catalyst Vol. 5, No. 1
MAY 2015
staff list Presidents/Editors-in-Chief Isabella Gauvreau & Jonathan Zhu Vice President/Trasurer Marissa Wu Supervisor Michael Gaughen Webmaster Julie Vaughn Director of Layout Zilu Pan Supervising Editors Annika From Zilu Pan Julie Vaughn Layout Team Emily Bi Emma Boyles Maggie Chen Isabella Gauvreau Paul Gauvreau Kathie Jiang Zilu Pan Vivian Shing Heezy Suh Julie Tran Marissa Wu Crystal Yang 2
Editing Team Varkey Alumootil Emily Bi Tracy Chen Annika From Erica Guo Anthony Kang Hunter Katz Heloise Leblanc Claire Lee Zilu Pan Ethan Ragins Samantha Shao Vivian Shing Heezy Suh Grant Summers Keshav Tadimeti Julie Tran Julie Vaughn Grace Wesson Alec Xiang Christina Zhang Issue Authors Taraneh Barjesteh Christine Chen Maggie Chen Erica Guo Anthony Kang Hunter Katz Kara Nepomuceno Keshav Tadimeti Vivian Shing Heezy Suh
LETTER E D I T O R
from the
CCA ~
Welcome back! I hope everyone has enjoyed their school year as summer approaches. Every year, we discuss when we want to publish the issues. These dates never quite end up being the exact date that the issue is published. Being a part of Catalyst, we try and develop an issue that you readers will enjoy the most. Living in San Diego, we all know about the all too powerful sun that never seems to want to go away. In this issue, you can read an article that discusses the dilemma with sunscreen. Alongside this dilemma, we have an article that discusses the potential antibacterial effects of coffee as well as an article that explores the risks associated with Styrofoam.
I would like to thank the entire Catalyst team for their hard work and commitment. We did it guys! This issue could not be have been completed without the help from our sponsors, and of course this club would be nothing without Mr. Gaughen, our club advisor. Thank you for helping us get this issue out. To conclude the school year, Catalyst will be publishing another issue. Catalyst is now hosting year-round submissions. We encourage you all to submit articles so they can be featured in future issues. If you are interested in joining Catalyst, or have any comments or suggestions, you can email us at ccacatalyst@gmail.com or go to our website http://catalystmag.weebly.com/ and tell us. Enjoy!
Isabella and Jonathan
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From 2011 to 2015...
And beyond.
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CONTENTS Ignite the Flame Dentist’s Office or Robust Nanoparticles: Hot in Costume The Culprit Behind Anxiety Inside an Assaying Lab Emotions and the Memory Styrofoam and Solutions Biosensors: Combating Disease on a Global Scale The Theory of the Leisure Class -or Maybe Just of the Body Hot or Not? Why We All Feel Weather Differently The Sunscreen Dilemma
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Ignite the Flame By Erica Guo
“Build a better mousetrap,” Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted wryly, “and the world will beat a path to your door.” These words became an impetus for innovation in the 20th century – and have been taken more and more seriously each generation. As the competition between experts, amateurs, pioneers, and dabblers alike intensified, so has the American public’s search for the most expeditious variation. There is the unspoken standard of uniqueness: the “appeal” factor doubles if idea X presents itself as a quirky invention X – who doesn’t love 3-D printed meat? Most importantly, everyone hopes for a potential life-saver: recently, the medical community has been pressured to find a cure for the deadly Ebola virus. And what of green energy? Friendly rivalry between the leading countries, such as Denmark, Israel, and the United States, proved itself beneficial in the race to clean alternatives to fossil fuels. So it is already common wisdom that neces-
saving the very best for the people. The necessities that an individual puts first can actually mirror what society requires at the moment. If an inventor is cognizant of his or her audience’s immediate desires, he or she can rework an idea that appears idle on the surface into something with deeper repercussions. Canyon Crest Academy’s rapidly expanding Ignite Science Outreach clubs challenges youth to combine their own interests with those of the current world. Ignite Science Outreach (ISO) is a multifaceted organization dedicated to invigorating students’ interests in invention. “Most students just want to maintain the status quo of studying a science course, getting the credit, and forgetting the information afterward,” president and founder Julie Vaughn concedes. “But science isn’t there just to put grades on your paper.” Canyon Crest Academy runs on a 4X4 schedule, an attractive feature for those who aim to take as many A.P. classes as possible. As soon as the final exam
IGNITE SCIENCE OUTREACH IS A ORGANIZATION
MULTIFACE TED DEDICATED TO INVIGORATING STUDENTS’ INTERESTS IN INVENTION”.
sity is the mother of invention. What, then, makes an innovation, or something that promises to improve our lives, popular? As a tool whose reputation can change, an invention has at its disposal the ability to oppress or improve the lot of the masses. It is common instinct to support an invention or abhor it, simply by gleaning the advantages or disadvantages that it can bring – upon you. We often write off this “self-interest” as more of a bane than a boon to progress. Certainly, “self-interest” could be an unwillingness to stray from current tradition. What can X do to benefit me, if I am already in the position I want to be? Alternatively: I must improve my current situation somehow, but X will just make things worse. All too quickly, we condemn these viewpoints for being nearsighted and not seeking to improve society as a whole. In fact, self-interest is the very thing that makes or breaks the success of an invention among its audience. Self-interest can also be accurate in filtering out whatever is impractical or irrelevant to the milieu’s needs, and in
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for A.P. Environmental Science or A.P. Chemistry has been turned in, however, information acquired through the class flies off. ISO’s immediate purpose is to elevate science to a more viable position in the community and encourage Canyon Crest Academy students to share their knowledge with others. By introducing novel opportunities, developing its audience’s variety, and encouraging new kinds of critical thinking, ISO provides an accessible atmosphere for scientific thought. Its goals are carried through three branches: the Inventions Club, which hosts the Invention Contest for elementary school students; the Chemistry Club, which travels to lower-income schools to host chemistry demos; and tutoring initiatives, which aim to provide access to educational resources. In the long run, ISO seeks to amend the perception that experimentation and invention are obscure practices, making them directly relevant to people of all ages and backgrounds. As in most other stories, Ignite Science Outreach’s success had humble beginnings. Its first branch,
Photo: Flickr @Kamal Zharif Kamaludin
the Inventions Club, was initially racked with hiccups – when it started, it ran a very small contest among Canyon Crest high school students. Chemistry Demo Club, on the other hand, originally began when Nicole Rasquinha decided to give hands-on demonstrations at underprivileged elementary schools. It has since reached over 200 students, and joined the ISO club family this year. “The kids are really into learning about cool science concepts, and it was fulfilling when they got excited and asked us questions,” states Zilu Pan, Co-President of Chemistry Demo Club. In the next year, Inventions Contest revamped its evaluation system, trained members of the club to become judges, and worked closely with K-6 teachers to incorporate eight elementary schools as well as a showcase at the end of the year. “It was a great experience,” Inventions Club Co-President and contest organizer Madeline Snigaroff related. “I was impressed by the enthusiasm of the kids - we had 100% turnout at the final showcase, which was spectacular given that it was the first one we’d ever done.” The quality and ingenuity of the elementary students’ inventions last year was impressive to many of the club members. “I was surprised at the amount of innovation coming from kids with so little experience and their capabilities to apply science practically,” Ellen Ouyang, judge of one of the final rounds, marvels. In the 2014-2015 school year, the Inventions Contest will be implemented in over twice as many schools. ISO’s board of members is also planning a larger showcase, with improved prizes and accolades for winning individuals. “We’re expanding the competition over another district in order to encourage as many students as possible to combine scientific and creative processes and to think about improving the world around them,” explains Madeline. “A lot of kids said before they tried inventing something, they had their doubts,” Ellen Ouyang relays. “Some thought science was an unchanging body, like a constant. But no – if it were, how would we have innovated? We had to have discovered something while we were trying to make improvements to something not quite satisfactory.” Meanwhile, the Chemistry Demo club has been officially adopted into Ignite Science Outreach’s coalition. Multiple workshops began to take root earlier this fall; this time, procedures are more clearly outlined for children and their guardians, and experiments include an expanded repertoire of chemical concepts (kinetic energy of particles, nature of reactions, properties of matter, atoms, and electricity). Ignite Science Outreach’s website displays further experimental instructions and walkthroughs online, in written descriptions of materials and experiments
