“Do bugs need drugs?” How about pigs?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | Comments Off on “Do bugs need drugs?” How about pigs?

Small cuts and bruises are not much of a concern to present-day people. After all, they’re “just a scratch”; if they cause complications later on, the doctor can prescribe some drugs to fix them right up. Unfortunately, society might not be able to afford to keep such carefree attitudes to small injuries in the near future. With the emergence of “super bugs”, bacteria with high resistance to antibiotics, treatments for bacterial infections are becoming increasingly less effective. Over the years, the widespread use of antibiotics to cure minor injuries and infections have been selectively making bacteria stronger against common prescription drugs.

However, doctors are not the only cause for the rise of super bugs. In a recent study, Ludek Zurek et al. (2011) found that intestinal bacteria in the pigs of animal farms are very antibiotic resistant. This is almost certainly the result of farmers routinely adding antibiotics into swine feed to use as both a growth promoter and a defence against harmful bacteria and parasites. Already, several strands of the gut bacteria are immune to multiple types of antibiotics.

Although bacteria in pork is not dangerous as long as the meat is properly cooked, Zurek’s research suggests that infectious bacteria may be indirectly transferred to humans from pigs through insect carriers. In the same study, the researchers found that house flies and German cockroaches, which both feed on pig feces, have the same antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains. Through these commonplace insects, disease can potentially transfer from the pigs to humans.

The consequences of using antibiotics in animal farms is two-fold. The immediate effect is encouraging bacteria to evolve into more antibiotic resistant variants, and thereby making bacterial diseases more difficult to treat. Antibiotic use in farms also poses the danger of new infectious super bugs being transferred to humans by insect carriers such as house flies and German cockroaches. The use of antibiotic-containing swine feed should be reviewed to determine if the benefits outweigh these repercussions.

References:
Aqeel Ahmad, Anuradha Ghosh, Coby Schal and Ludek Zurek. Insects in confined swine operations carry a large antibiotic resistant and potentially virulent enterococcal community. BMC Microbiology, (in press)

BioMed Central (2011, January 27). Household bugs: A risk to human health?. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 28, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/01/110126081706.htm

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Man Made Proteins

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | 1 comment

In ancient times the Greeks had myths about creatures that had the best parts of animals put together. One example is a griffon, which is half lion and half eagle. Some research being conducted at Princeton University may lead to organisms with the best of the best genes possible.

Scientists at Princeton have created new genetic sequences not found in nature that can sustain life. They created a list of proteins not found in nature that would fold into a 3D structure on its own.  They then tried putting these proteins into some living cells to see if the synthesized proteins actually do anything.

The scientists inserted the proteins into some mutated bacteria cells that were missing some genes essential for life. The control group that had the deleted genes but no added proteins did not survive. Mutant bacteria with the added proteins survived and formed colonies. This showed the scientists that synthetic proteins can be as useful at sustaining life as ones found in nature. This is a big step in fabricating life because the new proteins bear no resemblance to the natural proteins that it replaced.

There are many combinations of amino acids that can be combined to form a protein and nature has only created a small portion of the possible combinations. If scientists continue this type of research, they may find proteins that are more efficient at their function than their natural counterparts. We could eventually be putting the best pieces of genetic code together to make super organisms.

The origional article can be found here: http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S29/43/27E55/index.xml?section=topstories

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The Origin of Our Solar System

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | 1 comment

Has anyone ever wondered about how the world, and our solar system started? I have countless times, but I am still questioning our current theory of origin, the Nebular Hypothesis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebular_hypothesis

A. solar nebula B. contraction into rotating disk C. Cooling causing condensing into tiny (dust sized) solid particles D. Collisions between these form larger bodies E. These accrete to form planets

First proposed by Emanuel Swedenborg, the Nebular Hypothesis is the most widely accepted theory for the origin of our solar system. It is based upon the assumption that the universe already exists under the Big Bang theory. Under this model, the  molecular hydrogen and “dust particles” had clumped together to form a giant cloud, called a nebula. Due to their own gravity, they collapsed, spiralling down to the centre of the cloud to form a central mass and a rotating flattened disk. High concentration in the center of the cloud lead to temperature and pressure increases, and resulted in nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion was the process of which hydrogen molecules fused together, released energy and formed the Sun. The “leftover” dust clumps became the planets, and this is the current theory of how the Solar System came to be. It explains why the planets revolve around the Sun on the ecliptic plane, and the proximity of terrestrial planets and gaseous planets.

However, I question how the hydrogen molecules came together to make a giant ball in the first place. I thought that gaseous molecules have a tendency to go from areas of high concentration to low concentration. Did the gravity of one hydrogen molecule attract another hydrogen molecule, and eventually became a huge giant cloud of hydrogen, and suddenly collapse? The force of gravity of one hydrogen atom to another would not be such a significant force, as Fg = km1m2/ r2, and the constant, k is a very small number of 9.0*10-9.

