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The Dark Street of Psychosis and Schizophrenia

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Recently I did extensive research on the Internet about one particular subject, it was because I could see its tsunami like effect rippling through the entire world. The subject is 'Mental Health or Psychology.'

The results of the search were most disheartening. Official statistics from the World Health Organization to every other scientific institute were saying the same thing: "worldwide rise in mental health crisis." What this translates into is that the world is collectively going crazy.

The questions that arise from such statistics, is what is causing this alarming mental decline or disturbance? How should we deal with sufferers or treat them? And what are the risks of us devoloping a mental disorder or our children, and how can we protect our sanity?

Now to have the best understanding about the human psyche, so that we can have acute awareness, and make informed beneficial decisions, should we have to deal with the mental health crisis in anyway.

We have to go back in the history of psychology.

We know this much that Neanderthals and Denisovans were innovative thinkers from the primitive tools they made to the cave paintings.

Discoveries have revealed that we are still learning about the cognitive abilities of pre-historic humans, for example a new book 'The Language Puzzle' by archealogist Dr. Steven Mithen, states that language may have been developed 8 times sooner than was previously thought. That is 1.6 million years ago, rather than 200,000 years ago.

The point of this is that we can be certain man was always cognitive and not an ape.

So now let's fastforward from pre-historic times to the time when philosophy was first recorded in ancient Greece.

Greek philosophy is said to be the very early prototype of mental wanderings that were not based on needs of the day.

In the 17th century the idea of dualism was introduced by French Philosopher Rene Descartes, it is significant as it separates the behavior and actions of a person based on stimulations from the body or environment, from the thinking of the mind that stems from consciousness.

These two aspects are the toughest challenge of psychology to this day. Because of how the effects of environment and society could influence a person's thinking as opposed to internal biological causes. Which is causing the mental disorder, and which has a greater affect on the patient's psyche at any given phase.

In the centuries that followed and even after psychology had emerged as a science apart from physiology and philosophy in the mid-1800s.

There was debate about what constituted a mental disorder, what was the pathogenesis (origin of the mental problem)

What form of treatment would be effective, and how to avoid causing the patient unnecessary suffering by trial and error.

It turns out and not surprisingly that the "pathogenesis - Greek: patho 'suffering' genesis 'origin'" of mental health disorders are one of the most elusive to trace, and hence, the proper treatment very difficult to define.

The first time that a mental condition was recorded to have a biological pathogenesis, was in the curious case of the "general paralysis of the insane." The 1897 discovery was made by the neurologist Richard von Kraftt-Ebing and his assistant Josef Adolf Hirschl.

The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal in 1885 had reported a great surge in the insane. It is said that so much as 1 in 5 patients entering asylums had "general paralysis of the insane."

What the neurologist and his assistant had discovered was that this was the later stages of syphilis. A biological ailment that could manifest in dementia and delusions as untreated syphilis can damage the brain.

While this was a formidable stamp on the connection of a mental disorder and a biological cause. It was generally misleading, as it solidified to a great extent the belief that a mental ailment would be the result of physical defects in the brain. Many scientists of the time would examine brains in autopsies and search for imprints of the mental problem the deceased had, but there were none in most of the cases.

As I explained from ancient times up to the mid-1800s scientists were still having so much difficulty in fully distinguishing consciousness from the physical brain. Needless to say this had delayed the progress in the field of psychology.

Sigmund Freud founded the theory of psychoanalysis. Freud and his colleague Pierre Janet were studying patients with hysteria, seizures, and other physical symptoms with mental disorders.

Psychoanalysis was considered the first major step towards the complex study of the human consciousness and as Freud pioneered the 'unconsciousness.' He theorised that the unconsciousness could manifest into dreams and mental disorders, and was the root cause of conscious psychological problems, the dilemmas in the unconscious mind would have to be brought to the conscious mind in order to treat the patient.

In 1904 Sigmund Freud published 'The Psychopathology of Everyday Life' exploring minuscule details of human behavior, which he thought were symptoms of the workings of the psyche.

While this may have been true, but not every detail could be the result of an unhealthy mental condition.

Sigmund Freud's theory had established the study of psychology as a whole new branch of science. We would think brain autopsies and procedures would be considered irrelevant after such dramatic progress in psychology.

It wasn't.

Unfortunately mental disorder patients were going to face their worst era of great torture and downright mutilation of the brain.

The lobotomy was introduced in the late 1800s and picked up pace in 1935 up to the start of the 1950s. It is a grotesque procedure were nerves in parts of the brain believed to be carrying the thoughts causing the mental disorder are severed.

The intention of the procedure was not to restore sanity, but to put patients in a state of calm. Patients that were violent or had symptoms of schizophrenia were the ones mostly subjected to lobotomy.

It had mixed results with some patients becoming calm, but losing interest in life or having any energy. To other patients dying or relapsing.

An invasive approach is still taken in the case of patients with severe mental disorders, and where other treatments failed. The procedure is called 'Psychosurgery'.

Electric Shock Therapy or Electric Convulsive Therapy (ECT) was first developed in the late 1930s, like the lobotomy it was a severe approach to vulnerable patients who had lost their sanity partially or completely. ECT causes an induced controlled seizure.

I read reports that there were cases where ECT was administered to patients without their consent because they were considered unable to give consent.

Prior to ECT induced seizures for treating mental disorders were caused by oral administration of medication.

Scientists don't know exactly how ECT works, but it is believed to give relief to patients suffering from psychosis, mania, catatonia, schizophrenia, and is still in practice.

A new study published on 27 March in the Nature journal, states that a very strong electrical current in the brain hits the cells and their DNA snaps, and is then repaired, this according to the study is observed when long term memories are made. It could be that when the DNA are repaired, the process encodes information about the electrical current and this forms the memory.

So perhaps the ECT causes relief by damaging DNA in the brain that stores the memory responsible for the mental disorder.

As researchers made discoveries scientists learned about brain chemistry, and then medications were developed to treat mental disorders by pharmaceuticals

There is talk therapy which is what psychologists are qualified for, and then there is psychiatry in which medication could be prescribed. Prevention is better than cure in either case.

We as adults that have had a good, cultured, ethical, and educational upbringing usually are mentally stable, even if we suffer emotional distress or anxiety.

The risks could be to adolescents and teenagers who are still developing and get exposed to negative influence or traumatic experiences at home, school, or social media. OCD (impulsive-compulsive disorder) and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) along with intrusive thoughts could be the lethal triggers of psychosis, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (maniac depression.)

Intrusive thoughts are common and happen almost to everyone. People who don't have mental disorders know to dismiss these thoughts and not focuse on them. Sufferers of OCD and PTSD or patients with dementia, Parkinson's disease, or Alzheimer's may not be able to avoid the Intrusive thoughts that could amplify their trauma, anxiety, fears, phobias, eventually leading to complete detachment from reality and the various severe manifestations of mental disorders. In cases like these talk therapy would probably fail, and medication, ECT, and invasive treatments like psychsurgery could be required.

So the influence the next generation gets could entirely define their mental health and their future. The news and statistics I'm reading are not encouraging as mental crisis is on the rise like never before.

I have a podcast Mind Supply, if you liked this article then you might like the podcasts as I talk about social issues.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

Twitter-X/Instagram: Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Verywellmind: The Origins of Psychology

From Philosophical Beginnings to the Modern Day

By 

Kendra Cherry, MSEd 

Updated on November 29, 2022

 Fact checked by 

Adah Chung

The New Yorker: The Troubled History of Psychiatry

Challenges to the legitimacy of the profession have forced it to examine itself, including the fundamental question of what constitutes a mental disorder.

By Jerome Groopman

Medical News Today: What is electroshock therapy?

Mass General Brigham McLean: ECT Treatment: A History of Helping Patients

Medically reviewed by Heidi Moawad, M.D. — By Lauren Martin on June 30, 2021

Nature.com - Memories are made by breaking DNA — and fixing it

Nerve cells form long-term memories with the help of an inflammatory response, study in mice finds.

By 

Max Kozlov

National Institute of Mental Health: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Healthline: Intrusive Thoughts: Why We Have Them and How to Stop Them

Medically reviewed by Bethany Juby, PsyD — By Kimberly Holland — Updated on May 20, 2022

NHS: Overview - Psychosis

Britannica: Sigmund Freud

Austrian psychoanalyst

Actions

Written by 

Martin Evan Jay

Fact-checked by the editors of encyclopaedia Britannica

Britannica: lobotomy

surgery

Actions

Also known as: frontal lobotomy, leucotomy, prefrontal leukotomy

Written and fact-checked by the editors of encyclopaedia Britannica

Ancient Origins: Language Developed 8 Times Earlier Than Previously Thought, Says New Book

National Institute of Mental Health: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

#Arjuwan Lakkdawala #science #nature #biology #ink in the internet #psychosis #schizophrenia #maniac #bipolar disorder #psychiatry #psychology #history of psychology #ancient greece #Sigmund Freud #dualism #lobotomy #ect

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Science and Society in the New World

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

I'm tirelessly fascinated by science and the world we live in. I have been observing the changes happening. As I have noted in my previous article a New World has sprung around us, with swiftly progressing science and a changing society due to the influence of social media for better or worse (depends on your perspective.)

We have the positive aspect of this new evolving world and the negative one. I will focus first on the negatives in this article since they are concerning.

For example obesity has increased with 1 in 8 people in the world living with obesity in 2022 according to the World Health Organization 2024 study, with confirming reports about world wide increase in the International Journal of Obesity - 2024.

And cancer is striking young adults, mostly women and people in their 30s that has "doctors alarmed and baffled." - Wall Street Journal.

Studies found the increase to be of 14 types of cancer. "Many of which affect the digestive system." - CNN Health.

There could be a link between these two rising phenomena and a particular change in society that came about forcefully in 2020 ‐ that is the Covid19 lockdown, because of which not only did many people not get enough exercise, but had moved to eating conveniently from takeaways. A habit that maybe didn't go away after the lockdown.

In our present day, food delivery apps offer any food we could think of in less than an hour, delivered straight to our doorstep. This includes many sugary foods and drinks. If I was to make a magical comparison, think of our mobile phones like magic wands...wave it and the food you want magically appears within an hour, you don't have to cook or make a trip just wish for your meal.

How many young adults do you think would thoughtfully order their food based on health criteria rather than whatever looks the most delicious on the app advertisement. In addition to the ease with which any food is available, the fact that there is so much variety means you never get bored and so are likely to eat a large amount in every meal.

Food you haven't cooked means you don't know the ingredients, especially most takeaway foods unlike packaged foods don't have label of ingredients.

The question of ingredients is most concerning in any food.

The average person is rarely familiar with the side effects or potentially harmful ingredients, some people don't have any awareness at all about preservatives, food colouring, artificial flavours, or additives. At best they check the expiration date of canned goods.

For example the food colouring Titanium dioxide (E171 on labels) was banned in France in 2020 followed by the European Union in 2022. It is a mineral that naturally occurs and has many crystallised forms. It is used as a white pigment in foods and other non-edible products. Studies have linked it to genotoxicity and cytotoxicity.

Genotoxicity is where it can cause DNA damage which can cause cancer, and cytotoxicity means a substance that is harmful to cells. The intensive analysis of Titanium dioxide particularly came into focus when science progressed enough to study nanoparticles. Titanium dioxide produces nanoparticles that can enter the bloodstream.

To get a clear picture nanoparticles are 1 to 100 nanometers, a human hair is 80,000 nanometers in width.

Titanium dioxide though banned in Europe and Saudi Arabia, is still used in food products in America and Canada (2023 June report).

I did not find 2024 report regarding this issue.

The reason why different countries have different health regulations is that researchers have varying criteria of what makes a product toxic for human consumption, when it comes to substances that won't immediately kill you like straight out poisons.

How many consumers would have awareness about possible ingredients like these in their takeaway meal or dessert. The answer is probably a very small percentage, especially among adolescents and young adults.

Titanium dioxide could be in your white chocolate mocha coffee or velvet cake white chocolate icing, if it is not banned in your country.

When it comes to food the subject is very large, which is impossible to be summarised in one article. But I came upon some interesting facts and history about chocolate. I found it interesting as I get to explore the Mesoamerican civilization of the Aztecs (present day Mexico) and study if we can learn somethings from it.

Cocoa beans were said to be first used as food by the Olmecs, a tribe in the region of Mesoamerica, then by other pre-Columbian civilizations basically in the same region. The tribes include the Aztecs, Mayans, Inca (Peru) etc.

The Olmecs didn’t have written records but pots found in archealogical sites have traces of cocoa substance.

The Aztecs called cocoa Xocolatl and it was considered more valuable than gold, and even used as currency, throughout these civilizations chocolate was consumed as a bitter drink, and maybe spiced with chilli, which was a common crop in the region.

No one knows the exact origin of these tribes but possible they were nomadic hunter-gatherers who started to build settlements.

It ended very badly for the Aztecs when the Spanish conquistador Hernàn Cortès arrived in Mesoamerica and had trained about 400 soldiers and marched into Tenochtitlan, the capital city of the Aztec empire.

The leader Montezuma unaware of the intentions of the Spaniard greeted him and his men as honored guests (talk about a Trojan Horse) but was captured and many Aztecs slaughtered by the invaders. European diseases like small pox had also reached the Aztecs and due to no immunity they died in heaps. The report I read does not state whether small pox was intentionally used as a biological weapon. But over a course of some years the Aztecs had been conquered by the Spaniards. Though the Aztecs outnumbered the invaders, their weapons and perhaps their knowledge was much infurior, giving the invaders an edge over them.

Soon after the Inca (modern day Peru) were also conquered, and it was roads that they had made that helped facilitate the attack on them.

All of these pre-Columbian civilizations had human sacrifice rituals and chocolate drinks could have been part of the ceremony.

Dark chocolate has proven to prevent the start and progress of cancer. Flavanoids in cocoa beans have cancer fighting properties. It is not a substitute for professional medical treatment, but can be part of a healthy diet. Dark chocolate is defined as 60 to 70 percent cocoa.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

X/Instagram: Spellrainia

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Oncology Nursing News, chocolate: to eat or not to eat? Karen Harris

History, Aztecs, history . com editors

History of chocolate, history . com editors

National post, approved for use in Canada, advocates are urging us to ban this common food additive, Sam riches

National Geogrphic, who were the msya? Decoding the ancient civilization's secrets, Erin blakemore

Britannica, titanium dioxide, chemical compound, debasmita patra, fact-checked by the editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Cnn health, Cancer diagnosis rates are gong up in younger adults, study finds, driven largely by rises in women and people in their 30s, Brenda goodman

Wall Street Journal, Cancer is striking more young people, and doctors are alarmed and baffled, brianna abbott

International Journal of Obesity, obesogens: a unifying theory for the global rise in obesity, jerryold j. Heindel, Robert h. lustig, Barbara e. Corkey

Regask, titanium dioxide banned as a food additive in Ksa, Yemen, and Qatar

U.s. right to know, titanium dioxide, banned in Europe, is one of the most common food additive in u.s., mikaela conley

#Aztecs #Mesoamerica #pre-Columbian civilizations #Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink in the Internet #history #national geographic #Mexico #peru #inca civilization #chocolate #dark chocolate #new world #Tenochtitlan

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A Vault of New Science in Complex Natural Systems

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

The 21st century and especially the last 24 years has seen rapid and giant leaps in scientific progress. I think we have truly reached a completely new era for the civilizations of the world.

As was the industrial revolution in the past, in those 24 years there has been a social and scientific revolution. The Internet, social media, handheld multimedia communication devices, electric vehicles, drones, video instant connection, space exploration, artificial intelligence, bioengineering, nanotechnology, etc.

Earlier things like these were pretty much in the realm of science fiction. Now it's a reality and there is much enthusiasm from entrepreneurs like Elon Musk whose company SpaceX is manufacturing the Starship, a rocket model that will eventually become advanced enough to take people to the Moon and Mars as Elon claims.

NASA also started its Artimis ll space programme to explore the Moon and beyond.

All this in the span of 24 years. It's a lot too fast and definitely a turning point for our world as our parents knew it.

When explorer Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492, and then later in 1504 a letter by Amerigo Vespucci reffered to South America as 'Mundus Novus,' (New World.) I think in those 24 years we have a New World that has suddenly assembled itself around us. We did not go out exploring, but the collective innovation and technological advancements, with the worldwide social exposure of far away people and cultures has turned our Old World into a New World. It's the best way to describe such a dramatic change in just 24 years.

And while geographically Earth has been completely mapped, I think everything on Earth itself is changing and our new maps are expanding into space.

Recently I read a news story about lichens surviving outside the International Space Station with 35% of their cells intact. For me this was beyond astonishing considering how harsh and different the vaccumm of space is to the atmosphere of Earth.

