Carbs to Keep in Your Diet

I read an article called "The Healthiest Carb You're Not Eating." I found the article at http://www.prevention.com/health/nutrition/smart-shopping/the-healthiest-carb-you-re-not-eating/article/f1018169c1903110VgnVCM20000012281eac. This article wrote about the benefits of eating pasta, whole grain pasta. When many people diet they try to cut out the carbs they eat daily and pasta is a main source of carbs. However, this article talks about how whole grain pasta is actually better for you and can even stop weight gain. I never realized how much good, natural ingredients that processed foods remove. For example, everyone loves the taste of regular pasta but whole grain pasta tastes just as good and it has so many more things that help your health, and fight diseases. Whole grain pasta includes folate, vitamin E, magnessium, potassium, selenium, lignans, and phenolic compounds. It also contains a significant amount of fiber. This amazed me because fiber can help reduce your risk of heart rate or diabetes, two very serious conditions. However, people don't take these into consideration before removing this health secret from their diet. After reading this article it made me think of the book "Mountains Beyond Mountains" and the people of Haiti. In Farmer's experiment in the beginning of the book he compares the rate of cure in people treated for the same disease. However, one of the groups received visits from volunteer medical personnel, nurses, doctors, food and even child support. The people who did not receive these things were not cured as well as those who received them. Taking away the personal aspect of medicine is similar to taking away carbs, good carbs, from your diet. They both can put your health at risk and they are both things that can easily be controlled. So, don't be so quick to judge food "unhealthy" when it could save your life.

Is Sleep Deprivation Not So Bad?

I found the article "Sleep Deprivation: The Great American Myth" on foxnews.com and it was written by Robin Lloyd and posted on March 23rd 2006. It can be found here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188924,00.html

This article discusses statistics in regards to sleeping pills, and how getting more sleep does not always have substantial health benefits. For example, the article states that, based on a study those who only get six or seven hours of sleep a night have a lower death rate than those who receive eight. The article claims that "There is really no evidence that the average 8-hour sleeper functions better than the average 6- or 7-hour sleeper", and People who sleep less than average make more money and are more successful." A statistic that I found to be especially surprising from the article was the fact that the risk from taking sleeping pills thirty or more times a month was not much less than that of smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. The article also discusses how the popularity of sleeping pills is relatively recent, starting in the nineties when sleeping pills began being made from less addicting substances.

I really liked this article because I feel like sleep deprivation is an extremely relevant issue in high school. I mean, I'm writing this blog post at midnight. I think it's important for us to realize that, while we do need to sleep, it isn't the end of the world if we don't get a full eight hours. We should strive too, but not sleeping won't kill us. I also think that it is important to see what risks there are when it comes to taking sleeping pills. People tend to just take them without a second thought, and it's important to realize that they are really doing to your body. Before reading this article, I personally had no idea how dangerous they were.

STDs probably will not tell you they are there. Should you get tested?

While searching on Google News for an enticing article to blog about, I came across “Sexually Transmitted Diseases: The Silent Epidemic” at http://www.theithacajournal.com/article/20100427/LIFE/4270319/1124/Sexually-Transmitted-Diseases--The-Silent-Epidemic. Ieva Doyle published it on April 27, 2010.

The article is in response to a new report in upstate New York on sexually transmitted diseases by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. The study analyzed the rates of infection of the five most frequently reported STDs amongst teens and adults- gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV and AIDS. One of the most shocking statistics was that “the incidence of gonorrhea among 15- to 19-year-olds in upstate New York exceeds the state average, with 377 cases per 100,000 teens compared to 314 cases per 100,000 statewide.”

The article mentions that STDs are usually transferred through sexual activity, but some are passed from mother to child. Most show no symptoms, so testing is usually the only way to make a diagnosis. Bacterial infections, such as gonorrhea, can be treated and often cured with antibiotics. Viral infections, such as herpes, are incurable, but can be controlled with medication. The CDC recommends practicing abstinence or limiting sexual partners, using condoms without fail, and getting screened regularly to protect oneself from a STD. Dr. Marybeth McCall, chief medical officer of Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, concludes the article with, “The takeaway from this report is that there are serious long-term health consequences resulting from undiagnosed and untreated STDs. It’s time to stop being embarrassed and start talking - especially to young people – about safe sex and, if appropriate, about getting tested and treated.”

Sexually Transmitted Diseases affect people from all walks of life, but are rarely talked about. Many infected individuals go untreated which threatens their life and the lives of others by unknowingly spreading their disease. I learned that if STDs are left untreated, they could lead to pregnancy complications, HIV transmission and reproductive tract cancers. If there were more awareness about the importance of getting regular screenings, the shocking numbers of STD cases would decrease.

