Babies and Beef

Ever wonder what’s in the beef you eat? There’s more than just beef. Pesticides, hormones, and other contaminants are found within cattle feed that is given to cows that are used for beef. When eaten by the cattle, these chemicals build up within the fat of the cow. Hormones are given to the cattle to boost their size so that the farmers can increase the amount of meat produced. This is prominent in America, although the European Union has recognized the dangers of hormones and banned the sale of hormone latent beef in 1988.

In this week’s Scientific American there is an article explaining the problems caused by eating beef while pregnant. A test group of 387 women from five United States cities was used to show the affect of eating beef while pregnant. The relationship was between how much beef these women ate and the sperm count of their sons. High beef consumption was classified as more than seven beef meals per week. The sons of these high beef consuming women showed to have 24.3 percent less sperm concentration than the sons of women who did not eat such high amounts of beef. Shanna Swan, the team leader, said “The average sperm concentration of the men in our study went down as their mothers’ beef intake went up. But this needs to be followed carefully before we can draw any conclusions.”

It is interesting to see the connection between what one eats and the affect on their child. In utero a fetus gets all its nutrients from the mother. It doesn’t seem surprising that foods that are affected by chemicals in turn affect the mother’s child. One would think that if a mother ate junk food, it probably wouldn’t be good for the child. Hormones used within livestock are a problem that must be dealt with. Many of them have adverse affects on not only the livestock but the humans who eat the animals. Milk and dairy products usually come from cows that have been treated with rBGH (recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone). This hormone causes increased milk production but an infection in the udders of the cow. A lot of times this can lead to puss in rBGH treated cow’s milk. These hormones are used to increase farmer’s yield, but by increasing farmer’s yield we are causing problems for ourselves. Hormone treatment of livestock is a problem that needs to be dealt with not only for the sake of humans but also that of livestock.

-Chris

Reoccuring Miscarriages

Miscarriages seem to be a more and more frequent occurrences in today’s society. It is pretty evident from seeing a person going through such a time in their life that it is emotionally and physically straining. However, it does not seem as though many studies are conducted based on the effects a miscarriage has on a couple. It is not a condition that is openly discussed or provided support for. It seems as though seeing it’s effects on different people may lead to some kind of insight into the psychological and emotional stresses of a miscarriage. In searching for some studies and answers to miscarriages I came across a study that was conducted trying to find out the relationship between women and men and their reaction to grief after miscarriages.

Some ideas as to why miscarriages are so taxing have been discussed. They include ideas that people try to protect themselves, or feel guilt. The individuals would protect themselves by distancing themselves from a new pregnancy which may be another possible failure, before it occurs. A woman might feel guilty and blame herself in order to find a reason as to why the miscarriage occurred, increasing her grief. Another idea is that a reoccurring miscarriage may affect a couples sexuality as it is connected with fertility. A women not being able to carry a pregnancy may lead to low self worth and body image which may in turn lead to sexual problems. A man may feel frustration, lack of control, rage, guilt, and lowered self esteem, leading to doubts of self worth which may in turn cause erectile dysfunction and a fear of sex. As is evident, these situations all require attention and support in order to better.

The aim of this study was to describe the consequences of reoccurring miscarriages on the relationship of the couple (on communication and sexuality) and find gender differences in attitudes and intensity in grief towards failure. 30 couples with at least 3 consecutive miscarriages and no living children were questioned for this study. The time interval between the loss and the data collection was longer than three months and the relationship average was about 6.66 years. To collect information questionnaires were used. Two measures on the psychological suffering and two measures on the quality of the couple’s relationship were taken.

Results showed that the mean for measures of stress showed high levels of stress in both males and females. It showed that both men and women avoid the subject of miscarriage and attempt to suppress their feelings of loss with the miscarriage. Grief scores were also high for both males and females. Women showed higher levels in active grief and despair than men in general. The study showed that the relationship was more positive after the reoccurring miscarriages in terms of personal communication, and tenderness. The couple was able to express their needs and wants more clearly. The study also supports the idea of gender differences in the experiences of reoccurring miscarriages mainly on the effects of it. The consequences of grief in women related it to a worse communication between the couple. In men, the consequences of grief were related to a worse sexual life. In both cases however, the higher the suffering the lower the quality.

Although miscarriages are unfortunate and also very taxing on the couple with the loss, it has been shown that there are some positives in the relationship as a result of the miscarriage. This may suggest some positive steps towards reducing the grief felt from miscarriages. From further studies it seems as though more support after reoccurring miscarriages will be able to be offered.

HEH

Good parents..

“Life history theory suggests that parents should balance their current investment in young against their chance of survival and reproduce in the future.”(Erikstad) This comprises of two things, guaranteeing the survival of their offspring while maximizing the offspring’s reproductive chances and maintaining the adult’s survival to reproduce again. Erikstad et al studied puffins adjustment when their 20-day-old chicks were randomly switched with younger or older than chicks. The puffin is an interesting species to study because it is a long-lived seabird species that lay only one egg per breeding season. Erikstad studied “whether parental effort in the puffin is regulated b y the parent’s body condition and also whether parents adjusted their effort according to the size of the chick, which may indicate the chick’s prospects of survival and recruitment to the population.”

Erikstad and team studied a population of puffins on Hornoya, a small island in north-eastern Norway from May until August 1994. Twenty days later, chicks were randomly replaced and the parental effort change and whether the parent puffin deserted the chick. The body condition of each parent puffin was recorded and known. If parents regulate their effort in raising young according to their own body condition, then it would be expected that there would be “a positive correlation between body condition of parents and the growth rate of their chick before manipulation; and growth of foster chicks should be positively related to the body condition of foster parents, but not to that of their own parents before switching.”(Erikstad) They found that parents who deserted their nest had received chicks that were smaller than their previous chick. Chicks with parents in good body condition early on were larger than those with chicks who had parents in poor body condition. The results indicate that there is a positive correlation between parent’s body condition and mass gain, but there is a negative correlation between size of foster chick and parental body condition.

I found that this research asked a perplexing question about parental effort in caring for their offspring. I automatically assume that a parent would give it their all, but that is a very humanistic quality and even all humans don’t exert the most effort into child rearing. I wonder what psychologists would find if this experiment was applied to them…



---happyfeet

Global Warming

Global warming is a very serious issue that environmentalists have been worrying about for many years. Global warming is the increase of the Earth’s air and ocean temperature in the recent years and the projected continuation. On average global warming isn’t in the front of people’s mind. At least for me I know I wasn’t really thinking about the damage of global warming until I watched the Documentary, An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.

