Pass it on

We inherit many things from our parents; they pass along traits from their genes to ours.However, for 1 in every 116 newborn babies, their parents may have passed along the herpes virus, known as HHV-6. Researches suspect the HHV-6 infections are passes along from parent to child when the HHV-6 virus injects its genetic makeup into a parent's DNA. A parent then passes the virus to the child one of two ways: either through the placenta (when viral particles of mother cross into placenta) or more commonly through the chromosomes and DNA that a child receives from a parent.

In children who have the herpes virus, they often develop a slight infection marked by a high fever and sometimes a rash. In more rare and serious cases respiratory and intestinal problems may occur along with seizures. The greater problem, however, is that when the HHV-6 virus is passed on by chromosome integration, it enters into areas of DNA on chromosomes that are responsible from immune regulation and aging, called telomeres. Telomeres that possess viruses such as HHV-6 can trigger more serious problems such as cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and chronic fatigue syndrome. While scientists continue to study the correlation between the HHV-6 virus and more serious problems, doctors are now able to detect the HHV-6 infection at birth, so parents and children can be better informed.

My Response

I always thought that herpes (HHV-6) was only spread through skin to skin contact. I never thought of it as being able to be passed on through DNA. It is incredible to think that the virus inserts its genetic material into a parent's DNA, and then the parent passes it along to their offspring. This just goes to prove how complex and intricate one person's DNA really is. The HHV-6 virus does not seem initially too harmful in early childhood, with a high fever and rash being the main symptoms.However, if HHV-6 teolmeres can really lead to more serious health issues like cancer, epilepsy, and MS, then I definitely think that researchers need to spend more time studying the connection between the two and then they can hopefully find a way to cure the herpes virus altogether.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=pass-it-on-children-can-inherit-herpes

Could Our Own Proteins Be Used to Help Us Fight Cancer?

Summary:
Heat shock proteins or HSPs were seen in 1962 when Furruccio Ritossa noticed that when the temperature was raised in an incubator with fruit flies, the chromosomes of the flies puffed up at certain places. This reaction was due to activated genes initiating the work of encoded proteins or HSPs. These proteins later were noticed in other forms of life other than fruit flies. HSPs are produced in response to stressful conditions and work to keep cell activities working well. In general, HSPs work to prevent undesirable interactions and promote beneficial interactions between proteins.
Unlike proteins inside a cell, which have a limited number of “matches” with which it can interact, HSPs can associate with a plethora of proteins giving rise to the wide variety of jobs HSPs can perform. For example, HSPs often become involved in the shaping of proteins. Each amino acid is either hydrophobic or hydrophilic. The HSP60 protein has both hydrophobic and hydrophilic parts and works to change the shape of the amino acid chain. The HSP100 protein, in contrast, works with the HSP70 protein to disassemble damaged proteins or cause a folded protein to unfold. The HSP70 proteins work by binding to peptides, which are short stretches of amino acid sequences. When ATP is present the molecule’s peptide-binding cleft is open. When ATP is absent the cleft is closed by a structure on the HSP70 protein and the peptide is trapped. HSP70 can trap a variety of peptides and therefore can work in many cellular processes like assembling complex proteins and protecting proteins affected by high temperatures. HSPs can be used during emergency conditions to alleviate stress by rescuing essential proteins, dismantling and recycling damaged proteins, and keeping cell processes operating smoothly.
Along with responding to hazardous conditions, HSPs can be used to fortify immune responses. A protein named gp96, identified as a member of the HSP90 family, can initiate immune resistance to tumors. Since identical gp96 molecules are found in tumors and in normal tissues, it is not the structure of the amino acids that provides immunity to cancerous cells. In 1990 it was found that HSP70 from tumors could also elicit tumor immunity. However, immunization did not occur when the molecule interacted with ATP. The ATP was causing HSP70 to release any bound peptides. When either HSP70 or HSP90 comes from cancers or virus-infected cells they have peptides from cancer-specific or viral antigens. HSP molecules, therefore, have a vital role in the recognition of cancerous and virus-infected cells. Peptides composed of antigens made inside cells associate with various HSPs and are eventually put onto a specific class of proteins. Cells called T lymphocytes are able to recognize the peptide complexes and eliminate any that portray a diseased cell. The ability of HSPs from tumors or pathogen-infected cells to carry and display peptides is essential in the immunization of those tumors or intracellular pathogens.
HSPs help T lymphocytes to recognize harmful peptides by interacting with immune cells called antigen-presenting cells. These cells are in almost every tissue of the body and are used to present antigens from their surrounding to T lymphocytes. They do this by taking in an HSP-peptide complex through a receptor and then revealing it to the T lymphocytes. T Lymphocytes then destroy or fight off cancerous or infected cells. HSPs can also alert the immune system of danger by causing antigen-presenting cells to go through changes in reaction to the presence of HSPs.
By taking HSP-bound peptides from a patient with a tumor it is possible to purify the peptides and create a vaccine that could initiate an attack against tumor-associated cells. In many cases this process has been successful. It even seems as if the process could be used to treat infectious diseases like genital herpes and tuberculosis.
The specific heat shock protein HSP90 is proven to buffer harmful effects and cover up variations and genetic mutations. When this function of HSP90 is deterred by extreme conditions, the accumulated variations are revealed and natural selection can take place. A loss of the function of HSP90 may make cancer cells more sensitive to stress, which could allow them to be destroyed more easily by chemotherapy. HSP90 inhibiters are, therefore, being tested in cancer patients along with chemotherapy.
Cancer immunotherapy involving HSP-peptide complexes can be very effective. However, very high doses of HSPs can cause the suppression, rather than stimulation, of immune responses. One danger of treating various diseases with HSPs is that drugs changing HSP levels may harm systems dependent on the proteins. Scientists, however, have learned to avoid side effects while altering proteins. In conclusion, heat shock proteins or HSPs are known to play essential parts in cell functions. They help create, degrade, and protect proteins, protect cells from the effects of mutations, and even facilitate immunity by associating with cells involved in antigen presentation. Among the many known functions of HSPs, however, are many more that have yet to be discovered.


