Tag Archives: mhc

RCMI Cancer Health Disparities Seminar

Posted on by
Reply

On Tuesday, December 9, 2014, Roberta Troy, of Tuskegee University, Presented her research on Triple Negative Breast Cancer and its presence amongst African American women. This was the “RCMI Cancer Health Disparities Seminar” presented at CUNY the City College of New York. Triple Negative Breast Cancer, TNBC, is a form of breast cancer that is both a very aggressive unresponsive to tradition cancer treatments, which tend to replicate hormone activity. TNBC is so named because it is not dependent estrogen, progesterone, or HER2, most cancers do depend on one or more of these hormones for their growth. The manipulation of the hormone receptors is a very common and effective cancer treatment. African American women who develop breast cancer are twice as likely to TNBC than any other group, but 10-20% of all breast cancer incidents are a form of TNBC.

For her research, Dr. Troy went to Ghana cancer facilities, because western Africa has the highest incidence of TNBC and most African Americans trace their lineage to West African countries. She went to hospitals that housed women with TNBC, most of whom let the cancer develop into very late stages where the breast was almost completely deteriorated. The pictures of these woman showed that the cancer completely deformed the breast to something that was unrecognizable. Early diagnosis, as with all cancers, is critical in decreasing the mortality risk of the disease. Unfortunately because TNBC is such an aggressive cancer, most women are already in their second stage at the time of diagnosis. However, Dr. Troy did find that lycopene, a chemical compound found in tomatoes, showed promising treatment possibilities. When we eat tomatoes, or other foods with lycopene, we do not consume enough to have a significant impact. Dr. Troy, and her fellow researcher, hypothesize that, if lycopene were directly injected into the cancerous cell, it would slow its reproduction and lower the risk of it metastasizing. She also made an agreement for healthy eating. Past research has shown that diet can greatly affect a woman’s risk of getting cancer and contributes to the patient’s ability to overcome the ailment.

The seminar as a whole was very well presented. It was in a small room in the Marshak Science Hall, which gave the setting a more intimate feel. Dr. Troy was clearly very knowledgeable about her field and was open to any and all questions that the audience posed throughout the seminar. As a non-science major I found the majority of the information provided very comprehensible. Some of the slides for her presentation were too advance for me, but she made her best attempt to put it in laymen’s terms. Portraying a message is just as important as the message itself. I found the topic to be extremely insightful. Prior to attending the seminar I was unaware that this cancer even existed. There are so many forms of cancer that are not “popular” that you never hear about, unless it affects someone you love. As a woman of color I am grateful that someone is researching an ailment that may one day affect me or someone I love.

Linguistics

Posted on by
Reply

Linguistics is a citizen science project developed to “ferret out specific aspects of linguistic meaning that scientist believe are key to understanding the human language. As a participant there are various different categories, or levels. When one first begins, there is only level that one is allowed to play at. When I first began the first level was entitled “Fickle Folk”. Once a person have evaluated enough dialogue at this level said person may then move forward to “Simon says Freeze”. I was also able to participate in “Equilibrium” “A Good World” and “Philosophical Zombie Hunters”

At each level, the participant is given a fun scenario in which they role play as a person of authority meant to determine if a persons actions is punishable by a law put into play in the scenario. My personal favorite scenario to work on was “Equilibrium.” In “Equilibrium” if a person applied force to another person they were going to blow up, if that person used another object to apply force to another person, both the person applying the force and the object would blow up. The person whom the force was applied to would remain unharmed. Robots went around this world recording what was happening; however the robots couldn’t interpret what was going on. The citizen science participant’s job was to read the situation and determine who, and what was going to be blown up. Not every sentence resulted in someone blowing up.

The main importance of all the sentences you are presented with is the verb. Each level has prizes and each participant is ranked on their contribution to the research. My ranking is currently 247 out of the 8357 people who have contributed to this project. When I first began the project, the scientists were already in phase three. However, they only had about 30% of phase three completed. Now the project has completed 93% of their phase three data set. I do consider myself a contribution to this project. The overall goal of this project is to discuss how the structure of language informs our understanding of thought, with the hope that the research will lead to how people learn and think.

