Article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172353.php
Summary: This article is about premature babies who can't possibly breath. They are put on breathing machines to survive, but later develop chronic lung disease. Dr. Bernard Thébaud at Stollery Children's Hospital's Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Royal Alexandra Hospital cares for some of these premature kids. He is studying a healing liquid produced by stem cells that may be able to grow and repair lungs.
Background: Babies who are born extremely premature - before 28 weeks - cannot breathe on their own. In order to help the babies' lungs to develop, neonatal doctors give them oxygen and drugs to help them breathe.
These treatments contribute to a chronic lung disease known as Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). At present there is no treatment to heal the lungs of these premature babies.
50% of babies born before 28 weeks will get chronic lung disease. Case studies have shown that as these babies grow up, they continue to struggle with lung disease, coping with reduced lung function and early aging of their lungs.
Relevance: I think this is important. Children are our next generation and even 5% is a large number of chronic lung disease. This is a serious disease and it happens to so many babies. My brother was a premature baby and he had asthma for most of his life. He had difficulty running and I remember he needed an inhaler. With the discovery of a cure for this disease, I think many kids would be able to be more healthy and compete in sports. Breathing is a huge essential for humans and it ables us to do a ot of things. With lung disease gone, there is such a large amount of things that more people can accomplish physically.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Article #4
The Article: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/news/releases/102809-germ-cell.cfm
Summary: "National Institutes of Health have discovered how to transform human embryonic stem cells into germ cells, the embryonic cells that ultimately give rise to sperm and eggs. The advance will allow researchers to observe human germ cells—previously inaccessible—in laboratory dishes. Laboratory observation of human germ cells has the potential to yield important clues to the origins of unexplained infertility and to the genesis of many birth defects and chromosomal disorders. Researchers have long sought to understand the process by which cells in the early human embryo mature into germ cells."
The Experiment: "The study was conducted by Kehkooi Kee, Vanessa T. Angeles, Martha Flores, Ha Nam Nguyen and Renee A. Reijo Pera, all of Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers began with human embryonic stem cells, to which they added a gene that makes a protein which flashes green when a gene found only in germ cells is turned on. After the embryonic stem cells grew and changed for two weeks, the researchers isolated the cells that flashed green and then confirmed that the green fluorescing cells behaved like germ cells. Once convinced that their cells were in fact germ cells, the researchers turned on and off several candidate genes to see if those genes played a role in the development of stem cells into immature germ cells."
Relevance: I find this article interesting because human germ cells contribute a lot to medical science as a whole. Like it was quoted from the article, germ cells could explain some things that involve unexplained infertility, birth defects and chromosomal disorders. I personally think this is a good article because usually when people think about germs, they think about something bad. But it's a weird thought when you think about germs causing birth defects and things like that. I didn't know it was germs that caused some of those, I thought it was just something grown the wrong way or some sort of DNA chromosome was sending the wrong message.
Summary: "National Institutes of Health have discovered how to transform human embryonic stem cells into germ cells, the embryonic cells that ultimately give rise to sperm and eggs. The advance will allow researchers to observe human germ cells—previously inaccessible—in laboratory dishes. Laboratory observation of human germ cells has the potential to yield important clues to the origins of unexplained infertility and to the genesis of many birth defects and chromosomal disorders. Researchers have long sought to understand the process by which cells in the early human embryo mature into germ cells."
The Experiment: "The study was conducted by Kehkooi Kee, Vanessa T. Angeles, Martha Flores, Ha Nam Nguyen and Renee A. Reijo Pera, all of Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers began with human embryonic stem cells, to which they added a gene that makes a protein which flashes green when a gene found only in germ cells is turned on. After the embryonic stem cells grew and changed for two weeks, the researchers isolated the cells that flashed green and then confirmed that the green fluorescing cells behaved like germ cells. Once convinced that their cells were in fact germ cells, the researchers turned on and off several candidate genes to see if those genes played a role in the development of stem cells into immature germ cells."
