Risk factors of lung cancer and life expectancy

Among various deadly diseases, Lung cancer also threatens human life and cause of cancer deaths in both men and women around the globe. Lung cancer can be understood by common man as the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells that start off in one or both lungs; usually in the cells that line the air passages. The abnormal cells do not develop into healthy lung tissue, they divide quickly and form lumps.

People generally are gripped into lung cancer due to excessive cigarette smoking. Passive exposure to tobacco smoke can also results in lethal lung cancer.

People can well comprehend that there are two types of lung cancer, which grows and spreads differently. These include:

Small cell lung cancers (SCLC)

Non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLC).

Stages of lung cancer:

There are various stages of lung cancer that denotes to the extent to which the cancer has spread in the human body.

-      Non-small cell lung cancer has four main stages:

Stage 1: Cancer is found in the lung, but it has not spread outside the lung.

Stage 2: Cancer is found in the lung and nearby lymph nodes.

Stage 3: Cancer is in the lung and lymph nodes in the middle of the chest.

Stage 3A: Cancer is found in lymph nodes, but only on the same side of the chest where cancer first started growing.

Stage 3B: Cancer has spread to lymph nodes on the opposite side of the chest or to lymph nodes above the collarbone.

Stage 4: Cancer has spread to both lungs, into the area around the lungs, or to distant organs.

-      Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) has further two main stages. In the limited stage, cancer is found in only one lung or nearby lymph nodes on the same side of the chest.

The broad stage means cancer has spread throughout one lung, to the opposite lung, to lymph nodes on the opposite side, to fluid around the lung, to bone marrow and to distant organs.

Major Symptoms of lung cancer:

Symptoms are similar for both types of lung cancer (non-small cell lung cancer and small cell lung cancer).

Initially patients exhibit following symptoms:

1.   Lingering or worsening cough.

2.   Coughing up phlegm or blood.

3.   Complain for chest pain that it worsens when they breathe deeply, laugh, or cough.

4.   Hoarseness

5.   Shortness of breath

6.   Wheezing

7.   Weakness and fatigue

8.   Loss of appetite and weight loss

Risk factors for lung cancer:

It is well observed and people know that smoking is the biggest risk factor for lung cancer. That includes cigarettes, cigars, and pipes.

Tobacco products contain thousands of toxic substances. Reports of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that people who smoke cigarettes are 15 to 30 times more susceptible to get lung cancer as compared to non-smokers.

Another biggest risk factor that leads to lung cancer is exposure to radon, a naturally occurring gas.

Exposure to radon, a naturally occurring gas also augment risk of lung cancer.

People who breathe in unhygienic condition are under great risk of lung cancer.

Heredity factor is not yet well known but plethora of medical researchers found that a family history of lung cancer does increase risk up to some extent. Cases of hereditary lung cancer is reported more in female patients.

Diagnostic procedures of lung cancer:

When patient visit to doctor, he/she perform thorough physical examination, and after that doctor recommends some specific tests, such as:

Imaging tests: An abnormal mass can be seen on X-ray. MRI, CT and PET scans. These scans produce more detail and find smaller lesions.

Sputum cytology: If you produce phlegm when you cough, microscopic examination can determine if cancer cells are present.

A biopsy can determine if tumour cells are cancerous.

For treatment for lung cancer, doctors use combination of procedures according to the stage of cancer such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and radiation therapy as well as newer experimental methods.

Life expectancy of patients suffering from lung cancer:

It is a highly complex question as none of the doctor can exactly tell about how long patient will live with lung cancer. It depends on his medical situation, treatment and level of fitness.

In general, the life expectancy of patients suffering from lung cancer depends on numerous factors such as type of lung cancer, stage of disease, race and gender.

Preventive measures to curb lung cancer:

When persons are diagnosed with lung cancer. At early stage, they can control this lethal ailment through espousing several lifestyle changes and proper medication.

Ø Patients must eat a diet full of fruits and vegetables. Choose a healthy diet with ample of fruits and vegetables. It is suggested to avoid heavy doses of vitamins in pill form, as they may be injurious.

