Selective Toxicity Of Anti Cancer Agents Biology Essay

Selective Toxicity Of Anti Cancer Agents Biology Essay Cancer is known to be caused by a large group of various diseases, all involved in cellular malfunction. It dates back to about 1600 BC when it was first found in an Egyptian papyrus (Wu et al, 2006) and thought to be incurable till surgery and radiation became the means of treatment in the mid-1900s. After many years it was realised that using either or combination of treatment, metastatic cancer could not be controlled and in order to gain therapeutic effect, the therapy had to reach every organ of the body. Research in drug discovery and development now focuses on using chemotherapy especially those that are selectively toxic e.g. antimetabolites (Thurston, 2007). It is not fully understood why they are selectively toxic but they are more effective on tumour cells because they are able to divide faster that healthy cells. Selective toxicity was defined as materials that are able to damage some types of cells and not the others (Albert, 1951). Even though mortality rate has not imp roved much, characteristics and pathways of cells in different tumours have been identified so as to develop therapies for specific tumour. The therapies developed either target protein that cause or are involved in development of tumour directly or by targeting drugs to the tumour. Examples of new drugs that have resulted from advances in drug discovery are (Narang Desai, 2009) : Imatinib (Gleevec) inhibits binding of protein (BCR-ABL) which is found in CML tumour cells. Gefitinib (Iressa1) inhibits epidermal growth factor receptorà ¢Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚ ¢s. It is used to treat lung cancer. Trastuzumab (Herceptin1) is another monoclonal antibody that binds the cell surface HER2/neu (erbB2) receptor and is used in treating erbB2+ breast cancer. This report will focus on principles and challenges of selective toxicity of chemotherapy, how they work, the limitations of the current chemotherapy and ways to improve drugs. MECHANISM OF ACTION Chemotherapy drugs are able to move throughout the body to get to where they are intended by entering the bloodstream through an injection, a drip which are usually through a vein or as capsules and tablets. For chemotherapy to work it is important to understand cell cycle, this is because chemotherapy drugs work mainly on actively reproducing cells in the body where some drugs attack particular phases of the cell cycle like the S phase. In cancerous cells, the checkpoints are damaged causing the cancer cells to continue to grow out of control. Chemotherapy works by damaging the genes present inside the nucleus of cells. Some drugs work by damaging cells when they are beginning to divide or while copies are being made. Chemotherapy drugs cause the cancerous cells to think that their lifespan has finished which leads to apoptosis. There are different classes of selective toxicity drugs which have different methods for killing cancerous cells, some of which are below(ACS, 2013): Alkylating agents (e.g. busulfan) are selectively toxic to DNA, where they damage DNA so as to prevent cancer cells from reproducing. Active in all the phases of cell cycle and are used to treat a wide variety of cancer like leukaemia Antimetabolites(5-fluorouracil), these agents alter DNA and RNA growth by replacing building blocks normally present in DNA and RNA. They work in the S phase and are used to treat breast cancer. Anti-tumour antibiotics/Anthracyclines (Doxorubicin) are also important as they affect the enzymes that contribute to DNA replication. Other cancer drugs- these are not classified as chemotherapy drugs and they are still new. There are different types, the active and passive where active stimulates the immune system to attack the disease and passive(monoclonal antibody, e.g. Rituximab which binds to particular substances) uses antibodies that were made synthetically. In 2010, the first vaccine for cancer called the Provenge for prostate cancer was approved by the FDA (ACS, 2013). Below Figure 1 shows the new selectively toxic agents that target specific sites and how they influence those sites. Figure : Shows new group of anti-cancer agents designed to target