Category Archives: Biological Sciences

The Two “E”s to Avoid Cancer: Exercise and Eat Well

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Cancer is a mysterious silent killer whose cure, even to this day, cannot be found.  Many studies have found a link between weight gain and obesity to increased risk of cancer.  Could the solution to cancer prevention be something as simple as getting enough exercise and having a proper diet? As many of you know, the idea of following a healthy diet and exercising regularly is beneficial and we are constantly reminded by our friends, family and even the media. However, unknown to many of us, what we think is a common idea may be very effective in preventing obesity-related cancers.

Healthy Salad by Emilian Robert Vicol via Flickr creative commons

How exactly does being overweight relate to increased cancer risks you ask? Simply put, it has been hypothesized that many hormones or proteins involved in the development and progression of diseases such as cancer, are secreted by adipose tissue. Therefore, the more fat accumulated in the body, the more hormones secreted or “genes” expressed that can take part in the pathways leading to cancer. To examine the effects of weight loss on fat tissue gene expression and subsequently, the amount of hormones secreted, Dr. Kristin Campbell, a researcher at the University of British Columbia, and associates studied the effects of exercise and diet on body fat tissue. 

Dr. Kristin Campbell working with Scenery Slater, a cancer patient by Martin Dee via http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/2012/06/06/blame-it-on-chemo-brain/

Forty-five postmenopausal women participated and were divided into 4 treatment groups: a control group (no treatment), a calorie-restricted diet group, an exercise group and a diet+exercise group. Blood and adipose tissue samples were taken from every participant before and after following the treatments for 6 months. The samples were then analyzed for changes in hormone levels or fat tissue expression in the body. It was found that women who followed only a calorie-restrictive diet lost the most weight and greater weight loss was correlated with greater changes in fat tissue gene expression. In other words, reducing the amount of body fat ultimately reduces the chances of developing diseases such as cancer.

How women were divided into different groups in the experiment

For further details on the motivation of Dr. Campbell as well as the findings of the research, take a look at the video below:

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Youtube via whywontmynamefit

Although the subjects were all postmenopausal women, Dr. Kristin Campbell notes that weight loss can also reduce the risk of colon cancers and other obesity related diseases that affect men and women equally. From the research findings, we can see how important being healthy is for not only older generations, but for the younger generations as well. We hope our blog motivates others to live a healthier lifestyle.

With that being said, listen to the podcast below for Dr. Campbell’s suggestions for exercise and diet regimes:

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– Grace Lam, Alice Lin, Ashkan Nasr, Derek Rejto

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Ozone: Friend or Foe?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Did you know that living in a city with with high levels of air pollution increases your risk of getting lung cancer by 20%? Every year humans are spewing more and more pollution into the Earth’s atmosphere with CO2 attracting the most attention. While CO2 has major effects on the Earth’s climate and subsequently our way of life, ozone is one pollutant that does not receive nearly as much attention as it should. The main view that the general public holds regarding ozone is its ability to block harmful sun rays which may cause skin cancer in humans. Although this is true, it mostly applies to ozone in the upper parts of the atmosphere. Ozone levels in the actual air we breathe has many negative effects that very few people know about.

Below is a recorded newscast of how ozone has affected the lives of many:

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Ozone-1,3-dipole by Benjah-bmm27 via Wikimedia Commons

Ozone is an oxidant which has harmful effects on biological life. At the University of British Columbia (UBC), Dr. Steyn, a professor of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has recently modeled past ozone trends in the Lower Fraser Valley using various computer simulations. To gain a better understanding of the issue, we interviewed Dr. Steyn about his study and the motivations behind his research. Steyn was interested in comparing past ozone trends with emissions, “to understand which part of the emission reductions have actually had the effect, and then for [policymakers] to use that to build the policy.” More often than not, various governments have rushed plans into action. For example, “Metro Vancouver has made two air quality management plans” that Steyn considers to be made “without  scientific guidance.” Therefore, he “deliberately framed the research in a way that the results could be used for policy…Metro Vancouver has a big process going to understand ozone and what reductions they need to make further.”

