The Honors Mentorship Program

The Rational Clinical Examination

Clinical breast examinations (CBE) are recommended by every doctor, but are they effective?
According to a study done by the Harvard Medical School, CBE do work properly depending on its precision and accuracy. Among women screened by CBE and mammograms, have produced a reduced mortality rate. CBE detected only a small 3% of breast cancer cases out of 45% that were missed by mammograms. Researchers estimated that CBE sensitivity is at 54% and has a specificity of 94%. The ratio of a positive CBE result is 10.6 while the ratio of a negative test result is 0.47. The longer the duration and with the use of specific techniques there was a higher detection accuracy. The proper technique for CBE includes proper positioning of the patient, thoroughness of the search, use of a vertical-strip search pattern, proper position and movement of the fingers with a CBE duration of at least 3 minutes per breast. Overall, this study proved that by using CBE, the probability for finding breast cancer at an early stage were greatly increased.

Works Cited:
Barton, M. B., R. Harris, and S. W. Fletcher. "The Rational Clinical Examination. Does This Patient Have Breast Cancer? The Screening Clinical Breast Examination: Should It Be Done? How?" PubMed.gov. Harvard Medical School, 5 Apr. 2000. Web. 21 Mar. 2011. .

Question and Answer

Q: What part of the newspaper do you read first?

A: I read the first page first. I don't go through and look for anything specific.

Q: What are three books you’ve read in the past year?

A: I have read The Life of Frederick Douglass, The World is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman, Judge and Jury by James Patterson in the past year.

Q: As a child, what did you do in your free time?

A: I would go outside and draw anything I saw that intrigued me or challenged me.

Q: What’s a goal that has been on your list for a few years?

A: Since I was five, I have wanted to go into the medical field and become a successful doctor.

Q: What do you actually do with your free time?

A: I sleep or watch television during any free time I have.

Q: What types of activities energize you?

A: Church activities energize me. I wait all week for Sunday services and things such as our revivals make me feel renewed.

Q: What famous people intrigue you?

A: The famous people that intrigue me are the medical inventors such as Crawford W. Long who created anesthesia, Jonas Salk who created the vaccine for polio, John Heysham Gibbon who created the first heart-lung machine, and many more medical inventors.

Pictures and my quote

This is at the Governors Mansion in Atlanta Georgia. This room is in the basement of the mansion where the Governor and First Lady speak to and entertain guests. Interesting fact: the stripes on the walls are painted on not wallpaper.









This is at the Governors Mansion as well. These are all of the students that attended this field trip for Johnson High School.













My Favorite Quote:
Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase. –Martin Luther King Jr.

This is my favorite quote because it involves faith. Though my religion, faith is a key attribute. I must have faith in my savior Jesus Christ in order to be a good Christian. This is often hard to do because the end point of my faith is not seen; thus, this quote gives me the courage to continue on in my efforts.

5 Common Happiness Boosters that do more Harm then Good

According to Gretchen Rubin a best-selling writer, there are five common happiness boosters that rather then boost, they hinder happiness.
1. When feeling blue, many people will comfort themselves with a treat. This, however, causes the person to feel guilt, loss of control, and other negative consequences because a treat is typically something that we would refrain from without being in this sense of blah.
2. Another thing that some people do to boost their happiness is to cut themselves a break. They think that since they are feeling down that they can skip the gym or not write that paper when in all actuality, not letting yourself off the hook boosts your happiness. This is because carrying through with the action gives you a sense of accomplishment which makes you happier.
3. Another common misconception is that when you are feeling down it is best to confine yourself to you sofa. However, studies show that for extroverts and introverts, connecting with other people boosts their mood. So next time instead of staying at home, make plans with your friends or family and maybe you will feel better.
4. A fourth misconception is that expressing your negative emotions will make you feel better. This does not actually make you feel better though. Screaming, punching, and expressing your emotions simply cause more negative results rather then positive. Expelling your emotions simply gives you more time to dwell on them. Instead of getting worked up, try to calmly express your emotions.
5. The fifth and final misconception is that staying in your pajamas all day will make you feel better. However, we often feel because of the way we act, so if you get up, get ready, and do something then you will feel better then if you just stayed at home being lazy all day.

This advice offered by Rubin makes complete sense. If someone is feeling down then why would being alone and dwelling on yourself and negative things make them feel better? It won't. Plain and simple. It simply causes then to dwell in their sadness for longer and become more down. Getting out and having a good time is a much better way to boost your happiness.

My Final Project

For my final project, my sister Dalyn, who is also in HMP, and I are going to work together. We are going to make a tri-fold poster with information as well as handouts for everyone to take home. Our main focus will be breast cancer for which we will have many information types from books to a pull out model. We will also be covering juvenile leukemia as well because we wanted to cover the most common cancer for adults and the most common cancer for children. We will also include detailed information on male breast cancer since many people only think this cancer affects women. We may also have model tumors, model lungs, or model breasts. Overall, we want to inform the public of common types of cancers and provide people with more in-depth information.

Empathy

According to Simon Baron-Cohen's sixty question Empathy Quotient instrument, I am on the lower end of having an above average ability to be empathetic. I do believe that these findings are very close if not correct for my empathy. I tend to think that I am slightly more empathetic than most which I feel like has developed throughout my life experiences. I do believe that empathy can be taught because a baby is not born with all of their attributes. Occurrences and things they are taught are what structures them into the person that they become. I feel like someone in my life who exemplifies empathy is my mom. She is very caring and compassionate and will try to see everyone’s point of view even if she doesn’t agree with them. She listens to others and can tell how they feel. She is also able to work cohesively with many different types of other people. On the other end of the spectrum, one of my friends is not very empathetic. She does not connect with many others or try to see things from others’ points of view. She is rather judgmental and does not work well with others. I feel like we are really close friends and balance each other out because she isn’t empathetic, but I am overly empathetic. Opposites attract don’t they?

Male Breast Cancer vs. Female Breast Cancer

Contrary to some people's beliefs, men can and some do actually get breast cancer. Out of the different types of breast cancers, men with breast cancer only make up one percent of breast cancer cases. However, through a 32 year study, there have been many comparisons between breast cancer in each sex found. In comparison to female breast cancer, male breast cancer occurs later in life at a higher stage with a lower grade but containing more estrogen receptor-positive tumors. Through out the years, breast cancer incidences and mortality rates have declined over time with a greater decline for women than men. Comparing patients diagnosed from 1996 through 2005 versus 1976 through 1985 with an adjustment considering the age, stage, and grade, hazard rates for breast cancer death had declined by 42% among women and only by 28% among men. Based off of age-specific incidence patterns, it was demonstrated that the biology of men's breast cancer is the same as that of late-onset female breast cancer. Another result of this study was that there are common breast cancer risk factors that affect both sexes. One risk that greatly related among both sexes was estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer. The final result of this study was that breast cancer mortality and survival rates have improved significantly over time for both male and female breast cancer. However, breast cancer improvement in men is still lagging behind breast cancer improvements in women. Overall, there are many comparisons between male and female breast cancer, but male breast cancer is behind female breast cancer in the progression concerning improvements.

Works Cited:
Anderson, W. F., I. Jatoi, J. Tse, and P. S. Rosenberg. Male Breast Cancer: A Population Based Comparison with Female Breast Cancer. PubMed.gov. PubMed U.S. National Library of Medicine-National Institutes of Health, 10 Jan. 2010. Web. 23 Jan. 2011. .

Extra Websites:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/male-breast-cancer/DS00661/DSECTION=causes
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/breast-cancer-prevention/WO00091