Hepatitis C Essay Example for Free

Hepatitis C Essay Abstract Hepatitis C is an infection of the liver caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It is difficult for the human immune system to eliminate the virus from the body, and infection with HCV usually becomes chronic. Over decades, chronic infection with HCV damages the liver and can cause liver failure in some people. The hepatitis C virus is transmitted mainly by contact with blood or blood products. The Sharing of contaminated needles among drug users is the most common mode of transmission. In the U.S., more than three million people are chronically infected with HCV. HCV is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the U.S and is a risk factor for liver cancer. Hepatitis C Description Hepatitis C was first identified in 1974. The virus that caused disease was not found until 1989 by Brendan Arena. The infection is sometimes called transfusion hepatitis. The name comes from one possible cause of the disease. It may be transmitted along with blood used in blood transfusions. Since the identification of HCV, tests have been developed to identify the virus. Blood transfusions are no longer a major cause of the disease. Hepatitis C is a disease of the liver caused by a virus. Hepatitis in general is an inflammation of the liver, usually caused by a viral infection. The liver becomes tender and enlarged and is unable to function normally, As a result, toxins that would normally be filtered out by the liver build up in the body and   certain nutrients are not processed and stored, as they should be. Hepatitis C is a slowly progressing disorder. In its more advanced stages it can lead to serious and permanent liver damage and even death. Symptoms The symptoms of Hepatitis C are often very mild in the early stages and can be virtually undetectable. Hepatitis C infection involves an acute initial phase of infection which is usually not noticed and lasts up to six months. During this phase, levels of the virus in the blood rise dramatically until the bodys immune response starts producing antibodies. Although our antibodies fight the virus, in around 75% of cases the virus is not eliminated and approximately three out of four people are left with a chronic (long-term) infection A.   Hepatitis infection can result in liver damage because as the virus reproduces in the liver over time, more and more liver cells are changed and destroyed causing scar tissue. This is called fibrosis. In a small percentage of people experiencing cirrhosis, Fibrosis can lead to a hardening of liver tissue which affects the normal function of the liver, this is called cirrhosis In a small percentage of people experiencing cirrhosis, the condition may lead to liver failure or liver cancer. Hepatitis C affects people differently. Some are not affected by it at all, while others can be affected seriously. Generally speaking, it is believed that around three out of four people with hepatitis C will not go on to develop cirrhosis. Over a 25-50 year period of infection, it is believed that less than one in ten people with hepatitis C would develop liver failure or liver cancer. 170 million people worldwide have Hepatitis C There is no cure for hepatitis C, but medications in some cases can suppress the virus for a long period of time. Treatments Some patients with hepatitis C benefit from treatment with interferon alpha or a combination of sustained response rates and tolerability; however, pegylated interferon will likely   remain the backbone of therapy in the foreseeable future. international research teams have discovered a genetic variation that could identify those people infected with hepatitis C who are most likely to benefit from current treatments. Their genome-wide association study of people   receiving hepatitis C treatment revealed that genetic variants near the interferon gene IL28B were associated with peoples response to treatment. Three per cent of the worlds people are infected with hepatitis C and few are able to clear the virus without treatment. The standard treatment is a combination of pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin (PEG-IFN-alpha/RBV). Conclusion Hepatitis C is a virus that causes acute and chronic hepatitis. Over 80% of persons who acquire hepatitis C develop chronic hepatitis. Persons who are chronically infected with hepatitis C are at an increased risk for the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer. No effective vaccine has been developed to prevent hepatitis C. Only one antiviral medication has been shown to be effective in the treatment of hepatitis C. Pegylated interferon alpha and ribavirin combination is licensed for the treatment of hepatitis C, but only about 30% to 50% of persons treated recover completely from this infection. References http://www.emedicinehealth.com/hepatitis c article/ em-htm /08/2009 http://www.Faqs.org health/sick-v2 hepatitis c-descriptions html. Copy right 2009 Walter and Eliza Hall Institute Sep 24,2009 Science daily.com/hepatitis treatment Nancy J. Nordeson The Gale Group 2002 http://www.gale encyclopedia of medicine.com http://www.medicalnews.com/ 08/2009/ articles hepatitis c http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/aip/research/hepatitis

