Last Blogpost

For my last blogpost, I wanted to talk about something I think is really important: cancer. More and more people are being diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses than ever before, and it is our responsibility to get the cost of medicines and medical expenses in general down.

When considering what you want your career to be, many will say "I want to be a doctor because they make so much money." Well, that's true in most cases, but even many doctors are becoming fed up with the cost of drugs used for treating cancer. According to a New York Times article, many patients pay $100,000 just for medicine, and many people have to stay on those medications for the rest of their lives. 

So how exactly does this relate to biology? Well, in the sense that these medicines are both chemically and biologically derived. It's a medical issue that affects many people, and it will probably affect all of us in some way, shape, or form in our lifetime. The issue here is with the pharmaceutical companies, who have taken a supply and demand approach to medicines. They have a moral and ethical responsibility to keep these medications as affordable as possible, and doctors can only do so much to help their patients. At this point, many will have to choose whether or not they want to take a chance on living or not getting those medications simply because they don't have the money.

I don't know about you guys or what you believe, but I personally think that everyone should have the right to medications they desperately need. Check out this article, and make the decision for yourself.

Article cred: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/business/cancer-physicians-attack-high-drug-costs.html?pagewanted=2&ref=health

To Circumcise Or Not...That Is the question

Circumcision is a decision that we all must face as we start our own families. Many choose to circumcise for purely cosmetic reasons or also religious reasons, but recent research gives you another reason to consider when you are choosing whether or not it is the right decision for your child.

According to Robert Bailey, who has been studying the differences between uncircumcised and circumcised penises, those who are circumcised have less bacteria on the penis and have a better chance of not contracting STIs, particularly HIV. In his study, he took swabs from the penises of uncircumcised, married men, had half of them get circumcised, and then tested the men again a year later. The results were this--those who were uncircumcised had 9 more types of bacteria than did those of the recently circumcised, further proving the benefits of circumcision.

The American Pediatrics Association often debates whether or not circumcision should be allowed (as was discussed in the Human Sexual Behavior course here at Clemson). Sometimes they decide that there are no health benefits, and other times they decide one way is better than the other. This can be very confusing for families as they try to make their decisions, but this study goes to prove that circumcision is the best option for males because of its obvious health benefits.

Article Cred: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/349839/description/Circumcision_changes_penis_biology

If You Have Diabetes...

Diabetes is something very important to me, especially because diabetes type 2 runs in my family, so it's almost inevitable that I will have it one day. There are a lot of medications that help with diabetes symptoms so that people can live pretty normal lives, but this past week scientists have made a discovery while doing research with rats.

Apparently there is a hormone in the liver (called betatrophin) of rats which is also produced in humans. The experiments on rats proved that betatrophin produced the cells needed to increase production of pancreatic beta cells, which are the cells that make insulin in the body.

In order to understand how significant this is, it's important to know about the different types of diabetes.  In type 1, beta cells aren't produced at all in the pancreas, but in type 2, there are just not enough beta cells produced to be as effective as possible. And it doesn't have to help just these patients, it could potentially help those with gestational diabetes as well.

The only downside is that this is a very young theory that is still going through testing, but there is a lot of potential in this. It could mean that people would have to give themselves 1 shot a week instead of several and possibly even enable people to produce their own beta cells again. There is true potential, but only time will tell what this drug has to offer the 25 million people living with diabetes in the United States.

Article cred: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2013/04/could-new-liver-hormone-treat-di.html?ref=hp

What's an Island without Trees?

After hearing the last presentation in our class about extinction of species, I found an article that piqued my interest. While the article itself does not discuss bringing back these species, I thought it kind of related to the presentation because of the way the damage is being done.

On a small island in Japan, known as Yakushima, trees are dying. Dr. Osamu Nagafuchi believes that these trees are dying out because of air pollution from China coming to the island. He has had a lot of trouble gaining support for this theory for years, but people are starting to believe him more and more as China has been issuing public health warnings in the cities recently, which in turn, makes Japanese more concerned that this could start to take an even bigger toll on their land.

Here is a picture so you can see where it is 

in relation to Japanese cities. 

Continued exposure could start to affect citizens' health, livelihood, and put a major blow to the economy, as ecotourism is extremely popular on the island. It's a really pressing issue because it's affecting a certain type of pine tree that only grows on this island and one other. People are starting to become very afraid because even if Dr. Nagafuchi is right, the government will probably not be able to do much to prevent it. It's up to China to take responsibility for the damage done. 

