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Year Of Three Emperors

Year of Three Emperors

The year 1888 is commonly called Year of Three Emperors (Dreikaiserjahr) in Germany. It is learned by German schoolchildren with the mnemonic "three eights, three Emperors". On March 9, the first German Emperor, Wilhelm I, died. He was succeeded by his son, Friedrich III, who however, already suffered from terminal cancer and died after only 99 days of rule on June 15. He in turn was followed by his son, Wilhelm II, the third and last Emperor, who was to reign until the end of the Empire in 1918.

1888

1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). In Germany, 1888 is known as the 1888 Year of Three Emperors.

Events

- January 3 - 91cm telescope first used at Lick Observatory
- January 12 - Blizzards in Dakota and Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas - 235 dead, many of which were children on their way home from school
- January 24 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
- January 26 - Australia celebrates the first centennary of European settlement.
- January 27 - In Washington, DC the National Geographic Society is founded.
- March 11 - The "Great Blizzard of '88" begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
- March 22 - The Football League is formed
- April 11 - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
- May 13 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
- May 28 - Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5-2
- June 3 - "Kingdom of Sedang" formed in modern-day Vietnam
- June 19 - In Chicago, Illinois, Republican Convention opens at Auditorium Building. General Benjamin Harrison & Levi Morton will win the nominations.
- July 27 - British parliament passes an act that permits bicycles on road on condition that they are equipped with a bell that should be rung while on the carriageway. The law is abolished 1930
- August 7 - The body of Martha Tabram was found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper
- August 31 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
- September 4 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
- September 6 - Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season - a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
- September 8 - In London, the body of Annie Chapman is found. She is generally considered the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
- September 8 - In England the first 6 Football League matches ever were played.
- September 30 - In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
- October 9 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1888: Democrat incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the overall popular vote, but is voted out of office because he loses in the Electoral College to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison.
- November 9 - In London the body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is typically considered the fifth and last of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders actually follow, but police attribute them to copycat killers.
- Gramophone patented by Emile Berliner
- Annie Besant organizes a match girl strike
- John Robert Gregg first published Gregg Shorthand
- Slavery abolished in Brazil
- Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates
- Susan B. Anthony organizes a congress for women's rights in Washington DC
- National library in Athens, Greece
- First railways in China
- Kodak camera increases the popularity of photography as a hobby.
- The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The film is two seconds (4 frames) in length.
- First sightings of the dolphin Pelorus Jack in Cook Strait, New Zealand

Births

January-March

- January 1 - Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (d. 1947)
- January 8 - Matt Moore, Irish-born actor (d. 1960)
- January 24 - Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (d. 1960)
- Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer (d. 1958)
- February 2 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
- February 17 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
- February 19 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928)
- February 20 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
- February 25 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
- February 27 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
- March 1 - Ewart Astill, English cricketer (Leicestershire) (d. 1948)
- March 4 - Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
- March 10 - Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1966)
- March 12 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Ukrainian ballet dancer (d. 1950)
- March 17 - Frank Buck, big game hunter (d. 1950)
- March 26 - Elsa Brändström, Russian nurse (d. 1948)

April-June

- April 4 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1958)
- April 6 - Hans Richter, German filmmaker (d. 1976)
- April 18 - Duffy Lewis, Major League Baseball player (d. 1979)
- April 26 - Anita Loos, American writer (d. 1981)
- April 27 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
- May 10 - Karl Barth, Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
- Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer (d. 1971)
- May 11 - Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
- May 17 - Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965)
- May 23 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
- May 25 - Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
- May 27 - Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
- June 3 - Tom Brown, American jazz musician (d. 1958)
- June 6 - Pete Wendling, American composer, pianist, and piano roll recording artist (d. 1974)
- June 9 - Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Australian illustrator (d. 1960)
- June 13 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese writer (d. 1935)
- June 24 - Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect (d. 1964)

July-October

- July 5 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1963)
- July 10 - Giorgio Chirico, Italian painter (d. 1978)
- July 16 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- July 17 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- July 22 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1973)
- July 23 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist (d. 1959)
- August 14 - John Logie Baird, Scottish inventor (d. 1946)
- August 16 - Armand J. Piron, American jazz musician (d. 1943)
- September 5 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India (d. 1975)
- September 6 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (d. 1969)
- September 12 - Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)
- September 16 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- September 26 - J. Frank Dobie, American folklorist and journalist (d. 1964)
- September 26 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- October 6 - Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)
- October 7 - Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)
- October 8 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- October 9 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician (d. 1938)
- October 16 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- October 16 - Paul Popenoe, American eugenicist (d. 1979)

November-December

- November 7 - Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- November 15 - Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian scientist (d. 1957)
- November 23 - Harpo Marx, American comedian (d. 1964)
- November 26 - Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born violinist and composer (d. 1964)
- November 30 - Ralph Hartley, American electronics researcher and inventor (d. 1970)
- December 4 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
- December 19 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963)
- December 28 - F.W. Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)

Deaths

- January 19 - Anton de Bary, German biologist (b. 1831)
- January 29 - Edward Lear, British artist and writer (b. 1812)
- February 3 - Henry Maine, British jurist (b. 1822)
- March 6 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (b. 1832)
- March 9 - German Emperor Wilhelm I (b. 1797)
- March 12 - Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (b. 1811)
- April 15 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
- April 15 - Father Damien, Belgian priest (b. 1811)
- June 15 - German Emperor Friedrich III (b. 1840)
- July 20 - Paul Langerhans, German pathologist and biologist (b. 1847)
- August 9 - Charles Cros, French poet (b. 1831)
- August 23 - Philip Henry Gosse, British scientist (b. 1810)
- August 24 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (b. 1822)
- October 16 - John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
- December 31 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)

Marriages

- January 1 - Elias Disney & Flora Disney
- April 11 - Henry Ford & Clara Jane Bryant
- May 2 - Josephus Daniels & Addie Worth Bagley
- September 5 - Billy Sunday & Helen Amelia Thompson
- September 11 - Robert Homans & Agnes Mary Josephine Mellon
- November 29 - Axel Blixen-Finecke & Bertha Henriette Marie Castenschiold
- December 20 - Charles Urban & Julia Avery Category:1888 ko:1888년 ms:1888 simple:1888 th:พ.ศ. 2431

Mnemonic

A mnemonic (pronounced in American English, in British English) is a memory aid. Mnemonics are often verbal, are sometimes in verse form, and are often used to remember lists. Mnemonics rely not only on repetition to remember facts, but also on associations between easy-to-remember constructs and lists of data, based on the principle that the human mind much more easily remembers data attached to spatial, personal or otherwise meaningful information than that occurring in meaningless sequences. While in philosophy it has been often said that our knowledge of things is a multiplication of its attributes. As it is more that we become knowable of a thing as we know more of its attributes, as like things we can attribute to it. In a simple demonstration, let k be knowledge, and if every x consists of yz, then yz(k)=x(k), while k for either y or z precedes not to a complete value k of x. Therefore, the derivatives of attributes are x(k)/y(k)=z(k) and x(k)/z(k)=y(k). Also, indices may be raised to attributes. Such as, if we are knowable of attributes to y and z, as like y²z²=x², then our knowledge of x will be raised as well. The word mnemonic shares etymology with Mnemosyne, the name of the titan who personified Memory in Greek mythology. The first known reference to mnemonics is the method of loci described in Cicero's De Oratore.

Examples of simple mnemonics

One common mnemonic device for remembering lists consists of an easily remembered word, phrase, or rhyme whose initials or other characteristics are associated with the list items. The idea lends itself well to memorizing hard-to-break passwords as well.

