US Senator Calls on FTC to Investigate DNA Ancestry Companies

https://www.forensicmag.com/news/2017/11/us-senator-calls-ftc-investigate-dna-ancestry-companies

This article discusses how Chuck Schumer is concerned by companies such as 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and MyHeritage being able to take thousands of people’s DNA in a database, where he believes the security of that information may not be secure. These companies offer a kit in which you swab your saliva into a tube, send it to the company, and they will respond with information about your heritage and DNA. “It shouldn’t be that they can sell it and the consumer doesn’t know,” said Schumer. “There is no point to learning about your family tree if your privacy gets chopped down at the same time.” He is concerned that one’s privacy is at stake due to the possibility of third party organizations getting a hold of this information.

This is a very important topic. It is crucial for those families who participate in these kits to have their DNA remain private between them and the company who administered the test. I have personally partook in one of these ancestry tests, and find it unsettling to know that my personal DNA could be potentially sold to a third party company, or out in the open. This is a serious topic that needs to be addressed.

I think that this article is pretty well written. It talks about a serious topic that can affect the privacy of thousands of users. I think that a better explanation up front would benefit this article, as I had to read it a couple times to grasp its meaning. Overall, this was a good article.

Posted for S. McGrath

Amputees Can Learn to Control a Robotic Arm with Their Minds.

Current Event #9

Isabel Sondey

“Amputees Can Learn to Control a Robotic Arm with Their Minds.” ScienceDaily, University of

Chicago Medical Center, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127135811.htm.

The article I read, titled “Amputees can learn to control a robotic arm with their minds,” centered around the discovery that sufferers of paralysis can move robotic arms through brain machine interference. The author seeks to validate this discovery in the article. An experiment was conducted on three monkeys who experienced an arm amputation at four, nine, and ten years ago, respectively. Electrode arrays were implanted in the side of the brain opposite to the side of the amputated limb in two of the monkeys. This side of the brain, the contralateral side, is in control of the intact limb. In the third monkey, electrode arrays were placed in same side of the brain as the amputated limb. This side of the brain is the ipsilateral side, and controls the limb that had been amputated. The monkeys were all trained to, using a robotic arm, grasp a ball, and neuron activity of the animals were observed throughout the course of the experiment. Researchers observed that inter-neural connections on the contralateral side- the side controlling the amputated limb- were relatively weak prior to training, as they had not been activated since amputation. However, these connections strengthened as the training progressed. On the ipsilateral side- the side controlling the intact limb- on the other hand, connection between neurons were initially fairly strong, yet decreased in strength as training progressed before ultimately forming a new, dense network. “After a few days it started rebuilding into a new network that can control both the intact limb and the neuroprosthetic,” postdoctoral researcher and leader of the study Karthikeyan Balasubramanian, PhD, stated.

This research is groundbreaking and can lead to influential technological advancements. In today’s world, an amputation is a life-changing operation; the procedure has detrimental effects on a person’s function and livelihood. However, these new findings on the ability of organisms’ brain to develop and strengthen new networks of neurons to control a prosthetic limb could lead to the creation of new, more user-friendly prosthetic technologies for people that could increase the quality of life of an amputee exponentially.

Overall, I thought the article was a very interesting and well-written one. The discussion of the research was somewhat brief, which made it comprehensible to an audience of individuals with a wide range of science backgrounds. However, at times I felt the summary to be too simple; the author certainly could have included a few more specifics on the methods used to collect the data and certain conclusions drawn from the data collection. Additionally, the article incorporates information on future research that will be conducted which helps the reader better understand the real-world application of the research. In the future, the research team hopes to equip neuroprosthetic limbs with sensory feedback for touch and proprioception (its position in space). Inclusion of this information helps put the study into perspective, and allows the reader to develop a sense of exactly how these findings will be used in the future.

“Young Again: How One Cell Turns Back Time.”

Luke Redman

AP Biology

Mr.Ippolito

November 28th 2017

Zimmer, Carl. “Young Again: How One Cell Turns Back Time.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/science/youth-cells-aging-worms.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0.

