Home » News

Category Archives: News

Euthanasia Slides

Self-assessment Essay

Abstract: I have been researching myself to give me a better understanding of myself as a writer. School and current life circumstances have given me the knowledge and experiences to learn and prosper. I gathered information based of what I have done or acheive over the semester. When I looked through my own work I asked myself “what have I learned this semester?” and “what do I still need to learn in order to improve my writing?”. Answering both of these question will help  me identify my strengths and weaknesses on writing. The self-assessment essay focused on this semester of writing for the sciences. It reflected upon how my writing style has improved overall and how this class was beneficial to my overall development as a writer. It compares papers written throughout the semester.

My name is Irin Bristy. I am a sophomore at The City College of New York. I am currently a Biology major. For my future aspirations, I wish to become a doctor, as through this profession, I will be able to aid and help many people who doesn’t get medication attention because of their economic instability , as well as keep them healthy. In order to do this, one of the classes that I’m required to take is Writing for the Sciences.  For this class, we worked on our writing skills as well as researching skills in order to write scientific based papers. This digital portfolio is a compilation of all the work I’ve done throughout the semester. Since English is my second language, I hoped to improve the ability of my writing skills, as well as having proper structure to my essay, before, coming into this class. I enjoyed the fact that we focused on the structural aspect of writing essays and writing thesis statements. One thing I did not expect was that we have to do group presentations at the end of the semester. Now that the semester is over, I am more confident in my writing skills than before. I can express my thoughts easier through writing. I have also become better at researching information and finding credible sources from our proposal and research projects. However, I still have to work hard to perfect my grammar skills and writing style. Also, while doing the presentation I felt I’m still weak in public speaking. I still hope to improve this skill as I continue on with college.

Self Assessment

Introduction Letter

The first assignment from this class was an introduction letter. It was one of the easiest assignments of this semester. It was mostly writing about myself and my future aspirations that I have. Writing this introduction letter reminded me of what motivated me to choose doctor as my proficient which was related with what I have experienced in my life and why I wanted to go into science in the first place. In addition, while re reading the introduction letter with having comments on it, I realized that I have some issue with organize my paper. However, I wasn’t as confident of my writing skills and I wished to improve this skills throughout the semester. At this point, I feel that I have done a good job writing introduction letter. Finally, I enjoyed writing this paper.

3 Times Summary and responses

I found this assignment to be interesting. For this paper, I had to look for a New York Times Article related to science, and respond to the article we choose. What I enjoyed about this assignment was that I was able to pick an article of my choice related to science, which had me more interested in the assignment. The article I chose to do was based on science and health. It was an interesting assignment for me due to the reason that I haven’t done this type of assignment before. Through this assignment, I was able to use news articles for my research. Another thing I liked about this assignment that it allows me to learn about current events going on in the world related to science, and I was able to learn something new. I also had to respond to what we have read, incorporating our own thoughts and feelings while reading this article which allows me to think deeply about the articles and the topic itself.

Science Controversy Paper

I found this assignment to be more harder than the rest of the assignment I have on this course. With this assignment, I had to choose a controversial topic to inform the reader about,  without being biased and taking a side to a certain issue. This was a struggle for me as I am more used to writing argument essays, where I do take a specific side for a certain issue. First, I had to write two annotated bibliographies based on the topic I choose for this assignment. This helped me to gain more knowledge about the topic and organize what I want to talk about in the paper. For my first draft, I struggled choosing a middle position and write about “right of an unborn child vs abortion right” where I had to write about whether women has right of bodily autonomy or unborn child has right to life, without having my opinions involved.

After completing this assignment, I wasn’t feeling much confidence due to the middle position that I have took to discuss about the controversy. But, I was able to provide enough evidence to support my claim and being able to describe it. I also had some grammar error and organization issue with this assignment due to the reason that I didn’t spend much time on it. However, this assignment helped me look at both sides of the argument and understand different viewpoints which making it a controversial issue. To sum up, even though this assignment was difficult for me and couldn’t do well on it, I felt that it gave me a better understanding of the topic.

Technical Description

For this assignment, I had to write a description of an object, mechanism, or process. It doesn’t necessarily have to be entirely scientific. However, it has to be about how something works and need to have enough details to make the reader understand about the object.

This was also an interesting assignment to me where I choose to write about stethoscope. I always wonder about how stethoscope works when I was little. So, this assignment  allows me to fully understand about how it works and the process of it. Therefore, I enjoyed researching this topic as well as writing about it. I had to describe how each parts works and add images of each parts to make it visually clear to the reader. I also had to write about process description of stethoscope to tell the reader how it functions. After completing this assignment, I felt confident on achieving my goal on writing.

Collaborative Research Project and Presentation

This was the final assignment for this class and it was a group research project where we had to present our research to our classmates and professor. As a group we had to work together and research on the topic. We choose to divide work among group members and we each had different parts to research on and had to write about it.

The science proposal was helpful for many reasons. One reason being that it helped us organize what we wanted to talk about for our group presentation. The proposal was broken down into purpose, summary, introduction, policy, proposal and conclusion. My job was to do the introduction part and I feel pretty confident that I had a successful thesis statement and had enough information to address my research to the readers. After done writing the science proposal paper, we started working on our slides for presentation. We each had different slides to do and we all had to present in front of everybody. This is where I got mostly nervous because English is not my first language. But, I am happy that I overcome the obstacle. However, I enjoyed doing this research project with my other group members.

Overall, this class improved my writing skills, , whether it was writing a successful thesis statement, having flow and structure throughout my essay, accurate evidence to support my points. I hope, what I have learned throughout the semester will improve my overall writing skills in future.

Collaborative Research Project

Collaborative Research Project: Helping People Die – Legalization of Euthanasia

Alejandra Tabares, Arjeta Balidemaj,

Bushra Chowdhury, Irin Bristy, & Vashtie Mangal

City College of New York

Purpose

Death could be perceived as a moral good if a patient does not have to spend the little time they have left suffering. Euthanasia is an important issue because it is in regards to human life. More specifically, it entails the ethically difficult question of whether or not an individual should continue to live with their condition. Before euthanasia was introduced, the belief of the role of the physician was to heal the ill, rather than seek harm. However, with the presence of modern medicine, society’s opinion towards euthanasia has shown the increase of support for this dilemma. The meaning of healing has evolved over time because of political, economic, social, religious and emotional perspectives (Doyal, 2001). While ethical issues arise from assisted suicide, the process is for the patient’s individual right. The purpose of the legalization of euthanasia is to end the suffering of a terminally ill patient.

Summary  

Euthanasia is the painless killing of a patient suffering from a terminal and painful disease. It is illegal in most countries because of the ethical conflicts that the controversial topic is associated with. Many people argue that pain experienced by terminally ill people can be controlled to tolerable levels through proper management. They claim that there is no need for physician assisted suicide. However, “tens of millions of individuals in North America do not have access to adequate pain management. Tens of millions are without healthcare coverage.” (Humber, 1994). Many people lack resources even in first world countries. Most terminally ill patients see euthanasia as their only option. Additionally, many doctors withhold adequate levels of pain killers because they are concerned that their dying patient may become addicted to the drugs. Others argue that if assisted suicide is allowed on the basis of mercy or compassion, there won’t be anything to keep doctors from actively urging, the death of anyone whose life they deem worthless or undesirable.