Relevance: I find this article interesting because human germ cells contribute a lot to medical science as a whole. Like it was quoted from the article, germ cells could explain some things that involve unexplained infertility, birth defects and chromosomal disorders. I personally think this is a good article because usually when people think about germs, they think about something bad. But it's a weird thought when you think about germs causing birth defects and things like that. I didn't know it was germs that caused some of those, I thought it was just something grown the wrong way or some sort of DNA chromosome was sending the wrong message.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Article #3
Article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/168011.php
Summary: StemCells, Inc. announced that they had collected data about these stem cells. What this article is about is stem cells and how they could help vision long term. This varied from people with eye disorders or people who had lost sight in their aging. They said that the new neural stem cells were capable of protecting "photoreceptors (cones) in the eye from progressive degeneration and preserve visual function." With this information, they hope to move on and find a cure for AMD (Macular Degeneration), which effects millions of citizens.
Relevance? Interest?: I thought this was interesting because, well, I am learning about stem cells for my topic. I have bad eye sight and seeing statistics on people who actually have a disorder for it makes me feel lucky. I hope that in the future we find a way to use stem cells to preserve eye sight or protect is from disorders or aging. If this could be figured out, image what else we can achieve like preserving hearing. I think this is important because I will grow old one day. By then, it would be amazing if a way to preserve sight was discovered because it would assist me in my life in the future.
Summary: StemCells, Inc. announced that they had collected data about these stem cells. What this article is about is stem cells and how they could help vision long term. This varied from people with eye disorders or people who had lost sight in their aging. They said that the new neural stem cells were capable of protecting "photoreceptors (cones) in the eye from progressive degeneration and preserve visual function." With this information, they hope to move on and find a cure for AMD (Macular Degeneration), which effects millions of citizens.
Relevance? Interest?: I thought this was interesting because, well, I am learning about stem cells for my topic. I have bad eye sight and seeing statistics on people who actually have a disorder for it makes me feel lucky. I hope that in the future we find a way to use stem cells to preserve eye sight or protect is from disorders or aging. If this could be figured out, image what else we can achieve like preserving hearing. I think this is important because I will grow old one day. By then, it would be amazing if a way to preserve sight was discovered because it would assist me in my life in the future.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Article #1 and #2
The first article: http://repairstemcell.wordpress.com/2009/09/20/news-adult-stem-cell-research-creating-miracles-in-covington-st-tammany-la/
Summary: "It's about how adults can benefit from stem cells. They have successfully treated cardiac and other vascular conditions as well. Taken a step further, the researchers are designing protocols for other possible uses such as Parkinson’s disease and even diabetes. The possibilities are endless. The research involves two types of stem cells that are found in bone marrow. Bone marrow transplants have been used for years in the treatment of certain types of cancer."
Article #2: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(09)00453-6
Summary: CB cells are considered an alternative to bone marrow (BM) as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. CB cells can be collected from young cells and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells. This article is sort of confusing, but I'm pretty sure they isolated some CB cells to obtain a purity range of 90%-94%. They were reprogrammed and cultivated in Human Foreskin Fibroblasts. They were able to repeat the process with six other individual cells. They accomplished efficient reprogramming.
Other: I was really confused with this. There was so many citations in between words of information and it made it difficult to read and understand. There was lots of terminology I didn't know like "HLA-donor-recipient" and "Trombopoietin (TPO)". I want to look for an article next time that is easier to understand. I hardly got any information from this. One thing I did find interesting though was where is talking about how, "CB cells can be collected without any risk for the donor, are young cells expected to carry minimal somatic mutations, and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells." I was wondering if newborns can be unharmed when these cells are taken from them. This brings up the question of why is some aspects of stem cell research controversial if it doens't harm the donor?
Summary: "It's about how adults can benefit from stem cells. They have successfully treated cardiac and other vascular conditions as well. Taken a step further, the researchers are designing protocols for other possible uses such as Parkinson’s disease and even diabetes. The possibilities are endless. The research involves two types of stem cells that are found in bone marrow. Bone marrow transplants have been used for years in the treatment of certain types of cancer."
Article #2: http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(09)00453-6
Summary: CB cells are considered an alternative to bone marrow (BM) as a source of hematopoietic stem cells for transplantation. CB cells can be collected from young cells and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells. This article is sort of confusing, but I'm pretty sure they isolated some CB cells to obtain a purity range of 90%-94%. They were reprogrammed and cultivated in Human Foreskin Fibroblasts. They were able to repeat the process with six other individual cells. They accomplished efficient reprogramming.
