Rachael Rettner. "'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients." Live Science. N.p., n.d. Web.
In the article ‘Magic Mushrooms’ Rachael Rettner writes about how Magic mushrooms can help cancer patients who have depression. She starts off by saying that some of the chemicals in the hallucinogenic are proven to release stress in the cancer patient. “The cloud of doom just seemed to lift,” says Sherry Marcy, one of the patients of this chemical. These chemicals can positively affect 40 percent of all cancer patients. This seems very good but the chemical does have negative side effect including higher blood pressure. For a long time mushrooms were considered to not have any good effects until recently. Researchers at NYU deduced that the chemical is actually more effective than the standard placebo. The placebo did not have any reports of improvement in life while the mushroom chemical did. If these studies continue then they can do great things for many people.
This article is very important because it shows the impact that modern medicine has on so many lives. So many people suffer from cancer and it has taken more lives than mosquitoes. One in every four deaths in the US is from cancer which is scary to say the least and knowing that modern medicine is getting to the point of almost curing cancer is incredible. In a couple of years cancer might be cured and so many lives will be saved. This mushroom discovery is but another piece in the puzzle to stopping this global epidemic.
This article was very good at summarizing the discoveries made with the mushroom chemical and how it relates to cancer treatment. This article fits a lot of information in a relatively short amount of space. This is good because the reader does not have to go out of their way to read more than they have to. The author also did a good job in finding credible sources to back up her information. Without credible sources your statement means nothing. One of the weaknesses this article has is that it goes off in tangents. For example, when the article is talking about the history of the “Magic Mushroom” they only have one paragraph in the section about the history of the magic mushroom and the rest is present day. This show that the author wanted to give the history of mushrooms but did not have enough information so she slipped some more information on top of it. She can fix this by doing more research on the history of the magic mushroom. Another weakness of this article is that it does not stimulate the reader to wonder enough. The information she presents may be solid but it does ask the reader any substantial question that will challenge the reader. This can be fixed by writing a well thought out final paragraph that ends with a rhetorical question or some other form of intellectual stimulation.
Kirsten Ircha 11/29/16
ReplyDeleteBiology 10H Current Event #9
Citation:
"'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients." LiveScience.
Purch, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016. .
My fellow class mate, Matthew Pytosh, wrote an insightful review on the article, “'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients,” by Rachael Rettner. This review centers around how the use of mushrooms allows for released stress in 40% of all cancer patients yet can cause side effects such as high blood pressure. Matthew’s summary continues and states, “Researchers at NYU deduced that the chemical is actually more effective than the standard placebo. The placebo did not have any reports of improvement in life while the mushroom chemical did,” showing that a future of this drug could be life changing for many cancer sufferers. I find that the summary was stated well and very easy to understand and comprehend. This is because basic information was written and not overcomplicated. Also, I feel the article choice was done perfectly as the topic is very relevant and affects many people internationally. Lastly, the grammar was exceptional and no spelling errors were found by myself during the reading of Matthew’ work.
Although the review was done with great effort, a couple areas could be easily improved. First, Matthew used very non complex language. In the future, he can attempt to use more advanced vocabulary and word choice to make his piece seem more formal. This could be done through the use of synonyms. Also, I feel the sentence structure was at times too simple. In other assignments Matthew can improve this area by adding more elongated sentences to complete more advanced thoughts.
From this article, I was able to seem cancer in a new light. Before, I felt cancer affected some but was rare and detached from my life. After reading Matthew’s statistic about one in four deaths in the United Stated being from cancer, I am extremely surprised and scared. This especially is terrifying because at the age of ten I developed appendicitis and had to go through surgery to get my appendix taken out. The probabilities of me suffering from appendicitis was one in seven, and yet the odds of cancer development are greater. From this realization, I am able to see just how relevant cancer is to each person in the world and I am more inspired than ever to help cancer victims and learn about cancer treatments and chemicals, such as the mushrooms, that can aid in the lives of these people.
Rettner, Rachel. "'Magic Mushrooms Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients"" Live Science, 1 Dec. 2016. Web. 11 Dec. 2016.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.livescience.com/57049-magic-mushrooms-psilocybin-depression-cancer.html
My fellow classmate Matthew wrote an insightful and informative review on " 'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients." This article written by Rachel Rettner is about how the magic mushroom can help cancer patients who are going through depression. There are a few aspects of Matt's review that I think is solid. For example, his statistic from people dying of cancer is extremely eye-opening and it makes the review a little bit more understandable to read. Another thing that I liked is how he included a quote from one of the patients who was a patient of the chemical. It offers unique perspective and the review is more detailed. When there is a quote from somebody who took the chemical, the story is more valid and I think Matt did a very good job with incorporating this specific quote. Finally, the last thing that I thought he did a nice job with was to include where the researchers were from which was NYU. From this, it makes the story more scientifically valid and also accurate. I have read reviews in the past and sometimes, they do not include essential information such as where are the researchers from and because of this, I do not know if the review is valid.
While Matt did a solid job in certain areas, he has a few flaws which can be fixed. One thing he could have done better was make his sentences more detailed. He could do this by elaborating more on his sentences and to include more information that might have been in the article but not necessarily in the review. Another thing that he could have done better which is super easy to fix is by including the full title of the article in the first sentence of the review instead of just saying, 'Magic Mushrooms'. Thankfully, at the headline of your review, it says the full title and because of this, I knew what you would be talking about in this review. To fix this, just include the full title of your article in the first sentence of your review.
