Author: Ani

Have some mercy, kill me!

Dr. Kevorkian dies at the age of 83 on June 3rd, 2011. (CNN blog-reports “Dr. Jack Kevorkian dead at 83”)
Dr. Death is the name given to a pathologist Jack Kevorkian. He made the headlines of national news in early 1990s for his legislation of a “right-to-die”. Is Dr. Death a murderer?

Early life

Jacob “Jack” Kevorkian, or Hagop Kevorkian, was born in Pontiac, Michigan, to a family of immigrants from Armenia. His mother Satenig and her family escaped Armenian genocide in 1915 and eventually immigrated to Pontiac where she met his father Levon. The couple had a daughter, Margaret, son Jacob, and lastly, daughter, Flora.
Kevorkian, who taught himself German and Japanese, graduated from Pontiac Central High School with honours in 1945, at the age of 17. In 1952, he graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School.

Career

Kevorkian’s career begins in 1980s with a series of articles written for the German journal Medicine and Law capturing his views on euthanasia. He started advertising in newspapers as a physician consultant for “death-counselling”. His first assisted suicide was of Janet Adkins who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. He was charged of murder, but charges were dropped because of no law in Michigan regarding assisted suicides. However, a year later his medical licence was taken away and he was no longer allowed to work with patients. This did not stop Dr. Kevorkian from assistance of over 130 deaths from 1990 to 1998.

Methods

In each of the cases, when patient agreed to death, Kevorkian assisted by attaching them to a euthanasia device that he made. The individual then pressed a button that would end their own life. Two people were assisted by “Thanatron” (death machine), others with “Mercitron” that had a gas mask filler with carbon monoxide.

Later career, imprisonment

In 2010 interview with Sanjay Gupta, Kevorkian stated “what difference does it make if someone is terminal? We are all terminal”. He also mentioned that he declined four out of five requests, on the grounds of possible treatment.
On November 22, 1998 Kevorkian allowed videotaping Thomas Youk’s,52, voluntary euthanasia, who was in final stage of lateral sclerosis. In this act Kevorkian injected Youk. During the videotape, Kevorkian dared the authorities to try and stop him from carrying mercy killing. After that incident going on public, Kevorkian was charged with second-degree murder and sentenced to serve 10-25 year in prison. He spent eight years and 2.5 months in prison before he was paroled for good behaviour in 2007. He was paroled under the conditions that he cannot practice medicine or provide care to anyone older than 62 or disabled. He was also forbidden from making comments about his assisted suicides.

Death

Kevorkian suffered from kidney problems for years and had been diagnosed with liver cancer. He was hospitalized in May, 2011 and died in June of the same year.

Dr. Kevorkian was a jazz musician, composer and an oil painter. He sometimes painted with his own blood. Of his known works, six were made available in the 1990s for print release.

“You don’t know Jack” premiered on April 24th, 2010 with Al Pacino as Jack Kevorkian.

See also
– God bless you, Dr. Kevorkian

Tags death, Dr. Death, euthanasia, famous Armenians, human rights, Jack Kevorkian

Biological Sciences Physical Sciences

I’m lefty and I’m proud

No-one has come up with an explanation of why exactly some people are more comfortable using their left hand rather than right hand, but about 13% of the human population are.

Left-handedness is defined as the preference of left hand over the right hand in everyday activities such as writing. In ancient times, left-handedness was seen as a sign of the devil; everything “right” was good, everything “left” was bad. Such attitude towards left-handers is thought to have begun with the sun worshipers who lived in the far north. As they stood facing the sun, it appeared moving from left to right to them. Because the sun was moving towards the right, it was believed that right is always good, correct, or “right”. The Bible also contains references about left-handedness. In one of the Gospels, Jesus says that one day a man will sit on a throne and separate all nations, like sheep and goats are separates, and he will place “the sheep on this right hand, but goats on his left.” (Matthew 25:31-34, 41).

These beliefs were passed along to medieval times. Lefties were not trusted because they could shake other person’s hand with their left hand and they could carry a sword behind their back with their left hand. The word “left” came from Latin word sinister which means evil. The French word “gauche” means awkward or tactless.
Since we are science students, it’s time to look at this issue from scientific and, more interestingly, genetic point of view.