specific protein that contributes to growth of tumour (Wu et al, 2006). PRINCIPLES Chemotherapy drugs that are selectively toxic have been the first choice of treatment for many cancers and there are over 100 drugs in the market today (ACS, 2013) used alone or with other treatments. It is also important to understand how these drugs work so doctors (oncologists) can predict which drugs can be combined with them and how often each drug can be administered to patients. There are three key goals of these chemotherapy treatment (ACS, 2013): The most important goal of chemotherapy is to cure cancer where the cancer/tumour is cleared from the system. There are no guarantees with this treatment as it might even take years for a patient to be cured of cancer. In a situation where cure is not possible it is important to control the disease by shrinking cancer or stopping it from growing or spreading. This is also important as it gives the possibility of a longer life because it is controlled like a disease that is chronic like diabetes. Last is palliation, which is important when cancer is at an advanced stage. Chemotherapy drugs in this case can be used to relieve symptoms or improve the patients quality of life. LIMITATIONS Normal cells that divide rapidly are damaged by these chemotherapeutic agents because they cannot differentiate between cell reproducing normal tissues and cancer cells as they are not highly selective therefore causing the following side effects (Salmon Sartorelli, 1998). Bone marrow suppression because the bone marrow cells normally divide quickly Alopecia because hair follicle cells are able to divide frequently as well GI disturbances (Nausea and Vomiting) due to mucosal cells dividing rapidly Some of these agents cause serious side effects which may lead to permanent damage to a vital organ (liver, lungs) in the body, cause infertility, heart problems or disrupt the central nervous system by causing damage. Another big problem is the development of resistance of chemotherapy drugs to treating different tumours which can occur before treatment with drug or over time after treatment. In some cases continuous/prolonged exposure to one chemotherapy drug can cause resistance to other compounds with similar structures (Akhdar, 2012). Resistance can also develop if the drug concentration in the patient is reduced due to diminished cellular diffusion or increased drug efflux. Chemotherapy treatment is also expensive and might take a couple of years before the disease is eradicated. In some cases the treatment does not work or may not destroy the cancer completely. Lastly, it makes the immune system very weak. Ways to Improve Drug A way of improving drug or avoiding resistance is using a combination of variety of cytotoxic agents as it allows prompt attack of different biological targets therefore increasing the effect of the treatment (Thurston, 2007) or with other agents that act as sensitizers to these cytotoxic agents (Narang Desai, 2009). Another way is developing new formulations that can prevent the severe side effects associated with a particular drug e.g. Doxorubicin caused cardiotoxicity but with new formulations like the liposomal formulation there are decreased side effects that are manageable and due to the selectivity of the new drug it works better than the conventional anthracycline. The use of adjuvants can minimize toxicity of anticancer drugs, therefore reducing the side effects of some of the drugs. A better diet is also advised, especially with avoiding food that cause inactivation of the drugs. Vitamin C found in citrus fruits like oranges have been found to influence anticancer drugs and reduce toxicity to the body (Salmon Sartorelli, 1998). Conclusion It can be concluded that there are three important factors to consider in selective toxicity of a drug, they are the tumour, drug and most especially the host. There have been a lot of improvement with using chemotherapy to manage cancer even though they cause severe side effects and resistance. Other challenges faced are the cost, time involved and the high mortality rate. This has brought about increase in effort of scientists to search for ways for the body to fight cancer tissue and find better cytotoxic agents to fight cancer cells.

