Stem Cell Therapy - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 9 Words: 2697 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/06/26 Category Biology Essay Level High school Tags: Stem Cell Essay Did you like this example? The heart is one of the most essential organs in the human body. It is what keeps almost every organism alive. However, recent studies have found that heart disease is the leading cause of death in America, creating a problem for the medical communities that are trying to save lives. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Stem Cell Therapy" essay for you Create order Not only is it nearly impossible for doctors to cure a damaged heart for a long term, it is also costly and leads to more surgeries just to keep the patient alive for a couple more weeks. The answer to this then comes in with heart transplants. But with more people dying of heart disease on the transplant list than there are of actual hearts able to be transplanted, there is still a problem when it comes to finding the solution to Americas number one cause of death. Scientists have recently started the practice of tissue engineering for skin replacement. This involves taking the patients own stem cells and growing them outside of the body for the replacement therapy. This practice is called regenerative medicine and scientists are searching for more ways to take existing stem cells and create new tissue that will heal organs like the heart. Recent practices for organ regeneration, especially for the heart, include grafting stem cells to the dying heart of a patient, bone marrow stem cell therapy, and many others. However, there is still no procedure that can be labeled as the most effective for improved cardiac function because there are too many different types of stem cells being altered during pre-clinical studies. These pre-clinical studies using tissue engineered grafts for cardiovascular disease treatment are taking place all over the world, but scientists still have not been able to take their findings to large clinical trials because of unknown knowledge regarding the procedure itself. Instead doctors will do small clinical trials with patients who consent to undergo a type of the cardiac stem cell procedure because the doctors are still unsure of the effects and the results of the procedure yield minimal improvement. However, in most instances patients usually end up with either neutral or insignificant positive results because doctors do not understand what factors play into healing an infarcted heart (Gersh). Even though conducting large scale clinical trials would solve the problem of the heart donor organ shortage for Americans, there are still many problems that arise when it comes to stem cells and heart regeneration in humans, including the cardiac improvement when small clinical trials and pre-clinical trials are taking place. Therefore, stem cell therapy for cardiac regeneration in humans should not be taking place in large scale clinical trials until consistent results in hearts are found from pre-clinical or small clinical trials. This would allow scientists to identify, to the best of their ability, what is happening when the stem cells are grafted, instead of continuing trials blindly. The most generalized reason why stem cell therapy for cardiac regeneration should not be happening in clinical trials is because the results are inconsistent, so they are taking a risk every time a small clinical trial on a human is done. Dr. Gersh from Mayo Clinic reports that almost all small clinical trials in humans for heart regeneration have been found as positive or neutral, but with insignificant positive results. Therefore, large scale clinical trials on humans should cease because they are not technically helping patients in the long run and could pose a risk on future trials because the current results have been inconsistent since the trials have been taking place. A study in the American Heart Journal reported that stem cell therapy trials in myocardial infarction using a specific stimulating factor (G-CFS) also had inconsistent results. If so many pre-clinical and small human clinical trials are showing inconsistent results in regards to heart function, then doctors sho uld not be performing large scale clinical trials with thousands of people. There is potential harm to be done to thousands of patients heart if doctors use their unknown knowledge from small clinical and pre-clinical trials to perform large scale clinical trials. Also, if scientists and doctors cannot identify to the best of their ability what is happening within the body when the cells are grafted to the heart, they do not know what the possible side effects may be. Along with the study in the American Heart Journal there was a 2 year follow up of the different strategies of the G-CFS based stem cell therapy (Hyun-Jae Kang). This study reported little improvement over other types of therapy and even the control group. Even though it did show minimal improvement over 2 years, this could be detrimental to the patient because even though his heart has been fixed, there might be longer term side effects which have not been recorded. This is a problem as well because most of the studies are so recent that there have not been patients that have undergone this therapy that would give scientists information about side effects that may occur five to ten years down the line. However, many drugs and therapies that were skeptical at their time of debut are in fact perfectly fine now. Dr. Gersh from Mayo Clinic relates cardiac regeneration using stem cell therapy to the effects of aspirin. Although the underlying understanding of how the drug