used by the Chemistry Demo Club. Over the summer, the tutoring club started to increase access to academic resources via technology: a tutoring website with online resources and opportunities recommended by students will hopefully go online in early 2015. The wildcard of ISO is its member-led projects. Members are free to propose their own ideas and obtain support from the club if their cause is potentially useful and if it has the capability of stimulating community interest in STEM. For example, Luke Lindgren, a junior, is currently working on a small aquaculture system in a 50 gallon fish tank for San Diego’s Bright Ideas Society. As it will be lightweight, it will be portable enough to bring to special events and future elementary school demos. Anyone can grow leafy vegetables and other edibles within a relatively compact space. The club also hopes to automate the system using Arduino electronics. The purpose of the aquaponics system is to teach children about the symbiotic nature of plants and animals, and the various advantages of aquaculture in general. Aquaponics uses one-tenth of the land and 2-10% of the water that traditional agricultural methods use, thus they could be used here in San Diego to help mitigate the drought crisis whilst providing a source of fresh vegetables and protein. Although Luke has marketing strategies and fundraising opportunities in mind, he cautions against one’s using scientific achievement to bolster his or her self-importance. “Ambition is one thing. Of course everyone wants their project to receive praise and public recognition. But when you’re marketing, you have to make sure you’re in this for the right reasons. Could this be potentially useful for those who need it – like people in cramped apartments? Or are you just proposing a flashy idea to make yourself look good, that is too farfetched to implement?” Here, Luke points out a bigger problem in scientific academia today: whether or not to put the interests of the individual over the community, or vice versa. Authorship disputes in scientific journals are not uncommon; although debating and winning claim to writing can be a good ego boost, effort would be better spent on using the written findings to further public health. Drug companies spend a great deal of time debating over patent laws, while the same strict patents render the impoverished unable to access medicine. But that is a story for another time...
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Dentist’s Office or Robust by Anthony Kang
Millions of Americans are affected each year by chronic oral diseases, such as tooth decay and gum disease. Even more people are too afraid to make the biannual trip to the dentist’s office. Without immediate treatment for these diseases, severe pain, rotting teeth, malignant infections, and costly dental bills can prove to be consequences not to take lightly. Even today, tooth decay is arguably one of the most prevalent health diseases nationwide, with 92% of adults having had dental caries, a.k.a. cavities, sometime in their lives. At least one fifth of the national population in all age groups are affected by untreated cavities on a yearly average. Current prevention methods rely on the strengthening of the outer layer of teeth, or the enamel, using fluoride-based compounds (i.e. toothpaste and mouthwash); however, brushing teeth can be an inconvenience performed with some inconsistency amongst the population, proving to be a struggle for all age groups, from the reluctant toddler to the itinerant entrepreneur.
We’ve all been told that coffee can cause teeth staining and cavities; interestingly enough, these common aphorisms still hold true. Drinking excess coffee will still effect streaked teeth, and if heaps of cream or sugar are added to your daily brew, dental cavities should be expected. So where does the aforementioned discovery come into play? Dr. Andréa Antonio, of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University, and his colleagues recently demonstrated that a coffee strain known as robusta has anti-adhesive and antibacterial characteristics when brewed, making it a potential defense against tooth decay. Coffea canephora, colloquially known as Robusta coffee by brewing enthusiasts, is a central African coffee species that contributes to about 20% of the world’s cultivated coffee, reported by the Coffee Research Institute. Arabic coffee remains the most popular brew in the United States, where it is enjoyed for its less bitter and milder taste. As the name suggests, however, robusta is a more hardy and sustainable strain of coffee than its Arabic cousin and remains more popular in Asia and South America.
“Dr. Andréa Antonio, of Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University, and his colleagues recently demonstrated that a coffee strain known as robusta has anti-adhesive and antibacterial characteristics when brewed, making it a potential defense against tooth decay.”
In response to this, scientists have discovered a novel method for preventing tooth decay, and it’s not brushing your teeth longer or more frequently; nor is it flossing. It isn’t even some sort of a novel toothbrush design. Your latest item on the hygiene checklist is drinking a daily cup of coffee. Now, this comes with a bit of surprise to most people. ‘Isn’t drinking coffee bad for your teeth?’ you might ask.
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Taste preferences aside, robusta coffee, as Dr. Antonio and his lab demonstrated, actually contains a favorable advantage over many other species of coffee; its antibiotic traits. In his lab, Dr. Antonio placed lab grown bacterial biofilms, which are covers containing a culture salivary bacteria, on top of donated baby molars, thereby emulating plaque covered teeth. The teeth were then divided into two treatment groups; one group was exposed to the robusta brew, whereas the other was treated with filtered water. photo credits: flickr@ Zach Inglis, Taku
“...people consume polyphenols to fulfill their daily antioxidant supplements as a good health benefit.”
After a little over four months of exposure to robusta coffee, calcium levels in both groups were compared to the baseline levels. The molars that had been in contact with the robusta medium experienced higher calcium levels than both the control filtered water group and the robusta baseline measurement. Which begs the question: how was the coffee fighting off the quickly reproducing bacteria? Also, why did the calcium levels in the robusta group increase over time? The answer lies in compounds known as polyphenols in robusta coffee. Scientists have long since known that polyphenols, highly concentrated with antioxidants, protect our bodies from reactive free radical atoms that can induce tissue damage; accordingly, people consume polyphenols to fulfill their daily antioxidant supplements as a good health benefit. Antonio’s experiment shows that polyphenols may be correlated to the antibacterial effects of coffee; bacteria from plaque that comes into contact with the robusta underwent lysis after consistent exposure to the polyphenols in robusta. Put bluntly, robusta polyphenols cause the bacteria in plaque to blast itself off your teeth when you drink coffee. The ruptured bacteria then released the calcium that it had absorbed from the enamel, thereby increasing calcium concentration and promoting better teeth conditions. Considering that over 54% of reported Americans drink coffee daily, with many admittedly drinking more than they should, the canephora strain of coffee may provide a way of turning this bad habit of overdrinking coffee it into a good habit. Or, at the very least, into a good excuse to not brush your teeth every day.
