Volume III, Issue I

Volume III Issue I

October 2016

The University Univeristy ofof Miami’s Miami’s FIRST FIRSTUndergraduate UndergraduateScientific ScientificMagazine Magazine

ZIKA

A D V E R TIS wit h UMiami

E Scientific

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News The Issue with Zika, 7 Ancestry and Me, 10 Space, 12

contents

Capturing Science Through Photography Figure Skating, 14

Research Polyethyline Textile, 16 Alzheimers, 17 It’s Not Rocket Science, 18 Post-Marine Science Grad, 21 Hurricane Simulator, 22

Innovations How Ripe is That Apple?, 24 Proton Therapy, 26

Ethics in Science Organ Donation, 28 Drug Price Increases, 30 Politics in Medical Practice, 33

Health Science Mental Health and Nutrition, 37 The Benefits of Vitamin D, 41 Hormetic Compounds, 42

Photo by: Oregon State University

Featured Story: The Issue with Zika

With the recent worldwide outbreak of the Zika virus, many individuals may think that this virus was only recently discovered. However, Zika has been around for quite some time; there simply wasn’t a major outbreak of the disease until 2007. So, how exactly did the Zika virus originate, and how did it spread to become the disease it is today?

Dear Scientifica Readers, Science is real and factual. Science is the foundation that explains the existence of us in our world and in space. STEM is the harmony that exists amongst the Scientists, Techologists, Engineers and Mathematicians. Together, our amazing fields are intertwined and it is this that makes UMiami Scientifica the publication that it is. Our recent Crown award, granted by the CSPA (Columbia Scholastic Press Association), is an honor for our young magazine and an affirmation that what we are doing is meaningful to those in and outside of our institution. It goes without saying that I am very proud of the Staff and CORE of the magazine and look forward what this year has in store for us. Please enjoy this issue knowing that it is you, the students, who have made this magazine the success that it is.

This issue marks a new page in the story of Scientifica Magazine.

As the new semester rolls by, our magazine forges on with old and new faces alike at the helm. We would like to thank the University of Miami community for their overwhelming support, as it is with your help that we were able to pass our student referendum.

With the financial stability this provides, we are able to increase our publishing rates to our original goal. Instead of publishing once a semester, we will now be publishing twice a semester.

We have been given this chance to provide the University with twice the content, and we fully intend to deliver. With the work of our enthusiastic staff, our tireless CORE members, and our sage Editorial Advisor, I have the utmost confidence that each issue of Scientifica will be better than the last. I hope to keep building on the foundation laid by our previous editor in chief, Victoria PinillaEscobar. It is with her vision and guidance that I stand ready to tackle the future — through thick and thin.

Henry Mancao Neuroscience, Microbiology & Immunology and Economics Class of 2017 Editor-In-Chief, UMiami Scientifica

Roger I. Williams Jr., M.S. ED Director, Student Activities Advisor, Microbiology & Immunology Undergraduate Department Editorial Advisor, UMiami Scientifica

BOARD OF ADVISORS Richard J. Cote, M.D., FRCPath, FCAP Professor & Joseph R. Coutler Jr. Chair Department of Pathology Professor, Dep. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Chief of Pathology, Jackson Memorial Hospital Director, Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Mathias G. Lichtenheld, M.D. Associate Professor of Microbiology & Immunology FBS 3 Coordinator University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

*Eckhard R. Podack, M.D., Ph.D. Professor & Chair Department of Microbiology & Immunology University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Michael S. Gaines, Ph.D.

Assistant Provost Undergraduate Research and Community Outreach Professor of Biology

Catherine Newell, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Religious Studies

Leticia Oropesa, D.A. Coordinator Department of Mathematics Professor of Mathematics

Geoff Sutcliffe, PhD Chair Department of Computer Science Associate Professor of Computer Science

Yunqiu (Daniel) Wang, PhD Senior Lecturer Department of Biology

Barbara Colonna, Ph.D. Senior Lecturer Organic Chemistry Department of Chemistry

Charles Mallery, Ph.D.

Associate Professor Biology & Cellular and Molecular Biology Associate Dean

Geoffrey Stone, Ph.D. Professor & Joseph R. Coutler Jr. Chair Department of Pathology Professor, Dep. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Chief of Pathology, Jackson Memorial Hospital Director, Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Onur Tigli, Ph.D. Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. John T. Macdonald Biomedical Nanotechnology Institute (BioNium) Department of Pathology Miller School of Medicine University of Miami

Nanette Vega MA Executive Director Office of Diversity and and Multicultural Affairs University of Miami Miller School of Medicine

Sarai Nunez, M.A. Lecturer Graphic Design

Av W De Ph Co Bu M Di Ra Ra

Plea Fac

Con com com

Scientifica Staff 2016-2017 Henry Mancao, Editor-in-Chief Jennifer V. Chavez, Managing Editor Michaela E. Larson, Design Director Andrew Rubio, Copy Chief Joshua Kleinman, Copy Editor Joeli Roth, Copy Editor Sneha Ramasamy, Copy Editor Angelica Rodriguez, Copy Editor Natalia Beadle, Photo Editor Sumanth Potluri, Business Director Ambar Jivraj, Business Associate Yukthi Kodali, Marketing Director Devi Nallakumar, Marketing Associate Dan Arndorfer, Distribution Manager Corey Fehlberg, Distribution Associate Christina Valcin, Distribution Associate Victoria Pinilla, BOA Liaison Roger Williams, M.S. Ed., Editorial Advisor David Lin, Editor, Innovations in Science Gabrielle Eisenberg, Editor, Innovations in Science Rick Lin, Editor, News Valentina Suarez, Staff Writer, News Natalie Massiah, Staff Writer, News Kevin Ramrattan, Staff Writer, News Justin Ma, Editor, Ethics in Science Catherine Hunyh, Staff Writer, Ethics in Science

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The University of Miami’s FIRST Undergraduate Scientific Magazine

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Z I K A.

- David Lin & Jennifer Chavez

From a scientific standpoint, the Zika virus belongs to the genus Flavivirus. All the viruses within this genus are icosahedral, enveloped, single-stranded RNA viruses.

The virus contains a lipid envelope that has membrane and envelope glycoproteins. The Zika virus usually causes fairly mild symptoms like mild fever and rashes. It has an incubation period of around three to twelve days. Since most Zika cases are mild, around 80 percent of Zika virus cases will go undetected. The transmission of the Zika virus to humans occurs via infected mosquitoes. Many scientists are actively researching this disease; however, there is currently no cure for those infected with the virus. Rather, treatment is focused on reducing the symptoms for those infected.

The virus was first discovered in 1947 in the Zika Forest of Uganda as Yellow Fever Research Institute scientists were conducting a routine surveillance of yellow fever in the area. The forest has a tropical climate and encompasses many unique ecosystems, which makes it the perfect place for studying mosquitoes and their role in transmitting viruses.

The Zika virus was then discovered in samples taken from rhesus monkeys living in the forest. Scientists were also able to find the virus in samples obtained from the mosquito Aedes africanus, a species found in the Zika forest.

In 1952, the first cases of the Zika virus in humans were reported in Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania. In 1958, researchers were able to identify two other distinct strains of the virus from the Zika forest. In 1964, researcher David Simpson was studying the Zika virus strains in Uganda when he contracted the virus himself. He began to fall ill and noticed the appearance of a rash on his body.

At this point, many scientists compared the Zika virus to other diseases like chikungunya and dengue fever; however, they had thought that the Zika virus was milder in regard to symptoms shown. After the discovery of the Zika virus, the next few decades showed very few reported cases. During these early decades following the virus’s discovery, Zika was found in other countries besides Uganda and Tanzania (including India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan). Up to this time, no major outbreaks of the disease were seen; only around 14 cases were reported. A major culprit for the low Zika infection rate was medical misdiagnosis; many patients who were infected with Zika were likely to have been improperly diagnosed with chikungunya or dengue fever instead.

In 2007, there was the first major outbreak of the Zika virus. The outbreak took place on the Island of Yap, believed to have arrived there by infected airplane passengers.

In 2013, scientists begun to notice that the Zika virus was traveling to other Pacific Islands including French Polynesia, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, and New Caledonia. This drove the researchers to study the disease with greater fervor and to link the disease to severe medical consequences, such as microcephaly.

