Sunday, January 26, 2020

Biological Causes of Cancer and Effects

Biological Causes of Cancer and Effects Cancer refers to a set of diseases characterized by the uncontrolled proliferation of cells into a different form against the normal complement of the organism (Kufe Holland, 2003). There are two types of tumors; one is unremitting proliferation of cancer cells develops into tumor tissues and may multiply across to other organs via circulatory systems resulting in metastasis known as malignant tumors and second one those without malignant properties, which are self-limiting, noninvasive and do not metastasise, known as benign tumors. Around 90% of deaths from cancer are due to the metastases (Box Html, 2008). Cancer may concern humans of all ages. According to figures from World Health Organisation (WHO), cancer is the second most mortal disease after cardiovascular diseases. In 2010, around 5.5 million people in India were died due to cancer. 71% cancer deaths occurred in both men and women aged of 30-69 years. The three most common fatal cancers were oral (including lip and pharynx), stomach, and lung (including trachea and larynx) in men, and cervical, stomach, and breast in women. About 30% of cancer deaths are due to high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco and alcohol use. Hence, the medical needs for cancer remain one of the most demanding areas in scientific research (Dikshit et al., 2012; Ferlay et al., 2007). Cancers are first and foremost an environmental disease with 90–95% of cases due to modification in lifestyle and environmental factors and 5–10% due to genetics mutation (oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes and DNA repair genes). Cancer is caused by physical carcinogens (ultraviolet and ionizing radiation), chemical carcinogens (asbestos, components of tobacco smoke, aflatoxin and arsenic), and biological carcinogens (infections from certain viruses, bacteria or parasites). Common environmental factors leading to cancer death include: tobacco (25–30%), diet and obesity (30–35%), infections (15–20%), radiation, stress, lack of physical activity, and environmental pollutants. These environmental factors cause abnormalities in the genetic material of cells. There are certain risk factors for cancers which consist use of Tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity are the main cancer risk factors worldwide (Rayl and Lewis, 2001; Bahls and F ogarty; 2002; Gibbs; 2003). Chronic infections from hepatitis B (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and some types of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) are leading risk factors for cancer in low- and middle-income countries. Cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV, is a leading cause of cancer death among women in low-income countries (Newman and Cragg, 2007). It is very unfortunate condition when cancer has been diagnosed; there are a number of treatments available. As cancer refers to a class of disease, it is unlikely that one single cure for all forms of cancer is possible (Pazdur, 2001; Illidge, 2008). The most common methods include surgery, chemotherapy (with one or more cytotoxic antineoplastic drugs), radiation therapy (ionizing radiation). There are other methods of treatment such as targeted therapies (monoclonal antibody therapy), immunotherapy (enhancing, or suppressing an immune response) and hormonal therapy (Goldenberg, 2002; Rosenberg et al., 1986; Byar and Corle, 1988). New methods, immunotherapy have the advantage to minimizing the adverse effects, in this targets specific antigen solely expressed by tumor cells, only target cancer and not the healthy cell population. According to a report of World Health Organization, more than 80% of world’s populations depend on traditional medicine for their primary health care needs (Farnsworth, 1994; Duraipandiyan et al., 2006). Plants have a long history of use in the treatment of cancer and it is significant that over 60% of currently used anti-cancer agents are come from natural source. Naturally occurring drugs that are part of the war against cancer include vinca alkaloids (vincristine, vinblastine, vindesine, vinorelbine), taxanes (paclitaxel, docetaxel), podophyllotoxin and its derivative (etoposide, teniposide), camptothecin and its derivatives (topothecan, irinothecan), anthracyclines (doxorubicin, daunorubicin, epirubicin, idarubicin) and others. In fact, half of all anti-cancer drugs approved internationally were either natural products or their derivatives and were developed on the basis of knowledge gained from small molecules or macromolecules that exist in nature (Cragg et al., 2005; Cr agg et al., 1997). In between 2001 and 2005, 23 new drugs derived from natural products were introduced for the treatment of disorders such as bacterial and fungal infections, cancer, diabetes, dyslipidemia, atopic dermatitis, Alzheimer’s disease and genetic diseases such as tyrosinaemia and Gaucher disease out of these 4 drugs have been approved as anti cancer agents. The approved anti cancer agents in 2002 doxorubicin, in 2002 estradiol, in 2004 cholorophyll and l- aspartic acid and taxol nanoparticles in 2005 (Butler, 2005). Three new drugs also introduced in 2007 originate from microbial sources for the treatment of cancer is marine alkaloid trabectedin, epothilone derivative ixabepilone and temsirolimus (Newman et al., 2003). Nature is an attractive source of new therapeutic candidate compounds as a tremendous chemical diversity is found in millions of species of plants, animals, marine organisms and microorganisms as potential anti-cancer agent (Bailly, 2009; Butler, 20 04; Bhanot et al., 2011). There were various biological mechanisms for controlling the cancer, out of it apoptosis and cell cycle inhibition are important one. Apoptosis is the process of programmed cell death (PCD) that may perhaps occur in multicellular organisms. In distinction to necrosis, which is a form of traumatic cell death that outcome from acute cellular