Exploring the Thematic Link Between the Epigraph and the Greasy Lake Essay Example for Free

Exploring the Thematic Link Between the Epigraph and the Greasy Lake Essay The Greasy Lake seems to be influence by Bruce Springsteen Spirit in the Night. It is like used an epigraph from his song even though its not about the characters of the story. The characters and actions are completely made up. The Greasy Lake seemed to just imitate the song and take on its a free spirit. The Bad boy image in the Greasy Lake was admired and planned as the boys days continued, it was not original. We can just think about when the Greasy Lake was set not only the epigraph but also the title of the story was inspired by Bruce Springsteen Spirit in the Night. Think about it, are these boys really bad? No, they are just acting out the kind of behavior they think is bad,cool or expected of them. They read books to learn the Bad boy ways, drink cheap non- bad boy drinks and came from high class families. The nature of life was shown through the bad things that took place such as beating the guy and disrespecting the girl and being bad in order to be looked at as bad or cool. This is the narrator learned his lesson all from his actiions. The narrator, in the beginning of the story, believed himself and his friends were these tough guys but the events trhoughout the night reveals to the narrator that there is a price to be paid when trying to be bad. It was the third night of summer vacation and the narrator and his two friends, Digby and Jeff, wanted to prove they were misfits. That they were ready to be reckless and became reck. On that night they wanted to be semi- rebels, their rebellion explodes in their faces. Their actions brings them into a tougher world than they had arranged for. They beat the goy up and was about to rape his girl friend. The guy friends pulled up and the tables had turned. They ran through the woods, dived and poluted waters and floated with the real tough guy who was dead in the waters. They hid from the real tough guys because they were scared and werent bad at all. The layed low till the early morning and then the three boys started to feel a bunch of hatred or repugnance for the Bad boy life. As the end it is clear that they have had enough of being â€Å"bad. † The narrator of â€Å"Greasy Lake† matures during his risky adventure because he has different views of nature. Earlier in the story they wanted to destroy the smell of possibility and interact in all these crazy moments such as watch the girl take their clothes off, drink, smoke and listen to Rock Roll. At the end of the story these cruel likings loses their request or want for these Bad guy qualities and aspects of life. When morning arrived the narrator experienced the beauty of the natural world like it was his first time. He has a epiphany or proclamation that this was nature and in the beginning it was just a dirty, rundown lake.? This was not just for him but for his friends also. When the girls approached them at the end his friend stepped up and trned down the girls offer. The three friends had the experience of a life time that changed thm for the better.

Microbiota and Cancer Treatment

Microbiota and Cancer Treatment Chloe Duffy Abstract microflora in humans regulates numerous bodily processes and cellular functions metabolism, inflammation, immunity, and now has been found to play a role in cancer treatments efficacy, side effects, after effects. talk about the body of the paper. In conclusion, the gut and potentially oral, etc microbiota can be modulated to protect the body from effects of treatment, or even enhance the effectiveness of the treatment. Introduction The human body contains numerous microorganisms that inhabit many parts of the body such as the skin, oral mucosa, and gastrointestinal tracts, known as the human microbiota. These microorganisms aid in metabolism, local and systemic immune system responses, regulation of inflammation, nutrient absorption, and even prevention of infection and diseases. Some of the most common bacteria within the gut microbiome are Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Bifidobacteria, Proteobacteria, Verrumicrobia, Actinobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Cyanobacteria; other types of bacteria such as Actinomyces or Lactobacillus are also common in other areas of the body. All of these types of bacteria play a role in different processes that are beneficial to maintaining health. Although these microorganisms are commonly found in most individuals, each hosts microbiota is unique. Genetics, antibiotic use, diet, type of birth delivery, lifestyle, and incidence of disease can all contribute to the composition of gut mic robiota.12   Although this means that the gut microbiome is variable and certain conditions can result in dysbiosis, it is also beneficial to have the capabilities to modulate and control the gut microbiota in order to maintain healthy bodily functions and immune responses to infection. Recently, there have been studies establishing a relationship between microbiota and cancer treatment. Particularly the gut microbiota that influences metabolic functions and inflammation and adaptive immunity play a major role in the initiation, proliferation, and response to anticancer treatment.12 In the majority of studies, the microbiota have been shown to enhance the effectiveness of cancer treatments and prolong the anticancer immune response. One way this has been demonstrated is by the transfer of faecal microbiota from mice that respond well to cancer therapy into unresponsive germ-free mice, resulting in improved anticancer reactions to treatment. Research has also shown that predictions can be made based on the patients gut microbiome whether or not they will have an efficient reaction to the cancer treatment or if they will exhibit negative side effects from the method of therapy.8 In addition to using the microbiome to predict patient reactions to therapy, studies have shown that it is possible to modulate the gut microbiota in order to either prevent or treat adverse effects that usually coincide with different therapies.19 These new developments are crucial for the progression of cancer therapies, especially immunotherapies. Many patients still do not respond to anticancer treatments that others do and with this promising research new opportunities for personalized therapy become an option for these individuals. Immunotherapies and modifying the microbiota of patients can offer more tailored treatment plans that can provide more promising results. In addition, these new methods can enable a more aggressive treatment plan for certain types of cancer without the fear of negative side effects or lasting damage to healthy tissue. With modulation of the microbiota, these adverse effects can be prevented and treated, using the microorganisms to protect against injury. The composition of the human microbiota plays an integral role in regulating the efficacy of anticancer treatment and development of adverse effects. (Should I include that targeting the microbiota can improve the efficacy and reduce adverse ef fects? Human Microbiome and Cancer Treatments       There are many different categories of anticancer therapies, the three main types are chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and immunotherapy. However, there is interindividual variation in the gut microbiota that can determine whether the immune system is competent enough and if the patient will respond to therapy positively or negatively.19 The targeting of gut microbiota can improve the efficacy of all of these treatment plans. The figure below shows some of the processes that gut microbiota can regulate anticancer therapies. Figure 1 12 This figure is an overview of a selection of anticancer treatments that the gut microbiota can mediate or perhaps enhanceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ add more descriptionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Chemotherapy Chemotherapy is the use of drugs, usually cytotoxic, to treat cancer. These cytotoxic drugs are typically classified according to their mechanism of action, alkylating agents, heavy metals, cytotoxic antibiotics, and spindle poisons.12 These drugs cause significant damage to any rapidly dividing cells including healthy tissues, and can therefore have varying effects on individual patients. Gastrointestinal toxicity is a common adverse effect from anticancer drugs and can be so severe that the treatment has to be postponed or the dose is limited; this reduces the efficacy of the therapy. Targeting and modifying gut microbiota can be used to protect the intestinal epithelium and prevent the toxicity of these compounds. One mechanism of microbiota that can be exploited is its role in drug metabolism and microbial enzymatic degradation. An example of this is with the drug Irinotecan. Irinotecan is a chemotherapy drug that