Who would’ve ever guessed that doing something as simple as cleaning your bathroom could be dangerous when mixing the wrong cleaning products? For me and my family, we have always cleaned our own house instead of having a cleaning lady, and it never occurred to me that mixing cleaning products could be a very bad idea. So of course when my little brother called me today to talk about his day at school and to tell me that mixing bleach and Windex could possibly kill me or any human, I didn’t believe him. There have been several times when I doubted my brother and ended up being wrong, so I figured that I should look into his claim.

Of course my brother ended up being right, so I’ll give him credit for this blog- thanks Sean. I actually found out that mixing bleach and ammonia, which is a major chemical in Windex, is extremely dangerous. When the two are mixed there are three dangerous possible results. Depending on the amount of bleach and /or windex you combine, chlorine gas, nitrogen trichloride, or hydrazine will be your result. All three substances are extremely dangerous.

Chloride gas can cause severe pain and can even result in death when inhaled. When in the presence of chloride gas, one’s eyes will begin to burn and obliterate the cells within your nose, throat, and lungs. If exposed for a long enough time, the chloride gas can result in death because of all the damage done to one’s respiratory system.

Nitrogen trichloride occurs when one mixes mostly bleach and a bit of ammonia. Nitrogen trichloride is exceedingly explosive. Any type of near by heat source, light source or electric shock is just enough for a violent explosion to occur. Nitrogen trichloride explosions are capable of taking one’s fingers, eyes, or vision. Even if the mixture didn’t explode, the chemicals produced by nitrogen trichloride are still able to damage mucus membranes and cause one’s eyes to tear as a result of the pain.

The third hazardous chemical made by bleach and ammonia is hydrazine. Hydrazine is a major element used in rocket fuel. Hydrazine is similar to nitrogen chloride when it comes to explosives. Hydrazine is the chemical reaction of mixing mostly ammonia and some bleach. In the past, there have been records of hydrazine being ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin. The result of this dangerous chemical coming in contact with one’s body is violent. Symptoms of any type of contact with hydrazine includes “burning sensation of the eyes; irritation of the skin, nose, or throat; dizziness; nausea; blindness; kidney damage; convulsions; and a host of other side effects. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found hydrazine to cause cancer in animals.” (1). 

After conducting some research about the mixing bleach and ammonia and the harmful chemicals and effect it gives off, I’m ecstatic that I never accidentally combined bleach and ammonia during the several years I’ve helped keep the house clean. l’ve also decided not to question my little brother’s intelligence anymore.

Resources:

(1) http://chem.answers.com/experiments/why-not-to-combine-ammonia-and-bleach

http://chemistry.about.com/od/toxicchemicals/a/Mixing-Bleach-And-Ammonia.htm

While sitting in my bed researching and trying to write a blog on NASA’s aim to launch science experiments to the International Space Station, I actually started wondering if it would ever be possible for humans to easily travel back and forth between the earth and space.

In 2004, SpaceX, an American private space corporation, began building Dragon. Dragon is a reusable spacecraft that is designed to transport cargo and humans back and forth between the earth and space stations. Just four years ago, in December 2010, Dragon was launched into orbit and upon its return this spacecraft had become known as the first operating spacecraft that has returned back to the Earth.

In 2012 history was made when Dragon became the first commercial spacecraft to transport cargo to the International Space Station and safely deliver cargo back to the Earth. Having created a spacecraft that has the ability to safely transport materials and resources to and from the International Space Station opens a significant amount of opportunities for our nation and scientific research. For example, NASA is planning to launch four science experiments up to the International Space Station with the Dragon spacecraft.

Also what I find entreating about the Dragon is that it was designed to send people into space from the very beginning, which implies that it is an actually possibility. Dragon actually has two different configurations, Dragon Cargo and Dragon Lab, which allows the spacecraft to be flown for unmanned and manned flights. The Dragon was built to hold up to 7 astronauts. The pressure section of Dragon is the part of the spacecraft that is capable of transporting humans and cargo.

In 2010 Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, stated in an interview with SPACE.com that one Dragon would most likely be produced every three months and that he was trying to decrease production rate from three months into six weeks. By September of 2013, ScapeX had only six Dragons in various stages of production. Even though production rate want very close to Musk’s expectations, six developing spacecrafts is something a company should be proud of.

SpaceX has planned that within the next 2-3 years, Dragon’s first manned test in expected to take place. Currently, SpaceX is building the refinements that will allow Dragon to carry a crew. If Dragon’s ability to safely transport human beings is successful and Musk’s production line expectations of Dragon become true, then humans ability to travel to space and back could actually be a possibility within the near future.

