Author Archives: danial yazdan

The Return of Measles

Posted on March 22, 2019 | 2 comments

Why Parents Fear Vaccines | Tara Haelle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggtkzkoI3eM (Accessed Mar 20, 2019)

Can vaccines cause autism? A question posed by many uneducated masses, the fear of an article read online far outweighing the scientific backings of hundreds of research studies1. For the majority of people, the answer is simple, vaccines are completely safe, but it only takes a small group of people to make a huge negative impact on the rest of society. By being entrenched in the mindset that vaccines are harmful, it creates a backdoor for the re-introduction of various harmful and deadly diseases, like measles2.

                              Infographic of measles cases in the United States                                Blount, E. Misinformation on Vaccines Causes Measles Outbreak. https://gmhslancerledger.com/5508/news/misinformation-on-vaccines-causes-measles-outbreak/ (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Measles is a highly contagious and highly preventable disease. Symptoms can lead to high fevers and body-wide rashes. Complications with the diseases can arise including pneumonia. They are also responsible for infecting 20 million people each year and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands3. The disease is airborne so passing it on person to person is quite easy. Once a person is infected there is no specific treatment, only supportive care. Measles is most common in developing parts of the world such as developing parts of Asia, but with the return of “anti-vaxxers” it is making its comeback to many developed parts of North America. As shown in the provided figure, the number of measles deaths was expected to rise after continually falling.

A figure of estimated worldwide deaths of measles and projected worst-case scenarios
Global Measles Mortality, 2000–2008. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5847a2.htm (accessed Mar 21, 2019).

Herd immunity is a form of indirect protection in which a large portion of a population is immune to disease through previous exposure or vaccines, thereby providing a measure of protection for those that are not immune4. It works by having a large portion be immune, therefore containing a breakout from spreading person-to-person. This is one of the best forms of protection for those that can not be immune due to medical reasons. This system falls apart though if more and more people decide against vaccinations. The fewer people that are immune, means the more opportunity for the outbreak of diseases to spread and infect those who are not immune5.

                                                 An infographic of herd immunity                                      Herd immunity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herd_immunity (accessed Mar 22, 2019).

Imagine a world where polio is still a prevalent disease affecting millions or a world where smallpox is still around and active. The eradication of these diseases was only possible due to the worldwide vaccine movement and subsequent herd immunity that followed6. Most adults are set in their stubborn ways, as such explaining to them the importance of vaccines usually falls on deaf ears. The best solution to prevent further outbreaks and help create a world eradicated of preventable diseases is to start young and teach kids the importance for future generations.

1Dixon, G. N.; Clarke, C. E. Science Communication 2012, 35 (3), 358–382.

2Chang, L. V. Health Economics 2018, 27 (7), 1043–1062.

3Moss, W. J. The Lancet 2017, 390 (10111), 2490–2502.

4Fine, P.; Eames, K.; Heymann, D. L. Clinical Infectious Diseases 2011, 52 (7), 911–916.
5Betsch, C.; Böhm, R.; Korn, L. Health Psychology 2013, 32 (9), 978–985.

6Phadke, V. K.; Bednarczyk, R. A.; Salmon, D. A.; Omer, S. B. Jama 2016, 315 (11), 1149.

~ Danial Yazdan

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The Worth of Bachelor’s Degree

Posted on March 2, 2019 | 4 comments

Is College Still Worth It? | Jason Lange https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OB2WWhd9fwk& (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

We are always told at a very young age, that if we ever want to be something that the only path is to go to university. As such, many of us go off to school to attain our bachelor’s degree but is the degree worth it?  Over-saturation in the number of graduates with bachelors¹ has given rise to the issue that with more and more people having degrees, even higher education is required. Given available data, the amount of earned bachelor’s degrees in the STEM field (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) in America has risen by 48% from the years 2000-2012. The trend-line heavily implies a significant and steep rise in graduates with bachelor’s² in the coming years with no clear sign in slowing down.

A graph of total bachelor’s degree vs. year in STEM in American colleges.
Who earns bachelor’s degrees in science and engineering? https://nsf.gov/nsb/sei/edTool/data/college-14.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

With this increased trend of higher education, over-saturation is a prominent problem that is affecting thousands of unemployed graduates³. While the minimum used to be a high school degree, it seems that in this modern era a bachelor’s degree is now the new minimum. While before a bachelor’s degree could get a decent paying job, now seems to be the requirement into most entry-level positions. An example would be a degree in psychology, due to its high saturated field, a Ph.D. is required to get anywhere in psychology. This doesn’t mean that a bachelor is worthless though, the skills you attain during your studies can be easily and readily translated to many differing jobs. In the case of psychology, the people skills and understanding of the psyche can be translated4 into numerous jobs that require communication. When compared to the time of our parents, the amount of graduates is significantly less than today’s trends.