worked was not understood at the time, scientists have finally been able to recognize what the drug actually does in the past ten or so years. This makes a credible case for continuation of cardiac regeneration using stem cell therapy because maybe, in ten years after successful surgeries using stem cell therapy on the heart, doctors will finally be able to understand what the cells are doing. Although, in the meantime, even though some of the findings of this therapy are positive or neutral, there is still that unknown underlying reason of why the cells are acting the way they are, and trials should not be continued because of this sole reason. In most cases, almost all of the infarcted hearts of rats and mice have shown improvement after stem cell therapy, creating excitement among the medical community (Chien). But if scientists cannot identify what is going on within the heart during the therapy, they should not be continuing it because it poses a risk for patients undergoing the procedure. It could work minimally, or it could not work at all. Scientists should take a step back and try to understand why the cells do what they are doing before they place them into patients hearts through small clinical trials on groups of patients instead of going directly to large scale clinical trials. Or scientists and could take a step further back and do pre-clinical trials on mamm als more closely related to humans in regards to heart function and characteristics in order to more fully understand what the stem cells are doing. Scientists are also trying to force something biologically unnatural onto mammals, brining in more risks for the patients. Sicasts published an article titled Scientists Discover a Key to a Broken Heart which talks about regenerative properties in the zebrafish and how researchers are studying the way the zebrafish regenerate and take it to mammalian trials. A quote from the article states, However, despite our current understanding of how embryogenesis and development proceeds, the mechanisms preventing regeneration in adult mammals have remained elusive (4). The researchers have been trying to understand what exactly prevents regeneration in mammals, but even with their understanding of the zebrafish, they cannot identify what is blocking adult mammals to regenerate organs. This shows to help exemplify that even with all the knowledge these researchers have, they are still unable to determine if mammals can even regenerate and if they cannot understand why adult mammals cannot rege nerate, then they should not be trying to force it in clinical procedures for the heart. Unlike the salamander and other fish species, humans and other mammals are not biologically programmed to regenerate organs when they are failing. So the questions remain: Is it right for science to push something onto people that could possibly save their lives, but be unnatural for their body to perform? Yet, scientists have not deemed the process to be unnatural to the human body because they are taking the persons own stem cells to recreate the cells to fix the heart. Technically they are not putting anything foreign into the patients body, but they are still changing the genetic makeup of the cells to create something that could not have been created without humankind. So the question still remains if it is morally right or wrong to change the genetic makeup of a humans cells to repair the body when it could not be repaired before the advancement of medicine and technology. Even if this stem cell therapy for cardiac regeneration does in fact help save lives, it is merely unnatural for human cells to regenerate, so, again, the unknown consequences pose another risk. By replicating cells and programming them to behave a certain way scientists are almost acting as a creator. This act leaves moral stipulations behind and urges humans to reprogram what creates their body in order to heal it. Medicine has come so far, yet it is still not right for scientists to be able to reprogram cells in order to heal if the consequences are not known and if the body was not meant to heal that way in the first place because it could cause damage to the body. By doing something biologically unnatural to the cells in a human body, scientists are somewhat playing with fire because they do not know the consequences of their experiments. It could be that by reprogramming cells in humans scientists are creating something they cannot control because they do not know what is causi ng the change in the heart. By doing large scale clinical trials, scientists and doctors are risking creating something they cannot undo. Scientists need to study these cells in small clinical trials and pre-clinical experiments in order to fully understand them before they take them to large trials. Another reason why cardiac regeneration using stem cell therapy should not be taking place in large scale clinical trials and poses a risk, is the lack of pre-clinical trials on hearts closely related to human hearts, creating inconsistent statistics that should not be used as a basis for large clinical trials on humans. Most of the pre-clinical trials done on cardiac regeneration have taken place in mice, whose hearts are significantly different than those of humans. Much of our insight into the molecular and cellular basis of cardiovascular biology comes from small animal models, particularly mice. However, significant differences exist with regard to several cardiac characteristics when mice are compared with humans (Gandolfi 5). Much of the results that have yielded positive improvement in grafted stem cells into the heart have been from pre-clinical studies using mice. Scientists