For this week’s current event I read Carl Zimmer’s article for the New York Times, “Young Again: How One Cell Turns Back Time.” The article discusses a biological mechanism underpinning the process of cell birth in worms, and could lead to restore our own damaged cells. Scientists have been puzzling over the germline, which is the lineage of cells that going one generation of organisms to the next, for over 100 years. In theory, over millions of years, the germline should be too weak to produce healthy cells, since each generation takes on the damage from the previous generation of cells. However, on November 23rd, 2017, Dr.Bohnert and Cynthia Kenyon reported one way of how the germline can achieve this pseudo immortality, “Right before an egg is fertilized, it is swept clean of deformed proteins in a dramatic burst of housecleaning.” This feature was discovered by studying the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which has similar inner working to our own bodies. They noticed while observing the worm’s egg that it had a heavy amount of damaged proteins, but when the sperm of a male worm reached the egg, almost all traces of the damaged proteins were gone. By running a multitude of different experiments, the researchers were able to develop a chain of events. “It begins with a chemical signal released by the sperm, which triggers drastic changes in the egg. The protein clumps within the egg “start to dance around,” said Dr. Bohnert. The clumps come into contact with little bubbles called lysosomes, which extend fingerlike projections that pull the clumps inside. The sperm signal causes the lysosomes to become acidic. That change switches on the enzymes inside the lysosomes, allowing them to swiftly shred the clumps.”

While this is in the very early stages of development, treatments based on this research could develop in the near future. It could allow humans to expand our own lives and help with longevity. This treatment will not be available in the next couple of years, but possibly in a decade. This is extremely beneficial to the human race because it allows us to live longer. It affects our society for the same reason.

The article was well written for the most part, although there were some areas of the text that seemed choppy and rushed, which made the text even harder to understand. However in other areas of the text, the transitions between paragraphs seemed extremely fluid and neat, which was much easier to read. There were a helpful amount of quotes and backstory allowing the reader to understand the content of the article easily, and provided links to all of the research. Overall, the article was extremely interesting and I enjoyed reading the article.

For Teens, a Good Mood Depends on Good Sleep

Kunzang Namgyal

Mr.Ippolito

AP Biology- EF even

7 December 2017

Prabhune, Meenakshi. “For Teens, a Good Mood Depends on Good Sleep.” Science News for Students, 21 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/teens-good-mood-depends-good-sleep.

I read the article “For teens, a good mood depends on good sleep” by Meenakshi Prabhune. In this article, Prabhune addresses the issue of the amount of sleep teenagers get each night. At this stage of development, teenager’s bodies “want to stay awake later at night and sleep later in the morning.” The issue with this is that school still starts early, making it hard for teenagers to get enough sleep each night to be well-rested for their next day. Missed sleep can make kids more susceptible to mental and physical illnesses as well as drowsy teen drivers, car accidents are the leading cause of teenage death in America. On the contrary, too much sleep can also have negative effects and lead to sour moods. A new study conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles has shown results that teenagers feel their best when they obtain between eight and ten hours of sleep. Rafael Pelayo, a sleep doctor at the Stanford Research Center for Sleep Science and Medicine in California, suggests that teenagers should attempt to acquire the same amount of sleep each night and states that “catching up” on sleep over the weekend can be bad for mental health. He compares sleep cycles to appetites, “we don’t starve ourselves of food on weekdays and gorge on weekends… We shouldn't do that with sleep either.” Many schools have begun pushing back their start times, allowing teenagers to acquire more sleep per night.

This issue directly affects a majority of the students at the Bronxville High School and high schools throughout the United States. Many students feel that they do not have enough time to get enough sleep each night, and often sacrifice precious hours of sleep to their school workload. In fact, Rafael Pelayo, a sleep doctor at the Stanford Center for Sleep Science and Medicine in California has estimated that 80 to 90 percent of teenagers do not get enough sleep. Here at Bronxville School we pushed back our start time from 7:50 to 8:20 and it has made a major difference for some students. Teenagers’ moods and performance not only affect themselves and their peers, but their moods also affect the rest of their families, seeing as the way they act towards their family members is often related to their current mood.