Jack Kevorkian also known as Dr. Death, was a former pathologist who helped more than 100 people end their lives during the 1990s. He used a method he called “terminal human experimentation.” (Charatan, 1999). He argued that convinced felons could provide a service to humanity before their execution by volunteering for painless medical experiments that would begin while they were conscious, but would end in fatality. Jack Kevorkian’s peers gave him the nickname “Dr. Death” because of his unorthodox experiments and strange proposals. (Charatan, 1999). During his career, he spent eight years in prison for second-degree murder because of the death of Thomas Youk. Dr. Kevorkian made a videotape of himself injecting Youk, a paralyzed 52 year old resident of Detroit who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with lethal chemicals. The tape was broadcasted in November by the CBS News program called 60 Minutes. During his trial, Judge Jessica Cooper noted that Dr. Kevorkian had lost his medical license in Michigan eight years ago. Furthermore, he had no permission to hold the various toxic drugs he used to kill Youk. His ideology lead to an increased interest on the controversial topic of euthanasia. Ultimately, it stimulated the intervenience of multiple society groups into the private decision of suffering patients.

The American legal system endorses the principle that all persons are competent to make reasoned decisions unless demonstrated to be otherwise. The Bill of Rights were outlined to protect citizens from violations of their basic freedoms. A result of the basic foundation established by the Bill of Rights is the common-law principle of self-determination that guarantees the individual’s right to privacy and protection against the actions of others that may threaten bodily integrity. A terminally ill patient has the liberty to choose death by receiving help from their doctor. It is an absolute right possessed by an individual; the government cannot negate it.

Introduction

Euthanasia serves as a way of ending the suffering of a terminally ill patient. The process allows a way of painlessly assisting a patient in their requested death. These patients typically are suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma. Euthanasia is currently only legal in Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and eight states in the United States of America. The reason that this seems to be very controversial is because it’s viewed a way of doctors killing their patients. Additionally, ethical and religious conflicts arise. Euthanasia is beneficial for the sole reason that there is no other cure or fixation that can help what damage has been done to the patient. In most cases, death can be the only option because they are the ones living with the pain of their condition everyday and not anyone else. The people that don’t advocate the process view it as a legal way of murder. It goes against several religions and sparks up rage in many people. However, they shouldn’t feel affected by it because the doctor isn’t making the choice to help take the patient’s life, the patient is. In fact, in a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), people posted what their ideal way to die is, and the results were overwhelmingly in agreement with euthanasia’s standards. A MOOC is a study made available on the Internet open to anyone without charge, so the results came from a lot of different people yet there was agreement on their ideal death. A lot of the answers were along the line of dying quickly and painlessly (Sanderson 2019). Therefore, euthanasia should be legalized for those who are suffering from incurable and painful diseases or in an irreversible coma.

Policy

Patients that are limited to express their emotions due to their illness, can finally have their wishes respected in specific states. Oregon was the first state in the U.S. to legalize euthanasia under the Death With Dignity (DWD) Act which was implemented in 1997. (Hedberg, 2011). Washington became the second state to legalize euthanasia after Oregon in 2008. In 2009, the Montana Supreme Court’s ruling changed the legal status of doctor-prescribed suicide in the state. In 2013, Vermont declared that suicide with prescribed medications was a legal “medical treatment. The most recent state that enacted a bill for euthanasia is California. The California legislature passed a bill legalizing euthanasia in September 2015. The laws in place are a stepping stone to legalizing it on a national level. It has allowed other states to reconsider euthanasia.

For all the states where euthanasia is legal, the patient needs to accomplish certain tasks and requirements before being assisted by the law. Not every patient is eligible for physician assisted suicide.

ELIGIBILITY FOR EUTHANASIA
Patient must be at least 18 years of age
A resident of a state where it’s legal
Suffering from a terminal illness
With a life expectancy of six months or less
The patient must make two oral requests for assistance in dying
The patient must make one written request for assistance
Two physicians must be convinced that the patient is sincere, not acting on a whim and that the decision is voluntary
The patient must not be influenced by depression
The patient must be informed of “feasible alternatives” such as hospice care and pain control
The patient must wait 15 days between the verbal requests

Limitations such as the above make euthanasia a reasonable option for terminally ill patients. These criterias take medical conditions, written and oral confirmation, and an age requirement into account. Therefore, euthanasia should be legalized as long as these guidelines are regulated. Euthanasia can properly be carried out as long as a patient passes all of the terms.

Proposal

Euthanasia should be legalized. Regulations make euthanasia a fair and valid option In the past, various physicians have granted requests for euthanasia to patients suffering from psychiatric disease or dementia. But, recently this criteria has been questioned many times and also been asked to return to a more strict interpretation of the criteria. The political and social state of a region also plays a role in this controversial topic. For example, in 2001, the Dutch parliament voted to make the Netherlands the first nation in the world to legalize euthanasia.  However, as the Dutch government legalized euthanasia, new groups of patients demanded an even more liberal interpretation of the same law. After every verdict that broadened the criteria for euthanasia, another group of citizens campaigned for even more progressive legislation. With every new demand, the debate would fire up once again. Central to the argument in favor of the new law was the right to self-determination. “My death is my own,” as the Dutch say. Today, nine out of ten Dutch citizens support the euthanasia law that went into effect in April 2002. This law allows physicians to honor requests to assist a patient who wants to end their life if there is “unbearable and hopeless suffering” with no hope of improvement. For instance, physicians would be granted the ability to prevent someone with lung cancer from dying by choking on their own blood. The solution that makes euthanasia a justifiable option is to set limitations that make it voluntary, require written consent, require mandatory reporting and allow only physicians the authority to administer the drug.

The request for euthanasia has to be voluntary, well-considered, informed, and persistent. Legal requirement of explicit written consent is important to avoid abuse. Examples of misuse in medical research is the absence of explicit informed consent (Math, 2012). A consultation request by a second physician is also important to ensure that all criteria have been met before proceeding with euthanasia. The consultant must be independent (not connected with the care of the patient or with the care provider) and must provide an objective assessment. A patient be referred to a psychiatrist or psychologist for treatment if the prescribing or consulting physician is concerned that the patient’s judgment is impaired by a mental disorder such as depression.

Conclusion

Euthanasia is a controversial topic and thus inspires intense debates and there are several reasons as to why it should be legalized. It is already legal in a few countries and a few U.S. states. Apart from no pain, euthanasia allows people to die quickly and with dignity. Euthanasia respects the patient’s autonomy since the patients’ bodies are their own. Patients should be allowed to do what they want with their own body. Therefore, it’s wrong and unethical to make anyone live longer than they want to because it violates their personal freedom and human rights. It’s immoral to force people to continue living in pain. Opponents of euthanasia fear that if euthanasia was made legal, the laws regulating it would be abused. Non-supporters believe people who didn’t really want to die would be killed as a result. Thus, the solution is a series of rules (presented in the table above) that a patient must meet to ensure that the practice won’t be abused and misused. Regulations like having several psychiatric tests to determine a patient’s mental state to verify that the patient really wants to die and is in the right mind to do so. Ultimately, euthanasia should be legalized in the United States. It should be regulated and administered by the guidelines composed in the policy.

Sources

Blanken, H. (2018, August 10). ‘My death is not my own’: The limits of legal euthanasia.

