Self-Sterilizing Plastics Kill Drug Resistant Bacteria

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=self-sterilizing-plastics

These days, seventy percent of bacterial infections are drug-resistant, which has made them the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Because of the mutations of the bacteria which are making them resistant, the makers of antibiotics have had to begin a different approach to killing bacteria. These companies are attempting to mimic the human body's defense against bacteria, killing them by poking holes in the cell membranes and keeping them from mutating and becoming resistant.

Polymedix, with the help of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania, is developing drugs and polymers which can destroy bacteria in ways similar to those of the human body. They are working on an antibacterial drug which will be able to kill bacteria without having to enter the cells, and they are developing a polymer which could be used to make "self-sterilizing" things. Since the polymer is not just a coating, it will never wear out. It is possible that eventually the polymer could be added to in almost anything, such as "bedding, carpeting, countertops, and towels." The polymers could also help to eliminate black mold in houses amd could fight against such biowarfare as anthrax, plagues, and tularemia. The drugs which are being created could one day make current antibiotics obselete. They are still waiting, however, for approval from the FDA before they can begin clinical trials.

RESPONSE
I just find it really interesting that bacteria, one of the simplest life forms known to man, are able to adapt to conditions so well that they can effectively outsmart man. Hopefully these developments will finally give mankind a permanent victory over bacteria. I found it almost unbelievable that bacterial infections were the fourth leading cause of death in the most developed country in the world. Both the polymer and the drug could save many lives. Hopefully they will get the FDA's approval.

Buried Prejudice

Summary: Scientists are getting together to figure out where stereotypes originate and how much on an affect they have on our mind. One way of testing is to say random words like democratic and see what the persons initial response is. A neural scientist actually testesd the race-memory advantage in the brain and found that people remember faces of thier own race easier than those of others. They also found that black faces shoed more brain activity that is linked to fear. A study in Italy showed that children are highly afftected by what thier parents think of other races to in terms of the children choosing playmates. A former Harvard student expains that racial bias is fully emerged by age six. Reflexes and in-the-moment judgements also are afftected by this bias. Studies showed that people thought a cell phone was a gun when a black man was holding it, whereas; when another race was holding the same phone ptaients could easily identify it. It also showed that when whites were communicating with blacks thier body language was uneasy and they would rarely look them in the eyes. The article goes on to talk about how this bias afftects everyday life: in the school, workplace, law, and even in hospitals! They say that it is possible to consciously control your thoughts about other races but such work may lead to complete avoidance of communication with that race. They close the article by saying that it is possible for us to change our racial bias but we have to make that conscious decision on a regualar bases.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=buried-prejudice-the-bigot-in-your-brain

My Response: I thought this article was enilightening. While some of it may sound far-stretched it really sheds light on how much we let stereotypes affect us. I thought it was interesting when he was talking about our body language around other races. I do agree that we can make a conscious decision to change our thoughts about other races, and more than that I think it is a logical decision. I mean really not all arabs are terrorists and not all white people are racist against blacks. As christians I think its time that we fought against the stereotypes that America has instilled in us and let God rule our thoughts of others and not fear.

New Side of Stem Cells

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/9369/title/Faulty_Fountains_of_Youth
Summary:
Adult stem cells were once believed to only be contained in tissues that need to rejuvenate often such as blood and skin. But recent new studies have found that stem cells are located is nearly every single tissue and organ in the adult body.
This seems to explain some of the mysteries of aging. As a person ages most of the stem cells begin to diminish causing weaker bones and immune systems and gray hair.One group began a study in which they surgically joined one old mouse and one young mouse. It is known that the cells that rejuvenate muscles grow weak with age. The question was whether or not this effect was irreversible. The blood of the young mouse did restore the tissue of the older mouse showing that the effect on the muscle stem cells is environmental.
This leads to the belief that the stem cells do not age but the bodies' internal environment does. However, other studies done by transplanting blood between mice from different generations shows the opposite. Despite the surrounding of the blood, old blood which doesn't weaken but seems to malfunction continues on the malfunctioning path. That malfunction is the limit in production of immune boosting blood cells which leads to weak immune systems.
Another link being studied with respect to stem cells is cancer. Cancer arises from malfunctions resulting from a cell dividing. The job of stem cells is to divide to replenish depletion. This could be a cause of cancer. The damage of stem cells seems to be linked to a higher level of anticancer genes.
Stem cells play a larger role than any scientist would have imagined fifty years ago. Who knows what advances have yet to be made towards the many things linked to stem cells.
Response:
I found this article interesting because it reminds me of how intricate the body God created is. Our bodies are so intricate and specialized that the idea of random chance is crazy. So many things are linked in ways we are just now finding: who knows how complex our bodies actually are. The fact that we only use a little percentage of our brains is proof enough of overwhelming complexity. All these links just reinforce it. I also think that at the beginning of the article when it talks about not knowing the reason for aging, it again proves Christianity because it answers a question science can't.

