AskMrScience

AskMrScience t1_jbzznvu wrote

Debra was also about 30 when diagnosed. She got lucky: if you catch appendix cancer in Stage 1 like they did for her, it's basically "snippy snippy, congrats, you're cured!" She's since had all the other recommended prophylactic surgeries and gotten her kids genetically tested.

I'm a geneticist working on cancer treatments, so this is all Relevant To My Interests. Most hereditary cancer syndromes are caused by a DNA repair or checkpoint gene being mutated (no surprise, CHEK2 = checkpoint gene). I'd think you'd be equally likely to get cancer in any tissue type with that kind of problem. But instead, there are very strong patterns to which organs the cancers tend to start in.

Hooray for being able to ID these mutations and what tends to go wrong. Now we have some clue what to watch out for in each person. And I wish you better luck going forward.

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AskMrScience t1_jbzubbi wrote

You're the first CHEK2 person I've met aside from my friend Debra. A few years ago, Debra went in for surgery for abdominal pain that everyone thought was an ovarian cyst and they found fucking appendix cancer. You have never heard of it because it is not a thing - it's literally "1 in a million" rare. When she told her doctors "Oh yeah, my uncle was diagnosed with appendix cancer, too", the surgeon told her to run, not walk, to a medical geneticist. Surprise, CHEK2 mutation! It explained why breast and ovarian cancer run in her family, but everyone had tested negative for the common BRCA1/2 mutations.

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AskMrScience t1_itt2s8x wrote

California Olive Ranch makes a good extra virgin olive oil that's widely available in US grocery stores.

https://nymag.com/strategist/article/best-olive-oils-according-to-chefs.html

>Many of our experts mentioned California Olive Ranch as a go-to (it’s also a brand often used in professional test kitchens).
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>Anna Hezel, senior editor at Epicurious and author of Lasagna: A Baked Pasta Cookbook, calls it a “mellow and mild olive oil that is still pleasant-tasting.” She uses it for frying, baking, and drizzling, noting that she has “never had a bad bottle.” This is because California Olive Ranch is one of the few bigger producers that always note the harvest date.
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>Nick Coleman, olive-oil expert, educator, and co-founder of the olive-oil subscription service Grove and Vine, says, “It has a light-to-medium body, is a little buttery and viscous in the mouth, and isn’t too assertive.” Plus, he adds, “it’s at a price point you can really cook with.”

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