Ø Exercise must be done regularly in clean environment.

Ø People must avoid exposure to toxic chemicals at work.

Ø Smoking is prohibited for people suffering from lung cancer.

To cope up with lung cancer, patients must quit smoking, expand social network through many social media sites to share their anguish associated with lung cancer. They must keep in touch with support group to get help in case of seriousness.

In brief, Lung cancer is prime cancer slayer of human worldwide. According to medical reports, it can be treated if diagnosed at early stage. Person must not smoke heavily and adopt healthy habit to enhance life expectancy. 

Sleep paralysis: Whether rooted in psychological illness or paranormal condition

 Mind is magical human machinery that controls whole body. Since ancestral epoch, human experiences malfunctioning of brain when foreign entity disturbs or due to some emotional anguish. In such irk conditions, mental bug intrudes in brain and mislead human life.

One such mental ailment is Sleep paralysis. It is very common in people and this medical condition disturbs the normal life. Sleep paralysis can also lead to serious stress and other health consequences. Majority of people report at least one symptoms of sleep paralysis several times a week. Sleep paralysis is a condition that may occur in normal subjects or be associated with narcolepsy cataplexy, and hypnagogic hallucinations. It is incapacity to move for quite a few minutes, either before, or after waking up. It usually occurs during the REM (rapid eye movement) sleeping state, which is medically considered as the deepest state of sleep. So, it can be explained by a desynchronized disconnection between mind and body. It may appear in the case of people of different ages. Sleep paralysis is likely to occur after long periods of sleeplessness.

 

 

Common symptoms include sensations of terror, very lively hallucinations, paralysis, strange noises, moving images, the sensation of high pressure on the body, without being able to get rid of that which causes the pressure. Sleep paralysis can run in families, but the actual cause of sleep paralysis is not agreed upon or even understood. The main causes are sleeping position, excessive stress, bad sleeping habits, lack of sleep, unexpected changes in the environment or lifestyle, etc. This sleep disorder is not damaging, but those experiencing sleep paralysis are frequently fearful since they do not know what is happening to them.

 

The hallucinations allied with sleep paralysis do not have truthful logic. It is considered by experts that illusions experienced by person reflect dream imagery that intrudes into waking mindfulness.

In real life scenario, I met with one female friend who narrated her experience of sleep paralysis that was really frightening. After just awakening from sleep, she told that “My eyes were open and I experienced that something was happening in room like shapeless and dark entity was moving around me, but I could not respond to that. I tried to yell but my muscles were jammed. But when she was relocated to other house, she never had such experience. This event diverted us towards paranormal activity rooted in sleep paralysis stage. Such events are chilling vision but we cannot conclude the strong link of this mental syndrome with paranormal condition. 

It has been observed that people who have orthodox beliefs may associate intense fear during night with paranormal events and interfere with sleep. Many patients recovered from this mental ailment and there is negative link with paranormal beliefs.  It is difficult to find the scientific basis of paranormal aspect of sleep paralysis.

 Individuals suffering with isolated sleep paralysis must be counseled that they do not have mental illness. Most of them do not require any other medical treatment. During paralysis episodes, patients may be advised to try moving the facial muscles and moving eyes from one side to the other. This may speed up the termination of the attack. In severe cases, where attacks take place at least once a week, medication may be used.

 Last word:

Condensing the scientific facts of sleep paralysis, it can be elucidated that stress and sleep disturbances augment the episodes of sleep paralysis. Therefore, to minimize the number of episodes, patients are advised to get enough sleep, reduce stress, exercise regularly, keep a regular sleep-wake schedule and sleeping on the side may help the patient. It is necessary for person to modify his lifestyle to combat such disease and live healthy life. Sleep paralysis is haunting experience which may leave negative impact on individual.

Healing technique of dissociative Identity Disorder

People around the world suffer from many mental disorders. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a kind of mental ailment in which a single person displays multiple distinct identities or personalities, each with its own pattern of perceiving and interacting with the environment. Dissociative Identity Disorder is generally diagnosed in adult population. Copious psychological researchers have found that females are more prone to this disorder as compared to males.