This article was attention grabbing because it really drove home the point that if one thinks they are at-risk, they should get tested because usually there are no signs or symptoms of an STD. In this day and age, because sex has become so mainstream with the help of shows such as “Teen Mom” on MTV, I believe it is especially important for the younger generations to understand these facts about Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

A High Incidence of Asthma in New England and Complications

On April 26, 2010 The Boston Globe posted an article by Stephen Smith entitled "Scourge of asthma is acute in N.E." It is reporting the fact that asthma, a chronic disease, should be a relatively easy to tame or control but has complications due to economic, social, and environmental forces.

Through a telephone survey that reports people's overall health, in 2001 about 1.2 million New Englanders had asthma but by 2006, it had grown by 100,000. It still remains a mystery as to why New England has a higher incidence of asthma than the rest of the country, but specialists have theorized that cold weather keeps families inside old houses vulnerable to asthma triggers including things such as dust mites, cockroach droppings, and mold.

Dr. Brugge, a Tufts University School of Medicene professor who studies asthma in Boston neighborhoods said that "There are people who don't have the proper medications. There are people who have the proper medications but aren't using them properly. There are people who are properly medicated bu have not controlled environmental exposures." With this being said you can see where there are complications; some people can't afford medication or the high copayments and some people don't have money to take out carpets that harbor mites or mold that trigger asthma's onset.

The connection I made between this article and class is the fact that although there is treatment available, not everyone can take it. Although this was the case with polio, they raised money and funded so that anyone that was infected would be treated. Asthma isn't as bad as polio in the sense that you don't become paralyzed but it may be really harmful depending on how severe you have it and what triggers it.

I can connect to this article because I had asthma when I was really young but then it seemed to have gone away. When I visited Sri Lanka in second grade, the environment and my surroundings triggered the asthma again so I now have to use an inhaler. It is also worse in the cold weather and especially winter in comparison to the summer or spring.

This article is eye opening because I didn't realize that inhalers and medication for asthma was unaffordable because it seems to be a common issue amongst people. I also didn't realize it could be triggered by certain things and be so severe that people have to go to the ER. When asthma effects me it feels like my chest is closing in and I don't even have a bad case of it. This makes me wonder how it feels to have such a bad case that you have to go to the ER.

There is no tension or controversy in the article.

This article can be found at http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/26/scourge_of_asthma_is_acute_in_ne/?page=full .

The Importance of Immunization

The article, Immunize to Protect Your Baby against Disease, written by the CDC highlighted the importance of immunization and epidemic diseases. This article can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/Features/InfantImmunization/. The author of this article wrote. “Immunization is one of the best ways parents can protect their infants and young children from potentially serious diseases” to best summarize the article. This article highlights the importance of having babies, who are old enough to be immunized, and anyone close to a baby, who is not old enough, to be immunized so that young baby would not contract a deadly disease. This article, which is written by the CDC, is clearly in favor of vaccination and immunization. The article also highlights an important week for the CDC, known as National Infant Immunization Week (NIIW). “This is an annual celebration of the significant role of immunizations play in keeping our children and our communities healthy. NIIW is April 24 – May 1.” While I do agree that vaccine keep our children and communities healthy, I believe it should be a person’s individual choice on whether they want the vaccine. The CDC is promoting vaccination and immunization, but I do not think any vaccine should be mandatory, because it is a person’s right to make their decision, and forcing someone to do something, would be unconstitutional. This article reminded me of the vaccine movement for polio we learned about in class. Many people, such as Indians, do not want the vaccine because of religious beliefs, and I think they have a right to refuse the vaccine. This article was very interesting, because I did not know there was a designated week called, NIIW, to promote vaccination and immunization.

Change for South Africa's Fight Against AIDS?

This article was originally published in The New York Times as "South Africa Redoubles Efforts Against AIDS" by Celia Dugger on April 25, 2010. The link for it is: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/health/policy/26safrica.html.

In this article, Dugger describes the plan that South Africa has to combat the AIDS epidemic that is ravaging the area. Some aspects of the plan include widespread distribution of medicines, free H.I.V. tests for all, recommended circumcisions, and training of the medical community. The undertaking is expected to be "the largest and fastest expansion of AIDS services ever attempted by any nation". The main problem for South Africa is the fact that they have to pay more for some drugs than other countries.

