Like this website which has evolve through the years. Hopefully with all the answers can be found in the first 20 blog post. Are body is constantly replicating at a quick pace.
Breaking the Cancer Code
Breaking the Cancer Code is a revolutionary approach to solving the cancer predicament by a world-renowned medical expert and patient advocate. Most doctors run scared from cancer, believing it cannot be reversed by the body’s own natural defenses. Here is a doctor who stood up to cancer in the lab, researching how to impart (teach) the immune system to recognize and destroy cancer.
Coupled with his extraordinary cancer-vaccine research, this book documents the work of a consummate patient advocate specializing in natural healing solutions and the necessary mind-set to reversing cancer. This comprehensive work embodies all the components that help patients heal from this dramatic illness. Extensive explanations of immunotherapy and cancer vaccines. Integrative compilation of traditional medicines and holistic health-building protocols. Preventative self-care strategies to build the immune system during and after cancer. http://www.breakingthecancerco
Why can all of your cells commit suicide?
We’ve discussed how cells can grow and divide through the cell cycle and a process called mitosis. Equally as important to cells growing and dividing is the ability of cells to die. Why do cells have to die?
During human development cell death is necessary. For example, in the womb fingers and toes are attached to one another by a webbing made of cells. During development, these cells die so that your fingers and toes are separate. A great non-human example of cells dying during development is the 
metamorphosis of a tadpole into a frog. The cells of the tadpole tail die to make a mature frog that does not have a tail. As an adult, your hair, skin, gut and other cells constantly divide. In fact ~ 60 billion cells are made each day. Imagine if cells didn’t also die each day – you’d be ENORMOUS!
This cell suicide is called apoptosis (pronounced a-pah-toe-sis) after the Greek meaning “dropping off ” or ” falling off ” of petals from flowers, or leaves from tree. Apoptosis is a mechanism that every single cell in your body has to commit suicide. Why in the world would this mechanism exist? In part, it exists for the reasons mentioned above – to also remove unneeded tissue during development or to balance out cell growth. But apoptosis also provides a fail safe for cells to remove themselves if they become damaged so they don’t damage the rest of the organism.
So how does apoptosis work? Obviously your cells don’t just kill themselves willy nilly. The cell must receive a trigger the initiates the process.
These triggers can either come from inside or outside the cell. For example, UV light from outside of the cell can trigger damage to the DNA. If this damage isn’t repaired, it will start the process of apoptosis. As another example, when cancer cells are treated with chemotherapy, this often damages the DNA or messes with the cell cycle so much that it triggers apoptosis.
Once triggered, proteins are activated that act like protein scissors, cutting up proteins and DNA inside the cell. This does a few things: it shuts down activity within a cell and makes the pieces of the cell smaller … so that they can be packaged up and thrown away. It’s like a kitchen demo (or any kind of demolition)– you knock down the cabinets with a sledgehammer so that they don’t work to hold your dishes anymore and then break them into small enough pieces that they can easily be thrown in the dumpster. Once cell pieces are broken down, the cell packages up the contents (called blebs – see picture at right) and 
these blebs are eaten (actually, they are absorbed… but “eating blebs” is more fun to say) by neighboring cells. What’s so awesome about this process is that no trace of the cell is left. It’s a clean suicide that leaves no trace of the body behind. Why is this important?
We can compare apoptosis to another type of cell death called necrosis. If you cut your arm, cells die by necrosis and they spill their contents everywhere. When this happens, your arm can get inflamed and this inflammatory reaction can be bad for you. During apoptosis, since everything is cleaned up nice and neat, there is no inflammation and the body can just move along as if nothing happened.
Now what if the trigger is defective or the machinery is broken and cells don’t die when they are supposed to? This is one of the causes of cancer. Of course cancer is a result of too many cells, but this can either be from cells growing too fast OR from cells not dying when they are supposed to OR a combination of both. On the other hand, what if too many cells die when they aren’t supposed to?
This can cause the neurodegeneration found in Alzheimer’s disease or the loss of immune cells in HIV/AIDS infection. Therefore, understanding apoptosis and the exact way that cells die can help scientists to induce cell suicide (e.g., to kill cancer cells) or prevent it when needed.
How and why do cells divide? The cell cycle!
You started off as one cell: one tiny little zygote containing a full set of DNA (23 pairs of chromosomes). As an adult human being, you are now made up of over 37 trillion cells. This means that that one cell divided to make two cells, each of those cells divided to make 4 cells, those 4 cells divided to make 8 cells and on and on until the 37 trillion cells that make up you today. Even now, your body makes around 60 billion cells each day to create new skin cells, intestine cells, hair cells and and nail cells. When you cut yourself, the body needs to make new cells to heal. And if your cells divide out of control, this can cause cancer and if they stop diving this causes of aging. So understanding how cells divide is super important!
