Biology in Action

by Joanna Brathwaite

Around this time many people are being asked to give blood. Blood drives essentially save lives, or allow sick patients more time with their families. How does this work exactly and who gets what type of blood? First one would need to look at the different kinds of blood tests. There are two, ABO and RH. ABO tests you to see what your blood type is. Humans either have A, B, AB, or O negative or positive blood types. RH tests the blood types of pregnant women. If someone had a blood type of A, that means that their blood holds antigens for that type, which are certain markers in blood. A type blood has antibodies in the plasma that fight against blood type B. This also goes for B. If someone has AB type blood, then they hold no antibodies that fight agianst A or B. If there is no presence of the A or B antigen, then that person has type O blood and their antibodies fight against A and B blood types. Most of the white and black population in America has a blood type of O (45%, 49%).
Here comes the tricky part. When a patient needs an organ or a blood transfusion, it is crucial to know what kind of blood type the paitent cannot recieve. Negatives and positives start coming into play and there are certain people faced with a dilemma. The universal donor is O-. Any person that has this blood type is an asset to mankind. They could save millions of people, but if any one of them were to need help they would be facing a long waiting list. O- can only recieve from O- negative. Although most Americans have O type blood, it is usually positive. Now, for those that have the blood type of AB+ can are the universal receivers. They can take blood from any negative or positive blood type. They may not have to worry as much, however they can only give blood to AB+ people.
It may seem a little unfair and “woe is me” to the O- carriers, but there is hope located all the way in the Eastern Hemisphere. U.K. scientists are trying to develop synthetic blood through embryonic stem cell research for emergency infection free transfusions. They hope to be the first ones to try this blood in humans and to save the lives of people that are car accident victims, or injured in battle. They want to improve the blood transfusion services which are reliant on human blood donors as of right now. I wonder if this would really be possible, to make blood cells? Would the person receiving the synthetic blood need blood transfusions regularly? Scientists making their own blood sounds a little risquee to moi.

by Christina Bomengo

The article I found was based on an experiment that found that a group of obese mice that were fed a green tea supplement alongside a high-fat diet gained a great deal of less weight in comparison to a group of mice who were not fed the green tea compound. The researchers, which included Joshua Lambert, who is an assistant professor of food science in agricultural science, found that the mice gained weight 45% more slowly when they were fed “Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (or EGCG), which is a compound found in most green teas” with their high-fat diet. Also, the mice were not only found to have lower weight gain, but had a 30% increase in “fecal lipids”, which therefore suggested that the “EGCG was limiting fat absorption”, according to Joshua Lambert. Apparently, the green tea did not cancel out the appetites of the mice of either group, as both groups ate the same food and could eat whenever they wanted, just one group was eating a type of green tea “milkshake”.

In relating this to actual human health, it has been proven that drinking a few cups of green tea a day will reduce weight gain and rid your body of harmful wastes and germs. Though a person would have to drink at least ten cups of green tea a day to compete with the amount of EGCG consumed by the obese mice in this experiment, people who drink at least one or two glasses a day will see a difference in their weight in comparison to people who do not consume green tea at all. Green tea is vital to people suffering from obesity as well as people who are aging and noticing a significant weight gain. Though water is the head healing force and vital to human existence, green tea offers compounds that can only aid us in our right to survival.

Penn State. “Green tea helps mice keep off extra pounds.” ScienceDaily, 4 Oct. 2011. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.

by Meghan Popek

Have you ever forgot to set your alarm but you wake up on time anyway? Stalk Institute researchers identified a gene that is responsible for setting of this alarm while your in a restful state each morning. The reason why the finding of this gene is so important is that it may help explain the genetic play of sleeplessness, aging and chronic illnesses such as cancer and diabetes, and could eventually lead to new treatments. The name of this gene is JARID1a. It was the missing building block for researchers in analyzing how our body can get a good night rest which is so essential. “So much of what it means to be healthy and youthful comes down to a good night’s sleep,” Panda says. “Now that we have identified JARID1a in activating our daytime cycle, we have a whole new avenue to explore why some people’s circadian rhythms are off and to perhaps find new ways to help them.”

I personally think this is interesting because it happens to me. At school if I don’t set an alarm for class I’ll still wake up on time. Also, living at college, you know the effects of not getting enough sleep. The illnesses discussed in this article such as diabetes and cancer run in my family so hearing about he potential of this gene sounds promising. Also, in the article the researchers mentioned how people working night shifts and have weird sleeping patterns lack JARID1a and are more susceptible to these diseases. The most interesting part of the article is the potential it has to open doors in the future. One question I have is the timeline of this. How long will it take for

Article URL: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2011/09/29/alarm_clock_gene_explains_wakeup_function_of_biological_clock.html

by Donald Colindres

What do films such as Aeon Flux, The Sixth Day and The Island have in common with recent discoveries scientists in New York have found?…You got it, clones. The International Business Times reported on October 6th, 2011 that scientists from the New York Cell Foundation Laboratory have successfully managed to clone human cells with a technique that was once used to on sheep. In 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first animal to ever be cloned with the nuclear transfer technique. This advancement of cloning human cells could possibly lead to the cloning of human beings. It could also lead to the eradicating of diseases such as diabetes and spinal injuries.
So how is it that these scientists have figured out how they can possibly clone humans? Easy! All they have to do is replace bad human cells with good human cells. However, one challenge that they are facing is the possibility of the replicated cells carrying too much DNA. On the other hand, the commotion of possibly eliminating diabetes and spinal injury is far more exciting than it’s risks.

Questions: The curing of diabetes and spinal injury both sound like great advances in health and science, but what other diseases could possibly be cured with this new discovery? Considering that in the past cloning has been a controversial issue, what will be the role that stem cell research will play in determining how cloning will take place? If the replicated human cells carry too much DNA, what do you think will be some complications that scientists will face?

Source: http://tv.ibtimes.com/scientific-breakthrough-means-human-cloning-not-far-away/2128.html