In May 2015, Brazil reported the spread of the Zika virus within its borders; in October 2015, Colombia reported around 156 cases of Zika. Around the same time, the number of babies born with microcephaly skyrocketed in these two countries. Other case studies have shown that not only could Zika be transmitted from mother to fetus, but that the virus could also be transmitted sexually. In April 2016, the World Health Organization declared that Zika was shown to cause

microcephaly and Guillain-Barré syndrome in infants born to infected mothers. The current outbreak we are facing today has prompted scientists across the world to research more about the disease; one such research hotspot is the University of Miami’s very own Miller School of Medicine.

At the frontlines, and long before Zika was a worry in the minds of people living in the US, Dr. David Watkins (Vice Chair of the Department of Pathology) was already in Brazil. He noticed the overlap in diagnoses of many pediatric doctors. From that moment onward, Watkins enlisted the help of his colleague Dr. Mario Stevenson, Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of the Institute of AIDS and Emerging Diseases.

Facing a worldwide shortage of published papers in the field of Zika (fewer than 1,000 total), Stevenson and his team have taken on the daunting task of discovering a diagnostic tool that not only diagnoses effectively, but is also affordable and durable enough to endure even the most under-resourced areas of the world. Unfortunately for Stevenson and the rest of the researchers on his team, this is far easier said than done; Zika research is facing limited funding due to the fact that its surge into the public eye has been far too sudden for organizations to react quickly with sufficient financial support.

Stevenson and his team have been able to come up with a prototype for a blood diagnostic tool that would allow for the identification of Zika in individuals. One would think that the identification of Zika can be done easily with a simple blood test, but the reality of the situation is far more complicated. The Zika virus is prevalent in places where mosquito-borne diseases are already a significant problem.

The causative agents of the Zika virus are very similar to those of dengue fever, yellow fever and West Nile virus. More often than not, although blood tests are performed regularly, the idea of isolating the single causative agent is prohibitively expensive, and patients are treated in a uniform fashion with no accommodation for unique individual cases. Although Stevenson has developed a prototype that would work on infectious virus recognition (and would be the closest we’ve ever had to a unique test for Zika), at approximately 100 to 150 dollars per patient, implementation of the diagnostic prototype in developing countries is extremely unrealistic at the moment.

Another Miller-based researcher, Dr. Silvia Daunert (professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) is currently working on another type of test, one that focuses instead on antibody recognition. A shift in focus from viral infectious particles to antibodies (formed at the moment of exposure to the virus) reduces the price of a diagnostic test from 150 dollars to about one to two dollars per patient.

Although testing for different things, Daunert’s research will contribute to building the epidemiological repertoire of the Zika virus. While Stevenson’s research requires sending samples out to a commercial lab, Daunert’s proposal for a diagnostic device requires no lab and only a paper strip that has been previously impregnated by the Watkins lab with antibodies from Zika infected patients. However, Watkins has stressed the importance of both time and resources.

During the Zika Global Network Forum hosted at the Miller School of Medicine, Watkins said that the NIH currently has a DNA-targeting Zika vaccine that is undergoing trials and

is set to be provided to infected humans in November of this year. Although the need for a vaccine against Zika is growing more rapidly every day, the vaccine must still comply with the multiple trials and regulations required by the FDA.

Another researcher vital to our Zika team is Dr. Christine Curry, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology. Curry adds a different narrative to the team, one that comes from concerned women, men and expectant couples. Curry has contributed largely to the efforts here in Miami to ensure that all pregnant women under her care (and otherwise) are tested immediately, and that measures are taken to educate people about how to prevent transmission of the virus. She adds that with the growing number of active Zika infections, pregnant women must take the extra precautions of avoiding areas that have been identified as potential sites for infection (“Zika hot-spots”), using deet as suggested, and wearing long sleeves when outdoors. As an obstetrician, Curry reminds people that pregnancy is all about risk and benefits, and that as doctors, Curry and her colleagues have a duty to be realistic and transparent about the risks of Zika. Curry says that the growing area of emerging infectious diseases represents a lot of uncertainty, and however frustrating it may be, every decision made about combating the virus can represent a benefit or a risk. It is ultimately up to the individual patient to listen to the advice given by Curry and other researchers, and to take heed of the warnings that their doctors are giving them. Curry says that at this point, “protecting pregnant women puts us in a place where using insecticide and changing behavior puts us at a better side of valor”.

As many clinicians and scientists have pointed out, uncertainty is the biggest problem we face in our fight against Zika. The long-term effects of Zika have not been measured, and patients that are currently being diagnosed will have to be followed for most of their lives to assess the lifetime effects of infection. As more information is received, more indications are made to the public, but a large part of being able to receive information is rendered impossible without having the funds to research the virus properly. Currently, the US government has not approved any funding for the CDC to pursue further testing of the Zika virus. President Obama has asked congress for over 1.9 billion dollars in emergency funds in order to facilitate the production of viable diagnostic tools, vaccines and other treatment options while also providing education to the general public on the dangers of Zika.

The University of Miami is focused on being ahead of the curve in following CDC recommendations for prevention and treatment. Although most of the research is being done at the Miller School of Medicine, the Coral Gables campus has taken heed of the recommendations and has facilitated resources to aid the occurrence of a Zika infection on the university’s main campus. The facilities department has installed large blocks of insecticide in drains, students have been given repellant, and the entire campus population has been informed to report any areas on campus that may contain standing water. President Frenk has asserted that the University of Miami has a commitment to its students and to its community. With Zika posing a threat to both the Miami community and to the global community, the University of Miami must meet this challenge head-on.

Photo by: scandanavianculturalsociety.org

Mankind has been on the move for 60,000 years. If you live in America and aren’t a Native American (and you might be surprised to discover that, regardless, you do have some Native American ancestry), your family has been here for less than 400 years.

That’s a maximum of only 16 generations of Americans, assuming your ancestors came on the Mayflower.

Humans migrated extensively throughout our prehistory, and as we saw the rise of agriculture 10,000 years ago our numbers exploded, gradually but dramatically impacting our gene pool. The rise and fall of empires, subsequent mass migrations (such as the oceanic voyages of the Polynesians, or the Great Atlantic Migration from Europe to North America), and the increase of global migrations still ongoing today are the major chapters in our book of human history.

The question of who you are and where your ancestors came from used to be one of life’s greatest mysteries. Some families are able to easily trace their ancestry four or more generations back, having sagaciously retained records and annotated photographs of the past. But even good recordkeeping doesn’t assure that your ancestors are who you think they were, nor that your family’s past what you think it was. It definitely doesn’t reveal lineages that stretch back thousands of years. But a DNA ancestry kit can.

DNA test kits are non-invasive and results usually come back within a few weeks.

Submitting to a DNA test might sound like a hair or blood sample is in order, which usually is the procedure for forensic analyses and paternity tests; but, when you order a DNA test kit online from any of the top providers, you will receive a simple and noninvasive cheek-swab kit. University of Miami student Natalie Messiah and Scientifica’s very own editorial advisor Roger Williams recently traced their ancestry using 23andMe and DNA Ancestry (two of the most popular DNA test kits on the market), respectively. They confirm that their results took just a few weeks to analyze, just as advertised. Other brands of DNA test kits include Family Tree DNA and National Geographic’s Gene 2.0, both comparable in price and service.

ancestry & me - Valentina Suarez

DNA tests are more accurate and better than before

Newer kits on the market use an autosomal DNA testing technique.

Autosomes are essentially your complete genetic record — a mixed bag of genetic

information inherited from your parents and their ancestors. Your twenty-two pairs of autosomal chromosomes aren’t just from mom and dad — they have received random genetic contributions across time as well.

A typical autosomal DNA test scans your genome and pinpoints hundreds of thousands of specific locations known to be genetic variants within our species.

These genetic markers are what identify us as individuals against the 99.9% of the genome that is identical among individuals. Previously, mainstream DNA tests would only test for differences on either the Y-chromosome or through our mitochondrial DNA. These tests were not necessarily inaccurate, but they did impose limitations.

Only men carry a Y-chromosome, so a Y-DNA test only accounts for genetic variants through the paternal line. Women can’t take it because they don’t have a Y-chromosome. A mitochondrial DNA test can be taken by men and women, but it only looks at your maternal-line ancestry due to the fact that men inherit mtDNA from their mothers but do not pass it on to their children. An autosomal DNA test is a more comprehensive method because you are comparing variations in your genome from both parents.