The cell cycle, which is the process of one cell and one set of DNA turing into two cells with two sets of DNA. There are three main parts of the cell cycle:
1. To make two cells from one, you can imagine that a few important things need to happen. First, you need the cell to grow to get bigger and to accumulate enough nutrients to support two cells. Second, you need to replicate the DNA so that when the cell divides, each “daughter” cell gets one copy of the DNA. These two things happen in the interphase part of the cell cycle. Interphase is separated into 3 parts
- Gap 1 (usually just called G1 phase) where the cell grows
- Synthesis (usually just called S phase) where the DNA is copied so that two complete copies of DNA are now in the cell
- Gap 2 (usually just called G2) where the cell grows some more
The chromosomes (shown in blue) condense and line up before being pulled into two cells by microtubules (shown in green)
By Roy van Heesbeen (Roy) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
2. Once the cell has copied the DNA and grown big enough to split into two cells, the cell undergoes mitosis. Mitosis is when the copied chromosomes are separated into two different cells. Remember that if you took all the DNA in a cell and stretched it out from end to end that it would be 6-10 feet long? Since this DNA is already replicated by the time the cell gets to mitosis, there are 92 chromosomes (two copies of the two pairs of 23 chromosomes) and 12-20 feet of DNA that needs to be organized and sorted into two separate cells. How does the cell make this nearly impossible sounding task happen? First, when each chromosome makes a copy of itself, it stays connected to the orignal (kind of like if there were little protein magnets holding them together). 
Second, when the chromosomes are ready to separate into different cells they “condense”, getting much, much smaller (see the blue DNA in the photo above). Third, there are mechanisms in the cell that make the chromosomes line up. So what you end up with are all of the chromosomes in tight little bundles lined up in a row. At that point, the cell creates “ropes” out of a protein called microtubules that pull the copied chromosomes apart into the two separate cells.
Fixing Our Genes, by Magdalena Eriksson
Sensational headlines have been streaming across presses for several years now: GENE FOR OBESITY FOUND, SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY GENE LINKED TO HEART DISEASE, or CANCER GENE GIVES HOPE FOR CURE. Each refuels the hope that powerful therapies against such major health threats will soon emerge from the pipeline of medical science. Diagnostics based on genetics are now commonly used, for example, when considering surgery against breast cancer, and in prenatal screening for inheritable diseases. But we’re still waiting for a generation of genetic treatments that may provide miraculous cure-alls to our most persistent and pernicious illnesses.
Expectations of genetic medicine surged after a breakthrough in 1990, when four-year-old Ashanthi De Silva from Cleveland became the first gene therapy patient. The girl suffered from a problem called severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), often dubbed “bubble-boy syndrome” since its sufferers must live in a sterile environment or risk acquiring a life-threatening infection. De Silva’s form of SCID was caused by a mutation in the gene for the protein adenosine deaminase, or ADA, an enzyme that is necessary for the immune system. De Silva’s body could not produce functioning ADA.
In a pioneering experiment, De Silva’s doctors gave her healthy copies of the gene that produces ADA. They placed the healthy gene inside a modified virus and allowed the virus to infect blood cells they had drawn from De Silva. They then injected the blood cells back into her body. The girl’s new gene started to generate functioning ADA, resuscitating her immune system, and she has since lived a healthy life.
Yet, after this initial success, subsequent gene therapy procedures haven’t always been so trouble-free. In De Silva’s case, the single healthy gene she received was sufficient to restore her immune system. People who suffer from other single-gene diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell anemia, or hemophilia, may also find help in gene therapy. But many genetic diseases involve the malfunction of multiple genes, and fixing one gene is often a formidable task.
In a Paris hospital in 2001, a group of young children who, like De Silva, suffered from SCID participated in a study. In these children, SCID was caused by a mutation in a gene called gamma-c. Through gene therapy, they received DNA with a flawless gamma-c gene, which was expected to stimulate the growth of immune cells in their bone marrow. For most of the children, the treatment was a success. The gamma-c gene became an established component of the children’s bone marrow cells, and they were able to live normal lives.
Time passed and suddenly the good news turned dark. A year after the treatment, in October of 2002, one of the children developed leukemia. At first, doctors dismissed the incidence as bad luck, but when a second child, in January 2003, also developed leukemia, they began to look for the cause.
They learned that genes delivered through viruses prefer to integrate at active, loosely packed, portions of the genome, rather than at random sites. The new gene had inserted itself near a gene called LMO2, which plays a role in leukemia. This unexpected DNA insertion turned on the production of the LMO2 protein, which caused the development of leukemia.
The doctors had inadvertently discovered another factor to consider for making gene therapy safe. The two children have since recovered from their leukemia, but the experiment shows the risks required for scientists to make progress and steadily increase their knowledge.
The French trial also illustrates how complex our genetic systems are and how difficult it is to predict what will happen when we upset its fine-tuned balance. If you touch one gene, surprising connections with other genes may announce themselves in unexpected ways. The very principle behind gene therapy sets it apart from many other therapies. Once a new gene has become a permanent part of the genome in a cell, you may no longer have the option of discontinuing the treatment in case its effects prove detrimental. For some time to come, gene therapy may remain a double-edged sword.