injury, apoptosis generally confers advantages during an organisms life cycle. Biochemical events escort to characteristic cell changes (morphology) and death (Furuya et al., 1994). There are numerous pathways and signals lead to apoptosis, but there is only one mechanism that in fact causes the death of a cell (Meikrantz W, Schlegel; 1995). Subsequent to a cell receives stimulus, it undergoes planned degradation of cellular organelles by activated proteolytic caspases. A cell undergoing apoptosis shows a distinguishing morphology (Alenzi; 2004): The breakdown of the proteinaceous cytoskeleton caused by caspases which shown characteristic cell shrinkage and rounding. The cytoplasm appears dense, and the organelles emerge tightly packed. A process of pyknosis (a hallmark of apoptosis) in which chromatin undergoes condensation into compact patches in opposition to the nuclear envelope. The nuclear cover becomes broken down and the DNA inside it is split in a process known to as karyorrhexis. The nucleus breaks into a number of separate chromatin bodies or nucleosomal units as a result of the degradation of DNA. The cell membrane shows uneven buds known as blebs. The cell breaks together into several vesicles called apoptotic bodies, which afterward phagocytosed. Figure 1.1: Apoptosis in sequence: A) normal resting cell; B) cell volume is lost and chromatin clumped; C) blebbing process; D) chromatin collapsed to the margins of the nuclear envelope; E) nucleus clumped into a black hole; F) cell breaks down into apoptotic bodies; and G) apoptotic bodies ingested by macrophage. Cell cycle consists of two successive periods, that characterized by DNA replication and isolation of replicated chromosomes into two separate daughter cells. The cell cycle divided into five phases: G0, G1, S, G2, and M. Cell division, or cytokinesis, occurs through the M (mi ­tosis) phase, and is preceded by a prepa ­rative phase, or interphase, that includes G0, G1, S and G2 (Fig. 2). DNA replication occurs in a specific part of the interphase, the S (synthesis) phase, which is preceded by a gap called G1, where the cell prepa ­res for DNA synthesis, and followed by G2, during which the cell prepares for mitosis. Figure 1.2: A diagrammatic view of cell cycle indicating formation of two cells from one cell The vast preponderance of the cells are able to di ­vide but do so only when appropriate to re ­place damaged or dead cells. In fact, cells in G0 account for the major part of the non-growing, non-proliferating section of the human body, being essentially arrested in their growth. Cells in G0 can often be sti ­mulated to enter the cell cycle by external growth signals such as growth factors and hormones that bind to cell surface recep ­tors and then convey the signal from the plasma membrane to the nucleus, a pro ­cess known as signal transduction(Sherr, 1994; Ostsubo et al., 1995; Cerveira et al., 2012). The plant Aerva lanata L. belonging to family Amaranthaceae have been used for very long times in traditional system of medicine as diuretic and in lithiasis. Besides the traditional uses the plant were reported numerous pharmacological effects viz. diuretic (Udupihille and Jiffry, 1986), anti inflammatory (Vetrichelvan et al., 2000), anti-microbial, cytotoxic (Chowdhury et al, 2002), anthelmintic, demulcent (Pullaiah and Naidu, 2003), nephroprotective (Shirwaikar et al., 2004), anti-diabetic, anti-hyperglycaemic (Vetrichelvan and Jegadeesan, 2002; Deshmukh et al., 2008), expectorant, hepatoprotective (Manokaran et al., 2008), hypoglycemic, anti-hyperlipidemic (Krishnan et al., 2009), anti-parasitic and anthelmentic activities (Anantha et al., 2010), anti cancer activity was carried out against Daltons Ascitic Lymphoma (DAL) cell lines which show significant cancer control of the same (Rajesh et al., 2011). Beside this vast studies were carried out by various researchers to showing i mportance of Aerva lanata L. which includes finger printing chromatographic technique analysis of steroids, terpenoids, flavanoids and glycosides (Yamunadevi et al., 2011a; Mariswamy et al., 2011a; Yamunadevi et al., 2011b; Mariswamy et al., 2011b). As per previous studies phytoconstituens possessing anti-oxidant properties are believed to prevent or slow down the occurrence of disease such as cancer. In recent years, a large investigation on different classes of imidazo thiadiazoles has been done. Many of them were found to possess definite pharmacological activity. The fusion of a imidazole ring with a 1,3,4-thiadiazole nucleus give rise to a class of heterocyclic systems containing a bridgehead nitrogen atom known as imidazothiadiazoles. Imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole derivatives were first discovered in the early 1950s and, since then, the research work on heterocyclic system has led to significant developments in their chemistry and biology. The planar and rigid heteroaromatic imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazole ring system have interesting physicochemical and biological properties, because of the presence of four hetero atom and two condensed heterocycles with different Ï€-conjugation. Imidazo[2,1-b][1,3,4]thiadiazoles ring systems have been extensively studied and so far, a variety of biological activities have been reported for a large number of their derivatives such as antitubercular, antibacterial, anticancer, anthelmintic, antifungal, anticonvulsant, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antipyretic, local anaesthetic, diuretic, antileishmanial and herbicidal activities. In addition, they have been reported to selectively inhibit several therapeutic receptors and enzymes, extending their applications in modern drug design (Jadhav et al., 2008). So the present study was designed to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of the plant Aerva lanata L., isolation and characterization of phytoconstituents as well as preparation of their various novel derivatives as potential anticancer agents (Khazi et. Al., 2011).