Bloodworth, M., Bloodworth, N., & Ely, E. W. (2015). A template for non-religious-based discussions against euthanasia. The Linacre quarterly, 82(1), 49–54. doi:10.1179/2050854914Y.0000000036

Charatan F. (1999). Dr Kevorkian found guilty of second degree murder. BMJ : British

Medical Journal, 318(7189), 962.

Doyal, L., & Doyal, L. (2001). Why active euthanasia and physician assisted suicide should be legalised. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 323(7321), 1079–1080.

Hedberg, K. (2011). Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act: 20 Years of Experience to Inform the Debate. The Journal of Clinical Ethics

Humber, J. M., Almeder, R. F., & Kasting, G. A. (1994). Physician-assisted death.

Komesaroff, P. A., & Charles, S. (2015, May 18). A minimalist legislative solution to the problem of euthanasia. Retrieved from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.5694/m

 ja14.01743?sid=nlm:pubmed&

Math, S. B., & Chaturvedi, S. K. (2012). Euthanasia: right to life vs right to die. The Indian journal of medical research, 136(6), 899–902. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=en&tl=bn&text=euthanasia

Sanderson, C. (2019). “I want to die in my sleep”-how people think about death, choice, and control: Findings from a Massive Open Online Course. Retrieved from http://apm.amegroups.com/ article/vie w/24828/2330

Science Controversy paper

Right of an Unborn Child Vs. Abortion Right

Abortion is one of the controversial issues discussed in medical ethics. It is a matter that is raised when talking about issues of whether beginning of life and personhood begin at conception or not. The debate in our society and others is not only over when does personhood and human life begins but also over at what point women should be allowed to perform abortion and for what reasons do we have an obligation to respect and protect that life. The biggest problem that surrounds this concerns the life of the fetus or the unborn child. On whether it has a right to life or whether the mother of the unborn fetus has a right to terminate it or not. A lot of controversies has surrounded this area of the debate, and it is the basis of this discussion that issue has been chosen. At the two ends of the continuum are the radical pro-life and radical pro-choice advocates. The pro-life advocates are those who hold opposing views about abortion formulate the argument which follows: 1) fetus has to be regarded as human being; 2) killing an innocent human being is morally wrong; 3) aborting is an example of killing and terminating a human being’s life. Whereas, pro-choice advocates support abortion hold their views based on the moral issue selected, abortion has to be accepted and that woman already has full human rights, including the right to bodily autonomy. Many pro-lifers view the zygote—the one-celled human organism resulting from fertilization—as sacred, and believe that the organism is a living being. By contrast, the pro-choicers believe that the organism becomes a person only after it leaves the womb. However, I will take the third position that falls between these two extremes, called pro-person position. Although it leans more towards the pro-choice stance and I do believe that a pregnant mother should have their freedom of choice to decide on whether to hold the pregnancy or terminate it depending on their personal experience and circumstances they encounter or in life-death situation.

There is often an ambiguity when people talk about “when life begins?”. Depending on perspective, there are so many answer to this question. The life of a unique human organism, however, according to the American College of Pediatricians concurs with the body of scientific evidence that “human life begins at conception (fertilization) when a sperm fuses with an ovum to form a zygote; this cell is the beginning of a new human being”. Therefore, Unborn children (from the time they come into existence as zygotes) are considered as human beings. The zygote is the start of a biological continuum that automatically grows and develops, passing gradually and sequentially through the stages we call foetus, baby, child, adult, old person and ending eventually in death. The full genetic instructions to guide the development of the continuum, in interaction with its environment, are present in the zygote. Every stage along the continuum is biologically human and each point along the continuum has the full human properties appropriate to that point” (Dr. William Reville, University College Cork, Ireland. Quote from a letter to the Irish Independent). Therefore, Pro-life advocate believes that fetus have a right to life and all human beings have a right not to be intentionally dismembered and killed while in zygotic stage. That’s the moral principle. Whereas, pro-choice advocates have proposed different views on this question “when does life begin?”. They believe that life begin after a baby takes their first breath and become apart from mother’s womb. They believes, regardless of whether a fetus is a human being or has right to life, women could perform abortions at any stage, even if it means breaking the law or risking their lives. Ultimately though, to have a “right to life” requires that one be an individual capable of living an independent existence. One must “get a life” before one has a “right to life”. They contend that choosing abortion is a woman’s right that should not be limited by governmental or religious authority, and which outweighs any right claimed for an embryo or fetus.

The question of when human life begins is one of considerable ethical issue, particularly for debates over abortion. Pro-lifer believes that life begin at moment of conception. By contrast, lots of pro-choicers have different opinion on “what stage does human life begin”?. Some considered that human life begins about 24 hours later during an event called syngamy (the breakdown of the two pronuclear membranes in the new cell, which results from the fusion of sperm and egg). Some believes that fertilized eggs take between six to 12 days to successfully implant in the uterine lining to establish a pregnancy. Therefore, fetus can not be considered having a life until this happens. Some believes life begins after the embryo’s heartbeat can be detected, which happens at around 6 weeks’ gestational age or 4 weeks following conception. However, according to Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, stated, “I don’t think anybody can tell you when – human life begins”. Although, it have been proven scientifically that life begin at the moment of conception but pro-choice advocates still argue that women has right to their bodily autonomy and can decide to perform an abortion throughout any stage of her pregnancy whether a fetus has right to life or not.

Most of us would agree that all persons should be assigned the full spectrum of human rights, e.g. rights to life, bodily autonomy, property, etc. But what is a person anyway? When does the human organism developing inside a woman become a person? During the time of Aristotle was that “the human soul entered the forming body at 40 days in male embryos and at 90 days in female embryos” when it considere as a person. On the other hand, during medieval times theologians concluded that “the soul enters the body when the baby takes its first breath” when they actually become a person. However, different thinkers have simply pinned the beginning of personhood to different developmental milestones which include: Conception, first heart beat, quickening (fetal movement when first detected by the pregnant woman), onset of pain perception, first brain waves, birth itself, and first breath.

When most of us think of a person we think of “the man or woman,” or a human being who is conscious, senses, thinks, feels, behaves, has preferences and values, communicates, and interacts, e.tc. However, Wikipedia provides more depth, defining “person” as “a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, e.t.c” and adding that the “defining features of personhood what makes a person count as a person differ widely among cultures and contexts.”  In 21st century, the answer to the question “what is a person” is “any human organism with the current capacity for consciousness”. What comes along with this definition is a question of “When does the human fetus become a person?” Or “When does the human fetus acquire the capacity for consciousness?” In 1998, “Gertler had proposed 22–24 weeks gestation for “brain birth” on the basis that the neocortex begins producing EEG waves at this time”. On the basis of EEG readings, “he conclude that a fetus becomes conscious at 32–36 weeks gestation”. In 2001, Dr. David L. Perry stated “it’s difficult to say precisely when consciousness first occurs” by reading fetal EGG patterns. But, somewhere between 20 and 32 weeks gestation, there is a possibility of occurring consciousness. In 2010, Megan stated that, “consciousness and the higher brain doesn’t fully occur until about the 26th to 28th weeks of gestation”. Christof Koch, one of the neuroscientists stated that consciousness “begins to be in place between the 24th and 28th week of gestation”. However, based on the evidence presented here, best estimate for the consciousness in the fetus is at 27 weeks gestational age,  which is roughly 25 weeks from conception. Although the available scientific evidence does not yet enable a precise answer to question “when does consciousness occur in human fetus”. However, based on the best available scientific research and theory, the “beginning of personhood in the human fetus shall be construed as the start of the 25th week post conception”. Although, human organisms are unique, and surely they do not all become persons at the same time since their conceptions. But, the classification of a particular fetus as a nonperson (before 24 week) which could lead to aborting a fetus “too early”. In this approach doctors could use “the fetus is at least 25 weeks old” as a proxy for “the fetus has acquired the capacity for consciousness and is now considered a person”.