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The Culprit Behind Anxiety by Christine Chen
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ou studied for multiple hours for a big test. You felt that you knew the concepts like you know your left from your right. The day of the test comes. You quickly review the concepts in your head while you are seated in your desk waiting. As you are reviewing, you forget a very important formula! This throws you off and you start to panic. Your teacher hands you the test. All of a sudden, you completely forget how to do the problems on the test. You studied for hours and suddenly you just completely forgot. Have you ever wondered why you might have forgotten how to do a problem on a test despite all the hours of studying?Anxiety is to blame for this. Sweaty palms. Heart pounding. Heavy breathing. A blank mind. These are some of the symptoms you might experience when adrenaline is released into your bloodstream. An adrenaline rush can also cause forgetfulness, which could be the reason why you forget a concept on a test. The secretion of adrenaline is triggered in times of anxiety, fear, and stress. Adrenaline, otherwise known as epinephrine, is “a hormone secreted Photo Credits: Flickr@BetterWorks Breakroom
by the medulla of the adrenal glands”. How exactly does this process work? Let’s break down how this all comes to be. An adrenaline rush is produced in order to prepare the body for fight-or-flight reactions. This feeling is similar to when you are at the
top of a steep hill on a roller coaster or when you see a dangerous animal in front of you. Interestingly enough, the brain does not differentiate between physical stresses and emotional stresses like anxiety. It acts in the same way when exposed to both types of stresses and releases adrenaline, or epinephrine. This substance is produced from the adrenal glands on the kidneys, “glands that help the body adjust and maintain itself through all the external and internal changes that are called stress” [2]. Epinephrine is a stress hormone, so when it is released into the body, the brain tells itself that it is in a nervous state. When you feel nervous or excited about something, the hypothalamus, the gland responsible for hormone production, tells your brain to start producing adrenaline. As a result, the symptoms associated with panic and nervousness can occur. With this knowledge, you now know why not to be too uptight before a test. Calm yourself down, and don’t be nervous—it could lead to forgetting an important concept. In order to avoid anxiety, the best approach is being prepared and confident.
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nanoparticles: hot in costume by Maggie Chen Ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers in size(A human hair is about 100,000 nanometers in diameter), Nanoparticles have unique properties between those of bulk materials and those of atomic and molecular structures. Nanoparticles are currently being scrutinized, manipulated, and prodded in hundreds of labs across the country. The hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the nanoparticle has allowed for great advancement in disease therapeutics. Nanoparticles are more suited for drug delivery than free drug techniques, as shown through enhanced accumulations in tumors, reduced system exposure, and reduced side effects. Nanoparticles also have a long circulation half-life, making it easier and more convenient to locate a particular tumor or diseased site. The marketing point for nanoparticle engineering is that nanoparticles can be covered in different cell membranes. One promising technique is to encase the nanoparticle in a red blood cell membrane, so that the opsonins and macrophages of the immune system will not be able to recognize the nanoparticle as a foreign substance to attack. They have a circulation time of up to 180 days, compared to only a few hours achieved by nanoparticles without coating. Coated nanoparticles can be engineered to have a triggered release by contact to a specific substance. Due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability, coated nanoparticles will have no toxic effects on the body, and are able to degrade after delivering the drug.
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Nanoparticles are much more suited for drug delivery than free drug techniques
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WPersonalized medicine can also be applied to red blood cell (RBC) nanoparticles. Blood drawn from a patient can be used to create a patient specific nanoparticle coating. Additionally, transfusions from blood banks can be used to coat nanoparticles in specific blood types, allowing for universal coating materials through blood matching and O-type blood. On average, there are 5 billion RBCs in a 1 ml of human blood, which provides an abundance of coating materials for a plethora of different blood types. The patient-specific technique would maximize immune tolerance and minimize immune system interference. Nanoparticles are stealthy enough to penetrate and manipulate cancer
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cells. A common technique to treat cancers is by the use of nanoparticles containing antibodies, drugs, vaccines, or metallic particles. These nanoparticles can be loaded with multiple drugs for combination therapy, which is known to suppress cancer chemoresistance. The EPR (enhanced permeability and retention) effect allows for enhanced accumulation in tumors, while decreasing accumulation in healthy organs. This is caused by the abnormal features of tumor vasculature, and the inadequate system that limits drainage of molecules from tumor tissues. This also creates pores on the tumor surface in sizes ranging from 200nm to 2μm (human hair is about 100x 1 μm or 100,000x 1nm), a pore size suited for nanoparticles to travel through into the tumor. The lack of drainage system prevents the nanoparticles from traveling out of the tumor, which also aids in nanoparticle accumulation. This effect is not present in healthy organs, because a protective lining of tightly packed endothelial cells prevents migration of the nanoparticles into healthy tissues. A “new” technique of nanoparticle cancer treatment is to expose metal-coated nanoparticles to magnetic energy, infrared light, or radio waves, which would cause heat to be given off. Heat was first used to treat breast cancer in Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome In Greece, Hippocrates, known as the Father of Medicine, reported successfully treating breast cancer using heat, and, in fact, coined the phrase,, “What medicines to not heal, the lance will; what the lance does not heal, fire will”. This heat can kill the cancer cells, and with a bit of manipulation also has the ability to awaken the body’s immune system to the presence of cancer cells. First, an inactive nanoparticle is coated with a metal such as gold, iron, or silver. Once in the body, the nanoparticle can be activated by a light or energy source. The metallic coating will naturally give off heat externally, which can kill a portion of the malignant cells. By manipulating the heat, the immune system can be alerted to the presence of the cancer cells, thus identifying and killing the cancer cells not affected by the heat. This technique reverses and essentially demolishes the cancer cell’s primary offensive/defensive characteristic, where it tricks the immune system into believing everything is normal while the cancer cells multiplyand eventually destroy the body. Nanoparticles showcase a wide range of possibilities that efficiently minimize bodily harm . Nanoparticles have great promise as a novel, biologically relevant, and biocompatible approach to an effective drug delivery platform. As our knowledge of nanoparticle ability increases, and clinical trials get under way, future treatments will certainly make use of these “little soldiers”.