My Response:
I continually marvel at the complexity of the life God has given to all creatures. This article presented proteins, processes, and associations, which I never knew existed let alone played such a vital part in life functions. HSPs are involved in many processes to protect the body and defend against harmful factors. Cancer and other infectious diseases are devastating and harmful. However, the effects of these diseases would be more extreme if the body had no way to defend itself. I believe the immune system is one of the most phenomenal systems of the body. Our bodies are constantly faced with adversity and potentially hazardous conditions. Each cell of the immune system including HSPs has a specific and unique function. As the various cells work together, much like any cooperation of people work together, they are able to defend against unwanted, undesirable effects. The information in this article allowed me to appreciate the diligent and faithful functions of the body’s immune system. Our knowledge of the functions of various cells like HSPs is minimal although constantly increasing. Yet these functions, known and unknown, continue to take place to keep our bodies operating smoothly.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=new-jobs-for-ancient-chaperones

How Magicians Trick the Mind

Summary
Magicians are masters at attention and awareness. They have the ability to control what what people are aware of andwhat they are not. They do this by creating visual and optical illusions. But perhaps the most pivotal tool, is the ability to make cognitive illusions. Cognitive illusions are like visual illusions in the way that both cover one's perception of physicalm reality. They are different from visual illusions in the sense that they are based on things sensory in nature. These include attention, memory, and and casual interference. With the ability to use these illusions, magicians make it almost impossible to figure out what is actually going on.

Neuroscientists are interested in understanding cognitive functions to learn how to make better experiments and to create more effective visual and cognitive illusions for learning about the neural bases of attention and awareness. They hope that a better understanding of these things will lead to diagnostic and treatment options for people who suffer from cognitive disorders such as deficits resulting from brain trauma, attention disorders, and maybe even Alzheimers. The treatment for these disorders might be able to "trick" the patients into focusing on the things they normally can't pay attention to, and tune out the distractions. Just like a magician makes his audience focus on what he wants them to.

