Shutting Down Alzheimer's

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=shutting-down-alzheimers

Summary

Michael S. Wolfe and his colleagues through much research have found some causes of Alzheimers disease. The main thing is plaques in the brain that cause tangling which are made of A-beta (amyloid-beta). There was a debate through the 20th century whether the plaques were causes or signs of Alzheimers. Wolfe and others across the nation tried to find ways to get rid of these plaques. One way was to use proteases that would essentially cut plaques off the proteins and get rid of the A-beta. Another was to use a substance that would get rid of A-beta all together but this idea was brought down when a ten year old kid made the comment, "Couldn't these enzymes be usefull for something else in the body?". Then they tried injecting A-beta into the immune system of those who were early in Alzheimers and that proved to work until some of the patients got severe swelling in the brain. They did not use this idea again till later after research proved that it may have been the therapy that caused the swelling. Through all this research no direct cure was found but provided much hope for the future.

Response

The idea of Shutting down Alzheimers before it starts is a great idea. Although the fact that its some what genetical will be something to deal with. Maybe if they could find a way to knock it off the genes it would help. And the fact that they still don't know what everything in the body does and is responsible for is amazing. It really shows how God is an intelligent designer. I believe that soon they will find a way to shut down Alzheimers without it effecting the body in any way it will just take a lil bit of time.

Music and the Brain

Music and the Brain

Summary:

This article talked about how music and the brain work together. Your brain hears certain sounds and pitches and recognizes and stores them in many different parts of your brain. When doing an example on rodents they would make a noise and shock their foot, then two months later they would make that noise and they would react even without being shocked. Brain disorders often only affect a part of their brain. When their speech and language would be messed up they would still react to the music. One composer said that he had a song in his head but he couldn't write it because his language skills were affected by a disease. Music isn't in just one part of your brain when you think about a song and it plays in your head it doesn't involve just one section of your brain, it involves many different areas.



Response:

I thought this was really interesting and it made me think about when you get a song stuck in your head and you aren't even meaning to think about it. It really amazes me how God created our brains to do these complex things and we usually take them for granted. It really brought to my attention that I should be grateful for what He has given me and the amazing things that my body is able to do.

A Whole New World...again

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070908/bob9.asp

The idea of the gene is being questioned. It was firmly set in the “central dogma” but now, fifty years later, it is changing a great deal. It used to be believed that there was only a very small part of the genome that actually did anything at all. Now it is being discovered that all the other parts of the genome is useful.
This “other part” is what scientists call “junk DNA”. This is made of mostly RNA. Until very recently RNA was second fiddle to DNA. But studies are now showing it does much more than assist the DNA. RNA is being shown to regulate protein as well as make it. New types of RNA are constantly being discovered.
All this information, which has just been discovered, took a huge effort to find. It took 35 teams of scientists from all over the world four years to code one percent of the human genome. They collected over six hundred billion data points. This project was called ENCODE.
All this new information is being discovered, and it is reforming older theories. It was believed that there were over one hundred thousand human genes. When ENCODE published their results it was seen that there was only about twenty-three thousand human genes, not much more that a round worm who has only twenty-one thousand genes. Scientists say that what makes the human body more complex and even contributes to our brain formation is junk DNA.
The huge amounts of RNA that perform many of the genomes vital jobs are key in the development of complexity. Along with this idea, many diseases such as diabetes and even cancer are being linked to mutations in junk DNA. Or at least what scientist think are mutations in the RNA. With there being so many new advances in the idea of the gene, the effects of a single mutation are hard to predict because there can be so many and they can be scattered so widely.
The new studies being done and the studies that have already produced results have shattered the previously accepted idea of the gene. They are rebuilding it slowly and the out of focus picture of a genome is being refocused, at least for now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I think this article just makes it so clear that evolution is false. It talks about how making all this junk DNA would be against nature if it had no function. This article also just makes me think about how awesome God is. All this stuff we study that we know so much about is just a small part of this huge idea. God created all this, each with a very specific purpose and we have barely scratched the surface. And we don’t even know if we are right. God created everything to have a purpose and everything is so intricately and delicately designed that no matter what we think, God knows how important it is.

The Biology of.... DISGUST!!!!!

Everyday in Manhattan, crowds of connoisseur’s of fine art gather in the New Museum of Contemporary Art not to look at magnificent paintings or pastels, but to watch a gadget digest some food. This ‘piece of art’, that impersonates a human gut, is over thirty feet long and six feet in height! This piece of art stimulates stronger emotion than even Picasso or Monet, at least a different kind. Everyone is fascinated most people are completely disgusted. After a long time of neglecting it, neuroscientists are now trying to figure out the area of the brain that causes disgust. It is a universal emotion that a researcher has called, “ the forgotten emotion of psychiatry.” One researcher interviewed people from different countries and circumstances as to what disgusts them, her results obviously varied from person to person but in general there was a mutual repugnance to feces and many other ‘universally loathed’ utterly disgusting items. The researcher realized the trends and came to the conclusion that disgust is critical to/enhances survival. Since the trend is universal researchers believe that the feeling of disgust is encoded in our genes. The urge to react to disgust is said to be not only from the brain but from the ‘gut brain’ (a collection of nerve cells). Using MRI’s and showing patients pictures of things that would make the common man feel disgust, researchers were able to see which parts of the brain were involved in the process. The two areas that seemed to be effected by the gross images were the striatum and insula. The insula plays such a hefty role in the feeling of disgust, if It’s damaged disgust can be completely eliminated. One researcher linked disgust to obsessive compulsive disorder, rather than being fear and anxiety in excess that it is severe abnormal disgust. The line is pretty gray between OCD & Disgust because there were a variety of tests that contradicted each other, but it’s new and I’m sure they will continue to learn more and more about what exactly it is in our brain that causes the feeling of disgust.

