WHAT IS CANCER?
By Antin. Until now the word “ Cancer “ still a frightened word for most of the people. Cancer is an abnormal proliferation of cells which have uncontrolled growth / divide uncontrollably. A cell is the basic building block and the fundamental functioning unit of the body. A sphere about one fourth of an inch in diameter contains about 1,000,000,000 cells (109). Specialized cells are organized into specialized functioning structures called organs. A cell is composed of a nucleus surrounded by the cytoplasm, all contained within a cell membrane. The nucleus contains the genetic material called the chromosomes.
There are 23 paired chromosomes in each human cell nucleus, one pair of which is special in that this pair determines the sex of the individual; XX is female and XY is male. A defect on chromosome 13 is thought to be responsible for some cancers that run in families. It is the nature of cells to divide and increase their number. They do this by a process called mitosis. Some cancers are noted by their high mitotic count (causing by uncontrolled growth) which is the number of mitoses counted in a microscopic specimen of the cancer.
Normal cells divide only enough to replace those that are lost or to repair injuries. After all cells that are lost or injured have replaced, they stop dividing. Cancer cells have lost this restraint and keep dividing. The mass of cancer cells will eventually become large enough to cause problems and to become detectable.
Let’s count the time of cancer growth. If a cancer starts as a single cell and that cell begins to divide and if the volume of that mass of cancer cells doubles every 45 days, it would take about 30 doublings for the mass of cancer cells until the mass size about one fourth inch in diameter. One fourth inch is the smallest cancer that can be detected by examination, x-ray or scan. So this could take several years until the mass of cancer being detectable.
November 29th, 2008 at 6:05 am
I ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.
Joan
Tips Beauty
April 23rd, 2009 at 6:08 am
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