Bless All Those Who Fumble and Stall

I posted recently to my Astrology blog about a fall I'd had, hence my use of "fumble and stall" as a part of the title of this post. It being a spoonerism of "stumble and fall". I'm still recovering but, apart from that, I feel particularly poorly today. This morning, in The Jakarta Post, I read that "poor oral health may increase the risk of liver cancer by 75 percent": 

A new large-scale UK study has found that poor oral health may be linked to an increased risk of liver cancer, building on previous research which has also linked oral health to a range of diseases. 

Carried out by researchers at Queen's University Belfast, the new study looked at data on 475,766 people taken from UK Biobank -- a large long-term study which includes genomic data on more than half a million UK residents as well as data on brain imaging, their general health and medical information. 

The researchers set out to investigate the association between oral health, using patients' self-reports on conditions such as painful or bleeding gums, mouth ulcers and loose teeth, and the risk of a number of gastrointestinal cancers, including liver, colon, rectum and pancreatic cancer.  

The findings, published in the United European Gastroenterology Journal, showed that although there appeared to be no significant association between oral health and the risk of most of the gastrointestinal cancers included in the study, there was a strong link was found for hepatobiliary (liver) cancer.

The team also found that participants with poor oral health were more likely to be younger, female, living in deprived socioeconomic areas and consumed less than two portions of fruit and vegetables per day. 

"Poor oral health has been associated with the risk of several chronic diseases, such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes," explained Dr. Haydée WT Jordão, lead author of the study. "However, there is inconsistent evidence on the association between poor oral health and specific types of gastrointestinal cancers, which is what our research aimed to examine." 

Although it is still unclear how poor oral health may be associated with liver cancer, rather than other digestive cancers, one explanation is that the oral and gut microbiome may play a role in the development of the disease. "The liver contributes to the elimination of bacteria from the human body," explains Dr. Jordão.  

"When the liver is affected by diseases, such as hepatitis, cirrhosis or cancer, its function will decline and bacteria will survive for longer and therefore have the potential to cause more harm. One bacteria, Fusobacterium nucleatum, originates in the oral cavity but its role in liver cancer is unclear. Further studies investigating the microbiome and liver cancer are therefore warranted." 

The findings are not the first time oral health has been linked to a higher risk of cancer; a US study published back in 2017 also found that women who have a history of gum disease may have a higher risk of several types of cancer, particularly tumours in the oesophagus and breasts.

This put in mind of my festering gum problem that I've had for years now, caused by an incomplete root canal that I had done here in Jakarta. I should have the root completed or the tooth removed but I shouldn't just leave it unattended. However, I wonder what long term damage has been done.

Driving to the local mall this morning which is a kilometre of so away I was struck by two number plates: one beginning with ALI and the other with SYL. What are the odds of the names of my first two wives popping up in the correct order in the number plates of random cars that were passing by? In fact the odds of this occurring are 1/308,915,776 or less than one in 300 million. This assumes total randomness and that may well not be the case but the probability would still be very low. An omen? If so, of what? I should have noted down the accompanying numbers as well but I fixated on the letters.

The sighting occurred around 1:30pm today (20th June 2019) and looking at the astrological aspects it seems that the transiting Moon in 2°17' or thereabouts of Aquarius, close to my midheaven, may have been the catalyst. This position would put it in an almost exact sextile to my natal Mercury in 2°15' of Aries, a fitting aspect for such a communication that was received while travelling. The aspects to the transiting Moon are transient and this would constitute an example of what I called minutiae in the astrological blog post that I mentioned earlier.

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows the number plate that I saw on my birthday and which I discussed in a blog post. In that case, I considered that the letters represented numbers in a number base greater than 10. I often note the four numbers on car number plates as I walk my dog and mentally try to factorise the number which usually isn't too difficult with a four letter number.

If it's an even number, you divide by 2 course and then the number is half as big as it was. If the digits add to 3 then it's divisible by 3 and then the number is only a third of the size it was. A number ending in 5 will be divisible of course by 5 and a number ending in 0 will be divisible by 10. If none of those simplifications work then you start with 7 and move on to 11, 13, 17, 19, 23 etc. Division gets more difficult as the divisor grows larger but it's still usually possible.

97 * 97 = 9409 is the largest prime less than 9999 and it's easy to miss a factor like 89, 83, 79, 73, 71, 67, 61, 59, 53, 47, 43, 41, 37, 31 and 29. It's also useful to know when a number is prime. I've managed to memorise the first fifty prime numbers (from 2 up to 229) which isn't much of an accomplishment and I should try to memorise all the prime numbers below 1000 at least. I'm straying into the realm of Mathematics, just as I strayed into the realm of astrology earlier. Some topics simply can't be contained within rigid categories.