Lab Ra...Dogs?

I did not realize dog testing was so common until every article we discussed in one of Simon’s classes referred to pharmaceutical testing on dogs.

Yearly, over 70,000 dogs are used for drug testing in the US.

Pharmaceutical testing on dogs is legal in the States. The FDA actually requires toxicity tests on rodent and non-rodent species, dogs tending to be the latter.

Why test on dogs?

Scientists have discovered that humans share 5% of both the dog and mouse genomes. I’m sure dog lovers see the resemblances! Our emotions, habits and the general physical layout are all similar.

Dogs and humans are also ailed with similar diseases. In fact, “dogs suffer from more than 350 genetic disorders” such as cancer, cataracts, epilepsy, allergies and heart disease.

Canines are used for research on “autism, paralysis, leukemia, diabetes”, and many other medical conditions.

The small, docile and easily manipulated beagle is commonly used as a lab dog.

Surgical experiments and toxicology tests are top reasons for canine testing. The discovery of insulin in 1921 is contributed directly to medical experimentation on dogs.   

However, both the Journal of Toxicology and Nature claimed in 1986 and 2011, respectively, that dogs are “poor predictors of drug effects in humans” and that the industry yearns change considering the ineffectiveness of drug testing on dogs thus far.  

Canine rights activists will rejoice.

Vocal cords removed to reduce disturbance, skin illegally burned, tattoos to remain anonymous…

A lab in North Carolina was shut down after researchers there were charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty. This case isn’t isolated either! Dogs can spend their whole lives in research facilities without having ever stepped outdoors.

This is quite a touching article and video detailing the Beagle Freedom Project: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/dog-testing-the-beagle-fr_n_898513.html.

Opinions of readers quoted from Nature on pharmaceutical testing on companion animals: 

“Continuing to employ hapless companion animals in pharmaceutical testing – a pathetically passé practice – is morally and ethically indefensible, and must cease immediately.

To continue this barbaric practice only lends additional credence to the axiom that ‘mankind’ is the penultimate oxymoron, if ever there was!” ~Stephen Phillips

“Please let us keep the emotions out of this discussion. It is clear that basic, translational, and clinical research has significantly advanced over the last 40 years, where as toxicology research to my knowledge has not. I applaud Johns Hopkins, the ICCA and the Doerenkamp Foundation for taking a lead in reviewing current toxicology practices and helping us to modernize these.” ~Gottfried E Konecny

Hildegard Doerenkamp, a Swiss philanthropist, donated €1 million to the Zurich based Doerenkamp-Zbinden Foundation to work towards reducing animal testing.

The following changes are urged:

• The Centre for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland suggests using a better model for testing such as the mini-pig.

• There is also a drive to test on non-rodent species only when in vitro or rodent species do not provide enough information.

•  And lastly, the FDA and the European Medicines Agency are urged to harmonize requirements for testing to reduce the number of animals used.

It turns out testing on dogs is quite common worldwide. But is this a fair, science based practice or is it a practice based on tradition? You be the judge! Please share your thoughts below.

References: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/dog-testing-the-beagle-fr_n_898513.html

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110628/full/474551a.html

http://news.change.org/stories/animal-use-and-abuse-statistics-the-shocking-numbers

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3760453

http://www.abpischools.org.uk/page/modules/diabetes_16plus/diabetes5.cfm?coSiteNavigation_allTopic=1

http://www.ktla.com/news/local/ktla-beagle-lab-testing,0,7173511.story

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/12/1207_051207_dog_genome.html

http://www.iamscruelty.com/

http://www.animalfreezone.co.uk/thefactsanimaltesting.html

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/216097163_621d9523ef.jpg

http://www.cosmeticanimaltestingpictures.com/images/cosmetic/cosmetic-dog-testing.jpg

 

The Many Ways We Purify Water

So, part of living in Italy involves many purchases of bottled water, specifically the kinds that are purified and chilled water. Nothing is better in this ridiculous heat than the ability to drink nice, cold water (even at 500 mL).

