Emma+W.

=Wikipost #1 - Genetics=

=Skin Cancer:=

February 28, 2014
====- We've all experienced it, a horrible burn on a hot summer day. But did you know that it only takes one bad sunburn in childhood or adolescence to double a person's chances of developing melanoma? According to The Skin Cancer foundation, a person's risk for melanoma also doubles if they have had five or more sunburns at any age. So now you're thinking, huh, well I've probably had that many sunburns in my life. The truth is, most Canadians have, yet they don't realize just how serious skin cancer can be.====

What is skin cancer?
There are 3 main types of skin cancer:


 * Basal cell carcinoma:** This is a slow-growing cancer that rarely spreads, however it is the most frequently occurring form of skin cancer. This cancer often looks like open sores, red patches, or pink growth.


 * Squamous cell carcinoma:** This is a rare type but it spreads more often than the above type. This type often looks like open sores, elevated growths, or warts, It can become disfiguring and deadly is allowed to grow. This may occur anywhere on the body, however it occurs mostly on areas frequently exposed to the sun, such as ear, lower lip, scalp, neck, hands, etc.


 * Melanoma:** The most serious type of skin cancer. These growths develop when DNA goes unrepaired and damages skin cells. This is most often caused by ultraviolet radiations from sunshine or tanning beds. These rays trigger mutations that lead to skin cells to multiply rapidly and form malignant tumors. These can resemble moles, looking black, brown, or also skin colored. There are 4 stages of melanoma, the higher the stage, the worse it is.

From left to right: Evidence of Basal cell carcinoma, Squamous cell carcinoma and Melanoma.

What causes skin cancer?
- UV (ultraviolet) radiation from the sun is the main cause of skin cancer. These UV rays damage the DNA in our cells, or genetic information, in skin cells, which creates "misspelling" in the genetic code. This results in an alteration in the function of these cells.

- You may have heard that skin cancer can be hereditary... is this true? Well, turns out individuals can be born with a genetic problem that leads someone to be vulnerable to getting cancer.

- There are risk factors, and some people are more likely to develop skin cancer than others. The risk of getting skin cancer increases for people who have light-coloured skin that freckles often. Also, red heads and blond haired people, people with more than 50 moles, and people with a close family history of melanoma are at a greater risk.

This picture shows perfectly just how easy it is to put your body at risk for skin cancer. The higher the price, the worse the type of skin cancer. Tanning beds are the leading cause of skin cancer, yet people continue to use them to get that "natural glow".

Genes:
The major gene associated with melanoma is CDKN2A/p16, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A, which is located on chromosome 9p21. This gene has multiple names ( MTS1, INK4 , and MLM ) and is commonly called p16. Mutations in this gene account for about 35% to 40% of familial melanomas.

Melanoma is caused by both genetic and non-genetic factors (sun exposure, etc)

Prevention:
When you decide to go out and enjoy the nice hot weather, be sure you protect yourself! It's so simple to do so, yet so many people don't.

- Seek the shade between 10am and 4pm. (I don't mean hide from the sun under a tree, but be smart about it) - Don't burn! Sunscreen really isn't that bad, and it takes about 3 minutes to apply it. - DO NOT use tanning beds. You are essentially asking for skin cancer. - Wear a hat - Examine yourself head to toe, once a month. I know you're busy, but cancer isn't going to wait.

media type="custom" key="25206962" I have decided to include this video because it makes you think. Above I listed 5 of the many things you can do to prevent yourself from getting this horrible cancer, and they are so simple, yet as we see in the video, most young adults aren't aware. It's a message that needs to be shared.

Sources Cited:
1.[] 2.[|http://www.dermatology.ca/skin-hair-nails/skin/skin-cancer/#!/skin-hair-nails/skin/skin-cancer/malignant-melanoma/] 3.[] 4.[] 5.[]

Further Reading:
1.[|http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/genetics/skin/HealthProfessional/page4#Section_648] This page has an incredible amount of information about melanoma. Everything from sun exposure, to genetic testing.

2.[] The article on this website discusses why skin cancer is becoming much more frequent nowadays, it's an interesting read!

3.[] The controversy about tanning beds continues. Everyone knows they cause cancer, but it has taken them this long to ban them for minors!

4.[] This site includes everything I talked about, but it also includes stories from people who have suffered, or who are suffering from skin cancer. I found it interesting to read their stories during my research, and every single story includes the words "protect yourself", just as an added reminder of how dangerous this cancer can be.

=Wikipost #2 - Evolution of Dogs - May 1, 2014=

 It's no mystery that all dogs are descendents of the gray wolf. So, with that being said, how did we get from the gray wolf to the Golden Retriever, Great Dane and Toy Poodles we so commonly see? The dogs we see in our everyday life have a range of appearances. Some, small like the Yorkshire Terrier, Dachshund and the Pug, while others are large, like the Great Dane, St. Bernard, and Golden Retriever. Sometimes dogs differ so much in appearance that we often forget they belong to the same species.

Dogs: Canis familiaris Gray Wolves: Canis lupus

For centuries, dogs and people worked side by side. Dogs have serve as hunters, herders, warriors, and more. Over time, breeding of domestic dogs has resulted in animals whose temperament and loyalty made them suited towards human companions as opposed to being part of a pack.

