Deadly but wonderful
How’s that possible? These are great pics; almost art, except they are deadly diseases.
Originally shared by Gail Barnes
Stunning But Deadly
The transmission electron micrograph of the Ebola virus would not look out of place on the wall of an art gallery, while Smallpox resembles sushi. Fantastic electron micrographs allow one to get up close and personal with some of the world’s deadliest diseases. #sciencesunday
Open the Spigot for Science
#ScienceSunday would love to ensnare you in our web. I saw this electron microscope pic shared from Linda Hedrick and I remembered that there has been a lot of research to mimic spider web silk. The pictures below are the spigots of the spider where the silk is made/dispensed for making a web. The first is a false-color version from Visuals Unlimited (http://goo.gl/2Qgui).
From MicroAngela
These fingerlike spinnerets on spiders’ posterior abdomens (rear-ends) are used to extrude web silk. This silk is used to weave webs, snares, shelters, and/or egg sacs. Each species of spider has a distinctive web form. Spider silk is a fibrous protein that is secreted as a fluid and which, when stretched, forms a polymer that is stronger than steel! A spider can spin more than one kind of silk to customize its web. For example, the spider makes some parts of its web not sticky so that it can run across it and not get caught! Some spiders do not weave webs at all, but actively hunt for food.
A tidy, clean web indicates a spider is present. A dusty web (cobweb) usually means it is old and unused. Spiders are useful in keeping down pest insect populations. Have you made friends with a spider, lately?
This picture was taken by a fourth grade class visiting my lab. It is magnified about 1,500 times
http://www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu/microangela/spigot.htm
The same image can be found at How Stuff Works, with ton of info: http://goo.gl/d0Pr0
Some folks at Rochester detailed their SEM study on spider silk on this webpage:
Here’s a clever use of spider silk. Dip the silk in organic silicate, then bake it so that the silk burns away leaving a small, hollow fiber optic wire.
Finally, here’s artificial spider silk from bacteria
I leave you with No Doubt
You think that we connect
That the chemistry’s correct
Your words walk right through my ears
Presuming I like what I hear
And now I’m stuck in the web
You’re spinning
You’ve got me for your prey
ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me.
Edit also for #SpiderSunday curated by Kimberly Hosey and Chris Mallory
Bench to Bedside
A little background on translational research or medicine, often also called “bench to bedside”. In a post by Max Huijgen (http://goo.gl/VNT3Z) there was a lively discussion about an article in the Telegraph about a seemingly miracle cancer drug sitting in a freezer in Sweden. The article stated that because the scientist had published the work, no pharmaceutical company would touch it, to bring it to market. The idea was, no patent means no profit. A large part of the discussion was about crowdfunding for this frozen drug.
There were three things that Rajini Rao some others, and I tried to explain, about the article and the conversation. First, the cost of getting a drug “from bench to bedside” was grossly underestimated by people suggesting crowdfunding. Here’s the reference Rajini provided regarding the cost of clinical trials (http://goo.gl/YXD55). It can be $28k per patient, just to get started, i.e., Phase I. Which leads to the second issue; lack of understanding what is drug development or discovery. How do you get a compound from idea, to bench work, and finally to market. The last issue is the treatment in the story itself.
The figures below are from an excellent overview of the process of drug development. The example is for cancer research but it is applicable to essentially all drug discovery. So when you hear scientist like me, talk about Phase III clinical trials or INDs, you’ll know what they mean. http://goo.gl/ZF88v
There is also a good, albeit a bit old, review on translation research.
Review: Translational science: past, present, and future by S. H. Curry
BioTechniques 44, 2008 http://goo.gl/B5DV6
In that review, they mention acetaminophen being published and therefore the university couldn’t capitalize on the discovery. If the premise of the Telegraph article were true then acetaminophen should not be in every medicine cabinet today. Clearly the inability to directly patent a compound does not preclude getting it to market. I say directly because acetaminophen was patented at some point.
History of acetaminophen or paracetamol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paracetamol#History
Getting back to the Telegraph article and the miracle drug. The Swedish group’s current paper, that has in vivo data (the rest are in vitro) has a 40% survival rate at 100 days, using six mice per group. I also find it curious that the virus is supposed to be targeted but they did not inject it systemically. It was injected directly into the tumor.
J Virol. 2011 Dec;85(24):13114-23.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21957304
Although it is interesting and promising work, I wouldn’t put any money towards it with such a small study. Typically, much more pre-clinical work is done before even thinking of putting a therapeutic agent into humans. As others stated in the thread, there are tons of therapies that cure mice but do not work in humans.