Global warming is also called the Greenhouse Effect. As the sunlight travels through the Earth’s atmosphere as touches the surface it is radiated back off and is trapped with the carbon dioxide of the Earth’s atmosphere. As we know the growth in the human population and the increase in the industrial world has lead to pollution changing the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere. This change is keeping more of the sunlight in the atmosphere heating up the earth. One of the affects of global warming is the noticeable changes in weather. Increasing temperature affects the severity of hurricanes and that is the reason that Hurricane Katrina caused a lot of damage to New Orleans. On the other hand while wild storms are being created droughts are still occurring.

A major problem of global warming is the affect it has on the animals. The slightest change in temperature can drastically change the animal’s habits. Polar bears are in danger with the melting ice caps. Polar bears need cold, ice water to survive as the ice decreases they are losing their habitat and sources for food. Another example in the ocean is algae. Algae are food for many fish, but the increase in temperature kills the algae taking the fish’s food source away.

Environmentalists are trying to solve the problems of global warming. Actions are being taken within the government and also national level. The government passed The Clean Air Act which attacks companies to change their ways to lessen the amount of pollution. This act has made car companies change some of their products inside the car so it doesn’t give off as much pollution. We can change some of habits to help save the planet. Some things that will help are very simple such as turning off electronic devices when they are not being used. We should also unplug electronics when there not is use such as hair dryers. If you know many people going to the same place they should carpool.

After knowing all the facts and that there are little things that can be done to help I hope people will do these to help save the planet from the future.

Posted by: barkley519

Synesthesia Superman

Do you ever wish that you had a super power? What if you could actually taste vanilla when you heard the word “vanilla”. For people with synesthesia this is possible. Synesthesia is a neurological condition resulting in the union of several bodily senses. For instance, a form of synesthesia results in the pairing of certain visual stimuli with colors. Grapheme synesthesia is associated with the pairing of letters, numbers, and other symbols with specific colors. Models proposed by Ramachandran and E.M. Hubbard (2001)account for this phenomenon. A misconnection between V4 (or V8) in the ventral stream of the brain and an area associated with visualizing numbers is hypothesized to result in the condition. To specify, areas V4 and V8 are both located on the underside of the brain. Information about the things we see first enter the occipital lobe in the rear of the brain. Basic information pertaining to orientation of objects takes place here. This information is then relayed to higher processing areas such as V4 and V8. The V4, V8 areas are both associated with complex color perception. Damage to or a misconnection in areas involved in color perception (V4/V8) are likely to result in a synesthesic condition.

In search tests, synesthete subjects rely on their gifted perception to locate certain symbols. The synesthete may physically see the letter “A”, for instance, in the color blue. In a search test there may be only one letter “A” amongst a hundred or so “H’s”. The synesthete can point out the only “A” within seconds as it strongly contrasts with the rest of the letters. As color association is essential in their search for letters, it is proposed that true symbol recognition occurs after synesthesic coupling of colors and symbols takes place. This observation suggests synesthesic coupling in a primary visual area as letter recognition occurs after the color associated with it is perceived. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) analysis performed by T. Palmeri (2002)shows that higher visual areas are involved in color perception in synesthetes(including areas V4 and V8). These higher regions relay information to the primary visual area of the brain. The evidence provides a model of coupling of color and letters during central visual processing.

Ramachandran and Hubbard (2001) presented visual fields to synesthesic individuals. The fields contained certain numbers that appeared red/ green to the synesthesic subjects, but normal to a control group. Numbers were arranged in such a manner that simple red and green shapes were perceived by the synesthetes. The control group could not see these shapes. This test showed that the synesthetes’ color attribution was perceptually based and not the result of memory. Given that the condition is perceptually based, an error in V4/V8 (areas that emphasize central vision and color) seems plausible.


Posted by AKE

Why does the Orangutan Need its Mother so Long?

Did you know that orangutans have the longest immature period of all ape species? Primates have a prolonged immature phase, “childhood,” compared to most other mammals. Orangutans stay with their mothers until they reach eight years and rely on their mother’s care which coincides with the time before the birth of another offspring. Clinging to the mother is observed until the juvenile is six years old! But why does the orangutan need its mother’s care for such a long time? The Gijsbertus et al. article examines the interval of time (inter-birth) between subsequent births. Orangutans have the longest inter-birth interval suggesting a long period of dependence.

Several hypotheses suggest that predation and food availability play important roles in lengthening the immature phase. The long inter-birth phase may reduce the chance of immature death from malnutrition. An arboreal lifestyle requires more energy expansion than a terrestrial lifestyle and may lower the survival of the young orangutan. Orangutans are frugivorous mammals and fruit-eating animals tend to have longer developmental phases. However, the most interesting aspect of the development of this primate is the acquirement of necessary skills such as foraging and social interaction. It coincides with an interesting pattern of food resources which are available at irregular time intervals. Mast years denote times when there is an abundance tree fruit production. The orangutans must therefore learn to cope with unpredictable food resources.

One hypothesis suggests that the long inter-birth phase is required because a mother-orangutan is unable to care for its older independent offspring while caring for the younger offspring and she must therefore devote more time to the immature offspring to help it acquire the skills necessary for total independence. The solitary-lifestyle hypothesis accounts for the slow reproductive rate of the orangutan. The adult female no longer associates with her previous offspring when obligated to nurse and nurture a new infant.

The effects of immature age on activity are evidently expressed in orangutans. The amount of time spent resting decreases with age as more time is being spent actively feeding and foraging. However, by the age of two most orangutans travel independently. The distance from the mother and time the juvenile spends at a greater distance increases with age. The amount of time spent at a distance greater than 30 meters augments. The increase in distance is increases significantly after three years, from a range of approximately two meters distance from the mother. After seven years the orangutan’s range can be greater than 30 meters. At eleven the young orangutan can travel solitarily for days at a time.



However, the reasons for the long immature phase in the species still remain open to debate. Does it take so long for the juvenile to learn the skills necessary for survival and social interaction, or is protection against predators the reason for the prolonged phase, or food availability? Perhaps all these factors are responsible for a cumulative effect of the long immature interval in the orangutan. A detailed study of each of these factors would perhaps shed light onto the lifestyle of species. We can learn a great deal about our own species through the study of these mammals. We stay with our parents longer than any other mammalian species. The orangutan may link us to our primate ancestors and allow us to analyze our own natural heritage. Besides, the orangutan is a really interesting mammal…and loves to eat tropical fruits, my favorites!