You’ll be able to debunk your family history

Natalie Messiah purchased a DNA testing kit for her 20th birthday in hopes of answering a few questions about her heritage. She had an idea of where she came from, and wanted to confirm (or disconfirm) her presumed family history. “My mother’s side is 100% Sicilian,” Natalie said. “I do know that Sicily is ‘one of the most invaded places in the world’, so I knew there would be some Arabic DNA in there, some African DNA, and really just a mix of everything because I come from somewhere so connected to the other countries and cultures surrounding it.”

Natalie confirmed a significant percentage of European, Middle Eastern, and African heritage in her DNA. On her father’s side, she could trace what she knew as her Guyanese heritage back to distant origins in Portugal. “We were actually Portuguese Jews”, she said. Her DNA test results confirmed Natalie to be .01% Ashkenazi.

There were also some surprising finds. “SubSaharan Africa was a high amount, I never would have imagined this. And .2% Native American, I don’t know where that came from.”

Roger Williams recalled how he

had expected to find Native American DNA in his test results. “My father said that we were mutts, we had a lot of stuff mixed into us. He actually talked about how we had a Native American chief in our family — which I always thought was very interesting.” His test results however, did not indicate any traces of Native American ancestry. “It was surprising because I was always told that I was a mutt, and that included North America, and nothing came up with North America.”

Roger had known the least about his dad’s side of the family but was able to trace his ancestry to England and other parts of Eastern Europe and Italy using his DNA results, along with Ancestry record databases.

Discovering your genetic ethnicity could only be the first step

Roger had initially begun his ancestry search without a DNA test. His goal had been to find potential relatives, but he didn’t know that much about his father’s or his mother’s sides of the family. He began digging for information with what he knew on Ancestry.com. “The records are out there, it’s just a matter of finding the connection between the record and yourself,” Roger said.

Roger began doing some detective work online, building a family tree with what he knew. “It traces back your lineage based on what other people have linked.

You can keep expanding on this because once your tree finds a link someone else has contributed, it populates itself with more information. You can find records from your grandparents and their parent’s parents.” Roger’s DNA results provided further clues on where to look, and he was also able to substantiate where his results suggest he is from. To date, Roger has been able to trace his father’s lineage back 200 years.

A DNA test can provide important clues in the search to uncover your family history.

Aside from the possibility of finding documents and photographs belonging to your ancestors, you could also submit your raw DNA results to different databases and search for distant living relatives in your countries of origin.

Natalie hopes to use her DNA results to learn more about her family history. “My next move would be to actually meet up with a distant relative, and go back to Guyana.” Unlike Roger, Natalie can’t make the most out of ancestry document databases. “They didn’t really have an effective documenting service in the

Caribbean,” she explained. “They would usually just write down your birthday and your place of birth on a paper and store it in the church, but like my father my told me, things were always moving. And, especially considering the onset of slavery of the time, the churches would burn down and things would be remodeled. I knew there wouldn’t be a definite record of my family history, period.” If Natalie chooses to upload her raw DNA file to a database, she could potentially connect with distant relatives and fill in branches on her family tree with actual people, like Roger had. Many of these DNA databases are accessible at no extra cost.

But a DNA test won’t tell you everything There’s more to consider, though — price, what different tests offer (some DNA tests offer a comprehensive health analysis besides ancestry data), and the objectives of your search. If you want to find out whether you’re related to Genghis Kahn, know that a DNA test can’t prove this for you. Even if you were related to Kahn, the recombination of your genes through dozens of generations has insured that you’ve probably inherited no DNA from him. Only a small percentage of your ancestors have contributed directly to your DNA.

A DNA test kit can suggest, but not exactly confirm, a genetic relation.

The residents of a specific place come to share specific genetic mutations that can identify them in a distinct population over time. Scientists can use these traits to make inferences about your ancestry based on these genetic trends — but in a way, it’s more of a scientific guess. How much you have from whom is essentially a random lottery.

A sibling could take the same test and have slightly different results.

A DNA test won’t be able to tell you specifically what country your ancestors lived in, but it will be able to pinpoint possible regions. Consider how Natalie’s known Sicilian heritage might have been defined as “Northwestern European” in her results. There are no cities, or specific tribal designations given through your results, just potential territories where your ancestors were believed to have resided.

Is investing in a DNA kit worth it?

Yes! “This is a very simple, straightforward way about learning about your make up,” Roger said. What better gift for Christmas could there be than a non-invasive swab kit that will tell you all about you? Discovering your ethnicity can be insightful, eye-opening, and (most importantly) a lot of fun!

Strange and Infinite Space - Valentina Suarez

What’s going down, up there?

The universe is so big, it’s hard to put into perspective. But, consider this: Our galaxy alone is estimated to have a hundred billion stars and a billion planets. We are neighbors to thirty more galaxies as part of a cluster known as The Local Group. Our galaxy cluster is only one of fifty known galaxy clusters that revolve around a colossal Supercluster that itself contains over 2,000 galaxies. Aside from our nearest neighbors, there are estimated to be over a hundred billion galaxies total.

Recurrent in the eye of the most powerful telescopes are supernovae, globular clusters, quasars, and interstellar clouds. Up to a distance of 15 billion lightyears, celestial events have been observed and utilized as precedents in understanding the cosmos, but our predictors are in some ways ineffective? because we can’t circumvent the largeness of it all; there is always going to be something out there that we haven’t seen before.

So, what’s new up there? Astronomers are currently trying to understand this oddball in space.

Star is Losing Energy at an Unusual Rate Dubbed as a potential home to an “alienmegastructure,” there is something peculiar happening on star KIC 8462852, affectionately dubbed “Tabby’s star.”

Astronomers like studying the dimming of stars because when a star dims in and out periodically, it often means that there are planets rotating around it, temporarily blocking the star’s light. Thousands of planets have been discovered like this. KIC 8462852 however, doesn’t have any planets. Yet, it’s losing its brightness at an incredibly accelerated rate and scientists haven’t been able to explain why this is via any known natural phenomenon.

Comet swarms have been ruled out. It’s not a warped star. The star isn’t young, so the possibility that the irregular blips are a series of messy fresh solar system debris circulating around it is also unlikely. The dips in light aren’t periodic either, and go further down in measure than what is normally expected — up to 22 percent when stars usually flicker down for less than 1 percent of their regular brightness level.

Something colossal and highly erratic is blocking this star’s light, and it appears that it’s also sucking the energy out of it too. In the last four years, the star has lost a total 3 percent of its luminosity. What is sending this star to an early grave? It isn’t every day that respected scientists around the world are so weirded out, they resort to using the “maybe it’s aliens” card.

Could It Be a Dyson Sphere?

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The idea of megastructure completely enveloping a star in order to appropriate its energy output was developed by Olaf Stapledon in the sci-fi novel Star Maker. The oddity of KIC 8462852 is somewhat consistent with this idiosyncratic hypothesis.

It’s estimated that during the past hundred years, 20 percent of the star’s light has been dimmed permanently. We don’t know how this could be possible, and we know for certain that there is a huge mass of something orbiting the star. However, it would be expected that this hypothetical structure would give off heat and infrared radiation; neither of these things have been detected.

Even more recently, another similar star being drained of its light at an erratic rate has been discovered. EPIC 204278916 was observed for 78.8 consecutive days, and irregular dimming of up to 65 percent was reported for 25 of these days, making EPIC perhaps even more puzzling than KIC 8462852.

Probably Not Aliens Though The astronomical phenomena we can’t understand are those we have only seen once. And, considering the innumerable possibilities that extend across a universe we can’t completely see, we really haven’t seen anything yet.

As Neil deGrasse Tyson commented on The Late Show: “Just because you don’t understand what you’re looking at does not mean it’s aliens.” But Ben Montet, the author of the study examining KIC 8462852, hasn’t ruled anything out. “We spent a long time trying to convince ourselves this wasn’t real. We just weren’t able to,” he asserts.

The largely ostracized, but very real organization Search for Extraterrestrial Life Institute — or SETI — pointed 42 radio telescopes at the star. Only 1,500 lightyears away, KIC 8462852 is visible to us in the sky, but no signals of alien life have been documented yet.

Earlier this summer, Penn State astronomer Jason Wright gave a talk at SETI in Mountain View, California. “I’d say we have no good explanation right now for what’s going on with Tabby’s star. For now, it’s still a mystery,” he says. Douglas Vakoch, President of SETI International assets that “We found no evidence of an advanced civilization beaming intentional laser signals toward Earth.”

What’s next for KIC 8462852, and newly discovered EPIC 204278916? Lots of data-collecting from astronomers around the world. NASA continues to monitor these mysterious stars in the sky with the Kepler Space Telescope, hoping that a more credible theory will emerge in the near future.

