Will Human Head Transplant Work?

Science has advanced very much in the field of medicine with discoveries that give people another chance to live. In the past century, there have been many new inventions including new medicines, vaccinations and organ transplant in humans. However, the idea of a head transplant was only a mystery which was only seen in movies such as Frankenstein. Surprisingly, that fiction is about to become a reality in the near future. In the next year or two, Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero is to perform the first ever human head transplant which will evolve science to new echelons.  According to Canavero, the surgery is intended for those who have a fully functioning head, but endure a paralyzed body from the neck down due to some type of incurable disease or injuries suffered from accidents. The healthy head will be placed onto a healthy body of someone who is brain dead, and there is “90 percent” chance for the surgery to succeed.  Similar to other complications, “of course there is a marginal risk” according to Sergio Canavero.

The surgery of head transplant never performed before, and with the risks being higher than any other normal standard operation, Valery Spiridonov, a Russian computer scientist is willing to be the first patient. Spiridonov suffers from a motor neuron disease called Werdnig-Hoffmann Diseasewhich leads to the shrinking of the muscles every day and can cause difficulties breathing and swallowing. Currently, there is no cure for the disease and the head transplant can be a potential cure in the near future. Head transplant can also be a cure for those suffering from spinal cord injuries due to accidents, such as car crushes, falling from heights and others. 

valery spiridonov

Valery Spiridonov, first to be patient of head transplant

Photo Credit: Huffingtonpost, UK

The estimated time for the operation is about 36 – 72 hours, with about 80 surgeons involved, and the estimated cost to be about 11 million British Pounds which is $15 – 16 million US dollars.  The procedure of the operation will involve, first cutting the head of the patient with a really sharp blade, then using special surgical glue called polyethylene glycol, to attach the head into the new body and then stitching up the blood supplies. Afterwards, the patient will be put into coma for about four weeks to allow the head to heal with the new body, and small electric shocks given in order to improve the flow of connection. After the patient wakes up, everything is expected to be normal such as the functioning of the senses and movement coordinations. If this operation succeeds, more people could experience a second chance at survival and a new life. For a detailed procedure, please read this.

Blood vessel connection

Photo credit: The Telepgraph, UK

In conclusion, I think head transplant operation is another step towards expanding science and with its success, it can give lots of people hope and perhaps a new life to look forward too.

For detailed information watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmGm_VVklvo

Video credit: Juanker52

  • Hamed Hussaini, January 25th 2016

Sewage Sludge, A Potential New Fertilizer?

THE PROBLEM

The world’s population increases annually. With urban communities adapting to a more meat-based diet and competing for food supplies, agricultural demands are increasing exponentially. Rising agricultural demand results in the necessity for increased amount of high-quality fertilizers. Unfortunately, the main component of agricultural fertilizer is phosphorus: a dwindling non-renewable resource.

Red Phosphorus

Phosphorus, Source:Wikimedia Commons

If phosphorus was to deplete on a global basis (predicted to occur within the next 100 years), nations may succumb to pressure and resort to violence or isolationism to protect their own supply.

WHAT TO DO?

Before global conflict occurs, the world needs to find a new source of phosphorus that is both sustainable and renewable. Luckily, researchers believe they may have found a new source of phosphorus in sewage sludge.

WHAT IS SEWAGE SLUDGE?

SEWAGE_SLUDGE_SETTLES_ON_BOTTOM_OF_BEAKER._SEWAGE_TREATMENT_PLANT_-_NARA_-_543811[1]

Sewage Sludge, Source:Wikimedia Commons

Sewage sludge is the by-product of urban sewage waste produced after an incineration or combustion process. When dissolved in water, sewage sludge is a murky viscous material with floating small particles. Interestingly, sewage sludge has a diverse variety of micro-components where oxidized metals and semi-metals make up majority of the composition. The key fact to note is the high amount of oxidized Phosphorous contained within this substance.

