____________________ The Jewish Citizen              by Donald H. Harrison

Local foundation funds research, counsels patients on fighting prostate cancer

SAN DIEGO—Israeli-born Dr. Israel Barken, a urological oncologist, heads a non-profit organization with a three-pronged approach to the war on prostate cancer.

Dr. Israel Barken

Under the auspices of the Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation (PC-REF) in suburban La Mesa, Barken personally coaches patients about the pros and cons of various prostate cancer treatment options; hosts a Saturday noon radio show on KCBQ (1170 AM) focusing on male health issues, and provides seed money to researchers who want to

investigate new prostate cancer medicines, treatments and procedures.

In 2001, an Orange County based medical device company, purchased from Barken for $500,000 a patent on a device he had developed for  use in prostate cryosurgery (freezing the cancerous area of a prostate gland)  Although the amount was not large, Barken said that coupled with his personal savings, it was enough for him to retire from private practice and to devote full time to such foundational activities as running support groups for men with prostate cancer.

In an interview this week, Barken said he felt the economics of private practice discourages doctors from treating the whole patient, forcing the doctor instead to focus attention on specific complaints.  "We need to offer care for the person who has the disease, beyond just treating the body," he said.

He said it was not uncommon for patients to come to his office with newspaper, magazine and internet articles in hand describing this or that treatment option for prostate cancer.  Confused, the patients wanted to understand which option might be best for them.

In private practice, Barken really didn’t have time to spend an hour with each patient to fully answer his questions, but he said he tried to do it anyway. “Medicare doesn’t have a code for an hour explanation,” he said.  “They do not have a code for education.”  The longer he spent with each patient, the fewer he could see in a day.  But his cost of running an office remained high.  So he decided to retire from private practice.

Counseling

“I stopped examining patients, operating, prescribing,” Barken said. Under the auspices of PC-REF, however, he continued to counsel.  “I make suggestions; I do coaching,” Barken said.  “I don’t tell the patients what to do; I give them the options and help patients make the decision which option they want, because often there is no clear answer.” 

If the patient is already undergoing treatment, “I encourage him from the beginning to tell his doctor about me—that I do not know more than his doctor does, but that I have more time to read about prostate cancer.  I am willing to discuss the patient with his own doctor….We talk about principles and so far, every single doctor who has talked with me has said it (the approach Barken takes) makes sense.”

Patients are asked to donate $300 per session to the foundation in lieu of payment for medical services.

In his career, Barken pioneered various experimental techniques for prostate surgery.  He was among the first to use laser technology locally and later helped to develop the freezing technique. No matter what form surgery takes, however, Barken says surgery is only one of several options that a patient may choose for dealing with prostate cancer.  Radiation, hormonal medications, chemotherapy, and active surveillance with life style changes, are other options in an expanding list of treatment approaches.

The right decision, Barken adds, will vary from patient to patient, depending on such factors as the course the disease has taken in that specific patient’s body, what kind of quality of life the patient wishes to live, and what kind of diet and exercise regimen the patient follows.

In making decisions about their treatment, patients need to be educated about certain aspects of prostate cancer.  For example, they need to understand that cancer in the prostate, per se, is not necessarily fatal.  Typically, people don’t die from the cancer until sometime after it has spread to the bones.  So, one approach is to try to prevent the cancer from spreading to the bones.  And even after it has spread to the bones, some patients survive.

Barken also said that a patient who has his prostate gland removed is not necessarily guaranteed that the cancer has been stopped; there are many instances of the cancer, somehow hidden in the body, reoccurring years after the surgery.  Furthermore, he says, a patient needs to know that all the treatments can negatively impact his ability to have sexual intercourse, and that he could suffer from incontinence.

All these factors need to be weighed, not on the basis of group statistics, but based on the individual’s specific case history, Barken stressed.  He added that  he believes that prostate cancer should be monitored aggressively—that is, tested  frequently with sophisticated imaging and tumor markers, to provide very specific information about the patient’s condition.  In contrast, he calls for cautiousness, rather than aggressiveness, in actually treating the condition, and choosing the least invasive procedures to preserve quality of life.

