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Can Eels get High on Cocaine?

 

European Eel (Anguilla anguilla) (Source: Flickr)

The European eel (Anguilla Anguilla) is considered a highly endangered species in the wild and new research suggests that this could be largely due to illicit drug residues such as cocaine that is found in surface waters around the world.

Anna Capaldo, a research biologist at the University of Naples Federico II studies the effects of trace concentrations of cocaine on the European eel. She reports that the eels are extremely vulnerable to low concentrations of cocaine, especially during adolescence as the cocaine can cause fluctuations in hormone levels, which can further result in major physiological impacts such as muscle swelling.

How Does Cocaine Enter the Water?

Cocaine (Source: Flickr)

Treated wastewater is the primary source of these cocaine residues in the water. Cocaine does not absorb well in the human body as it continuously cycles through the bloodstream to various organs such as the heart and brain, until it can finally be broken down and excreted by the body. Moreover, cocaine breaks down rather quickly in the body, as it has a half-life of roughly one hour. This means that after one hour, half of the cocaine in the body will be eliminated from the body, primarily through urine and feces. These cocaine-laced excretions end up in wastewater and ultimately makes it way into rivers, oceans and other bodies of water. Millions of individuals illegally abuse cocaine, which is a primary reason why these residues are found in surface waters around the world.

Can Cocaine Get Eels High?

In short, yes.

Small concentrations of cocaine is found to increase dopamine levels, a hormone responsible for providing feelings such as pleasure.

More concerning, however is that the cocaine increases a stress hormone called cortisol. Cortisol is responsible for inducing fat consumption, which can be detrimental for the European eel as it can significantly delay their timing for migration, as the eels must build up enough fat in order to successfully complete their journey to sea.

Solutions and Future Research

Research shows that cocaine residues in the water is a clear threat to susceptible species in the aquatic environment such as the European eel.

So what can been done to stop this?

Simple.

Stop people from using illegal drugs such as cocaine in the first place!

Easier said than done. The sad reality is that governments around the world have been trying to accomplish this for decades, so maybe there is a better solution.

As of now, little is known about the distribution pattern, occurrence and ecological impacts of cocaine residues in surface waters and even drinking water and wastewater. However, it is clear that these drug residues are a major threat to susceptible species such as the European eel. Thus, more research must be done on the worldwide prevalence of these cocaine residues and their potential effects on the environment, in order to determine whether it is appropriate to spend resources and implement regulations regarding the occurrence of these drugs in wastewater.

(Source: Flickr)

Or, instead of doing all that tedious research, people can start following the law by not consuming illegal drugs and stop excreting their cocaine-laced defecate and urine into the water!

Written by Justin Kim

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Posted on October 1, 2019 by in Science in the News

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Missing Your Bed Time May be the Reason Behind the Extra Pounds

Posted on September 29, 2019 by | 1 comment

Image from MedicalNewsToday of a sleep deprived man

Almost everyone is guilty of saying that I’ll sleep early tonight, only for it to be midnight and having the regret of not coming to bed earlier. This bad habit may be the reason you gain weight according to many studies.

Sleep deprivation takes many tolls on the human body, including messing with hormone levels. In scientific terms, lack of sleep causes a decrease in leptin and an increase in ghrelin. Leptin works to supress your appetite and ghrelin stimulates your appetite. A study found that sleep deprived individuals had 16% less leptin and 15% more ghrelin compared to a well rested person. This is a recipe for disaster because a decrease in leptin means more eating and an increase in ghrelin means even more eating!

Image of excess body fat from MedicalNewsToday

Not only does sleep deprivation mess with hormones, the tiredness also plays a role in weight gain. As a result of being tired, individuals are more inclined to skip the gym, ditch the kitchen and buy fast food, and finally, and are more prone to indulge in sugary and fatty foods. When the brain is low on sleep, impulsive decisions are made, and the cravings are given in to. A study showed that people who had less sleep were eating 10 more grams of sugar compared to someone who had a full night of sleep! Fat and carbohydrate consumption also increased in the sleep deprived group. The longer you are out of bed, the more time you have to eat unnecessarily.