Left-handedness is a genetic trait widely investigated. In 2007, it was announced that alleles for this phenotype were found upstream of LRRTM1 gene. Twin theory suggests that left-handed people had a right-handed twin at the stage of pre-fetus development. This right-handed fetus failed to develop. Even though Australian researchers rejected this theory, it remains unknown why there is a high frequency of left-handedness/right-handedness in pair. A study by the Centers for Disease Control(CDC) suggest that pre-mature exposure to estrogen is likely to cause left-handedness.
Left-handed people also tend to be more creative and good at arts. Their right part of the brain, that is responsible for emotions, artistic vision and 3D thinking, is more active.

For now left-handed people are still a minority in this “right-minded” world and they often get discriminated against, especially in schools. However, genetic single-nucleotide polymorphism that causes left-handedness means that it is a common case and people with both phenotypes should co-exist in harmony.

So be proud to be different and remember:
– August 13th is the left-hander’s day!
– A number of famous people were/are left-handed, among them are Alexander the Great, Leonardo Da Vinci, Oscar De La Hoya, Albert Einstein and many others

For more information visit:
http://handedness.org/
http://www.theworldofstuff.com/lefty/

References:
– Kilshaw, D. and Annett, M. (1983), Right- and left-hand skill I: Effects of age, sex and hand preference showing superior skill in left-handers. British Journal of Psychology, 74: 253–268. doi: 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1983.tb01861.x
– Corballis, Michael C., Laterality and myth, American Psychologist, Vol 35(3), Mar 1980, 284-295. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.35.3.284

Tags Centers for Disease Control, handedness, left-handed, single-nucleotide polymorphism

Biological Sciences Fun! Issues in Science Science Communication

I’m sorry this is late, I really meant to post this earlier…..or iProcrastinate

Post author By Ani
Post date September 18, 2011
6 Comments on I’m sorry this is late, I really meant to post this earlier…..or iProcrastinate

As summer comes to an end and we’re back to school, some of us are still on vacation time. Assignments just keep coming, due dates are approaching and, surprisingly, nothing gets done. Where did the excitement for the new school year go? Procrastination is the answer.

Are we the only victims of procrastination? Definitely not. Ancient Greeks used to represent procrastination as a “state of acting against one’s better judgment”, or akrasia. Akratic behaviour is documented in discussion between Socrates and Protagoras. Socrates claimed “No one goes willingly toward the bad”. This makes sense from a biological prospective of natural goals of an individual. Aristotel, however, took this idea and examined it deeper. From his prospective, akrasia occurs as a result of opinion. An opinion is mentally developed form of reality or truth.

So when we think another 30min nap before writing a paper might help, we are sincere in our intentions to write the paper. However it does not necessarily mean we are right that we need a nap.

Did modern scientists figure out something more useful than ancient Greeks’ theory? Yes.

According to physiologists, procrastination arises in the front part of our brain, or prefrontal cortex. Earlier studies agreed upon the impulsive nature of procrastination. Prefrontal cortex is responsible for such brain functions as planning, attention, motivation and impulse control. When impulse control does not function in its maximum ability, the overall function of planning, attention and motivation decreases. This causes procrastination.

Is a procrastination purely physiological phenomenon or are the psychological aspects? Needless to say there are numerous psychological theories trying to explain procrastination. One of the most common theories is the lack of self-confidence. Also anxiety levels of procrastinators are especially high near exam period, and these individuals feel the most relief right after exams are done or papers are turned in. Tice and Baumeister (1997) reported a study where they show a number of college students, procrastinators and non-procrastinators. Research found that procrastinators get lower grades than non-procrastinators, as opposed to a belief that best work is done under pressure.

Procrastination is a problem for scientists publishing a paper. As we know, whoever publishes his work first gets the acknowledgments. That is why it is so important to concentrate on true long term benefits and produce a great piece of work that will contribute to humankind, whether is it is just another paper or a finished experiment. Procrastination should neither affect the quality of our work not stay in our way of enjoying what we do.