The Benefits of Insite, a Supervised Injection Facility

Posted on March 6, 2016 by | 1 comment

Insite is a legal supervised injection site in Vancouver Downtown Eastside. The goal of Insite is to reduce harm to injection drug users (IDUs) by providing a safe place where they can inject drugs and connect with health-care professionals. However, since it’s opening in 2003, it has been exposed to both approval and disapproval.

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Insite in Vancouver Downtown Eastside. Via Vancouver Coastal Health

I personally believe that Insite is a sanctuary for IDUs because it reduces overdose death. Since users report the type of substance used before entering the injection booths, the staff can use this information to assess the signs of overdose for that specific substance, and react quickly and accordingly. Moreover, nurses are required to monitor the injection booth for signs of overdose. As a result, victims can receive attention immediately. Contrastingly, victims may not receive immediate attention if the injecting behavior is done discretely at home or in hidden private places such as alleyways. Thus, Insite decreases the number of overdose death amongst drug users by providing a safe and sheltered space full of nurses, who are trained to deal with any clinical complications.

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Courtesy of YouTube Video: VCHhealthcare

Additionally, Insite decreases the spread of HIV between IDUs and prevents skin infections. A recent study shows that the combination of needle-sharing and drug injections led to an HIV rate of 35%. Furthermore, it also results in high rates of skin and wound infections. To prevent contamination and infections, injection booths in Insite are cleaned after each use. In addition to the sterile injection needles offered to each IDU, simple wound care is also provided. Nurses educate IDUs about proper injection techniques. The improvement in injection techniques has decreased the serious health complications that are associated with rush injections.

Most importantly, Insite refers IDUs to a variety of health-care services. IDUs are provided with consultations and referrals for medical and detoxification services. The rate of detoxification enrollment increased by around 30% after the opening of Insite.

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Courtesy of YouTube Video: Hope in the Fight

Overall, most IDUs view Insite as a welcoming environment where they are treated with respect and non-judgmental staff, who are trained to handle this type of environment and situation. More importantly, it is a safe place designed to reduce health problems from drug use and provide a hygienic environment for IDUs.

-Brigette Wee

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science

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Earphones vs. Headphones: Which one is safer?

Posted on March 6, 2016 by | 3 comments

Have you ever wondered if accessories can lead to hearing loss?

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the difference between earphones and headsets, and if they negatively affect the user’s sense of hearing. I decided to do some research on this topic to find out about the differences between both and how it can cause damage to the ear drums.

So What is the actual difference between earphones and headphones?

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Earbuds – also Known as earphones. Wikimedia commons by Rekeylee

Earphones are commonly known as earbuds. They are less expensive to manufacture compared to headsets, less bulky, and more portable as well. They are usually inserted into the ear canal.

Headphones are often called headsets, which rests on our outer part of ear. Although, headsets are quite expensive, they are capable of producing good sound quality, especially when it comes to bass. There are two different kind of headphones: on-ear headphones and full-size headphones.

On-ear headphones are also known as earpad headphones. They are comfortable and less likely to cause overheating ears. Although they are easy to transport, the bass quality and noise-isolating feature is not as great as full-size headphones.

Full-size headphones are also known as over-the-ear headphones. The earcups in the headphones cover the ears fully. Some advantages include powerful bass, excellent sound quality, and complete outside noise cancelling. On the downside, these headphones are not very portable and can interfere with glasses, earrings and some hairstyles due to their size. Thus, it is considered best for home use rather than portable use. 

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Headsets: on-ear headphones. Wikimedia commons by PJ

Headsets also known as over-the-ear headphones. Wikimedia commons by

Headsets also known as over-the-ear headphones. Wikimedia commons by Pertsaboy

 

 

 

 

 

 

So which one causes hearing loss?

It is important to know a few things about the anatomy of ear before we find out what type of accessory is responsible for hearing loss. The following YouTube video by Brandon Pletsch describes about the anatomy of the ear and how the sound waves travel through different parts of the ear and transfers its signal to the Brain. 

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 Sound pressure is measured in decibels (dB). On average, human ear can hear sounds down to 0 dB. However, sound that reaches 85 dB or stronger can lead to permanent damage to our hearing. Earphones and headsets have the ability to produce sound up to a maximum of 100 dB. In that case, a person’s hearing can be permanently damaged after using them for just 15 minutes per day. 

In addition to that, earphones naturally add about 9 dB of sound due to the fact that it sits close to our ear canal. Also, it does not isolate any outside noise which causes us to increase the volume even higher, which is considered as unsafe. In contrast, Over-the-ear headphones covers the ear fully and blocks the outside noise which decreases the chances of us increasing the volume higher. Due to these reasons, doctors recommend over-the-ear headphones rather than earphones to preserve our hearing. 