So, the actual inspiration for this blog was that while I was riding the train from Pisa and while I was waiting for my laundry at the Laundromat, I was also reading “The Hunger Games”. Now, while reading this book, I was definitely expecting the main character, Katniss, to try to find water after being dropped into a wilderness environment and forced to fend for herself. But there is one thing I forgot (or maybe took for granted?) and that is that the water needs to be purified. She uses iodine, a simple way to destroy any offensive bacterial agents, as her weapon of choice against any water contaminants. Thinking about this, I looked at the water bottle I was drinking, and thought back to the fridge water I so take for granted when I am at home. Then, I realized that I actually had a pretty great inspiration for a blog post. How is water filtered?

Having family in India, I have visited the subcontinent several times. One rule is universal: don’t drink the tap water. It is not a good idea. It will give you diarrhea and a host of other bad things can erupt. This is simply because of all the microorganisms that undoubtedly exist in the water. When we visit my grandmother in India, the only water we are allowed to drink is bottled water or water that has been boiled to the point that all contaminants have been killed. Makes sense.

However, this raises an interesting question for me. How does the bottled water I buy in Italy retain its fresh taste by being filtered? How does the water I drink in the fridge at home? These questions linger, and I plan on studying the chemistry of filtering potable water.

Studying about it, apparently the main thing of water filters involves pores. Basically, there are pores (roughly a micron, or 1/1000 of a millimeter, big) and most things such as bacteria, protozoa, and the like are caught by the pores, while water is allowed to freely flow through. This is why sometimes water filters can be very slow moving, while other times they can be very fast.

However, there is some very cool chemistry that can be used to filter water for human consumption. Look at a water bottle in America and most all of them have been filtered through a process known as reverse osmosis. This basically means that, using a semipermeable membrane and some simple equilibrium chemistry (including Le Chatelier’s principle), the osmotic pressure on both sides of a membrane is equalized. Using pressure, reverse osmosis can occur, instead of equilibrating the pressure of both sides, the added pressure essentially forces clean water to the other side of a semi-permeable membrane. Adding a stress to the system causes a change in concentration. Not a perfect example of equilibrium rules, but the basic underlying principle holds true.

However, if you are hiking in the woods, chemistry can also be your friend. Take, for instance, the iodine example I gave above. Assuming you don’t have a thyroid problem or an iodine allergy, that would be totally acceptable, and Katniss was smart to do so (even though I didn’t even think of purifying the water). In a pinch, chlorine will do, even though that’s more for pools and drinking chlorinated water regularly is definitely not good for you. Treat the water for 30 minutes or so, strain it if need be, make sure the water is warm as possible (cold water is harder to treat, and should be allowed to sit for longer), and do something about the taste of iodine or, worse, chlorine. These are both elements that will kill the pathogens in the water and allow us to use chemistry for our biological functionality. (There’s a reason Italians drink wine, it’s tradition: back in the day, they didn’t have this fancy chemistry. What they did have: ethanol. Alcohol kills bacteria. Simple.)

Hopefully, if you are in the Hunger Games, just need some clean water, or are just curious about the water that you drink and how it is filtered, you have learned something from this blog post. Water is a universally important biological necessity, and having clean water is important. This is why so many filtration methods exist. Taste is also important, which is why we have things to add to water, and why Italians seem to prefer bottled water from the less-pleasant-tasting tap water. Something we take for granted every day is something we can now understand much better: having potable, clean water. And isn’t that just a little bit cool?

Info Sources:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/outdoor-activities/hiking/water-filter.htm

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/manual/water.shtml

http://science.howstuffworks.com/reverse-osmosis.htm

Photo Sources:

http://www.inspiredwater.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/water_pouring.jpg

La chimica dei capelli

The Chemistry of  Life and Hair.

Why is it that almost every Italian seems to have perfect hair?  Is there something in the shampoo that they use? Does the pasta and pizza diet contribute to stronger peptide bonds in the amino acids that make up keratin? No, it must be the gel. It has to be.

Well, before we get into the Italian hair styles. Let’s delve into the chemistry of hair. Hair is made up primarily of keratin, a protein. There are three layers that make up the structure of hair. The medulla makes up the innermost layer, next is the cortex, which is surrounded by the cuticle. Let’s incorporate some chemistry shall we. The cuticle swells as a result of hair products with a high pH and shrinks when exposed to products with a low pH. The purpose of the cuticle is to shield damage from the follicle. Anytime, you change your hair color or get a perm or relaxer, you are chemically modifying the cortex of your hair.