Here is a video outlining Dr. Steyn’s study of harmful ozone pollution  and its effects in the Lower Fraser Valley:

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SCIE 300 OUTREACH_SECTION 210_GROUP 2 by kyuuke1013SK

Although we have a clear idea of the present worsening ozone trends, there are still many difficulties, especially emission reductions. Society must strike a balance between the life of convenience that we are accustomed to and the general health of the public. In general Canada manages to  balance things  very well but areas like the Lower Fraser Valley have room for improvement. Our publicly funded healthcare system makes it possible for us to clearly and precisely determine what the cost of degraded air quality is compared to the cost of improving air quality in areas such as Fraser Valley; and we know that the cost of cleanup is a great deal cheaper than the health care costs.

This model is a tool that can be used by researchers and policy makers to increase our understanding of what must be done to ensure the best air quality possible. The health problems that arise from pollutants such as ozone must be avoided at all costs. Progress towards this goal has been made, but there is still much more that needs to be done before we can take a deep sigh of relief!

– Alex Gibson, Stella Meng, Earvin Remandaban, Christine Wong

 

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Would you like to sequence your genome?

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Imagine a world where you are able to gain access of your entire genome within minutes. Not only will you become aware of what makes you unique, but it will also help with the diagnoses and treatments of many diseases. Thanks to next-generation sequencing technologies like Illumina and 454, we are one step closer to converting this fantasy into a reality.

Next-generation sequencing technology: Illumina. Author: Dr. Corey Nislow, used with permission.

Currently, these new technologies have the ability to sequence five human genomes in one week. This is astonishing because each genome is around 4.3 meters long with over 20,000 genes that code for proteins. Given its efficiency with deciphering human DNA, you would expect high performance on bacterial and archaeal microorganisms that have smaller genomes. By determining their genetic information, it is possible to compare different types of DNA and look back on the evolutionary origin of these life forms.

Check out this podcast to learn more about the evolutionary background of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya:

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A study done by Dr. Nislow and his colleagues has demonstrated the usage of next-generation sequencing, particularly Illumina. They compared the structure and function of chromatin, a DNA- protein complex which contains genetic information, in Archaea and Eukarya by sequencing their genomes. The video below gives a more detailed overview of the research:

YouTube Preview Image Youtube user: stephanieem (SCIE 300 Group 1)

In addition to their rapid sequencing speed, these new technologies have other advantages over the conventional methods. Not only are they highly accurate, but they also provide a larger amount of data for a lower price. For example, when using Illumina, it costs around ten cents to sequence a million nucleotide bases, the fundamental units of DNA. Although this may seem a whole lot, each human cell has over 12 billion bases of DNA!

File:DNA chemical structure.svg

Picture of DNA showing the 4 different nucleotide bases. Author: Madprime via Wikimedia Commons

With the advent of the next-generation sequencing technologies, it is now possible to achieve many tasks that would otherwise remain unresolved. As they continue to become more advanced, many excitements in this field lie ahead. You never know, genome sequencing might even become an application on our computers where we will be able to see for ourselves what makes each one of us so unique.

-Group 1: Daniel (Sanggi) Hong, Stephanie Mrakovich, Maral Altanbadralt, Jing Xiang Yang

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Motion sickness: A quarrel between the eyes and ears

Posted on March 18, 2013 by | 1 comment

Have you ever started reading your notes or textbook on the bus ride to school, only to find yourself feeling dizzy and nauseous moments after? Or perhaps you’ve experienced the same set of unsettling symptoms on a plane ride, or on a lovely – or in this case, not-so-lovely – Caribbean cruise. Regardless of where you were, it sounds like you were hit by a bad case of motion sickness, a condition that arises due to changes in our sense of balance and equilibrium. As a result, such a phenomenon can develop from the movements of a car or boat, the turbulence of an airplane, or even from the twirls and loops of a ride at an amusement park.

Teacups

If you’re prone to motion sickness, this ride probably isn’t for you.
By jpesci via Flickr Creative Commons

So what causes motion sickness and why do we experience such discomfort as a result? First of all, motion is detected by the brain via signals sent from the inner ear, the eyes, and various sensory receptors throughout the body, and are therefore coordinated together when we walk or move ourselves consciously.

On the other hand, motion sickness occurs when the eyes and ears send different signals to the brain. In this scenario, the movement that is visually perceived “disagrees” with the movement sensed by a specialized system associated with our inner ear. This system, more so known as the vestibular system, contains the organs responsible for the maintenance of proper balance and orientation. Thus, a disturbance to the inner ear caused by any form of repeated motion can cause a person to experience dizziness, fatigue, and nausea, which is explained in this video by YouTube user Alex Dainis.