Curious that any living organism can survive in space, I researched this remarkable species of fungi.

(Note: fungi were previously classified in the plant kingdom, but as science progressed researchers discovered fungi are not plants but have a closer relationship to animals, and have eversince gotten their own kingdom of classfication that is apart from plants and animals.)

The lichens have a symbiotic relationship with algae and/or cynobacteria which provide the energy through photosynthesis that the lichen uses. The lichen in turn produces "sunscreen" that provides protection from UV radiation. This could explain how it managed to survive at all in space.

Could there be living organisms on Mars or the Moon that have somehow adapted to survive in their particular environments? The thought reminded me of the beautiful sad story of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupèry about a boy who has a red earthly rose that grows on an un-earth-like planet in space. 

If humans are to really live on and terraform Mars or the Moon they will have to find ways of growing vegetation on them to make living there sustainable. Astronauts have grown a veriaty of vegetables inside the International Space Station with soil from earth, in 1995 a potato became the first vegetable to be harvested on the ISS. But radiation is still perhaps the most concerning obstacle about living in space, because it can penetrate even metal but not concrete.

Studies by NASA for astronaut safety have many different countermeasures against radiation. Which includes limiting their time in space, to monitoring which location on the ISS gets most effected by radiation. There are many different types of radiation, the most dangerous is ionising radiation like gamma rays and galactic cosmic radiation and radiation from solar particle events. Fortunately so far it is possible to live in lower earth orbit for months or up to a year because the radiation in it is not as strong as in complete outer space away from earth. 

Radiation on Mars or the Moon is one of the most difficult challenges hindering space dreams. So for a living organism that has closer relationships with animals like the lichens to survive at all in space is truly astonishing.

It made me wonder how far do the abilities of plants/fungi go and how much do we have in common with them on the cellular level.

Plants/animals/fungi are eukaryotic organisms. While scientists do not make direct comparison between plants and animals for obvious reasons there are still things they are studying on the cellular level in plants to understand how similar things might work in humans. 

A recent study on plants by the University of California - Riverside, published in the journal Nature Plants. Scientists made an unexpected discovery of the critical life saving function of the organelle Golgi Body and the COG protein that maintains it. Plants that were modified to be unable to produce the protein and deprived of light started to have signs of dying and when they were injected with the COG protein they made a full recovery as though coming back to life from death. This is extremely astonishing. The scientists behind the discovery say that all eukaryotic organisms have the golgi organelle - known in humans as the Golgi Apparatus, and that what was learnt in plants could help better understand the aging process and age related diseases in humans.

(Note: The Golgi Apparatus is a biological device that sorts, modifies and packages proteins to be sent into vesicles for delivery to particular cells. To learn more about proteins, genes, and gene reprogramming you can read my article: Understanding Regenerative Medicine posted to Ink in the Internet.)

In another recent discovery published in Ecology, a fern tree species found in Western Panama and its lineage dates back to the Jurassic era, is found to be able to reanimated its dead leaves, turning the structures in leaves that used to carry water to the plant into roots that dig deep into the soil to feed the mother plant nutrients. As this happens the leaves look like decaying plant matter but they are turning into newly living roots.

Nature keeps getting more complex and perplexing as we learn about it. 

Another very astonishing living organism though not a plant is the lungfish, a creature that has gills and lungs, scientists believe when the freshwater it naturally occurs in is not well oxygenated it switches to getting oxygen from its lungs, and the lungfish are sometimes called living fossils because the species has stayed unchanged for nearly 4 million years. Lungfish (Subclass Dipnoi) first appeared in the Early Devonian Epoch.

Incredible creatures subhan Allah.

"During the spawning season, the pelvic fins of the male develop numerous tuft-shaped growths filled with small blood vessels (capillaries). These growths are believed to release oxygen from the blood, thereby oxygenating the water around the young." - Britannica 

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

Email: [email protected] 

Sources:

Britannica - Lungfish - Karl Heinz Luling, fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 

National Geogrphic - West Africa Lungfish

National Library of Medicine - UV - Protectant Metabokites from Lichens and their Symbiotic Partners - Khanh Nguyan etc al. Nat Prod Rep. 2013 Dec.

Britannica - Eukaryotes  - The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 

Britannica - Golgi Apparatus - Kara Rogers - fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica 

The British Lichen Society - What is a Lichen?

ExplorersWeb - Lichen Survives on Outside of International Space Station  - Sam Anderson 

Scitech Daily - New Discovery  Brings Nearly Dead Plant Back to Life - University of California - Riverside

IFLSCIENCE - One-of-A-Kind "Zombie" Fern can Reanimate Dead Leaves to Feed the Rest of the Plant - Eleanor Higgs - edited by Maddy Chapman

Ustate - Herbarium - What are Fungi?

Radiation Educator Guide - Module 3 - Jon Rask, M.S. ARC Education Specialist - Wenonah Vercoutere, Ph.D, Nasa ARC Subject Mater Expert - Al Krause, MSFC Education Specialist - BJ Navarro, Nasa ARC Project Manager

Nasa - Why Space Radiation Matters

www. gvisser . ca - What was the First Vegetable to be Grown in Space?

#arjuwan lakkdawala #biology #science #ink in the internet #nature #photosynthesis #light #physics #radiation #bioengineering #lichens #fungi #lungfish #golgi apparatus #eukaryotes

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Climate Change - What You Didn't Know

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Those who don't believe in Climate Change or Global Warming, claim that the fluctuations and variation, and even the extreme weather events are normal, simply part of the natural processes of Earth's Climate.

It was those claims and the extreme weather that I read about around the world, and the consequences of the unfolding disaster that is "Climate Change" is what got me curious and concerned enough to investigate this matter and find the correct answers once and for all.

The first thing to do was to differentiate between the truly normal Climate of Earth and the anthropogenic (human caused) Climate effect.

I thought of going back in time before the industrial revolution, when the air was pure and clean, no one knew what pollution was or air contamination. However, this does not answer the question about the Climate but it does confirm that pollution is a result of the industrial era and with it comes many diseases and contamination of Earth's air and other things.

So I decided to go back in 'geological time' it is a term used by geologists who investigate Earth's past Climate and environment.

Geologists study rocks, boulders, sediments on land and the ocean, sea, etc. These sediments contain fossils and microfossils of plants, animals, microorganisms, and chemical compounds of different minerals, etc. Based on these geologists can ascertain what was the environment in the past Climates when these things were living or formed.

Even this though is not enough to have an in depth comprehensive understanding of the naturally induced Climate Change, it turns out scientists monitor and study the Climate from the ground up to space. It's all relative to Climate Change.

To understand the first chapter of Climate Change, we have to learn about the Milankovitch Cycles, the theory is by the Serbian mathematician, geophysicist, and climatologist Milutin Milankovitch (1879 - 1958.)

His ideas that appeared in papers over the years, were collectively published in his 1941 book: Canon of Insolation and the Ice-Age Problem.

Milankovitch calculated the temperature on different points on Earth at different times of the year, and his calculations were close enough to the early 20th century empirical data to attract the attention of meteorologists.

"In 1924, in collaboration with German meteorologist Vladimir Köppen and German geophysicist Alfred Wegener, who were then working on the causes of Ice Ages."

Milankovitch calculated hundreds of thousands of years back in time to study three known astronomical parameters:

Eccentricity, Earth's orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, and it changes into different elliptical orbits over time, where sometimes the Earth is closer to the Sun and at other times very far away from the Sun - a major contributing factor to Ice Ages.

Earth's Axial Tilt, the Earth rotates on an axis which is tilted, this too changes over time, its changes can be detected at the North Pole as it points to different parts of the sky.

Precession, is caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon upon the Earth, and so the Earth wobbles like a "spinning top that is slowing down." 

The Milankovitch Cycle consists of these three and they affect the Earth's Climate from an astronomical angle by how much solar radiation hits Earth.

According to geologists there have been 5 Ice Ages in Earth's Climate, and the last one which we are experiencing: "Cainozoic - Quarternary Ice Age, began around 34 million years ago with the glaciation of Antarctica" - Outlook Planet.

So if we are in an Ice Age how can there be Global Warming? It can be and I'll explain how.

Humans are practically living all over Earth, and there are greenhouse gas emissions from factories to cars, planes, rockets, barbecues, wildfires, etc, all of it is releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) filling up into the atmosphere - trapping heat. 

Now if we are to find similarity with this anthropogenic CO2 pollution with natural processes in the past Climates, we could take volcanoes as a good example or when meteorites hit Earth, in the first there is great levels of the release of carbon dioxide, and in the second the debris and sediments unearthed by the impact of the meteorite can block the sunlight. These can cause change in climate, but the big difference is that when major events like these happened humans were not around and didn't have to endure the long process of Earth healing itself. Unfortunately it was animal species like dinasaurs and others that suffered extinction and troubles due to severe Climate Change.

(Note: The material that is expelled from volcanoes known as tephra/Ash can either warm or cool the Earth's surface "depending on how the sunlight interacts with it." - British Geological Survey.)

If we plunge Earth into severe Climate Change by human activities of burning fossil fuels endlessly, the healing process of Earth could take decades and humans could suffer greatly.

Global Warming is melting glaciers, which in turn is causing sea levels to rise.

(Note: sea levels do not rise when icebergs melt, because they are already part of the water body, and displaces equivalent mass to its weight.)

Sea levels also rise due to thermal energy, water expands as it heats up, which is what is happening now, the high temperature of oceans and seas are causing them to expand, with the rise due to melting glaciers.

Pacific Island Nations are on the forefront of this crisis - UN. Because they are already low-laying Islands. Not only this but some regions in the Pacific are experiencing annual rise of 4 mm of sea level while around the world it is 3.4 mm.

Island Nations most vulnerable include Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Marshall Islands. They have limited land area and are expected to be partially or completely submerged by the end of the 21st century.

On land floods are causing havoc in a different way. The increasing floods is due to ice melting from mountain caps and the extra greenhouse gas - water vapour in the air, which turns to more rain than is part of the natural season. 

Floods are expanding the geographical areas of disease spreading insects. For example, there is an increase in Lyme disease, which has many factors including Climate Change. The nonprofit Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) has warned in its 2023 forecast that the risk of Lym disease is higher than ever.

Floods and out of the normal rain also increase stagnant water that can be breeding grounds for diseases like Malaria and Dengue Fever.

According to the latest World Malaria report there were 249 million cases of Malaria in 2022 compared to 244 in 2021

In very disappointing news recently, Norway, became the first nation to approve deep sea minning.

I can only imagine that the purpose of this is to get resources for manufacturing products, and search for fossil fuels. I think world governments and scientist should instead concentrate on renewable energy and recycling, especially of mobile phones and batteries, and the components of other electronics. Used cars, planes, etc, also have components that ought to be recycled.

The Norwegian government says it will be very careful before giving licences for the actual deep sea minning.

This subject brings me to the matter of what's in the sea, especially regarding threats to its ecosystem and Climate Change. 

The matter of extreme concern according to my observations is Methane hydrates also called fire-ice. It belongs to the chemical compound named 'clathrates' after the Latin 'clathratus' meaning encaged.

The name is fitting as the molecules of Methane hydrates are enclosed in a larger cluster of water molecules.

Methane hydrates are a component of the cryosphere, anywhere that water is in solid state, including snow and ice.

The fire-ice is highly flammable and contains four times more hydrogen than carbon dioxide. It is a greenhouse gas with the potential to completely devasted Earth's  Climate.

Methane hydrate is almost exclusively only found in the permafrost in the Arctic and below the sea floor in sediments, where the pressure is very high and the temperature low, which are the conditions required to keep it stable.

It has crystallised structure, and Methane molecules in a solid state are more densely packed than as a gas. It means the solid reservoir of Methane hydrates have a lot of Methane that can be turned into gas.

A 2023 study by a team of international researchers from the Newcastle University made a very disturbing discovery. The warming of the sea due to Climate Change is causing Methane hydrates to dissociate from continental sediment slopes and move out from the deep ocean. They found a pocket that had travelled 25 miles. The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Scientists don't know how much of Methane hydrates could get effected but as it dissolves in the water it will be released in the atmosphere. 

If Methane hydrates is minnned for fossil fuel it could be very dangerous, its extraction is difficult and it can be severe for the Climate, being worse than carbon dioxide and highly flammable.

Speaking of sea pollution an important note about coral reefs in the Red Sea, as someone who spent a lot of my time by it, since I live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in my research I found that coral reefs are very sensitive to any change and will not live if any of its environmental requirements change, so I hope Saudi government take care that the Red Sea is not effected by pollution or anthropogenic Climate Change, the coral reefs provide life to countless species and are a very important part of the sea ecosystem.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent researcher in science. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Methane - wisconsin department of health services

Nasa - Milankovitch (orbital) cycles and their role in Earth's Climate

Nasa - what is climate change

British Geological Survey - impacts of climate change - discovering geology - climate change

Lym disease causes, signs, and treatment - lifespan

CDC - signs and symptoms of untreated Lyme disease

Benar news - Pacific Island countries facing faster sea level rise, says UN - Subel Rai Bhandari for RFA

Climate portal - how do greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere

My Climate - shaping the future

Methane Hydrate - Science Direct

Outlook Planet - Climate explained: what is an Ice Age and how often do they happen? - Outlook Planet - desk

BBC - why 'flammable ice' could be the future of energy - Martha Henriques

BBC news - Deep-sea minning: Norway approves controversial practice - Esme Stallard

Nature chemistry - flammable ice of profit and doom - Brett F. Thornton and Christian Stranne

News wise - Climate change shown to cause methane to be released from the deep ocean - Newcastle University

Methane hydrates - an overview - Science Direct

Methane hydrates - NOAA ocean exploration

General hazards of carbon dioxide - HSE

Britannica - Milutin Milankovitch - Doug Macdougall - fact-checked by the Editors of Britannica Encyclopedia

Methane - www . inchem . org

#mad science #science #arjuwan lakkdawala #nature #ink in the internet #physics #radiation #light #methane hydrates #fire ice #climate change #global warming #sea level rise #pacific island nations #Pacific ocean #deep sea #ice age

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Understanding Regenerative Medicine

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

It started in the 50s with the first bone marrow transplant, and stem cell research has taken off with promising results and astonishing insights into cells and genes, and the remarkable way in which human and animal bodies function on the cellular level. 

Regenerative medicine is being tested and explored in the treatment of several diseases including cancer and heart disease, two of the leading causes of deaths world wide, researchers also have hopes of finding treatments through it and learning about how Alzheimer's diseases can be treated and its degenerative effects. This is of significance considering the rise of Alzheimer's disease in the past twenty years. (I suspect mobile phones maybe the culprit, read my previous article.)

So what are stem cells exactly and how are they being used in regenerative medicine?

There are many types of function specific cells in the body, the stem cells being tested and used are basically of two main types. One is the embryonic stem cells that are taken from an human embryo which is 3 to 5 days old and has 150 cells, and is from an egg fertilised in vitro fertilisation clinic and has not been implanted in the uterus. It is without a doubt controversial as it raises questions of the ethics of this particular research.

Stem cells can also be found in umbilical cord blood, and the amniotic fluid, which fills the sac surrounding the fetus in the womb.

Women giving birth in hospitals should be notified if the umbilical cord blood is taken for stem cell collection.

These stem cells have the capability to differentiate (turn into) almost any function specific cell in the human body, making them highly favourable for testing and studying how they mature, they can also be frozen to be stored without getting damaged, and they are stable and durable.

Stem cells with the capability to differentiate are called pluripotent cells.

The other type are adult stem cells that have already differentiated into function specific cells, these are found in the bone marrow and fat in the body. While at first it was thought that their capabilities were limited in treatment or testing, scientists are discovering that adult stem cells are useful in many ways and are easier to match to a patient than embryonic stem cells. Because the body's immune system is most likely to attack embryonic stem cells from a donor than its own adult stem cells that have been reprogrammed for treatment.

However, adult stem cells could have defects due to environmental hazards or toxicity.

In both main stem cell types it is tools of reprogramming that is being developed. 

In 2006, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Shinya Yamanaka and his team, at Kyoto University in Japan, discovered how to revert adult stem cells into embryonic stem cell like state. 

This is called Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells or iPSC.

The genes that define an embryonic stem cell are there in every cell in the body but they are turned off. Yamanaka pioneered the technique to turn on those genes in adult stem cells. He did it by injecting molecules in the adult stem cells with the instructions to turn on the embryonic stem cell genes, and by this changing the identity of the adult function specific stem cell into an embryonic like stem cell. 

The instructions for gene reprogramming are in proteins or chemicals that mimic proteins that have been selected to alter the identity of the stem cells into the function specific cells required for potential treatment or testing.

