Sir Arthur Conan Doyle consider the brain as an “empty attic.” He recognized the need to stock it with metaphoric furniture, the choices of which are left up to each individual. Two important cognitive functions occurring up in that attic of yours are listening and being creativity. Here are tips for polishing both these metaphoric pieces of furniture.

LISTENING

“The essence of genius,” according to William James, “is to know what to overlook.” And, author Mitchell Posner urges us to be “ecologists” as far as information is concerned. Here are exercises to help you be ” as far as listening is concerned, to help you avoid verbal pollution.

In the center of a clean sheet of paper, draw a circle. Ask a friend to find a dense paragraph from an article. (Or, to simply go on and on about some topic for a few minutes.) Then extract three key words from the verbally- inflated paragraph that he or she spoke aloud. Write those words in the circle. Now that you have the essence of what you heard, use the three words to prompt your memory about the most important things you heard. Check with your friend to see if you have captured the main points.

This exercises not only sharpens your listening skills, but your verbal fluidity skills as well. Ask a friend to talk about an enjoyable experience and to stop unexpectedly after a few minutes. You are to take one word from the last sentence uttered and use it to begin speaking about something you enjoy doing. Stop unexpectedly and have the other person continue the conversation using one word from the last sentence you spoke.

Next, give some thought to barriers that can impede the listening process. Can you list 20 of them? Then consider which of these you can control. Finally, engage in a dialog that refutes Dr. Leo Buscagli, who said, “Most conversations are just alternating monologues-the question is, is there any real listening going on?”

CREATIVITY

Creativity is the result, in very large measure, of the belief that we are creative. To develop your creativity muscles, periodically ask yourself: “What if… ?” and “What could this be used for?” questions.

Convergent responses are typical, expected, logical. For example, asked how one gets to Heaven, you’d probably say something like “Follow the Golden Rule.” Ask this question of a divergently-oriented child, though, and you might hear, “Go to Hell and take a left!” Or, “You need the God elevator.” Or, “You need to buy a really big trampoline.”

Think divergently about these questions:

What number does not belong with the others?

3810 6024 4816 1452

What letter belongs in the blank? FMAMJJASO ____

What letter belongs in the blank? OTTFFSSE ____

What national holiday do these letters represent?

ABCDEFGHIJKMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

CHALLENGE YOURSELF

Think of the symbolism associated with causes and colors. For example, we tied yellow ribbons on trees to show support for hostages in Iran. If the head of your organization asked you to create a new ribbon design, what would it look like? What message would it express? What initials would be meaningful? What color?

One of the best ways to engender creative possibilities is to put things together that normally are not aligned. (Anne Geddes did this with babies and vegetables.) List ten disparate items: “peacock” and “eraser,” for example. Then search among those items for a solution to a workplace problem or for an improvement to an existing situation.

Remember that Einstein regarded imagination as more important than knowledge. Try creating some unique metaphors to describe your workplace or your neighborhood or your life.

A PLACE FOR NONSENSE

Building those brain cells can be hard work. To offset the ardors of cognitive development, it’s okay to indulge in mental “junk food” occasionally. Be heartened by Dr. Seuss, who admitting to this indulgence. “I like nonsense,” he admitted. “It wakes up the brain cells.”

Answer: 1-,4816, (If you add the digits in the other three numbers, they add up to 12. 4816 adds up to 19.) 2-N. (The other letters are the first letters in the twelve months of the year.), 3-N, again. (The other letters represent the first letters in a counting sequence from One to Eight.), 4- Christmas, because there is no “L” in the list.

I have no idea of the validity of the following speculation, but I thought I’d just throw it out into the ether and see how it resonates.

Two of the real biggies when it comes to 1) physics, and 2) neurology / psychology are 1) wave – particle duality, and 2) mind – brain (or body) duality. Could the former assist in explaining the latter? If particles can turn into waves, can brain-matter turn into brain-waves and thus a manifestation of what we call the mind?

