Category Archives: Issues in Science

Ebola: The Most Dangerous Virus In The World

Microbes, life forms too small to be seen by the unaided human eye, make our bodies their home and use it to live and reproduce. Among these microbes are viruses, more like machines than organisms, with only one purpose: to keep making more of themselves. Viruses inhabit living cells and use the cells’ machinery to reproduce, so the cells can’t work the way they’re supposed to. The results are generally horrible, and none more so than those of Zaire ebolavirus. Zaire ebolavirus can kill about 90% of the people it infects, though the current outbreak in West Africa has killed only about 65% of the confirmed cases according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Zaire ebolavirus image courtesy of The Tech Journal (click image).

Ebola is transferred through contact with infected bodily fluids, even sweat, and people infected with Ebola must be isolated in a health care facility. Symptoms of Ebola include vomiting, diarrhea, and haemorrhage (losing blood through openings on the surface of the body). In spite of this, contact with infected bodily fluids is not hard to come by, and Ebola is quite easy for a healthy person to contract. In addition, Ebola has started making its way around the world, and nobody is really safe. Humans have no official pharmaceutical defense (vaccines, drugs, medicine, etc.) against Ebola, making Ebola the deadliest virus in the world to humans, even more so than the almost invariably fatal (if untreated) rabies virus since humans have developed effective vaccines and treatments for rabies.

So how can we avoid Ebola? It’s worth pointing out that Z. ebolavirus can be killed with soap, so wash your hands frequently. If someone diagnosed with or suspected to have Ebola has been on your property, the area should be professionally cleaned and disinfected. Everyone who’s been on the property since the infected individual should be tested for Ebola as symptoms do not appear immediately after infection and may have been contracted by a visitor or resident. Ebola has a horrifying reputation, and the results are very real. Nonetheless, if we all do our part, Ebola is unlikely to become a global pandemic (rapid infections and outbreaks all over the world). A YouTube video by TestTube puts this matter in clear perspective:

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– Jared Martin

How to get over pain for free?

Have you ever been hurt so badly you had to go to the hospital or pharmacy to pick up some painkillers?

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Source: Flickr Commons Example of painkillers

These painkillers such as morphine are super addictive and it may cause even more problems with your body then you think.

But not to worry, a team from Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, led by Catherine Rougeot has possibly found a better and safe painkiller treatment. This new treatment is not only free, but also very easy to obtain. This new treatment is our saliva.

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Source: Flickr Commons Baby Saliva

Saliva is a clear, watery liquid made by our glands in our mouth area. The liquid made by our mouth contains various kinds of chemicals. One of the chemicals produced is the Opiorphin.

Opiorphin can suppress pain sensation for both chemical-induced inflammation and acute physical pain. Rougeout and her team wanted to test how strong this chemical in our mouth can be by injecting it into rats. These rats had been given either chemically-induced chronic pain or mechanically-induced acute pain in order to test the dosage needed.

For both chemical and physical pain, these poor rats needed about six times as much morphine as opiorphin to keep them from bursting out from the pain.

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Source: Flickr Commons Example of a lab rat

From the study, the researchers are suspecting that opiorphin plays a big part in blocking our nerve systems, specifically the chemical called enkephalin.

Enekephalin is the trigger-man of our nerve system. It sends a signal to our brain whenever we feel pain to let the rest of our body to react to the situation. In this case, the researchers have found that opiorphin found in our saliva was super effective preventing this event.

However the research was not able to identify the right condition for our body to release such chemical in our saliva. Not to mention the fact that there is legitimate evidence that supports opiorphin affects the physiological control of pain perception.

Despite the critiques, this founding is still ground breaking, and can further improve our medical knowledge in both painkilling and anti-depressive methods according to Rougeout.

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Source: Institut Pasteur, (2012, Sep 18) Catherine Rougeot, Institut Pasteur.

This is the interview done at the Pasteur Institute regarding Catherine Rougeout’s founding. (It is in French so no idea what they are saying)

By Jeamin Yoon

 

Your Eyes Can Taste Everything for You

To begin, take a look at the two images below:

Blue Penne

Blue Penne. Source: Flickr Creative Commons, user Ronan.