For example, if a patient suffering from heart disease is injected with healthy stem cells that have been turned into heart cells, they could help treat the heart. 

Or in the case of testing,  new drugs can be tested on stem cells that have been differentiated into the cell type in the body targeted by the drugs. Scientists can study if the drug is effective at treating the cells or causes adverse affects. This is of course much better than testing the drugs on living humans or even animals. Animals have suffered so much because of lab testing. I hope stem cells would be a sufficient alternative to animal testing.

The other way in which stem cell research is very useful is that through it researchers and scientists can study cells otherwise inaccessible. Like for example neurons in the brain. 

Stem cells can be differented into neuron like cells, they won't be exactly the same but very close proxies.

Studying stem cells that have been successfully turned into different types of cells of the body in a culture petri dish allows scientists to much easily observe the onset of diseases and test possible treatments. Stem cells are also being considered as alternatives to organ transplant, and tests are ongoing in this context.

The human body has regenerative abilities like the skin healing after wounds or hair growing back. But it is the liver that is most astonishing as it has cells that can regenerate while other organs in the body don't. Scientist are studying why this is.

However, regeneration in humans is nothing compared to some species in the animal kingdom. Like for example worms, lizards, salamanders, jellyfish.

Researchers at Whitehead Institute are studying regeneration, and Professor Peter Reddien, is especially focused on a type of flat worm that has remarkable regeneration capabilities. The worm planarian can regrow its whole body even when it has been cut into pieces. Each piece will grow into a whole new worm.

Another worm was introduced for studying and testing by Professor Mansi Srivastav, the model worm suitable for testing and experiments is the three-banded panther worm. Both worm species have regenerative capabilities and studies have shown that neoblasts (worm stem cells) in the muscles of the worms are guided by Position Control Genes PCGs into regenerating the whole worm from each piece. 

Scientists are developing new techniques of the process of actually introducing proteins or chemicals acting like proteins into the cell membrane of the stem cells or adult stem cells to be reprogrammed.

The percentage of successful reprogramming so far is not high. Previously a virus was used to inject transcription instruction factors into stem cells. But this method was imperfect.

Newer methods include using a plasmid, a circular DNA construct to enter the stem cell membrane with the transcription instructions, after the cell has been zapped with an electric current that makes a temporary hole in it.

While this method of using electricity to change genes is used in labs, a recent study from the University of Nagoya in Japan, studied electric eels that were used to zap zebra fish, using an electric field, they found that the genes of the fish had changed.

The study was published in the journal PeerJ-Life Environment.

"Electric eels and other organism that generate electricity. Could affect genetic modification in nature," said Atsuo Lida, professor and author on the study.

We don't know if the 860 volts discharged from eels in the amazon river has contributed to gene transfer between species but it's a possibility.

The human genome has ca. 20,000 genes that construct proteins. Genes and proteins are the building blocks of life.

Therefore stem cell reprogramming is wholly based on using proteins or chemicals mimicking proteins to alter cells into function specific cell types.

However, the creation of new genes is just as much a mystery as the start of biological life.

A recent discovery by the University of Helsinki in Finland, has a possible answer to the mystery of the mechanism behind the making of new genes. The classical genes that make proteins have regulatory genes, and as the university was studying errors in DNA replication they found that a mutation event can give rise to the very tiny sort of sub-genes from which perhaps other larger genes are made.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent science researcher.

X/Instagram: Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2024

Sources:

SciTech Daily - Palindromic Puzzles Solved: the Hidden Mechanism of Gene Creation, University of Helsinki

National Library of Medicine - Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Reprogramming Platforms and Applications in Cell Replacement Therapy, Akram Al Abbar, Stewart Ching Ngai, Nadine Nograles, Suleiman Yusuf Alhaji, Syahril Abdullah

Electric Eel Zaps can Change Fish DNA - Popular Mechanics, Tim NewComb

ISCRM - What is Cell Reprogramming

The Science of Self-Repair: Regeneration Research at Whitehead Institute by Greta Friar

Mayo Clinic Staff - Stem Cells: What are they and what do they do

#Arjuwan Lakkdawala #regenerative medicine #stem cells #cell reprogramming #gene editing #ink in the Internet #science #electric eels #adult stem cells #biology #nature

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Invisible Forces

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet

When we see something happen before our eyes it is easy to think about it intuitively or to deduce what is happening by using basic logic.

These are superficial observations but when we want to understand the root cause or the science and dynamics of what is happening our brains could encounter the challenge of counterintuitive thinking and here is where we might discover the unthinkable.

One of the things I find very interesting is the history and developing story of the interactions of electricity with biological living entities such as ourselves, and to add to this subject the effect of electromagnetic fields. As I began my research on these I was very surprised by what I found. Starting from the history to present day discoveries.

Why it is not only fascinating but important to have an understanding of this particular branches of science, is because modern age science is expanding in those fields. Especially when it comes to bioengineering in its many subcategories. And I stress its significance in the field of biomedical engineering, specifically to tackle the antibiotics resistance crises. In fact it could be that it is in physics we will find the components to improve the effectiveness of the medicine we have today or the treatments that are no longer effective against microorganisms or autoimmune diseases. We should also study these to find out if there are hidden adverse effects on our health.

The Electromagnetic Force is one of the four fundamental forces in nature as classified by scientists.

Gravitational 

Electromagnetic

Weak Force

Strong Force

Moreover there is the Weakelectro Force that is theorised to unify the Weak and Electromagnetic forces by them being different faucets of the WeakElectro Force.

Excluding gravity the other forces have been traced back to quantum particles. Making them all quantum forces. Gravity however, still continues to baffle scientists.

Unlike the other forces scientists have not been able to progress in their understanding of gravity beyond the theory of General Reletivity that was established by Albert Einstein in 1915.

While atmospheric pressure is not considered a fundamental force, I have written about how it effects us from earth up to space, where there is lack of it and the effect of that. 

The Strong Force

The atom was split for the first time in 1932.

By John Cockcroft and Ernest Walton at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in the UK. Also in Cambridge earlier James Chadwick discovered the neutron.

"After the discovery of the neutron it was clear that the atomic nucleus is made up from protons and neutrons. In such a system, electromagnetic forces cannot be the reason why the constituents of the nucleus are sticking together. Indeed, the repulsive electrical Coulomb force between the protons should blow the nucleus apart. Therefore, the concept of a new strong nuclear force was introduced." 

It is interesting to note that while the protons and neutrons are held together by the Strong Force, the electrons that spin around the nucleus in the atom, do not experience the Strong Force, and the SF gets stronger with distance instead of weaker. This is a bit counterintuitive when we think about it in comparison to gravity or magnetism.

(Side note; to be accurate electrons do not "spin" they have angular momentum).

While electrons do not feel the Strong Force, they are effected by the Weak Force.

An example of the WF is in beta decay. It has a combination of theories as to what is the source of the Weak Force, but its fundamental process is to turn neutrons into protons. 

In an atom the nucleus that is made of neutrons and protons, in each of them are three elementary particles (particles so small scientists have not been able to split them) these are called quarks. A proton has 2 'up quarks' and 1 'down quark.'

While the neutrons have 1 up quark and 2 down quarks. The up and down is according to their spin. What the Weak Force does is that it changes the spin of the quarks which turn the neutron into a proton and an electron gets emitted. In this context the electron is called a "beta particle."

The Electromagnetic Force is very interesting. The simplest example of its occurance is when there is a live wire the motion of the electricity generates around the wire an Electromagnetic Field. 

You can think of the field itself as quantum waves. Mechanical waves such as sound waves and water waves need a medium to transport them. But quantum waves can travel even through the vaccumme of space.

The study of field theories is one of the most difficult in physics, and is still in its infancy.

Powerlines, mobile phones, and any electrical device generates electromagnetic fields. 

Our mobile phones are perhaps the device by which we get the most exposure to EMFs and the brain is most sensitive to these signals. I did research on brain diseases and I found statistics that suggest there might be a correlation between the rise of Alzheimer's disease in the past 20 years and the increase in dependency on mobile phone usage.

"Deaths from Alzheimer’s have more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, while those from heart disease — the leading cause of death — have decreased," according to the Alzheimer Association.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease and how is it dangerous?

"Alzheimer's disease is a brain disorder that gets worse over time. It's characterized by changes in the brain that lead to deposits of certain proteins. Alzheimer's disease causes the brain to shrink and brain cells to eventually die. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia — a gradual decline in memory, thinking, behavior and social skills. These changes affect a person's ability to function." - Mayo Clinic.

In the advanced stages it can cause dehydration, malnutrition, and infections, these can result in death.

We are generally aware of how neurons in the brain function by electrical signals. This apparent electricity in the body has an interesting history.

It is said that in ancient Rome and Egypt eels were the first living things to be acknowledged having this mysterious source of energy.

In the 1770s Italian Physicist and Physician Luigi Galvani believed and investigated what he thought was "animal electricity." He had made a dead frog's muscles move using metals and an Electrostatic Machine and a Leyden Jar - a glass jar to store static electricity. 

Galvani's experiment was at the time a step towards discovering how living tissue uses electricity. He was of course wrong about the frog being the source of the electricity, it was a conductor.

Using first the Leyden Jar and then the first primitive battery - Voltaic Pile scientists were able to store electricity and use it for experiments.

"The Italian physicist Alessandro Volta is generally credited with having developed the first operable battery. Following up on the earlier work of his compatriot Luigi Galvani, Volta performed a series of experiments on electrochemical phenomena during the 1790s." Britannica.

Alessandro Volta had presented his invention in Napoleon's Court and impressed the French leader so much that Volta was appointed his science adviser.

Humanity had however just scratched the surface of what was to come in the study of electricity.

In a potential hypothesis it is said that brain-to-brain communication maybe possible in humans and animals. This sounds funny as I don't believe we can talk to animals other than our pets. But the hypothesis has an interesting aspect regarding how the cryptochrome in the retina can perceive magnetic fields.

"The validation of DBBC (Direct Brain-toBrain Communication) has been documented via recording similar pattern of action potentials occurring in the brain cortex of two animals. With regard to action potentials in brain neurons, the magnetic field resulting from the action potentials created in neurons is one of the tools where the brain of one animal can affect the brain of another. It has been shown that different animals, even humans, have the power to understand the magnetic field. Cryptochrome, which exists in the retina and in different regions of the brain, has been confirmed to be able to perceive magnetic fields and convert magnetic fields to action potentials." - National Library of Medicine.

Birds have in their retinas magnetic field receptors.

"Birds can use two kinds of information from the geomagnetic field for navigation: the direction of the field lines as a compass and probably magnetic intensity as a component of the navigational ‘map’. The direction of the magnetic field appears to be sensed via radical pair processes in the eyes, with the crucial radical pairs formed by cryptochrome. It is transmitted by the optic nerve to the brain, where parts of the visual system seem to process the respective information." - Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Bacteria surprisingly communicate via brainlike bursts of electricity.

"Scientists are now finding that bacteria in biofilms can also talk to one another electrically. Biofilms appear to use electrically charged particles to organize and synchronize activities across large expanses. This electrical exchange has proved so powerful that biofilms even use it to recruit new bacteria from their surroundings, and to negotiate with neighboring biofilms for their mutual well-being." - Scientific American.

Fascinating aspect of biological use of electric fields.

"Electrotaxis is the property of cells to sense electric fields and use them to orient their displacement. This property has been widely investigated with eukaryotic cells but it remains unclear whether or not bacterial cells can sense an electric field." Science Direct.

Electric fields play a significant part in the healing of wounds.

"Weak electric fields applied to the wound or in the wound dressing can also improve wound healing.59–63

Finally, electric charge and biological electrodynamic field permeate several phases of wound healing, driving cells and molecules and maintaining the flow of oxygen and nutrients, necessary to heal the wound. The knowledge of the electric physiology of wound healing can also help develop new and more efficient treatments." National Library of Medicine.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent researcher in science. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

National Library of Medicine - Adv Wound Care (New Rochelle). August 2021; 10(8): 461–476. 

Published online 2021 Jun 17. doi: 10.1089/wound.2019.1114

PMCID: PMC8236302

PMID: 32870772

Electric Factors in Wound Healing

Paulo Luiz Farber,1,* Felipe Contoli Isoldi,2 and Lydia Masako Ferreira2

Science Direct - How bacteria use electric fields to reach surfaces

Author links open overlay panelPoehere Chong, Benjamin Erable, Alain BergelLaboratoire de Génie Chimique, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INP, UPS, Toulouse, France

Received 24 December 2020, Revised 15 March 2021, Accepted 28 March 2021, Available online 8 April 2021, Version of Record 20 April 2021.

Scientific American - Bacteria Use Brainlike Bursts of Electricity to Communicate

With electrical signals, cells can organize themselves into complex societies and negotiate with other colonies

BY QUANTA MAGAZINE & GABRIEL POPKIN

National Library of Medicine - Heliyon. 2021 Mar; 7(3): e06363. 

Published online 2021 Mar 1. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06363

PMCID: PMC7937662

PMID: 33732922

Brain-to-brain communication: the possible role of brain electromagnetic fields (As a Potential Hypothesis)

Ehsan Hosseini

Journal of the Royal Society Interface - Magnetoreception in birds

Roswitha Wiltschko

 and 

Wolfgang Wiltschko

Published:04 September 2019https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0295

Of Particular Significance

Conversations About Science with Theoretical Physicist Matt Strassler

Cambridge University - What is Quantum Field Theory?

NASA - Anatomy of an Electromagnetic Wave

UCR Education - Original by Matt McIrvin, 1994.

Some Frequently Asked Questions About Virtual Particles

Britannica - electromagnetic field

physics

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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 17, 2023 • Article History

United States Environmental Protection Agency - Electric and Magnetic Fields from Power Lines

Live Science - 'Virtual' Particles Are Just 'Wiggles' in the Electromagnetic Field

News

By Paul Sutter

 published August 22, 2016

Live Science - What Is the Weak Force?

References

By Jim Lucas

 published December 24, 2014

Britannica - electroweak theory

physics

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Also known as: Salam-Weinberg theory, Weinberg-Salam theory, electroweak unification theory

Written by 

Christine Sutton

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Article History

Britainnica - Electroweak theory: Describing the weak force

Britannica - strong force

physics

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Also known as: nuclear force, strong interaction, strong nuclear force

Written by 

Christine Sutton

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Nov 23, 2023 • Article History

CernCourier - Cockcroft’s subatomic legacy: splitting the atom

Nuclear Forces - Scholarpedia

Space.com - The four fundamental forces of nature

By Jeremy Rehm, Ben Biggs

 published December 23, 2021

HistoryQA - What were electric eels called before electricity?

Vox - How Alessandro Volta invented the battery and won over Napoleon

By Phil [email protected]@vox.com 

National Maglab - Voltaic Pile – 1800

Britannica - Leyden jar

electrical instrument

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Britannica - Luigi Galvani

Italian physician and physicist

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Bern Dibner

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Science Direct - On the Use of Boundary Integral Methods in Bioelectromagnetics

D. Poljak, in Numerical Methods and Advanced Simulation in Biomechanics and Biological Processes, 2018

National Library of Medicine - J Biomed Phys Eng. 2022 Aug; 12(4): 387–394. 

Published online 2022 Aug 1. doi: 10.31661/jbpe.v0i0.1268

PMCID: PMC9395628

PMID: 36059281

Effects of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields Emitted from Mobile Phones and Wi-Fi Router on the Growth Rate and Susceptibility of Enterococcus faecalis to Antibiotics

Seyed Mohammad Javad Mortazavi,1,2 Mohammad Taheri,3 Maryam Paknahad,4,5* and Salar Khandadash6

National Library of Medicine -

Bactericidal effects of low-intensity extremely high frequency electromagnetic field: an overview with phenomenon, mechanisms, targets and consequences

Heghine Torgomyan et al. Crit Rev Microbiol. 2013 Feb.

National Library of Medicine - Trends Microbiol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2012 Mar 1.

Published in final edited form as:

Trends Microbiol. 2011 Mar; 19(3): 105–113. 

Published online 2011 Jan 14. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2010.12.007

PMCID: PMC3057284

NIHMSID: NIHMS266083

PMID: 21239171

When microbial conversations get physical

Gemma Reguera

Science Direct - Chinese Journal of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery

Volume 3, Issue 2, June 2021, Pages 95-102

Review

Electric Field: A Key Signal in Wound Healing

Author links open overlay panelNaixin JIA 1 #, Jinrui YANG 1 #, Jie��LIU 1, Jiaping ZHANG 1

Britannica - magnetic dipole

physics

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Also known as: electrostatic dipole

Written and fact-checked by 

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The Spin of an Up Quark

San José State University applet-magic.com

Thayer Watkins

Silicon Valley,

Tornado Alley

& the Gateway

to the Rockies

Britannica - asymptotic freedom

Science Photo Library - Credit

GREGOIRE CIRADE / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Medium - Exploring EMF ‘Electromagnetic Fields’ Toxicity Symptoms on the Human Brain

Science Direct - Electromagnetic Pollution

The rising electromagnetic pollution from electronic devices causes malfunctioning of neighboring sensitive devices and negative impact on human life.

