When you hear the term HIV what do you think of? Very little people will think of the word vaccine when they hear HIV. But, is a vaccine for HIV somewhere close in the distance? HIV is an extremely complex and different type of virus than any other virus the world has created a vaccine for. Before a vaccine is created, the biology of the virus must be understood. Throughout the world there are nine different subtypes of HIV, which are continuously changing once inside one’s body. So, how on earth are scientists supposed to create a vaccine for a virus that is constantly changing?

In 2009 in Thailand a trial with over 16,000 volunteers was performed in which two different developed vaccines were used together in combination. Amongst the 16,000 the two vaccines together reduced the risk of HIV by 31.2%. That percentage is certainly not high enough to be an effective vaccine but, its a start. Scientists are aiming for a vaccine that reduces the risk of HIV by over 50%. Although the vaccine would only reduce one’s risk by half, it would save many lives in the future. If a vaccine of 50% is introduced, scientists will work to develop a vaccine that is 80%-90% effective which is the case for most vaccines.

The introduction of HIV came in 1983 and has now been around for 31 years. Those 31 years seem life an awfully long time to develop a vaccine for just one virus. However, to put things into perspective, it took us 33 years to develop a vaccine for HPV and 47 years for a vaccine for polio. HIV continues to be an extremely deadly disease but, there is hope that this virus can be beat.

References:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/01/health/are-we-on-the-road-to-an-hiv-vaccine/index.html?hpt=he_c1

Sounds crazy right? A study performed by Northwestern University went out to discovery if babies who spent more time in their mothers’ womb resulted in better academic results throughout elementary and grade school. Yes the title is misleading but weight gain correlates with the amount of time the fetus is in the womb.

The study observed and recorded all school records for children that were born in Florida between 1992 and 2002. The study consisted of over 1.3 million children and looked for correlation between the weight of a newborn baby and their cognitive development, and what they discovered was interesting. They determined that babies who tended to weigh more at birth tested higher from third to eighth grade.

What this experiment did well was the large size of participants who were involved. However, there were a few things that I did not like about this article. The article never clarified what weight was considered to be “heavier”. The average weight of a newborn baby is 7.5 pounds. The article kind of leaves us guessing when it comes to how much a heavier baby really weighs. Also, this experiment does not consider the intelligence of the children’s parents. I myself think that there are several third factors that are not taken into account during this experiment. I think though overall, the correlation between the amount of time a fetus spends in the womb and it’s intelligence growing up is a very interesting topic and should be further looked into.

References:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/12/02/heavier-birth-weight-tied-to-better-academic-performance-study-finds/

For those of you who know what ayahuasca is and its effects, you may be thinking there is no way this drug can have any medical benefits at all. For those of you who don’t know what ayahuasca is, its a drink brewed by Banisteriopsis caapi vine which is found primarily in the Amazon and this drug makes you hallucinate…A LOT. There have been reported deaths because of the drug but, very little is know about the long effects that the drug does to the body. However, some people believe that this drug can be used as medicine.

A claim has been made that ayahuasca can potentially assist in alleviating the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and suicidal thoughts. The largest group of people who are seeking the drug are war veterans. In many cases veterans are diagnosed with PTSD and suffer from the reoccurrence of a traumatic memory they experienced during battle. One war veteran, Former Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan LeCompte, is a large advocate of the use of ayahuasca and organizes trips to Peru for fellow war veterans like himself. LeCompte says that everyone knows that they are taking a risk when taking ayahuasca and believes that the risk is outweighed by the reward. He states that many veterans are not satisfied with the medication they are provided for PTSD, “It’s just, ‘Here’s a pill, here’s a Band-Aid.’ The ayahuasca medicine is a way to, instead of sweeping your dirt under the rug, you know, these medicines force you to take the rug outside and beat it with a stick until it’s clean.”

It is understood that ayahuasca highly effects the amygdala which is the part of the brain that stores someone’s most traumatic memories. In our lives, powerful or traumatic events create an imprint (pattern) on our brain. This imprint causes us to react similarly to situations that might be common to the first traumatic event. Repeated traumatic events causes these “patterns”  to be reinforced by getting bound together by protein (like built up scar tissue). When ayahuasca is taken it hyper activates the entire brain region where emotional memory is stored, which often uncovers long and forgotten memories. This hyperactivity temporarily overrides the previous patterns in the brain, allowing new connections to be made. For veterans sake, this hyperactivity can override their traumatic events that occurred during battle. The new connections that are formed in the brain can make the old traumatic events seem not so bad after all.

Obviously this article is very controversial and extremely interesting. It seems that the drug could help a specific group of individuals in particular however, other than that I do not see many medicinal benefits that can come from ayahuasca.

References:

http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/22/health/ayahuasca-medicine-six-things/index.html?hpt=he_bn3

Medical marijuana is an extremely hot topic right now across the nation. It has now been proven that this illegal drug (in most states) has copious amounts of medical benefits. I came across an article titled “Marijuana compound may slow, halt progression of Alzheimer’s”. Some may think how could a drug that worsens one’s short term memory help with a disease that is all about memory loss? Well, a study that was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease states that marijuana may indeed help patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s.

Neuroscientists went to work on a cellular model of the disease and discovered that in low doses, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) lessened the production of amyloid beta. The scientists also discovered that, in low doses, THC prevented abnormal accumulation. Now many of you including myself will have no idea what any of that means. To explain, abnormal accumulation is one of the early signs of Alzheimer’s. A neuroscientist, Chuanhai Cao, explains it well, “Decreased levels of amyloid beta means less aggregation, which may protect against the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Since THC is a natural and relatively safe amyloid inhibitor, THC or its analogs may help us develop an effective treatment in the future.”