– Shayini Kanageswaran

 

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News

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Unlock Your Account by Your Friends’ Faces

Posted on February 29, 2016 by | 3 comments

Passwords are the most common authentication method we use today to prove one’s identity. One of the major problems with using passwords is that people are often faced with a trade-off between security and usability; people are either making their passwords too simple, and are easily hacked into, or are making them extremely complicated to remember.

In general, compared to other existing authentication systems, such as digital signature and fingerprint recognition, passwords are cheap and simple to use. Therefore, it is the most widely used authentication mechanism today. Recently, something possibly “better” than passwords has arrived. A paper that was published on PeerJ proposed a new authentication system called “Facelock” based on the facial recognition technology. See the following YouTube video for a short introduction of facial recognition.

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The physiological principle behind this new authentication system is that our brains have the ability to recognize familiar faces. You can easily recognize many different faces of the same person who you know pretty well, but you may find it is difficult to identify strangers across a range of images. Facelock is built on the fact that only authentic users can reliably identify the target faces but attackers are unlikely to recognize them. When logging in, Facelock allows users to go through a series of pages that each contains nine faces of different people with only one face that is familiar to the account holder. To unlock your account, you need to successfully select the target face on each page.

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Can you recognize the person who appears twice in the image? Image from http://theconversation.com/us

However, such a system also has certain limitations. The system is vulnerable to an attacker who has many friends in common with the user, which means your closest acquaintances are likely to be able to recognize your target faces. Additionally,  if the target person whose appearance is distinctive (i.e. has an outstanding characteristics such as a full beard or have a bald head) or if the images of the same person are not sufficiently different, then an attacker may still be able to identify the target faces without many challenges. On the other hand, there is no boundary to determine whether the image is distinctive or not and it is hard to tell if the two images are different enough. So how should we select the images for the system to avoid similarity and distinctiveness? Finally, Does Facelock actually benefit to a user when compared to the password authentication system? In fact, Facelock is not as easy to use as passwords and it takes more time to unlock your account because you have to spend more time recognizing faces.

In conclusion, this new authentication system seems reliable and implementable with current technology, but to make it a viable replacement of passwords, the developers should pay attention on how to make appropriate target selection to make it more user-friendly.

Ying Yu

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Posted in Science Communication, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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Sleep loss and Obesity ?

Posted on February 29, 2016 by | 3 comments

With the cold months ending and summer coming up very soon, this means cutting down for many people. People use countless methods to help them achieve that goal such as protein powder, creatine, and diet pills. Despite all this effort, a lot of people are making this one mistake that could make it much harder for them to achieve their weight loss goal. These studies below show and strengthen correlation between insufficient sleep and factors that lead to weight gain.

Lack of sleep and 2-AG

A new study published in the journal, Sleep, was carried out by a team of scientists who focused on a type of endocannabinoid. Endocannabinoid is a class of molecule that controls physiological processes in our body. They studied a molecule called 2-AG which is associated with our ability to control our appetite. When this molecule is circulating throughout our body, it decreases our ability to control instant cravings and increases the pleasure we get from eating food we would normally think of as unhealthy and feel guilty from indulging in.

They gathered 14 healthy young adults, both male and female. Half of them were allowed to get a full nights sleep which consisted of 8.5 hours compared to the other half who were restricted to 4.5 hours of sleep. What they found was that the level of 2-AG in their body was higher consistently through out the day and remained high in the evening for those who had restricted amount of sleep.

Increased level of 2-AG would make you crave junk food you normally wouldn't

Increased level of 2-AG would make you crave junk food you normally would stay away from. Image from deckofdreams

Lack of sleep and Leptin & Gherlin

Another study that supports this claim of correlation between insufficient sleep and weight gain was also done by Prinz and Taheri. Their studies looked at the level of leptin and ghrelin in participants with restricted amount of sleep. Leptin in our body serves to suppress appetite and stimulate burning energy in our body. Ghrelin on the other hand sends signal to make us feel hungry and tells the body to store more fat. By monitoring people participants who got less than 7-8 hours of sleep, they saw decreased level of leptin and increased level of ghrelin which ultimately lead to weight gain.

Example of how reduced levels of leptin produced in mouse leads to obesity (left) compared to normal mouse (right)

Example of how reduced levels of leptin produced in mouse leads to obesity (left) compared to normal mouse (right). Image from wikipedia

Just get more sleep!