From: Mxenes and their Composites, 2022

Better Health Channel - Electromagnetic fields (EMF) and health issues

Britannica - Coulomb's Law

#Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink in the Internet #science #electromagnetic fields #strong force #weak force #gravitational #electrotaxis #radioactive decay #science direct #live science #britannica #Cambridge University #bacteria communication #cryp #cryptochrome #biology #nature #biomedicine #bioengineering #Alzheimer's disease

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The Fairytale of Light

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

I'm a writer and an ardent reader, I have authored two fiction stories. Spellrainia, and The Chains. I've read a lot of fiction, science fiction, and fantasy books throughout my life, played videos games in the genre of fantasy as well. I'm now 42 years old, what I've learned at this point is that reality is way more stranger than fiction can ever be. And science is way more magical than any fantasy.

I often hear fans of the genre of fantasy claim that it's so magical, that the authors' imaginations are incredible. I have myself sang praises of C.S. Lewis (The Chronicles of Narnia). And Lewis Carroll (Alice in Wonderland) to name a few of the luminaries of the classics.

And they are deserving of the praise. However, I was not prepared for what I was going to discover as I made my transition from fantasy fiction to mainly science reading. Before I get into that I must praise science fiction writer Jules Verne (Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, and many other fantastic books) who really drew a line that connected the magic of science with fantasy in a way I don't think any writer has been able to accomplish after him.

With that said when it comes to fantasy I think I can sum up the premise of it in mentioning a few characters and things. Boy/Girl on quest/adventure, dragons, griffins, unicorns, invisibility cloaks, wands, fairies, wizards/witches, school of magic, and I think we are basically done.

What we truly see in these types of stories is not the unthinkable or a challenge to the intellect. They are aesthetic to the mind and are hopes of what we cannot do but would be so wonderful if we could.

After my two books my interest had completely turned towards becoming a scholar of the sciences. I'm an aspiring scientist. I may never get the title but I will my entire life pursue independent research to educate myself and teach whatever I learn by writing articles.

Having an inquisitive mind that is inclined towards healthy curiosity like the universe is a sophisticated trait to have instead of gossip.

Science has stunned me because I have never read anything in fantasy or fiction that goes beyond what would be considered unthinkable. In science I have truly found the unthinkable and the unimaginable, and it took years for many scientists to each pick up where the other had left off, after no less than a lifetime of research and study.

So I cannot state enough how valuable is the information and knowledge that has accumulated in our scientific database. We are so fortunate that the Internet gives us access to so much of these treasures.

Please excuse my mini intro I just had to express how amazed I am and how fortunate I feel and grateful to be able to learn and write.

When I think about the world needless to say there is so much to think about, and one cannot think of everything at once. We have to breakdown the pictures and study the marvels of science one subject at a time.

In this article I want to focus on light. This simple bright thing is infinitely complex and has many forms. Even in this era scientists don't fully understand it.

So let us start with some simple questions: What is light? What was the first light in our observable universe?

In basic quantum theory light is electromagnetism or we can say packets of energy called photons.

There is light we can see and light we cannot see. The visibility region of light depends on its wavelength. Typically the human eye can see light between the wavelengths of 388 to 700 nanometers. We cannot see light which is in the longer wavelength region known as infrared region, and we cannot see light in the shorter wavelength region known as ultraviolet region.

We might think that the first light in our universe started with the Big Bang (a leading theory). Because we intuitively think of the Big Bang as an explosion when it's a sudden expansion of the universe at speeds faster than light.

Albert Einstein had said that nothing in the universe can travel faster than light, that however does not include the universe itself.

I'll explain why the Big Bang could not have been bright according to the science. An example that is usually given is that it was foggy like a cloud. When we see a cloud we can only see the surface where the light was last scattered, the water molecules in the cloud disperse light.

The Big Bang had a temperature that was so high that light couldn't travel from it into the universe. It took 300,000 years for it to cool down enough for the first light - the afterglow to spread in the universe. This light is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation. It is everywhere and if you turn on the TV without cable the static that you see is the signal of the CMB.

We cannot see this light glowing because as light travels vast distances it gets stretched and this reduces its brightness. However the CMB is a very valuable phenomena as it carries with it information from the birth of our universe.

Regarding the Big Bang theory there is another fascinating theory attached to it, and that is the Multiverse. Scientists agree that the model of the Big Bang could allow for the possibility of Multiverses. 

What is the theory of the Multiverse?

That when the cosmic inflation happened many universes were formed as bubbles, and our universe is in one of these bubbles and there are other universes in other bubbles, and each universe might have its own laws of physics.

Light is also known to be a colourful thing. Take the rainbow for example after the rain or when we see it through a prism. From a fantasy point of view the rainbow will always remind me of the animated series Rainbow Brite.

The rainbow scientifically is equally fascinating. As I saw on an episode of Be Smart recently (Youtube), the rainbow has streaks of dark lines, the missing light is due to the interactions of the photons with elements on the surface of the sun and in Earth's atmosphere. As the photons travel the electrons they bump into absorb bits of light changing the energy of the electrons. 

In fact scientists can know which elements light has interacted with by the missing light on an Absorbtion Spectrum, when light passes through a prism. This is so useful since we cannot take samples from the sun to know what's in it, but the light coming from it can reveal the elements in it. Even the Mars Curiosity Rover uses it to discover elements on Mars. There are prints of elements from on the sun that haven't been identified, it could be because they don't exist on Earth.

I'm speaking in brief terms about light in this article, because I'm myself still learning about it.

So what does light do apart from making things visible?

A question that has deeply intrigued me is does light have the ability to move things? Can it bring physical change?

I think the first thought that would come to mind is photosynthesis. The dominant source of metabolism on Earth. But before I get into how light effects Earth let us think about it in the universe. It is said that Earth was seeded with the building blocks of life by many supernovae that exploded, they unlike the Big Bang where bright.

The first stars formed probably from hydrogen and helium, and little amounts of lithium, and then heavy elements that life on Earth depends on were formed from these.

Example of heavy elements: 

Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous. Heavy elements are supposed to have an atomic number that is greater than 92.

Now let us think about how light effects Earth.

What is photosynthesis?

It is a process in which most plants absorb sunlight and with water make oxygen, and chemical energy stored in glucose. Herbivores need plants to get their energy, and carnivores eat herbivores and this sustains the circle of life on Earth.

Plants, algea, and some types of bacteria can do photosynthesis.

Then there is chemosynthesis which doesn't need sunlight.

It occurs in bacteria and other microorganisms in oceanic or inland waters. 

It is basically a process in which organic matter (energy for the microorganism) is made from inorganic matter like hydrogen or hygrogen sulfide.

Speaking of microorganisms I think at this point much like speculation about the start of our universe, we can speculate about the start of life on Earth.

First I would need here to explain that inorganic matter and organic matter is the different assortment of atoms. Chemically many types of organic matter can be made from inorganic matter with the right type of natural environment.

So in speculation perhaps the start of life on Earth was from inorganic matter that joined to make H2O (water), heat cycles warmed and cooled that water and radiation one of the forms of light introduced elements and maybe even helped in the configuration of atoms and molecules in the water that become the appropriate environment for the first life form to appear. I say speculation because like the Big Bang no one knows how life started on Earth and why we haven't detected any form of it elsewhere in our Solar System, despite there being frozen water on other planets and moons.

Scientists have still not figured out consciousness or animal instincts or what is a soul.

Astrobiologist look for extraterrestrial life by studying matter in simulation of different environments that could be in space or other planets. While in the past it was mainly considered impossible for life to exist in space, recent studies have shown that there are microorganisms that can survive the journey through space. It is speculated that maybe microorganisms were introduced to Earth via comets or meteorites.

In an article on Neuroscience news.com posted on 16, Oct 2023.

It says: "Scientists from top Institutions describe a groundbreaking Discovery: The Missing Law of Nature."

The study has been titled: 'Law of Increasing Functional Information.'

It says that evolution is not something that can only happen in living systems, but can extend to atoms, stars, and minerals.

The study says that when configuration happens in these inorganic systems that increases functionality it is evolution. But what are the forces behind the  configuration? The article states many physics phenomena like electromagnetism among other things.

Another discovery that I found interesting is posted on 12, October 2023 on Physics.org from the Minnesota University. The article is titled: "Surprising Discovery Shows that Electron Beam Radiation can Repair Nanostructures." The article says the discovery was made by accident when crystals were being studied for cracks in them, but the beam repaired the cracks when the atoms by themselves under the affect of the beam filled the cracks.

So this discovery with what we learned about the missing light in rainbows tells us that photons interact with electrons, and it is scientifically an established fact. I know in this study it was a beam of electrons but as radiation. Now photons and electrons are known to behave like waves and particles under specific conditions. This nature of photons is called wave-particle duality.

As I said there is so much to study about any scientific subject. I'll end this article here with the mention of Solar Sails, which is the idea to use the momentum of light to propel spacecrafts through space at 10% the speed of light.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

email: [email protected] 

Sources: Photosynthesis - National Geogrphic

Extreme Tech - The Sun's rainbow why are there so many colours missing

By Sebastian Anthony October 2, 2013

NASA - A foggy universe...origin of the microwave background

NOAA Oceanic Explorations - What is the difference between photosynthesis and chemosynthesis?

Biology Online - Chemosynthesis

ESA - Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation

Space.com - Our Universe May Exist in a Multiverse, Cosmic Inflation Discovery Suggests

By Miriam Kramer

 published March 18, 2014

Space.com - What is the cosmic microwave background?

By Elizabeth Howell, Daisy Dobrijevic

 published January 28, 2022

Space.com - What is the Big Bang Theory?

By Andrew May, Elizabeth Howell

 last updated July 26, 2023

Planck Satellite - UK Outreach Site - Cosmic Microwave Background

Webb Space Telescope - What Were the First Stars Like?

Short answer: We don’t really know.

Stanford University - Interactions of Photons With Matter

Nagwa - Question Video: Describing the Electron According to Modern Atomic Theory Chemistry

ESA - Energy=light=radiation=temperature

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - Discovery of Elements 113 and 115

Konica Minolta - Precise Colour Communication

Physics.org - When was the first light in the universe?

by Fraser Cain , Universe Today

Neuroscience news.com - Unveiling Nature’s Missing Law: Evolution Beyond Biology

Featured Neuroscience

·October 16, 2023

Britannica - Matter Rays

Science Direct - Water Worlds in the Solar System

Planetary.org - What is Solar Sailing

#science #Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink in the Internet #physics #photosynthesis #chemosynthesis #radiation #light #fairytale #jules verne #c.s. lewis #Lewis carroll #alice in wonderland #narnia #rainbow #the law of increasing functional information #discovery

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A Comprehensive Guide to Pressure

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

It is one of the fundamental forces that we live with and is used in scientific inventions. 

We seldom feel it but it plays a major part in the world.

In this article I'm going to concentrate on the ways in which pressure effects us and the world. 

Human body: Blood pressure in the body is the force of the blood against the vessel walls as it makes each cardiac cycle to deliver oxygen to the organs and tissue.

High blood pressure (Hypertension) can damage many organs and be fatal. 

Pressure is highest close to the heart and lower in other parts.

Now to consider the pressure outside the body, which is atmospheric pressure. 

We live at the bottom of the atmosphere, all that air has weight which is called atmospheric pressure. On every square inch of Earth's surface is 14.7 pounds of air pressure pushing down.

Yet it doesnt crush us and we don't feel any pressure. That is because air is a fluid.

If you stretch your arm before you and observe. The air is pushing on your hand from every direction and this is why the force of atmospheric pressure cancel each other out. 

If there was pressure on one side and not the other, the other side would feel the air pressure pushing on it. This is how jars are factory sealed for example. The lid is held tightly on the glass because inside the jar is a vacuum. 

In Earth's weather there is High Pressure Systems and Low Pressure Systems.

On a weather map red L is for LP and blue H is for HP.

These systems are because Earth is not equally heated by the sun, and because of its rotation and the Corialis effect.

Pressure on the Earth's surface varies, and it is effected by air density, temperature, and volume. Air temperature is measured in Kelvin.

Atmospheric scientists use math equations to explain how pressure, density, temperature, and volume are connected. The Constant in the Equations is the Universal Gas Constant and the equations are called the Ideal Gas Law.

Where air pressure is high the temperature is low, and as temperature increases air pressure gets lower.

Now if we are to go higher literally in altitude. Like when flying on a plane, many passengers might have experienced Airplane Ear or Ear Barotrauma, it is when the air pressure inside the ear and the cabin pressure inside the plane are not equal. 

The Eustachian Tube inside the ear gets flattened because of the pressure change during ascend or descend. So the safe way to pop your ear is to yawn or swallow to get air into the ear which will equalise the pressure.

When it comes to pressure and flight I'm not done. I know a little more I can write about.

In the 1930s Boeing introduced a special commercial plane Stratoliner 307 which had pressurised cabins. The technology hasnt changed since but has become more precise with the advent of electronic computerised sensors. This pressurised air in the cabins is regulated to gradually increase and decrease as the plane ascends and descends. 

The air used is from the jet engine compressors. When the engines pull in air for combustion it's more than it needs for the plane to fly. So volumes of the air are taken into the plane system for air conditioning and cabin pressurisation.

Now I have a little more knowledge about flight and pressure I can write about.

There are many mechanisms and engineering skills that go into making aircrafts. But it is still unknown how planes really fly in full detail.

What is known are leading theories of the Bernoulli Principle and Newton's Third Law of Motion. 

In his 1738 book Hydrodynamica, Daniel Bernoulli, wrote that a fluid when moving fast has less pressure than when moving slow. Air is not liquid but it is considered a fluid. So the fast moving air created by the aircrafts is said to be why they fly. Again pressure is the theory.

Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction. Air has mass therefore there is air pressure, and again flight is attributed to the airfoil and jet engines that create lift using the Third Law.

Basically when the jet engines start the compressors pull enormous amounts of air, this air is then compressed and sent to the combustion chamber where it is sprayed with fuel and ignited. As it exits the nozzle thrust is made. The pressurised air has high combustion qualities.

Now if we are to go literally even higher in a rocket. It too uses combustion for take off but is engineered different from aircrafts.

What happens to the human body in microgravity which is in low-Earth orbit. Astronauts may develope many health complications in space. Micrpgravity on the International Space Station, may specifically cause vision loss as blood flows towards the head from the rest of the body.

A NASA reports says Astronauts wear compression cuffs on the thighs to counter the fluid change, a negative-pressure device worn to draw blood away from the head to the lower extremities of the body.

What happens if an astronaut goes out of the spacecraft into the vacuume of space without a spacesuit. There is no atmospheric pressure and the oxygen in the lungs would expand causing the lungs to rupture. The fluids in the body would boil as it is pressure that sets the boiling point of liquids. So the boilling point of the fluids will be lowered in the vacuume of space, and bubbles and boiling will happen as the fluids turn to gas. Medically this is called embolism.

Now let us return to earth and go into the water. What happens under the sea to body pressure. Scuba divers use compressesed air to breathe under water. It has nitrogen, oxygen, and other gases in the mixture. The nitrogen can cause Nitrogen Narcosis, making the diver disoriented and could lead to coma. Another problem is decompression illness, this is why divers should not go to altitudes like in a plane or mountains immediately after diving. The nitrogen they inhale during the dive enters the bloodstream and with the decreased pressure at altitudes may form into bubbles as it exits the body. The nitrogen will exit the body after a diver has stopped diving, but it should happen gradually not suddenly as would happen at altitudes.

In this as well we have learned how pressure effects us and how it is used

It is pressure again that makes a boat float. 

The air pressure inside the boat pushes against the water, when it is greater than the weight of the boat it will float.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia email: [email protected]

Sources:

NASA - Rocket Educator Guide

NASA - Human in Space

Libre Texts Chemistry

High blood pressure dangers: Hypertension's effects on your body - Maya Clinic Staff

National Library of Medicine - AIMS Public Health. 2019; 6(3): 320–325. 

Published online 2019 Aug 26. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2019.3.320

PMCID: PMC6779601

PMID: 31637280

“Airplane ear”—A neglected yet preventable problem

Sudip Bhattacharya,1,* Amarjeet Singh,2 and Roy Rillera Marzo3

Author information Article notes Copyright and License information PMC Disclaimer

Airplane Ear - Mayo Clinic

Libre Texts Biology - 40.13: Blood Flow and Blood Pressure Regulation - Blood

NASA - How does a jet engine work

National Library of Medicine - Nitrogen Narcosis In Diving StatPearl (Internet)

Patrick J. Kirkland; Dana Mathew; Pranav Modi; Jeffrey S. Cooper.

