Brain Shape Linked to Cocaine Addiction

            The New York Times article, “Brain Shape Linked to Cocaine Addiction”, by Douglas Quenqua, gives a brief insight into a new study, published by the journal Biological Psychiatry, that is linking drug addiction, in this case cocaine, to the size of one’s brains. Scientists have come to discover that different regions of the brain control varying actions or emotions, such as language or memory. One such region, or the frontal lobe, is said to affect a person’s self-control. In the study, patients that were addicted or have used the drug before were all tested with brain scans and personality tests. Through this, the researchers were able to find that addicted persons had a small frontal lobe, while sporadic users had a larger one. A smaller lobe would mean that a person would have less control, and thus, would be more prone to addiction. The researchers find this fact to be very interesting, for it reinforces, “…the idea, now popular among addiction experts, that addiction depends less on character and more on biological makeup.” Researchers also believe that differing brain shapes existed before the drug use. This fact would better enhance the drug abusers hope that addiction is based on, “…what type of brain you have.”

            This study and its corresponding article were very interesting to read. It makes sense that there must be some sort of biological factor that causes some people to be more susceptible to addictions, while others less so, but still I found the study to be rather ridiculous. The article is important to personal life and humanity, for it shows the bounds people are willing to go to blame nature for their actions. People in developed worlds know the dangers of drugs, for it has been taught to them since a very young age. Therefore, the fact that someone would go out and even risk becoming addicted is ridiculous. In the article, it said that the study was disproving the Nancy Reagan belief of drugs, which is that a person must “say no or one day or another you will get addicted.” This, however, is somewhat still accurate, for a person, even with a smaller frontal lobe, cannot become addicted to cocaine in one day.

            I, overall, found the article to be very interesting. I was disappointed that it did not go into more details; instead, the article was quite short. It would have been an even better article had more statistics been shown, for it would have been informative to see if some addicted persons had larger lobes, or if some persons not addicted to the drug had smaller lobes. 

New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness

McNerney, Sam. "New Eyewear Could Help People with Red-Green Color Blindness: Scientific American." Scientificamerican.com. Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-eyewear-could-help-people-with-red-green-color-blindness>.

I read the article “New Eye-Wear Could Help People with Red-Green Colorblindness.” It was previously believed that it was necessary for humans to see color so that they could pick the ripest fruits and vegetables in the forests. However, evolutionary neurobiologist Mark Changizi proposed that color vision evolved to perceive oxygenation and hemoglobin variations in skin in order to detect social cues, emotions and the states of our friends or enemies. He founded the 2AI labs which last summer created glasses called O2Amps. The lenses enhance the wearer’s perception of oxygenated blood. These glasses are now being used in a variety of ways, including medical applications and possibly even in police forces. In addition, people who are red-green colorblind also tested the glasses. The glasses appeared to help. For example, Daniel Bor tested the glasses, and without the glasses he failed the colorblindness test. But while he was wearing the glasses he got all the answers correct. While the glasses enhance red and green they make it harder to see yellows and blues, sometimes the yellow is impossible to see. In addition to the glasses, the 2AI labs has also made a prototype lamp that reduces glare.

This article is very significant to everyone’s day to day life. These glasses can not only help people with red-green colorblindness but also help many others. For example, as mentioned in the article nurses can wear the glasses and detect and enhance veins, trauma, and bruising. This would greatly help patients who might be suffering from an internal injury. In addition, TSA agents could detect emotions easier and could potentially detect nervousness. 

I think that this article was very well written. It explained why the glasses were developed and practical applications for them. However, the article did not mention how the glasses worked or what they were made of. I think that if the writer included this information it would have made the article much more informative and interesting. In addition, the article could have mentioned if these glasses would every become available to the public so everyone could benefit from them. 

Treatment to prevent Alzheimer's disease moves a step closer."

Marika Chrisanthopoulos

AP Biology Review

February 3, 2013

Lancaster University. "Treatment to prevent Alzheimer's disease moves a step closer." ScienceDaily, 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 3 Feb. 2013.

            The article "Treatment to prevent Alzheimer's disease moves a step closer” highlights the creation of a new drug that was developed and may enter clinical trials in a few years that could prevent the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. Alzheimer’s is the more common type of dementia, and begins when a protein called amyloid-β starts to clump together in masses in the brain, resulting in the damaging of nerve cells, leading to the overall memory loss and confusion. The amount of people affected by Alzheimer’s disease is expected to get a lot larger, and is expected to double from today’s standards by 2050; by this time, one in three people over 65 years of age will die with dementia. The article describes the successes of Professor David Allsop and Dr. Mark Taylor at Lancaster University; these two men have created a new drug which can reduce the number of senile plaques in the brain by a third, as well as more than doubling the number of new nerve cells in a particular region of the brain associated with memory. The drug is also supposed to reduce the amount of brain inflammation and oxidative damage associated with dementia. In order to test out the drug and see all the positive as well as negative effects, the two doctors used transgenic mice containing two mutant human genes linked to inherited forms of Alzheimer’s so that they would develop some of the changes associated with the illness. The results of this test indicated that the drug had a positive influence on the mice; “the amount of plaque in the brain had been reduced by a third and this could be improved if we have a larger dose of the drug” (Professor Allsop). The drug must be tested further, but in the future, doctors hope to give the drug to people with mild symptoms of memory loss, before they actually developed full-on Alzheimer’s.

