to questions such as why certain tumors resist drug treatment and how genes can affect the development of tumors.

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Awareness, early detection, and prompt treatment are the keys to surviving ovarian cancer – and that requires funding.

As researchers across the globe race to develop a sensitive screening tool for ovarian cancer, you can facilitate their efforts by donating to a research group, such as the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition or the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

I encourage you to share this article with the women in your life – it just might save theirs.

Interesting Scientists' Facts

Ada Lovelace
The Gambler
A gifted mathematician, Ada Lovelace is considered to have written instructions for the first computer program in the mid-1800s. 
Ada was asked to translate an article on Babbage's analytical engine that had been written by Italian engineer Luigi Federico Menabrea for a Swiss journal. She not only translated the original French text in English, but also added her own thoughts and ideas on the machine. Her notes ended up being three times longer than the original article. Her work was published in 1843, in an English science journal.
Ada's article attracted little attention when she was alive. In her later years, she tried to develop mathematical schemes for winning at gambling. Unfortunately, her schemes failed and put her in financial peril. Much like Tsunade-sama from the Naruto series!

Albert Einstein
The Ladies Man
Albert Einstein was a German-born physicist who developed the theory of relativity. He is considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century.
Einstein was popular with the ladies. In letters that he wrote to his second wife Elsa, Einstein readily acknowledged many extramarital affairs. He wrote that his girlfriends showered him with "unwanted" affection.

Alexander Graham Bell
The Honourable Man
Alexander Graham Bell was one of the primary inventors of the telephone, did important work in communication for the deaf and held more than 18 patents.
Alexander Graham Bell, who was unable to complete the university program of his youth, received numerous Honorary Degrees from academic institutions.

Archimedes
Eureka!
Archimedes of Syracuse was an Ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer.

One of the most famous stories about Archimedes involves one of his famous principles and his most famous quote. According to legend, king Hieron came to Archimedes when he suspected a crown maker had used some silver in a crown that was supposed to be pure gold. Archimedes was troubled for a while but One day when Archimedes took a bath, he realized that there was a direct correlation to the water overflowing from the tub with his immersed body. He allegedly ran through the streets naked yelling, "Eureka" after discovering this. This phrase has become commonplace when finally discovering the answer, since Archimedes.

Whether or not he actually discovered this while in the bath, he did create a principle of hydrostatics described in "On Floating Bodies". The principle states that a body immersed in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid displaced by the body. With this principle, Archimedes could help the king. He could decide how much gold was actually in the crown by comparing the weights of silver and gold in the water and compare that data with the crown. Using this principle, Archimedes could prove the crown was not pure gold and the crown maker had in fact tried to cheat the King.

Benjamin Franklin
Franklin invented the rocking chair.
A world-renowned polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
Next time you're sitting in a rocking chair and thinking, "This is the life!" , remember our good pal Benjamin Franklin. He fitted the legs of his armchair with curved pieces of wood and made an invention that is still widely used today.

Charles Darwin
Darwin's Hilarious Take On Marriage.
Darwin was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural world.
While the fact that Darwin married his own cousin, Emma Wedgewood, is very well-known, the events prior to their union aren’t as fairly revealed. In the months before his marriage, Darwin wasn’t very thrilled about tying the knot. He wrote an amusing list of pros and cons on the facets of marriage.

One upside Darwin saw to getting married was children:

“Children — (if it Please God) — Constant companion, (& friend in old age) who will feel interested in one, — object to be beloved & played with. — better than a dog anyhow”.

Darwin also liked the idea of a female companion:

“My God, it is intolerable to think of spending one’s whole life, like a neuter bee, working, working, & nothing after all. — No, no won’t do. — Imagine living all one’s day solitarily in smoky dirty London House. — Only picture to yourself a nice soft wife on a sofa with good fire, & books & music perhaps — Compare this vision with the dingy reality of Grt. Marlbro’ St.”

On the other hand, Darwin felt that taking the celibate path also had its benefits:

“Freedom to go where one liked — choice of Society & little of it. — Conversation of clever men at clubs — Not forced to visit relatives, & to bend in every trifle. — to have the expense & anxiety of children — perhaps quarelling — Loss of time. — cannot read in the Evenings — fatness & idleness…”

These are but a few of the items Darwin included on his list that prove Darwin was just like every other guy. Eventually, he would decide to marry Wedgewood and even call the day of his proposal the “Day of days.” The couple would be happily married for 43 years until Darwin’s death in 1882 and have 10 children.

