Honors Article

In this article, Doctors and their patients (in Rochester Minn.) with a specific type of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) are successfully giving and discovering treatments to beat the disease, along with 10-year survival rates getting close to nearly 100 percent.

DCIS happens when lots of abnormal cells multiply and form a growth within a breast's milk duct. The cells are considered cancerous, but luckily have remained in place within the milk duct. "In situ" means "in place."

Annually in the United States more than 62,000 cases are diagnosed with DCIS, making it the most rapidly increasing type of noninvasive cancer. Meaning a type of cancer that remains in one place, and does not invade adjacent or nearby healthy cells, blood vessels, or tissues.

Researchers are attempting to better understand which women with DCIS are at highest and lowest risk of recurrence. They believe that that information would help in determining the most appropriate treatment. In the meantime, patients and their care providers or doctors

should discuss the pros and cons of all treatment approaches. DCIS isn't considered life threatening, but, if not detected and treated, it can progress to a more serious form of invasive cancer. The best treatment approach is still being debated.

Photosynthesis Resource

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpPwmvtDjWw

Honestly, this video was really helpful to me because it was worded in a very easy understanding way, and the layout was simple and not too busy and confusing. Photosynthesis can be an easy process to understand if it is explained right and the right examples and terms are used. I would recommend this video to any student who is trying to unserstand the photosynthesis process; because every should want to understand photosynthesis, and this video is a really helpful source that you can use to do that. (click on link above to view video)

Natural Phenomenon

Last year in Chemistry, my class did a project about drugs used by society. The drug my partner and I chose was Cisplatin. Cisplatin is a drug used in chemotherapy treatment to help fight the spread of cancer cells. So along with the drug itself, we had to research the side affects of the drug after it was administered to a patient. These side affects were hair loss, skin sores, fatigue, nausea, loss of apetite, and constant mood change.

After doing this project I knew I wanted to expand my knowledge and find out more. So while in this class, I would like to find out if an animal can get cancer, and if they would experience the same side affects as humans if Cisplatin was administered to them for the cancer.

The reason why I would like to learn about this is because I love a variety of different animals. I've always been amazed at their actions and how they live, and I just want to try to somehow connect our human characteristics to theirs.