Graph of Parent’s highest education of graduates with Bachelor’s (2007/2008) in American Colleges
What level of education do parents of recent bachelor’s graduates have? https://nsf.gov/nsb/sei/edTool/data/college-01.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

The data provided from a 2007/2008 study, indicates that the students graduating with a bachelor’s degree; roughly 50% of their parents had a bachelor’s degree or higher. This is a clear indication that trend-lines of graduates have significantly risen over the years5, and will only continue to rise throughout the coming years. While this doesn’t indicate that university or a bachelor’s degree is worthless6, it is still quite worthwhile to attain higher education. This trend-line only indicates that with each passing year the market of graduates will only get more saturated, resulting in more and more unemployed graduates. So while it’s worthwhile to get a bachelors, it will be significantly more worthwhile to get a masters or doctoral degree.

 

~ Danial Yazdan

¹Cardoso, A. R. Economics Letters 2007, 94 (2), 271–277.

²Graham, M. J.; Frederick, J.; Byars-Winston, A.; Hunter, A.-B.; Handelsman, J. Science 2013, 341 (6153), 1455–1456.

³Who will hire all the PhDs? Not Canada’s universities. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/who-will-hire-all-the-phds-not-canadas-universities/article10976412/ (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

4Coldwell, W. A PhD with your coffee? Barista serving your drink might be better. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/a-phd-with-your-coffee-barista-serving-your-drink-might-be-better-educated-than-you-are-8895053.html (accessed Mar 1, 2019).

4Astin, A. W. (1998). The changing american college student: Thirty-year trends, 1966-1996. The Review of Higher Education, 21(2), 115

6Lavoie, M.; Finnie, R. Canadian Public Policy / Analyse de Politiques 1999, 25 (1), 101.

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The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

Posted on January 24, 2019 | 1 comment

 

“Antimicrobial Resistance – Mutation.” National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Feb. 2009, www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/antimicrobialResistance/Understanding/Pages/mutation.aspx.

The development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a growing concern that is quickly sweeping up the attention of medicinal chemists and doctors. The growing use of antibiotics as the standard for treatment has led to the increase of drug-resistant bacteria; commonly known as “superbugs.” As the drug is repeatedly introduced to the bacteria, eventually mutations will arise in future generations of bacterium¹ that will allow it to be antibiotic-resistant and allow it to multiply and thrive. This increased number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has led to an increase in sick patients² with bacterial infections that are antibiotic-resistant. As before due to the trivial nature of the infection simple antibiotics would cure the infection, but as per the nature of these “superbugs”, common treatments won’t work anymore, and new drugs or different treatments must be used to cure the infection.

“Causes of Antibiotic Resistance .” World Health Organization, Nov. 2015, www.who.int/drugresistance.

There are many causes to the antibiotic crisis, but one of the more prevalent causes are the over-prescribing of antibiotics and the over-use of antibiotics in livestock and fish farming. Currently, more than 50% of the antibiotics produced are going directly to the feeds of livestock³to keep them from getting sick due to their poor living conditions. By introducing bacteria to a consistent and high volume of antibiotics, eventually, the bacteria will go through mutations in future generations that will allow it to survive these antibiotics and ultimately result in the discontinued effectiveness of that drug. The same concept applies to the over-prescribing of antibiotics, by always introducing the bacteria to the drug eventually it will not be practical to use anymore4. At that point, different drugs would need to be used until they eventually stop working and so on until we reach a point where there would be no more antibiotics left to use to fight these infections.

What causes antibiotic resistance? – Kevin Wu. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znnp-Ivj2ek (accessed Feb 16, 2019).

Potential solutions to combat the problem involve something as trivial as proper hygiene. As making sure to wash your hands often, the chance for infection will go down and as a direct result will cut down on antibiotic use. A more futureproof method would be the development of new antibiotics5 or potential re-use of old antibiotics6 that could be re-purposed to combat the problem. No matter the method used to combat this problem or a combination of every method available, this a problem that needs to be addressed as soon as possible, or we are looking at a world where trivial infections can run rampant with no good method of treatment.

~ Danial Yazdan

References:

¹Blair, Jessica M. A., et al. “Molecular Mechanisms of Antibiotic Resistance.” Nature Reviews Microbiology, vol. 13, no. 1, 2014, pp. 42–51., doi:10.1038/nrmicro3380.

²Duin, David Van, and David L. Paterson. “Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria in the Community.” Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, vol. 30, no. 2, June 2016, pp. 377–390., doi:10.1016/j.idc.2016.02.004.

³Bush, Karen, et al. “Tackling Antibiotic Resistance.” Nature Reviews Microbiology, vol. 9, 2 Nov. 2011, pp. 894–896., doi:10.1038/nrmicro2693.

4Chellat, Mathieu F., et al. “ChemInform Abstract: Targeting Antibiotic Resistance.” ChemInform, vol. 47, no. 29, 22 Mar. 2016, pp. 6600–6626., doi:10.1002/chin.201629282.

5Nathan, Carl, and Otto Cars. “Antibiotic Resistance — Problems, Progress, and Prospects.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 371, no. 19, 2014, pp. 1761–1763., doi:10.1056/nejmp1408040.

6Frieri, Marianne, et al. “Antibiotic Resistance.” Journal of Infection and Public Health, vol. 10, no. 4, 2017, pp. 369–378., doi:10.1016/j.jiph.2016.08.007.

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