In dissociative Identity Disorder, individual shows multiple characters. The diagnosis requires that at least two personalities routinely take control of the individual’s behavior with an associated memory loss that goes beyond normal forgetfulness. In addition, symptoms cannot be due to substance abuse or medical condition.

 Major symptoms of dissociative identity disorders include:

    Wide fluctuations across time

    Functioning can vary from severe impairment in daily functioning to normal or high abilities.

    Multiple mannerisms

    Attitudes and beliefs that are dissimilar to each other

    Headaches and other body pains

    Distortion or loss of subjective time

    Depersonalization

    Amnesia

    Depression

The causes of dissociative identity disorder are not yet identified by medical researchers but some experts associate this medical condition with the interaction of overwhelming stress, traumatic antecedents, insufficient childhood fostering, and an innate ability to dissociate memories or experiences from consciousness. Continued childhood abuse is a key factor, with a very high percentage of patients reporting documented abuse often confirmed by objective evidence.

One of the classic example of dissociative identity disorder is Robert Oxnam who was an eminent American scholar. He had spent his life studying Chinese culture. While he is quite accomplished, Oxnam had struggled with his mental health. In 1989, a psychiatrist spotted him with alcoholism. That changed after a session in March 1990, when Oxnam planned to leave therapy. While speaking with Oxnam, the doctor was addressed by one of his personalities, a young, angry boy named Tommy, who had lived in a castle. After that session, Oxnam and his psychiatrist continued their therapy and found that Oxnam actually had 11 separate personalities.

In film production, many directors took interest in producing psychological thriller movies. Famous Indian movie, Bhool Bhulaiyaa, horror-psychological-thriller was directed by Priyadarshan, and stars Akshay Kumar, Vidya Balan, and Shiney Ahuja. In this film, Balan’s character, Avni, suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, which she had started to develop in her childhood. Dissociative Identity Disorder is a mental disorder wherein a person assumes, and acts upon, two or more differing identities, often blurring their real identity.

In international film arena, “High tension” was popular movie in which a mysterious psychopath brutally murders a girl’s family. The offender turns out to be her best friend, who has a split personality that’s insanely jealous and willing do anything to get her alone.

Treatment may attempt to reconnect the identities of the disparate alters into a single functioning identity and/or may be symptomatic to relieve the distressing aspects of the condition and ensure the safety of the individual. Treatment methods may include psychotherapy and medications, these are best available treatment for this disorder. Some behavior therapists initially use behavioral treatments such as only responding to a single identity, and using more traditional therapy once a consistent response is established.

Dissociative identity disorder is a serious mental illness that involve disturbances or breakdowns of memory, consciousness or awareness, identity and/or perception. Though the instances of Dissociative disorder are rarely seen but it may attack individual who experiences prolonged traumatic stress in his or her life. 

Learn Yoga to cure various diseases

These days, people are struggling to live healthy as situations are getting worse day by day. They work under nerve-racking environment which leads to numerous diseases. In such atmosphere, people want to know the relaxing techniques. Doing yoga is the best solution to treat many mental as well as physical problems. Yoga boosts the concentration of mind. When persons do yoga, their muscles get relaxed by reducing the stiffness in body.

Majority of the people have common problems such as obesity, diabetes, stress, tension due to improper lifestyle. Through yoga, people get relief from all aspects of Obesity (physical, emotional and mental).  Regular practice of Yoga and controlled life style may reduce obesity. Many studies have revealed that yoga can decrease weight within a month.

There is some instruction which a person has to follow to get rid of many diseases. He must drink 5-6 glasses of water every morning. Practicing a lot of asanas such as Pranayam is a very helpful exercise. It is a Sanskrit word which factually means the control of breath. These exercises are very advantageous. They improve your memory, eyesight, and concentration and bring down excessive weight. The most convenient process is that yoga can be performed anywhere, be it indoors or outdoors. It makes the digestive tract function smoothly and allows quick digestion of foods. These factors, reduces plumpness. Yoga is indeed a wonderful program and people of any age can do yoga exercise.