HOW CAN SEWAGE SLUDGE HELP US

In the past, sewage sludge has been dumped into the ocean, leaked into agricultural lands before proper processing or used in construction process such as the formation of concrete. However, a new study conducted by researcher Hannes Herzel on January 15, 2016 has shown a potential recovery of over 19, 000 tons of phosphorus annually within sewage sludge that is commercially and agriculturally reusable. But, it appears that researchers do not yet have an efficient way of extracting phosphorus from sewage sludge due to limited bio-availability. Furthermore, it is not cost efficient in a lab setting to completely remove all other heavy metals and contaminants inside of sewage sludge in order to isolate phosphorus. Coincidentally, a Russian waste purification company seems to have found the solution.

The following is a YouTube demonstration of contemporary Sewage Sludge treatment in Rusecotech kindly provided by: Daniil Andreev

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdrAO6plWOQ

After this treatment, the sewage sludge will be essentially free of dangerous heavy metals such Arsenic (As), Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) and will also be detoxified. The resulting mixture will be safe to use as a fertilizer after further processing. In the words of Hannes Herzel, the treated product, “thus fulfill(s) the quality parameter for a P-fertilizer“.

Although the concept of reusing sewage sludge is still under development, the future of this technology is definitely promising in securing a reusable phosphorous source.

Posted By Ming Lun (Allan) Zhu

There is Hope: Body Fat Transplant May Be Effective in Treating Rare Metabolic Diseases?

People who have rare metabolic diseases, such as Maple syrup urine disease depend highly on donor transplantation. But is there an alternative treatment if donors are low? Not to mention the high expenses of a transplant?

But… you might be wondering… what exactly is maple syrup urine disease and where does it get its name?

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is a rare disease because it follows an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance, one of the ways a disease can be passed down through families. This means patients inherit MSUD if both their parents have an abnormal gene.  MSUD  causes a defect in the way our body breaks down the three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) follows a autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Source: Wikipedia Commons

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) follows a autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Source: Wikipedia Commons

It is characterized by the distinctive maple-syrup scent found early on in urine samples of infants. They are important because essential amino acids cannot be made from the body, so they must come directly from our diet. The defect causes these three amino acids and their by-products to build up in the body. As a result, MSUD patients need precisely monitored diets (measured to the very milligram!) to avoid consumption of these amino acids, while still obtaining the other essential amino acids the body needs.

If MSUD conditions are left untreated, they can lead to coma, seizures and even death before reaching three months in age.

Liver transplantation is shown to be effective in treating MSUD because the liver is composed of an abundance of enzymes which appear to normalize amino acid levels, sometimes even allowing patients to fully adopt their normal diets again.

So organ transplantation is usually the solution to metabolic diseases but because of the high demand, is there a more accessible alternative?

Noting the high activity of fat tissue relative to muscle tissue in the body, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine tested the effect of body fat transplantation with genetically engineered mice with MSUD. They transplanted two grams of fat into the mices’ back or abdomen and found that when they implanted fat into the mices’ back, the amino acid levels dropped greatly in the transplanted MSUD mice compared to non-transplanted MSUD mice.

Transplanting fat into the abdomen of the mice did more harm than good and caused inflammation in the process. The results of this study were recently published in the journal Molecular Genetics and Metabolism.

Their study concluded that the amount of fat injected had no effect on the results. So this must mean that there will be further experimentation with fat transplantation. Fat transplant can be an alternative to liver transplant because it may be a more efficient approach as it is relatively inexpensive and it may be easier to find donors.

Wayne and Chad’s personal account on their child living with MSUD: YouTube Preview Image
Posted on January 25, 2016 By Jenny U

Zero-Calories, is that even possible?

Do you prefer drinking “diet” Coke or regular Coke?

Nowadays, we have all sorts of products with an option of ‘diet’, ‘zero’, ‘sugar free’ or ‘light’. As the trend of the grocery market is focusing on “well-being”, more people are starting to choose healthier and non-fattening foods. But let’s think about it,  Coke Zero literally has zero calories (cal) but it tastes almost the same as the regular coke with 154 cal. Well, how could this be possible when zero products taste similar or the same in sweetness but have absolutely zero calories? Are they really a better option for our health and weight?

Image from Flickr

Image from Flickr

In diet soda, artificial sweeteners are added instead of natural sugars. Thus, diet drinks could be a better option if you want to prevent bacteria growing in your mouth due to natural sugars. Inside our mouth, plaque resides on our teeth and propagate in presence of sugar. Since diet soda has sugar that is artificial, it will not affect the growth of plaque. However, according to D. Aune, the artificial sweetener, aspartame, increases the risk of higher chances of getting cancers including lymphomas and leukemias and type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or metabolic syndrome with diet soft drinks.