Author Information and Affiliations

Last Update: July 31, 2023.

Direct Air - Breathing air - your compressed air responsibilities

Science questions with surprising answers - Dr. Christopher S. Bird -

Why don't I feel the miles of air above me that are crushing me down?

Category: Physics

Published: September 14, 2015

UCAR - Center for Science Education - The highs and lows of air pressure

CalOx - Why Divers Don’t Use Pure Oxygen and Safe Scuba Diving Tips

Harvard - science in the news - THE HUMAN BODY IN SPACE: DISTINGUISHING FACT FROM FICTION

Let's Talk Science est. 1993 - STEM Explained

Why do Ships Float? - Amy McDonald

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Understanding Bioengineering

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Bioengineering is a massive field where engineering knowledge is converted to assist biological means.

This is done in many different ways and is currently a developing branch of science that incorporates many other scientific disciplines in chemistry, biology, botanics, and of course sophisticated cutting-edge technology.

The conversion of engineering methods to biological assistance, and the conversion of natural mechanisms into mechanical engineering feats is the frontier of the new age of science.

Thousands of scientists are learning, experimenting and improving this special method of scientific advancement.

To understand bioengineering conversion let us take the simplest of examples:

Chemical reaction of electrolytes.

Salt is made of sodium and chlorine atoms. When dissolved in water they break apart from each other. Sodium atoms have a positive charge (cations) and chlorine atoms negative charge (anions).

That they are flowing freely in the water makes them a good conductor of electricity. 

If you take an electric resistance measuring meter (ohmmeter - electrical resistance is measured in ohms) and put it in a glass of water that doesn't have salt in it, you will find the resistance to be 900,000 ohms as was reported in Britannica Encyclopedia.

When salt was added the resistance read less than 80,000 ohms.

Water does conduct electricity, but if you add salt the electrical flow will be even stronger.

So this is a basic chemical reaction in chemistry and physics.

Our body is 60% water and we need electrolytes to generate electrical signals for the movement of our muscles  and electrolytes are also needed to maintain the balance of fluids in  our body.

So in the above example we can see how an electrical test to conduct electricity (do not try to touch electricity - you could get electrocuted and die. It will be painful.

In the biological conversion of the same phenomena we see electricity generated in the body to power muscles movement. The electricity in our body doesn't kill us because it is sufficient for its task in the body but not strong enough to electrocute us.

Another example of the many fields of bioengineering is using plants and animals biological/botanic. A team from WPI in 2017 used spinach leaves to grow human heart tissue. 

"In a series of experiments, the team cultured beating human heart cells on spinach leaves that were stripped of plant cells. They flowed fluids and microbeads similar in size to human blood cells through the spinach vasculature, and they seeded the spinach veins with human cells that line blood vessels. These proof-of-concept studies open the door to using multiple spinach leaves to grow layers of healthy heart muscle to treat heart attack patients. " - WPI Beyond These Towers

One more example of the types of bioengineering is the progress being made in using 3D printers to mimic organ functions that can be used to test medicine safety and efficacy. And in the future bioengineers hope to be able to print functioning replica organs that can be planted in patients with defective organs.

"In a paper published in Nature Materials, researchers from Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University report the development of a new hydrogel ink infused with gelatin fibers that enables 3D printing of a functional heart ventricle that mimics beating like a human heart. They discovered the fiber-infused gel (FIG) ink allows heart muscle cells printed in the shape of a ventricle to align and beat in coordination like a human heart chamber." - WYSS Institute|By Kat J. McAlpine / SEAS 

The methods being developed to use metal based nanoparticles as an alternative to antibiotics against microbial resistance is another form of bioengineering.

A simple example of how metals destroy viruses on the surface when in direct contact is copper for example, it has electrically charged atoms (ions) these blast through the membrane of bacteria and viruses when they come into contact. In fact there are medical devices made with coating of metals that destroy viruses and bacteria to stop their spreading.

But on the cellular level it is not possible to use this form of treatment, so it is where bioengineering comes in.

There are many ways to perform synthesis of metals from inorganic materials to extract metal based nanoparticles. Green synthesis is the most preferred.

A metal nanoparticle when administered as treatment for an infection can attract the bacteria to it (Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria both have negative electrical charges) the nanoparticle can destroy or disrupt the function of the bacteria, in addition it will be effective against all types of bacteria, giving no chance for bacterial resistance as this metal based mechanism is completely unknown to the bacteria.

These experiments and studies are in development, as deaths from anti bacterial resistance has reached pre-antibiotic era rates. 

Biophotonics also comes under the umbrella of bioengineering. It is very fascinating as it incorporates the science of photonics which deals with light energy and information.

In the treatment of cancer tumors lasers are used to damage the tumors. And there are many other delicate surgeries in which laser can be used.

Many different sciences are applied and mixed in bioengineering. Perhaps I'll write about them in future articles.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist.

Contact [email protected] Twitter/Instagram @Spellrainia

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Sources:

www.indeed.com - What Is Photonics Engineering? Definition and Requirements

National Library of Medicine - Ann Transl Med. 2016 Dec; 4(23): 452. 

 doi: 10.21037/atm.2016.11.51

PMCID: PMC5220034

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Laser applications in surgery

Beina Azadgoli and Regina Y. Baker

Author information Article notes Copyright and License information PMC Disclaimer

Springer Link - Applications of Green Synthesized Metal Nanoparticles — a Review

Seerengaraj Vijayaram, 

Hary Razafindralambo, 

…

Mahdieh Raeeszadeh 

Show authors

Biological Trace Element Research (2023)Cite this article

4969 Accesses

9 Citations

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Metricsdetails

National Library of Medicine - Nanomaterials (Basel). 2020 Feb; 10(2): 292. 

Published online 2020 Feb 9. doi: 10.3390/nano10020292

PMCID: PMC7075170

PMID: 32050443

Metal-Based Nanoparticles as Antimicrobial Agents: An Overview

Elena Sánchez-López,1,2,3,* Daniela Gomes,4 Gerard Esteruelas,1 Lorena Bonilla,1 Ana Laura Lopez-Machado,1,3 Ruth Galindo,1,2 Amanda Cano,1,2,3 Marta Espina,1,2 Miren Ettcheto,3,5 Antoni Camins,3,5 Amélia M. Silva,6,7 Alessandra Durazzo,8 Antonello Santini,9 Maria L. Garcia,1,2,3 and Eliana B. Souto4,10,*

Author information Article notes Copyright and License information PMC Disclaimer

Science Direct - Current Opinion in Microbiology - Recent advances in the development of metal complexes as antibacterial agents with metal-specific modes of action

Author links open overlay panelJessica E Waters 1 2, Lars Stevens-Cullinane 1 2, Lukas Siebenmann 1 2, Jeannine Hess 1 2

Manhattan Gold and Silver - How metals like silver and copper kill germs

The University of Queenland - Australia - Metals could be the new link to antibiotics

Britannica - The ionic bases of electrical signals

Cleveland Clinic - Electrolytes

Britannica - Bioengineering

#bioengineering #Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink on the Internet #biophotonics #electrolytes #salt #sodium #chlorine #ions #ohms #nanoparticles #science #internet #biology #nature #viruses #antibiotic resistance #Anti Microbial Resistance #optics laser surgery

[inkintheinternet]

Climate Change is getting Real

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Climate Change, Global Warming, have long been debated in the scientific community as the world's next possible disaster. However, there have been those who deny it's even happening.

Not anymore.

That is about to change for the worst. Especially because of diseases. For instance death by heatstrokes have increased under the blazing unprecedented temperatures. Natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, also release an aftermath of diseases.

In many articles we can read doctors complaining about how climate change is impacting the medical field.

These are not the only concerning factors to the impending climate disaster.

The months of July, August, September, usually when people travel for the summer, have now something very concerning. A stark warning. That is the "Brain-Eating Amoebae." These are the months in which risk of infection is highest due to the high temperatures.

It's a free-living single cell organism that thrives in warm freshwater.

It can only be seen through a microscope. The American CDC (Centers for Disease Control) have a page with extensive description about the bug, and it says that there is no warning regarding the bug in any body of water, and one must assume it is present in any warm freshwater because it occurs naturally. 

So what does the bug do exactly? Infections are almost always fatal, the scientific name for this species of amoeba is Naegleria Fowleri.

It enters the body through the nose, when a person dives while swimming, or in anyway if the contaminated water gets into the nose. From there the bug travels to the brain where is tunnels deep into brain tissue, causing necroptosis and hemorrhage, followed by edema (swelling of the brain) a person can slip into a coma and die within days.

It is very difficult to treat this highly fatal infection that is called Primary Amobic Meningoencephalitis (PAM).

Because the drugs that we presently have are not very effective at targeting the big when it is submerged in brain tissue.

According to the CDC most cases of these infections were reported in the South but recently there appears to be a pattern moving to the north, which suggest climate change could be the culprit as temperatures rise in water everywhere.

Where Naegleria Fowleri could be found:

Warm lakes, rivers, waters in pools or water park that has little chlorine, and anywhere where there is warm water.

Tap water contamination is possible, the bug can grow in water heaters and pipes as well.

There is no evidence of it spreading through the air, or by water droplets or vapor. The bug does not thrive in salt water. 

The CDC says putting up warning boards is not accurate because the connection between infections happening or not is not clear, and neither do they know the amount of the amoeba in the water, so one must always assume it is present and the risk is there.

However, it is said that maybe large quantities of the bug resides in the sediment so swimmers should especially avoid stirring up the mud.

Naegleria Fowleri in warm water thrives and eats bacteria and organic debri.

 "N. fowleri feeds on bacteria and organic debris in freshwater and exists in three life forms, the environmentally stable cyst form, the motile amoeboid-form referred to as the trophozoite form, and a flagellate form." - Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis: An Old Enemy Presenting New Challenges.

This is not the only threat of climate change that is getting very real. A man in India has become one the first to be infected by a fungal infection that is known to only infect plants. The infection causes Silver Leaf in plants and then they die.

The man when he went to the doctors in India they couldn't at first diagnose the infection because they had never seen it before, so a sample was sent to the World Health Organization that identified it as the plant fungus. It had infected the man's throat and caused a fungal growth in his throat. The man recovered with antibiotic treatment. However, the point is this had never happened before. How did the fungus jump the species barrier from plant to human? Doctors suspect Climate Change has something to do with it.

Air contamination is a very serious threat that can be amplified by Climate Change.

Boiling temperatures causing heatstrokes is not the only threat of Climate Change. Glaciers melting and the permafrost could unleash "time travelling pathogens that have been trapped for a millennia," says Dr. Giovvani Strona in an article on SciTech Daily.

"We found that invading pathogens could often survive, evolve and, in a few cases, become exceptionally persistent and dominant in the community, causing either substantial losses or changes in the number of living species. Our findings, therefore, suggest that unpredictable threats so far confined to science fiction could, in reality, pose serious risk as powerful drivers of ecological damage.”

Scientists and researchers are constantly working on being prepared for the consequences of Climate Change, there are computer simulations and new ways to investigate the environment like tracking of eDNA.

eDNA is organic genetic material that can be found everywhere an animal, human, or plant has been. Scientists say the approach of sampling eDNA in the environment can be easier to know what species live their whether animal, plants, or insects. Aircraft tracking of eDNA is also being improved. 

Air contamination is one of the highest concerns, and this study reveals that eDNA was found in the atmosphere thousands of feet above surface level. 

"The findings of the study are extraordinary. Through the use of their sampling probe and high throughput metagenomic sequencing, the researchers discovered the widespread presence of prokaryotic and eukaryotic eDNA in the atmosphere, reaching thousands of meters into the planetary boundary layer in the southeastern US. Notably, the study detected chicken, cow, and human eDNA at all altitudes flown, including an astonishing 8,500 feet above the ground." - News Medical and Life Sciences.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

Email: [email protected] 

Sources:

SciTech Daily -

Permafrost Pandora’s Box: Unleashing “Time-Traveling” Pathogens From the Icy Past

India Today - Plant fungus infects Kolkata man in first-ever human case: All you need to know about this pathogen

Curr Biol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2019 May 21.

Published in final edited form as:

Curr Biol. 2018 May 21; 28(10): R619–R634. 

 doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.054

PMCID: PMC5967643

NIHMSID: NIHMS957150

PMID: 29787730

National Library of Medicine - PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Aug; 8(8): e3017. 

Published online 2014 Aug 14. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0003017

PMCID: PMC4133175

PMID: 25121759

Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis Caused by Naegleria fowleri: An Old Enemy Presenting New Challenges

Ruqaiyyah Siddiqui and Naveed Ahmed Khan *

Steven M. Singer, Editor

Biology Online - Amoeba

Art is Micropia - Unicellular

From algae to amoebas

Natural History Museum - Environmental DNA: what is it and how can it help us protect wildlife?

By Josh Davis

News Medical and Life Science - New study reveals a revolutionary approach to studying airborne genetic material

#eDNA #Arjuwan Lakkdawala #ink in the Internet #genetics #environment #climate change #science #biology #nature #viruses #air #dna #amoeba #brain eating amoeba #water #lakes #rivers #geo thermal #august #july #September #swimming #primary amobic meningoencephalitis #edema

[inkintheinternet]

Understanding the Dynamics of Aging

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

When does aging begin? When we are born we start to grow and most scientists agree that growth stops at 20.

"Most people stop growing sometime around the age of 20. By this time, our skeletons have reached their final size, and the growth plates between bones have fused closed. Once that happens, there is no way for the bones to grow anymore. 

The only bones that continue to get larger are the skull and the pelvis. The growth of these two body parts isn’t dramatic, however. Your pelvis might gain an inch in diameter between the ages of 20 and 79, and your skull may get slightly more prominent around the forehead." - Compass: Healthy Aging Guide.

So what happens after we stop growing? In our body we have trillions of cells that work around the clock to try and maintain our health in the best way and keep themselves alive while doing so. How we live, what we eat, exercise, sleep, mental health, and whether we get sick or how many times we get ill, all this and more effects how well our cells can function. 

No two people age the same way, so anti-aging intervention cannot be one size fits all.

There is a field of study called Epigenetics, which says that our behaviour and our environment effect which of our genes get expressed and which get suppressed, and that these changes if negative can lead to poor mental and physical health. 

"Your genes play an important role in your health, but so do your behaviors and environment, such as what you eat and how physically active you are. Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible and do not change your DNA sequence, but they can change how your body reads a DNA sequence.

Gene expression refers to how often or when proteins are created from the instructions within your genes. While genetic changes can alter which protein is made, epigenetic changes affect gene expression to turn genes “on” and “off.” Since your environment and behaviors, such as diet and exercise, can result in epigenetic changes, it is easy to see the connection between your genes and your behaviors and environment." - CDC

Trillions of cells in our body are interconnected.

"Your body is comprised of trillions of cells, and each one is not only responsible for one or more functions specific to the tissue it resides in, but must also do all the work of keeping itself alive. This includes metabolizing nutrients, getting rid of waste, exchanging signals with other cells and adapting to stress.

The trouble is that every single process and component in each of your cells can be interrupted or damaged. So your cells spend a lot of energy each day preventing, recognizing and fixing those problems." - Ellen Quarles and the Conversation.

What about pregnancy and childbirth, does it accelerate aging?

There are ongoing studies and a study has shown women who got pregnant had shorter telomeres than women who didn't, but another study showed that women in a community in Africa who got pregnant had longer telomeres than other women in their community who hadn't gotten pregnant. So perhaps it is the emotional state and not the pregnancy that effected the telomeres, some women might get stress from society because of the pregnancy, while other women might get supported.

What are telomeres? As we age our telomeres keep getting shorter.

"A telomere is a region of repetitive DNA sequences at the end of a chromosome. Telomeres protect the ends of chromosomes from becoming frayed or tangled. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres become slightly shorter. Eventually, they become so short that the cell can no longer divide successfully, and the cell dies."

There is another point here that scientists are investigating that is cells known as senescent.

"Senescent cells are unique in that they eventually stop multiplying but don’t die off when they should. They instead remain and continue to release chemicals that can trigger inflammation. Like the one moldy piece of fruit that corrupts the entire bowl, a relatively small number of senescent cells can persist and spread inflammation that can damage neighboring cells.

However, not all senescent cells are bad. The molecules and compounds expressed by senescent cells (known as the senescent secretome) play important roles across the lifespan, including in embryonic development, childbirth, and wound healing." - NIH: National Institute on Aging.

