Have A Piece of Dark Chocolate

            Do you have high blood pressure? Eat a dark chocolate truffle. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. One piece of dark chocolate a day can’t keep the doctors away, but it can help prevent you from having a stroke or even a heart attack. Dark chocolate is a great source of antioxidants, which can help strengthen your ability to fight infection and diseases.

We all know atherosclerosis is when arteries become stiff and white blood cells stick to the walls of blood vessels. By adding a piece of dark chocolate everyday it can help restore flexibility to arteries and prevent those white blood cells from sticking to the walls. Dr. Esser and his colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands recently evaluated 44 middle-aged overweight men over two separate 4- week periods that had two ounces of chocolate per day. The study showed that the chocolate consumption increased endothelium-dependent vasodilation.

Dark chocolate has a number of ways it can improve other health problems such as, decreasing your LDL cholesterol, reducing your rick of getting blood clots, increasing blood flow in arteries and the heart. Dark chocolate has even been found to improve mood by boosting the serotonin and endorphins in the brain. Also beware, dark chocolate is high in fat and calories, so be sure to eat right and balance out those extra pieces of dark chocolate. Go ahead and indulge in a sweet sugary goodness, and do not feel guilty because you’re helping your heart out!

Heather Mundlin

http://www.fasebj.org/content/28/3/1464.abstract

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140227092149.htm

Meniere’s disease is a very aggressive disorder that affects our organs of audition (hearing) and equilibrium, the cochlea (contains the organ of corti, and produces nerve impulses from the vibrations of sounds) and vestibule of the inner ear, respectively. Persons suffering from Meniere’s disease will have symptoms such as attacks of dizziness (vertigo), ringing of the ears (tinnitus), and hearing loss. This happens because the amount of fluid, endolymph, in the labyrinth increases which increases pressure on the delicate organs of the inner ear. Meniere’s disease can happen at any age but is most common in older adults between the ages of 40-60 years old. This disease usually only effects one ear and over a period of several years can cause deafness.

There are cochlear implants to replace lost hearing that results from inner ear damage, however, for people who suffer with balance disorders, there has not been any treatments. Christopher Phillips and his colleagues from the University of Washington developed a vestibular prosthesis that will give an electrical stimulation in the semi-circular canals’ fluid of the ear. When this happens the fluid manipulates the brain into thinking the body is swaying or moving in a particular direction. When the brain is tricked it causes a compensatory postural reflex that will stabilize the body posture which helps to restore balance and stop the dizzy feeling.

This discovery is actually pretty cool and cleaver by manipulating the brain. This is clearly a first step into finding a cure or way to help with a balance disorder resulting from an inner ear disease. It will help people who suffer from this disease recover their balance and be able to function in daily life properly. I am sure that the people who suffer from this disease is very thrilled that there may be a stop to their complications.

1. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/06/130613104137.htm
2. A&P class lecture text

            Being able to see is an important thing. However, there are several causes for blindness. One in particular, which I am going to discuss, is a very common one where there is a loss of transparency of the lens called cataract. Cataracts occur when the lens crystalline protein structure changes and your vision becomes blurry because the lens has become less transparent. Several things can cause cataracts like aging, long exposure to ultraviolet light, or even a disease such as diabetes. Yes, there are ways to fix this like replacing the old lens with a new artificial one. However, I looked up ways to prevent cataracts, and I came across an article about statins that prevent cataracts.

            Statins are cholesterol– lowering drugs, usually for fighting heart disease; however, researchers have found they help decrease the risk of cataracts as well.  In this article, Dr. Gabriel Chodick explains that these drugs can help prevent inflammation in the eye and stop the process of oxidation on the ocular nerve celss. Dr. Chodick did a study of 180,000 patients from 1998-2007 to observe the effect statins had on cataracts. His study showed a strong association with a large population. Also, what he found was that the daily intake of statins in men from the age 45-54 decreased their risk of developing cataracts by 38%, and although statins were not as effective in women, they still had an 18% decrease in the risk of developing cataracts. The article also states that 10% of people who are prescribed statins rarely take them; however, the doctor says now they have reason to continue taking this drug. This article has also helped me understand the importance of finding a prevention for cataracts for our society.

            The article also explains that in the U.S., cataracts affect about 60%- of  men and women over the age of 60. The use of statin drugs could help to lower the number of men and women in society who have blindness due to cataracts. Also, blindness doesn’t only affect the person with the loss of sight but also the people close to the person. Preventing blindness is not just helping someone to see, but also it is helping someone keep contact with the environment around them. As well as contact with the environment around them, people who are affected with blindness tend to have a low self-esteem due to the need for help and emptiness because the sight is a major sense to any human. However, the prevention of cataracts by this drug will benefit someone as well. For instance, the person would have an increased ability to work, a decreased disability cost, longer independence for individuals, and prolonged vision. Blindness affects ones everyday life. Therefore, this drug, known as statin, could help individuals with his or her life in general.

Tel Aviv University. “Common cholesterol drugs, statins, fight cataracts, too.”       ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 February 2010.