should also not use this information to base small clinical trials on. In order for scientists to ta ke their findings to large clinical trials they need to take a step back through pre-clinical and small clinical trials once they find consistent results in small clinical trials. This idea of taking information found from mice hearts to human hearts poses a risk for large scale human clinical trials because the difference between mice hearts and human hearts is quit significant as shown in the table below from the journal article Large animal models for cardiac stem cell therapies. Scientists should take their pre-clinical trials from mice to a larger animal with a heart that is more closely related to a humans heart so the results are more consistent with what a the results of a human heart would possibly be. By basing what route to take in clinical trials on pre-clinical trials on mice, scientists are taking a risk in regards to the outcome of the procedure on human hearts because of the difference of physical characteristics in both hearts. However, this is not a problem for pre-clinical studies because it does provide reliable information on how hearts work and act after stem cell therapy grafting, but transferring that knowledge from a mouse heart to a human heart is not reliable because of the significant difference between mice and human hearts. Scientists should continue to study mice hearts and the effects of stem cell grafting because it does provide relevant information for future studies, but they should not relate those findings to human hearts because of how different they are. Instead, the scientists should relate information found from mice hearts to hearts of mammals that are slightly larger and work their way up until they find suitable mammal hearts to relate to human hearts. Doctors should then take their findings from these pre-clinical studies and relate them to small clinical trials with little groups of people, but only until the pre-clinical studies have shown consistent results in hearts closely r elated to humans. With tissue engineering and the idea of regeneration becoming more prominent in the medical community, there are many possibilities as to what could come of cardiac regeneration in humans. The possibilities are endless when scientists are able to reprogram patients own cells to create something different. However, the unknown still poses a risk and problem for doctors and patients when these procedures using stem cells are involved. Especially when the heart is involved as the main organ being treated. Although most findings are neutral or slightly positive when cardiac regeneration using stem cells is done, the underlying problem is that there is still inconsistent results and scientists are moving too fast for their research. Instead of trying to take findings from pre-clinical studies that involve mice and rats to large clinical trials, scientists need to take a step back and understand what is going on within the cells and use hearts in mammals that can clearly relate to human hearts. Once those factors yield consistent results in heart function, scientists can take their studies to small clinical trials. But scientists should only start doing large scale clinical trials once the findings in pre-clinical and small clinical trials are consistent. There needs to be more order in the process for doctors and scientists to take their findings to large clinical trials involving hundreds of people. Once results in pre-clinical using mammal hearts related to humans are consistent and promising, scientists can move onto small clinical trials involving little groups of patients. Then, if the results among small clinical trials with human hearts are positive and show a larger improvement than previously recorded, doctors will be able to take their findings to large clinical trials that will finally impact more humans with heart disease in America. This is going to be a long process, especially now that scientists should back track and go to pre-clinical trials, but it will be more beneficial for the patients and humanity if scientists and doctors can fully understand stem cells before they create something that could pose a risk to human health. Works Cited Anonymous.Heart Disease Facts. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 29 Oct. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. . Anonymous. NIH Fact Sheets Regenerative Medicine. NIH Fact Sheets Regenerative Medi cine. U.S. Department of Health Human Services, 1 Oct. 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. . Anonymous. Scientists Discover a Key to Mending Broken Hearts. Scicasts. N.p., 07 Nov. 2014. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. . Chien, Kenneth R. Stem Cells: Lost In Translation. Nature (2004): 607-08. Nature.com. Web. 5 Nov. 2014. . Gandolfi, F., A. Vanelli, G. Pennarossa, M. Rahaman, F. Acocella, and T.a.l. Brevini. Large Animal Models for Cardiac Stem Cell Therapies. Theriogenology 75.8 (2011): 1416-425. Web. 6 Nov. 2014. . Gersh, Dr. Bernard J. Cardiac Cell Repair Therapy: A Clinical Perspective. Interview. Mayo Clinic. N.p., Oct. 2009. Web. 7 Nov. 2014. . Hyun-Jae Kang, Hyo-Soo Kim, Bon-Kwon Koo, Yong-Jin Kim, DongSoo Lee, Dae-Won Sohn, Byung-Hee Oh, Young-Bae Park. Intracoronary infusion of the mobilized peripheral blood stem cell by G-CSF is better than mobilization alone by G-CSF for improvement of cardiac function and remodeling: 2-Year follow-up results of the Myocardial Regenera- tion and Angiogenesis in Myocardial Infarction with G-CSF and Intra-Coronary Stem Cell Infusion. American Heart Journal. Volume 153. Issue 2. Feb. 2007. Pages 237.e1-237.e8. Web. 27 Nov. 2014. .

