Skin Cancer – Causes and Risk Factors

Increased use of fertilizers in crop cultivation and increased pollution is increasing the risk of many dreadful diseases. One such disease which is taking many lives every year is cancer. There are various types of cancer depending on the organ or the body part being affected such as lung cancer, skin cancer, bone cancer etc.

What is Skin Cancer?
Abnormal growth and multiplication of skin cells results in development of tumors. Tumors which turn to be malignant are considered as cancerous. There are three types of skin cancers basing on the type of cell being invaded.
·          Basal cell carcinoma

·          Squamous cell carcinoma

·          Melanoma.


Of the three malignant cancers malignant melanoma that spreads to other parts of the body very easily is highly dangerous and may become fatal if left untreated.

Causes of Skin Cancer

Skin being the highly exposed part of the body it is hard to say that skin cancer develops due to one specific cause. Skin cancer can develop due to multiple causes such as
1.     Increased exposure to UV rays
Sun rays contain powerful ultraviolet rays which are to a great extent filtered by the ozone layer. But, due to depletion of ozone layers powerful UV rays are reaching the earth and are the major cause for skin cancers in majority of people. Increased exposure to UV lamps used in tanning salons also increases the risk for tumor growth in skin.
2.     Increased exposure to arsenic containing chemicals
Farmers who use increased amounts of arsenic containing pesticides, carpenters using wood preservatives and those who are highly exposed to radium have increased chances of developing tumors underneath the skin.
3.     Certain types of medical treatments that suppress the immune system
Treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy that aim at treating abnormal growth of cells can result in development of cancer of the skin due to weak immune system. In certain other cases where immune system is intentionally suppressed as seen in bone marrow transplantation can also cause skin cancer.

Risk factors of Skin Cancer

·          People with low melanin content i.e. those who have fair skin, blond hair, freckles, green or blue eyes are at increased risk of skin cancers. Generally, the pigment melanin present in skin offers protection to the skin from outside agents.
·          Presence of either more number of moles or presence large sized moles at the time of birth.
·          Skin disorders such as albinism and xeroderma pigmentosum that develop due to abnormalities in the formation of melanin pigment.
·          Hereditary factors.
·          Skin cancers keep recurring after three years of complete treatment. Hence, those with history of skin cancer are at high risk than others.
·          HIV that weakens the immune system causes Kaposis sarcoma a type of cancer affecting skin.
·          People who work in sun for longer duration every day.
·          Increased exposure to sun in early days of life.
·          Presence of more number of scars.
·          Appearance of more number of new moles or change in shape of the existing moles.
·          Compared to women men are at high risk of developing malignant tumors after the age of 50.

 Lastly, skin melanoma is highly dangerous as other types of deadliest cancers such as the lung cancer. With proper care and early treatment it is possible to treat skin cancer by using advanced medical techniques. So, whenever you suffer with skin diseases for prolonged periods or find any abnormal growth on skin consult the physician immediately for proper treatment and to avoid the risk of skin cancer.

What is Really Causing your Hand Pain?

Moderate hand pain is experienced fairly commonly but it may not always be something as harmless as tired muscles. Whether you should seek medical attention because of a hand pain depends on its severity and if it is preventing you from carrying out normal action or not. Hand pain is simply a symptom and it may be caused by some underlying cause.

 

Causes of Hand Pain

There is a wide range of causes of hand pain, depending on its nature, intensity and concentration and coexistence with other symptoms.

 

Trauma and Strain

• Injury
• Fatigue
• Repetitive movement
• Surgery

 

Joint Pain

• Osteoarthritis: Degradation of joints
• Septic Arthritis: Joint degradation due to bacterial infection.
• Rheumatoid Arthritis: Chronic joint stiffness, pain, swelling and fatigue

 

Nervous System Disease

• Peripheral Neuropathy: Numbness and tingling
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome: Pain and numbness in the median nerve at the wrist
• Cervical Spondylosis: Degenerative Osteoarthritis of the joints.

 

Bacterial and Other Infection

• Cellulitis: An inflammation under the skin caused by bacterial infection
• Felon or Whitlow: A discoloration of the finger
• Cysts: A closed sac caused by bacterial infection
• Paronychia: A bacterial and fungal infection bordering the nails and the skin
• Septic Arthritis: Joint degradation due to bacterial infection.

 

Various Diseases

• Dupuytren's Contracture: A localized scar tissue in the palm
• Raynaud's Phenomenon: Discoloration of toes and fingers due to cold or infection
• Myocardial Infarction or Heart Attack
• Tumors

 

Symptoms to Watch Out For

There are several other symptoms that can accompany hand pain and the presence of which should immediately prompt you to seek medical help.