President Jacob Zuma is wasting no time implementing the plan and is making up for time lost under the former president, Thabo Mbeki. The former president questioned the science behind AIDS and often made the drugs that treated it seem harmful. Harvard researchers estimated that this kind of attitude contributed to the premature deaths of approximately 365,000 people. President Zuma is doing just the exact opposite. Recently, he made his H.I.V. test results public in order "to eradicate the silence and stigma that accompanies this epidemic." He hopes to accomplish his goal of testing 15 million people by June 2011.

The connection I made to class with this article was what I read in Mountains Beyond Mountains. In the book, the main doctor Paul Farmer worked to make certain aspects of healthcare (including AIDS treatment) available for all the people who lived in Haiti. President Zuma is essentially doing the same for his people. Additionally one of the problems the book focused on was how the drugs were to be paid for. No doubt the South Africans will be facing the same problem over the next few years. I personally hope that they triumph in their quest to stop their AIDS epidemic from getting any worse and make up for all the time they lost under former president Mbeki.

Are cancer tests unreliable?

This article called "Cancer Fight: Unclear Tests for New Drug" was written by Gina Kolata on April 10, 2010. This article was published by The New York Time and can be accessed by the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/20/health/research/20cancer.html?pagewanted=2&ref=research.

Today new drugs that are created to fight off cancer all have a common way of carrying this out; targeting and breaking down the proteins that drive cancer. What many of the patients don't know is that these drugs can target the proteins, but the results can be untrustworthy.

Dr. Griffith, Director for the Center for Gynepathology Research at M.I.T., who recently found out that she had breast cancer, underwent a test to see if she had copies of the protein HER2. If she did then she could take the drug Herception, which blocks the protein and stops the tumor growth. Her test came back negative, but it was seen that a small area in her tumor had indeed a lot of HER2. She would have to decide her treatment based on these results.

Herception is a drug that patients can take, but it is very expensive. Also, if there are no apparent levels of HER2 and this drug is taken, it can be toxic and even fatal. So many tests, including the HER2 test, can give false results telling patients to take a drug that is not necessary. Dr. Edith Perez, a breast cancer specialist brings up another problem with tests that, "If you do the tests in two different labs, you can get two different answers." Many patients would find themselves not knowing which one to trust.

I found this article very interesting because breast cancer is such a huge part of the world now, and doctors are always trying to find a cure for it. It amazes me to find out that new drugs that are said to be better and fight off cancer, come out with unreliable test results. This article reminds me of when we studied the H1N1 unit and how a new vaccine was coming out for that. People did not know whether it was safe or not and what the results of it would be. Just like patients who were recommended to take Herception, they did not know where it would benefit them or, in rare cases, take a life. People who took it had to just hope for the best.

Chocolate Helping Your Health?

Dr Brian Buijsse, a nutritional epidemiologist in Germany, led research to try to prove that chocolate will lower your blood pressure and reduce the risk of getting heart disease. The article, Chocolate Might Reduce Blood Pressure and Risk of Heart Disease, Research Suggests, came out on April 4, 2010 in the European Heart Journal, and the link to the article is http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100330092809.htm.

Frank Ruschitzka a professor of cardiology explained the findings of the research with this "basic science has demonstrated quite convincingly that dark chocolate particularly, with a cocoa content of at least 70%, reduces oxidative stress and improves vascular and platelet function." They have been researching this for eight years and so far their evidence proves true, but they still need to research for longer and test more people. The people in the study would receive a medical examination, where their height and weight would be taken, blood pressure would be checked, and they would answer a survey about how often they eat a 50g bar of chocolate. There were follow up questionnaires were sent out every two or three years up until 2006, where the participants would tell whether they had a heart attack or stroke.

They provided evidence that shows that people that eat at least 6 grams of chocolate, of any kind, every day then their chances of a heart attack would lower by 39%. With more research they found out the dark chocolate may have the most effect on people because of the greater amount of flavanols. To me this connects with class because we always talk about how often people get a disease and it is ironic, and growing up we are always told junk food is bad for you. In this case the researchers say not to eat a lot but have a small intake that replaces other energy-dense foods, like snacks. I think this article is great because it shows that something so little could help your chances of not having a heart attack or stroke. I would love to see what their further research is able to prove fully.

Massachusetts Hospitals Clean?

"474 Infected in Mass. Hospitals in Year, State Says", written by Liz Kowalczyk, was published on April 15, 2010 in the Boston Globe. According to this article, 71 out of the 73 Massachusetts hospitals had infection rates at or below the national average in a one year time span. This report only included bloodstream infections from iv lines throughout the whole year, and surgical site infections from hip and knee operations for only a portion of the year. A few hospitals had higher infection rates than what was expected to occur. One of the hospitals' "disease trackers" said that the whole reason they do these reports is to recognize there is a problem and to fix it, which they did, since neither hospital has seen an infection in months. The CDC estimated that each year there are two million infections received from hospitals, and 99,000 of these are/will be fatal.