Overall, this was an informative article. I believe that Prabhune did a good job of citing credible sources such as Rafael Pelayo and Andrew Fuligni, who studies the mental health of adolescents at the University of California, Los Angeles. However, there were multiple areas for improvement. Prabhune’s article would have left a more effective impact on readers if instead of mainly focusing on how teenagers could get enough sleep, she had also included the negative side effects of acquiring too much or too little sleep. I also wish that Prabhune had described the study performed at UCLA in greater detail, as it would have been interesting to analyze some of the actual data.

"Deep ocean bacteria discovered to play large role in carbon capture: Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria contribute to the capture of carbon dioxide in deep, unlit ocean waters."

Susie Goodell

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology

11/29/17

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. "Deep ocean bacteria discovered to play large role in carbon capture: Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria contribute to the capture of carbon dioxide in deep, unlit ocean waters." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 November 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171127124706.htm>.

Current Event 9

For this current event, I read the article “Deep Ocean Bacteria Discovered to Play Large Role in Carbon Capture: Nitrite-oxidizing Bacteria Contribute to the Capture of Carbon Dioxide in Deep, Unlit Ocean Waters” from Science Daily. This article discussed the identification of some of the most important microorganisms in the dark ocean. The “dark ocean”, which is the area of the oceans at 200 meters deep and below, comprises 90% of the ocean, but little information is known about the region. Scientists were unsure about how the microscopic life in the area is involved in the transformation of carbon dioxide to cell material, proteins, carbohydrates, and lipids. However, scientists from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences used modern tools to analyze genomes in seawater samples from the mesopelagic zone, the area of the dark ocean from 200 to 1000 feet below the surface. They successfully identified some of the major contributors to this process: nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. Scientists had assumed that bacteria played a role in the processes, but this new research shows that the organisms have a much larger role than previously believed. Although they only account for less than five percent of the microbial cells in the dark ocean, the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria are much larger than the other cells and play the dominant role in the process of carbon capture. Deriving their energy from the oxidation of nitrogen compounds, these bacteria capture more than 1.1 gigatons of carbon dioxide in the region every year. In order to discover this information about the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, the scientists had to create new tools. ‘"Before genomics techniques, the dark ocean was a black box, because microorganisms from this environment refuse to grow in research laboratories,’ said Ramunas Stepanauskas, a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory and director of the Single Cell Genomics Center. ‘Now, using contemporary tools that were developed by our group, we can open this black box and understand who is living there, what they are doing, and how they are doing it."’ The new technology and techniques that were created allowed scientists study the bacteria in more detail than ever before. After analyzing nearly 3,500 genomes of bacteria, scientists began to research the nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, due to its metabolic pathways. Eventually, conclusive evidence proved that these bacteria do, in fact, play an extremely large role in carbon capture.  

The identification of the bacteria in the dark ocean provides scientists with more information about the dark oceans. This can help scientists form more accurate theories about life in the region as well as make new discoveries that shed light on the area. Gerhard Herndl, a professor at the University of Vienna, said, ‘"These results shed new light on the link between nitrogen and carbon cycles in the ocean's interior. We experimentally demonstrated the major role of nitrite oxidizers in capturing carbon dioxide in the dark ocean and illuminated a group of microbes which has not yet received adequate attention for their impact in the oceanic carbon cycle.’" Identifying the bacteria also shows the importance of technological innovations, as without modern technology, the scientists would not have been able to identify the microorganisms and study their behavior.

This article was extremely well-written and had a good structure. The author used language that was easy to understand and explained the concepts well. The article included quotes from distinguished scientists that proved the author’s statements and provided more information about the process. Although, the author did not provide many details about the theories that scientists had before concerning the microorganisms in the dark ocean. Readers could also benefit from an explanation as to how the lab group developed all of the necessary technology for the research. However, overall, the author wrote a well-informed, organized, informative piece on an interesting topic.

“Rock Carvings of Ancient Dogs Getting Taught New Tricks”

Sarah Goodell

Mr. Ippolito

AP Bio: Current Event Review

25 November, 2017

Current Event #9

Fleur, Nicholas St. “Rock Carvings of Ancient Dogs Getting Taught New Tricks.” The New York

    Times, The New York Times, 20 Nov. 2017

www.nytimes.com/2017/11/20/science/dogs-rock-art.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience.