Fair Labor Standards Act

Today we are fortunate to have laws to protect us from being forced to work excessive hours without being fairly compensated. We have laws to protect our children from being forced to work at an early age and these laws protect us from working in unsafe and unhealthy conditions. In 1938 our 32nd president Franklin D. Roosevelt was able to have the â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act† passed and signed into law. This piece of legislation was a land mark in our history.It banned most child labor; it set a minimum hourly wage and set the standard work week. This was the beginning that made employers develop records to keep track of the wages that they paid to their employees and records of the hours the employees were working. The Supreme Court had been one of the major obstacles to wage-hour and child-labor laws. In the 1936 Presidential race wage-hour legislation was a campaign issue and Roosevelt promised to seek some constitutional way of protecting workers.When President Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1936 election by a landslide he was determined to overcome the obstacles of the Supreme Court’s opposition as soon as possible. Roosevelt and his Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins tried to make a model for employers of government contractors in all fields, not just construction. But the Federal Government actually encouraged employers to exploit labor because the Government had to award every contract to the lowest bidder.President Roosevelt and Frances Perkins continued to try to get congress to pass acts to prohibit the labor of children and set minimum wages and hours. The â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† in a draft form was sent to the White House where two trusted legal advisers of the President, and with the Supreme Court in mind, added new provisions to the already lengthy bill. Roosevelt had told his Secretary of Labor, that the length and complexity of the bill caused some of its difficulties with Congress, and asked for it to be shortene d.Lawyers tried to simplify the bill but faced the problem that, although legal language makes legislation difficult to understand, bills written in simple English are often difficult for the courts to enforce. Because the wage-hour, child-labor bill had been drafted with the Supreme Court in mind, the bill could only be cut from 40 pages to 10 pages. The bill was voted upon May 24, 1938 and after the House had passed the bill, the Senate-House Conference Committee made more changes to reconcile differences.During the legislative battles over fair labor standards, members of Congress had proposed 72 amendments. Almost every change had exemptions, narrowed coverage, lowered standards, weakened administration, limited investigation, or in some other way worked to weaken the bill. What had survived was approved by the conference committee and passed the House on June 13, 1938 and then the Senate approved it. Congress then sent the bill to the President, and on June 25, 1938, the Presid ent signed the Fair Labor Standards Act into law. This affected industries that employed about one-fifth of the US workforce.About 700,000 workers were affected by the wage increase and 13 million more were affected by the hour’s provision. It mostly affected white males, and about 14 percent of women (http://www. u-s-history. com). Children under the age of fourteen were no longer legally allowed to work with some exceptions in the agricultural industries and family businesses. Children under the age of eighteen were banned from working â€Å"hazardous† jobs in mining and some factory jobs. This had greatly reduced the number of children injured by bad working conditions.Children between the ages of 14 and 16 have had additional restrictions on the number of hours they are allowed to work to encourage them to stay in school. During a school day they are only allowed to work three hours and no more than eighteen hours in a school week. Children are not allowed to work before 7a. m. and after 7 p. m. , and from June 1 through Labor Day they are not allowed to work after 9 p. m. The 14 and 15 year old also have addition al restrictions in addition to the â€Å"hazardous† jobs that they may not perform.These jobs include the food service industry such as baking, cooking, working in the freezers and meat coolers, operating food slicers, grinders, choppers and bakery mixers. Fourteen and fifteen year olds are also not to perform jobs that require loading or unloading goods on or off of trucks, railcars or conveyors and they are not to work in connection with maintenance or repair of buildings, equipment or machines. Employers may be assessed civil monetary penalties of up to $11,000 for each employee who is the subject of a violation of the Act’s child labor provisions.A civil monetary penalty of up to $50,000 may be assessed for each child labor violation that causes the death or serious injury of any minor employee, and these assessmen ts may be doubled, up to $100,000 when the violations are determined to be willful or repeated (LindenMeyer, 2004). In the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† the federal minimum wage began at 25 cents per hour in 1938 and it has had over twenty amendments made over the years for increases. The latest rate of $7. 