Layla







**For my final wikispace, I chose to focus on sustainability and the three important 'R's': Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. I chose this because I am very interested in learning more about the status of the current environment (following Mrs. Lil's theme of the week), and I wanted to research ways that we can conserve energy. **

**First, please enjoy this clip of a song that I learned in my 5th grade class with Mr. Dillon about the 3 magic 'R' words... **

media type="youtube" key="USo_vH1Jz7E" height="315" width="420" align="center"

**Next, here is a list of ways to help out the environment and reduce your carbon footprint provided by the one and only Ms. Buchman... **




 * On this website, you can expect to find tips on how to conserve energy, conserve water, and reduce waste. Some examples are.... make sure home is well insulated, turn off (and unplug) electrical appliances when not in use, turn off faucet while brushing teeth and shaving, use washer when fully loaded or adjust the water level for smaller loads, create a compost pile, and recycle plastic bags at your local supermarket or buy reusable bags. However there are many other simple, efficient solutions, so I highly suggest clicking the link to learn more! **

**In addition, here is a wikipedia article that goes into depth on the elements of sustainability... **




 * This wikipedia article does an excellent job at giving an in-depth overview of the major factor of sustainability: environmental factors, economic factors, and social factors. I highly suggest taking a look at the environment section, because it is very informative and it goes hand-in-hand with what we have been learning for the past month, and what we are studying with the trip to Robbin's Park! This section touches upon topics such as environmental management whether land or water, and management of human consumption especially in reference to energy, food, water, and waste. **

These sites really helped me get a better understanding of Sustainability, so if you are having difficulty writing your sustainability essay, you will probably find it very helpful to read more on these websites listed above, just like I did!





This week we are focusing on making lesson plans for how to effectively teach the headstart students about the environment (specifically ponds). For that reason, I decided to elaborate on both of these aspects in my wikispace for week three: how to teach little children, and facts about ponds. This is because personally, although I do have some background knowledge on ponds, I do not feel like I am educated enough on this topic that I am qualified to be teaching someone else about this topic, no matter how young he/she is :P That is why I decided to focus on information specifically about ponds, but I chose to also focus on how to teach little kids because I know that although I love little kids, some of you are the most apprehensive (**cough cough Mrs. Lil cough cough**) about that aspect of the lesson because you may have all of the knowledge about ponds necessary to teach the lesson, you just may not be a huge fan of little kids haha. Anyway, here is some interesting information I cam across....


 * I came across this website in hopes of learning something new about how to teach little kids about ponds, and in hopes of possibly finding some ideas of activities to do with the students. However, the two main ideas that this website had were making mini ponds and reading the kids children's stories about ponds and pond animals. I am excited now because we are doing both of those things, so now I am feeling even more prepared :) **

media type="youtube" key="eLD6YCFbZ7s" height="237" width="408" This video hits on the major points of why it is important to teach children about the environment... ( basically so that they know how to protect it and treat it well ) .


 * This website has a lot of information about ponds that may be useful for anyone who is not too too comfortable with pond knowledge (including myself). It includes information such as the "definition" of a pond (A pond is a small area of still, fresh water. It is different from a river or a stream because it does not have moving water and it differs from a lake because it has a small area and is no more than around 1.8m deep. Some ponds are formed naturally, filled either by an underwater spring, or by rainwater – sometimes known as ‘dewponds’; other ponds are man-made), different plants that can be found at the pond, life at the pond, animals at the pond, endangered species at the pond, and differences between ponds in the past and ponds now. Most importantly, this article addresses the very important issue of pollution in the pond, while offering solutions of how this problem can be fixed. **

media type="youtube" key="qrQEWRUIFlw" height="299" width="393" This is just a fun little sesame street video showing how Kermit  the frog feels about pollution in the pond ;)



//**<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I hope whoever chooses to read through this wikispace finds the information helpful in preparing for the headstart students this week! I know I di ****<span style="background-color: #008000; color: #ffff00; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">d :) **//

<span style="background-color: #00ffd9; color: #d000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">================================================================================================================================================================== <span style="background-color: #47f8dc; color: #d000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">=======================