On the PC-REF website, Barken has placed the "Medical Smart Chart"  on which patients continuously update their own medical histories.  It is intended for the patients to hand to their doctors, thereby putting all the relevant data in a single-paged graphed presentation to help the doctor evaluate the patient’s condition. 

Barken said doctors like the Smart Chart because it saves them the time it might otherwise take to flip through dozens of pages of medical records.  Patients like the chart because it empowers them to participate in their own diagnosis and treatment, he said.  And the Prostate Cancer Research and Education Foundation likes the charts because they provide information that may be aggregated from many patients’ data and subjected to computerized analysis for research purposes.

Education

On his radio show, Barken urges listeners to improve their health by following a regimen he has given the acronym of MEDS, consisting of good mental attitude, exercise, proper diet, and spirituality.

“Behind it, there is a personal philosophy,” he explains.  “M, mental attitude: I tell people ‘don’t be afraid of dying, get busy with life.’ By that, he said, he means that people ought not to forgo striving to do the things simply because they are faced with a disease.”   Prostate cancer is a diagnosis, not a death sentence, he said.  However, some people become so focused on the cancer that they make it the central fact of their lives, forgetting to appreciate each day.

Exercise is important, says Barken.  “You don’t become 80 years old and then the next day fall down because you are 80; it (debilitation) is a very slow process and you have to prepare yourself for getting older….”  Exercise helps build muscles, which are needed to “assimilate your diet.”  He personally enjoys walking, some light weight lifting, and, for flexibility and balance, tai chi.


EXERCISE—Dr. Israel Barken, right, pauses on a walk in Mission Trails Regional Park with Okoronkwo Umeham, left, and Dan Schaffer.

His advice on diet follows the basics, “which means fruits, vegetables, less processed foods.  Stay away from sugars; eat more fish.”

“Spirituality” does not necessarily mean going to synagogue or to church, but rather practicing “being kind to the people who are very close to you” and “pursuing meaning in your life.”

Both activities can help patients develop the inner resources to fight off disease, he said.

“I think the reasons we get diseases are not only physiological, and biological, or that our machine is running down like any other machine,” Barken explained.  “I think it is also because of mind set.  People get to a certain age and they start losing their job, or they get a divorce, or they start losing their self-esteem, and, depressed, they start thinking that ‘there is no future for me,’ it's all loss, loss, and they don’t understand what it was all for…”

Interviewing doctors and medical researchers on topics related to prostate cancer is a staple of Barken’s radio show, which also broadcasts live audio stream over the internet.  For non-computer users, there is a toll-free telephone access to the program.  He further magnifies his ability to educate people about prostate cancer by making recordings of his shows available through his website.  Listeners can leave a telephone message with a question to be answered on the air.

Listeners are encouraged to donate to the Prostate Cancer Education and Research Foundation, which over the last six years has distributed about $300,000 in small, start up grants.  Barken said very little money so raised goes for overhead.  For example, he said, his own stipend from the foundation is $900 a month.

Research

Conducting and encouraging research is a major activity of the foundation.

“I was always frustrated by the way research was done in this country,” Barken said.  “When researchers want to do something they have to write a grant proposal.  When they write it, they have to tell what preliminary data they collected, and why they think the idea is worthwhile to be researched.  But nobody gives money to people who have an idea and want to get started collecting preliminary data.”

Now, however, PC-REF makes grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 for the start up of research.  Major research institutions like UC Berkeley, UCSD, Johns Hopkins University, and the Galveston Medical Center—which routinely receive awards of far greater magnitude for other projects—are among those that PC-REF has helped with financing for startup projects.  

“We have given out about 11-12 seed money grants, close to a $300,000,” Barken said.  Some projects have gone on to win more funding, such as one initiated by Dr. Robert Fleischmann, then at the Galveston Medical Center, and now at the University of Minnesota. 

Fleischmann proposed studying the possibility of creating an Interferon vaccine to ward off prostate cancer.  PC-REF gave him $50,000 for his research, and with his preliminary results, Fleishmann garnered another grant of $650,000 from the National Cancer Institute “He couldn’t have gotten a dollar if he hadn’t come up with the preliminary data,” Barken said.