Flickr @EMSL
Inside an Assaying Lab Kara Nepomuceno
On the bottom floor, there is a “dust room� - so called because of the stifling bronze dust that accumulates throughout the day, which, combined with the tropical heat of the Philippines, chokes the lungs. This is where the soil samples are stored, and unassuming clods of dirt are separated into pieces by drill, so that the lab can conduct multiple trials on their mineral compositions. Next door, the air is clear. Most new additions to lab prove their worth here, helping to test soil samples; there may be fifteen chemists working at a time. Mirroring each other are two long, tiled tables, lined with neatly labeled bottles. Determining mineral composition is an arduous process: simply refining the filters takes two days! The dime-sized paper filters are placed atop a beaker, and rinsed with water. A vacuum attached to the beaker sucks all particulates and water from the filter, twice. Then, it is wrapped in tinfoil and kept isolated in a temperature-controlled cabinet for twenty-four hours. Since precision is key, turnover for samples often takes two weeks. The second floor holds five large gas chromatograms of different specialties. Their sizes vary from that of a kitchen oven to the size of a door. There is an expert chemist for each machine -- they feed the air samples into the machine, and keep them running smoothly. The chemists undergo rigorous tests to receive certification -- standards outside the United States are very harsh. The laboratory faced similar scrutiny to receive ISO certification. Materials that are easily accessible and cheap in America are much more difficult to obtain in the Philippines, and many items need to be shipped from the US. The standard American air sample bags are too expensive. Instead, OMLI has a room full of inflatable beach-balls, which are a more economical way to store air samples. The biological lab is on the roof - one would expect the terrible heat to kill all the samples. It is the newest addition to the lab and the rooms are spare, but several ovens, a clean work bench, and an anti-slip mat on the concrete floor are visible through the glass.
Ostrea Mineral Labs Inc. is an assaying lab based outside the city of Manila, Philippines. ISO certified, OMLI evaluates the environmental safety of global companies; it tests soil, water, and air samples, in addition to biological products like feed. The lab collects samples from inside and outside of company buildings -- if they exceed safe levels of mineral or chemical composition, they must undergo review. Although it services American companies, OMLI is a distinctly local laboratory. The OMLI building is separated into three floors, roughly according to sample. The bottom floor is for soil samples, the second for gases, and the top for biological and water samples. Work on biological samples is done in specially isolated glass rooms to avoid contamination.
Photo Credit: Flickr @Graela
The laboratory is overseen by semi-retired Antonio Ostrea, whose office is also on the top floor, which fortunately has air conditioning. He studied metallurgy at MIT; his interest in mineralogy was inspired by the Philippines gold rush forty years ago. As a young man he patented a method of chemically lifting gold dust from mud - but by then the gold rush had already lost steam. Instead, he decided to establish OMLI. With the laboratory thriving and hundreds of samples arriving each week, he seems to have struck gold after all. Sources http://ostrealabs.com.ph/?page_id=190 http://shimadzu.com/an/gc/index.html
Emotions and the Memory by Vivian Shing
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lzheimer’s disease usually occurs in older adults and causes memory and thinking to gradually deteriorate; many cases are found in residents of nursing homes. It is a very common disease, affecting more than 5 million people in the United States alone. However, even though the cognitive function of the individuals is degenerated, their emotions are still active. A study by the University of Iowa, published in September, found that Alzheimer’s patients can feel the emotional impact of events despite not being able to recall them. The researchers presented the patients with clips of movies that provoked emotion. When asked to recall what happened in the film, the patients could not remember much information but were able to recollect feelings of happiness or sadness. Their results were compared with those of healthy people. Even though the healthy subjects could remember the events in the video much better, the Alzheimer’s patients felt the emotions caused by it for a longer period of time, up to thirty minutes. This implied that the worse the memory of an individual was, the longer feelings evoked by a certain event, particularly sadness, would last. Previous studies had been done with patients that had memory problems because of damage to the hippocampus, the area of the brain that regulates memory. They also showed the same results as those of the experiment with Alzheimer’s patients. This experiment explains the confusion that individuals with Alzheimer’s disease often feel when they cannot identify the reason for their sadness, which can also be a symptom of of clinical depression; the two disorders have several similarities. The authors of the study emphasized that caregivers that are responsible for the physical well-being of nursing home residents are also essential to their emotional state. Although these patients cannot remember many of their experiences, they can still feel the emotions associated with them.
Photo Credit: Flickr @Jon Díez Supat
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Styrofoam and Solutions
Flicker @ Owen Lin
by Hunter Katz Styrofoam is a little, white squeezable product that can be used in a wide array of products: cups for your “hot cocoa” during the holiday season, packing peanuts in your long-awaited parcels to provide insulation and protection, craft material if you’re a florist or a craftsmen, amongst many other products that make your life easier. What some people may not know is that Styrofoam is known to be an environmental and health hazard that poses a serious threat to humans, wildlife, and the environment as a whole. Styrofoam not only makes up for thousands of products clogging up landfills, streets, trash cans, and even wildlife habitats like the ocean, but it also has the potential to become one of the most toxic waste products of the 21st century. This small, lightweight product is sure to cause severe consequences not just for environmentalists, foresters, farmers, and conservationists, but for the lives of the general public as well. 14
Styrofoam is made up of polystyrene, which can be broken down into its monomer components known as styrene, a reportedly carcinogenic organic compound. The production of styrene exposes 90,000 workers to this dangerous chemical per year. Side effects of styrene include skin and eye irritation, as well as gastrointestinal maladies; repeated exposure to styrene can lead to headache, fatigue, minor kidney failure and even depression. Of course, with 90,000 workers annually exposed to the aforementioned health risks, who can deny that styrene is not the safest of chemicals? However, styrene is not the only carcinogen that composes Styrofoam; styrene contains small amounts of another carcinogen, benzene, that also forms in the production of Styrofoam. Benzene, a flammable, colorless liquid exposed to these workers, causes similar side effects such as eye and skin irritation, unconsciousness and serious medical conditions upon repeated exposure (other linked ailments include asthma, lower white blood cell count, and even increased chance of Leukemia progression). With toxins such as styrene and benzene that are associated with the production of Styrofoam, residents should be more aware of the toxins inside everyday disposable products, including, but not limited to, Styrofoam. Just as humans are not benefitting from Styrofoam, the same can be said about our environment. Styrofoam is consisted of 90% air, meaning it cannot biodegrade; in addition, Styrofoam occupies as much as 30% of landfills each year in quantities exceeding the amount of steel and aluminum waste products combined. To add to the devastation, Styrofoam is one of the main contributors to increasing marine pollution. Such products are projected as more likely to affect oceans, river, ponds and sea life than paper products. Worst of all, Styrofoam is resistant to photolysis, the process of breaking down materials by photons from the sun. The production of one Styrofoam cup consumes 12 trees’ worth of materials, and according to the Earth Resource Foundation, “the National Bureau of Standards Center for Fire Research identified 57 chemical byproducts released during the combustion of polystyrene foam.” It is surprising that this commonplace material can create such harm to the environment as well as to us. From an meteorological standpoint, Styrofoam has a significant negative impacts on air pollution and the atmosphere, specifically the ozone layer. Styrofoam is often composed of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), known to create excess greenhouse gases and contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer. HFCs have a greater effect on man-made climate change than excess carbon dioxide; however, hydrofluorocarbons are not the only hazardous component of Styrofoam. This foamy material also contains the dangerous chemical petroleum, a non-sustainable resource that contributes heftily to air pollution. Not only does Styrofoam affect humans and ecosystems but also threatens the world outside our ecosystem. To look on the bright side, various companies over the years have decided to take an environmental approach to the way they manufacture their products. Fortunately, as NASA reports, “Synthetic compounds of entirely of industrial origin [are] used in a number of applications, but [are] now largely regulated in production and release to the atmosphere by international agreement for their ability to contribute to destruction of the ozone layer.” In addition, reusable bottles without toxic chemicals such as styrene, benzene, and petroleum have been gaining popularity over the years. These bottles also reduces excess waste by over 82% annually and can save more than $10,000 dollars per year. Another solution to the Styrofoam decomposition problem is a method developed by Irish scientists, in which the Styrofoam is heated to 520 degrees Celsius in order to degrade it into styrene oil (a process known as pyrolysis). Then, Pseudomonas putida (P. putida) bacteria feed on the purified styrene oil and produce polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), or biodegradable plastics. Not only are PHAs biodegradable, but they are also nontoxic and safe to use in the body (i.e. medical implants). People all over the world are taking a step in the right direction, knowing that innovation and technology are key to solving problems caused by materials like Styrofoam. Although Styrofoam poses many health and environmental risks, it is a problem that can be solved by economically and environmentally. V O LU M E 5 | I S S U E 1 | 15
“This small, lightweight product is sure to cause severe consequences...”