            The topic presented in this article is very significant to what we have been studying in class and to my life specifically. We have recently been learning about genes and mutations, and what our DNA means in developing our full characteristics as humans in the long run. We have been identifying some of the traits that have been programmed in our genes, such as having a chromosomal defect such as Down’s Syndrome, as well as those that can be affected by environmental triggers, such as getting lung cancer as a result of smoking. Alzheimer’s disease, a form of dementia, damages and kills brain cells. The causes of this disease is not completely understood, but scientists believe that for most people, it results from a combination of genetic, lifestyle, and environmental factors that affect the brain over time. This article and its components also relate to my life specifically because my grandfather has Alzheimer’s and my grandmother is developing early stages of dementia; I hope that in the near future, this drug and its testing progresses and is successful so that it can help these two people in my life and those in the lives of others that are suffering because of this disease.

            The author of this article was very descriptive in accounting for all the details about the drug, as well as the tests performed on it and the results that came out of the tests. The article was full of information regarding what Alzheimer’s is, and how the drug would help to prevent the disease as well as reduce the effects that it has on humans. It included some statistics about the disease, and how in the future the amount of people diagnosed with it will rise. The only thing that the author could have done a bit better was to possibly give an allotted time for the drug and its manufacturing to go into progression; when are the scientists predicting on starting the sale of the drug when all the tests are done, if the results are positive? Overall, the article was very well written and informative, resulting in my learning more about this disease and the results it has on the human brain and on individuals in general.

RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis: Scientific American.

Alexis Petnuch

            Ferguson, William. "RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis: Scientific American." RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis: Scientific American. Scientific American, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2013. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rna-fragments-may-yield-rapid>.

The article “RNA Fragments May Yield Rapid, Accurate Cancer Diagnosis,” was a look into the near future of using parts of RNA to detect some forms of cancer. Usually, to detect a cancerous tumor, a doctor would perform a biopsy on the suspected tumor. While this proves successful in detection, it can also be deadly for the patient. New studies are showing that strands of genetic information inside microvesicles called exosomes, may help to diagnose some forms of cancer, without performing a biopsy. This is because, within an exosome, there is genetic information that can be tested to determine what the tumor is made up of and the progression of this tumor. Researchers remove the genetic information from the exosome and are able to determine the cancer mutation. This new form of diagnosis will be revolutionary in detecting cancer in early stages, noninvasively. MRI’s are sometimes used in detecting tumors, but they are only able to detect tumors made up of about 100,000 cells. They may also show false positives; dying tumor cells that have been killed by treatment and have not yet been eliminated by the body. Because of this, MRI’s aren’t entirely accurate; exosomes could potentially be a more useful way of detecting cancerous tumors.

By studying the genetic information from an exosome, one would give a clear, accurate, response as to whether or not there is a cancerous tumor in a patient. As of right now, the studying of the exosomes has been able to detect cancers such as glioma and prostate cancer. While there is a way to potentially detect prostate cancer by doing a PSA test; measuring levels of prostate-specific antigen in the body, it is not always 100% accurate. Increased levels of PSA in the body may be signs of prostate cancer, but they can also be signs of other issues. Researchers at Exosome developed a diagnostic kit for prostate cancer with about 75% accuracy. They are hoping that by the end of the year, the first diagnostic kit may be available for actual use.

            I thought the article was written well and was informative. It explained a lot about the exosome use in detecting forms of cancer not previously determined by anything other than a biopsy. There were many references to studies and experiments being taken to prove that exosome use is accurate and I think that if they can get the FDA to approve of the diagnostic kit, forms of cancer will be detected a lot sooner and many lives can potentially be saved.

That Cuddly Kitty is Deadlier Than You Think

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/science/that-cuddly-kitty-of-yours-is-a-killer.html?ref=science

In the article,  “That Cuddly Kitty is Deadlier Than You Think”, the author discusses the new finding that cats are far deadlier than anyone realized. Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats in the United States, both pets and strays, kill a median of 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year; Most of the mammals are native mammals like shrews, chipmunks and voles rather than introduced pests. These findings position the domestic cat as one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife in the nation. The report even said that more birds and mammals die due to cats than from cars, pesticides, and other anthropogenic causes. Because of these reports environmentalists have been debating what to do about this issue. All agree that pet cats should not be allowed to prowl around the neighborhood at will. One idea to manage the 80 million stray or feral cats is to use the trap-neuter-return programs in which unowned cats are caught, vaccinated, spayed, and if no home can be found for them, returned to the outdoor colony from which they came.