Two other seed-money grants went to UCSD to “do research on substances that are in the bones of prostate cancer patients,” he said.  These have resulted in published papers and further research.

Barken, himself, has been researching the effect on prostate cancer of noscapine, an ingredient from the poppy plant commonly used in cough medicines. 

“There was a study at NCI that noscapine had anti-cancer activity; at Johns Hopkins they did a study in the 60’s where they tried to give it to people with very advanced disease to see if it could be tolerated and they found that it could be,” Barken said. “They have done studies at Emory University on breast cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, you name it, but for some reason no one did any study on prostate cancer…. So I went to the lab and planted the cancer, an aggressive type…”  He reported his favorable findings at an international prostate cancer conference in February in Vail, Colorado.

Press coverage prompted some people to erroneously believe that they could take cough medicine to fight prostate cancer.  Barken urges people not to try that because “you will intoxicate yourself because cough medicine has other ingredients.” 

Typically when men come to see Barken, they already have been diagnosed as having prostate cancer.  The first thing he does is to try to give them some perspective so that they won’t panic.

“If you are standing in the quicksand and you are going down, and if I am standing nearby, am I supposed to say, ‘Oh, my God, he is going to vanish there’?  No, my role as a bystander is to try to help you as much as I can—even if it looks hopeless.  But it is not hopeless.  So what is my best advice?  It’s ‘don’t panic, don’t move’ because the faster you move, the faster you go down.’ And if you say, ‘but I am still going down,” I respond that there may still be time for us to throw you a branch or a rope and get you out.  And if I can’t, you still will feel the sun on your face and see the birds longer if you don’t panic.”

The Jews 'Down Under'                 By Garry Fabian

●Amcor anti-Semitic slur angers community

MELBOURNE, Australia—Jewish leaders have expressed  their disgust at two former AMCOR executives whose anti-Semitic remarks were caught on a recording used in an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) investigation.
|
The anti-Semitic remarks were directed at Richard Pratt, the Jewish chairman of Visy, who admitted that his company colluded with AMCOR, to control the price of cardboard boxes between 2000 and 2004.

Visy, and Pratt personally, are likely to be dealt multi-million
dollar fines by ACCC for colluding with AMCOR. However AMCOR blew the  whistle on the deal - and in exchange is likely to escape punishment.

The transcripts were allegedly recorded in September 2002, and  appeared in a major daily paper last week. In the transcript, two senior AMCOR executives made references to
Hitler and old-fashioned Jewish stereotypes. "Ah, you know what the Jews are like. No wonder they own half the
world" one said. The other answered "And you wonder why, ah, Hitler  wanted to stitch them up." "I mean you'd reckon someone would go the Palestinians and say, Listen, you just can't beat this bunch, you're not fighting the Israelis, you're fighting the bloody Americans. Well  that whole thing is about oil, isn't it - and the New York Jewish  lobby" the other executive said on the tape.

Grahame Leonard, ECAJ President said that he hoped that these sorts of  anti-Semitic comments were a thing of the past. "It is not simply the  anti-Semitic nature of these comments that Australian Jews find so  distressing, but also their thoughtlessness, cliched stupidity and  lack of concern about whom they wound" Leonard said.

Melbourne Ports MP (the only Jewish member of Parliament at present) Michael Danby said this represented the ugliest of corporate conduct.

●Hilaly still teaching in Lakemba

SYDNEY, Australia—Sheik Tajeddin al-Hilaly may no longer be the mufti of Australia, but the controversial figure is still educating Australian Muslims at the Lakemba mosque in Sydney. Sheik Hilaly is teaching more than a quarter of the classes at Australia's largest mosque. which was
established in 1972.

Sheik Hilaly  arrived in Australia in 1982, and made a succession of anti-Semitic remarks over the following two decades.  In addition, in 2006 he referred to women as "uncovered meat" and said they incited sexual assault by dressing immodestly.He described the September 11, 2001 attack on the US as "God's work" although he later said his remarks were misinterpreted.