25 per hour was effective on July 24, 2009.In addition to a minimum wage employers must pay the employee’s wages in cash or something that can easily be converted to cash or legal forms of compensation, for example food and lodging. Employers cannot pay their employees with coupons or tokens that can only be used in a store owned by the employer. Discounts that are granted to employees by the employers cannot be used towards meeting the minimum wage requirement. There are a number of employment practices which ‘Fair Labor Standard Act† does not regulate.They are vacation, holiday, severance, or sick pay; meal or rest periods, holidays off, or vacations; premium pay for weekend or holiday work; pay raises or fringe benefits; or a discharge notice, reason for discharge, or immediate payment of final wages to terminated employees. The standard work week in 1938 was reduced to 44 hours per week, and if employees were to work over that they would be paid over time at a rate of their wages plus one-half wages for the additional time worked. By 1940 the standard work week was reduced to 40 hours per week (www. dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm).Despite this law in 2006 a class action law suit was brought against Wal-Mart for not paying its employees for their overtime and forcing them to work through their breaks. Wal-Mart lost the law suit and the workers won $78. 4 million (Worth 2008 p 12). In 1961 an amendment was added to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† called â€Å"enterprise coverage†. It applies to employers whose annual sales total $500,000. 00 or more, or who are engaged in interstate commerce. The courts interpreted that the term interstate commerce to cover companies that regularly use the U. S. mail to send and receive letters to and from other states.The courts included that employees that use company telephones or computers to place or accept interstate business calls or take orders would make the employers subject to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† (Steingold, 2009). There are also exemptions to the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† where some employees do not qualify for the provisions of overtime or the minimum wage requirements. These employees who are not entitled to it are called â€Å"exempt† employees. Employees that are always entitled to the overtime and the minimum wage pay provisions are â€Å"nonexempt† employees and they are blue-collar employees and first responders.Blue-collar employees include carpenters, electricians, mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsman, operating engineers, construction works, and laborers. First responders are workers that are on the front lines of protecting safety and health. They include police officers, firefighters, medical technicians, ambulance personnel, and hazardous materials workers. Employees that are always exempt and are never entitled to overtime or a minimum wage are employees of seasonal amusement or recreational businesses, employees of newspapers with a circulation of less than 4,000 and newspaper deliver people, and workers of small farms.Some employees are exempt if they meet certain requirements; this is usually because the employees are being paid a salary that compensates them enough for the extra duties and responsibilities that they have. Executive, administrative and professional workers are exempt if they meet the specific guidelines. The requirements for an exempt executive worker are that they must manage other workers as a primary job duty and have at least two full time employees that they are in charge of. They must have the ability to hire , fire, discipline, promote, and demote others or make recommendations about these decisions.The executive worker must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an administrative employee to qualify as exempt are that they must primarily complete their work directly for the business’s management or administration. They must be independent workers and primarily use their own discretion and judgment on their work duties. The administrative employee also must earn a salary of at least $455 per week. The requirements for an exempt professional are that they complete work that requires invention, imagination, originality, or talents in the arts such as music, writing and acting.They may need to be a highly intellectual and have been trained in extensive studies such as law, medicine, theology, accounting, engineering, architecture, teaching, and pharmacy. The must also earn a salary of at least $455 per week. Outside sales people are exempt if they regularly wo rk away from the employers’ office and make sales or obtain orders or contracts for services or facilities. Exempt salespersons are generally paid through commissions and will require little to no supervision to complete their job.The exemption from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions also applies to computer specialist that receives a salary of at least no less than $455 per week or not less than $27. 