Let’s define the ‘immaterial’ or the ‘non-physical’ as something that falls outside of our normal perceptions inherent in our standard biological sensory apparatus. For example, nearly all of the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. – radio waves), magnetic fields, ultra-high or low frequency ‘sounds’, etc. While that might be true in a limited sense, it’s not entirely true since we now have technological sensory instruments that can detect what is ‘immaterial’ or ‘non-physical’ to our biological sensory instruments. Anyway, by this definition, our mind (or soul, psyche, essence, personality, consciousness, self-awareness, etc.) is ‘immaterial’ or ‘non-physical’ since you can’t see, hear, taste, touch or smell your mind or the minds of others. Your mind lies outside of your standard biological sensory apparatus. So is your mind like radio waves or something else (or nothing else) entirely?

Your standard five senses detects whatever aspects of reality external to your brain (that includes your body) it can, albeit with inherently build in limitations – your senses cannot detect that you are slightly radioactive for example. Part of what your five standard senses cannot detect is your mind. Yet clearly you can detect your mind, your consciousness, your self-awareness (“I think, therefore I am”). So, I conclude that there must be some sort of sensory apparatus inside your brain which detects your mind*. The $64,000 question is what actually is the brain’s sensory mechanism(s) or structure(s) for sensing or detecting the mind?

However, much like your standard five senses, this ‘sixth sense’ inherent within your brain also shuts down when you go to sleep. When you sleep you have no awareness of your mind, no consciousness, no self-awareness, no sense of self-identity, just like you have no sense of slight, of taste, of smell, of sound or of touch under ordinary circumstances (i.e. – a loud clap of thunder might register and wake you up back into a state of consciousness).

If the brain can detect the mind, then the mind has to be composed of or consist of a something, albeit a something that our normal externally oriented senses couldn’t detect – like radio waves or the body’s radioactivity. Now the brain itself is usually stimulated by the senses by what are called electro-chemical signals or electrical impulses (i.e. – particles) and are measured as ‘brain waves’ by an electroencephalogram (EEG). There’s a conversion between the electro-chemical signals or electrical impulses that is brain activity and the resulting wave nature of the EEG readout based upon that instrumentation. The EEG instrumentation is a sensory mechanism that detects brain activity. So there’s no question in this case of the corresponding particle-to-wave nature. Now does the brain provide its own biological or neurological instrumentation to detect the very waves it must produce or create if the wave – particle duality inherent in quantum physics is correct? Well since your brain detects your mind, the answer must clearly be “yes”.

But are these brain waves signs of what we call manifestations of the mind? You exhibit brain waves 24/7/52 – even when you sleep – but then too your mind has to exist even when you sleep even if you’re not aware of it since you have awareness of a mind before you go to sleep and immediately after you wake up from sleep. If you exhibit no ‘brain waves’ then you are clinically dead.

So is the mind a wave phenomenon akin to water waves or pressure waves (i.e. – sound) or electromagnetic waves? Just because a wave is a something doesn’t mean that all waves can be detected by the biological sensory apparatus we all have, and so those waves we can’t detect we can label as ‘immaterial’ or ‘non-physical’ (i.e. – radio waves) and we’ve already noted you can’t detect the mind with our five senses. But the brain can both detect waves and give off waves since the brain’s electro-chemical signals or electrical impulses are particles and we all know about wave – particle duality.

With all of the numerous electro-chemical signals or electrical impulse activities going on in the brain, all producing brain waves of one sort or another, you’re bound to get lots of wave-interference patterns. Speculation: differing wave-interference patterns correspond to differing mental (mind) states no two of which are ever absolutely identical. Like the detector screen in the quantum double-slit experiment, your brain is the detector and can interpret what these ever changing wave-interference patterns signify and thus you know what state your mind is in.

So do we have a parallel between mind – brain duality and wave – particle duality? The brain consists of the particles; the mind consists of the waves. But what sort of waves (and associated wavelengths / frequencies)? The answer most probably is within the realm of electromagnetic waves.

So electro-chemical and electrical impulse particles part and parcel of brain activity can manifest itself as wave (brain wave) activity and some specific structure(s) in the brain can detect these waves (like your eyes can detect visible light waves) and convert and collate them back into electrical signals which your brain interprets as the mind just like other parts of your brain detects sight via your eyes and optic nerve (albeit I’m sure that’s a massive oversimplification).

