Communicating Science (2012w211)

CCSVI: A new paradigm for understanding MS,or hoax?

Posted on March 4, 2013 by sogoli | 2 comments

The Mul tiple Sclerosis Society of Canada defines MS as “an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system”; there is no cure for MS, and available treatment aims to slow down the progression of the disease. Given that, none of the 7 approved drugs are particularly effective and are associated with a large set of side effects- including death from Progressive multifoca l leukoencephalopathy – there is an urgent medical need for more effective medication. UBC’s own Dr. Helen Tremlett recently led a study that demonstrated “no strong evidence that a group of drugs, beta interferons (β-IFNs),prescribed to treat MS had a measurable impact on the long-term disability progression of the disease”. Taking into account the general lack of efficacy and the serious side-effects associated with existing treatment, it is not surprising that Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency (CCSVI) -a vascular theory for MS etiology- would be embraced by MS patients and their caregivers; naming the corrective surgery for CCSVI “Liberation Therapy” did little to help patients check their initial enthusiasm.

MS , a Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency? via Iwantacure website

The public pressure for researching CCSVI, based largely on anecdotal evidence was so great that the Government of Canada decided to evaluate this procedure; despite objections from most neurologists who felt that the available evidence for CCSVI did not warrant further research.

MS patient via YouTube user

Today, after having invested millions of dollars into evaluating the liberation treatment -that could have been invested elsewhere- we are no closer to a cure than we were three years ago. A quick search for CCSVI in PubMed shows paper titles like “What went wrong? The flawed concept of “Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency” and “Chronic Cerebrospinal Venous Insufficiency” is not associated with Multiple Sclerosis and its severity: a blind-verified study.

CCSVI is not the cure that some expected it to be, but it did bring attention to a disease that is often invisible to the average person. Although invisible, it is far from benign and certainly worthy of the public’s attention. If nothing else, CCSVI served one purpose: bring attention to an issue where attention has been, to say the least, lacking.

2 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Tagged medication, Multiple Sclerosis, treatment

Life as a Fish

Posted on March 4, 2013 by alyshamorden | 4 comments

Look at the poor little fish flopping around! They must be in pain right? Actually no, they might not be!

via youtube user nclspttr

Are you one of those people that feel sad for those little fish when you see them squirming in pain? If yes, then you will be happy to know that these fish may not actually be in pain at all. Research has been done that says that fish are physically incapable of feeling pain.

On the other hand, there has been some research done that claims fish do feel pain; however, the science in this research is not always accurate. Most of this research fails to differentiate between nociception and actual pain. Nociception is basically a pain-free response to remove an unpleasant sensation. This response comes from the nociceptors. Researchers see this response and assume that it is pain when really it isn’t.

There has also been research done that says fish do not feel pain; and here is the main reason why. Fish have quite a few A-delta fibers which are responsible for the first reaction one has to avoid pain. For example, pulling your hand away from a hot object before you get burnt. They have a very small amount of C-type fibers which provide intense and lasting pain.

A photo of nerve fibers via flickr user akay

So next time you feel bad for that little fishy flopping around, maybe you should think again. That fish may be one of the luckiest organisms out there. Imagine a life where you don’t need to feel pain. Could be pretty great right? I beat you are wishing you were a fish right now. Just like this happy guy!

A happy fish via wiki media user bramfab

4 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communication

Tagged biology, fish, nervous system, pain

Video Games: Fighting Dyslexia

Posted on March 4, 2013 by aleonchu | 3 comments

While the gaming is usually seen as a distraction by parents, it has come to light they may be able to help kids. By capturing their attention, a new study suggests that action video games may be beneficial to children with dyslexia.

The interpretation of dyslexia.
Credit: Jackie Weber Projects

At the University of Padua and the Scientific Institute Medea of Bosisio Parini in Italy, Andrea Facoetti says, “Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment.” With this notion his team went on to test reading proficiency in children who had played action video games versus those who had played non-action video games.