Mirroring an Exposed World :: Dance Dancing Art Papers

Mirroring an Exposed World I recently saw a photography piece, "Dancer" by Irving Penn on exhibit at the Whitney Museum. The striking thing about the photos was not that they were of a nude Alexandra Beller, but that hers is not what one would typically think of as a naked dancer's body. She's not tall and thin with well-defined muscles and barely developed breasts. No. She's fat. Beller took a big risk posing nude for Penn's camera. She dared people to see her as a dancer, not just a fat woman. She dared people to see her as a sex symbol, not just a fat woman. She dared people to see her as an emotional woman- sensitive, powerful, frightened, bold, shy, loving, rebellious. She owns her body, and she challenges the audience to own their hesitation and move past it to see her exposed for the woman she really is. The exhibit made me immediately curious about Beller and her work. Formerly dancing with Bill T. Jones' company, Beller is now choreographing her own works. When I heard she would be presenting her latest work, It's Not You, It's Me at the Joyce Soho, I got out my umbrella and waited for over an hour in a standby line to see her perform. My friends had teased me for wanting to see Beller's show, saying "Wouldn't it be weird. I mean you saw her naked," and "Do you think she'll dance naked too?" But that was one of the reasons I wanted to see the show. I really identified with Beller in many ways. I was deeply impressed with her confidence to pose nude in the first place. Obesity, seen as repulsive, is despised at best, yet politely ignored. But Beller will not be ignored. I wondered what it was that gave her this confidence in her body. And I wondered what she would express with her body in her dance works. I was compelled by the risks she had taken with Penn, and compelled to see what else she would risk. When I saw It's Not You, It's Me, particularly the last piece, 50 Ways to Find a Mate, I was bombarded by feelings of pain, sadness, confusion that come with rejection, insecurities that are connected with bodies and body images. I got the feeling that Beller, though a beautiful and talented dancer is still an imperfect woman who struggles with her self-confidence, especially in romantic relationships.

“Popular Mechanics” by Raymond Carver Essay

Essay discussing the role played by the setting in â€Å"Popular Mechanics.† Analyze the central characters relationship to their surroundings. Does the setting limit the characters options or influence the development of the plot? Does the setting play any significant role in enhancing the theme of the story? â€Å"Popular Mechanics† was written in order to make the audience imagine their own details. The descriptions in this story are very basic and plain, the man and woman in the story are nameless with no clue of physical description, and there is no mention of what city, state or country the story takes place. This allows the reader to picture the surroundings and details of the story in their own way, maybe the reader has heard of or been in similar situations and they can put their own faces and locations into the story. The setting is given in very little detail, but it is also the most detail of any element in the story. The setting is a very important part of the story and is used to symbolize, foreshadow and relate with the events and characters. The setting described in the first paragraph prepares the reader for a dark, uncomfortable story. â€Å"Early that day the weather turned and the snow was melting into dirty water.† (Paragraph 1) All of these elements in the setting outside the house are used as symbols for something inside the house. This shows that something good or pure, â€Å"snow† or relationship, is turning into something ugly, â€Å"dirty water† or separation, and it is happening fast, â€Å"early that day.† The first paragraph continues, â€Å"Streaks of it ran down from the little shoulder-high window that faced the backyard.† (Paragraph 1) This paragraph gives very little detail of the house, but enough to get a mental picture. In this line, â€Å"it† refers to the dirty water which is a symbol for the break down of the relationship of the man and woman. The house is small, shown by  the description of a â€Å"little shoulder-high window.† The story later gives another description that the house is small in paragraph eleven, â€Å"She stood in the doorway of the ‘little kitchen’, holding the baby.† The little kitchen is most likely inside a little house. Even though the reader is never specifically told that the house is little, the audience gets small details that spark something in the reader to imagine a small house. The little house can tie in with the characters fight. The house may be too small for the woman to be comfortable raising a child there, or it may be too small for the man’s pride, both these situations can lead to arguments. The most obvious tie in with the characters and the small house is the fact that it is too small for the both of them, the man is leaving and the woman is glad he is. A bigger house means more success, more pride, and more happiness. All of these elements can possibly lead to a happier relationship. The fact that the window faces the backyard gives the events that go on inside the house a sense of privacy. The neighbors can see what is going on in the front yard; the backyard is used for privacy, when you do not really want everyone to know what you are doing. This description symbolizes the bad relationship that develops and â€Å"runs† through the small house when the doors are closed. The next line foreshadows the events that happen in the house. â€Å"Cars slushed by on the street outside, where it was getting dark. But it was getting dark on the inside too.† Here the story is pointing out that what is going on outside is going on inside too, and the reader should make the correlation at this point. The characters relate to the setting here because they are getting dark on the inside as well; the heart, mind and soul of the characters are growing dark feelings. The fact that it is â€Å"getting dark on the inside too† shows that things such as daylight, happiness, love and a relationship are coming to an end and things such as darkness, anger, sadness, and hatred are beginning. The setting is also used symbolically in the story when the flower pot is broken, â€Å"In the scuffle they knocked down a flowerpot.† (Paragraph 26) The flowerpot is used to symbolize the breaking up of the man and woman, and the breaking of the baby. Although the rea der is not told if the baby was physically broken, the emotional and mental  damage that a child goes through when their parents separate can be seen as a possibility for the child in the story. The setting sets the tone for the story, symbolizes elements inside the house, relates with the characters and foreshadows the events of the story. All of these elements are very important to the story and they are all given in three short paragraphs (Paragraphs 1, 11, 26). The setting is given the greatest amount of detail while the rest of the story is given almost no detail, only stereotypical behavior. The reader is required to imagine their own timeline, faces, and many other details, but the setting is told to show the overall mood the writer wanted the reader to see. This proves that the setting is a very powerful element to show that the relationship between the man and the woman and everything that surrounds them is going from good to bad and eventually, everything is broken.