The adenovirus that I have worked on is not targeted per se. It has to be injected directly into the tumor. However, the gene is activated only where you irradiate. The tumor gets a double whamy: radiation and damage from the gene therapy. It was in a phase 1 trial, published here: Clin Cancer Res. 2004 Sep 1;10(17):5747-53. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15355902?
I want to emphasize that I have nothing against the research done by the Swedish group. I do have an issue with the Telegraph article. The author talks about his keen investigative skills to find the Swedish group but yet doesn’t do due diligence in finding out the true potential of this therapy. Again, it’s interesting work but a 40% survival rate in mice, in a small single study, is not a miracle drug. The author even mentions the Amgen “investigation” (but gives no reference) as a reason to be cautious. It’s actually a commentary, not a peer-reviewed publication. My commentary about it was posted a while ago, here: http://goo.gl/98HmX? One should be cautious because a lot promising pre-clinical studies don’t pan out, not because of a commentary in reproducibility. Reproducibility is certainly important and is a problem in some areas of research. It’s frustrating that the post follows the same tone as the Telegraph article. However, as a proponent of science, I’m happy that there was a lively discussion and there was an opportunity to educate.
#ScienceEveryday when it isn’t #ScienceSunday
Logic with False Premises and Cherry Picking
This is so WIN. I ♥ this discussion.
Eugenie Scott, in an interview with Liza Gross, talks about cherry picking data by anti-science folks and using logic with a false premise (anomalies). She also discusses how there are dichotomies setup (false ones) that make it difficult to reach the people that might not be anti-science.
Regarding anti-vaxxers, Scott had this to say To understand this phenomenon you really have to dig deeper into what is motivating people. First of all, I’d like to distinguish between the people who lead these movements versus the people who follow them. They’re not the ones generating the vaccine anomaly, so to speak, but they’ve read this literature and they’re parroting what they’ve heard. And your heart goes out to them. They’re concerned about their children. They don’t want their kids to get sick. But as many admit, they don’t fully understand the science. And your decisions are obviously going to be influenced by your emotions. We’re human beings, not automatons. But you need to temper them with good information, empirical information, dare I say scientific information, in order to make the best decisions.
Since people liked it, I’m adding this quote from my profile page:
There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”
Isaac Asimov, column in Newsweek (21 January 1980)
#Anti_anti_intellectualism
Big h/t to Liza Gross
#ScienceEveryday when it isn’t #ScienceSunday
Originally shared by Liza Gross
How to deal with science denialists? Talk to America’s No. 1 science defender: cc ScienceSunday
Denialism
I love that term. I’m also glad that Liza Gross is on G+. Nice article. It compliments my #Anti_anti_intellectualism hashtag.
Liza Gross wrote an interesting piece on the sad state of anti-vaxxers.
Warning any anti-science or anti-vaxxer comments will be deleted and you’ll be blocked. I’m tired of arguing on the OP. We are receiving Tweets from Mars. You’d think we could get people past their aluminum foil hats.
Originally shared by Guy Kawasaki
(Sun03) Denial and vaccine myths.18% of Americans think vaccines cause autism
#sciencesunday
More on Science: http://science.alltop.com/
(Shared using #DoShare)
Moore Nuclear Energy
Joanne Manaster posted this re-share from Jim Carver. The post was of a video from The Guardian about a video entitled How to build a nuclear power plant. The video is 13 min. long but it is informative. I would link directly to Jim’s post with a hat tip but it appears that he’s blocked me. Maybe he’s a Colorado Avalanche fan. http://goo.gl/0yteQ
Anyway, the post reminded me that I had promised some of my G+ pals that I would post pictures of Henry Moore’s Nuclear Energy sculpture, which marks the location of the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. It was accomplished on 2 December 1942 under the supervision of Enrico Fermi along with Leó Szilárd, discoverer of the chain reaction. You can read more in the Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Pile-1
The site is next to the new Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago, which you can see in my profile scrapbook. The site is both a National Historic Landmark and a Chicago Landmark. You can read more about Henry Moore’s sculpture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_Energy_(sculpture)
The site for the new nuclear plant, in the video, is in Finland. I couldn’t think of a Finnish singer so I came up with Lykke Li who is Swedish. Geographically that’s close enough. I know in hockey, there’s a big difference.
I leave you with Lykke Li- I know places
Edit so as not to offend anyone from Finland, I found a Finnish band in my music collection.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husky_Rescue
Interested in LFTR, here are a couple of posts.