The children who had played action video games showed an increase in accurate reading rate as well as improvements on other attention tests.

Though Facoetti’s study does not prescribe video games as a treatment for dyslexia, it certainly raises a new and innovative way to treat and prevent dyslexia in children.

“Our study paves the way for new remediation programs, based on scientific results, that can reduce the dyslexia symptoms and even prevent dyslexia when applied to children at risk for dyslexia before they learn to read,” Facoetti said.

Facoetti also added that his study by no means recommends unsupervised hours of video games.

As dyslexia represents from 80-90% of learning disabilities in Canada, having new approaches to its prevention and treatment are promising.

Children & Video Games
Credit: Getty Images, from Parents Connect

Will children be learning while having fun in the years to come? That sounds that the perfect recipe to me.

3 Comments

Posted in Public Engagement

Tagged children, dyslexia, dyslexia treatments, learning disabilities, video games, visual attention

Is your mind wandering right now?

Posted on March 1, 2013 by candyf | 6 comments

Studies suggest that our minds wander at least 30% of the time! Mind wandering occurs when we lose focus on the task at hand and start thinking about another idea or topic. Most of the time, we are not aware that we are mind wandering since we do it quite frequently. I know that as I am sitting in class, sometimes I am actually thinking about what I should do after class. Though I am physically sitting in the chair and my professor is lecturing to the students, how much am I actually absorbing?

Picture of Brain by Liz Henry via Flickr Creative Commons

Actually, mind wandering has its positive and negative effects. Some positive effects are that it promotes creative thinking and allows us to multitask, (i.e. shift our focus from one idea to another). However there seems to be more negative effects such as causing unhappiness and affecting our immune cells! We can become unhappy when we constantly mind wander because it may produce fear, decrease our ability to focus and blur our vision about the future. Additionally, in a recent study, researchers found that telomeres of immune cells (granulocytes and lymphocytes) shorten when the participants were mind-wandering. The length of these telomeres predicts an aging body, and affects a person’s vulnerability to diseases and clinical stress syndromes.

So how can we limit our mind wandering and stay in the present moment?

We can focus on our surroundings that are present right now such as the smell of the environment, the sounds that are projecting around us and the processes that occur in our inner body such as our breathing. Also, if there is someone around us that seems to be in the vibe of the presence, maybe we take away some of that optimism or excitement that they have. Furthermore, some things that we can do alone are reading a fictional novel, doing yoga, and doing meditation.

Yoga for beginners by synergybyjasmine via Flickr Creative Commons

Good luck in achieving an healthier mind, everyone!

6 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

Tagged aging, creativity, focus, Mind wandering, telomeres

Earth’s Long-term Climate Mystery: Solved?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by chloebocker | 1 comment

A recent study at Rice University provides a possible explanation for the Earth’s long-term back-and-forth between greenhouse and icehouse states over the past 500 million years. Cin-Ty Lee, Professor of Earth Science at Rice, led the just-released four-year study which draws on a new cause for the longest climate cycle.

Currently, we are in an icehouse state, and have been for the last 50 million years. Ice is present at the poles, and we experience periodic glacial activity, on a timescale of thousands of years. When the Earth is in the warmer greenhouse state, there is no ice at the poles, and much more carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere.

What causes this oscillation between hot and cold? The 10 to 100 million year timescale far surpasses any influence from solar or orbital patterns. The standard theory is that greenhouse states come about from carbon dioxide releases caused by volcanic activity along mid-ocean ridges. However, the massive amounts of atmospheric CO₂ found in the fossil record from past greenhouse states are suspiciously high for this type of tectonic activity alone. Lee found that the planet’s long-term climate cycle comes naturally from plate tectonics. The research suggested that tectonic activity drives a periodic flare-up of continental-arc volcanoes, especially during periods when oceans are forming and continents are breaking apart. The continental-arc volcanoes that arise during these periods are located on the edges of continents, and the magma that rises through the volcanoes releases large quantities of carbon dioxide as it passes through layers of carbonates in the continental crust.