Biosensors:
Combating Disease on a Global Scale By Julie Vaughn
Introduction
In March 2014, the Ebola virus was first reported in Guinea. Since then, the disease has infected thousands throughout Africa and threatens numerous countries, including, to some extent, the U.S., and was recently declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) (1)(2). Primarily a disease of low concern in lower-income countries before 2014, not very much was known about its diagnosis and management. The symptoms of Ebola are not always enough to distinguish it from other non-viral diseases, and the resulting unawareness often led to further infection of those in contact with the patient. Even after Ebola victims died, they were still able to infect unknowing community members responsible for the burial arrangements (2). A portable, effective, and cheap method of detecting Ebola could have kept the disease contained better. In addition, a point-of-care (POC) sensor could potentially raise awareness about an infectious disease and inspire greater foreign aid and intervention early on. Fortunately, there are current efforts to design and develop this kind of sensor (3), and an overall platform that can be modified to detect infectious diseases as they emerge is a plausible possibility in the near future. Biosensors are not only useful for diagnosing infectious diseases, but for preventing and tracking chronic diseases as well. Death due to coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death in the world, transcending the boundaries of ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. Other chronic diseases, such as Tuberculosis, AIDS, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease are not far down this list (4). The solution to effectively combating these diseases worldwide will also involve international diplomacy, economic reconstruction of some aspects of first world industries, and philanthropy. A mobile biosensing platform would facilitate the spread of information about chronic diseases, helping to raise awareness of the issue and bring treatment to where it is needed.
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The gold standards of diagnostics are DNA amplification-based procedures and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbant assays (ELISA) (5), which, although very accurate, are not portable in that they require a laboratory setting to be carried out. Certain biosensors, especially those powered by a mobile platform like an outdated cell phone, eliminate the issue of immobility and allow for point-of-care testing in low-income countries (6). First world countries could also benefit from biosensor research for a mobile platform in that physicians could easily track patients’ health from long distances. The challenges of designing biosensors can be described as an optimization problem involving both sensor accuracy and complexity, with different sensor types each presenting specific strengths and challenges. Graphene-based and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2)-based biosensors, in particular, present impressive sensitivity and promise in POC applications. (7)
Overview of Biosensors
Generally, the kinds of mobile biosensors in development can be divided into two groups according to how the biomolecules in question are detected, those involving label-free assays and those involving labeled assays (5). Label-free assay methods present a fairly simple method of detection in many cases, however, they often lack accuracy and specificity. This category of biosensors, as the name suggests, does not involve labeling the analyte prior to detection, as opposed to labeled biosensors which utilize tags such as fluorophores, enzymes, and nanoparticles (NP) (5). By contrast, labeled biosensors are fairly specific and accurate, but protocols are often multistep and more complex. Biosensors can further be divided according to their assay type (for example, antibodies, proteins, or DNA) and transduction mechanism, or how the sensor converts the concentration of the analyte to an electronic signal (through optical, electric, and mechanical mechanisms). (8)
Photo: Flickr @ Zidbits.com
Applications of Label-Free Assays
Biosensors utilizing an optical transduction mechanism are a large subclass of sensors that show extreme promise for detecting bacteria. Sensors using an optical transducer called Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) were shown to be effective in detecting Escherichia coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (9). Danish researchers at the University of Aarhus have even developed an SPR biosensor with the capacity to detect the astringency of wine, essentially acting as an artificial wine-tasting tongue (10). Perhaps most significantly, researchers at the University of Alabama at Huntsville (UHA) have found that an SPR biosensor can be utilized for detecting cancer in its earliest stages of development by determining the concentration of a common cancer biomarker called IL-6. “If you have a cancer, then your basic level of IL-6 will increase,” said Dr. Yongbin Lin, a researcher at UHA. “A lot of cancers have links to IL-6.” (11). Challenges in designing optical biosensors include being able to integrate the optical properties of the sensor into a single, point-of-care device. The light must be coupled very precisely to the sensing area for the sensor to be effective, a significant hurdle in developing a mobile platform for testing. A variety of label-free assay biosensors with a more amenable platform to POC detection are field effect transistor (FET)-based biosensors, which use an electrical transducer. This technology involves varying the capability of a semiconductor with nearby charged particles. (5). A biosensor utilizing a network of functionalized single-walled carbon nanotubes was shown to detect pathogenic yeast in 2009 (12). The newest kind of FET-based biosensor to date was recently developed at UC Santa Barbara under Professor Kaustav Banerjee, rivaling the sensitivity of similar graphene-based sensors. The sensor uses a similar 2D material to graphene called molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), but MoS2 is said to be 75 times more sensitive (13). Professor Banerjee believes this material with a FET-based biosensor represents the future of molecular sensor research due to its extreme sensitivity and low cost of production. Future research for his group includes developing a version of this sensor that detects cancer. He explains the difference in sensitivity between graphene and MoS2 as follows: “We actually knew right away, even without doing the experiments, that we could use molybdenite for bio-sensing. It would actually be a superior material compared to graphene because graphene does not have a band gap,” Banerjee said. “Because graphene has a zero band gap, it will keep leaking a charge and will give you a leakage charge even when it is off.” (13) While very promising, this innovation will likely require further research and verification before it is implemnted. FET based biosensors are still limited by two main factors: complicated sensor fabrication and sensitivity to environmental factors, such as temperature (5, 14).