===**<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">With the PCR lab this week, I have been thinking a lot about biotechnology, polymerase chain reactions, and the applications of this amazing technological invention/discovery by Kary Mullis in 1983. I became intrigued by the idea that this "simple" little process can lead to many different breakthroughs in the medical world, so I decided to research more about the exact effect of polymerase chain reactions, and how they many be able to help our society in the future. Some amazing things that I found PCR able to do for society are early detection of fatal medical issues such as Leukemia, HIV, and Tuberculosis, and even preimplantation genetic diagnosis, where individual cells of a developing embryo can now be tested for mutations. While doing this research, I came across an article (below) which describes how PCR can also be udsed to diagnose a group of streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis (a harmful bacteria). This further intrigued me, so I did more research and found an article (also featured below) about a women who just delivered twins, and is now suffering severely from this same bacteria... **===




 * <span style="background-color: #ff00ff; color: #00fff9; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This study evaluated a PCR assay for detection of the streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B (speB) gene from tissue biopsy specimens of patients with necrotizing fasciitis. Invasive group A streptococcal infections, including streptococcal toxic shock syndrome and necrotizing fasciitis, are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality despite the use of appropriate antibiotics. The microbial diagnosis of streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis is generally based on the isolation of group A streptococcus from either soft tissue or blood cultures. The streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxin B gene is a chromosomally encoded structural gene (speB) associated with pyrogenicity, T-lymphocyte mitogenicity, and the ability to increase susceptibility to endotoxic shock in individuals infected with group A streptococcus. Because of its conserved and stable characteristics and its presence in almost all group A streptococci, the speB gene was chosen as the target for PCR. In this study, scientists examined the use of PCR for detection ofspeB directly from tissue samples of patients being investigated for possible group A streptococcal necrotizing fasciitis and compared PCR detection with conventional culture methods. These experiments proved yet another application for polymerase chain reactions which will help biotechnology and health studies by the early detection of fatal disorders or bacterias such as this one! **

media type="youtube" key="JRAA4C2OPwg" height="315" width="420" This video is a quick review of the process of PCR and how it works for anybody who forgets :)




 * <span style="background-color: #7e00ff; color: #00fff9; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Lana Kuykendall -- a mother of three-week-old twins is battling against this rare flesh-eating bacteria as well. She has had seven surgeries in the past week or so, and she is still very ill. **
 * <span style="background-color: #7e00ff; color: #00fff9; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">On May 7th, Lana gave birth to her newborn twins, and at that time she was healthy but, a few days later, she went to hospital near her South Carolina home after noticing a rapidly expanding bruise on her leg. Thankfully, as of right now the bacteria is trapped in her legs and has not yet spread to her internal organs. This bacteria is so harmful that Lana may end up needing full blown amputations of multiple limbs, just like Aimee Copeland, a 24 year old from Georgia who suffers from the same illness. Caused by a number of bacteria, the disease attacks and destroys healthy tissue and is fatal about 20% of the time, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The responsible bacteria are common in the environment, though they rarely cause infections (about 250 cases a year in the US). When they do, the body's immune system is almost always able to fight them off. Occasionally, however, the bacteria find their way into the bloodstream -- either through a cut or an abrasion, causing severe harm. Hopefully now that it has been proven (in the previous article) that PCR can detect this bacteria, the number of cases each year will drop even lower! **

media type="youtube" key="USfySFY5ohQ" height="315" width="560" This video describes necrotizing fasciitis, specifically in the case of Aimee Copeland (mentioned above); how she got this bacteria, what harm it is causing, and how doctors are treating the infection.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffff00; color: #7e00ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I am seriously fascinated by these scientific breakthroughs, and I truly believe that this will do amazing things and lead to even greater discoveries in our future of health science and biotechnology! **

<span style="background-color: #00ffd9; color: #d000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">================================================================================================================================================================== <span style="background-color: #47f8dc; color: #d000ff; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">=======================





===**<span style="background-color: #000000; color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">After listening to the presentations by the Temple Pharmacology graduate students, I became intrigued by the idea that these medications and drugs (acetaminophen for example) can perform the same functions in all bodies. When the visitors brought up the point that the drugs work a little bit differently in adults and children, I began to wonder how it was that each individual adult body would process and interpret these drugs in the same way as well as how each child body uses these drugs in the same way? My curiosity led me to do more research on this idea of how bodies interpret things differently from person to person, from child to adult, and from lab rat to human body, which led me to find these three articles.... **===