Resources:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140918122845.htm

http://www.spacex.com/dragon

http://www.spaceflight101.com/dragon-spacecraft-information.html

http://www.space.com/10443-spacex-ceo-elon-musk-master-private-space-dragons.html

Nail polish, mascara, hair products, bronzer, eye shadow… these are all beauty products and cosmetics that are widely used all over the world today. Most cosmetic users, including me, tend to make the assumption that every cosmetic product is tested to make sure it is safe before it’s released onto the market. Unfortunately, this statement isn’t true. The FDA has a different legal authority over cosmetics opposed to the other products they regulate, such as biologicals, medical devices, and drugs. According to the law, it isn’t required for the FDA to approve cosmetic products and ingredients before they hit the market. It has also come to my attention that it is not required for cosmetic companies to test their product for safety. With this in mind, if the FDA isn’t regulating cosmetic products and the companies aren’t testing their products, are all beauty products actually safe to use?

A big controversy chemical thats common in many beauty products, such as nail polish, eyelash glue, hair gel, hair smoothing products, soaps, lotions and shampoos, is formaldehyde. Formaldehyde’s purpose in cosmetics is to prevent bacteria from growing in water-based products. Even though formaldehyde preserves the product, it is also known that there have been concerns when the formaldehyde from the cosmetic product absorbs into the skin, it can possibly be linked to skin irritation and cancer.

According to the National’s Toxicology Program’s June report, formaldehyde is classified as a carcinogen when in the state of high or prolonged exposure. Because of the high risks this chemical has, other nations such as Japan and Sweden have banned formaldehyde from all cosmetic products. Also, Canada has intensive restrictions on formaldehyde; the EU has limited formaldehyde in personal care toiletries and requires labeling for all products that do contain formaldehyde. 

“A 2009 review of the literature on occupational exposures and formaldehyde shows a link between formaldehyde and leukemia” (1). Which continues to prolong the assumptions that formaldehyde in cosmetics can possibly cause cancer.

Studies where formaldehyde fumes being ingested have successfully linked cancer and formaldehyde fumes.  At the moment, there is no current evident that links formaldehyde in cosmetics to causing cancer because there haven’t been many well done studies involving cancer caused by formaldehyde being absorbed through the skin. Regardless, it still important to continue studying the possibility of this chemical and other possible dangerous chemicals used in cosmetic products. 

Resources:

(1) http://safecosmetics.org/article.php?id=599

http://www.womenshealthmag.com/style/safe-cosmetics

http://www.fda.gov/Cosmetics/GuidanceRegulation/LawsRegulations/ucm074162.htm

Have you ever found yourself unconsciously tapping your foot or drumming your fingers.  How about biting your nails or twirling your hair.  These are common behaviors that a person may have and not really noticed. But what if you had an uncontrollable behavior that was noticeable like jumping up and down, making strange noises at inappropriate times, or flapping your arms uncontrollably? My little brother has been recently diagnosed with tourettes, but has actually been dealing with the syndrome his whole entire life.

My brother Sean has always been an extremely hyperactive, impulsive child. He had always been the kid that could never stay still, whether it was excessive clapping or running or making loud obnoxious noises, he was always in motion. Around the age of 5, Sean began stretching his back in a peculiar way. Even though my parents, my older brother, and I would tell Sean to stop stretching, he refused to listen – he said he couldn’t help it. As the years went on, Sean’s stretch turned from just pushing his stomach and chest out into a full on tic where he would push his chest out, place his arm behind his head and grab the skin from his neck, pulling it to the back. For years we tried to get him to stop. My parents had taken him to several doctors and tried numerous amounts of medication.

It wasn’t until Sean had been put on a study at North Shore Hospital, that we had found out that Sean was diagnosed with Tourettes Syndrome. This study tested the effects of the medication Abilify on children that deal with tics and turrets. For the first 3 months, Sean received a placebo pill and had been asked to complete exercises where he would try his hardest not to stretch for up to 15 minutes. While Sean tried to stop his stretching tic, he was unsuccessful.  After months of receiving the placebo, North Shore had changed Sean’s medication to the Abilify. The Abilify affected Sean in several ways– making him more tired and causing him to eat less– but he continued with his impulsive tic. We actually found that while on the Abilify, Sean had developed other tics like jumping in place and clapping loudly. After months of being on Abilify, we did notice a slight decrease in his tics but he was also going through big physical changes.

During this study, Sean turned 15 and started to really grow and began going through puberty.  He started playing ice hockey and becoming a lot more physical.  Suddenly, we began to see a decrease in the frequency that he stretched. He started to stretch less and his jumping tic had completely gone away. This came as an odd occurrence to my family and I. Even though his tic wasn’t completely cured, it had gotten significantly better.

When the study came to an end and we wondered what would happen when Sean stopped taking the Abilify. Would he go back to stretching and ticing?  Well, he went to visit my aunt in Texas immediately afterward and learned to wake board and drive her boat and had a great time.  Two weeks later, he came home and he had stopped stretching altogether!  We were astounded. He basically told us that he just decided to stop! It seemed almost as if stopping the Abilify improved his turrets. What had struck us as weird was that his turrets was better than they had been before the study, which meant that the Abilify wasn’t involved in his tourettes improving. This made me think, what really suppresses tourettes?