The creators have both a blog and a forum to thank and update participants on the information of how they are helping the community and what the research is going towards. On the blog and forum one can see a lot of the work being done with the research. I truly enjoyed this part of the seminar because I had never previously heard of citizen science project. I think its great that as a non-science major I am still able to contribute to the scientific world. I think this is something that everyone should know because the more knowledgeable scientist become the better quality of life can be provided for society.

Substance Abuse Brokendown

Posted on by
Reply

Crack/Cocaine, heroine, marijuana, and alcohol are just a few drugs that can be abused by an addict and set someone up to have a self-destructive lifestyle. Substance abuse is a disease that is discussed in various sectors of the science world and impacts millions of people. World Science Fair and TEDx are just two science platforms that have addressed the issues of substance abuse. Both platforms are targeted towards an audience who are educated, but not experts in a scientific field.

In general, the World Science Fair’s target audience includes people whom are interested in science, but are not necessarily scientist. The specific panel discussion that I looked at was The Craving Brain: The Neuroscience of Uncontrollable Urges, which took place on May 31st, 2014 at Hunter College. Amongst the panelist were a neuroscientist, Eric Nestler, and Psychiatrist and director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, Nora D. Volkow. Generally the panelist did an excellent job of simplifying the neurobiology and overall impact of substance abuse coupled causation and defense. When specifically asked whether addictive behavior was linked to genetics, panelist explained that genes are linked to addiction; however, the genetic correlation associated with substance abusers, or addicts, is not just one specific gene, or even genetics alone. Environment also plays a role.

The moderator of the panel was, ABC News anchor, Elizabeth Vargas. This improved the flow of conversation between panelists and swayed the dialogue towards language that can be understood by the everyday person. The dialogue, holistically, was very informative and invited the audience to learn about addiction, from expert in the field. Panelist also provided animations to further understand the biology of drug addiction; helping to further understanding. Developments and research into the disease was thoroughly discussed. Correlations between nicotine and other drug addictions, vaccines, and brain cell recovery rates were a few topics discussed in the 90 min conversation. The research was presented at a level that can be understood by the general population. To someone who knows little to no information on this topic, it was very captivating and informative. I was not previously aware of that improvements were continually being made on the treatment of addiction, nor did I know that your brain cells can repair themselves over time. The panel was well formatted and I would recommend World Science in the future to someone looking to seek understanding on a science issue.

Gabor Maté is a physician who specializes n terminal illnesses, chemical dependents, and HIV positive patients. Maté is the speaker of the TEDx talk entitled The Power of Addiction and the Addiction of Power. Maté had a different reasoning for speaking on addiction. His goal was to help the audience psychologically addictive behavior. He normalized addiction and made it a relatable topic. In the 19 minute talk makes it easier to understand the power behind addiction and tried to put addiction in such a light that is not an addict can understand how someone can fall into addiction. In the talk Maté states, “You can’t look at what is wrong with addiction you have to look at what is right.” By analyzing why someone is an addict, he looks at the pain that the person goes through and dissects the need to escape themselves and their own mind.

A commendable technique used in this TEDx Talk was explaining sustains abuse to someone who is “addicted” to working to hard. The entire presentation was set up with terms, analogies, and situations that are relatable and understandable to almost anyone. I was able to get into the mind of an addict on a less serve level but in a way that I could understand their struggle. By understanding the disease, it helps to see the victims of the disease as a person to help.

Both videos were incredibly informative and showed different aspects of the disease. A combination of both videos creates a holistic picture of addictive behavior and addiction. Abusers are in need of help and combined these two talk portray to the public, not only what research and advancements are in progress, but also why this is something that needs to be looked into, giving hope to those who are affected.