In summary, when you get less than recommended amount of sleep of 7-8 hours every night, there is increased amount of 2-AG and ghrelin and decreased amount of leptin flowing through our body. This all serves to makes us less capable of controlling our appetite, and promotes fat build up. Thinking in reverse, this means that getting sufficient amount of sleep every night would help us control our appetite and have our body burning fat like usual! This should be convincing enough for anyone wanting to lose weight for the summer to spend more time in bed at night getting some shut eye.

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video – How Lack of Sleep can Cause Weight Gain. by Howcast

 

Alana Lee

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

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Special K to treat the Blues

Posted on February 28, 2016 by | 5 comments

Ketamine is a drug that was developed in 1962 and is commonly used as an anesthetic during surgical procedures in humans as well as in animals. However, like most drugs, ketamine made its way into the party scene during the 90s due to it’s hallucinogenic as well as dissociative effects (alter a person’s perception of reality). Furthermore, it also became notorious for being a date rape drug and was eventually classified as a Schedule III drug.

A vial containing ketamine.

A vial containing ketamine. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

In an interesting turn of events, ketamine is now undergoing clinical trials for its potential use in the treatment of depression. Depression itself is a debilitating condition with approximately 121 million people globally affected by it. The same drug that was being used as a date rape drug is now being used to treat depression?!

Yes! Ketamine therapy is being used to treat patients with severe major depression who don’t respond to traditional antidepressant medication. The treatment consists of giving a low dose of ketamine to the patient. The most common way to administer ketamine is by injecting it or by intranasal (smelling it) use. The positive effects in mood can be seen within 24 hours and can last up to ten days. This is one of the biggest advantages of using ketamine because the effects are noticeable immediately compared to traditional antidepressants which can take up to several months to work.

A typical neuron. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

A typical neuron. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Depression is a multi-faceted disorder with several causes, one of them being a reduction in synaptic connections – the area between two neurons. For example, picture a neuron being a tree during spring, with many branches and leaves. When depression comes along, that tree now looks shrivelled up with bare branches and no leaves. Introduce a bit of Special K at low doses, and it converts our sad looking tree into a healthy tree once again. In other words, the synaptic connections are restored. The exact mechanism behind this is still unknown and being investigated.

Like with any other treatment, ketamine therapy also has a few side effects. When patients are first given a dose of ketamine they experience dissociative effects which are only temporary. Another down side of ketamine treatment is cost. The effects of ketamine treatment are short lived so patients often have to get regular infusions and since insurance does not cover the cost of treatment, it can get expensive; a single dose can cost anywhere from $525 to $800.

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Courtesy of The Doctors

Furthermore, many opponents are concerned about the possibility of patients developing an addiction to ketamine. The dose used in clinical trials is well below the dose used by recreational users so it is very unlikely for the patient to develop an addiction. The future of ketamine therapy in treating depression looks promising and further studies should explore the long term effects of it before it becomes a standard in treating depression cases that don’t respond to traditional therapy.

Harnoor Shoker

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

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Endangered Giant Pandas

Posted on February 22, 2016 by | 3 comments

The giant panda, also known as panda, is a bear that originated from South Central China. They are known for their iconic black patches around their eyes, ears, and their body. Pandas are treasured in China, and also used as the national symbol of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). On average, a giant panda weighs from 220-330 pounds, and the adults are able to grow to more than four feet. Bamboo makes up 99% of Panda’s diet. They must eat from 26 to 84 pounds of it everyday; they also tend to consume meat in the form of birds, rodents or carrion. They are the rarest of the bear family, and live in bamboo forests, in the mountains of western China.

GiantPandaEatingBamboo

http://redpandanetwork.org/red-panda-facts-vs-giant-panda-facts/

Pandas are known to be terrestrial animals, and spend most of their times wandering around the forest, eating bamboo, and climbing trees. Each panda has its own territory, and the females mostly do not tolerate other females around them. The brief interaction pandas have with one another is during mating season, after which the male leaves the female to raise the cub alone. One unique trait of the panda is their wrist that acts as thumbs that help them hold the bamboo as they bite into the bamboo whith their strong teeth. Though pandas are known to be gentle animals, at times, they to tend to attack humans. It is presumed that these attacks are because of irritation and not aggression. Life span of a panda is around 20 years in the wild. Unfortunately they are in the danger of going extinct.

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http://www.sichuanadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/image.jpg

Because pandas reproduce infrequently, they are classified as endangered animals. They are coming close to being extinct, with only 1,864 in the world remaining. One of the reasons that pandas are endangered is because of habitat destruction. Since the population of China continues to increase and grow, their habitats are being taken over and are forced to live in smaller and riskier areas. Habitat destruction also causes food shortages. Pandas feed on different types of bamboos that grow at different times of the year. Once a specific type of bamboo is no longer around, pandas are left with nothing to eat which later on leads to starvation. Pandas play a crucial role in the bamboo forests, by spreading seeds and helping the growth of vegetation to area and habitats of many different other animals. The panda is an important attraction of China’s economy and by saving them, China can bring huge benefits to communities through ecotourism.