I can understand why disgust is "the forgotten emotion of psychiatry," other emotions/problems seem to be a higher priority but it's very interesting to see what the scientific minds are doing with the research. In the article it said, " It is keen to understand how disgust helps motivate people to maintain good hygiene." I also found it quite interesting that the certain things that grossed people out were mutual whether the person was from Africa, India or the U.S. Some of the things that grossed people out were quite funny ( kissing in public, wet people, dead sparrows), this is why i believe it's so hard to study the topic, people are so diverse. This is not like studying math, rather abstract and personal. It's also interesting that the MRI can show which part of the brain is active during different thoughts!

http://discovermagazine.com/2002/dec/featbiology

Windows On The Eye

Hello...This is Kyle Brechbuhler speaking...

Most people know that our eyes are constantly moving, but did you know that our eyes actually never stop moving? No matter what we are looking out or thinking about, our eyes are always experiencing involuntary “fixational” eye movements. These movements are known as microsaccades. For many decades it was questioned whether or not these movements had a purpose for the eye or not. But after many different studies have been done, it is proven that these microsaccades actually prevent your vision from fading. When you set your eyes on something specific these movements actually increase the rate of neural impulses generated by the LGN and visual cortex neurons by directing stationary stimuli in and out of a neuron’s receptive field. Without the neural impulses the image would fade away. But research of this subject has opened more doors. It has now been confirmed through more studies that these “fixational” movements serve more purposes than one. They can also be used to determine someone’s true focus. Sometimes we may have our eyes focused on something, but our minds are thinking about something else. This can be seen by looking deep into the microsaccades which are actually directed toward your true point of focus, revealing your subliminal thoughts.
I found this article really interesting because it makes me think deeper than I’ve ever really thought before. I don’t usually sit around and wonder if my eyes ever stop moving, so it prompts me to wonder if there are other parts of our body that are constantly moving that I don’t know about, or work in the smallest way to allow us to function properly. Just the fact that these simple movements prevent us from losing sight of what we are looking at is something that baffles me. It comes to show how complex our body is and though we may study it and learn more about it, only God can truly and fully understand his amazing creation! I also find it kind of scary that people can better estimate our subliminal thoughts by looking into our eyes! I find it to be rather amazing how a mind can be seen working by scientists. Thankfully it is not possible to do with the naked eye!

Peace Out...

That other voice: the Microbe

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20070519/bob9.asp

Summary:
Tiny communities of bacteria called microbes are equally, if not more, numerous and unique than each persons individual genes. However, it was not until recently that the importance of these little creatures role and specialization has been seen.
The most common microbes are known to be in the gut. Through several studies with mice, many new characteristics are being discovered. Some of these include how microbes work and change together and with their host to perform ideally.
Along with their cooperative abilities, another image is emerging. Different microbes are being found to relate to different diseases such as diabetes or even gum disease. Watching microbial communities in the victims of theses diseases has suggested that every person retains a core set of microbes and has a variable set of microbes that affect our bodies; in their case, their disease.
Along with this study, how microbes react to certain stimuli is opening new doors for pharmaceutical industries. Including microbial reactions can help make safer more effective drugs. This is possible because instead of using drugs to influence the body or hormones, they can influence microbes.
The last thing this article discusses is how much more complex the microbial world is. For every one human gene, there is believed to be one hundred microbial genes. New ways of studying this endless world are emerging. A world so specialized that the microbes can be completely different from the gap on one side of a tooth to the other side. New avenues are being followed and new doors are opening to this unlikely advantage.
Response:
I thought this article was interesting because it showed how the slightest little things can be monumentally significant. Microbes, once thought to be simple and universal, are now being discovered as specialized and countless. This discovery is given rapid accelerations in directions in many fields. The idea that the pharmaceutical industry can make drugs to influence germs to help diseases is really intriguing.

Lifting the Fog Around Anesthesia

http://www.general-anaesthesia.com/anesthesia.pdf

Summary
Anesthesia is commonly used to sedate patients in surgery. Some patients actually remember things from the surgery, showing that consciousness during surgery can happen. Anesthesia can be deadly, but the mortality rate is only one patient in 13,000 now. Researchers are trying to find out more about how anesthesia affects humans so that they can reduce the risk of consciousness during surgery. They have found that one neurotransmitter in particular was able to block neural communication. This neurotransmitter, gammaaminobutyric (GABA), has been the focus of many studies. GABAA receptors, which receive the GABA neurotransmitters, are not all structurally the same. Scientists believe these structural differences are one cause for different reactions to anesthetic drugs. If researchers can figure out how the different types of GABAA receptors react to different anesthetic drugs, they can figure out how a certain drug will affect a certain area of the brain. It may also be possible to discover whether or not a patient is at risk for waking up during surgery based on the receptors in certain areas of their brain. The hippocampus and thalamus areas of the brain have large numbers of extrasynaptic receptors, which researchers believe to be responsible for the memory effects of anesthesia. Researchers now think that it is possible to target a particular receptor in order to spare or block memory formation. If researchers can figure out which receptors to target and how to target them they may be able to eliminate the risk of the patient waking up during surgery. There is still a large amount of research going on and many possibilities for the future of anesthesia care.
Response
I think it’s great that researchers are looking for ways to make anesthesia safer and more adaptable to each individual. While it might be relatively safe to take anesthetic drugs when going into the operating room, it can still be scary. I think the more assurances they can find and the more they know about anesthesia and its affects the better. It would make it much easier for the patient going into the operating room and their loved ones in the waiting room.

What Causes Hiccups?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=what-causes-hiccups&print=true


Summary

There are many scientific explanations for why hiccups occur but the truth is none of them had been proved to be the correct solution. One explanation is that the stomach expands causing the acid in the stomach to go up into the esophagus. Another explanation is that the nerve that connects to the diaphragm gets irritated. Neurological lesions of the brain stem can also cause hiccups. Finally, a disease of the thorax could be to blame.

The treatments of persistent annoying hiccups is treatments for acid reflux of the stomach.