commonly causes severe gastrointestinal distress by increasing caecal Clostridium cluster XI and Enterobacteriaceae and cannot be used long term for treatment. SN-38, the drugs active metabolite is converted to glucuronide which is typically cleaved by bacterial beta-glucuronidases, commonly found in the Firmicutes phylum, for a carbon source; however, this releases the active SN-38 back into the intestinal lumen leading to diarrhea.19 In this study, however, it was discovered that the bacterial enzyme has a specific loop not present in the human enzyme; this is beneficial in developing drugs to target the bacterial enzyme specifically in order to prevent the adverse effects to continue anticancer treatment. Ciprofloxacin and amoxapine were two drugs that exhibited inhibition of the bacterial enzyme, suppressing the severe diarrhea.19 The microbiota enzymatic functions can also have a role in modifying the toxic profile of chemotherapy drugs. This can cause difficulty in creating custom chemotherapy treatment plans utilizing the modulation of microbiota because some of the bacteria can have multiple effects on different targets using the same enzyme. An example of this is the bacterium Mycoplasma hyorhinis, it contains a phosphorylase that can restrict the ability to inhibit cell growth and division by drugs containing pyrimidine nucleoside. Additionally, Mycoplasmas phosphorylase negates the efficacy of the drug gemcitabine. However, this same enzyme can improve the effectiveness of drugs containing the metabolite 5-fluoro-5-deoxyuridine.19 This proves the difficulty in modifying each patients gut microbiota to improve their chemotherapeutic efficacy. Although, it can be useful and can allow the treatment plans to continue without termination due to adverse e ffects, it will require much more research for each individual drugs reaction with gut microbiota enzymes. The gut microbiota can also indirectly affect the metabolism of chemo drugs through modifying gene expression and the physiology of the mucosal barrier in the intestines and liver. In one study, germ-free mice were compared with conventionally raised mice and mice given a probiotic. The germ-free mice exhibited altered gene expression to increase the rate of metabolism of many xenobiotics, whereas even after recolonization of the germ-free mice and administration of a probiotic, not all of the altered genes returned to normal gene expression.12 This raises the observation that not only does the differences in composition of microbiota and their enzyme function play a role in drug metabolism, the activity and lifestyle between individuals matters as well. Immunomodulation and affecting the tumor-microenvironment are two additional ways that the gut microbiota have been found to modulate chemotherapeutics. Cyclophosphamide is a drug that works through many different immunological pathways, stimulating the antitumor immune response.This drug alters the composition of the microbiota in the small intestine and induces the translocation of certain gram-positive bacteria into secondary lymphoid organs.16 Once the bacteria are translocated into the lymphoid organs, they can stimulate an immune response of T helper17 cells and memory TH1 cells. The translocation of the bacteria, typically Lactobacillus johnsonii, Lactobacillus murinus, and Enterococcus hirae, takes place because cyclophosphamide causes discontinuity of the intestinal barrier allowing these microorganisms to relocate to the secondary lymphoid organs. A gram-negative bacteria, Barnesiella intestinhominis is also involved in this chemotherapy drug; it   was shown to incre ase the systemic levels of cytotoxic CD8+ T cells and TH1 cell responses. This bacteria was also proven to activate IFNgamma-producing lymphocytes that are tumor-inflitrating.1 The role gut microbiota plays in the efficacy of cyclophosphamide treatment and immunomodulation was demonstrated by the use of germ-free mice and mice that were treated with antibiotics. The mice that were pre-conditioned with antibiotics proved to inhibit the anticancer effects of the chemotherapy drug and no reduction in the tumor size. Similarly, the germ-free mice had less pTH17 responses and their tumors were unchanged by cyclophosphamide. However, transfer of pTH17 cells restored the efficacy of the anticancer drug.1 These results show that the gut microbiota not only play a role enzymatically and through drug metabolism, but that the microbiome is used to activate the anticancer immune response. This is critical knowledge for the progression of immunomodulation with chemotherapeutics, and gives insight as to why not all patients may react the same to this type of treatment. However, modification of the gut microbiota can enhance the efficacy and response in the patients that typically do not show change in the tumor size. Gut microbiota can also affect the tumor microenvironment in correspondence (à ¯Ã†â€™Ã… ¸is that the right word?) with chemotherapeutics. Oxaliplatin and cistplatin treatments cause tumor cytotoxicity by forming intra-strand platinum-DNA adducts that lead to DNA double stranded breaks; reactive oxygen species is also involved in the damage of DNA. Although these methods are effective for creating an antitumor environment, it also causes severe damage to intestinal mucosal cells which can cause septicemia and systemic infection.12, 10 In germ-free mice the drug oxaliplatin did not induce as great of an inflammation response and consequently the antitumor efficacy was reduced, showing that inflammation is important in the drugs antitumor response. The induced DNA damage within the tumor cells was also reduced, however oxaliplatin was still able to enter into the tumor to form fewer of the platinum-DNA adducts.16 Another effect the microbiota have on these chemo drug antitumor mechanis ms was shown in germ-free mice, the production of ROS was inhibited without gut microbiota. This was previously thought to come from the cancerous cells, however the microbes prevented ROS production through tumor-infiltrating myeloid cells via NADPH oxidase 2.12 This is important to note because this shows that oxaliplatin will not be effective without gut microbiota or depleted myeloid cells. Oxaliplatin also works by inducing immunogenic cancer cell death, this can be achieved by exposing the cell surface- associated immunostimulatory signals, activating antigen-presenting cells which create and antitumor response.With a combination of activation of TLR4, DAMPs from the dying cells, and NLRP3 inflammasome, these can mediate the adaptive T cell-mediated response against the treated tumors.10 When mice are depleted of their microbiota, these cytotoxic and immunogenic effects are decreased, along with the efficacy of tumor reduction. These results demonstrate that gut microbiota can play a role in the cytotoxic effects of DNA damage and inflammation, but also can affect the adaptive immune response to cancer. Gut microbiota has an influential role in the efficacy, toxicity, and outcome of chemotherapeutics. Radiation Therapy Radiotherapy can consist of cancer patients receiving ionizing radiation therapy (RTX) that is typically for localized cancers, or total body irradiation (TBI) that is usually used in preparation for bone marrow transplants or adoptive T cell transfer immunotherapy. These can be effective treatment routes, however, there is a bystander effect on nearby cells that can cause inflammation, immune reactivity, and genome instability.12 These effects do not necessarily occur directly from the DNA damage caused by radiation, these typically are a result from disruption of gap junctions, and release of ROS, NO, cytokines, exosomes, and DAMP stress signals. There are just now beginning to be more studies done about how exactly microbiota can regulate the hosts response to ionizing radiation therapy. It is difficult to study because the effects from radiation can cause a myriad of reactions within the body; some of these effects can be immunostimulating while others can be immunosuppressive. When a patient receives radiotherapy, the antitumor signals are not just contained to the localized area of the tumor; there are antitumor responses that occur that are immune mediated and activate antigen-presenting dendritic cells and T cells. Therefore, because microbiota have been shown to mediate and affect the immunogenic responses in chemotherapy and immunotherapy, it is reasonable to believe microbiota play a role in the immune system responses due to radiation. One of the major limitations to radiotherapy is the safety concern for the patient while balancing the antitumor effectiveness of receiving ionizing radiation therapy. Different cance r types will have different radiation sensitivities as well as the local and systemic toxicity and stress responses that have potential to cause significant injury or impair the antitumor immunity.12 Receiving ionizing radiation