Mother Knows All

During the nine months that an unborn fetal baby is in its mother's womb, it is safe from the world; but for the same nine months, doctors can only guess as to the current and future health of the baby. While some tests do exist, the most informative tests are also the most invasive - and also run the highest risk.
In the late 1990's, Doctor Dennis Lo studies developing fetuses in the hopes that he could produce answers by studying the blood of the mother. This proved more difficult than he had originally imagined. Fetal cells are hard to come by; one milliliter of the mother's blood could present just one - perhaps two - fetal cells. But a stroke of good luck handed Dr. Lo his big break: by reading several papers on cancer cells and the loose DNA cells they shed, Dr. Lo began to wonder if fetal cells did the same thing. Fetal cells, like those of cancer, are rapidly dividing and are essentially parasitic. Dr. Lo was able to prove that fetal cells also produced these loose cells, called "cellfree DNA", by showing Y chromosomes in the blood of pregnant women carrying male babies.
The development in the study of the fetal cfDNA has lead to break-throughs in understanding fetal development. Doctors are now able to show a babies blood type, as well as the sex, a full week before an ultrasound. By studying cfDNA more in depth, scientists can now predict a premature birth and birth defects, such as preeclampsia. The biggest problem, however, is that it is nearly impossible to detect a fetal gene if the mother possess the same gene. Scientists are also exploring the possibility of messenger RNA (mRNA) to detect multiple mental disorders by observing mRNA in the mother's blood and watching what the mRNA cells develop into.
While it is relatively simple to extract the mother's blood, it becomes increasingly more complicated when scientists begin to search for clues in the pregnant woman's blood as to the health of the fetus. But the most difficult part is distinguishing between the mother's cfDNA and the fetal cfDNA. Trying to detect genetic defects in the fetus is like looking for needles in haystacks: in order to have the defect, the child would have inherited the flaw from both parents. But child would have the same genes carrying the defect as the mother, thus making them nearly indistinguishable. Again, researchers are turning more and more to mRNA, which are only made when a cell makes proteins needed for development. Since an adult doesn't need to grow or develop, the cells wouldn't exist in an adult.
In an experiment done by the Tuffs-New England Medical Center, pregnant women had blood tests taken before and after birth to help pinpoint the genes that were present in the mother's blood before birth but disappeared after the child was born. Not surprisingly, many of the genes were connected to the development of the neural system. In light of this experiment, the Medical Center wants to continue its research by creating a timeline of normal fetal-gene expression in the duration of the pregnancy, as well as track abnormal fetal development, in the hopes of discovering new treatments.
Dr. Lo also wants to use mRNA cells to help detect Down Syndrome and the third set of 21 chromosomes that causes it. Lo found a gene, PLAC4, that is only in placental tissue. The PLAC4 gene was equally divided in one location, and Lo was able to test to see if the correct amounts of the gene were in the location. If there was an equal amount from both the mother and father, the child was normal. But if there was double the amount of one version than the other, then the child would have three sets of the 21 chromosome, and Down Syndrome. While this test is far from faultless, and cannot detect all types of Down Syndrome, Lo hopes that the development will help open doors to detecting, and perhaps curing, diseases related to multiple chromosomes.
"The hope, then, is that as the science advances, increasingly sophisticated blood-based tests will allow doctors to peer through the veil of mystery that obscures the developing fetus. While some bits of information may ruin surprises for moms and dads, other tests will confirm the health of their unborn baby - something every parent wants".