The conversion of electro-chemical and electrical impulse particles to waves happens of course all over the body but there’s no wave detector(s) in the non-brain parts of your body to register and interpret them. Therefore the mind is just associated with the brain and not say with the liver or even the heart (despite lots and lots of mythology to the contrary). The heart just pumps blood – that’s it.

One upshot of all of this is that if some of our brain-generated electromagnetic waves leak outside of our skulls on some rare occasions, then by chance, albeit extremely rarely, others could pick up on those and of course the reverse is true too – telepathy anyone? However, it would be extremely rare just like you could have a radio that can tune into 10,000 stations, and there happen to be 10,000 stations but only one is broadcasting. What odds your radio would just happened to be tuned to just that lone station? Further, the standard inverse-square law would suggest that any brain-generated wave signals you might be broadcasting would dilute pretty rapidly to below threshold detection levels.

*The brain can detect the mind (assuming you want to differentiate the two) – but then again (if you don’t wish to differentiate the two), how can the brain detect the brain when the brain is also carrying out lots of activities you (i.e. – your brain) have absolutely no awareness of at all?

What is Brain Cancer?

Brain cancer is an abnormal growth of cells in the brain. Typically, cells stop dividing after they grow old. But cancer cells are forever young and keep on dividing. So, there is a buildup of cells in a particular region of the brain, which grows into a tumor. Some tumors are benign and stay in the same place while malignant or cancerous tumors spread to other parts of the body.

What causes this malignant tumor?

The causative agent of brain cancer is not clearly known. It could be caused due to virus or exposure to harmful radiations and carcinogens. Cancer could even be a genetic condition.

How to Prevent this Cancerous Condition?

Even with the latest developments in the field of medicine, we have not yet come up with an effective treatment for cancer. So, we should look for ways to prevent this disease. The top three tips for helping prevent brain cancer are:

Avoid Exposure to Carcinogens

The best way to keep cancer away is by staying away from carcinogens. There are many substances that have been proved to have cancer-causing effects. If you’re living in an area that has a chemical factory, which releases harmful carcinogens into the air, then move away from that place. Though not conclusively proved, studies have shown that radiations from the cell phone could be carcinogenic. So, keep your cell phone away from you, especially during nighttime. It has been well researched that cigarettes have plenty of chemicals that could cause lung cancer. These harmful chemicals may have a detrimental effect on the brain too.

Say YES to Healthy Food

In most indigenous medical practices, food is medicine. These treatment techniques use different types of food to build immunity and treat diseases. Add lean meat, garlic, walnut, linseed and fishes to your diet as they are rich in omega 3-fatty acids, which helps prevent cancer. Apple, spinach, broccoli, pineapple and other vegetables and fruits rich in antioxidants help improve your immune system.

Check Your Family’s Medical History

Sometimes cancer could be genetically passed from generation to generation. So, check your family’s medical history to find out if there is anyone in the family tree who may have suffered from the disease. If yes, then go for a medical checkup at the earliest to rule out any chances of getting this disease. Most cancer conditions can be treated during the early stages, so get a complete health checkup done immediately.

In 2012, 13,700 people died from brain or nervous system cancer and there were 22,910 new cases reported – that's just one year. So many people are impacted by cancer whether as a patient or a relative or friend of a patient; because of this, people are always concerned that they will become one of those statistics.

So what do you need to know?

Let's start with what a tumor actually is. Basically, tumors are abnormal cells that grow at a faster rate than normal cells. A tumor can be benign (meaning not malignant) or malignant ([m uh -lig-n uh nt] meaning cancerous)

There are many different types of brain tumors. First, primary brain tumors are tumors that begin in the brain (not traveling from another part of the body). Any primary tumor refers to the type of tissue where the tumor first appeared. The most common brain tumors are call gliomas (that's pronounced glahy-oh-m uh ). A secondary tumor is one in which the cells travel from another area of ​​the body – so a in the brain, a secondary tumor would be cells that traveled into the brain (via blood stream) and burrowed in and started multiplying cells in its new home .

There are a couple types of gliomas:

Astrocytomas (pronounced't s'trÅ -sÄ «-tÅ 'mÉ ™) – this is a cluster of star-shaped cells referred to as astrocytes. These can grow anywhere in the brain or spinal cord; but there are general pattern that seems to occur. Astrocytomas are most often found in the brain for adults but in the brain stem in children.