Science and technology

Astronomy

- Stellar classification uses a peculiar group of letters, easily remembered using the phrase, "Oh Be A Fine Girl, Kiss Me." With two new categories L and T for brown dwarfs, the revised version to "Oh Be A Fine Girl/Guy, Kiss My Lips Tenderly." (Sometimes "Right Now Smack Wow." was added at the end, although these classes are not part of the sequence and are no longer current.)
- For naming the planets in order from the Sun, the phrases:
- "My Very Eager Mother Just Sewed Us New Pajamas"
- "My Very Easy Memory Jingle Seems Useful Naming Planets"
- "Mary's Violet Eyes Made John Stay Up Nights Proposing"
- "Man Very Early Made Jars Stand Up Nearly Perfect"
- "Mexican Vultures Enjoy Making Jam Sandwiches Using New Plums"
- "Many Visitors Eat Meat, Just Simple Under-Nourished People"
- "My Very, Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine Planets"
- "Many Vikings Enjoyed Making Jelly Sometimes Using Norse Plums"
- "My Very Easy Method Just Speeds Up Naming Planets"
- "Many Vast Elephants Munch Jam Sandwiches Until [they] Nearly Pop"
- "Many Very Early Men Just Sat Under Neath Pluto"
- "Mom Visits Every Monday, Just Stays Until Noon, Period"
- "My Very Excellent Mother Just Stores Up Nine Planets"
- "My Very Excellent Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas"

Biology, Medicine & Anatomy

Medical mnemonics are quite common, see [http://www.medicalmnemonics.com]. Some of them are less politically correct than others, and some are profane (presumably because their shock value makes them easier to remember). The list below doesn't censor, but in some cases does provide "clean" alternatives.

Hydralazine

- An example of a visual mnemonic for the drug "hydralazine" could be represented as "lazy hydra" that is on strike holding a sign "NO more work". "NO" in the above case symbolizes Nitrous oxide, which is related to the drug's mechanism of action. For examples of this technique, see [http://www.mediglyphics.com/public/Pharmacology/].

Cranial nerves

:(The letters stand for Olfactory nerve, Optic nerve, Occulomotor nerve, Trochlear nerve, Trigeminal nerve, Abducent nerve, Facial nerve, Auditory nerve, Glossopharyngeal nerve, Vagus nerve, Accessory nerve, and Hypoglossal nerve.) In the ones marked with a "@", the accessory nerve is referred to by its alternate name "Spinal accessory nerve".
- "Ooh, Ooh, Ooh To Touch And Feel Very Good Velvet. Such Heaven!" @
- "On Old Olympus' Towering Top A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops" @
- "On Old Olympus' Tiny Top A Finn And German Viewed Some Hops", or "On Old Olympus' Towering Top A Finely Vested German Viewed A Hawk" (with variations; some say "terraced tops", "towering top(s)" or "topmost top", and "viewed some hops" is sometimes rendered as "vaulted a hedge").
- "O! O! O! To Touch And Feel A Girl's Vagina And Hymen." Another to help remember the types of information these nerves carry (sensory, motor, or both) is thus: Some Say Marry Money, But My Brother Says Big Brains Matter More.

External carotid artery branches

:(The letters stand for superior thyroid artery, ascending pharyngeal artery, lingual artery, facial artery, occipital artery, posterior auricular artery, superficial temporal artery, and maxillary artery)
- "Some Anatomists Like F
-
- g, Others Prefer S & M"
Biological groupings in taxonomy
:(The letters stand for Kingdom, Phylum, Class (biology), Order (biology), Family (biology), Genus, and Species.)
- "Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Satin"
- "Kings Play Cards On Fat Green Stools"
- "Kings Play Chess On Fine Grained Sand"
- "Kings Play Chess Often For Great Sport"
- "Kings Play Chess On Funny Green Squares"
- "Kings Play Chess On Flat Girls' Stomachs".
- "Kids Prefer Cheese Over Fried Green Spinach".
- "Kids Playing Chase On Freeway Get Squashed"
- "King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti".
- "King Phillip Came Over From Germany, Swimming"
- "King Phillip Could Only Find Green Socks".
- "King Penguins Copulate Often For Greater Satisfaction"
- "Some Girls Fill Out Clothes Pretty Keenly" (reverse order)
DNA characteristics
Many biology students use the tune of "Row row row your boat" to assist in remembering the characteristics of DNA:
We love DNA,
Made of nucleotides,
A phosphate, sugar and a base,
Bonded down one side.

Adenine and Thymine,
Make a lovely pair,
Guanine without Cytosine,
Would be rather bare.

Chemistry

- Chemistry students use the phrase "LEO says GER" to keep the two halves of a redox process straight, since the Loss of Electrons is Oxidation while the Gain of Electrons is Reduction. Another version is the word "OIL-RIG", meaning Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain (of electrons).
- The first few elements of the Periodic Table can be remembered with "Harry He Likes Beer But CanNot Obtain Food".
- A longer version, covering the elements from Helium to Potassium, is "Here Lies Benjamin Bold; Cry Not Old Friend; Needlessly Nature Magnifies All Simple People Sometimes, Clots and Kings." Skipping Calcium, the subsequent elements from Scandium to Zinc (the first group of transition metals) can be remembered via "Scandinavian T V Corrupts Many French Coalmen's Nieces and Cousins (Cu Zins)".
- The universal gas constant "PV/T" was remembered in the 1960's by saying "Pee" "Vee" over the "Telephone". Pee Vee was a television character in the 1960s that was always talking on the telephone.
Electronics
To help remember the color code that is used to identify the value of electronic resistors, the following phrase was in common use in electronics training in the US Navy: "Bad Boys Race Our Young Girls Behind Victory Garden Walls". The letters correspond to the colors black, brown, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, grey, and white, which in turn correspond to the digits 0-9. Three other mnemonics that work on the same principle are: Bad Boys Ravish Only Young Girls But Violet Goes Willingly.
Bad Beer Rots Our Young Guts But Vodka Goes Well.
B. B. ROY of Great Britain has a Very Good Wife In the network design OSI model, the seven layers (Physical, Data link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application) can be remembered with the mnemonic: Please Do Not Throw Sausage Pizza Away
Engineering

- A mnemonic to remember which way to turn common (right handed) screws and nuts, including light bulbs is "Righty tighty, lefty loosey". An alternative is to remember that cLockwise has an L (for loosen), while counTer-clockwise has a "T" (for tighten).
Geology