Reporting the number of hospital-causing infections is important to help hospitals eliminate infections entirely. Doctors are happy to have their hospitals cause less infections than other hospitals, but they say their goal is to eliminate them completely. “You may be better than the national average, but that still means there are a whole bunch of people getting hurt,’’one doctor stated. Massachusetts hospitals also released information on how many "serious reportable events" they had in 2009; 383 events.

This article relates to something that we talked about in class about polio. We said that more people were getting polio because their environments were so sterile and they were not getting the natural exposure to the bacteria necessary to become immune. This article made me think of this because hospitals are known to be extremely sterile and clean, but in this article it talks about people getting infections from something inside the hospital. These two are not exactly alike or related, but this article made me think of our polio unit in that respect.

I thought this article was very interesting since when I think of hospitals, infections and "serious reportable events" caused by being in a hospital don't usually cross my mind. I was really surprised to see that so many incidences occur in a year, not just in hospitals in Massachusetts, but all over the country. In the article, one of the "serious reportable events" listed was a surgeon leaving a piece of equipment, such as a scalpel, inside of their patient. When I read this, I didn't know how to react. I had no idea surgeons could be so careless as to leave something like that inside a patient; it worried me.

After reading this article, some questions came to my mind. How were the hospitals planning on reducing the number of infections even more? What happened with the surgeons who were careless, did they get fired? What will hospitals do if the number of infections continually rises instead of decreases? If this report counted all kinds of infections instead of just two, would the numbers be much higher? Why doesn't the report include more types of infections?

Hospitals makes you sick?

This article can be found at : Hospital Infection Problem Persists

This article is entitled, "Hospital Infection Problem Persists." This article was in the New York Times on April 14, 2010 and was written by Kevin Sack. This article was about the continued increase of infections in hospitals post-surgery. Over the last year blood infections have increased by 8% and urinary tract infections have increased by 4%. Many hospitals that are trying to actually decrease the problem are very successful. All it really takes is simple hand washing, disinfection of patients and sterile equipment. Dr. Clancy is quoted and said,

"Despite promising improvements in a few areas of health care, we are not achieving the more substantial strides that are needed to address persistent gaps in quality and access.”

Basically some hospitals are improving, but it's not about just one hospital it's about all the hospitals. This article then goes on to say that with the new health care law hospitals that are having more deaths and sickness post-operative will receive less funding than the hospitals that are actually making a persistent effort to keep everything clean and healthy.

This article reminds me of how we learned aseptic technique in our labs and also about a doctor that made it mandatory for aseptic techniques in his hospital in our famous scientists/doctors project. I find it interesting that even after aseptic techniques have been taught and valued in hospitals that they aren't readily being used. When I first was reading the article I was thinking there must be some underlying cause or something about all these post-operative diseases and infections, but then I came to find out that these could be fixed if there was more hand washing and sterile equipment and just kept the patients cleaner. I think it's horrible that some hospitals still don't try their hardest to make their percentage of sickness and death go down after surgery, when it seems so easy. I don't know if they are lazy or something, but I believe that the person running the hospital should take value in keeping people healthy, since they are in a hospital where they are supposed to be getting better, not worse. I find this almost an oxymoron that people come in to have surgery to get better and then run the risk of actually getting sicker than they started out being. I really liked to hear that the health care law will reprimand the hospitals that don't make their percentage of post-operative illnesses go down. I think that they should just take some pride in their work and profession and keep the patients healthy, not sick.

Global Polio Eradication: The Goal and The Reality

This article was published by the New York Times on April 10, 2001. It was written by Celia W. Dugger under the title ‘A Campaign Shows Signs of Progress Against Polio’. The article can be accessed through the following link: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04 /13/world/13polio.html?scp=1&sq=Polio%20in%20India&st=cse. The main idea of this article was to enlighten the reader of the current statistics regarding the polio virus in modern society. It was also created to explain why the goal year for global eradication was not reached and what the newest prediction will be.

Nigeria and India are the two areas of greatest concern reguarding the spread of Polio. They have the greatest potential to cause circulation of the polio virus, which could, in part, create a whole new epidemic. This article gave a few reasons for why vaccines were unable to help everyone. In Nigeria, there was a rumor that the Polio vaccine could transfer the AIDs virus. There was another rumor that stated Muslim girls would risk sterilization. These rumors had a significant affect on the failure to eradicate Polio.