Tommy Leung mentioned today, on his #ScienceSunday post, if science and art can go together. Of course they can. Science is beautiful. Science is everywhere just tag ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me (with guest curator Buddhini Samarasinghe ) For the rest of the week tag #ScienceEveryday and mention one of us. Circle ScienceSunday so that it is easier to mention you back and interact with you in general.
Use the Force Freddy, the Magnus Force
On NPR I heard a story about Freddy Garcia who is a pitcher for the NY Yankees. He also pitched for the Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, and Seattle Mariners. NPR: http://goo.gl/wWBEo
On April 29, 2011 Freddy through a split-fingered fastball to strike out the Toronto Blue Jays’ Juan Rivera. The pitch caught the eye of Mike Fast, then a writer for Baseball Prospectus. He contacted a friend, Alan Nathan, who happens to be a physicist at the University of Illinois. Alan has a blog, The Physics of Baseball. Fortunately the pitch was caught on high-speed video. Using the high-speed video, Alan determined that the pitch used the Magnus force.
The Magnus Force
The spin of a baseball is fast enough that it will create a difference in drag force between two sides of the ball, top and bottom for example. Here’s a great explanation and figure: http://goo.gl/1JtYJ
The details from Alan are posted here:
Hardball Times: http://goo.gl/vJhZZ
Physics of Baseball: http://goo.gl/11Q2W
On July 17, 2012 Freddy did it again, which could be the reason it showed up in the NY Times recently.
NY Times: http://goo.gl/84Ukt
#ScienceSunday (ScienceSunday ) curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me. We are delighted to have Buddhini Samarasinghe as our guest curator today and next Sunday.
#nyyankees #physics
Zero gravity water experiments
Yes please! This is so cool.
#ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Robby Bowles Rajini Rao and me. This week we have guest co-curator Buddhini Samarasinghe (yeah).
Science is everywhere and science is beautiful. Be sure to circle ScienceSunday so that it is easier for us to +1 your comments, tag you when we re-share, etc.
Still anti-medicine?
There are some people that comment that modern medicine is bad. Certainly it isn’t perfect; nothing is. To say that it is all bad is silly, in my opinion. For the anti-vaxxers, there’s a whole list of diseases that we’ve eradicated due to vaccinations. The NPR piece linked helps drive home the point.
A change came when, in 1995, the first triple-drug combinations became available, Lennox says. He saw an amazing transformation take place, where people who were on their deathbed were discharged within a month.
“It was the most amazing thing and it still is,” he says. “We still get people who come in at the end stages of AIDS and if we catch them in time, many of them are restored to normal health.” [Dr. Jeffrey Lennox]
#ScienceEveryday when it isn’t #ScienceSunday
#Anti_anti_intellectualism
http://www.npr.org/2012/07/22/157199216/testing-treatment-key-weapons-in-aids-fight
Rhubarb poisoning not from a rube
Some time ago, ScienceSunday shared a collaborative post about potato poisoning. http://goo.gl/80fdM Taking a break from my imaging posts here’s some information about rhubarb toxicity.
When we first planted our rhubarb in the garden we were told not to eat it for the first year, as the oxalate levels are higher in the first year. After that, the stalks are safe to eat but the leaves can have enough oxalates to make you sick. You would have to eat a lot of rhubarb to actually die from oxalate poisoning.
From http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/poison/
The biodynamic (toxicity) mechanism by which oxalic acid works is somewhat different from organic poisons and is more analogous to heavy metal poisoning. Organic poisons often work through at the biochemical level, e.g. cyanide by interfering with respiration at the cellular level, strychnine by screwing up inter-synaptic transmission. There are many molecular substances in foods which offer no nutritional benefit, and must be processed and excreted. Oxalic acid, for example, is excreted in the urine, and its crystals are commonly found in microscopic urinalysis. Too much oxalic acid in the urine will result in kidney or bladder stones. Calcium combines with oxalic acid to form the less soluble salt, calcium oxalate, which is also found in kidney stones. Plant leaves, especially rhubarb, cabbage, spinach, and beet tops, contain oxalic acid. Oxalic acid is also found in potatoes and peas. Vitamin C is metabolized to oxalic acid; it contributes to over-saturation of the urine with crystals and possibly to stone formation.
The first two images are oxalate crystals. The 3rd is a microscopic image of a rhubarb leaf. The last two are the rhubarb from my garden and the rhubarb pie my wife made, respectively.
For #ScienceSunday curated by Allison Sekuler Rajini Rao Robby Bowles and me.
I leave you with Crystal Blue Persuasion.
Tommy James & the Shondells Crystal Blue Persuasion
Edit Rajini Rao reminded me: happy π approximation day (7/22)
