semary connors: local link, the death of darren daulton and several other former phillies raises questions about a possible cancer cluster at veterans stadium. bookbandit, a local business could change how college students buy their textbooks, saving them big bucks. we'll introduce you to the company's 22 year old ceo. is bacon better for you than tilapia? that's the claim on numerous websites. today, we'll fish for answers from our partners at factcheck.org. male announcer: "nbc10 @issue" starts now. rosemary: good morning, i'm rosemary connors for "nbc10 @issue." we begin with the passing of phillies legend darren daulton. his death has many people wondering about a possible cluster of brain cancer. daulton, affectionately known as dutch, died last week at the age of 55. he was with the phillies for 14 seasons. four years ago, daulton was diagnosed with an aggressive

form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma. daulton is now the fifth former philly to die from that disease. nbc10's keith jones spoke to a surgeon who treated one of those players, and he wonders if the old veterans stadium could be the link. keith jones: you got to believe. tug mcgraw's strikeout to win the 1980 world series. tug mcgraw: i've never seen this kind of baseball, never been a part of this kind of baseball, never been prouder to be a professional baseball player. keith: lasting memories in veterans stadium that led to the phill's first ride down broadstreet. but mcgraw would be diagnosed with brain cancer and pass in 2004. so would ken brett and johnny oates. three years later, player and coach john vukovich would receive the same diagnosis and pass. all played at the vet. all that's left now is the mound in what's now lot u, and home

plate, where darren daulton made his career, made us all fans, and where doctors are paying close attention. steven brem: oh, it's quite a coincidence. it is disturbing, actually. keith: dr. steven brem, professor of neurosurgery, treated mcgraw at the hospital of the university of pennsylvania. announcer: swing and a drive, and deep. keith: add to the list darren daulton, and you have five phillies who have fought brain cancer and played on the turf field at the vet. steven: it is very provocative. keith: dr. berm admits there are too many cases of brain cancer on one team, and in one city, not to be curious. steven: we're working around the clock trying to find an ultimate answer to this disease. keith: for "nbc10 @issue," i'm keith jones. rosemary: and dr. brem is joining me now to delve a little deeper into this potential link between the players and the disease. so, dr. brem, why isn't this just a coincidence? is there something more going on here? steven: well, it is possible, rosemary, that this could be a random event, but to have a cluster, so many players,

and it does raise questions whether there is some common link. rosemary: when did you first start to notice that there could be some type of connection here? steven: well, i knew tug mcgraw. i was at moffitt cancer center, the head of neurosurgery there, and tug was my patient. and that's when i became aware of, really, this whole--the whole question of the environment. rosemary: and they're not the only players to die from the disease. mets pitcher anthony young, dan quisenberry, bobby murcer, dick howser, they all played at the vet. and then, of course, you have hall of fame catcher gary carter, he played much of his career on astroturf similar to the kind used at the vet. so, there are a lot of players diagnosed with this form of brain cancer. steven: this is a huge mystery, we really don't know. like, with football players it's understandable, the head injury. but with tobacco and lung cancer as a strong link with melanoma, and sun exposure there's a strong link.

we really don't have the root cause of glioblastoma, so a situation like this does raise more questions than we have answers. rosemary: and certainly it begs the question, should more research be done? steven: absolutely, and when i worked with the american brain tumor association, they really wanted to find the root cause. we had ten experts in the world, and each one had a theory. some had the idea that it's pesticides, or some other environmental cancer causing agent, a carcinogen. others thought it might be in the food, radiation. clearly the immune system plays a role, genetics plays a role. but you have athletes here who obviously have great genes, are very healthy, have a great immune system, undergo all this stress, and yet they still get one of the worst cancers. so, it is very perplexing. rosemary: you mentioned football players obviously related to head injuries, but speaking of football players,

certainly the eagles played at the vet. we aren't necessarily seeing that--we aren't seeing that cluster among former eagles players. steven: again, it's a theory and speculations. but the theory is that they only played 8 games a year, where the phillies played over 80 games a year, and they did their practice at the vet. rosemary: and this may sort of add to that, a little bit of anecdotal information here, this is from nbc10 anchor vai sikahema, a former eagle. he told us that he knows of two men who actually worked on the grounds crew when he was a player, and they have since developed glioblastomas. steven: i didn't know that, but that's--that is also very provocative. rosemary: in terms of this link, obviously, as you said, it's speculation, but it certainly points to the need for more information about glioblastoma. what do we know about the disease? steven: well, we do know there's a series of mutations. the cancer genome atlas, glioblastoma was the first to be mapped and identified.