Saturday, January 18, 2020

Letter of Advice… Interpersonal Communication Essay

This a great article with good advice on how to communicate with your husband, wife or partner for the future. Without Communication there will not be a happy and long lasting result in a marriage. Within reading this article I was able to relate the knowledge with my own marriage of 5 long years. Learning how to communicate within listen as well as my tone and other forms to communicate has been susceptible for us. There has been along hard battle to fight through my ordeal, but the lessons of reading and responding with the actions have been very tolerable. I have had a very bad problem beening lonely after my children went to college and after I closed my business. Drawing more to my husband, I felt he was pulling away from me. There was not a day went by that I feel deeper in a depression without communicating that with him, I just assumed he would have noticed. Now after talking the problem out and with quality time as well things are much better. Being able to relate to â€Å"Many couples think they are communicating with each other†, they are wrong at times, because I was that person. Within the statement, â€Å"Romantic relationships begin with a lot of sharing and excitement, (Terri Orbuch) I feel this is very true, because that’s why you get married. But, as time goes on other things take place within priorities before you mate. I blame this on life sometimes. Self-disclosure really is an important key to having satisfaction in a marriage even or a relationship, because it is an act of verbally or nonverbally revealing information about you to others. Within revealing your true thoughts and self you may allow other people to know the â€Å"real you† and not your public personality, which often leads to building the relationship to higher levels of communication. Self-disclosure is what your spouse will be entitled to that knowledge. When it comes to gender differences, there really is a level of expression that women and men have to different. When you make a connection and are able to understand how interpersonal communication works, you are better able to express and reveal information about the inner you. I have noticed that my husband keeps a lot of things bottled up on the inside and I really try to get him to talk about things. But within recognizing my husband’s stand on issues, I don’t push too hard. Gender roles are even greater over the years as men and women both have trouble in expressing their feelings, but if we learn to communicate better things will be easier. After all, we just want to be loved and cared for by our spouse. Unfortunately, I believe I have loved, lost, and lived to love again through our time together. I believe with time, exploring, and the use of self-disclosure that my husband and I will find our way back to an exciting new beginning to share with our extended family through generalization. I fit into the category because many relationships are typical. All arguments and issue seems to be the same, only to be in a different scenario. Communication plays a valuable role in our relationships one that leads to a long-lasting and healthy marriage. Some good advice is to make the best of every opportunity while having fun and loving the person you are with right now.

