Pavinato, Vanessa. "Lung Cancer Patients Likely To Respond To Erlotinib May Be Identified By Blood Test." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International Ltd., 03 May 2010. Web. 03 May 2010. .
Specific cancer protein in lung cancer can be treated better if susceptible to Erlotinib
Drugs such as Erlotinib slow the growth of tumors, but are more effective against certain tumors.
Blood samples from the NCIC CTG BR.21 study had shown that erlotinib improved survival compared to two other drugs.
Technique called FISH is the study of tumor cells directly under a microscope.
A serum test can predict up to 99% of people who have proteomic status.
Reflection
This article seemed like any normal article at first, but when I read it, the article had a whole new meaning to it. Now it seems as if there may be a possible cure for cancer, if not that, then at least a prevention. I have never heard of erlotinib or anything similar to it, but if it can help prevent cancer, then it must be very important. I wonder if there are more ways to prevent cancer that are more effective than erlotinib. Lung cancer is becoming more deadly everyday, and if it is possible to reduce its death rate, that would be something I would approve of. This article has helped me understand the helpfulness of a potentially useless drug.
"Immune Cells predict Neck Cancer Therapy." United Press International. United Press International, 27 Apr 2010. Web. 28 Apr 2010. .
Cancer treatments more predictable with use of immune cells.
Observation of level of immune cells in neck or head helps determine cancer treatments.
Looking at level of immune cells through microscope can help determine the minimum toxicity need to treat the infection.
High level of killer T cells located in HPV-positive patients.
Even better when surveying whether pateint is HPV positive or negative.
Reflection
When I read the title of this article, I thought "Isn't this obvious?", at first. I figured that even a layman could work this out. But as i read the story, I realized that it is more complicated and confusing than it seems. I chose this article to examine because it involves both parts of the immune system and cancer in its content. Neck and head cancer is very serious and can be very deadly. My cousin actually was in a situation with similar consequences just yesterday. She had a brain hemorrhage that was leaking blood and she was in a lot of danger. The surgery was successful, but it will take awhile for her to rehabilitate. Cancer is similar to this situation in both danger and consequence, the strongest being death. I hope that this testing will help create better treatments for patients, and maybe even my cousin. This story has helped me understand that simple yet effective processes can help scientists with difficult studies.
PART 1 Odhianbo, Allan. "Kenya: Controversy over GMO Maize Import Deepens." All Africa Global Media. All Africa Global Media, 15 04 2010. Web. 19 Apr 2010. http://allafrica.co/stories/201004141073.htm
Purpose: Inform the reader about the controversy surrounding the importation of GMO maize.
Key information includes:
40,000 tons of South African Maize lying in the port still
Regular priced corn gets more expensive as GMO corn influences the market even more.
Key Conclusion: GMO maize can ultimately harm the environment and possibly the economy if parts of Africa decide not to buy GMO corn.
I can better understand this article and the controversy behind it because of this course. I've learned to look deeper into the article and to assume what the author of the article is saying.
Kenyan Government
Mombasa
Kenyan Biodiversity Coalition
National Biosafety Committee
National Council for Science and Technology (NCST)
This is a report on a topic with international implications.
Kenyan Biodiversity Coalition claimed Kenyan authorities had failed to tell the public of its decesion to import GM maize.
Many African countries are under increasing pressure to grow GM crops to tackle hunger and malnutrtion, and drought in recent years has caused food shortages in Kenya.
Over 40,000 tonnes of maize lying in port untouched
Several sources can verify modification
Part 3
There is a small amount of bias through selection and omission. The writer included several negative comments from people related to the topic. Spoken by the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition's advocacy coordinator, Anna Maria "...It will contaminate the Kenyan gene pool."
There does not seem to be any bias in the placement of information in the article. The information seems organized by importance of information in general, not by favortism of a side of the arguement.
There is bias in the headline. The word controversy gives the situation a negative effect in the reader's mind.
There is no bias in photos, caption, and camera angles simply because there are no pictures connected to the article.
There is not bias in use of names or titles because everyone referred to are addressed by their proper titles.
There is bias in statistics. To make it sound more bigger, the author decided to use actual numbers to describe how much maize there is on the port. Instead of saying "a large amount of maize", the author used actual numbers such as "40,000 tonnes of maize"
There was not bias in the sources used in the article. The author used information received from both sides of the arguement.
Though not too noticeable, the author uses some negative terms, instead of positive terms. Similar to the bias in the headline, subtle words like controversy make the situation seem more negative.
"Stem Cells Harvested From Teeth." Fox 12 Idaho. World Now and KTVR, 07 Apr 2010. Web. 08 Apr 2010. .
Doctor Lon McRae from Boise, Idaho has harvested stem cells from teeth.
Can use baby teeth or regular teeth.
"Stemsave" is a company that stores the stem cells.