This week, I read “Rock Carvings of Ancient Dogs Getting Taught New Tricks” by The New York Times author Nicholas St. Fleur. As St. Fleur describes, archaeologists in the Saudi desert have recently discovered rock engravings depicting some of the earliest evidence of “human-canine companionship.” According to scholars, the rock art dates back about 8,000 to 9,000 years, during the early Holocene period, which began when the Paleolithic ice age closed. They show hunters using dogs, which closely resemble modern breeds of Canaan dogs, to intimidate and catch prey, such as ibex and gazelles. As stated by Michael Petraglia, an archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany, “This is the first imagery of a dog with a leash…” Maria Guagnin, another archaeologist from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, has also claimed that “We can now say about 9,000 years ago people already controlled their dogs and had them on leashes and used them for really complex hunting strategies.” It has also been speculated that humans in this region began to train dogs before they began to herd cattle.

This article is relevant to society because it is very important for us, as humans, to understand our past and how we have evolved on this planet. In order to do so, we must rely on archaeological finds and other engraved items to tell us about life thousands of years ago. Through understanding humanity’s history, we can further our own society and can work to build a more developed world for future generations. Although this may seem like a small find, the discovery of human relationships with canines from thousands of years in the past opens up a whole new field of discovery and innovation for us to explore. Thus, we can improve our own societies and work towards larger goals. Beginning with small excavations, such as the rock art discovered here, we can build upon those findings to learn more about our cultures and to investigate further.

St. Fleur’s article was very well-written and his argument was easy to follow throughout the piece despite the little knowledge that was available to him on this topic. Because these etchings are fairly recent findings, it is difficult to cite an exact time period regarding the rock art. However, St. Fleur did a great job building his piece. He also quoted and spoke with credible sources, which allowed him to uncover and absorb as much knowledge as he could at the time. As a result of his direct contact with archaeologists on the site, St. Fleur was able to establish his credibility as an author. Next time, he can try talking about the effects of these findings and where the archaeologists will go from here. He could also address which group of people may have created this rock art. We know that it was most likely a nomadic band, but we are unsure about how long it would have taken them and if multiple groups had added onto it.

Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour

Kirsten Ircha         11/25/17  
AP Biology E/F Even        Current Event #9

Citation:

Hamers, Laurel. “Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour.”

Science News, 22 Nov. 2017, www.sciencenews.org/article/cookie-dough-e-coli-outbreaks-raw-flour?tgt=nr.

In the article, “ Step Away from the Cookie Dough. E. Coli Outbreaks Traced to Raw Flour,” by Laurel Hamers, the author explains a common misconception. In general, many people believe that the cause of illness and disease from eating batters and doughs in due to raw eggs carrying salmonella.  Although this is true in many cases, flour is another key area of concern as “The seemingly innocuous pantry staple can harbor strains of E. coli bacteria that make people sick.” Furthermore, uncooked or mishandled flour has led to serious health issues as “Flour has been implicated in two E. coli outbreaks in the United States and Canada in the last two years.” Pinning down the source of the tainted flour “which sickened 63 people between December 2015 and September 2016” proved to be extremely difficult, according to a recent account in the New England Journal of Medicine. Typically, the state health department is able to use standard questionnaires to identify clusters of reported illness. However, as flour is not usually tracked in these surveys, the public health researchers turned to in-depth interviews with 10 ill people.  During these two hour interviews, the individuals were asked about what they had eaten around the time of falling ill. In some cases, people had to recall what they had eaten for specific meals up to eight weeks ago. Luckily two people were able to remember eating raw cookie dough and the scientist found the flour to be sourced from the same plant. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was able to conclude the disease to be caused by, “E. coli bacteria that produce Shiga toxins, which make E. coli dangerous.” In many cases the bacteria was activated by water, eggs, and oil in the batters after being dormant in the bags for months. The study was eventually able, “to recall of more than 250 flour-containing products,” all coming from wheat flour at the same facility.