Most people know that cancer has many grades – I, II, III, and IV. Identifying cancer early allows a patient to be treated quickly and more effectively.

Anaplastic astrocytoma : This is a grade III astrocytoma.

Glioblastoma multiforme (pronounced glee-o-blas-TO-ma multih-FOR-may): This is a grade IV astrocytoma.

My brother died from a grade IV, glioblastoma multiforme, when he was 49 years old. We didn't know the signs that indicated he was in trouble. Obviously, we wish we had. Now I tell people what signs to look for so that they can get treatment in time and not go through the ugliness of dying from a brain tumor.

Check Out These Signs

The most frequent symptoms of brain tumors include:

• Headaches that tend to be worse in the morning and ease during the day
• Seizures (convulsions) – what my brother experienced was little spaces of time that he couldn't account for. For example, while ordering food in a restaurant, he would suddenly stop talking – that was the extent of his seizure for many years until he had a grand mal seizure (that's the kind of seizure with convulsions).
• Nausea or vomiting
• Weakness or loss of feeling in the arms or legs
• Stumbling or lack of coordination in walking (ataxic gait)
• Abnormal eye movements or changes in vision
• Drowsiness
• Changes in personality or memory
• Changes in speech: My brother lost his ability to speak well; this was because the tumor was in his speech center in his brain. This became one of our biggest clues to his condition.

Don't overlook any of these signs or symptoms in the people you love. Educating yourself and being observant may just help someone you know get the help they need before it's too late.

There has been a lot of research into the brain and we home schoolers have learned many fascinating and amazing things from neuroscientists. Probably the most amazing fact about our brain is that it is constantly changing and growing. Scientists call this neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity – a big word but one that is important as we think about teaching kids and actively engaging their brains. According to Judy Willis, a neurologist and educator, neuroplasticity is defined as the selective organizing of connections between neurons in our brains. Basically, what scientists have discovered is that as we learn new things, our brains actually change and physically grow. Throughout our lives, our brains are growing and changing and making new connections as we learn new things and experience new situations.

Neural Connections

As we learn, neural connections are made. The more we use those connections, the stronger the connections become. “Cells that fire together, wire together” has been a saying among neuroscientists since the late 1990s. When we perform tasks or recall some information that causes different neurons to fire together, the connections between these cells become stronger. As we continue to do the task and associate the information, those connections become strong links between various parts of the brain.

Not only do our brains make neural connections, but depending on the activity, parts of our brains can even grow. Think about how when you exercise your arm muscles, they tend to grow – become stronger and get bigger. Our brains work the same way. If we are doing an activity or learning concepts that use specific parts of our brains, that part will physically change and grow.

This works throughout our lives. Consider how important it is, then, to begin to build useful connections even in young children. As they gain information, connections are made that become strong. When new information is presented, it is added to these connections and becomes a permanent part of their thought processes.

Things to Think About When Home School Teaching

We can start by telling our children that intelligence is not static. It is something that is malleable and they can work to change. When they know they can grow and change, children are more likely to actually do so.

Practice makes perfect. As children practice with a concept by repeating activities, retrieving memories, and reviewing material, strong neural pathways are built.

Remember to teach in context. Learning is the making of new or stronger neural connections so we need to tap into what children already know. Teach so that your children see the connection between the new information and what they already know.

Help children to understand that this is how the brain works. As they realize that they have control over their learning, they are able to change their brains through study and review.

Homeschool Application

As we teach our homeschool kids a subject like science, for example, we need to constantly be thinking about how to make these neural connections stronger and real. By not being afraid to teach the principles of science, even to young children, we are building pathways that will connect them to even deeper information as they get into high school and college. Apply what they are learning not just to science but also to the other content areas. Learning the history of how a concept has developed, taking the language and understanding it, and finding out how people have thought about the concept helps children to build connections that become stronger and easily accessible the next time they come across new information.

Most importantly, remember that our brains are not done growing. There is more to do and to learn. The job of a homeschool parent is never done.