I am sceptical. What about the second law of thermodynamics, entropy? Molecules want to increase their entropy, and disperse when they can. Would there be any other forces that attracted the hydrogen molecules and dust particles together besides the force of gravity? Perhaps one day, we will be able to understand the mechanisms of our world better.

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Network Neutrality: An Essential Ingredient for Continued Internet Innovation

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | 2 comments

From the boardroom to the legislature, an important policy debate is taking place. Even though it has the potential to fundamentally reshape nearly every aspect of our modern digital lives: how we connect, communicate and entertain ourselves, the public remains woefully misinformed. The debate is over Network Neutrality, and the related issues of packet prioritization and usage-based billing. In recent years, ISPs who have traditionally just provided network-access have become increasingly interested in “value-added” services, such as internet-telephony or IPTV. Rather than having these services compete on merit, many ISPs have decided to degrade the network performance of competing offerings, prioritize their-own traffic, and to limit monthly bandwidth. Net-neutrality is the opposite of all that. It is a network design principle mandating that all packets, or parcels of data, should be treated equally, sent or received on a first come first service basis.  A carrier should not be allowed to prioritize traffic.

I was reading an article on Google News the other day (Internet groups criticize CRTC bandwidth ruling) and upon browsing through the comments was struck by the misinformation I saw.  Network carriers such as Bell Canada (TSX:BCE) and Verizon (NYSE:VZ) have somewhat successfully argued that these network-management techniques are required to justify investment in expanded infrastructure, with John Thorne, deputy general counsel for Verizon being quoted as saying that: “The network builders are spending a fortune constructing and maintaining the networks that Google intends to ride on with nothing but cheap servers.”  The debate has been manipulated so that the battle for bandwidth looks appears to be pitting the everyday citizen trying to access their email and the college student down the block using P2P programs 24/7. While arguments such as this have some merit, they are for the most part facetious, have severe long-term consequences and from a public policy point of view not well thought out.

Part of what has made the internet-era so incredible is the dynamism that comes from enabling anyone with a great idea to reach the entire world. Take a moment and think about how the web has changed your life for the better.  Think of the products and services you use most often. Now imagine a world without them. Let’s say your ISP, which has an IPTV service, has decided to cap your monthly download limit and charge overage fees, while allowing you to access their IPTV services for no extra charge. Companies like Netflix and YouTube just couldn’t compete.  They’d be priced out of the market.  Or what if large incumbents could pay for priority access; services such as Skype might be given a lower priority then your ISP’s VOIP service. You forgo Skype not because it’s an inferior product but because its call quality has purposefully been degraded. For these reasons, amongst others, it is essential that the public be well informed about the facts surrounding network neutrality and how this seemingly trivial policy debate has the potential to dramatically alter the world’s economic landscape for decades to come.

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What to trust in making decisions; Cognitive thinking or Sientific methods?

Posted on January 28, 2011 by | Comments Off on What to trust in making decisions; Cognitive thinking or Sientific methods?

We have all evolved to associate one thing to the other. We associate by thinking; finding and looking for meaningful patterns in our surroundings. Another reliable way to associate one thing to the other is by the use of scientific methods. The problem over  here is what to trust in  making a decision, our cognitive thinking or the scientific method?

In recent years, there has been a seeming connection between autism and MMR-vaccines. The parents of the children diagnosed of Autism, are trying to look for a causal link between this complex developmental disability and vaccines that the children had received.

In 1998, a British surgeon, Andrew Wakefield, published a paper claiming that the MMR-vaccine had a causal link to Autism. He proposed that the measles virus traveled to the children’s intestines causing intestinal damage. This damage then allowed brain damaging proteins to enter their blood stream. Dr.Wakefield used stories of 8 children who had developed symptoms of autism within a month of receiving the vaccines.

Here is the article from Wall street Journal that i came across Junk Science Isn\’t a Victimless Crime.

These findings fueled the debate over vaccine safety and lead many people to a general distrust in vaccines.

This type of study has been replicated many times around the world and each time no causal  link has been found. The following two articles from New Scientist proves that MMR-vaccine has no causal link to Autism; Autism rises Despite MMR Ban in Japan and MMR and Autism not linked, finds giant study.

I do not think Dr. Wakefield’s paper was statistically right. He based his conclusion on a very small sample size (about 12 children). He should have used  a way larger sample size as in the other two studies disproving the existence of a causal link (more than 30,000 or half a million children).

Overall, What do we believe; Is there a causal link between MMR-vaccine and Autism? In spite of knowing that the research linking MMR-vaccine to Autism has some discrepancies, we still feel that there is a link. Do not forget we have the ability to overcome our feelings in a situation and replace them with a logical and scientific reasoning that would serve us better and help us advance in life.

If further interested, here is part 1 of 10 of Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s interview on his MMR study by Dr. Mercola.

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