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March 19, 2025
Brighten Your Day: Learn Mindfulness From First Graders
Students Elijah and Romir share what they’ve learned about the practice of mindfulness via their school program run by the nonprofit Space Between.
There are myriad benefits of mindfulness being taught in schools. To name just a few, it supports students and teachers in managing stress, trauma, overwhelm, and more. But one of the cutest upsides has to be kids teaching meditation.

The Seattle-based nonprofit Space Between has been teaching trauma-informed mindfulness practices in school communities since 2016, supporting the mental health and well-being of both teachers and students.

Learn the Zig-Zag Breath With Romir

According to Romir, a first grader in the Space Between program, the Zig-Zag Breath involves just two simple steps:
1. Move your head in a zig-zag shape.
2. Breathe out calmly.
Romir says that this practice can not only help you feel warmer, but makes you feel better if you get hurt.

Thanks, Romir! We’ll be keeping this quick and easy practice in our toolkit should we get chilly or need a pick-me-up.

Practice Square Breathing With Elijah
1. Point your finger and close your eyes, if you feel comfortable. Get ready to imagine you’re drawing the shape of a square with the tip of your finger.
2. Breathe in through your nose and move your finger in a line, drawing the first side of the square in the air in front of you.
3. Breathe out through your mouth, drawing the next side of the square.
4. Breathe in through your nose and draw the third side of the square.
5. Breathe out through your mouth and complete the square.
6. Repeat this three times.
We know that deep, intentional breathing calms our nervous system and focuses our minds. This easy-to-remember practice is a great way to tap into the power of the breath any time, anywhere. Thanks for the lesson, Elijah!

Mindfulness Practices for Kids

If you’d like to explore mindfulness meditation with the school-aged children in your life, there are many ways to go about it. Over the years, we’ve gathered a number of wonderful guided practices for young children and teenagers, created by renowned meditation teachers. Here are just a few of our most popular articles to help you get started:
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March 19, 2025
The Hidden Epidemic: Mental Health in the Workplace
The Hidden Epidemic: Mental Health in the Workplace

What is the Hidden Epidemic?

Mental health is an often-misunderstood and underreported issue in the workplace. Despite its growing prevalence and increasing awareness, mental health in the workplace remains a taboo topic. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), one in four people will experience a mental health issue each year. This means that there is a significant portion of the population that is struggling to manage their mental wellbeing and in turn, impacting their productivity and job performance.

The Prevalence of Mental Health Issues in the Workplace

Research suggests that mental health issues are becoming increasingly common in the workplace. A report by the American Psychological Association (APA) found that 43% of employees experience work-related stress, which can lead to a range of mental health issues including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Moreover, a survey by the UK’s NHS found that 60% of employees have experienced mental health issues due to work-related stress.

The Impact on Employees

The impact of mental health issues on employees is far-reaching, affecting not only their personal lives but also their job performance. Employees struggling with mental health issues may:
- Find it difficult to concentrate, leading to decreased productivity and efficiency
- Struggle to keep up with workload, leading to fatigue and burnout
- Experience decreased motivation, leading to disengagement from work
- Have difficulty with relationships, leading to social isolation and disconnection
Moreover, mental health issues can also have a significant impact on an employee’s overall well-being, including physical health, family relationships, and overall quality of life.

The Impact on Employers

The impact of mental health issues on employers is also significant. A study by the Harvard Business Review found that each year, depression and anxiety cost the global economy around $1 trillion. Moreover, mental health issues can lead to:
- Increased absenteeism, tardiness, and turnover, resulting in lost productivity and training costs
- Decreased morale, leading to poor job satisfaction and engagement
- Strained workplace culture, leading to decreased collaboration and communication
- Legal liabilities, including potential disability claims and workers’ compensation claims
Challenges in Addressing Mental Health in the Workplace

Despite the significant impact of mental health issues on both employees and employers, there are many challenges in addressing this issue in the workplace. Some of the challenges include:
- Stigma: Fear of being judged or stigmatized can prevent employees from seeking help or openly discussing their mental health issues.
- Lack of awareness: Many employees and employers may not be aware of the symptoms and signs of mental health issues.
- Limited resources: Many companies may not have access to the necessary resources, including mental health professionals, training, and support systems.
- Work culture: Unhealthy work cultures that prioritize long hours, stress, and burnout can exacerbate mental health issues.
Improving Mental Health in the Workplace