therapy is associated with damage to rapidly proliferating tissues such as epithelia, like the digestive tract mucosa, and bone marrow. These adverse effects can cause oral mucositis, diarrhea, and inflammation in the gut and can create gut microbial dysbiosis.12 A recent study investigated whether or not a faecal microbiota transplantation would protect against radiation-induced toxicity.They were able to come to the conclusion that faecal microbiota transplantation did in fact increase the survival rate of mice; in addition, the faecal microbiota transplant increased the peripheral white blood cell counts, maintained the intestinal epithelial integrity, and preserved the gut microbiota composition in mice that had been irradiated.7 Using the strategy of faecal microbiota transplantation could greatly improve the outlook for   radiotherapy patients, it can reduce injury to healthy tissues and improve patients prognosis after radiotherapy. The component that regulates irradiation-mediated intestinal toxicity is the TLR3 for double-stranded RNA. Knockout mice without Tlr3 are actually protected from TLR3-dependent cell death post radiotherapy, despite being sensitive to p53 dependent radiation-induced apoptosis. These knockout mice also survive longer and have less damaging effects on their intestines than wild-type mice. These results would suggest that blocking the TLR3 signaling could reduce the radiation-mediated gastrointestinal damage.12 In this study they also demonstrated that the DNA double stranded breaks, induced from radiation anticancer treatment, also activate a DNA receptor that is not present in melanoma 2 inflammasome; this would result in tissue damage and cell death. However, the bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG, a probiotic, has demonstrated  protection of the intestinal mucosa from radiation therapy-induced toxicity. This probiotic does this by using a TLR2/MyD88 signaling mechanism to reposit ion cyclooxygenase 2- expressing cells from the villi to the base of the intestinal crypts which induces reactive oxygen series, leading to activation of the NRF2 system; this system is cycloprotective.6 Therefore probiotics have some capabilities to prevent radiation-induced enteropathy. The probiotic composition that studies have found to be most beneficial are Lactobacillus acidophilus, B. bifidum, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus and Streptococcus spp.5 For clinical purposes, these probiotics can be used as a prophylactic strategy to limit the intestinal injury. All of these microorganisms have been proven to protect against gut toxicity from radiation anticancer treatments; this is greatly beneficial to the patients so they do not have to endure adverse effects, such as severe diarrhea, and can continue the treatments to increase their antitumor effectiveness. In contrast, some studies suggest that it is possible to predict whether or not a patient is going to have adverse effects to radiotherapy based off the presence of gut microbial dysbiosis or a well-balanced gut microbiome. They used pyrosequencing analysis of 16S rRNA gene to reveal the microbial diversity in the hosts gut microbiome. The individuals that had a significantly altered Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio before the radiation cancer treatment, later developed diarrhea as an adverse effect from treatment. These results indicated that gut microbial dysbiosis before radiation antitumor therapy can be utilized to predict if the patient will develop adverse effects from treatment such as diarrhea.18 This knowledge could guide treatment plans to be tailored for the individual and could allow for preventative treatment options. Total body irradiation is usually used as a preparatory process for another type of anticancer treatment such as a bone marrow transplantation or adoptive T cell transfer immunotherapy. Contrary, to the logic of many of the studies in this review, germ-free mice were shown to survive longer than conventionally raised mice after total body irradiation, and actually required a higher dosage of radiation to induce intestinal disease and mortality.7 The germ free mice were reported to have less apoptotic cells of the intestinal mucosa and even less lymphocyte infiltration than the mice with regular gut microbiota.7 They hypothesized that this could be due to the germ-free mice having no gut microorganisms that could trigger mucosal inflammation or create damage from the radiation insult. One mechanism they were able to identify that contributed to the germ-free mice resistance to total body irradiation was the production of angiopoietin-like 4. This is a protein inhibitor of lipoprotein lipase that is normally suppressed by normal gut microbiota in the conventionally raised mice.12 This angiopoietin-like 4 protein, when knocked out of germ-free mice, causes the mice to be susceptible to the same intestinal damage as conventionally raised mice that block angiopoietin-like 4 protein. Interestingly, the transcription of angiopoietin-like 4 gene is regulated in response to certain gut bacteria; however, these same bacteria that induce angiopoietin-like 4 expression include Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, and Streptococcus spp. that also mediate the protection against the localized received ionizing radiation therapy.12 This can provide an explanation for although most studies have shown that mice treated with probiotics and have a healthy microbiome are resistant to radiotherapy toxicity, germ-free mice can provide some resistance as well. Although most of these studies focus on the gut microbiota, there are studies that reveal how the oral microbiota can effect prediction of enteropathy as well from radiotherapy for  nasopharyngeal carcinomas. Rather than diarrhea as an adverse effect from pelvic radiotherapy, oral and oropharyngeal mucositis are the most common side effects of radiation anticancer therapy for head and neck cancers.20 Similarly to using gut microbial dysbiosis to predict whether the patient would develop adverse effects from treatment, the same can be done with analyzing the oral microbial community and its correlation with radiation-induced mucositis. The results demonstrated that patients with a higher percentage of Actinobacillus exhibited severe mucositis later on after treatment.20 Their findings also showed, similarly, that they can predict future incidence of mucositis during radiotherapy based on the oral microbiota prior to treatment. This is significant because not only can this applicatio n be applied with gut microbiota, it can be applied with the oral microbial community and many others throughout the body corresponding to different types of cancer. Immunotherapy Immunotherapy approaches are currently a popular topic to study and these immunological therapies have shown great potential in long-lasting responses. The efficacy of this type of treatment, however, is limited more than radiation therapy or chemotherapy because of the vast difference in immune responses of individual patients and the susceptibility of different tumor types. However, with new information about the ability of gut microbiota to modulate the hosts response to immunotherapy, it is possible to further study the possibility of improving immunotherapy efficacy by targeting these microbiota. One of the first examples of gut microbiota maintaining the anticancer effect of immunotherapy, was the demonstration that the efficacy of adoptive transfer of tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells following total body irradiation was reduced in mice treated with antibiotics.12 After the total body irradiation causes the translocation of microbiota into the secondary lymph nodes, the prolife ration of the transferred T cells in the tumor and their antitumor activity was enhanced. CpG- oligodeoxynucleotide intratumor therapy is an immunotherapy that uses the TLR9 agonist CpG- oligodeoxynucleotide to induce an antitumor effect. The antitumor effect is then increased when the immunosuppressive effect of IL-10 is prevented by using the IL-10 receptor antibodies. This method induces the secretion from myeloid cells of tumor necrosis factor and IL-12 that in turn cause hemorrhagic necrosis and can redirect tumor-infiltrating macrophages and dendritic cells from and anti-inflammatory to a pro-inflammatory state.12 There is an antigen-specific T cell antitumor that is elicited within this pro-inflammatory environment which results in the clearance of tumors in conventionally raised mice.12 This is not the case in germ-free mice or mice that have been treated with antibiotics. In these mice the tumors treated with CpG-ODNs and anti-IL-10R progress and the immunotherapy is inefficient. Finally, if the mice have a low amount of microbes, the myeloid cells do not produce pro-inflammatory cytokines and the TNF-dependent hemorrhagic necrosis and antitumor immunity