Scientific Breaktrhough: The Stethoscope

The stethoscope (link) has it's word's roots from the Greek word téthos - chest and skopé - examine. The stethoscope is a medical device used for auscultation, listening to the internal sounds in a human or animal. It is usually used to listen to heart beats and breathing, but can also be used to listen to intestines and the blood flow in our arteries or veins. The less common stethoscope is called the mechanic's stethoscope that is used to listen to the internal sounds made in machines, such as diagnosing a malfunctioning automobile engine by listening to the parts and figuring out which ones didn't sound right.

The first stethoscope that was ever invented, was invented by a French scientist called René-Théophile-Hyacinthe Laennec in 1816. The first design for a was simply made iwth a wooden tube and a monaural, this version of the stethoscope that was similar to the ear trumpet which was a hearing aid used back then. The difference from these two devices were very minuscule. In 1851 Arthur Leared invented a new version of the stethoscope called the binaural stethoscope, and in 1852 George Cammann further improved the stethoscope for commercial production and purpose, which is the one we use today. Along with making the common stethoscope that we use as standard today, Cammann also wrote a book on diagnosis by auscultation, which was made possible by the new stethoscope. In 1873 though there was a newer stethoscope that was said to be able to hear different places of the body, sadly though it was never used for clinical purposes.

Science Entrepreneurs: Genentech

Genentech (link) is a large biotech company that was founded in 1976 by Robert A Swanson and Dr. Herbert W. Boyer. Genentech in stands fro Genetic Engineering Technology, Inc. One of the company's founder Dr. Hebrert W. Boyer is considered to be one of the pioneers in the field of Recombinant DNA technology. In 1973 Stanley Normal Cohen along with Boyer invented recombiant genetic engineering, by finding out that restriction enzymes can cut segments of DNA from a DNA stand and put it to another similarly cut part. While Cohen was researching in a laboratory, Robert Swanson convinced Boyer to found Genentech, from that point on Boyer worked with Arthur Riggs and Keiichi Itakura from Beckman Research Institute to become the first group to ever successfully express a human gene in a bacterial cell. With this, they produced the hormone somatostatin in 1977. Then the next year, David Goeddel and Dennis Kleid were added to their group to contribute to its success with insulin. Genentech now has over 10,000 members as of 2006 making it a very large company. Genentech excels in the fields of Oncology, Immunology, and Tissue Growth and Repair. They have created an array of medicines:

• 1982 - Synthetic
• 1985 - Protropin
• 1987 - Activase
• 1990 - Actimmune
• 1993 - Nutropin
• 1994 - Pulmozyme
• 1997 - Rituxan
• 1998 - Herceptin
• 2000 - TNKase
• 2003 - Xolair
• 2003 - Raptiva
• 2004 - Avastin
• 2004 - Tarceva
• 2006 - Lucentis

And Genentech also received several awards for their contributions to science:

• "Genentech was named one of the 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers in 2004, 2006 and 2007 by Working Mothers Magazine.
• It was named as one of the 100 best corporate citizens 2005 by the Business Ethics Magazine.
• Fortune Magazine named Genentech number one on its 2006 list of the "100 Best Companies To Work For." And has been on this list for the nine consecutive times, just not as number one.
  
• Genentech was named Top Employer by Science Magazine on October 15, 2007 issue.
  
• Also in October 2007, Genentech was named Most Admired Biotech Company as well as most admired Pharmaceutical company in Fortune in 2008."

Eye Presentation

Information about the presentation
Today, guest presenter Dr. Pamela Fong came to Mr. Olson's Biology class sixth period to give us a presentation and guide us through a dissection on sheep eyes. The presentation informed us on several areas of the eyes and how it works. The eye receives light and sends impulses to the brain in order to process images. The eye is covered by a very sensitive part called the cornea. The cornea is a dense, but sensitive part of the eye. It helps by reflecting light into the eye to generate vision. If sand gets into the cornea don't expect to have a fun time because it will be extremely painful. After the cornea there is the iris. The iris determines the color of your eye and has several fibers inside. The formation of the fibers is unique to everyone (like fingerprints), even though there maybe some that are very similar, no two are exactly the same. Right in between the cornea and the iris is a thin object called a lens. The lens is a hard object that is focused by using muscles in your eye to generate a more sharp or dull image for your brain. Behind the iris is a thin layer called the retina. The retina plays a key role in sight because without it, there can be no images because it sends the images directly to the optic nerve which sends it directly to the brain.

