Here's something i read lately:
"An estimated one in two men and one in three women are diagnosed with cancer at some point".
And another fact is that almost half the patients diagnosed with cancer die, due to it or related complications.
So i thought it is important for us to know and have some basic knowledge about cancer prevalence and home detections. So looked up for similar information and here it is:
Roughly, cancer symptoms can be divided into three groups:
Local symptoms: unusual lumps or swelling (tumor), hemorrhage (bleeding), pain and/or ulceration. Compression of surrounding tissues may cause symptoms such as jaundice (yellowing the eyes and skin).
Symptoms of metastasis (spreading): enlarged lymph nodes, cough and hemoptysis, hepatomegaly (enlarged liver), bone pain, fracture of affected bones and neurological symptoms. Although advanced cancer may cause pain, it is often not the first symptom.
Systemic symptoms: weight loss, poor appetite, fatigue and cachexia (wasting), excessive sweating (night sweats), anemia and specific paraneoplastic phenomena, i.e. specific conditions that are due to an active cancer, such as thrombosis or hormonal changes.
Every symptom in the above list can be caused by a variety of conditions (a list of which is referred to as the differential diagnosis). Cancer may be a common or uncommon cause of each item.
Often knowledge saves lives, in ways more than one.
Issued in public interest..:)
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
New Research
I recently came across this article and wanted to share it with you guys. Its about cancer treatment and the research going on. Sounds pretty convincing, i think i should look in a little more detail, as it sounds quite simple. If it were so simple people would not have spent so much time on research, someone must have thought about this earlier. Anyways, here's the article:
Researchers have identified a chemical chain of events that leads cancer cells to age, and thus stop reproducing. By exploiting this process, they propose, scientists might be able to develop new cancer therapies.
The molecular sequence of events, called a signaling path way, is described in the March 18 issue of the research journal Nature by investigators Paolo Pandolfi of the Harvard Medical School and colleagues.
Cancer cells are normally able to reproduce themselves indefinitely with out ageing; this indeed is a core aspect of the problem confronting cancer victims. The out-of-control cell division leads to the creation of an ever-growing load of tumors.
The newfound pathway drives cell ageing, or “senescence,” only in cancerous conditions, according to Pan dolfi’s group. A key component of the pathway is a gene called Skp2, the scientists reported. By suppressing this gene, they found that they could profoundly restrict tumor formation in mice by causing cancer cells to age. The process curbed cell division.
The researchers also found that a Skp2-blocking drug induced ageing in a laboratory culture of human prostate cancer cells.
Because the new found ageing pathway seems to operate only in cancer, it raises hopes that it could prove a useful target for anti-cancer treatments, which might avoid harming healthy cells, the researchers argued. Such a treatment might also have the advantage of operating in a wide array of different cancer types.
“The challenge ahead is to test whether these pre-clinical studies in mice can be translated into more effective cancer therapies,” wrote Manuel Serrano is of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, in a commentary accompanying the study in Nature.
Hope you found it interesting and informative.
coutesy: world science
Researchers have identified a chemical chain of events that leads cancer cells to age, and thus stop reproducing. By exploiting this process, they propose, scientists might be able to develop new cancer therapies.
The molecular sequence of events, called a signaling path way, is described in the March 18 issue of the research journal Nature by investigators Paolo Pandolfi of the Harvard Medical School and colleagues.
Cancer cells are normally able to reproduce themselves indefinitely with out ageing; this indeed is a core aspect of the problem confronting cancer victims. The out-of-control cell division leads to the creation of an ever-growing load of tumors.
The newfound pathway drives cell ageing, or “senescence,” only in cancerous conditions, according to Pan dolfi’s group. A key component of the pathway is a gene called Skp2, the scientists reported. By suppressing this gene, they found that they could profoundly restrict tumor formation in mice by causing cancer cells to age. The process curbed cell division.
The researchers also found that a Skp2-blocking drug induced ageing in a laboratory culture of human prostate cancer cells.
Because the new found ageing pathway seems to operate only in cancer, it raises hopes that it could prove a useful target for anti-cancer treatments, which might avoid harming healthy cells, the researchers argued. Such a treatment might also have the advantage of operating in a wide array of different cancer types.
“The challenge ahead is to test whether these pre-clinical studies in mice can be translated into more effective cancer therapies,” wrote Manuel Serrano is of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in Madrid, in a commentary accompanying the study in Nature.
Hope you found it interesting and informative.
coutesy: world science
Monday, March 29, 2010
random thoughts
was just sittin lookin up at the ceiling and a thought came to my mind. something which i had thought about quite some years back. so thought of sharing it with you. and also had not updated my blog in quite a while.;)
when we were kids, we used to look up at the teenagers and think, wish i was a little older, would have had much more freedom. when mom used to make us wear extra warm clothes even when we were already hot in winters, but she wouldnt listen saying that she knows better. and we could'nt argue and had to wear 'em, sweating inside. frustration used make my blood boil. thinking that i know how hot i already am. i used to pray, oh lord, when will i be a little older that mom will trust me when i say im not cold.
as a teenager, i used to look up to adults and think, boy must they be happy, they can drive cars without the risk f being caught as underage drivers. they can hang out with friends till late without being thrown a huge questionnaire when you get home. i mean adults are really respected in the society, as if they know what they are doing and are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. when you're seventeen, people still take you as kids, but as soon as you turn eighteen, you're entirely a different person and people look at you in an entirely new way. Even the Indian government acknowledges you as a person. you get your driver's license, your voter card, your PAN card and what not. till seventeen you were no one and now they entrust you with even choosing the government. sheesh... how'd they decide that eighteen was the right age... i wonder...
when adults see people in their thirties, they think they are at the peak of their lives. do whatever you wanna do. no one to question at all. the cycle goes on.
but the sad part is, with more freedom, comes more responsibility. when we were kids, we just had to wonder about our homework. as teenagers, we had homework plus peers. as adults we had college work, jobs, peers, partners and so on.
and the worst part is, human nature, when we were kids, we so wanted to become adults and when we became adults, we wish we were kids, life was so easy then... never be happy or satisfied with what you have.
sad. sad. sad.
when we were kids, we used to look up at the teenagers and think, wish i was a little older, would have had much more freedom. when mom used to make us wear extra warm clothes even when we were already hot in winters, but she wouldnt listen saying that she knows better. and we could'nt argue and had to wear 'em, sweating inside. frustration used make my blood boil. thinking that i know how hot i already am. i used to pray, oh lord, when will i be a little older that mom will trust me when i say im not cold.
as a teenager, i used to look up to adults and think, boy must they be happy, they can drive cars without the risk f being caught as underage drivers. they can hang out with friends till late without being thrown a huge questionnaire when you get home. i mean adults are really respected in the society, as if they know what they are doing and are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. when you're seventeen, people still take you as kids, but as soon as you turn eighteen, you're entirely a different person and people look at you in an entirely new way. Even the Indian government acknowledges you as a person. you get your driver's license, your voter card, your PAN card and what not. till seventeen you were no one and now they entrust you with even choosing the government. sheesh... how'd they decide that eighteen was the right age... i wonder...
when adults see people in their thirties, they think they are at the peak of their lives. do whatever you wanna do. no one to question at all. the cycle goes on.
but the sad part is, with more freedom, comes more responsibility. when we were kids, we just had to wonder about our homework. as teenagers, we had homework plus peers. as adults we had college work, jobs, peers, partners and so on.
and the worst part is, human nature, when we were kids, we so wanted to become adults and when we became adults, we wish we were kids, life was so easy then... never be happy or satisfied with what you have.
sad. sad. sad.
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