LUNG CANCER

Lung cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in one or both lungs. These abnormal cells do not carry out the functions of normal cells and do not develop into healthy lung tissue. As they grow, the abnormal cells can form tumors and impede the function of the lung, which is to provide oxygen to the body via the blood.

The Genetic Basis of Lung Cancer
All cells in the body contain DNA. Every time a mature cell divides into two daughter cells, it replicates its DNA exactly. The daughter cells are clones of the original cell, identical in every way. It is in this way that our bodies continually replenish themselves. Old cells die off and the next generation takes their place.
A cancer begins with an error, or mutation, in a cell's DNA. DNA mutations can be caused by the normal aging process or through environmental factors, such as cigarette smoke or breathing in asbestos.

Lung Cancer Statistics
Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers. It is the second most diagnosed cancer in men and women (after prostate and breast, respectively), but it is the number one cause of death from cancer each year in both men and women. Because lung cancer can take years to develop, it is mostly found in older people. The average age of a person receiving a lung cancer diagnosis is 69 years.
Overall, lung cancer affects men more than women, but that gap is closing.
Cigarette smoking is the cause of most lung cancers, but there are other factors, too. Exposure to asbestos, radon, environmental factors, or secondhand smoke can cause lung cancer. There are often internal factors (inherited or from our genes) as well as external or environmental factors (from outside of our bodies) involved in the development of any type of cancer.
Lung Cancer Symptoms
The signs and symptoms of lung cancer can take years to develop and they may not appear until the disease is advanced.

Some symptoms of lung cancer that are in the chest:
Intense coughing
Pain in the chest, shoulder, or back
A change in color or volume of sputum
Shortness of breath
Changes in the voice or being hoarse
Recurrent lung problems, such as bronchitis or pneumonia
Coughing up phlegm or mucus, especially if it is tinged with blood
Coughing up blood
If the original lung cancer has spread, a person may feel symptoms in other places in the body. Common places for lung cancer to spread include other parts of the lungs, lymph nodes, bones, brain, liver, and adrenal glands.

Some symptoms of lung cancer that may occur elsewhere in the body:
Loss of appetite or unexplained weight loss
Fatigue
Headaches, bone or joint pain
Bone fractures not related to accidental injury
Neurological symptoms, such as memory loss
General weakness
If you are at risk for developing lung cancer
If you are a current or former smoker, have been exposed to asbestos, radon, other environmental factors, secondhand smoke, or have a family member who developed lung cancer but who did not have those risk factors, then you may be at increased risk of developing lung cancer.
If you are at risk of developing lung cancer, the most important thing you can do is to quit smoking (if you smoke). Because smoking can cause cancers other than lung cancer, such as cancers of the esophagus, pancreas, larynx, bladder, and others, stopping smoking will reduce your risk of developing those cancers, too. Research shows that smoking cessation has many benefits that are apparent soon after quitting, such as lowered blood pressure and increased lung capacity. Depending on how long and how much you smoked, quitting may not completely erase your risk of developing lung cancer, but it will definitely reduce the risk.
Because environmental factors other than smoking can increase your risk of lung cancer, it is important to reduce or eliminate those factors. Examples of environmental factors include asbestos, radon, and secondhand smoke. If you have been exposed to asbestos or radon, you can take steps to decrease or eliminate those exposures.
If you have lung cancer
Even if you have been diagnosed with lung cancer, lifestyle changes can help you manage symptoms of the disease and your treatment.
Smoking causes the majority of lung cancers. By quitting smoking, you can immediately gain some benefits from enhanced circulation, lowered blood pressure, and increased lung function. These benefits will help your body better tolerate and heal from surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation treatment.

Types of Treatment
Surgery
Curative surgery: The removal of a tumor when it appears to be confined to one area, which means an early stage cancer. This type of surgery aims to completely remove the cancerous tumor, and may include remove a wedge, a lobe, or an entire lung.
Palliative surgery: The goal of this surgery is to make the patient more comfortable, e.g., laser surgery for the removal of an obstruction or opening of an airway.
Chemotherapy : Chemotherapy uses strong chemicals or drugs to kill cancer cells, stop their reproduction, or slow their growth.
Radiation: Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) may be effective for the treatment of lung cancer. It uses high-energy rays, similar to X-rays, but stronger, to kill or shrink cancer cells.

ORGAN SYSTEM

ENDOCRINE

Role: To produce hormones that regulate the body's growth, metabolism, and sexual development and function. The hormones are released into the bloodstream and transported to tissues and organs throughout the body.

Organs: Ovaries and Testicles, Pancreas, Parathyroid glands, Pineal body, Pituitary Gland, Thymus Gland, Thyroid Gland, Adrenal Glands, Hypothalamus.

NERVOUS

Role: To relay electrical signals through the body. It directs behavior and movement and, along with the endocrine system, control psychological processes such as digestion, circulation, etc..

Organs: Brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves.

EXCRETORY

Role: To filter out cellular wastes, toxins, and excess water or nutrients from the circulatory system.

Organs: Kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra, skin.

LYMPHATIC

Role: To destroy and remove invading microbes and viruses from the body. The lymphatic system also removes fat and excess from the blood.

Organs: Lymph (fluid), lymph nodes and vessels, white blood cells, T- and B-cells.

REPRODUCTIVE

Role: To manufacture cells that allow reproduction. In the male, sperms are created to inseminate egg cells produced in the female.

Organs: Female: ovaries, oviducts, uterus, vagina and mammary glands. Male: testicles, seminal vesicles and pennies.

THE INTERNET

Internet History

The conceptual foundation for creation of the Internet was significantly developed by three individuals and a research conference, each of which changed the way we thought about technology by accurately predicting its future:
Vannevar Bush wrote the first visionary description of the potential uses for information technology with his description of the "memex" automated library system.
Norbert Wiener invented the field of Cybernetics, inspiring future researchers to focus on the use of technology to extend human capabilities.
The 1956 Dartmouth Artificial Intelligence conference crystallized the concept that technology was improving at an exponential rate, and provided the first serious consideration of the consequences.
Marshall McLuhan made the idea of a global village interconnected by an electronic nervous system part of our popular culture.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, triggering US President Dwight Eisenhower to create the ARPA agency to regain the technological lead in the arms race. ARPA appointed J.C.R. Licklider to head the new IPTO organization with a mandate to further the research of the SAGE program and help protect the US against a space-based nuclear attack.

Licklider evangelized within the IPTO about the potential benefits of a country-wide communications network, influencing his successors to hire Lawrence Roberts to implement his vision.

Roberts led development of the network, based on the new idea of packet switching discovered by Paul Baran at RAND, and a few years later by Donald Davies at the UK National Physical Laboratory. A special computer called an Interface Message Processor was developed to realize the design, and the ARPANET went live in early October, 1969. The first communications were between Leonard Kleinrock's research center at the University of California at Los Angeles, and Douglas Engelbart's center at the Stanford Research Institute.

The first networking protocol used on the ARPANET was the Network Control Program. In 1983, it was replaced with the TCP/IP protocol developed by Robert Kahn, Vinton Cerf, and others, which quickly became the most widely used network protocol in the world.

In 1990, the ARPANET was retired and transferred to the NSFNET. The NSFNET was soon connected to the CSNET, which linked Universities around North America, and then to the EUnet, which connected research facilities in Europe. Thanks in part to the NSF's enlightened management, and fueled by the popularity of the web, the use of the Internet exploded after 1990, causing the US Government to transfer management to independent organizations starting in 1995.

And here we are.