Article:
Gijsbertus G.J., van Adrichem, Sri Suci Utami, Serge A. Wich, Jan A.R, van Hooff, and Elisabeth H. M. Sterck. The development of wild immature Sumatran orangutans (Pongo abelii) at Ketambe. Primates (2006) 47: 300-309.
--Timoteo

Tooters and Shakers

There’s certainly no doubt that something as big as an elephant would have no problem alerting others to approaching danger. All it has to do is raise its trunk and trumpet! But wait a minute- what’s all that stomping about?

Research conducted by biologists in Namibia and at the Oakland Zoo in California has substantiated the fact that the stomping of African elephants creates vibrations of a certain frequency detectable by other elephants, even at a distance. Upon reception of these low frequency vibrations in their feet, the elephants react by crowding together defensively or by altering their position so as to better receive the message.

The precise mechanism by which the elephants receive these signals is still ambiguous, however. Having observed elephants spreading their ears forward close to the ground, biologists suggest the role of enlarged earbones. In addition, the knowledge that elephants have nerves in their toenails elicits the hypothesis of sensitive nerve endings in the feet.

These amazing stomping signals can travel up to 20 miles in the ground; however, the animals also make vocalizations of low frequency that carry through the air and cause corresponding vibrations in the ground. Long, loose vocal cords in the larynx serve to lower the frequency of vocalizations below the hearing of many other animals; the mouth, trunk, and pharyngeal pouch aid in resonance. Although the airborne signals are faster, they travel only up to 6 miles, while the accompanying seismic vibrations travel almost twice as far. Presently, about 70 calls have been identified, most of which are made by females although young elephants do have special calls of their own.

Elephants are not the only animals that use seismic pulses to communicate. Fiddler crabs use their claws to bang out signals of territorial warning. Scientists hypothesize that these vibrations may be used for location of potential mates, migration, and warning purposes.

While this is a fantastic phenomenon used extensively in the animal world, don’t do it at home!

Posted by J543

Ice on Mars

Of all the planets in our solar system besides Earth, Mars was the planet most likely to contain water. Recently, the Mars Express orbiter, using an instrument called the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS), has measured the amount of ice located in Mars’ south pole. Using the spacecraft, scientists discovered that the ice deposits are made up of 90% frozen water and dust. The ice there is located under the polar caps of frozen carbon dioxide. These deposits of ice are enormous, some were to 2.3 miles thick and were larger than Texas. Scientists estimated that if these deposits of ice were liquid, the surface of Mars would be covered in 36 feet of water.

This is an important discovery because water is required in order for any living organisms to survive. The presence of the ice means that there is a possibility that there may have been some forms of life on Mars. Also, this large supply of ice could also mean that, in the future, Mars can one day be colonized by humans. If we colonized a planet with no sources of water, constant shipments of water must be sent there in order for the colonists to survive. On Mars, these deposits of ice could provide a Mars colony with an abundant source of water, allowing it to survive on its own, without relying on Earth as much. With such a large supply of water, Mars could become our first target for space colonization in the future.


yz

Borneo: A Wealth of Newly Discovered Species

Science Daily reported yesterday that a new species of Clouded Leopard has been discovered on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. It had been thought that the new species was the same as the Clouded Leopard found elsewhere in Southeast Asia, but genetic testing has proved otherwise. Researchers at the U.S. National Cancer Institute say that genetic tests show the news species’ DNA differs from that of the old in approximately 40 ways. Other scientists have studied patterns on the fur and skin of both Leopards and have found distinctive qualities to each.

Borneo has recently been a hot spot for new species discoveries. Over 50 species have been identified in the past year alone. This article states a variety of the species found:

Some of the creatures new to science include: a miniature fish, the world's second smallest vertebrate measuring less than a third of an inch in length and found in the highly acidic blackwater peat swamps of the island; six Siamese fighting fish, including one species with a beautiful iridescent blue-green marking; a catfish with protruding teeth and an adhesive belly which allows it to literally stick to rocks; and a tree frog with striking bright green eyes. The new ginger plants more than double the number of the Etlingera species found to date.”
Borneo is an ideal location to discover new species - mostly due to its 84,000 square miles of rain forest.

These articles are fascinating because we are constantly discovering new species as technology advances. Without DNA mapping, scientists would have continued to believe that there was only one type of Clouded Leopard. We are learning more about these organisms while improving our methods for analyzing them. As technology advances, we expect that more definitive borders will continue to be made between species.

APentowski

A Mouth Covered in Poison

The first time I went to the dentist in the United Sates, I ended up with a silver filling. The dentist did not ask me the type of filling I wanted to get, so he just used what he thought was the best. I was scheduled for more "silver fillings" later that week, but I insisted not to go because I hated the idea of having the surface of my molar teeth covered in silver. Later in the future, I found out that the material he used for filling was DA (dental amalgam). This material is composed of many metals, 50% of which is mercury. I wondered how an ADA (American Dental Association) licensed dentist could still approve the amalgam when there is mercury in it. The answer was too obvious. There was not enough evidence to prove that amalgam is detrimental for our health.

However, in recent research done by toxicologists, it was discovered that amalgam is indeed detrimental for our health. The study was conducted on 43 children at very young ages. The sex was thought not play a major role in this experiment, but they still recorded them as half males and half females. The researchers made sure that all the children in the experiment were amalgam free and also that there was no consumption of fish. The number of amalgam teeth was also recorded. The goal of the entire experiment was to collect urine from every single amalgam free child right after the child received the new amalgam filling. After morning and evening samples were collected for a period of a week and a half, the results showed that children of both sexes showed an increase of mercury concentration in the urine. Even more than that, it was found that there is a strong connection between the mercury collected in the urine and the one on the amalgam surface, but they were not successful in proving that there was connection to the number of teeth amalgam was used in. To go a step further, toxicologists tested it on animals. They did not tell us what animals were used, but the results show that there is an increase of mercury in animal’s urine concentration.

Amalgam is still wildly used in dental offices, but I ask, why?. It is very likely that amalgam is very easy to work with, has a longer “life time” than a regular filling. Also, and most importantly, it is cheaper than other fillings. Our health or dental insurance is determined not to give us more than what they actually think is enough, so why not just walk around with a mouth covered in poison! The high concentration of mercury in someone’s urine due to amalgam filling does call us for an action. There is no need to wait for some side effects. If mercury is known to be toxic and detrimental, why even use it? Is the amalgam filling the answer to many cancers and genetic mutations that people get? The affirmative answer cannot be proven, yet it still remains a mystery. I certainly believe that a good dentist would never use amalgam in the dental office. I have personally met dentists like that, here in USA!