so, we do know what the key molecular players are, the key targets. we now have new therapies that are based on those targets. and so, we are learning a lot about it, but obviously much more research has to be done. philadelphia's not only a great city for sports, but it's also a great city for medical research, as you know. and some of my own colleagues are doing some very exciting work in that area. rosemary: when darren daulton was diagnosed 4 years ago, we did interview you, and you told us that you believed that he would live longer than most patients who are diagnosed. and it turned out to be true, he did live 4 years compared to a year and a half. steven: rosemary, one thing i--with my own patients, i never give a number because many of the patients really exceed that, and that's just the statistical average and when you have this disease, you don't want to see a statistician, you want to see a neurosurgeon or a neuro-oncologist. in darren's case, i knew that he was young, otherwise healthy,

did not have medical comorbidities, would have access to the best care, that we are living in an era where we see lifespan actually going up, we actually have data. so, one of the worst things to do is to take away someone's hope and give a very dire prognosis. four years is much better than historically we've had in this disease, but it's still not a triumph yet. rosemary: while there are obviously many unanswered questions about this disease, you do bring up the point that there certainly has been a lot of research done, work done to try to prolong people's lives once they are diagnosed. steven: yes, we're betting on the immune system at penn. we have a new study done by my colleagues, don o'rourke, carl june, and others that are looking at a novel, it's called t cell cart, which is basically developing--looking at specific targets, in this case egfrviii, and developing a vaccine.

so, we're very excited about that. we're also working with the nih, we're working with other medical centers in the united states, with industry, and trying to come up with, really, a sustainable, durable treatment to make glioblastoma a manageable, lifelong disease rather than the terrible disease it is now. rosemary: what would the vaccine do? steve: well, a vaccine would target glioma cells, release antigens, and then harness the body's own immune system to eradicate the tumor. so, we've seen some early signals, early response, much more research. we're reaching out ourselves to industry, to philanthropy, and nih for more funding. but i think there's been groundbreaking work being done, so it is an era of hope. rosemary: in addition to darren daulton, obviously lately we have seen senator mccain diagnosed with glioblastoma.

we certainly know senator ted kennedy died from the disease. are more people being diagnosed, or is it just that we're seeing these high profile patients? steven: it's a little bit of both. the incidences is certainly not going down. and our methods to monitor, measure, detect cancer, the availability of mri, so it does seem to be a very--it's classified as an orphan disease, meaning a rare disease, but actually it's a major disease, especially now with cancer in general being tamed through new targeted therapies, many patients succumb to what's called metastatic cancer as it spreads to the brain. now, when you have a high profile individual like john mccain or joe biden's son, obviously that brings a lot of awareness to this disease, which we also--which is--it is a tragedy for those families, but for the whole brain tumor community, it means that there may be more funding.

rosemary: right, more attention, more people interested in trying to find a cure or at least some kind of treatment. steven: right, this is not just purely academic. this happens to real people, and it is a very compelling national need. rosemary: obviously, we brought you in to talk to you about this potential link related to former phillies players who have died from glioblastoma, and initially you talked about how it's unclear, obviously, exactly what causes it. could it potentially be something that was underneath the surface of the astroturf, underneath the veteran--underneath the vet? obviously, an old factory had been built there. steven: that's certainly very compelling and worrisome that there could have been something in that environment. rosemary: when somebody comes to you, someone who is newly diagnosed, what's the first thing that you tell them? steven: i talk to them, i like to know their family situation and who they are as a human, and then look at their films,

and then emphasize what the positive things are and how we can overcome--how we can win the first battle, which is surgery. and then, if there's time, discuss further treatments. rosemary: obviously, the latest information on this is darren daulton's death. what can we learn from his death and from his diagnosis? steven: well, i think it is, it's a tragedy obviously, but the way people approach this disease is very important. and he was a great inspiration as a ball player, but i think the way he faced this was with great courage and conviction, it just really says that he's a great man, but even beyond that, just a great human being, and he has inspired many people. rosemary: dr. steven bren, thank you so much for being with us. really appreciate your insight and your thoughts on this. steven: thank you. thank you, rosemary, thank you. rosemary: for a look back at darren daulton's career with the

phillies and to read tributes from the fans, we have complete coverage right now on nbc10.com. next on "nbc10 @issue," a new business calls itself the expedia of textbooks. it's a way for students to save big bucks, and you may be surprised by who came up with the unique idea.