A hiccup is a complex series of actions made by several body parts. The diaphragm and other neck muscles contract. Then the glottis or vocal chords close shut. The roof of the mouth and tongue raise just before the diaphragm and neck muscles contract.

William A. Whitelaw, the author of this article, suggests that these findings point to a CPG which stands for "Central Pattern Generator", that is specifically dedicated to hiccups. There are similar CPG's for normal everyday things we do such as walking, and breathing.

The author suggests that since many animals and babies in the womb experience hiccups the generator has been left over from an earlier form of evolution. Most animals don't have the same type of hiccups that humans experience. He also suggests that the tadpole, with the ability to breath air and also by using its gills, has the most similar action as a human hiccup.


Response:

This article is very informative about hiccups. Hiccups have always been mysterious. I've wondered where hiccups come from and why they occur. I've never thought that stomach acid could be a cause of hiccups. Also I didn't know that the actual action of a hiccup is more complex than just a diaphragm spasm as I had previously thought. I'm intrigued to hear further about the causes of hiccups. I do not agree with the author's point of view that the CPG for hiccups is left over from previous forms of evolution. I think that his evidence is poor and that since animals have similar "hiccup experiences" does not prove that humans received this CPG from previous evolutionary forms. Overall I think this clears of some of the mystery surrounding the phenomena of hiccups.

Long Term Threat

Young cancer suvivors may face health risks later on in life, research says. A child diagnosed with cancer would have a fifty-six percent chance of surviving for 5 years in the 1970's. Today, that statistic has increased to almost eighty percent. Now doctors have noticed that these survivors seem prone to life-threatening medical problems later on in life. Recently performed studies confirms this and shows an increased danger of heart problems or a "second cancer".

About five percent of childhood cancer survivors actually get cancer again. While some tumors are from the initial, primary cancer, some are new tumors that are unrelated to the first cancer.To scientists this change suggests that the child's original treatment contributedto this or they have a genetic predisposition to have cancer more than once.
Recently, a study revealed that survivors of Hodgkin's disease (diagnosed between 1967 and 2000) had twice the number of deaths from heart attack as other people. Children and teens treated for Hodgkins had nineteen times the rate of deadly heart attacks later in life. These findings raise concerns about treatments of cancer, although this statistic of heart attacks that occur amoungst survivors are lower than that of the elderly.

The chance of developing sarcoma (within ten years of childhood cancer) is nine times as great amoung survivors than normal. Sarcoma is cancer of muscle, bone, and tissue that surrounds nerves. In addition, an unusually high number of brain tumors appear in survivors of childhood cancer, especially leukemia. These tumors (called gliomas), within a decade of surviving childhood cancer, would appear nine times the population average.Radiation therapy stands out as the leading cause in heart problems and second cancers. Past research showed radiation to the chest can damage coronary arteries, which increases the risk of heart problems. Within the studies of gliomas and sarcomas, the survivors that got radiation were three times as likely for sarcoma survivors and seven times as likely for survivors of a brain tumor to develop second cancers as opposed to survivors who didn't get radiation.

Although these are some problems that occur with radiation it is still an incredibly important treatment for cancer. Radiation is good at breaking DNA strands which helps to stop cancer but it can also mutate a gene that normally prevents a cell from overdividing. In the last twenty years doctors have learned how to focus radiation into small beams which helps by decreasing the field of radiation which, in turn, requires a higher dosage, although we can't truely know if this helps limit second cancers.

Chemotherapy also can damage DNA. In the study of sarcoma certain kinds of "chemo" doubles the risk of having a second cancer. Researchers have found that in the case of Hodgkin's disease survivors, their increased heart attack risk can be attributed to radiation and chemotherapy. Though they have discovered this information about Hodgkin's, they still don't know the role of genetics and it contribution to second cancers. Although they do know that genetic mutations reduce a cell's production of enzymes that repair radiation damage that might lead to a possibility of the person getting a second cancer. The good news, though, is that a generation ago, having childhood cancer would mean death, now the only challenge is making sure the cure has as little risks as possible.

http://sciencenews.org/articles/20070310/bob11ref.asp

This article is interesting because I personally have never thought about second cancers and how they develop. I think it is interesting that prior treatments to the first cancer can affect whether a second cancer develops. I just thought that it was the primary cancer coming back and possibly spreading or that it was from a family gene but not from a treatment that is supposed to help with cancer.

Disappearing Ink

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071013/bob8.asp
"Tattoo technology for modern impermanence."
By Corinna Wu

Although tattoos are frequently represented in a negative light, due to the progression of our society, it has become something of a ritual, for young people especially, to get a tattoo. Men and women alike are permanently marking their bodies, and the tattoo business is flourishing as a result. But nearly twenty percent of all people who get a tattoo are dissatisfied with the product, and while the removal process is long and painful, the business of removing tattoos is almost as plentiful as the business of creating them.
The process of removing a tattoo involves using a laser to destroy the pigments so the body can absorb and clear them. While it is expensive and only partly successful, many people still undergo the multiple treatments, with the knowledge that they may be scarred or disfigured for the rest of their lives.
The art of tattooing has been around for years, and is practiced in many different countries and cultures. The earliest forms of ink included charcoal, but tattooing falls under the regulations of the Food and Drug Administrations, and consequently, the ingredients of the ink must meet certain standards. However, despite the growing popularity and suspicious rumors surrounding the pigments and inks used, the actual practice of tattooing is determined by local and state authorities, who claim they have no reason to suspect tattooing is detrimental to the health of those who receive tattoos. The main concern surrounding tattoos is not actually the ink, but the needle itself. Without proper sanitation procedures, the needles may pass along diseases, like HIV or hepatitis, to unsuspecting victims.
The needles, attached to an electronic machine referred to as a "gun", puncture the skin and leave series of holes to be filled with the ink. While the needle creates the holes and the ink flows into them, macrophages absorb the ink and hold them permanently. The macrophage protects the ink from being cleared away and fading. But the size of the ink pigments must be correct; not bigger than the macrophages can ingest, but not small enough that they can be digested.
While tattoos can supply medical applications as well as personal satisfaction, a significant portion of people who choose to receive tattoos also choose to remove them. And since the removal process is far from perfect, two modern tattoo artists, Klitzman and Koger, have developed an idea for disappearing ink. The ink would be encapsulated in a polymer, which would release the pigments when exposed to a specific sort of energy. With the help of Ron Anderson, a dermatologist at Harvard Medical School, and his team, the Freedom-2 inks company was founded. The Freedom-2 inks are surrounded by polymer beads in the ideal shape and size as to be perfectly ingested by the macrophage cells. Included in these beads are some sort of dopant that absorbs light and explodes the bead for easy, one-session removal. The Freedom-2 inks boast ingredients that are approved safe by the FDA, and Klitzman believes this disappearing ink will not only benefit the medical side of tattooing, but push the art and science of tattooing to the next stage.
While the creators of Freedom-2 ink acknowledge that different tattoo artists hold different ideals to be true, it is universally known that circumstances change, and many people would embrace the opportunity to make their tattoos reflect those changes. They state that tattoos are designed and made to be permanent; but the option of removing it later may give comfort to anyone seriously considering getting a tattoo.

