Standing up to cancer.
By Francisco Segura
Although only a film about the cure for cancer, 'The Medicine Man' did bring home the need for more research into cancer; some in authority believe the cure is not that far off and may be found in nature! When you think about the impact that a cure would bring to this global problem it sends a shudder through your spine. Research over the years has helped our understanding of cancer but not to the point where we are able to foretell exactly when it will happen.Of course many researchers belief that we are in effect born with cancer which is just waiting for something to set if off, but just what is cancer? Firstly, it is a disease that starts as a group of abnormal cells that continue to divide; they cross over to other cells and sites of the body continuing to grow and divide.A cancerous tumor keeps growing but a benign one is self-limiting and generally won't cause any harm to the body; there are rare occasions when a benign tumor changes to a malignant one. Fortunately, this is a disease which is not as prevalent in the young but as you age the risk of cancer increases; cancer is responsible for around 130,000 deaths for every one million people each year. Cancerous cells may have been transformed by radiation or poison for example and this creates genetic abnormality in those cells which then continue to grow and divide.To further complicate matters, it can also be the result of problems with faulty genetic codes passed down by parents which means that a person can be born with pre-cancerous cells although faults can also occur with the body's DNA replication ability. However this does not mean you will contract it as the relationship between carcinogens and an individual's genetic makeup is a complex one.Owing to the worldwide problem of cancer, it is regularly studied throughout the world and extending our knowledge on the subject. Once scientists discover the reason behind why some individuals are more likely to contract a disease than others, we may be closer to creating a cure. After all we all want to know more about why we contract cancer and how to avoid it.Over recent years, concern has been made public over the possibility that our dietary habits may be partly to blame for the incidence of the condition. Dairy foods are also considered to be a cause; calcium from dairy products is thought to be possible cause of prostrate cancer in males although other foodstuffs that could create problems are, too much salt and saturated fat.No-one is immune from cancer; it can affect anyone at some time in a person's life. Some people can have cancer for several years before they have any symptoms and this does not help their chances of being cured. However, mortality rates from cancer are decreasing and although a cure may not be possible, there are treatments available to slow its spread. All this research is gradually leading towards more effective treatments for cancer and it is not always the terminal disease it used to be.
About the author
Francisco Segura owns and manages http://medicalschoolrankingsguide.com/2007-medical-school-rankings.html
2007 Medical School Rankings from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
|
|
Copy This Article
For FREE!!!
You can use this article and copy it on your own website
for free! All you have to do is make sure the article
is copied with no changes and includes the "About
The Author" text. Also please ensure that all url's
are hyperlinked according. Thank you. |
Link To This Article - And We'll
Link Back To Your Website!
You are more then welcome to link to this article! All
you have to do is copy this webpage address from the
address bar and create a link on your website. Please
use the title of this article for your link text. Please
get in contact once you have linked to this article
and we'll link back to you! Thank you. |
|
|
|
Other great articles from this category...
|
Related Sites
|
|