Applications of Labeled Biosensors Nanoparticle tags in different biosensor approaches have demonstrated significant results with regards to detecting both specific DNA and HIV (5). Biobarcode amplification can be used to detect both proteins and nucleic acid with nanoparticle tags incorporating DNA. (15). HIV detection using biobarcode amplification of a viral p-24 antigen was shown to be 150 times more sensitive than conventional ELISA (16). Gold and silver nanoparticles are unique tags in that they are plasmonic, meaning that they have different optical properties depending on their total particle size. Aggregates of plasmonic particles, therefore, lead to a viable mechanism of detecting particles with an optical transduction mechanism (17). Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light have recently developed a photonic biosensor that pairs DNA and gold nanowires to achieve a new level of detection and the ability to see specific DNA reactions (18). Thus far, not very many portable or cheap methods of detecting infectious or chronic disease with labeled assays have been developed.
The Future of Biosensors: Mobile Platforms, Graphene, and MoS2 In the aforementioned battle against Ebola, some researchers at Boston University have developed a prototype of a sensor using an optical transducer for a shoebox-sized biosensor that is being tested at several Biosafety Level 4 labs in Texas (19). The little machine is called a single particle interferometric reflectance imaging sensor (SP-IRIS) and uses multicolored LED lights to sense virus nanoparticle attachment to a wall of virus-specific antibodies. It was a result of an interdisciplinary collaboration to make a sensor that both minimized sample preparation time (impurities don’t interfere too much with this sensor) and processing time (5, 19). Professor John Conner, co-lead of the project and professor in Boston University’s school of medicine says the following of the new biosensor prototype: “By minimizing sample preparation and handling, our system can reduce potential exposure to health care workers, and by looking for multiple viruses at the same time, patients can be diagnosed much more effectively.” (19) Although this biosensor is a definitively positive development in the fight against Ebola, it would be of interest to develop a customizable biosensor platform so that the biosensor can more quickly be developed to meet the diagnostic needs of an infectious disease.
In terms of a mobile platform for powering and communicating with diagnostic devices, mobile phones present a very promise option. Mobile phones of older generations and POC medical devices could be introduced to developing countries lacking the infrastructure to support real power sources and laboratories. Professor Brian Cunningham at the University of Illinois has developed an innovative sensor that uses an iPhone camera with a biosensor using an optical transduction mechanism with a photonic crystal to roughly detect the concentration of different biomarkers (20). The components to assemble this system only cost about $200, as opposed to around $50,000 for a laboratory spectrophotometer. This is a significant step towards developing cheap, medical-grade POC devices, however, further research will be needed to optimize the sensitivity and portability of this biosensor. Graphene and MoS2 are significant in increasing the sensitivity of biosensors. Both are 2 dimensional, extremely conductive materials that can be incorporated into FET-based biosensors, and it is relatively simple to substitute target molecules on the graphene or MoSs graphene surface to detect a wide variety of diseases (13, 21). Researchers at Swansea University in the UK have recently found a method of synthesizing graphene surfaces on silicon carbide that improved both quality and overall size. They were able to detect 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), a cancer biomarker, with 5x the accuracy of an ELISA test. Perhaps even more impressively, the test was completed in minutes rather than hours (21). Tests with graphene biosensors are not limited to cancer biomarkers, however. A group at Purdue University has developed graphene structures that allow for the detection of glucose in saliva and tears, a noninvasive method of monitoring diabetes (22). Graphene biosensors have also been applied to small biomolecule detection, such as dopamine and NADH, as well as DNA (23). Though MoSs is less thoroughly researched, both it and graphene may represent the future of POC biosensor development. The potential for biosensors to revolutionize access to modern healthcare in lower-income countries is immense. Research of POC biosensors will not only allow us to prevent the spread of infectious disease, it will also allow physicians to track diseases like diabetes, HIV, and chronic heart disease that affect millions of people around the world.
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The Theory of the
Leisure Class
...or maybe just
of the Body
by Keshav Tadimeti
Economics, as esoteric as it may seem, is simply the study of how to make good choices given a scarcity of resources. The keystone mantra in economics is that there is an unwarranted number of desires, but a very limited supply of resources from which the demands can be satisfied. Hence, choices need to be made in order to provide for such essential wants. Under this preface, it becomes apparent how economics can be applied to a variety of situations and fields, including business management, legislative policy, international trade, and many more. But what about in the human body? Before we discuss this idea, let’s establish a baseline: A central idea in economics is the concept of supply and demand. Demand, known as the measure of how much a certain good or service is desired by customers, is inversely related to the price of that particular good or service. Intuitively, it makes sense: if the price of the latest XBOX One game increased, you would probably be less willing to buy it. On that same token, the greater the decrease in that game’s price, the more likely you are to bolt out of fourth period and race over to the nearest GameStop to get your hands on it. On the other hand, supply, or the amount of a good or service provided by producers, is directly related to the price of that particular good or service. Put yourself in the shoes of theXBOX One game producer. The more expensive your product is, the more money you’ll make by selling it. Hence, the higher the price, the more you’ll produce and the lower the price, the less you’ll produce (regardless of whether or not the gamesare actually sold). Obviously, there’s a challenge here. Consumers want cheap goods, but producers want to maintain exorbitant prices.
