My mid-afternoon ‘snack!’ I must have my cheese! Thanks to Karen for bringing it back from Paris!
Here is what I am reading today:
“”Identification of genes associated with brain aging should improve our understanding of the biological processes that govern normal age-related decline,” said John Blangero, Ph.D., a Texas Biomed geneticist and the senior author of the paper. The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is published in the November 4, 2013 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. David Glahn, Ph.D., an associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine, is the first author on the paper.”
“How do you translate habit and instinct into step-by-step pointers anyone can follow? I asked the experts what makes for success in the kitchen, and here’s what they had to say.”
“”The impact of earlier maturation in girls has important clinical implications involving psychosocial and biologic outcomes,” said Frank Biro, MD, lead investigator and a physician in the Division of Adolescent Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. “The current study suggests clinicians may need to redefine the ages for both early and late maturation in girls.””
“As much fun as 3D printing can be (printed mini figurines and lampshades anyone?), it’s also a world-changing technology with the potential to save lives. Scientists at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh just successfully 3d printed embryonic stem cells for the first time, and the technology has the potential to eliminate the need for organ donation. The artificial tissue could also provide laboratories with a ready supply of material for research purposes, eliminating animal drug testing and the need to acquire embryonic stem cells.”
“Surgeon Anthony Atala demonstrates an early-stage experiment that could someday solve the organ-donor problem: a 3D printer that uses living cells to output a transplantable kidney. Using similar technology, Dr. Atala’s young patient Luke Massella received an engineered bladder 10 years ago; we meet him onstage.”
“David Artis PhD, associate professor of Microbiology, and colleagues report inNature that the enzyme HDAC3 is a key mediator in maintaining proper intestinal integrity and function in the presence of friendly bacteria. What’s more, HDAC3 and the genetic pathways it controls appears critical to maintaining a healthy balance between intestinal microbes and their host.”
“”The technique will enable clinicians to better assess a person’s individual risk for disease. It is potentially transformative for personalized medicine,” says Bing Ren, Ludwig scientist at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, who led the research on the new technique, called “HaploSeq.””
18 Comments
JessicaZacarias · November 9, 2013 at 2:37 pm
In response to “Earlier onset of puberty in girls linked to obesity”:
This article seemed to explain that hitting puberty early for girls was detrimental to their social standing but did not seem to investigate whether the physical implications of early maturation are negative or not. It makes sense that obesity levels as a young girl would jump start puberty because once a girl reaches a certain percentage amount of body fat, her body tells her brain that she is physically able to reproduce. Therefore starting the release of estrogen/testosterone from her pituitary gland will come earlier if the girl is overweight. Further research on early maturation should look at the physical consequences for females as well as the social and physical consequences for males.
veronicaflesch · November 9, 2013 at 3:42 pm
In response to both of the 3D printing articles:
This is truly amazing. I heard about 3D printing for the first time just this past summer while interning at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab. While unfortunately I did not get to work with the printers myself, I got to see a demonstration of one in action, simply printing some little plastic shape. An employee explained to me how useful and applicable they were for NASA. For example, he explained how with 3D printers on space stations, if parts were missing, broken, or needed to be replaced, new ones could simply be printed on location. He also explained how they were currently experimenting with printing astronaut food by putting in an “ink” into the printers that was basically the chemical components of foods (proteins, sugars, etc.). The range of applications for this technology is astounding! The employee even predicted that while no one has yet made “A 3D printer for the rest of us,” someone would very soon, and that most homes would have their own personal 3D printers within the next decade or so!
Sarahvais · November 10, 2013 at 10:29 am
In response to the printing of the kidney article: I was just amazed that we have developed something like this. The possibilities are endless for what we can further use this technology for. Printing of organs like this could lead to so many people not having to wait on a donor list for years and still not being able to receive what they have needed all along. Furthermore I would imagine that this would pose a lot less rejection by the individual person if we would be able to develop the organs to be transplanted from there own healthy cells in some way. It could make the lives of so many much easier and their life expectancy could be greatly improved. 3D printing is something that is so new and innovative it still amazes me that so much can be done with it. I recently heard that they have developed a 3D printer which can print a full house in a matter of weeks. It still blows my mind!