• Burn
• Swelling
• Bruises and wounds
• Discoloration
• Infected wounds
• Difficulty in clinching the fist
• Difficulty in movement
• Weak grip
• Numbness or tingling sensation
• Lumps
• Deformity
• Stiffness of the joints
• Fever and flu
• Muscle wasting

 

Hand Pain Treatment

Once the correct diagnosis is made of the underlying cause creating hand pain,

 

Trauma and Strain

If bones are found fractured, dislocated or broken, then a hand splint is immediately fixed in order to prevent movement resulting in severe pain. Once the bone is fixed in the correct position, the hand may be plastered or set in a brace for better healing. Surgery could be required in more complicated cases.

 

Bacterial and Other Infection

If the hand pain is caused by a bacterial infection or a bite wound, then antibiotics are administered to relieve the symptom and to treat the condition. Pain killers and anti-inflammatory medicines could also be prescribed. Cysts may be required to be removed surgically.

 

Joint Pain and Arthritis

The treatment for joint pain varies with the condition. For serious conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, pain killers, anti-inflammatory medicine and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic medicine are administered. There is no known cure for the condition. Osteoarthritis involves lifestyle modification, avoiding activity that puts a lot of stress on joints and exercise are recommended. Apart from that, pain killers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, hyaluronic acid injections and dietary supplements are recommended.

 

Nervous System Diseases

Peripheral Neuropathy is treated by overcoming vitamin deficiencies, controlling diabetes, physical therapy, surgery and sympathetic injections. Medication such as painkillers, acetaminophen and antidepressants are also administered. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is treated with physical therapy, wearing wrist braces, activity modification, massage, exercise, anti-inflammatory medicines and cortisone injections.

 

Raynaud's phenomenon

The treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon, which is usually caused by cold and infection, is carried out by keeping the hands warm, medication such as beta blockers, drugs that dilate blood vessels, blood thinners and close monitoring of the condition. Surgery may sometimes by require for the treatment.

 

Dupuytren's Contracture

Treatment includes exercise with heat application, ultrasound and cortisone and collagenase injections. Surgery could be required for the removal of the scar tissue.

 

Tumors

Treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery are used.

 

Heart Attack or Myocardial Infraction

A heart attack is a medical emergency and should be immediately treated with first aid. The treatment of the condition should be immediately carried out in a medical setting such as a hospital or a clinic, which involves administering oxygen, medication such as nitroglycerin and morphine. Afterwards, lifestyle modification and even surgery are recommended.

Tips for Speeding Up Your PC

Few things are frustrating as dealing with a slow, sluggish computer. When a computer is brand new, it works wonderfully well. Over time, though, its performance can slowly begin to worsen. This happens for a number of reasons, but the biggest culprits are things like spyware, adware and other computer threats that are unwittingly downloaded along with other content while online. Instead of accepting the situation, there are plenty of techniques and strategies that you can use to make it better – a few of the best ones are outlined below.

Strategy #1: Clean Your Computer's Windows Registry

The biggest cause of slow, sluggish PC performance is errors and problems within its Windows registry. Adware, spyware and other threats usually target the registry, damaging or misplacing important files within it. When it comes to PC cleaning, a daily Windows registry cleaning should be at the top of your list of priorities. However, this should never be done manually – there are too many opportunities for major errors that could seriously damage your PC's operating system. Instead, invest in a high-quality Windows registry cleanup program and configure it to run once per day – you won't believe the difference that it makes.

Strategy #2: Remove Unneeded Files

Every time you log on to the Internet or otherwise use your computer, temporary files are generated. They are usually only needed once; however, they don't disappear on their own. Instead, they accumulate over time until they are cluttering up your computer's file system and affecting its performance. While it's possible to remove these files one-by-one, it's much easier and quicker to use a PC cleaning tool that's designed for the purpose. Try to do so about one time per week to keep your computer humming along with ease.

Strategy #3: Remove Unneeded Programs

Like many people, you probably download and try out many different programs each month. How many of them do you actually end up using on a regular basis? Chances are, not very many of them. By getting into the habit of uninstalling unused and unneeded programs, you can keep your computer's file system a lot less cluttered. In turn, your PC's performance will improve dramatically. You can optimize your computer in this way by using its Add/Remove Programs feature. Its location varies by operating system, but you should be able to find it somewhere in the Control Panel.