It was also discovered that THC enhances the function of the mitochondria. This is very important because mitochondria assist in keeping a healthy brain. The researchers believe that the medical benefits of low doses of THC outweigh the risk of potential memory loss. Marijuana in no way will cure Alzheimer’s, but this discovery is definitely a step in the right direction to finding a reliable treatment for the disease.

References:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/08/28/marijuana-compound-may-slow-halt-progression-alzheimer/

For the past decade or so people have tried to limit their consumption of saturated fats. It was believed that these fats were a leading cause of heart disease and diabetes. As word about these “bad” saturated fats spread, people began to intake more carbs. A study, performed by The Ohio State University, went out to discover if the claims about saturated fats were true.

The University’s  discoveries were not consistent with the previous beliefs of saturated fats. The study, which lasted 21 weeks, consisted of 16 middle age obese adults . The researchers placed the participants on a very strict diet which contained carbs and saturated fats. It is to be noted that before the study the participants involved were on a low-fat and high-carb diet. For the first three weeks of the experiment the participants were placed on high fat low carb diet which consisted of 84 grams of saturated fat and 47 grams of carbohydrates. The researchers discovered that there was no increase in the amount of saturated fats in the blood stream after the first three weeks.

Every three weeks after that the researchers decreased the amount of saturated fat intake, and increased the carbohydrate intake. By the end of the 21 weeks the participants were intaking about 346 grams of carbohydrates and 32 grams of saturated fats each day (which is the recommended daily amount of carbs by the U.S dietary).  As the amount of fats consumed was decreased, the researchers found no changes in the level of saturated fat in the blood. However, the researchers also noticed an increased of a fatty acid called palmitoleic every three weeks after the first observational period. This particular fatty acid is linked with several things such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart failure, etc.

The risk of excess carbohydrate intake has been overlooked by the risk of excess intake of saturated fats. Carbs can indeed lead to health issues if taken in large quantities. Although the study performed was particularly small, it is something to think about.

References:

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/12/03/heart-disease-and-diabetes-risks-tied-to-carbs-not-fat-study-finds/

With the beginning of the winter upon us, it is that time of year in which the common cold/the flu are likely to occur. Two good ways to try to prevent the spread of illness is washing your hands with soap and water thoroughly or, using alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Both can reduce your risk of spreading the common cold but, could partaking in both reduce the risk even more?

Researchers in New Zealand set up an experiment to discover just this. These researchers got 68 primary schools, consisting of over 2,400 students, to participate in the experiment which lasted around 20 weeks. All of the students had to attend a 30 minute hygiene class. The research split the 68 schools into two controlled groups. One half had to wash their hands with soap and water. The other half washed their hands with soap and water as well but in addition, this group had to use hand sanitizer before they ate a meal, sneezed or coughed. Whenever a student missed school, the school had to find out if it was due to illness.

Over the 20 week period the amount of absences due to illness were extremely similar between the two groups. The results show that, in areas in which there is clean water, using hand sanitizer after washing your hands with soap and water does not add any additional medical benefits. This is not to take away any significance from hand sanitizer however. If clean water and soap is not available to someone hand sanitizer is a great second option. Overall, anything to reduce the spread of germs and illness is a good thing.

References

 http://thechart.blogs.cnn.com/2014/08/12/hand-sanitizer-doesnt-help-in-schools/

In todays society, people want to look their best. The natural blemishes of the human body are looked at now as “ugly” or “gross”. One of these blemishes being oily looking hair. I myself shower just about every day to maintain good hygiene and to look good. Although our hair may look good after we shower, are we doing it more harm than good by washing it everyday? Across the board there are many different opinions suggesting several different ideas of how often we should wash our hair.

Scott Cornwall a top hair consultant said “A good benchmark for hair washing should be twice a week or when you feel your hair needs it. If you have very thick, long and curly hair and need to spend a considerable amount of time blow-drying or styling, a good weekly wash would suffice.” Now, there are different variables that are brought into play. According to Mr. Cornwall we must take into account the type of hair we have when thinking about how often we should wash it.

A very different opinion comes from Marilyn Sherlock the Chairman of the Institute of Trichologists who states “Wash it every day. We wash our bodies every day and clean our teeth twice a day, why should hair be any different?” Marilyn is a part of the minority in her opinion about hair washing amongst trichologists. However, she does support the same claim as Cornwall when she said that African-Carribean hair should be washed two to three times a week because it is more porous and needs oiling.

These two opinions start off very differently however, they both conclude with somehow saying that different types of hair require different types of treatment. Longer and thicker hair can go longer between washes than short and thin hair because the sebum (oil produced by sebaceous glands) does not move across the hair shaft as rapidly.

Ultimately how frequently an individual washes his/her hair is his/her choice. An experiment could be conducted with two people who have similar hair styles. One person would wash his/her hair every day and the other would was his/her hair two to three times and week. This experiment would be extremely long but, it could help in leading to answers.

References:

http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-skin/features/how-often-wash-hair?page=2

http://www.webmd.com/beauty/shampoo/how-often-wash-hair

Howdy, I’m Chuck Johnson a freshman from New Jersey. I decided to take this course because my advisor at orientation told me to do so because it fulfills one of my required gen. eds. I do not want to be a science major because I hated every science course I took in high school other than Chemistry. I am huge soccer fan and my favorite team is Chelsea.