Yoga not only reduces weight, but it also increases self-awareness which is very important to take good decisions in life and trounce health risks. The asanas for obese people is the Pawanamuktasana series for the digestive system which help to eliminate extra fat from the abdomen, hips and thighs, and activate the energy in body.

Diabetes is one of the prime causes of death in many countries. Maintaining blood sugar to the normal level is the best way to lessen the risk of complications. Through proper exercise and taking medications, person can maintain normal blood sugar. Both Obesity and Diabetes is preventable through proper diet, exercise and lifestyle change. If a person learns appropriate yoga and regularly do exercises as per instruction, these two diseases can be controlled.

Heart diseases can also be controlled by yoga practice. There are different types of heart diseases. The best solution on heart disease is Pranayama.

The Yoga principle on healthy Diet and the practice of the Asanas will help balance the endocrine system, tone the abdominal organs, stimulate both the nervous and Circulatory System, and reduce stress. Yoga also helps person to gain a better understanding of ones self, leading to acceptance and appreciation which will help eliminate the psychological causes for fatness. Through practicing yoga, person gain power to control over his mind and body and the effect is more permanent than other techniques.

There are some basic Asanas or Yoga Poses for Obesity and Diabetes which must be performed under guidance of specialists.

1) Easy Pose (Sukhasana): This is one of the classic Meditative Poses and is usually performed after doing the Corpse Pose. The Easy Pose helps in straightening the spine, slowing down metabolism, promoting inner tranquility, and keeping your mind still.

2) Shoulder Stretches: It is helpful in relieving stress and tension on shoulders, as well as entire upper back. It is recommended to practice daily for several weeks and notice the changes.

3) Sun Salutation (Surya Namaskar): It is also called Surya Namaskar. It is a Yoga Pose which limbers up the whole body in preparation for the Yoga Asanas.

4) Half Spinal Twist (Ardha Matsyendrasana): If this yoga is performed properly, the Half Spinal Twist lengthens and strengthens the spine. It is also useful for liver, kidneys, as well as adrenal glands. Person must practice this Yoga Pose under the direction of a Yoga instructor.

5) Stand Spread Leg Forward Fold: It is beneficial to people but person who have lower back problems should avoid doing the full forward bend.

6) Tree Pose (Tadasana): This yoga makes stronger thighs, calves, ankles and back. It can also boost the flexibility of hips and groin. It helps in maintaining balance and concentration can also be improved with regular practice.

7) Double Leg Raises: It is analogous to a Single Leg Raise.

8) Corpse Pose (Savasana): The Corpse Yoga Pose is considered as a usual relaxation Yoga Pose and is practiced before or in between Asanas as well as a Final Relaxation.

9) Kapalabhati: Kapalabhati is a Breathing method which is used especially for purification. If people have a lot of mucus in the air passages or feel tension and blockages in the chest it is often supportive to breathe rapidly.

10) Simple Meditation Technique: It is good to induce relaxation response and promote a calm and relaxed mind. Meditation is technically proved to have health benefits. It reduces blood pressure and helps the asthma patients in their breathing.

11) Anuloma Viloma: In this Breathing Technique, person breathes in through one nostril, retain the breath, and breathe out through the other nostril.

12) Relaxation Pose: There are three parts to proper relaxation - physical, mental and spiritual relaxation. Relaxation Yoga Pose relaxes body and mind, and makes a person feel re-energized after doing the Asanas and the pranayama.

In brief note, it can be accentuated that yoga has power to treat many deadly and chronic ailment and makes human life peaceful, healthy and joyful. 

Menopause may be dreadful experience for women

Women have to pass through some difficult phases throughout life. Menopause is the natural and important phase of every woman's life. This varies from individual to individual. Many women experience this stage after age 40 and spend a third of their life in this phase. It is a normal part of aging; about 70% of woman experience symptoms.