Senescent cells can build up in the body as we age and our immune system becomes less sufficient to expel them by a process known as apoptosis. These cells can cause cognitive decline in the brain and a multitude of age-related diseases and complications.

"Investigations are underway to see if senescent skin cells may contribute to sagging and wrinkling, and if senescent cells might also be connected to the cytokine storm of inflammation that makes COVID-19 so deadly for older adults." NIH: National Institute on Aging

When we age our bodies gradually lose the ability to maintain homeostasis.

"Homeostasis reflects the aggregate effect of varied mechanisms that maintain normal physiologic constancy in the face of different extrinsic challenges. Aging is associated with impaired homeostasis, or homeostenosis, in the form of diminished capacity to respond to varied challenges," - McGraw Hill Medical: Access Medicine 

What we eat is one of the best ways to maintain good health, and scientists say which fruits and vegetables are most effective.

"Aging is a complex, multi-factorial process that starts in our cells, resulting in a gradual decline of the larger systems in the body. Scientists have proposed various theories for the reason we age, including mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, DNA damage, cell senescence, and telomere reduction." - Inside Tracker: Diana Licalzi, MS, RD, CDCES

Strawberries are said to be very effect against senescent cells.

"Researchers have been studying fisetin, a plant compound, for years for its capacity to act as an antioxidant and reduce inflammation in the body. However, in more recent years, scientists have discovered it also works by killing senescent cells—one of the hallmarks of aging."

The Jellyfish is being studied to understand how it can revert back to larval state and reverse its aging.

"The analysis revealed that T. dohrnii (species of jellyfish) had twice as many copies of the genes associated with DNA repair and protection, which helps producing greater amounts of protective and repairing proteins. Moreover, this jellyfish also had unique mutations which stunted cell division and prevented telomeres (chromosomes’ protective “caps”) from deteriorating,"- Earth.com: Andrei Ionescu

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia 

Email: [email protected] 

Sources:

SciTechDaily.com - 8 Anti-Aging Vitamins and Nutrients That Actually Work, Ranked

University at Buffalo - To reverse aging in stem cells, NANOG gene ‘rewires’ metabolic networks - Cory Nealon

NIH - National Human Genome

Research Institute

Center on the Developing Child - Harvard University

NIH - National Library of Medicine - Bilian Jin, Yajun Li, Keith D. Robertson

NIH - National Library of Medicine

JAMA Network Open

JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Jul; 5(7): e2223285. 

Published online 2022 Jul 27. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.23285

PMCID: PMC9331104

PMID: 35895062

Analysis of Epigenetic Age Acceleration and Healthy Longevity Among Older US Women

Purva Jain, PhD, MPH, 1 Alexandra M. Binder, ScD, ScM, 2 , 3 Brian Chen, PhD, 1 Humberto Parada, Jr, PhD, MPH, 4 , 5 Linda C. Gallo, PhD, 4 John Alcaraz, PhD, 5 Steve Horvath, PhD, ScD, 6 , 7 Parveen Bhatti, PhD, 8 Eric A. Whitsel, MD, MPH, 9 , 10 Kristina Jordahl, PhD, 11 Andrea A. Baccarelli, MD, PhD, 12 Lifang Hou, MD, PhD, 13 James D. Stewart, PhD, 9 , 10 Yun Li, PhD, 14 , 15 , 16 Jamie N. Justice, PhD, MS, 17 and Andrea Z. LaCroix, PhD 1

University of Nebraska System - Aging starts right after growing ends - Sabine Zempleni and Sydney Christensen

Compass by WebMd - What to Know About Nose and Ear Growth as You Age

 Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Reviewed by Dan Brennan, MD on November 01, 2021

The Washington Post- Do pregnancy and childbirth accelerate aging in women? Maybe.

By Sindya Bhanoo

NIH - National Institute on Aging - 10 myths about aging

NIH - National Institute on Aging- understanding the dynamics of the aging process

#Arjuwan Lakkdawala #mad science #science #internet #nature #biology #genomes #active aging #age reversal #youth #dna #jellyfish

[inkintheinternet]

Sugar and Salt

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Sugar and salt I think are the most daily consumed ingredients in foods. So how do they affect our health.

Unless you have diabetes or any other sugar connected health issue, it is fairly okay to have foods that have naturally occurring sugar in them. Like for example fruits and vegetables. Sugar occurs in all foods that have carbohydrates.

It is "added sugar" which gets added to processed foods that is a main health concern when it comes to sugar generally, because when had excessively it can cause heart disease and have many negative affects on health.

Added sugar has many names so to know how much of it is in your packaged food, check the "total sugars" on the Panel of Nutritional Facts on the product.

"Limit your consumption of foods with high amounts of added sugars, such as sugary beverages. Just one 12-ounce can of regular soda contains 10 teaspoons of sugar, or 160 calories – and zero nutrition."

Table sugar (sucrose) is made of a short chain of one glucose molecule linked to one fructose molecule.

"Consuming a high-fructose diet may cause a quicker onset of obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes (3Trusted Source).

Since maltose is made up of just glucose, not fructose, it might be slightly healthier than table sugar. However, no research has investigated the effects of substituting fructose for maltose, and more research is needed."

Too much sugar can have as devastating a health effect as alcohol. Because both are metabolised in the same way in the liver.

"As it turns out, sugar and alcohol are metabolised virtually identically in the liver. You get alcohol from fermentation of sugar, so it makes sense that when you overload the liver with either one, you get the same diseases." - Diabetes.co.uk

However, in the case of people who are using sugar substitutes either because of diabetes or for dieting. There is a new study about a widely used sweetener called 'sucralose' that has been found to produce a genotoxic chemical when metabolised. The chemical is sucralose-6-acetate is also causes a "leaky gut."

So what does genotoxic mean?

"Toxic (damaging) to DNA. Substances that are genotoxic may bind directly to DNA or act indirectly leading to DNA damage by affecting enzymes involved in DNA replication, thereby causing mutations which may or may not lead to cancer or birth defects (inheritable damage). Genotoxic substances are not necessarily carcinogenic." 

The effects of the chemicals on gut health is quoted here: 

“When we exposed sucralose and sucralose-6-acetate to gut epithelial tissues – the tissue that lines your gut wall – we found that both chemicals cause ‘leaky gut.’ Basically, they make the wall of the gut more permeable. The chemicals damage the ‘tight junctions,’ or interfaces, where cells in the gut wall connect to each other.

A leaky gut is problematic, because it means that things that would normally be flushed out of the body in feces are instead leaking out of the gut and being absorbed into the bloodstream.” (North Carolina State University article)

The sweetener could be added to food or be purchased already in the product for consumption like diet soft drinks that use it instead of sugar.

What about salt, how does it affect our health.

It is a little complicated. Our bodies need salt daily for vital function like for example nerve impulses, and to maintain the correct balance of water and minerals.

"It is estimated that our bodies need about 500 mg of sodium daily for these vital functions."

"But too much sodium in a diet can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke."

There are also studies that have shown the loss of calcium due to high intake of salt.

But there are other studies in osteoporosis, which state the effect of loss of calcium through unitary excretion can be offset by calcium supplements.

"Salt has notoriously been blamed for causing an increase in the urinary excretion of calcium, and thus is a considered a risk factor for osteoporosis. However, the increase in the urinary excretion of calcium with higher sodium intakes can be offset by the increased intestinal absorption of dietary calcium. Thus, the overall calcium balance does not appear to be reduced with a higher sodium intake. However, the other ubiquitous white crystal, sugar, may lead to osteoporosis by increasing inflammation, hyperinsulinemia, increased renal acid load, reduced calcium intake, and increased urinary calcium excretion. Sugar, not salt, is the more likely white crystal to be a risk factor for osteoporosis when overconsumed."

Why daily amount of salt intake is in debate and matter of ongoing studies is because the body needs sodium for vital functions but the amount or requirement depends on individual health conditions.

"In most people, the kidneys have trouble keeping up with excess sodium in the blood. As sodium accumulates, the body holds on to water to dilute the sodium. This increases both the amount of fluid surrounding cells and the volume of blood in the bloodstream. Increased blood volume means more work for the heart and more pressure for blood vessels, leading to high blood pressure, heart attack, and stroke." - Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Table salt is denser than coarse salt, the latter may contain trace minerals, but the amount is usually too little to offer any health benefits.

Iodine was added to table salt in 1924 to prevent the health conditions related to thyroid functions.

Most of the salts in our diet doesn't come from unprocessed foods because they are low in sodium. 

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist.

Twitter/Instagram @Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Harvard T.H. Chan

School of public Health

“Genotoxic” Warning: Chemical Found in Common Sweetener Damages DNA - by North Carolina State University

National Library of Medicine

PMC PubMed Central

Missouri Medicine

The Journal of Missouri State Medical Association - since 1904

James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD

James J. DiNicolantonio, PharmD, is at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, Mo.

Varshil Mehta, MBBS

Varshil Mehta, MBBS, is with Mount Sinai Hospital, New York and MGM Medical College, Navi Mumbai, India

Sojib Bin Zaman, MBBS

Sojib Bin Zaman, MBBS, is with the International Centre of Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

James H. O’Keefe, MD

James H. O’Keefe, MD, MSMA member since 2003, is at Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute, Kansas City, Mo.

Harvard Health Publishing

Harvard Medical School

The sweet danger of sugar

Diabetes.co.uk - the global diabetes community - The harm of sugar: Why health risks should be compared to alcohol

Healthline - Maltose: Good or Bad?

By Matthew Thorpe, MD, PhD — Updated on September 16, 2017

Scientific Committees

Goiter - Mayo Clinic

[inkintheinternet]

The Tree of Unanswered Questions (Answered)

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet 

I have often been confused by the theory that we are primates, and that chimps and humans have 98% DNA similarity, and therefore it is "evidance" that we are primates. Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection is often cited by many as the backing for this claim, or that it is at the root of it.

I decided to investigate the claims regarding human evolution to the best of my ability. I wanted to get answers that would be clear for people who have not studied human evolution. It's one of the toughest research I have done.

Evolution in itself is such a sprawling subject, one would not know from where to begin.

I decided to make it as simple as possible, I would write the subject as a tree. My own version of the evolutionary tree, not the scientific one with its many intricate details and dead ends. Because to understand that most regular readers might lose their brain cells. I say this because anyone doing research on human evolution will find quotes like "it's complex" "not enough fossil evidance" "it's a tangled web." and so on.

So here I start, let us speak about the highest branch first.

Branch 1 - Hominins (ancient human  species)

Early humans are called hominins and there are according to evolutionary biologists many extinct species of humans from the genus Homo, but we the Homo Sapiens are the only living ones on earth.

In this branch there is Homo Erectus (upright human) this species is said to be the first "most human-like ancient hominin."

It is said that ancient hominins first appeared on earth six million years ago and they walked on four.

Bipedalism - the ability to walk on two legs evolved four million years ago in humans.

So Homo Erectus are the first to walk on two, they lived two million years ago, until at least 250,000 years ago.

I have seen online artificial imagineering of their faces, and you get a human face according to the artificial intelligence software.

But according to evolutionary biology they are not modern humans.

As with the example of Homo Erectus many hominin fossils have been found, and basically each has been classified as an extinct ancient human species.

There are hominins thought to be older ancrstors to Homo Erectus and those are called "super archiac."

Then in the branch after many hominins comes two of our most famous and closest cousins the Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Again not modern humans according to scientific classification.

Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago.

Denisovans are said to have gone extinct 40,000 to 30,000 years ago.

Denisovans are closer to Neanderthals than modern humans according to the science.

It is said Neanderthals and modern humans interbreeded.

There is no explanation as to why or how Neanderthals became extinct.

How does evolution take place? Answer: By mutations.

According to the science of evolution it happens in two types of periods.

1. The Microevolution (short period) in this period minor changes get made to species according to natural selection. The difference in anatomy is considered not to be significant.

2. The Macroevolution (long period) in this period great changes get made to a species, and even evolving it into a whole new species.

But there has to be the existence of an intermediate species in the chain or branch of evolutionary changes.

Example: 

Charles Darwin was hoping to get palaeontological evidance of an intermediate species. Two years after the publication of his book 'On the Origin of Species' the fossil 'archaepteryx' was found. The fossil link between birds and dinasaurs.

"This extraordinary fossil—bearing feathers as well as teeth, claws, a bony tail and other reptilian traits—was just the sort of creature that Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection predicted should exist. The feathers left no question that the Jurassic Archaeopteryx was a bird, but the creature also had a suite of saurian traits that pointed to a reptilian ancestry." - Smithsonian Megazine

However, anthropologist Briana Pobinar, says that the term "Missing Link" is not accurate because it depicts a linear chain in evolution, which is not the pattern they see.

Pobinar says evolution “produces a tree-like branching pattern with multiple descendants of an ancestor species existing at the same time, and sometimes even alongside that ancestor species.” - Smithsonian Megazine.

The human that is supposed to connect modern humans with primative ancestors has never been found.

So much so that it appears that it's a "ghost" species. What it means is that there is no fossil or DNA evidance to make a scientific connection. 

In fact a new study published in Nature Journal challenges previous notions about hominin contribution to modern Homo Sapiens.

"New model for human evolution suggests Homo sapiens arose from multiple closely related populations.

A new study in Nature challenges prevailing theories, suggesting that Homo sapiens evolved from multiple diverse populations across Africa, with the earliest detectable split occurring 120,000-135,000 years ago, after prolonged periods of genetic intermixing." - Scitech Daily

This means that modern humans evolved from similar other modern humans. There is no genetic evolutionary notable impact from primate like hominins.

(Study is very new released in May 2023) 

So what really makes modern humans different to so called other species of humans. I would say it's the brain and cognitive ability, and this brings me to the second branch of the tree.

Branch 2. (Human Brain Development)

The fossils so far found of "extinct human species" help scientists determine bone structure and facial features of those individuals, but brain tissue is not preserved well, so scientist know little about the cognitive abilities of these species.

So archealogy is the best option for researchers to try and understand the thinking abilities of more recent species like Neanderthals and Denisovans.

As I have read in an article, this too is extremely complicated, as it raises the question are the primitive tools found in excavations and cave paintings really a sign of limited intelligence or underdeveloped environment. Can we really assume that Neanderthals and Denisovans if in a modern world would not be able to think like a modern human?

Researchers have observed differences in brain case size of extinct humans. But does this imply higher or lower cognitive abilities.

To answer to this question or shed some light on it as I was so curious, I decided to take my research from evolutionary biology, history, and archaeology to neuroscience and investigate the development of the human brain.

The confusion of brain development and cultural effect is because of neuro plasticity. In a study done chimps it appeared had rigid neuro plasticity compared to humans. So what is brain plasticity? It is the brain's ability to rewire itself structurally and functionally according to experience and injury. There are even ongoing studies about if plasticity itself can evolve. The more plasticity the stronger cognitive abilities.

Neuroscience is one of the hardest and active field of research. So I'll not get into other aspects of the brain. Here I'll examine the aspect of brain development in regard to neuro plasticity.

"The neocortex—the outermost layer of the brain characterized by the squiggly sulci, or brain folds—is the region that gives all primates their exceptional intelligence. In both chimps and humans, this brain region continues to grow and organize for years after birth, allowing us to learn and develop socially. The brain's ability to reorganize in response to environmental cues is known as plasticity, and it is this flexibility that allows us to learn things we never knew at birth." - Science.org

There lingers the question of brain size regarding the hominins or Neanderthals, Denisovans, if brain tissue of their fossils cannot be examined, we can instead try to find out if a larger brain (large brain cases of fossils) mean higher intelligence or the ability for modern human cognition.

"Having an unusually large brain doesn't necessarily make someone a genius, and large-scale research suggests only a slight and tenuous relationship between brain size and intelligence." - Psychology Today.

With this I conclude the second branch, and start the third branch which is about intelligence in apes and other animals.

Branch 3. (Intelligence in the animal kingdom)

Animals that have shown high Intelligence in comparison to most animals are apes, parrots, crows, ravens, mice, elephants, dogs, and new research suggests octopuses.

"The more that researchers examine octopus genetics, brains and sensory capabilities, the more they find startling similarities to our own minds, hand in hand (or sucker-covered arm in sucker-covered arm) with bizarre differences between how our species experience the world." - Discover.

However, there is nothing close to the level of human intelligence.

Charles Darwin had based his theory on physical changes, he did not know about genetics. 

The Theory of Evolution incorporated with the study of genetics is called 'Modern Evolution Synthesis."

What I have done in this tree is summarise the theory of human evolution based on physical and biological research. 

What I have found is so far scientifically there is no fossil or genetic evidance that says Homo Sapiens evolved directly from apes.

We are in the 21st century with sophisticated technologies and molecular biology. There is nothing stopping scientists from searching for fossil or genetic evidence except that it can't be found. 