●New Zealand welcomes Israel's envoy

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Israel's Ambassador Yuval Rotem has presented his credentials to New Zealand's Governor-General.

Rotem, who is ambassador to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific  Islands, said he was looking forward to enjoying the unique hospitality for which New Zealand is renowned.

Rotem's appointment brings rejuvenation to the embassy and a sense of energy to Israel's relations with the nations in the Pacific.
 

 
 
Other actresses can have Broadway; Abrams prefers to work at the track

By Joe Naiman

ARCADIA, California—Early in her career Dyan Abrams had to choose between a third callback to an off-Broadway play and an opportunity in the horseracing industry.  Abrams chose the equestrian offer, giving up
a career in acting.

Abrams still ended up behind the microphone, as she is now
the announcer for the morning workouts at Santa Anita Park.
She feels that her training to become an actress was a benefit
to her current position.

"I think that's come into play now," she said.

Between 7:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. during the Santa Anita
Park meets, including the current Oak Tree meet which
began September 26 and runs through November 3, Abrams
provides listeners with information about the horses
that undergo morning workouts at the track.  "I hope to
make it informative for everybody that comes," she said.

Abrams has been the Clocker's Corner announcer at
Santa Anita for the past seven years.  "I actually fell
into it," she said.  "The guy that was running publicity
at Santa Anita (Allan Gutterman), I knew from 20 years
ago at the Meadowlands."Gutterman offered Abrams the position. 

Abrams grew up in the Cambria Heights section of Queens.
Although she was serious about becoming an actress, she
was also interested in horses.  As a teenager she
obtained a job as a groom, and she was working at the
Meadowlands for harness racing trainer and driver
Ted Wing when she met her husband, trainer Barry Abrams,
who co-owned horses with Wing.

Dyan Abrams herself is now a horse owner.  Unusual Suspect,
a three-year-old owned by Abrams along with her husband
and brother-in-law, won the Bay Meadows Derby stakes
race September 29 at Northern California's Bay Meadows
track.  Although Abrams was at Santa Anita at the time
(another Abrams family horse, Golden Doc A, ran in the
Oak Leaf Stakes at Santa Anita that day but finished
ninth), she was able to see Unusual Suspect's full sister,
Russian Heat, win an October 8 race at Santa Anita.

When Southern California's horse racing moves to
Hollywood Park, Del Mar, and the Pomona fair meet,
Abrams is still a horse owner.  One of her daughters
works in Del Mar, although in a sales capacity for
the Doubletree Hotel and not at the racetrack.  That
daughter lives in Normal Heights, and her other daughter
also lives in Southern California.

Dyan and Barry Abrams have lived in Arcadia for more
than 20 years.  "I think that over the years, the two
of us, we bring out the best of each other," she said.

"The other thing I really believe in is giving back,
doing what I can," she said.  "As good as I do, I've
got to give back."

Helping other people doesn't give Abrams the publicity
of being behind a microphone or co-owning winning
racehorses.  For Abrams, her contributions to others
are a reasonable price to pay for the benefits of
working at Santa Anita.  "I get to hang out with
horsemen who are in the Hall of Fame," she said.

She's on a first-name basis with many of the Hall of
Fame jockeys and trainers.  She also has become familiar
with the view from the track.  "You're sitting there,
you're looking out over the San Gabriel Mountains, and it
is so beautiful.  It's a beautiful picture," she said.

"I love my job.  It's truly a labor of love," Abrams said.
"But how lucky am I?  I get to get up every morning and
go hang out at the racetrack."

Arts in Review  by Carol Davis

Shipwrecked! An Entertainment lives up to description in its name

COSTA MESA, California—It seems that we here in Southern California are being treated to a number of world premieres these days. A Catered Affair at The Old Globe which recently opened; soon to open, Cry Baby at the La Jolla Playhouse and currently on the wonderfully intimate Julianne Argyros Stage of the South Coast Repertory Theatre a new Donald Margulies offering, Shipwrecked! An Entertainment. “The Amazing adventures of Louis De Rougemont (As told by Himself).” Now there’s a mouthful for you. More so, it’s entertaining and so much fun, fantasy and frolic that I would urge you to head north for an afternoon or evening of just pure magic before it closes on the 14^th. 