Response: This is something I have always struggled with, to be honest. I want to have children in the future, but the amount of kids born with defects or abnormalities is staggering. It has always worried me, and continues to do so, but this article gave me hope. If this research continues, it would provide more information that could eventually lead to more cures. And even if not cures, preventive procedures. It tears at my heart to think that parents want to detect a birth defect early in order to get rid of the child. While this is not always the case, and I genuinely hope that very few people think this way, it gave me hope for parents and children in the future. If scientists can detect defects early - and understand what causes them - then they can take preventive measures. Perhaps even develop cures. Honestly, I really enjoyed this article, though it hit much closer to home than I had imagined. It not only made me worry unnecessarily about the future, but it made me worry for the women I know that are pregnant, and may become pregnant in the future. It makes me want to warn them, almost, but at the same time, I know that a baby is a blessing - no exceptions. And God makes no mistakes: every baby turns out exactly the way it was supposed to.

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Mother+knows+all:+next+generation+of+prenatal+tests+finds+clues+to...-a0171623518
(I couldn't find the original article on the actual Science News site, so I found it on this one instead. Its the same article, just printed somewhere else.)

Vice Vaccines: A New Way to Boost Your Power

Link Info Week of Feb. 10, 2007; Vol. 171, No. 6, p. 90


Summary:



Many people suffer from a variety of addictive behaviors; unfortunately many of these behaviors are deadly such as over eating and drug abuse. Once they fall down the slippery slope of addiction, it is hard to turn around and climb back up.



This article begins in the realm of a smoker named Rachel who wants to quit. Her story is typical of many people in her situation. They know that their habit will kill them but no matter how hard they try they seem to revert back to that crutch. This is true of smokers, like Rachel, as well as in victims of obesity and illicit drug addictions; like addictions to cocaine and heroin.



Scientist decided to attempt to take a new approach to treatment of these deadly compulsions. Vaccines are nothing new to the scientific community. When some form of foreign bacteria or virus enters the system, a vaccine is administered to encourage the immune system to attack these invaders. The only reason that the immune system doesn't attack drugs like heroine and nicotine is that these drugs are tiny compared to infectious bacteria. The new vaccine aimed to target addictive behaviors acts in a similar way. Using a variety of molecules that range from a protein in cows blood to synthetically created proteins, they inject these vaccines into the bloodstream. The invading drugs piggyback onto the proteins. This greatly increases their size which then encourages the immune system to attack.



While creating vaccines that target invading drugs, finding a vaccine to encourage the immune system to stave off obesity is more complicated. Scientist narrowed the field of triggers for obesity down to a specific chemical called ghrelin. The vaccine, when injected, attempts to reduce and counteract the effects and production of ghrelin. All these vaccine are still in the clinical testing stages. Their results are showing promise.



While these vaccines would serve to encourage people to kick the habit, they would not be a miracle cure. The vaccines, which have been dubbed the "vice vaccines" would not create a hatred for the invading drugs; it would simply eliminate the high you receive from smoking or shooting up. But even this effect is not full-proof. The ability to get high is still available but it requires about five times the normal amount of the drug. One scientist points out that even if the vaccine doesn't eliminate the habit; it does make it very expensive to continue the behavior.



Results are promising. Obstacles are being over come. But just like every other sin n the world; no shot or hypnosis or other means can cure it without the will to be free.



Response: I found this article fascinating. Most of the articles I have read this year have convinced me of how ignorant we are of the wonders of the human body but this article was quite the opposite. It didn't ever speak of religion or faith but I hope that the great minds behind these vaccines have the greatest mind to guide them. It reminds me that we are born sinners. I know that the "vices" of this article are self-infused but their side-effects are pleasurable to us; something I believe that is ingrained in us from the Fall; we enjoy what we know is wrong and can ultimately kill us. I hope that these vaccines approach a promising future because they may not be a cure but I know they can help. My own family suffers from several addictions and anything that helps is beneficial. Another effect of the vaccines that wasn't mentioned in the article is the placebo effect. Even if the influence of the vaccine is minimal, the fact that you're getting a shot to cure your sin can be very effective mentally.