So, what can be done to improve mental health in the workplace? Here are some suggestions:
- Encourage open conversations: Encourage employees to talk about their mental health and create a supportive culture where employees feel comfortable sharing their experiences.
- Provide training and resources: Offer mental health training to employees and provide access to resources, including counseling and employee assistance programs (EAPs).
- Foster a healthy work culture: Prioritize employee well-being, reduce stress, and promote work-life balance.
- Encourage self-care: Encourage employees to prioritize self-care, including exercise, meditation, and mindfulness.
Conclusion

Mental health in the workplace is a critical issue that requires immediate attention. By understanding the prevalence, impact, and challenges of mental health issues in the workplace, employers and employees can take steps to address this issue. By creating a supportive culture, providing resources, and prioritizing employee well-being, we can work towards a healthier and more productive workforce.

FAQs

Q: Why is mental health in the workplace a hidden epidemic?

A: Mental health is a hidden epidemic because it is often stigmatized, and employees may not feel comfortable discussing their issues or seeking help.

Q: What is the impact of mental health issues on employees?

A: Mental health issues can lead to decreased productivity, fatigue, and burnout, as well as strained relationships and decreased overall well-being.

Q: How can employers address mental health in the workplace?

A: Employers can address mental health in the workplace by creating a supportive culture, providing resources, and prioritizing employee well-being.
March 19, 2025
Heme and Impossible Burgers

Is heme just an innocent bystander in the link between meat intake and breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure?

In an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the chair of nutrition at Harvard pointed out that many plant-based meats, such as burgers made by Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, can be high in sodium. An issue specific to the Impossible burger is the “heme (an iron-containing molecule) from soy plants added to the burger patty to enhance the product’s meaty flavor and appearance.” Safety analyses have failed to find any toxicity risk specific to the soy heme churned out by yeast, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has agreed that it is safe, both for use as a flavor and color enhancer. In other words, it’s just as safe as the heme found in blood and muscle in meat—but how much is that really saying?

The concern raised in the JAMA editorial, for example, was that “higher intake of heme iron has been associated with…elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” killer number seven in the United States. That isn’t all, though. “Higher dietary intake of heme iron is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease,” as well, as killers numbered 1, 4, and 13—heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure. But since heme is found mostly in meat, heme intake may just be a marker for meat intake. It’s like with diabetes: Four meta-analyses have been published to date, and they all reported the same link, as seen below and at 1:25 in my video What About the Heme in Impossible Burgers?. But there are a lot of reasons meat may increase diabetes risk, like its advanced glycation end-products (AGEs), which are produced when animal products are baked, broiled, grilled, fried, or barbecued. So, how do we know that heme isn’t just an innocent bystander?

The same issue arises with the link between heme intake and increased breast cancer risk. Since heme iron comes from animal foods, it could be any of the other components in meat, like animal fat or meat mutagens, which are compounds in meat that can cause DNA mutations. And what about all the hormonal steroids implanted into cattle that may play a role in the development of breast cancer? A study in Japan found that beef imported from the United States contained up to 600 times the levels of estrogens like estradiol. You can see the comparison of U.S. beef to Japanese beef below and at 2:20 in my video. “Higher consumption of estrogen-rich beef due to hormone application might facilitate estrogen accumulation in the [human] body and thus affect women’s risk for breast cancer.” So, yes, heme iron intake was associated with breast cancer risk, but maybe that’s just because the heme and the hormones traveled together in the same package—meat.

The NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study is about as good as any observational study can get. It is the largest prospective study on diet and health ever, following more than half a million men and women for more than a decade now. With such a huge dataset, its researchers could take advantage of the fact that different meats have different amounts of heme, so they could try to tease out the heme components, in effect, by comparing people eating different amounts of heme, but the same amount of meat, to see if heme is independently associated with the disease. And, indeed, that’s what they showed: “independent associations between the intake of heme iron and nitrate/nitrite in processed meat and mortality from almost all causes”—death from diabetes, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, kidney disease, liver disease, cancer, and all causes put together, as seen here and a 3:33 in my video.

The researchers calculated that about one fifth of the association between eating burgers and the shortening of our lifespan, for example, could be statistically accounted for by just the heme itself, but that’s assuming cause-and-effect. An “independent association” is still an association. You can’t prove cause and effect until you put it to the test in interventional studies.