Photo Credit: TaxCredits.net
So, as you can probably guess, a tacit compromise is established, and that ‘agreed’ price and quantity of goods supplied is referred to as the equilibrium. While producers may attempt to increase prices and resist selling at the equilibrium, the market force of consumer spending will pull the price of the good and the quantity supplied back to equilibrium. On the same note, while buyers may demand prices below the equilibrium, the shortage of the good at that price will eventually push these customers to pay the equilibrium price for the equilibrium quantity (for simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that there are no competing products against this arbitrary merchandise). As seen, the faceless market force, coined the “invisible hand” by Adam Smith in his An Inquiry into the Causes and Nature of the Wealth of Nations, pulls back the price and quantity supplied of the good to its natural, equilibrium state—its homeostatic state. Now you smell the hint of biology. The central idea of homeostasis, biologically speaking, is that the body constantly seeks to reach and maintain an internal state of equilibrium. Be it through increasing pulse rate, stimulating peristaltic motion, or decreasing insulin levels, the human body attempts to control its internal environment in a way that it is at equilibrium while interacting with the external environment. The supply-demand concept can be used to explain some processes of the human body, such as the responses of bodily systems to certain external conditions. For example, say you have just eaten a Twinkie (because who doesn’t want a Twinkie?); there is now an influx of sugar (sucrose, lactose, etc.) in your blood. As we all know, cells require glucose, which can be derived from breaking down complex sugars like sucrose, for cellular respiration,which allows for ATP synthesis (thus supplying cells with energy). The enzyme insulin helps to catalyze the absorption of glucose by cells. Hence, there is a demand for insulin by the cells, or the ‘consumers.’ Insulin is supplied by the pancreas, or the ‘producer.’ The pancreas, like any other organ, functions efficiently; consider a situation wherein it, desires to produce more insulin at a higher ATP-consumption efficiency, or the ‘price’. The cells, on the other hand, prefers to have the insulin supplied in the quickest manner, which would imply lower ATP-consumption efficiency. Going back to the graph shown previously, it can be seen how, ultimately, equilibrium must be found. The pancreas will attempt to supply insulin in the most efficient manner, but it must release it in such a way that it is still fairly quick (ideally, you don’t want that sugar sitting in your blood for too long, since you want to make use of its chemical potential energy). The equilibrium is met when the right amount of insulin is produced in the most efficient manner through which that quantity can be supplied to the cells. Okay, a little abstract. But how about this example: In the monetary aspect of economics, there is an argument that the amount of liquid money that is demanded, which is inversely related to the interest rates of banks, shifts entirely—that is, the money-demand curve undergoes a shift in its graph in a manner similar to that shown in the plot displayed below—when there a change in 1) overall consumer income, 2) the overall price of goods, or 3) government taxes. Again, given a preface to each, it becomes intuitive why these changes are labeled as ‘shifters’ of money demand: 1) If there is an increase in the overall consumer income, then people would want to spend more (because who
wouldn’t want to splurge that income?); 2) If the overall price of goods increases, then it means that more money is needed to pay for those goods, which would spell a shift in the money demand curve to the right (an increase); 3) If government taxes decrease, then more consumers would want money on hand to spend. Money supply, which is held at a monopoly by the Federal Reserve, varies directly with interest rates, as shown by its vertical graph. It is shifted by federal monetary policy actions and, similar to the system shown in the previous example, intersects the money demand curve to form an equilibrium point. The shifting of the entire money demand curve causes the equilibrium point to change, which affects the interest rates and quantity of money supplied. This could be for the better or worse, since a change in money supply could spell inflation (or deflation) in an unpreferred manner. Hence, in order to regulate the shifts in money demand, the money supply can be translated either to the left or the right to re-establish a desired equilibrium point. Now, biologically, how does this have any relevance? Well, say we equate the money demand to oxygen demand of the organs, and furthermore, that money supply is synonymous to blood flow. Now, suppose you have decided to go climb Mount Everest and are at the base camp. The higher altitude, and thus lower air pressure, would cause your body to demand more oxygen—a shift to the right of the “Oxygen-demand” curve. How does your body cope with this? Well, for starters, your pulse rate would increase, accompanied by an increased breathing rate. This would increase the amount of red blood cells traveling to the organs per unit of time and deliver the amount of oxygen demanded, thus forming an equilibrium point. While this equilibrium may not resemble the equilibrium state at sea level elevation, it is, nonetheless, an equilibrium. Since prolonged heightened pulse and breathing rate are not desired, Everest climbers are required to spend a few days at the basecamp in order acclimate themselves to a new equilibrium: a shift of the previous temporary equilibrium to one that is more stable and sustainable (a shift that usually involves the normalizing of pulse though the intaking of greater breaths, which is easier to cope with than increased breathing rate). Okay, so you can probably see how the phenomena of the body can be equated to economic concepts in an analogous way. The money supply-demand curve can be used to explain a variety of feedback loops. But what’s the point? How can analogizing help in anything besides aiding in explanation? Let us speculate for a moment. Take cancer, for example. It is characterized by the uncontrolled growth of cells in a manner that is harmful to the victim. These cancerous cells often have some sort of genetic mutation and have unregulated cell cycles, causing tumor growth, which in turn, reduces the available nutrients for the normal tissues in the tumor’s vicinity. Obviously there is currently no definite cure for cancer, but can we come up with solutions from the social science lens? Of course. How about we look at cancer from the US History perspective?
During the Gilded Age, monopolies controlled the United States. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Carnegie’s Steel, Vanderbilt’s Railroads, and J.P. Morgan’s Banks held the US economy at their fingertips through trusts, where they consolidated competition under their wings. In essence, they sapped out all available opportunity for competition, causing countless businesses to fail. However, as the Progressive Movement was ushered in, the federal government started taking more action to regulate these uncontrolled trusts, which never seemed to stop expanding. You’re probably thinking that scientists can’t possibly look to Teddy Roosevelt’s Trust-Busting campaign for curing cancer. Roosevelt subjectively labeled trusts as “good” or “bad” and attacked the ones he considered harmful to the economy; as one could expect,mistakes were made. Of course, in the medical field, doctors can’t afford to make these kinds of mistakes. But what about the passing of those countless regulative laws? Fortunately, the monopolies were scrutinized and eventually split apart through those measures; with that fact in mind, it makes sense how there have been studies about regulating cytokines and the p53 gene in order to control tumor growth (http://www. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2195698/). Perhaps, the idea of using the immune response—the body’s police force— to fight tumor cells can be implemented through looking at how the actual police force regulates our society. With a specific warrant—the antigen—the police are able to inspect and arrest alleged suspects, provided they are found guilty; such a process, to some extent, resembles the immune response. With this fact in mind, it makes sense how experiments on mice have shown how the immune response can be used to control tumor growth (since there have been indications that tumor cells express antigenic proteins which can be used to initiate a specific T-cell immune response http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/ NBK27104/ ) Continuing with this train of thought, the idea of referencing social science to tackle biological challenges doesn’t just limit itself to cancer. For example, Alzheimer’s can be thought of as a sort “Great Depression” where the mental “faculties” are declining (the death of hippocampal cells causes the brain to “shrivel up”, which can be attributed to the dementia symptom). Although difficult to implement, in a medical sense, the specific measures that the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration advocated for, the idea of stimulating growth, can be carried over into such scientific research. From this viewpoint, it becomes exciting to imagine the countless possibilities that can be tested to possibly find a cure to a wide array of diseases. While the analogies between social science and the human body can only go so far before breaking apart, it is interesting to see how connections can be drawn between the disparate fields. Economically, it is interesting to see how the body functions in an efficient manner, but it is also quite fruitful to see how disease treatment can be addressed in that same manner. Supply and demand, the elementary building blocks of economics, can be used to simulate various disease conditions, and the medical field can be thought of as the “fiscal policy” that plays a role in trying to rid the system of the unwanted conditions, if not,mitigating the symptoms. As abstract as it sounds, perhaps drug discovery and pathology should be viewed from a social science aspect before being made relevant and specific to biology. Who knows? There is obviously a lot of room for speculation and imagination.
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Hot or Not? Why We All Feel Weather’s Effects Differently
Photo Credits: Flickr@ NASA Goddard Flight Center
By Taraneh Barjesteh
Have you ever felt really, really cold,
even on a fairly warm day? Or, just the opposite: wanting to peel off layers of clothing even though the thermometer reads -12 degrees Fahrenheit? There are many different reasons why extreme temperatures can affect some people more than others, including genetics. Dr. Ryan Williams, curator and chair of the department of Anthropology at Chicago’s Field Museum offers an explanation for this phenomenon. In colder environments, people tend to have shorter, stockier frames to preserve the core temperature in their bodies,” In the colder environments, people tend to have shorter, stockier frames to preserve the core temperature in their bodies.” (Rogers 1) For example, the Inuit who live within the Arctic circle usually have stouter builds that are better for keeping the cores of their bodies warm, even when the temperatures drop, as many of the small towns on the North Slope rarely reach above 30 degrees Fahrenheit, even in the middle of July.