However, pro-lifer considered a human zygote (fetus) as a person, whereas, pro-choicers considered fully conscious fetus is not a person. The reason why a fetus cannot be a person because it is part of another person, the mother. Persons are not parts of other persons, but the fetus is part of another person. Therefore, the fetus is not a person. Both the pro-life and pro-choice positions are misguided when it comes to the question – beginning of personhood? The zygote, embryo, nor early fetus are persons as  defined, as the pro-lifers have suggested. But contrary to the pro-choicers, the late fetus is indeed a person but not 25 week old fetus. In alignment with this new pro-person position I suggest these moral principles: 1) No human rights, including a right to life, should be assigned to the human organism during development before it becomes a person. And so, a woman should be able to remove or kill the zygote, embryo, or fetus inside her before it becomes a person for any reason at all without penalty to her or to others who help her. However, after it becomes a person, a women should not be able to remove or kill the zygote for any reason without penalty to her. 2) Abortions should be provided only by licensed medical practitioners under safe conditions. It should be against the law for a woman to perform a self-abortion, get an abortion from an unlicensed practitioner, and to get a late abortion perhaps with some exceptions, such as rape case, and incest, or to save the life of the mother. As the pro-person position, I do recognizes late fetus (25 week) and the women both as a person with human rights. However, when these right come into conflict during last 15 weeks of pregnancy,  then the state must intervene through a clear constitution, laws, and/or policies to resolve the conflict.

In conclusion, the core idea of the pro-person position is that the human organism becomes a human person when it acquires the capacity for consciousness at approximately 25 weeks after conception. After these time period, a women should not be allowed to perform an abortion, even though, she has human rights and right of bodily autonomy. An unborn child should have a full right to live inside his/her mother womb after become a person and that life needs to be protected under the law.

Bibliography

When Human Life Begins. (2017, April 17). Retrieved from

https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/life-issues/when-human-

Life-begins

Rights of the Unborn Child. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.life.org.nz/abortion/abortionlegalkeyissues/rightsunbornchild/

When Does Life Begin. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.justthefacts.org/get-the-facts/when-life-begins/

Here’s abortionist Willie Parker’s incoherent argument against human equality | Minnesota

Citizens Concerned for Life. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.mccl.org/post/2017/04/12/when-does-life-begin-its-pretty-simple

Jones, D. Gareth. 1998. “The problematic symmetry between brain birth and brain death.”

Journal of Medical Ethics. Vol. 24: 237–242. https://bit.ly/2vyn3Zh

Perry, David L. 2001. “Ethics and Personhood: Some Issues in Contemporary Neurological

Science and Technology.” Markulla Center of Applied Ethics: Better Choices. 11 December. https://bit.ly/2OWbNO

Ogilvie, Megan. 2010. “The Life of the Brain: Beginnings.” The Star. 9 July. Toronto Star

Newspapers Ltd. https://bit.ly/2AXnUYC

Koch, Christof. 2009. “When Does Consciousness Arise in Human Babies? Does sentience

appear in the womb, at birth or during early childhood?” Scientific American Mind. 31 August. https://bit.ly/2rKbix5

Whittenberger, G. (2019, March 28). Personhood & Abortion Rights How Science Might Inform

this Contentious Issue. Retrieved from

Jacobson, J. (2012, November 07). Life Begins At Conception. That’s Not the Point. Retrieved

from https://rewire.news/article/2012/11/04/life-begins-at-conception-thats-not-point-0/

Human Personhood Begins at Conception. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://peterkreeft.com/topics-more/personhood.htm

2 Annotated Bibliographies 2 Annotated Bibliographies

Rights of the Unborn Child. (n.d.). Retrieved from

http://www.life.org.nz/abortion/abortionlegalkeyissues/rightsunbornchild/

This article describes the controversy surrounding “right of the unborn child” and the main issue in the abortion debate has been complicated due to the lack of agreement in defining “when a fetus becomes a person” and “acquires rights that can protect it from harm”. Thus, people hold different views on whether or not a fetus should be protected which raised a question “what right, if any, do the unborn have under international law?”

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 is founded upon the notion that there are human values and these values are inherent in the human individual. It raised another question, does this right to life extend to the unborn child? When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 was being drafted there were several proposals for the provision of an explicit protection for the unborn child. These proposals were certainly debated. The text clearly states that everyone has the right to life, and that what is meant by everyone is “every member of the human family,” that is, all human beings. There was an opposition based on the basis “that an unborn child is not literally a person whose rights could already be protected, and that the main thrust of the Convention was deemed to promulgate the rights and freedoms of every human being after his birth and to the age of 18 years.”

This article focuses on the concepts of personhood based upon science and on the right of an unborn child under international law. In spite of this, this article provides opposing sides and  useful background information to support my thesis. This article provided further understanding on the topic of right of the unborn child which can be protected, only and only if, a mother doesn’t want an abortion.

When Human Life Begins. (2017, April 17). Retrieved from

https://www.acpeds.org/the-college-speaks/position-statements/life-issues/when-human-

Life-begins

This article describes the controversy surrounding “when human life begins” and what is controversial is whether single-celled embryo considered as human being or not?  people, who believe that life begins at conception(fertilization), the moment when an egg is fertilized are against any stages of abortion (Pro-life). Those who claim that an embryo or fetus is not a person until the time of birth are pro-choice” (Abortion). Many pro-choice advocates argue that a fetus is a person, but it lacks the qualities of a human being and should not be protected. Pro-life advocates argue the moment a child is conceived, the child is a human. Some people doesn’t count conception as a beginning of human life by arguing that “the sperm and egg combine to form a genetically unique cell? This raises a question that whether this unique cell considered as human life? Another opposition has made is that it takes 24 hours for the first cell division to occur from the moment of conception. When during this 24 hours does, a new human life begin? This statement aims to clarify this issue and came up with a result that single-celled embryo is a living human being.

This article focuses on the concepts of conception and provide enough information to prove that human life begins at the moment of conception and single celled embryo does consider as a living being based upon science. In spite of this, this article provides opposing sides and  useful background information to support my thesis.

Technical Description

Abstract: The stethoscope may be the one instrument common to all doctors. René Théophile Hyacinthe Laënnec (1781–1826) was a French physician who, in 1816, invented the stethoscope. Using this new instrument, he investigated the sounds made by the heart and lungs and determined that his diagnoses were supported by the observations made during autopsies. Laënnec later published the first seminal work on the use of listening to body sounds, De L’auscultation Mediate (On Mediate Auscultation). Therefore, Laënnec is considered as the father of clinical auscultation. Most heart and lung diseases are associated with and reflected by the sounds that the heart produces. Heart auscultation, defined as listening to the heart sound, has been a very important method for the early diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction. His work was acknowledged to be a great advancement in the knowledge of chest diseases.