Eratosthenes
The First
Eratosthenes was a Greek mathematician who is famous for his work on prime numbers and for measuring the diameter of the earth.

Many people called him "beta" which is the second letter in the greek Alphabet, he was called this because he was never first.

Hedy Lamarr
The Shoplifter
Although better known for her Silver Screen exploits, Austrian actress Hedy Lamarr also became a pioneer in the field of wireless communications following her emigration to the United States.
In 1942, during the heyday of her career, Lamarr earned recognition in a field quite different from entertainment. She and her friend, the composer George Antheil, received a patent for an idea of a radio signaling device, or "Secret Communications System," which was a means of changing radiofrequencies to keep enemies from decoding messages. Originally designed to defeat the German Nazis, the system became an important step in the development of technology to maintain the security of both military communications and cellular phones.
She was arrested twice for shoplifting, once in 1966 and once in 1991, but neither arrest resulted in a conviction.

Isaac Newton
He stuck a needle in his eye socket -- on purpose.
English physicist and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton, most famous for his law of gravitation, was instrumental in the scientific revolution of the 17th century.
In Newton's time little was known about the properties of light. In fact, people weren't even sure whether the eye created light or collected it. Curious, Newton embarked on his own detailed study of optics -- and he wasn't above acting as his own guinea pig, probing his eye with a blunt needle known as a bodkin. 
As he wrote in his journal:

I tooke a bodkine gh & put it betwixt my eye & [the] bone as neare to [the] backside of my eye as I could: & pressing my eye [with the] end of it (so as to make [the] curvature a, bcdef in my eye) there appeared severall white darke & coloured circles...

Leonardo da Vinci
Sometimes he could be such a dick.
Leonardo da Vinci was a leading artist and intellectual of the Italian Renaissance who's known for his enduring works "The Last Supper" and "Mona Lisa."
He was a big fan of puns and word games, and Folio 44 of his Codex Arundel contains a long list of playful synonyms for penis.

Mary Anning
The Incredible Woman
Mary Anning lived through a life of privation and hardship to be called "the greatest fossilist the world ever knew."
Mary had an incredible understanding of fossils and dinosaur skeletons. It was said that she could just glance at a fossil and immediately work out what it was and which dinosaur it came from.

Nicolaus Copernicus
He practiced medicine. Without a medical degree.
Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus identified the concept of a heliocentric solar system, in which the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of the solar system.
Copernicus's father died when he was about 11, so his uncle, a bishop, took him and his three siblings under his protection. When the uncle became elderly and fell ill, Copernicus acted as his physician. Copernicus was also a physician for the bishop who succeeded his uncle and for members of his church chapter. He never received a medical degree.

Nikola Tesla

HE WAS REALLY FUNNY
Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla developed the alternating-current electrical system that's widely used today, and discovered the rotating magnetic field (the basis of most AC machinery).

Most people don’t know that Tesla had a terrific sense of humor. For example, after dining with writer and poet Rudyard Kipling, he wrote this in a correspondence to a close friend:

April 1, 1901

My dear Mrs. Johnson,

What is the matter with inkspiller Kipling? He actually dared to invite me to dine in an obscure hotel where I would be sure to get hair and cockroaches in the soup.

Yours truly,

N. Tesla

During the war of the currents, alternating current (AC) -- favored by Tesla -- battled for wide acceptance with direct current (DC), favored by Edison. At stake was the basis for the entire nation’s electrical system. Edison launched a campaign against AC, claiming it was dangerous and could kill people; Tesla countered by publicly subjecting himself to 250,000-volt shocks to demonstrate AC’s safety. Ultimately, alternating current won the fight.

Sigmund Freud

Freud Became a Doctor In Order to Marry the Woman He Loved

Sigmund Freud was an Austrian neurologist best known for developing the theories and techniques of psychoanalysis.