Friday, January 10, 2020

Non Violent Resistance

Chenoweth and Stephan's arguments and research show that non violent campaigns are more successful than violent campaigns against violent political regimes. Though violent protests can show to be successful and they do get the point across though in a very different way, non violent protests I will have to agree, are the best and most efficient way to go about combating a violent opposition. With cases such as Dr.Martin Luther King, and Ghandi being two of the most noted cases. (not to say that there are not many more) The two writers argue 2 main points as to why a nonviolent approaches are strategically more sound than those that promote violence. The first argument is t hat when a violent force (especially a regime) tries to repress an non-violent campaign, the repression may backfire. â€Å"First, repressing nonviolent campaigns may backfire.In backfire, an unjust act—often violent repression—recoils against its originators, often resulting in the breakdown of obed ience among regime supporters, mobilization of the population against the regime, and international condemnation of the regime† (Cenoweth ; Stephan, 11) In turn when a violent regime confronts a non-violent regime with violence, it sends a message of hostility that will label that country hostile. I associate this with the, Nuke the Middle East comments.Though acts of terrorism may be common in the area the amount of civilian and peaceful citizens in the area would make a no holds bar bombing unacceptable (as well as unlawful in regards to international laws) They also mention a breakdown in support for the violent regime. I agree. As a violent force aggressively challenges a nonviolent movement that is just that, non violent, support tends to diminish from the regime causing a power shift and essentially the regime could collapse due to exhausting funds and lack of support.That is a very interesting and true perspective of a non violent protest strategy that I had not thought of and after thinking about it I tend I lean more towards this argument than I did when I had first began reading this article. Their second argument for non-violent campaigns is that they promote negotiations. They explain that most regimes are more easily swayed to negotiate with a non violent organization as they are not causing harm the regime itself or the military by taking hands on action.They bring up something called Correspondence Inference Theory. Basically we respond to an opponent based on their actions. If they're non violent you would confront them as such and the same goes if they are violent. They make the point that public acceptance is the heart of any resistance and the public masses would be more opt to follow a non violent one than a violent. The reason is simple, the public will not feel as threatened. I feel as though these are great arguments.If by chance a cop de tat had arose in the united states i feel i would be more opt to join a non violent route, suc h as the hippie movement in the 1960's where the protests were expressed via music instead of violence. Of course there are special occurrences where the two above arguments are invalid. During the civil rights protests many African American protesters were hosed down by the authorities even though they had followed Dr. Kings message of peace.Dr. King himself though an advocate of peace was assassinated by the opposition. As previously stated I agree with the authors that a non violent approach strategically is a wonderful idea but it has a down side and I believe that it leaves the peace makers vulnerable to opposition extremists who are not worried about international opinion A few recent examples being Terrorist organizations like Al Queda, and tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, and North Korea.

Thursday, January 2, 2020

The Christian Philosophy Of History - 1912 Words

The Christian philosophy of history comes from the reading of biblical scripture rather than speculation or a scientific study of the past. The Bible is one text that is common for all Christians despite all the different denominations. Beginning with Augustine, many people have written their own individual versions of a Christian view of history, however they all start with the Bible. The Bible is not a philosophy of history. However, it helps to analyse the understanding of history that lies behind the stories . There are a number of values and lessons that are evident in historical events when looking at them through a Christian history lens . When looking at these values of Christianity that are evident in a Christian view of history there usually needs to be some form of sacrifice and redemption, a promise and in terms of the book of Revelations there is an apocalyptic element that outlines an end . The book of Revelations is an apocalyptic text. It was written towards the end of the first century when the Emperor Domitian began severely persecuting the Church. Revelations seems to bring hope to the people that Jesus will come again and a reminder that all history is under God’s control all evil will eventually be judged and not left unnoticed . Revelations outlines many of the critical elements to a Christian history that helps to understand and analyse history from a Christian perspective. Arguably one of the most notorious parts of history is that of NaziShow MoreRelatedPhilosophy and Religion in Education Essay1166 Words   |  5 PagesPhilosophy and Religion in Education The education mission of the philosophy and religion department serves the general studies core and the major. The department takes seriously its obligation to introduce general studies students to philosophy and religion as humanities disciplines. 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