How Many Elements Can Be Found Naturally

There are 118 elements currently on the periodic table. Several elements have only been found in laboratories and nuclear accelerators. So, you may wonder how  many elements can be found naturally. The usual textbook answer is 91. Scientists used to believe that, except for the element technetium, all the elements up to element 92 (uranium)  could be  found in nature. However, it turns out there are other elements that occur in trace amounts naturally. This brings the number of naturally occurring elements to 98. New Naturally Occurring Elements Technetium is one of the newer elements added to the list. Technetium is an ​element with no stable isotopes. It is produced artificially by bombarding samples of molybdenum with neutrons for commercial and scientific uses and was widely believed to be nonexistent in nature. This has turned out to be untrue. Technetium-99 can be produced when uranium-235 or uranium-238 undergoes fission. Minute amounts of technetium-99 have been found in uranium-rich pitchblende. Elements 93–98 (neptunium, plutonium, americium, curium, berkelium, and californium) were all first artificially synthesized and isolated in the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. They have all been found in the fallout of nuclear testing experiments and byproducts of the nuclear industry and were believed to exist only in man-made forms. This also turned out to be untrue. All six of these elements have been found in very small amounts in samples of uranium-rich pitchblende. Perhaps one day, samples of element numbers greater than 98 will be identified. List of Elements Found in Nature The elements found in nature are elements with atomic numbers 1 (hydrogen) through 98 (californium). Ten of these elements occur in trace amounts: technetium (No. 43), promethium (61), astatine (85), francium (87), neptunium (93), plutonium (94), americium (95), curium (96), berkelium (97), and californium (98). The rare elements are produced by radioactive decay and other nuclear processes of more common elements. For example, francium is found in pitchblende as the result of alpha decay of actinium. Some elements found today may have been produced by the decay of primordial elements—elements produced earlier in the history of the universe that have since vanished. Native vs. Natural Elements While many elements occur in nature, they might not occur in pure or native form. There are only a few native elements. These include the noble gases, which dont readily form compounds, so they are pure elements. Some of the metals occur in native form, including gold, silver, and copper. Nonmetals including carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen occur in native form. Elements that occur naturally, yet not in native form, include the alkali metals, alkaline earth, and rare earth elements. These elements are found bound in chemical compounds, not in pure form.