Technology Is Amazing, eh?

In our world today, technology has continued to grow and develop in many ways that will benefit society. Various technologies have helped us better understand the internal body systems, digestive, circulatory, and respiratory.

 The electrocardiogram is a test measuring and recording the electrical activity of the heart. It helps to see how fast your heart is beating and if it beating normally. The information from the electrocardiogram can be used to find different types of heart disease, as well as how a patient is responding to treatment.

Endoscopes, creates by Philip Bozzini, in 1805, is a long, thin tube, that can be rigid or flexible, that has a light and video camera. It is used to enter a patient’s body so their insides can be displayed on a screen, as well as extracting small pieces of tissue for a biopsy. This allows doctors to examine the interiors of an organ or tissue to check for any conditions or illness, like stomach ulcers.

One of the most important medical contributions Canada made was discovering insulin; a hormone produced in the pancreas.  The Canadians who discovered insulin were Sir Frederick Banting anf Charles Best. When there is little or no insulin in the blood, glucose cannot enter into the body’s cells and the body begins to use fat as a source of energy. Therefore, insulin can save and has saved millions of diabetic patients.

The pacemaker is another great Canadian medical contribution. A pacemaker helps regulate the heart’s rhythm and monitor the heart.  This device is very useful and can save lives of those who have weaker hearts and an abnormal heart rhythm. There are two types of pacemakers: temporary or permanent. Temporary users only use the pacemaker when they have emergency or temporary heartbeat problems, like a slow heartbeat due to heart surgery, heart attack, or an overdose of medicine. Permanent pacemakers are used when a patient has long-term heart rhythm problems.

As you can see, all these technologies have helped us have a better understanding of our internal body systems. These inventions have given us to potentially save other people’s lives, as well as allowing us to live longer lives. As our medical technologies continue to grow and advance, we will be able to find more solutions and cures that are incurable.

Comments:

Valerie Szeto

Hey Valerie! Nice Blog!

 I think that the inventions you mentioned in your blog were great! I knew what an inhaler was, but I never knew that is was actually created by a Canadian! I think that your blog has shown how greatly Canada has contributed to the field of medicine, especially discovering insulin to help those who have diabetes. In my opinion, I think that as technology continues to advance and grow, we will be able to create new inventions and discover new cures for diseases that are incurable.

Wayne Young

Hey Wayne!

I never heard of gastric surgery before until I read your blog. It seems like a very ineteresting concept. I agree with you that those who are overweight should not resort to gastric surgery in order to loose weight, but I also feel that those who are morbidly obese shouldn't either. In my opinion, I think it's dangerous to make someone's stomach smaller. I did some research and found that there was a study where 1 out of 50 people die within one month of having gastric bypass surgery according to the University of Washington. I think that it would be too risk-taking for those who are overweight and morbidly obese.

Anyways, I think that your Blog was very informative and it was great to learn something new!

Pictures:

http://www.shekharhospital.com/image/ecg%20machine.jpg 
http://www.patient.co.uk/pilsinl/130.gif
http://kidshealth.org/teen/diabetes_center/treatment/images_77980/1126294228691.injection1c.jpg
http://www.chrsonline.ca/images/pacemaker_figure.jpg

Sources:

“All About Diabetes: What is insulin?” MediLexicon International Ltd. Web. n.d. 28 May 2011.
                < http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/info/diabetes/whatisinsulin.php >

Chiedozie, Anjus. "The History of Endoscopes” EHow.com. Web. n.d. 27 May 2011. <http://www.ehow.com/about_5454639_history-endoscopes.html>.

Davey, Parick. “ECG (electrocardiogram).” Netdoctor.co.uk. Web. 17 February 2011. 27 May 2011.
< http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/examinations/ecg.htm >

 “Pacemaker”. MedicineNet.com. Web. n.d. 26 May 2011.

                <http://www.medicinenet.com/pacemaker/article.htm>

Food Productions

What is agriculture? It is cultivating land, raising crops, and breeding, feeding, and raising livestock, basically like farming! There are two types of agriculture, sustainable and industrial agriculture. Which one is better?

First off, what is industrial agriculture? After World War II, we began to industrialize our farming operations. We used machines for manual labor, petro-chemicals, like pesticides and fertilizers, biotechnology, monoculture systems and government subsides that would make food more affordable and abundant. They produce livestock and crops faster than usual. There are huge environmental and social costs for industrial farming.

Secrets of Industrial Agriculture

·         Unsanitary conditions in factory farms and slaughterhouses.

·         Contaminating our soil and water resources

·         Causing topsoil erosion and deforestation

·         Reduction and loss of biodiversity! Bees, bats, amphibians, and other species are declining, due pesticide exposure.