The dissection
After the presentation on the eyes, we were off to our labs to dissect sheep eyes. When I was dissecting the eye I was a little scared because of the look of the eye. I never actually touched the eye, I instead used tweezers and a scalpel to cut open the eye, but it was better then some of my lab partners. Micheal and Sunny were too scared to even look at the eye for long periods of time or even get near it. But despite the fact that I was slightly fearful of cutting the eye, I was still the only person to cut apart the eye and start taking things out of it. I really enjoyed the dissection because I could take out the lens and look at it closely, observe the liquids inside an eye, and really be up close to an actual eye. But the only thing that disappoints me is the minimal time that we were given to do this lab. Wish we could've had a more time. :(

Reflection
I learned a lot about the eye today and it makes me want to know more such as: What is the difference between our eye and the sheep eye? How come I couldn't find any fibers inside the sheep's iris? The lab was very enjoyable and the presenter caught my interest to eyes really fast.

Monocot: Daylily

The Plantae Magnoliophyta Liliosida Asparagales Hemerocallidaceae Hemerocallis daylily (link) is a flower that was originally native from Europe to Asia. And according to Wikipedia: "Daylilies can be grown in USDA plant hardiness zones 1 through 11, making them some of the most adaptable landscape plants. Most of the cultivars have been developed within the last 100 years".

Daylilies can still be found in Europe and Asia. It's main predators are humans who use this for culinary dishes such as hot and sour soup, daylily soup, Buddha's delight, and moo shu pork. This flower has also been used for medicine.

(Mmmm Daylily soup.)

Daylily flower has three petals and three sepals (each containing a midrib) which are referred to as tepals. The center of the flower is called the throat and has different color pigments then the rest of the flower. Daylily flowers have six stamens each containing two-lobed anthers and after the flower pollinates the form a pod. The breeding of this flower is a specialty in the United States due to the conditions required to breed the flower. Therefore new cultivars are being sold for a large amount of money, but soon (due to scientific research) people may find a easier way to breed the flower so it lowers to a more reasonable price.

Guest Presenter

Summary
Last Thursday, January 24th, 2008 Louise Mead of the National Center for Science Education graced our class with a presentation surrounding the controversy of the teaching of Evolution in our school. Louise Mead obtained a Ph D. and is a Education Project Director.

Louise Mead began her lecture with a simple explanation of Evolution: common ancestry with descent over time. This was proven by Darwin who explained Evolution and proved it with overwhelming evidence from several fossils that he collected. The evidences for Evolution are Biogeography, Comparative Anatomy, Molecular Biology, Fossil Record, Developmental Biology. Even though Darwin proved Evolution with several examples and specimens that he collected on his trip on board the Beagle, several scientists up to this point has added evidence to help further prove the his theory on Evolution. Examples of this are the Eustheropterons that lived 385 million years ago to the Ichthyostega that lived 360 million years ago. Scientists could find an ancestral link between these two animals proving that some animals evolved from sea to land. Along with there has been proof of the same genes used in animals. An example would be that the gene used to code for eyes in mice also work for the eyes of fruit flies proven in 1982.

Even though the proof and evidence of Evolution is overwhelming several people still do not believe in Evolution. A poll that was taken over the years has said that around 50 million people believe God created man, around 40 million people think there was Evolution, but God led the way for Evolution, and around 10 million think God had no part to do in Evolution. Several court cases were presented over this matter. In 1925 John Scopes a teacher in Dayton, Tennessee was tried by the State of Tennessee for teaching Evolution in his classroom. In 1968 Epperson was tried against the state of Arkansas for teaching Evolution, McLean was also tried against Arkansas in 1982 and Edwards was tried by Aguillard in 1987 and ruled creationism was wrong. After years people developed other theories such as Intelligent Design. Intelligent Design states that there was Evolution, but God led the ancestors through Evolution. Eventually Judge John E. Jones ruled that Intelligent Design is not Science and that Intelligent Design should not be taught because: "cannot uncouple itself from its creationist, and thus religious, antecedents". He concluded that the Idea of Intelligent Design violated the Establishment Clause and First Amendment.