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This explains why motion sickness can be experienced while reading in a moving vehicle. While your eyes are fixed on an object that is stationary, your body and inner ear sense movement from the speeding or turning vehicle, causing some sort of disagreement between the two.

The vestibular system constitutes the inner ear.
By Rage via Wikimedia Commons

In many cases, motion sickness will ultimately lead to vomiting. This is because the mismatch of signals sent to the brain by the eyes and inner ear suggests that a neurotoxin was ingested, causing the body to induce vomiting in order to get rid of it.

While around 33% of people are prone to motion sickness under mild conditions, 66% experience it under more extreme conditions. Although it is hard to prevent most cases of motion sickness, this video by YouTube user mayoclinic presents some remedies that can be followed to avoid or lessen its effects. If you are one of the 33% that is easily susceptible to this unnerving condition, perhaps these will help make your next vacation or road trip a little more enjoyable.

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– Clarissa Ngui

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science in the News

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The man whose brain has been penetrated by iron bar

Posted on March 17, 2013 by | Leave a comment

We all know that brain is one of the most important human organs. Now imagine someone whose brain has been penetrated by a 1.1 m long iron bar weighting 6 kg …OUCH!! That sounds horrible!

This unfortunate man is named Phineas Gage. Gage used to be a normal railroad worker, but one day at work in 1848 he made a mistake with his explosives which shot an iron bar towards his head. The iron bar entered  his left cheek and pierced through his brain and exited through his skull. With an injury this gruesome and severe you probably think that there is no way he’d survive. That was what people around him thought too: they prepared a coffin for Gage. But amazingly, he survived this terrible accident. In fact, most of his intellectual functions were quite normal because most of his brain was actually undamaged. The primary site of injury was his prefrontal cortex, which resulted in drastic personality change in Gage.

Phineas Gage skull via Wikipedia Commons from uploader Roy Baty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prefrontal cortex is in the anterior part of the brain. Different parts of the brain have different functions and this particular portion of the brain is important for planning, attention, and behaving appropriately in society. Because of damage to the prefrontal cortex, Gage changed to a different person. Before the injury Gage was hardworking, responsible, and popular among his co-workers.  After the injury, however, he was stubborn, impatient, violent, and non-compliant. He lacked self-control and even molested children!Because of his obnoxious personality after the injury, people felt he was “no longer Gage”

Here is a video account of Gage’s story:

from youtube user Jpick311

Gage’s story is a great tragedy but it provided strong evidence that prefrontal cortex of the brain is involved in personality and contributed a lot to brain research.

-Stella Meng

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Will bananas last forever?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by | 2 comments

Banana via Flickr by Gori

Bananas are one of the most popular fruits in the world. It is cheap, tasty, and nutritious.

They are very rich in nutrition. At only 110 calories per 4-ounce offering, high concentration of vitamin B6, which plays a significant role in fighting infection, is contained. Also, bananas are rich in potassium and fiber. It is known that bananas are the staple diet for half billion people in Asia and Africa.  

While the fruit itself is loved as an important dietary staple, the other parts of plants are used as  food, clothing, paper, and tableware.

A box made with banana paper via a company DwellSmart by Terracycle

A box made with banana paper via a company DwellSmart by Terracycle

However, we will be saying good bye to beloved bananas. It is estimated that they will be extinct in about 10 years.

What are threatening bananas?

We have been consuming almost only one type of banana: Cavendish banana, which makes up 99% of consumed bananas.

They have a critical problem. Cavendish are seedless and cannot reproduce sexually, so all plants of a single variety are grown from cuttings. Basically, they are clones of one another and equally vulnerable to diseases. Because Cavendish are genetically identical,  if one member of population is attacked by bacteria, then the whole population will be killed soon.

There are three types of diseases that are threatening bananas:

  1. Panama disease, caused by a soil fungus, which wiped out the Gros Michel variety in the 1950s
  2. Black sigatoka, another fungal disease which has reached global epidemic proportions 
  3. Pests invading plantations and farms in central America, Africa and Asia alike.

Among the three types of disease, the most threatening type of Black sigatoka. It first appeared 20 years ago in Malaysia.  At first time, it spread slowly, but not it is moving at a rapid speed.