The Battle Of The Kosovo War - 1379 Words

The first battle of the Kosovo war which was meticulously planned with stomach revolting malice was less than a mile from my house and it resulted in the death of over 50 members of the Jashari family. As the Serbian Army surrounded the three homes the Jashari’s began to prepare for the onslaught that was to come. Although less than 20 men had arms they valiantly defended their house, their land, and most importantly their family from a determined and well organize Army. These men, farmers by trade, equipped with simple Kalashnikov rifles defended their homes and lives for hours and didn’t allow for their bloodthirsty enemies to advance even one step towards their precious brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers. The amount of power†¦show more content†¦We drove through the narrow dirt roads that winded through the hills. We were cautious not to run into the Serbian Army as they would want us to head South out of the country rather than North towards our cousin ’s village. We finally made it to our cousins after what seemed like a never ending trip although we only traveled ten miles. Our cousin’s village would be our home for now, it was better than being dead but we would soon learn that death could be easier to obtain than picking an apple from a tree. The days slowly passed and every night we would hear the roar of gun fire. My mother would rock me to bed to the sound of those shots and the explosions in the distance. The war raged on and people in the cities were in need of food. At the time we had plenty of food so my father Gani and his nephew Besnik decided they would enter the city to sell some crops. Gani and Besnik loaded their small car with apples, plums, berries, some flour, and corn. They set off for Mitrovica and planned to take the backroads all the way there. Their plans were soon useless as they were required to get off of the backroads. 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Tanning Beds and Cancer Free Essays

According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, on an average day, nearly thirty million people tan indoors in the United States (â€Å"Skin Cancer Facts† 2011). What is even more alarming is, â€Å"a new study has shown that people who use tanning parlors once a month or more have an increased risk of developing malignant melanoma by 55%. Melanoma is one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer† (â€Å"Skin Cancer Facts† 2011). We will write a custom essay sample on Tanning Beds and Cancer or any similar topic only for you Order Now If this statistic does not scare those who use tanning beds, it should. Although a nice bronze glow accompanies your body after your trip to the tanning bed, a lifetime of trouble for your skin will follow, also. Is a nice tan really worth a lifetime of health concerns for your skin? To many, it is because of societies definition of beauty. Society thinks the idea of beauty involves harming their skin and receiving potential cancer in return for laying in a bed for â€Å"color†. This needs to change just as much as we need to stop the increase of skin cancer. One-way to stop this delusional sense of beauty and to decrease the number of skin cancer patients is to ban tanning beds. Tanning beds should be banned in the U. S. ecause although you may get instant, temporary, tan skin, developing a deathly cancer called melanoma can create more permanent unpleasant medical issues and the real idea of beauty needs to be re-established. To begin, many people have heard the term melanoma but it is important to know and understand what it is. According to the article â€Å"Melanoma Stage Three Prognosis,† Melanoma is a cancer that forms in the melanocytes of the skin. These are cells that make melanin, which colors our eyes, hair and skin (â€Å"Melanoma† 2011). These cells can be found in moles usually brown or black in color, but sometimes pink, red, or even blue. Not only can these moles and other spots be cancerous, they can be deadly. Melanoma is one of the deadliest cancers in America, and also one of the fastest spreading cancers (â€Å"Skin Cancer Facts† 2011). People do not recognize they are carriers, therefore do not receive adequate treatment, so it spreads to additional parts in your body, and very quickly. â€Å"This spreading is referred to as mestasis† (â€Å"Melanoma Stage Three Prognosis† 2011). As it spreads to other parts of the body it makes for a very difficult treatment because â€Å"lymph nodes start the invasion process of nearby tissue and form lesions on vital organs† (â€Å"Melanoma Stage Three Prognosis† 2011). As a result, â€Å"melanoma in the United States kills about 8,700 unlucky people every year† (â€Å"Skin Cancer Facts† 2011). Also, according to the American Cancer Society, there is an estimated â€Å"120,000 new cases of melanoma in the US are diagnosed in a year† (â€Å"Melanoma Skin Cancer† 2011). These statistics are alarming because we all could potentially make a choice to start decreasing these numbers. Using tanning beds is causing skin cancer which spreads quickly, can reach a stage that is extremely hard to treat and could lead to death. If tanning beds were banned, there would be fewer people dying from skin cancer because people wouldn’t be allowed to use them. Since using tanning beds is the number one cause of skin cancer itself, banning them should be a given. In addition to causing skin cancer, tanning beds are brainwashing people into thinking that being â€Å"tan† is the new beautiful. What ever happened to natural beauty, including pale skin? It is sad that our society has made women and men feel self-conscious about their color because tanning beds offer a â€Å"tan†. We have started a society where kids are judged because they are not pretty and â€Å"tan† like the others. As a result, kids and adults feel self-conscious and become depressed, sometimes leading to suicidal thoughts or even suicide itself, due to the lack of confidence they have in themselves. If tanning beds were banned kids and adults would not feel self-conscious about their skin because you wouldn’t be able to tan constantly without the real sun. Some say that even though tanning beds are banned, people will go on vacation and return home tan and people will feel the same way, but this â€Å"color† will be natural. Re-establishing the idea of natural beauty will benefit everybody and their confidence. Next, to prevent people from going tanning government