This topic has a large impact on society as many people eat raw cookie dough or pizza dough and do not think about the possible implication the could occur. For example, the bacteria and pathogens in dry flour are often dormant. However, once liquid reaches this flour, the bacteria is able to replicate and create harmful strands that can cause sickness. Although many people can feel that this could never happen to them, flour is very dangerous when not cooked properly. People can take this information as a lesson and avoid raw doughs and batters. Currently other methods exist to purify flour. As the article claims,  “Heat treatment, for example, will rid flour of E. coli and other pathogens. But the process also changes the structure of the flour, which affects the texture of baked goods, says Rick Holley, a food safety expert at the University of Manitoba in Canada who wasn’t part of the study.” However with more recent research it has become apparent that irradiation can be used to kill parasites and pests bacteria. Nevertheless, it takes a greater amount of radiation to rid the flour of bacteria in comparison to pests. The general lesson is the wait a little bit longer for the cookies to bake in order to prevent unneeded hassle and issues.

The article has many strengths and weaknesses. To begin, the topic chosen for the piece is extremely relevant and interesting, as almost any person is lying if they claim that they have never eaten raw cookie dough or batter. Furthermore, the article is very humorous, allowing the reader to be constantly engaged and interested. However, I noticed that not many scientists and researchers are quoted. I feel the article would have been more supported and reliable with additional quotes and sources. In the future, the author can makes sure to correct this mistake. Furthermore, some points of the piece seem too informal and less academic. This error can be changed simply if the author makes sure to add more complex words or phrases and eliminate overly simple sections of the piece.  These changes would contribute to the overall quality of the article.

Bad News: Bed Bugs like the Smell of Your Dirty Laundry.

Mia Gradelski

AP Biology

Mr. Ippolito

November 20, 2017

Chodosh, Sara. “Bad News: Bed Bugs like the Smell of Your Dirty Laundry.” Popular Science,

28 Sept. 2017, <www.popsci.com/bed-bugs-smell-dirty-laundry.>

At the start of this article, readers are immediately introduced to the disturbing notion of having bed bugs near them while they are sleeping. The article explains the consequences and uncomfortable feelings of knowing about these bugs. The bugs are described as “tiny, flightless creatures that live only in crevices and holes, but that have somehow manages to spread across almost the entire planet.” Furthermore, the article informs readers about the history and curiosity of where they came from which started with the ancient disease, the Black Death. Yet, before this discovery and still till this day, we don’t exactly know where they come from and where they stay. The writer constantly refers to this notion of “questionable creepiness” that lures readers into wondering why they are interested in finding our beds. Multiple tests have been done to track these creepy critters and an interesting finding from the intrepid entomologists at the University of Sheffield have found that the smell of humans is the main attraction. The article frequently discusses what the impact of why this is happening is believed to be based on “detecting the carbon dioxide they exhale, along with mosquitos.” We are later introduced to the infectious critter, C. lectularius, which not only colonizes beds but eats it as well. This evidence is supported by a similar hypothesize that “the carbon dioxide carried out with every snore sends them into a feeding frenzy, but it seems they’ve learned to follow other humans smells as well.” As the article continues to go in depth with the Sheffield scientist’s experiment, readers learn that “bed bugs were twice as likely to make their home in dirty laundry as they were clean laundry, which is the main factor.” The article explains that the main purpose they lie in our beds is due to the laundry that they initially get attracted to, which leads to the dilemma of them multiplying quickly and vastly.

Throughout the article, there are many references that can be useful to me and to anyone who is especially afraid of these pesky little creatures. Although I’ve never experienced seeing one or having one in my bed, I think this information provided is helpful in preventing them from arriving. At the end of the article, the writer include a flashback of how we can insure they cannot happen to ourselves. Society can certainly be affected by the certified hypothesis and results done by this article due to the truthfulness of the contestants during this fascinating lab. Readers are definitely more informed not only about the real reason they approach our bedrooms but why on a science level. For future reference, society knows that washing your clothing is vital to having a hygienic lifestyle and be “criterless.”

Although this article was well written, I didn’t encounter much statistical evidence that was supported by the theory of “carbon dioxide being the main source of how critters land in the laundry.” In addition, it would’ve been more truthful to conduct more experiments done with possibly messy and clean people to compare the rodent and bug population inside their bedrooms. Yet, the author displayed a good sense of bias toward both sides which lead the readers to be more convinced that this can turn into a serious problem if they are not hygienic. In addition, while reading I enjoyed the humour instead of the seriousness that science articles tend to use. In order to improve upon these errors encountered above, I would conduct more experiments with certain types of people to see if the results of having dirty and stinky laundry is a true representation of how many bed bugs you encounter and it would be interesting to hear the author’s viewpoints on these “vampiric critters.”