rosemary: a local entrepreneur has a new business called bookbandit, and that's not his only gig. he's still in college, finishing up his finance degree at the university of delaware. the business is designed to help students save money on textbooks. and if you're about to buy college textbooks for the very first time, prepare for some sticker shock. since 2006, the cost of a college textbook has increased 73% according to covering the cost. that's more than four times the rate of inflation. and the website, covering the cost, finds it's not unusual for individual books to cost more than $200, some even as high as $400.

students typically spend close to 600 bucks a year just for books. joining me now is jim jannuzzio, the founder and ceo of bookbandit, and a senior at the university of delaware. and before we begin, jim, i want to read the twitter post that you say launched your business, we'll pull it up. three years ago you tweeted, "just dropped $840 on textbooks. whaaaaaat." jim jannuzzio: crazy, right? rosemary: all right, so first tell us about the business, how you started it, and where the idea came from. obviously, you--a lot, almost close to 1,000 bucks. jim: yeah, right? so, you know, sophomore year, i spent over, you know, $800 on my textbooks at a local bookstore. and then i'll tell you, rosemary, at the end of the semester, i went to a local buyback and i got offered, you know, $20, with 2 of the books being deemed not buyback-able. rosemary: too many highlighting marks through it, right? jim: yeah, right, right, so, you know, those books were in pristine condition too.

but besides the fact, i thought, you know, there's got to be a way that we can cut these buybacks out of the equation, you know, connect the students together so they can buy and sell locally. and then on top of that, if we can't find it locally, we'll find them the cheapest that we possibly can on the market. rosemary: almost sort of like the expedia, the kayak of textbook buying. jim: yes, that's correct, so, you know, one thing led to the next, i started making some phone calls, and then bookbandit was created, so. rosemary: and here you are, an entrepreneur. and you were telling me you have a few full-time employees already working for you, and office space in wilmington. jim: yes, 1313 innovation, it's great. they've got a lot of big things coming, such as the delaware accelerator. so, we're really thrilled with the place, and excited to move forward. rosemary: you're focusing on the college market, but as you were telling me, you have just about every book you can find, including, i wish i knew this a few years ago when i was a law school student, you have books for law students. jim: yes, we've got over ten million titles to choose from, so yeah, we've got any and all books.

rosemary: and even our previous guest, dr. bren, you have his book on your website. so, in terms of the reaction from students, what are you hearing from them? jim: sure, so students love it. just to give you an idea of, you know, the average college student spends over $600 a year on their textbooks. so, bookbandit is a website, a mobile application offering these textbooks from the 20 different companies in one checkout. so, we're creating a savings as high as 74% per year. so, we've had nothing but positive feedback from the reviews on the app store. facebook, people love us, we've got over 2,600 likes. people are really acting positive towards what we're doing here. we're really disrupting this industry to help these students out. rosemary: what about the students who can get their books for free? is that something that may put you out of business or what? rosemary: yeah, so we encourage that. our company's mission is to make college more affordable,

you know, one book at a time, and if they're getting it for free, by all means do that, right? so, you know, our company's value is encouraging that. rosemary: you said obviously this is an app. so, how does it work? jim: sure, so it's three easy steps. one, you search for your book. second, it'll show you a list of all the different books that match that title, or that search, or that ispn. and then you click it, and then from there it'll show you the lowest price. we offer new, used, rental, e-book, or local as well. so, we also connect the students at the same university so then they can buy and sell locally themselves. rosemary: just between each other. jim: yes, that is correct. rosemary: and the app is bookbandit? jim: yes, one word. rosemary: so, i have to ask you, how do you juggle a startup and continue going to school? it seems to be two full-time jobs. jim: certainly, it's definitely tough. whenever i'm not in class, i was working on bookbandit at the university of delaware's horn program in entrepreneurship. they've got an awesome facility over there, the venture on

development center, and they're very encouraging and helped me move forward with my business. and then, you know, transitioning, like i was saying earlier, 1313 innovation, they gave us an office space so we can really expand the company and then do what needs to get done in order to keep spreading our mission. rosemary: you may have some friends or classmates looking for a job in a couple months, you know? jim: yeah, hopefully. you know, i try and keep friends away from business, but i mean, i'm always open for it, so. rosemary: jim jannuzzio, thank you so much for being with us, and good luck to you. vanessa schipani: and it's certainly not worse for you than bacon. rosemary: fact check, you may have fallen for a common claim on the web that suggests a popular food is so unhealthy, it's better to just eat bacon. we'll tell you what it is and why the rumors about it are dead wrong. ♪