officials need to ban tanning in the U. S. If people break this law, there will be federal consequences just as any other law has. Reason being, there are enough innocent people dying from skin cancer because of the natural sun, so by banning tanning beds we can save the lives of those who get cancer from the beds. Also, we can re-define the term beautiful so those who are self-conscious about their beautiful pale skin are confident in their natural beauty. If we enforce this new law, people will not feel as self conscious about their pale skin because there will be no other way to tan except by the natural sun. This will get people to realize that the natural way is the most beautiful way. In some states, there have been laws implemented to restrict minors from tanning. There have also been laws stating that you must have parent permission to be able to tan. These laws don’t work because minors use fake i. d. ’s or have other people sign for them (â€Å"Should Tanning Beds Be Banned† 1995). If we enforce the new law, we can be one step closer to stopping suicide caused by low self-esteem, and helping the depressed become confident in their bodies. With all these reasons as to why there should be a ban on tanning beds comes the other side of the argument. Some people believe â€Å"Imposing a ban on tanning salons would restrict the free choice of consumers† (‘Should tanning beds be banned? 1995†). If consumers are given correct information about the dangers of indoor tanning, then they should be able to weigh these risks against their own personal benefits from indoor tanning and decide for themselves if it would be a rational choice. Some say â€Å"the government should not tell consumers that they cannot assume certain risks, even if they are willing to do so, just because the government believes that the risks are too great† (â€Å"Should Tanning Beds Be Banned? † 1995). Some also believe that â€Å"not everyone develops cancer after visiting these salons, and consumers might be willing to take the gamble (â€Å"Should Tanning Beds Be Banned? 1995). People arguing against banning tanning beds believe that a ban on tanning salons would infringe the free choice rights of over one million citizens of the United States. In my opinion, the government should risk these unhappy citizens for decreasing the number of skin cancer patients. It should not matter if your â€Å"choice† is infringed upon because this new law will be saving the lives of many. In conclusion, tanning beds cause melanoma, which can lead to death. Tanning beds have also aided in changing the definition of beauty. If tanning beds were banned, we could stop the rise in skin cancer patients and save the lives of many. Also, we can boost those kids and adults’ self-esteem who still think their natural skin is beautiful despite how others who use tanning beds may make them feel. In the long run, we could reduce the number of depressed and even suicidal individuals who become self-conscious because of the â€Å"color† of their skin. This is an important decision to make because we can reduce the number of deaths and help kids and adults realize they are beautiful the way they are. How to cite Tanning Beds and Cancer, Papers

Student uniforms Essays (563 words) - Uniforms, Childrens Clothing

Should school system require students to wear mandatory uniforms? Uniforms should definitely be used in school systems. Everything about it makes sense. Not everyone is going to be happy about it at first, but they will slowly but surely adjust. Uniforms free students of the stress on what to wear in the morning. I usually have that problem, as well as many other students. Uniforms also relieve the tension, or "break the ice", when new students come in, since they will be wearing the same thing. This will benefit both the new student and the class as a whole. The uniforms will build a sense of unity within the school. Instead of everyone as a separate "team", everyone will be in the same "team". This will benefit the whole school. Uniforms free students of the stress on what to wear in the morning. Many students, including myself, stand in front of their closets and just stare, trying to decide on what kind of shirt to wear as well as what kind of pants or shorts. Then uniforms will speed up the morning "getting-up" process, thus reducing morning tardiness in school. The enforcement of uniforms will relieve the tension between the new students and the students that are already there. The uniforms will expedite the process of making new friends for the new student since the uniforms will help the new student feel a sense of "belonging". This helps the majority of the school becoming friends with each other. This obviously helps the class and also the school as a whole, as there will be less fights and controversy between students. The implementation of school uniforms has the potential to help bring under control the disciplinary problems found in our schools, and it can do so in many ways. It could end the needless violence that occurs from the strong-arm robberies and thefts at our schools. These senseless acts largely occur due to the designer clothing, expensive jewelry, and high cost brand name footwear that are being worn to class. Uniforms can furthermore help deter the display of gang activity in the school. The simple logic behind this is, gangs would not be permitted to wear their gang colors during school because of the uniform regulations. School uniforms could also help deter the trend of cutting class or skipping school. If students were outfitted in mandatory school uniforms, they could be easily recognized outside the school grounds during the normal school day. This approach would help eliminate the temptation of students to leave school grounds unless authorized to do so. Uniforms will build a sense of unity within the school. The students will feel they are a part of one whole team charging toward their ultimate goal: graduation and college. The sense of unity will bring more fans and support for sports events and help the school financially. There will also be less fights and riots within the school when all the students feel they are a part of the same one team. The theory of uniforms in school systems is a great idea. It will relieve the students of the stress on what to wear to school every day, "break the ice" for a new student, and build a sense of unity for the school. These reasons clearly indicate the need for uniforms in our school systems.