¡DISAPPEARING INK!

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/9000/title/Disappearing_Ink

A tattoo, something formerly associated with the image of a 'bad boy' or rebel, now having made it's way into reality TV and onto the skin of many people who don't fit the typical image.

"Tattooing has almost become a right of passage for young people."

Tattoos have increased in popularity over the past several years, so has the business of tattoo removal. Many people wait many years and carefully plan their tattoo, but many other's also get a tattoo on a spur of the moment feeling crazy type of day. There are many reasons that people choose to have their tattoos removed you could probably guess them all. Nobody wants the name of a former lover engraved on their arm after a horrible breakup, sometimes people get a tattoo removed because it has faded [with time] and for some people, it's just "stupid".

Tattoo removal is and has been possible, but it's 1) expensive, 2) painful 3) a multiple visit process 4)not going to take you back to the original unblemished perfection of your skin's pre-tattoo days.

Finally, there has been a new innovative way to get a tattoo without being committed and binded to it for life! A company called Freedom-2 in New Jersey has come up with the recipe for an ink that can easily be removed with only one laser treatment.

Tattoos are an ancient form of art coming from all over the world and made from many different natural substances [charcoal & plant extracts]. In today's world we have no idea what is in the ink of the tattoo formula, although the FDA is supposably in charge of testing the ink it has fallen in the cracks of state and local government and is not regulated at all. on the website it even says that some things in the formula are ok for cosmetics, but "none is approved for injection under the skin... many pigments used in tattoo inks are not approved for skin contact at all." The suppliers will not let out their secrets or ingredients at all. A chemist and her students decided to study the ingrediens of a few inks and while they chemically broke down the substances they "found that some contained heavy metals, such as lead, while others had carcinogenic compounds."

If this isn't enough to make you think twice about getting a tattoo, good, it's not even the biggest health risk, it's the possibility that your tattoo artist has not sterilized the equipment.

Although the removable tattoo ink seems a relief for consumers, artist's may not be quite as adaptable in thought that their work may be removed by someone who hasn't thought through their decision well enough. One artist said, "we are not in the business of creating temporary tattoos.. we urge everyone who is thinking about tattoos to think of them as a permenant decision."

I really like the thinking behind the creators of the Freedom-2 ink, I'm glad they collaborated and came up with this ink. As a potential tattoo consumer, I would like to know that what they are using needles to put into my skin is approved as healthy and not full of carcinogens. I think it's good and people who may have always wanted a tattoo will be more likely to go for it, knowing that it is a decision that is important, but if someday for some reason they need to get it removed it is possible and won't be the most painful experience of their life! I can understand the artist's not completely accepting this, it might lower their esteem as an artist, knowing that their client is maybe not fully trusting them and their work. Overall I think the artists will have more customers because people who were scared before are probably a bit more likely to get a tattoo with the freedom-2 ink than before!

The Artificial Heart: Not Just a Pump By Wray Herbert

The need/want for artificial hearts dates back to about the 1940s. It became more and more publicized in the hit 1970s television show "Six Million Dollar Man". Also the success of the space program of the 1960s gave much hope for other inventions such as the heart. Then in 1988 New York Times' editor said, "the Federal project to create an implantable artificial heart is dead", thus hope for the heart simple "died" off... but not for long.



Barney Clark was the first person to receive a permanent medical heart, called the Jarvik-7--inventor Robert Jarvik; however, he passed on 112 days later. He was hooked up to a very large and loud machine to power his heart. He went through many problems such as convulsions, cognitive problems, and kidney failure, where he eventually died of "massive organ failure". Even though this first trial was a failure, four more patients received the Jarvik-7 heart, one of whom was William Schroeder who survived 620 days!