Object and Mechanism Description

Stethoscope

A stethoscope is a medical device or an instrument for detecting sounds produced in the body that are conveyed to the ears of the listener through rubber tubing connected with a piece placed upon the area to be examined. During the physical examination, the stethoscope can help to hear certain sounds in our bodies that cannot otherwise be heard with just the ear. It is used primarily to listen to the lungs and heart. The stethoscope helps listener to easily hear if an individual’s heart or lungs functioning properly or not?

Description: Stethoscopes vary in their design, color and material. Most are made of Y-shaped rubber tubing. The stethoscope is a total of 71.12 centimeters in length and weighs 135 grams. The body of the stethoscope is made up of the headpiece which joins with the U-shaped top part of the tubing which is two-sided to allow for insertion of the ear tubes. The tubing then narrows down to one single long tube that has the diaphragm attached at the other end.

Description of the principal parts of the stethoscope?

The stethoscope is made up of three main parts: (a) the head piece, which contains the ear tubes and ear tips, (b) the tubing, which joins the head piece and chest piece, and (c) the chest piece, which includes the stem and diaphragm.

Headset: The headset has hollow ear tubes which measure 15.24 centimeters in length. These are also called the binaural tubes. They are silver colored and made of anodized aluminum. The top part of each ear tube has a curvature inwards and a ribbed design for attachment of the ear tips. The ear tube inner diameter is 0.5 centimeters and outer diameter is 1 centimeter. The hollow soft ear tips are size medium and are gray. They are soft sealing and have an inner diameter of 1 centimeter, and outer diameter distally of 3 centimeters. They have a pear shape that tapers towards the ear tube insertion side. The ear tips also have an internal ribbed design that complements the ribbed area of the ear tubes for a tight fit and seal. These ear tips snap in place. The opposite side of the ear tubes attach to the tubing. They are held in place by a seal and a tension spring which holds the ear tubes apart. The ear tubes can be pulled or pressed together to increase or reduce the tension for a tighter or looser fit. The ear tubes can also be rotated for proper placement in the ears. Ideally, the ear tips would be slightly rotated away from the user for best function of stethoscope.

Tubing: The hollow tubing of the stethoscope is the longest part. This is also called the acoustic tube. It is made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and measures 50.8 centimeters in length. It has an inner diameter of 1 centimeter and outer diameter of 1.5 centimeters. The top part which is shaped like a .U. is where the ear tubes are inserted. Internally, it also contains a tension spring that is used to modify fit and hold the ear tubes together. The two separate tubes merge down into a single tube in this model. The material is flexible and soft. This is the part of the stethoscope that is Ocean Blue color.

Image result for 6-5 chest piece of stethoscope

Chest Piece: The chest piece of this model has the stem which connects the tubing to the tunable diaphragm. It is 1.63.5 centimeters long and has an inner diameter of 0.5 centimeter, and outer diameter of 1.25 centimeters. This is made of anodized aluminum and is silver colored. The stem is also used to open the side of the diaphragm that you wish to use. To do this, the stem is rotated 180 degrees. When it is rotated, it clicks into place. The diaphragm of the stethoscope is made of machined stainless steel and is double sided. This is the part used to initially transmit sounds. It has a flat side and a side that looks like a bell with a small hole in the middle. The flat side diameter is 4.445 centimeters and used for high frequency sounds while the bell side diameter is 3.175 centimeters and used for low frequency sounds. When listening to sounds, the diaphragm vibrates and transmits air up the tubes to produce sound in your ears.

Image result for how does a stethoscope work

How does a stethoscope work?

A stethoscope enhances body sounds and transmits those sounds to the listener ears. A typical model has a flat, round chest piece covered by a thin, tightly stretched skin of plastic called a diaphragm. When place the stethoscope on someone’s chest, the sound will cause the diaphragm to vibrate. Those vibrations would travel outward if the the diaphragm were a standalone device, but because the vibrating object is attached to a tube, the sound waves are channeled in a specific direction. Each wave bounces, or reflects, off the inside walls of the rubber tube, a process called multiple reflection.  In this way, each wave, in succession, reaches the eartips, or rubber nubs on the ends of the device, and finally the listener’s eardrums. So, stethoscope actually works by vibrating sound to the physician’s ears and amplifying that sound. Also, some stethoscopes must be placed directly on the skin, while others can work effectively through clothing. It’s important to understand that whether using stethoscopes to monitor a patient’s health, a doctor or nurse may need to listen in several different spaces. Using a stethoscope, a person more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) away from a patient’s chest can hear louder heart sounds than a person whose ear is in direct contact with the patient. However, never simply place the stethoscope on a patient and go by the first reading. Therefore, every physicians should make sure to listen thoroughly and carefully before finalizing a diagnosis. Examination with a stethoscope is noninvasive but very useful. It can localizing problems related to the patient’s complaints. Diagnostically, this makes the stethoscope an invaluable medical tool.

Process Description

What is auscultation?

Auscultation is the process of listening to body sounds, usually by using a stethoscope. It allows the listener to listen to the normal and abnormal sounds of the internal organs, such as lungs and heart. Use of an acoustic stethoscope to hear, interpret, and communicate findings of lung and/or heart sounds is an important skill for medical professionals involved in cardiopulmonary care. The waves of high-pitch sounds, like breath and heartbeats, are traveling at higher frequencies, meaning they cause a greater number of pressure fluctuations in a given time period. Higher-pitch sounds will directly vibrate the surface area of the large, flat disc (and the plastic disc inside). This basically means the sound waves caused by the opening and closing of an artery, for instance, are the same ones that travel through the stethoscope tubing to the listener’s ears. However, lung sounds are different from transmitted voice sounds. Lung sounds are generated within the lungs, unlike transmitted voice sounds, which are generated by the larynx. Lung sounds consist of breath sounds and adventitious, or abnormal, sounds heard or detected over the chest. Normal breath sounds are heard over the chest wall or trachea. Basically, breath sounds contains background noises, on which adventitious sounds are sometimes superimposed. Breath sounds are classified into normal tracheal sound, normal lung sound or vesicular breath sounds, and bronchial breath sound. Bronchial breath sounds are further subdivided into three types: Tubular, cavernous, and amphoric.

Here is the function of the process:

Lung: Lungs auscultation is the process of listening to lung sounds, usually with a stethoscope. Physicians and nurses commonly auscultate lungs. If anyone suffers from a breathing condition or common cold or flu, by placing the stethoscope on the lungs, can hear sounds which may give alert to inflammation and congestion.

Heart: human being heart normally beats at an even rate. By placing stethoscope, can hear abnormal heart sounds such as; a murmur, irregular rate and other sounds that might not be normal.

When and where does the process take place?

Stethoscope is mostly used in every regular health visit, in hospitals, in emergency medical service, in nursing school or in any medical fields. It also being used when measuring blood pressure, assessing lung sounds, assessing heart sounds, assessing bowel sounds, detecting bruits, measuring the span of the liver and hearing aid. It helps to amplify the internal sounds.

Who or what performs the process?

The stethoscope in an invaluable piece of equipment used by most medical personnel when assessing patients. For example, Doctors (Primary care, pediatrics, medical specialist), nurse, emergency medical services, e.t.c.

