Conjoined twins

Conjoined twins, Carl and Clarence Aguirre, just underwent, their third major operation on the 20th of Febuary. This operation was 5 1/2 hours long. It involved seperating bone from blood vessels. One of the major veins was seperated, and if it was punctured, the twins could have died from bleeding within a few minutes. Most of the veins went to Clarence, and the doctors hope that Carl's other veins will take the task of draining blood from the brain. A different part of the boys' skulls has been cut into during the 3 operations. Only 2 to 3 inches remain to be seperated which will officially split them apart. They are currently doing well, but the doctors had to wait 72 hours before the threat of seizures passed.

I thought that the this article was very inspiring. I think it is wonderful that the doctors are trying to give the twins lives of their own. They are different people with different personalities, and I think that if they are conjoined, people might just see them as one person, instead of as two individuals. Being split up gives them a chance to do different things and take some time away from eachother. They can be what they want to be when they grow up. If they were together, they would have the same job. I know this is sad, but people will also look at the twins as if they are more normal. They won't look so different from everybody else if they are not conjoined. For the most part, I think the surgery is a great idea and I hope they come out alive and healthy. To read more about the conjoined twins check out this article.

Comment on "HIV Blocking Cell In Monkies" -Curtis E

That would be good if what the scientists found really could prevent HIV, but it would also allow people to feel safer. Therefore, more adultry would be committed. Well, at least many more lives will be saved!

Cryptosporidium Parvum

Cryptosporidium parvum is a single-celled animal. Diseases in young calves have been discovered to come from the same host as the form infecting humans. These animals infect many herd animals. The oocyst, which is the infective part of the organism is about half of the size of a red blood cell. Sporocysts are exposed to UV sun-rays, but not chemical disinfectants. The organisms that effect the respirtory system and the organisms that infect the intestines are not able to be identified apart from each other. Read about it.

HIV blocking cell in monkeys

Scientists have discovered a protien in monkey cells that can help to block HIV, which can improve treatments for the diease. The protein is called Trim5-alpha, and it targets the HIV virus cells and doesn't let them into the healthy cells. Scientists say that humans also have a version of this protein, but it's not as strong as the monkey's. This finding is important to help invent a vaccine to prevent HIV in humans. Here is the link if you want to read the article.

Developmental Disabilities

Here is a fact about 17% of the U.S. children under 18 years of age have developmental disability. Developmental disabilities is a differant group of physical congnitive psychological sensory and speech impairments which could have began anytime during development up to the age of 18.

Rats Thinking In Their Sleep!!

A test shows that rats have rapid eye movement in their sleep. They also show a high percentage of brain wave activity in their sleep! Scientists placed electrodes in the brains of the rats to show the high rate of brain activity in their sleep. Read more about it!

Researchers Successfully Find Evolutionary Leap

Scientists at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan have found an unprecedented evolutionary leap in E. coli bacteria, and findings from their study could have protein production for the biotechnology industry.

Cloning human Embryos.

Scientists have for the first time used cloning to create human embryos that live long enough to have their stem cells harvested. This could set the stage for scientists to produce cells and tissues, tailored to a patient's genetic identity, that can treat a wide variety of human illnesses. The accomplishment also provides a road map for how to clone a person, an even more divisive undertaking.
The biologists treated the eggs with two chemicals to trick them into dividing as if fertilized by sperm. The eggs then grew in the lab dish until they became balls of about 100 cells.
No human-cloning experiment previously reported in a scientific journal had generated embryos that survived this long. Some colleagues have optimized experimental conditions.

Smallpox:Has your dentist seem it?

At the Indian University of Dentistry, a sample of smallpox was found on the forearm and arm of a 50-year-old specimen. Officially there is only smallpox samples in Russian labs and the Center for Disease and Prevention in Atlanta. Scientists are able to test new drugs in case of an outbreak natural of unnatural.
What makes this arm hard to work with is that it wasn’t stored under good conditions. Even though biodegradable items are preserve it can still decay over time. Another reason this is a serous problem is how many other samples are there. When the Soviet Union broke up in the 90’s many officers in the military weren’t paid for many mouths, making then easy to bereave. Even though the USSR signed an argument to stop making bio weapons they still did. They said we lied to there scientists to make them work. Today Russia says they are missing about one hundred nukes. How munch 3-in. dishes of smallpox could be missing.

Comment on Matt P's smallpox article

Smallpox is something I have never had to worry about, and now people are trying to control a disease that they can't control, no matter how hard they try. People in the world should have never saved any particles of this disease, even though intent might have been good. These people also need to watch Sesame Street more.

Comment on Deveplmental Screening

Casey had some good points in his blog. But to tell you the truth, I'm actually part of that 17% of children with A.D.H.D. Sad? Very....but it is true. And children that suffer from it, are more likely to fail tests and exams that any other child disorder.

Comment on Gwen's Extincted Animal Artical

Who would've thought you'd find an extinct monkey with such a strange name? And to have found it. That must have been the greatest discovery yet. Although, it gives me something to wonder about in spanish.

