Understanding Decision-Making, Cancer, and Health

Posted on Feb 26, 2025 in Biology

Steps to Make a Decision

Steps to making a decision:

  1. Recognition of dissatisfaction with oneself.
  2. Decision to change or to fill a void.
  3. Dedication to implement the decision.

Steps to continue making a decision:

  1. Identify the problem.
  2. Recognize the problem.
  3. Establish parameters.
  4. Consider alternatives.
  5. Make a decision.
  6. Evaluate the results.

Understanding Cancer

Cancer: A group of diseases in which the body produces an excess of malignant cells (known as carcinogens or cancerous cells).

Cancer Classifications

Benign Tumors: An alteration of cell growth causing uncontrolled growth. These are not cancerous.

Malignant Tumors (Cancers): Cancer cells that can invade and damage tissues and organs near the tumor.

Cancer Staging

  • Stage 0 or Carcinoma *in situ*: Cancer is in its initial state.
  • Stage 1: The tumor is spreading through the lining of the bladder.
  • Stage 2: The muscles are affected by cancer.
  • Stage 3: The cancer is spreading to the muscular wall of the bladder.
  • Stage 4: The cancer cells have spread to the wall or lymph nodes in the area.

Signs and Symptoms of Cancer

Signs of Cancer:

  • Pain.
  • Changes in moles or warts.
  • Wounds that do not heal.
  • Blood in the urine without pain when urinating.

Cancer Symptoms: They vary depending on the type of tissue affected.

Risk Factors for Cancer

Exogenous (External): Factors that are outside of the organism in the environment.

  • Chemicals: Flour, asbestos, cadmium, urine, and nickel.
  • Physical: Nuclear energy and radiation.
  • Biological: Viruses and parasites.

Endogenous (Internal): Genetics.

Types of Cancer

  • Skin Cancer: Includes a set of neoplastic diseases, which have very different treatments, prognoses, and diagnoses.
  • Lung Cancer: The illness resulting from abnormal growth of cells in the lung tissue.
  • Melanoma: The disordered and uncontrolled growth of cells with mutated genes.
  • Blood Cancer (Leukemia): A malignant disease of the bone marrow.
  • Bone Cancer: This is a relatively rare disease in which cancer cells grow in the tissues of the bone.
  • Colon Cancer: A disease in which malignant cells are located in the middle and longest portion of the large intestine.
  • Testicular Cancer: A type of cancer that usually originates in the testicle, a part of the male reproductive system.
  • Stomach Cancer: A type of malignant tissue growth caused by proliferation.
  • Cervical Cancer: Includes malignant neoplasms that develop in the lower fibromuscular portion of the uterus that projects into the vagina.

Contraceptive Methods and STDs

Contraceptive Methods: Mechanisms used by men or women in order to prevent conception.

Rhythm Method: Used by women with fixed menstrual cycles. Infertile period: days 1-10. Fertile period: days 11-16 (it is not recommended to have sex). Infertile period: days 17-28.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)

A person can spread a sexually transmitted disease by having sex with someone infected, contracting the same infection.

  • Syphilis: A sexually transmitted disease caused by the chronic infectious bacteria *Treponema pallidum*.
  • Gonorrhea: A sexually transmitted disease caused by bacteria called *Neisseria gonorrhoeae*. These bacteria can infect the genital tract, mouth, and rectum.
  • AIDS: Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, most commonly referred to by its acronym AIDS, is a disease that affects humans infected by HIV. A person is said to have AIDS when their body, due to the immunodeficiency caused by HIV, is not capable of providing an adequate immune response against infections.

Transmission of Syphilis: By direct contact between a healthy person and an infected person.

  • Acquired Syphilis: When present in adults.
  • Congenital Syphilis: When present in children.

Abortion and Pregnancy

Abortion: Interruption of pregnancy before the fetus reaches its full development.

Society’s Acceptance of Abortion: A significant portion of society does not agree with abortion, believing that a child is a gift.

Pregnancy: The period between implantation in the uterus of the fertilized egg and the time of delivery. It covers all the physiological processes of growth and development of the fetus inside the womb.