- Geological time scale
- The full mnemonic can be broken down to recall each of the epochs.
- Camels Often Sit Down Carefully Perhaps Their Joints Creak Possibly Easing Oil May Prove Positively Helpful.
- Paleozoic
- Camels Often Sit Down Carefully Perhaps
- Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, Permian.
- Mesozoic
- Their Joints Creak
- Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous.
- Cenozoic
- Possibly Easing Oil May Prove Positively Helpful.
- Paleocene, Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, Pliocene, Pleistocene Holocene.
- Mohs scale of mineral hardness
- Tall Girls Can Flirt And Other Queer Things Can Do
- Talc, Gypsum, Calcite, Fluorite, Apatite, Orthoclase, Quartz, Topaz, Corundum, Diamond.
Mathematics
See also: Trigonometry mnemonics
- Many mnemonics have been devised for remembering the digits of pi, consisting of phrases or verses in which successive digits of pi are obtained by counting the number of letters in each word. (Fortunately, the first thirty digits of pi contain no zeroes). Some are:
- "May I have a number?"(May = 3, I = 1, have = 4, etc. 3.1416)
- "May I have a large container of coffee?" (3.1415926)
- "May I have a large container of orange juice?" (3.14159 265)
- "How I wish I could recollect pi easily today." (3.14159 265)
- "How I want a drink, alcoholic of course, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!" (3.14159 265358979)
- (Alternate version of previous) "How I need a drink, alcoholic in nature, after the heavy lectures involving quantum mechanics!" (3.14159 265358979)
- See [http://users.aol.com/s6sj7gt/mikerav.htm "Poe, E.: Near a Raven"] for an extreme example.
- Two mnemonics for the constant e (the base for natural logarithms) are "We require a mnemonic to remember e whenever we scribble math" and "To express e, remember to memorize a sentence to simplify this". The lengths of the words constitute the number 2.7182818284, an approximation of e to 11 decimal places.
- Many people remember the order of operations in arithmetic with the word Brackets Of (fractions: 1/2 of 2) Division Multiplication Addition Subtraction (BODMAS or BOMDAS). In the United States, students often use the sentence Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally, where the E signifies exponentiation. Occasionally the phrase is modified to My Dear Mother's Aunt Sally, with the second M standing for modulo; this is more often seen in the context of programming languages, where the modulo operation is more common.
- Many secondary school students remember the basic trigonometric functions with the phrase SOH-CAH-TOA (pronounced "soak a toe-uh").
SOH ... Sine = Opposite leg divided by the Hypotenuse
CAH ... Cosine = Adjacent leg divided by the Hypotenuse
TOA ... Tangent = Opposite leg divided by the Adjacent leg

- A much sportier way to remember it is with the phrase:

- Saddle Our Horses, Canter Away Happily Toward Other Adventures.

- Some Old Hippie Caught Another Hippie Tripping On Acid.
Or, as popularized at Cincinnati's, they use the simple phrase Sally Can Tell : Oscar Has A Hard On Always. (It's been theorized that mnemonic devices that reference strong emotions, such as sexual feelings, imprint a stronger memory. However "Hat On" works equally well, but seems to be less memorable.)

Another phrase used in English schools is Six Overweight Heffalumps Came And Heavily Trod On Arthur.
Oscar Had A Heap Of Apples also works if you can remember the sine, cosine, tangent order.
- "One Hopes, And Hopes, On America" was widely taught to British schoolchildren during World War II (the sine-cosine-tangent order was presumed). Not only was it a good mnemonic, it also served to reassure the children that Great Britain was not doomed to Nazi annihilation.
- You can also remember the basic trigonometric functions with the phrase "Some Old Hippie, Caught Another Hippie, Tripping On Acid", or simply, "Old Hippies Are High On Acid
- You can also consider: Some People Have, Curly Black Hair, Through Proper Brushing, Where S=Sine;P=Perpendicular;B=Base;C=Cos;T= Tan (S=P/H;C=B/H;T=P/B)
- Another, very true, trigonometric mnemonic taught to British schoolchildren was "Signs Of Happiness Come After Having Tankards Of Ale".
- Yet another alternative (taught at King Alfred's Grammar School, Wantage, Oxon, England in the 1960s) is:
Over Head Subway (O/H = S)
Algebra Helps Clarity (A/H = C)
Oxford Are Terrific (O/A = T). Singapore secondary school students have over the years used the trigonometric mnemonic of TOA, CAH, SOH, which can be pronounced as TU'A-CAR-SO, literally A middle-aged lady with a rather large pairs of legs in Hokkien and Teochew, some of the languages making up the Singlish language used in Singapore.
- For remembering the order of taking the derivative of a quotient in calculus, the phrase "ho-di-hi, hi-di-ho, hoho" can be useful, where ho means the bottom, hi means the top, and di means the derivative. So, d(a/b)/dx = (b da/dx - a db/dx)/b^2
Physics

- The name Roy G. Biv helps us to remember the order of the colors in the spectrum. In England "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" is popular (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet). In an alternate version, "Battle" is replaced with "Birth".
- A mnemonic used by physics students to remember the Maxwell relations in thermodynamics is "Good Physicists Have Studied Under Very Fine Teachers", which helps them remember the order of the variables in the square, in clockwise direction. Another mnemonic used here is "Valid Facts and Theoretical Understanding Generate Solutions to Hard Problems", which gives the letter in the normal left to right writing direction.
- The Group XVIII inert gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon) may be recalled by the sentence "Heaven Never Arsked Kriegspiel's eXtra Rent"
- The phrase "We guarantee certainty, clearly referring to this light mnemonic." represents the speed of light in meters per second through the number of letters in each word: 299792458.
General knowledge

- "DOC" represents phases of the Moon by shape: "D" is the waxing moon; "O" the full moon; and "C" the waning moon. In the Southern hemisphere, this is reversed, and the mnemonic is "COD". A French mnemonic is that the waxing moon at its first "premier" quarter phase looks like a 'p', and the waning moon at its last "dernier" quarter looks like a 'd'. In German, the Moon is compared to a handwritten small letter a for "Abnehmen" (waning) and a z for "Zunehmen" (waxing). One more (Northern hemisphere) mnemonic, which works for most Romance languages, says that the Moon is a liar: it spells "C", as in crescere (Italian for "to grow") when it wanes, and "D" as in decrescere ("decrease") when it waxes.
- "Red, right, return" used to remember which sea mark denotes which side of a sailing channel.
- On the other hand, "there´s always some red port (wine) left" is also used to remember the basics in sea faring.
- Let's not forget the word that reminds us that the best plan is usually a simple plan: K-I-S-S (Keep it Simple, Stupid!)
Geography

- Many young Australian, Kiwi and British children remember the compass points in order in clockwise with the phrase Never Eat Soggy Weet-bix, or Never Eat Shredded Wheat (North, East, South, West). Weet-bix and Shredded Wheat are popular breakfast cereals in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Another variation is Never Ever Smoke Weed. In the United States, school children are often taught with the phrase Never Eat Soggy Waffles or Never Eat Sour Worms.
- The acronym HOMES is also a mnemonic aid that can be used to remember the names of the North American Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior). SMHEO is also useful to remember their positions from North to South, "Super Man Helps Every One" to remember their positions from West to East, and if you like, "Sam's Horse Must Eat Oats" helps one to remember their ordering by size from largest to smallest. (See if you can find others!)
- The Dutch Antilles can be remembered by thinking of the Leeward Islands as the ABC islands and of the Windward Islands as the SSS islands.
- :Note: The SSS islands are part of what are in English called the Leeward Islands, but in e.g. French, Spanish, German, Dutch and the English spoken locally these are considered part of the Windward Islands.
- The nations of Central America can be remembered (in order north to south) by "Better Go Home Every Night Completely Paid".(Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama)
- To help me remember whether you lose time or gain it, I made this little mnemonic: EWG and WEL. East to West Gains and West to East Loses
Military

- A mnemonic to remember different ranks of generals in the U.S. Military is "Be My Little General" for Brigadier General (one star), Major General (two stars), Lieutenant General (three stars), and General (four stars).
Music

- Beginning music students trying to memorize the notes of the staff using the mnemonics "Every Good Boy Does Fine", "Empty Garbage Before Dad Freaks", "Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge" (or, in Britain, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" - also the title of a play with music by Tom Stoppard and Andre Previn), and "FACE" for the lines and spaces of the Treble Clef respectively. The Bass Clef equivalents are "Good Boys Do Fine Always" or "Good Boys Deserve Fine Apples" or "Great Big Dogs Fight A lot" for lines, and "All Cows Eat Grass" or "All Cars Eat Gas" for spaces.
- :Note: This method of "remembering" note positions on treble and bass clefs will lead to problems later on in music study. It is much better to learn the note positions on the grand staff as a whole and regard the treble and bass clefs as markers.
- The strings on a six-string guitar with standard tuning can be remembered using the mnemonic "Elephants And Donkeys Grow Big Ears", or with another popular mnemonic, "Eddie Ate Dynamite; Good-Bye, Eddie".
- The spelling of 'Rhythm' can be remembered as "Rhythm Helps Your Two Hips Move", although only by saying it out loud.
The year

