Therapies for Leukemia Patients Essay -- Leukemia

Executive Summary Two promising therapies for leukemia patients are bone marrow transplantation and peripheral stem cell transplantation. Successful transplants require that two immunologic barriers be overcome: a host-versus-graft (HVG) reaction and a graft-versus-host (GVH) reaction. A myeloablative conditioning regimen, which involves a depletion of the patient’s immune system, usually precedes the transplantation of donor stem cells to control the HVG. However, twentyfive to 35% of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation experience life-threatening transplant-related complications (Holler 1990). Serum tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-_ levels are elevated prior to these complications and are indicative of future problems, such as rejection, graft-versus-host disease, interstitial pneumonitis, endothelial leakage syndrome, and venoocclusive disease (Remberger 1994). As a result, many patients who are at high risk for these complications, including patients over 55 years old, patients with poor overall health, and children, are turned down for stem cell transplantation. In the mid-1990’s, a regimen was developed that uses non-myeloablative conditioning. In this procedure, the immune system of the recipient is not totally depleted, which creates a tolerable regimen for those high risk patients. This project will compare the relative toxicity of myeloablative allogenic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) and non-myeloablative PBSCT. This will involve collecting patient serum samples at various time intervals during treatment. The samples will be evaluated for TNF-a concentrations using the ELISA technique. The data will then be used to determine the toxicity of each regimen. This study will p... ...ne response. MacKay I, Rosen F: The Immune System. NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE 2000; 343: 108-117. This is the second part of the review article on immunology. It describes lymphocytes and lymphoid tissue, molecular aspects of the immune response, the activation and regulation of lymphocytes, immune protection by antibodies and immunologic technology. Tanaka J, Imamura M, Kasai M, et al: The important balance between cytokines derived from type 1 and type 2 helper T cells in the control of graft-versus-host disease. BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION 1997; 19: 571-576. This article assesses the cytokine network after transplantation, and its connection to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). It looks at the balance between type 1 (Th1) and type 2 (Th2) helper T cells, and concludes that severe GVHD may be related to a cytokine imbalance between the helper cells.

Analysising Television Advertisements: Music Products

I have found six advertisements for music, such as compilations and greatest hits albums; they were all obtained between the times of 6pm and 8pm on Channel Four. The majority of this time was taken up by the broadcasting of a live concert of a ‘chart topping' solo artist. The first advertisement is for the band True Steppers' album True Stepping. Their record company is Virgin, so the advertisement began with a large Virgin symbol surrounded with a white border: this border remained unchanged throughout the advertisement and is the same with all Virgin music advertisements. This means one can identify and associate all advertisements like it with the Virgin record label. The music then began to play: it was the band's number one hit and instantly grabbed the attention of anyone who knew the song. The band itself is not widely known, but they have made a number of songs featuring more famous artists than themselves. A list of these artists was then read out to associate these big names with this smaller product. This was to make people buy the record not only for the main band but also, for the featured artists. The music continues to play and the tracks on the album are listed. The narrator then states ‘It's so good you might just want to share it with everyone else'. An attractive young lady is then shown, wearing very revealing clothes, standing outside a building with the album playing, extremely loud. There are also many respectable onlookers, (men in suits, pensioners and mothers with young children) are watching with looks of horror on their faces. This essentially uses sex to sell the product however it also uses the image of being ‘cool'. Loud music and the appearance of standing up against the respectable majority bring about this image and encourage the target audience want to buy the product just to be cool and be in the ‘in crowd': where a lot of teenagers would like to be. Finally the narrator says the Virgin slogan ‘Whatever turns you on' and a picture of the box comes up with a large price beneath it. The price is stated and is made to stand out because it is a reasonably low price and is an important factor along with the high quality of the product, tending to make people more likely to part with their money. The second advertisement is for a compilation of various artists, of the dance and trace genres. The advertisement starts on a typical, boring, dull coloured, city bus. The camera the zooms in on the back row, where a girl is reading the Holy Bible. However the camera only just gives the viewer time to take all this information in, before it continues it's zoom into her golden eyes. In the pupil of here eye is a nun standing in front of a stained glass window, the music then begins and the nun's vestments fall to the ground to reveal a stereotypical ‘clubber'. It is then that the viewer realises that it is not in fact a stained glass window but a set of disco lights and is a club not a church or nunnery. A number of tracks are played and the appropriate artists are listed, the music stops and the camera zooms back to show the girl looking shocked as though she has just found something out, or been converted The camera then zooms out to the front of the bus. The screen blurs and a picture of the box appears. No price is mentioned nor is there any other information on the product. Then for the first time is the name of the product mentioned, The Clubbers' Bible, and a slogan appears ‘The Clubbers' Bible: worship your weekends'. The advertisement starts off dull so that the contrast between the bright club and the grey bus is as large as possible. The bus is meant to show how boring your life is and how colourful your life could be if you brought this product: it is appealing to our aspirational desires. The girl is reading the Bible for the simple reason of the products name. The nun in front of the stained glass window draws the viewer further into the religious implications the product makes but then it is all change to the music side of the product. The advertisement again uses an attractive young woman as a suggestive lever to bend the viewer towards buying the product. The club featured in the advertisement reveals more information on the true nature of the product and makes people associate the perfection and holiness of the Bible with the product, clubs and the people within. This perfection is attempting to sell the product in the real and very imperfect world. The design on the front of the box is the same as that on the Bible again connecting the Bible and this product. A price is not mentioned at the end, probably because the product is rather more expensive than it should be so less people would be willing to part with their hard earned cash. The whole advert carries a mainly religious theme to imply perfection and superiority so it appears above any rivals in the mind of the viewer. The third advertisement is for another compilation called R&B2. The music began at once with a recent hit by one of the featured bands. This action was to entice the viewer into concentrating on the advert to see if any other major artists are mentioned, which they are. The compilation is a double CD and in the advertisement there are only six artists mentioned: these are the most widely known in the compilation. The most renowned artists are the only ones mentioned because this would make people want to buy the whole record for individual or a view of the featured artists, not for the fact that there are many artists. The advertisement has no slogan but a price is mentioned and is also made very prominent. In this case the price is mentioned because it is very low and is therefore a good selling angle of the product and would help it to sell. The advertisers would have paid for this prime time (mentioned above) in order to catch their target audience, whom I believe to be mainly teenagers, because they have the largest effect on record sales. If they are not buying the record themselves then they are having it bought for them as a gift. It is my belief that teenagers are the target audience because the majority of the crowd at the concert were teenagers: therefore I come to the conclusion that this percentage will also be the equivalent for home viewers, the majority would be in their teens. Here are the reasons that I believe that the adverts are aimed at people in their teens: firstly all of the people featured in the above advertisement, who were not artists, appear to be in their early twenties or teens, so teenagers can imagine themselves in the place of those in the advertisement. Secondly, a lot of bright and appealing colours are used throughout, which I find attractive, and I therefore conclude that other teenagers would like this and it would help the adverts to lodge themselves in the mind of the viewer. Finally, sex appeal is used in two of the above advertisements, but only very mildly, and as a teenager one becomes aware, for the first time, of the use of sex in advertising in the real world.?