Moreover, Medical Daily explains how diet products, in fact, contribute to weight gain because when human bodies crave for natural sugars, these diet products do not suffice the same way as natural sugar but rather confuse our bodies and trigger insulin, which signals our body to store more fat. Thus, the higher chance to eat in addition to the drink could eventually cause weight gain.

Lastly, according to the research done by D.A. Booth, there is no significant weight change between a person who drinks regular products and person who drinks diet products. He also noted the only effective set of the only dietary strategies effective at reducing weight are increased exercise and the reduction in consumption of fats.

As a regular soda drinker, I believe there is no significant difference drinking diet sodas especially for weight loss purpose. If you still choose to drink diet drinks, you should not expect it to be like water. Rather, your decision between diet and regular drinks should simply be choosing between natural and artificial sweetener regardless of calories because the only best way to loose weight and be healthy we know for sure is a healthy diet of balanced nutrition with constant exercise.

Here is a YouTube video discussing about dangers of diet soda by Dr. Group and Global Healing Center

YouTube Preview Image

 

Sung Eun Kim

Can adding native pollinators increase small-farm yields in under-developed countries?

Small-farms in developing countries from Africa, Asian and Latin America that are struggling with their amount of crop production need a little boost to help get them back to their normal yield. Could the addition of native pollinators be what small-farms need to increase their yield gap?

Before I get into this, let’s refresh our knowledge about pollination.

Pollinators such as honey bees, beetles, and wasps help plants reproduce, which means they play a crucial role in agriculture.

How do they do this?

The main function of pollen is to produce male sperm cells. Pollination basically occurs when pollen is transferred to female reproductive organs of plants which allows fertilization and reproduction to occur. Native pollinators such as the few listed above are able to enhance pollination which helps out farmers with their crops.

"Meliponin bee, covered with pollen, visiting a flower of the Vegetable Sponge Gourd" By Leonardo Ré-Jorge.

“Honey bee, covered with pollen, visiting a flower of the Vegetable Sponge Gourd” By Leonardo Ré-Jorge.

Here is a video by Laura Klahre on TEDx Talks that discusses the different types of bees that are effective pollinators.

If pollinators are able to do this, then could these native pollinators effectively help struggling farmers with their yield?

A recent study discusses the effectiveness of implementing new pollinators to help small-farms that are struggling with crop production. It was done on “344 fields from 33 pollinator-dependant crop systems in small and large farms from Africa, Asia, and Latin America”. This study greatly affects under-developed countries that are reliant on their small-farms for food.

The study found that incorporating the new pollinators could potentially close the yield gap of farms by about a quarter; the yield gap being closed by a quarter was found on small fields that were less than 2 hectares.

The study suggests that ecological intensification or a “biodiversity of pollinators” will improve yield outcomes for the farms of these under-developed countries. Biodiversity of pollinators are just means to incorporate a diversity of different pollinators into the farms.

Introducing pollinators has shown to have a positive effect on these farms. It could be the method that struggling small-farms use to help get their farms a higher yield, so why not give it a chance?

Post by Karanvir Gill.

To drink, or not to drink…

Paracelsus

Paracelsus Source: Wikimedia Commons

Society has always incurred the issue of dosage. To quote the famous philosopher, Paracelsus, “All substances are poisons; there is none that is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.”

Parcelsus’ words do not falter, especially with regards to alcohol consumption. Particularly in red wine, there is a “substance” called resveratrol, a naturally occurring chemical compound found in the skin of certain grapes and berries considered to be an antioxidant. A blog from cancer research UK indicates that a low dose of resveratrol is considered to be 5 milligrams which is equivalent to a 250 mL glass of wine, or roughly 9 ounces. This minimal dose would be enough resveratrol to have an observable effect on the human body.

