PSA: Dear 16-year-old Me.

[Swede]

Melanoma be aware.

http://www.wimp.com/dearme/

[RKP5637]

1. Recommend!!! n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Good post. I found out about melanoma when I had skin cancer a couple of years ago.

Mine turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma and easily treatable with minor surgery. But, the docs gave me an earful about how lucky I was that it wasn't melanoma.

[livetohike]

3. I've had four skin cancers in the past year (not melanoma)

I warn my nieces, but I'm sure they don't listen. Maybe they will watch this. Thanks for posting it.

[nc4bo]

4. K&R! nt

[HysteryDiagnosis]

5. Things to consider

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=melanoma%20pycnogenol

Food Chem Toxicol. 2008 Jul;46(7):2466-71. Epub 2008 Apr 11.
The anti-melanogenic effect of pycnogenol by its anti-oxidative actions.
Kim YJ, Kang KS, Yokozawa T.
Source

Department of Dental Hygiene, Busan Women's College, Busanjin-Gu, Busan 617-734, South Korea.
Abstract

Pycnogenol is a natural plant extract from pine bark that contains compounds that have anti-oxidative, free-radical scavenging properties. In this work, utilizing cultured B16 melanoma cells (B16 cells), pycnogenol was investigated for its ability to inhibit tyrosinase activity and melanin biosynthesis. We also examined the anti-oxidative power of pycnogenol by measuring its suppressive effect against peroxynitrite (ONOO-), superoxide (.O2), nitric oxide (NO.), and hydroxyl radical (.OH)-scavenging activities using an electron spin resonance spectrometer.

Results show that pycnogenol had a strong anti-tyrosinase activity and suppressed melanin biosynthesis. Further, our results showed that through its anti-oxidative properties, pycnogenol suppressed .O2) NO., ONOO-, and .OH in in vitro assays, and reactive species, ONOO-, .O2, and NO., while up-regulating the reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione ratio in B16 cells. Based on the findings, we propose that pycnogenol exerts anti-melanogenic activity via its anti-oxidative actions.

PMID:
18482785