Gun Accidents Among Children

â€Å"Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. † This is a phrase that has been used carelessly over the years. Gun accidents are continuously increasing, and innocent children are the ones who are suffering from this carelessness. What happens when those guns lie in the hands of our children? Parents lose children, grandparents lose grandchildren, and siblings lose a brother or a sister. Every nine hours a child, under the age of fifteen, dies from a firearm accident. What could be done to ensure that tragedies like this do not happen?Children’s television programs should stop showing violence, parents and children need to be more educated on this issue, guns should be locked up, and gun laws need to be stricter. One reason why gun accidents are occurring with children is because of the violence shown on television programs and video games. Children watch more and more television each day. Children also rely a lot on video games for entertainment. The televis ion shows children watch oftentimes show violence. Video games show people killing â€Å"monsters† with guns. The monster then gets back up and the game continues.Children are very impressionable. What do children think when they see this? The children see this happening on games and television shows and believe the gun is just a toy. They do not see how truly dangerous guns are. Then, children see a real gun and play with it. They shoot themselves or another child believing that they will be just fine. This is because that is all they have ever seen. Parents need to monitor children’s television shows and video games carefully. Another reason why gun accidents are occurring with children is because of the lack of gun safety education with parents and children.Parents do not have a full understanding of how many accidents happen due to guns. Every parent should teach their children how dangerous guns are. Telling a child to not touch a gun is not enough. Explain to chi ldren what happens when they play with a gun. There are so many programs available for parents to learn as well as to teach children gun safety. Tell them how they, themselves, could get hurt or hurt another child. Teach them to never play with a gun, to let an adult know if they see one. A child as young as three has the strength to pull the trigger. It is a parent’s right to decide hether their children play with toy guns or not. If they choose to do so, educating them on the difference of a toy gun and a real gun is very important. Also, children should not be allowed to pretend to shoot a person. Children eight years and younger cannot tell the difference in a real or pretend gun. One of the most important reasons why gun accidents are occurring with children is because of the accessibility of guns. One-third of every American family that owns a gun does not keep it locked up. Having a gun â€Å"put up† is not going to stop a child from accessing it.In 72% of gun a ccident deaths, injuries, and suicides, in children from 0-19 years old, the gun was kept in their home, a relative’s home, or a friend’s home. That is a large amount of accidents that could have been prevented. Guns and ammunition should be locked up and the keys put away. Always keep the safety on on the gun. Keeping the safety on will prevent a child from unintentional harm if a gun is found. Guns are very dangerous and safety is very important. Never assume your child or other children will know the difference in real and toy guns.Be cautions if a gun is in the home, our children’s lives depend on it. The last reason why gun accidents are occurring with children is because of the gun laws. Laws should be stricter. Firearms should be very difficult to obtain. Gun laws should include a training course for anyone who owns a gun. No one should own a gun that does not understand how it works. An average, five hundred children die every year due to gun accidents. In a survey by Josephson Institute of Ethics, â€Å"36% of teenagers aged twelve to nineteen say they could obtain a handgun if they wanted to. Children get these handguns from people selling them on the street. Not every person should be allowed to own a gun. Laws are not strict enough, making purchasing guns an easy task. Parents feel the need to have protection because of the accessibility of guns. If guns were harder to obtain, parents would not have to worry so much. Keeping guns out of the hands of â€Å"bad people† can keep them out of the hands of our children. In conclusion, gun accidents occur with children and are increasing.Monitoring television programs and video games more closely, educating parents and children on gun dangers, locking guns up, and making gun laws stricter could prevent tragedies from happening. These are simple steps that make a huge difference. Do not risk the safety of children. Take precautions on preventing accidents. A change has to be ma de. Works Cited Anderson, George M. â€Å"America. † 172. 8(2010): p. 26-28. Web. 06 Nov. 2012. U. S. National Library of Health. Medline Plus. 18 April 2012. Web. 06 Nov, 2012. Source: Nemours Foundation. KidsHealth, Gun Safety. 2012. Web.