Strategy #4: Empty the Recycle Bin

When you click "delete" on a file or a program, it doesn't go away for good – not immediately, anyway. Instead, it sits in a kind of purgatory in your computer's Recycle Bin. As things pile up in the Recycle Bin, your computer can start exhibiting some very annoying problems. If sluggish startups and frequent crashes are occurring with increasing frequency – and your computer's recycle bin is very full – go ahead and empty it. From then on, get into the habit of doing so about one time per week. This small but important strategy can make a huge difference.

Strategy #5: Perform a Disk Defragmentation

Windows isn't very efficient when it comes to storing files. It actually splits them up, depositing them into whatever spaces are available. The more spaced apart the pieces of a file are, the harder your computer has to work to make them run. The Windows disk defragmentation system tune-up utility works to piece all of those files back together again. The process is a long one, though, and only needs to be done about four times per year. Set it up to run automatically once every three months. By doing so, you'll be able to keep your computer running in tiptop shape.

How to Remove Page Info From Printed Pages

By default browsers will add the date, page number and URL to any page printed from the Internet. For most (if not all) of the printable on this site, you probably don't want text at the top and bottom of the page. Luckily it's pretty easy to fix, just pick your browser and follow the instructions below.

 

Internet Explorer 7 Printing Tips

 

·          By default there's a small image of a printer, click that and go to "Page Setup…". Below is a screenshot showing the button you're looking for.

 

·          Go to "File", "Page Setup…", then erase the text in the "Headers and Footers text boxes.
(The default for header is &w&bPage &p of &P and for footer &u&b&d if you need to put it back later. IE's default margins are 0.75 inches.)

 

·          Click the "OK" button and you're done.

 

Firefox Printing Tips

 

·          From the menu in the top left corner of your browser, choose "File", then "Page setup..". Go to the second tab called "Margins & Header / Footer", in the drop down lists choose "Blank" for all the items you don't want printed.

 

·          If you want, you can also adjust the print margins here as well, Firefox's default margins are set at 0.5 inches. Once you have your setting chosen, click "OK", and you're done!

 

·         If you'd like a faster way to get to the print preview feature from within Firefox, the Print / Print Preview extensions is very handy. It adds a submenu to your context menu (the menu that pops up when you right click on a webpage) with "Print", "Print Preview" and "Page Setup". Much faster if you change margins, headers etc. often.

A WILL of Father to his Children

Do take time to read

*Following is a letter by a Father to his son from a renowned Hong Kong TV
broadcaster/ Child Psychologist. The words are actually applicable to all of us, young or old, Children or parents.! 

Dear son/daughter , 

I am writing this to you because of 3 reasons 

1. Life, fortune and mishaps are unpredictable; nobody knows how long he 
lives. Some words are better said early.

2. I am your father, and if I don't tell you these, no one else will. 

3. What is written are my own personal bitter experiences that perhaps 
could save you a lot of unnecessary heartaches.

Remember the following as you go through life: 

1. Do not bear grudge towards those who are not good to you. No one has the 
responsibility of treating you well, except your mother and I. To those who
are good to you, you have to treasure it and be thankful, and ALSO you have
to be cautious, because, everyone has a motive for every move. When a
personis good to you, it does not mean he really likes you. You have
to be
careful, don't hastily regard him as a real friend.

2. No one is indispensable, nothing in the world that you must possess. 
Once you understand this idea, it would be easier for you to go through
life when people around you don't want you anymore, or when you lose
what/who you love most.

3. Life is short. When you waste your life today, tomorrow you would find 
that life is leaving you. The earlier you treasure your life, the better
you enjoy life.

4. Love is but a transient feeling and this feeling would fade with time 
and with one's mood. If your so called loved one leaves you, be patient,
time will wash away your aches and sadness. Don't over exaggerate the
beauty and sweetness of love, and don't over exaggerate the sadness of
falling out of love.

5. A lot of successful people did not receive a good education, that does 
not mean that you can be successful by not studying hard!
Whatever knowledge you gain is your weapon in life. One can go from rags to
riches, but one has to start from some rags!

6. I do not expect you to financially support me when I am old, neither 
would I financially support your whole life. *
*My responsibility as a supporter ends when you are grown up. After that,
you decide whether you want to travel in a public transport or in your
limousine, whether rich or poor.

7. You honor your words, but don't expect others to be so. You can be good 
to people, but don't expect people to be good to you.*
* If you don't understand this, you would end up with unnecessary troubles.

8. I have bought lotteries for umpteen years, but I never strike any prize. 
That shows if you want to be rich, you have to work hard! There is no free
lunch!

9. No matter how much time I have with you, let's treasure the time we have 
together. We do not know if we would meet again in our next life.

With Love, 

Your Dad

How can we combat mental illness ourselves? These tips can help

·    Be communicative. Express your feelings in a non-threatening, non-combative way to significant people in your life, including your family, friends and business associates. Don't wait for the pressure to build and then blow your top. Catch the anger or concern before it causes you stress.

