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.

Biology Lab: Snails

The snail lab was kind of fun, it was good practice for observing organisms.
I really enjoyed looking in at the snail's movements though. Of all the snails though, my team's snail was pretty active. We even saw it eat lettuce leaving small little teeth marks, and it had a large slimy foot at the bottom, which looked pretty awesome.