The Physics of Figure Skating - Victoria Pinilla

Even as a Florida native, exercising outside in the unforgiving summertime heat intimidated me. I found it difficult to comprehend how people were able to brave the humidity and scorching temperatures to go out for long distance jogs and bicycle rides. Their determination to get their workouts in often inspired me to step outside and face the outdoors myself. Sadly, all my attempts ended after only a few minutes before I decided to quickly retreat to the comforts of my air-conditioned apartment.

For the past two summers, rather than spending my days outside in the heat (or spending them indoors fighting for a treadmill at the gym), I decided to take on the difficult task of learning how to figure skate at the Florida Panthers IceDen. I wasn’t naive enough to think that in two summers I would become the next Michelle Kwan or Kristi Yamaguchi, but I was definitely determined enough to apply physics concepts that I learned in my introductory courses towards enhancing my technique and style on the ice. I was interested in the basic science behind jumps and spins as well as learning more about the properties of ice and the engineering necessary to make and maintain a rink in a warm-weather state like Florida.

As it turns out, the physics behind the jumps and spins are as dependent on the skates themselves (especially their sharpness and the material they are made of) as on Newton’s laws of motion and other physical concepts.The earliest version of an ice skate originated over 3,000 years ago in Southern Finland where skates were made from sharpened bones strapped to the bottom of

the feet. Skaters were limited to gliding through the ice without control of their direction and movement. It wasn’t until the introduction of steel blades with sharpened edges that skaters were able to cut through the ice giving them slightly more control of turns and stops. This began the rigid and formal process of carving shapes that dominated the sport until the 19th century when American pioneer? Jackson Haines introduced what we know today as modern figure skating. He was the first to introduce ballet style skating with modified blades (attached to the boot) and a strong leather ankle support that allowed athletic jumps on the ice. It is because of Mr. Haines that figure skating blades today are made slightly longer in length than the boot, 4 mm in thickness, and are coated with high quality chrome to prevent corrosion generated by the friction between steel and melted ice. An arch referred to as a ‘Rocker’ where all spins are performed on and a ‘Toe Pick’ that is helpful for stopping and pivoting jumps were also included in the new design.

Reflecting back on my spins and falls these past two summers, there are three big physics concepts that I applied: Newton’s Third Law of equal and opposite reaction, angular momentum, and friction. Doing something as simple as skating forward applied Newton’s principle — for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. As I began pushing off the ice I began to apply a downward force against the ground. In the same manner, the ground pushed me right back; it was this push that supplied the forward force that allowed me to skate and eventually

perform jumps based on how I angled the blade. As I became more comfortable with my skating ability and tried a few basic spins, the concepts of momentum and angular momentum entered the picture.

Momentum is generally defined as the amount of force needed to stop a moving object (which is proportional to the object’s mass). A heavy object going at a high rate of speed always has a lot of momentum and is therefore harder to slow down than a light object traveling at the same speed.

Angular momentum (L) begins to apply when a body (me) begins rotating around a fixed object (‘Rocker’ part of the blade used for spins). This type of momentum is dependent on the angular velocity (omega) and the moment of inertia. In order to go faster, the moment of inertia (the resistance of any physical object to change in its state of motion) must decrease. In order to slow down, the moment of inertia must increase. This explains why skaters with their arms outstretched — distributing their mass over a greater space — have higher inertia and spin at a slower velocity. On the other hand, skaters that pull in their arms while executing a turn spin more quickly by reducing the distribution of mass into a smaller space and thereby reducing the moment of inertia.

Finally, it is the friction between the blade and the ice that allows me to both skate across the smooth ice surface and come to a complete stop. According to Newton’s first law of motion, I would tend to stay in motion indefinitely if the force of friction was not present to slow me down.

Next time you go to the rink, try to use friction in your favor — it’ll help you avoid slamming into the wall while skating!

Polyethylene Textile: The New Fabric That’s Cooler Than No Fabric

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- Ramya Radhakrishnan

hances are that while you are reading this article, you are sitting in the comfort of an air-conditioned room — a temporary relief from the sweltering heat we are suffering through in Miami. As a society, one of the biggest luxuries we experience is that of comfort — in fact, residential and commercial heating and cooling accounts for a whopping 12.8% of total US energy usage. However,what if there was a way to regulate our own temperature rather than the temperature around us?

Researchers have recently started exploring personal thermal management as a means of heating and cooling the human body. Personal thermal management (PTM) is based on the process of controlling heat dissipation from the human body. It works by enhancing the radiative release of body heat using a unique textile system. The issue arises when designing the material composition of the textile — not only does the material need to be transparent to infrared radiation, but it also needs to be opaque to visible light so that it doesn’t contribute to increasing body heat and so that it can actually function as wearable article of clothing (read: not see-through). However, most textiles do not fit these requirements; rather, they absorb radiative heat from the human body. That is, until now.

Polethylene — the clear, clingy plastic wrap that you use when packing sandwiches — is now being brought up as a material that can be used for PTM. Several of its promising attributes include its ability to allow thermal radiation, air and water

vapor to pass through material, as well as its opacity to visible light.

Polethylene’s most promising attribute is its ability to pass infrared radiation, although it has several deficiencies that need to be addressed before commercial application.

Material scientists at Stanford University have been working on tackling these deficiencies over the last few years.

The first issue they chose to overcome was finding a variant of polyethylene that was transparent to infrared radiation but opaque to visible light; remarkably, nano-polyethylene is commercially available and widely used in lithium-ion batteries as a separator to prevent electrical shorting between anodes and cathodes. They found that cotton and nanopolyethylene both exhibit white color because of visible light scattering, as opposed to the usual transparent nature of polyethylene.

The next obstacle to tackle was to modify the industrial polyethylene to enable water vapor molecules to evaporate through pores in the material, so that it can breathe like a natural fiber. Nanoporous polyethylene varies from regular polyethylene because it contains interconnected pores that are 50 to 1,000 nanometers in diameter. Due to the similarity

between the pore sizes and the wavelengths of visible light, the material scatters visible light strongly, resulting in an opaque appearance to the human eye. However, the pore size is actually much smaller than the IR wavelength, resulting in a material that is highly transparent to IR. Additionally, these pores provide critical air permeability and water-wicking properties. The scientists analyzed the transmittance of visible and infrared light of nanoporous and non-porous polyethylene film, and found allowance for more than 90% of total infrared transmittance for wavelengths over two micrometers. They also determined that NanoPE increases the simulated skin temperature by 0.8°C, compared with 3.5°C for cotton and 2.9°C for the fibrous polethylene textile (Tyvek) manufactured by DuPont.

After tackling composition and structure difficulties, the last concern was commerciality of the material. The researchers were able to create a single-sheet porous polyethylene textile that met the basic criteria for a cooling fabric. In order to make this extremely thin material wearable, they compounded it with two layers of cotton mesh to provide strength and thickness. When swatching the fabric on bare skin to measure amount of heat trapped by the material, the scientists found that adding the cotton layers caused a 3.6 F increase in

skin surface warmth.

However, this small heat increase is truly unavoidable; “Wearing anything traps some heat and makes the skin warmer,” said Shanhui Fan, a professor of electrical engineering who specializes in photonics, which is the study of visible and invisible light. “If dissipating thermal radiation were our only concern, then it would be best to wear nothing,” he added.

Fan believes that the discovery of commercial nanoporous polyethylene opens avenues in material science application, particularly the ability to tune materials to dissipate or trap infrared radiation. Additionally, the scalability of this material is extremely important to consider. “If you want to make a textile, you have to be able to make huge volumes inexpensively,” said Cui, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and of photon science at Stanford. The set price for a material like this, its feasibility for daily implementation (ability to wash, longevity, sensitivity to light, etc.), and the practicality of mass producing such a multi-layered architecture still needs to be determined before the production scale increases. It goes without saying, however, that the development of a viable cooling fabric reflects the strides being made in advancement and innovation of material science.

Research 17 The Cradle of Our Memory: The Role of Amyloid Beta in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Renewed New Hope for Treatment - Steven Lang There are as many neurons in the brain as there are stars in the galaxy; the synapses between neurons cradle the memories of our most joyous moments, kindle our hopes and aspirations, and conceal our darkest secrets. Yet when you begin to lose those memories, those synapses, at what point do you lose yourself ?