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Penne. Source: Flickr Creative Commons, user Jennifer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which one looks more appetizing? Which one will you reach for when you are hungry? I would –without a doubt– choose the one on the bottom. Why? Because blue penne is not visually appealing to me, and even if it tasted just as good as the normal one, I would probably feel gross due to the perception that I consumed something blue.

 Now, some of you may think that this is just a personal opinion however, the research done by Jeannine F. Delwiche state that “visual cues… modify the way taste, odour, and flavour are perceived”. She explains her hypothesis through the explanation of the emergent phenomenon. The emergent phenomenon is a phenomenon of how one’s understanding of a whole does not necessarily reflect the physical reality of its parts. Delwiche provides three examples, which are the following:

  • Rabbit-Duck Illusion: This is the ambiguous image where both a rabbit or a duck can be seen, depending on one’s interpretation

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    Rabbit-Duck Illusion. Source: Wikipedia

  • Müller-Lyer illusion: This is the optical illusion where one arrow seems to be longer than the other, when in fact, they are the same length
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    Müller-Lyer illusion. Source: Wikipedia

     

  • Kanizsa Triangle: Shows the visual illusion, where the top triangle seems to be brighter than the bottom. This illustrates that perception does not always accurately represent physical reality
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    Kanizsa Traingle. Source: Wikipedia

     

From these three examples, Delwiche explains that sensory input from the visual system can alter taste and flavour of foods and drinks.

A relatively famous experiment was done by Stefan Gates and Alice Pegg where white wine was coloured using red food colouring to make the physical appearance like a red wine. This so-called “red wine” was served in a wine club, where tasters were asked to describe the wine. Surprisingly, the wine drinkers described the taste/flavour in terms that reference and describe a red wine. From this, we can see that the red colour of the wine caused the alteration of the flavour perception. A video showing the experiment can be accessed through BBC News Magazine, or from youtube like the one below:

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Credit goes to user Spab Fi

The next time you encounter a piece of food that seems unappetizing for some reason, take a minute to process the visual image of the food and ask yourself: Is this food actually bad or is it just my eyes tasting it through visual perception?

-Lilly Inoue

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cannot live without drinking water.

How much water do you drink a day?

Your body is composed with about 60 percent of water: Muscle consists 75%, brain consists 90%, bone consists 22% and blood consists 83% of water. However, body loses water every moment through sweating, breathing and urinating. Therefore, you should drink enough water everyday to keep adding up the amount of water you lose!

There are so many benefits to drinking lots of water a day. Water helps you lose weight. Water stops headaches, dizziness and clears skin. Also, water helps organs to be healthy. Water regulates body temperature and helps with metabolism. Are you a big fan of coffee? You can try to drink more water and stop drinking coffee. Water can make you feel energetic just like coffee, but water is healthier!

By Jorge Barrios (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

By Jorge Barrios (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If you do not consume enough water, you will see some dehydration symptoms. There are several symptoms of dehydration: Increased thirst, dry mouth, swollen tongue, decreased urine output, dizziness and more. If you feel any one of these symptoms, drink water. It will solve relieve your symptoms.

There are many ways you can consume water. Drinking any kind of drinks such as teas, coffees or soft drinks will help your body be hydrated; however, water is the best drink than any other drinks because it has no calories, no sugar and no food color. Also, eating water-rich foods such as lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, watermelon and grapefruit can keep you hydrated.

Photo of watery Grapefruit.  Photo by Flickr

Photo of watery Grapefruit.
Photo by Flickr

 

It depends on your weight, sex and your current health conditions, but it is recommend to drink eight 8-ounce glasses, which is about 1.9 liters, of water a day. I started two weeks ago to drink at least 1.5 liters of water a day and I try to drink a glass of water right after I wake up, to keep myself awake. Also, I try to carry a water bottle so that I can drink water anytime, anywhere. I really recommend downloading an app that helps you keep up the amount of water you drink a day. Moreover, if you cannot drink plain water, try to slice in some lemon or lime.

This video made by HealthiNation summarizes this post and reminds you the importance of drinking water.

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Drink water and keep the doctors away.