Sleeping on it

Have you ever heard the saying 'let me sleep on it'? Well, I found out that the more sleep that you get, the smarter you are. I thought it sounded weird. But according to the Neurologist Jan Born of the University of Lübeck in Germany, getting at least a full 8 hours of sleep will help you do better in everything. I guess thats just one theroy I'll have to test out.

Comment on Zac's puberty article

What kind of stress would carp fish be going through so that their puberty organs are delayed? I didn't know the life of a fish was that scary and difficult. Oh, yeah, they get eaten, that must be pretty stressful. I understand now.

Cancer-Fighting Plant! WOW!

I read an article entitled Scientists Develop Plant That Produces Potential Anti-carcinogen. cool beans! A man by the name of Prf. David Salt, a professor of plant molecular biology, has raised plants with tolerance to unusually high levels of a chemical compound called selenium. Selenium is a known anti-carcinogen for prostate cancer, and, if Prf. Salt has found a way to grow it in plants, could possibly be used for other types of cancer. This is really good news! Scientists have been searching for the cure (or better treatment, at least) for cancer for such along time, and now they are one step closer to finding it. Here's the link, so hopefully this will work to get you to the site if you want to check it out.

Extinct Animal Found

A monkey called Miss Waldron's red colobus monkey was said to be extinct in the year of 2000. Now people are saying that there is evidence to prove that this monkey is still around. This monkey is described as a small, black monkey with reddish fur on its forehead and thighs. People believe that these monkeys used to live in packs in the rainforests of eastern Ivory coast and also western Ghana. Some eveidence that this species is still around is that a hunter bought the skin of a simalar monkey almost two years ago and also a picture taken showed a similar monkey that was freshly killed.While people are not sure if the monkey is still around, they do have an exact location of where the monkey could be. This rare species is said to be found in the southeast corner of Ivory coast.

lumber

The many carcinogens that are in the wood known as 'pressure treated lumber' is called chromated-copper arsenate. It is a harmful chemical that causes risks to children indirectly. Cancer is one of the main things that can be a result of touching or inhaling the carcinogen. The Environmental Protection Agency approved this 'pressure treated lumber' decades ago but just until recently (about 2 years ago) it was beginning to not be used because of the harmful effects.

Comment on Deveplmental Screening

I never know that 17% of children in the United States had a type of Deveplmental or behavioral disability disorder. And also I did know was that less than 50% of children are not found befor they start school and by that time it can not be treated.

DEVELOPMENTAL SCREENING

Did you know that 17% of the children in the United States have a developmental or behavioral disability they are things such as autism, mental retardation, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? To add to the problem many children have delays in there languages or other areas that also impact school readiness. Less than 50% of all the childen who have these diseases are found before they start school, by that time there have been delays, and opportunities to treat it have been missed.

Decrease in Vulture Population

Vulture populations have been decreasing in Pakistan. The vultures took a medicine and have been dying from it. It is not the dead carcasses the vultures eat, but it is the medicine. The three species of the vultures that are declining are the oriental white-backed, the slender-billed, and the long-billed.

Coauthor Rick Watson of the Peregrine Fund in Boise, Idaho, says, "These three species of vultures will become extinct in the wild within five years". Without vultures eating the carcasses, fox population will shoot up and there will be more chance of rabies.

Eighty-five percent of the dead vultures had chalky absorbant stuff in their organs which signals kidney failure. The team of biologists found that feeding the dead-drugged mammals to the vultures made the vultures die. Read more here.

Stress Delaying Puberty

Changes in water temperature produce stress in fish. It directly delays the development of reproductive cells into sperm cells. During puberty, steroids from the testes ensure that the brain, the pituitary gland and testes develop properly. The brain produces the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, which stimulates cells in the pituitary. In the testes, the gonadotropins promote the production of reproductive cells and steroid hormones. Therefore, slowing down puberty. For more information, visit this website.

Cell regeneration

A group of scientists called "The SCRIPPS team" saw that by treating mouse muscle cells with 50,000 different volunteer molecules that they hoped might switchout the enzymes capable of producing dedifferentiation. The cells that were treated with reversine killed off muscle-related genes and stopped giving to muscle cells, proposing that they had dedifferentiated. When treated with the certain chemicals, the cells seemed to form fat or muscle cells.To improve on the process, the team needs to carefully keep the muscle cells "regressing into a stem-cell-like state" They must also see which enzyme's reversine interferes with the cell, and whether it might cause problems in the human body.

They have found a simple chemical compound that might cause the same effect. A tiny drug molecule might be easier to use in the clinic than operating on the genes. Read the article here.

Helen Pearson

Prions(the group investigated the protein) cause a disease when they take on a different form, accumulate in the brian. Some researcher are trying to prevent . They are using antibodies to grab hold of normal prions and prevent this disease.Williamson urges caution for researchers working on antibody because it can cause brain damage.
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