- The rhyme Thirty days hath September is commonly used as a mnemonic for the number of days in the months of the year.
- Another mnemonic for the days of the months is not a rhyme or a jingle, but a gestalt. Whereas the traditional mnemonic simply associates the name of the month with the number of days, this one emphasizes the sequence. The 31 and less-than-31-day months would be easy to remember if they simply alternated, but the pattern of month lengths is not that simple. They alternate until the fourth 31-day month, July, which is immediately followed by another 31-day month. Since the human hand has four fingers, one can, given an appropriate mind-set, perceive this pattern in a view of the knuckles of two fists, held together. The raised knuckles can be seen as the 31-day months, the dips between them as the 30-day-months-and-February, and the gap between the hands ignored. (Thus: left-hand-pinky-knuckle = January, dip = February, left-hand-ring-knuckle = March, dip = April, and so on to left-hand-index-knuckle = July; then continue with right-hand-index-knuckle = August, dip = September, etc). :gestalt

Anamonics (Scrabble)
Many tournament Scrabble players employ anamonics, a form of initialization mnemonic, for the purposes of learning and quickly recalling sets of acceptable words. An anamonic consists of a "stem" (usually of six or seven letters), paired with a semantically related phrase, in which each letter of the phrase can be added to the stem and rearranged to form at least one acceptable word. For example, if a player has the tiles ACDEIRT on her rack, and recalls the anamonic "DICE-ART = casino math diploma", she will know precisely which letters may be played through to form 8-letter words, and will hopefully be aided in finding the words: ACCREDIT, RADICATE, ACRIDEST, RATICIDE, DICENTRA, CERATOID, TIMECARD, CITRATED/TETRACID/TETRADIC, TRACHEID, READDICT, PICRATED, and ARTICLED/LACERTID.
Techniques
A mnemonic technique is one of many memory aids that is used to create associations among facts that make it easier to remember these facts. Popular mnemonic techniques include mind mapping and peg lists. These techniques make use of the power of the visual cortex to simplify the complexity of memories. Thus simpler memories can be stored more efficiently. For example, a number can be remembered as a picture. This makes it easier to retrieve it from memory. Mnemonic techniques should be used in conjunction with active recall to actually be beneficial. For example, it is not enough to look at a mind map; one needs to actively reconstruct it in one's memory. Other methods for remembering arbitrary numbers or number sequences use numerological (lit. number+word) systems such as the abjad, where each numeral is represented by a consonant sound. These systems take advantage of the memory's ability to store more information by organizing it into "chunks". An example of a widely used system for memorizing numbers as words is the major system.
Number rhyme system
This is an example of a "peg list". It is useful for remembering ordered lists, especially for people with strong auditory learning styles. The following numbered list is static. Note the rhyme of the digit and the word (one/bun, two/glue, and so on). The items you wish to remember should be associated with each word. A similar system utilizing a combination of this and the preceding "abjad" system can easily yield numbers through 100 or higher (ex. 76 lash, 77 lilly) # bun # glue # tea # door # hive # bricks # heaven # slate # line # pen
Egg and spear or number shape system
This is another peg system, much like the number-rhyme system but more suitable for those with visual learning styles (a one looks like a candle; a two looks like a swan, and so on). # Candle, spear # Swan # Bosom # Sail # Hook # Club # Cliff # Hourglass # Flag # Egg
Visual mnemonics
Visual mnemonics are popular in medicine as well as other fields. In this technique, an image portrays characters or objects whose name sounds like the item that has to be memorized. This object then interacts with other similarly portrayed objects that in turn represent associated information.
Other mnemonic systems

- Method of loci
- Mnemonic verses
- Acronym System
- Link System
- Room System
- Peg System including number-rhyme, number-shape, and number-consonant conversions.
- Major System
- Goroawase System
Arbitrariness of mnemonics
A curious characteristic of many memory systems is that mnemonic devices work despite being (or possibly because of being) illogical, arbitrary, and artistically flawed. "Roy" is a legitimate first name, but there is no actual surname "Biv" and of course the middle initial "G" is arbitrary. Why is "Roy G. Biv" easy to remember? Medical students never forget the arbitrary nationalities of the Finn and German. Any two of the three months ending in -ember would fit just as euphoniously as September and November in "Thirty days hath...", yet most people can remember the rhyme correctly for a lifetime after having heard it once, and are never troubled by doubts as to which two of the -ember months have thirty days. A bizarre arbitrary association may stick in the mind better than a logical one. One reason for the effectiveness of seemingly arbitrary mnemonics is the grouping of information provided by the mnemonic. Just as US phone numbers group 10 digits into three groups, the name "Roy G. Biv" groups seven colors into two short names and an initial. Various studies (most notably The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two) have shown that the human brain is capable of remembering only a limited number of arbitrary items; grouping these items into chunks permits the brain to hold more of them in memory.
Assembly mnemonics
In assembly language a mnemonic is a code, usually from 1 to 5 letters, that represents an opcode, a number. Programming in machine code, by supplying the computer with the numbers of the operations it must perform, can be quite a burden, because for every operation the corresponding number must be looked up or remembered. Looking up all numbers takes a lot of time, and mis-remembering a number may introduce computer bugs. Therefore a set of mnemonics was devised. Each number was represented by an alphabetic code. So instead of entering the number corresponding to addition to add two numbers one can enter "add". Although mnemonics differ between different CPU designs some are common, for instance: "sub" (subtract), "div" (divide), "add" (add) and "mul" (multiply). This type of mnemonic is different from the ones listed above in that instead of a way to make remembering numbers easier, it is a way to make remembering numbers unnecessary (by relying on some external way to tie each mnemonic to a number).
History of mnemonics
See the method of loci.
External links

Software

- [http://www.sweetscape.com/010memorizer/ 010 Memorizer (commercial software for memorizing numbers)]
- [http://got2know.net/2Know/index.html 2Know - Windows Freeware for converting numbers to words using the Major System. Now in English, German, and French.]
- [http://users.aber.ac.uk/auj/portfolio/mnemonic.shtml Random secure password generator with automatic mnemonic generation]
- [http://brianbondy.com/other/pi.aspx Free software to help memorise Pi]
Other

- [http://www.flocabulary.com/why.html Flocabulary] Rhyming mnemonics over Hip-Hop music to help students remember vocabulary words
- [http://www.aidtomemory.com AidToMemory.com, mnemonics collection and forum]
- [http://www.english.hb.pl/articles/tips/mnemonics/ Use mnemonics to learn English]
- [http://memory.uva.nl/memory/memimprovement/eng/link.htm Human Memory]
- [http://www.worldmemorychampionships.com/ Homepage of the World Memory Championships]
- [http://www.NakedScience.com Mick Curtis memory techniques] A practical memory course.
- [http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=326639 Google Answers: How to Have a Good Memory]
- [http://www.memoryjoggers.com Memory Joggers] Using Mnemonics to teach children Math
- [http://www.thememorypage.net The Memory Page]: Tutorials and tips on how to improve your memory.
- [http://www.xs4all.nl/~jcdverha/scijokes/11.html Science mnemonics] From Science Jokes
- [http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TIM.htm Tools for Improving Your Memory] from Mind Tools
- [http://www.ba.infn.it/~zito/loci.html Method of loci] about Memory Palaces
- [http://www.keyword-method.de/ The Effect of the Integrated Keyword Method on Vocabulary Retention and Motivation by Dr. Joern Hauptmann]
- [http://www.medicalmnemonics.com/ Medical Mnemonics.com: World's Database of Medical Mnemonics] - "A free online searchable database of medical mnemonics to help students of health-related professions remember the important details."
- [http://www.happychild.org.uk/acc/tpr/mem/1198link.htm Memory Improvement and Learning Information]
- [http://www.vlaardingen.net/~tom/Menu_B.htm Memory Master]
- [http://www.demon.co.uk/mindtool/link.html Mind Tools]
- [http://www.silkwood.co.uk/cgi-bin/nav.pl?doc=100_Link_system.nav&uid=363703 World Wide Brain Club]
- Category:Educational technology ja:記憶術

Wilhelm I of Germany

Wilhelm I of Germany ( March 22 1797 – March 9 1888), German Emperor (Kaiser), ruled January 18 1871 – 9 March 1888 and King of Prussia, ruled 2 January 1861 – 9 March 1888. His full name was Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig. Some English-language biographies anglicize his name as William I.