·    Find time for yourself, alone, every day even if it's just 10 minutes in the bathtub or 20 minutes walking or working out at the gym. Spend the time in constructive ways such as meditating, listening to soothing music or just enjoying nature.

·    Don't try and keep up with the Jones'. Seeking material things is healthy until it becomes more important than human things such as sharing time with loved ones, enjoying a sunset or catching some rays at the beach. Find work you love and do it with a happy heart.

·    Build a network of trusted friends with whom you can share ideas, joys and sorrows. Remember to give as well as to receive.

·    Avoid unhealthy relationships that make you feel "blue" or inadequate. No matter what the price, get out of these situations.

·    Do some physical activity every day, whether it be gardening, washing the car, walking or working out. Studies have shown physical exertion releases endorphins in the body that produce good feelings.

·    Be true to yourself.

Do you get angry a lot?

Everyone gets angry occasionally. But people who "fly off the handle" easily may be at risk for heart disease or other illnesses, so it's important to know how often you place yourself at risk. Men are at greater risk for these illnesses than women.
 
Score 1 if the statement is never true for you, 2 if it's sometimes true, 3 if it's often true, and 4 if it's always true. Give a score to yourself for the statements below:

 

SCORE	STATEMENT
	It doesn't take much to get me mad.
	People tell me I should calm down.
	I blow up at terrible drivers.
	If I'm upset, I'll hit the dog or cat.
	People call me hotheaded.
	I'm furious about the way I get treated at restaurants or stores.
	Often other people's mistakes slow me down, it can upset me for the whole day.
	If things are bad enough, I'll throw things.
	I swear loudly to blow off steam.
	I feel like hitting someone who makes me very angry.
	I've been told I have a bad temper.
	If you embarrass me in front of someone, I'll be furious.
	I'm a very ambitious person, so sometimes I get impatient and angry with other people.
	I've been known to break things when I'm frustrated.
	TOTAL SCORE

  
What Your Score Means

 

Ø If you score 18 or below, you have a high temper threshold, and are able to stay calm in situations which would frustrate many others. This helps you manage your stress levels.

Ø If you score 19-27, you get angry about as often as most people. To reduce your score, practice the hints below.

Ø If you score 28-35, you might be under too much stress, or getting angry may be a habit. Take this score seriously, and begin to make changes now, before it affects your health.

Ø If you score over 35, and you continue with your behaviors and attitudes, you risk serious stress-related disease. Work your way down the list below and take the test again. Repeat until your score is in the normal range. It may help to speak to a counselor about other ways to deal with your anger.

 

Tips That Help

Say "I was wrong" to someone; Think about when and where you learned your reactions to anger.

Spend 10 minutes sitting in a park or garden. Laugh at a joke, situation or yourself.

Read something for pleasure. Avoid doing two things at once (such as eating and reading).

Try to relax and gain perspective on your life.

Health Benefits – Green tea

This flavorful beverage offers many health benefits to anyone who drinks it regularly. Green tea contains a potent plant nutrient known as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, for short. You don't have to keep track of its chemical name to reap the health benefits. Here are 9 reasons to start drinking green tea or continue drinking it if you're already hooked.

·          Green tea is a superb fat fighter. Its active ingredient, EGCG, increases the rate at which fat is burned in your body.
·          It targets belly fat. Research at Tufts University indicates that EGCG in green tea, like other catechins, activate fat-burning genes in the abdomen to speed weight loss by 77 percent.
·          It keeps energy stable by balancing blood sugar levels. EGCG improves insulin use in the body to prevent blood sugar spikes and crashes that can result in fatigue, irritability, and cravings for unhealthy foods.
·         Research shows it may be helpful against lung cancer.
·         It may halt colorectal cancer. In numerous other studies, EGCG appears to inhibit colorectal cancers.
·          In research it appears to cause prostate cancer cells to commit suicide.
·          It may prevent skin damage and wrinkling. EGCG appears to be 200 times more powerful than vitamin E at destroying skin-damaging free radicals. Free radicals react with healthy cells in the body, causing damage so lessening their numbers may help reduce wrinkling and other signs of aging.
·          It contains a potent antioxidant that kills free radicals. Because it is a potent antioxidant it can positively impact a lot more than skin cells. Free radicals are increasingly linked to many serious chronic illnesses like arthritis, diabetes, and cancer.
·          It tastes good. If you're not wild about the flavor, try a few different kinds. Try it iced or hot. Add some of the natural herb stevia to sweeten it if you want a sweeter drink.







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