Normally, we don’t necessarily care about the mechanism. When the World Health Organization designated bacon, ham, hot dogs, lunch meat, and sausages to be Group 1 carcinogens, meaning we know these products cause cancer in human beings, who cares if it’s the heme iron, the heterocyclic aromatic amines, the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or the N-nitrosamines? They’re all wrapped up in the same place—processed meat—which we know causes cancer, so shouldn’t we try to stay away from it, regardless of the mechanism? With the advent of the Impossible Burger, we really do have to know, because, for the first time, we have a lot of heme without any actual meat, so we need to know if the heme itself is harmful. For that, we’ll have to turn to interventional studies, which we’ll cover next.

This is the sixth in a nine-part series on plant-based meats. If you missed any of the previous installments, see the related posts below.

Up next:

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March 18, 2025
Insomnia In Elderly? Here’s Best Exercise For Better Sleep

Regular physical activity is widely known for its benefits to overall health, but what about its impact on sleep? While exercise plays a crucial role in promoting better rest, not all types of exercise are equal when it comes to combating insomnia. New research has revealed that specific exercises can significantly reduce the risk of insomnia in older adults.

The latest study, published in the journal Family Medicine and Community Health, evaluated five different types of physical activity and found that while combination and aerobic exercises are effective in improving sleep quality, resistance training works best for combating insomnia in older adults.

The researchers pooled data from 25 trials involving more than 2,000 older adults, with an average age of 70. The researchers assessed how five different types of exercises impacted participants’ sleep quality, measured by the Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GPSQI).

The exercises examined included aerobic activities like brisk walking and swimming, which elevate the heart rate; combination exercises such as yoga, which blend flexibility and relaxation; balance exercises like standing on one leg, which improves stability; flexibility workouts like gymnastics, which enhance mobility; and strength training, including weightlifting, which builds muscle.

Researchers noted that while aerobic exercise improved sleep by 3.76 points on the GPSQI scale, combination exercises contributed to a 2.54-point improvement. However, the most notable results came from strength and resistance training, which showed the greatest improvement in sleep, enhancing the GPSQI by 5.75 points.

Further analysis revealed that strength training had a Surface Under the Cumulative Ranking Curve (SUCRA) value of 94.6%, indicating it was the most effective exercise for improving sleep quality among all the options tested.

“This study shows that exercise, particularly strengthening exercise and aerobic exercise, is beneficial for enhancing subjective sleep quality at a clinically significant level compared with normal activities, which is consistent with previous studies,” the researchers wrote.

“Nevertheless, caution should be applied when interpreting this study because of the diverse exercise characteristics, the small number of studies, and the high risk of bias among studies,” they added.

The researchers also noted that the intensity of some exercises might pose challenges for older adults with limited physical abilities. This means that while certain exercises are highly beneficial, modifications or lower-intensity options may be necessary to ensure safety and effectiveness for all individuals.

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March 18, 2025
Lift Like a Pro: A Comprehensive Guide to Proper Form and Technique in Strength Training

As you step into the weight room or gym, you’re filled with a sense of excitement and determination to push yourself to new heights. You’ve got a workout plan in mind, and you’re ready to lift like a pro. But, have you ever wondered what sets the pros apart from the amateurs? Is it just a matter of brute strength, or is there more to it? The answer lies in proper form and technique.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll take a closer look at the essential principles of weightlifting, highlighting the do’s and don’ts of lifting like a pro. From understanding the importance of neutral spine alignment to mastering the art of controlled breathing, we’ll dive into the nitty-gritty details of powerlifting, strength training, and bodybuilding.

### Understanding the Fundamentals: A Primer on Lifting Like a Pro

Before diving headfirst into a weightlifting routine, it’s essential to understand the basics. Proper form and technique are the backbone of successful strength training. Here are some key takeaways to get you started:

#### The Importance of Neutral Spine Alignment

Good lifting form begins with proper spinal alignment. When lifting, maintain a neutral spine position, avoiding arching or rounding your back. This is crucial for generating power and preventing injury. Think of it as a tripod, with your feet, shoulders, and hips forming a stable base.

#### Controlled Breathing and Explosive Power

Proper breathing is often overlooked but is vital for generating explosive power. When lifting, exhale on the upward phase of the movement (e.g., when lifting the weight up) and inhale on the downward phase (e.g., when lowering the weight down). This allows for controlled breathing and helps optimize power output.