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rosemary: you may see an article popping up on your social media feeds that claims bacon is better for you than tilapia, but our partners at factcheck.org say those could be more fishy science than truth. nbc's keith jones fills us in. keith: you might catch this headline on your social media newsfeeds. it screams "4 good reasons you should never eat tilapia again!" or this one, "how tilapia is a more unhealthy food than bacon," is it? vanessa: so, no, tilapia is not worse for you than bacon. keith: so, what is behind the attack on the popular and affordable fish? vanessa: it was based on a study that was done a number of years ago in 2008 that made some conclusions about the inflammatory potential of tilapia based on kind of shaky scientific premises. keith: inflammation is caused by toxins or unwanted substances, and can increase your risk of heart disease.

but omega-3 fatty acids, which we only get through food, lower your risk of heart disease. tilapia is a lean fish, meaning it has a lower concentration of fatty acids than, say, an oily fish like salmon. vanessa: but that still doesn't mean that it's bad for you, and it's certainly not worse for you than bacon. so, it's still a low fat source of protein. it's also high in other vitamins like selenium, vitamin b12. keith: articles like this one claim tilapia can increase your risk of cancer and alzheimer's disease. factcheck.org says these claims are also based on that 2008 study, which found high levels of an omega-6 fatty acid called arachidonic acid in tilapia, higher levels than in bacon. the study authors also claimed this acid leads to inflammation. but harvard medical school and other researchers wrote open letters back in 2008 contesting these findings. researchers do believe arachidonic acid may play a role in alzheimer's, a disease thought to be caused by

inflammation in the brain. vanessa: the researchers that i spoke with said that there's very weak and conflicting evidence that arachidonic acid in our diet actually leads to alzheimer's disease. keith: and the cancer claims? vanessa: there's really no evidence that it causes cancer. keith: for "nbc10 @issue," i'm keith jones. rosemary: factcheck.org did reach out to the author of a controversial scientific study from 2008 that seemed to call bacon better than tilapia. he did not respond, but back in 2014, he did tell one news organization that his research was being taken out of context, and that his paper never intended to paint tilapia as the cause of anything negative. we'll be right back.

at ikea, we believe your perfect student deserves the perfect room for the perfect price. and... who's there? hey. a boy? oh, on the bed? you never told your dad and i about any... wait, what's going on now? move the flag. wait, what's going on now? from fields and factories they came looking for opportunity. they worked hard. we helped them work harder. they are the students of strayer university. for 125 years, we've supported as they've rewritten the future. and to all who seek their true potential, we say, let's get it, america.

at ikea, we believe your perfect student deserves the perfect room for the perfect price. and... who's there? hey. a boy? oh, on the bed? you never told your dad and i about any... wait, what's going on now? move the flag. wait, what's going on now? rosemary: this next one is a story about an encounter a passenger had with an airline representative, and it's a good one. stacy hurt is battling stage four colon cancer. she was traveling from nashville back to pittsburg and was able

to catch an earlier flight. however, her bags didn't make on that earlier flight. inside the bag, items she needed for chemotherapy the very next day. so, stacy decided to call southwest airlines. the woman who answered promised to get the luggage to her no matter what time it came in. stacy hurt: she left me a voicemail at 2:53 a.m., telling me that she was delivering my luggage to my house herself. sarah: our last delivery went out for the night, so i'm just going to go ahead and drive it out myself. i'm leaving work here shortly. rosemary: stacy says the woman's kindness has restored her faith in humanity. that's it for this edition of "nbc10 @issue," thank you for joining us. don't forget, this upcoming saturday is clear the shelters day. that's when almost 50 shelters and rescues in our area will wave all adoption fees. it's a great way to find a forever friend. i'm rosemary connors, have a good one. ♪

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