You might be wondering why farmers don’t use pesticide to kill bacteria. It is reported that as soon as a new fungicide is used to kill bacteria, surprisingly,  bacteria develop resistance.  Fungicide is very ineffective against the bacteria, especially against the black sigatoka.

Another type of diseases which endangers bananas is black leaf streak disease, which is caused by fungus Mycosphaerella fijiensis.

M. fijjensis by Cecilia M. Rodriguez-Garcia via Flikr

This fungus kills banana plants by affecting  leaf photosynthesis, and causes premature ripening.

banana leaf affected by bacteria via Flikr, by  Cecilia M. Rodriguez-Garcia

 

“It starts with small flecks and spreads to the whole banana leaves – the disease can totally destroy the whole banana plant,”Stephanie Robert, a molecular virologist said.

Then what do we have to do?

At this moment, only genetic modification (GM) is solution.  With the traditional techniques of selective breeding, ones with ability to resist against disease will be developed and they will be cloned.

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Uncategorized

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Impending Doom: A World Without Antibiotics

Posted on March 11, 2013 by | 4 comments

Imagine a world where the common cold or a cut on your finger could be potentially life threatening. Operations, transplants and even child birth could once again be deadly. This nightmarish situation might not be as far fetched as some might think. The World Health Organization warns us of such a future – one  without antibiotics.

Sir Alexander Fleming‘s discovery of antibiotics was one of the single greatest contributions to medicine. He’d made the discovery of penicillin in 1945, but even then the awareness of bacterial resistance to the drug was present. Sir Alexander Fleming stated:

“It is not difficult to make microbes resistant to penicillin in the laboratory by exposing them to concentrations not sufficient to kill them, and the same thing has occasionally happened in the body.

Then there is the danger that the ignorant man may easily underdose himself and by exposing his microbes to non-lethal quantities of the drug make them resistant.”

Sir Alexander Fleming.
Source: Wikimedia Commons via Calibuon

The resistance that Sir Alexander Fleming mentioned is materializing into a harsh reality of today. As bacteria become exposed to different drugs, they eventually adapt and find ways to survive, rendering the drug ineffective. The US Centers of Disease Control point out the emergence of “nightmare bacteria,” those that are capable of resisting multiple drugs, as well as a select few that are immune to all antibiotics. For the most part, as long as new and improved drugs are developed, resistance to the majority of bacteria will not be a problem. However, there has not been a discovery of a new class of antibiotics since 1980.

Scanning electron micrograph of Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (gold) outside a white blood cell (blue).
Source: Wikimedia commons via NIAID/NIH

Although antibiotics are the main cause of the adaptation and development of more resistant strains of bacteria, a world without antibiotics would be far more dangerous. Antibiotics are extremely important in compensating for a suppressed immune system resulting from major surgeries or long term treatments such as chemotherapy. A future without antibiotics is surely a grim one.

Some initiatives have already been taken in order to decrease the amount of unnecessary use of antibiotics. Europe, for example, has banned the use of antibiotics to increase the growth of livestock, as it can promote resistance in bacteria. It has also been argued that antibiotics should be far more expensive, forcing people to reassess how badly they need them.

Professor Laura Piddock, from the Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham, talks about the importance of using antibiotics carefully:

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Source: YouTube via pharmamixvideo

The speculation of a future without antibiotics forces us to rethink our casual use of the drug. Although the description of such a situation may seem a little over exaggerated, the message should be taken seriously or dire consequences may ensue. While bacterial resistance to antibiotics is increasing, careful regulation of its use could prevent this “bacterial apocalypse” that is so vividly described.

 

– Curtis Ma

 

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What do you know about “humanized mice”?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by | 1 comment

Ordinarily, doctors wouldn’t have much choice for a 56-year-old patient with advanced colon cancer which is one of the deadliest diagnoses, but to try chemotherapy drugs  one after the other each coming with their own massive side effects or to strike the tumour with a bunch of different chemicals that appeared to be functional in previous cases. But today, doctors have a new brilliant option! And that is to try out potential treatments on mice. Scientists were able to  plant human tumours in mice before; yet, there was no guarantee as to how the mice would metabolically react with the implant. That is, if the mice’s reactions would be in anyway similar to that of humans.