From this review, I learned that there is another way that modern medicine has been having an impact on people that are going through cancer. This review affects me personally because the two people from which I received my first name and middle name died from cancer in the late 1990s. I really wish that this type of medicine was around back then because it could have saved their lives and these two people were extraordinary individuals who died too soon. After reading this review, my knowledge for cancer and modern medicines has enhanced. This insightful and informative review written by Matthew shows that we can be headed into a positive direction in regards to curing this horrible epidemic which has affected numerous families and individuals.
Andres Saralegui
ReplyDelete12/11/16
Biology 10H
Current Event #9
Citation:
"'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients." LiveScience.
Purch, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.
My classmate Matthew Pytosh wrote a current event article on “Magic Mushrooms Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients” by Rachael Rettner. This article discusses use of mushrooms allows for released stress in 40% of all cancer patients yet can cause side effects such as high blood pressure. In his first paragraph, Matthew explains the known benefits and disadvantages to medical mushrooms. He states mushrooms were looked as a negative drug until very recently where scientists have found that mushrooms release 40% of stress in cancer patients. Matthew continues to explain the benefits of the mushrooms by connecting how modern medicine is making an impact on the world which connects his article to current world events. Matthew also utilizes his grammar very well, it was exceptional and no spelling errors were found by myself during the reading of Matthew’s work.
One element Matthew could have have used to improve his current event article was was make his sentences more detailed. He could do this by elaborating more on his sentences and to include more information that might have been in the article but not necessarily in the review. Another element Matthew could have used is to use more complex language. In the future, he can attempt to use more advanced vocabulary and word choice to make his piece seem more formal.
In conclusion, I thought this article was very intriguing and I was surprised to read that mushrooms can be used to its full potential in the medical field. This can cause cancer patients to have reduce stress during other treatments like chemotherapy which cause lots of patients stress to begin with.
Tommy Purdy
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Biology D-Odd
12 December 2016
“Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients”
Rachael Rettner. "'Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients." dddddScience. N.p., n.d. Web.
http://www.livescience.com/57049-magic-mushrooms-psilocybin-depression-cancer.html
My classmate, Matthew Pytosh, did a very good review on the article, “Magic Mushrooms' Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients.” One thing Matthew does very well is keeping the summary short and concise. Often, summaries are long and tedious, and because they are at the beginning of the article, they might draw people away. Matthew’s, however, explains everything clearly and shortly which is why I believe it is so good. Another good thing Matthew does is his critique paragraph. The critique paragraph is often the opposite of the summary, it is often too short and should be longer. Matthews, however, is nice and detailed and proves that he has an understanding about what he is talking about. One way he proves that he read the article detaily is that he claims, “For example, when the article is talking about the history of the ‘Magic Mushroom’ they only have one paragraph in the section about the history of the magic mushroom and the rest is present day.” This proves that Matthew took his time. Another aspect of Matthew’s article that is very well done is when he says that, “One in every four deaths in the US is from cancer which is scary to say the least and knowing that modern medicine is getting to the point of almost curing cancer is incredible.” I believe that this is very well done because he uses outside information to prove a point, and not just information from the article.
Though Matthew’s article is overall good, there are some weakness. One weakness is the relevance paragraph. The relevance paragraph is very short and does not say much. It consists of only four sentences which is way too short for a relevance paragraph. To fix this, he should add more interesting information about how his topic is relevant. Another issue with Matthew’s article is his simple and boring sentences. Throughout the review, Matthew uses simple words in short simple sentences. This can easily be fixed by Matthew taking more time on what he is saying and not rushing his ideas. If he were to fix this, his article would be much better.
Overall, Matthew’s review is very informative and has a very interesting story to it. I learned something that I would never think I would read. I would have never believed that magic mushrooms could have any medicinal purpose, especially in cancer patients fighting their depression. The reason I chose this article to review is because the idea of it really intrigued me and, like I said before, I never would have guessed that the mushrooms could do anything helpful. One thing I found very interesting in the article was the history behind the use of magic mushrooms. It was interesting to read about how they were discovered and their use. Now that I have read this, my perception on the dangers of magic mushrooms are changed; I now think that it is possible that they get a worse wrap that they deserve. Even though they are dangerous, there medicinal purpose to help depression seems to be legit and interesting to see how it turns out.
After reading Matthew’s review on an article titled, “‘Magic Mushrooms’ Compound May Treat Depression in Cancer Patients”, I found that the writing and delivery of this review was thorough and interesting due to a few key reasons. One reason for why I found this review to be interesting is because Matthew chose a topic that sounds very hard to believe, but after reading, turns out to be true. In addition, this review includes quotes that further back the claim that magic mushrooms can help treat depression. Lastly, Matthew makes sure to include some of the scientists involved in this study, which gives credit to the people who worked hard to find this information out.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I believe that this review is thorough and interesting, there are some aspects that may be improved upon in order make this review even better. One thing that I found was a few minor grammatical and spelling errors which might make a person devalidate this response. In addition, I found that some of the quotes that were used were sometimes in an awkward position, making the response a bit clunky.
Overall, this review was very interesting in that it shows that even things that might be perceived as bad, like psychedelic drugs in magic mushrooms, may be able to help people get better and treat depression. This discovery is among many that include a drug that can make people healthier, similar to the findings that marijuana might help treat seizures.