SUMMARY:
I found this article both fascinating and disturbing. My dad has alot of tattoos, and while he would have done some of them differently, he doesn't regret getting any of them. Because of this, I am somewhat questioning the whole "disappearing ink" idea due to the fact that I honestly believe tattoos are to be permanent. I think if you are going to get a tattoo, it has to be a mature, well-thought out decision. And I believe if you are willing to mark your body, you should be willing to live with the consequences of your actions. On the other hand, I agree that the circumstances that once influenced a person to get a tattoo may have inevitably changed. But while I believe it is a foolish idea to tattoo someone's name on your body in the first place, I cannot disagree with the thought of going back and changing our decisions, even if they are as mundane as tattoos. Despite my conflicting thoughts on the morality of tattoos and their permanence, I think the science involved in creating and manufacturing the Freedom-2 ink is brilliant. And while I knew that tattoo guns made holes in your skin with needles, and filled them with the ink, and that the removal process was painful, I found the disappearing ink to be ingenious, if not practical. I think many people will embrace the idea, depending on its success in the upcoming years. And since the ingredients in the pigments will be safer, and the removal process will be easier, less costly, less painful, and only require one treatment, it will only contribute to the success of Freedom-2. However, I still believe tattoos are permanent, and I agree with the creators of the ink when they encourage people to think carefully before making a decision.

Is Human Growth Hormone the Key to Eternal Youth?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=is-human-growth-hormone-t&print=true

SUMMARY:
Many people go to great lengths, spending excessive amounts of money on drugs, cremes, and even surgeries, to keep themselves looking young. One of the most popular methods for anti-aging is the human growth hormone, GH. GH is a protein naturally produced by the pituitary gland that helps regulate growth during childhood and metabolism in adults. Unfortunately, a new study says that there is zero scientific evidence that GH are any more effective at regaining youth than tap water or snake oil. Not only that, but its also been found, by researchers, that if GH is taken by healthy adults, it can cause unhealthy side effects. Examples of these side effects include: joint pain, soft tissue swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome, increased breast size in men, and a heightened risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Hau Liu, a researcher in endocrinology and health policy at Stanford University says, Growth hormones cost hundreds to thousands of dollars a month and there is no scientific evidence supporting it and very real, potentially serious side effects." Liu's team reviewed studies of senior citizens using GH. The best they found, was that GH increased lean body or muscle mass just over four pounds, and decreased fat mass by about the same amount. Liu said that these changes did not add any benefits. There was no improvement in longevity, bone density, cholesterol levels, stamina or blood sugar levels. Liu mentioned that you might get that change easily by going to the gym regularly, and you wouldn't have to spend thousands of dollars on a drug that shows no benefits and has potential of some very serious side effects.

The FDA has approved the drug, only to treat children with short stature caused by growth hormone deficiency and some diseases and other growth problems, and adults who suffer from a growth hormone deficiency causing conditions like bone loss, high cholesterol and low energy. Although pharmaceutical companies get into trouble with the FDA from marketing GH for uses such as anti-aging, it hasn't begun to stop Internet vendors. Along with the fact that this has not been approved, comes a hefty price tag, and yet in 2004 the number of people in the U.S. that used GH as an anti-aging agent was estimated around 30,000. After researching and reviewing other studies, Liu's advice on increasing our chances of living a long and productive life, without using growth hormones is, "Eat right, exercise often, get enough sleep, and don't smoke."

RESPONSE:

This article was interesting to me because it really shows how much people care about their physical appearance. Our society today is so incredibly focused on the wrong things! From reading this article, I didn't get a single positive effect, or reason, for using the human growth hormone as an anti-aging agent. It talks about the ridiculous costs that is basically worthless, because there are barely any effects that occur from using the GH. If there are effects, they're negative, some even being very serious side effects, and if they are "positive" they have very minimal benefits. It amazes me that people are so consumed with their outward appearance that they're willing to spend hundreds to thousands of dollars on drugs they think will make them look and feel younger.

Boy, Interrupted
A rare brain disorder robs children of language and leaves doctors perplexed.

Imagine having a child with Cerebral Palsy. He is growing up as normal as possible. A three he was counting to twenty and naming his colors. One day, you suddenly find him lying in a pool of vomit. Since you believe it is only the flu, you move on. Over the next few weeks all his skills start slipping away. His language usage is reduced to low grunts, anger, and tears. To you horror he even starts banging his head on the wall. Your child is suddenly gone. Your life forever altered. What is going on?