Mouse being injected with chemotherapy drugs, credit: Aaron, from aaronlogan.com/blog

In a new approach by Alice Chen, the Lemelsen-MIT prize winner at the University of Stanford in the U.S, young mice are engineered to lack immune systems and then receive portions of human immune system as transplants. As the mice grow older, they tend to develop a very human-like immune response system which, as a result, reacts to drugs and infectious agents just as human immune system would.

Dale Greiner of the University of Massachusetts Medical School said: “the idea is that you can take human immune systems and put them in a mouse and make them functional, and by doing so you can manipulate them as if you were manipulating little humans without ever putting patients at risk.”

Here is a video of Alice Chen explaining how she first invented this method by transplanting human liver cells into humanized mice.

YouTube Preview Image This video is from the youtube username Lemelson MIT

Already using this technique, for many cancer patients, scientists have been able to identify the correct treatment before therapeutically testing the drug on the patient. For instance, scientists at UC Davis of California have been able to develop a new drug delivery system for bladder cancer using humanized mice. In their experiment, mice were specially injected with bladder cancer cells from the patients with the disease and the new treatment method was tried out a dozen times on a number of these mice throughout the project. This way, the most reliable treatment was identified and used on human subjects.

Making Mice More Human, Credit: E. Feliciano, from sceinecenews.org

But this is not the end! Humanized mice are not only useful in cancer treatment, but in studying the effect of infectious agents such as HIV and dengue virus,  and complex diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis  and diabetes. For instance, Doctor Greiner, studies the immune system in hyperglycaemic mice in pursue of a better understanding and therefore cure for type one diabetes which is an autoimmune disease.

Although the day your family doctor will be able to grow a colony of  your personal humanized mice is still years away, this is definitely a revolutionary technique to attempt at fighting diseases that we have yet to cure.

-Ashkan Nasr

 

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Burn Fat in 8 Seconds

Posted on March 10, 2013 by | 10 comments

After a long winter it’s no doubt that we all put on a few extra pounds. Summer is on the horizon and you know you’ll have to shed your winter wear, exposing those soft spots around your belly and love handles.

Unfortunately, the average student usually has too much on their plate from commuting to school to late night cramming sessions. This leaves no time for long intensive workouts at the gym.

An empty gym
Source:  flickr commons via floating_zen

What if we can get more out of our workouts with less time and less effort?

Too good to be true?

Well a team of scientists out of Australia might have solved this problem for all us “busy” people. Dr. Boutcher and his team placed 45 overweight women through their SPRINT-training which is a short, high-intensity training based on cycle sprints over 12 weeks. They discovered a significant drop in their abdominal fat and an increase in muscle mass.

Nothing out of the ordinary, high-intensity training has been known to be a great fat burning workout, but this is where it gets very interesting.

It was found  1 hour  SPRINT-training a week burns the same amount of body fat in men as jogging for 7 hours a week.

Brian McPhail, an S-3 clerk with 7th Marine Regiment, ‘sprints’ as fast as he can on a stationary bike. Source: Wikimedia

So what is SPRINT training?

Using a fitness bike, you sprint for 8 seconds, followed by 12 seconds of exercising lightly for a total of 20 minutes. You would perform this 20 minute exercise three times a week for a total of 1 hour of exercise a week, which should fit in anybody’s schedule.

Why does it work?

“We think the reason that it works is because it produces a unique metabolic response,” said Professor Boutcher.

During the intermittent 8 second sprinting large amounts of catecholamine is released. A specific hormone that is involved in oxidizing fat storage which results in greater weight loss.

Furthermore, with this short burst of high intensity output with a longer period if normal output hinders the build up of lactic acid in your muscles. This is that painful burn you feel when your muscles are actually doing work, in simple terms this type of training helps prolong your workouts because it takes longer for your muscle to tire out.

This video gives a brief overview of where catecholamine and other steroids come from:

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Source: harpinmartin

This kind of exercise is great for people who don’t have time to spend hours in the gym, and even better you only require a stationary bike which is not that expensive to purchase for yourself.

Lastly, Dr. Boutcher notes that “Overall, any type of exercise is good. You just have to work out your objectives, whether it is to increase muscle, lose fat, or enhance other aspects of your life such as improving the quality of your sleep.”

-Alvinesh Singh

 

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