Cancer Interview

I normally do not enjoy talking about illness and things that cause sufferings, but when I talked to anonymous I interviewed, it changed my perspective not only on cancer, but what it actually is. Anonymous was forty-three when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She felt a lump, and was feeling pain and tiredness. She went to the doctor and in under two days she was diagnosed with a major tumor. Upon receiving this information, she was shocked and saddened to find that she had one of the most deadly and incurable illnesses in the world. She was immediately put through chemotherapy, which lasted seven months. During chemo, she felt extreme exhaustion, and spent most of her time sleeping. She also Lost all of her hair and had to wear a wig or hats in public. Near the end of chemo, she got sick easily and contracted colds, flues, and other ailments that were around. After she successfully completed chemo, she went through four months of radiation.  It caused her major rashes and her skin was severely damaged. She had to change her clothing style, and could not wear many things that she loved before. After cancer, her life changed for the better. She realized who loved her, cared about her, and how much her family meant to her. She told me that It made the family stronger in a sense. Having someone that close to being lost changes the way people see things in the world. She continued her old job, the one she had before she had cancer. After over a year in treatment, she was done. She told me that a common misconception is being lazy. She wanted dearly to move around and start working, even though she could barely walk. The motivation to do something was huge, but chemo was so devastating. A few recommendations she had for everyone  was to go along with cancer screening, and identify any symptoms as quickly as possible, and importantly, hang on to the things you love.


Breast cancer effects the breasts, and it is most common in women. It effects the inner cells, forming a tumor that feels like a bruise from the outside. Once the tumor is created, it starts to spread throughout the body spreading pain and killing the normal cells and tissues. It effects the ability to produce milk, the ducts carrying it, and the fatty tissue surrounding it. There is no sure cause of breast cancer, but one fact is that it is caused from mutation in a cell that reproduces faster than normal cells. It can be genetic or random, and no one is immune. Since cancer is random, there is no sure way to stop people from getting it. There are a few theories as to what can prevent it, such as breastfeeding, exercising, reducing alcohol, and other generally healthy activities. There are many ways to treat cancer. This includes surgery(removing the tumor),  Radiation(Killing it with X-rays), and Chemotherapy(Cancer-killing Drugs.). There are other ways to remove cancer but breast cancer generally uses these three. In 2014, twelve percent of all females were found with invasive breast cancer. This is a massive part of the population. Because there are 160,000,000 women in America, there are 182,000 people with breast cancer(Approximately). Breast cancer is most common in the United States and UK, but generally only hits people before they are fifty years old.


REFERENCES:
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-what-causes
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-what-is-breast-cancer
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/womens-health/in-depth/breast-cancer-prevention/art-20044676
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/breastcancer/detailedguide/breast-cancer-treating-general-info
http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/understand_bc/statistics
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1697353-overview#aw2aab6b3

Mitosis Lab Report

INTRODUCTION AND PROCEDURES

Purpose of this Lab: The purpose of the Mitosis lab was to find the different cells in their stages of mitosis and determine the amount of interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase cells.

Hypothesis: There will be more interphase and prophase than metaphase and anaphase. This is because they are the two longest stages of mitosis.

Procedure: In the Mitosis lab, I worked with my partner Mike to take pictures of cells so we could analyze the data and find results. This started with getting an onion root tip on a tray, and then looking at it through different magnifications. We started with the 10x magnification, but since that was very difficult to see: 

we decided to move to a higher resolution. We chose to move up to 40x:

 This was perfect for us because it not only provided a lot of different cells, it was close enough to tell the stages. From there, we got many different segments of the onion root until we had many pictures of cells. 

RESULTS

This was my table of results. This shows that the approximate time spent in each stage is very similar to the percent of total cells counted. Here are some photos of the cells I took:

This is a pie chart I created showing the percent of each stage from my data.

ANALYSIS AND CONCLUSIONS

After reviewing the data, it shows that the time spent in Mitosis is very similar to the percent of cells in that stage. This means that the more time a cell spends in that stage, the more likely you are to find it there.

My hypothesis was proven because the prophase and interphase cells were found the most. This shows that they also spend the longest time in there.

Questions:

1. Why is it more accurate to call mitosis "nuclear replication" rather than "cellular division"?

Nuclear replication is more accurate because the cell is replicating its DNA, instead of just dividing itself. It is creating a literal copy of itself to go and create more copies. 

2. Explain why the onion root tip is selected for a study of mitosis.

The onion root tip was chosen because the chromosomes are very large and dark when stained. They are easy to find and does not damage the root tip in the process.

1. If your observations had not been restricted to the area of the root tip that is actively dividing, how would your results have been any different?

My results would have changed dramatically because if I took pictures over time, the cells would change stages. This would result in minor data changes, and definite proof of the time that cells spend in each stage.

2. Based on the data in the table, what can you infer about the relative length of time an onion root-tip cell spends in each stage of cell division?

Based on the data, I showed in the pie chart the percent of each stage I found. I infer that the time spent in each stage would be similar to the percent of cell stages I found.