are not induced.12 In these tumors, of microbiota-depleted mice, the amount of infiltrating inflammatory monocytes before treatment were unchanged but the number of Ly6C+ major histocompatibility complex class II+ were reduced. This suggests that the differentiation of infiltrating inflammatory monocytes into macrophages and dendritic cells is impaired. After CpG-oligodeoxynucleotide treatment, there are major differences in the gene expression of TNF and IL-12 in tumor-infiltrating myeloid cell  subsets between microbe-depleted and conventionally raised mice.12 There is another reduction in the response to this treatment from TLR4 -deficient mice, however, treatment with the TLR4 agonist LPS to the microbe-depleted mice reinstitutes the responsiveness of the myeloid cells.12 The results from this study demonstrate that the gut microbiota primes the myeloid cells for sensitivity to TLR9. Another study using CpG-oligodeoxynucleotides showed that the CpG-ODNs correlates with the frequency of different genera in the faecal microbiome of mice at the time of treatment.12 Allistipes and Ruminococcus are positively correlated with TNF production, however, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus murinum, and Lactobacillus intestinalis are negatively correlated, meaning when one of the bacteria from the genera Lactobacillus were administered, there was an impairment of TNF production.12 This indicates that different types of bacterial species can have opposite effects; therefore, using antibiotics, prebiotics, or probiotics, can change the gut microbiota composition or frequency resulting in mediating the hosts response to immunotherapies. The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors is a final immunotherapy method that has been greatly studied and researched. In the majority of patients, the antitumor immune response is suppressed but can be reactivated by the release of certain signal factors. The immune checkpoint inhibitors, which are antibodies against the cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 and programmed cell death protein 1 or its ligand PD1 ligand, exhibit strong antitumor activity in animal models and even long lasting clinical efficacy in cancer patients.12 Although this is a promising therapy, there is always the concern of variation of response between patients and between different types of cancers. These checkpoint inhibitors can also induce adverse effects such as colitis and inflammation of the pituitary gland in response to the cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 antibodies, and thyroid dysfunction and pneumonitis after the blockade of the PDL1-PDL1 interaction.14, 15 Two recent studies investigated the influence gut microbiota has on this type of immunotherapy, specifically how anticytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen blockade requires Bacteroides spp. and how Bifidobacterium spp. enhances the effectiveness of antiprogrammed cell death ligand 1 therapy.14, 15 In the first study, in mice and patients the T cell responses specific for B. thetaiotaomicron or B. fragilis correlated with the effectiveness of CTLA-4 blockade. This was confirmed because the tumors in the germ-free mice did not respond to the CTLA blockade, but when the mice were treated with B. fragilis, this defect was overcome.15 The second study compared melanoma growth in mice with particular commensal microbiota and then observed the differences in antitumor immunity. They then sequenced the 16S ribosomal RNA which identified Bifidobacterium as associated with the antitumor effects. The administration of Bifidobacterium improved the tumor control as much as the programmed cell death prot ein 1 ligand 1- specific antibody treatment, and combination treatment almost ceased tumor growth.14 The results from these studies demonstrate that the mechanism of how anti-PDL1 treatment improves the antitumor immune response does not have to include microbiota inflammation and immune activation, like what is induced by anti-CTLA4. Anti-CTLA4 may alter the composition of the gut microbiota that favors its own antitumor activity. Yet, the effectiveness of the anti-PDL1 therapy is aided in hosts with a pre-existing antitumor immune response if Bifidobacterium spp. are within the gut microbiota.12 Microbiota and Lasting Effects from Treatment After the use of cancer treatments, many times there can be lasting effects even into adulthood from childhood cancer therapies. This study demonstrated that restoring the microbial diversity in patients suffering from immune dysregulation, as a result from childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, could reduce chronic inflammation and reduce development of late adverse effects.4 They observed that adult survivors of childhood ALL all had microbial dysbiosis or lack of microbial diversity. The composition of host microbiota is crucial to immune activation, for example T cell activation and increased levels of IL-6 and CRP. Therefore, they hypothesized that the microbial dysbiosis was related to the background chronic inflammation in adult survivors. Additional studies would have to be performed to determine causation, but this study creates the possibility that therapeutic interventions that restore microbial diversity to the ALL survivors could help to reduce the long-term negative ef fects. Further research would need to be done to determine the proper mechanism to restore healthy microbial diversity to humans.   Ã‚   Figure 2 1 References 1. Alexander JL, Wilson ID, Teare J, Marchesi JR, Nicholson JK, Kinross JM. Gut microbiota modulation of chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology Hepatology. August 2017. doi:10.1038/nrgastro.2017.20. paper 10 2.Bultman SJ. Emerging roles of the microbiome in cancer. Carcinogenesis. 2013;35(2):249-255. doi:10.1093/carcin/bgt392. paper 17 3. Champer M, Wong AM, Champer J, et al. The role of the vaginal microbiome in gynecological cancer: a review. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics Gynaecology. 2017. doi:10.1111/1471-0528.14631. paper 9 4. Chua LL, Rajasuriar R, Azanan MS, et al. Reduced microbial diversity in adult survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and microbial associations with increased immune activation. Microbiome. 2017;5(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-017-0250-1. paper 7 5. Ciorba MA, Riehl TE, Rao MS, et al. Lactobacillus probiotic protects intestinal epithelium from radiation injury in a TLR-2/cyclo-oxygenase-2-dependent manner. Gut. 2011;61(6):829-838. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2011-300367. paper 24 6. Ciorba MA, Stenson WF. Probiotic Therapy in Radiation-Induced Intestinal Injury and Repair. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2009;1165(1):190-194. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.04029.x. paper 23 7. Cui M, Xiao H, Zhou L, et al. Faecal microbiota transplantation protects against radiation induced toxicity. EMBOpress. 2017. doi: 10.15252/emmm.201606932. paper 2 8. Dubin K, Callahan MK, Ren B, et al. Intestinal microbiome analyses identify melanoma patients at risk for checkpoint-blockade-induced colitis. Nature Communications. 2016;7:10391. doi:10.1038/ncomms10391. paper 5 9. Galloway-Pena JR, Jenq RR, Shelburne SA. Can Consideration of the Microbiome Improve Antimicrobial Utilization and Treatment Outcomes in the Oncology Patient? Clinical Cancer Research. 2017. doi:10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-16-3173. paper 8 10. Iida N, Dzutsev A, S

Regular Attendance In All Classes Education Essay

