What is the connection between malignant neoplasms and crabs?

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The more common term for malignant neoplasms, cancer, is Latin for crab, and the word "carcinogen," meaning a cancer-causing agent, comes from the Greek word for crab, "karkinos." What is the connection between these two seemingly unrelated things?
Cancer, both the disease and the astronomical constellation, derive from the Latin cancer or cancrum, meaning crab. The astrological sign, of course, is said to resemble a crab and the disease was so named by the ancient Greek physician Galen (129-200 A.D.) who noted the similarity between a certain type of tumor with a crab as well—the swollen veins around the tumor resembling the legs of a crab.

Old English adopted cancer directly from Latin and used it for a variety of spreading sores and ulcers. This early sense survives in the modern word canker. From c.1000 in a manuscript called Læce Boc (Leech Book), collected in Oswald Cockayne’s Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, Vol. II, 1865:

Gemeng wið þam dustum, clæm on ðone cancer.
(Mix with the dust, smear on the cancer.)

And from Wyclif’s 2 Timothy, 1382:

The word of hem crepith as a kankir

The word was being applied specifically to the disease we today call cancer by the beginning of the 17th century. From Philemon Holland’s translation of Pliny’s Historie of the World:

Cancer is a swelling or sore comming of melancholy bloud, about which the veins appeare of a blacke or swert colour, spread in manner of a Creifish clees.

The astronomical sense of cancer is from the Latin name for the constellation of the crab. The name was known to the Anglo-Saxons, but only as a Latin name and was not assimilated into English until the Middle English period. It appears in Ælfric’s De Temporibus Anni, written c.993, in a list of the constellations of the Zodiac:

Feorða • Cancer • þæt is Crabba
(Fourth, Cancer, that is the crab.)

The Anglicized name appears c.1391 in Chaucer’s Treatise on the Astrolabe:

In this heved of cancer is the grettist declinacioun northward of the sonne...this signe of cancre is clepid the tropik of Somer.
(At this first point (head) of cancer is the greatest declination northward of the sun…this sign of cancer is named the tropic of summer.)

(Source: Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd Edition)  (+ info)

What do you think the lung tissue of a smoker looks like in comparison to a healthy lung tissue?

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What do you think the lung tissue of a smoker looks like in comparison to a healthy lung tissue?
Normal lungs are pink and inflate/collapse normally. It might feel like a soft sponge. In an early smoker without COPD, the lungs will develop a grayish-black discoloration due to tar and soot deposits. With continued smoking, the lung will begin to scar (fibrose), and the lung architecture will become distorted. The lung may take on a rice-krispies-like texture. In severe emphysema, long-term fibrosis may lead to large air pocket formation (bullae), which can expand over time.  (+ info)

What does my lung looks like after smoking for 6 months?

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I never smoke before but recently I have.
I smoked weed everyday for 6 months, totaling about an ounce of weed in 6 months. So does my lung look black like a heavy smoker's lung, will I get lung cancer? If I quit now would my lung goes back to the normal color if it already is black like a smoker's lung?
Your lungs are not black, get that out of your head. Something like that takes years and years of smoking. Your lungs are most likely fine. You will regain something like 10% of your lung capacity back every month when you quit because the "tissue" in your lungs will regenerate.  (+ info)

Can a local tumor in the lung spread to develop bone metases without affecting the rest of the lungs?

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My father has been diagnosed with non-small carcinoma in the right lung. The doctors also found a lesion in the back bone L4 which is reported as neoplastic. A biopsy on the lung tumor was performed and confirme malignancy. On that basis they are presuming that the bone lesion is also a malignant cancer tumor. However, what seems to be strange is that the CT scan results for the rest of the right lung, the left lung, abdomin, intestines, bladder, prostate, pancreas are totally clear. His oncology blood markers are also clear. The bone scan apart from the suspected lesion at L4 is totally clean, and his blood test results are acceptable. His general health conditions are good. He was on a diet, stopped it and gained 3KGS within a span of 10 days. He simply does not show any of the symptoms of a stage IV cancer patient. The doctors said they cannot operate because of the bone lesion. Had it been only in the lungs they would. We are concerned that they might be making the wrong connection
definitely get a second or third opinion.. this is too important!  (+ info)

What is the best lung cleansing supplement on the market?

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I am recovering from being a smoker (8 years) and living in Los Angeles. I need a strong lung support/detoxing supplement to aid my recovery.
I dont think a single supplement can really help with lung cleansing but it can be a part of the solution.

You need to really change what you eat and a whole bunch of other stuff as well to get rid of the tar and stuff.

I know that eating hot foods like chilli can help loosen mucus though which has heaps of tar and chemicals in it from smoking which you can then cough up ... there is more stuff on the site below.  (+ info)

How difficult is traveling with lung cancer and emphazema?

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My grandmother was diagnosed with the early stage of lung cancer and enphazema (shocker: she's a smoker). She is due to have surgery to remove part of one of her lobes next week. My question is, I am planning my wedding (I live in California and she lives in Texas) and need to know if she can travel by airplane? I'm afraid that the recirculated air will be bad for her health. If traveling is going to be a problem for her, I will gladly have my wedding in Texas. Any ideas?
My aunt had lung cancer and could not travel long distance. It just depends on how strong your grandmother is and if she feel up to it.  (+ info)

What is the best way to increase your lung capacity?

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I am looking for some good ways to increase my lung capacity. I like to run, but I feel like I am out of breath very shortly. My body can go much further than my lungs will let me.
First, slow down.
You need to find that perfect balance between your big body and your small lungs.

Usually, breathing IN is automatic and easy, but breathing OUT has to be rhythmic and forceful and even noisy, like pushing out the air out of your lungs in three (or even four...as many as you need) bursts, during three (or four) steps you're running, until your lungs are completely empty. Exhaling once is the automatic one, the second exhale is the conscious one and the third exhale is the forceful one.
You have to make some conscient effort to empty your lungs completely.

Learn proper breathing techniques while jogging/running and you'll be fine.
When I cross the path of a jogger/runner, I can hear him/her breath out from very far away. Make noise, that will help you, like those gruntings in martial arts that get your core energy out.  (+ info)

What are your thoughts on mineral powders causing lung damage?

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I heard on Dr. Oz today that powders like Bare Essentials can cause lung damage because they are inhaled as they are put on, causing scarring of the lung. What do you think?

Thanks!
They said that the effects over 10 - 30 years could be damaging. I love my bare minerals and I don't want to stop using it!
im not sure...maybe its true? ive heard mixed reviews on mineral makeup in general...i use dinair airbrush makeup and it rocks cause its all water based so its not bad for my skin...it covers everything and its amaizng....anywho...hope i helped in some way...=)  (+ info)

What is the association between smoking and dying of lung cancer?

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For cigarette smokers the lung cancer mortality rate = 140 per 100000. For nonsmokers the lung cancer mortality rate = 10 per 100000.
This is a question in my epidemiology class. And we have to interpret the results. Thanks!
We have to calculate the association between smoking adn dying of lung cancer by using the numbers above. Then with that number we have to interpret the results. I'm not sure how to go about doing that.
People on this board sharing experiences and helpful hints between cancer sufferers and you are asking them to do your homework? Maybe reminding them even more of death by cancer? I guess maybe I'm overly touchy and having a not so good day, if I offended excuse me but, I am a little offended.  (+ info)

What are the chances of surviving lung cancer?

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My sister has just been diagnosed with lung cancer and i want to know what are the survival rates?
Survival statistics depend on a huge number of factors, the type of lung cancer, the staging and the age and general health of the patient.  (+ info)

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