Until recently, there had been a lack of information about the health risks from cell phones by doctors and scientists in the Unites States and Canada. Dr. Ronald B. Herberman's recommendation to drastically reduce the use of cell phones, especially with children, has begun to shine a light on the information regarding phone radiation that has been lacking in the US Dr. Herberman is by no means the first to bring attention to the dangers of cell phone radiation.

Research by University of Washington professor Dr. Henry Lai shows brain cells are clearly damaged by microwave levels far below the US government 'safety' guidelines. Dr. Lai notes that even tiny doses of radio frequency can accumulate over time and lead to harmful effects. He warns that public exposure to radiation from wireless transmitters 'should be limited to a minimum.'

Dr. Henry Lai's studies confirm that cell and cordless phone microwave can:

• Damage nerves in the scalp
• Cause blood cells to leak hemoglobin
• Cause memory loss and mental confusion
• Cause headaches and induce extreme fatigue
• Create joint pain, muscle spasms and tremors
• Create burning sensation and rash on the skin
• Alter the brain's electrical activity during sleep
• Induce ringing in the ears, impair sense of smell
• Precipitate cataracts, retina damage and eye cancer
• Open the blood-brain barrier to viruses and toxins
• Reduce the number and efficiency of white blood cells
• Stimulate asthma by producing histamine in mast cells
• Cause digestive problems and raise bad cholesterol levels
• Stress the endocrine system, especially pancreas, thyroid, ovaries, and testes

For the last 40 years everyone has been told of the dangers of smoking. Today, wireless phone research stands where smoking research stood then. Recent news has stated that cell and cordless phones can lead to brain tumors. Dr. Vini Gautam Khurana, a Mayo Clinic-trained neurosurgeon with an advanced neurosurgery fellowship in cerebral vascular and tumor microsurgery from the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, published a critical review stating that "malignant brain tumor incidence and its associated death rate will be observed globally to rise within the next 10 years due to cell phone use. " Dr. Khurana believes that children are at the greatest risk due to brain tissue that is developing. Still today, with the dangers we know about smoking, hundreds of thousands of people die yearly from smoking related ailments. Dr. George Carlo, Ph.D, MS, JD, is a public health scientist, epidemiologist, lawyer, and the founder of the Science and Public Policy Institute, believes that by 2015, "one out of every four people will suffer from some symptom of illness from cell phone use. " Starting today, we need to limit the use of cell phones, especially among children, and eliminate non-essential calls.

Our most precious resource, our nation's children are exposed to a risk that no one seems to notice: cell phone radiation. While scientists around the world are pressuring their local governments to restrict the use of wireless devices by children, the US and Canada do nothing. Go to any mall, movie theater, or school and you'll see young people all with one ear to the newest devices on the market. The brain of a child is constantly developing, undergoing changes and obtaining more information in a few short years at a rate that won't be matched for the rest of their lives. Add to this the radiation from cell phone exposure through the inner ear and it creates a laboratory with unknown consequences. Studies over the last five years have shown that the rate at which children develop autism is concurrent with increased cell phone use. The studies also suggest the electromagnetic radiation from wireless devices (like cell phones) in conjunction with environmental and genetic factors all increase the incidence of autism.

With the prevalence of the link of cell phone use to cancer in the media as of late, professions other than just those in the medical community are beginning to take notice. The article Cell Phone Use and Cancer: The Debate Continues from LawyersandSettlements.com discusses the possible link of Senator Ted Kennedy's brain tumor to cell phone radiation from a Larry King Live show whose topic dealt with cell phones.

On May 23, 2008, The Larry King Show's topic was "Are Cell Phones Dangerous?" CNN Medical Director, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, was very supportive of the fact that mobile phones could be dangerous. Guests on the program that evening included Johnnie Cochran's widow and his neurosurgeon. Johnnie Cochran had died from a brain tumor three years ago. At that time, his daughter had attributed his death to his cell phone use. The tumor which killed him was located behind the ear he had used while talking on his phone.

Near the end of the program, Dr. Gupta made two suggestions which he felt would decrease the potential risk from mobile phone usage:

• Use a case on your hip to hold your phone.
• Use a wired headset to keep the cell phone away from the ear.

Both of these suggestions are wrong!