“Mediterranean style diet may prevent dementia”

Amanda Shkreli

AP Biology

Current Event #2

November 17th, 2017

“Mediterranean style diet may prevent dementia”

LaMotte, Sandee. “Mediterranean Style Diet May Prevent Dementia.” CNN, Cable News Network, 17 July 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/07/17/health/mediterranean-style-diet-prevents-dementia/index.html.

I chose to review the article “Mediterranean style diet may prevent dementia,” written by Sandee LaMotte. In this article, the author addresses new studies that find that the typical diet surrounding the Mediterranean area may help prevent dementia. Already, the diet has been known for increasing your lifespan by strengthening your bones and heart, while reducing the risk for diabetes and high blood pressure. The Mediterranean (or the MIND diet) consists of simple, plant-based cooking, with the majority of each meal focused on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and seeds, with a few nuts and an emphasis on extra virgin olive oil. New research being presented at Alzheimer's Association International conference in London has found that healthy older adults who followed the Mediterranean diet lower their risk of dementia by one third. Claire McEvoy, of the University of California’s San Francisco's School of Medicine, stated that "Eating a healthy plant-based diet is associated with better cognitive function and around 30% to 35% lower risk of cognitive impairment during aging.” In the discussion, McEvoy emphasized that the study was conducted in a nationally representative older population that makes the findings are relevant to the general public. McEvoy’s study investigated the eating habits of nearly 6,000 older Americans with an average age of 68. After making adjustments for age, gender, race, low educational attainment and lifestyle and health issues (such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, depression, smoking and physical inactivity), researchers found that those who followed the Mediterranean diet had a 30% to 35% lower risk of cognitive impairment. Though not involved with the study, Rudolph Tanzi, who directs the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital also adds, "The activity of our genes is highly dependent on four main factors: diet, exercise, sleep and stress management… Of these, perhaps diet is most important."

These new findings are relevant to society because it can help prevent future generations from developing agonizing diseases such as dementia which cause forgetfulness, limited social skills, and thinking abilities so impaired that it interferes with daily functioning. By adapting lifestyles where we incorporate more plants, grains, nuts, and extra virgin olive oil, we can increase the amount of time that we get to live by preventing fatal diseases. Tanzi adds, "It's about time we started placing a greater emphasis on what we eat as we strive to have our 'healthspan' keep up with our increasing 'lifespan'." If we avoid foods such as butter, red meats, cheeses, and fast food, and replace it with plant based foods, we are essentially guaranteed a healthier and longer life.

Overall, I believe that this article was very informative and well written. The author provided excellent information regarding what the Mediterranean diet is, how it positively impacts humans, and what studies have been conducted to prove this information.  However, the article has a few areas where the author could have improved on the structuring of the information. For example, rather than explaining what the Mediterranean diet is after describing the studies conducted, the author should have explained what it is towards the beginning so the reader doesn’t get confused. This could be easily fixed by putting that information in the beginning of the article. Another way that the author could improve the article would be by providing a counter argument, and then refuting it with further evidence.

Antiperspirant Alters the Microbial Ecosystem on Your Skin

Hannah Beldotti

Current Event 8

November 16, 2017

Mr. Ippolito

“Antiperspirant Alters the Microbial Ecosystem on Your Skin”

North Carolina State University. "Antiperspirant alters the microbial ecosystem

on your skin." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 16 Nov. 2017.

<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/160202090529.htm>.