SM_CLIL 2008-2010 / COMENIUS PROJECT / RADIATION & MEDICINE / Mag. Claudia Aumann
It is called the “guardian of the genome” and controls the cell cycle to enable the
repair of damaged DNA. In the diagram R marks the point where restriction of the
cycle can occur.
If the damage to the DNA is irreparable, p53 closes down the metabolic activities of
the cell and will cause it to commit suicide. This programmed cell death is called
apoptosis.
The p53 gene is mutated in a wide range of tumours, with the result that in the
affected cells the cell cycle clock spins out of control and the cells divide without
restraint.
Explain why more than one mutation is necessary to trigger cancer.
More than one mutation is necessary to trigger cancer, because there is more than
one gene that controls the cell cycle.
On the average a cancerous cell carries about 6 mutations of different genes. This
accumulation of mutations in cells is the cause that cancer does not develop all at
once.
The two important differences between benign and malignant tumours are invasion
and spread.
In a benign tumour the cells divide uncontrollably, but do not spread to other parts of
the body. As they grow benign tumours push the surrounding normal tissues and
organs out of their way. Sometimes pressure from a benign tumour may damage
surrounding structures but the benign tumour never actually invades into those
structures.
Malignant tumours destroy the normal tissue around them as they increase in size
from the time it first begins to grow. Malignant tumours have the ability to spread by
sending off seedlings of tumour which can pass through the blood or lymphatic
system to other parts of the body. These seedlings then settle in other organs and
form metastases.
Use the internet to find out how your lifestyle influences your personal risk of getting
cancer.
Evidence suggests that around half of all cases of cancer could be avoided if people
made changes to their lifestyle.
Half of the cancer cases could be prevented by lifestyle changes, such as:
· not smoking
· cutting back on alcohol
· keeping a healthy body weight
· eating a healthy, balanced diet
· keeping active
· staying safe in the sun
60 years ago two unknown scientists burst into a pub in Cambridge and declared “We have found the Secret of Life!” James Watson and Francis Crick had worked out the wonder of the DNA molecule. Their breakthrough has been described as the single most important discovery of all time.
This comprehensive five part series charts the history of DNA science – from the discovery of its double helix structure to the mapping of the human genome. It examines the latest research and its more controversial applications.
At the heart of the series are the very human stories behind the scientific experiments and discoveries, introducing viewers to the brilliant, passionate, fiercely competitive, sometimes quirky individuals on the front line. Biologically precise computer animations bring the incredible world of molecular biology vividly to life.
The show won critical acclaim and multiple awards, including an Emmy.
Bud Romine was diagnosed with incurable cancer in 1994. He was given three years to live. In 1996 a newspaper article caught his eye.
The article described the work of a local doctor, Brian Druker, who was testing a new kind of cancer drug. In 1997, months away from death, Bud Romine became the first patient ever to take Gleevec. Within 17 days, Bud had returned to perfect health. Indeed, the drug seems to cure everyone with Bud’s disease — Chronic Myeloid Leukemia — by fixing the DNA that causes it. Today, the prospect of more drugs that work at the level of DNA is a real one. In 1990, Gleevec was the only one in development. There are currently hundreds of drugs in development that might work in the same revolutionary way on different kinds of cancer.
The final work for the DNA scientists is identifying all the damaged genes that cause cancer. But with the Human Genome Project finished, a single lab will be able to do this in just five years. Fifty years after Crick and Watson discovered the double helix, the secret of life may finally be living up to its name.
The further our species gets from it’s bond with nature, the more difficult it is to maintain a sound mind , to be fulfilled. We are the only creatures on this Earth that use symbols to reference an alternate or secondary meaning. This documentary blatantly shows us how we use symbols for nearly anything you could imagine. There is at least one word or icon or gesture to insinuate everything our five senses can detect and then some. But along with this beautiful gift comes a flaw.
Most people are unwilling to seek and create their own interpretations of these symbols. Instead, they blindly submit to preconceived definitions and connotations given by sources unknown. Because of this, many things have been predetermined in our understanding of life without our knowledge. Words can be perverted and used to manipulate rather than to inform. Symbols can be used to segregate rather than unite. And to those ~ also given the responsibility and authority to disseminate information to the public possess the ability to do with it as they choose. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwLHoXycPN4&t=1684s
It takes creative thinking and imagination. Both of which are discouraged in public schools in the United States. It’s fun and very thought provoking. We have the answers to the universe we just don’t know it yet.
Science is nothing more than someone with a guess on how something works and then compares it to things in nature. If at any point your guess is disproved by an experiment that contradicts your theory, it’s back to the drawing board. The great thing about science is that you don’t need a college degree to think of a solution on how something works that no one else has been able to figure out, and suddenly you are getting a Nobel prize in Physics. We just need to stop watching television and think for ourselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
DNA – The Human Race: history life discovery science technology and tech learning education nature geographic earth planet channel universe culture ancient civilization through darwinism religion neanderthal caveman humans man ape genome genetics project chemistry physics theory string m-theory m gene genes cell cells study.
eys – We are here (Global Citizen Festival)