This is very interesting since it is important that we do not allow certain mammals to become scarce because of certain predators, one of them surprisingly being cats. It is important that people learn to deal with this problem before it gets too out of hand.

I believe that the author did a great job with the article. The article covered an issue that is very surprising but also interesting. Overall I enjoyed this article because I thought it was very informative.  

Previously Unknown Mechanism of Memory Formation Discovered

The Scripps Research Institute. "Previously Unknown Mechanism of Memory Formation Discovered." ScienceDaily, 30 Jan. 2013. Web. 30 Jan. 2013.

Erica Choi

            The article “Previous Unknown Mechanism of Memory Formation Discovered” discusses the role of unique molecules known as microRNAs in memory formation. MicroRNAs were previously associated with protein production, but Courtney Miller’s researches have revealed their bigger roles. Miller’s research revolved around the rapid genetic testing on a large scale of a human while learning was occurring. Results revealed that the level of microRNAs decreased while learning was occurring. Such suppression of microRNAs is a main supporting factor in the formation of long-term memory in the amygdale of the brain and also in regulating protein synthesis during memory consolidation. More than half of all known MicroRNAs (specifically, miR-182) are found in amygdale of the human brain. The MicroRNAs are also significant in repressing (DNA binding) proteins that control actin, which is a major component of cytoskeleton. Cytoskeleton holds the cells together.

            This article reveals an interesting and important study about human memory. This research remains rudimentary at most, and the majority of the memory formation process remains a mystery to us. For instance, we are still not sure how the suppression of microRNAs formulates memory. However, this research still has immense medical significance. Miller has stated that she will look more deeply into the correlation between memory loss at old ages and accumulation of microRNAs. Overexpression is thought to prevent not only the formation of memory but also lead to a decrease in the ability to adapt to changes. Thus, finding the methods for regulating the amount of microRNAs could be a revolutionary step in the medical field.

            This article was overall well-written, but was confusing at some points. This was mainly because the author incorporated many specific, advanced medical terms without giving their definitions. The part about microRNA’s role in regulating cytoskeleton was especially confusing and seemed irrelevant to memory formation. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/17/science/mouse-study-discovers-dna-that-controls-behavior.html?ref=science&_r=0

This article “Mouse Study Discovers DNA That Controls Behavior” describes a research team that is led to believe that the behavior of animals, and humans, is dictated by the complex genetic coding. Studying the burrows of deer mice scientists have concluded that four major sections of DNA “tell a mouse how long a burrow to dig and whether to add an escape tunnel.” Hoekstra believes that this research will lead to a better understanding of the internal system of the deer mice, and could account for the behavioral variation in humans. This team is applying over a decade of work on ecology and evolutionary biology to study unusual and more complicated behavior than mating, which we understand to be governed by genetics in worms and such. Dr. Hoekstra’s study she observed two species of deer mice, one being the oldfield deer mice, and another, Peromyscus maniculatus. They determined that the tunnel length would be a physical or measurable trait, like a tail. The oldfield deer mice created long tunnels without escape tunnels, unlike the Peromyscus maniculatus, which created tunnels with escape tunnels. They bred the two species and observed the results to “show a blend of characteristics, varying in length and with and without escape tunnels.” They compared variations in tunnels to variations in DNA and found that three sections of DNA determined the tunnel length, and a separate gene determined if there would be an escape tunnel or not. While the research group is not saying that the four DNA are responsible for the entire length of the tunnel, the tunnel length is 30% inherited. And they derived if a short burrow mouse had long burrow DNA it would be 40% more likely to dig an escape tunnel. Still, Dr. Bargmann says while this is great progress in behavioral genetics, it is not the actual genes which is the eventual goal.

            This is article is relative to the topic of genetics we are studying currently and therefore thought it was a great article to review. While I never believed that behavior was determined by specific DNA or genes this article insist that from studying the deer mice and their building of tunnels, that this is in fact true. It’s a cool concept to think that how we act is inherited entirely from our genes, and that in the end our DNA is all chance of how the genes shuffle and pair. By this study scientists believe we are closer to finding a way to correlate our behaviors to our DNA, and possibly even genes.

            Overall I enjoyed this article and its description of the study. One thing I believed could’ve been improved is including the exact results or the statistics after the breeding between the two species of deer mice.  Another is the description of the actual study and what DNA they found to determine the building of tunnels.