Stock photo of a sleeping man from shutter stock

Getting your sleep is very important as the frequency of diabetes, which is very closely linked to obesity, is directly related to a lack of sleep. Since individuals  with less shut-eye consumed more sugar, they were more prone to diabetes, and as a result of that, they put themselves on the path to obesity! Changes in metabolism, increased appetite and a decreased energy expenditure all directly relate to weight gain, and that can lead to more long term health problems.

Staying awake longer leads to a decline in physical activity due to being tired. More importantly, an increase in food consumption to provide more energy to stay awake longer. Sleep deprivation may be what you need to focus on in order to lose unwanted weight and get back into shape.

By Pawandeep Uppal

 

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Posted in Biological Sciences

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Mental Health is your Physical Health

Posted on September 28, 2019 by | 5 comments

The National College Health Assessment surveyed in 2016, that 1 in 5 Canadian postsecondary students are depressed or battling other mental issues. Knowing how to maintain mental health is especially important for University students. Without having it in check, it will affect every aspect of life, regarding academic performance, social aptness, and general outlook to life such as self-efficacy.

At first glance when people mention mental health, most think they’re not a real illness and it’s just an excuse for poor behaviour. Other myths include “people experiencing mental illness are those who are weak and can’t handle stress” or “it’s just part of the aging process.” Well, those statements are not true, and believing in it only fuels the stigma and discrimination making it harder for people to reach out for solutions!

What is mental health and mental illness?

Mental health is your ability to handle and cope with stress and to enjoy daily life, it includes the way you feel, act, and relate to others. If people experience inabilities to perform these ordinary tasks, they are experiencing poor mental health and could be diagnosed with mental illness. Having mental illness means there is physical altering to your brain because different cognitive abilities are controlled by different parts of your brain. Just think of your brain as a machine, if something is not functioning as usual then something needs maintenance. Mental illness is a brain disorder that is caused by things like stressful life events, brain injury, irregular hormones, addictions, and imbalance of chemical messenger in the brain.

How does the brain work?

Neurons, which are cells designed to transfer information, are the basic workings of how different parts of the brain talks to each other. If there is an imbalance of chemical messenger in the brain, the neurons will have trouble transferring messages. Serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine are common chemical messengers, having a deficit of these will have you experience symptoms of poor mental health.

These are only a few of the components that make up your entire brain:

Prefrontal Cortex – Recalls memories, make decisions, problem-solving, and your response to situations

Amygdala – Controls fear; helps you avoid harmful and dangerous things

Cingulate cortex – Controlling emotion and concentration on tasks

Hippocampus – Makes and store new memories

How Neurons Communicate

So how does your physical health affect your mental health? Well, you will experience mental illness in two ways:

  1. If you lack a sufficient amount of chemical messengers needed to communicate with different components of your brain. 
  2. If you suffer brain damage, the damaged part of your brain will not work properly even if you have a sufficient amount of chemical messengers.

If you experience mild symptoms of poor mental health, most likely your chemical messengers are lacking. A quick fix for students is to exercise regularly because it’s proven to boost metabolism to counter this kind of health deterioration. The physical health of your brain is the health of your mind! That’s the connection where mental health goes hand-in-hand with physical health! 

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communication, Statistics

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Sleep Mysteries: The Ideal Sleep Threshold, Short Sleepers, and Early Risers

Posted on September 23, 2019 by | 1 comment

How much sleep do you get on a nightly basis? With all of the commitments that a student must subject to, one can expect that number to be quite low. Much of Western society has been raised on the knowledge that 7+ hours of sleep is the most ideal for an adult. But what happens to us if we don’t reach this threshold of “enough” sleep? How do some people seem to get by comfortably on much less? And how are individuals able to wake up easily in the morning while others have to hit snooze quite frequently? The answer to the latter 2 questions can be attributed to none other than our own genes. 

An image of a baby sleeping.
Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/photos/baby-sleeping-sleep-childish-cute-1941745/

It is common knowledge that reduced amounts of sleep leads to a variety of negative effects. Growth hormones are released during this time, which is why many adults blame lack of growth to not getting enough sleep. You may have also heard about how sleep affects your rate of metabolism, and that sleeping increases weight loss. This is due to the fact that while asleep, your body secretes appetite-reducing chemicals, which are meant to decrease the chances of hunger interfering with your rest. Studies have shown that our body’s DNA repair mechanisms are heightened when we’re asleep, because this is the time in which we undergo the least amount of chemical and mechanical stress from outside forces.