Historical and Modern Terrorist Groups by Type

Historical and Modern Terrorist Groups by Type While there is no universally agreed-upon or legally binding definition of a terrorist act, the U.S. gives it a good try in Title 22 Chapter 38 U.S. Code  § 2656f, by defining  terrorism as an act of premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents.  Or, in brief, the use of violence or threat of violence in the pursuit of political, religious, ideological, or social objectives. What we do know is that terrorism is nothing new. Even a cursory glance over the centuries reveals a startling list of groups for whom some form of violence is justified to  achieve  social, political, and religious change. Terrorism in Early History Most of us think of terrorism as a modern phenomenon. After all, many of the terrorist groups listed below rely or have relied on the mass media to spread their message through non-stop coverage. However, there are some pre-modern groups who used terror to achieve their ends, and who are often considered precursors to modern terrorists. For instance, the Sicarii, organized in the first century in Judea to protest Roman rule or the Thugee cult of assassins in ancient India who wreaked havoc and destruction in the name of Kali. Socialist/Communist Many groups committed to socialist revolution or the establishment of socialist or communist states arose in the last half of the 20th century, and many are now defunct. The most prominent included: Baader-Meinhof Group  (Germany; renamed Red Army Faction but defunct as of 1998)  Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)Red Brigades (Italy)Revolutionary Struggle (Greece)Shining Path (Peru)Weather Underground Organization (United States) National Liberation National liberation is historically among the most potent reasons that extremist groups turn to violence to achieve their aims. There are many of these groups, but they have included: ETA (Basque)Fatah (PLO) (Palestinian)Irgun (Zionist)IRA (Irish)(Kurdish)Tamil Tigers (Sri Lankan Tamils) Religious-Political There has been a rise in religiosity globally since the 1970s and, with it, a rise in what many analysts call religious terrorism. It would be more accurate to call groups such as Al Qaeda religious-political, or religious-nationalist. We call them religious because they use a religious idiom and shape their mandate in divine terms. Their goals, however, are political: recognition, power, territory, concessions from states, and the like. Historically, such groups have included: Al Qaeda (transnational, Islamist)Aum Shinrikyo (renamed Aleph; Japanese, with various influences, including Hindu and Buddhist)Ku Klux Klan (U.S.,  Christian)Abu Sayyaf  (Philippines,  Islamist)Egyptian Islamic JihadHamas (Palestinian,  Islamist) (Hamas is designated by the U.S. and other governments as a terrorist group, but it is also the elected government of the Palestinian Authority)Hezbollah (Hezbollah is designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other governments, but others argue it should be considered a movement, rather than a terrorist group) State Terrorism Most states and transnational organizations (like the United Nations) define terrorists as non-state actors. This is often a highly contentious issue, and there are long-standing debates in the international sphere over a few states in particular. For instance, Iran and other Islamic states have long accused Israel of supporting terrorist acts in the surrounding settlements, Gaza, and elsewhere. Israel, on the other hand, contends it is fighting for its right to exist free of terror.  There are some states or state actions in history over which theres no dispute, though, such as in Nazi Germany or Stalinist Russia.