Related image

How does the process work and the steps in the process?

Heart: Stethoscope users must learn to assess what they hear. When listening to the heart, one must listen to the left side of the chest, where the heart is located. Specifically, the heart lies between the fourth and sixth ribs, almost directly below the breast. The stethoscope must be moved around. A health care provider should listen for different sounds coming from different locations. The bell (one side of the head) of the instrument is generally used for listening to low-pitched sounds. The diaphragm (the other side of the head) of the instrument is used to listen to different areas of the heart. The sounds from each area will be different. “Lub-dub” is the sound produced by the normal heart as it beats. Every time this sound is detected, it means that the heart is contracting once.

Lung: The lungs and airways require different listening skills from those used to detect heart sounds. The stethoscope must be placed over the chest, and the person being examined must breathe in and out deeply and slowly. Using the bell, the listener should note different sounds in various areas of the chest. Then, the diaphragm should be used in the same way. There will be no wheezes or crackles in normal lung sounds.

In conclusion, the stethoscope is an essential tool/device in any healthcare professional practice. Millions of peoples lives have been saved due to this medical invention. By listening to the heart, a Doctor could diagnose different diseases of a patient based on what they hear. Without the stethoscope, millions of peoples would have suffered with the disease or died untreatenly. It truly is a timeless medical device and it has also undergone changes throughout the years for maximum functionality for the patient care.

Reference

Function of Stethoscope. (2013, December 13). Retrieved from

https://www.newhealthguide.org/Function-Of-Stethoscope.html

Stethoscope. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.surgeryencyclopedia.com/St-Wr/Stethoscope.html

Stethoscope. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stethoscope

McMurrey, D. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/examples/steth_desc.html

Nyman, J. (2017, October 28). Stethoscope: What is it and how is it used? Retrieved from

Monackey, H. (2017, March 31). Did You Ever Wonder How a Stethoscope Works? Retrieved

from http://wakemedvoices.org/2011/09/did-you-ever-wonder-how-a-stethoscope-works/

Layton, J. (2018, March 08). How Stethoscopes Work. Retrieved from

https://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/everyday-innovations/stethoscopes2.htm

NY Times Summary & Response-3

Abstract: A handful of criminal prosecutions have stalled because DNA tests cannot distinguish between suspects who are twins. Then scientists decided to create one. The new experiment called “Eurofin Test” and was done in Eurofins Scientific laboratory. This new method was successful finding an actual suspect among twin brothers.

DNA test has found many uses in the medical and criminal investigation fields. In the medical field, scientists use DNA test to determine paternity. In the criminal investigation field, scientists use DNA test to identify suspects in criminal investigations. However, the DNA test has failed to identify who committed rape between two identical twin brothers which lead scientists to invent a new method in order to distinguish identical twins apart. In the article “One Twin Committed the Crime – but Which One? A New DNA Test Can Finger the Culprit” from The New York Times, on March 1, 2019, it discusses the new method used by the researchers at Eurofins Scientific laboratory to identify the actual rapist among identical twins. This method was successful at identifying the actual rapist, however, the lawyers were against the usage of the new method to prove his/her client as an actual rapist.

The DNA test is a kind of test that could well determine which of the identical twins committed the crime and it could also be practiced for forensic casework as well. Forensic DNA testing arose in the 1990s, years before the first human genome (haploid set of the chromosome in a gamete) was sequenced. “Human genomes are sprinkled with segments, known as short tandem repeats (STRs) and it mutates faster than the rest of the DNA’’ (Zimmer, 2). This rapid changeability to these genetic segment allows scientists to “vary distinctively from person to person’’ (Zimmer, 2). Due to the reason, Researchers have identified 13 specific STRs that were “very effective in matching people to DNA samples” and the probability of the “STRs being identical in two unrelated people is less than 1 in a trillion” (Zimmer, 2). Therefore, DNA testing became a standard legal tool for identifying criminal suspects and resolving paternity disputes.

David Deakin, an assistant district attorney in Boston, used DNA test techniques in two rape cases that took place in 2004. He had been working on a rape case against a man named Dewayne McNair. In 2007, police managed to get DNA from a cigarette Mr. McNair cast away and approached Mr. Deakin to assist them in solving two potentially linked rape cases. Mr. Deakin analyzed samples DNA from Mr. McNair cigarette which showed the STRs were matched to sample from both crime scenes. Therefore, Mr. Deakin came up with a conclusion that they were dealing with one culprit in both cases.

While this may be true, but detectives have discovered that Mr. McNair had a twin brother, Dwight. This makes the case more complex, now, Mr. Deakin got a court order for a new DNA test to investigate furthermore to find out which twin brothers committed rape. The DNA test, unfortunately, failed to determine which of the identical brothers had participated in the rapes. This case was stalled until 2010, when the detective’s tracked down the second rapist in both crimes, Anwar Thomas (Zimmer, 3). Mr. Thomas identifies “Mr. McNair as the other rapist” and states that “he had no trouble telling McNair’s twins apart” (Zimmer, 3). However, these statements wasn’t enough for Mr. Deakin to prove in a jury that “Mr. Thomas was telling the truth” (Zimmer, 3). If DNA test failed to prove who is an actual rapist, it will also not be convincible to identify McNair as an actual rapist just by identifying them apart from each other.

At that time, DNA test was dropping drastically. Meanwhile, a geneticist Dr. Krawczak and his colleagues wondered, “if a test could compare not just STRs but the entire genomes of twins, could it tell them apart”? (Zimmer, 2). In 2012, the researchers suggest experimenting on this method. Afterward, the researchers at Eurofins Scientific laboratory company decided to give the method a try. To begin with the experiment, the researchers have found a pair of twin brothers who “willing to volunteer their DNA, as well as the DNA of one twin’s child and wife’’. They sequenced each person’s whole genome where just a “single mutation, confirmed by multiple analyses”, would be enough to identify which twin brothers DNA match with the child (Zimmer, 3). As a result, the Researchers were successful at identifying the child’s father. After the successful result, it should be conventional to use the Eurofins test in order to find out the actual culprit.

Soon the news reached Mr. Deakin and he became “convinced it could seal both rape cases’’ even though it would be very expensive – $130,000 (Zimmer, 3). Mr. Deakin learned of the Eurofins test and had to drop all the charges against Mr. McNair to make time for the test. After three months, the Eurofins team came up with a conclusion: DNA samples from the rapes match Mr. McNair, not his twin brother Dwight. In 2014, based on Dr. Krawczak statistical analysis, Mr. Deakin told the court that “it was two billion times more likely that the rapist’s DNA belonged to Mr. McNair than to his brother” (Zimmer, 4). This should be an acceptable result because if the test experiment shows the correct result, there is a higher possibility to show correct result in the case as well.