Let’s delve even deeper into the chemistry of hair.  On average, hair consists of 45.2 % carbon, 27.9% oxygen, 6.6% hydrogen, 15.1% nitrogen and 5.2% sulfur. The following are the amino acids that are found in hair: cysteine, serine, glutamic acid, threonine, glycine, leucine, valine, arginine, aspartic acid, alanine, proline, isoleucine, tyrosine, phenylalanine, histidine, and methionine. Cysteine is the most abundant amino acid and contributes to the strength of hair.

Let’s rewind to the cortex. The cortex is composed of numerous polypeptide chains that are cross-linked with hydrogen, disulfide, and salt side chains. Each side chain consists of the corresponding bonds. Hydrogen and salt bonds are weak physical bonds. The former are broken by water or heat and the latter are destroyed by changes in pH or by alkaline or acidic solutions.  Disulfide bonds in hair are chemical by nature and contribute the most to the strength of hair even though they are less abundant than the other two bonds mentioned.  The linkage of two sulfur atoms to create cysteine constitute a disulfide bond.

So it may just be that Italians have a greater number of disulfide bonds that yield more cysteine molecules that aid in stronger hair that can withstand any conditions and prevail looking good. Maybe that’s why Buffon’s hair is always camera ready even when he saves goals.

FORZA ITALIA!!!!!! 

Sources:

http://www.hair-science.com/_int/_en/topic/topic_sousrub.aspx?tc=root-hair-science%5Eportrait-of-an-unknown-element%5Esuperb-chemistry&cur=superb-chemistry

 http://dermatology.about.com/cs/hairanatomy/a/hairbiology_2.htm

BATH SALTS!!!!!!!!

            While we’ve been here in Italy, we’ve all been trying to keep up with the news at home.  One of the topics that has foddered the most hilarity (although it’s really not funny when you think about it), is the spree of bath salts induced zombies that have been wreaking havoc in the States.  We have all really been trying to puzzle out what compound could possible induce someone to eat another person’s face.  Trevor and I decided to recreate the scenario (left), and just couldn’t figure out why it would ever be appealing (and we were both starving).  In light of this, and due to the actual, serious nature of these new, legal, designer drugs, I decided to do my blog post on what bath salts actually are.

            Bath salts are a legal stimulant, classified under the class of drugs called synthetic cathinones, which have a combination of psychoactive effects on the user similar to those induced by cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamines.  To me, this sounds like an absolutely terrible combination, but apparently many people have though it would be a great idea to buy bath salts from gas stations (yes, gas stations), and try them out.

            The active ingredients in bath salts are 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and/or mephedrone, which usually come from manufacturers in China in extremely pure forms of brown or white powder.  These highly addictive compounds induce hallucinations, paranoia, panic, extreme insomnia, agitation, psychosis, and aggressive/combative behavior in addition to other, less severe effects.  People overdosing on MDPV (bath salts) have been known to attack people nearby, and even commit suicide.  MDPV acts as a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor, which means that norepinephrine and dopamine are left outside cells to overstimulate adrenergic (adrenaline) and dopaminergic (dopamine) neurotransmission in the body.  This over transmission leads to the euphoric effect also associated with bath salts.  Bath salts can be injected, snorted, or swallowed to produce these, and other, cognitive effects.

3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone

            Although the effects that bath salts induce are often laughable (i.e. face eating zombies), the reality is that this drug and others like it are extremely dangerous drugs designed to give the maximum high, regardless of the consequences.  Despite the fact that the government is working to illegalize bath salts, drug designers are working faster to come up with new drugs and marketing schemes to replace bath salts and other, similar drugs that are being outlawed.  With this in mind, we all have to wonder, is this new zombie population with cannibalistic tendencies here to stay?

http://drugway.com/drug-related/bath-salt-drug-symptoms-physical-and-psychological/

http://www.hdap.org/mdpv.html

http://www.whatyoudomatters.org/Substance_Abuse/Bath_Salts_Composition.aspx

http://bathsaltsdrug.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norepinephrine-dopamine_reuptake_inhibitor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylenedioxypyrovalerone

http://www.neurosoup.com/mdpv_bathsalts.htm

It All Begins With A Hit

Poppy flowers are so pretty, and they are everywhere. When you look at them, you would never think that such things like opium is made out them. Opium has been playing a big role in history in humanity. From the Opium War between China and UK, to the Civil War in the US, opium had significant influence. The Opium War was definitely was one of the worst things that happened to China, and the fault kind of goes to opium. In the Qing Dynasty, the British people brought the opium to China, and started huge trading and merchandising opium. People started to get lazy, including a lot of royal members, just wanted to smoke pipes all day and not work. This soon became a real problem for the society until the government attempted to stop the trading and importing of opium. That was when the Brits got angry and used opium as an excuse and started to fire bombs to China, eventually won the war and we paid Hongkong and tons of money for “compensation”.