This was the reality for Sara Cawood and her son Cody. The child who had been talking, counting, and laughing in October; couldn’t utter a single coherent word in December. Sara took her son to rounds of different doctors and specialists. They all put him on medication. Nothing worked. Little Cody had to wear a helmet at all times to protect his body from himself. The police even questioned Sara about her treatment of the child after a bloody episode. The family seriously considered giving him to a mental ward. After a particularly horrendous night, the family took Cody to the hospital. After several attempts to sedate him, a tranquilizer was successfully administered. He was then finally diagnosed with Landau-Kleffner syndrome.

Landau-Kleffner syndrome is a little known syndrome that has to do with sudden decreases in speech and language comprehension. Therefore children often become violent because of feeling “trapped”. This syndrome was first documented 1957 by Dr. William M. Landau and Dr. Frank R. Kleffner, who identified six children with the disorder. Landau, who is still practicing at Washington University School of Medicine, says wryly, “... I’m very discouraged—we haven’t learned much at all. We know nothing about cause yet.” …“I think research has not been done adequately. Doctors monitor this syndrome by using EEG’s (electroencephalogram) which are recordings of the electric activities in the brain. Thankfully, children with LKS normally resume regular brain activity around age 15. This is possibly because of the hormonal change happening as brain cells mature.

An example of this recovery is with patients #7, from Landau’s follow up study. LKS started for her at the age of 5 ½. She remembers this time as flashes of confusion. Unbelievably she is now a mother of two grown up children, and a successful cattle-rancher. For Richard Budnyj (head of the Friends of Landau-Kleffner Syndrome association) after four regressions of speech and language loss, the doctors opted to put his son in a coma to control his violent epileptic seizures and behavior. Four years later he is now a happy, healthy boy. To his parents, the fact that he will probably always be a little behind is okay, they are just grateful at his improvements

What will the future hold for Cody and other children with LKS? Hopefully more research will find the answers to what causes this obscure syndrome; and with that knowledge, medication to alleviate the horrific symptoms. Until then, at age 11, Cody’s family will watch and wait. Hoping that like other children with LKS, he will “wake-up” when he is older.

This article was thought provoking. It really made me think hard about what life would be like without language, and the frustrations of not being able to express myself in a coherent way. Also it reminded me of how lucky most parents are that their children are medically "normal". How could you stand by and watch your child suffer without faith that God is in all situations. I hope that more research will be done on LKS. Also if this article intrigued you, visit the FOLKS website to learn more.

http://discovermaga/ zine.com/2007/nov/boy-interrupted/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=

~ do to being technicaly challenged this is really Kati on Kaylee's site~

Gene Doping by H. Lee Sweeney

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=gene-doping&print=true

Summary:
Gene doping is popular among athletes, especially those participating in the Olympic games. Many dabble in this activity just to have one step up on opponents, who may or may not be using this method themselves. Sports authorities are afraid that new less detectable forms of doping will become readily available and less preventable. There will be different treatments to regenerate, increase strength, and protect from degradation of muscles emerging. This will cause high amounts of natural muscle-building chemicals that can last for years. This seems ideal for the elderly and also for the athletes because nothing from these type of drugs enter the bloodstream so nothing can be detected.
When any type of mammal ages the skeletal muscles begin to weaken and lose the sense of balance they once had. The most common and severe form of MD, or Duchenne muscular dystrophy, is due to the absence of the protein dystrophin. It protects the muscle fibers from injury from everyday movement. Another case of severe muscle loss is found in astronauts in microgravity and by patients that have some disability that shuts down the muscle repair system.
Scientists are working on finding a way put together details of how the muscle is actually assembled and broken down, so that maybe the loss of muscle strength can be prevented for the cases previously mentioned. They tried buffering dystrophin but everyday movement still injured the muscle fibers. There is also talk of a growth factor similar to insulin called IGF-I, which when injected can last the life of the cell.
This drug was tested on lab rats by injecting a tiny virus called adeno-associated virus (AAV) along with the IGF-I. This "formula" was injected into the muscle of one leg in each lab rat then they were put through an eight week training program. After the time slot the injected muscles had twice the amount of strength as the muscles that weren't injected. There are some safety concerns and questions about whether or not to administer to humans.
Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies are working on developing different myostatin inhibitors and if myostatin is blocked then result could be muscle hypertrophy. This will help with the muscular dystrophy patients. This also seems like heaven for the athlete or person looking for quick muscle growth. Again this drug would only be found in the actual muscle not the bloodstream or urine. It seems that there is no real problem with increasing muscle mass by 20 to 40 percent in young people but rather with the elderly that are experiencing osteoporosis.
Others on the list for enhancement is the amount of oxygen carried to the muscles by using the protein Erythroprotein. Yet there seems to be time before athletes can get their hands on such drugs, but when and if they do it will definitely change our sports and society.

Response:
My concern with the thoughts of this gene doping is the side affects and repercussions. There isn't very much mentioned about the down side of these injections. I think that it is good to try to prevent the skeletal muscles from weakening in the elderly and in the disabled but there will never be a complete ceasing of muscle weakening because everyone will age. Its a better idea for the disabled yet it could potentially be dangerous, especially not knowing what else it will do to the body. Does it affect the nerves in the muscles? After it wears off are your muscles weaker than before?

