Skin cancer Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Skin cancer - Research Paper Example This increase has been linked to increasing solar radiation exposure associated with tanning behaviors. The use of artificial tanning beds has also been implicated. Skin cancers can present as any kind of skin lesion such as an ulcer or lump, and can therefore be mistaken by the patient as a benign process. This often leads to a delay in presentation until the cancer has reached an advanced stage. Considering the significance of skin cancer and the significant research interest surrounding the strength of association between light exposure and skin cancer, this literature review has been conducted to discuss what is known by the medical community today about skin cancers. Objectives The objectives of this review are to discuss the etiology, risk factors, diagnosis, and treatment of skin cancers. Discussion Epidemiology The incidence of skin cancers, both melanomas and non-melanomas, has risen over the past 3 decades. Some experts proclaim that we are experiencing a ‘record†™ number of newly diagnosed skin cancers (Riker, Zea and Trinh). Melanoma is the 6th most common fatal malignancy in the United States (Riker, Zea and Trinh). The young women demographic group, in particular, has the highest increase in cancer incidence noted (Woo and Eide). Melanoma is the second most common cancer in women 20 to 29 year old (Riker, Zea and Trinh). Studies show no link between sex hormones and melanoma risk (Coelho and Hearing), and young women are the most common users of indoor tanning beds (Woo and Eide). Therefore, this high cancer rate in young women is likely a reflection of the contribution of tanning beds to skin cancer incidence. Skin melanoma is a rare cancer compared to basal and squamous cell skin cancers, however it is associated with a much higher rate of metastases and mortality, and occurs more commonly in whites than other races (Society). Risk factors and Pathophysiology The ultraviolet (UV) component of solar radiation has traditionally been co nsidered an important ‘carcinogen’ for skin cancer. In the past few decades, the emergence of indoor tanning booths has emerged as another source of UV radiation exposure. Ultraviolet light has 3 components – UVA, UVB and UVC. UVB is the most strongly carcinogenic component, which also enhances vitamin D production in the skin (Coelho and Hearing). UVA is less carcinogenic, and UVC not at all. UV-induced DNA damage in keratinocytes can lead to pre-malignant changes in the skin such as actinic keratosis, solar lentigo, and dermatoheliosis. These lesions can, in time, develop into frank cancers (Stulberg, Crandell and Fawcett). The tanning industry, which is evidently responsible at least in part for the sharp rise in skin cancers, remains as a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide (Riker, Zea and Trinh). About 1 million American women use tanning beds regularly of which 70% are females between 16 to 45 years old. The number that uses excessive sun exposure for t anning is not known. Tanning beds were initially proclaimed to be non-carcinogenic as they emit mostly UVA. Also, the tanning UV exposure was considered beneficial for promoting vitamin D production in the skin. Eventually, however, studies demonstrated that tanning beds overall provided more UV radiation than the summer sun exposure. Fluorescent sunlamps were shown to provide up to 4 times as much UV radiation than

Effect of Gender Imbalance on Women's Status in the Colonail Period in Essay

Effect of Gender Imbalance on Women's Status in the Colonail Period in New France - Essay Example It is no different in the history of women’s status in Canada or ‘New France’. Gender imbalance in the colonial times put women in an ambivalent position of being valued as well as rejected if they do not come up to men’s expectations. This paper drew much information from cases published from the colonial era as primary sources as well as the works of Peter N. Moogk, Sylvia Van Kirk and Saliha Belmessous, historians who chronicled the culture of New France in Canada during the colonial times as secondary sources. It focused on how the gender imbalance at that time affected the status of women. During the colonial period in what has come to be known as New France, gender balance was askew in terms of number, as it was recounted by Belmessous1 that only 1,772 women emigrated to Canada as compared to 12,621 men, between the years 1608 and 1699. This sexual imbalance continued on till the end of the century. It is due to this lack of women that French colonial officers encouraged native Amerindian women to join the convent for their education to form them into proper ladies and be married off to French settlers instead of native men. It also implied that the convent-bred women had a great influence on the French men to be more cultured. Van Kirk2 explained that intermarriages, also known as â€Å"miscegenation† between French colonizers and the native Amerindians failed because of differing motives of the two cultures. The French Jesuits who encouraged native women to join the Ursuline convent admitted that they wanted the native women to be indoctrinated with their culture. One Jesuit offered that the intermarriage’s purposes were: â€Å"to make them like us, to give them the knowledge of the true God, . . . and that the marriages . . . were to be stable and perpetual.†3 This meant that native women should be Christianized and introduced to a gender-role that included spinning, sewing, knitting, taking care of anima ls, etc. that made them acceptable to their French mates. Native Huron chiefs believed the idea of intermarriage was favourable to them because the French traders make good Hurons, but questioned the French officials about bride price and their women’s right to property and divorce which were part and parcel of their own culture.4 These chiefs were made to understand that the native women would benefit much from such marriages through the teachings of the Ursuline nuns. However, only a small number of the native women were transformed and not many were interested in being successfully converted, so they were not considered acceptable as â€Å"founding mothers of New France† 5. The reverse of Native men â€Å"marrying out† to French women were looked down upon, as it was considered marrying beneath themselves. This is because a woman who married into an Indian tribe became an Indian herself and renounced her original culture. On the other hand, an Indian woman wh o married a foreigner legally ceased to be an Indian, losing all her rights to Indian status as well as her children.6 Thus, by the mid-nineteenth century, intermarriage became a usual practice of colonization and became a way of removing Aboriginal/Indian women from their own native cultures. Governor Vaudreuil7 justified his hostility against the intermarriage of French men and Amerindian women in saying that it divided the French men as they were integrated into their Amerindian wives’ clans. There was a great possibility that such action involved intertribal feuds and could have pitted the French