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Boosting Your Immune System with a Dose of Personality

Personalities and their effects on biological systems have become an increasingly popular focus of research over the last few years; the target of these studies is often related to the degree in which our personalities can regulate many aspects of our life, such as our wellbeing. A video from the Youtube series ASAPScience (see below) provides an example of the link between personality and biology. The video specifically discusses a relationship between personality and sleep habits (whether you’re a night owl or a morning person) and how the latter reveal your personality traits.

The science behind our personality is simple. It can be defined as a collection of characteristics or qualities that form an organism’s unique character. These specific traits that all combine to form a unique personality can affect different aspects of our life, such as our performance in school and the friendships we have. The question is, does personality really have an impact on our health?

Previous studies have linked personality and its role in the risk of developing health problems. More recently, research has shown that personality traits can be a factor in how well a body can fight a disease. Published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology, a study conducted by Kavita Vadhara and colleagues at The University of Nottingham has shown that some traits part of the ‘Big Five’ group, which are five primary dimensions of personality common to all humans, can play a role in the way the defence system of the body works. This system is also known as our immune system.

The 'Big Five' Model shows the five primary dimensions of personality. Big Five Source: Wikipedia Commons

The ‘Big Five’ Model shows the five primary dimensions of personality.
Big Five Source: Wikipedia Commons

The team of researchers asked 121 students to complete a questionnaire based on their personality. This questionnaire measured their degree of the ‘Big Five’ personality traits. Specifically, they looked how extroverted the participants were (energetic, talkative), their neuroticism (how anxious or moody) and their conscientiousness (how organized or thoughtful). In addition to the questionnaire, they also took a blood sample from each participant. This allowed the analysis of a number of genes that are involved in an inflammatory immune response, which is a response initiated by our immune system that helps the body fight infection and speed up the recovery from injury. Using microarray technology to determine which genes are active, the team of researchers were able to make a correlation between personality traits and the active genes required for an immune response.

The above instrument is used in microarray technology to identify active genes. Microarray Source: Wikipedia Commons

The above instrument is used in microarray technology to identify active genes.
Microarray Source: Wikipedia Commons

Results showed that participants who scored higher for extroversion in the questionnaire had an increased expression of pro-inflammatory genes (genes capable of promoting inflammation). However, participants who demonstrated a higher degree of conscientiousness subsequently had a decreased expression of pro-inflammatory gene expression. In other words, individuals with a more social behavior appear to have a greater ability to deal with infection and injury, whereas participants who were more cautious could not effectively handle the infections. The third trait mentioned, neuroticism, did not show an association with gene expression.

Before you celebrate that your outgoing disposition means you’re better at fighting illness, I think an important question that should be asked is, what is influencing what? Could it be the opposite cause-and-effect relationship, where our immune system influences our behaviour? Whatever the cause of the above results, the study conducted by Vadhara and colleagues provides further support to the dynamic relationship between health and personality.

Check out this video by Kurz Gesaft explaining how the immune system works:

 

Thanks for reading!

Samantha Mee

Driverless Car, the Future of Transportation?

When talking about driverless cars, most people immediately think about Google’s driverless cars. However, Google isn’t the only company that is currently developing driverless cars; many other companies, like Volvo, Audi, BMW, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz, and possibly Apple have been developing their own autonomous cars. Base on the actions of those big companies, driverless cars seems to be the next milestone of transportation.

Google’s driverless car: Credit to: Humans Resources Establishment on Flickr Common

 

Driverless autonomous cars are capable of safely transporting passengers to designated locations with very minimal driver control. Google’s driverless car, for example, is equipped with video cameras, radar sensors, and a laser range finder to detect the surroundings of the vehicle, according to Google. A more detailed description of Google’s driverless car can be found in the following video:

Safety is always the top concern about driverless cars. How reliable is the autonomous system? For the past few years, Google’s driverless cars have logged over 700,000 accident-free miles. However, there was one accident involving Google’s driverless car in 2011. This article stats that the accident happened when the car was manually driven. As for the concern for safety, Google seems to do a great job at preventing accidents caused by its driverless cars.

Sensors on Driverless Car. Credit to: Pallavi Srinivasareddy on Flickr Commons

Traffic congestion is another big concern, especially when driver licence is not required for driverless cars in UK. The number of cars on the road will significantly increase. To solve the problem of traffic congestion, autonomous cars can effectively utilize the road to reduce traffic congestion. The autonomous car can communicate with each other, or even to the traffic lights,  to result in a smoother traffic flow. However, potential hacking can occur, and researchers are currently working towards a more secure autonomous system.

Comfort should be another concern of the general public regarding driverless cars. While traveling in driverless cars can provide extra rest time, the passengers will feel uncomfortable if the transportation involves frequent sudden stops. Researchers have simulated different traffic scenarios to evaluate the smoothness of the rides. The researchers found that in order to provide comfort in the ride, a cost of traffic congestion cannot be avoided.