According to the article, Polio should have been eradicated about ten years ago. Now researchers say it won’t be eradicated until after 2012. Although we are past our goal, the rate of spread has decreased dramatically in these places and the overall number of cases has dropped significantly. Only two children have been paralyzed by the wild polio virus in Nigeria this year. In comparison, last year there were 123 cases. This decrease in cases shows significant improvement. The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded that there are 56 cases of paralytic polio in the world this year. According to the article, this is a 75% decrease in cases. The statistics show that global eradication just may be possible and could be experienced in the near future.

I really enjoyed reading this article. It was relevant in so many ways to what we have been learning in class and expanded on some of the things we talked about. For example, we were told that rumors about the vaccine caused some people to not want to take it. This article gave an example about a couple of the rumors. We will not contract AIDS from getting vaccinated and females will not become sterile. I believe that we can eradicate polio. Some of the other obstacles listed in the article may be more difficult to overcome but I think global eradication is possible and health organizations have created terrific campaigns that are taking steps that are slowly but surely making a difference.

Exotic Pets Wreaking Havoc in other Nations

This article was in the New York Times on June 17, 2003 and was written by Denise Grady and Lawrence K. Altman, the article can be accessed at http://nytimes.com/2003/o6/17/science/beyond-cute-exotic-pets-come-bearing-exotic-germs.html. A quote from that helps summarize the entire article is, " Dr. Olsterholm, who is director for the Center of Infectious Disease Research and Policy and a professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, said that until recently, his main objection to prairie dogs was that they and their fleas sometimes carried the bubonic plague. He had not even thought about monkeypox..." In this article it talks about how the United States has exported thousands of Prairie Dogs as household pets to places such as Japan and the European Union, this was before the realization that these "pets" carry wild diseases such as the bubonic plague and monkeypox. The monkeypox in humans is equivalent to a milder case of smallpox with only at 10% death rate.
This article was very interesting because I never even knew that the United States exported prairie dogs as household pets to other nations, I find it very bizarre actually. Why anyone would want a prairie dog is beyond me. Also, I had also forgotten that these wild animals would carry abnormal diseases because they do not typically live with humans. This article reminded me of the H1N1 unit we did in class and how a "pig" virus was infecting humans because in both cases the disease was coming from an animal. There appears to be no tension in the article except for when the other talks about how Dr. Olsterholm gets the chills thinking about prairie dogs being shipped to other countries and spreading their germs. Overall, this article was a very intersting read.

Hunting Fossil Viruses in Human DNA

I found this article on Fossil viruses involving Human DNA. The article is called "Hunting Fossil Viruses in Human DNA." The author of this summary is Carl Zimmer and it was published on January 11, 2010. It is credited in the New York Times and the link to the website www.nytimes.com/2010/01/12/science/12paleo.html.
The article explains the significance of the borna virus which likely infected the monkey-like ancestors of humans upwards of 40 million years ago. It explains that the virus has been transmitted down in human genetics since we first contracted it, and it has been passed down in our genes ever since. Even though humans have continued to evolve overtime, the fossil virus are effectively frozen in time. "We can really dig fossils out of the genome and literally put them back together," said Cedric Feschotte, a genome biologist at the University of Texas. The article continues on to explain how they believe around 100,000 genomes in the human DNA scale has been caused by an infectous virus that humans have become adapted to. It goes on and explains how humans adapted to these killer viruses as a survival techinque.
I found the article to be very interesting, considering it related to how humans adapted to viruses as a survival technique. As a relation to something we learned in class, the polio virus found a host cell to transmit onto human RNA, which is the same thing the Borna virus did to humans as well. The article did a good job breaking down how the human DNA scale worked, and explained how the Borna Virus would become altered into Human DNA. The only thing I did not like was that the author did not make it clear whether or not the Borna virus is still found in humans today. It left me with some unanswered questions. Do humans have altered DNA as a result of the Borna Virus? If the article answered this question and some of my other ones, I would have found it to be a much better article.

New Treatment for Epidermolysis bullosa

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/health/14sfblister.html?scp=3&sq=disease&st=cse

While most people have never even heard of this disease, Epidermolysis bullosa (EB), is extremely unpleasant. One case is currently plaguing a fifteen year old girl named Ileana Peralta. This disease is genetic and is caused by lack of the gene that keeps layers of skin together, the collagen gene. As a result of this disease, Ileana has paper-thin skin that can easily blister and get infected. Those affected by this disease are forced to use gauze to protect their skin and, according to New York Times writer Sabin Russel, depending on the degree of seriousness, "these children are condemned to a life of pain and disfigurement."