·         Reducing genetic diversity in animals since they raise a few selected breeds.

·         Enormous amount of factory-farmed animals confined in small areas without access to sunlight, fresh air, pasture, and they live in unsanitary conditions.

·         Factory farms are responsible for 1/3 of global greenhouse emissions, which contributes to our climate change!

·         Relying on chemicals, pesticides and fertilizers, which we carry in our bodies, and can, increase the risk of cancer, diabetes, asthma, and more.

·         And so much more!

So why do we continue industrial farming? Many believe that it’s the only way to feed a large, growing population.

That’s a MYTH!

Sustainable agriculture is more than capable of feeding everyone on earth!  Sustainable farming uses many techniques, including organic, biodynamic, holistic, low-input and free-range methods. Although sustainable agriculture is expensive and produces slower, it has many more benefits!

Secrets of Sustainable Agriculture

·         Using erosion-prevention methods, by using windbreaks, cover crops, planting fields with different crops every year, and other methods.

·         Conserving scarce water resources and local aquifer. For instance, farmer would minimize tilling and water use.

·         Avoiding chemical pesticides and fertilizers so it cannot contaminate soil.

·         Relying more on pest control methods, like habitat manipulation.

·          Farms only take in as much animals they can sustain.

·         Integrate cropland for animals to graze.

·         Preserving genetic diversity by raising a wide variety of animal breeds and crop varieties.

·         Animals are not injected with hormones or antibiotics

·         Contains higher levels of antioxidants and more vitamin C, iron, phosphorus and magnesium.

·         And much more!

   

As you can see, I think that sustainable agriculture is way better because it’s capable of feeding everybody, and is more beneficial and safer for everything and everyone. According to the Pesticide Action Network North America says, “We have to change the way we farm… if we expect to feed a growing and warming planet.” It’s for us to decide if we want to use the safest and healthiest way to farm and sustain our resources for future generations.

Word Count: 476

Sources:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/agriculture

http://www.economywatch.com/agriculture/types/industrial.html

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/habitats/sustainable-agriculture/

http://www.panna.org/issues/food-agriculture/industrial-agriculture

http://www.sustainabletable.org/intro/comparison/

Pictures:

http://c1.eatdrinkbetter.com/files/2010/02/notill-mn.jpg

http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/726997/contaminated_eggs_industrial_farming_leading_to_dioxintype_food_scares.html

http://www.sustainabletable.org/images/intro/sustainable_piglets.jpg

http://www.davidsuzuki.org/blogs/docs-talk/assets_c/2010/10/OrganicFarming-thumb-480xauto-1740.jpg

I commented on:

http://francesbio.blogspot.com/2011/01/good-bad-healthy.html#comments

http://valerieszetosblogspot.blogspot.com/2011/03/mary-had-little-lamb.html#comments

Designing Babies!?

What is a designer baby? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is defined as a baby whose genetic material has been artificially selected by genetic engineering combined with in vitro fertilization (IVF) to ensure the presence or absence of specific genes and characteristics. In other words, parents can modify their children’s genes for desirable characteristics, both medically and cosmetically. After choosing, they go through IVF, which is an advanced reproductive technique that fertilizes eggs with sperm in test-tubes outside a woman’s body.

In Vitro Fertilization

One benefit of designer babies are Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), which screens embryos if they have some kind of genetic disease and the selected embryos are implanted into the mother. They can replace and detect defective genes that are responsible for diseases, like Huntington’s chorea, cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, and much more. As a result, it prevents their child to inherit any kind of hereditary disorder. It also allows parents to have their ideal child. They can choose their eye and hair colour, sex, body type, how tall they will grow up to, what kind of illnesses they will be resistant to, and possibly their IQ and personality!

In order to have a designer baby, you can go through in vitro fertilization with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, which will cost around or even more than $30 000!  As you can see, the process of making a designer baby is very expensive and only wealthy families can afford it. I find this unfair because since this procedure isn’t available to everyone, the rich can choose to survive, while the people who are not able to afford it would have to face genetic defects and, possibly, death.

The result of genetic manipulation would cause segregation where there are those who are genetically modified, super humans, and those who aren’t. The normal people would have to compete against super humans who are meant to excel in everything. This would create a society of inequality and discrimination. It not only raises problems in our society, but also conflicts with our religion. Many people may believe that it is morally wrong to play God. As a result of all these ongoing problems involving genetic manipulation, it can lead to great chaos in our world, maybe even war.

