link to the article!
My honors article for this week is about how gene expression variations is a role in susceptibility to disease, and particularly breast cancer. People heterozygous to certain alleles could be used as a new way to look at susceptibility to breast cancer. For this research experiment they looked at the different allelic expression of 12 different genes that are possibly related to breast cancer susceptibility in both breast tissue and in fresh blood. The results were that most of the allele expressions were comparable between breast tissue and blood. The results point to the use of allelic expression in blood as a replacement for breast tissue.
It was very interesting to read about this topic for my article since this is what we have been learning about in biology class. Everything in this paper really clicked and the results made sense. I think this article is relevant to breast cancer research because the article mentioned how hard it was to get live breast tissue to sample. Fresh blood would be a lot easier to obtain and maybe will be used to look at peoples genetic risk in more detail. While we still work on finding a cure, knowing your genetic risk could be beneficial to patients and doctors to make sure that if cancer does appear, it could be eliminated even sooner. These alleles could even be used to figure out how breast cancer is caused and even lead to a cure.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Honors- Breast Cancer
link!
The article that I read this week was about how the mammographic breast density is a high risk factor for breast cancer. In this article, the scientists presented two new ways to estimate the mammographic breast density based on an MRI. The study was done on women between the ages of 31-49 who are genetically at risk for breast cancer. The researchers assessed a lot of different factors like the MRI to the mammographic measures, hormonal factors, genetics and risk using "linear and Poisson regression". The results showed that the MRI percent dense volume was connected with the mammographic percent dense area, but overall it wasn't as connected as they had first thought. Both did have connections to hormonal factors. They concluded that the MRIs and mammographic breast density are connected but not in equal measures and that the MRI has potential to be a predictor of breast cancer risk.
This work is relevant to the world of breast cancer research because finding new connections is huge and puts new pieces of the puzzle together. If there is further research done and the MRI becomes and predictor of breast cancer risk, women could be monitored just as closely as those who are at a genetic risk. I thought it was really interesting that the two different tests (mammograohic and MRI) both had connections to hormonal factors. I think that this article has a lot of potential on several topics. The connections to hormonal factors seemed like a pretty big connection to me. I think that researchers should build on this article and keep doing research on topics related to this.
The article that I read this week was about how the mammographic breast density is a high risk factor for breast cancer. In this article, the scientists presented two new ways to estimate the mammographic breast density based on an MRI. The study was done on women between the ages of 31-49 who are genetically at risk for breast cancer. The researchers assessed a lot of different factors like the MRI to the mammographic measures, hormonal factors, genetics and risk using "linear and Poisson regression". The results showed that the MRI percent dense volume was connected with the mammographic percent dense area, but overall it wasn't as connected as they had first thought. Both did have connections to hormonal factors. They concluded that the MRIs and mammographic breast density are connected but not in equal measures and that the MRI has potential to be a predictor of breast cancer risk.
This work is relevant to the world of breast cancer research because finding new connections is huge and puts new pieces of the puzzle together. If there is further research done and the MRI becomes and predictor of breast cancer risk, women could be monitored just as closely as those who are at a genetic risk. I thought it was really interesting that the two different tests (mammograohic and MRI) both had connections to hormonal factors. I think that this article has a lot of potential on several topics. The connections to hormonal factors seemed like a pretty big connection to me. I think that researchers should build on this article and keep doing research on topics related to this.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Honors Breast Cancer Research
link to the article here
The article I read this week, was about how microenvironments can effect breast cancer in positive or negative ways. In particular, this article was talking about the effect of a certain kind of serotonin that is a regulator in the breast and other areas. The results showed that although this the regulating serotonin molecule is beneficial normally, they go through a change during the progression of breast cancer and it essentially helps the cancerous cells. When the serotonin is uncoupled from its normal mechanisms, it helps the mutated cancer cells survive.
In the article, they wrote that this was the first report of the serotonin in human breast cancer. I think that it is crazy that a molecule that helps maintain homeostasis normally, can be messed up and will now support the growth of cancerous cells. It's a really scary thought since it is now reported there is something in your body that will help the cancer cells. This article was important because now that this preliminary information is out there, its one new piece of information that can be used to do more research. The effect of the serotonin could help open new doors and answer new questions about breast cancer, and other cancers too.
The article I read this week, was about how microenvironments can effect breast cancer in positive or negative ways. In particular, this article was talking about the effect of a certain kind of serotonin that is a regulator in the breast and other areas. The results showed that although this the regulating serotonin molecule is beneficial normally, they go through a change during the progression of breast cancer and it essentially helps the cancerous cells. When the serotonin is uncoupled from its normal mechanisms, it helps the mutated cancer cells survive.