Early Life and Military Career

1888.]] As second son of Friedrich Wilhelm III Wilhelm had no expectations to ascend to the throne and thus he received only little education. He served in the army from 1814 onward, fought against Napoleon, and was reportedly a very brave soldier. He also became an excellent diplomat by engaging in diplomatic missions after 1815. In 1848 he successfully crushed a revolt that was aimed at his elder brother King Friedrich Wilhelm IV.

Prince Regent

In 1857 Friedrich Wilhelm IV suffered from a stroke and became mentally disabled for the rest of his life. In January 1858 Wilhelm became Prince Regent for his brother.

King and Kaiser

On January 2, 1861 Friedrich Wilhelm died and Wilhelm ascended the throne as Wilhelm I of Prussia. He inherited a conflict between King and the liberal parliament. He was considered a politically neutral person as he intervened less in politics than his brother. He nevertheless found a conservative solution for the conflict: he appointed Otto von Bismarck to the office of Prime Minister. According to the Prussian constitution, the Prime Minister was responsible solely to the king, not to parliament. Bismarck liked to see his work relationship with Wilhelm as that of a vassal to his feudal superior. Nonetheless it was Bismarck who effectively directed the politics, interior as well as foreign; on several occasions he gained Wilhelm's assent by threatening to resign. In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War Wilhelm was proclaimed German Emperor on January 18, 1871 in Versailles, in the palace of Louis XIV. By this ceremony, the North German Confederation (1867-1871) was transformed into the German Empire ("Kaiserreich", 1871-1918). This Empire was a federal state; the emperor was head of state and president (primus inter pares) of the federated monarchs (the kings of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the grand dukes of Baden and Hesse, and so on, not to forget the senates of the free cities of Hamburg, Lübeck and Bremen). Wilhelm accepted the title "German Emperor" grudgingly; he would have preferred "Emperor of Germany", which however was unacceptable to the federated monarchs. In his memoirs, Bismarck describes Wilhelm as an old-fashioned, courteous, infallibly polite gentleman and a genuine Prussian officer, whose good common sense was occasionally undermined by "female influences". In May 11, 1878, anarchist Max Hödel attempted to assassinate Kaiser Wilhelm I in Berlin, but his attempt failed. This attempt became the pretext for the institution of the Anti-Socialist Law, which was introduced by Bismarck’s government with the support of a majority in the Reichstag on October 21, 1878, for the purpose of fighting the socialist and working-class movement. The law deprived the Social Democratic Party of Germany of its legal status; it prohibited all its organizations, workers’ mass organizations and the socialist and workers’ press, decreed confiscation of socialist literature, and subjected Social-Democrats to reprisals. The law was extended every 2-3 years. Despite this policy of reprisals the Social-Democratic Party increased its influence among the masses. Under pressure of the mass working-class movement the law was repealed on October 1, 1890.

Issue

In 1829, Wilhelm married Augusta of Saxe-Weimar and had two children:
- Friedrich III, German Emperor (1831–1888) and
- Princess Louise of Prussia (1838–1923) Category:German emperors Category:Kings of Prussia Category:Regents Category:Knights of the Garter Category:1797 births Category:1888 deaths Category:House of Hohenzollern ko:빌헬름 1세 ja:ヴィルヘルム1世 (ドイツ皇帝)

Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases characterized by uncontrolled cell division and the ability of these cells to invade other tissues, either by direct growth into adjacent tissue (invasion) or by migration of cells to distant sites (metastasis). This unregulated growth is caused by damage to DNA, resulting in mutations to vital genes that control cell division, among other functions. One or more of these mutations, which can be inherited or acquired, can lead to uncontrolled cell division and tumor formation. Tumor ("swelling" in Latin) refers to any abnormal mass of tissue, but may be either malignant (cancerous) or benign (noncancerous). Only malignant tumors are capable of invading other tissues or metastasizing. Cancer can cause many different symptoms, depending on the site and character of the malignancy and whether there is metastasis. A definitive diagnosis usually requires the microscopic examination of tissue obtained by biopsy. Once diagnosed, cancer is usually treated with surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation. If untreated, most cancers eventually cause death; cancer is one of the leading causes of death in developed countries. Most cancers can be treated and many cured, especially if treatment begins early. Many forms of cancer are associated with environmental factors, which may be avoidable. Cigarette smoking leads to more cancers than any other environmental factor.

Diagnosing cancer

Most cancers are initially recognized either because signs or symptoms appear or through screening. Neither of these lead to a definitive diagnosis, which usually requires a biopsy. Some cancers are discovered accidentally during medical evaluation of an unrelated problem.

Signs and symptoms

Roughly, cancer symptoms can be divided into three groups:
- Local symptoms: unusual lumps or swelling (tumor), hemorrhage (bleeding), pain and/or ulceration. Compression of surrounding tissues may cause symptoms such as jaundice.
- Symptoms of metastasis (spreading): enlarged lymph nodes, cough and hemoptysis, hepatomegaly (enlarged liver), bone pain, fracture of affected bones and neurological symptoms. Although advanced cancer may cause pain, it is often not the first symptom.
- Systemic symptoms: weight loss, poor appetite and cachexia (wasting), excessive sweating (night sweats), anemia and specific paraneoplastic phenomena, i.e. specific conditions that are due to an active cancer, such as thrombosis or hormonal changes. Every single item in the above list can be caused by a variety of conditions (a list of which is referred to as the differential diagnosis). Cancer may be a common or uncommon cause of each item.

Biopsy

A cancer may be suspected for a variety of reasons, but the definitive diagnosis of most malignancies must be confirmed by microscopic examination of the cancerous cells by a pathologist. The procedure of obtaining cells and/or pieces of tissue, and their examination, is referred to as a biopsy. The tissue diagnosis indicates the type of cell that is proliferating, its severity (degree of dysplasia), and its extent and size. Cytogenetics and immunohistochemistry may provide information about future behavior of the cancer (prognosis) and best treatment. All cancers can be cured if entirely removed, and sometimes this can be accomplished by the biopsy procedure. When the whole mass of abnormal tissue (the "lesion") is removed, the borders of the sample are examined closely to see if all malignant tissue has truly been excised. If the cancer has spread to other sites in the body (metastasis), complete surgical excision is impossible. The nature of the biopsy depends on the organ that is sampled. Many biopsies (such as those of the skin, breast or liver) can happen on an outpatient basis. Biopsies of other organs are performed under anesthesia and require surgery.