Will · November 11, 2013 at 5:10 pm
In response to “Some Girls are growing up fast.” I found it interesting that there was a study on how early puberty could lead to more risks for girls. Obesity being the main problem, it comes about from low self esteem and other puberty related spites that kids have to deal with as they go through puberty. This makes sense because a lot of mental stimuli from the external environment can cause many biological responses that would yield different outcomes depending on the severity of the external outcome. I would be interested in more puberty related articles that may give insight to how bullying can effect a child’s growth.
Will · November 11, 2013 at 5:20 pm
In response to “Is dna from mom or dad?” Every individual has genes from mom and dad, but it was difficult to tell which genes came from which parent. It is awesome that someone has finally figured this out and by doing so, has allowed for researchers to link certain genes from mom and dad to diseases that their family have had. This would allow for prevention of illness in at risk family members. In addition to tracking disease, this technique can help researchers analyze human migration. This means that we could figure out where are ancestors are really from. This article gave insight into how fast technology has gone to be able to read our genome.
lfarr · November 11, 2013 at 8:22 pm
In response to 3D printing article:
I am very interested in how 3D printing is going to change society. I’ve read that eventually people will be able to print a variety of items including food, tools, even computers. I think the 3D printing for stem cells has more positives since the most controversial aspect of stem cells now is the use of embryonic stem cells. It is also beneficial that 3D printing will not need to use animal testing as well. I have also heard that people will be able to print out the necessary tools and structures to build their own home (although, I think housing restrictions and standards would stop this). We can all have our own Smart House; that Disney movie ended up being pretty accurate after all.
JulieLane0116 · November 12, 2013 at 6:58 pm
In response to “Earlier onset of puberty in girls linked to obesity”: It says that early onset of puberty results in greater risk of obesity, but I also know that obesity can result in early onset of puberty. When the body has enough fat stored it tells the body that it’s ready to reproduce. That combined with all the additives and hormones in today’s food, I can really see how those two factors would cause early puberty. It also specifies that ‘the earlier onset of puberty in white girls is likely caused by greater obesity.’ Just white girls? Maybe more data is needed to confirm that likely cause in other races.
Anewman1188 · November 12, 2013 at 9:19 pm
In response to the 3d prininting:
This is exciting for so many reasons. We hopefully will no longer need human donation if all goes according to plan. Animal testing will no longer be necessary which is great. I think what is best is that we potentially have an endless supply to experiment with and there will no ethical dilemmas because no one was harmed in the process of obtaining them.
Anewman1188 · November 12, 2013 at 9:31 pm
In response to how better can make you a better cook:
I have been cooking more than before this year as freshly prepared foods are just so much better than fast food and store prepared dinners. I agree with all the above points but would also like to add that cooking can be a stress relieving experience. After a long day I like to come home and prepare a meal, something I can control and do at my own pace. I like experimenting and see what works and what doesn’t. Plus the end result is always satisfying because you are enjoying something you created.
neirani · November 14, 2013 at 8:19 am
In response to 3D printing. I am very excited about this type of new technology. In my other classes I’ve learned about the issues surrounding organ shortages and the other various types of ways politically we have tried to overcome this shortage. For example, some country’s offer financial incentives to become donors or change the default option to being a donor. But the first option cant overcome coercion of poor and the latter still involves health risks for both people involved in the donation. The advancement of this type of innovative technology seems like by far the best solution. As a side note, I had no idea that printing directly was becoming possible! Crazy!
Natasha Mehta · November 14, 2013 at 9:22 am
In response to “some girls are growing up fast,” I find it hard to believe that early maturation increases chances of obesity. It seems that environmental factors, amount of exercise, and healthy eating habits should play a larger role. I’m sure all 1239 girls in the study did not have equal amounts of exercise or the same diet. There are many vital factors that play a role in a child’s chances of obesity, so I would be interested to see a study that accounts for all of these other important factors.