Some of the emotional changes experienced by women undergoing perimenopause or menopause are as under:

Irritability

Feelings of sadness

Lack of motivation

Anxiety

Aggressiveness

Difficulty concentrating

Fatigue

Mood swings

Stress

Symptoms can be reduced by lifestyle changes, diet, exercise, and medications. Menopause simply denotes to the end of menstruation. Some women have horrible experience when they pass through this stage. Many women feel that they get liberation and freedom from the monthly routine and perhaps sometimes more wisdom and maturity.

Menopause occurs due to a complex series of hormonal changes.

Menopause is a decline in the number of functioning eggs within the ovaries. At the time of birth, most females have about 1-3 million eggs, which are gradually lost throughout a woman's life. By the time of a girl's first menstrual period, she has an average of about 400,000 eggs. By the time of menopause, a woman may have fewer than 10,000 eggs. A small percentage of these eggs are lost through normal ovulation. Most eggs die off through a process called atresia (the degeneration and subsequent resorption of immature ovarian follicles - fluid filled cysts that contain the eggs). To examine if a woman is in the perimenopause, doctor may check the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) level through a blood test. It is to note that menopause is not a disease that has a definitive cure or treatment. Doctor can offer a variety of treatments for hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms that become bothersome. Many prescription medications exist to prevent and control high cholesterol and bone loss, which can occur at menopause. Some women do not need therapy, or they may choose not to take medications at all during their menopausal years.

Coping tactics for the Emotional Changes of Menopause:

As females reach to the stage of menopause, they undergo myriads of emotional disturbances. The most discernable emotional signs of menopause is Irritability and feelings of sadness. But women have power to cope up with these sudden emotional turmoil due to menopause.  It can be managed through lifestyle changes, such as learning ways to relax and decrease stress.

Some useful tips are recommended to females suffering from emotional outbursts during menopause. These will aid to manage their fluctuating emotions:

Ø Exercise and eat healthy.

Ø Find a self-calming skill to practice, such as yoga, meditation, or rhythmic breathing.

Ø Avoid tranquilizers and alcohol.

Ø Engage in a creative outlet that fosters a sense of achievement.

Ø Stay connected with your family and community.

Ø Nurture friendships.

Some women also complain that they experience depression during menopause. They must visit doctor to lessen such psychological distress.  

Menopause is gripped under misconceptions and myths in traditional societies.  But medically, menopause is a natural process of aging. Menopause is viewed as a radical changes in the life of women.

Abortion practices worldwide

The issue of abortion is intense in contemporary society. It is not a fresh phenomenon. It is practiced since many centuries around the globe. In the period of technical upheaval, techniques of abortion are modernized in health care system. Challengers squabbled that abortion have numerous damaging effect on the health of females therefore it is the necessity to understand the sensitive issue and make efforts to control practices of abortion.

An abortion is elaborated as the medical procedure to evict premature human fetus. Though, promoters of abortion assert that abortion does not have detrimental outcome on women. But, numerous medical researches have uncovered that abortion negatively impact on the immune system of females. In the words of some medical practitioners, abortion is safe medical practice which is performed to remove unwanted pregnancy with the permission of client. It can be well recognized that majority of women experience severe pain during procedure of abortion. Many medical studies indicated that abortion emotionally impact on the whole family. In general, it is unprincipled practice and it must be banned in cultured society.

There are myriads of causes of abortion. Some women become pregnant as a result from rape or incest, therefore they seek an abortion. Most women decide to go for an abortion because the pregnancy symbolizes a problem in their living. It is also found that many females are not emotionally prepared to take the responsibility of parenthood and raise a child. They are too young or do not have a reliable partner with whom to raise a child. Many young women in high school or college get pregnant but they sometimes are ambitious about their career and prefer to continue higher education. In such condition, they do not have any option instead of dropping out to have a baby. Young couples who have started their married lives and plan to have baby when they are financially sound to take better care for their future children. It is revealed in news reports that the frequency of abortion may vary, but the rates and ratios of abortion tend to remain steady.