Screening

Cancer screening is an attempt to detect unsuspected cancers in the population. Screening tests suitable for large numbers of healthy people must be relatively affordable, safe, noninvasive procedures with acceptably low rates of false positive results. If signs of cancer are detected, more definitive and invasive followup tests are performed to confirm the diagnosis. Screening for cancer can lead to earlier diagnosis. Early diagnosis may lead to extended life. A number of different screening tests have been developed. Breast cancer screening can be done by breast self-examination. Screening by regular mammograms detects tumors even earlier than self-examination, and many countries use it to systematically screen all middle-aged women. Colorectal cancer can be detected through fecal occult blood testing and colonoscopy, which reduces both colon cancer incidence and mortality, presumably through the detection and removal of premalignant polyps. Similarly, cervical cytology testing (using the Pap smear) leads to the identification and excision of precancerous lesions. Over time, such testing has been followed by a dramatic reduction of cervical cancer incidence and mortality. Testicular self-examination is recommended for men beginning at the age of 15 years to detect testicular cancer. Prostate cancer can be screened for by a digital rectal exam along with prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood testing. Screening for cancer is controversial in cases when it is not yet known if the test actually saves lives. The controversy arises when it is not clear if the benefits of screening outweigh the risks of follow-up diagnostic tests and cancer treatments. For example: when screening for prostate cancer, the PSA test may detect small cancers that would never become life threatening, but once detected will lead to treatment. This situation, called overdiagnosis, puts men at risk for complications from unnecessary treatment such as surgery or radiation. Followup procedures used to diagnose prostate cancer (prostate biopsy) may cause side effects, including bleeding and infection. Prostate cancer treatment may cause incontinence (inability to control urine flow) and erectile dysfunction (erections inadequate for intercourse). Similarly, for breast cancer, there have recently been criticisms that breast screening programs in some countries cause more problems than they solve. This is because screening of women in the general population will result in a large number of women with false positive results which require extensive follow-up investigations to exclude cancer, leading to having a high number-to-treat (or number-to-screen) to prevent or catch a single case of breast cancer early. Cervical cancer screening via the Pap smear has the best cost-benefit profile of all the forms of cancer screening from a public health perspective as, being a cancer, it has clear risk factors (sexual contact), and the natural progression of cervical cancer is that it normally spreads slowly over a number of years therefore giving more time for the screening program to catch it early. Moreover, the test itself is easy to perform and relatively cheap. For these reasons, it is important that the benefits and risks of diagnostic procedures and treatment be taken into account when considering whether to undertake cancer screening. Use of medical imaging to search for cancer in people without clear symptoms is similarly marred with problems. There is a significant risk of detection of what has been recently called an incidentaloma - a benign lesion that may be interpreted as a malignancy and be subjected to potentially dangerous investigations.

Types of cancer

Cancer cells within a tumor are the descendants of a single cell, even after it has metastasized. Hence, a cancer can be classified by the type of cell in which it originates and by the location of the cell. Carcinomas originate in epithelial cells (e.g. the digestive tract or glands). Hematological malignancies, such as leukemia and lymphoma, arise from cells of hematopoeitic origin, such as blood and bone marrow. Sarcoma arises from connective tissue, bone or muscle. Malignant tumors usually end in suffix "-carcinoma" for epithelial cancers, and "-sarcomas" for connective tissue tumors. Otherwise, benign tumors of both origins are denoted as "-omas." For instance, benign tumor of fat cells are known as "lipoma," while its malignant form is known as "liposarcoma."

Adult cancers

In the USA and other developed countries, cancer is presently responsible for about 25% of all deaths. On a yearly basis, 0.5% of the population is diagnosed with cancer. For adult males in the United States, the most common cancers are prostate cancer (33% of all cancer cases), lung cancer (13%), colorectal cancer (10%), bladder cancer (7%) and cutaneous melanoma (5%). As a cause of death lung cancer is the most common (31%) cause, followed by prostate cancer (10%), colorectal cancer (10%), pancreatic cancer (5%) and leukemia (4%). For adult females in the United States, breast cancer is the most common cancer (32% of all cancer cases) followed by lung cancer (12%), colorectal cancer (11%), endometrial cancer (6%, uterus) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (4%). By cause of death, lung cancer is again the most common (27% of all cancer deaths), followed by breast cancer (15%), colorectal cancer (10%), ovarian cancer (6%) and pancreatic cancer (6%). These statistics vary substantially in other countries. Other cancers not mentioned:
- Epithelial tumors: skin cancer (this is in fact the most common cancer but often not classified as such in health statistics), cervical cancer, anal carcinoma, esophageal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (in the liver), laryngeal cancer, renal cell carcinoma (in the kidneys), stomach cancer, many testicular cancers, and thyroid cancer.
- Hematological malignancies (blood and bone marrow): leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma.
- Sarcomas: osteosarcoma (in bone), chondrosarcoma (arising from cartilage), rhabdomyosarcoma (in muscle)
- Miscellaneous origin: brain tumors, gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), mesothelioma (in the pleura or pericardium), thymoma and teratomas, melanoma

Childhood cancers

Cancer can also occur in young children and adolescents. Here, the aberrant genetic processes that fail to safeguard against the clonal proliferation of cells with unregulated growth potential occur early in life and can progress quickly. The age of peak incidence of cancer in children occurs during the first year of life. Leukemia (usually ALL) is the most common infant malignancy (30%), followed by the central nervous system cancers and neuroblastoma. The remainder consists of Wilms' tumor, lymphomas, rhabdomyosarcoma (arising from muscle), retinoblastoma, osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma. Female infants and male infants have essentially the same overall cancer incidence rates, but white infants have substantially higher cancer rates than black infants for most cancer types. Relative survival for infants is very good for neuroblastoma, Wilms' tumor and retinoblastoma, and fairly good (80%) for leukemia, but not for most other types of cancer.

Causes and pathophysiology

Origins of cancer

Cell division (proliferation) is a physiological process that occurs in almost all tissues and under many circumstances. Normally the balance between proliferation and cell death is tightly regulated to ensure the integrity of organs and tissues. Mutations in DNA that lead to cancer disrupt these orderly processes. The uncontrolled and often rapid proliferation of cells can lead to either a benign tumor or a malignant tumor (cancer). Benign tumors do not spread to other parts of the body or invade other tissues, and they are rarely a threat to life unless they extrinsically compress vital structures. Malignant tumors can invade other organs, spread to distant locations (metastasize) and become life-threatening.