Tortora, Gerard J and Derrickson, Bryan. Princciples of Anatomy and Physiology 13^th       Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2011. 30 Jan. 2014.

Oral cancer is a growing disease among people, and it is battled everyday. This disease not only affects your body in many ways, but it can be deadly as well. Oral cancer has the ability to affect the whole inside of the mouth, but it is more dangerous when the cancer affects the tongue. One main concern occurs when the tongue tissues are removed. When the tissues are removed the individual  has less tongue mass, and they are more vulnerable to letting food and liquids into their lungs.  Researches have yet to find a cure but continue to search for what causes the disease, how to prevent it, and how to improve treatments.

Most research that has been done toward oral cancer has focused on the DNA of the cells to see what might be causing the cancer. Research has shown that a mutation in the p53 gene is related to the cause of oral cancer. The p53 gene is linked to controlling the cells from growing to much. When there is a mutation in this gene growth of the cells is not controlled and the cancerous cells can grow rapidly.

Oral cancer affects a great amount of people a year. Studies and research show that about 34,000 people a year are diagnosed with oral cancer. Surgeons at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis worked hard In the past years to help those who suffer from oral cancer. The surgeons developed new and improved ways of reconstructing the tongue after the cancerous areas were removed. This new development has helped patients feel more normal by helping them with their speech as well as their swallowing ability.

Citations
http://www.cancer.org/cancer/oralcavityandoropharyngealcancer/detailedguide/oral-cavity-and-oropharyngeal-cancer-new-research

http://oralcancerguide.org/?p=262

http://www.siteman.wustl.edu/ContentPage.aspx?id=561#sthash.8h6ZjieX.dpuf

                Sickle cell disease is a disorder that affects a person’s red blood cells (erythrocytes). Sickle cell is a red blood cell that does not have the appearance of a normal, healthy red blood cell. Abnormal hemoglobin molecules (the molecules inside of erythrocytes that carry oxygen) of people who suffer from sickle cell disease cause the characteristic crescent moon shape seen in their erythrocytes. The abnormal shape of sickle cells tends to form blockages in the blood vessels, which in turn halts oxygen from traveling to the affected tissues. Also, the abnormal hemoglobin forms fibers causing stiffness, which makes them stick together and does not allow for the normal, free mobility that normal red blood cells have.

                Dr. Frank Ferrone, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Dr. Yihua Wang, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, along with many other researchers came up with an extraordinary discovery on sickle cells and why they stick together in sickle cell disease. The researchers experimented with different techniques involving light scattering, and they found that light rays are drastically affected by the arrangement of the hemoglobin fibers that form in sickled red blood cells. They found that areas of the hemoglobin molecules that should repel each other instead stick together resulting in the abnormal shape. The light patterns are reflecting on how the fibers are arranged and what causes sickle cell disease. Their discovery on how they can use light to determine how the fibers were arranged made it possible to compare and contrast sickle cells vs. normal red blood cells. 

This research has brought insight into the formation of the fibers in the sickle cells and it can further research on how to correct the abnormal fibers. What the researchers have discovered can lead to future cures using drugs that can possibly alter and change what is the source of the issue involving the fibers. The experiment gives insight to the researchers because they were able to study the structures of sickle cells based on how the light refracted. They were also able to determine how the abnormal shape leads to the abnormal formation of the fibers in these sickle cells. It is incredible how they were able to use light as a source to determine the difference in the structure of hemoglobin fibers in sickle cells in comparison to the fibers in normal, healthy hemoglobin. This research can greatly impact those that suffer from sickle cell disease by possibly finding a cure, and also giving answers to questions that have been wondered about.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131105121413.htm

http://edugen.wileyplus.com/edugen/student/mainfr.uni

One vision problem that people suffer from is hyperopia, in which a person can see things at a distance clearly but not when the objects are up close. The correction of eyesight is done by orthokeratology or ortho-K; which is the reshaping of the cornea. The technique is done with the use of rigid gas-permeable contact lenses over night that will reshape the cornea. The contact lens can also help correct myopia and stigmatism.

In the research Jaume Paume used ten test subjects all suffering from vision problems. With the use of the patient in the trial Jaume Paune developed a lens that was worn at nighttime that corrected the patients with hyperopia. The lens actively applies pressure on the outside of the cornea; which works by reshaping the cornea. Unfortunately the effect is only temporary. The lens must be worn every night to reshape the cornea. The correction to the cornea however will not have lasting affects. The treatment shows promise as an ongoing therapy and an alternative to corrective laser surgery.

The research that Mr. Paune discovered is amazing. It offers patients suffering from vision problems another alternative option then having surgery. The risk with the contact lens is less risky then the patients who undergo surgery. With using the contact lens there is no recovery period or missed work. The lens however is not very cost effective especially since they must be worn every night and replaced from time to time. Personally I feel that this lens still gives patients more options other then surgery.

Kethanne K. Colich

Tortora, Gerard J and Derrickson, Bryan. Principles of Anatomy & Physiology. 13th. 2011.Print.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100420161224.htm