Immune System and New York Essay Example for Free

Immune System and New York Essay HIV And Its Effects Elizabeth Grundy Psychology 102 Dr Peggy Peach October 10, 2001 HIV And Its Effects 2 HIV AND Its Effects The effects HIV has on a person, symptoms, risks, history and prevention will be explained. HIV is on a rise among sexually active people. According to Packer (1998), HIV, the virus that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), is a member of a family of viruses. The first member HTLV-I and related to STLV-I researchers believe they both have a common ancestor in Africa. (P.13). This will be explained in the following questions: 1. What are the symptoms of HIV? 2. What are the risks to getting HIV? 3. What is the history of HIV? 4. What is the treatment for HIV? This research paper on HIV will be focused on these four questions. 1. What are the symptoms of HIV? According to Nash (1997), when a person infected with HIV has symptoms such as fever, night sweats, weight loss, fatigue, and lymphadenopathy (persistent, unexplained swelling of the lymph nodes), but no opportunistic infections (illnesses that healthy immune systems fight off) or Kaposis sarcoma, he is said to have AIDS-related complex (ARC). The acronym ARC is not used as frequently as it was in the early years of the epidemic. AIDS is now thought of in term of a HIV continuum. It begins with HIV-positive diagnosis in a person who is not experiencing any symptoms. It continues to a symptomatic stage in which the person has opportunistic infections, HIV and Its Effects 3 andKaposis sarcoma, or any of the conditions previously used to define Arc, and the HIV-positive continuum ends with full-blown AIDS diagnosis (p.22). 2. What are the risks to getting HIV? According to Nash (1997) No one is safe if his or her behavior is not safe. You do not get HIV because of a group you belong to; you get HIV from exposure to the virus. HIV can be contracted through unprotected sex with an infected person, by sharing needles when using drugs, or by tattooing or piercing body parts with a needle that has been used on an infected person. (P 24). According to Draimin (1995) the four common most ways HIV can get into the  body, Dirty needles used to inject drugs, unprotected sexual intercourse, mother to fetus or new-born baby, and blood transfusion. (P.11) HIV is transferable through any kind of sexual contact: heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual. The means of transferring the virus is unprotected sex. The safe guards against contracting HIV are to have sex only when you are ready, to know your partner, and to protect yourself from possible infection every time you have sex by using a condom. The HIV virus, like some other viruses cannot live outside the body. It is killed by air. HIV requires a warm, wet place to live and be carried only in blood, sexual fluids, and possibly saliva. Sexual transmission of HIV means that the virus goes from fluid to fluid (semen, vaginal, and blood). The virus has to pass from fluid to fluids to stay alive. (Pp25-26) 3. What is the History of HIV? HIV and Its Effects 4 Hyde and Forsyth (1 996) In 1981, when the first mysterious cases of an unusual type of pneumonia began to appear, scientists have accumulated a large body of knowledge about HIV. The first alarm sounded before aids even had a name, when doctors realized that some formerly rare diseases were becoming common among homosexual men in the United States. The first well-documented cases of what was later called AIDS were found in San Francisco and New York in 1981. A young gay man in San Francisco was found to be suffering from severe fungal infection to which he had little immune reaction. In fact, his immune system did not respond to any disease. Then he developed Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), a type of pneumonia that is caused by a parasite. This disease is usually found only in severely malnourished individuals or people whos immune have been impaired by drugs such as those used in treatment of cancer. (p.56) According to Nash (1997) In 1982, three non-drug -injecting heterosexual men with hemophilia A developed AIDS and were reported to CDC. Hemophilia A, a blood -clotting defect, requires transfusions of blood-clotting factors derived from whole blood. (p.29) In June 1981 the first report of what AIDS, published by CDC described the new disease as a collection of characteristics symptoms among various population groups. It was a narrow definition, involving the presence of one or more opportunistic infections or cancers, and signs that general failure of immune system had occurred. (Nash, 1997) 4 What is the treatment for HIV HIV and Its Effects 5 According to Nash (1997) AIDS symptoms typically takes years to develop after the initial infection.  Scientists are researching what they call immunotherapy. Vaccines to prevent or stop a disease from taking hold; immunotherapy intervenes before symptoms arise and rids the body of infection. Management drugs have come out such as; Azidothymidine (AZT), this is the first of its kind. It interferes with HIV reproduction inside the cell; it slows the process of AIDS down. An HIV- positive person who takes AZT before AIDS symptoms appear lives longer than those who did not. Dideoxycytidine (ddC) and dideoxyinosine (ddI) offer another approach to combine therapy. Death rates are lowered when ddC and ddI were taken in combination of ddC and AZT or ddI and AZT then those patients who took AZT alone. Ampligen-, which did not help the patients when administered, alone-used in combination with AZT increase the effectiveness of both drugs. Epivir (3TC) became the first new initial therapy since AZT. The combination therapy of 3TC and AZT lowered the amount of HIV in patients and boosted their immune system. Invirase (protease inhibitor) is designed to cripple an enzyme vital in late stages of HIV reproduction, which is used in combination of other anti-HIV drugs. They reduce the levels of the virus in some people and increase the number of immune cells in some patients previously depleted by the virus. In 1996 Ritonavir, another protease inhibitor was also approved. HIV and its effects on those we know and love are about learning to manage the illness. People need to practice safe sex and to and to pay attention to safe behavior. HIV and treatment have come along way. Medical science has along time to go before a cure. HIV and Its Effects 6 References Packer, K. (1998). HIV Infection The Facts You Need To Know. New York: Venture. Draimin, B. (1ed)(1995). Working Together Against AIDS. New York: The Rosen Publishing group. Nash, C. (1997). AIDSs Choice for life. Springfield, NJ: Enslow. : Hyde, M., Forsyth, E. (1996). AIDS What Does It Mean To You? New York: Walker.

