Saturday, March 21, 2020

Breast Cancer Essays - Breast Surgery, Breast Cancer, RTT

Breast Cancer Essays - Breast Surgery, Breast Cancer, RTT Breast Cancer INCIDENCE Breast cancer is the most common malignancy among women and has the highest fatality rate of all cancers affecting this sex. It is the leading cause of death among women aged 35-54. In 1999 an estimated 175,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer. That is one woman every three minutes. At the same time 43,000 will die, at the rate of one every two minutes. The incidence of men diagnosed with breast cancer is rare, however it does occur. Approximately 1,300 men a year are diagnosed, and 400 die annually due to the disease. A total of 75% of all breast cancers occur in women with no known risk factors. 80% of breast cancers occur in women aged 50 and up. The mortality rate would decrease if every woman over 50 was informed and followed guidelines. When confined to the breast, the survival rate is 95%. Studies have shown that more white women than black women get breast cancer, however more black women die of breast cancer because they are not diagnosed at an early stage. SIGNS AND SYMPTONS Most breast cancers appear as a slowly growing, painless mass, though a vague discomfort may be present. Physical signs include a retracted nipple, bleeding from the nipple, distorted areola or breast contour, skin dimpling over the lesion, attachment of the mass to surrounding tissues including the underlying fascia and overlying skin, and enlarged lymph nodes. In most advanced stages of the disease the skin nodules with ultimate breakdown and ulcer formation may be seen. Metastases should be sought immediately so that further spread will not be a factor. Among the common sites of metastases are the lungs and pleura, the skeleton (specifically the spine, pelvis, and skull), and the liver. Whenever possible, distant spread of the disease should be confirmed by a lymph nose biopsy, by x-ray, or by liver and bone scans using radioactive isotopes. WHO IS AT RISK? All women and men are at risk of getting breast cancer. However personal history with family members having breast cancer adds an increase to the risk factor. Contradictory to this though studies have shown that 75% of breast cancer occurs in women with no history and no known risk factors. Not ever having children, or having ones first child after 30 yrs., also increases the risk of breast cancer in women. Heavy alcohol abuse is a risk factor as well. Studies have also shown that women who began menstruation early, twelve years or less, and women who began menopause late, fifty-five years plus, also have a greater risk of breast cancer. PREVENTION There are three ways to attempt to detect prevention, however since there is no cure, one cannot determine what actions to take to prevent. The most common technique for early detection is by a regular doctors examination. The second technique at detecting breast cancer is by a breast self-examination (BSE), and lastly, by mammogram. BSE should begin when a woman is eighteen or older, so that the breast is fully developed. During the BSE women should begin to learn what is normal and what is not in their breasts. Mammography is the best method at detecting breast cancer. A woman should have a mammogram when she is 40 yrs. old, and then one every two years until she is 50 yrs. old. Once a woman is 50 yrs. old she should have a mammogram annually because as ones age increases, so does the risk of getting breast cancer. Many women also need to be educated about the risks of breast cancer and how to detect it early. The majority of women with breast cancer do not know about the fortunate ness of detecting breast cancer early, never mind follow the detection guidelines. TREATMENT Therapy depends mainly on the extent of the disease and the patient's age. If there is evidence of wider metastasic spread, treatment will be palliative. This means that treatment will lessen the severity of pain, however it will not cure. When there is no evidence of spread, the treatment of choice is total mastectomy and modified radical mastectomy. This is an entire or partial removal of the affected breast. In the best circumstances, the 10 yr. survival rate is greater than

