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(Totally not Trump related. Cannot explain how happy that makes me!)
Strange Colon Discovery Explains Racial Disparities in Colorectal Cancer | Connect (uvaconnect.com)
The scientists found that the right side of the colon in most African-Americans had suffered a unique pattern of âhypermethylation,â affecting gene expression. It was, in essence, like the right side was old beyond its years. This, the researchers believe, could contribute to African-Americansâ increased cancer risk and could explain why they are more likely to develop cancerous lesions on the right side.
The research could also explain why younger people of European descent are more likely to develop lesions on the left side â the side that tends to age faster in that group.
Interesting finding that emphasizes the need for improved medical access for Black communities. And the need for increased awareness of screening options, including noninvasive options, for everybody.
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Couldnât access that link, but found this alternative:
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Hmmm, I guess that might be an internal link, but yep, same article.
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I hope factors like this will get more attention and improvement, too:
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Agreed. The study cited doesnât mention that the right-left dichotomy may be an added factor in early diagnosis. Essentially, the left side is more, well, accessible. The right side is much more difficult to get to and treatment is much more invasive. My tumor was on the left and low, treatable by endoscopic surgery and out next day. Right-sided tumors are much more likely to require open surgery, colostomies and longer, more expensive hospitalizations. The newer, non-invasive screening options (Cologuard ÂŽ) may get around the diagnostic issue, but the treatment is still a problem.
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My motherâs tumor was on the right. By the time she was diagnosed it had metastasized and no further treatment was recommended. My brother prefers non-invasive screening, but with a family history doctors seem to prefer colonoscopy.
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Yeah, Cologuard is specifically not recommended for anyone at elevated risk. The false negative rate is low enough that it is comparable to a scope in low risk folks, but not good enough for high risk.
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Can I have a mimosa AND continue the struggle?
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Maybe only if you also make them for everyone else whoâs in the struggle with you that day?
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I think I can manage that! 
I love sharing!
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Social distancing! We only want to share the mimosas! /s
And the justice. 
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Iâd buy that for aâŚumâŚtwenty dollars!
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I know this story, about Joel Chandler Harris and the lynched manâŚ
DuBois. His actual voice. I had no idea heâd ever been recorded, although he died in 1963.
âKnowledge isnât enoughâ
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Thanks, hadnât heard that story, wow. I knew white people saved body parts, but not that they were also put on display in public like that. 
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Yeah, I had read that story before, or a version of it. Horrific. I donât think many people today really understand how brutal Jim Crow was, and how that violence is still impacting people today.
Another story from a professor (who died last year, sadly). Dr. Rouse was setting up a museum display about lynching postcards for a local Black history museum in the early 90s, I think it was. She told herself she was going to be the objective historian, etc. When the display opened, she did a walk through with a group. She goes to the first display, and a man standing next to her looks down at the display, points to one of the postcards, and says âthatâs my uncle.â
What did Faulkner say? The past isnât pastâŚ
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Different versions at different times, iirc. What I most often hear attributed to him is The past isnât over. It isnât even past yet.
And yeah, when it come to Jim Crowâs horrors, they indeed werenât long ago, and they STILL result in de facto segregation (such as housing, which as I imagine you know is generally even worse outside of the US South).
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Segregation and discrimination are absolutely universal (in the US, at least.) The American South was more open about it, but I think (correct me if I am wrong) that statistics show the south is actually less segregated than most places in the north. This fact took me a long time to come to grips with, since I grew up in diverse, lower middle class neighborhood in Fairmont WV of all places. I had assumed that, since WV has such a rep for being backwards, that other, more âcivilizedâ.places, would be even more equal and egalitarian. Yeah, reality said âNo, son, just 'cause you think it, does not make it so.â Sigh. Reality sucks.
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