#### Keeping Tense and Focused

To maintain proper form, it’s essential to keep your muscles tense and focused throughout the lift. Think of it as a “micro-contracting” of the muscles involved. This helps maintain stability and reduces the risk of injury.

### The Art of Lifting: A Guide to Mastering the Fundamentals

With the basics in place, let’s move on to specific exercises and techniques. We’ll cover the essential lifts, including the squat, deadlift, bench press, and pull-up.

#### The Squat

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes slightly pointed outward.
2. Slowly lower yourself into a seated position, keeping the weight on your heels and keeping your back against the stack.
3. Push through your heels to return to standing, squeezing your glutes and quads.

#### The Deadlift

1. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing straight ahead.
2. Bend at the hips, keeping your back straight, and grasp the weight with an overhand grip.
3. Lift the weight to hip level, keeping your core engaged and your back upright.
4. Lower the weight, maintaining control, and return to the starting position.

#### The Bench Press

1. Lie on the bench with feet flat on the ground, gripping the bar with an overhand grip.
2. Slowly lower the weight to the chest, keeping the bar close to the smooth and the elbows slightly bent.
3. Press the weight upwards, squeezing the chest and front deltoids.

#### The Pull-up

1. Hang from the pull-up bar with an overhand grip or underhand grip, depending on your preference.
2. Engage your lats and pull yourself up, keeping your core and legs tense.
3. Pull yourself up until your chin is above the bar, then slowly lower yourself back down.

### Tips and Tricks for Lifting Like a Pro

Don’t have time to waste? Here are some quick tips to help you lift like a pro:

#### Start Small and Gradually Increase

Don’t try to lift too much too soon. Start with lighter weights and gradually increase as you build strength.

#### Focus on the Negative

The negative phase of the lift (the lowering phase) is just as important as the positive phase. Practice controlled lowering to avoid injury and optimize strength.

#### Use Visualization

Visualize your lifts before, during, and after the workout. Imagine the weight moving in your mind, and you’ll be surprised at how it helps with focus and form.

### Conquering Common Mistakes: A Guide to Avoiding Injury

It’s easy to get complacent and let poor form creep in, but neglecting proper form can lead to injury and plateaus. Be aware of these common mistakes:

#### Arching or Rounding the Back

Avoid arching or rounding your back, as this can put pressure on the spine and lead to injury.

#### Letting the Weight Drop

When lowering the weight, avoid letting it drop too quickly. This can cause loss of control and put unnecessary stress on the joints.

#### Using Your Shoulders

Avoid relying too heavily on your shoulders for support. Use your core and legs to keep the weight stable.

### Frequently Asked Questions

We’ve got you covered! Here are answers to your most pressing questions about lifting like a pro:

Q: What should I prioritize: strength or size?
A: Both! A well-balanced workout routine should focus on building strength and size.

Q: What if I don’t like the weight I’m lifting?
A: Don’t worry! Find a weight that’s challenging, but still allows for proper form. You can always increase later.

Q: How often should I lift?
A: Aim for 3-4 times a week, with at least a day’s rest in between.

Q: Can I do too much volume or frequency?
A: Yes! Overdoing it can lead to overtraining and demotivation. Be smart and adjust your workout routine accordingly.

### Conclusion

Lifting like a pro is within your reach, but it requires patience, dedication, and a willingness to learn. By following the guidelines outlined in this comprehensive guide, you’ll be well on your way to building strength, confidence, and a strong, resilient body. Remember to focus on proper form, controlled breathing, and explosive power. With practice, you’ll be lifting like a pro in no time!
lift-like-a-pro-a-comprehensive-guide-to-proper-form-and-technique-in-strength-training

March 18, 2025
Research Areas – Clinical Trials
Why Clinical Trials Are Critical to Progress against Cancer

Clinical trials are essential for moving new methods of preventing, diagnosing, and treating cancer from the laboratory to physicians’ offices and other clinical settings and, ultimately, to improve care and quality of life for people with cancer.