The reason why carrying a mobile phone on the hip isn't any safer than carrying it in your pocket is the fact that it transmits radiation directly into the body while your cell phone is on. For men, studies done by the American Society for Reproductive Health have shown that this radiation affects men's fertility and can lower sperm count. For pregnant women, carrying a mobile phone this way may affect the unborn child's future behavioral patterns, according to a recent UCLA study. What should be done is when the cell phone is not being used, shut it off.

As for wired headsets, studies in Europe by one of the most influential consumer protection organizations concluded that wired headsets increase radiation into the ear by as much as 300%! Bluetooth devices are nearly as dangerous since the signal from the phone transmits radiation directly into the ear.

Abnormal growth of the cells in the brain is termed as brain tumor. This type of tumor may begin in the brain itself or arise as an offshoot from other types of cancers. Primary tumor or cancer that originates in the brain is of many types such as meningioma, acoustic neuroma, pineoblastoma, ependymoma and oligodendroglioma. The name of the cancer is derived from the type of cell that the cancer originates from. Brain cancer is almost always lethal and could lead to a suite of other health problems. Due to its highly intricate nature, brain cancer study is going on at a very slow pace.

The top 3 causes of brain cancer are:

DNA Mutation

Cancer occurs when the cell loses its ability to die. In plain speaking, the cells become immortal. And they start multiplying quickly and proliferate at great speeds. It is believed that this change occurs in the cell due to a mutation (change) in the DNA structure of the cell. The abnormal cells have no place to move and start lumping in the location, creating bumps or tumors that we see. Soon, these cells start infecting other cells and make them cancerous.

Age and Gender

Though people of all ages have the risk of getting brain cancer, the rate of occurrence becomes higher with increasing age. Statistics has shown that men are more prone to this brain disease than women. Females, on the other hand, have more non-cancerous type of tumors.

Heredity

Genetic conditions also have a major role in causing cancer. Children of cancer patients are more prone to this disease.

Medical Conditions

It has been found that those suffering from medical conditions such as Neurofibromatosis, Turcot syndrome, Gorlin syndrome, Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome, AIDS and Li-Fraumeni syndrome are more prone to cancer.

Miscellaneous Causes

The harmful UV rays have been found to be one of the major causes of skin cancer. Whether these rays damage the cells of the brain is yet to be studied. Smoking, alcohol, hair dye and other chemicals are believed to be carcinogens (cancer-causing agents). Recently there are a lot of studies about how use of mobile phones could be linked to brain cancer. Some research studies also link brain cancer to living in proximity to areas that have high power lines. It is believed that children who are exposed to radiotherapy for other treatments could have a higher risk of brain cancer.

There are many common types of childhood brain and spinal cord tumors. If your child has recently been diagnosed with a tumor in the central nervous system, it is essential that you work to learn as much as you possibly can pertaining to the condition. The first step is to gain an understanding of the most common tumors that affect children.

In this medical guide, you will learn just that. Childhood brain and spinal cord tumors are often quite challenging to contend with overall as far as symptoms and treatments are concerned, but with the advances in the medical field, many tumors are treatable.

CNS Embryonal

The CNS or "Central Nervous System" embryonal is a common tumor that affects children. These childhood brain and spinal cord tumors actually form in the brain cells as well as the spinal cord cells when the child is considered a fetus – before birth. There are many different types of tumors that a child may develop if they suffer from a CNS embryonal.

These include an ependymoblastoma, medulloepithelioma, pineoblastoma, and a medulloblastoma. It is often challenging to identify these tumors. However, many women participate in an ultrasound at least during pregnancy. Medical professionals are typically able to identify these tumors through this process.

Astrocytomas

When it comes to childhood brain and spinal cord tumors, astrocytomas are quite common. A child that experiences a situation in which tumors form in the cells that are identified as astrocytes is said to have this type of tumor. These types of tumors may be further classified as either a low or high grade.

Those that are considered to be high as far as the overall grade is concerned typically grow at a rapid rate and also spreads quite quickly. These tumors are also considered to be malignant. This means that they are cancerous. Those tumors that are considered to be in the grade of low are those that progress at a slow rate of speed and are not likely to be cancerous.

Conclusion

There are many different childhood brain and spinal cord tumors that kids may be affected by. If you are informed by a medical professional that your child has a tumor in the central nervous system, it is important that you learn as much as you possibly can about the abnormal growth. You should discuss the following with your child's doctor:

• It is important to know which type of tumor that your child has.

