Monday, December 12

Over a hundred years ago, in Abruzzo the Molino (mill) of the Pastificio (pasta factory) of the De Cecco brothers, began producing pasta by producing the “best flour of the surrounding countryside” in his stone mill in Fara San Martino, a small village at the bottom of the Maiella mountain. A low temperature drying device which enabled pasta to dry regardless of weather conditions was developed. Up to then, pasta had always been sun dried, which was the only way known to guarantee a high quality product and its preservation. In 1908, the country girl from Abruzzo, carrying the wheat stacks, becomes the company’s trademark. A new production plant is built to replace one bombed by the Germans in World War II and business takes off, with increasing attention to foreign markets.

Tuesday, December 13

My sister gave us eight boxes of pasta: Capellini; Spaghettini; Spaghetti; Penne Rigate; Fusilli; Cavatappi; Elbows; and Orecchiette (we used to call these “priest ears”).  The pasta is De Cecco imported from the province of Chieti, Abruzzo in Italy where my family is from and made in the town of Fara San Martino.  I think they might make over a hundred different kinds of pasta, all shapes and colors.

Wednesday, December 14

My mother remembers when the Fara San Martino plant was bombed by the Germans.  She remembers washing clothes in the river that flowed to the mill that helped grind the wheat that made it into pasta.

Thursday, December 15

I call Mom on her 86^th birthday.  The content of her communications now is even more about the past than ever before which was a lot even then.

Friday, December 16

At work today there is a ceremony honoring Dr. Bruce Beutler for his being awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology of Medicine for discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity, a few weeks ago in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr. Beutler identified the cell receptors in mice that respond to a substance in the coat of bacteria and that can set off septic shock if overstimulated.  

Saturday, December 17

Dr. Beutler shared the award with two other immunologists Drs. Steinman and Hoffmann. All three scientists were honored for discoveries of essential steps in the immune system’s response to infection.

But it was Dr. Steinman who actually used his discoveries in the laboratory to try to save his own life. His career-long quest had been to develop a vaccine against cancer for humans, having shown 20 years ago that such a treatment could be effective in mice.

Four and a half years ago, after he was found to have pancreatic cancer, he began tailoring an experimental vaccine against his own tumor.  

Pancreatic cancer is among the most aggressive malignancies, in part because it arises in a gland deep in the abdomen that is hard for doctors to feel with their hands and because usually it produces symptoms only after it has become advanced.  About 20 percent of patients with pancreatic cancer survive one year after detection and 4 percent after five years, according to the American Cancer Society.

Dr. Steinman died just days before he was awarded his Nobel Prize.  But it is impossible to determine whether Dr. Steinman would have survived as long without his self-tailored experimental treatment.

I remember being told my father passed from a burst pancreas.  Here I go now thinking about and mentioning the past.