In clinical trials, researchers carefully and methodically test drugs, medical devices, screening approaches, behavioral modifications, and other interventions. Trials are used to answer many different clinical questions relevant to all aspects of health care, such as whether a treatment can prevent cancer in people at increased risk, whether a new drug can extend the lives of patients with advanced cancer, or whether specific treatment approaches can improve patients’ quality of life.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) typically requires proof of safety and effectiveness of a new anticancer drug in a large clinical trial before it can be used broadly in patient care.

In addition to testing new interventions, clinical trials can help determine the best use of existing interventions, test new approaches for increasing the number of people who seek follow-up care after a positive cancer screening test, and test ways to improve end-of-life care for patients.

How New Knowledge about Cancer Is Changing Clinical Trials

Over the last two decades, biomedical researchers have begun to unravel cancer’s immense complexity, drilling down to the molecular level to better understand the genetic and biological changes that drive how cancers develop, grow, and spread. Today, researchers are able to sequence the genome of an individual patient’s cancer more quickly and more cheaply than ever before, making precision medicine possible.

This greater understanding of cancer and how tumors behave at the molecular level has allowed scientists to develop a new generation of targeted drugs and immune-based therapies, identify biomarkers that can be used to guide therapy and select patients who are most likely to respond to a drug, and develop novel strategies to detect difficult-to-treat cancers early.

The practice of clinical trials is evolving to keep pace with these advances in the scientific understanding of cancer. Already, for example, investigators are conducting fewer very large trials in which all patients, regardless of the underlying biology of their cancers, are randomly assigned to receive the experimental or control treatment. These large trials often require large numbers of participants to detect an effect because, often, too few patients respond to the experimental therapy to draw a definitive conclusion.

NCI is adapting its clinical trials programs to build on new research insights that target molecular alterations and only test the experimental therapy in the selected population. This approach can increase the speed and efficiency of clinical trials, as only the patients most likely to benefit are included in the trial.
How NCI Programs Make a Difference

NCI has a broad array of programs that support clinical research, including programs that facilitate the development of new interventions, from the initial creation of candidate drugs in the lab to final testing in late-stage clinical trials.

Many NCI-supported clinical trials are designed not simply to test an intervention, but to identify the optimal approaches to treatment with the goal of improving patient outcomes. This includes trials that test combinations of therapies—including surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and new targeted agents—to determine which may be most beneficial in certain subgroups of patients. Trials like these are not typically supported by the private sector.

A hallmark of NCI trials is a commitment to involving participants who are representative of the US population—including patients of different racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds—to ensure that trial findings are broadly applicable. In addition, data and specimens from NCI-supported trials are made available to researchers worldwide to further scientific discovery.

NCI-supported trials also incorporate translational endpoints, measures that can be used to inform translation of the findings beyond the study population. This allows investigators to learn from both positive and negative findings, and it means that trial findings may be used to inform more than just patient outcome.

Early-Phase Clinical Trials: Building on Basic and Preclinical Advances

Early-phase clinical trials, which test promising new agents in small numbers of patients, are critical to developing new cancer treatments and interventions. These initial trials set the stage for the larger trials needed to determine whether a drug is safe and effective. As cancer therapy becomes more precisely targeted to the unique molecular profile of a patient’s tumor, early-phase trials are taking on greater importance.

NCI Trials at the NIH Clinical Center

The researcher-physicians in NCI’s Center for Cancer Research conduct hundreds of trials each year at the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD—the only hospital in the world dedicated solely to medical research. Many of these small trials test cutting-edge treatments and technologies, often in patients with advanced cancers that no longer respond to standard therapy. These trials test new treatment and supportive care approaches, and lay the foundation for similar trials to be conducted at NCI-supported centers across the country.

Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN)

The NCI Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network conducts early-stage trials of targeted therapies and combinations of therapies and is an important venue for identifying promising new treatments to test in late-stage trials funded by NCI and the private sector.

ETCTN trials enroll patients based on the molecular profiles of their tumors. Comprehensive molecular analyses of patients’ tumor and blood samples and advanced imaging studies are built into many ETCTN trials to measure specific functional changes in patient’s tumors or to identify biomarkers that may predict response to treatment.

ETCTN includes a comprehensive process for designing and launching trials, including the formation of drug-specific project teams made up of investigators with expertise in clinical, translational, and basic sciences. These investigators, from within and outside NCI, have expertise in the drugs being tested, the molecular targets of the drug or drug class, and the disease being studied. Among other tasks, the teams formulate proposals for early-stage trials of a given drug or drug combination.

Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet)

The Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network (CP-CTNet) performs early phase clinical trials to assess the safety, tolerability, and cancer preventive potential of agents and interventions of varying classes, many of which target molecules or processes known to be important during carcinogenesis. These trials include phase 0 (micro-dosing), phase I (dose-finding), and phase II (preliminary efficacy) clinical trials. The goal is to identify safe and effective preventive interventions in order to advance their further clinical development for cancer prevention.

Phase II and Phase III Trials: Testing Effectiveness

Phase II clinical trials provide additional evidence of biological effects against cancers, and phase III trials provide the most definitive evidence for whether a drug or treatment is effective. NCI supports a wide array of late-stage and community-based clinical trials. As part of NCI’s clinical trials programs, more than 3,100 institutions and 14,000 investigators have been involved, and 20,000 to 25,000 patients have been enrolled in clinical treatment and advanced imaging trials each year over the past decade.

National Clinical Trials Network (NCTN)

The cornerstone of NCI’s transformed clinical trials program, the NCTN is a network of organizations and clinicians that conduct large phase II and phase III clinical trials across the United States and Canada that help to establish new standards of care, set the stage for FDA approval of new therapies, test new approaches to radiation therapy and surgery, and validate new biomarkers. NCTN provides an infrastructure for NCI-funded treatment, screening, and diagnosis trials at over 3,000 clinical trials sites.

NCTN supports several precision medicine trials that use genomic screening to identify patients who are appropriate for the trials and will match patients to the appropriate intervention arm of the trial based on the molecular profiles of their tumors. By testing treatments that are tailored to the underlying biology of patients’ tumors, these trials are designed to overcome some of the greatest challenges facing cancer research: increasing the success rate of clinical trials and the speed with which safe and effective cancer therapies are made available to patients.

These trials also contribute to another important NCI goal: increasing collaboration with the private sector to improve access to promising investigational drugs or combinations of therapies.

NCI Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP)

NCORP is a national network of investigators, cancer care providers, academic institutions, and other organizations that conduct multisite cancer clinical trials and studies of diverse populations in community-based health care systems across the United States and Puerto Rico. NCORP brings cancer clinical trials and cancer care delivery research to individuals in their own communities.

Treatment, imaging, prevention, screening, health-related quality of life, and comparative effectiveness trials are generating a broadly applicable evidence base that contributes to improved patient outcomes and a reduction in cancer disparities. The scope of NCORP also extends to the study of how health care delivery settings and organizations may affect treatment outcomes or preventive interventions.

Cancer Screening Research Network (CSRN)

CSRN conducts rigorous multicenter trials and studies with large and diverse populations to evaluate promising and emerging cancer screening technologies. These cancer screening trials and studies aim to improve the early detection of cancer and reduce cancer-related deaths. This national network includes teams of primary care physicians and specialists who actively engage in cancer screening and can enroll participants into trials.

CSRN research addresses questions related to issues of cancer screening, including efficacy, effectiveness, best practices, and implementation. This research evaluates the benefits and harms of promising new technologies for cancer screening to determine how best to use those technologies.

In 2024, CSRN will begin enrolling healthy people in a pilot Vanguard study to prepare for a larger randomized controlled trial to evaluate multicancer detection tests.

Correlative and Quality of Life Studies: Improving Standard Clinical Practice

The Biomarker, Imaging and Quality of Life Studies Funding Program (BIQSFP)

BIQSFP supports biomarker, imaging, and quality-of-life studies that are embedded in NCTN clinical trials. These studies will often be used to identify or validate targets for new drugs and investigate new tests that can predict whether a patient will respond to a given treatment, as well as test ways to enhance clinical trial design and improve clinical trial accrual and retention.
How NCI Is Supporting Cutting-Edge Clinical Trials

With a greater reliance on sophisticated technologies and more complex clinical trial designs, NCI has assembled a host of programs that provide important resources for researchers and institutions to lead and participate in NCI-supported trials. These resources help to streamline trial operations, improve efficiency, and reduce administrative burdens.

This support allows the clinicians and care providers who run trials more time to focus on patient care and research. These programs include:

Coordinating Center for Clinical Trials (CCCT)

The CCCT manages the expert scientific steering committees that review proposed trials and provide scientific expertise and guidance, coordinates the NCI clinical trials oversight committees—the Clinical Trials and Translational Research Advisory Committee (CTAC) and the Clinical and Translational Research Operations Committee (CTROC)—and facilitates clinical trial data reporting.