Mike

Questions and Answers:

ohearnt6 said: What exactly does mercury poisoning do to one’s body?

Mike’s answer: One of the main targets of mercury is the nervous system. The visible side effect would be “tremor”, which is a fine shacking of the hands. Later the poisoned person may end up paralyzed, or at some point in life may become mentally retarded. Another target of the mercury is the skin, which causes rash, itching, dark spots, and possible skin allergies. I read in an article where it mentioned that mercury discolors the iris of the eye. The last, but not least is the reproductive system, causing birth defects. It is scare though! I am sure there are a lot more to consider, such as kidney damage and so on. But these side effects are more visible.


zarban6 said: Have there been any long range studies done to follow people who get amalgam fillings as a child and see how that affects them in adulthood?

Mike's answer: Good question. There are some studies done, but I don’t think that I can consider them as “long range’ studies. I personally couldn't find anything like that. I think that if the long-range study would be done than amalgam would disappear a long time ago from the hands of the dentist. Why not done? It is extremely expensive especially when it comes to do studies on human beings. I am talking about not one person, but a group of people. If you were to search other journals, you will see that a lot of those studies were done on animals.

thanks for the questions and your interest in my blog,

Mike

The Side Effects of Tamiflu

Influenza is a highly contagious viral infection of the throat, nose, and lungs. Influenza often occurs in winter and it tortures many people. However, even if we get influenza, there are many treatments, and many of us recover from influenza in a week. Oseltamivir (Tamiflu) is one of the best antiviral treatments and it is used in many countries. Tamiflu is a neuraminidase inhibitor that is a newer class of antiviral drug and can both prevent and treat influenza. It is usually very effective, but in Japan, it was reported that the patients treated with Tamiflu had abnormal behaviors such as panic disorder and depression, and these behaviors led the patients to commit suicide. Amantadine, rimatadine, and zanamivir are also antiviral medications against influenza. They have some side effects like depression, but the side effects are quite rare and not more serious than those of Tamiflu. Since the reports, drug manufacturer Roche and US regulators are warning that Tamiflu may increase serious mental problems of influenza patients.

According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 95 reports from 103 reports of neuropsychiatric adverse events associated with Tamiflu use came from Japan between August 29, 2005 and July 6, 2006. Surprisingly, about two thirds of the reports were children and youth under 17 years old. One adverse event involved a youth who apparently fell to his death from the balcony of his house. Most of the events (60 of 103) were described as delirium with disturbed behavior. Other problems include delusions, convulsions, and loss of consciousness.

Most of the problems occurred within a day after the patients took Tamiflu, and many of the patients recovered quickly after they stopped taking Tamiflu. However, the FDA says that whether the drug contributes to the adverse events is not known. Influenza by itself can lead to neuropsychiatric disorders, but many of the reported problems were not typical of those associated with influenza alone. In addition, the genetic characteristics common in Japan are given as a reason, but there is not enough evidence to say that is connected. Therefore, it is still unclear what causes these neuropsychiatric events.

Tamiflu was approved to use as a treatment of influenza a few years ago in the United States, and the serious problems about Tamiflu have not been reported here yet. On the other hand, Japan uses the most Tamiflu in the world, and all the reported deaths that could be related to Tamiflu were from Japan. If Tamiflu use in the United States increases, the number of adverse events will increase as well. In the latest report, 12 deaths in Japanese children who had been taking Tamiflu were not related to the drug. These causes are considered as part of a wave of influenza related to encephalopathy. These problems about Tamiflu appeared recently, and there is not enough information to explain them. So further study will make these problems more clear. We still do not know what causes these mental problems, but we should not depend on drugs too much, and we should take care of ourselves in daily life.

posted by tsaori

Metacognition in Rats

Metacognition is simply put, “thinking about thinking.” It is also being aware of your own intelligence. One example is being aware that it might be easier for you to comprehend a novel rather than a complex scientific paper. Another example is getting a sinking feeling during a test. But it is hard to detect if animals experience this, mostly because they can’t tell researchers what they’re thinking. Scientists can only rely on animal behavior, for example, monkeys placing lower bets on their answers, the harder a test gets. Tests have also been done on dolphins, showing similar results. However, smaller-brained animals have shown no signs of metacognition in the lab.

A study was done by neuroscientist Jonathon Crystal and his student, Allison Foote to see if rats were any different. They conducted a test on classifying sounds. The researchers trained the rats to associate a short burst of static, which lasted 2 seconds, with one lever and a long burst of static, lasting 8 seconds, with another. If the rats pushed the correct lever, they were rewarded with 6 food pellets. If they pushed the wrong one, they would get no reward and no chance to try again. After a while, the rats realized that if they just poked their nose into a food trough, they would get half the reward.

Once the rats were used to the test, the researchers changed it. Instead of playing short and long sounds, they played intermediate bursts of static. This way, it was more difficult for the rats to distinguish between long and short sounds. In this experiment, the rats were twice as likely to go to the trough without pushing a lever.

To test their theory further, Crystal and Foote did the experiment again, but without a food trough. When forced to take the test, the rats performed poorly. It was just as they predicted. This experiment shows that rats are able to assess their own knowledge, much like we do. Other researchers believe that if this is true in rats, just as it has been found in monkeys and dolphins, then maybe it’s true for other mammals as well.

-Wild Thing

Mental Disorder- PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is another 5th common mental disorder, affecting 13 million people in the States. It affects people of all ages, regardless of their sexuality, race, occupation, and economic status. It is categorized as anxiety disorders along with other mental illnesses such as phobias, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I focused on children suffering from PTSD after being sexually abused, and the kids of the Vietnam veterans who have been deeply affected by their parents. I will also introduce an interesting article proposing that PTSD has a lot to do with the change in brain chemistry after the exposure to the traumatic incidence.

“PERSONAL HEALTH; When Post-Traumatic Stress Grips Youth” by Jane E. Brody from The New York Times health section talks about the difficulty of diagnosing PTSD in children and giving proper treatments. As in the stage of developing a sense of identity of themselves and picture of the world surrounding them, causes for PTSD in children can be subtle, and symptoms can often be confused with other conditions. The main three symptoms are re-experiencing of the trauma, persistent avoidance of things, situation, or place that reminds the person of the trauma, and hyperarousal of the nervous system. Targeted treatment, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, is recommended. Letting the children repeatedly describe the bad things that happened to them would be the best way to lower the anxiety level of the patient.