Neanderthals and Denisovans have said to have existed in the Ice Age, and there were hominins in the Stone Age.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter: @Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Metode Science Studies Journal, 7 (2017)

Human Brain Evolution - How increase in brain plasticity made us a cultural species - Aida Gomez Robles and Chet C. Sherwood

What Is Neural Plasticity?

Rommy von Bernhardi et al. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2017.

Smithsonian Megazine - Riley Black, Natural History Museum- Katie Pavid

Natural History Museum- Josh Davis

National Geogrphic - Tim Vernimmen

YourGenome.org - Society and Behaviour

Australian Museum - A Timeline of Gissil Discoveries - Fran Dorey

Britannica - Homo Sapiens

Smithsonian: National Museum of Natural History - Introduction to Human Evolution

Live Science: What is Darwin's Theory of Evolution - By Ker Than, Ashley P. Taylor, Tom Garner

Discover Megazine

Psychology Today

Daniel Graham, Ph.D.

A Bigger Brain is Not Necessarily Better

Science.org - David Shultz

New DNA Research Changes Origin of Human Species -

Scitech Daily - University of California - Davis

National Library of Medicine - National Center for Biotechnology Information -

Front Hum Neurosci. 2013; 7: 707. 

Published online 2013 Oct 30. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00707

PMCID: PMC3812990

PMID: 24194709

Evolution, development, and plasticity of the human brain: from molecules to bones

Branka Hrvoj-Mihic,1,2 Thibault Bienvenu,1 Lisa Stefanacci,1,2 Alysson R. Muotri,2,3 and Katerina Semendeferi1,3,*

What may have given modern humans an edge over Neanderthals, according to new research

By Katie Hunt, CNN

Study.com - People and Society in the Stone Age

Jessica Holmes, Joanna Harris

#biology #evolution #science #arjuwan lakkdawala #nature #genomes #animals #Neanderthals #Denisovans #hominins #homo sapien #homo erectus #charles Darwin #neuroscience #neuroplasticity #apes #tree #theory of evolution #on the theory of origin

[inkintheinternet]

The Air we Breathe

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet

I have been on a 10 article investigation of healthcare, I have focused primarily on the immune system. In my ninth article I'm investigating the air we breathe.

We all need oxygen. We breathe it every moment of our existence, so naturally it has to be an important subject in taking care of our health.

I think it was Covid-19 that really brought the spotlight on clean air.

Wearing those masks really made us appreciate the air we could breathe without fear before the virus.

However, according to my investigation we have been in an illusion of having quality clean air, or many of us may not be aware how polluted air can be. Air Pollution is the stealth killer we literally cannot see.

The World Health Organisation reports that 7 million people die each year because of Air Pollution, and it causes many diseases like ischaemia heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, etc.

In Europe Air Pollution causes 428,000 premature deaths each year. Why this is alarming is because European countries are mainly not developing countries where air pollution might be expected due to lack of proper government regulations.

Air Pollution is harmful to health in all its forms, whether it is invisible in the air, or when there is so much of it that it turns into smog.

To express how severe smog can get (term is merging of two words "smoke" and "fog").

I'll start with the Great Smog of London, which in 1952 killed 12,000 people in five days.

It started on December 5th and ended on December 9th.

We might have seen many movies about killer fogs descending. Well as they say there is no smoke without fire, this couldn't be more true than the horrific smog that was straight out of a horror science fiction movie.

As I live I keep discovering that fact is always stranger than fiction, and how weak even the slightest abnormal weather phenomena can make us.

London's air was already contaminated with air pollution, however what happened on December 5th was that an anticyclone (which has reverse air motion to that of cyclones) had come over London, trapping the smoke from coal burning and other fires close to the ground. The high-pressure weather condition prevented the smoke to be released into the atmosphere.

When particulate matter (which is what contaminates air and causes air pollution) sticks to fog we get smog.

The smog over London was so dense it impaired visibility and made people very ill.

There was nothing they could do at the time as transportation was almost completely not possible. 12,000 people died as the result of this event.

It become a turning point in history regarding the seriousness of Air Pollution.

After four years the British Government passed the Clean Air Act that regulated burning coal and other sources of particulate matter.

In 1962 there was another smog event in which 750 people died. However, this time it was not on the scale of the 1952 disaster.

Despite this I cannot say we are any better or safer now. 

Particulate matter has many sources that cause it to be spread in the air. PM is a combination of fine particles and liquid droplets.

Some of the gases and chemicals in it include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide, and there is carbon monoxide.

Particulate Matter which is of serious health concern depend on their size, because of inhalation and possibility of entering the bloodstream by travelling deep into the lungs, and from there may cause harm to the health of the entire body.

PM come in many shapes and sizes, there are particulate matter so small that they can only be seen with an electronmicroscope.

PM which is 10 micrometer in diameter is classified as coarse. It is harmful as it can be inhaled and cause lung disease and disease of the heart, etc.

PM which is 2.5 micrometer in diameter is even more concerning because it can go down the tiny sacs of air (alveoli) at the end of bronchioles, which are tubes in the lungs where the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide happens when oxygen is diffused into the bloodstream.

If you are wondering what is the size of PM 2.5 micrometer in diameter. Compare it to a strand of hair. "The average human hair strand is 70 micrometers in diameter."

When there are pollutants the size of 2.5 micrometer (classified as fine) it can enter the bloodstream from here.

PM can be even smaller which is classified as 'Ultra fine' its size in diameter is 100 nm.

When people think about harms of Air Pollution they usually think about lung disease, but that is not the case as it can cause several other diseases as well in the body when it enters the bloodstream.

These are 10 most common diseases caused by Air Pollution:

1. Cardiovascular Diseases

2. Cancer

3. Neurological Disorders

4. Gastrointestinal Disorders

5. Kidney Diseases

6. Liver Diseases

7. Skin Diseases

8. Asthma

9. Bronchitis

10. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Though there are few studies done. It has been observed that air pollution causes decline of renal function as the pollutants enter the circulatory system and the kidneys get exposure to them.

Air Pollution can harm even unborn babies, as it can penetrate the placenta. Harming the health of the placenta and effecting growth of the fetus.

To be accurate the specific effects of air pollution on the unborn child depends on several factors:

"1. When in development the baby has exposure to the pollutants.

 2.  How long the exposure lasts, and how much pollution there is.

 3.  The specific pollutant."

The health complications it can cause include: stillbirths, low birth weight, which can cause the child to die after birth, and lung development issues, which too can cause child death.

Another dangerous air pollutant to watch out for is carbon monoxide, which is a tasteless and odorless gas. 

When we inhale carbon monoxide it replaces the oxygen in the blood which as it increases can lead to death.

We know smoking is cancer in tubes, but in addition to the dangers of tobacco, hookah which burns on charcoal releases carbon monoxide which can get inhaled with the tobacco.

Other sources of carbon monoxide can be car engines, heaters, charcoal burning. 

There are more sources. Having carbon monoxide detectors is a way to hopefully prevent poisoning. However always have ventilation when a possible source of carbon monoxide is active.

Below is some carbon monoxide sources at home to be careful of.

Carbon Monoxide Sources in the Home

Clothes dryers.

Water heaters.

Furnaces or boilers.

Fireplaces, both gas and wood burning.

Gas stoves and ovens.

Motor vehicles.

Grills, generators, power tools, lawn equipment.

Wood stoves.

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram @Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

United States Environment Protection Agency - Particulate Matter

National Library of Medicine- National center for biotechnology information- PMC Pubmed Central -Frontiers in Medicine- Front Med (Lausanne). 2021; 8: 692008. 

Published online 2021 Jul 14. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.692008

PMCID: PMC8316685

PMID: 34336895

Particulate Matter 2.5 and Hematological Disorders From Dust to Diseases: A Systematic Review of Available Evidence

Kamonpan Fongsodsri,1 Supat Chamnanchanunt,2,* Varunee Desakorn,2 Vipa Thanachartwet,2 Duangjai Sahassananda,3 Ponlapat Rojnuckarin,4 and Tsukuru Umemura5

Carbon Monoxide Poisoning- Mayo Clinic

Medical News Today

 Can air pollution affect pregnancy outcomes?

Medically reviewed by Carolyn Kay, M.D. — By Zawn Villines on October 30, 2020

Great Smog of London

environmental disaster, England, United Kingdom [1952]

Actions

Alternate titles: The Killer Fog of 1952

Written by 

Julia Martinez

Fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Mar 1, 2023 • Article History

Rutgers Today- Poison Control Warns of Carbon Monoxide Risk from Hookah Smoking

By

Patti Verbanas

Date

March 15, 2018

cyclone

meteorology

Actions

Alternate titles: depression, low, low pressure

Written and fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 13, 2023 • Article History

National Cancer Institute- alveoli

Oxford Dictionary- alveoli

Scientific Reports - Exposure to air pollution and renal function

Łukasz Kuźma, 

Jolanta Małyszko, 

Sławomir Dobrzycki 

Show authors

Scientific Reports volume 11, Article number: 11419 (2021) Cite this article

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Byju's - Gassess: we breathe in and we breathe out

#arjuwan lakkdawala #internet #viruses #biology #science #nature #covid-19 #air #air pollution #the great smog of london #fog #pregnancy #chaircoal #carbon monoxide #chemicals #europe #world health organisation

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Food Poisoning -How Food can get Contaminated

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet 

Each year thousands around the world die from food poisoning, and others get their immune system compromised.

It is of particular concern when travelling, because food is the one thing we need daily, and while we may have a good idea about the types of foods and restaurants to avoid in our hometown, it may not be the case when travelling.

Food safety isn't just about avoiding restaurants that don't appear to be clean. It is about knowing how food can get contaminated even when cooked at home. Preservatives could prevent spoilage from appearing on foods that have gotten contaminated.

In 2020 nine members of a family died in their home after eating noodles that had been left in the freezer for over a year, and in another case seven members of a family died after having soup.

In 2019 a student died in his sleep after eating pasta that had been left out at room temperature for 5 days, he put sauce on it and couldn't tell it had gone rotten.

The noodles had gotten contaminated with

Bongkrekic acid which is produced by the bacterium Burkholderia gladioli, it's a toxin which most people are unaware of and because it is odorless and tasteless can go undetected in the food, and is not destroyed by cooking. Bongkrekic acid is a source of food poisoning in fermented foods and corn starch, etc. Most cases of this poisoning are fatal.

There is no antidote for the toxin, it effects the mitochondria which are organelles that generate energy for our bodies.

Bongkrekic acid causes death of the cells, severe cases may result in kidney damage, liver failure, and coma.

Even the slightest dose can be fatal, and because it is a foodborne toxin, it cannot be estimated how much of it there may be in contaminated food. The death rate is from 40 to 100%.

Symptoms include dizziness, vomiting, fatigue, stomachache, hyperglycemia, (high blood sugar) and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

 "In 2018, a family of seven in China became ill after eating wet rice noodles that were later found to be contaminated with bongkrekic acid. The noodles, which had been treated with preservatives, did not exhibit any signs of spoilage; two family members and the family dog (which was fed some of the leftover noodles) died."

Bird Flu is another reemerging threat to food contamination. Usually this virus only infects birds, but through direct contact or consumption can get humans infected.

Sadly poultry are often culled inhumanely when there is an outbreak of the virus in the bird population.

Phylogenetic analyses and phylogeographical studies have shown that bird trade more than bird migration is often behind the infection spreading. 

It is a virus that speads amongst waterfowls like ducks, geese, swans, and then can infect chickens and turkeys. 

Bird Flu also known as Avian flu,  its current alarming strain is H5N1, which is highly pathogenic -classiefied as such because of its ability to cause disease and death in chickens, its first sequenced strain (H1N1) goes back to the 1918 Spanish Influenza that killed 50 million people. 

Other IAV pandemics that followed were H2N2 in 1957 (Asian Flu)  Deaths worldwide estimate 2 million

H3N2 in 1968 (Hong Kong Flu) Deaths worldwide estimate 4 million (reports vary)

H1N1 in 2009 (Swine Flu) Deaths worldwide estimate 575,400

Although the pandemic is not wholly blamed on Avian Flu but it is considered to be of avian influenza origin.

The emergence of new strains of H5N1 has been studied to be by reassortment events between genes of domestic and wild birds.

Why it is so important to monitor the phylogenetic tree of Avian Flu is its mortality rate of close to 60% according to the CFR (Case Fatality Rate) documented in a study. The CFR of Covid-19 is difficult to estimate because not every case with COVID-19 gets reported, the virus has so far killed close to 7 million people and infected close to 700 million.

If the Spanish Influenza could have a Avian Flu origin that means so can future pandemics and the mortality rate could go higher with mutations.

Recently a report from China that was uploaded to the Internet and then removed for unknown reasons, some data in it made headlines like the presence of the genes of racoon dogs in samples taken from the wet market where the outbreak happened.

Why this is a matter of debate is because Covid-19 origin is still a mystery. Since no infected animals were found in the market.

Dr. Edward Holmes, a biologist at Sydney University, says in 2014 he had visited the wet market in Wuhan, China, and observed caged racoon dogs, with cages of birds sitting on top, exactly the environment conducive for the transmission of new viruses.

Beef that is consumed worldwide also has safety hazards like the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease that can spillover the species barrier with a human version of the disease called Creutzfeld-Jakob disease ( vCJD).

There is currently no way to test livestock for Mad Cow Disease, only after the animal dies swabs from the brain are taken to test for the abnormal prion protein. There are many products that have beef derivatives including pet food. Beef derivative contaminated with the diseases was found in pet food and there was the 2003 UK outbreak. Health officials have not been able to eliminate the disease.

Pet foods unfortunately do not go health screening like food for human consumption, and there have been pet food recalls because the food was contaminated and pets died with renal failure. I personally don't recommend pet food for pets in a long term diet, instead feed them food meant for human consumption as a safer and healthier option. 

The inhumane culling of birds should also not be overlooked and I hope authorities will make the effort to find painless procedures of culling birds.

Bird trade to keep as pets should also be stopped, birds don't belong in cages and the trade could help the spread of viruses.

Another food contamination source is lead and mercury. As well as salmonella. In the news often food products get recalled due to these.

According to the World Health Organization

An estimated 600 million that is practically 1 in 10 people in the world fall ill after eating contaminated food and 420,000 die each year.

Foodborn illnesses are usually infectious or toxic in nature.

"Chemical poisoning which is also a food poisoning hazard can cause acute poisoning or long term diseases such as cancer, or cause long-lasting disability or death."

Other dangers include food that is deadly in itself.

Pufferfish in Japaness is called Fugu, the highly poisonous fish is consumed in Japan after being prepared by experienced chefs who have to obtain a licence to prepare it. Yet annually there are deaths from eating the fish.

The mortality rate is 60% 

After consuming the toxin in the fish you have only sixty minutes to get medical help.

Fugu ovaries, intestines, and liver contain the neurotoxin tetrodotoxin, it is 1,200 times more deadly than cyanide.

A lethal dose of tetrodotoxin is smaller than the head of a needle.

One fish has enough poison to kill 30 people.

So be careful what you order next time you are in a foreign restaurant

"Sannakji, a Korean dish, is live baby octopus tentacles that are cut into pieces, seasoned and served immediately.

Culinary daredevils eat the tentacles while they are still writhing on the plate, which is a very dangerous game.

Suction pads on the tentacles maintain suction even after the tentacles are severed, so diners must chew the tentacles before they stick to the roof of the mouth.

If they don’t, the tentacles can stick to the mouth and throat and cause the customer to choke to death."

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Twitter/Instagram @Spellrainia

Email: [email protected]

Sources:

American Society for Microbiology- Microbiology Resource Announcements -

Complete Genomic Sequences of Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza Viruses Obtained Directly from Human Autopsy Specimens

Kantima Sangsiriwut, Mongkol Uiprasertkul, [...], and Pilaipan Puthavathana

Center for food safety - timeline of Mad Cow disease

PRB - Resource Library Avian Flu and Influenza Pandemics- Sandra Yin, former associate editor

Avian Flu and Influenza Pandemics

Royal Society Publishing - Philosophical Transactions B - A brief history of bird flu

Samantha J. Lycett, Florian Duchatel, and Paul Digard

Our World in Data - Mortality Risk of Covid-19

Poison Control - National Capital for Poison Center - Bongkrekic acid poisoning from fermented foods

Canadian Institute of Food Safety- 8 of the most dangerous foods

World Health Organisation- Food Safety

The Street - China Has a History of Selling Dangerous Products to U.S. Consumers

EMILY STEWART

U.S. Department of Agriculture - BSE Surveillance Information Center

Horizon Megazine - The EU Resesrch and Innovation Megazine -The Mad Cow Disease crisis - how Europe’s health research came of age - Garry Finnegan

Toronto Star - They analyzed Chinese data on the origins of COVID. Now, these researchers have been cut off from a global database, and accused of ‘scooping’

By Steve Mckinley, staff reporter.