Fortunately for Ileana and other children suffering from EB, many efforts are being made to treat this horrible disease. Doctors have been working with gene therapy, stem-cell therapy, and bone marrow transplants. Recently, $11.7 million dollars was granted to Stanford to further develop the stem-cell therapy. Their goal is to have a clinical trial by 2014. It is known that this disease can claim children's lives before they reach adulthood and therefore this treatment is needed as soon as possible.

Work is being done to "transform ordinary skin cells into all-purpose stem cells." These new stem cells will hold the collagen and are hoped to give the gene to those suffering from EB. Work on skin grafting is also being done to replace the thin, fragile skin with thicker skin.

The most recently developed treatment is called reprogramming, however the trials are too dangerous for humans at this point and there is some contreversy surrounding the treatment. Another contreversial method includes the bone marrow transplants. These transplants were done during a trial on seven EB and unfortunately, two died. Doctors have differing opinions on the treatment. Some believe the risks are necessary in order to save more people in the long run, while other believe other efforts should be made to treat the disease without risking the lives of the children.

This article is somewhat like our current unit on polio. Both often affect children and cause those afflicted trouble walking and moving around. I really enjoyed reading this article because there are so many diseases in the world that go unnoticed. I am happy to know that EB is getting attention in the medical world and that hopefully there will be a cure soon and that no more children will have to die. It was very emotional reading Ileana's story because she is only 15 and yet she has to deal with this painful disease everyday. It really makes you re-evaluate the little things you complain about on a daily basis. Just be happy you aren't having to wrap yourself in gauze everyday, or worrying about the possibility of not making it to adulthood.

Discovered Antibodies May be Helpful in the Body's Fight Against AIDS

http://news.health.com/2010/04/05/scientists-find-clues-how-body-fights-off-hiv/

I found the article "Scientists Find Clues to How the Body Fights Off HIV" at Health.com. The article was published on April 5, 2010 and listed sources such as the chief medical officer at Duke University of Medicine and members of The Foundation for AIDS Research which make it clear that the information given in the article is newly discovered, accurate information. The Author of the article is unknown.

Researches currently searching for a cure for AIDS have reportedly found new information on the process in which AIDS is fought off by the human body. These new findings are not certain to help scientists in developing a new vaccine as HIV still remains an extremely strong enemy to the body. However, chief medical officer, Dr. M. Anthony Moody at Duke University's, Human Vaccine Institue believes that the new findings will help scientists by making them aware of “a possible way that one could think about the kinds of response you’d want to have on hand before a virus shows up,". The researchers study was published and talked about four different kinds of antibodies they found in the immune system which create a barrier to prevent HIV from getting into the cells through what is called the receptor. Receptors are the entry point of AIDS into the cells in the majority of cases. The four antibodies work more to block the cells than to try to destroy the virus cells. The problem with HIV is that the body does not start fighting the virus off immediately, so the virus cells always seem to be one step ahead of the antibodies, even these new antibodies. Doctors are now considering testing the antibodies on animals to see if they boost their immune system. The problem is that the more steps that go into introducing the antibodies to protect against AIDS, the more things that can go wrong.

I found this article to be extremely interesting. What I found the most interesting was the fact that the new antibodies do not go out and try to kill and destroy the virus cells, they simply make a barrier to block them from the healthy cells. For most of the diseases we have learned about in class, the antibodies have attacked the virus right away. I find AIDS very interesting as a disease because there has been so much controversy over it especially during my lifetime. I read this article expecting to find some new type of controversy but I ended up finding something much more interesting and hopeful for the world and the state of the disease. However, there was something about this new information that I really didn't like. The author didn't make it clear what was going to be tested on animals. He or she said that the newly found antibodies would be tested on animals. Does this mean that those animals will also be administered AIDS? Is this legal or even possible? I do not agree with testing such a dangerous and notorious disease on any living thing.

