Introduction
In every cell within an organism, the most crucial question is to survive or to die. In life, cell death is required so as to allow normal function. Cell death can be either physiological or programmed, in a process known as apoptosis. Cells that undergo apoptosis generally produce a wide range of morphological changes. These changes include shrinkage of cell, membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation. Apoptosis occurs due to the presence of a family known as the caspases. Apoptotic cells are then cleared by phagocytosis in vivo, where phagocytes swallow up the dying cells and digest them. [1]
Relevance of Apoptosis
Apoptosis plays a crucial role in many psychological processes. Firstly, apoptosis plays a role in developing tissues, where it is important in the deletion of cells for the categories of sculpting organs and structures. Secondly, apoptosis regulates the homeostasis of the tissue during development as abnormalities may result in the imbalance between cell division and cell loss. Another physiological process in which apoptosis play a major role is the immune system. Cells that are autoreactive are removed through apoptosis to prevent autoimmunity. [1]
Apoptosis in Tissue Development
Apoptosis occurs in developing tissues. It is one of the key mechanisms in the embryonic development of organs and structures in both humans and animals. Programmed cell death (PCD) is seen as early as mammalian blastocysts. This is because any alterations to apoptosis will result in the future maturation being compromised. As a result, early embryonic death or abnormalities in the fetus may occur. [2]
Apoptosis is also important to the sculpting of tissue structures, such as digits, as any inhibition ...
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...oing Apoptosis. In Brady, J. M. (Eds.), Apoptosis Methods and Protocols (pp. 19 – 22). New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.
15. Table 1. A List of Commonly Used Synthetic Peptide Substrates for Caspases. From Apoptosis Methods and Protocols (pp. 21). New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.
16. Denault, J., & Salvesen, G. S. (2008). Apoptotic Caspase Activation and Activity. In Mor, G., & Alvero, A. B. (Eds.), Apoptosis and Cancer: Methods and Protocols (pp. 191 – 220). New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.
17. Duke, R. C. (1999). Methods of Analyzing Chromatin Changes Accompanying Apoptosis of Target Cells in Killer Cell Assays. In Brady, J. M. (Eds.), Apoptosis Methods and protocols (pp. 43 – 48). New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.
18. Fig. 2. Nuclear changes typical of apoptotic cell death. From Apoptosis Methods and Protocols (pp. 62), by Brady, J. M., 2004, New Jersey: Humana Press Inc.
Montaner, B. and Perez-Tomas, R. 2001. Prodigiosin-induced apoptosis in human colon cancer cells. Life sciences, 68 (17), p. 2025-2036.
Euthanasia is put into two categories: Passive and Active. In Passive Euthanasia, doctors will i...
Williams claimed women in her family died of cancer. From all the evidences we have found, we can confidently insist that nuclear fall-out causes cancer. Therefore, Williams’ claim is evidently correct.
Death is part of the circle of life and it's the end of your time on earth; the end of your time with your family and loved ones. Nobody wants to die, leaving their family and missing the good times your loved ones will have once you pass on. In the Mercury Reader, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross “On the Fear of Death” and Joan Didion “Afterlife” from The Year of Magical Thinking” both share common theses on death and grieving. Didion and Kübler-Ross both explain grieving and dealing with death. Steve Jobs commencement speech for Stanford’s graduation ceremony and through personal experience jumps further into death and how I feel about it. Your time is on earth is limited one day you will die and there are many ways of grieving at the death of a loved one. I believe that the fear of death and the death of a loved one will hold you back from living your own life and the fear of your own death is selfish.
