Cancer
Cancer is a disease in which cells grow out of control and invade,
erode, and destroy normal tissue. Damaged genes cause this development
of cancer. These damaged genes are often a factor caused by such
things such as the environment, and can be influenced by inherited
factors. As the very early damaged cells divide they can evolve into a
malignant cell population, and lose the control mechanism that govern
normal cell division. These malignant cells can then go on to form
solid tumours that start to destroy normal tissue. These can then
spread to other parts of the body by releasing these tumour cells.
Once these cancer cells spread, they grow in other parts of the body
and then form new cancers. If this cancer spreads to take over a part
of the body that performs an essential function, this can kill you.
One in three people will be diagnosed with cancer during their
lifetime. However most cancers mainly affect older people. Therefore
as the average life expectancy in the United Kingdom has almost
doubled, the risk of cancer has grown. It is estimated that a third of
all cancers are caused by smoking and another third is caused by the
diet people choose. These are over two hundred different types of
cancer, and all have different causes, different symptoms and require
different types of treatment. Some types of cancer are very common,
such as breast, lung, bowel, and prostate cancer, whereas some types
of blood cancers are very rare.
There are many causes of cancer. However, usually there is more than
one cause, which will cause cancer. This is known as being
multi-factorial.
Carcinogens are one major cause know...
... middle of paper ...
...This is because as time changes, new
information's found out to show that some parts of a diet can be
classed as a carcinogen. An example of this is some years ago
saccharin claimed to be a carcinogen, but now is said not to be as
dangerous as we expected. Lastly our views on sun exposure are a known
cause for non- melanoma and melanoma skin cancer. Melanomas one of the
most deadly skin cancers, and are located in the upper part of the
skin. These start commonly to form a mole, which then turn to become
cancerous. These types of skin cancers are associated with ultraviolet
waves caused by sunlight. This is most common in people who are
predisposed to sunburn rather than tan. However, even though this
predisposition to ultraviolet rays has been known to cause skin
cancer, people still do not take notice of this warning.
Cancer is the term used to describe a group of diseases consisting of hundreds of ailments and although there exists so many different types of cancer, they all begin in a similar way. The body is made up of over a trillion cells, and cancer is the uncontrolled growth of malfunctioning cells in the body (Dawson, 1996). “Normal body cells grow, divide, and die in an orderly fashion. During the early years of a person’s life, normal cells divide faster to allow the person to grow. After the person becomes an adult, most cells divide only to replace worn-out or dying cells or to repair injuries” (American Cancer Society, 2012).
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation is one of the biggest contributing factors of skin cancer. Sunlight is the main source of UV rays, however, recently tanning lamps and beds have become a popular source of these UV rays. There are three different types of UV rays: UVA rays, UVB rays, and UVC rays. UVB rays are the rays that cause most skin cancers because they have the most energy and do more damage quicker than UVA rays. UVB radiation causes skin cancer because of its damaging affect to the DNA of skin cells. However, most tanning beds give off UVA rays and these rays have recently been
Smoking is the most preventable cause of death in our society. During 1995, approximately 2.1 million people in developed countries died as a result of smoking. One tobacco use is responsible for nearly one in five deaths in the United States. Lung Cancer mortality are about 23 times higher for current male smokers and 13 times higher for current female smokers compared to a lifelong never-smoker.
Melanoma skin cancer has multiple causes. The biggest and newest cause of melanoma skin cancer is a result of tanning in salon tanning beds. As said by Zoe D. Draelos, MD, FAAD, consulting professor, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC “What they may not realize is that no matter whether you tan or burn, a tan from the sun or tanning beds damages the skin and may cause wrinkles, age spots, and skin cancer.” Now more than ever every day routines consist of going to the tanning salon. Adults are beginning to take their children to start tanning at young ages exposing them to the UV radiation that causes melanoma.
Most forms of skin cancer are found on areas of the body that experience constant exposure to sunlight. The ultraviolet rays in sunlight are one main cause of skin cancer, but artificial sources of UV rays have also been proven to be a contributing factor.
Cancer starts when cells in a part of the body start to grow out of control. Cancer cell growth is different from normal cell growth. Instead of dying, cancer cells continue to grow and form new, abnormal cells. Cancer cells can also invade (grow into) other tissues, something that normal cells cannot do. Growing out of control and invading other tissues are what makes a cell a cancer cell. Cells become cancer cells because of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) damage. DNA is in every cell and it directs all the cell’s actions. In a normal cell, when DNA gets damaged the cell either repairs the damage or the cell dies. In cancer cells, the damaged DNA is not repaired, and the cell doesn’t die like it should. Instead, the cell goes on making new cells that the body doesn’t need. These new cells all have the same abnormal DNA as the first cell does.
According to Cancer.org, cancer is the generic name for over a hundred diseases. There are cancers for literally every part of the body. Cancer starts by abnormal cells growing out of control. Usually, if the cancer is caught earlier in the stages, it is treatable and a person would have a good chance at surviving. Unfortunately, if the cancer is untreated for a longer duration of time, the survival rate dwindles. There are types of this abnormal cell growth that can be potentially more fatal than others. There is an astonishing amount of different cancers to delve in to. Bone cancer and lung cancer are very common in this day and age. The chance of survival depends on the type, as well as the amount of time it has gone untreated.