Other: I was really confused with this. There was so many citations in between words of information and it made it difficult to read and understand. There was lots of terminology I didn't know like "HLA-donor-recipient" and "Trombopoietin (TPO)". I want to look for an article next time that is easier to understand. I hardly got any information from this. One thing I did find interesting though was where is talking about how, "CB cells can be collected without any risk for the donor, are young cells expected to carry minimal somatic mutations, and possess the immunological immaturity of newborn cells." I was wondering if newborns can be unharmed when these cells are taken from them. This brings up the question of why is some aspects of stem cell research controversial if it doens't harm the donor?
Friday, October 9, 2009
Site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v590JJV96lc&feature=related
Photosynthesis matters to me because it is how plants create energy. We are all alive because of these plants and this process. Without this process, we wouldn't have oxygen and glucose from plants which, when consumed, our body breaks down to make ATP. Plants are really this huge basis of life. Without plants, we would have no oxygen AND we wouldn't have any food. All of the food we eat comes from plants. Without the plant's ability to take energy from the sun and convert it into ATP for the plant and helps them make glucose, who knows what would happen to us. We depend on plants. I think this is the big general reason for why photosynthesis is important.
Photosynthesis matters to me because it is how plants create energy. We are all alive because of these plants and this process. Without this process, we wouldn't have oxygen and glucose from plants which, when consumed, our body breaks down to make ATP. Plants are really this huge basis of life. Without plants, we would have no oxygen AND we wouldn't have any food. All of the food we eat comes from plants. Without the plant's ability to take energy from the sun and convert it into ATP for the plant and helps them make glucose, who knows what would happen to us. We depend on plants. I think this is the big general reason for why photosynthesis is important.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
9/2/09
Describe one aspect of the natural world that you are very curious about, something you have wondered about but something you don't have an answer for. Describe this phenomenon in as much detail as possible and explain why this phenomenon peaks your interest.
One of the things I've been most interested in is what happens when you eat food your are allergic too. Is it a chemical reaction? I've always wondered things like that. Another thing that I find interesting is pains you have. Mostly, I'm referring to bone pains or what sort of pains you can gain from having weak bones. I want to find out what quantities of food you should take and what you should do to keep bones healthy. What exactly occurs when you have weak bones? How does it physically happen? Do your bones sort of bend in a way that may be uncomfortable? So the start to wither away and sort of break down? Does it become difficult for your body to be supported? If you haven't gotten the idea yet, I've always wanted to know how bones effect your health. We all know that it basically the structure of your body. We know that if had no bones, we would be a pile of organs and skin. What I'd really want to know is why it is important, every single aspect of it. What is it about the bone's make up that supports our body? Is it possible to have such a weak bone structure that it is just enough to keep you up?
The reason I'd like to know so much about bones is that I have a weak bone structure myself. It's difficult for me to sit up straight constantly. Also, I wasn't sure if it was my bone structure that made me incapable of doing a lot of things. For example, sometimes when I run, I feel physically tired even though I feel like I have enough energy to keep running. I'd really like to know what it takes to have healthy bones and the benefits of healthy bones. Something that would also be interesting is learning about how weak bones influence everyday life and the more crucial dangers that may occur later down the road.
One of the things I've been most interested in is what happens when you eat food your are allergic too. Is it a chemical reaction? I've always wondered things like that. Another thing that I find interesting is pains you have. Mostly, I'm referring to bone pains or what sort of pains you can gain from having weak bones. I want to find out what quantities of food you should take and what you should do to keep bones healthy. What exactly occurs when you have weak bones? How does it physically happen? Do your bones sort of bend in a way that may be uncomfortable? So the start to wither away and sort of break down? Does it become difficult for your body to be supported? If you haven't gotten the idea yet, I've always wanted to know how bones effect your health. We all know that it basically the structure of your body. We know that if had no bones, we would be a pile of organs and skin. What I'd really want to know is why it is important, every single aspect of it. What is it about the bone's make up that supports our body? Is it possible to have such a weak bone structure that it is just enough to keep you up?
The reason I'd like to know so much about bones is that I have a weak bone structure myself. It's difficult for me to sit up straight constantly. Also, I wasn't sure if it was my bone structure that made me incapable of doing a lot of things. For example, sometimes when I run, I feel physically tired even though I feel like I have enough energy to keep running. I'd really like to know what it takes to have healthy bones and the benefits of healthy bones. Something that would also be interesting is learning about how weak bones influence everyday life and the more crucial dangers that may occur later down the road.
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