Our health and medicine

Lecture 26
Nilkamal Mahanta
IIT Dharwad
Diabetes
Two hormones control glucose
Insulin and Glucagon
Hormone
(Protein)
What Is Normal Blood Sugar?
• Fasting blood sugar (the amount of
glucose in your blood 6-8 hours after a
meal) is between 70 and 100 milligrams
per deciliter of blood.

• A normal blood-sugar range after eating

is between 135 and 140 milligrams per
deciliter.
 Gestational diabetes
Diabetes
Related videos on diabetes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAjZv41iUJU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfyGv-xwjlI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXAe3eOjqCk&t=17s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxbbBmbvu7I
Our health and medicine
Lecture 27
Nilkamal Mahanta
IIT Dharwad
 Definition of Cancer
• Cancer is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other
parts of the body.

• Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells.
Normally, human cells grow and multiply (through a process called cell division) to form new cells.
When cells grow old or become damaged, they die in a process called apoptosis.

• Sometimes this orderly process breaks down, and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply
when they shouldn’t. These cells may form tumors, which are lumps of tissue. Tumors can be
cancerous or not cancerous (benign).

• Cancerous tumors spread into, or invade, nearby tissues and can travel to distant places in the
body to form new tumors (a process called metastasis). Cancerous tumors may also be
called malignant tumors.

• Benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. When removed, benign tumors
usually don’t grow back, whereas cancerous tumors sometimes do.

• Benign tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. Some can cause serious symptoms or be
life threatening, such as benign tumors in the brain.
 Differences between Cancer Cells and Normal Cells
• Cancer cells differ from normal cells in many ways. For instance, cancer cells:

• Grow in the absence of signals telling them to grow. Normal cells only grow when they receive such signals.

• Ignore signals that normally tell cells to stop dividing or to die (a process known as programmed cell death,
or apoptosis).

• Invade into nearby areas and spread to other areas of the body. Normal cells stop growing when they
encounter other cells, and most normal cells do not move around the body.

• Tell blood vessels to grow toward tumors. These blood vessels supply tumors with oxygen and nutrients

• Hide from the immune system. The immune system normally eliminates damaged or abnormal cells.

• Trick the immune system into helping cancer cells stay alive and grow. For instance, some cancer cells
convince immune cells to protect the tumor instead of attacking it.

• Rely on different kinds of nutrients than normal cells. In addition, some cancer cells make energy from
nutrients in a different way than most normal cells. This lets cancer cells grow more quickly.
 How Does Cancer Develop?
• Cancer is a genetic disease—that is, it is caused by changes to genes that
control the way our cells function, especially how they grow and divide.

• Genetic changes that cause cancer can happen because:

• of errors that occur as cells divide.
• of damage to DNA caused by harmful substances in the environment, such
as the chemicals in tobacco smoke and ultraviolet rays from the sun.
• they were inherited from our parents.

• The body normally eliminates cells with damaged DNA before they turn
cancerous. But the body’s ability to do so goes down as we age.
• Each person’s cancer has a unique combination of genetic changes.
Tumor suppressor genes

p53 gene
Genetic changes affect cancer treatment Age affects the progression of cancer

Metastasis is dangerous
Common cancers
India
Videos related to cancer
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPgJafGz4fg

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N1Sk3aiSCE
Our health and medicine
Lecture 28
Nilkamal Mahanta
IIT Dharwad
 Definition of Cancer
• Cancer is a disease in which some of the body’s cells grow uncontrollably and spread to other
parts of the body.

• Cancer can start almost anywhere in the human body, which is made up of trillions of cells.
Normally, human cells grow and multiply (through a process called cell division) to form new cells.
When cells grow old or become damaged, they die in a process called apoptosis.

• Sometimes this orderly process breaks down, and abnormal or damaged cells grow and multiply
when they shouldn’t. These cells may form tumors, which are lumps of tissue. Tumors can be
cancerous or not cancerous (benign).

• Cancerous tumors spread into, or invade, nearby tissues and can travel to distant places in the
body to form new tumors (a process called metastasis). Cancerous tumors may also be
called malignant tumors.

• Benign tumors do not spread into, or invade, nearby tissues. When removed, benign tumors
usually don’t grow back, whereas cancerous tumors sometimes do.