How did we get from the Gray Wolf to 400 breeds of dogs?

When did this start?
This, unfortunately, is a mystery. Some believe that towards the end of the last Ice Age, wolves wandered into a human community in search of food. Others believed that man and wolf had a symbiotic relationship long before this. Ancient clues from cave paintings and burial sites reveal that dogs and people have lived together for thousands of years.

Dogs were often seen in ancient cave paintings, which makes you wonder; How long have dogs been around?

How did this happen?
Over the course of thousands of years, dogs have evolved in many forms and they have spread all across the world. There are approximately 35 known wild dog species or "Canine" species, such as foxes and wolves, however only the gray wolf gave rise to the approximately 400 dog breeds today. Numerous kinds of dogs have been crossed to produce different dogs, with varied characteristics.The cause of the profusion of breeds: Intense interbreeding of dogs. The main consequence of interbreeding is that it created purebreds with individual traits that are disease-causing. Dogs have been bred for physical traits like size and hunting ability, and personality traits that make the dog more trainable, friendly, and loyal.

This is just one example of a drastic change that has occurred due to selective breeding.

media type="custom" key="25788592" This video talks about how humans have aided the evolution of dogs. It mentions things about how dogs and humans are very similar- we were both social carnivores, etc.

=Work Cited:= 1. [] 2. [] 3. [] 4. [] 5. __ [] __

=Further Reading:= 1. [] This website/blog talks about the art and paintings that include dogs in them, some of them dating back to 4500 BCE.

2. //Dogs: A Short History from Wolf to Woof// As the National Geographic says in this magazine, "After wild dogs learned not to bite the hand that fed them, French poodles weren’t far behind."

3. [] This website has everything you'd ever need to know about the pros and cons of inbreeding your dogs.

4.[] This article presents an interesting idea : We didn't domesticate dogs, they domesticated us.

= = Wikipost #2 - Alzheimer's Disease - May 25, 2014

What is Alzheimer's Disease?
- Alzheimer's is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over a number of years. In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment.



Symptoms:
The most common early symptom of Alzheimer's is difficulty remembering newly learned information because Alzheimer's changes typically begin in the part of the brain that affects learning. As Alzheimer's advances through the brain it leads to increasingly severe symptoms, including disorientation, mood and behavior changes; deepening confusion about events, time and place; unfounded suspicions about family, friends and professional caregivers; more serious memory loss and behavior changes; and difficulty speaking, swallowing and walking.

What causes Alzheimer's Disease?
It is a neurodegenerative disease, which means there is progressive brain cell death that happens over a course of time. While they cannot be seen or tested in the living brain affected by Alzheimer's disease, postmortem/autopsy will always show tiny inclusions in the nerve tissue, called plaques and tangles, which are abnormal protein fragments:


 * Plaques:** found between the dying cells in the brain - from the build-up of a protein called beta-amyloid
 * Tangles:** from a disintegration of another protein, called tau.

These plaques and tangles will start in the hippocampus, and move at a fast rate throughout the brain, killing cells, and compromising function wherever they go.

There are 3 main risk factors associated with Alzheimer's disease. They are:
 * Aging:** The most important risk factor. Someone must be at least 30 years old before Alzheimer's can develop.
 * Genetics:** Risk genes increase the likelihood of developing a disease, but do not guarantee it will happen. A person with a direct relative (parent or sibling) with Alzheimer's disease has a three times greater chance of developing the disease than someone who does not.
 * Other:** infections, toxins in environment, education level, alcohol and tobacco use, diet, exercise, etc.



Treatment:
There is no known cure for Alzheimer's disease - the death of brain cells in the dementia cannot be halted or reversed. Although current Alzheimer's treatments cannot stop Alzheimer's from progressing, they can temporarily slow the worsening of dementia symptoms and improve quality of life for those with Alzheimer's and their caregivers. There are 5 FDA approved drugs to help with the symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease : donepezil, galantamine, memantine, rivastigmine, and tacrine.

Although this disease is not yet curable, it is important for caregivers and family to understand what is going on in the brain. I work at a nursing home here in Fredericton and I see residents with this horrible disease every day that I work. Although these people may not remember my name, or who I am, or where they are, it's important to keep them socially active and involved, as isolating them will cause the behavioural problems that often accompanies this disease.

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Facts:
- 1 in 10 people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer's Disease - The complete progression, from diagnosis to death, of this disease takes about 8-10 years - There is NO cure for this disease and NO ONE is immune - Healthy lifestyle choices have been found to increase one's chances of avoiding the disease.

media type="custom" key="26033170" I chose this video because it is short and to the point while still getting the message across. Essentially, doctors are racing to find a cure to this nasty disease, as it is becoming more and more prevalent in our seniors.

Work Cited:
1. [] 2. [] 3. [] 4. [] 5. []

Further Reading:
- **[|http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0711/prevent_azheimers.php3#.U4KJ9d8o_IU]** This website suggests that simply changing your lifestyle will greatly reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's Disease.

-**[]** A protein implicated in producing aggregates harmful to the body may protect against Alzheimer's according to this article.

-**[]** - Walk For Memories Fredericton In case anyone is ever interested in walking for Alzheimer's, here's a website! Walk and raise money for this horrible disease!

-**[]** This website goes through all the stages of Alzheimer's.