NCI Central Institutional Review Board (CIRB)

The CIRB provides human subjects protection review of studies for NCI’s national multicenter cancer trials networks. Institutions across the country rely on the CIRB’s national experts to ensure that studies are reviewed efficiently and with the highest ethical standards. The CIRB is structured to greatly reduce the administrative burden for institutions participating in NCI-sponsored clinical trials.

Cancer Trials Support Unit (CTSU)

The CTSU provides researchers with easy-to-access online information about NCI-sponsored clinical trials with the goal of speeding accrual and enrollment to these trials. The CTSU provides investigators and their staff with a uniform approach to managing regulatory requirements and patient enrollment in trials, as well as providing funding information and educational materials for each trial.

Clinical Trials Innovation Unit (CTIU)

The CTIU is an authoritative body made up of experts from NCI, FDA, academia, and the private sector that aims to improve clinical trials and facilitate the testing of innovative cancer biomarkers and treatments. The CTIU seeks input from the research community on ways to bring new cancer treatments to people more quickly. Proposals for clinical trials will be considered about three times a year.

National Clinical Trials Network Tissue Banks

The NCTN groups collect and store tissue from patients in NCTN trials in a harmonized network of tissue banks. Standard protocols have been developed to ensure that the tissue collected is of the highest quality. Computerized records of the stored samples will have important clinical details, such as the treatments received by the patients from whom the tissue was taken, treatment response, and patient outcome. Participants in NCTN trials may consent to the use of their tissue specimens for studies beyond the NCTN trial in which they are enrolled. A web-based system allows any researcher, including one who is not affiliated with the NCTN, to query the system about the availability of tissue that meets certain criteria and track the review and approval process of any request to use samples.

NCI Formulary

This public–private partnership between NCI and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies will give investigators at NCI-Designated Cancer Centers quicker access to approved and investigational agents for use in cancer clinical trials. Eligible investigators will be able to apply for access to agents from the available formulary list and test them in new preclinical or clinical studies, including combination studies of formulary agents from different companies.
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March 18, 2025
‘Don’t Push Too Hard,’ Warns Coach After Neck Artery Tear From Squats Trigger Strokes

Gym enthusiasts who pride themselves on pushing their limits for the perfect lift should take a moment to listen to the cautionary note of a gym instructor who suffered strokes after tearing her neck artery during squats.

The 33-year-old fitness coach Bridgette Salatin from Ohio is still dealing with memory issues two years after the catastrophic stroke. Now easing back into her gym routine with lighter weights, she warns others: “Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Salatin remembers the moment it happened; she was midway through a 70kg barbell squat when she suddenly felt dizzy, followed by a “really bad” headache. She had not eaten or slept enough the night before and had pushed her limits, holding her breath before lifting the weight.

“When I woke up that day, I had a pain in my neck but I thought I’d probably just slept on it funny. I was squatting and I had a barbell on my back. I started to get a really bad headache,” Salatin said.

The sharp pain shot from her shoulders to her right temple before she collapsed to the ground. Later, she learned the intense strain had torn an artery in her neck, triggering three mini-strokes.

Doctors also diagnosed Salatin with occipital neuralgia, a painful neurological condition caused by injury or inflammation of the occipital nerves, which run through the scalp. The condition can result from pinched nerves, muscle tightness in the neck, or a head or neck injury.

“They did a few scans on me and they said ‘you’ve had a stroke’ but how in the world does that happen at the age of 31? I felt an instant grief. I thought ‘I’ve failed myself’ and ‘am I ever going to be right again?’. I felt like I lost a sense of myself,” she recollected.

Although months of bed rest and blood thinners helped her recover, Salatin said her life has never been the same, even two years later.

“My short-term memory is gone and doing everyday things is hard for me. I used to teach a yoga class that was strictly on learning headstands but I can’t do that anymore,” she said.

She now urges others to start with lighter weights and find a balance between pushing limits and avoiding injury.