Bacteria can live on the skin of the human body and more commonly in the armpit. The cause of this bacteria in this region of our bodies is deodorant or antiperspirant. To further prove the point that the use of antiperspirant/deodorant can cause more bacteria, scientists and researchers performed a study. Seventeen people were gathered and the participants consisted of; three men and four women who used antiperspirant products; three men and two women who used deodorant and; three men and two women who used neither of the products. This experiment took eight days, where each day the participants would have swabs taken of their armpits between 11 a.m. and 1 a.m. The following sentences explain what scientist Julie Horvath, co-author of the paper, assistant head of the genomics and microbiology laboratory at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and adjunct professor of entomology at NC State, observed, “We found that, on the first day, people using antiperspirant had fewer microbes in their samples than people who didn't use product at all -- but there was a lot of variability, making it hard to draw firm conclusions," Horvath says. "In addition, people who used deodorant actually often had more microbes -- on average -- than those who didn't use product. By the third day, participants who had used antiperspirant were beginning to see more microbial growth. And by day six, the amount of bacteria for all study participants was fairly comparable.However, once all participants began using antiperspirant on days seven and eight, we found very few microbes on any of the participants, verifying that these products dramatically reduce microbial growth.” Later in the article, the authors explains a comparison between humans now and primates. They found that the microbial ecosystems found in the armpits of humans were less diverse than those of the primates. The following sentence said by scientist Julie Horvath perfectly sums up the study. “Over evolutionary time, we would expect our microbes to co-evolve with us," she says. She then continues to say, "But we appear to have altered that process considerably through our habits, from bathing to taking steps to change the way we look or smell." I chose this article because I thought the study was interesting and could relate to life.

This study discussed in this article is important to society because some the author also states that some deodorants contain carcinogens. Carcinogens are, “substances capable of causing cancer in living tissue.” One thing people can do to prevent the use of these products is research to find that some deodorants such as Native are paraben free. The author does a great job of incorporating evidence to further her statements made. For example, she says, “The participants who had been regular antiperspirant users coming into the study had wildly different results. Sixty percent of their microbes were Staphylococcaceae, only 14 percent were Corynebacteria, and more than 20 percent were filed under "other" -- meaning they were a grab-bag of opportunistic bacteria.” This allows the reader to interpret the experiment and understand how it relates to the study. Also, not only does the author provide explanation on the experiments conducted, he also references a published paper,  Proceedings of the Royal Society B. He says, “the researchers, in addition to collaborators at Duke and the University of Pennsylvania, examined the diversity and abundance of microbes found in the armpits of humans, compared to other primates: chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons and rhesus macaques. In that paper, the researchers found that armpit microbes have evolved over time in conjunction with the primates they live on. But the microbial ecosystems found in the armpits of humans are vastly different -- and far less diverse -- than those found in our primate relatives.” It is important when discussing a study to have multiple examples of evidence to support what you are arguing. One thing the author could have included is how this affects society and what we could use as alternatives.

Overall, I thought this article was interesting as it directly related to us as human beings. I learned that one part of my morning routine can potentially have lousy affects.

Ancient enzyme could boost power of liquid biopsies to detect and profile cancers

Isabella Dibbini

Mr. Ippolito

AP Biology

16 November 2017

“Ancient Enzyme Could Boost Power of Liquid Biopsies to Detect and Profile Cancers.”ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 16 Nov. 2017,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171116132751.htm.

The article “Ancient enzyme could boost power of liquid biopsies to detect and profile cancers” discusses the development of a new tool which will provide doctors with a complete picture of an individual’s disease, improving their chances of receiving the best treatment. These scientists developed liquid biopsies that have the ability to rapidly detect the presence of cancers, infectious diseases and other conditions from just a small blood sample. At the University of Texas at Austin, a research team is developing a tool for liquid biopsy that will provide doctors with the specifics of the person’s disease. With this tool, patients will be spared the pain and long wait times associated with surgical biopsies.

A professor in the Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Alan Lambowitz, is studying an enzyme located in bacteria that can be used to detect bits of genetic material which have been shed by cancer or other diseased cells into an individual’s bloodstream. Currently, some liquid biopsies can detect DNA in blood, whereas others detect RNA. However, this enzyme can detect the full range of RNAs with higher accuracy. As Lambowitz explains, cancer-causing mutation can have different effects and respond differently to treatments, depending on the individual because "DNA biomarkers are static. They provide information about mutations that cause a disease, but they don't provide information about the effect of these mutations on cellular processes, which can differ in different individuals.” Lambowitz visualizes a liquid biopsy that would provide health professionals with all different kinds of information. He believes that the group of enzymes that can help are the thermostable group II intron reverse transcriptases (TGRITs). Lambowitz is convinced that this group of enzymes can help because they “find strands of RNA and create complementary strands of DNA that encode the same information and can be rapidly sequenced to provide diagnostic information.” Currently, Lambowitz and his team are collaborating with clinicians to test liquid biopsies based on this TGIRT enzyme.