Chances are, everyone has experienced an older relative having a challenging “senior moment.” Difficulty remembering is a natural part of the aging process, but when cognitive decline becomes an everyday occurrence, it may be a sign of dementia,. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia characterized by the progressive loss of the cerebral cortex (grey matter), which is the part of the brain responsible for a wide range of complex and important activities, from memory to language.

If you were to look at a sample of an Alzheimer’s brain under the microscope, as Dr. Alois Alzheimer did in 1907, you would see anomalous structures called “plaques,” in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. Plaques appear as dense, apple-green deposits in the space surrounding the nerve cells. In 1984, Dr. George Glenner at the the University of California, San Diego discovered that the plaques discovered by Dr. Alzheimer consist of an aggregated protein called amyloid-beta (Aβ). In 1991, Dr. Allison Goat’s team at Washington University in St. Louis identified mutations in the A gene in patients suffering from familial Alzheimer’s disease--an early onset, inherited form of the disease which represents about 8-10% of all Alzheimer’s cases that may be responsible for Aβ plaques.

The combination of Alzheimer’s, Glenner’s and Goat’s findings led to the development of the amyloid cascade hypothesis in the early 1990s. The amyloid cascade hypothesis posits that the overproduction and aggregation of Aβ in the brain leads to the formation of Aβ plaques,which interfere with cell communication and ultimately activate an inflammatory response leading to cell death and subsequent loss of brain function. Multiple therapeutic interventions have targeted the Aβ protein , but none so far have successfully mitigated cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients. These failures cast doubts on the amyloid cascade hypothesis by skeptics who claim that the presence of plaques comes secondary to the true underlying disease mechanism. One group of researchers from Tufts University even claimed that Aβ plaques may “ play a protective role in the diseased brain [of Alzheimer’s patients].”

A recent clinical study on the Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab has helped to revive the amyloid cascade hypothesis. Aducanumab’s development represents a significant achievement over previous antibody therapies.

The drug is a monoclonal antibody, which is a Y shaped

molecule that works like a molecular sticker, it selectively binds to the aggregated Aβ proteins found in amyloid plaques.

Once attached to the Aβ plaques, the antibody targets them for clearance by microglia (specialized immune cells which act like the brain’s garbage collectors).

Whereas past therapies, such as Solanezumab, targeted only non-aggregated forms of Aβ, aducanumab successfully targets the aggregated form of Aβ proteins. Published in the journal Nature, the study conducted by the US biotech firm Biogen in conjunction with the Swiss company Neurimmune found a reduced rate of cognitive decline in groups who received the drug compared to groups who received a placebo as measured by performance on the “Mini–Mental State Examination” (MMSE). The study used the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) to measure cognitive performance — the MMSE is a 30 point questionnaire that assesses cognition with questions involving language skills, memory recall, and the ability to follow complex commands.

Alzheimer’s disease poses a significant public health challenge, especially as increasing life expectancies and an aging population of baby boomers indicate an increasingly large, elderly population. It is estimated that 100 million people will develop Alzheimer’s disease by 2050. This, combined with the increasing economic cost of caring for Alzheimer’s patients (approximately US$57,000 per patient annually), makes the development of effective therapies a necessity for society. How does the development of aducanamab mitigate the public health challenge? The early success of aducanumab has sent waves through the field of Alzheimer’s disease research. The drug’s plaque-busting abilities have helped to focus light back on the amyloid cascade hypothesis, and while further research is needed to confirm its effectiveness, it may hopefully one day be a powerful weapon in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease.

Courtesy of the Alzheimers Association

It’s Not Rocket Science - Natalie Massiah

You’ve probably heard the common phrase well, at least it’s not rocket science! (especially if you hang out around Cox or McArthur). While this phrase is used to draw attention to something obvious, rocket science in reality is often intimidating to people who aren’t in STEM. I was one of those people until I met sophomore Zeshan Aziz, who studies computer engineering. He’s been co-researching a project with alumni Alex Coulthard (‘15), James Smith (‘15), and Mohammed Arsalan (‘15) since his senior year of high school. “I was inspired by the 1950’s movie October Sky,” Aziz exclaimed, “which dealt with the real life example of kids being inspired by Sputnik. Going forward, I wanted to see what changes I could make with rockets.” Aziz’s project investigates two characteristics of rockets: roll control, a mechanism that prevents the rocket from spinning, and stability, a property that allows the rocket to shoot perfectly upward. With both roll control and stability, the rocket can climb at faster and higher rates while using a smaller amount of fuel.

If you were anything like me, you would likely be lost from the get-go. But, think about this in the simplest terms: rockets are made to go straight up into the sky. There are variables that prevent the rocket from flying straight (like the temperature, weather, and wind). To test these variables, Aziz and his fellow researchers employ a trial-and-error method. “Rocket science,” Aziz described, “has always been a topic for visionaries. It’s a very ‘out-there’ field, and there’s always tiny improvements to be made. One of the biggest things is weight reduction, as the lighter your rocket is, the higher it will go. Of course, there’s things that we can change, and things we can’t change. For example, there really is no standard design for fin development for rockets. So, we went through a rocket-building book, compared designs, and had Alex develop eight different pairs of fins ranging in variety in strengths, designs, and composites.”

Aziz’s team decided to purchase a rocket and make minor modifications. James explained, “I always saw videos of

rockets on YouTube, but I noticed that they were acting crazy and wouldn’t fly straight. That’s when roll control comes in to make the rocket fly straighter and faster.

Once we figured out the innovation in software design, Mohammed and I recruited Alex and James. They have degrees in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering, so it was a perfect overlap.” They purchased an Estes Pro Series II, which lacked strength, durability and capacity. It also lacked a reasonable power source that could propel the rocket to higher altitudes while having the support structure to hold the power source itself.

Instead, they reverse-engineered the design with the help of Blue Tube. Blue Tube is commonly used in military applications and is much stronger than typical cardboard; simply put, it is a good alternative to phenolic and carbonfiber tubes. With the sturdiness of the Blue Tube, they changed the design of the fins using sheets of foam and pinewood, and these fins are integrated within the rocket with epoxy. Using three fins instead of the usual four also decreases drag, which in turn decreases the rocket’s weight. This not only allows for the rocket stabilization to meet design requirements, but also breaks up the design into smaller and more easily-managed pieces, while giving a smoother finish to the prototype rocket. But, even rocket scientists can’t handle it all at once. “If you don’t know rocket design, you can just pick up a couple books from the library, and that was my main source to get the jist of how it worked. I didn’t have to worry too much about mathematical equations because when I put the information into the [Apogee’s Rocket RockSim] software, it does the work for you. You can sketch a basic design in one day, but if you get more knowledge and information you can learn to optimize things and build a

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better rocket.”

While it’s great that the rocket is able to fly high into the sky, what about landing it afterward? Most rockets use dual deployment parachutes, in which the first parachute is released at the height of the mission to decrease drag quickly, while the second parachute deploys at a lower altitude to gently return the rocket to the ground.

However, Aziz’ newly remodeled rocket could only fit one parachute. As a result, Zeshan made some DIY igniters out of Christmas lights and black powder, called e-matches. The Christmas light was sliced off at the top, filled with 1.5 grams of black powder, and resealed using a glue gun . But how does this slow down a rocket?

Using an inexpensive microcontroller board, an electrical charge breaks the glass of the bulbs which releases the gunpowder inside of the rocket. “The first e-match is broken in the engine, where the engine takes off. Once the rocket hits the highest point in its flight, known as the apogee, a second e-match goes off which releases the parachute. This is a very controlled explosion so that all the fuel is burning to create thrust and lift”.

What really is astounding is that all of the controls were assembled and utilized from a microcontroller located inside the rocket. Aziz hopes that with this project, he can gain insight on the possibility of creating an app that can connect to high-powered rockets. “It was a lot of hard work, considering it was Alex’s first time producing a rocket of this scale.” But, considering anyone can make do with the right tools, the term “rocket science” has a new meaning. “The people who post rocket videos YouTube surely have had problems in developing their rockets, but they only show what is perfect. To me, it’s intuitive.”

Photo by: US Navy Conservation

The Whale in the Room: After Graduation, What Are You Doing With Your Marine Science Major?

Photo by: USFWS Pacific Southwest Region

“So you’re going to work in a lab your whole life?”

That’s the question I often get when I tell people that I’m a Marine Science and Biology Major. While it’s true that I enjoy doing research and working in a lab, the Marine Science degree can be so much more. The different degree tracks in this program highlight the various options one has as a Marine Science and Biology degree holder, and whether or not you choose to pursue these options at RSMAS, you know that they’re still out there waiting for you.

