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Canine Scent Detection Featured Recruitment

Study Update: Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer Research Project

The Pine Street Foundation, with the collaboration of principal investigator Dr. Touradj Solouki at Baylor University, and the support of US government funding, has been conducting a study on the early diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Our goal with this study is to find out if analysis of exhaled breath can become an accurate, simple, and non-invasive test for ovarian cancer that can be used in a clinical setting to find women with ovarian while it is still in its early stages.

We are doing this with sophisticated chemical analysis at Dr. Solouki’s Baylor University laboratory and with a team of trained dogs at the Pine Street Foundation’s offices in California. We also hope the results of our research will help to predict whether a woman’s ovarian cancer will recur after treatment or become resistant to treatment.

Recruitment Update
The recruitment phase of the study has now concluded. Recruitment was drawn from the Pine Street Foundation’s public outreach efforts and with assistance from area hospitals, most notably the University of California at San Francisco.

Canine Update
At the Pine Street Foundation’s training location, we trained a team of five dogs, all of whom have reached the most advanced level of our training program. We have completed the analysis of the data and are now preparing the manuscript that will be reported in scientific publications.

Laboratory Update
Dr. Solouki and his team at Baylor University have worked diligently to continue to assess the utility of exhaled breath analysis as a way to detect meaningful ovarian cancer biomarkers. Dr. Solouki joined Michael McCulloch, the Pine Street Foundation’s Director of Research, at a conference sponsored by the Canary Foundation to present a poster session on our exhaled breath analysis study.

How You Can Become Involved
You can help support our efforts to spread the word on canine scent detection by making a donating to our research fund. Your support will help us publish this paper in a prestigious peer-reviewed journal that is Open Access, meaning that readers can access the full report without a costly scientific journal subscription. The page charges (that we have to pay) can cost $5,000 or more, so gifts of any size will really make a difference.

Johanna Altgelt, Kirk Turner, Michael McCulloch, Kathy O’Brien, and Jett Gulbronsen pose with Tessy and Captain Jennings at the Pine Street Foundation in San Anselmo, California
Johanna Altgelt, Kirk Turner, Michael McCulloch, Kathy O’Brien, and Jett Gulbronsen pose with Tessy and Captain Jennings at the Pine Street Foundation in San Anselmo, California
Tessy, a three-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, sniffs at boxes containing breath samples from women with ovarian cancer and from healthy controls and determines which is which
Tessy, a three-year-old yellow Labrador retriever, sniffs at boxes containing breath samples from women with ovarian cancer and from healthy controls and determines which is which
Tessy closes in on which breath sample was given by a woman with ovarian cancer
Tessy closes in on which breath sample was given by a woman with ovarian cancer

 

A breath sample cartridge inside a weighted training box
A breath sample cartridge inside a weighted training box
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Canine Scent Detection Recruitment

New Study: Women Needed

Recruitment for this research project is now complete. Should you want updates about this research project or to be notified about future opportunities to participate in one of our studies, please click here to sign up for our mailing list.


For our study on the early detection of ovarian cancer, we are seeking women with newly diagnosed or recurrent biopsy-confirmed ovarian cancer, fallopian tube cancer, or primary peritoneal cancer in the San Francisco Bay Area to breathe through a special tube prior to beginning treatment. We also need women with endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome to give breath samples.

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Headline Pine Street in the News

Huffington Post

Pine Street in the HeadlinesIn an op-ed in the Huffington Post today, John Robbins writes:

If you want to support an organization fighting breast cancer, you might want to know about the little known but extraordinary Pine Street Foundation. While everyone wants to detect breast cancer as early as possible, the Pine Street Foundation has been developing a remarkable alternative to mammograms.

Click here to read the entire article: “Greed, Cancer and Pink KFC Buckets”

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Featured

New Vitamin D Study

New Vitamin D study from the Vitamin D Council:

We seek to compare vitamin D blood test results of two different labs: Quest and LabCorp. We are willing to pay your costs, up to $100, once we get copies of both tests results,  drawn on the same day,  and your receipts. To participate,  you need to find a doctor or clinic in your area that uses Quest and call your doctor and arrange for a 25-hydroxy-vitamin D blood test done by Quest. This will cost anywhere from $50 to $150 dollars. In the meantime,  you will need to arrange to have your blood tested by LabCorp the same day. Thus, you will be having your blood drawn twice on the same day,  one sample sent to Quest and the other sample sent to LabCorp. The easiest and cheapest way to arrange for the LabCorp test is through Life Extension Foundation: call 1-800-544-4440 and let the operator know you are ordering this test in conjunction with the Vitamin D Council study. The price will be $35.25 for the LabCorp 25(OH)D test through Life Extension.
John Cannell,  MD, 1241 Johnson Ave.,  #134, San Luis Obispo,  CA 93401
vitamindcouncil@vitamindcouncil.org

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Avenues Featured

Avenues – Spring/Summer 2010

Avenues 29/30 - Spring/Summer 2010From the Board

Vitamin D3: A Review of the Evidence for its Role in Human Health

Download the Spring/Summer 2010 issue (0.7 MB): [PDF]

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Avenues Headline

Vitamin D3: A Review of the Evidence for its Role in Human Health

Vitamin D is crucial to our well-being. In this article, we discuss the history of its discovery, how we get it, and the evidence for its clinical effectiveness.

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Avenues From the Board

From the Board (Avenues 29/30 – Spring/Summer 2010)

Welcome to latest issues of Avenues! 2010 is already off to an incredible start and this coming year promises to be our best yet, with new research projects and educational initiatives.

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Avenues

Swine Flu Vaccination, Treatment, and Prevention: A Common Sense Discussion and Review of the Evidence

Influenza, commonly called the flu, is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses. In this article, we report emerging knowledge of the seasonal and swine flu epidemics, review the evidence on vaccinations, and introduce new evidence from research on common sense protective measures you can take.

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Avenues

From the Board (Avenues 27/28 – Autumn/Winter 2009)

Welcome to the last Avenues of 2009! In this issue, we turn our focus to H1N1, commonly referred to as “Swine Flu.”

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Avenues

Avenues – Autumn/Winter 2009

Avenues 27/28 - Autumn/Winter 2009
Avenues 27/28 - Autumn/Winter 2009

From the Board

Swine Flu Vaccination, Treatment, and Prevention: A Common Sense Discussion and Review of the Evidence

Download the Autumn/Winter 2009 issue (2.2 MB): [PDF]