Elagabalus - Roman Emperor

Elagabalus - Roman Emperor Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus aka Emperor Elagabulus Dates: Born - c. 203/204; Reigned - May 15,218 - March 11, 222. Name: Birth - Varius Avitus Bassianus; Imperial - Caesar Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus Family: Parents - Sextus Varius Marcellus and Julia Soaemias Bassiana; Cousin and successor - Alexander Severus Ancient Sources on Elagabalus: Cassius Dio, Herodian, and Historia Augusta. Elagabalus Ranked Among the Very Worst Emperors At the same time, he will learn of the Romans discernment, in that these last [Augustus, Trajan, Vespasian, Hadrian, Pius, Titus and Marcus] ruled long and died by natural deaths, whereas the former [Caligula, Nero, Vitellius and Elagabalus] were murdered, dragged through the streets, officially called tyrants, and no man wishes to mention even their names.Aelius Lampridius The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus The life of Elagabalus Antoninus, also called Varius, I should never have put in writing - hoping that it might not be known that he was emperor of the Romans -, were it not that before him this same imperial office had had a Caligula, a Nero, and a Vitellius. Elagabalus' Predecessor Caracalla's Mixed Evaluation An emperor with mixed reviews, Elagabalus cousin Caracalla (April 4, 188 - April 8, 217) ruled for only 5 years. During this time he caused the murder of his co-ruler, his brother Geta, and his supporters, raised the pay for soldiers, waged campaigns in the East where Macrinius was to have him assassinated, and implemented the (Constitutio Antoniniana Antonine Constitution). The Antonine Constitution was named for Caracalla, whose imperial name was Marcus Aurelius Severus Antoninus Augustus. It extended Roman citizenship throughout the Roman Empire. Macrinus Easily Rises to the Imperial Purple Caracalla had appointed Macrinius to the influential position of praetorian prefect. Because of this lofty position, three days after Caracallas murder, Macrinius, a man without senatorial rank, was powerful enough to compel the troops to proclaim him emperor. Less competent as military leader and emperor than his predecessor, Macrinius suffered losses in the East and wound up making settlements with the Parthians, Armenians, and the Dacians. Defeats and Macrinius introduction of a two-tiered pay for soldiers made him unpopular with the soldiers. Enduring Ambitions of Caracalla's Mother Caracallas mother had been Julia Domna of Emesa, Syria, second wife of the emperor Septimius Severus. She had conceived the idea of propelling her great-nephew to the throne, but ill health prevented her involvement. The grandson of her sister Julia Maesa (who shared the family ambitious streak) was Varius Avitus Bassianus who would soon be known as Elagabalus. Sensationalist Biographers of Elagabalus Sir Ronald Syme calls one of the biographies of the time, Aelius Lampridius The Life of Antoninus Heliogabalus, a farago of cheap pornography.* One of the contentions made by Lampridius is that Julia Symiamira (Soaemias), Julia Maesas daughter, had made no secret of her liaison with Caracalla. In the year 218, Varius Avitus Bassianus was performing the hereditary family function of high priest of the sun god whose worship was popular with the troops. A family resemblance to Caracalla probably led them to believe Varius Avitus Bassianus (Elagabalus) the illegitimate son of the more popular emperor Caracalla. The artful Maesa saw and cherished their rising partiality, and readily sacrificing her daughters reputation to the fortune of her grandson, she insinuated that Bassianus was the natural son of their murdered sovereign. The sums distributed by her emissaries with a lavish hand silenced every objection, and the profusion sufficiently proved the affinity, or at least the resemblance, of Bassianus with the great original.Edward Gibbon Follies of Elagabalus Elagabalus Becomes Emperor at 14 One of the legions near their family hometown proclaimed Elagabalus emperor, naming him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus on May 15, 218. Other legions joined the cause. Meanwhile, still other troops rallied to defend Macrinius. On June 8 (see DIR Macrinus) Elagabalus faction won in battle. The new emperor was only 14-years-old. Elagabalus Discussion in the Forum *I dont remember the source of that Syme quote. It is referred to on The Toynbee Convector. Origin of the Name Elagabalus As emperor, Varius Avitus became known by the Latinized version of the name of his Syrian god El-Gabal. Elagabalus also established El-Gabal as the principal god of the Roman Empire. Elagabalus Alienated the the Roman Senators He further alienated Rome by taking honors and powers upon himself before they had been awarded him including substituting his name for that of Macrinius as consul. In both the message to the senate and the letter to the people he styled himself emperor and Caesar, the son of Antoninus, the grandson of Severus, Pius, Felix, Augustus, proconsul, and holder of the tribunician power, assuming these titles before they had been voted, and he used, not the name of Avitus, but that of his pretended father, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the notebooks of the soldiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . for Macrinus . . . . . . . Caesar . . . . . . . . . to the Pretorians and to the Alban legionaries who were in Italy he wrote . . . . . and that he was consul and high priest (?) . . . and the . . . . . . Marius Censorinus . . leadership . . read . . . of Macrinus . . . . . . . himself, as if not sufficiently by his own