Our hearts go out to the Kennedy family today. A legacy has been lost and an empty space in our country is felt on this day. Sam Oliver @ http://www.pathintohealing.com/   

Cancer Cell Division

When it comes to cell division, cancer cells break just about all the rules!

Cancer cells can divide without appropriate external signals.
This is analogous to a car moving without having pressure applied to the gas pedal. An example would be the growth of a breast cancer cell without the need for estrogen, a normal growth factor. Some breast cancer cells actually lose the ability to respond to estrogen by turning off expression of the receptor for estrogen within the cell. These cells can still reproduce by bypassing the need for the external growth signal.

Cancer cells do not exhibit contact inhibition.
While most cells can tell if they are being 'crowded' by nearby cells, cancer cells no longer respond to this stop signal. The continued growth leads to the piling up of the cells and the formation of a tumor mass.

Cancer cells can divide without receiving the 'all clear' signal.
While normal cells will stop division in the presence of  genetic (DNA) damage, cancer cells will continue to divide. The results of this are 'daughter' cells that contain abnormal DNA or even abnormal numbers of chromosomes. These mutant cells are even more abnormal than the 'parent' cell. In this manner, cancer cells can evolve to become progressively more abnormal.

Continued cell division leads to the formation of tumors. The  genetic instability that results from aberrant division contributes to the drug resistance seen in many cancers. Mutations in specific genes can alter the behavior of cells in a manner that leads to increased tumor growth or development. The next chapter will examine a few of the best-studied examples of these genes.

More information on this topic may be found in Chapter 8 of The Biology of Cancer by Robert A. Weinberg.

Healing Care Resources: http://www.pathintohealing.com/

Prostate cancer is cancer of the small walnut-shaped gland in males that produces seminal fluid, the fluid that nourishes and transports sperm. Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men, affecting about one in six men in the United States. A diagnosis of prostate cancer can be scary not only because it can be life-threatening, but also because treatments can cause side effects such as bladder control problems and erectile dysfunction (impotence). But diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer have gotten much better in recent years.

Prostate cancer usually grows slowly and initially remains confined to the prostate gland, where it may not cause serious harm. While some types of prostate cancer grow slowly and may need minimal or no treatment, other types are aggressive and can spread quickly. If prostate cancer is detected early — when it's still confined to the prostate gland — you have a better chance of successful treatment.

Information from http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Healing Care Resources: http://www.pathintohealing.com/

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers that affect a woman's reproductive organs. Various strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted infection, play a role in causing most cases of cervical cancer.

When exposed to HPV, a woman's immune system typically prevents the virus from doing harm. In a small group of women, however, the virus survives for years before it eventually converts some cells on the surface of the cervix into cancer cells. Half of cervical cancer cases occur in women between ages 35 and 55.

Thanks largely to Pap test screening, the death rate from cervical cancer has decreased greatly over the last 50 years. Still, every year more than 11,000 women in the United States are diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer, and nearly 4,000 die of cervical cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. Around the world, cervical cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer death in women.

Information from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Healing Care Resources: http://www.pathintohealing.com/

Women have two ovaries, one on each side of the uterus. The ovaries — each about the size of an almond — produce eggs (ova) as well as the female sex hormones estrogen and progesterone. Ovarian cancer is a disease in which normal ovarian cells begin to grow in an uncontrolled, abnormal manner and produce tumors in one or both ovaries.

According to the American Cancer Society, ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women. It's estimated that about 20,000 women in the United States will develop ovarian cancer this year. About 15,000 deaths from ovarian cancer will occur in American women during that same time frame.

Your chances of surviving ovarian cancer are better if the cancer is found early. But because the disease is difficult to detect in its early stage, only about 20 percent of ovarian cancers are found before tumor growth has spread into adjacent tissues and organs beyond the ovaries. Most of the time, the disease has already advanced before it's diagnosed.

Until recently, doctors thought that early-stage ovarian cancer rarely produced any symptoms. But new evidence has shown that most women may have signs and symptoms even in the early stages of the disease. Being aware of them may lead to earlier detection.

Information from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/

For More Healing Resources: http://www.pathintohealing.com/

Breast cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in American women, is the disease women fear most. Experts predict 178,000 women will develop breast cancer in the United States in 2007. Breast cancer can also occur in men, but it's far less common. For 2007, the predicted number of new breast cancers in men is 2,000.

Yet there's more reason for optimism than ever before. In the last 30 years, doctors have made great strides in early diagnosis and treatment of the disease and in reducing breast cancer deaths. In 1975, a diagnosis of breast cancer usually meant radical mastectomy — removal of the entire breast along with underarm lymph nodes and muscles underneath the breast. Today, radical mastectomy is rarely performed. Instead, there are more and better treatment options, and many women are candidates for breast-sparing operations.

Information from: http://www.mayoclinic.com/

Resources for Healing: http://www.pathintohealing.com/

 Dying people have much to teach us about living in soul.  I have witnessed people of all races, ages, genders, and sexual orientation let go of the life they have come to know.  One thing becomes clear "everyone learns to love the life they have been given."

When a dying person enjoys or is saddened by the past constitution of their life, he/she reaches deep within themselves to find meaning, hope, and unconditional love.  Despite our humanness, we have an inherent need to bless what has given us experience within the expressions of our lives.  This is the level of soul care "not made with human hands."  It is the heart of creation, and perhaps, the heart of God.

Samuel Oliver, author of, "What the Dying Teach Us: Lessons on Living"