Why Japanese "Get More" Out of Sushi Than Americans

The article that I chose was titled, "Promiscuous Bacteria Gone Wild: Why Sushi gives more energy to the Japanese," was written by Sharon Begley, and was published in Newsweek on April 7, 2010. The link to this article is: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition
/archive/2010/04/07/promiscuous-bacteria-gone-wild-why-sushi-gives-more-energy-to-the-japanese.aspx

It discussed the phenomenon of why people of Japanese origin seem to be able to extract energy from sushi, and not American or other non-Japanese people. They were specifically talking about the seaweed that generally is wrapped around sushi. Apparently, there is a unique kind of bacteria that is able to digest the seaweed because they have a certain kind of gene that is only found in the intestines of Japanese people. Individuals not of Japanese descent, Americans, for example, get absolutely no nutritional value out of eating this particular kind of seaweed, because they lack the bacteria that contain the gene for proper digestion. Americans can digest it without a problem; they simply are unable to utilize the energy. Some are skeptical and ask how the gene gets transferred into the intestines. It is still somewhat of a puzzle, but it is suggested that many decades ago, when people ate seaweed that had not been cleaned or sterilized, they acquired some of the bacteria that had the gene, and this gene then got transferred to the other bacteria existing in the intestines. This theory is widely scrutinized, however. The article concluded that it was not possible for other people to get the gene just from eating bacteria that typically lives on seaweed. Bacteria only transfers information in the right conditions, so it is difficult to make it happen. In the article it explains, "that the special conditions that allow such gene transfer 'are probably not often encountered.'"

Even though this article does not directly relate to a specific epidemic or a disease, it does have a lot to do with our class and what we have learned this year. We have studied bacteria in almost every unit we do, like the immune system or our bacteria unit. One thing that connects to the article is when we learned about normal bacteria flora in the immune system unit. There are millions of bacteria living on the skin, and this prevents harmful, pathogenic bacteria from settling down and starting a colony. This is also true for the intestines. There is bacteria such as E. coli, which synthesize vitamin K that is necessary for healthy blood clotting. We also learned a little bit about transformation, which is when one bacteria transfers a plasmid (piece of DNA) to another bacteria. In this article it was the plasmid for digesting a specific kind of seaweed. This just shows you how unique and specialized bacteria are and how many different kinds inhabit our world and our intestines.

A New Role for Mice?

While looking for an article to write about in todays blog, I came across an article on Boston.com called, "In the search for cancer drugs, mice get new role". This article was written by Carolyn Y. Johnson and was published on April 5, 2010. This article talks about how a man named Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi has begun an experiment that could have a huge impact on the way cancer drugs are tested in the future. Dr. Pandolfi has begun to give treatment to patients suffering with cancer at Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center and has also begun to give the same treatments he is giving his patients to mice as well.

In recent years, mice have been used as test subjects for drugs before they make it into the clinic. This is because animal models of disease can help doctors and scientists better understand cancer and determine what drugs or treatments are safe to use in human beings. However, in this new work being done by Dr. Pandolfi, mice are being treated with the same drugs at the same time as patients in hopes that what is learned in the hospitals from patients can be put together with what is learned in the laboratories with mice to speed up the development of new and effective cancer drugs.Mice are being used in this experiment because they can be engineered to carry one or more faulty genes known to cause human cancers. For this experiment scientists inserted various human prostate and lung cancer gene mutations into the mice and then gave the animals identical treatments to the people in clinical trials. Pandolfi and collaborators from the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center hope the mice, with simpler genetics than the humans, will help give a better understanding to what is going on in the bodies of the patients.

I found this article very interesting because I am fascinated with how scientists are able to come up with various vaccines, treatments and drugs that have had a huge impact on health all around the world. This article also grabbed my attention because I am very iffy about animal testing and whether or not scientists should use animals for testing. Part of me thinks it is cruel while the other part of me knows that by doing animal testing, scientists are creating treatments that are helping millions of people around the world. Overall, I hope to learn more about this experiment and see if it helps the development of cancer drugs because cancer is a horrible disease that I hope we can find a cure for in the future.

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/05/mice_get_new_role_in_search_for_cancer_drugs/

Is a Norovirus Sickening Harvard Faculty Club?

Today I found an article on Boston.com entitled "Possible Norovirus closes Harvard Faculty Club." The article was written by Travis Anderson and was published on April 2, 2010. The article talks about how a spokeswoman for the schools hospitality and dining services program, Crista Martin, sent out an email saying that the club in Cambridge which had been closed a week ago due to a possible norovirus outbreak would remain closed until a cleaning crew sanitized the entire building.

Noroviruses are a group of viruses that cause gastroenteritis in people. Gastroenteritis is an inflammation of the lining of the stomach and intestines. Because of this, the article goes on to discuss how many sick patrons had reported syptoms of nausea and diarrhea. The article also talks a lot about the symptoms of a norovirus and says common norovirus symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and some stomach cramping. Infections can spread by eating food or drinking liquids contaminated with the virus, touching contaminated surfaces or objects before putting fingers in one’s mouth, and having direct contact with an infected person. Martin adds that closing the club was a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of everyone. Louise Rice, director of public health nursing for the city of Cambridge said "more than 10 people became ill after eating at the Faculty Club but, officials have not yet determined whether they were infected with a norovirus." I thought this quote was important because it gives the reader of the article a better insight into what the people going through this are actually experiencing.