A graph of the sleep cycle, showing the stages of sleep corresponding to time. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/37583694@N04/3457948158

For a subset of the population, a shorter average sleep cycle is actually enough to carry on their daily lives feeling energized. Each gene in our DNA is converted into one protein through intricate biological processes. A study by Ying-Hui Fu’s lab focused on the DEC2 gene, which codes for a certain protein that is an important regulator for the protein orexin. The diagram below explains the the DEC2 mechanism in detail. The study also uncovered that short sleepers (those with the DEC2 gene mutation) had 6.25 hours of sleep while others (those without the DEC2 gene mutation) had 8.06. This shows the natural difference in the amount of sleep that short sleepers felt was necessary to feel refreshed.

DEC2 mechanism in a graphic representation. Image source: Francine Flores, made with Canva

Another mystery in the sleep world pertains to “night owls” vs. “early birds”. A study by Samuel Jones’ lab has found that variation at 351 locations in the genome affects the waking patterns within different people, termed as one’s chronotype. The fluctuation in expression of these genes has shown a 25 minute difference in the waking times of the most extreme early risers and the most extreme late risers.

An image of DNA. Retrieved from https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=31530&picture=structure-of-dna

There are many questions up in the air concerning sleep and sleep patterns. With our knowledge of the reasons behind occurrences such as short sleepers and waking tendencies, we can further our understanding of why we need sleep and how much sleep is enough to sustain our day-to-day systems. Using the information from current and future studies, we can address issues that individuals have regarding sleep and take a step toward solving more of our sleep mysteries. 

Written by Francine Flores

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Uncategorized

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Football hits to the head not resulting in concussions also cause brain injury

Posted on September 23, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Football is an inherently dangerous sport. Football players routinely sustain injuries on various areas of their bodies and have the shortest playing career of the 4 major North American sports at 3.5 years. A major source of these injuries, some of which are career ending, are head injuries that cause concussions; a concussion occurs when the brain slams against the skull. Concussions are slowly being recognized for the danger they carry in football, but it turns out that major brain injury can still occur even without a concussion occurring.

In a study published in August of 2019, researchers found major brain injury in players who had concussions and even those who didn’t. 38 players from the University of Rochester men’s football team in 2011, 2012 and 2013 wore accelerometers in their helmets to measure the severity and direction of hits sustained. They also had their brain’s white matter structural integrity measured using fractional anisotropy (FA). FA measures where water molecules diffuse. Changes to the direction of movement of water molecules allows researchers to determine what changes or damage occurred in the players’ white matter.

White matter is a part of the central nervous system that is made up of myelinated, or coated, axons that send information to other brain cells, called neurons. White matter functions as relay system that communicates with different parts of the brain and connects everything together. Damage to white matter negatively impacts the brain’s communicative abilities.

Stock photo of football players from Pexels

The results from the study showed an overall decrease in the integrity and density of midbrain white matter across a football season. Even after accounting for 2 players that sustained concussions, the results stayed the same. It was also found, using the accelerometer data, that the severity of the drop in FA scores increased with hits the rotated a player’s heads, rather than head on ones. These results show that impact to the head, especially hits that rotate the head, can cause brain damage by affecting white matter, even though a concussion does not occur.

These results represent an existential problem that has been building for football: how can you fix an inherently dangerous sport? If routine hits cause brain injury, how can you eliminate these hits in a sport that is built on tackling? One solution, that may appear contradictory on the surface, is to eliminate helmets in the sport. Helmets only protect against skull fractures and do a terrible job of protecting against other head injuries. The American 7s Football League, or the AF7L, already implements this variation on the sport. Elimination of helmets leads to better tackling form as defenders can’t rely on hitting the offensive player in the head, as the surface area for contact is greatly reduced.

Free photo of a football helmet from Pixabay

Currently, however, football carries many risks associated with it that players, parents and coaches must weigh against potential rewards the sport may provide. Ball may be life, but maybe trading in your football for a basketball will be better for your brain.

Written by Kuljit Grewal

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