Magicians use the practice of turning a person's focus away from a secret action called "misdirection." This causes viewers' attention to go to the effect of an action instead of the action or the cause of the action. Magicians, however, can also use a method called covert misdirection. This allows the audience to look at a method behind a trick and be completely oblivious to it. One type of covert misdirection is called change blindness, meaning that people don't notice something different about a scene. Studies show that it doesn't even have to be a small change to a scene. If people are really concentrating on something, a huge change can be right in their line of vision, and they still can fail to notice it. Magicians like to use this method.

Also, Magicians play with your head by triggering circuts in your brain. If a magician pretends to throw a ball, all eyes go to where the people thought the ball should have landed. This must mean that implied and real motions activate similar neural circuits in one's brain. Perhaps that is why illusions feel so real. There are many other ways that magicians can play with people's heads, and if neuroscientists can learn to use the same methods, they too could could control awareness. And if they manage to link awareness to the functioning of neurons, they will have the power to discover some mysteries of the consciousness.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?=magic-and-the-brain

My Thoughts

I thought this article was intersting because it shed some light about how magicians can play with your mind. I never thought of studying a magicians tricks to figure out key principles of my own mind before. I also thought it was cool that scientists are studying some methods that magicians use to people with cognitive disorders. Who knows? Maybe cognitive therapy will be the next type careerthat people will be encouraged to get into.

When someone goes into cardiac arrest his or her heart stops suddenly. This causes the blood to stop flowing, and cells use up all of their oxygen in about ten seconds and all of their glucose in five minutes. After this happens, one’s cells actually poison themselves with a wash of deadly chemicals. Usually doctors use a defibrillator to shock the heart back into action which would get the blood moving and deliver the oxygen and glucose to the cells. Unfortunately, if you are not already at a hospital and this is not done quickly enough, permanent damage can result, including brain damage within five minutes. One out of twenty people survive cardiac arrest, but Peter Safar wants to make it one in three. Peter Safar is well-known in the field of resuscitation studies and researches at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center. He discovered that your body will slow the deadly chemicals if its temperature is lowered enough- by around 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit. He tested his theory on dogs and discovered that he could extend the five minute time limit to ten. In these experiments he had used a small heart and lung machine that cooled the blood and sent it back in the system. But however great Safar’s discovery was, it was not able to transfer it to the field because it was too complex and not transportable.
Safar was not the only one working on this. Michael Darwin of the 21st Century Medicine (now the Critical Research Center) was also looking for a way to quickly cool victims of cardiac arrest. He knew about a mouse who had survived after being submerged in the liquid perflurocarbon. Not only does this liquid does not harm air pockets in the lungs, it can also be made to carry oxygen and carbon dioxide. According to Darwin, paramedic would treat someone who had just suffered from their heart stopping by using an endotracheal tube to send the perflurocarbon into the person’s lungs. This amazing liquid would conatin enough oxygen to keep the person going and cool the blood that would circulate and then cool the brain.
Once again, Darwin and Safar were not the only people to have discovered this. Another group of people had been working with perflocarbon but had used two tubes, one inside the other, to transfer the liquid and oxygen separately which was ultimately better for cooling the brain. Darwin paired up with Steven Harris of his Critical Research Center and their method for cooling was three times as high as any other external methods. Using dogs, they found that the blood temperature could fall by fourteen degrees in eighteen minutes, which in turn cooled the brain by about thirteen degrees.
These discoveries were announced in 1999 at a medical conference and spread the word and excitement of rapid brain cooling procedures. Other researchers got involved, including Ken Kanza who had perfected the shape of ice particles that would aid in the cooling process. So far, they had successfully cooled a living dog and brought it back to its normal temperature- twelve times. Currently five prototypes are being made and the future looks promising for this new development. They are working on designs that will be easily transported, like on an ambulance for emergencies and its estimated this new development could save one hundred thousand lives a year.

My Response: I think that is amazing- to admit someone into some sort of hypothermic state. And that liquid- perflurocarbon I have no idea how it carries oxygen or how it can be in your lungs and not damage anything but I am really glad it does. I like how all the researchers came together to pull this off. Each one on their own couldn’t accomplish it but together they made it happen. I hope this really ends up in the field, and that it will save all the lives they are hoping it will. Five minutes is a small window in which the brain damage could occur, but if they can get that up to ten minutes, many more will have a second chance at life.

http://discovermagazine.com/2001/oct/feattech