The reason the article quickly grabbed my attention was because it talked about a lot of similar things we have studied in class and it interested me to learn more about how what we are learning in class connects to the real world today. It talked about viruses and illnesses which we have definitely covered a lot in class. It also talked about the symptoms of this specific virus which was cool because we talk a lot in class about the symptoms of each ailment we study. This article also connected to a project I did in my spanish class a few weeks ago about the earthquake in Haiti and about all of the health issues that came along with it. Our assignment was to make a PSA in Spanish about all the horrible things happening to the people in Haiti and what we can do to help. A lot of the ways we can help included donating money to organizations which study viruses and diseases such as the CDC, or Center for Disease Control. I thought this was a cool connection because it shows how many different areas of study the CDC is involved in and all of the ways is helps our world as a community.

I really enjoyed this article in general because there isn't really any controversy. The article simply gives insights to what is happening in our surrounding community, and the people involved fill the reporters in on only the information that they know. Even the people affected still don't know all of the details and if it is even definitely a norovirus which I think is pretty cool. Below is the link to a video from Youtube which gives a great explanation as to what a norovirus is, the symptoms is causes, and methods of transmission.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7n_3xQ-i_4A

Here's the link to the article in the Boston Globe if you want to check it out:

http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/02/possible_norovirus_closes_harvard_faculty_club/

Highest rates for H1N1 vaccination in the Northeast!

In the article "CDC: New England tops in swine flu vaccinations" written by Mike Stobbe, an AP medical writer, on April 1 2010, the outline of swine flu reception is given. The article which appeared in Rhode Island Newspapers goes into the statistics of what percentage of people per US state have been vaccinated for the swine flu. The North East has the highest percentages followed in last place by Southeast and Central areas of the country. He goes into detail about what may be causing the different percentages across the country. He suggests that since the swine flu hit the south earlier they already needed the vaccine when it wasn't available and many now have no desire to get it since it seems to have already "passed though." By contrast the H1N1 flu hit the North East just as the vaccinations were becoming available, which could have caused their high reception rate. The link is below.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2010/04/01/cdc_new_england_tops_in_swine_flu_vaccinations/

I found this article to be very interesting especially as people are less and less interested in getting vaccinated in our own school. I guess it really is all about supply and demand. Now that people arn't seeing "swine flu" everywhere they don't see a need to be vaccinated, even as a precaution. I think the timing of the epidemic in particular areas of the country coupled with the idea of supply and demand is what caused the big differences in percentages. Another detail that the article goes into I find interesting. Depending on what role the local government took in encouraging vaccinations also played a big part on the percentages of people who decided to take the precaution. It makes sense that it would be more widely publicized in the North Eastern states since, by the time it had reached us, we had time to see the damaging effects it can have on other people within our country. I still have not been vaccinated and I think that many people who haven't probably share the belief that the epidemic has passed for the year and if we didn't get it by now, we never will. This attitude is similar to that which is detremental for polio carriers. Even if some people decline to get vaccinated they run the risk of infecting other people. So if the whole country does not get vaccinated there is a chance that the disease could continue to spread rapidy. Unlike polio, however, the signs of infection are almost always visable.

Blogging is Back!

After a hiatus in third quarter, student blogging for "History and Science of Epidemic Disease" is back. Infectious disease is part of the human experience and nearly every day epidemic disease is in the news.

A quick search of the Boston Globe online turned up a number of recent articles directly related to what we have been studying this year. Here is a very recent one of note:

"Being Perfect Isn't Everything" by Brian MacQuarie, Boston Globe, April 1, 2010.
http://www.boston.com/news/health/articles/2010/04/01/being_perfect_isnt_everything/

This article focuses on the perfect attendance record of Justin LaBatte, a Senior at Amesbury High School. LaBatte didn't miss a single day in his 13 years of public schooling! Brian and his mom want recognition while school officials are concerned with rewarding such a feat. Administrators simply do not want to encourage students who are sick with the flu or other infectious diseases to come to school.

Are attendance awards a thing of the past? (I actually remember the student who won the perfect attendance award at my high school senior awards assembly! Scholarship money went with the award.) Do schools and parents need to do more to make sure that students and teachers stay home when they are sick (especially during flu season)? How might our school address this especially considering the H1N1 district preparedness plan presented by Superintendent Doherty?