Molecular biology

metastasize Carcinogenesis (meaning literally, the creation of cancer) is the process of derangement of the rate of cell division due to damage to DNA. Cancer is, ultimately, a disease of genes. Carcinogenesis usually requires multiple mutations in many genes, thus mutations in single gene is simply not enough. A cell divides without any regulatory manner when its normal program of proliferation is disrupted, and often times these disruptions are about promotion of mitogenic signals and suppression of anti-mitogenic signals. These two processes involve oncogenes, and tumor suppressor genes, respectively. Proto-oncogenes, broadly defined, are genes whose gene products promote cellular growth. These products can be hormones, mitogens, cell surface receptors, members of intracellular signaling pathways, and transcription factors. Often mutations in these proto-oncogenes cause them to become overactive, thus signalling the cells to divide and undergo uncontrolled growth. Tumor suppressor genes typically encode for anti-proliferation signals and proteins that suppresses mitosis. Generally tumor suppressors are transcription factors that are activated by cellular stress or DNA damage. Their main function is to arrest the progression of cell cycle before any DNA damage is repared. Otherwise, these genetic lesions, which may contribute to further genomic instability, may be passed on to daughter cells. Canonical tumor suppressors include p53, which is a transcription factor activated by many cellular stress including hypoxia and UV damage. In general, mutations in both types of genes are required for cancer to occur. For example, a mutation limited to one oncogene would be suppressed by normal mitosis control (the Knudson or 1-2-hit hypothesis) and tumor suppressor genes. A mutation to only one tumor suppressor gene would not cause cancer either, due to the presence of many "backup" genes that duplicate its functions. It is only when enough proto-oncogenes have mutated into oncogenes, and enough tumor suppressor genes deactivated or damaged, that the signals for cell growth overwhelm the signals to regulate it, that cell growth quickly spirals out of control. On a genetic side note, mutations in proto-oncogenes are dominant, or gain of function mutations, while mutations in tumor suppressors are recessive, or loss of function mutations. Each cell has two copies of a same gene (one inherited from each parent), and under most cases gain of function mutation in one copy of a particular proto-oncogene is enough to make that gene a true oncogene, while usually loss of function mutation need to happen in both copies of a tumor suppressor gene to render that gene completely non-functional. However, cases exist in which one loss of function copy of a tumor suppressor gene can render (or poison) the other copy non-functional, and this is called dominant negative effect. This is observed in many p53 mutations. Tumor suppressors are indicated in many families with hereditary cancers. Members within these families have increased incidence and decreased latency of multiple tumors. The mode of inheritance of mutant tumor suppressors is that affected member inherits a defective copy from one parent, and a normal copy from another. Because mutations in tumor suppressers act in a recessive manner (note, however, there are exceptions), the loss of the normal copy creates the cancer phenotype. For instance, individuals who are heterozygous for p53 mutations are often victims of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, and those who are heterozygous for Rb mutations develop retinoblastoma. Similarly, mutations in APC are linked to adenopolyposis colon cancer (thousands of polyps in colon while young), while mutations in BRCA lead to early onset of breast cancer (often bilateral). Cancer is ultimately due to accumulation of genetic insults, which are fundamentally mutations in the DNA. Substances that cause these mutations are known as mutagens, and mutagens that cause cancers are known as carcinogens. Particular substances have been linked to specific types of cancer. Tobacco smoking is associated with lung cancer. Breathing asbestos fibers is associated with mesothelioma. Prolonged exposure to radiation, particularly ultraviolet radiation from the sun, leads to melanoma and other skin malignancies. Even though most carcinogens are mutagens, some carcinogens are not. For instance estrogen is required for proliferation in a subset of breast tumor (estrogen-dependent breast cancer), even though estrogen does not induce DNA damage. These mitogens promote cancers through their stimulatory effect on the rate of cell mitosis. Faster rates of mitosis increasingly leave less time for DNA repair, therefore increasingly the likelihood of a genetic mistake being passed onto daughter cells, which in turn accumulates multiple mutations that may lead to carcinogenesis or progression of the disease. Furthermore, many cancers are viral in origin; this is especially true in animals such as birds, but less so in humans. The mode of virally-induce tumors can be divided into two, acutely or slowly- transforming. In acutely transforming viruses, the viral particles carry a gene that encodes for a overactive oncogene called viral-oncogene (or v-onc), and the infected cell is transformed as soon as v-onc is expressed. In contrast, in slowly-transforming viruses, virus genome is inserted (viral genome insertion is obligatory part of retroviruses) near a proto-oncogene in the host genome and the viral promoter or other transcription regulatory elements in turn cause overexpression of that proto-oncogene, which in turn induces uncontrolled cellular proliferation. Because viral genome insertion is not specific to proto-oncogenes and the chance of insertion near that proto-onc is low, slowly-transforming viruses have very long tumor latency compared to acutely-transforming virus, which already carries the v-onc. Most cases the etiology of cancer is unknown. However, with the help of molecular biological and gross karyotyping techniques, it is possible to characterize the mutations and chromosomal aberrations of tumor cells, and rapid progress is being made in prognosis based on the type and spectrum of mutations in some cases. For example, up to half of all tumors have a defective p53 gene, a tumor suppressor gene also known as "the guardian of the genome". This mutation is associated with poor prognosis, since those tumor cells are less likely to go into apoptosis (programmed cell death) when cells are challenged by chemotherapeutics and radiation. Malignant tumors cells have distinct properties (examples):
- evading apoptosis (down-regulation of death ligands in tumor cells)
- unlimited growth potential (immortalitization) (loss of regulatory region of receptor)
- self-sufficiency of growth factors (see above)
- insensitivity to anti-growth factors (see above)
- increased cell division rate (loss of Rb, which induces mitosis arrest)
- altered ability to differentiate (expression of embryonic markers)
- no ability for contact inhibition (down-regulation of E-cadherin, a celllular adhesion molecule)
- ability to invade neighbouring tissues (expression of metalloproteinases, which break down extracellular matrix)
- ability to build metastases at distant sites
- ability to promote blood vessel growth (angiogenesis) (expression of VEGF)

Morphology

angiogenesis Cancer tissue has a distinctive appearance under the microscope. Among the distinguishing traits are a large number of dividing cells, variation in nuclear size and shape, variation in cell size and shape, loss of specialized cell features, loss of normal tissue organization, and a poorly defined tumor boundary. Immunohistochemistry and other molecular methods may characterise specific markers on tumor cells, which may aid in diagnosis and prognosis. Biopsy and microscopical examination can also distinguish between malignancy and hyperplasia, which refers to tissue growth based on an excessive rate of cell division, leading to a larger than usual number of cells but with a normal orderly arrangement of cells within the tissue. This process is considered reversible. Hyperplasia can be a normal tissue response to an irritating stimulus, for example callus. Dysplasia is an abnormal type of excessive cell proliferation characterized by loss of normal tissue arrangement and cell structure. Often such cells revert back to normal behavior, but occasionally, they gradually become malignant. The most severe cases of dysplasia are referred to as "carcinoma in situ." In Latin, the term "in situ" means "in place", so carcinoma in situ refers to an uncontrolled growth of cells that remains in the original location and shows no propensity to invade other tissues. Nevertheless, carcinoma in situ may develop into an invasive malignancy and is usually removed surgically, if possible.

Heredity

Most forms of cancer are "sporadic", and have no basis in heredity. There are, however, a number of recognised syndromes of cancer with a hereditary component. Examples are:
- certain inherited mutations in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with an elevated risk of breast cancer and ovarian cancer
- tumors of various endocrine organs in multiple endocrine neoplasia (MEN types 1, 2a, 2b)
- Li-Fraumeni syndrome (various tumors such as osteosarcoma, breast cancer, soft-tissue sarcoma, brain tumors) due to mutations of p53
- Turcot syndrome (brain tumors and colonic polyposis)
- Familial adenomatous polyposis an inherited mutation of the APC gene that leads to early onset of colon carcinoma.
- Retinoblastoma in young children is an inherited cancer

Environment and diet

colon carcinoma The most consistent finding, over decades of research, is the strong association between tobacco use and cancers of many sites. Hundreds of epidemiological studies have confirmed this association. Further support comes from the fact that lung cancer death rates in the United States have mirrored smoking patterns, with increases in smoking followed by dramatic increases in lung cancer death rates and, more recently, decreases in smoking followed by decreases in lung cancer death rates in men. Up to half of all cancer cases can be attributed to smoking, diet, and environmental pollution.

Treatment of cancer

Cancer can be treated by surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy or other methods. The choice of therapy depends upon the location and grade of the tumor and the stage of the disease, as well as the general state of the patient (performance status). A number of experimental cancer treatments are also under development. Complete removal of the cancer without damage to the rest of the body is the goal of treatment. Sometimes this can be accomplished by surgery, but the propensity of cancers to invade adjacent tissue or to spread to distant sites by microscopic metastasis often limits its effectiveness. The effectiveness of chemotherapy is often limited by toxicity to other tissues in the body. Radiation can also cause damage to normal tissue. Because "cancer" refers to a class of diseases, it is unlikely that there will ever be a single "cure for cancer" any more than there will be a single treatment for all infectious diseases.