In the other hand, Mr.McNair lawyers filed a motion to exclude the Eurofins test from evidence by claiming that “it was too new and too little studied to be reliable” in order to save Mr. McNair. Judge Linda respect the complicated scientific principles but, in addition, asked to be “replicated by any other lab or to be laid out in sufficient detail in a peer-reviewed journal article” (Zimmer, 4). The decision taken by the judge was also reasonable because if the new experiment done in many other labs and have peer reviews on it, it would be undoubtedly acceptable to others for many cases, especially, for such case like this. Due to the fact, Mr. Deakin had to start the experiment all over again. However, this case was still continued in Boston, with a conventional DNA test narrowing the suspects to the twins and the testimony of Mr. Thomas against Mr. McNair was turned out to be enough to prove Mr. McNair as an actual rapist. As a result, “Mr. McNair was found guilty in January 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison” (Zimmer, 4). This shows that the result of the Eurofins test was correct and able to find out an actual culprit related with this case. However, this experiment will continue to help find  an actual suspect in such case like this in future.

In conclusion, the future of the DNA test will balance between law enforcement needs and the public’s right to privacy. Scientists are developing techniques, so, people will be more aware of this and hoping this kind of cases will not happen every day in every laboratory. DNA testing, when used properly, has great benefits to crime investigators and the society in general.

Work Cite

Essays, UK. (November 2018). DNA Testing in the Criminal Justice System. Retrieved from  

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/biology/dna-testing-criminal-justice-system-8113.php?vref=1

Zimmer, C. (2019, March 01). One Twin Committed the Crime – but Which One? A New DNA

Test Can Finger the Culprit. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/science/twins-dna-crime-paternity.html?login=email&auth=login-email

NY Times Summary & Response – 2

Abstract: Embryo donation (ED) is the donation by a couple who have surplus embryos following IVF to another infertile person/s. There has been much debate as to whether ED can be understood as adoption, as these viewpoints evoke different health and welfare concerns and implications for the various parties. Reproductive technologies create new and diverse family forms, and the ways in which families created by embryo adoption.

The Medical definition of bioethics includes the study of what is right and wrong in new discoveries and techniques in biology, such as the implantation of organs. According to an online article “Embryo ‘Adoption’ Is Growing, but It’s Getting Tangled in the Abortion Debate” from The New York Times, on Feb 17, 2019, it discusses an assisted reproductive technology called in-vitro fertilization that can help a women have a child by undergoing the in-vitro fertilization process. The focus of this article is embryo donation for adoption, an option for frozen embryos. The ethical issues surrounding the option for adoption of frozen embryos, which is an excellent option for those who are unable to bear a child. However, some people may believes that it play against the will of God, and, leads to waste of many embryos and discrimination when it come to choose a donor and recipient.

Adoption has long been an option for hopeful parents to grow their families and experience all of the joys of raising a child of their own. However, due to the advances in reproductive technology, the newest form of adoption has been created which called the embryo adoption. By definition, embryo adoption is a form of adoption that allows the adoptive mother to carry her genetically unrelated child and experience every part of pregnancy. This new advancement gives adoptive parents a chance to begin the process of nine months of pregnancy by adopting a frozen embryo donated by a couple who has been through in vitro fertilization (I.V.F). These frozen embryos are created through IVF. It is a process by which an egg and sperm are removed from the body and the sperm externally fertilize the egg to create an embryo, which is then implanted into the woman’s body. Some people believes this process as  play against the will of God because the woman didn’t conceive naturally. However, from this cycle, it is possible to create many embryos and the unused embryos can be frozen in liquid nitrogen for use in the future. These unused embryos donated for scientific research or donated to another person or couple who is interested in embryo adoption. Although, the unused embryos saved for later use but some may concern or seen this as waste of an embryo. There is also an issue on choosing a donor and recipient for embryo adoption. The decision of the traditional adoption model state that “those donating embryos are often involved in selecting who receives them”. This allowing donors to have control over who gets their embryos would help them feel better about giving them up but this leads to discrimination against another group of people who might be from different culture or religion and want to adopt embryos. In this case, a recipient might need to find suitable donors based on their cultural or religion which is ethically wrong.

The numbers of embryos are continuously growing and embryo adoption and IVF are becoming more popular and the annual number of donor transfers rose as well and it is continuing to increase. It giving an individual, infertile couple or couple whether single people, gay couples and others the chance to experience having their own child. Even though a frozen embryo cannot be considered as a person but there shouldn’t be an issue by calling it  “embryo adoption, we give too much personhood to the embryo,” said Kimberly Tyson. Also, every embryo has the right to life because if given the chance, it has the potential to become a person, a child and eventually an autonomous adult. Therefore, embryos do have moral worth and that all embryos deserve an equal amount of respect as all human being does.

The ultimate goal of embryo adoption is to provide as many frozen embryos as possible with the opportunity of life. Therefore, I do believe that embryo adoption techniques in biology are ethical due to the fact that it is giving an opportunity to hopeful parents seeking to form their own family and experience the same feelings as if they are bearing their own child rather than adopting an infant that is already born. The embryo adoption is the best way to spread happiness amongst those who are incapable of fertile naturally.

Reference

Lester, Caroline. “Embryo ‘Adoption’ Is Growing, but It’s Getting Tangled in the Abortion

Debate.” The New York Times, New York Times, 17 Feb. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/health/embryo-adoption-donated-snowflake.html.

NY Times – summary 1

Abstract: Obesity is increasing worldwide, and in the United States in particular. It creates a serious health threat to young adults and is now a concern as a global problem throughout the world. The researcher’s has found that the risk for incidence/disease among older adults (≥50 years) increased for the same six obesity-related cancers in younger adults (25-49 years).

Obesity is increasing worldwide, and in the United States in particular. It creates a serious health threat to young adults and is now a concern as a global problem throughout the world. According to the most recent study done on Feb 3, 2019, in Lancet Public Health shows the risk of developing obesity-related cancer is increasing along with the increasing rates of obesity which leading to serious health issue, especially, on younger adult. They are at a higher risk of growing obesity along with obesity-related cancer than older people. However, People may say that obese people deserve being the way they are without thinking that obesity might link to other health factors.

In the New York Times article “Obesity Tied to Higher Cancer Rates in Younger Peoples” by Nicholas Bakalar discuss that obesity has been linked to an increased risk for different types of cancer. The researchers studied the incidence of 30 of the most common types of cancers, including 12 types of cancer that are obesity-related. The researchers obtained incidence data for 30 cancer types among people aged 25-84 years diagnosed from Jan 1, 1995, to Dec 31, 2014, and also, limited their analysis to 25 population-based states of US registries that had data for all study years. The researchers used two types of method: age-period-cohort and birth cohort. The usage of age-period-cohort was to “estimate average annual percentage change in incidence rate by 5-year age group” (25-29 years to 80-84 years in 5-year increments) and to estimate “incidence rate ratios’’ (IRR) the researchers used the “birth cohort’’ (10-year overlapping birth cohorts from 1910–1919 to 1980–1989 in 5-year increments). What researchers have found shocking that there is a substantially lower incidence among younger adults than older people for most cancer. However, the researcher’s hypothesis shows that the small increases in incidence might lead to large annual percent increases in incidence rates. This shows that, as obesity among younger adult increases the rate of  obesity-related cancer would increase too which will lead to higher risk of suffering.