Aquaculture With aquaculture providing over 50% of the seafood used for human consumption, it is the fastest growing sector of food production. Having a Marine Science degree and knowledge of fish physiology could prove to be invaluable if you choose to go into the world of aquaculture.

Marine Mammal Trainer Most people come into Marine Biology expecting to work with dolphins and manatees. While this isn’t always the case, it’s still an option one can pursue. Here, your knowledge

of mammal physiology can be put to use as you will be responsible for the day-to-day training, observation, husbandry care and diet preparation for marine mammals. This position also usually has the added bonus of public interaction.

Rehabilitation of Marine Animals What could be better than using the Marine Biology degree to save stranded marine animals? In the rehabilitation field, one would be in charge of directing the medical care of animals (usually marine turtles and mammal) undergoing rehabilitation for the purpose of being released back into their natural environments.

Ecologist While this is different from the science of Marine Biology, the ecology of marine systems is nothing to sneeze at. The vast differences in the various marine environments make it essential for ecologists to study how plants and animals interact in the environment, and to study what we as humans can do to enhance that interaction.

Conservation Green Peace is always searching

- Aalekhyka Reddam

Photo by: Sea Turtles 911

for passionate individuals to help their cause, and with a knowledge of the marine sciences, you can become a stronger advocate for the health of the oceans. The world needs people to stand up and speak on behalf of the deteriorating oceans, and who better than someone with the knowledge of why exactly the ocean systems are falling apart?

Community Outreach Last but not least, use the Marine Science degree to inspire budding scientists to enter that very field. Whether you’re in charge of organizing field trips through marshes or snorkeling trips through the coral reefs, nothing is more important than making the population aware of the importance and beauty of the world below land.

In the end, most of us don’t know what we’ll be doing with our degree.

It is important to remember that we chose the Marine Science field for a specific reason: our love for the ocean.

So whether you choose to go into research, industry, or a completely different field, remember that the ocean is always there, waiting for you to come back.

- Aalekhyka Reddam

Hurricane Simulator: The SUSTAIN Tank

When people talk about the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), the Hurricane Simulator is often one of the highlights of the conversation. It’s not often that a hurricane with wind speeds of 157 mph (capable of destroying buildings) can be replicated in a research tank, so it’s not a surprise that this is one of the cornerstone technologies at RSMAS. The hurricane simulation tank is called SUSTAIN (Surge Structure Atmosphere Interaction) and is the world’s largest 3D experiment used to study hurricanes.

Dr. Brian Haus, a physical oceanographer at RSMAS and the director of the tank, says that the tank could be used to study so much more than the destructive effects of hurricanes. The professor in the Ocean Science Department at RSMAS says that the main point of this facility is to study high winds and analyze the processes that happen at the air-sea interface during a period of high winds. As a result, one of their projects uses the air-sea interface to look at those interactions during hurricanes and examines how those interactions affect structures.

Apart from hurricane research, Dr. Haus claims that the SUSTAIN tank can also be used to research fundamental questions with broader implications. Questions associated with wave physics, climate change and detailed physical process are often studied in this lab. Currently, the Office of Naval Research is funding the lab to look at the transport and spread of oil spills in terms of air-sea interaction. When an oil spill happens, the oil forms a very thin layer at the surface and the specifics of what that layer does has not been well understood, until now. The lab analyzes this surface layer of oil by setting up a camera system that can measure the nearsurface currents and which can see very thin layers; hence, the camera system can see the way the oil interacts with the ocean and air which allows researchers to see how the oil is

transported throughout large bodies of water.

The lab is also funded by the National Science Foundation in order to measure the turbulence underneath the surface waves and the gas transfer rates across the air-sea interface. This is important for understanding the oceanic cycling of carbon dioxide, the mixing of the upper ocean and the climate implications associated with these processes.

Lastly, another research project undertaken by the lab is to map the wave surface of the ocean to develop a better computer model and, as a result, help generate real surfaces found in the ocean.

Dr. Haus admits that the research is very mathematicallyfocused, but he also explains how he takes a very real-life approach to this research, comparing it to the way students derive equations in classrooms. For undergraduates interested in the lab and its research,, Dr. Haus is currently taking in undergraduate students. Additionally, there is also an undergraduate lab course in physical oceanography that takes place in RSMAS classrooms for half of the course. Students working in Dr. Haus’s lab have the opportunity to both learn and teach what they are doing, and this dual opportunity provides an extremely rewarding experience for any budding marine scientist.

Photos courtesy of Dr. Brian K. Haus, Diana Udel, and Sustain Laboratory

how ripe is that apple?

- David Lin

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ave you ever wondered how to tell when an apple is ripe? It can be extremely upsetting when you let one rot just because you could not tell if it was ripe.

Not only is it disappointing, but also extremely wasteful. What if you could always tell how ripe an apple is? Everyday consumers may not think this is a big deal, but for farmers and distributors of these crops, it could make a world of difference. They often have a difficult time deciding when they should ship out their harvests, and face the challenge of deciding the harvest date that would maximize the freshness of the product. Innovations in fruit ripeness measuring technology could save them both time and money in the long run.

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed a handheld device that can indicate how ripe an apple is. The device measures the glow of the chlorophyll in the apple’s skin under ultraviolet light. The device provides the user with the number of days the fruit has been ripening, helping them to decide when to harvest or consume the apple.

The current method of determining ripeness available to distributors and growers is spectrometry. Spectrometers are able to measure the brightness of light at certain wavelengths; however, they are impractical to use.

The instrument is extremely expensive and large in size, making it difficult for farmers to utilize.

According to the lead author of the device study published in Nature, MIT postdoctoral researcher

Innovations in Science

Anshuman Das, this causes a large issue in the farming industry: wastefulness. Without proper tests for ripeness of product, farmers run the risk of harvesting the crops at unfavorable times. This causes a large number of the crops to rot and thus be discarded. Since apples only grow in specific seasons but are sold year-round to consumers, suppliers and farmers have to coordinate optimal delivery times. They aim to provide the ripest produce to the supermarkets that sell the product quickest, ensuring that consumers always get fresh fruit. However, with the inadequate technology currently available, this is a particularly challenging task.

This particular problem motivated Das and his team to find a solution. Part of his research is funded by an organization called the Tata Center for Technology and Design.

One of the organization’s missions is to provide for communities that do not have access to high-cost and high capital technology. This drove Das and his team to incorporate readily available technology to invent this new product.

With the exception of a fluorescence chip, the device uses parts that are readily available on the market. The computing power of the device comes from an Arduinobased controller. This type of controller is an open-source electronic platform that is based on user-friendly hardware and software, and is marketed for anyone who is making an interactive project.

Using this everyday technology, Das and his team constructed a spectrometer that used ultraviolet light to induce chlorophyll fluorescence in the skin of the apple.

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Since chlorophyll decays into different chemicals over time, the riper the apple, the dimmer the chlorophyll.

After the apparatus picks up the light from the apple, it sends the data to an Android device via Bluetooth.

The device has preset measures of ripeness and the data sent over Bluetooth is compared with the preset measures. From this comparison, they can calculate the number of days that the apple has been ripening.

This allows the distributors to know which apples are riper; thus, they will be able to know which apples should be shipped out first.

The size of this device only adds to its convenience. Its handheld form factor allows it to fit into a casing that measures only 3.5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide.

The opensource product can be made with materials that cost fewer than 250 dollars.

In order to test accuracy and effectiveness, the team compared the results of their new product with those of the larger and more expensive spectrometer. They found that the new technology performed just as adequately as the current technology. The optical measurements of the device are non-destructive, unlike existing mechanical tests, which allows for its use in rapid sorting of large batches of fruit. The potential for this technology is immense — it can even be used on any produce that contains chlorophyll. The world of produce has much to gain from easily-manufactured and widelyaccessible devices like this affordable spectrometer.

Proton Therapy: The Next Big Thing in Radiotherapy?

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he unlikely combination of physics and biochemistry has given rise to some of the greatest technological advances seen in modern medicine. Diagnostic tools like X-rays and MRIs have enabled physicians to effortlessly diagnose otherwise undetected disorders of the human body. Monitoring devices like the electrocardiogram and the sonogram, which once made medical residents gaze in awe, are now commonplace. Innovative (and now ubiquitous) medical treatment devices like the cardiopulmonary bypass pump and the dialysis machine have saved countless lives.