A Gene to Better Remember Traumatic Events

Summary
Recent studies have shown that people who carry a common variant of a gene called ADRA2B possibly have a better ability to remember emotional moments, both positive and negative. This is the first found gene which may have a connection to emotional memory. Dominique de Quervain, a professor at the University of Zurich's Division of Psychiatry Research, says, "[This work] may have consequences for anxiety disorders where emotional memory plays a critical role." Dominique de Quervain genotyped 435 young Swiss adults and then showed each subject 30 pictures, allowing four seconds for each image. Each image was one of three types of 'emotional arousal categories'; positive, negative, and neutral. After viewing all the images, the adults had to write a brief summary of each image. The subjects with the variant gene where able to recall up to 80% of the emotionally arousing images. Whereas those without the variant could only recall 40%. It is believed that 30% of the U.S. Caucasian population and 12% of African American population have the variant. This gene may not only allow a person to vividly remember an emotional experience but also enhance the memory. After also testing 202 refugees from the Rwandan civil war the team of researchers found that the refugees with the gene variant had more traumatic and distressing memories. Post-traumatic stress disorder made no difference in the study. Those with the gene variant seemed to reexperience the wartime memories with shocking detail.
Response
When I first chose this article, I assumed that it would not persuade me. I expected to disagree with the study by the end of the article. I doubted that a gene could be connected with emotional recall but at this point, my views have changed. The research, assuming it's correct and untampered with, speaks for itself. This information got me thinking, knowing this gene exists, should it change the way we relate to others? Yes. Suppose two girls suffer a traumatic experience at a young age. Twenty years later, one is still haunted by the memory while the other is hardly affected. Should we label the first girl as being emotionally weak and the second as strong? No. each person is very different and it is possible that it may not be that the first girl chooses to remember the pain, but that she can't forget it due to the gene variant. Maybe we should consider extending more grace the next time we're quick to judge someone who 'just won't let something go.' http://sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=18E4716D-E7F2-99DF-351642C9346A93D3&chanID=sa003&ec=ab343_0730

Boy, Interrupted

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/boy-interrupted

Summary:
Landau-Kleffner Syndrome (LKS) is a mysterious and baffling disorder. This disorder was discovered in the 1950’s by neurologist William M. Landau and speech pathologist Frank R. Kleffner. They conducted studies on children with Aphasia, which is a loss of the ability to produce and/or comprehend language because of an injury to specific areas of the brain. They discovered that with some children there were more extreme cases of aphasia that occurred randomly between the ages of three and seven, which involved epileptic seizures and convulsions. Children with LKS have abnormal electrical brain waves which cause the brain to lose the capacity for memory, especially that of language. Unfortunately, children with LKS also tend to have many other symptoms, so many of them have been misdiagnosed.
No one has been able to discover the cause of this disorder or any possible cure for it. Steroids are often used as a treatment and in some cases surgery also has been performed. But because this disorder is so rare, its outcome is very unsure. Some children with LKS have grown out of it by age fifteen, possibly because of the onset of certain hormones, and then have undergone years of speech and language therapy and treatment. Others though live with it for the rest of their lives. William M. Landau, who is still studying this disorder at Washington University School of Medicine, says, “I’m very discouraged- we haven’t learned much at all. We know nothing about the cause yet…” Still, they have made some progress. Between 1957 and 1990 there were 160 diagnoses of LKS that were able to receive treatment. Because of disorders like LKS, we are reminded how important communication and language is to the human race.

Response:
Reading about this disorder and how the neurologists and doctors can’t even figure out why it occurs, reminds me how incredibly complex the human brain is. For some reason I just expect that once a disorder is discovered they should know why it happens, but obviously it’s not that easy. If we just look around the universe and see how intricate and complex it is, why should our human brain, made by the same creator’s hands, not be the same way? It is something that I don’t think will ever be completely understood and I don’t think it should be either. When disorders like LKS occur I think they are intended to draw us closer to God and make us rely completely on him. He is the only one in this universe who will know us entirely inside and out.

Boy, Interrupted

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/nov/boy-interrupted

At the age of 3, Cody Cawood seemed to be developing like any other child with cerebral palsy but in October 2000 something went wrong. One night, his mother found him lying in his own vomit. A local pediatrician told her there was nothing to worry about. Cody's condition worsened very quickly and it became quite apparent that Mrs. Cawood had plenty to worry about. Cody's communication regressed into small single words and finally into rageful tantrums of violence. Intitial EEG's and MRI's showed nothing out of the ordinary. Numerous doctors prescribed a multitude of medications, none of which worked. Finally, in September 2001, epileptologist Kore Liow, monitored Cody for 5 days with a video EEG and diagnosed him with Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS).
The disorder is characterized by abnormal electrical brain waves, nocturnal epileptic seizures, and sometimes hypersensitivity and aggression and most often occurs in children ages 3 to 7, affecting the child's ability to use and understand language. But now that the diagnosis had been given, what could be done for Cody and others with LKS? Unfortunately, 50 years after this disorder was discovered, not much is known about how to treat LKS. "I'm very discouraged- we haven't learned much at all," says Dr. William Landau, part of the syndrome's namesake due to his research in the field, "We know nothing about cause yet."
Similar to other epileptic disorders, children diagnosed with LKS will often resume normal brain activity around age 15, when the brain cells are nearing maturity. One patient, diagnosed with LKS at age 5, says that she lived a "relatively normal life". She is now 52 and runs a ranch in Montana. Some more timely treatments include steroids, intravenous immunoglobulin therapy, surgery, and most common and widely accepted, aggressive speech and language treatment.
Seven years after the onset LKS, Cody still shows no progress. His family is planning to put him in an adult handicapped home after he finishes school when he will be 21 years old.

This article was mostly discouraging and sad. Doctors seem to know little or nothing about what causes LKS and are basically stabbing into the dark about how to treat it. The story of Cody included in the article offered little scientific knowledge, but was very sad and made you sympathize with kids with LKS and their families. Much more research needs to be done before any universal treatment can be proposed.

Regaining Lost Luster

Summary:
New developments in the gene therapy field make scientists believe they can reshape the bad reputation gene has gotten since the early 1990’s. Originally designed to treat hereditary diseases, the ways this treatment can be used has been expanded to tasks such as building new blood vessels and making the immune system resistant to infection. Other developments in the early stages are being tested. For example, a gene therapy that restored sight to 70 dogs that were blind from birth is being tested on humans. There have also been 12 cancer treatments and a heart treatment discovered. None of these have yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but in China two cancer treatments have been approved.
Scientists can also modify viruses by stripping them of their genetic material and replacing it with therapeutic genes. So instead of a virus being sent to the cells, the cells are receiving therapy. However, the immune system is developed to reject these virus causing complications with this type of therapy. This immune response to the therapy was what killed 18-year-old Jessie Gelsinger in 1999, not the therapy itself.
A major challenge is also that this therapy can only target the tissues that need it. In some cases the targeted cells can receive injections directly or they can be easily removed and then replaced in the patient after doctors manipulate secluded cells. But this is what makes gene therapy “so promising and extremely challenging.” Even with its negative reputation, scientists hold to the opinion that it’s never been very unsafe. There have been thousands of successfully treated patients and only a few unfavorable cases. Scientists continue to hope that with improvements in the field come improvements in the public’s opinion of it.