As you can see, our society would be greatly affected by genetic manipulation, but more importantly, it also affects our families. How would people feel if they found out they were a designer baby? Would they feel like objects that were bought? They might also have an identity crisis because who knows if their parents modified their personality, like high intelligence or sports ability. I think this shows that parents will only love you if you were a certain way.  

In the end, we’re not ready for designer babies. It creates conflicts in our society, religion, and in our families as well. These aspects of life are very important to me and I surely don’t want any problems in them.

            Word Count: 494

Blogs I commented on:

Dylan Juschkohttp://mwbioblogs.blogspot.com/2010/12/designer-babies-saving-people-or.html#comments

Harriet Austriahttp://haustriabio.blogspot.com/2010/11/designer-babies.html#comments

Sources:

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html

http://www.bionetonline.org/english/content/db_cont1.htm

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20101108/bc_ctv_investigates_making_babies_5_101108/20101116?hub=BritishColumbiaHome

http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/ocrreliss7.php

http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2001/09/designer_babies.html

Picture Sources:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfmoms/detail?entry_id=36512

http://www.thepregnancyzone.com/age-fertility/in-vitro-fertilization-combining-an-egg-with-sperm-in-the-laboratory-dish/

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/11/1047144972401.html



Gathering Amphibians into the Ark!

Amphibians have been around the earth for about 350 million years. They were even around during the time dinosaurs roamed the earth! Amphibians include frogs, toads, salamanders, and caecilians. They have been around so long and we want to keep it that way!

There are many reasons why amphibians are very important to our society, environment, and ecosystem. One of the reasons being that they are good bio-indicators, meaning that they they’re species help monitor the health of an environment or ecosystem and gives us some kind of warning about unsafe environment conditions. They are good bio-indicators because their permeable skin can absorb and concentrate toxins in their fatty tissues, and because they spend their life cycles on land and water!

Amphibians play an important role in the food web, where they are predators for insects, like crickets, flies, mosquitoes, and other insects. If their populations are declining, what happens to insect populations? They increase more! Now, that’s a lot of bugs that can create damage to crops! Other than being predators, they are also abundant food for larger predators, like human beings!  

Lastly, they also help provide vital biomedicines, including antibiotics, stimulants for heart attack victims, analgesics, and other diseases. In addition, the Australian red-eyed tree-frog, and other relatives, gives a compound that is capable of preventing HIV infections and nobody wants that!

You see, amphibians are pretty important in our environment but, there has been research where the IUCN assessed that 32% of amphibian species are threatened with extinction around the world! They found out that 42% of species’ population are declining and possibly more that 120 amphibian species are extinct! Though, amphibian species are more severe in Latin America and the Caribbean?

The map of the world below shows the number of amphibian species that are endangered

 Some that are critically endangered include:

  Southern Corroboree Frog
  Picture from Amphibian Ark

          Lake Titicaca Water Frog
          Picture from Amphibian Ark 

Some of the causes for their near extinction and declining populations are:

·         Global warming

·         New diseases

·         Invasive species

·         Acid rain

·         Habitat loss

·         Climate change

·         UV radiation

·         Chemical contaminants and pollution

What are we suppose to do? How are we supposed to ensure the survival of amphibians? Is it the end for amphibians? No, it’s not!! The Amphibian Ark (AArk) is an organization that is partnered with other organizations like, the World Association of Zoos Aquarium, IUCN, Conservation Breeding Specialists, Amphibian Specialist group and many other partners ensuring the survival of amphibians.

The Aark organization helps:

·         Fundraise money

·         Providing seed grants for projects

·         Raising awareness

·         Helping with research

·         Their Frog MatchMaker helps support amphibian conservation programs

·         Biobanking activities

·         And so much more

For more information visit to www.amphibianark.org

I commented on:

 Valerie Szeto http://valerieszetosblogspot.blogspot.com/2010/10/who-knew-something-tiny-can-cause-such.html#comments

Kendra Geniza http://biobobombs.blogspot.com/2010/10/topic-1-positive-human-intervention.html#comments

Work Cited

 Amphibia Web. “Worldwide Amphibian Declines: How Big is the Problem, What are the causes and waht can be done?” 22 January 2009. 10 October 2010.
     < http://amphibiaweb.org/declines/declines.html >

Amphibians Ark. “The Crisis.” n.d 10 October 2010.
     < http://www.amphibianark.org/the-crisis/ >

Center for Global Environmental Education. “Amphibian Facts.” n.d. 9 October 2010.
     < http://www.hamline.edu/cgee/frogs/science/frogfact.html >

The Amphibian Project. “About the Crisis.” n.d. 9 October 2010.
     < http://www.helpafrog.org/crisis.htm >