voice able to make public . . . . the letters of Sardanapalus to be read . . . by (?) Claudius Pollio, whom he had enrolled among the ex-consuls, and commanded that it anyone resisted him, he should call on the soldiers for assist ance; Dio Cassius LXXX Sexual Charges Herodian, Dio Cassius, Aelius Lampridius and Gibbon have written about Elagabalus femininity, bisexuality, transvestism, and forcing a vestal virgin to break vows that were so solemn any virgin found to have violated them was buried alive. He appears to have worked as a prostitute and may have sought the original transgendering operation. If so, he didnt succeed. When he tried to become a gallus, he was convinced to undergo circumcision, instead. To us the difference is immense, but to Roman men, both were humiliating. Evaluating Elagabalus Although Elagabalus killed many of his political enemies, especially supporters of Macrinius, he wasnt a sadist who tortured and put an inordinate number of people to death. He was: an attractive, hormonally-charged teen with absolute power,the high priest of an exotic god anda Roman emperor from Syria who imposed his eastern customs on Rome. Rome Needed a Universal Religion J.B. Bury believes that with the universal citizenship grant of Caracalla, a universal religion was necessary. With all his unashamed enthusiasm, Elagabalus was not the man to establish a religion; he had not the qualities of a Constantine or yet of a Julian; and his enterprise would perhaps have met with little success even if his authority had not been annulled by his idiosyncrasies. The Invincible Sun, if he was to be worshipped as a sun of righteousness, was not happily recommended by the acts of his Invincible Priest.J.B. Bury Assassination of Elagabalus Ultimately, like most of the emperors of the period, Elagabalus and his mother were killed by his soldiers, after less than four years in power. DIR says his body was dumped in the Tiber and his memory was erased (Damnatio memoriae). He was 17. His first cousin Alexander Severus, also from Emesa, Syria, succeeded him.

The Strategic Management of Economy Hotel in China (Proposal) Essay

The Strategic Management of Economy Hotel in China (Proposal) - Essay Example In the hotel industry a similar approach should be used. This study focuses on a specific part of the hotel industry: the low budget hotels. The strategic management framework of the sector’s hotels is explored by referring to the case of a specific country: China. The above country has been chosen because of the following two reasons: a) because of its position as a major competitor in the global economy and b) because of its significant achievements in regard to the development of the hotel industry. This study aims to show that the strategic management practices used in the sector’s hotels in China have a key role in the industry’s development; the improvement of certain of these practices, as suggested in the study, could secure the sector’s growth, a fact that would highly benefit the country’s economy. Introduction Economy hotels, as businesses, have been highly expanded worldwide. The strong financial pressures developed in the international market especially from 2007 onwards had a key role in this phenomenon. In addition, the development of technology has led to the radical decrease of distance between regions; travelling for covering various needs, including business, education or health, has become highly popular at the level that the time involved can be quite short. The establishment of hotels of low budget has been considered as a necessity so that the housing needs of an area’s visitors are covered at low cost; such perspective has been proved to increase the area’s popularity, as a tourist destination but also as a business center. Under these terms, the growth of economy hotels sector can be considered as expected. Countries that aim to secure their economic growth have emphasized on the development of the particular sector; China is an example of this trend. As in other countries, in China also, the sector’s rate of growth is not standardized; for example, during the recent global recessi on the profits for the hospitality/ tourist industry in China were reduced (Chon et al. 2013). This study aims to help to identify these problems so that solutions are retrieved based on the low cost philosophy that characterizes the sector’s businesses. Research Background and Motivation China is considered as one of the most powerful economies worldwide. The flexibility of the Chinese economy seems to be its major advantage. Indeed, the growth of China is not based on strict and standardized economic rules; rather, emphasis is given on innovation and the continuous monitoring of market trends (Freed 2011). Economy hotels have become quite popular in markets worldwide. The growth of the sector is indicated in the figures/ data included in the table of Figure 1 below. Figure 1 – Growth of economy hotel sector in China, up to 2012 (Shen 2013, p.1) The willingness to identify the strategic management needs of the economy hotel industry in China has been the key motivatio n for the development of this study. According to a recent report the economy hotels sector represents just 30% of China’s hotel industry, a percentage though that it is expected to be significantly increased in the future (PR Newswire 2013). At the same time, the competition in the sectors seems to be limited, as about 47% of the sector’s hotels are owned by three brands: ‘Home Inns Group, Hanting Inns and Hotels and 7 Days Group Holdings’ (PR Newswire 2013). The strategic management characteristics of the sector should be identified and