Alfred Gilman, developer the first stages of chemotherapy in the 1940s, changed the world of medicine through advanced cancer treatments. When Gilman was young, he enjoyed studying science as well as music. He spent many years teaching and writing after his discoveries as a scientist. Alfred Gilman will be remembered as an amazing scientist who saved countless lives.
Part I: Alfred Gilman
Alfred Gilman was an ingenious man who enjoyed making discoveries and science. Gilman was born on February 5, 1908 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Gilman’s mother did not work, but his father owned a music store in Bridgeport. This started Gilman 's love of music and his creative mindset. Gilman went to college at Yale University in Connecticut where he
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Alfred Gilman’s work in World War II, gave way new roads to medical discoveries in cancer research. In 1942, Yale signed a contract with the Office of Scientific Research and Development to research chemical warfare agents. Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman were assigned the study of nitrogen mustards and how they could be used against American troops. During the study, nitrogen mustards were found to decrease experimental lymphoma in mice. Using these studies, Gilman persuaded Gustaf E. Lindskog to supervise a clinical trial on a patient with lymphosarcoma. The nitrogen mustards were found to have as dramatic effect as on the mice. This study proved that tumor growth showed a response to chemotherapy. Gilman 's discoveries in World War II proved new medical discoveries and cancer cures(Ritchie).
Part II: Chemotherapy Functions Chemotherapy drugs have many functions, side effects, and positive outcomes when used to treat cancer. Chemotherapy is used to treat many different kinds of cancer, such as breast cancer, lymph cancer, and leukemia(McKay 28). It is very systematic, sweeping through every cell in your body, but only damaging fast growing cells such as hair follicles. (Lyss 16). Chemotherapy drugs makes the human body a terrible place for cancer cells by blocking hormones (McKay 15).
Although chemotherapy has many positive outcomes, it also has many unpleasant side effects. Side
The term chemotherapy is defined as: “The treatment of disease by means of chemicals that have a specific toxic effect upon the disease-producing microorganisms that selectively destroy cancerous tissue” (Dictionary of Cultural Literacy). When chemotherapy was first developed at the beginning
From surgery to radium exposure to such extremes as radiation therapy, as doctors’ knowledge of the varying types of cancer, and the expansion of medical research regarding cancer has changed, so has the preferred method of treatment. Doctors and researchers dedicated to studying cancer have led to a greater understanding of cancer development; consequently the development of treatments and cures that are more effective, less harmful, have fewer side effects, and in some cases serve to prevent the spread of cancer.
There are many different type of cancers, there are also many different types of treatments. One of the most known types of treatments would be chemotherapy. Chemotherapy can be used for a wide range of different types of cancers and diseases, and each of the different types of cancers or diseases require a different group, and sometimes order, of chemicals to properly treat the cancer or disease. These chemicals include: Alkylating agents, Antimetabolites, Anthracyclines, Topoisomerase inhibitors, mitotic inhibitors, corticosteroids, and more. Each of these drugs previously listed have its own cancer type(s) or disease(s) that it can assist in treating. Some of these cancers include: Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin disease, multiple
1. Chemotherapy is frequently used for childhood cancer because what it does is it stops the cancer cells from growing either by stopping the division of the cells or by killing them. (Bernard, Samantha C. et al., 2017)
World War Two, a harsh period of time in the 1930s-1940s, filled with controversial arguments, political battles, fights to the death, but most importantly, medical advancements. Did you know that without the research and discoveries made during World War Two, our medical programs would probably be lacking the information we have today? It’s very true, and in my opinion, the war strengthened our medical abilities, and it really put our world to the test. New medicine had been discovered, while old medicine had been improved; horrible medical experiments performed by the Nazis occurred during this time; but most importantly, World War Two has affected our medical programs that we have presently. These
1.) Basically, Gladwell leads the reader back and forth through time, and through the history of cancer research. It begins with trials and failures of commonly used drugs and treatments, all with limited to no success. Then new, un-thought of experimental, multi pronged treatments, which attacked cancers on multiple fronts, were developed. At first too powerful, then reduced, tweaked and perfected, these new multi-pronged treatments became a cancer fighting force to be reckoned with. Demolishing childhood leukemia in its first few bouts. Then a cellular biologist who figured that mass screen testing was not utilized massively enough, decided he was going to collect man-made compounds
When the Smallpox disease made an overpopulated England its territory, it thrived and wiped out thousands of people (“Smallpox Vaccine: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”). Smallpox was a major threat to many countries and civilizations for thousands of years; however, the permanent cure for the disease began in England. During the eighteenth century, a physician by the name of Edward Jenner was credited with the invention of the most important piece of medical technology, the vaccine, and became known as the “Father of Immunology”. Although Edward Jenner encountered errors in his research, and people questioned the ethics of the vaccine trials, he used his knowledge, determination, and medical experience to explore a more efficient and advanced