In the end Louise Mead concluded by telling us her main ideas on Evolution. Evolution is real Science that proves ever day occurrences where as Intelligent Design is not real Science. There is no Controversy among scientists that Evolution has occurred and over the time Darwin presented his theory there has been substantial proof that there was indeed Evolution.

Reflection
I feel that Louise Mead was a spectacular presenter and I feel that she explained Evolution in a light that helps people better understand what Evolution is and I hope eventually more people will come to understand it and learn to accept it.

Why the Flu Likes Winter Better

Studies show that the flu (link) likes winter more then the other seasons. This has to do because of the virus itself. The virus is more stable in cold and dry weather which is what the weather is like in winter. Dr. Palese who conducted this research in New York states, "Influenza virus is more likely to be transmitted during winter on the way to the subway than in a warm room."

Dr. Palese has published these findings in the October 19th edition of PLoS Pathogens. The crucial hint that allowed him to conduct his research was the papers from the Flu pandemic of 1918. And because doctors back then weren't as brilliant as the ones we have today, were flustered and confused in why the virus was so deadly and spread so rapidly.

The coldest monts in the Northern hemisphere is November to March. But for the Southern Hemisphere it is generally May to September. And in Tropical temperatures, there is no flu season at all therefore not too many flus.

There were several hypotheses to why it spread during the winter, ranging from people staying indoors in clumps to the reason that less Vitamin Ds are produced in the winter. None of these convinced Dr. Palese. What hint Palese off and gave him his hypothesis was a passage from a old 1919 letter:

“It is interesting to note that very soon after the epidemic of influenza reached this camp, our laboratory guinea pigs began to die.” At first, the study’s authors wrote, they thought the animals had died from food poisoning. But, they continued, “a necropsy on a dead pig revealed unmistakable signs of pneumonia.”

From this passage, Palese decides to purchase guinea pigs and test this out for himself. He exposed some guinea pigs to the flu virus and like the passage suggests the pigs spread the disease. The temperature was tested from 41 degrees which was the perfect temperature and the virus could spread, but over 86 degrees it did not. Also low humidity percent (20) was possible for spreading the disease where as a high humidity percent (80) did not allow the spread of the disease. This experiment proves that flus spread more rapidly and better in winter then all of the other seasons.

Reflection
This keeps me aware of the flu season and reaches out to me on wearing the apropriate clothing for this holiday season. Also this gives me a better understanding of how the flu is so effective during the winter and why it is called the flu season.

Domestic Cat Genome Sequenced

Domestic cat genome sequenced

The DNA of a four year old Abyssinian cat called Cinnamon has been sequenced! The cat is being analyzed using "light" (two-fold) genome sequence coverage. To understand Cinnamon's data sequence, a group of scientists used information from other sequenced mammals. By doing this, they found out that the cat, Cinnamon, had sequences that spanned about 65% of the euchromatic (gene-containing) regions of the feline genome. Similarities wit the cat genome and the human, chimpanzee, mouse, rat, dog, and cow genomes helped scientists find 20,285 putative genes int he cat genome revealing hundreds of chromosomal rearrangements from different lineages of mammals since the diversion from the dinosaurs. (100 million years ago)

This phenomenon of gene sequence analysis will benefit the health of the 90 million domestic cats that live in America. This will also benefit human health because a domestic cat serves as an excellent model for human diseases. Therefore the National Human Genome Research Institute initially authorized the genome sequencing project. Currently, domestic cats have over 250 naturally occurring hereditary disorders which are similar to the those of humans. An example would be that Cinnamon's pedigree has a genetic mutation that causes a degenerative eye that leads to being blind. This same genetic mutation affects 1 in 3,500 Americans, therefore the cat would be a superb example, this would also be an excellent example for other diseases, including HIV/AIDS (From FIV).

The Cat Genome Project is in the National Cancer Institute. Cinnamon lives in a cat colony at the University of Missouri, Columbia. And the sequencing data was generated by the Agencourt Bioscience Corporation in Beverly, Massachusetts.