63 per hour. The law specifies that computer specialist’s primary duties involve applying systems analysis techniques and procedures. Designing, developing, documenting, analyzing, creating, testing, or modifying computer systems or programs, prototypes and/or machine operating systems. There are a number of employees that are exempt from only the overtime pay requirements.These include taxicab drivers, announcers, news editors, and chief engineers of radio and TV stations that have fewer than 100,000 people located in a town or city (Repa, 2007 and Steingold, 2 009). In 1963 an amendment called the â€Å"Equal Pay Act† had been added to equalize the pay scales for men and women who work at an equal skill, effort and responsibility. Congress felt that the differential in pay prevented the maximization of the available labor resources, they wanted to prevent labor disputes, and they did not want an unfair method of competition.They also felt that the wage differentials depressed the wages and the standard of living. Congress also wanted to eliminate stereotypes about the value of work performed by women. Congress exempted several forms of discrimination from the operation of the Equal Pay Act. These exceptions include shift differentials, restrictions on or differences based on the time of day worked, hours of work, and the lifting or moving of heavy objects. The Equal Pay Act also excluded differences based on experience, training or ability, as well as unusual or higher than normal wage rates which employers maintained for valid rea sons.The Equal Pay Act allows for unequal pay for equal work only when wages are set pursuant to a seniority system, a merit system, a system which measures earnings by quantity or quality of production, or other factors outside of sex (The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc, 1963 and Landsberg, 2004). In 2004 a class action suit was brought against Wal-Mart were 1. 6 million female associates that worked for Wal-Mart felt that they were discriminated against because they were women. These women tried to advance into higher paying positions but were passed over by men/boys who did not have the experience and knowledge that these women had.More than seventy percent of the Wal-Mart workforce is women, sixty-five percent of the cashier and greeter positions are held by women and only thirty-five percent of the assistant managers for Wal-Mart are women. The female employees of Wal-Mart are paid less than the male workforce for jobs that are of equal skill, effort and responsibility all for keeping prices lower for the consumer (Worth, 2008 p 8-12). The Fair Labor Standard Act requires employers to keep records of wages, hours, and other regulated items by the Department of Labor.Most of the information is generally obtained by employers in ordinary business practice and in compliance with other laws and regulations. Employees that are subject to the minimum wage provisions or both the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions must have employers keep the following records with personal information, including employee's name, home address, occupation, sex, and birth date if under 19 years of age, the hour and day when workweek begins and the total hours worked each workday and each workweek.These records also need to indicate the total daily or weekly straight-time earnings and the regular hourly pay rate for any week when overtime is worked and total overtime pay for the workweek. In addition to records for hours worked and paid the records also must include deduction s from or additions to wages, total wages paid each pay period and the date of payment and pay period covered. The Records required for exempt employees differ from those for nonexempt workers. Special information is required for employees that work from the home and for employees to where lodging is provided (http://www. ol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm). The constitutionality of the â€Å"Fair Labor Standard Act† was unanimously supported by the Supreme Court it has been altered and amended on at least 43 occasions between 1938 and 2009. Those alterations and amendments have provided and clarified benefits to workers in various employment sections, and made increases to the minimum wage. As a hardworking American we have a right to be paid fairly for our work. It is unfortunate that many unscrupulous employers attempt to manipulate laws intended to protect workers in order to avoid paying just compensation.When this happens, employees can turn to the legal system to ensure that their rights are protected without being discriminated against or discharged for filing a complaint or participate in any proceeding under the Act. ? Repa, Barbara Kate. â€Å"Your Rights in the Workplace† Consolidated Printers Inc, July 2007 Steingold, Fred S. â€Å"The Employers Legal Handbook† â€Å"Manage you employees & workplace effectively†. Delta Printing Solutions, Inc, June 2009 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. â€Å"Equal Pay For Equal Work† BNAIncorporated, 1963 Worth, Richard â€Å"Open for Debate Workers’ Rights† Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008 â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. † Gale Encyclopedia of U. S. Economic History. 1999. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3406400301. html Newman, Roger K. â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act (1938). † Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3407400107. html LINDENMEYER, KRISTE. â€Å"National Child Labor Committee. † Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society. 2004.Retrieved from Encyclopedia. com: http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-3402800297. html Grossman, Jonathan. â€Å"Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage† www. dol. gov http://www. dol. gov/dol/topic/discrimination/agedisc. htm http://www. dol. gov/dol/oasam/programs/history/flsa1938. htm http://www. dol. gov/dol/whd/regs/compliance/hrg. htm http://www. u-s-history. com/pages/h1701. html â€Å"Equal Pay Act of 1963. † Major Acts of Congress. Ed. Brian K. Landsberg. Macmillan-Thomson Gale, 2004. eNotes. com. 2006. http://www. enotes. com/major-acts-congress/equal-pay-act