Surgery

If the tumor is localized, surgery is often the preferred treatment. Example procedures include mastectomy for breast cancer and prostatectomy for prostate cancer. The goal of the surgery can be either the removal of only the tumor, or the entire organ. Since a single cancer cell can grow into a sizable tumor, removing only the tumor leads to a greater chance of recurrence. A margin of healthy tissue is often resected to make sure all cancerous tissue is removed. In addition to removal of the primary tumor, surgery is often necessary for staging, e.g. determining the extent of the disease and whether there has been metastasis to regional lymph nodes. Staging determines the prognosis and the need for adjuvant therapy. Occasionally, surgery is necessary to control symptoms, such as spinal cord compression or bowel obstruction. This is referred to as palliative treatment.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with drugs ("anticancer drugs") that can destroy cancer cells. It interferes with cell division in various possible ways, e.g. with the duplication of DNA or the separation of newly formed chromosomes. Most forms of chemotherapy target all rapidly dividing cells and are not specific for cancer cells. Hence, chemotherapy has the potential to harm healthy tissue, especially those tissues that have a high replacement rate (e.g. intestinal lining). These cells usually repair themselves after chemotherapy. Because some drugs work better together than alone, two or more drugs are often given at the same time. This is called "combination chemotherapy"; most chemotherapy regimens are given in a combination. A novel technique involves taking samples of the patient's tissue before chemotherapy. These tissues samples are screened to ensure they do not contain cancerous cells. The samples are expanded using tissue engineering techniques, and are then re-implanted following high dose chemotherapy in order to recolonise the damaged and somewhat destroyed tissue. A variation upon this method uses allogenic samples (samples donated by a different donor) instead of the patient's own tissue.

Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is the use of immune mechanisms against tumors. These are used in various forms of cancer, such as breast cancer (trastuzumab/Herceptin®) but also in leukemia (gemtuzumab ozogamicin/Mylotarg®). The agents are monoclonal antibodies directed against proteins that are characteristic to the cells of the cancer in question, or cytokines that modulate the immune system's response.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy, X-ray therapy, or irradiation) is the use of ionizing radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation therapy can be administered externally via external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or internally via brachytherapy. The effects of radiation therapy are localised and confined to the region being treated. Radiation therapy injures or destroys cells in the area being treated (the "target tissue") by damaging their genetic material, making it impossible for these cells to continue to grow and divide. In addition, they cut off the blood supply to the cancer cells causing them to die in a process called necrosis. Although radiation damages both cancer cells and normal cells, most normal cells can recover from the effects of radiation and function properly. The goal of radiation therapy is to damage as many cancer cells as possible, while limiting harm to nearby healthy tissue. Hence, it is given in many fractions, allowing healthy tissue to recover between fractions. Radiation therapy may be used to treat almost every type of solid tumor, including cancers of the brain, breast, cervix, larynx, lung, pancreas, prostate, skin, stomach, uterus, or soft tissue sarcomas. Radiation is also used to treat leukemia and lymphoma. Radiation dose to each site depends on a number of factors, including the radiosensitivty of each cancer type and whether there are tissues and organs nearby that may be damaged by radiation. Thus, as with every form of treatment, radiation therapy is not without its side effects. These side effects include temporary (reversible) or permanent side effects (irreversible damage).

Hormonal suppression

The growth of nearly all tissues, including cancers, can be accelerated or inhibited by providing or blocking certain hormones. This allows an additional method of treatment for many cancers. Common examples of hormone-sensitive tumors include certain types of breast, prostate, and thyroid cancers. Removing or blocking estrogen, testosterone, or TSH, respectively, is often an important additional treatment.

Symptom control

Although the control of the symptoms of cancer is not typically thought of as a treatment directed at the cancer, it is an important determinant of the quality of life of cancer patients, and plays an important role in the decision whether the patient is able to undergo other treatments. Although all practicing doctors have the therapeutic skills to control pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhage and other common problems in cancer patients, the multidisciplinary specialty of palliative care has arisen specifically in response to the symptom control needs of this group of patients. Analgesia (painkillers, frequently opioids such as morphine) and antiemetics (drugs to suppress nausea and vomiting) are very commonly used in patients with cancer-related symptoms.

Treatment trials

Clinical trials, also called research studies, test new treatments in people with cancer. The goal of this research is to find better ways to treat cancer and help cancer patients. Clinical trials test many types of treatment such as new drugs, new approaches to surgery or radiation therapy, new combinations of treatments, or new methods such as gene therapy. A clinical trial is one of the final stages of a long and careful cancer research process. The search for new treatments begins in the laboratory, where scientists first develop and test new ideas. If an approach seems promising, the next step may be testing a treatment in animals to see how it affects cancer in a living being and whether it has harmful effects. Of course, treatments that work well in the lab or in animals do not always work well in people. Studies are done with cancer patients to find out whether promising treatments are safe and effective. Patients who take part may be helped personally by the treatment(s) they receive. They get up-to-date care from cancer experts, and they receive either a new treatment being tested or the best available standard treatment for their cancer. Of course, there is no guarantee that a new treatment being tested or a standard treatment will produce good results. New treatments also may have unknown risks, but if a new treatment proves effective or more effective than standard treatment, study patients who receive it may be among the first to benefit.

Complementary and alternative medicine

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatments are the diverse group of medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be effective by the standards of conventional medicine. Some non-conventional treatment methods are used to "complement" conventional treatment, to provide comfort or lift the spirits of the patient, while others are offered as alternatives to be used instead of conventional treatments in hope of curing the cancer. Common complementary measures include prayer or psychological approaches such as "imaging" to aid in pain relief, or improve mood. Many people feel these approaches benefit them, but most have not been scientifically proven and therefore face skepticism. Other complementary approaches include traditional medicine like Traditional Chinese Medicine. A wide range of alternative treatments have been offered for cancer over the last century. The appeal of alternative cures arises from the daunting risks, costs, or potential side effects of many conventional treatments, or in the limited prospect for cure. Proponents of these therapies are unable or unwilling to demonstrate effectiveness by conventional criteria. Alternative treatments have included special diets or dietary supplements (e.g., the "grape diet" or megavitamin therapy), electrical devices (e.g., "zappers"), specially formulated compounds (e.g., laetrile), unconventional use of conventional drugs (e.g., insulin), purges or enemas, or physical manipulations of the body. Some of these treatments meet all the criteria for fraud. Collectively they are referred to by skeptics as cancer quackery. An extensive, explanatory catalog of these treatments is available at Quackwatch [http://www.quackwatch.org/00AboutQuackwatch/altseek.html]. Almost all physicians recommend against using these modalities as sole treatment for potentially fatal conditions such as cancer.

Epidemiology

In some Western countries, such as the USA and the UK, cancer is overtaking cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death. In many Third World countries cancer incidence (insofar as this can be measured) appears much lower, most likely because of the higher death rates due to infectious disease or injury. With the increased control over malaria and tuberculosis in some Third World countries, incidence of cancer is expected to rise; this is termed the iceberg phenomenon in epidemiological terminology. Cancer epidemiology closely mirrors risk factor spread in various countries. Hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) is rare in the West but is the main cancer in China and neighboring countries, most likely due to the endemic presence of hepatitis B and aflatoxin in that population. Similarly, with tobacco smoking becoming more common in various Third World countries, lung cancer incidence has increased in a parallel fashion.

Prevention

Cancer prevention is defined as active measures to decrease the incidence of cancer. This can be accomplished by avoiding carcinogens or alt