Dr. Nagafuchi taking air samples on a mountainside

in Yakushima

So why should we care about Japan's problems? Well, to put it simply, we need to follow their example. We have a responsibility to take care of our planet. We can't have a situation like this happen because it will only escalate into full-scale mayhem worldwide. 

Article/photo cred: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/japanese-scientist-blames-china-for-yakushimas-dying-trees.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=science

Photo cred: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~hn7y-mur/mononoke/monolink10e.htm

Fairies Are Real?!

Ok, so let me just start off by saying that I hate insects. I love the outdoors, but there is nothing that can creep me out more than a creepy-crawly little bug that gets into your hair and clothes and...well you get the point. Moreover, I HATE bugs that sting you. As if the creepy-crawly factor wasn't enough, now you have to add a pain factor? No. Can't deal with it.

Back to my original point though, apparently scientists have discovered this teensy, tiny little wasp that lives in Costa Rica. It's not even the size of a pencil point. It's only 250 micrometers. To put that in perspective for those of us who are scientifically illiterate, 100 micrometers is the average width of a human hair. It even has a cute name (Tinkerbella nana)--named after, you guessed it, Tinkerbell herself from the Peter Pan stories.

This is what a Tinkerbella fairyfly looks like!

While scientists know that fairyflies exist all over the world, they haven't figured out what exactly the Tinkerbella does. I'm looking forward to finding that out.

I'm sure to all you insect lovers out there, this is a pretty cool discovery. I'm even surprised that we are finding new species. I would have thought that we discovered most if not all of them by now. For me, this is just something else that I would have had to watch out for while enjoying outdoor activities. If it has to be there, I'd rather not be able to see it. 

Article/Photo cred: http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0425/Scientists-discover-ridiculously-small-insect?nav=127-csm_category-topStories

YOU Get the Cure and YOU Get the Cure and EVERYBODY GETS THE CURE!

After our recent class discussion about HIV and the man who was cured of AIDS, doctors may have found a cure that will work for all cases of HIV/AIDS and maybe even other viruses such as Hepatitus B and C. The cure comes from a naturally occurring ingredient (a quite obscure one, I might add)--bee venom.

Cures from bee venom? Who'd have thought?

Ok, so I know that this doesn't seem that likely...After all, HIV/AIDS has been a death sentence for millions of people. It's powerful enough to break the human body's immune system down and cause people to develop pneumonia from the common cold. How in the world can something as simple as bee venom cure such a horrible disease?

Well, I found something interesting on sciencenews.org that discusses just that.

A chemical called melittin in the bee's venom is capable of deteriorating the double membrane that surrounds viruses such as HIV. It also doesn't affect the normal cells of the body--just the small, teensy-tiny virus infected cells. This treatment has amazing possibilites, and it is even suggested that women in at-risk parts of the world could get a vaginal gel that contains the chemical as a preventative, as that is the location of initial infection in women. 

If this proves to be a long-lasting solution, millions of lives could be saved all over the world! Finally the disease that has been eluding us for 30 years now has (possibly) met its match. 

Article Cred: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348990/description/Bee_venom_component_might_offer_HIV_protection

Photo Cred: http://myhoustonmajic.com/2928747/bee-venom-kills-hiv/

Not Just for Heart Attacks

 

Bone marrow donation is one of the most painful processes you can go through. It's necessary though, to fight certain cancers and blood disorders, such as lymphoma. Scientists are now researching something that could be a bit of a game changer in the process; it is believed that aspirin and drugs similar to aspirin may improve the success rate of stem-cell transplants.

So how does this work?


Well, doctors already have a drug called filgrastim to stimulate the haematopoietic stem cells in donors or in people who are receiving their own stem cells, according to writer Thea Cunningham for nature.com. However, doctors say, "In patients with multiple myeloma or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, however, and in some donors, stem cells don’t mobilize well with filgrastim and other drugs in its class. Using NSAIDs such as meloxicam could enhance filgrastim’s efficacy." 


Why is it important?

Bone marrow transplant is still a tricky process that we are continually trying to figure out to increase its success rate. If this method is proven to be very effective, it could change the lives of many people--increasing life expectancy for cancer patients and making bone marrow transplant a very viable option.

Photo creds: http://www.x-ald.nl/treatment-options/hsct/; http://askdrnandi.com/tag/aspirin/

Article cred: http://www.nature.com/news/painkillers-mobilize-blood-stem-cells-1.12600