They may be applied to bloodstream or directly to a cancer site. Chemotherapy typically refers to the destruction of cancer cells, however some may include antibiotics or other medications to cure an illness or infection. Often, chemo is used alongside other treatments. Physical activity is important and it’s been found that patients who regularly exercise after chemotherapy treatment have a much lower risk of cancer recurrence. Chemotherapy generally has 5 goals; total remission, combination therapy, delay/prevent reoccurrence, slow down cancer progression and relieve cancer symptoms. The objective is to prevent cell division using cytotoxic drugs, to target cancer cells food source, enzymes and hormones that they need in order to grow, and to stop the growth of new blood vessels that supply the tumor. Patients can either receive monotherapy where they’re just given one drug, or combination where the patient receives more than one drug. These courses of chemo can be just a one day treatment or last for a few weeks, it depends on the type and stage of the cancer basically how advanced it
Cancer has presented itself as a constant treat for humanity all along its history and for most of it, a dark and grim perspective was the only outcome for the people afflicted by this condition. However with the arrival of the scientific method and the subsequent development of modern medicine during the XIX and XX centuries new ways of treating this condition were found. With innovations in surgery methods as the general anesthesia in 1846 by William Morton and the mastectomy procedure in 1880s (Halsted, 1894) medicine started an arms race against cancer. Later in the XX century, new tools in the form of chemical compounds were found to preferentially attack the tumor cells. During the post-war period and old weapon of war the nitrogen mustard,
While the word chemotherapy means any drug used to treat all kinds of ailment, it has become de facto treatment associated with cancer. Often shortened as “chemo”, this word seems to strike fear into the hearts of cancer patients. But the truth is this, chemotherapy is crucial to the health of a cancer patient. Chemotherapy helps to prevent the spread of cancer to other parts of the body; surgery and radiation are area specific. To be more specific, they can kill cancer cells that have metastasized (spread to other areas) from where initial diagnosis was made.
Leukemia most common treatments are: Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy, and Bone marrow transplantation, and then there is also Biological therapy. In chemotherapy, patients take one or more anticancer drugs by mouth or, intravenously through IV therapy. In some cases, doctors need to inject the drugs directly into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. Chemo can cause side effects, like losing your hair, nausea, fatigue, or easy bruising, depending on the drug. The side effects usually go away progressively between treatments or after treatments stop.
Cancer is a disease in which cells multiply out of control and gradually build a mass of tissue called a tumor. There has been a large amount of research dedicated to the treatment and cure of cancer. Several types of treatments have been developed. The following are just some of the major examples of cancer therapy: surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, biologic therapy, biorhythms, unconventional treatments, and hyperthermia. Each type of treatment is discussed in detail below.
According to American Society of Clinical Oncology, “The cancer treatment options your doctor recommends depends on the type and stage of cancer, possible side effects, and the patient's preferences and overall health” (ASCO). Chemotherapy is the use of drugs to kill cancer cells. When most people use the word chemotherapy, they are referring specifically to drug treatments for cancer that destroy cancer cells by stopping their ability to continue to grow and divide. Different drugs cause different side effects. Each person's experience with chemotherapy is different, even though specific side effects may be predictable for certain drugs. With most types of chemotherapy, the presence and intensity of side effects are not signs of how well the treatment is working. In other words, because someone may be experiencing side effects, that does not mean that the therapy is being effective. However, some side effects of targeted therapy do, in fact, indicate the
Chemotherapy is given in cycles a treatment period followed by a recovery period, then another treatment period and so on. The drug enters the blood stream and destroys leukemia cells throughout the body. However, they cannot reach the brain and spinal cord, because of a protective network of blood vessels that keep foreign substances from entering the central nervous system. In certain cases doctors need to inject the drug directly into the fluid that surrounds the brain and spinal cord. (Health a to z, 20)
Albert Einstein is considered the most influential physicist of the 20th century. He is known for developing the theories of relativity. He is also noted for his mathematical formula of E = mc² (David Bodanis). Although he was not directly involved in the Manhattan Project, which was responsible for creating the atomic bomb, but he is still considered the mastermind because of his breakthrough formula. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for physics for his explanation of the photoelectric effect (A. Calaprice & T. Lipscombe).