Regular Attendance In All Classes Education Essay Regular attendance in all classes at school or university is essential to improving academic achievement. Questions of personal development of students and the formation of their readiness for future professional activities are keys to the theory and practice of improving the work of modern education institutions.  This is because the initial phase of assimilation with profession comes just during learning, as well as the process of self-determination of a young man in life: he forms his life and philosophical positions, develop individualized methods of work, behavior and communication.   In this case one of the leading problems is to build such a system in educational institutions that will be optimal for not only personal development of students, but also their professional development as specialists, their readiness to work. Consequently, more urgent becomes the problem of identifying the relationship and interdependence of two processes: the personal and professional development of student and the process of studying.  Thats why it is necessary to determine how the learning process and attendance of college or university affect personal characteristics of students: their professionalism, willingness to work, depth of knowledge, and a total success in the future profession. Education is part of the process of personality formation.  Through this process, society transmits knowledge, skills from one person to many other.  During studying the student is not only given, but also imposes certain points of view, opinions, social and cultural values.   The learning process is aimed at the socialization of the individual, but sometimes it interferes with the true interests of the student. For example, some students prefer the process of self-education and not attending schools or university, but rather choose learning by correspondence or distance learning.   But here the question arises: how effective is that education?   Also, some students do not attend university or college because it is a waste of time for them.  However, in the future, these students will have to work, and their professional knowledge and skills are in question.  Consequently, there is a fundamental question: how attendance of the university or college affects the professionalism and success in the future work of the student? Full-time education and lessons attendance in the learning process The traditional form of education is the internal form, when students should strictly attend classes, lectures and seminars.  Most students continue to choose this form of education despite the difficulties of economic nature: during 5 years students will not be able to work full time, and will have to devote most of the time to studying.   In this paper we consider the importance of such form of education for students, and in particular the importance of attendance of classes for their future professional activities. The main purpose of full-time education, when students attend classes, is that the learning process should give students a certain system of knowledge, should work out a certain way of thinking, should give practice of progressive efforts to obtain and use the knowledge. This type of education is the most widely used today and is based on obtaining the knowledge and skills under the scheme: the study of new material consolidation of the material learnt monitoring of results and their evaluation. The main characteristics of full-time education is that:   first, that teachers give students their knowledge, experience and skills;    secondly, teachers not only provide students with the necessary stock of knowledge, but also instruct them on various options of life and job situations. This suggests that classes in schools and universities not only provide students with all the necessary information, but also give the social aspects of educating young people.  The above conditions are complementary, and give students all-round development. Based on this, the most common presentation of full-time education, we should pay attention to some specific features of traditional schooling.  There is a joke that has a deep sense: Education is what remains with a person after he forgets everything he was taught.  Indeed, much of the information people get is usually forgotten after some time, but self-educational and social aspects of learning remain. On this basis, it would be logical to assume, that together with the giving a certain amount of facts and algorithms, the most important task of education is the development of intellectual capacities of students. From a classroom management viewpoint, there are many logistical reasons to require attendance. Group projects are very negatively affected when a group member does not show up for labs. Class morale is lowered when students show up late and have no clue of the topic being discussed. Students claiming that coming to class is unnecessary to get good grades influence other students, even if they do benefit from attending class. (Clump et al. 2003) However, class expedience is a secondary issue, compared to every instructors responsibility to teach her course as effectively as possible. Learning is a joint and wonderful journey between each student, her peers and her instructors. Although the world of academia is rapidly changing with an ever increasing distance- learning component, the sole reading of a textbook (or watching of a screen) cannot be compared in richness and effectiveness of a classroom experience. To fully present the importance of full-time education and lessons attendance, it is necessary to give characteristics of students that prefer full-time education and attend lessons. Who is now a regular full-time student?  This is usually a young man who understands that for serious work you must have higher education.  He deliberately chooses a full-time education, wishing to devote five or six years of his life learning, mastering the profession.  He believes that the acquired knowledge will help to find work in his soul, to take a worthy place in life, to grow in the profession and to ensure an acceptable quality of life for themselves and their future family. Many research and experiments about the regular attendance show that students who attend classes achieve better results in education. For example Clump et al. (2003) studied the effect of attending class in a course in General Psychology,comparing the performance of students who were present on days were given with those who were not present. They conclude that attending class is one of the best things students can do with regards to their grades. This is the case for both the immediate future and for the entire course. (Clump et al. 2003) Of cource not all studies find a significant correlation between attendance and academic performance of students, but still the evidence is very clear. The advantages of full-time education and importance of attending classes The advantages of full-time education and attending classes are the following: 1.  It is an opportunity for direct communication with the teachers, because the personal factor plays a huge role in any work, and especially in education as from teachers lectures students can learn much more than from a textbook or the Internet. 2.  Full-time students have time to visit libraries, conferences, and that, of course, deepens the theoretical knowledge, which is a necessary for professional competency. 3.  Full-time students have more opportunities to realize themselves in the faculty and the institutes activities, that is to participate in the informal life of the university.  This is of great importance for students, because it is the experience of public speeches, reports and other types of professional activity, which is important for their future career. 4.  A graduate degree of full-time education has traditionally higher value than any other form of education.  The employer understands that the student who has devoted five years of his life to studying the profession, has not only acquired a vast knowledge, but also learned how to produce his own labor. Unfortunately, attendance policy has some shortcomings, especially they are important in our times, when grants are small, and the opportunity to work for students is excluded because of lack of time. Of course, full-time education provides fewer opportunities for part-time job, as classes at the institute, as a rule, take time from nine oclock in the morning to five oclock in the evening daily, except weekends. So when some students are forced to look for jobs, they have less time for good studying, regular visits of lectures, seminars and libraries. Unfortunately, apart from a real desire to acquire knowledge and mastery of good profession, sometimes student come to high school for very different reasons, for example when parents make them to do this.  These students often failed to see an independent life after graduation, and do not understand why they need certain knowledge, what they want in the future profession.  This leads to infantile attitude to educational process, focus on formal memory from some students and the desire to just get a good grade, or slip from others.  Some of the criticism for implementing an attendance policy is that it assumes that students cannot judge what is good for them, and that they, not the instructor should decide if they should attend a particular class on a particular day. To make a rational decision to attend or skip class, a student must judge the value of each of these two options. But, it is in the human nature that immediate necessities are preferred over long-term advantages (K ahn et al., 2004). To assume that a young person can appreciate the long-term value of education is a weighty assumption. In all cases, any decision seems rational from the viewpoint of the person taking it. In the case of class attendance, students may skip class for reasons that have nothing to do with bettering their learning. If the student is viewed simply as the instructors customer, then any student decision is, by definition, right. The same way that the instructor chose not to stop by the coffee shop and get his coffee before coming to class, the student chose to skip it. In both cases, it is a students decision. Of course, the situation is changing in senior courses, when student usually already have a professional interest, and begin to think about future employment. Often, students find a job during university studies mainly in order to try out their future profession, to acquire the necessary experience and facilitate their employment after high school. In addition, many students do not understand the importance of learning each subject from the original sources.  