In the article, they wrote that this was the first report of the serotonin in human breast cancer. I think that it is crazy that a molecule that helps maintain homeostasis normally, can be messed up and will now support the growth of cancerous cells. It's a really scary thought since it is now reported there is something in your body that will help the cancer cells. This article was important because now that this preliminary information is out there, its one new piece of information that can be used to do more research. The effect of the serotonin could help open new doors and answer new questions about breast cancer, and other cancers too.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Honors- Cancer Research Article 2
http://breast-cancer-research.com/content/11/S2/P31
This article was about another study that was done that relates to breast cancer. The study that I read about this week had to do with an alternative treatment that is more efficient and is less procedures. With the help of ultrasound, a patient is put under anesthetics, and localization is done, with a wire, but this method proved to be much more accurate.
As if it isnt bad enough to have breast cancer, it would be terrible to have to go through so many different procedures and have some of them be "un-comfortable" I think that this new development is important because not only is it fewer procedures for the patient, it also showed to be more accurate.
The best time to begin fighting cancer is at its earliest stages and if there is one treatment that works better then there (theoretically) would no cancerous cells coming back. I think that the results from this study are important because any kind of development in cancer research means a lot. The direct wire treatment helps surgeons find a very localized dissection place, and this treatment doesn't require a full radiology team, which leaves them open to help radiate peoples more serious tumors. I think this research will be valuable because it benefits everyone, patient, surgeons, radiology teams, doctors and the hospital.
This article was about another study that was done that relates to breast cancer. The study that I read about this week had to do with an alternative treatment that is more efficient and is less procedures. With the help of ultrasound, a patient is put under anesthetics, and localization is done, with a wire, but this method proved to be much more accurate.
As if it isnt bad enough to have breast cancer, it would be terrible to have to go through so many different procedures and have some of them be "un-comfortable" I think that this new development is important because not only is it fewer procedures for the patient, it also showed to be more accurate.
The best time to begin fighting cancer is at its earliest stages and if there is one treatment that works better then there (theoretically) would no cancerous cells coming back. I think that the results from this study are important because any kind of development in cancer research means a lot. The direct wire treatment helps surgeons find a very localized dissection place, and this treatment doesn't require a full radiology team, which leaves them open to help radiate peoples more serious tumors. I think this research will be valuable because it benefits everyone, patient, surgeons, radiology teams, doctors and the hospital.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Honors- Cancer Research
A link to my first article:
http://www.cancerjournal.net/article.asp?issn=0973-1482;year=2009;volume=5;issue=2;spage=93;epage=101;aulast=Wadasadawala
This article was about a study done relating to breast cancer. The study was a comparison of two different treatments and how different sub treatments effected the people involved. The two treatments were accelerated partial-breast irradiation and conventional whole-breast radiotherapy as it related to early breast cancer. I thought it was a bit of a challenge to read a real medical journal and some the the treatments were some I had never heard of. I never realized there were so many different ways to do radiation or other cancer treatments. I also thought it was interesting that the one that is the most effective has a better cosmetic outcome.
The best time to begin fighting cancer is at its earliest stages and if there is one treatment that works better then there (theoretically) would no cancerous cells coming back. I think that the results from this study are important because any kind of development in cancer research means a lot.
http://www.cancerjournal.net/article.asp?issn=0973-1482;year=2009;volume=5;issue=2;spage=93;epage=101;aulast=Wadasadawala
This article was about a study done relating to breast cancer. The study was a comparison of two different treatments and how different sub treatments effected the people involved. The two treatments were accelerated partial-breast irradiation and conventional whole-breast radiotherapy as it related to early breast cancer. I thought it was a bit of a challenge to read a real medical journal and some the the treatments were some I had never heard of. I never realized there were so many different ways to do radiation or other cancer treatments. I also thought it was interesting that the one that is the most effective has a better cosmetic outcome.
The best time to begin fighting cancer is at its earliest stages and if there is one treatment that works better then there (theoretically) would no cancerous cells coming back. I think that the results from this study are important because any kind of development in cancer research means a lot.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Photosynthesis
Photosynthesis matters to me because without it, plants wouldnt need the CO2 to give them energy, and then humans wouldnt have any oxygen to breathe. Without photosynthesis we wouldnt have pretty green plants or plants that have such cool and vibrant colors. This website that helped me learn about photosynthesis the best because it had a helpful narration and plenty of arrows to show me each part. It was helpful to hear someone tell me about it while I saw the animation and the pictures, similar to a teacher in school. I also thought it was very beneficial to have the quiz at the end of it so I got to review and actually put the knowledge I just gained to the test.
http://trc.ucdavis.edu/biosci10v/bis10v/media/ch05/photosynthesis_summary_v2.html
http://trc.ucdavis.edu/biosci10v/bis10v/media/ch05/photosynthesis_summary_v2.html
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
In The Natural World
Something that I am curious about, I think we will be learning about in Biology! I have gotten the basic overviews of what DNA is and how it works and all of the different things about genomes and genes and heredity but I'm still very curious about it. One thing that really peaks my interest is all of the hereditary diseases. I have no idea how something that one of your parents has/had could be passed on to you, or skip you and go to the next generation. This peaks my interest because I could have inherited a hereditary disease, but I have no idea if it skipped over me or not.
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