Hcs 465 Week 1

Literature Review in Research: An Annotated Bibliography University of Phoenix, HCS 465 March 4, 2013 Strunk, J. (2008). The effect of school-based health clinics on teenage pregnancy and parenting outcomes: An integrated literature review. The Journal of School Nursing, 24(1), Retrieved from: http://dx. doi. org. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/10. 1177/10598405080240010301 This research study was conducted to determine if school-based health clinics in the United States can provide effective support and guidance needed to avoid negative outcomes of pregnancy (such as low birth weight) and parenting (such as poor academic performance).Data for this research were based from five studies, which had suggested that school-based clinics had a positive effect on the pregnancy outcomes for teenagers for both pregnancy as well as parenting. According to EBSCO Host, this is a peer-reviewed article. Whitehead, E. (2008). Exploring relationships in teenage pregnancy. International Journal Of Nursi ng Practice, 14(4), 292-295. Retrieved from: http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer? id=17602d6e-13b6-4776-8cc8-48f3b164c515%40sessionmgr113&vid=4&hid=127 This research study was used to explore relationships of teenage pregnant women and father’s of the unborn child in the United Kingdom to determine if they maintain the relationship they had after the pregnancy. 47 teenage pregnant women were interviewed, ages 16-19 years old over a period of 15 months, with focus on the age of the baby’s father, education and employment of the baby’s father and the ability for the baby’s father to provide financial support.According to EBSCO Host, this is a peer-reviewed article. Tabi, M. (2002). Community perspective on a model to reduce teenage pregnancy. The Journal of Advanced Nursing, 40(3), 275-284. Retrieved from http://web. ebscohost. com. ezproxy. apollolibrary. com/ehost/detail? vid=5&sid=17602d6e-13b6-4776-8cc8-48f3 b164c515%40sessionmgr113&hid=127&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=rzh&AN=2003014853 This

Ethnic and Cultural Identity The Disappearing Act - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2018 Downloads: 4 Date added: 2019/04/10 Category Culture Essay Level High school Tags: Cultural Identity Essay Did you like this example? Mainstream media has created an audience that has come to expect relatable content regardless of its source and reliability. This becomes prevalent within ethnic communities online as they downplay race as a factor in establishing the authenticity of their work. However, in some cases, content creators such as social media influencers will come together to form online pan-ethnic communities to specifically attract audiences that prefer more culturally relatable content. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Ethnic and Cultural Identity The Disappearing Act" essay for you Create order This formation of a public within the community creates a sense of authenticity with the viewers. When content creators choose to use racial identity as a way to create relationships with their audience, they run the risk of sacrificing visibility to a larger group of people. Moreover, they sometimes become distant from their cultural identity through online personas which oftentimes play into racial stereotypes. On the other hand, they become visible to a smaller and more niche group of people. They are then able to create more personal and intimate connections with those who seek the type of work they produce. Ultimately, it is difficult for people of color to succeed through social media, using their cultural identity, in a white-dominated society because they must appeal to a universal audience rather than specific ethnic groups in order to gain popularity. Within the community of online entrepreneurs and artists, self-branding has become a primary tactic for gaining visibility through social media. In Alice Marwicks book, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity, Branding in the Social Media Age, the author discusses, in her fourth chapter, the importance of self-branding in a modern day technological society where social media and online presence is a determining factor in how an individual climbs towards fame. According to Marwick, self branding is a set of practices and a mindset, a way of thinking about the self as a salable commodity that can tempt a potential employer (Marwick 166). More specifically, it is how these content creators choose to sell and present themselves to prospective clients. They lose their humanity and are no longer seen as individuals, rather they are seen as a set tools and utilities for companies to use for their own personal gain and prosperity. The author does not fail to mention how self-branding has become an essential Web 2.0 strategy, and is firmly instilled in modern business culture (165). Due to the