Breast Cancer Awareness Month

 

 

October is "BREAST CANCER" awareness month. Everyday millions of women are diagnoised with breast cancer. It's time to Make Strides Against Breast Cancer. You can start by giving to your local cancer society this month. We can fight this together! Learn more about cancer below....

Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room” of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.
A tumor can be benign (not dangerous to health) or malignant (has the potential to be dangerous). Benign tumors are not considered cancerous: their cells are close to normal in appearance, they grow slowly, and they do not invade nearby tissues or spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous. Left unchecked, malignant cells eventually can spread beyond the original tumor to other parts of the body.

The term “breast cancer” refers to a malignant tumor that has developed from cells in the breast. Usually breast cancer either begins in the cells of the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands, or the ducts, the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple. Less commonly, breast cancer can begin in the stromal tissues, which include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast. Over time, cancer cells can invade nearby healthy breast tissue and make their way into the underarm lymph nodes, small organs that filter out foreign substances in the body. If cancer cells get into the lymph nodes, they then have a pathway into other parts of the body. The breast cancer’s stage refers to how far the cancer cells have spread beyond the original tumor.

Breast cancer is always caused by a genetic abnormality (a “mistake” in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. About 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general.

There are steps every person can take to help the body stay as healthy as possible and lower risk of breast cancer or a breast cancer recurrence (such as maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, limiting alcohol, and exercising regularly). Always remember, breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is not productive.

                                                                

 

National Women's Health Week May 13-19 Stop Smoking

Most women smokers say they want to quit. So how do you move from wanting to quit to actually quitting? A first step is to find reasons to quit that are important to you. Consider the many good reasons to quit smoking.

Your health

Your health begins to improve the minute you stop smoking, and you begin to lower your long-term risk of many smoking-related diseases. Smoking causes or can contribute to many serious health problems, including:

• Cancers of the lung, throat, mouth, voice box, esophagus, pancreas, kidney, bladder, cervix, uterus, stomach, and blood
• Lung diseases
• Heart disease
• Stroke
• Atherosclerosis, or hardening and narrowing of the arteries
• Gum disease
• Eye diseases that can lead to blindness
• Osteoporosis and the risk of hip fracture

Smoking also:

• Makes illnesses last longer
• Causes more wound infections after surgery
• Makes it harder to get pregnant

Smoking during pregnancy can hurt the mother and baby. It increases the risk of:

• Placenta previa — when the placenta covers part of or the entire cervix inside of the uterus. This can lead to bed rest, early labor, and cesarean section.
• Placental abruption — the placenta separates too early from the wall of the uterus. This can lead to early labor or infant death.
• Early rupture of membranes, or water breaking, before labor starts, so the baby is born too early
• A baby with a low birth weight
• Damage to an infant's lungs
• Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)
• Miscarriage
• Stillbirth

Your quality of life

When you quit, you will never again have to leave your workplace, your home, or other places to smoke. You won't need to worry about whether your smoke is bothering others. The money you would have spent on cigarettes can be saved or used to buy other things. Plus, you will be surprised by how good you feel overall. Over time, some of the ways you will look and feel better are:

• You will breathe more easily.
• You will have more energy.
• Your lungs will be stronger, making it easier to be active.
• You will be able to smell and taste things better.
• You hair, breath, and clothes will smell better.
• The stain marks on your fingers will fade.
• Your skin will look healthier.
• Your teeth and gums will be healthier.
• You will feel good about being able to quit!

Other people's health

When you quit, you no longer create secondhand smoke, which is harmful to the people around you, and especially children. When you quit, you become a role-model to children and other smokers who want to quit. When you quit, your own children are less likely to grow up to become smokers themselves.

Cell Phone Use And Your Health

Cell Phone Radiation

Radiation from mobile phones causes changes in the brain which could pose risks to health, an authoritative two-year study has concluded.

 

In ground-breaking research on the effects of radiation on the brain - which has for the first time used human cells rather than rats - scientists found that even low-level emissions from handsets affects cells.

 

They believe the changes could disable a safety barrier in the body which is meant to protect the brain from harmful substances in the blood. The scientists are now calling for further research to discover how important the effects on health might be.

 

The study, conducted by the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority in Finland, found that exposing human cells to one hour of mobile phone radiation triggered a response which normally only occurs when cells are being damaged.

 

This led the cells which make up blood vessel walls to shrink, allowing tiny molecules to pass through into brain tissue.

 

The report's conclusion warns: "The possible RF-EMF (radiation-induced breakage of the blood-brain barrier), if occurring repeatedly over a long period of time, might become a health hazard because of the possible extra-capillary accumulation of molecules that might cause brain tissue damage."

 

Headaches

The study is a an important step forward in mobile phone research because it has proved biochemical changes, which were found to occur in rats, also occur in human cells. Scientists now need to discover how the human body reacts to such changes and whether it can cope, or if there are serious health threats.

 

Professor Darius Leszczynski, who will present the research at a conference in Canada this month, said he could confirm that radiation from mobile phones does affect the delicate make-up of human cells. "We have shown there are biochemical changes in human cells," he told the Evening Standard. "Other studies in animals have shown this can lead to a leakage in the blood brain barrier.

 

"So what I believe is that we will find these leaks occur in humans too. What we do not know is the extent of these leaks and whether they have an effect on our health.

 

"Our bodies may be able to cope with it so there will be no risks. But it could be found that, over time, the effects on health could be much more significant."

 

Long Term Effects

Two years ago, a government inquiry into mobile phones led by Sir William Stewart concluded there was no evidence of a risk to health. But he advised that caution is taken over the use of mobiles by children until more evidence on the impact on health is gathered.

 

Despite multi-million pound research across the world since then, the effects of long-term use still remains unclear. But recently, a handful of studies have begun to raise questions over safety. A survey of 11,000 people in Sweden and Norway found that many suffer from headaches and tiredness after using the gadgets.

 

Another study, by Swedish cancer specialist Lennart Hardell, suggested that using the old analogue mobiles, popular in the early Nineties, increased the risk of cancer.

 

His research is now at the centre of a lawsuit in the US. Judges are deciding whether it provides enough proof of a link between cancer and mobile phones for claimants to take manufacturers to court.

 

However, the growing body of research on mobiles and health is leading some countries to consider action. China is debating whether to force phone companies to reduce the levels of radiation. British experts said last night there was no need for panic. They insisted that more research was needed.