Another Medical Breakthrough essays

Another Medical Breakthrough essays The two articles about TomoTherapy are different in many ways. One focuses more on the struggle of making the new technology available, while the other focuses on the benefits of the technology. Although the number of cancer patients are on the rise, TomoTherapy will have a significant role in safely treating these patients. First, the article TomoTherapy Gets Big Boost by Jeff Richgels in The Capital Times informs the readers from a business standpoint. Richgels states the exact amount of backlog orders that TomoTherapy incurred along with how much time and money it would take to fulfill the orders. Richgels also gives credit to several of the investors who contributed to the growth of the company. Essentially, the article presents a problem and then explains how that problem is corrected. On the other hand, the article Treatment Can Target Radiation from the Star- Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas puts emphasis on what TomoTherapy specifically does to help the patient. Jan Jarvis, the author, interviews a doctor who had prevented a man from getting his arm amputated thanks to the TomoTherapy. Jarvis tells how the system calculates the pattern, position, and intensity of the radiation delivery once the doctor determines how much should be provided. Second, the styles of the articles are considerably different. The Capital Times is obviously informing of what is to come by interviewing the TomoTherapy CEO for the facts. The author speaks about the new facility, which will be used to produce the Hi-Art systems (Richgels). Hi-Art being the term that Richgels uses to express the modern technology. The article gives us a description of the company itself, such as the increasing number of employees. Nevertheless, the Star-Telegram article sheds light on how the customers of the ...

Health The Use and Abuse of Psychoactive Drugs Essays

Health The Use and Abuse of Psychoactive Drugs Essays Health The Use and Abuse of Psychoactive Drugs Paper Health The Use and Abuse of Psychoactive Drugs Paper Thomas De Quincey  (1785  Ã‚  1859) described the effect of drugs thus â€Å"Thou hast the keys of Paradise, oh, just, subtle, and mighty opium!† Over the years people have used drugs for various reasons and treatment needs. This is ideal on the prescription of a qualified and authorized medical practitioner. Drugs have thus saved countless lives and rescued the human race from devastating epidemics. But this drugs when used ‘indiscriminately’, constitute an abuse of drug. Drug  use  for  nonmedical purposes occurs throughout society. For this reason the 1978 President’s Commission on Mental Health did not recommend health and mental-health assistance except to persons whose drug use was intense and compulsive. The commission identified heroin as the number one drug problem because heroin addiction may lead to criminal behavior to pay for the drug. Adding to the problem is the fact that chemically similar drugs can be synthesized and sold on the street because they are not yet classified as controlled substances. In  a  1999  household  survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration an estimated 14.8 million people in the United States classified themselves as current illicit drug users. Among youths aged 12 to 17, close to 8 percent of respondents were regular users of marijuana. The percentage of youths in the same age range who used cocaine at least once a month was 49.8 percent. The survey also reported an estimated 1.6 million U.S. residents used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes in 1998. The state with the highest rates of dependence on illicit drugs was Alaska with 2.8 percent of its 12 and older population dependent on illicit drugs and 7.3 percent dependent on illicit drugs or alcohol. (Encarta  ® 2006.  © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation) Psychoactive Drugs Psychoactive Drugs are chemical substances that alter mood, behavior, perception, or mental functioning. Throughout history, many cultures have found ways to alter consciousness through the ingestion of substances. In current professional practice, psychoactive substances known as psychotropic drugs have been developed to treat patients with severe mental illness. Psychoactive substances exert their effects by modifying biochemical or physiological processes in the brain. The message system of nerve cells, or neurons, relies on both electrical and chemical transmission. Neurons rarely touch each other; the microscopic gap between one neuron and the next, called the synapse, is bridged by chemicals called neuroregulators, or neurotransmitters. Psychoactive drugs act by altering neurotransmitter function. The drugs can be divided into six major pharmacological classes based on their desired behavioral or psychological effect: alcohol, sedative-hypnotics, narcotic analgesics, stimulant-euphoriants, hallucinogens, and psychotropic agents. Alcohol has always been the most widely used psychoactive substance. In most countries it is the only psychoactive drug legally available without prescription. Pleasant relaxation is commonly the desired effect, but intoxication impairs judgment and motor performance. When used chronically, alcohol can be toxic to liver and brain cells and can be physiologically addicting, producing dangerous withdrawal syndromes. (Encarta  ® 2006.  © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation) Treatment With  the  exception  of treatment of opioid dependence, medical attention to the problems of the drug abuser is largely confined to dealing with overdoses, acute reactions to drug ingestion, and the incidental medical consequences of drug use such as malnutrition and medical problems caused by unsterilized needles. A busers of barbiturates and amphetamines may require hospitalization for detoxification, as is common among alcoholics. Others, such as those arrested repeatedly for possession of marijuana, may, in lieu of imprisonment, be forced to undergo treatment designed primarily for opioid abusers. Whatever the substance abused, the goal of most treatment programs is to foster abstinence in the patient. Two  types  of  treatment programs are used for most opioid users. Therapeutic communities require the drug abuser to take personal responsibility for his or her problem. Typically, the idea behind this treatment is that the drug abuser is emotionally immature and must be given a second chance to grow up. Harsh encounters with other members of the community are typical; the support of others, together with status and privilege, are used as rewards for good behavior. The  other  model  for  opioid abuse treatment is the use of heroin substitutes. One such substitute is methadone, which acts more slowly than heroin but is still addictive. The idea is to help the user gradually withdraw from heroin use while removing the need for finding the drug on the street. A more recent treatment drug, naltrexone, is nonaddictive but does not provide an equivalent â€Å"high;† it also cannot be used by persons with liver problems, which are common among addicts. References Encarta  ® 2006.  © 1993-2005 Microsoft Corporation National Institute on Drug Abuse, nida.nih.gov/ Paul M. Insel and Walton T. Roth, The Use and Abuse of Psychoactive Drugs ‘Core concepts in Health’ Chapter 7 U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