Important information regarding abortion procedure:

When scanning the data at global scale, it is established that In the United States, more than 90 percent of all abortions are done in the first trimester of pregnancy (up to twelve weeks from the last normal menstrual period). Most abortions were performed in outpatient clinics specially designed and equipped for this function. Practically physicians are authorized to perform all abortions. After twelve weeks of pregnancy, abortion can be more complicated and risky for women. The uterus, the embryo or fetus, and the blood vessels within the uterus are all much larger. The volume of amniotic fluid around the fetus has increased substantially, creating a potential risk. If the amniotic fluid enters the woman's circulatory system, she could die immediately or bleed to death from a disruption of the blood-clotting system. Therefore every women must know this hazardous condition before planning for abortion. 

Health hazards of abortion:

Snags of unsafe abortion are a key public health issue faced by women in developing countries. In the era of nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, abortion was quite treacherous as many cases of female death had been reported. In India, abortion is legal for number of medical and social reasons. Officially, women can access safe abortion services by qualified medical practitioners in registered facilities, and minors need consent from their husband or father. In practice, with limited access to authorized abortion providers, there is a risk of forced contraceptive acceptance. In India, abortion is widespread. The disgrace attached to being an unwed mother is too great to allow for much else. The consequences of a risky abortion could range from hemorrhage to infertility to death.

There is a strong relation between abortions and emotional mayhem. Having an avalanche of qualms, questions and feelings are enveloped in females while considering an abortion is absolutely normal. According to one gynecologist, abortion is common for young girls to be full of nervous when they visit. This is a traumatic event in a woman's life and many couples experience feelings of guilt, resentment and blame following an abortion.

Briefly, the problems of abortion are shoddily affected in society. Abortion has been acknowledged as a considerable social problem and immediate steps must be taken to secure female society.

Content Management tools: DITA

Pupils are fond of learning new concepts and principles in their area of interest but normally they have shortage of time to grasp and successfully use intricate products and systems. In order to equip learners with time-efficient learning experiences, designers must offer premium quality training material, tailored to specific learner roles and delivered in time.

To resolve such dilemma, developers can reuse content efficiently. For many developers, effectual way to accomplish that efficiency will be the Learning and Training Content Specialization, version 1.2 of the Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) standard.

Darwin Information Typing Architecture, abbreviated as DITA is vital designed content standard that is planned to manage technical information in refillable topics stored as XML. DITA divorces content from the presentation layer so that writers can focus on writing the content rather than the “look and feel” of the final product.

In simple form, DITA is an XML-based open standard for organising, developing, managing, and publishing content. Giant company, IBM initially developed DITA to more competently reprocess content in product documentation. 

Progression of DITA:

In today’s technical driven environment, the DITA standard has gained immense acceptance as a general XML DTD and architecture for technical papers.

Main design dogmas of DITA:

-        Topic orientation: Discrete units of information wrapping a specific subject with a specific intent.

-        Topic granularity: Self-contained topics pool with other topics into information sets.

-        Strong typing: DTDs and schemas guarantee that DITA types follow identical information structures.

-        Specialization: Architecture for extending basic types to new types modified for a particular use within an information set.

-        Common base class: Top-level "generic" base type provides “fallback” for all types.

Major DITA Topic types:

DITA has several merits in corporate sector. Most of the organizations have comprehended significant time and cost savings, along with augmented quality and flexibility through active use of DITA to manage documents and providing reuse in areas such as:

-      Technical documentation and service manuals

-      Learning documentation

-      Legal documents

-      Marketing material

-      Process descriptions

-      Compliance documentation

It can be abridged that the Darwin Information Typing Architecture

  is tool to make the task easier in the arena of technical writing. While breathing in information era, we all realized that information is shaped with implausible speed. Challenging issue today is managing colossal amounts and varieties of information. Darwin Information Typing Architecture, is a viable solution to this looming problem. DITA uses principles of inheritance for specialization. It was formerly aimed to process technical information based on an information architecture of Concept, Task and Reference.