Brain death occurs when there is a loss of all brain and brain stem function due to damaged brain cells. It is often termed as an irreversible coma as the damaged cells cannot regenerate themselves and a patient is stuck in a coma-like state. (Wilson and Christensen, 2014)
The Phase I trial will be discussed here as it pertains to the topic at hand. The typical treatment for cervical cancer if surgery is not a viable option – like if the cancer has spread, then called locally advanced cervical cancer – is chemotherapy and radiation treatment at the same time. This phase I clinical trial is simply looking to add ipilimumab to this regimen, but once the chemo/radiation has been completed (LACC article). Chemo and radiation destroy tumor cells, which causes tumor-associated antigens to be released. Once released, these antigens are exogenous (outside the cell) and will be presented to helper T cells to initiate an immune response.
vital functions: the end of life. When people are faced with the reality of their ultimate demise, they
Brain death occurs when brain cells, which cannot regenerate themselves, are injured or dead. This results in brain death as the brain becomes starved of oxygen. One can only be pronounced brain dead, by a neurologist and even then, a number of criteria must be met, some of these include; unresponsiveness to stimuli; no reflexes and an inability to breathe unaided by a machine(Goila and Pawar, 2009). At this point one is put on a ventilator. A ventilator is a machine which maintains the circulation of blood, oxygen and nutrients to organs around the body. To put a patient on life support is very costly to the family of the patient and even the hospital.
Rachels, Jame. "Active and Passive Euthanasia." New England Journal of Medicine 292 (1975): 78-80. Print.
As an inducer of HIF-1 production, it’s been used to study the apoptotic effects in HepG2 cells.
Frederick, Calvin J. "Death and Dying." Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997: Microsoft Corporation. CD-ROM.
Current definitions of life and death have been categorized into two different cases: neurological and cardiorespiratory. Each category has a definite list of qualifications in order for death to be determined. Just the same, each category has contradictions and odd cases in which cardiorespiratory or neurological function are restored. 4 These contradictions leave room for opposition to the new definition of death. Many people and religious groups are not satisfied with the two categories of death. Scholars urge all to consider life as a social construct. We may not be able to determine death positively, but we can consider a patient’s quality of life, level of personhood, interaction with their external environment, and ability to maintain vital signs organically. These considerations may be a step toward the most modern definitions of life and death.
Every woman when pregnant has a 3-5% chance of having a baby born with a birth defect, and these chances increase when the developing fetus/ embryos are exposed to teratogens, whether it’s intentional or unintentional (Bethesda (MD), 2006). Teratogens can cause severe birth defects, malformations, or terminate the pregnancy altogether (Jancárková, & Gregor, 2000). The placenta is known as an effective barrier from any detrimental pathogen that can potentially hurt the fetus. The timing of exposure of any teratogen is critical to the impact of prenatal development (Bethesda (MD), 2006). The most vulnerable time of the fetus for severe damage is during early pregnancy when all the major organ and central nervous system (CNS) are developing. Miscarriages have an important role in keeping a pregnancy from evolving when there is something serious going on with the developing fetus/embryo. Miscarriages are more common than we think and are the most familiar type of pregnancy loss (Bethesda (MD), 2006).
According to the Pittsburg Protocol, death is currently defined as the irreversible cessation of neurological or cardiopulmonary function.1 More specifically, brain death is defined as the irreversible cessation of the entire brain (including the brain stem), and cardiac death is defined as irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions.1 Even though the definitions seem clearly defined, issues have developed in regards to the amount of time allotted before declaration of death after cardiac arrest and regarding the possibility of resuscitation.
Aging, as exhibited within the immunity theory, was described as a pre-programmed accumulation of damage, decay and decline within the function of the immune system caused by oxidative stress as a result of the Hayflick limit or biological clock (Touhy and Jett, 2012). This limit refers to the idea that aging is the result of cell and organisms containing a genetically predetermined life span (Touhy and Jett, 2012). This suggested that in relation to a cell’s proliferative instinct, aging becomes more relevant within an individual when the cells reach the limit, introducing cellular errors of imperfect proliferations that result into further damage. Furthermore, no cell within the body has seemed to be above this concept, including the B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes of the immune system. In fact, cellular errors within the immune system have been found to cultivate an autoregressive phenomenon in which normal cells are misidentified as foreign and are consequently destroyed by the body’s own immune system (Touhy and Jett, 2012). The dest...