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March 17, 2025
The MindQuell

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March 17, 2025
Threads of Connection: 3 Ways to Overcome Loneliness Through Creativity
When connecting with others feels difficult, making crafts can offer a universal language that welcomes everyone and forges new bonds while exploring our creative side.
Loneliness is something we have all felt at one time or another. For some, it’s a fleeting feeling; for others, it’s a constant weight. This intense sense of loneliness has become so widespread that it’s now recognized as a public health epidemic, even at a time when we’re more digitally connected than ever. How is it that, despite endless communication at our fingertips, so many of us still feel profoundly alone? Perhaps it’s because loneliness isn’t just the absence of people—it’s the absence of true connection; the kind that makes us feel seen, heard, and understood. So, how do we bridge this gap?

There is no single answer to this issue. Some of us will turn to exercise, others to digital connections or therapy. Yet, a powerful tool that is often overlooked is the simple act of crafting.

Crafting has the power to pull us out of isolation and into shared spaces of creativity. It transcends the barriers of age, background, and ability, offering a universal language of connection.

Crafting has long served as a way for people to express sentiments that can’t always be put into words. But crafting can go even further, providing a meaningful way to combat loneliness and foster community. It has the power to pull us out of isolation and into shared spaces of creativity. It transcends the barriers of age, background, and ability, offering a universal language of connection. For those who are homebound, in particular, crafting can act as a window to the world and remind them they’re not alone.

How Creativity Nurtures Your Brain—and Your Relationships

Beyond the social benefits, crafting is a wonderful tool to nurture the mind. It’s focused nature, almost akin to meditation, can reduce anxiety and stress, calming racing thoughts. Have you ever felt so immersed in a project that time seems to disappear? That’s the magic of creating, and the science backs it up. When we engage in artistic tasks, the brain releases dopamine, a feel-good neurotransmitter that lifts our mood and reinforces neural pathways that keep the mind active and healthy. It comes as no surprise, then, that a recent UK study on arts and crafts found that engaging in creative activities significantly boosts people’s sense of satisfaction with their lives.

This blend of creativity, connection, and healing can be harnessed in so many ways, as I’ve discovered over the years. My team and I organized an annual crafting event called CREATE that is now in its 10th edition. This year, more than 2,300 people came together from all over the country for three days of virtual crafting. Once again, the CREATE community challenged outdated misconceptions about who engages in crafting. Attendees are rarely limited to one demographic; instead, they show that creativity is accessible to anyone with a desire to make.

Crafting isn’t just about creating beautiful things; it’s about fostering bonds we may have never otherwise had the chance to form.

What struck me most was the way crafting created space for genuine connection. I met an attendee whose story resonated with my own in a deeply personal way. We got to talking, only to find out that our grandmothers shared the same name, and our mothers passed away in the same year. In that moment, as we swapped stories and worked with our hands, I felt the presence of my lost loved ones in the room. The experience was more than a coincidence, but a reminder that crafting isn’t just about creating beautiful things; it’s about fostering bonds we may have never otherwise had the chance to form.

3 Ways to Connect Through Creative Activities

If you’re inspired to weave more creativity and connection into your life, here are a few ways to get started:
1. Host a Crafting “Connection Night”: Turn an ordinary evening into a meaningful gathering by inviting friends, neighbors, family, or others in your community for a night of simple crafting, either in person or virtually. No special skills needed—choose easy projects like card-making, painting, or DIY decor that anyone can enjoy. For virtual sessions, platforms like Zoom or Google Meet make it easy to create together from the comfort of your own home. Focus on the joy of being together rather than the outcome of the projects.
2. Take Your Crafting Out in Public: Bring your crafting out into the open and transform it into a community-building experience. Take your supplies to a park, a café, or a library. You might be surprised at who you meet: fellow crafters, curious passersby, or people who share your passion for creativity. The simple act of crafting in public helps create spontaneous connections and reminds us that community can often be found in the most unexpected places.
3. Teach a Crafting Skill to Someone Else: Sharing your crafting skills is a beautiful way to connect. Whether you love scrapbooking, knitting, or making jewelry, try reaching out to your community and invite them to join you in a simple project. The experience of teaching is about more than just passing on your technique, but about creating moments of shared joy. As you guide someone through the creative process, you open the door for conversation, laughter, and the kind of connection that lasts long after the project is done.
As you dive into your own creative journey, remember that every project holds the potential for connection. Crafting can be so much more than an activity, but only if we’re intentional about using it as a bridge to form deeper relationships and fight off loneliness.
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March 17, 2025