Michelle Bak

Healthy Living

Often when students are busy with school and work, they forget to live healthy. With less time to cook and exercise, students often resort to unhealthy foods and a sedentary lifestyle. This can lead to depression or poor performance in school. It is important to adapt to a healthy lifestyle in order to improve and enhance our ability to do well in school.

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Healthy activities such basketball burn fat and increase the rate of metabolism. Source: Wikimedia Commons

In order to have good health, it is vital to engage in physical activity in our everyday life. Canada’s Food Guide recommends that adults engage in at least 2.5 hours of exercise per week. The performed exercise should be of moderate or rigorous level. Youth and children should exercise for 60 minutes per day. Staying healthy means less time in front of the TV and computer and more time doing healthy activities such as walking or going to the recreational center to play sports such as basketball and hockey. In the summer, one can spend more time gardening, doing yard work, going for a walk or hike. One can attach a pedometer to him or her self and track the number of steps walked each day and try to increase the number of steps taken each day. Healthy activity reduces the chances of getting diseases and gives one a healthy body weight.

It is essential to eat the right amounts and types of food each day. For adults between 19 to 50 years of age, Health Canada roughly recommends eight servings of vegetables and fruits, seven servings of grains, two servings of milk and alternatives and two to three servings of protein per day. Most of our calories should come from fruits and vegetables as well as carbohydrates.

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Green tea is beneficial as it improves fat burning and improves physical performance. Source: Wikimedia Commons

We should limit foods and beverages high in calories, fat, sugar and salts. Cakes, pastries, soft drinks, alcohol and ice cream should be avoided. It is recommended to replace cakes and pastries with yogurt or baked apple with cinnamon.  It is suggested to drink herbal tea instead of Indian Chai and regular coffee because herbal tea is low in calories and it cleans the arteries. One should replace unhealthy drinks such as soda with water and a wedge of lemon.

It is suggested to drink three liters (12 cups) of water for men 19 years and over each day and 2.2 liters (9 cups) of water for women over the age of 19 each day. Fluids help with digestion and carrying nutrients around the body. Moreover, fluids cushion joints and organs and get rid of wastes and toxins in the body. If we adapt our lifestyles and make healthier choices, we will increase our life span and have better mood and more energy.

Naqsh Fatima Bhangu

Natural sleeping pills

Everyone experiences occasional sleeping problem.

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Sleep disorder Source: Flickr commons

This rate is especially high among college students. A study showed that there are about 81% of students who experienced insomnia. It is obvious school work loads and social events affect our sleeping schedule.

Lack of sleep can cause many health issues both physical and mental, and obesity which is something you don’t want to have while attending school.

Each student has their own method of getting a good night sleep, some of the popular methods are: sleeping pills, alcohol, marijuana, and food.

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Example of solution to sleeping disorder (Alcohol, cigarette, and marijuana) Source: My home

However, these methods have their own side effects which are why it is not a good solution to the sleeping problem.

But not to worry, there is plethora of other healthy alternative solutions to fix your insomnia.

  1. Lettuce
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Lettuce Source: Flickr Commons

Lettuce has been used for its hypnotic properties back in ancient Egypt. Even now, people use lettuce for its sedative substance in the pharmacological fields.

For instance, there is a study done regarding the soft gelatin capsule containing purified lettuce oil, which is marketed in Egypt. The lettuce oil capsule contains oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid, cispalmitoleic, and other small amount of chemicals. To simplify, it contains the basic chemicals for milky white plastic which has a calming and sedation effect on consumers. In conclusion, the study found that lettuce oil was found to be useful sleeping aid and may be used in a hazard-free line of treatment.

  1. Almond
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Almond Source:Flickr Commons

Almond is the seed of a species of tree native to Asia. We can easily find them in a store, packed in a small plastic bag.

This easily obtainable food is full of protein and magnesium. Protein helps us relax while sleeping due to its nature to fight acid reflux that causes heartburn during night. Magnesium promotes sleep and muscle relaxation that aids us to stay in bed at night.

Other than lettuce and almond, there are many other options such as; honey, walnut, cheese, and milk. All these “healthy” choices of food give us the same or better effect of possibly hazardous sleeping pills.

Next time when you can’t sleep, try this!

By Jeamin Yoon