While only a theory, the findings explain how the Earth can remain in a greenhouse or icehouse state for so many millions of years. The number of arc volcanoes doesn’t change, but it is in the continental-arc stage rather than the oceanic stage that CO₂ is released from a deep bank of continental carbonates.

1 Comment

Posted in Science in the News

Tagged climate change, geology, ice-age

Food for Thought: Can Eating Breakfast Make You Smarter?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by narissam | 3 comments

Now, we’ve all been told this time and time again, that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but how many of us actually find time amidst our busy mornings to eat a healthy and nutritious breakfast?

Extra sleep instead of breakfast. Image taken from Photobucket, uploaded by ratetherandom3

I know that many of us are guilty of skipping this crucial first meal of the day and have many excuses for doing so, including myself, but there are numerous benefits that come from eating this often neglected meal, aside from the fact that breakfast foods usually taste pretty good. Along with the fact that eating breakfast can improve your mood and your choice of foods for the rest of the day, another benefit is that eating breakfast can make you smarter and there are studies that prove it.

Breakfast should come before almost everything. Image taken from Photobucket, uploaded by 1lucillelane

A study conducted by the University of Kentucky surveyed a total of 251 undergraduate students to see if there was a correlation between eating breakfast and higher academic achievement. This study validated that breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it was shown that students who ate breakfast, on average, had a higher GPA (3.30±0.46) than those who did not (3.06±0.58). Being a student, it may be difficult to make the traditional breakfast of eggs and toast, but simple meals such as grabbing a granola bar to go or making a quick bowl of cereal can be just as effective!

A healthy breakfast. Image taken from Photobucket, uploaded by cstvrt

Skipping breakfast is much like driving a car without fuel – at a certain point it will stop working when you need to use it. As a student, this makes you less focused, decreases your concentration and makes it even more difficult to remember what your professor talked about just 2 minutes ago. After an entire night of fasting, it only makes sense that eating breakfast serves the purpose of re-fuelling your brain and will help improve your short term memory and academic performance.

If you didn’t eat breakfast today, perhaps try it tomorrow. The benefits will speak for themselves. Eat up!

-Narissa Mawji

3 Comments

Posted in Public Engagement, Science Communication, Science in the News

Tagged #breakfast, #nutrition, #smarter, health

To amnio or not to amnio, is that still a question?

Posted on February 25, 2013 by shaunong | 3 comments

A pregnant woman from David Roseborough via Wikipedia Creative Commons

Since the mid-70’s, expectant mothers believed to be at high risk for giving birth to a child with a defect have been faced with a critical choice: to take a risky diagnostic procedure called an “amniocentesis” (amnio), or to forgo it and not know what to expect out of their pregnancy.

Imagine that you are an expectant mother who has been told that your future child has a high risk of having a genetic disorder, and would have to make the decision to have an amniocentesis or not. It is likely a tough call to make, because research shows that up to 1 in 100 of these procedures directly result in the loss of the baby, in addition to other risks to the mother and baby.

Luckily, expectant mothers of the future may not be faced with this dilemma. A new technology called “non-invasive prenatal diagnosis” has been recently innovated, which allows doctors to determine if a baby has some sort of genetic disorder without performing a risky procedure! All that is needed is some blood from the pregnant mother.

Fetus_and_placenta_-_journal.pbio.0060312.g001

A fetus in the womb from Wei Hsu and Shang-Yi Chiu via Wikipedia Creative Commons

The idea behind non-invasive prenatal diagnosis is that when a woman is pregnant, there is some of the unborn baby’s genetic information floating around in her blood. This genetic information can be collected from a sample of the mother’s blood, and tested for genetic disorders! Furthermore, the procedure is 99.5% accurate, so with the test results accompanying other tests which are used to detect genetic disorders, physicians can almost definitely ensure that they are correct when they tell a parent their baby will be normal!