THE BLIND ASSASSIN BOOK BY MAGARET ATWOOD (Book Report) Essay

THE BLIND ASSASSIN BOOK BY MAGARET ATWOOD (Book Report) - Essay Example This sense that somehow Iris was once whole and is now damaged is communicated, when she calls herself â€Å"†¦a brick-strewn vacant lot where some important building used to stand.† (Atwood 43)1 It becomes clear later that her ruin is of her own making, brought about through her deliberate blindness towards her own motivations that underlay the choices she made. Thus she says: I did believe, at first, that I only wanted justice. I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we’re about to do something harmful, to someone else. (497) In old age, Iris is painfully aware of at least some of her motives. However, she is still not entirely honest because it is quite clear that she knew ‘back then’ as well. Thus â€Å"we do like to have such good opinions of our own motives† (497) communicates a sense of ‘deliberate’ self-deception. Her primary punishment is reserved for Laura, for the role she played in the lives of Richard and Alex and perhaps also because she was ‘good’. She also vindictively destroyed her husband’s career. What was it she wanted? Nothing much. Just a memorial of some kind. But what is a memorial, when you come right down to it, but a commemoration of wounds endured? Endured and resented. Without memory there is no revenge.† (508) Revenge then was what Iris had wanted all along. This manifests itself also clearly in the spiteful way in which she communicates Alex’s death to Laura. â€Å"Laura, I hate to tell you this, I said, but whatever it was you did, it didn’t save Alex. Alex is dead.† (488) This ‘whatever’ Laura did to save Alex was giving in to Richard’s sexual demands and Iris was fully aware of Laura’s ‘martyr’ mindset. Her sister had been a heavy burden to the young Iris and once, after Laura tried to sacrifice herself for her dead mother, Iris had been close to ‘letting go’. Now destroying Laura’s