SCR commissioned such Margulies’ plays as Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Collected Stories and now Shipwrecked, and over the years they premiered at the Orange County theatre. Shipwrecked is something of an anomaly for the playwright, since it’s a complete one hundred eighty degree turn from his norm.  For the most part, his plays are either semi autobiographical and connect to his Jewish experiences growing up (Loman Family Picnic) or look back on his Jewish roots, as in (Brooklyn Boy).

 According to an article in American Theatre, July/August, 2007, Margulies “conceived Shipwrecked as a children’s script, and the resulting general-audience drama maintains the exuberance of youth theatre.” From the beginning, director Bart DeLorenzo has been at Margulies’ side. Between the two of them, the imagination is tossed and turned by the turmoil of the rough seas and the tidal waves of surprises.

And with this far cry away from the expected, an unexpected adventure emerged.  From the moment the lights go up and the narrator Loius De Rougemont, himself (as played by Gregory Itzin) takes center stage, the mood is set, the die is cast; the ship is ready to set sail. His two cohorts,  (Melody Betiu and Michael Daniel Cassady, with multiple persona) are in place to help him along. Ready! Action! Begin! And so, for the next ninety or so minutes, the audience is taken on a rather bumpy, sometimes calm, frightening (if you are between the ages of 6 and 10) but always delightful journey, unbelievable as it may be.

The narrator starts his story off as the young, sickly lad, living in 19^th century England, who upon reaching his teens, decides to leave his concerned mother (Melody Butiu) to go off and find his way. As fate would have it, he is robbed of all his earthly goods when he happens on a not so sober sea captain (Butiu) and his/her not so sea worthy ship  (a wooden platform and metal bridge). The captain lets him tag along for the adventure. There he meets up with his faithful dog Bruno (Michael Daniel Cassady is a lap dog if ever the phrase meant anything), who is by his side for decades. They travel the seas together.

What can we say? If a particular event; rough seas, diving for pearls, underwater mishaps, meeting up with aborigines, riding a giant sea turtle, escaping the tentacles of a super colossal octopus, hostile tribal leaders, doesn’t happen to De Roughmount, it doesn’t happen in any pirate fantasy including a Disney Movie or in Pirates of the Caribbean, Gulliver‘s Travels or any other known high seas adventure!

Now the story, while exciting, phenomenal, beyond comprehension, extraordinary and fulfilling, is only secondary to the telling! Because what makes an adventure story so powerful? Why the storyteller? Ask any kid!

As Louis De Rougemount, Itzen standing behind a music stand with book in hand, couldn’t have been more engaging.  He not only tells his tale, he plays with us, convincing us from the outset to join him without reservation. (He could sell ice to the Eskimos). And so we do.  At times he’s pompous, other times, sympathetic. He’s showy, sly as a fox and eager to please. His delivery is right on target with the audience lapping it up. He charms us into his world without a backward glance, never once faltering. No easy fete this; Itzin is on the stage the entire 90 minutes, moving from one adventure to the next with the agility of a sea captain who has years of experience at the helm.

His compatriots Butitu and Cassady are every other character he either encounters or hooks up with. They are so multi talented that they change costumes and character with the wink of an eye. Without their skill and support, Itzin could very well have been just another storyteller. But with the collective efforts of his two cohorts, along with Candice Cain’s costumes in a trunk, Keith E. Mitchell’s imaginative set design (often an empty stage save a few props and then swoosh, a sail is hoisted, or a screen or wooden box, a flag), Rand Ryan’s lighting (at times a single light bulb on a stand) and Steven Cahill’s original music/sound design, it all comes together to make one perfectly wonderful whole.

Stories of this ilk come and go, (think Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, Defoe and Kipling) bringing fortune and fame to the adventurer.  When the connoisseurs and ‘experts’ in Victorian England pooh, pooh De Rougemount’s tales as falsehoods, his reputation takes a turn for the worse and he becomes an outcast in the eyes of his community, jobless and penniless.