When Freud was 26, he fell madly in love with a 21-year-old woman names Martha Bernays and they became engaged two months later. As a poor student still living with his parents, Freud's science lab job did not pay enough to support a family. "My sweet girl, it only pains me to think I should be so powerless to prove my love for you," Freud wrote to Martha. 
Six months after they met, Freud gave up his scientific career and become a doctor. He spent three years training at the Vienna General Hospital and was rarely able to see his fiance who had moved to Germany. After four years of waiting, Freud and Bernays were married on September 14, 1886. The two went on to have six children.

Srinivasa Ramanujan
TAXICAB NUMBER
Srinivasa Ramanujan was one of India's greatest mathematical geniuses. He made substantial contributions to the analytical theory of numbers and worked on elliptic functions, continued fractions, and infinite series.

Taxicab Number - The number derives its name from the following story:
G. H. Hardy told about Ramanujan. I remember once going to see him when he was ill. I had ridden in taxi cab number 1729 and remarked that the number seemed to me rather dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavorable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as the sum of two cubes in two different ways."
1729 is the second taxicab number (the first is 2= 1^3 + 1^3). The number was also found in one of Ramanujan's notebooks dated years before the incident.

"Every positive integer is one of Ramanujan's personal friends" 
- John Littlewood, on hearing of the taxicab incident

Steve Irwin
Fear of parrots
Steve Irwin was a famous Australian wildlife enthusiast who was at the helm of the popular Crocodile Hunter series.
Despite working with dangerous animal like crocodiles and snakes, Steve’s greatest fear was of parrots.

Steven Chu
The "second string" substitute
Steven Chu is an American physicist best known for his research at Bell Labs in cooling and trapping of atoms with laser light, which won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1997. He also served as the 12th United States Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013.
Chu took an interest in sports, teaching himself how to pole vault using only bamboo poles.

Thomas Alva Edison

Edison Proposed Marriage ... by Morse Code!

Inventor Thomas Edison created such great innovations as the electric light bulb and the phonograph. A savvy businessman, he held more than a 1,000 patents for his inventions.

On Christmas Day in 1871, at the age of 24, Edison married his 16-year old employee Mary Stilwell, after meeting her just two months earlier. By February, Edison was exasperated at his wife's inability to invent that he wrote in his diary "Mrs Mary Edison My wife Dearly Beloved Cannot invent worth a Damn!!" and "My Wife Popsy Wopsy Can't Invent." Mary gave birth to three children, the first two Edison nicknamed "Dot" and "Dash."

Two years after Mary died, Edison met and married 20-year-old Mina Miller. The story of how the two met is quite interesting: After Mary's death, Edison regularly went to Boston and stayed with his friends Mr. and Mrs. Gilliard. The Gilliards made sure that some eligible young lady was "visiting" at the same time. Edison, who was half-deaf, bug-eyed, plagued with halitosis and bad dandruff, would stick his face very close to the girl's in order to hear her words. This naturally creeped them all out!

One day, the Gilliards introduced Edison to Mina Miller, to whom Edison was immediately smitten:

Edison found his own version of paradise in Fort Myers, then a small village, and apparently decided that he must do three things: build a winter home in Florida, marry Mina, and bring her to his tropical Eden. Once back in New York, Edison--normally a workaholic--was obsessed with his new love. He wrote in his diary at this time: "Saw a lady who looked like Mina. Got thinking about Mina and came near being run over by a streetcar. If Mina interferes much more will have to take out an accident policy."

Edison taught Mina Morse code so they could communicate in secret by tapping into each other's hands when her family was around. One day, Edison asked .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. -.-- --- ..- -- .- .-. .-. -.-- -- . and Mina replied -.-- . ...

Wright Brothers
Thanks to a coin toss, Orville was the first brother airborne.
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, were two American brothers, inventors, and aviation pioneers who are credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903. 
The brothers tossed a coin to see who would first test the Wright Flyer on the sands of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Older brother Wilbur won the toss, but his first attempt on December 14, 1903, was unsuccessful and caused minor damage to the aircraft. Three days later, Orville, in coat and tie, lay flat on his stomach on the plane’s lower wing and took the controls. At 10:35 a.m., the Wright Flyer moved down the guiding rail with Wilbur running alongside to balance the delicate machine. For 12 seconds, the aircraft left the ground before touching down 120 feet away in the soft sands. The brothers exchanged turns at the controls three more times that day, and each flight covered an increasing distance with Wilbur’s final flight lasting nearly a minute and covering a distance of 852 feet.