The Cure?

Below is yet another satirical piece on cancer, explaining the misconception of many Americans. Don't just have blind faith, ask for the evidence!

http://boingboing.net/2013/10/18/new-miracle-cure-for-basically.html

Half a Century Before You Can Get Checked?

It doesn't seem right for women to wait until they're 50 in order to see if they're OK. As these satirical cartoons suggest, the U.S. Preventative Services Task Force should consider mammograms on an ethical perspective rather than on cost efficiency. Why should women wait until the middle of their life to check? Although a stressful experience, it is better to be, as they say, "safe rather than sorry."

Political Cartoon on Cancer Research

Pre-19th Century Writing

      Upon reading these documents, I realized how fortunate and great it is to be exposed to this type of writing. We've only been introduced to these documents superficially. In other words, we've only ever learned them as a title followed by its most important contribution to society. To be able to actually annotate and fully dissect historic documents is such a privilege. The document itself reveals the values and ideas the creators of the document had when they were writing this. Along with the exposure of their ideas and values, you also get a comprehensive understanding of the time period and situation they were in that led them to form a legal document demanding a change. You don't just get introduced to a list of grievances, you're introduced to a society whose high regard to individual rights pushed them to take action for the safety of their life, liberty, and property (or pursuit of happiness). Because of their perseverance, they have changed the course of humanity and their contributions have ultimately made us who we are today. Furthermore, it shows that the principles we uphold today are traced back to 17th and 18th century. The fact that the founding principles of America are still applicable to this day is awesome and it shows that, despite a century of development, little has really changed.

Government Shutdown

The Government Shutdown Explained
      As a result of Congress unable to determine a budget for the fiscal year (which runs from September 30th until October 1st), the government has shutdown. The reason for the indecision was due to the Obamacare plan and the multitude of controversies regarding it. Republicans want the spending bill to include provisions that "defund, derail, or otherwise chip away" at Obamacare; Democrats do not. Those pertaining to the Republican party have largely rejected the law because they believe that if everyone were to have health insurance, it would hurt the employers. However, proponents to the cause (Democrats) believe it will be efficient because it would prevent the indirect payment of hospital bills that were never paid by uninsured people who were treated in emergency rooms, among other aspects.
For more on this subject, visit: http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/index.html)

      In the video below, the government shutdown, along with a list of services that have been affected, is explained in a little more than 60 seconds.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-24306152

Government Shutdown and Cancer Trials

      Between 700,000-800,000 federal employees have been sent home without pay. Among them, employees of federal clinical research programs. The National Institutes of Health has had to temporarily dismiss over 14,000 employees (which amounts to 75 percent of their staff). As a result, new patients AND new trials will not be able to occur. This includes 255 trials relating to cancer, primarily affecting the children with cancer in the hospital. The reason for this is because of the 200 trial patients that will be affected due to the shutdown, 15 percent are children and 33 percent of those have cancer. If this shutdown continues, every week amounts to 10 children being delayed their cancer treatment.

For more information, visit: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-does-and-doesnt-get-affected-in-a-government-shutdown-2013-10 or http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2013/10/01/federal-shutdown-to-hamper-disease-tracking-clinical-trials/



     

New Alternative to Treating Cancer?

Immunotherapy v. Chemotherapy

Recent studies done on mice at the University of Washington show that by targeting and eliminating specific cancerous cells,cells that "dampen" the body's immune system, tumor growth has decreased and there has been a significant improvement of survival. This strategy is known as immunotherapy and is being viewed as another alternative to treating cancer. Instead of killing  cells, immunotherapy enables the own individual to fight the cancer with its immune system.

This can become a better alternative to treating various forms of cancer. It can develop into an alternative that produces a higher rate of  success because it would destroy the cancer completely. It would be able to do this due to the fact that it directly targets the cells that are causing the immune system to become debilitated.

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/09/16/depletion-of-traitor-immune-cells-slows-cancer-growth-in-mice/