The Ancient Maya Essay -- essays research papers

The Maya of Mesoamerica, along with the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru, made up the high civilizations of the American Indians at the time of the Spanish conquest. Both the Aztecs and the Incas were late civilizations, between 1300-1533 AD, but the Maya of the Yucatan and Guatemala exhibited a cultural continuity spanning more than 2,000 years, 1000 BC-AD 1542. Many aspects of this culture continue yet today. The Ancient Maya in their time had actually refined writing. They had an extensive written language, which was both phonetic as well as ideographic. One of only five independently created writing systems in human history. Maya words were in hieroglyphs, each picture with its own meaning. Unlike other ancient Central American civilizations, the Maya could write in words, sentences, and even stories. Arranging several pictures together in a logical form would create a story. The Maya covered their cities and buildings with hieroglyphs carved into the stone. Most of the Maya could read some hieroglyphs, but the priests and nobles were the only people who actually had knowledge of the entire language. The Maya would also use quills made of turkey feathers to write in books made of soft bark taken from a type of fig tree. Religion was the center of the Mayan life. Mayans believed that there were two levels of the world. The first level was the physical world and the second was the spiritual world, which consisted of the old dead ancestors, ...

Lascia Ch’Io Pianga Analysis Essay

The analysis of the aria â€Å"Lascia ch’io pianga† by Haendel according to the thorough bass method, shows us how the composer refer in this piece to the typical compositional procedures of baroque music. The aria starts with a pedal (frame, according to Joel Lester’s terminology) followed by a cadence harmonized according the regle de l’octave both in ascending and descending motion (MM. 5-8). The second episode starting at M. 8 consists of a sequence, precisely a modified sequence, in which the subsequent is slightly modified at the end introducing a new harmony on the second beat of M. 12 that leads to a final cadence with a modulation to the original key. The regle is always working also in the sequence, it is just applied chromatically according the harmonic context. After two repetitions of the first phrase, with a small difference in MM. 17 and 34 with a 6-chord instead of a 5-chord on the second subdivision of the second beat, we have the last section of the aria, before the da capo. In this last section there is a modified sequence (MM. 35 to 39) followed by a cadence that leads to the end of the piece. In general, most of the harmonies in the piece reflect the indications of the regle but there are some exceptions. The most interesting part in which the regle is not applied is at the very beginning of the aria: the use of 7 on the second degree, instead of 6. This is the harmony that more that any other characterizes this piece, giving a smoother flavor to the passage than the dominant harmony suggested by the regle. Aside from the exception, it is interesting to see where Haendel follows strictly the regle, and this happens in every final cadence, probably as a sign that in the closing sections the use of the regle is more functional and gives a stronger sense of harmonic definition. In the fundamental bass, the bass line consists of a series of roots that not only represent the roots of the harmonies built on top of then, but also physically generates these harmonies. Any kind of harmony should be reduced to triads and sevenths and the motion of the bass-line should be by fifths and fourths. In â€Å"Lascia ch’io pianga† is possible to understand all the harmonies as fifths and sevenths but the bass-line motion not always moves naturally by fifths and fourths. In many cases, through the use of the double-emploi, is has been possible to correct some irregular motions into fifth motion, but still for some of them it hasn’t been possible. Probably the most evident example is the motion by second occurring between MM. 6 and 7, and between MM. 11 and 12. The fundamental-bass analysis bring into play notes that are supposed, that are not in the score but affect the music as the roots of a tree feed the last leaf on the highest branch. In this case, we can see how the sense of motion that we perceive listening to this aria is perfectly explained and justified by the succession of seventh chord and fifth chord, as the epitome of the arsi-tesi feeling in music. Even in the first two measures, that look really simple in the thorough bass analysis, we can still discover something that makes this beginning not so obvious. In the first measure the F is transformed into D with a seventh chord on top, and the accumulation of this seventh with the next one in the second measure create a sense of instability and a need to resolve. In the next measures this tension will be released through a succession of 5-chord with two final combinations 7-5 to close the episode.

How Much Are the Elements in Your Body Worth

Have you ever wondered how much the elements in your body are worth? First, lets take a look at the elements from which you are made. Your body is made of: 65% Oxygen18% Carbon10% Hydrogen3% Nitrogen1.5% Calcium1% Phosphorous0.35% Potassium0.25% Sulfur0.15% Sodium0.15% Chlorine0.05% Magnesium0.0004% Iron0.00004% Iodine Your body contains trace amounts of other elements, such as silicon, manganese, fluorine, copper, zinc, arsenic and aluminum. What is the going rate for a bodys worth of these elements? One US dollar! Are you surprised? Selling For Parts Lets see if we can bump the price up a bit. If youre looking to make a buck with your bod, your best bet would be to sell individual organs, but since thats illegal, an alternative might be to tan your hide for use as leather. Your skin would be worth about $3.50 if it were sold at the price of a cowhide, which runs around $0.25 per square foot. So, if you take a dollars worth of elements plus the value of your skin, you might be able to get $4.50, which well round up to $5, so youll feel better about your chemical value. Chemical Composition of the Body | Which Element Are You?