“Vietnam’s Scars Reach a New Generation” written by Andree Brooks from the New York Times health section introduces the study that has been done with the second generation of the Vietnam war. Children who had parents with PTSD from the war showed emotional problems, older ones suffering more than the younger ones. Studies focused on the new generation of the war have caught attention very recently, and not much has been studied in detail. Some children become emotionally merged in their parent’s wounded experience that their own development has been hindered. They are likely to have problems in schools, making friends, and leading independent lives. It has not yet been proved whether the permanent changes in the nervous system from trauma can be inherited in some ways, but studies are being made to seek for possibilities. However, the main cause seems to be overprotection from their parents with PTSD, blocking them from further social relationship with other people, and the stigma attached to their parents as brutal killers, leading them to feel isolated from the society.

So, what permanent change is being made to develop PTSD?
I found the answer in the article, “A Key to Post-Traumatic Stress Lies In Brain Chemistry, Scientists Find” in The New York Times health section. Changes occur in three ways:
1. Locus ceruleus becomes hyper-active. This part of the brain regulates two catecholamines, hormones that comes actives at emergency and when locus ceruleus becomes hyper-active, the brain would be secreting these hormones too much, even in situations with little or no threat.
2. Increased level of corticotrophin-releasing factor, CRF. This also mobilizes the body in case of emergency. People with PTSD have higher level of CRF and stimulate the body for emergencies that are not there in reality.
3. The opioid system of the brain, which blunts the feeling of pain becomes hyperactive. This leads to emotional numbing that comes along with PTSD.

These changes in the brain would be helpful in providing medical treatments for PTSD patients. The article deals with various treatments that has been invented but I am not going to go through all of those information. It is in the article, so if you are interested, please go ahead and check it out.

However, Dr. Friedman pointed out an important fact which applies to all mental disorders which is the balance between the biological and psychological therapy. He emphasizes:

“But there are other problems, such as alienation, emotional numbness, guilt and moral pain that you need psychotherapy for.”

I think PTSD is not an easy disorder to find a perfect cure, since it comes from complex biopsychosocial factors. However, with the advance of medical technology and psychotherapy, I do hope PTSD can one day be treated well enough so that people can live a happier and brighter life.

Posted by clearsky83

Internet used as a new tool for Recruitment into Clinical Trials in Cancer Treatment

Recent data, compiled by the National Cancer Institute, shows that only a mere 3% of adults diagnosed with cancer take part in clinical trials. Even more startling is of that percentage, only 4.21% African Americans and 4.3% Hispanics take part in such trials, compared to the 83.9% Caucasians/White participation. Clinical Trials are arguably our greatest hope for finding a cure for cancer, so why don’t more adults participate in these trials. These clinical trials play a crucial role in gathering significant data by racial and ethnical background. Researchers are asking not only asking why, but rather how they can improve the participation in clinical trials. The answer is the Internet.

The Internet is a giant multimedia tool for everything from advertisement to educational research. So it is no surprise that researchers are using it as a recruitment tool for clinical trials. Researchers are also hoping to not only increase the total number of clinical trial participants, but also increase the number of under-represented minority participants. Advertisements targeting desired groups for clinical trials, are currently being designed to go on the internet in hope of attracting participants.

However, there are some set backs to using the internet to recruit minority participants in clinical trial. Some say that, basing clinical trials on race and ethnicity has no scientific or anthropological baring( U.S. Office of Management and Budget). On the other hand, according to the standards for Clinical Research established by the National Institute of Health(NIH) the collection information requires the participation of all races and ethnicities, including minorities. Another concern is that minorities, who according to a recent census, may not have access to the internet due to social-economic limitations. This may limit their potential participation in clinical trials.

Despite the social arguments, I believe that everyone’s participation in clinical trials is necessary in order to find a cure for cancer. This include minority and non-minority participation. It is well known that individuals participating in clinical trials generally receive higher quality treatment, than those who don’t participate. This, in itself, should be enough to persuade anyone with cancer, to participate in a clinical trial.

Citations:
Considerations on the Use of the Internet as a Tool for Minority Recruitment into Clinical Trials, Dr. Harold Freeman, MD, The Cancer Journal, Vol. 12, No. 6, November/ December 2006



Posted By: JMcNeill



Response to Comments

To address the concern of why so many cancer patients don’t take part in clinical trials, first let me explain some of the common reasons that patients use to explain their absence in such trials. As many of us know, most adults have very busy lives, which is the main deterrent for most adults. Many adults also don’t know that clinical trials exist for cancer patients. This is due partly because of lack of advertisement. Another deterrent is discouragement from friends and families, even the patients General Practitioner (GP). Most families tend to freak out, for lack of a better phrase, when they find out that a loved one has cancer. The families naturally want to spend as much time with their perceived dying love one, so they convince them to not take part in clinical trials. In rare cases, even the cancer patient’s GP will persuade the patient that clinical trials are risky and may not be the best coarse of action. Although, clinical trials generally provide the top quality care to the patient, they are often risky and may not work.

Secondly, race and ethnicity may prove to have some scientific relevance in the study of cancer. As many of us already know, some races or ethnic groups are more susceptible to many diseases, including cancer. Researchers would like to increase the number of minorities that take place in clinical trials, so that they might learn more about racial or ethnical influences on the occurrence of cancer. They are currently looking to use the Internet, as well as other forms of advertising, to increase the overall and minority participation in clinical trials. However, they were concerned about the possible flaws in this plan, and that was what the article in which I based this blog was written about.

Overall, thank you for all your comments. They helped me narrow my research for more information about clinical trials and why they fail. As I am interested in cancer and cancer research, I will continue to search for new information on this topic, and if I find any I will post it. Thanks, everyone for taking the time to read and comment on my blog.



JMcNeill

Vaccine for a Sexually Transmitted Infection

The Human Papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV, is one of the most widespread sexually transmitted infections. There are many different strains of HPV and it is estimated that twenty million people are infected with HPV in one year. In most cases HPV has very little symptoms and the infection may clear on its own. However, in more severe cases it is seen that the HPV infection is what may change the cells lining the cervix, leading to cervical cancer. HPV may also lead to regular skin warts, genital warts, and respiratory papillomatosis. Cervical cancer kills roughly 233,000 women each year, and affects many more than that. In June 2006 the Food and Drug Administration introduced a new vaccine to the world. This vaccine, known as Gardasil, is capable of fighting specific strains of HPV. This new vaccine is a starting point and shows the advancement and achievements of drug companies, especially Merck who developed the vaccine.