But for other people who live in places that experience a variety of temperatures, does body fat have anything to do with how much the weather affects you? Yes, and no. Fat acts as an insulator for the body’s core, but heat escaping from one’s body through the skin can account to the actual feeling of cold. In addition, more skin with a cooler skin temperature can lead to feeling colder. Does muscle act as an insulator as well? Not quite, but muscle generates heat. Slightly larger people without much muscle mass are at a disadvantage, because they are more likely to experience chills during winter. Catherine O’Brian, a research physiologist with the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, notes that overall size is another factor: smaller people have less overall mass, and therefore less body heat to loose, so they may be susceptible to chilly weather. (Goolrick 1) What anatomical traits lead to resistance to cold temperatures? Being “fat and fit,” says O’Brien. Who might this include? People who are physically fit, but have higher amounts of
natural body fat than average, such as the Inuit people, or cold-water swimmers. BMI, body, and muscle fat percentage don’t have everything to do with this situation. Activity levels (at the time when the individual is feeling warm/cold) may have a lot to do with it as well. Such an observation may seem obvious, but the body has natural ways of preserving heat and getting rid of it. For example, an increased metabolism due to exercise leads to natural bodily functions: such as sweating. An individual who has been running in 40 degree weather may feel very warm, while someone who has been watching the race may be cold. And a sedentary lifestyle in this type of weather can contribute to rapid muscle contractions (shivering), which help your body generate heat. (Juan 1) Lastly, there are a variety of diseases, medicines and conditions that can affect the way someone perceives heat. Conditions that have symptoms that include feeling cold constantly may include anemia (when one’s body cannot generate enough red blood cells to sufficiently distribute oxygen), hypothyroidism (a condition that has to do with the thyroid, a gland that regulates metabolism throughout your body), or a type of blood vessel disorder, including arteriosclerosis (narrowing of blood vessels) and Raynaud’s disease (spasms of narrowing arteries to the fingers and toes). (Cassoobhoy 1) On the other end of the spectrum, hyperthyroidism (including Grave’s disease, a condition that leads to swelling of the thyroid gland), pituitary cancer, and psychological conditions such as anxiety may contribute to an individual’s constant feelings of extreme heat.
(Pietrangelo 1) To sum up these findings, there is not a single explanation as to why you may feel very cold when standing in a warm room. To analyze your individual predisposition to the cold you must consider genetics, physical activity levels, and the symptoms of existing conditions that you may have. What may be cold for you may be hot for your friend, so dress accordingly and come to terms with your individual needs, not just the thermostat –while it may say it is seventy degrees outside, we are not all feeling the same temperature! Bibliography: 1.http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/ rogers-good-questioncold-115807974.html 2.http://www.weather.com/health/do-fat-peoplestay-warmer-cold-weather-thinpeople-20140103 3.http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/08/the_ odd_body_temperature/ 4.http://www.healthline.com/health/pituitary-tumor Photo Credits: Flickr @ Maddysflicks, Alexey Kljatov, Mark K
V O LU M E 5 | I S S U E 1 | 21
The Sunscreen Dilemma By Heezy Suh
With worsening ozone depletion and skin cancer prevalence at an all-time high, Americans are being strongly urged to wear sunscreen regardless of the weather. Unfortunately, though, sun protection worries do not simply end if you slather an SPF 100 sunscreen on your body. Rather, doing so would be a cause of concern. Unbeknownst to many, not all sunscreens are the same. One of the biggest differences between sunscreens is not the SPF number; it is actually whether the sunscreen is a physical or a chemical sunscreen.
SPF and UV Rays When we look at a sunscreen, the first thing that most of us search for is the SPF number. SPF, or Sun Protection Factor, can be an easy way to determine the level of protection a sunscreen offers. However, SPF only refers to protection from UVB rays, the ultraviolet rays from the sun that cause sunburns. For example, a sunscreen of SPF 25 would allow a person who would normally burn in 10 minutes to stay in the sun for 250 minutes before getting sunburned. Those 250 minutes, however, do not factor in water, sweat, or other means of removing sunscreen from the skin. UVA rays, on the other hand, penetrate the skin deeper than UVB rays and are responsible for aging and wrinkling the skin. In other words, UVA rays cause long-term damage that will surface 30 years from now (in the forms of cancer and hyperpigmentation), while UVB rays quickly show their damage through sunburns. If a sunscreen protects the skin from both UVA/UVB light, it will indicate “broad spectrum” on its packaging. Otherwise, the sunscreen will only protect against UVB rays. Currently, there is no uniform way to measure protection from UVA rays. On products manufactured in locations such as Europe and Southeast Asia, PPD (Persistent Pigment Darkening), or PA, is used to show a sunscreen’s ability to protect against UVA rays, the protection levels ranging from PA+ to PA++++.
Chemical Sunscreen Chemical sunscreens are almost the complete opposite of physical sunscreens. Rather than sitting on the surface of the skin, chemical sunscreens sink into the skin and protect the skin from UV rays by absorbing them, not reflecting them. The skin’s quick absorption of the chemical sunscreen does allow a more water-resistant formula. However, active ingredients from the sunscreen have been found in blood and in breast milk. Some of the most common ingredients in chemical sunscreens, such as Oxybenzone, Octinoxate, and Homosalate are known to alter hormonal activity in the body and cause skin allergies or irritations. The one major reason that the public, despite the dangers of its components, prefers chemical sunscreens is that they are lightweight and less greasy in comparison to physical sunscreen.
The Dilemma Evidently, if the uncomfortable aspects of physical sunscreen were ignored, physical sunscreen would be the better option for our health. Realistically, however, most individuals tend to avoid experiences or products that cause discomfort. In this case, physical sunscreen creates an uncomfortable, oily feeling on the skin when applied, which is mainly why the majority of Americans do not wear sunscreen on a daily basis. The sunscreen dilemma, then, is: do the benefits of sun protection from a chemical sunscreen outweigh the health dangers its ingredients pose?
Physical Sunscreen Physical sunscreens, as their name implies, physically protect the skin by sitting on top of the top layer of skin and reflecting UV light. Physical sunscreen’s ability to create a barrier between the skin and harmful UV rays allows it to protect the skin longer than chemical sunscreens, which are quickly absorbed by the body, rather than staying in the skin. Because the skin does not absorb physical sunscreen, the most common active ingredients in physical sunscreen—titanium dioxide and zinc oxide— generally do not irritate sensitive skin. The downside to physical sunscreen, however, is its inability to stay on the skin. Physical sunscreen is easily rubbed off or washed away, so it requires frequent reapplication. On a larger scale, the amount of titanium dioxide being washed off in the ocean has environmental implications. When titanium dioxide or zinc oxide in the ocean water is exposed to solar radiation, new toxic compounds, such as hydrogen peroxide, form. These toxic chemicals are hazardous to sea creatures, like phytoplankton and coral reefs.
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Photo Credit: Flickr, jimflix
V O LU M E 5 | I S S U E 1 | 23
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