Doctor McRae has only tried this experiment on his son so far.
Wisdom teeth have the strongest cells.
Reflection
This story caught my eye when I read it because I thought stem cells only came from certain places, specifically embryonic cells. Now, stem cells are being found all over the body. Teeth seem like a logical choice because they are strong tissues that are packed together. These hardened tissues could possibly be a source of stem cells. This story seems similar to Embryos-R-Us, because so many people and corporations have a stake in this discovery. I wonder if this experiment will work on others besides his son, the single patient Doctor McRae has already performed on. If it does, then it may create a new breakthrough in stem cell technology. This new experiment has shown me that anyone can discover something, if they look close enough in biology.
Clements, Janice, Gregory Szeto, Angela Brice, Shelia Barber, and Robert Siliciano. "Acne Drug Prevents HIV Breakout." Red Orbit. Red Orbit, 20 Mar 2010. Web. 25 Mar 2010. .
Minocycline, a drug found in an acne prevention product, is able to prevent dormant HIV from reactivating or replicating by working with HAART.
Inexpensive and safe antibiotic discovered to work on HIV by Janice Clements and Gregory Szeto.
Can lock the virus in a dormant state by altering T-cells and reducing their ability to activate and proliferate, which is a key state in the development of HIV.
More effective than other treatments, because it targets cellular passages, not the individual proteins.
Drug doesn't obliterate the cells or diminish their ability to communicate; all it does is keep the virus cells from reactivating.
Reflection
This seemed like an interesting topic to cover because I fins it ironic that a solution to preventing one of the most notoriously dangerous viruses in the world was found in an acne drug. Acne drugs are very unpredictable because I have heard of certain acne drugs causing things from major migraines to depression. Now there is a prevention to HIV that is coming from an acne drug. I wonder if the scientists will be able to produce an actual cure to the virus from what they have so far in the future. I would like to know what possessed the scientists to look in something as random as acne prevention products for the prevention to HIV. Perhaps there is a connection between the two different items, but maybe Minocycline is found in other things, besides acne drugs. I hope that the scientists will be able to put this discovery into action soon and I hope that it will work on regular patients. This has reinforced my thoughts about how something can become famous or useful for an item it wasn't intented to help.
Watts, Chris. "Using own skin cells to repair hearts on horizon." Physorg. Physorg, 02 Mar 2010. Web. 10 Mar 2010. .
Advancement in stem cell research: Skin cells engineered to function as early stage heart cells by Doctor Robert Schwartz.
Skin cells similar to embryonic stem cells, so it is possible to change the skin cells.
This advancement may lead to treatment of Alzheimer's, diabetes, and many other diseases.
Even though Schwartz is not the first to turn adult cells into stem cells, his discovery is the most groundbreaking.
This method requires less steps and the result has more stem cells.
Reflection
I chose this story because it seemed very interesting that specialized cells can be turned back into stem cells. We learned that specialized cells cannot be changed into stem cells, but I guess skin cells aren't really specialized. Also, advancements are being made everyday and new theories are replacing and proving old theories wrong. This also shows that everything in the body, no matter how small, has potential to become important. This is comparable to having a normal worker become an executive director in a small period of time. I hope that this research is successful one day, because it is very possible that this will save many lives one day. This topic interests me greatly, because it seems like a "gravity-defying" moment in stem cell research. This would definitely be a topic I would like to research further on another day. It has revealed to me that old theories are being proven wrong and that new advances change the basis of modern biology today.
Jenkins, Simon. " Beef import decision 'risks Aussie jobs' ." WA Today. Fairfax Digital, 05 Feb 2010. Web. 10 Mar 2010. .
The Australian government's decision to allow beef from BSE infected countries may cost 300,000 workers their jobs in a single week.
Australia had so far not been infected by BSE, Scrapie, Blue Tongue, or FMD, which are the major diseases that animals contract.
They could lose their disease-free selling advantage by allowing infected beef to enter the country.
Professor John Matthews believes there will be no further risk in letting beef from disease countries come into the countries.
The only argument is how many new cases will show up with this development, but it should not change too much.
Reflection
The reason I chose to analyze this story is because it was hard to process the fact that letting beef from extra sources come in for the first time, could cost 300,000 people their jobs. Also, this job loss happening in a single week is just as astonishing as the previous statistic. I'm a little impressed that Australia has not been affected by any of the main diseases that are often seen in livestock. I can see why they have held out so long, mainly because they are an island nation, isolated geographically from the other continents. I believe the government has a reason to start accepting the beef from other nations. They cannot grow reliable on their own meat or only some countries. On the other hand, I believe the public should have a good say in this argument, with sound evidence provided, so that political fallout does not occur due to the government's important decision that was made without public consent. This has helped me learn the gruesome truth about diseases that are in our world today.