Information obtained from the Internet can not replace the material of textbooks, which contain the authors view on the events and phenomena, that present information in a discussion manner and encourage students to think independently.  The role of books in education is still difficult to overestimate.   In any profession there can be more than one specialization.  The system of production practices will help students understand what exactly he wants to do, and simultaneously check the correctness of the chosen profession.  In addition, students need to know and use the opportunity to obtain additional specializations in learning. For example, at the faculty of Management there is an opportunity to learn specialization international management to learn further several world management practices and so on.  This will allow students to have a broader look at their future profession, but also improve the chances of finding employment.   Starting from the second year all students write and defend courseworks.  At the upper classes students have the opportunity to choose the theme of course work with the expectation of a particular use. For example, a fourth-year students of faculty of State and municipal management have course works tasks to produce a business plan. It is a well-known fact that a business plan is a required document for many firms, so the skills of making a good business plan are essential for every professional manager in future. Conclusion and my attitude to the topic This paper shows that there is enough and consistent evidence to conclude that student attendance is important for getting good knowledge, skills, it improves student academic performance and professional characteristics. Generally the system of full-time education and classes attendance is based on the following principle: it is assumed that the student consciously choose future profession and ready to work on the acquiring necessary knowledge and skills, thus, responsibility for the outcome of the learning process rests largely on the student, as it is assumed that he has an active interest in this. I fully agree about the importance of full-time education. Im sure that college or university attendance gives students plenty of opportunities to get knowledge, skills that are necessary for future profession. Such students have far more opportunities not only to get information relevant to the future job, but to develop their own skills and talents. Also full-time education provide students with opportunities to try themselves in future profession, to acquire the necessary experience and facilitate their employment after high school or university. For example many technical colleges have practical lessons in specialized enterprises, engaged in training students of relevant specialties within their walls.  Some subjects students learn not at their desks and not in the teaching laboratories, but directly in the factories, where they can observe the work of unique equipment and try their skills.   Similar processes take place in the humanities courses, when during the practice students work in advertising agencies, public opinion research centers, labor exchanges.   The conclusion may be that the main objective of any education, whether secondary or higher education is to teach people to think independently, to teach students the chosen subjects and professions.  But achieving such a goal is impossible to imagine without the activity of students interested in the results of their training. In conclusion I would like to note that the choice of full-time education is a major step for the future of the student and his family.  It is difficult, but the most productive and promising way of acquiring a profession.  More and more young people nowadays understand that lessons attendance opens new opportunities for self-realization, finding good job, moving up the social ladder, providing a decent standard of living.

lost :: essays research papers

"Hello?" "Mike, it's Alex. Victoria was in a car accident last night..." "Oh my God! Is it serious?" "Yes, it's pretty serious. She's still unconscious. Hey listen, buddy, I have to go out of town for a while and I was wondering if you could call the hospital every once in a while because apparently somebody she knows should be around after she wakes up. It sounds kind of silly to me but..." "I'm leaving right now." "Do what you want, Mike. Why don't you get some more sleep; after all it's three in the morning. I've got to go- my plane leaves in an hour. Thanks so much for bailing me out at such short notice, old pal." "Hey no problem, buddy, it's only your wife; no need to be worried or anything..." Mike said sarcastically to the dial tone. Mike ran to the shower and was dressed and in the car in ten minutes. "Excuse me, could you please tell me what room Mrs. Victoria Warner, I mean Smith, is in?" "Yes, sir, she's in room 23, but you can't see her until 6:30. You may wait in the lounge at the end of the hall if you wish." "Thank you very much." Mike looked through the little square window of her door. The private room was cold and dark with green tile covering the walls halfway. She had tubes in her nose, her head bandaged heavily, her arms in casts and her neck in a brace. She had a long cut along her right cheekbone. "You're still beautiful, little Victoria," Mike murmured softly to himself as tears welled up in his eyes. He turned away and walked down the hall to the private lounge. As he walked in and sat down, he scanned the people already there. There was a seemingly nice older couple, two middle-aged women and a young boy. "I REALLY hope her foot feels better after surgery," one of the women said. "No you don't, Susie. You're the one that didn't want to pitch in some money to help her pay the bill," the other said icily. "I wouldn't talk, Jen. You don't even want to be here. I loved those fake tears of concern when they wheeled her in; that was a nice touch," Susie laughed wickedly. "She wouldn't even need to have surgery if it weren't for you dropping that iron on her foot.

Cannibalism as a Sexual Disorder :: Anthropology Essays Paleontology Papers

Cannibalism as a Sexual Disorder Cannibalism occurs prevalently in both Tarzan and Heart of Darkness, and is a controversial topic with which the public is largely unfamiliar. Although cannibalism is generally thought of in a primitive animal sense, experts have revealed that cannibalism can be identified as a sexual disorder (O’Connor). A cannibal is scientifically classified as an anthropophagus (â€Å"Anthropophagus†), which falls under the category of Anthropophagy. Anthropophagy by definition is the sexual gratification by consumption of human flesh or blood. Although rather disturbing, sexual cannibalism is now accepted as the more common variety of cannibalism (O’Connor). Because sexual cannibalism is considered to be a social taboo both today, and during the times of Tarzan and Marlow, the creation of entertainment based on it has been limited, though the urges to expand on this topic may have been far more prevalent. There have been many films and novels created which depict the anthropophagy related to animals, most specifically, spiders. For example, films such as â€Å"Invasion of the Body Snatchers† and â€Å"Little Shop of Horrors† develop the similarities among human and insect anthropophagy (O’Connor). Due to the use of Anthropophagy for leisure purposes, it is evident that cannibalism is a topic of much interest among humans, aside from its label as a social taboo. Technically, a human’s eating of another human has a chemical effect on the blood. Too much human meat causes a build up of vitamin A and amino acids such as homocysteine in the bloodstream, which could cause congenital defects in future offspring. However, if human organs which are rich in B vitamins and folic acid are eaten along with the human meat, homocysteine is not able to metabolize in the bloodstream. This means that cannibalism could hypothetically be the basis of a healthy diet (â€Å"Natural Food†). Contrary to human meat and organs actually being healthy to a human diet, cannibalism is also said to cause madness and addiction based on sexual urges and gratification. Kate Rix depicts that sexual cannibalism in its truest sense may in fact lead to the development of necrophilia tendencies. Disturbing behavior, such as that of cannibalism as well as necrophilism, is a result of chemical imbalances in the brain.