Throughout the study, the result of the research shows that obesity is strongly tied with six of the 12 obesity-related cancers (multiple myeloma, colorectal, uterine, gallbladder, kidney and pancreatic). Using five-year age cohorts, the researcher’s has found that the risk for incidence/disease among older adults (≥50 years) increased for the same six obesity-related cancers in younger adults (25-49 years). From 1995 to 2014 in people ages 25-84 years, there were 14.6 million incident cases for 30 types of cancers. However, the magnitude of the incident for six of the 12 obesity-related cancers increased steeper with younger adults (25-49 years). Although curing cancer is out of our hand, we can control our proper healthy diet and amount of exercising. Ahmedin Jemal, a scientist with the American Cancer Society, discusses that “diet and exercise’’ are the essential cure for reducing obesity. Diet and exercise plays an important role when it come to maintain a healthy life. If an individual follows healthy diet and exercise regularly there is a less chance of getting obesity and obesity related health issues. He also states that “Primary care physicians should regularly assess body weight’’ and that’s how an individual can keep up their health.

However, some young people might still be unaware of the fact that obesity can lead to different types of cancer before reading this article. As a young adult, it’s understandable that obesity is a serious health threat in this generation. However, it’s always not obvious to think that it is an individual’s fault that they are becoming obese by their own interest. There is so many research that shows that obesity during pregnancy can also affect a child’s health later in life. Therefore, it also can be the mother’s fault that they didn’t take good care of themselves while pregnant which caused their child of becoming obese or overweight over time that leads them to one of six obesity-related cancer. It’s a true fact that “diet and exercise” are essential in reducing obesity but, in addition, income could also explain what lead to this outcome for young adults. Because of these and other safety concern, children and adults, are, more likely to stay indoors and engage in watching TV or playing video games, which doesn’t allow them to go outdoors for exercising or engaging in different sports. So, lifestyle factors can also contribute to the increasing burden of obesity-related cancers in young adults. However, an individual should be concern about their health factors and a mother shouldn’t become obese during her pregnancy which increases the risk of life-long health problems in children on their adult age. Moreover, the researcher’s should have included all other states of the US and other groups of age people (12-24 years) in this study. So, they could justify what causes children to become obese during early young age which leads them to serious health issue later on their life.

Overall, this article should create awareness amongst all young adults and finding effects of obesity would further strengthen the importance of promoting exercising and to keep up the healthy diet, in order to keep oneself away from six of the obesity-related cancers. As research shows that incidence among younger adult increasing day by day, it will lead to global health concern unless the younger adult take responsibility to keep up their healthy diet and exercise regularly. If younger adult doesn’t keep up healthy lifestyles, the future of the world will end up being deemed.  

Introduction Letter

Abstract: I have been researching myself to give me a better understanding of myself. I have provided my basic information, a personal description of myself, my experiences and my career plan ahead. Science has been one of my passions for as long as I can remember. My interest in science grew based on what I have experienced in my life. Sometimes, some incident teaches people certain lesson, motivates them or inspired them to do something based on what they have experienced in their life. Similarly, two incidents have motivated me to become a doctor in my future in order to helps those who in need. The flashback of those incidents still comes before my eyes and encourages me to stick my decision of studying in science and become a doctor. So, I could help those people who can’t afford medication due to poverty.

Irin Bristy

85-16th 165 ST

Jamaica, N.Y 11432

February 3, 2019

Professor Coppola

North Academic Center

Room 6/219

160 Convent Avenue

New York, N.Y 10031

My name is Irin Bristy. I was born and raised in a different country – Bangladesh, where I lived for 15 years, but five years ago, my family and I came to U.S.A. I grew up speaking Bengali, therefore Bengali count as my first language and English as my second language. The reason why I moved in U.S.A is to continue my education in science, earn a degree and get a job within science or medical fields. However, I finished my middle school in Bangladesh and started at public high school here in N.Y and graduated from there in 2017. I am currently a full-time student at CCNY as a sophomore. Although, there are many colleges in U.S.A but I choose to join CCNY because it known as one of the best school for science and has pre med program. I would like to continue studying in here and take science class to increase my knowledge in science. As a college student, my goal is to maintain my GPA and to graduate from college.

Individuals tend to have their own personality types. Similarly, I am very calm and patient when it comes to my temperaments. I would define myself as a simple, respectful, caring, open minded, and friendly person. My hobbies include: going out with my family, traveling, listening music, watching science experiments, and cooking. I believe in achieving success through hard work and dedication. My parents always have told me that, “I have to work hard in order to achieve something in my life”. Even though, I didn’t understand the meaning of “hard working” while I was young but all I knew that I wanted to become a doctor in my future. Eventually, on that time, I didn’t know whats the requirements for becoming a doctor or how to become a doctor. When I started my middle school, I got to know to studying in science is the key to get in the medical program in order to become a doctor. From then on, my interest in science started and, still, there is a lot to know.

Before get in CCNY, I was fortunate enough to join a medical program at Plaza College while in high school, where I took some science classes and learn a lot about how human body works and different things related with science. The medical program didn’t just motivates me or intrest me to stick with my dream but  it increases my knowledge within science field and prepares me for what to expected later on.

I am interested in going into the medical field. My intended major is Biology and taking this English course is a required class toward my major. I would like to attend medical school after I am done with my bachelors degree. What motivates me the most about choosing a science as my major is what I have experienced in my life. I encountered death when I was in Bangladesh. It happened right before my eyes, when a speeding car hit a woman. She didn’t die instantly, but she had fallen down on the road. This was the first time I had a taste of the bitterness of mortality.

That day left an impact on me forever. People say, that a person can’t exist without dreams and aspirations. If that is true, I guess I didn’t exist until that day. My dream is to become a doctor. That day I realized I have to help those in need.  I want to help those especially that don’t get any sort of medical attention because of their economic instability. I want to make sure that people who do not have regular access to medical assistance feel safe and comfortable under my care. I want to be the kind of doctor who understands patient’s feelings and gives them the care they deserve, not just the kind of care  they can afford.

Growing up in a third world country,  I saw people in my grandfather’s house who could not go to the doctor because  they were unable to afford the medical expenses. The woman who got hit by a car had no doctor or hospital available at the time of her accident. I believe that everyone should be able to afford medical health care. Bangladesh desperately needs more doctors in order to help those in need. Another incident that has inspired me to become a doctor is when I lost my grandfather due to a heart attack. There was no doctor available to help my grandpa. Everybody was crying around me; at that time I didn’t understand anything, but now I realize how crucial it is to have widespread, affordable health care. When I moved to America, I saw that most people had access to health care and if they could not afford it, they could ask the government for assistance.

I, one day, hope to go back to Bangladesh to help the same kind of person I saw in the street that day. The educational opportunity I have here in America will help me achieve my dreams of becoming a doctor and helping others. I want to enter a field which would provide me with a sense of achievement and, at the same time, produce a positive impact on mankind. I have been asked many times by my friends why I want to become a doctor. For me, the ability to help others provides me with internal gratification. Becoming a doctor is my lifelong dream, and I am prepared to dedicate myself to achieve this goal. But, in order to go to a medical school, first I need to take all the requirement classes for science and do well  in every other classes and assignments and most importantly keep my GPA for the rest of the semester. I would only be able to maintain my GPA if I go to class every day, do the readings, review all the notes and don’t wait for the last minute to do any assignments and, also take less stress before any exams or any assignments due. I also have to spend more time on perfecting my grammar and improve my writing and speaking skills. However, I also need to concentrate more in my science classes and gain more knowledge within the subject matter. Although, science courses are hard but I will put every bit of efforts and energy to continue as a Biology major and achieve my goal.

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for  your consideration.

Sincerely,

Irin Bristy