The New York Times -

New Data Links Pandemic’s Origins to Raccoon Dogs at Wuhan Market by Benjamin Mueller

CBS News - Bird flu's grisly question: How to kill millions of poultry

India Today - China: 9 of a family die after having noodles kept in freezer for a year

Insider - A student died in his sleep after eating 5-day-old pasta that had been left out by James Felton IFL Science

Scitable - Nature Education - Reading a Phylogenetic Tree: The Meaning of Monophyletic Groups

By: David Baum, Ph.D. (Dept. of Botany, University of Wisconsin, 430 Lincoln Ave., Madison, WI) © 2008 Nature Education 

Citation: Baum, D. (2008) Reading a Phylogenetic Tree: The Meaning of Monophyletic Groups. Nature Education 1(1):190

Mayo Clinic - Salmonella Infection

CDC - Bird Flu in People

FDA - All About BSE (Mad Cow Disease)

Delishably - Puffer Fish Sushi: How Fugu Kills You

INDIA ARNOLD

Daily News - Family in China dies after eating spoiled frozen noodles

By David Matthews

New York Daily News

CDC - Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), or Mad Cow Disease

#arjuwan lakkdawala #science #internet #biology #viruses #genomes #bacteria #nature #covid-19 #mad cow disease #fugu fish pufferfish #food poisoning #food contamination

[inkintheinternet]

Alternative Medicine and Placebos

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

In my previous article I had continued with how to help the immune system improve and navigate around risks. I had specifically focused on unhealthy food, and food contamination. 

To have a rounded view on immune system care, and disease treatment overview, I had to focus next on Alternative Medicine.

The various methods of Alternative Medicine will be discussed here because it is publicised by its practitioners as effective in the treatment of many noncommunicable diseases.

What makes this an issue of concern is the unfortunate phenomena of ever increasing statistics of noncommunicable diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc. 

Heart disease being the leading cause of deaths worldwide.

It is very surprising considering how much health and fitness awareness has been made in this era. So why are diseases that appear to have links with lifestyle and eating habits surging.

According to research on the Internet many people are turning to Alternative Medicine that offer "holistic approaches to disease treatments and prevention."

Many names come into this like Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC/ Oriental Medicine) which includes Acupuncture and Tai Chi.

Other methods are Cupping which is traditionally practiced in the Middle East, herbalism, naturopathy and homeopathy.

So I researched Alternative Medicine to learn what the science says about its methods and effectiveness.

In my research I found that the original understanding of what is considered ailment and treatment in ancient medicine was based on the interpretation of physical symptoms. It was often connected to spirituality and the elements. This psychology and method to decide what could be appropriate treatment was the furtherest thing from science.

India's Ayurveda and the Chinese TMC both have almost the same idea that people got ill when there was imbalance in the body.

Both ancient methodologies of medicine and treatment  have massage as a component. Here it is extremely important to note that many people don't know that an untrained hand can result with a stroke or paralysis of the brain. Especially in neck massage therapy and massage of the back where the spinal chord can get affected.

In addition massages by not properly trained professionals can cause nerve damage.

Also there is very little research done on massage, and the few studies that there are have weak evidence of benefits, and most state that even pain relief is short term.

We must not confuse massages with physiotherapy which can be very helpful in restoring movement after an injury, ailment, or disability.

The question of the credibility of the institutes that give licences to practioners of Alternative Medicine, also arise when considering how little research has been done on the techniques, remedies, and treatments of Alternative Medicine compared to Conventional Western Medicine.

"Ayurvedic medicine contain herbs, metals, minerals, or other materials that may be harmful if used improperly or without the direction of a trained practitioner."

Naturopathy is an interesting take in Alternative Medicine, because its practitioners do engage in some forms of conventional tests and perhaps treatment.

"What Naturopathic Practitioners Do

Naturopathic practitioners use many different treatment approaches. Examples include:

Dietary and lifestyle changes

Stress reduction

Herbs and other dietary supplements

Homeopathy

Manipulative therapies

Exercise therapy

Practitioner-guided detoxification

Psychotherapy and counseling.

Some practitioners use other methods as well or, if appropriate, may refer patients to conventional health care providers."

If I were to dissect the list above it would go basically like this in my opinion:

Healthy food and exercise.

Emotional well-being 

Herbal remedies and probably vitamins.

Placebo 

Massages

Aerobics 

Again healthy food

As stated.

Considering the above we can take note that psychology and basically healthy food and exercise is at its roots.

This brings up the subject of placebos. According to several research homeopathy is placebo based.

Nacebo is when a person might have detrimental effects on health, because of negative expectations of treatment or pregnosis. Placebo is when a person might get better thinking they have taken medicine that is a guaranteed cure or improvement.

There is much debate about this apparent mind over matter issue. 

Important things to note here is 1. Diet does seem to be at the root cause of many noncommunicable diseases, and therefore a healthy diet and lifestyle change like incorporating exercise may help prevent a good deal of noncommunicable diseases. 

2. Stress which effects the heart  can cause many diseases. 

Common effects of stress

"Indeed, stress symptoms can affect your body, your thoughts and feelings, and your behavior. Being able to recognize common stress symptoms can help you manage them. Stress that's left unchecked can contribute to many health problems, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity and diabetes." - Mayo Clinic.

So as far as prevention goes it does seem that good dietary and lifestyle advice can be prescribed by a certified Alternative Medicine practioner.

However, in the case of the onset of diseases like cancer, diabetes, or heart disease and many other it seems that any dependence on Alternative Medicine will be futile and only conventional medicine can give realistic results. Many hospitals are considering the inclusion of Alternative Medicine as complementary treatment and it is called Integrative Health.

Biomedicine is at the forefront at effective treatment of diseases. Even homeopathy practioners and NDs (Naturophatic Doctors) admit that in a health emergency biomedicine is indispensable.

Ancient medical practices which are at the roots of Alternative Medicine date back 3,000 years, and it has taken hundreds of years for medical disciplines to evolve from these and become scientific and evidance based.

Asclepiades, was a Greek Physician "who first made the distinction between diseases 'curable' acute and 'non-curable' chronic." He also pioneered in the humane treatment of mental disorders.

Through a microscopic perspective we live in a hostile environment. It is a great mystery, and scientists have struggled to understand how our immune system developed to protect us from microorganisms.

It is possible that agriculture and the domestication of animals had major effects on immune system development. 

Alternative Medicine has nothing as effective as biomedicine in the treatment of diseases. Be it autoimmune or infectious. The holestic approach of Alternative Medicine which is diet, exercise, and lifestyle are effective in prevention.

Emotional well-being plays a major part in quality of life. Therefore counseling when there is emotional distress may be helpful.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent journalist. Her Twitter/Instagram is @Spellrainia 

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Sources:

Asclepiades Of Bithynia

Greek physician

Written and fact-checked by 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Stress symptoms: Effects on your body and behavior

By Mayo Clinic Staff

PMC Vaccines A Biography

A Brief History of Microbiology and Immunology

Steven M. Opal

Wiley Online Library

Integrating homeopathy and biomedicine: medical practice and knowledge production among German homeopathic physicians by Robert Frank

Versus Arthritis

Manipulative therapies: chiropractic, osteopathy and manual medicine

NHS Physiotherapy

NIH National Center For Comolementary and Integrative Health

Massage Therapy for Health : What the Science Says

Science Direct

Synthetic Hormones

What Are Endocrine Disrupters and Where Are They Found?

Philippa D. Darbre, in Endocrine Disruption and Human Health, 2015

Autoimmune conditions: root causes and how to prevent them Samantha Gemmel Nutritionist

The Qunt

Did You Know a Simple Neck Massage Could Lead to a Stroke?

An untrained hand on your neck can cause a lot of damage and even result in paralysis.

DR CHANDRIL CHUGH

National Cancer Institute

WebMD

What Is Naturopathic Medicine?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, MS, DO on February 21, 2021

NIH National Library of Medicine

WJM Western Journal of Medicine

West J Med. 1982 Jun; 136(6): 546–551. 

PMCID: PMC1273970

PMID: 7113200

Holistic Medicine: Advances and Shortcomings

James S. Gordon, MD, Research Psychiatrist, Chief

What is Biomedicine?

Download PDF Copy

By Morgan Rustidge, MScReviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.

CDC About Global NCDs

ACS

Biological/Biochemistry

What is biochemistry

NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health

Naturopathy

WebMD

What Is Naturopathic Medicine?

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

Medically Reviewed by Melinda Ratini, MS, DO on February 21, 2021

PMC Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine

The Bell Tolls for Homeopathy: Time for Change in the Training and Practice of North American Naturopathic Physicians

David H. Nelson, Jaclyn M. Perchaluk, ND, [...], and Martin A. Katzman, MD

NIH National Cancer Institute

Traditional Chinese Medicine

Johns Hopkins Medicine

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Why people use complementary or alternative therapies

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What is Ayurveda?

#arjuwan lakkdawala #science #viruses #biology #nature #Ayurveda #tcm #Oriental Medicine #traditional Chinese medicine #naturopathy #homeopathy #placebo #nacebo #heart disease #complementary Integrative Health #Acupuncture #massage #physiotherapy #biomedicine

[inkintheinternet]

Food and the Immune System

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala 

Ink in the Internet

If you are a traveller you should be concerned with diseases that are prevalent in the country you are travelling to, or at least where you live. 

What I'm attempting to demonstrate in my series of articles about microorganisms, is the thin line we tread between our immunity and the ever evolving microorganisms that after Covid-19, proved how unprepared we are.

The idea is to learn about this possible disaster in the making so we can prevent it or at least be better prepared.

Climate and geology are factors which could contribute to particular viruses or bacteria thriving in certain locations. Animals and insects can be disease vectors. And travellers can be carriers of infectious diseases. What this means is that germs can travel the world. In this scenerio people more than animals can contribute to disease spread, and especially those who are asymptomatic or who are in the incubation stage before symptoms appear.

Because people don't undergo health screening like animals when travelling.

However, protection from diseases isn't only about wearing masks or hand sanitation. It has a lot to do with food consumption.

Many people don't have proper awareness about unhealthy ingredients in foods, or the ways in which food contamination can happen.

What we consume can effect the health of our immune system, which in turn effects how susceptible we become to infections or autoimmune diseases.

Generally bacteria can live in colder or hotter temperatures than humans.

But there are bacteria that can survive in extremely hot or cold temperatures, or highly acidic or salty conditions.

I think most people are not aware about how resistant bacteria can be. Or that viruses do not die but can only be destroyed.

One of the most tenacious forms of bacteria surving under extreme stress or heat is bacteria that can produce endospores.

"Endospores are dormant alternate life forms produced by the genus Bacillus, the genus Clostridium, and a number of other genera of bacteria, including Desulfotomaculum, Sporosarcina, Sporolactobacillus, Oscillospira, and Thermoactinomyces. 

Bacilus species." - Libre Texts Biology.

When those bacterium are under severe environmental attack they produce the endospore that preserves the cell's genetic material, as other parts of the bacteria perish. The endospore can survive till it gets environmental stimuli suitable for bacterial growth.

The re-entering of vegetative growth and cell division stage of the endospores is called germination.

Endospores are strongly resistant to boiling, antibiotics, many disinfectants, and low energy radiation, and do not get effected by drying.

Meat can be contaminated with endospores. 

Diseases that can be caused by endospores:  

"Infectious diseases such as anthrax, tetanus, gas gangrene, botulism, and pseudomembranous colitis are transmitted to humans by endospores." - Biology Libre Text.

However, do not confuse endospores with spores they are not the same. For example anthrax spores when inhaled cause severe health condition and can be fatal without immediate treatment.

Other ways in which food can get dangerously contaminated is by the chopping board. Use different boards to chop meat and vegetables/fruits. Because germs from the meat board can get transferred to fruits or vegetables that normally don't undergo cooking like meat.

When buying fruits or vegetable avoid those that have hole or punctures as germs can get into them through the openings.

Do not wash fruits or vegetables before storing in the fridge, the moisture can allow the growth of germs. Wash the fruits and vegetables before usage.

Another thing to be careful about is the water we drink. Dr. Kellog Schwab, director of the Johns Hopkins University Water Institute, says the moment we drink from a container we introduce microorganisms to that water. 

"Combined with the ambient temperature in your home or office, and sunlight streaming into your windows, those microorganisms could start to multiply pretty quickly." He said.

Water stored in plastic bottles should also be kept away from the odors of chemicals. Because plastic bottles are permeable. That means certains gases can go through them.

Water intoxication is also a danger many are not aware of.

This could like be why sports bottles have narrow mouths, so water can be consumed in a controlled manner.

There have been reports of people who died after accidently drinking too much water. This happens when more water is drunk than the kidneys can expel in time. The water dilutes the electrolytes in the blood, particularly sodium, and swelling happens in the cells including the brain.

While many health or exercise websites encourage to drink "plenty of water before and after exercise" I have never read on one the warning of how easily water intoxication can happen.

The other food warning doesn't really apply to me as a Muslim because I don't eat pork.

But it deserves a mention for others in the  world who unfortunately consume this animal.

Pig meat is similar to human meat. That is why it could be highly likely to cause autoimmune diseases, especially multiple sclerosis.

And the bacteria yersinia enterocolitica, which has many similarities to the bacteria yersinia pestis, which is related to yersinia pseudotuborcolusis and causes the bubonic black, is often found in pig meat.

In fact the contamination rate is high.

What happens each time people consume pork in regard to the immune system that it has to diffentiat that the meat is not its own human cells. This repitation in time can cause the immune system to not be able to tell it apart and hence start to attack its own cells.

In many countries MS was found to be as high as their consumption of pork, and as low as their consumption of pork. This signifying a correlation between pork and MS.

Processed foods and Ultra Processed foods are another unhealthy food problem. It is becoming very difficult to avoid these foods but not impossible. Ultra Processed foods can usually be told from the ingredients where it will read many more names that aren't normally understood as foods. This would be the things used to ultra process the food item.

Presently in the world the leading cause of death is heart disease followed by cancer.

One of the many examples of foods we consume with serious health risks is foods that have trans fat. 

"Trans fats in your food

Commercial baked goods, such as cakes, cookies and pies.

Shortening.

Microwave popcorn.

Frozen pizza.

Refrigerated dough, such as biscuits and rolls.

Fried foods, including french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken.

Nondairy coffee creamer.

Stick margarine." The Mayo Clinic

“Trans fat has no known benefit, and huge health risks that incur huge costs for health systems,” said WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Trans fat are highly associated with heart disease the leading cause of death worldwide.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an Author and Independent Journalist. Her Twitter and Instagram is @Spellrainia

Copyright ©️ Arjuwan Lakkdawala 2023

Sources:

Springer Link - Foodborne Microbial Pathogens - Yersinia enterocolitica and Yersinia pestis by Arun K. Bhunia

Hindawi - Journal of Pathogens - Rapid Detection and Identification of Yersinia pestis from Food Using Immunomagnetic Separation and Pyrosequencing

Kingsley K. Amoako,1Michael J. Shields,1Noriko Goji,1Chantal Paquet,2Matthew C. Thomas,1Timothy W. Janzen,1Cesar I. Bin Kingombe,3Arnold J. Kell,2and Kristen R. Hahn1

Academic Editor: Dike O. Ukuku

Advanced Naturopathic Medical Center - What is the problem with PORK?

By: Dr. Melina Roberts

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What happens if you drink too much water? -

Medically reviewed by Adrienne Seitz, MS, RD, LDN, Nutrition — By Arlene Semeco, MS, RD — Updated on Jan 4, 2023

Applied Microbiology International- Bacterial spore structures and their protective role in biocide resistance

M.J. Leggett, G. McDonnell, S.P. Denyer, P. Setlow, J.-Y. Maillard

First published: 10 May 2012

Science Direct - Endospores, Sporulation and Germination

Ernesto Abel-Santos, in Molecular Medical Microbiology (Second Edition), 2015

Time - You asked. Can water go Bad by Markham Heid

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Author links open overlay panelJae-Llane Ditchburn, Ryan Hodgkins

Wired - Resistant Bacteria in Pork — And Problematic Pharmaceuticals Too by Maryn Mckenna

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Chen Lei and Suresh Kumar

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#arjuwan lakkdawala #food #sciences #health #viruses #internet #biology #science #nature #bacteria #dna #covid-19 #genomes #anthrax #spores #endospore #yersinia pestis #yersinia enterocolitica #pork #pig #meat #germination #cancer #trans fat #dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus #water poisoning #water intoxication #food safety