Driverless cars may provide a more convenient and a safer way of transportation. However, there are still many obstacles for driverless cars to overcome. After all, we live in a stochastic world where there are accidents even a perfect computer system can’t avoid.

-Daniel Hsiao

Eating your mucous: a defence mechanism?

 

 

Mucous-ingestion:source flickr commons

Mucous-ingestion by this man, although disgusting,may actually be aiding his immune system. Image by imgarcade. Source: Google Image

 

 

As much as everyone would like to hide it, you have all picked your nose at one point or another in your life. And each time, you’ve probably been reminded of how disgusting and unhygienic the act is. Some people even take this behaviour to the next level, proceeding to ingest the hidden treasures. Could ingesting the contents of your nose actually be the opposite of what your mother has told you? Even, healthy?

Professor Napper at the University of Saskatchewan hypothesizes that eating the pathogen-containing mucous from the nose can actually produce an effect similar to that of a vaccine. The mucous and the hairs in the nose are a part of the innate immune response, which is essentially the first line of defence against invading pathogens. When you ingest the mucous, you’re ingesting all of these pathogens, some of which are potentially very dangerous if they enter into your bloodstream. Once ingested, these pathogens skip the bloodstream and make their way to the gastrointestinal tract where they teach our immune system to defend, such as a vaccine would. Professor Napper’s work is still in the beginning stages and no formal study has been conducted.

S.aureus, common pathogen in nose: source Google commons

S.aureus is a common pathogen in the nose that may be ingested and induce an immune response. Raeky. Source: Wikipedia

On the other hand, Dr Bischinger’s work, which is summarized in this article , describes the mechanism with which the immune system is boosted. He believed that  the pathogens that you introduce from the nose to the body, similar to those of vaccines, are already weakened. He suggested that there are bacteria-killing properties in the mucous of the nose that kill and weaken most of the bacteria, allowing it to be easily contained by our immune system. This mechanism  produces antibodies that our body desperately needs when the full-strength pathogens enter the body.

Moreover, parallels could be drawn from this to that of mothers who kiss their babies in the hopes of boosting their child’s immune system.  In the same way, pathogens that the baby is exposed to are weakened by the mother and then passed on to the baby, producing long-lasting immunity.

Mother kissing the baby: source Google commons

Mother kissing the baby in the hopes that she can provide the baby with weakened pathogens that can be more easily handled by the baby’s weak immune system. Image by Vera Kratochvil. Source Google Image

In conclusion, although pending actual scientific studies, I think that this just might be the natural immunity boost that we all need. However, I don’t think we are ready as a society to start picking away at our noses whenever we please!

 

-Gurtaj Mahil

 

Sacrificing Marketability For Clear Communication

A report by CTV highlighted that there may be an association between caffeine and an improvement in Parkinson’s severity ratings (based on the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale) for Parkinson’s patients. Although I originally found this story two years ago, I still remember it today. The funny thing is that this is not because of its content, but because of the way it was presented and communicated.

When they first mentioned in the report that this study was performed on only 61 patients who had Parkinson’s, I thought, “That’s an awfully small sample size, how reliable can these data even be?”  I remember being angry because I had seen one too many reports in the news that talked about miracle cures that household items can provide to devastating diseases without mentioning the limitations of the studies that were used to make these claims.

I thought this report was no exception. However, as I read further along the report, I was pleasantly surprised. In the second half of the report, it blatantly stated that authors of the study noted that:

“The number of patients they studied was small, and the length of their study was short. They say it’s also possible that the effects of caffeine may lessen over time.”

It wasn’t required for the report to mention this, but I appreciated that they did. When health studies like this one are presented in the media as being totally conclusive, it may lead people to replace professional medical care with the remedies presented in the news reports which can be detrimental to their health.

I sincerely enjoyed this report because it guided the reader by laying out for them what the implications of this study were and what they weren’t, which I find is rare for news reports. It sacrificed marketability for truth and this was further exemplified by the title of the report which was:

“Caffeine could help some Parkinson’s symptoms.”

Although the title didn’t make any extraordinary claims and was not as catchy as some I have heard in the past, I appreciated its honesty and how it didn’t extrapolate from the results of the study.

Further along, the report mentioned how more investigation was required until the suggestion to add caffeine into the treatment for Parkinson’s could be made. Since this report, a study on rats (2014) has shown promising results that there may be a correlation between caffeine consumption and a decrease in the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

The only negative thing I found in this report was the picture they included which is attached below.

Article Photo

Source: CTVNews.ca Credit to: Nathan Denette

I frankly found that it added nothing to the article and was rather distracting. Furthermore, it diverted attention away from the implications of the study.

To further illustrate why clear communication of science is important, below is a video that emphasizes why knowing what type of study is performed can affect the way one should interpret the results.