<span style="background-color: #00fff9; color: #d000ff; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">This article tells the story of a man named Ray Fearing who suffers with Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis, a disease that causes scar tissue to form in the part of his kidney that filters harmful substances. Ray waited ten years before he got a kidney transplant from his sister, Cera in June 2011. A few days after the operation, they biopsied the new kidney only to find that it too was being damaged by FSGS. Ray’s abdomen was very sore and filled with blood. Dr. Lorenzo Gallon, Ray's doctor, and medical director of the kidney transplant program Northwestern Memorial Hospital, told Ray the kidney needed to be removed immediately. He had an idea that the kidney could thrive in another patient, so he asked Fearing if he would be willing to see if the kidney could be used in another patient, and Fearing gave him the go ahead. The new recipient was 67-year-old Erwin Gomez whose kidneys were irreversibly damaged from years of hypertension. The damage that had been done to the kidney when it was in Fearing was reversed when implanted in Gomez!

media type="youtube" key="h-lPdpgNIIA" height="315" width="560" This video is a two minute synopsis of the amazing kidney described in the article above. The video also gives insight as to what was going through the doctors' minds when they decided to re-transplant the kidney, and what potential risks this procedure entailed.

<span style="background-color: #00ff00; color: #1d32f4; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">This article discusses the issue of babies being born with NAS (neonatal abstinence syndrome). NAS is when the newborn babies are suffering from prescription drug withdrawal, meaning he or she was exposed to prescription drugs through the placenta, and now that he is born, the baby is no longer receiving the drug, and is now going through withdraw. Babies receive these drugs from their drug addicted mother as narcotics pass through the placenta. Nearly fifty percent of all babies born at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital are suffering from neonatal abstinence syndrome. Since this is a relatively new epidemic, there is no definite way to treat or care for an NAS baby. East Tennessee’s children’s Hospital has created a wing of dark, quiet rooms, and also trains volunteers to hold and comfort the babies. These measures help the nurses care for the NAS babies more effectively as they are calmer. The hospital also switched from methadone to morphine which has proven to be a safer way to attempt to treat these NAS babies. This article also includes a very interesting and informative video (also featured below) with a look at a newborn with NAS, and the symptoms that the syndrome causes.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">media type="youtube" key="yovnUFq9EB0" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This is a very interesting and informative video with a look at a newborn baby boy with NAS, and the potentially fatal effects on the baby's body that the syndrome causes in the first few days of his life.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 16px;">In a recent study, researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine gave mice mega-doses of bexarotene, a drug used to treat a type of skin cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma in humans. Within 72 hours of receiving the drug, the mice showed dramatic improvements in memory and more than fifty percent of amyloid plaque (a clear sign of Alzheimer's disease) was no longer existent in the brain of the mice. Gary Landreth, the lead researcher at Case Western, cautioned that even though his results were impressive in mice, it may turn out not to work in people. This experiment worked because mice and humans with Alzheimer's have high levels of a substance called amyloid beta in their brain, and pathology tests on the mice showed that the addition of bexarotene lowered the levels of amyloid beta while raising the levels of apolipoprotein E, which helps maintain the low amyloid beta levels. The experiment consisted of tests such as one where the Alzheimer's mice walked right into a cage where a painful electric shock had previously been administered to them, but after treatment with bexarotene, the mice remembered the shock and refused to enter the cage. The Alzheimer's Association is funding the next phase of research, which will involve using bexarotene at the levels used on cancer patients. Since the drug does have some side effects (such as increased cholesterol levels) Landreth hopes to use even lower levels as the study goes on. Landreth said he hopes to try the drug out in healthy humans within two months (since bexarotene is a pre-approved drug), to see if it has the same effect. So just as the Temple University graduate students described, then next phase of this experiment is the clinical trial on human volunteers!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">media type="youtube" key="OhND0Q77aH0" height="315" width="560" <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This video is a synopsis of the experiment performed at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The video also addresses the scientists' concerns with the soon to come clinical trial of this drug that humans are already familiar with since as of right now they are unsure of what the appropriate dosage should be.