• You should inquire about the location, and general size of the tumor.

• You should ask about the types of treatments that are available for the tumor.

• It is important to understand what symptoms will be experienced as a result of the abnormal growth.

• You should become educated on each of the brain cancer treatments that are available and inquire about which are the most appropriate for your child's condition.

• You should inquire about special funding sources and other types of resources that may assist you and your family while your child receives care.

If you receive the above information, it will allow you the opportunity to make well informed decisions pertaining to childhood brain and spinal cord tumors.

Despite significant advances in cancer research and treatment, one form of cancer – brain tumors – remain particularly feared, and for good reason. Because of their location, brain tumors can severely impact an individual's personality, memories and basic motor skills, robbing the patient of their very being. The impact on family and friends is felt greatly, as their loved one may be "lost" to them even earlier than feared. While there are more than 120 types of brain tumors, for the most common and serious adult tumors, Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), the chances of living 5 years is less than 3%. Most patients will live no more than a year or two despite aggressive therapy.

However, few maladies manage to both simultaneously confound researchers in their mystery, yet hold such promise for the cure and management as prominently as brain tumors. There is strong belief that some significant breakthroughs in brain tumor treatment may only be 4-6 years away. Complementing traditional chemotherapeutic and surgical approaches, four emerging breakthroughs are discussed here which are rapidly transforming the treatment of brain tumors and related conditions.

Gene Therapy

Gene therapy approaches involve the insertion of genes into growing brain tumors, rendering them more sensitive to some chemotherapeutic agents that are relatively non-toxic to the rest of the body. Some promising experiments have demonstrated that with insertion of genes into animal brain tumor cells and administration of chemotherapy, complete destruction of the tumor may be possible without spread of the tumor. Other approaches in gene therapy include substitution of abnormal genes for normal genes, the repair of abnormal genes via selective reverse mutation, and gene regulation (ie, altering the instructions within a gene to "turn on or off").

Vaccines

One area showing substantial promise in brain tumor treatment is based on an immunotherapeutic approach; that is, using a patient's immune system as an instrument for cancer therapy. This approach is premised on a body's immune response toward cells bearing tumor markers or antigens. One major focus area has been "active immunotherapy", described as the administration of the tumor antigenic material to help "vaccinate" a patient against their own tumor. Other vaccine approaches, including Dendritic cell-based vaccines, Cytokine immunogene therapy, Bacterial and viral tumor vaccines, and GBM-specific molecular pathway vaccines are also being considered. The vaccine approach holds challenges that need to be evaluated against other treatment options that may require crucial patient choices, but they are continuing to emerge as an area of ​​significant promise.

Stereotactic Radiosurgery / Radiotherapy

There is growing usage of stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy among neurosurgeons. The tools, used for the non-invasive treatment of tumors and other brain, head, spine and neck conditions, use sophisticated mechanical systems and image-guided technology to treat tumors, using high, targeted doses of radiation (in a single session) to attack the tumor and minimizing contact with healthy tissue. The image guidance systems direct the radiation to the tumor; some systems shape the radiation beam to map to the exact shape of the tumor, and software can help direct the ideal access points to the tumor.

Dual Agent Drug Therapies

Some of the field's leading researchers have concluded that traditional treatment for many brain tumors has started with a faulty premise; namely, that interventions for brain tumors were simply a palliative effort designed to decrease patient discomfort and increase stabilization. The conclusion is that while these therapies have shown some success on their own, when multiple therapeutic agents are combined, (an approach more commonly used with cancers not as fatal) an increasing number of brain tumor patients are seeing increases in survival. Also, newer drugs are showing the ability to block the growth of tumors by attempting to interfere with their proteins that control tumor growth. And other, specialized treatment regimens are being formulated for patients whose tumors are shown to grow at an accelerated rate compared to typical tumors.

These are but four of the emerging approaches where we may continue to see major breakthroughs in treatment or management of brain tumors. The hope in all these courses is that ultimately, brain tumors may in some cases be curable or at least achieve status as a manageable disease, as with many other serious and chronic conditions such as diabetes.