Below, Ariosa Diagnostics Inc. explains how a mother’s blood can be used to test for a baby’s genetic disorders.

From Ariosa DX via Youtube.

The possibilities for the applications of this technology stretch far into the future. With the advent of machines which can find out a person’s genetic code in its entirety within the span of a couple hours, and have the ability to do it cheaply, non-invasive prenatal diagnosis could be used to test single genes!

Unfortunately, like many new innovations in the field of genetics and health care, this one has ethical issues. If the technology is not controlled carefully, someday, it may be possible for parents to test to see what their child might be like before its born. Should parents be able to get an abortion just because their child may not be a genius? Or 6 feet tall? The technology to do this is likely going to be expensive; what happens if some families cannot pay for it? I personally believe that this technology is great because it allows parents to make an informed choice about their future child; however, the government should control the application of this technology to traits that are not considered disorders.

-Shaun

3 Comments

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

Tagged amniocentesis, baby, care, clinic, diagnosis, disorder, dna, dx, embryo, eugenics, expectant, fetus, genetics, genome, health, healthcare, hospital, non-invasive, pre-natal, pregancy, pregnant, prenatal, risky, sequencing, womb

Melatonin’s Effects on Sleep

Posted on February 25, 2013 by bonniet | 3 comments

Over the past reading break I decided to go on vacation rather than actually doing any reading. During this time, I messed up my sleep cycle and had a very difficult time falling asleep at night and waking up in the morning. Of course, I realized that this was partly due to my rowdy roommates and their will to stay up until the wee hours of the night. Being in the states, it was easy to go to the nearest drug store and grab some over the counter sleep aid, and in this case I chose melatonin.

Melatonin 3D Stick Structure via Wikimedia Commons by Sbrools

Light’s Effect on Melatonin Levels via Life Enhancement by Dr Rosick

Melatonin is a chemical and hormone which is naturally produced in the body to promote and control our sleep cycles. It is produced in the pineal gland within the endocrine system in humans. Melatonin is released into the bloodstream and is usually affected by light and dark surroundings throughout the day. For example, melatonin levels will tend to increase as the day goes on until night time to promote sleep. Near the end of the night, melatonin levels will start to decrease to help us wake up in the morning.

In recent years, melatonin has become increasingly popular as a natural remedy compared to the use of sleeping pills to aid people with sleeping difficulties or people suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). So the question is, how effective is melatonin pills in addressing these issues? According to a study published by the British Medical Journal on the effects of melatonin in cases of jet lag, results did positively reinforce our hypothesis.

Of course, it is recommended to take as little medication as possible if unnecessary. But this has become such a popular aid and a solution to to seriously consider if you are experiencing difficulties sleeping. I highly recommend speaking with your physician first. I personally will definitely be able to see for myself whether or not these melatonin pills are effective after tonight.

Wishing you all a good night’s sleep,

Bonnie Tam

3 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communication

Tagged Light, Melatonin, Natural medicine, Sleep, Sleep quality, Sleep quantity

Beware Criminals! The DNA Gun is Here!

Posted on February 23, 2013 by martinlee | 5 comments

Go ahead… Shoot it all over their face….

And by “shoot it all over their face”, I mean shoot DNA pellets.

For years, law enforcement officers have difficulty in identifying and capturing criminals in crowded places; especially in riot situations or crowd control problems. However, A United Kingdom company, Selectamark, has developed a new type of gun to solve this problem. The High velocity DNA Tagging System allows officers to use “DNA guns” that shoots DNA pellets at criminals in order to invisibly tag them with a unique DNA code so that they can be identified at a later date.

Above is a video that shows how the DNA gun works. (Username: WhatStrangeWorld1)

– Image above shows a police officer holding the DNA Gun
– Images by Selectamark, via popsci

This gun, even though it looks like a toy water gun, is powered by a 12 g powerlet that offers a shot of up to 20 pellets. The capabilities of this gun enable the user to shoot at a safe distance of 30-40 meters at a target while deploying DNA pellets that can penetrate through clothing.