Opium is used as a painkiller in the ancient times, and it gives the user a drowsiness effect. Not long after, people have started to use opium as recreational use. They give you a relaxed sensation and hallucination, but the biggest side effect is the hopeless addiction and the withdrawal effect is extremely severe. So what chemical is responsible for this stuff?

The opium resin contains two major alkaloids, the phenanthrenes and benzylisoquinolines (papaverine). Morphine, codeine and heroine are all opiate derivatives that are present in opium.  Morphine and codeine are actually utilized in the modern society as potent opiate analgesic drugs that relieve severe pain. Because their adverse affect, the drugs are prescription only. Especially morphine, is present in widely marketed drugs like Avinza and Kadian, etc. The side effects are more or less those of opium. Morphine acts on the myenteric plexus (part of the enteric nervous system) in the intestinal tract, thereby reducing gut motility, causing constipation. In addition, the addiction is very serious, and can lead to the condition similar to heroin addiction if not taken-in properly. Also, the withdrawal effects and addiction lead to great pain, such as depression, anxiety, mood swings and all those kind of bad things. Morphine, as a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, the chemical structure contains several carbon rings and the ring system has little conformational flexibility (no isomers). Morphine can be made into codeine by methylation. Actually, by modifying morphine, you could create more than 200 derivatives and they all vary a little in functionality. Moreover, as we all know how bad heroin is and it doesn’t do anything good.

Opium has two sides, one to help people for pain relief, one to harm people and countries. Just like thalidomide, with its adverse influence on the previous users but now used to treat cancer. There are just good things you can find about them.

resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morphine#Adverse_effects
http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Opium
http://nzic.org.nz/ChemProcesses/biotech/12C.pdf

Yuka -- The Caterpillar Assassin!

Palio week at last!!!  


At the horse trial, we saw all the contradas that are selected this year: The Eagle, Caterpillar, Wave, Forest, Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, Snail, Shell, and Giraffe. While William was in great support of Dragon and Wave, I decided to support the Caterpillar. So then an argument goes all the way from "dragons are more mystical" to "dolphins eat caterpillars"... No. Dolphins don't eat caterpillars. But even if they do, these small little creatures have their own ways to kill big predators in the world.  

Bruco - The Caterpillar Contrada

In order to protect their cute little bodies from numerous predators, caterpillars have a few lines of defense. They can warn off large animals by their bright toxic colors and body markings as a first line of defense. When they are attacked, some will activate second line defense reponses such as releasing poison. Other aggressive caterpillars may combine both defense bristles with venom glands. The South American silk moth, genus Lonomia, produces one of the most potent defensive chemicals in any animal, enough to kill an adult human (or an adult dolphin)!

Deadliest of the Deadly Lonomia - Lonomia obliqua

The caterpillars of genus Lonomia has caused 354 cases of poisoning in Brazil between 1989 and 2005. These caterpillars are even more toxic and dangerous than rattlesnakes, since data has shown fatility rate by rattlesnake bite is 1.8% and by Lonomia is 1.7% while using 0.001% of what a rattlesnake uses! Its venom act as an anticoagulant (interferes with blood clotting) which is powerful enough to kill humans. Most poisoning occur when people rub against multiple Lonomia caterpillars as they pass by a tree, leading to severe pain, kidney failure, and hemolysis. In severe cases, this venom works to cause intense bleeding (or hemorrhaging) in the skull, also known as intracerebral hemorrhage. This is due to the anticoagulants inside the venom, which increases the chances of intracranial bleeding.

Intracerebral hemorrhage - brain will gradually squeeze through the skull...