Because Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide, this article is extremely significant, as it connects to our society today. This new tool for liquid biopsy, that is currently being developed, will save countless lives and also spare patients the pain, inconvenience and long wait times associated with surgical biopsies. This study, that researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are working on, is raising awareness of these diseases, but also providing cancer patients with hope, that they will gain the ability to receive the best treatment. With the advancement of technology in the 21st century, it is easier for scientists to develop new tools, that could potentially improve a patient's overall health.

The article “Ancient enzyme could boost power of liquid biopsies to detect and profile cancers” from Science Daily, discusses new tools that are being developed to further the progress of cancer treatment. In this article, the author discusses the many studies, researchers such as Alan Lambowitz have conducted, and does a great job of incorporating quotes directly from Lambowitz to support his ideas. However, I wish the author included more specifics on the development of this enzyme, for example, information on when this will be completed. Overall, I found this article to be extremely informative, but I wish the author included more about the plans of this enzyme in the future.  

Potential cell receptors to reduce antibiotic resistance identified

Mairead Cain

Mr. Ippolito

A.P. Biology

16 November 2017

University of Tennessee at Knoxville. "Potential cell receptors to reduce antibiotic resistance identified." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 November 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171115155620.htm>.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171115155620.htm

For my current event report, I decided to read and analyze the article “Potential cell receptors to reduce antibiotic resistance identified” from the online news source Science Daily.  The article discusses the discovery of certain chemical receptors by scientists at UT-Oak Ridge National Laboratory Joint Institute for Computational Sciences. The chemical receptors at hand could prevent infection from the common bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa which is “the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections.” Prior to this discovery, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was infamous for antibiotic resistance, in which it would adapt to the drugs used to attempt to kill it. Igor Jouline, a researcher involved in the project, described how the bacteria had to be tricked rather than killed as drugs designed to kill bacteria make it more likely for antibiotic resistance to occur. In particular, the team examined the bacteria’s chemoreceptors, which were described as being, “sensory units that respond to chemical stimuli by collecting information about the environment and feeding it to four signaling pathways, which then control cellular responses.” Through extensive research on different chemicals and bacteria cells, the team discovered that Pseudomonas aeruginosa could be deceived by delivering false information to the chemoreceptors. This crucial information brings scientists one step closer to discovering a proper antibiotic that will not be affected by antibiotic resistance.  

Considering the fact that this article describes the research of new possible ways that scientists can prevent antibiotic resistance, it is evident that the chemoreceptor tricking technique discovered will have a profound effect on the future of treating different cellular viruses.

Igor Jouline, one of the researchers responsible for the crucial discovery, discussed the aid the newfound knowledge could pose to the medical world. “This study will help in choosing novel targets and designing strategies for potential new antibiotics design.” Future studies involving test trials with the technique could lead to further scientific advancements in the fight against certain bacterias and common viruses. Igor Jouline continued to discuss the future use of the chemoreceptor tricking technique. “If a future drug aims at preventing the pathogen from moving across surfaces of a cell as part of the infection process, then a single protein -- the chemoreceptor feeding information into the pathway controlling surface movement -- can be targeted.”

Overall, I believe the article “Potential cell receptors to reduce antibiotic resistance identified” was very well written and equally informative. The authors easily simplify the advanced science behind the technique discovered. Many of the terms used are also defined and described such as the complex chemoreceptor which plays a critical part in the discovery.

The authors go into amazing description when discussing how exactly antibiotic resistance works, what causes it and how it negatively affects patients suffering from the infections caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In an effort to improve the article, the authors should have discussed how, exactly, the researchers involved in the project were able to identify the chemoreceptors of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria. It would have also been beneficial to ask the researchers responsible for the crucial discovery about how they plan on educating the world on the new, possibly lifesaving, technique. Also, the authors should have included more quotes in the article because it would have given readers a further insight on the information at hand.