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Khashayar Noroozzadeh Rahimi

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science in the News

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Clean Water Crisis

Posted on February 22, 2016 by | 1 comment

Some people view a glass as half full, and others see it as half empty, but sometimes the water is just too dirty for it to matter.  Flint, a city nestled between three of the Great Lakes in Michigan, is facing a critical water crisis causing serious concern amongst the residents. In a city that already has a 13.6 year lower life expectancy than the rest of the Michigan state,  solutions and action are needed immediately.

A water sample study, carried out by Virginia Tech, revealed alarmingly high levels of lead, with readings ranging from 200 parts per billion (ppb) to 13,200 ppb. To understand the magnitude of these findings, let’s take a look at the recommendations and effects of lead.
According to the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, the maximum acceptable concentration (MAC) of lead is 10 ppb, while the Environmental Protection Agency has a lead concentration regulation of zero in drinking water, as there is no safe lead consumption level. Therefore, Flint’s water samples exceeded the MAC by 20 to over 1,300 times!

Clean drinking water is an essential part of our lives

Clean drinking water is an essential part of our lives. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a result, the citizens of Flint have been exposed to dangerously high levels of lead, which cause toxicity and a long list of health problems. No body system is spared from lead poisoning, as severe damage to the kidneys, joints, bone marrow, and cardiovascular system is debilitating and permanent. Additionally, the digestive and urinary tract, brain and nervous system, and reproductive organs are also highly susceptible to irreversible damage.
The video below contains a brief overview of what occurs when lead is ingested.

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Courtesy of YouTube Video: Discovery Channel’s “HowStuffWorks”

Perhaps even more concerning, is the vulnerability of a child’s body to lead ingestion. Since lead tricks the body into thinking it is an essential element (such as calcium, for example), a child’s absorption is four to five times higher than that of an adult. In fact, a study published in December, 2015, found the levels of lead in children’s blood to have doubled in concentration compared to the levels recorded in 2013 in Flint residents under the age of five. In addition to the effects previously mentioned, a child can also suffer from delays and disturbances in development, both physically and mentally, such as a low IQ.

Evidently, the water in Flint is not suitable for drinking, and according to pediatricians involved in the care of patients in this area, only time will tell the full extent and consequences of this massive lead contamination. Ensuring that successful, cost-effective, and easily-implemented water treatment systems are available and functioning at acceptable standards is clearly a crucial aspect to the well-being and health of a community.

 

Kerrie Tsigounis

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

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Is What You’re Currently Doing, Killing You?

Posted on February 21, 2016 by | 8 comments

Chances are, while reading this blog post, you are seated on a chair in a posture that’s unhealthy for your body and some of you may even have back or neck pain.

Back and neck pain. Source: Flickr Commons

Back and neck pain.
Source: Flickr Commons

Sitting: An Unknown Assassin

Nowadays, it seems pretty much anything can kill you and astoundingly, this includes sitting. Sitting has become the new smoking as awareness of the adverse effects it has on our health increases along with the difficulty to ‘quit’ this subtle comfort. Unfortunately, most of us are bound by our lifestyle that revolves around a chair. Whether this is at work in an office, on a desk at school, during our daily commute, eating a meal, or relaxing at home watching television – we are bound to a habit that’s silently killing us.

Health Risks From Sitting

Sitting, termed sedentary behaviour, by the scientific community has shown to lead to cardiovascular diseases such as a heart attack or clogged arteries, type 2 diabetes, cancer, muscular pains, weight gain; all of which significantly raise your mortality rate despite exercising.

It is estimated that one loses 7 years of life expectancy if they’re sedentary compared to a physically active person. This makes anatomical sense as our bodies were not designed to be constantly stagnant as evidenced by our elastic skin, many joints and muscles, and how blood flow slows while sitting.  This is better explained by Murat Dalkilinc of Ted-Ed:

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What Can We Do?

Sit with an exercise ball. Source: Flickr Commons

Sit with an exercise ball.
Source: Flickr Commons

The solution is simple! While it may not always be practical, try to be more active if you have sat for a prolonged period of time. It’s best to get moving for every thirty minutes of sitting and there’s many different methods to try. Experiment sitting on an exercise ball; this works your core muscles giving your body a better balance. Also try yoga poses for a few minutes or a brisk walk in between commercial breaks.

As a reminder to staying healthy, why don’t you move around a bit right now. Whatever you do, just get moving!

Henry Liu

 

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