Interestingly, this deadly poison has its beautiful and valuable side in medication. Lonomia is studied in medicine for its anticoagulation properties; scientists try to use chemicals in the venom as in vivo medication for thrombotic disorders. Unfortunately, the specific chemical makeup of the poison is still not entirely understood yet. Previous studies done by da Silva GH et al. took samples of the Lonomia venom and injected it intravenously to rats. Light and electron microscopy were used to detect the morphological alterations in the brain and blood-brain barrier, and cases of leaky vessels and intracerebral hemorrhage were seen.

Still many studies are carried out to understand the mechanism of envenoming by these deadly caterpillars. Several toxic principles were found in bristle extract and the hemolymph, and some have more than one function. It still amazes me how such natural poison is a valuable pharmeceutical compound that will be useful in preventing life threatening blood clots. More natural products will be used in medicine in astonishing ways, and hope after this great study abroad trip I can continue to learn more about these natural medicines!

References:
"On The Conditional Nature of Neotropical Caterpillar Defenses Against Their Natural Enemies" - Ecology
"Lonomia obliqua caterpillar venom increases permeability of the blood-brain barrier in rats" - Toxicon

Drier than Dried Potato Chips.

Since our trip is coming a close shortly, I began to ponder about my ride on Delta Flight 241 from Rome to Atlanta.  I’m going to be stuck in an airplane cabin for eleven and a half hours.  You know, you begin to think about all the things you HATE about airplanes when faced with that number. Like how long the lines for the bathroom is. How you really wish you had gotten a window seat. How you wish the old guy next to you would respect personal space. Or how you wish you could have been seated next to someone more attractive that you wouldn’t mind striking up a conversation with. The list goes on, but there is one that you KNOW you are going to deal with. And that’s the dry, arresting air.

Remember there is NO SMOKING on this flight.

Before my flight to Rome, I was suffering from really bad allergies (as some of my friends have outlined in earlier blog posts… my allergies are BAD). The dry air in the plane cabin really assisted in the allergies. While I loved that the allergies were gone, now it felt like it was so dry that my nose was going to bleed.

So, I began to ponder, how do they get the air SO DRY. At first I thought that it could possibly be some sorcery or demon magic because we all know that the airline companies have sold their souls to the devil.

She's increasing baggage fees, RIGHT NOW.

Rather than some sort of Santeria, airlines simply use HEPA filters. While I cannot conclude myself that all planes are sorcery-free, I can tell you with 100% confidence the mechanism for air filtration.

Air filters on airlines are what they use in hospitals. The efficiency of cleaning all those particles is upwards of 99.99%. There are three mechanisms of filtration that occur.

The first is direct interception. This is the most suspected type of filtration.  It’s just like when you are done cooking your wonderful pasta that you’ve imported from Italy, and you are filtering it through your colander.

It's so GOOD.

The second type is a bit more complicated. It involves inertia. Essentially, particles that are denser than air just stick to the solid parts of the filter.  It’s hard to keep objects denser than air in the air, so it makes sense. Every see a lead zeppelin? I don’t think so.   It would sink faster than a lead balloon from what I can gather. These denser-than-air particles would rather simply stay attached to air filter.

The third type is even more complicated. This is for very small particles are bombarded by very small molecules in the air. This causes the particle to have an unpredictable path.  Thus because its trajectory is determined by small molecules moving randomly in the air, the trajectory of the particle becomes more erratic. This is used for filtration because eventually, it will get pumped onto the pores in the air filter, and will adhere there.

It's like me on market day in Siena.

Here's a really informative video from Pall Corporation on how their air filters work.

I"m sure the music encourages the pores to filter better

With these three methods employed, it essentially creates a completely sterile air environment. Considering that planes air cycles through filtrations 20 times an hour while an office building’s air is cycled only 12 times an hour, airplanes have clean air. They are so clean that hospitals use the same types of filtration.


With all this filtration, it really takes out all the moisture in the air.  They also want that because moisture can lead to mold, bacterial growth and other pretty bad things when confined to a small space. So, you can reliably believe your airplane has clean air. Now if you sit next to a sick person, you might want to ask for that oxygen mask…


These wonderful sponsors gave me great information and images!

http://www.pall.com/main/Aerospace-Defense-Marine/Microbial-Removal-Cabin-Air-Filters.page#bacteria
http://strongholdsmashers.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/magic.jpg
http://www.visualphotos.com/photo/2x1905129/cooked_pasta_being_taken_out_of_colander_902289.jpg
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es060424e
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion