astronomy

Mary E. Costanza

Mary E. Costanza is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mary E. Costanza rather than just read about it. In short: Mary E. Costanza (born February 21, 1937) is a retired doctor and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst medical school.

Key takeaways

Mary E. Costanza belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mary E. Costanza to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mary E. Costanza from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mary E. Costanza (born February 21, 1937) is a retired doctor and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst medical school. She is known for her research in the field of cancer, cancer prevention, and leadership of the American Cancer Society in Massachusetts.

Education and career Costanza has a B.A. from Radcliffe College (1958), an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley (1963), and an M.D. from the University of Rochester School of Medicine (1968). She did an internship and residency in medicine at Tufts–New England Medical Center where she continued on to be a clinical fellow. Starting in 1970 she volunteered at a health clinic in Somerville, Massachusetts, an activity she retained until 1980. From 1980 until 1990 she was the director of oncology at the University of Massachusetts and its associated hospital. Starting in 1990 she led the High Risk Breast Cancer Clinic. She was a visiting scientist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute from 1989 to 1990. In 1995 she was named president of the Massachusetts American Cancer Society.

Research Costanza's early research was on the carcinoembryonic antigen as a screening tool for cancer. Her subsequent research compared outcomes of patients receiving different chemotherapy drug regimes and toxic effects from cancer drugs. Costanza has shared the pros and cons of different drug regimes used for breast cancer in The New York Times. Her later work centered on raising public awareness of breast cancer and working to improve implementation of screening for breast cancer, including large-scale studies on new drugs for prevention of breast cancer and the connection between weight and prevalence of breast cancer in women. She has researched the benefit of reminding women about the need for regular mammograms, and screening for colorectal cancer and prostate cancer.

Selected publications Costanza, Mary E.; Pinn, Vivian; Schwartz, Robert S.; Nathanson, Larry (1973-09-06). "Carcinoembryonic Antigen-Antibody Complexes in a Patient with Colonic Carcinoma and Nephrotic Syndrome". New England Journal of Medicine. 289 (10): 520–522. doi:10.1056/NEJM197309062891007. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 4579334. Costanza, Mary E. (1975-11-20). "The Problem of Breast-Cancer Prophylaxis". New England Journal of Medicine. 293 (21): 1095–1098. doi:10.1056/NEJM197511202932111. ISSN 0028-4793. PMID 1178027. Zapka, J G; Stoddard, A M; Costanza, M E; Greene, H L (1989-11-01). "Breast cancer screening by mammography: utilization and associated factors". American Journal of Public Health. 79 (11): 1499–1502. doi:10.2105/AJPH.79.11.1499. ISSN 0090-0036. PMC 1349800. PMID 2817160. Zapka, Jane G.; Stoddard, Anne; Maul, Leila; Costanza, Mary E. (1991). "Interval Adherence to Mammography Screening Guidelines". Medical Care. 29 (8): 697–707. doi:10.1097/00005650-199108000-00003. ISSN 0025-7079. JSTOR 3766098. PMID 1875738. S2CID 28514211. Smith, R. A.; Saslow, D.; Andrews Sawyer, K.; Burke, W.; Costanza, M. E.; Evans, W. P.; Foster, R. S.; Hendrick, E.; Eyre, H. J.; Sener, S. (2003-05-01). "American Cancer Society Guidelines for Breast Cancer Screening: Update 2003". CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 53 (3): 141–169. doi:10.3322/canjclin.53.3.141. ISSN 0007-9235. PMID 12809408. S2CID 1135423. Costanza, Mary E.; Luckmann, Roger; Stoddard, Anne M.; Avrunin, Jill S.; White, Mary Jo; Stark, Jennifer R.; Clemow, Lynn; Rosal, Milagros C. (2005-09-01). "Applying a stage model of behavior change to colon cancer screening". Preventive Medicine. 41 (3): 707–719. doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2004.12.013. ISSN 0091-7435. PMID 16171854.

Personal life In 1994 Costanza was diagnosed with breast cancer and spoke with The Boston Globe about her personal decisions while being a patient.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mary E. Costanza

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mary E. Costanza claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mary E. Costanza before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mary E. Costanza ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mary E. Costanza

In research: Mary E. Costanza appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mary E. Costanza in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mary E. Costanza is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1937 births, American medical researchers, American women medical researchers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mary E. Costanza outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mary E. Costanza in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mary E. Costanza means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mary E. Costanza out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mary E. Costanza in simple terms?

Mary E. Costanza (born February 21, 1937) is a retired doctor and professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst medical school.

Why does Mary E. Costanza matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mary E. Costanza?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mary E. Costanza.