Gardasil is advertised as being “100 percent effective”, but there are many things that may be false regarding this advertisement. As much as Gardasil does prevent and vaccinate a girl from HPV, it does not prevent that girl from all the strains. Known today there are over 100 strains of HPV, of these 100 strains 30-40 of them are transmitted through sexual intercourse, and of these 12 of them are known to be “high-risk” causing cervical cancer. The vaccine so far is only good at preventing four very specific strains of HPV, strains 6, 11, 16, and 18. These four particular strains are found to cause about seventy percent of most cases of cervical cancer. Gardasil will help decrease the number of women affected with cervical cancer but will not prevent women from all HPV and all cases of cervical caner, or cancer for that matter. For this reason, pap smears are still not something of the past, and women must still endure the routine pap smear.

For the few concerns that Gardasil might not be exactly as it is advertised, Gardasil is still something to praise. The vaccine was recommended and approved by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices for girls ranging from the ages of eleven to twenty six, and the vaccine is being covered by most insurance policies, it is still too early to determine which companies will cover it. Some states are trying to make the vaccine mandatory for girls and Texas already has made it mandatory for girls entering the sixth grade starting in 2008. It may still be too early for any type of mandating to occur, because many parents feel that this vaccine is teaching girls that it is okay to be sexually active at their age, and the parents want to maintain the right to determine if their daughters get vaccinated. It is also not vaccine to ensure that women are safe from all sexual infections, and that is something that must addressed to the child with the parent, it is something that will help prevent cancer. Personally, I believe this vaccine to be one of the greatest achievements in this century regarding sexual public health. Merck is also hoping that someday the vaccine will be accessible to males; mostly because males are carriers of HPV and can transmit it to females through sexual contact, and also because strains 6 and 11 are what cause genital warts and hopefully this vaccine can reduce the incidence of genital warts in both males and females. As a twenty year old college student, getting the Gardasil vaccine may be one of the most health conscious decisions I have made. The vaccine comes in three steps, and even though it may cause soreness for a couple of hours, if it can help prevent me from dealing with cervical cancer I can take a little pain.

-kamullig

A Cure for Parkinson's Disease

In many biology courses I learn about various neurological diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS, etc. For some reason these diseases are quite scary to me. Perhaps this is because there are not really any cure for these diseases. Researchers are certainly looking for cures and treatments though. Hopefully they can find some soon as many of these diseases have devastating effects to not only the person afflicted, but also to their friends and family.

Symptoms of Parkinson’s disease include tremors, balance problems, rigidity of muscles coordination problems, and more. Parkinson’s disease kills neurons that produce dopamine, a neurotransmitter. Severe problems with movement and balance are symptoms of this disease. Stem cell research is when stem cells are transplanted into the body in order to differentiate into something that the body needs.

Dopamine cells are made in human fetal midbrain tissues and so Goldman et al took these tissues and extracted glial cells from them. Glial cells support and maintain the growth of neurons. From here the researchers now had an environment where stem cells could grow. The stem cells were transplanted into the brains of rats that showed symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. The symptoms almost completely disappeared!

This seems like the perfect solution to curing the disease but there are two main problems. The first is that there are several types of dopamine neurons and not all of them fix the problems caused by Parkinson’s disease. This makes it hard to produce the right cell. The right kind of dopamine that would fix the problem is known, the trouble is how to be able to isolate the right kind. We know that the right type are in the part of the brain called the substantia niava. These cells send signals to cells involved in generating movement. The second problem is that some stem cells fail to become neurons. They remain undifferentiated and continue to divide. This can result in tumors. The rats in this study were killed before the tumors actually developed so this aspect has not actually been studied. It seem obvious thought that these cells will likely have detrimental effects. This side effect is common in embryonic stem cell treatments. I did not know this! The way to fix this would be to sort the differentiated cells from the undifferentiated cells. The article did not really go into how this would happen and left me wondering if it was an easy process; also if this would be don before or after the cells were transplanted into the brain.

Though these results look promising, it will likely be many more years before clinical trials even take place. Current treatments involved giving a person dopamine with drugs. Researchers feel that treatment using stem cells to make replacement dopamine neurons will work both better and longer. They know this because of the results they have seen in experiments using stem cell treatment, and other types of treatment. Other treatments being researched include stimulating neurons that are already in the brain to produce more dopamine. There have been successful preliminary trials of this in an American biotechnology company called Neuroglix. Gene therapy however also comes with its fair share of problems which make it hard to use as treatment. Also, in the previously mentioned “successful” studies there was only 25% improvement shown. This is much less than with stem cell treatments.

Posted by KMellman

A Weightless Stephen Hawking

You may be interested to know that one of the greatest physicists of all time may no longer be with us here on earth. No he has not passed on, but in fact may be traveling into space. Stephen Hawking, who is internationally known for his brilliance, has begun talks about a possible trip to outer space in or around the year 2009.

This idea first hit the service around last November, when during an interview, Hawking mentioned that one of the things he would like to do before he dies is travel into outer space. The company that is willing to help him take on this venture is Virgin Galactic, which is planning on offering suborbital space tours in 2009.

Before Professor Hawking becomes an astronaut, he plans on taking a zero gravity flight towards the end of April. He will be doing so with Zero Gravity Corp., which provides these zero gravity flights for a small fee of about $3,750. Although Hawking will not have to worry about his bill, because Zero Gravity is picking up the tab. Zero Gravity Corp. will also be auctioning off the other seats on this flight to help out different charities such as Easter Seals and the X Prize Foundation.

Hawking seems to be very excited about this trip into space and more so about the fast approaching zero gravity experience. In a written statement released Thursday, Hawking said, “As someone who has studied gravity and black holes all of my life, I am excited to experience, firsthand, weightlessness and a zero-gravity environment. “

For this flight, a modified Boeing 727-200 jet will take off at Kennedy Space Center and will travel up to 32,000 feet and then sharply drop 8,000 feet. It is during this descent that passengers can feel up to 25 seconds of zero gravity. The flight does this up to 10 times, depending on the reactions of the passengers.

Of course one of the main concerns with these flights is the health of the passengers. Hawking who is stricken to a wheelchair do to his battle with Lou Gehrig’s disease, will be the first quadriplegic to experience weightlessness. This is not only a big deal in the science community, but in the community of those who are disabled as well. Zero Gravity Corp. said they hope that Mr. Hawking can experience at least three periods of zero gravity, but if he can handle more then he will get more. In order for this to happen he will be strapped into his wheel chair until they are about to reach zero gravity, at which a team of people will lift Hawking into the no gravity zone.

