Vaccines as a Threat

After the debate in class a couple of weeks ago, and the online journal response, I was intrigued to find out more about how valid the argument was that vaccines can cause health issues such as Autism. In this article, Dr. Salmon mentions that the reason people began to think that vaccines cause Autism was because of the observations of a British doctor, whose observations were not scientifically tested. However, this was enough to cause a controversy and get people talking which is what started the rumors that are flying around now. Dr. Salmon also says that unvaccinated children are about 22-35% more likely to contract a specific disease than a child who is vaccinated. That statistic seems rather insignificant to me while there is such a big fuss about getting children vaccinated. This being said, Dr. Salmon also makes the point that if vaccines weren't safe for the most part, they would not be approved before being given to the public because the FDA has an approval process for these things. This makes a good argument for those who are concerned about vaccines being dangerous, and it seems to me that it is relatively safe to vaccinate your children.

http://www.scholastic.com/resources/article/the-vaccine-debate

Life Support

There is an interesting article in CNN regarding Life Support and the controversy over if poor people (people that can no pay for the costs of life support) indeed deserve to have.  We learned in class through the debate/presentation that life support for brain injuries uncommonly (extremely rare) result in a satisfying recovery.  Most of the time the person being kept from dying makes little or no progress.  If people that can not afford to pay for the substantial costs end up using insurance money (if they cover it) or tax dollars, specifically if the person  brings the case to court.  I personally do not know what the right answer is to this, obviously depending on your own financial standing will have a heavy bias on your own opinion.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2006/01/do_the_poor_deserve_life_support.html

Life Support

There is an interesting article in CNN regarding Life Support and the controversy over if poor people (people that can no pay for the costs of life support) indeed deserve to have.  We learned in class through the debate/presentation that life support for brain injuries uncommonly (extremely rare) result in a satisfying recovery.  Most of the time the person being kept from dying makes little or no progress.  If people that can not afford to pay for the substantial costs end up using insurance money (if they cover it) or tax dollars, specifically if the person  brings the case to court.  I personally do not know what the right answer is to this, obviously depending on your own financial standing will have a heavy bias on your own opinion.
http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/everyday_economics/2006/01/do_the_poor_deserve_life_support.html

Injuries to the head

http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/football/head_injuries/index.html

I found a very interesting article on head injuries in football written in the New York Times.  I felt this was relevant after talking about it in class.  The statistic speak for themselves and these type of injuries continue to be a scary problem in sports, specifically football in this article,  Even with an improvement in equipment and having more strict rules regarding hits to the head, the issue will never resolve completely.  The players are becoming stronger,faster, and more powerful as the game has progressed over the years.  In my opinion, all they can do is minimize these injuries and whenever any head trauma is done, teams are forced to have players sit out for a lengthy amount of time.  It is not worth it to risk more injury to your brain.  It is nothing like any other injury.

Factory farms breeding ‘superbugs’ says study

After the debate about GMO's and there being the possibility of creating "superbugs" I thought this article might be interesting.  In the article, they talk about how farmers are a huge contributor to the creation of these "superbugs".  The drugs farmers use to reduce infections and disease in animals has led to the germs becoming resistant to the antibiotics.  Something else that is alarming about these superbugs is that they are able to be transmitted between humans and livestock.  

www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/23/factory-farms-breeding-superbug

Girl Shoot Hoops While In a Coma!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/22/maggie-meier-basketball-coma_n_1294404.html

This is an interesting article I found about a teenage basketball player who was able to practice shooting hoops while in a coma. Her family would hand her a beach ball and she was able to shoot hoops for a few minutes. The girl has no memory of this now that she has recovered but was able to do this since the skill was so deeply ingrained in her mind. Her coma lasted 2 months and was the result of seizures.

Colonoscopy does help with colon cancer

This article from the Star Tribune emphasized the truth about colonoscopies. There finally was evidence that this can lower the risk of dying from colon cancer in half. There was speculation that colonoscopies are to the patients benefit, but never had hard hitting evidence. This procedure can find polyps. It is a hard process to prep for, but it is worth to be get checked out. http://stmedia.startribune.com/images
http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/140052563.html

Bird Flu still around

After the talk about vaccines in class I found this article on the bird flu and how researchers constantly have to be looking for new vaccines for different strains and how the virus is still around despite efforts to contain it.

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=110002BTZ8N2&page=1

DNA robot could kill cancer cells

DNA origami is being used to create structures from DNA that can find and destroy specific cells.  They work by targeting a specific disease state and then releasing the "payload" to kill the disease.  They are not sure if it will work on live organisms yet, but they are thinking about starting testing the nanobots on mice.  The link has a video and article that explains everything in more detail.

http://www.nature.com/news/dna-robot-could-kill-cancer-cells-1.10047

Mutation in the human SC4MOL gene causes microencephaly...much more.

Mutations in the human SC4MOL gene encoding a methyl sterol oxidase cause psoriasiform dermatitis,  and microcephaly, and developmental delay. Defects in Cholesterol synthesis results in a variety of symptons.This article says that Cholesterol is a key component of cell membrane and lipids rafts and the precursor of asteroids, bali acids, and vitamin D, but some alterations on its synthesis unleash growth delay abnormal morphogenecis and spychomothor disabilities.
http://search.ebscohost.com.mctproxy.mnpals.net/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=59255896&site=ehost-live