Review:
I think it’s truly amazing that scientists can target and treat individual cells and ultimately cure hereditary diseases by injecting genes that the cells lack. This shows how far we’ve come in technological and medical progress. However it also seems to be very risky. If injections do not reach their target, what kind of effect could those genes have on the cells that they do reach? And how could scientists fix these problems without sacrificing lives? This shows that gene therapy still has a long way to go.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=regaining-lost-luster&print=true

Rip Van Winkle Disease

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/medical-mysteries/rip-van-winkle-disease/article_view

Summary:
The Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS), better known as the Rip Van Winkle Disease, causes teen to enter into hypersomnia - sleeping straight for days, sometimes weeks. KLS develops in the early teens and usually starts to lessen in the midtwenties and eventually disappears in the thirties. KLS is very uncommon and for that reason it is hard to tell what causes KLS.
One doctor, Emmanuel Mignot, at Stanford University, studied KLS and said that "KLS is without a question a distinct disorder". When studying the symptoms in many cases, flulike infection precedes KLS. Soon after the flulike symptoms the patient is affected by hypersomnia, which last usually around ten days.
When the patient is in hypersomnia most normal functions are lost. During this time they will only get up to bathe, take care of bodily functions and eat. When KLS is in effect there seems to be a hard time focusing and everything is hazy and confusing. Eric Haller, age seventeen, who suffers from KLS since age 12, says that all he can do is watch mindless videos which he has seen millions of times. When eating it is common that 60-70% of the patients would eat sweets, potato chips, and high-calorie "comfort " foods. Other characteristics of KLS show that patients may engage in inappropriate sexual behavior and difficulty focusing mentally. Also patients can not recall anything that happen during the KLS episode. When they wake up they have to be told what they missed in life.
Recent studies have suggested that KLS is a genetic disorder. When KLS patients and families were asked similar questions, it seemed that the syndrome affected Ashkenazi Jews more than any other nationality. With this information doctors were convinced that there must be a strong genetic link. In other studies of the brain researchers have seen abnormal activity in the hypothalamus and the thalamus, parts of the brain which regulate sleep, eating, and sex.
Although there is no cure for KLS, treatments that have been given to try to help are lithium, antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and mood stabilizers.

Response:
Amazing. I can't believe that KLS can keep a person asleep for many days. I find it fascinating that the brain and parts of the brain control different functions and that when just one part of the brain is affected it effects many functions. Also KLS is fascinating to me in the way that one person is in a coma-like sleep but they still function by eating and having sexual behaviors. It is interesting to see that a common connection to flu leads to a state of hypersomnia. And I can't imagine falling asleep and missing some of my life and having to hear about it from others.

Troubled in Twin Town

Summary: During the first weekend in August, Twinsburg, Ohio is saturated with a multitude of pairs of identical twins that come to engage in a twin convention. Bruno Maddox, the author of the article “Blinded by Science: Troubled in Twin Town”, attended this convention and observed, slightly unsettlingly, that the twins at that convention seemed to go to great lengths to match their clothing exactly and also found that they were often walking around hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm; he was amazed by the strong bond of love felt mutually by the twins. The reason for his traveling to the convention was reading that Barbara Prainsack of the University of Vienna had announced that, if scientists ever successfully cloned humans, those clones would “feel individuality”. She had come to this conclusion after interviewing seventeen pairs of identical twins, who reported that they did feel individuality and that they found that being a twin was a blessing and would never want to be like the rest of us, all alone in the world in our individuality. When scientists consider the topic of cloning and then get responses like this from identical twins, they begin to lean towards the idea that clones would not be victims, but would rather experience a bond with their clones that would be stronger than the love felt between two average people. If this were true, cloning humans might be beneficial in that it would increase the amount of love felt between people. Of course, the opposite might also be true; cloning humans might lead to an increase in wars and fighting in the world. The consequences of cloning are still unknown, but scientists are continuing their study of identical twins in an attempt to learn more.

Response: I believe that the idea being supported by this article is absurd; how could life that comes into being outside God’s creation experience a greater capacity for love than God-breathed life?! The bond of love felt between identical twins is strong, but it is not evidence to support the idea that clones would feel greater love than normal humans. The world does not need clones to become a more love-filled place, its people need to surrender to God’s plan for them and love others the way He loves us. Unconditional, godly love is much stronger than any “bond” felt by clones!

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/nov/blinded-twins-clones

Summary:
In this article, scientists work together to try and bust the century old myth. They are looking for an answer whether snake oil does in fact cure aches and pains or whether it is a fraud like it was thought to be many years ago. The answer they came up with was actually very surprising. It all starts with something called Omega-3. It is something that is in our body, but is sometimes lost by people who have arthritis or joint pains. When snake oil was first thought to be a remedy to curing aches and pains back in the 1800's in China, no one knew why it worked, but it did. Then greed driven salesmen brought the product back to the United States in order to make money off it by selling cheap rattlesnake oil (useless-with no Omega-3), or completely fake snake oil. After a while people caught on and we got the idea that snake oil does not actually cure ailments, however scientists Richard Kunin and Nobuya Shirai conducted multiple experiments on real fish oils sold in a San Francisco China town and from the oils of two snakes they bought at a local pet store. From their experiments they found that there is in fact valuable Omega-3 in snake oil and it would heal aches and reduce the pain and swelling involved in arthritis. Despite the experiments by the two scientist, Americans are still skeptical of the snake oil scandals in the 1800's. So next time you hear snake oil healing is an old myth from China you can tell them that the people in China were actually on to something and that the Americans were just too selfish to bring the miracle healer to the United States.