development of the Web and its ability for anyone to create a website, one can now make themselves and their content open to the public. Moreover, a persons brand is distinguished by mediocrity from quality, therefore successfully branding yourself online will put yourself in a great bargaining position for next seasons free-agency market (165). Branding oneself in a positive light will often open more doors and often give better career opportunities to candidates social media influencers, content creators, entrepreneurs, etc trying to make a living through the means of their own work. Social media influencers are commonly seen editing their online profiles in a manner that allows them to keep parts of their identity hidden. Marwick further mentions the art of maintaining the Edited Self, an image that is kept by filtering out information that may hurt an individuals brand. Social media allows users to strategically form an identity in ways that can allow oneself to be autonomous and constantly upgrading. The Edited Self must remain business-friendly and carefully observed, despite social media cultures advocacy of transparency and openness. Furthermore, YouTube and Instagram are two social media platforms where success relies heavily on popularity and a marketable persona. Therefore, those within the community, such as social media influencers, have to rely greatly on creating a profile that is nuanced in specific ways. Whilst the persona must be genuine, it must also be commercial. Simultaneously, a marketable persona means that they would need to fit safely into current business culture however, there are some cases in which individuals make their fame off being controversial. This is present within the Asian American musicking community where hip-hop artists move away from their own cultural heritage and feed into urban street culture. It is often read as cultural appropriation and often raises racial tensions between groups online due to misinterpretation. Self-branding and maintaining the perfect image of ones Edited Self in a successful manner may often lead to the birth of mico-celebrities. Alice Marwick defines a micro-celebrity as the state of being famous to a niche group of people, but it is also a behavior: the presentation of oneself as a celebrity regardless of who is paying attention (114). The author further discusses the presence of lesser-known artists who have managed to gain a significant amount of popularity and followers on the internet. She analyzes micro-celebrities as well as their impact on the modern age. Micro-celebrities are celebrated for their authenticity and their achievements in the tech industry. When looking at Asian American artists on YouTube, those who do not turn away from their ethnic identity and embrace the culture can be recognized as micro-celebrities. While they are not creating work tailored towards to specific audience, they are maintaining authenticity within themselves and the work they pro duce. Marwick begins to argue that there are several ways to define of authenticity, however in the case of micro-celebrities, she defines their legitimacy as attaining personal relationships with their fans. The main discrepancy between micro-celebrities and regular celebrities is that micro-celebrities have smaller fan-bases and work rigorously to maintain personal, intimate connections with their fans. Asian American musicians on YouTube often fall under the category of micro-celebrity due to their inability to reach a large widespread audience. Youtube has developed into an online platform where emerging artists can earn recognition for the content they produce. In Eileen Regullanos article, Asian American Internet Musicking, the author discusses issues concerning the Asian American music community on Youtube. She notes how many hip-hop entertainers within the community feed into urban culture, which in turn separates them from their own racialized identities (Regullano 80). This occurs when musicians attempt to appeal to an ideal universal audience by adhering and paying homage to accepted standards of hip-hop, a genre identified as African American (80). Due to societys preconceived idea of hip-hop culture as something claimed by African Americans, there is a bold disconnect when Asian American artists perform this genre as it often reads as cultural appropriation and/or unnatural to watch. In various attempts to skyrocket their careers, Asian American Youtube artists will often downplay racialization and promote their t alent to achieve success on YouTube that is otherwise unattainable through traditional media (80). Many of these artists perform under urban stereotypes and influences as a self-branding/marketing technique to reach target audiences. Traphik (Timothy DeLaGhetto), an Asian American musician, established his position as a rapper on MTV2s hip-hop comedy reality series Wild Out. He is known to [play] general tropes of hip-hop ¦ [and] stereotyped notions of black hypermasculinity ¦ [thus] challenging the trope of Asian American men as hypomasculine (83). By breaking into mainstream media, Traphiks stage character may assist in preempting the stereotypes seen in mainstream typecasting of Asian men being feminine and socially inept. While DeLaGhetto has earned great success on his platform as an Asian American artist, he [illustrates] how playing into the misogynist stereotypes