– Image above shows the DNA pellets
– Images by Selectamark, via popsci

The DNA pellets are soft green balls that weigh less than a gram and are very similar to that of an average paintball. However, instead of containing paint, it contains a unique DNA code that can mark a target for weeks; cannot be washed off during those weeks.

The unique SelectaDNA code solution contains UV tracers that leaves a DNA trace mark that can be revealed using a UV light. Once revealed, law enforcers can then make an appropriate arrest.

With this new weapon at the hands of the good guys, criminals will think twice before causing any troubles!

-Martin Lee

5 Comments

Posted in Biological Sciences, Public Engagement

Lenticular Clouds – Not a product of Photoshop!

Posted on February 11, 2013 by tkhan003 | 2 comments

Jackiemu via Wikimedia Commons

Look at the picture to the left, and you may think it is fake, photoshopped, or perhaps even a strange UFO sighting. These are amongst the most common things that that Lenticular clouds are mistaken for.

Lenticular clouds, or Altocumulus lenticular, are lens shaped clouds that form at high altitudes due to specific interactions with wind flow. These clouds get their name due to their flat, pancake-like shape from the word ‘lenticularis’, which in Latin means ‘lens’.

So, where do they come from and how exactly do they form?

Fig.1 : Lee Waves Author: Dake via Wikimedia Commons

These fascinating clouds form when stable moist air comes into contact with, and flows over mountains or other barriers. This causes waves known as as lee waves to form on top of the mountain, as well on the leeward side of the mountain or barrier. Lecnticular clouds form at the crest of each of these waves (points A and B in Fig. 1) provided that the air contains enough moisture, and the temperature drops to, or below the dew point of water. These two conditions are crucial to their formation! Once these conditions are met, the moisture condenses, and results in the formation of these amazing clouds!

As harmless as they look,they serve as a reminder that looks can be deceiving. This is because great turbulence is generated from rotor waves, which form in the vicinity of lenticular formations, specifically around lee waves. Rotor waves are a sure indication of high velocity, extremely turbulent air circulation, and very unstable conditions. Therefore, flying near these clouds is usually avoided.

Brandy Jenkins via Wikimedia commons

Lenticular clouds are classified into three categories primarily based on the height of their formation. The lowest forming Lenticular cloud is known as Stratocumulus Standing Lenticularis (SCSL) which is found at elevations of about 8000 feet.

Between 8000 to 20,000 feet high, the Altocumulus Standing Lenticularis (ACSL) is found, which is the most common type of Lenticular cloud. One of the distinctive features of ASL that separates it from the two other types, is that it tends to be stationary. The lenticular clouds shown in the video below are most likely ASL clouds as they appear to be frozen, as other clouds pass by them.

Above: Video showing a time-lapse of Lenticular clouds (Credit: Soaring Nv)

Finally, the highest forming Lenticular cloud is the Cirrocumulus Standing Lenticularis,(CCSL) which form at elevations above 24 000 feet. These are very rare however, as few mountains exist as such high altitudes.

Usually mistaken for being a product of photoshop, Lenticular Clouds represent one of our worlds most extrodinary phenomenons, and continue to fascinate thousands of people with their presence, marked by uniquely defined beauty.

-Tabish Khan

2 Comments

Posted in Admin, Biological Sciences, Public Engagement, Science Communication

Tagged Altocumulus lenticular, clouds, lee waves, lenticular clouds, rotor waves, ufo

Communicating Science (2012w211)

CCSVI: A new paradigm for understanding MS,or hoax?

Life as a Fish

Video Games: Fighting Dyslexia

Is your mind wandering right now?

Earth’s Long-term Climate Mystery: Solved?

Food for Thought: Can Eating Breakfast Make You Smarter?

To amnio or not to amnio, is that still a question?

Melatonin’s Effects on Sleep

Beware Criminals! The DNA Gun is Here!

Lenticular Clouds – Not a product of Photoshop!

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