Stephen Hawking is very proud to be a part of this experience. Judging by what he said on Thursday he is very grateful: "I am thankful to Zero Gravity Corp. for making this experience available to the general public, especially for disabled individuals.” I am interested to see how this adventure turns out for Mr. Hawking and hopefully it will propel him towards his goal of space travel.

New Species

I’ve often wondered what it meant to find a new species. I questioned how they were officially found to be a new species and not just part of another species. I wondered what exactly was measured or tested and to what extent. I also wondered how the location in which they were found played into this decision as well. When I looked into what types of categories were considered, I found that in the case of a frog, adult morphology, osteology, larval external morphology, karyotype, chromosomal C-banded patters and Ag-NOR position as well as locations of where it is found all play a role in the distinction of a species. A specific example I found was the new species of Telmatobius (Anura: Leptodactylidae) found in northern Chile in 2005, described as the Telmatobius chusmisensis.

The experiments were done on nine adult frogs and 19 tadpoles which were all collected in Chusmisa. Specimens were collected by hand and by nets in the vegetation in flowing water as well as below stones. Multiple variables were measured with digital calipers including snout- vent length, head length, head width, thigh length, tibia length, foot length, eye diameter, interorbital distance, nostril-snout distance, and internarial distance. For tadpoles their total length, body length, tail length, maximum tail height, tail-muscle height, tail-muscle width, interorbital distance, and internarial distance were all measured. Chromosomal characteristics of one male and one female were measured as well. This was done by obtaining metaphase plates from the macertating intestinal epithelilium fragments. They were stained so that the C-band patterns and the Ag-NOR position could be seen.

Typically, anurans of the leptodactylid genus Telmatobius live in the higher aquatic environment of the Andes. Although there are about 50 species of Telimatobius, up till this finding, nine species were found in Chile. These are T.Peruvianus, T.marmoratus, T.zapahuirensis, T.pefauri, T.fronteriesis, T.halli, T.phillippii, T.dankoi, and T.villamensis. Most of these species inhabiting Chile are found in small bodies of water within desert habitat suggesting that it is probably indigenous to that area. Telmatobius chusmisensis, however, is restricted to a small stream located near Chusmisa.

T.chusmisensis, has a snout-vent length of 50.0 – 63.2 mm, a short snout that is depressed when viewing laterally, irregular apricot spots on both the dorsal and ventral sides of the thigh, webbed toes, a tongue that is almost completely attached to the bottom of the mouth, a large choanae, and all the tarsal elements are cartilaginous, to list a few. T.chusmisensis is different from other species within the genus Telmatobius, because of some of these features. For example all other species in Chile do not have all cartilaginous carpal and tarsal elements. They also do not have the irregular apricot spots on both the ventral and dorsal sides of the thighs as well. Geographically, T.chusmisensis is isolated from the northern and southern groups of Telmatobius.

T.chusmisensis is considered to be a member of Telmatobius due to it having specific characterisitics. T.chusmisensis has fang like teeth in the labial mucosa, Frontopatietals attached posteriorly, and nuptial excrescences on only the first finger. These are all thought to be a characterisitic of Telmatobius. The distribution of the species also suggests that the species is part of the Telmatobius genus. This then makes Telmatobius chusmisensis the tenth species of this genus found in Chile.

To me it’s remarkable that so many species have been found and that just within this particular genus Telmatobius, there have been over 50 species found. It makes me wonder how many species have yet to be discovered. It is also interesting to see how a species is categorized into a genus. As time goes on it will be interesting to see what other characterisitics other species will have.

HEH

DOPAMINE SIGNALING

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that modulates and affects the function of various parts of the brain and body. It has been linked to the mechanisms involved in movement, cognition, pleasure, motivation, and learning. The importance of dopamine was revealed by stem cell research, neuroscience, but especially by Michael J. Foxx’s affliction with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disorder caused by insufficient dopamine in the brain. In Erik M Jorgenson’s Dopamine: should I stay or should I go now?, he summarizes the findings made by Daniel Chase on dopamine signaling.

Research has demonstrated that dopamine signaling can act synergistically as well as antagonistically in vertebrates. Chase and colleagues wanted to verify this in the roundworm, Caenorhabitids Elegans as well as find the downstream components involved in the signaling pathway of the receptors. C. Elegans is a transparent nematode with every neuron known and mapped out. This makes C. Elegans good model for neurological experiments. There are three dopamine receptors, dop-1, dop-3, and dop-4 involved in locomotion behavior of these worms. Dop-1 reacts to dopamine by giving the green light for the worms to go while dop-3 tells the worm to stop. Worms with their dop-1 gene knocked out did not have any observable change in phenotype, but worms that had their dop-3 gene knocked out did not slow down when encountering food and were very resistant to paralysis by too much dopamine. When worms had both dop-1 and dop-3 knocked out, they did respond to food by slowing down and were paralyzed by excess dopamine indicating that another dopamine receptor, dop-4, contributed to locomotion behavior. These similar effects on the worm may be caused by both dop-1 and dop-3 acting on the same signaling pathway not by each receptor having its own pathway. The researchers wanted to know more about the signaling pathway and screened the worms for mutants to identify the downstream components. They found that “dopamine would bind D1-like DOP-1 receptors and activate G q, and also bind D2-like DOP-3 receptors, which would antagonize D1 function through activation of G o.” (Jorgenson)

These findings by Chase take us a step closer to understanding dopamine receptors and their role in regulating motor neurons. Jorgensen’s says, “Dopamine’s antagonistic effects on the same cells can provide the cell with more sensitive regulation.” Hopefully with further research, we might be able to find ways to gain access to the system and regulate dopamine and dopamine receptors with drugs and treatments for disorders involving dopamine.

Dan Chase is a recent addition to the faculty in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neuroscience departments.


Q&A
Q: Why is it that by using C. elegans we can compare what happens to that species and then make connections to our own?
A: It is believed that the basic mechanisms are highly conserved so that the signaling pathway will be the same or similar to that in humans or at least give insight and understanding of dopamine receptors. Like how the study of a squid neuron led to discoveries about how neurons work in general or the DNA helix is generally the same throughout species, but what changes are perhaps length, specialization, and coding.

Q: What else is going on in his lab and what he plans on doing with the results?
A: Currently there are four undergraduates, a research assistant, and 2 graduate students, each with a project. I am looking further into the signaling pathway of dop-3 while others are also expanding on his research in the paper as well as other dopamine signaling projects.


---happyfeet

Antioxidants supplements, supplementing death?

I know many people have heard of the health benefits of antioxidants over the past years. Many supplements have been created to deliver a large dose of beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E in pill form. These supplements claim to help you stay healthy by fighting free radicals. Free radicals are molecules that cause cellular damage within our bodies.

In this week’s Scientific American, an article about Antioxidants describes a study where scientists found that supplements actually increase the rate of mortality, instead of decreasing it. This is contrary to popular belief that antioxidant supplements actually help increase the life and health of a person. Subjects who had been taking the antioxidant supplements showed a five percent increase in mortality compared to the control group. The test did not include food items such as oranges or green tea, which contain antioxidants. Scientists were quoted as saying “by eliminating free radicals from our organism, we interfere with some essential defensive mechanism.” The article seems to provide an interesting view on antioxidants that hasn’t been shown in any other studies to this date.

I feel we understand that there must be a balance with what we consume. Antioxidants supplements might be too much of a good thing and cause the reverse effect. Some of the antioxidant supplements that I've seen contain amounts of antioxidants worth 60 cups of green tea. This just seems ridiculous. Just because something is good for doesn't mean that in an extremely high dosage it is better. Hopefully this study will show that not everything good for you is better in high dosages.

Posted by Chris

Hantavirus Outbreak

As citizens of a wealthy nation, some things such as infectious diseases are not in the front of our minds. Infectious diseases are viruses or bacteria that attack and destroy a human or animal host. This includes cholera, which is transmitted through a toxin in the water. Here in the United States contaminated water is not as big of a concern as cancer. One thing about infectious diseases is they can be cured unlike cancer. I am not implying that these awful diseases will never find their way to the U.S. When I was younger an infectious disease swept through the southwestern states. This disease was known as the Hantavirus.

In 1993 the Hantavirus was discovered in the New Mexico. The disease caused by the virus is called the Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS). During this time, people were dying without explanations in the four corners of the U.S. When patients made it to the doctors their first symptoms were flu-like with a fever, headache and aching. The major and the deadliest symptom is that fluid fills their lungs causing problems with breathing which leads to suffocation. As of today there is no cure or vaccination for the disease. Although if you are brought into Intensive Care Unit early enough they can alleviate the respiratory distress. The patients are intubated and receive oxygen therapy. If this is done in time it can save the person's life.

Epidemiologists believed that the virus was transmitted through rodent droppings. After trapping many different species of rodents, researchers found source of the Hantavirus was deer mice. We breathe in the virus from their droppings, urine and saliva in a process known as aerosolization. For example if a mouse makes a nest in your shed and you find droppings when you sweep them up this moves the viruses into the air making you sick. It is recommended that if you come in contact with droppings you should use bleach to clean it up.

Why the sudden outbreak in 1993? Due to El Nino that year, the southwestern part of the country had more snow and rainfall than normal. The plants that usually die from droughts survived. The surviving plants left more food for the deer mice and increased their reproduction rate. There were ten times more deer mice in 1993 than the year before. The increases in the amount of mice lead to more contact between them and humans.

As of 2000 there have been 277 reported cases in 31 states. The majority of the cases are west of the Mississippi River. There are some reported cases in eastern states such as New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia and Florida. Most of the cases are reported primarily in fall and spring farming seasons. It is reported that 60% of affected people are male. HCPS has a predisposition for affecting healthy, young adults. The age can range from 10 to 75 years old. HCPS also doesn’t target one specific race to this date; 77% Caucasian, 20% Native American, 2% African American, 1% Asian and 11% Hispanic have been affected.

Hantavirus is a serious disease that was very deadly. Thankfully there hasn't been a outbreak since 1993. Epidemiologists are still trying to find a vaccine for the Hantavirus.

Posted by: barkley519

Genes to Behavior

How is it that some drugs change our behavior? C. Wang and his co-researchers have pried into the effects of the drug jujuboside (JuA) on the central nervous system, specifically the hippocampus (JuA is commonly used to alleviate insomnia and anxiety). In order to test JuA’s effects, Wang and his research team monitored the activity of mice given a treatment (JuA) or a placebo. Results confirmed that mice given the treatment became less active than those in the non-treatment group. In order to analyze the effects of JuA on gene regulation, researchers also performed a differential display polymerase chain reaction (PCR); a complex procedure that identified the genes that were highly expressed by the effects of JuA. The results of this test indicated increased expression of the RPGRIP1 gene (retinitis pigmentosa GTPase regulator interacting protein). The introduction of JuA to the central nervous system seems to be correlated with increased gene expression of RPGRIP1, a retinal protein normally located in the eye. The function of this retinal protein in the brain is questionable, as it may be involved in the inactivity observed in mice given the JuA treatment.

The presence of this retinal protein (normally located in photoreceptors) in the hippocampus doesn’t make sense, unless it acts in unknown neuronal pathways. On this subject R. Roepman (through independently conducted research) stated that:

“Analysis revealed the existence of another novel protein with high homology to RPGRIP1, KIAA1005, which is expressed highly in the brain. These proteins might be part of a novel family of proteins with vesicular transport-associated properties and neuron-specific function.”

The KIAA1005 protein has a structure that is very similar to RPGRIP1. Roepman proposes that the similar structure of these proteins may give some insight into their function in the cell. The overall structure of these proteins can be broken down into component regions, or “motifs”, that have highly conserved functions in the cell. One such region of RPGRIP1 , the C2, is commonly involved in intracellular transduction/ communication. Another coiled-coil domain of RPGRIP1 is presumed to be involved in intracellular trafficking. Together these sub-regions of the protein allow for communication, and transportation of materials within the cell. In summary, the introduction of JuA to the neuron causes increased expression of RPGRIP1, a protein with conserved regions that are involved in cellular communication and transportation. These protein facilitated communications may account for physical changes in the neuron that change behavior.

It seems possible that the intracellular trafficking/ transduction motifs observed by Roepman, would reinforce the activity of RPGRIP1 in the hippocampus (as observed by Wang). Although trafficking and transduction are integral to all cell function, the activity of RPGRIP1 in the neuron (given its structure) seems highly appropriate. Although Roepman and Wang have made some headway into the subject, the exact function of RPGRIP1 (and related proteins) is unknown. It is remarkable however that exposure to JuA may result in gene expression of a protein whose inherent conformation may induce intracellular communications in the neuron, possibly resulting in a behavioral modification (perhaps by changing synaptic interactions). When marrying both Wang and Ropeman’s research, this complex interaction doesn’t seem impossible.

Posted by AKE