of rap music in general serves to bolster success by serving mainstream values (83). In other words, it is ha rd to thrive in an industry where success is greatly correlated with conforming to mainstream ideals and its delivery. Ultimately, it is imperative for artists of color to brand themselves in a way that keeps viewers engaged in order to be visible and financially stable. Eileen Regullano further discusses the opposite party on YouTube, artists who choose to band together and combat the stigmas and racial stereotypes set upon them by mainstream media. By doing so, they are maintaining a somewhat more authentic aspect to their work because they are not filtering out what the general public would find unrelatable or uninteresting. Consequently, they often remain as underground artists waiting for the right moment to break out and are commonly unreceived by the mainstream. Within these groups, panethnicity [introduced by] social movements in the 1960s and 1970s, where the term Asian American coalesced different ethnicities under a single category to contest shared racisms encountered in the United States, to claim cultural and political citizenship emerges along with the construction of inter-ethnic bridges among the Asian American YouTube community (82). Panethnicity is a method used by channels, like Wong Fu Productions, in an attempt to combat the in visibility and social tropes faced by Asian Americans within mainstream media. Moreover, it is activated in order to promote and expand the space in which these artists are being heard in order to have their presence grow. In the musicking industry on YouTube, Asian American artists will often build inter-ethnic bridges among themselves and their fans ¦ [to] gain traction ¦ as a step toward mainstream success (82). Many artists are continuously trying to gain fame through radio and broadcast media however, it appears that YouTube has been their only source of audibility and success. The online video streaming website has turned into a more equalized platform, lending a hand to social media influencers and marginalized communities [who] find a voice through YouTubes democratized atmosphere (81). While YouTube provides visibility and a place for Asian American musicians to share their work, it seems that they are still being overshadowed by what mainstream audiences are looking for. The site has opened up very minimal doors for these artists as it acts as an agent for marginalizing Asian American musicians as Internet acts, while simultaneously illustrating the limited avenues available to them in mainstream media: (82). Moreover, they are solely being recognized as Internet Musicians a type of artist in which someone would only associate their success and work exclusively through the internet rather than a musician in general. This is clearly visible when Asian American Youtube artists perform covers of popular songs by mainstream artists, and view counts of these cover videos far outstrip those for their original music (83). Mainstream audiences are more interested in how these smaller artists are associating themselves with their favorites rather than the work produced by them. The large contrast in views when comparing original and cover videos further demonstrate the obstacles and struggles of achieving recognition for original songs [and] breaking out of the long-established patterns for Asian American YouTube cover artists (83). Thus strengthening the argument, presented by Marwick, in which self-branding becomes a vital part of an individuals career, or else they risk being overlooked by society because they are not creating content that attracts a more universal audience. Eileen Regulanos article, Asian American Internet Musicking examines the presence of Asian American YouTube artists on the video streaming website and their methods to climb towards mainstream popularity. The Asian American musicking community on YouTube is composed of artists who either distance themselves away from their cultural heritage in order to attain mainstream status or artists who come together in collaboration to combat social tropes and invisibility. Becoming popular and acquiring fame through social media has proven to be challenging in a modern day social age. Moreover, it is difficult for artists to obtain a fan-base without appealing to a general audience. People of color struggle with succeeding on social media when using their cultural heritage and ethnic identity to attract a fan-base because they must adhere to a more universal audience in a white dominating society to gain popularity. Although creating personal relationships with niche groups of fans may seem like a dream, artists are limiting their visibility/audibility by not promoting themselves to a widespread crowd. However, when artists attempt to conform to mainstream media they tend to sacrifice authenticity within their work. More specifically, when Asian American hip-hop musicians create personas influenced by urban and street culture, they further distance themselves away from the community and culture in which they came from. Often times, ethnic communities o nline downplay race as a factor in establishing the authenticity of their work. Ultimately, the effect that mainstream media has on modern society has led audiences around the globe to expect content that is congenial despite its source as well as reliability.