Change over Time: Christianity’s Impact on Europe Essay

Change Over Time: Christianitys Impact on Europe Christianity had spread its influence widely over the Mediterranean well before 1500. Many of the world’s major religions rose during the same time as Christianity, but Christianity didn’t stand out during those times. There were other religions such as Islam and Hinduism that were uniting their people more and contributing more to the world than Christianity was. The development of the Renaissance in Italy and the spreading of the Renaissance made Christianity a lot more popular. The period from 500 to 1700 marked a huge opportunity for Christianity, and the religion took advantage of that and left its mark on Europe. Although some cultural aspects remained the same and Christianity remained the dominant religion in Europe from 1500 to 1700, a lot of other cultural aspects, economics, and political characteristics changed due to Christianitys impact. Christianity continued to dominate Europe through the Renaissance period with little shifting to other religions; Christianity stayed pretty much the same, aside from differences in Catholic and Protestant groups. Christianity remained a monotheistic religion, meaning that its followers believe in one god. Not only did this religion remain a major influence for the ordinary people of Europe, but it also influenced the artists and authors coming into the Renaissance. Christianity continued to be a huge source of power for the Pope and other religious leaders during this time; religion, essentially, gave these leaders more control and power. These leaders set up churches all across their areas in Europe, which continued to spread the influence of Christianity even more. Christianity remained a uniting source for the people which, in turn, led to making Europe a very rich and powerful force. Christianity remained a powerful force in Europe because a lot of the religious leaders were looking at continuing older Roman legacies. Even though Christianity developed after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Roman Catholic Church makes the claim of apostolic succession; they claim a unique authority over all other churches because they claim they have a common heritage with Roman Catholic Popes centuries before. Because of historical significance and the need of wanting to bring back older Roman and Byzantine religious traditions, Christianity was able to continue to dominate Europe through the influence of the church during 1500 to 1700. With so much power, different aspects of life in Europe wouldn’t remain the same. Because Christianity continued to remain the major source for power and influence in Europe, economic, political, and cultural changes were inevitable. Change over Time: Christianity’s Impact on Europe By amirlikecrazy

British Citizenship Under Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism simplifies trade between nations. It involves uncontrolled exchange and movement of goods, services, resources and activities with the aim of acquiring profit leverage with efficiency through cheap resources (Shah, 2007). Neoliberalism espouses the removal of the free trade barriers. These barriers include tariffs, regulations, laws and legislation, and investment restrictions. Neoliberalism is the intensification and expansion of the market through the increase in quantity, frequency, recurrence and formalization of transactions (Treanor). The goal of Neoliberalism is to enhance market competition in every transaction process.These transactions tend to be more competitive if they occur repeatedly for short periods of time. This way the dynamism of the cycle of cost and profit remains active. The basic principles of Neoliberalism include the freedom of trade in goods and services, limitless circulation of capital and, investment capacity and opportunities. The concept o f Neoliberalism involves several vital points mainly in reference to the economy. The five points include the rule of the market, reducing public expenditure for social services, privatization, deregulation, and the concept of individual responsibility against public good (Martinez & Garcia, 2000).The rule of the market means limitless freedom of the flow and exchange of goods, services and capital. It sustains that the market regulates and balances itself through the dynamics of market demand. The government has a hands-free policy when it comes to the dealings of the private enterprises like the freedom to determine prices of commodities. International trade and investment are likewise encouraged. The next point is the reduction of public expenditure for social services. Social Services comprise health, education and infrastructure development among others.Privatization is a main aspect of Neoliberalism in that it espouses the transfer of the previously state-owned enterprises or businesses like banks, schools and hospitals to private investors. There are two opposing views on privatization. On one hand, it increases efficiency of the enterprise under the ownership of a specialized private group. On the other hand, privatization results to a concentration of wealth and power to a few groups. Deregulation is another aspect of Neoliberalism. It refers to a reduction in the regulating power of the government. Instead, the market is allowed to regulate itself with the aim of maximizing profits.The last point is the concept of individual responsibility versus public good. Each individual is responsible for his or her conditions in life. The decrease in government support to the community for education, health care and social security should be compensated by the individuals themselves. What are the justifications of Neoliberalism? Is it an underlying theory for most of the economic successes of a nation? Neoliberalism promotes the idea of a free market without go vernment interventions in order for resources to be more efficiently distributed to groups in society who can better handle businesses.It likewise supports the idea that privatization of enterprises takes away the inefficiency or incompetency of the public sector in running businesses. Neoliberalism believes that the best way to achieve progress is through continued economic growth and the inevitable road to success is economic globalization. Economic globalization pertains to trade and financial movement as the factors which increase the integration of world economies (IMF Staff, 2000). It is also referred to as the transfer and exchange of knowledge and labor beyond the national boundaries and into the international field.The term Globalization is most often interchangeably used with Neoliberalism because of the similar principles that both concept advocates. Both support free trade as the ultimate means to achieve economic growth. Globalization leans more towards the weakening of national borders and the increase in the assimilation of global policies and trends in the national level. The aspects of Globalization include trade, movement of capital, movement of people and information dissemination and exchange through technology.Information exchange has been significantly globalized due to the proliferation of the internet. The global financial market run on a very fast pace due to the internet where transaction can be done with just one click. Movement of capital involves foreign investment and movement of people refers to employment opportunities outside the home country. These employment opportunities give way to an increasing trend of migration from developing countries to countries with more advanced economies.On the other hand, Neoliberalism is more focused on the nationwide aspect of trade with major effects from the international trade community. Other policies supported by Neoliberalism include the maintenance of competitive exchange rates where mar ket-determined exchange rates are followed instead of government-fixed exchange rates (Neoliberalism). Another policy is fiscal rectitude where expenditures are reduced and taxes are increased to sustain a budget surplus. II. The Neoliberal Revolution in Great BritainPrior to the Neoliberal Revolution, the dominant principle in both Western and most parts of the Third World economies is the Keynesian concept (Ambrose). John Meynard Keynes was an advocate of the idea that government interventions are needed to lead markets in endeavors which would benefit the most number of people. This idea was put to a halt when Neoliberalism began to take shape. In 1975, Margaret Thatcher became opposition Conservative Party head and was elected as Prime Minister in 1979 (Scott, 1997).She was determined to alleviate the condition of the British people from recession to economic greatness. The Neoliberal Revolution started in 1980 with Margaret Thatcher as the main proponent. The proposal of the re volution included decrease in corporate taxes, corporate regulation reduction, public services privatization and abolition of international trade barriers (Moore, 1998). At this time, privatization was a major practice and the primary force of Neoliberalism, as power, assets, rights and responsibilities along with a great deal of autonomy were afforded to private enterprises.Thatcher’s principle of Neoliberalism was supported by her TINA or There Is No Alternative campaign (George, 1999). The significance of Thatcher’s neoliberal policy lies in the idea of competition as an essential part of growth. Nations, regions, companies and individuals compete with each other. This competition makes the market more effective as it maintains only those who survive or those who won against the others. Thus, only the best resources, may it be natural, human, physical or financial, are included in the final market competition.It is the belief of Thatcher that people by nature are un equal so there are no worries about issues of social inequality as a hindrance to economic success. Those who are the strongest, more intelligent and well-educated can contribute best to the welfare of the country and its people. On the other side of the fence, the weak and the poorly educated are only responsible for themselves and have themselves to blame for their status. The Neoliberal Revolution introduced changes in policies which brought about the negative effects to the public sector.The budget for the health sector was reduced which meant less free health services for the people and the privatization of health services was started resulting to the charging of fees and introduction of insurance policies (Navarro, 2006). A very important factor in the Neoliberal Revolution is not only the promotion by the U. K. and U. S. governments, but the support it got from international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Worl d Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO).III. Effects of Neoliberalism on British Citizenship The main goal of citizenship is equality among the people. There are three forms of citizenship: civil, political and social citizenship. Civil Citizenship comprises employment, private property and contract protection, and market access. Political Citizenship involve the right to vote and hold public office, while Social Citizenship means the right to the provision of education, health benefits and other social services (Sparke).The rights of the citizens are mainly dependent on the policies of the government. Neoliberalism had a great impact on the government policies in that citizenship was largely affected to its detriment. It is important to note the social policy of Neoliberalism before we move further into a discourse of its negative effects on citizenship. In Neoliberalism, social policy means the provision of equal opportunities available in the market and equal legal treatme nt to all citizens (Rosch). This is also the measure of social justice.The social policy does not include concern for the social welfare of the people. Its premise lies in individual responsibility where each person is responsible for achieving his or her own social and ethical ideals. This responsibility is not to be shouldered by the government in any way. This social policy is deemed as leaning favorably to those with financial power and is discriminating and pushing those at the lower level of the economic ladder further down. Neoliberalism threw its strongest punch on the social form of citizenship.Social services were privatized and budget cutbacks were enforced as part of the fiscal rectitude policy where expenditures are reduced to maintain a budget surplus. Education, health services, housing, transportation and other social services were stripped off their importance as part of the government’s responsibility to its citizens. Instead, the people are encouraged to st rive on their own to meet these needs. The social services organizations were handed over to private institutions which now are to be dealt with if the people need the kinds of services they offer.Since these private enterprises are now competing in an open market, the cost of availing their services becomes expensive and incomparable to the previous benefit that the citizens were receiving from the government. The negative impact is most felt by the underprivileged and advantage is savored by the wealthy and powerful. Civil Citizenship was likewise adversely affected by Neoliberalism in terms of the contract and employment terms. The most notable effect is the reduction, if not elimination of the trade unions which are primarily based in public enterprises.Privatization meant abolishing of the existing systems as the policy making is transferred to the owners of the private companies. Protection of the employee was abandoned with the increasing short term contracts along with short duration of jobs. Employees now are offered shorter tenures which force them to undergo the tedious task of re-applying to companies. With private companies’ anti-union policies, the employees now have nowhere to go. They either sink or swim. Employment opportunities are now available to more competent and well educated individuals.The name of the game became employability or the capacity of the individual to sell his or her services based on the acquired knowledge and skills. This now brings us back to the issue of the advantage of the more financially able citizens. Individuals with access to good education from schools which are now private enterprises and which are now able to charge high fees, has the advantage. The flow of trade money between enterprises, regions and even between nations on a wider scale as espoused by neoliberalism, has a tremendous effect on the electoral system or the political aspect of citizenship.The exercise of electoral right is now deemed futi le as doubts are cast upon the veracity of the election results because of the money generated inside the politics arena. Politics, as a powerful venue of pushing legislative programs or business leverage, is considered to be a channel used by some groups or enterprises in advancing their own personal agenda. Neoliberalism has in great part affected the entire nation including the people and how they function in society. Its effects are criticized left and right by different groups as to its advantages and disadvantages.Critics and proponents both have their valid points. It has to be stressed though that for a concept or idea to be considered truly successful is to analyze if a great majority of the people has benefited from the underlying principles of the concept. The ultimate question now is: Has Neoliberalism created a healthy balance between the rich and the poor or has it been an instrument to push the rich to the topmost part of the economic ladder and to push the poor furth er down the pit? Bibliography Ambrose, S. (n. d. ). The Roots of Corporate Globalization in IMF/World Bank â€Å"StructuralAdjustment† Policies. Public Eye. Org. [online] Available from: http://www. publiceye. org/magazine/v18n2/ambrose_imf. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] George, S. (1999, March 24). A Short History of Neo-liberalism. Global Exchange. [online] Available from: http://www. globalexchange. org/campaigns/econ101/neoliberalism. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] IMF Staff. (2000, April 12). Globalization: Threat or Opportunity? International Monetary Fund. [online] Available from: http://www. imf. org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200. htm#II [Accessed 25 June 2007] Martinez, E. , & Garcia, A. (2000, feb 26).What is â€Å"Neo-Liberalism†? A Brief Definition. Global Exchange. [online] Available from: http://www. globalexchange. org/campaigns/econ101/neoliberalDefined. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] Moore, R. (1998, May). Absolute PowerThe Making of a new World Order. Thi rd World Traveler. [online] Available from: http://www. thirdworldtraveler. com/New_Global_Economy/Absolute_Power. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] Navarro, V. (2006, Oct 23). What is happening at the World Health Organization? The coming election of the WHO Director-General. People's Health Movement. [online] Available from: http://www.phmovement. org/en/node/279 [Accessed 25 June 2007] Neoliberalism. (n. d. ). Wikipedia. [online] Available from: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Neoliberalism [Accessed 25 June 2007] Rosch, M. (n. d. ). What does neoliberalism mean? Internetseminar. [online] Available from: http://tiss. zdv. uni-tuebingen. de/webroot/sp/barrios/themeA2a. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] Scott, D. (1997). The Path from Old Labour to Tory Neoliberalism to New Labour. People's News Agency. [online] Available from: http://www. prout. org/pna/uk-capitalism. html [Accessed 25 June 2007] Shah, A. (2007, March 5).A Primer on Neoliberalism. Global Issues. [online] Available from: http ://www. globalissues. org/TradeRelated/FreeTrade/Neoliberalism. asp [Accessed 25 June 2007] Sparke, M. (n. d. ). Center for Communication and Civic Engagement. University of Washington. [online] Available from: http://depts. washington. edu/ccce/assets/documents/pdf/Passportsintocreditcards. pdf [Accessed 25 June 2007] Treanor, P. (n. d. ). Neoliberalism: origins, theory, definition. InterNLnet. [online] Available from: http://web. inter. nl. net/users/Paul. Treanor/neoliberalism. html [Accessed 25 June 2007]