Response:
I think this article had a lot of good information and it showed us that we are not always as smart as we think we are in America. I think that snake oil has a real shot in America if we just trust it and avoid frauds and scams that we got into in the 1800's. With work, the Omega-3 found in snake oil could significantly help researches now find cure for arthritis and other minor aches.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=snake-oil-salesmen-knew-something&print=true

Date Rape Drug To The Rescue!

http://discovermagazine.com/2008/jan/date-rape-drug-to-the-rescue

Imagine your body going completely limp anytime you experience a strong emotion. This is exactly the problem that Harry Miles has. Any time he experiences joy, fear, or anger his body simply goes limp. Harry has both cataplexy, which causes the body to weaken when any strong emotion is experienced, and narcolepsy, in which the affected is constantly tired and often falls asleep throughout the day. He had been on Ritalin to fight the narcolepsy, but that eventually stopped working. His doctor, Dr. Anna Reisman, tried prescribing a higher dosage of Ritalin along with Prozac to combat his symptoms, but to avail. He was constantly in danger of either falling asleep or going limp. He lost his job and was losing hope of ever being a normal human being again.

One year later, a breakthrough occured. A sedative called Xyrem had been found to help people with cataplexy sleep through the night. It also lessened the occurence of the "weakness attacks." Xyrem is actually the pharmaceutical form of GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyrate, better known as the date rape drug. GHB was also the poison found in some Chinese-made toys. Despite the bad history of this drug, Miles was soon prescribed Xyrem by a sleep specialist. At his last checkup with Dr. Reisman, he was asked when his last cataplectic attack had occured. It had been so long that he could actually not remember. He was a normal human being again.

RESPONSE

One of the most important things I noticed in this article is that we must never give up on a drug just because the only uses found so far are dangerous ones. The human body has a delicate balance of chemicals, so it must be understood that even though a certain amount or variant of one drug is harmful to the body, it could be reformulated or the dosage could be lowered and lives could be changed and saved. Besides, if we can inject toxins into faces to make them "pretty," why wouldn't GHB be able to be used for something good?

Sex, Math and Scientific Achievement

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=sex-math-and-scientific-achievement

Summery:

Do you ever wonder why men seem to dominate the fields of science, engineering, and mathematics? Harvard University president Lawrence Summers suggests that maybe fewer women have the "innate ability" to work in these fields. With that statement Summers caused a national debate because tests have shown that women receive higher grade averages than men in school in every subject, including math and science. But tests also have shown that women score lower on many standardized tests used to gain admittance into college and graduate school. So why do men dominate the fields? Some say that the reason is "sex differences." Unfortunately there is not necessarily just one answer to why less women work in the areas of science and math.

These so called "sex differences" most clearly define the difference between men and women in their "scientific ability." The tools needed to carry out that "ability" are: verbal skills to write complex journal entries and to communicate well with co-workers; memory skills to understand and recall complex information and events; and quantitative abilities in mathematical modeling, statistics, and visualization of data and concepts. As boys and girls go through the many stages of schools, girls grow to become better with the verbal and writing skills. A experiment was run to prove this and the results showed that men were at a large disadvantage at the skills of writing. But the experiment also showed that men grow to have much better visuospatial skills, the skill of mental rotation, and that skill allows men to have an advantage in problems dealing with creating mental images. But what sets men apart most is that men are much more mathematically gifted even though women get higher grades on average, and those that are more gifted in math and science generally look to pursue it as an occupation.

Most recent studies have shown that hormones, as well as genetics and life experiences, affect brain growth. Female brains have a higher percentage of gray matter brain tissue and males have a higher percentage of white matter brain tissue. But men generally have a higher percentage of gray matter in the left hemisphere of the brain and women don't. Imaging studies on brain function show that women perform better on language processing tasks because those tasks involve more symmetrical use of the brain, and men perform better on tasks that involve the visual cortex of the brain.

Research unfortunately also shows that sexism, whether conscientiously or unconscientiously, is used in determining what type of people are hired. And because of the perception of females not having the "innate ability," females are often looked at as being less qualified and therefore not being hired. One final reason for there being less women in the fields of math and science is that women generally stay home when they have families, while the men work. Therefore, women sometimes have less of a chance to pursue an occupation in math, leading to the lower number of women in those fields which allow men to take more of those jobs.

Response:

I found this article interesting because it showed that even though men and women have many differences in the way their brains work, everyone can overcome their weaknesses with hard work and persistence, can pursue something they really want to do. It showed me that God created everyone differently and for a different reason, whether for engineering or parenting, everyone has their own specific job. I also thought it was cool how God created the brains of both men and women differently, and that the brains developed in completely different ways. That just shows that God is truly amazing.

Vital Signs: Attacked From Within

Summary: Lupus is a disease that mainly affects women and develops during their childbearing years. It's a disease where the antibodies produced by our bodies attack our immune systems, causing many different problems. Some of the symptoms are these: a red, raised rash on your face called a butterfly rash (the most common symptom), arthritis, and hair loss. Some of the more serious symptoms are kidney damage, lung inflammation, and paralysis. To be classified as lupus according to the American College of Rheumatology, a patient must "show at least four of eleven symptoms since the onset of the disease." Treatment is still relatively limited. Some of the treatments have side effects that can cause other problems. For example, one treatment thins bones, another can cause anemia, and another can irritate your liver. Long term treatments can be just as bad. Their side effects can be anything from sun sensitivity to diabetes to hypertension to deterioration of hip and knee joints. However, without the treatments, you could "face life-threatening kidney inflammation."

Response: When we have more of an understanding of lupus and what causes it, hopefully someday we'll be able to prevent it and be able to develop better treatments. For now, I'm glad we at least know what it is and have some kind of treatment option for it.

http://discovermagazine.com/2007/may/vital-signs