Vying to mark its place in medical history, proton beam therapy is rapidly emerging as a substitute for traditional radiotherapy. Miami Cancer Institute is set to unveil “Proton Pete”, the first proton beam therapy machine in South Florida.

Proton beam therapy uses advances in nuclear physics to treat various types of cancer. For many, radiation therapy is standard practice for treating cancer. It involves projecting gamma rays, X-rays, or other types of radiation into a patient in hopes of destroying cancer cells. According to the NIH, short term side effects of traditional radiotherapy may range from bowel damage to temporary memory loss and sometimes, infertility (NIH).

In addition, extensive research has shown that cancer patients who have undergone traditional radiotherapy are at a significantly greater risk for long term side effects, such as developing a second or multiple cancers in the following years.

Cyclotrons like Proton Pete eliminate most of the dreaded side effects from radiotherapy because radiation is directed precisely at the cancerous site with little, or no damage, to surrounding tissue. According to the Mayo Clinic, the side effects of proton therapy include skin redness, numbness, and (in rare cases) fatigue and headaches. The greatest advantage of proton therapy lies in the fact that there is limited exposure to radiation, thus drastically reducing the chance of developing additional cancers.

Given the apparent reduction in side effects, one would reasonably assume that proton therapy should immediately replace traditional radiation as a means of treating cancer. For many patients diagnosed with cancer, their top priority is extending their lifespan. Whenever new oncological drugs or devices are sent to the FDA for approval, they are judged by how much longer they can extend life. For example, assuming similar side effects, if patients taking Drug A have a median survival rate of 6 months after diagnosis while those taking Drug B have a median survival rate of 1 year after diagnosis, Drug B has a much greater chance of receiving approval since it

- Amruth Alluri extends life for a greater amount of time.

Unfortunately, there is not much evidence (due to a lack of clinical data) to suggest that proton therapy extends life for a greater period of time than conventional methods, which makes many doctors wary of recommending it to their patients. Those who favor proton therapy state that the lack of data comes down to a matter of ethics. If a patient with prostate cancer is told that he would be a participant in a study that would treat his cancer by either beaming scattered rays of radiation or precisely targeted streams of hydrogen ions at his body, it is more likely that he would want to be part of the hydrogen ion group. Issues that further complicate proton beam studies are advances in beam delivering technology. In the last 5 years alone, novel methods of delivering protons have emerged and there is a growing trend towards scanning, or focusing rays, rather than the traditional proton delivery method of scattering rays.

The most important factor limiting the use of proton therapy is cost. The cost of a cyclotron exceeds 200 million dollars a year.

According to an article published by The National Association for Proton Therapy, the median Medicare reimbursement for a single dose of proton therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer is 32,428 dollars while that of traditional radiation therapy is 18,575 dollars.

It is important to note that Medicare’s reimbursement rate would be on the lower end of the scale because the government’s refund schedule is based on availability of funds.

Contrarily, private insurers do not release their pay schedules, but it is publicly known that they pay a significantly higher refund rate because providers have the ability to negotiate insurers in the marketplace.

With an increase in cost comes a decrease in accessibility. Many insurers abide by the term “medically

necessary” when determining whether or not a certain procedure should be covered. It is debatable whether or not proton therapy is medically necessary when other treatments exist, and it is such ambiguity that gives insurers leeway in determining coverage. For example, Anthem, a part of Blue Cross Blue Shield, lists only six specific instances in which it will cover the costs for proton therapy. In addition, before therapy, the patient is required to get prior authorization from an oncologist and additional approvals for Anthem’s reimbursement committee. Such bureaucratic red tape limits access for many Americans.

Despite being unavailable to an overwhelming majority of Americans, proton treatment centers are popping up rapidly across the United States. A report by the Palm Beach Post showed that as recently as 2012, the University of Miami was in talks to build a proton therapy center in South Florida. Since 2009, 15 new centers (some with multiple cyclotrons) have opened up. Before 2009, there were only six proton treatment centers in the United States.

The emergence of new centers does raise a lot questions. Many feel that this is part of a medical arms race designed to boost revenues for hospitals while

masking potential costs. Many experts like Dr. Ezekiel Emanl (health care advisor to the Obama administration) believe that there is “no evidence that there’s a need for them in terms of medical care…they’re simply done to generate profits”. Nearly every proton therapy treatment center is high-volume, meaning that the treatment center (in order to be economically viable) has to operate continuously. This causes concern for many doctors and patients because it places the interests of the hospital before those of the patient. The most recent study done on the cost-effectiveness of proton therapy was in 2005.

The lack of any clear data since then makes health economists concerned that the public is being deceived into thinking that proton therapy is the right choice for them.

For many, the choice between proton beam therapy and conventional radiation is strikingly clear.

Understandably and rightfully so, every individual wants their loved ones to receive the best possible treatment with the smallest number of side effects. Despite the advances in science and technology, scientists are reluctant to use the word “cure” in a sentence. Many feel that investments in proton therapy chip away from the original purpose of oncological research: finding a cure for every cancer.

Photo courtesy of Berkeley Lab

dilemmas You may recall — if you received your driver’s license — that the clerk at your local DMV asked you a seemingly abrupt question: would you consider being an organ donor? This is a question most teens do not consider before taking their driving test, and is one that serves as the gateway to a number of more difficult problems.

Organs in a utilitarian sense are a scarce resource; supply is dwarfed by demand. As with any scarce resource, their allocation fosters dilemmas. Unlike most other goods and services, organ donations are pivotal to the fundamental health and wellbeing of a person and organ availability is often a matter of life and death. It is precisely within the process of allocation that most issues regarding organ transplantation arise. Consider the question: Should illegal immigrants be permitted to donate and receive organs?

For a growing number of people the answer to this question is a resounding ‘no’. With recent rhetoric detailing mass deportation and the construction of fantastical walls, some of these people are quick to decide that ‘they’ve come for our jobs and now our organs too!’

This snap-judgment fails to fully analyze a very complex issue; these very same people if in need of an organ would certainly be more than willing to accept a viable donation from any person regardless of legal status. Illegal immigrants in this country do indeed receive organs on certain occasions and contribute organs to the donation pool. Furthermore,the decision regarding this matter has already been made. Nonresident aliens can both donate and receive organs in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

With such a simple and emphatic statement, it

might be expected that clear and defined terms would be easy to find in the appropriate legislation. This is far from the truth. The term “non-resident aliens” does not even refer to illegal immigrants. No legislation in writing exists regarding illegal aliens in donation or in receiving organs — and is certainly a major deterrent in this large demographic donating organs to a system in which there is already a major shortage. By not establishing the terms and conditions either for or against this organ donation, lawmakers continue to stall out on this important health issue. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network’s (OPTN) database on donation and transplant data is surprisingly comprehensive in aspects like gender, ethnicity, and circumstance of death, age and region— that is, in every manner except for citizenship status. The current rulings on organ transplants detailed in the National organ Transplant Act of 1984 (while certainly needing revision) specifies that the only determining factor in deciding if a candidate should receive an organ is medical need.

This bears the right ethical sentiment in that the allocation of organs should be dependent on the medical utility, not by who has the greatest wealth, celebrity status or political influence. This is hardly a point of argument as any person would be understandably angry if they were passed over for an organ transplant on the sole basis that the person next in line has more money or status. While there are those who circumvent the system by partaking in “transplant

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in organ donation - Justin Ma tourism” and even those who can afford to be registered on the organ transplant list multiple times (a practice officially called ‘multiple listing’ which even has an official government pamphlet from the OPTN detailing how to partake in it), at least the law expresses the proper ethical sentiment.

However, while medical need is the primary determinant of allocation for persons on the organ transplant list, getting onto that list can be a challenge for many immigrants of varying legal status.

Registration for the waitlists is performed by organ transplant centers around the country; these centers are a major bottleneck for non-citizens who are here either legally or illegally. Legislation regarding this mechanism of the organ donation process is vague and while elements like locality, the type of organ in question and urgency play a large role as specific selection criteria — the process is largely left to the discretion of transplant physicians.