Thursday, March 5, 2020

The History of the Freedom Riders Movement

The History of the Freedom Riders Movement In 1961, men and women from throughout the nation arrived in Washington, D.C. to end Jim Crow  on interstate travel by embarking on what were called â€Å"Freedom Rides.†Ã‚  On such rides, racially mixed activists traveled together throughout the Deep South- ignoring signs marked â€Å"for whites† and â€Å"for colored† in buses and bus terminals. The riders endured beatings and arson attempts from white supremacist mobs, but their struggles paid off when segregationist policies on interstate bus and rail lines were struck down. Despite these achievements, the Freedom Riders aren’t the household names like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., but they’re civil rights heroes nonetheless. Both Parks and King would be heralded as heroes for their roles in ending segregated bus seating  in Montgomery, Ala.   How the Freedom Rides Got Started In the 1960 case Boynton v. Virginia, the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation in interstate bus and rail stations unconstitutional. But the high court’s ruling didn’t stop segregation on interstate bus and rail lines in the South from persisting. Enter the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), a civil rights group. CORE sent seven blacks and six whites on two public buses headed for the South on May 4, 1961. The goal? To test the Supreme Court ruling on segregated interstate travel in the Confederate states. For two weeks, the activists planned to flout Jim Crow laws by sitting on the front of buses and in â€Å"whites only† waiting rooms in bus terminals. â€Å"Boarding that Greyhound bus to travel to the Deep South, I felt good. I felt happy,† Rep. John Lewis recalled during a May 2011  appearance on â€Å"The Oprah Winfrey Show.† Then a seminary student, Lewis would go on to become a U.S. congressman. During the first few days of their trip, the mixed-race group of activists traveled largely without incident. They didn’t have security and didn’t need it- yet. After arriving in Atlanta on May 13, 1961, they even attended a reception hosted by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but the celebration took on a decidedly ominous tone when King alerted them that the Ku Klux Klan was organizing against them in Alabama. Despite King’s warning, the Freedom Rides did not change their course. As expected, when they reached Alabama, their journey took a turn for the worse. A Perilous Journey On the outskirts of Anniston, Alabama, members of a white supremacist mob showed just what they thought about the Freedom Riders by bashing in their bus and slashing its tires. To boot, the Alabama Klansmen set the bus on fire and blocked the exits to trap the Freedom Riders inside. It wasn’t until the bus’ fuel tank exploded that the mob dispersed and the Freedom Riders were able to escape. After a similar mob attacked the Freedom Riders in Birmingham, the U.S. Justice Department stepped in and evacuated the activists to New Orleans. The federal government did not want more harm to come to the riders. The Second Wave Due to the amount of violence inflicted on Freedom Riders, the leaders of CORE had to abandon the Freedom Rides or continue sending activists into harm’s way. Ultimately, CORE officials decided to send more volunteers on the rides.  Diane Nash, an activist who helped to organize Freedom Rides, explained  to Oprah Winfrey: â€Å"It was clear to me that if we allowed the Freedom Ride to stop at that point, just after so much violence had been inflicted, the message would have been sent that all you have to do to stop a nonviolent campaign is inflict massive violence.† On the second wave of rides, activists journeyed from Birmingham to Montgomery, Alabama in relative peace. Once the activists touched down in Montgomery, though, a mob of more than 1,000 attacked the riders. Later, in Mississippi, Freedom Riders were arrested for entering a whites-only waiting room in a Jackson bus terminal. For this act of defiance, authorities arrested the Freedom Riders, housing them in one of Mississippi’s most notorious correctional facilities- Parchman State Prison Farm. â€Å"The reputation of Parchman is that it’s a place that a lot of people get sent . . . and don’t come back,† former Freedom Rider Carol Ruth told Winfrey. During the summer of 1961, 300 Freedom Riders were imprisoned there. An Inspiration Then and Now The struggles of the Freedom Riders garnered nationwide publicity. Rather than intimidate other activists, however, the brutality the riders encountered inspired others to take up the cause. Before long, dozens of Americans were volunteering to travel on Freedom Rides. In the end, an estimated 436 people took such rides. The efforts of the Freedom Riders were finally rewarded when the Interstate Commerce Commission decided on Sept. 22, 1961, to ban segregation in interstate travel. Today, the contributions the Freedom Riders made to civil rights are the subject of a PBS documentary called Freedom Riders. In addition, in 2011, 40 students commemorated the Freedom Rides of 50 years before by boarding buses that retraced the journey of the first set of Freedom Riders.