Many thought that the heart was merely a simple four pump machine..they were mistaken. Alfred Bove said: "the God-given heart is dynamically balanced, finely-tuned organ, with the capacity to generate force, raise and lower pulse. It's impossible to get that in an artificial heart". But. Alfred, we can get mighty close, now. According to Robert Kung, chief scientific officer at Aboimed, a Danvers, Mass., we may have been too eager to implant the Jarvik-7 into patients. In this case building a rocket would be easier because the trajectory and velocities can be figured with math and science, building a heart is more like a feel, its more complex. Kung now is working on an improved Jarvik-7 called AbioCor.



Problems with the artificial heart was the inventors/medical scientists may no to have fully understood how the blood flows and circulates. Blood wants and needs to flow smoothly if it moves lazily it will clot, and yet can damage the cells and cause blockages. The AbioCor is made of special titanium and polyurethane blend that makes it easier for the blood to flow through the slick surface. The Jarvik-7's terrible pump caused jolting of the whole body, it was painful and uncomfortable. AbioCor had some clinical trials, only with the extremely ill though, and they were unable to save them, mainly because of stokes. Something needs to be done about clotting! The answer is cuffs that connect to the artificial heart and help regulate the circulation. Another big problem with any transplant surgery is infection.

AbioCor didn't use a large and painful pump but electricity--from an outlet or battery of some sort. It sends energy across the skin in waves so no tubes needed to be inserted. This also helped decrease infection. Thus far AbioCor is more convenient and efficient. However it is the size of a grapefruit, too large for anyone that's not a full grown man. AbioCor II is in the process of being drafted, this will be 30% smaller. The time of survival increased to 17 months. So it seems as if we are on the way to becoming successful in creating an artificial heart that can keep one alive longer.

My thoughts:
I find it intriguing that many scientists under estimated the complexity of the heart. It seems simple enough to have a four chambered pumping organism. But we cannot forget about how blood flows and the pressure needed to pump and keep from back flow. There are many things that the heart can do and I personally do not think we can ever recreate anything that is as good or better than the original, the first Creator is kind of hard to beat.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=not-just-a-pump&print=true

A moment on the lips...a lifetime on the hips!

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31755/title/A_moment_on_the_lips

When you lose weight, you may think you're losing those fat cells, but you're not! Neuroscientist, Kirsty Spalding and her colleagues, of the Karolinsha Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, used an a technique Spalding originally developed to figure out whether neurons replicate, to attempt to answer the question of whether people gain and lose fat cells as their weight moves up or down the scale. Above-ground nuclear bomb tests, during the Cold War, caused levels of the radioactive isotope, C-14, to skyrocket. Since then the level of C-14 has slowly decreased. Humans take in this isotope by eating herbivores, which incorporates C-14 through photosynthesis. Ergo, the level of C-14 in human cells created in a given year reflect the level of the isotope in the atmosphere that year. Spalding and her team used C-14 to determine how often fat cells turn over. After trackin the "birth dates" of fat cells in adults, Spalding found tat adults loose about ten percent of fat cells each year, but all those cells are replaced. The researchers reported in Nature on August 4, that obese people have about twice the number of fat cells as normal-weight adults, and the cells are bigger. Spalding and her colleagues concluded adults maintain a fixed number of cells throughout life. As cells die, the same number is replenished, and when people gain weight they do not gain fat cells, rather the cells are packed with lipids and expand in size.
The director of the Center for Human Nutrition at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Samuel Klein, doesn't agree with Spalding in the fact that people don't make more fat cells as they gain weight, but he does agree that fat cells in obese people are larger than in lean people. Klein says, "If we never made more fat cells, they'd become huge in size, and that just doesn't happen." He states that there is a limit of how much lipid can fit in a fat cell, about 1.5 micrograms, and he believes some people gain much more weight than can be accounted for by the fat that can be stored. "Its fat cell size, not number, that causes metabolic problems," Klein says, because stuffed fat cells leak fatty acids or ive off hormones that trigger inflammation, or lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Small fat cells on the other hand, don't release those kinds of troublesome molecules.


I don't think I've ever really thought in depth about what's happening inside the body, while someone is gaining weight. I would have assumed that as you gained and lost weight, that you would gain and lose those fat cells, and it's interesting to me to read that that's not necissarily true. It's also interesting to read tw different opinions from two different researchers, it shows that there is still more researching to be done!