Skin cancer occurs twice often in men than in women. The highest rates of skin cancer occurs in South Africa and Australia. It is common among white skinned people but rare in dark skinned people. (Bair, 1991, P. 367) Statistics show that the most common cancer is skin cancer. Over six hundred thousand people in the United States have skin cancer. Moreover, in every three new cases of cancer, one happens to be skin cancer. Approximately forty to fifty percent of people who reach sixty-five have skin cancer ( Dollinger, 1995, P. 579)
Cancer has become the one of the most feared things for human beings. The various type of cancer have been discovered and there are still a lot of it that undiscoverable. Cancer is a complex disease that have a group of disease. The cancer itself cannot be describe by words. The causes of this cancer is still not being able to be discovered fully. There are only minor factor that can lead to this disease. The carcinogens are believed to be one of the causes that lead to cancer such as asbestos, radon gas, tobacco, PVC and much more from our chemical industries. The environment especially near to the industrial that produce chemical waste can be one of the causes lead to cancer. Cancer also have relation with our age, lifestyle, and diet and also can be genetically inherited. It is believed that older people have higher tendency to get cancer than younger people. Our lifestyle and diet also plays a role causing a cancer by our daily life routine. Smoking tobacco and eating unconsciously (still in research) can also increase the possibility to get cancer especially lung cancer that cause by smoking tobacco. There are several cases, cancer were inherited from their parents. Various type of viruses such as HIV, HPV, EBV and many more virus has a high capabilities to increase the chance a patient to get a cancer because these viruses lower their body immunity to disease.
Usually, normal cells die when they are old or damaged, newly grow cells will replace them. However, if something goes wrong, there may be too many new cells when the body only needs a few of them, and the body can’t get rid of old cells, it builds up a mass of tissue called tumor. There are two types of tumor, begin or malignant. Begin tumors are usually not harmful to human body, however, malignant tumors could be life threatening. This type of tumors will invade organs and tissues around them, travel through blood vessels or lymph vessels, attach to other tissues and destroy them. Malignant tumors arise in breast tissues and cause breast cancer.
Cancer of the lung was nearly nonexistent in the early 1900’s. By the middle of the 20th century an epidemic became apparent throughout the United States and the rest of the world. It is primarily correlated with the widespread abundance of cigarette smoking in the world. The tobacco industry has multiplied its production immediately prior to World War I. There was a typical 20 to 30 year lagging period between the initiation of cigarette smoking and the actual tumor formation in the lungs. Lung cancer is the cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. It occurs when cells in the lung start to grow rapidly in an uncontrolled manner. Lung cancer can start anywhere in the lungs and affect any part of the respiratory system. Most of all lung cancer cases start in the lining of the bronchi (health-cares.net, 2005). It is the leading cause of all cancer deaths in the world. During this time the tobacco companies would continue to say that cigarette smoking was not addictive and did not cause any type of cancer. Even with all evidence in the world today about tobacco causing cancer, Tobacco companies still remain the most profitable business in the world. Lung cancer is very common in both women and men. Women account for about 40 percent of the lung cancer cases in the world. Women who smoke are more than twice as likely to develop lung cancer as those of men who smoke (Tavor, 2005).
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world (Breast). Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed: one in eight women will have breast cancer (Walgreens, 2011; Chen, 2010). “I have to admit, like so many women, I always knew there was a chance. But like so many women, I never thought it would be me. I never thought I'd hear those devastating words: 'You have breast cancer.' “- Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a democratic representative of Florida (2011).
Skin Cancer is caused by hereditary factors, overexposure to the sun, and weak immune systems. (“Skin Cancer” infotrac.com) One reason people tend to get skin cancer is when someone in your family has passed their genes down to you, known as hereditary. Normally hereditary is one of the causes in the development of melanoma. For all types of skin cancers, overexposure of the skin to UV radiation in sunlight is the most frequently blamed source of skin cancer. “Research suggests that sunburns received early in one’s childhood can lead to skin cancer later in life” (“Skin Cancer” infotrac.com). For example, when someone gets sunburned, you usually don’t know till ten to twenty years after and that’s why people don’t get skin cancer till they reach their twenties.
Cancer is a disease that affects human somatic cells. It causes the cells to divide uncontrollably and form masses known as tumors. There are two different types of cancer tumors. Some tumors are benign and other tumors are malignant. Benign tumors look similar to the tissues that they came from and develop slowly. The tumor remains in the same area that the tumor originated in. Malignant tumors are formed from cells that do not resemble the tissue that they came from. They vary in shape and size. This enables pieces of the tumor to break off and spread to other places in the body. Over the past few decades cancer has become a very prominent disease. There are many different types of cancer and many different causes for the the disease. Most cancers are because of a genetic mutation. The most common type occur when a cell is dividing. Proto-oncogenes, which are alleles in a normal cells, mutate to form oncogenes. These oncogenes cause cancer because they do not allow the cells to self destruct or become epistatic. There have been several research projects which have been testing epistatis.