 While researching, I’ve come across several treatments that suppress tourettes. Medication can be very effective when reducing tourettes symptoms and tics, but not one medication is capable of helping all people with tourettes syndrome. Behavioral treatments have also been able to suppress tic severity. Therapy has also been used to help one suppress or cope with their tourettes.

 Yale Child Study Center tic and OCD outpatient specialty clinic ran a case study in 2006 to test how sever children’s tourettes symptoms and tics would be during their adolescence and early adulthood. Yale took 46 children under the age of 14 to participate in their study. They planned to interview each child at the time they had been dealing with tics and tourettes. After 3.8-12.8 years, an average of 7.6 years, Yale Child Study Center would reinterview the newly young adult that they had once interviewed years.

Once this study was completed, the results had shown that 85% of subject involved in this study had reported that their tic symptoms during childhood had reduced tremendously. “One half to two thirds of children with Tourettes Syndrome experience a substantial decrease or complete remission of tics by the end of adolescence” Peterson  BSPine  DSCohen  PBrook  JS Prospective, longitudinal study of tic, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in an epidemiological sample J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2001. Even though this study has several limitations on it, I can agree with the results because I’ve seen it first hand with my little brother. It is very possible that age can enable tourettes and tics. Personally I think that more long term prospective studies of patients with Tourettes Syndrome should be conducted to figure out of there is a common correlation between the severity of tics and tourettes symptoms and the age of each individual dealing with Tourettes Syndrome.

Resources:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tourette/detail_tourette.htm

http://archpedi.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=204374#ref-poa50082-2

Recently, a good family friend was diagnosed with cancer for the second time. About 7 years ago, Mrs. Burk had been diagnosed with breast cancer that she had fought off and was cancer free for about 5 years. Unfortunately the cancer came back, but this time the cancer wasn’t just located in the breast area, but spread to several areas of her body. She had to go back on chemo but this time she is proactively fighting the cancer, by staying physically active, eating lots of cancer fighting foods and shakes, and keeping her mental state very positive in order to kick the cancer and become healthy once again. It was hard to watch Mrs. Burk and her family deal with chemotherapy again, which made me ponder the same question that thousands of doctors and scientist have spent so much time thinking about; is there another way to cure cancer?

After weeks of her chemotherapy, another one of Mrs. Burk’s close friends brought her a Guyobano fruit. Shortly after beginning to eat this fruit, she actually started to feel a lot better. The guyobano is a tropical fruit that has a reputation for not only curing cancer, but guyobano also had the ability to reduce fever, alleviate asthma, kill viruses, bacteria, parasites [antifungi and malaria]; as well as lower blood pressure, calm nerves, fight stress and prevent depression.(1)

I wondered could this fruit really be helping her? I found after doing some research that this fruit has been being studied for almost a quarter of a century. In 1996, a scientific research published in the Journal of Natural Products, stated that “a certain compound from the seed is selectively cytotoxic to colon adenocarcinoma cells (HT-29) in which it was 10,000 times the potency of Adriamycin (the commonly used chemotherapy drug).” (2) It not only identifies and kills the cancer cells, it leaves the healthy cells alone. With so much money going toward cancer research, I wondered why there isn’t more information about the gyubano tree and its fruit and why isn’t it more accessible to cancer patients?

In an article on the Cancer Treatment of America website, experts warn against using the fruit for treating cancer, claiming “while research suggests soursop (gyubano) can fight cancer, it has not been studied in humans. As a result, there is no evidence of its safety or efficacy.” (3) So why isn’t this fruit being tested on humans? Is it because the drug companies are making so much money on selling chemotherapy drugs to people who are fighting for their lives? I think there is a connection here. The price of cancer drugs has doubled in the past decade, with the average brand-name cancer drug in the U.S. costing $10,000 for a month’s supply, up from $5,000 in 2003, according to a new report by IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, a health information, services and technology company. (4)

Our family friend is still fighting cancer every day of her life. She will most likely continue chemotherapy for many years to come but she also continues to eat the gyubano fruit, exercises, eats healthy and stays mentally positive. It is a battle I hope she will win. I think more research should be done on gyubano to see if it can truly help humans beat cancer.

Resources:

1.  http://www.healthandfitness.businessmirror.com.ph/index.php/health-news/572-the-healing-remedy-of-guyabano

2. http://guyabano.com/

3. http://www.cancercenter.com/discussions/blog/experts-caution-against-soursop/

4. http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/20140506/chemo-costs-in-us-driven-higher-by-shift-to-hospital-outpatient-facilities

Hi! I’m Megan and I’m taking Science 200 this semester to gather up some general credits as a freshman. I’m not planning on being a Science major because I enjoy writing and want to be a journalist!

ya