In one fell swoop he falls from grace yet remains  a sympathetic character whose tale you want to believe but knew in your heart of hearts it’s too outlandish to be true.

In the final analysis, however, this incredible yarn coupled with the experience of having been witness to a magical moment in theatre, and knowing that fiction, such as it is, is also blended with some element of truth, will outlast any doubts. Audiences will relish it. Margulies captures the imagination of the theatergoer. They will remember it, take pleasure in it and chalk it up to another thrilling theatrical experience.

See you at the theatre.

Larry Zeiger Critic at large

Hey, Jude chases Lucy in the sky with diamonds across the universe

SAN DIEGO—After teaching Musical Theatre classes at Point Loma High School for 33 years, I began to think that music with its wonderful melodies and harmonies could be the key to the universe. I know this sounds strange, but during my last years of teaching I got up in front of my classes and suggested that at a certain date and time throughout the world, if everyone stopped what they were doing and played a musical instrument for one minute (those who did not own instrument could create one – simply by stomping their foot on the earth or ringing a bell), then for that one moment we would strike a peaceful harmony that might spread throughout the world.  I know this sounds ridiculous but when you think of the billions of dollars a year that we spend on the machinery of war, maybe something as simple as striking a beautiful musical chord throughout the world could lead to a more harmonious life for all people. 

Across the Universe is directed by Julie Taymor, a Jewish community member who was the brilliant choreographer of The Lion Kin.  It is a stunning work filled with brilliant surrealistic montages based on 34 songs of the Beatles.  Anyone who grew up during the turbulent 1960’s should love this film; however, the audience with whom I viewed this films was composed of mostly people in their 20’s who seemed to embrace every song and were touched by the poignant story

of young people immersed in a chaotic world of war, music, and protests. 

The story begins in the 1960’s when a young man from Liverpool named Jude, a talented artist, played by the brilliant Jim Sturgess, who looks and sounds like a young Paul McCartney, travels to America in search of his American G.I. father who he has never known.  While in America, he meets Max, a student at Princeton who is on the verge of dropping out of school  The two decide to move to a bohemian sections of New York City, where they are later joined by Max’s sister Lucy who falls in love with Jude.  After Lucy’s brother is drafted and sent to Viet Nam, Lucy becomes involved in the anti-war movement which leads to a conflicting relationship with Jude.  Tension builds as the story cuts back and forth from protest movements in New York to the horrific battle scenes in Viet Nam.

Almost the entire narrative of the film is told through the music and lyrics of The Beatles with highly stylized and innovative choreography by the director, Julie Taymor, brilliant cinematography by Bruce Delbonnel and terrific editing by Francoise Bonnot.  The beginning of the film takes a few minutes to get used to the fact that the character’s inner emotions and dialogue will be sung.  A cheerleader longs for her boyfriend and sings a touching version of “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” while walking through a football practice with team members flying in the air around her.  It's as if the world has stopped as she reveals her inner most thoughts – a motif which is conveyed throughout the film.

As the film progresses, the audience becomes more involved with the character, Jude and his relationship with Lucy, beautifully portrayed by Evan Rachel Wood who also has a wonderful singing voice.  War breaks out and the Beatles song, “Helter Skelter" reveals the horror and confusion of the time period.  The sequence where Lucy’s brother, Max goes down to the recruiting station, becomes one of the most surrealistic in the film with huge images of Uncle Sam coming to life and pointing his finger to the helpless Max and other recruits.  One of the most creative moments of the films is the use of montage for the song,“Strawberry Fields”which suddenly turns into a metaphor for the blood bath to come.

What I also liked about the film is the use of history to tell the story.  The song, “Let It Be" is integrated into the story to reflect the Detroit riots which begin with a young Black boy singing the song amidst the chaos of fighting and guns going off.  It is one of the most moving parts of the film.

The cinematography and direction are excellent, although there are perhaps a few too many ballads clustered together in some parts of the film.  Still, how could you go wrong with stellar performance by an energetic cast and the magnificent words and lyrics of a group that included the greatest song writers