Natasha Mehta · November 14, 2013 at 10:08 am
In response to “how SCIENCE can make you a better cook,” I agree that if you practice something enough then it will become easier. Like anything, practice makes perfect. I also found it interesting that those who meditate increased their cognitive abilities substantially. This makes sense because if you clear your mind and decrease stress, then you should be able to focus on a single task and perform more efficiently. This would be interesting to put into practice to determine if more meditation would cause one to focus better on various stressful tasks.
chelseadudley · November 14, 2013 at 10:57 am
In response to “Some girls are growing up fast,” I was saddened by the fact that obesity is the largest predictor of earlier onset puberty in girls. I already knew from previous psychology courses that earlier puberty for girls is a lot harder than earlier puberty for boys. For girls, early puberty is accompanied by lower self-esteem, more depression, and lower academic achievement. For boys, however, going through puberty at an early age is usually an ego boost- higher self-esteem and higher academic achievement. To find out that obesity is now a huge predictor of early puberty worries me that this will just make it harder for girls to cope with this rough period of their lives. Being obese can bring higher levels of low-self esteem, higher levels of depression, and worse academic achievement.
chelseadudley · November 14, 2013 at 11:13 am
In response to “How to be a Better Cook,” I found this article to be very relevant to college. As a sophomore and only a year out of the dorms, I had to learn some basic cooking techniques from my mom over the summer. My favorite thing is baking which is a little different than cooking so I was kind of nervous. I already knew that meditating was good for focus but I didn’t think to apply that to cooking. It totally makes sense that focus can help you become a better cook. Skill refinement also makes sense because practice makes perfect!
Sarahvais · November 15, 2013 at 3:07 pm
IN response to Microbes and Intestinal health:
HDAC3 was a enzyme that was found as the connector between intestinal bacteria and mice. This can be further related to humans in that mice and humans are clearly both very closely related. Without the HDAC3 enzyme, the intestinal health drops significantly. I found it interesting that the intestine becomes much more inflamed and thus cannot be as productive. The intestine microbe relationship is clearly very delicate and it makes me wonder how our bodies would function if there were no microbes. It is very cool to see the relationship. I would be interested to see further microbe relationships such as those in other body parts.
JulieLane0116 · November 16, 2013 at 12:04 am
In response to “3D printing of stem cells”: how fascinating!! 3D printing truly is a revolutionary thing. I wonder how much it costs to 3D print a stem cell. Is it a realistic method? I know they are working on altering somatic cells to mimic the function of embryonic stem cell functions. Does the effectiveness of the altered somatic cells even compare to the 3D creation of the stem cells? I can’t wait to see how this increases to expand in the future.
JuliaSpalding · November 22, 2013 at 4:39 pm
In response to “how SCIENCE can make you a better cook”:
I am in no way a chef, but I do enjoy cooking and I liked how this article looked at a different approach to it. I also enjoyed their novel suggestions, things I never had thought of before like boosting your focus! I thought the ability to cook was all about talent and possibly genetics (apparently it skips a generation haha)! But to think focus and preparation can improve your ability makes me optimistic! I thought the point to ‘cook more’ was kind of a no brainer, but hey, I need all the help I can get. I’m interested in exploring how meditation could help cooking and also school/cognitive abilities! I will also make sure to always have onions and butter in the kitchen after reading #4!
Natasha Mehta · December 3, 2013 at 11:19 am
In response to “microbes and intestinal health”: I found this article very interesting. In one of my former microbiology classes, we studied the various bacteria found throughout the intestines and other organs of the body. We were taught that these bacteria must have a balance between the so-called good and bad bacteria in order to maintain proper function of the organs. It is interesting to be able to add to that fact and say that the bacteria itself is controlled by HDAC3, which plays the role of a mediator to maintain proper intestinal function in addition to maintaining the presence of the so-called “good” bacteria. I am aware the cause of irritable bowel disease is not completely understood, but with this study, science is coming closer to figuring out the cause. I found it interesting that those who lack the enzyme HDAC3, were more likely to have irritable bowel disease. This shows that the intestines may have more specialized regulatory mechanisms than we thought to keep our bodies functioning properly.