YouTube Preview Image
Credit: CurrentMedicine.TV from Youtube

– Shikha Walia

A War Against Antibiotic Resistance

Ever since the discovery of penicillin, scientists have been in constant battle against the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. How did the war start? According to APUC (Alliance for the Prudent Use of Antibiotics), bacteria develops resistance through genetic mutations or acquiring resistance genes from another bacterium. By treat bacterial infection with antibiotics, the bacteria without the resistance gene will be killed. However, bacteria with the resistance gene will survive and continue to multiply.

Here’s a more in-depth video:

So why do we care? At 2011, Coates et al. examined the existing antibiotics and concluded that the rate of new antibiotic discovery is much slower than the growing rate of antibiotic resistance. This means that in the near-future, we will run out of antibiotics to even treat a minor infection.

However, according to some of the recent articles, we seem to have the upper hand in this battle. Henry et al. discovered a new therapy of fighting bacterial infection without causing bacterial resistance. The therapy involves creating liposome (vesicles made of cell membranes) decoys in the body for bacterial toxin to bind to, preventing the toxin from damaging the host cells. This buys time for the immune system to get rid of harmful bacteria in the host.

Also, a new class of antibiotic is being developed by Ling et al., and the way they discover the antibiotic may possibly lead to a new ways of discovering new antibiotics.

Everything looks pretty good at this point. New ways of discovering antibiotics and new therapy that will not result in antibiotic resistance will likely lead to the solution of antibiotic resistance.

However, these discoveries may not necessarily lead to a solution of growing antibiotic resistance. The root of the problem remains untouched. For example, the general public should be better educated about the misuse of antibiotics. In an article by Jean Pechere, Jean conducted a survey on patients using antibiotics. The result shows significant misuse of antibiotics in the community Jean surveyed.

The discovery by Henry et al. may look really promising. Treating infections without using antibiotics will prevent the development of antibiotic resistance. However, what if the immune system cannot clear out the bacterial infection effectively, and the patient is required to use antibiotics? A follow-up study is required to test the effectiveness of the therapy on different strains of bacteria.

Overuse of Antibiotics. Source: Flickr Common. Credit to: Ian Weddell

Even though these are great discoveries, we should not view them as solutions to antibiotic resistance, but should keep in mind that great amount of effort is still required to solve the emerging antibiotic resistance. More effort should be put towards educating the public or preventing the overuse of antibiotics.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) listed ways to prevent antibiotic resistance:

  • Practice Good Hygiene
  • Take exactly the amount doctors have prescribed. No more, no less.

 

Misuse of Antiobiotics can cause antibiotic resistance. Picture Obtained from Flickr, Credit to AJC1

-Daniel Hsiao

The A.I. revolution

The advent of Artificial Intelligent robots and their associated repercussions is a hotly debated issue. This is because humanity is on the brink of creating technology that will be able to think, and act according to their built-in perspective on the world. For example, fully autonomous weapon systems such as drones could petrol the skies capable of engaging without human interventions or an autonomous car driving someone to their desired location through a dynamic traffic system. There are a lot of positives and negatives associated with artificially intelligent machines and it’s up to us to decide if it’s worth creating such technology.

Humanity could benefit greatly from AI if controlled effectively. For instance, imagine a senior citizen with bad eyesight and poor reaction time wanting to travel to their daughter’s house 20 miles away. They can avoid taking a taxi and can have their own autonomous vehicle which plans their path and drives them to the desired location safely. This car will not only drive automatically it will have an extremely high reaction time to avoid accidents and will minimize damage if an accident is unavoidable.

 

YouTube Preview Image Credit to youtube user DroidTweak

AI robots can range from mini robots inside the house, which help the disabled perform daily task to autonomous airplanes that can take-off, fly, and land without any pilots on board. All of these have many positive implications for humanity because not only do they provide invaluable resources to those who are incapable but AI robots can perform most tasks better than humans.

Perhaps humanity needs to live with some of their shortcomings to prevent the apocalyptic future that some associate with the arrival of AI robots. According to the well renowned astrophysicist Professor Stephen Hawking, artificial intelligence could end mankind if we are not careful. He told the BBC:“The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.” His opinion stems from the fact that humans are limited by slow biological evolution and can’t possibly compete with the intelligent robots. AI robots will “evolve” faster by building better machines eventually overtaking human performance across all domains. They will then become the dominant force on Earth and could eradicate us at their on leisure.

YouTube Preview Image

Credit to youtube user: DNews

Another well-known figure, Elon Musk, also voiced his opinion by saying “we are summoning the demon with artificial intelligence.” His viewpoint is similar to Hawking’s but he believes that their recursive self-improvement will eventually lead them to the realization that humans are detrimental in some regard and thus should be eliminated. “If its [function] is just something like getting rid of e-mail spam and it determines the best way of getting rid of spam is getting rid of humans…” said Musk to name an example.

Credit to youtube user: DNews

Since true AI robots have not been invented we can never really be sure how they will behave we can only speculate. Though great minds like Stephen Hawkings give us insight into the grim and darkside of AI, there is no doubt that the benefits of controlled AI are invaluable to the human race.

Written by Imran Khan