• Benign tumors can sometimes be quite large, however. Some can cause serious symptoms or be
life threatening, such as benign tumors in the brain.
Types of cancer
 Carcinoma
• It is the most common form of cancer that affects the epithelial cells which form the lining of
internal organs or the skin.
• Lung cancer, skin cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer are some of its common
manifestations.
•
Adenocarcinoma – A form of carcinoma that affects mucus or fluid forming epithelial cells.
Common examples of adenocarcinoma are breast cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer.

• Squamous Carcinoma- A carcinoma that affects the epithelial cells which are present beneath
the outermost surface of the skin. These cells also form the lining of many vital organs in the
human body such as stomach, kidneys, lungs, intestines, and bladder.

• Basal Cell Carcinoma– A type of carcinoma that affects the basal cells found in the deepest
layer of the epidermis. It is a form of skin cancer which appears as a lump or ulcer in the
affected areas.

• Transitional cell carcinoma – It affects cells of transitional epithelium found in the lining of
bladder, ureters and certain parts of the kidney.
Sarcoma

• These cancer cells develop in the bones and soft tissues such
as fat tissues, cartilages, blood vessels, lymph and other
supporting tissues of tendons and ligaments.

• Osteosarcoma is the most common cancer of bone

• Soft-tissue sarcoma has many types

 Leukaemia
• Commonly known as blood cancer, leukaemia affects the tissues of the bone
marrow which is responsible for blood production.

• It is one of the fatal forms of cancer.

• It is caused by the uncontrolled production of white blood cells (Lymphoid cells and
myeloid cells). These abnormal white blood cells damage the tissues of the bone
marrow and crowd the normal blood cells. These abnormal white blood
cells continue to divide and damage the complete normal blood cells.

• As a result, the Leukemia patient fails to provide adequate red blood cells to supply
oxygen, adequate normal white blood cells to fight infections and adequate
platelets for blood coagulation.
Leukemia

• Cancers that begin in the blood-forming tissue of the bone marrow are
called leukemias. These cancers do not form solid tumors. Instead, large
numbers of abnormal white blood cells (leukemia cells and leukemic blast
cells) build up in the blood and bone marrow, crowding out normal blood
cells. The low level of normal blood cells can make it harder for the body to
get oxygen to its tissues, control bleeding, or fight infections.

• There are four common types of leukemia, which are grouped based on
how quickly the disease gets worse (acute or chronic) and on the type of
blood cell the cancer starts in (lymphoblastic or myeloid). Acute forms of
leukemia grow quickly and chronic forms grow more slowly.
Lymphoma

• Lymphoma is a form of cancer that affects the lymphocytes in

the lymph nodes, which are a part of the immune system. There
are two kinds of lymphoma:

• Hodgkin lymphoma – originates in the B cells

• Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, – originates in B or T cells.

 Melanoma
• It is a form of skin cancer that targets melanin – the pigment
responsible for skin colour.

• In this form of cancer, the melanocytes are affected resulting in the

abnormal formation of melanin. It may also affect other tissues that
are pigmented, such as the eyes.
 Myeloma
• Myeloma targets the plasma cells. The affected plasma cells, called
myeloma cells divide in the bone marrow causing multiple tumors in
the bones (Multiple Myeloma also called Kahler disease).
 CNS Cancers (includes Brain tumor)
• CNS (Central Nervous System) cancers originate from the brain and
the spinal cord. Gliomas, vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas,
primary CNS lymphomas, pituitary adenomas are few CNS cancers.
 Symptoms of Cancer
• There are few general symptoms:
1.Irregular loss of weight.
2.Recurrent fever.
3.Continuous pain in a certain area.
4.Fatigue.
5.Irregular changes in the skin (pigmentation, unusual hair growth, red or yellow skin,
blotches etc.)

• Apart from these, women should watch out for certain symptoms for certain cancers:

1.Change in the shape or color of the breast.

2.Bleeding out of the menstrual cycle period.
3.Bloating.
4.Blood in stool.
Diagnosis of cancer

Bone cancer Lung cancer Pancreatic cancer

Treatment protocols
Chemotherapy drugs
Radiotherapy
Videos
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPgJafGz4fg

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N1Sk3aiSCE