Although the original idea is now generally regarded as nonsense, the idea partly persists in a reduced form with a widespread, but incorrect, belief that deliberately cultivating a habit of positive thinking will increase survival. This notion is particularly strong in breast cancer culture.One idea about why people with cancer are blamed or stigmatized, called the just-world hypothesis, is that blaming cancer on the patients actions or attitudes allows the blamers to regain a sense of control. This is based upon the blamers belief that the world is fundamentally just and so any dangerous illness, like cancer, must be a type of punishment for bad choices, because in a just world, bad things would not happen to good people. Economic effect
The total health care expenditure on cancer in the US was estimated to be $80.2 billion in 2015. Even though cancer-related health care expenditure have increased in absolute terms during recent decades, the share of health expenditure devoted to cancer treatment has remained close to 5% between the 1960s and 2004. A similar pattern has been observed in Europe where about 6% of all health care expenditure are spent on cancer treatment. In addition to health care expenditure and financial toxicity, cancer causes indirect costs in the form of productivity losses due to sick days, permanent incapacity and disability as well as premature death during working age. Cancer causes also costs for informal care. Indirect costs and informal care costs are typically estimated to exceed or equal the health care costs of cancer.
Desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP) is a form of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia featuring elevated numbers of macrophages within the alveoli (air sacs) of the lung. The alveolar macrophages have a characteristic light brown pigmentation and accumulate in the alveolar lumen and septa regions of the lower lobes of the lungs. The typical effects of the macrophage accumulation are inflammation and later fibrosis (thickening and stiffness) of the lung tissue.The term DIP is a misnomer. Its name is derived from the former belief that these macrophages were pneumocytes that had desquamated.It is associated with patients with a history of smoking. Since more than 80% of cases occur in smokers, it has been suggested that the term DIP should be discarded and the subset occurring in smokers should be replaced with more accurate terms such as smoking-related interstitial fibrosis (SRIF). Although smoking is the most common cause, studies have shown a relationship between occupational exposures and the development of DIP, including occupational dust, fire-extinguisher powder, diesel fumes, nylon filaments and beryllium and copper dust. Additionally, DIP has been observed in children where it typically presents as a result of surfactant protein gene mutations, indicating that the disease is not always acquired in adulthood.Smoking cessation and avoidance of secondhand smoke exposure are both crucial to preventing disease progression, however, treatment with corticosteroids and immunosuppressive therapy has been reported to be effective pharmacologic intervention. Treatment with methylprednisolone has been reported. References


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