B-cell Cancer and Different Stages of B-lymphocyte Development Essay

B-cell Cancer and Different Stages of B-lymphocyte Development - Essay Example At any point in the body, millions of B cells are circulating in the blood and lymph (the fluid and protein that has been squeezed out of the blood i.e. blood plasma) but are not producing antibodies. Once the B cell encounters its corresponding antigen and receives an additional signal from a helper T cell, it can further make a distinction into two types; plasma b-cells and memory b-cells. "In humans, the development of B cells in the bone marrow is initiated by the assembly of genes for the variable regions of the heavy and light chains of antibodies in B-cell progenitors, mediated by a process called V(D)J recombination. In this process, the DNA located between the rearranging gene elements is deleted from the chromosome (or sometimes inverted)." (NEJM -- Cellular Origin of Human B-Cell Lymphomas) The argument that is going to be presented in this essay revolves around the premise that each type of B-cell cancer reflects a different stage of B-lymphocyte development. It is therefore central to understanding of this essay that the relation between types of B-cell cancer and stages of B-lymphocyte be established. As discussed above, the B cell enters into differentiation and directly become one of the two types of cell. However, B-cells can also go through an intermediate differentiation step - the germinal centre reaction where the B cell will hyper mutate the variable region of the antibody and possibly class switch. How Cancer Begins In any type of cell, the genetic code can produce abnormal types and amounts of proteins if it gets damaged and altered. This leads to abnormal behaviour of the cell and it continue dividing and stays alive contrary to normal instructions to rest or die. The first cell to turn to abnormal growth control is known as the cell of origin. When it divides, the new cells inherit the same genetic behaviour of the cell of origin. Thus, the descendants are clones of this cell. This entails the beginning of cancer where cancer cells are growing with abnormal proportions and have growth and survival advantages over normal cells since they refute the normal genetic code. These cells may eventually form lumps called tumours. Lymphoma The cancer which affects the lymphocyte type of cells is known as lymphoma. The b-cell in particular originates and differentiates in the bone marrow and around 85% of the lymphomas are of b-cell origin. "New findings about lymphoma made in the past two years by Dr. Dalla-Favera's lab have shown that the cancers develop with a mechanism unique to B cells, but that they are also vulnerable to some new experimental drugs". Other forms of lymphocytes comprise of the t-cell, which originates in the bone marrow but differentiate in thymus gland. A third kind of lymphocyte is of natural killer cells which are specialized in killing foreign threats and alerting other immune systems of such possible threats. The different types of lymphoma are determined according to what type of lymphocyte has become cancerous, and the stage of development. "Lymphoma is not one cancer, but a name for a group of related cancers that arise when a Lymphocyte (a blood cell) becomes malignant.The normal function of lymphocytes is to defend the body against pathogens

Charter Schools in the Lottery Documentary Essay

Charter Schools in the Lottery Documentary - Essay Example One might suggest that the movie in question makes a good argument about the topic. However, in order to prove that it would be advantageous to work out a set of criteria that should be used to measure the effectiveness of the arguments that are made by documentaries. This paper will present four such criteria.  The first one, as well as the most obvious one, is objectivity. Indeed, people tend to watch documentaries since they hope that the director is not biased and is willing to show the actual state of affairs, not from a particular side. It is clear that to do so, the documentary should not give preference to one particular point of view, but feature different approaches. Speaking of The Lottery it is clear that opposite ideas about the issue of charter schools are presented: the pro side is backed up by the staff of Harlem Success Academy, parents, and activists; the con side includes public advocates, representatives of the teachers union, staff of public schools and so on. It would not be a mistake to point out that fact that it is a great advantage of the movie in question lies in the fact that it features interviews with people who strongly believe in the validity of their claims: this allowed the director to present opposing views.  Another criterion that would contribute to the effectiveness of arguing a particular topic is the balance between emotional neutrality and encouragement. It is true that documentaries usually send a particular message to the audience, and this message is usually backed up by the appeal to emotions. It is thought that â€Å"self-assertive emotions drive us towards individual action and reaction† (Austin and Jong 113). In other words, they reinforce the position that is already taken by a person on a particular issue and allow one to take appropriate action.