But how does resveratrol affect the body? You may have heard about the relation between red wine and the heart. In fact, the video below by Buzz60 introduces a study conducted in Israel by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev which has shown that red wine has an increased positive effect on cholesterol levels. The study had 1/3 of the subjects drinking a glass of water with their meal, 1/3 drinking white wine and 1/3 drinking red wine. Excuse the cheese of this video, but it does go quite well with these wine facts.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3aobr3

As mentioned, resveratrol is an antioxidant; it donates an electron to the free radicals in the body, thereby abolishing the harmful abundance of radicals. By inhibiting free radicals, resveratrol promotes the production of nitric oxide. Consequently, the presence of this biological messenger – nitric oxide – stimulates arteries to relax, open up and allow blood to consistently flow throughout the body. This constant flow aids in the avoidance of a coronary artery spasm; a condition defined as the temporary yet sudden narrowing of the artery walls.

Essentially, red wine contains resveratrol, resveratrol promotes the production of nitric oxide and nitric oxide allows blood vessels to dilate allowing blood to flow steadily throughout the body. The video below echoes this process.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVoH67d0IDk

So, to sum it all up, go ahead and get that 9 oz of red with your dinner! Your circulatory system prefers it.

Paria Assadipour

The Vegan Movement: Should we really stop eating red meat?

Veganism is growing rapidly amongst the current generation, whether perpetuated by scientific reasoning or simply through social media. Do we truly know what to believe anymore or which diets are the best for us? One popular belief that has upset many meat-lovers is that the consumption of red meat increases the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The main reason is the reaction between a component of the red meat and natural bacteria found in our stomachs.

Steak; everyone’s favourite red meat! Source: Google Images

L-carnitine is an amino acid found naturally in the human body and is also abundant in all the delicious red meats that we eat such as lamb, beef and pork. On its own, L-carnitine helps the body produce energy by facilitating heart and brain functions, as well as muscle movement. However, this study shows that when the digested amino acid is broken down by the natural bacteria in our stomachs, a harmful chemical compound called trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is produced.

TMAO found in blood was shown to result in atherosclerosis, more commonly known as ‘clogged arteries’. Immune cells that exist in the arteries build up cholesterol more significantly in the presence of TMAO. In addition, the study showed that arteries that were exposed to more L-carnitine became more efficient at producing TMAO. Based on their experiments, vegans and vegetarians who were less exposed to the amino acid were shown to convert at a much slower pace.

YouTube Preview Image

 

So what does this mean for all the meat-eaters? Is this enough evidence to prove that we should completely stop indulging in these sinful dishes? Perhaps turn vegan? An underlying issue is how frequently we consume red meat. Studies have enough support to show that people who eat more red meat have higher risks of CVD, however, the actual amount of consumption to warrant these consequences is still unclear. Just like with any other unhealthy foods, finding a balanced diet will help you avoid problems. Moderation is key!

  • Siriwat Chhem, January 18th 2016

 

Is it safe to eat raw mushrooms?

raw mushrooms

Raw Mushroom Salad Credit: veganarchitect.com

Have you ever thought that eating raw mushrooms is bad for health? I have heard many well known doctors say that raw mushrooms contain toxic compounds that are destroyed by cooking. I used to eat raw mushrooms at the salad bar, but after realizing the toxic potential of them, I try to avoid eating them raw.

WHAT IS HARMFUL ABOUT EATING RAW MUSHROOMS?

To answer this question, we should start off by asking what substances make raw mushrooms toxic. Raw mushrooms have this chemical substance called aragonite, which in large amounts has the potential to cause DNA damage. Aragonite is only broken down by heat, so experts suggest that people should cook their mushrooms.

YouTube Preview Image

IS COOKING ALWAYS NECESSARY WHEN EATING MUSHROOMS?

Directly speaking, I would say that cooking mushrooms is not always necessary. I agree with experts who say since raw mushrooms contain aragonite that can cause DNA deformation, people should destroy it by heat before eating them. However, a team of Swiss researchers argues that the chance that aragonite will cause cancer is minor, so people should not worry too much about getting cancer after eating raw mushrooms.  Moreover, raw mushrooms contain lots of cancer preventive substances, so even if you eat raw mushrooms, you are consuming more healthful substances than harmful substances. It is totally up to the person whether he or she eats raw mushrooms or not, but if I were you, I would not always choose to eat them raw.

toxic mushrooms

Types Of Poisonous Mushrooms With White Or Cream Spores: Credit: hubspages.com

Dohoon Kim