Even if everyone had unhindered access to being placed on the transplant waiting list, the ultimate dilemma encountered in complex situations of ‘medical need’. An organ transplant for one patient over another incurs some sort of ethical opportunity cost.Physicians — with all other things being equal, must somehow determine what scenario minimizes opportunity cost for the greatest gain. Despite the arguments made earlier, wealth can indeed influence this opportunity cost in some cases: a patient who has better healthcare coverage may be able to afford the necessary post-

operational long-term care leading to a longer life and greater medical benefit from the transplant. In the case of illegal immigrants, the ability to cover the costs of not only the actual transplantation but also that of subsequent care can be a relevant consideration.

Prolonging the life of someone who may not be able afford the proper care may only cause unnecessary pain and incur a great opportunity cost. In contrast, even in circumstances of questionable socioeconomic status — a less financially-able parent of five children may be prioritized higher as the welfare of the family unit depends on the health of the patient. Even in terms that do not involve health, it is not difficult to imagine that some physicians may see that a person’s illegal or non-resident status may make it difficult for them to find employment, justifying financial stability in the future. While the ability to pay is not an explicit criteria, the commercialization of healthcare has made wealth and medical care inseparable. While medical need is a state of present and opportunity cost a matter of the future — these two concepts are also inseparable from each other.

Physicians and lawmakers alike are hardly in a position to make ethical decisions regarding organ transplant priority based on complex what-if arguments or assumptions based tenuously on present-day conditions. However, the reality of healthcare and well-being is that these decisions must be made every day; many factors may thereby play into the nebulous concept of medical need in organ transplantation.

Careful analysis and more rigorous definition of the status quo of mediating between the ethical ideal and realistic practice for organ donors and recipients of all circumstances should become one of many priority issues in the medical and political spheres.

Drug Price Increases: Price Gouging or Free Market Imperative?

-Jason Truong

photo from: searsymasstort

From aspirin for headaches to popular “study drugs”, pharmaceutical drugs are universally prevalent across American college campuses. But what should happen when vital medications cost three times more than the refill? Recent hikes in pharmaceutical drug prices have angered the American public and promoted the federal government to take long-needed actions. However, despite public efforts to resolve this, the answer isn’t so simple.

Ethics, politics, economics and greed play an outstanding role in our nation’s pharmacies.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called the Affordable Care Act or “Obamacare,” highlights the nature of our nation’s drug crisis. The Affordable Care Act has helped to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. However, the loose regulation of the pharmaceutical industry left a legislative vacuum beneath prescription drug prices, allowing pharmaceutical companies to exercise free rein. Poor transparency and unregulated profit margins consequently shift costs to insurers, taxpayers and patients

themselves (although insurance companies often shift costs to their customers as well, while refusing to cover certain drugs and pre-existing conditions). According to the Department of Health and Human Services, pharmaceutical drug spending in the United States totaled $457 billion in the last year alone and is on an upward trajectory, expected to increase by 5-10 percent annually.

Supporters of the Affordable Care Act maintain that the law has helped to control costs, cut waste, and ensure greater accountability through marketplaces — online bazaars that stimulate competition, provide minimum benefits and expanded coverage, and offer higher deductibles and subsidies for low-income customers. While much of this is true, the regulation of necessary drugs has yet to be resolved, representing a significant financial challenge to millions of Americans. The financial burden of increased drug prices has prompted Americans to obtain their drugs elsewhere.

For Americans who live close to the Canadian border, it is just a short drive to find drugs at cheaper prices. As many Americans from Maine enter Canada to purchase expensive drugs, pharma lobbies have lobbied aggressively to prohibit the import of drugs into the U.S. The Canadian healthcare system offers an example of an alternative, more affordable system.. In Canada, all pharmaceutical companies must work with the pan Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance (pCPA) to establish approved prices.

This significantly decreases costs for Canadian consumers, as the government has power to tightly regulate how drugs are sold. The pCPA and Generic Price Value Initiative of the pCPA has been in action for many years and has worked quite efficiently.

The US government’s legal inability to negotiate with drug suppliers is perhaps the biggest contributing factor to price increases (even government officials are not legally allowed to be in the same room with pharmaceutical representatives).

Though the law is supposed promote transparency and prevent corruption, many critics suggest that this was simply a giveaway to the pharmaceutical lobby. The pharmaceutical

photo from: victor casale

industry’s dominating presence has caused much public uproar, but none as much as two widely-known cases of drug price gouging: the Daraprim and Epipen controversies.

Daraprim is the trade name for a drug called pyrimethamine, a WHO-declared Essential Medicine used to treat protozoal infections, malaria, and toxoplasmosis among HIV and cancer patients with compromised immune systems. Last year, a company called Turing Pharmaceuticals, headed by Martin Shkreli, acquired the rights to the patentexpired Daraprim and raised the price from $13.50 to $750 per tablet, a 5000 percent raise. This move caused widespread condemnation and outrage, leading Martin Shkreli to be called “the most hated man in America.” Shkreli was ordered to testify in front of a Congressional committee on his decision to raise Daraprim prices.

The Epipen is an epinephrine autoinjector that quickly delivers a measured dose of the hormone epinephrine to a person suffering from an acute allergy attack by reversing swelling, reopening airways, and treating other accompanying symptoms. As of now, the Epipen maintains complete market dominance with no competitor products. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, under the leadership of CEO Heather Bresch, raised prices for two Epipens to $614, a 550 percent increase from $100 a few years ago. The Epipen itself only costs a few dollars to make and contains about $1 worth of epinephrine, yet the Epipen retails for such an incredulous price. Bresch was ordered to testify in front of Congress as well, providing a distinct parallel with the Shkreli case.

Unfortunately, Daraprim and Epipen are not the only cases in which recent price increases have placed enormous burdens on the medically needy. For example, cycloserine, used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis increased to $10,800 from $500; doxycycline, an antibiotic, rose to $1,849 from $20 a bottle; cardiac medications Isuprel and Nitropress rose 525 percent and 212 percent from Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Many more cases can be found and will continue to be present if no efforts are done to stop them. The various ethical questions raised by these unsavory tactics are varied and plenty. What is

the price of human life and health to profit? What is the limit that drug prices can be raised? Where do we draw the line between capitalistic competition and greedy profiteering?

A free market approach would allow these increases to promote commerce, as long as antitrust laws are maintained. Some argue that federal regulation of the pharmaceutical industry would extend the reach of the government too far and disincentivize newer and innovative drug research. Since patent protection and exclusive distribution rights encourage innovation, the high costs and raising drug prices would offset the similarly high cost of research and development.

Working towards a profit-driven motive, traditionalists argue, would incentivize greater production and distribution of drugs to the overall population. These arguments work more on a pragmatic form of ethics to be generalized to the rest of society.

The alternative and dominant perspective is that drug price increases are strictly unethical and do nothing more than increase corporate bottom lines. This perspective maintains that pharmaceutical companies have a moral obligation not only to make drugs, but also to promote their accessibility among the needy populations. A cited example of an exemplification of corporate greed is that of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) monopoly on HIV and AIDS drugs in South Africa, in which GSK controls almost half of the worldwide market in that respect, with only 10% of the South African population having access to these drugs. The fact that Daraprim and Epipen were increased so highly when they were old drugs without any further research costs further reinforces the immorality of these increases. Experts have advocated that a just price correlated with worth is needed, with moral necessity dictating that price must reflect worth, not simply what the market can bear or what others will pay for it.

The right to maximize profit does not outweigh the right of access to critical drugs. The conflict of interest between profit and creation must be resolved. But what is the best solution for this? One solution is to place fair limits on prices while allowing companies to make profit, and most importantly, allowing governmental negotiation of drug prices (mirroring the Canadian system). Another solution is to limit the influence of pharmaceutical lobbies, as they greatly influenced the creation of the PPACA. Oversight of pharma mergers and acquisitions, regulation of patents and exclusive distribution rights, and the creation of a single payer system would all help to keep drug prices in check. Until more action is taken to regulate these pharmaceutical giants, they will only continue to harm the general public. What if you or a family member goes to buy a particular drug only to be greeted with an ever swelling price tag? The next time you refill your prescription, consider that the drug price could skyrocket in a single night. Hopefully, you can still afford it the next time.

Like us on facebook: www. facebook.com/FirstGeneration-U Email us at: umiami.fgu@gmail. com Activities: • Student and Faculty Mentorship • First Generation Alumni Success Series • Community Outreach • Workshops for FAFSA • Roundtable discussions • Guest speakers • Connections to campus

About us: We are a community of first generation students committed to addressing the issues faced by first generation students in higher education. The ultimate vision for this student organization is to establish a platform through which first generation college students can share advice through mentorship, connection to school resources & development of new and existing initiatives for first generation students.

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Politics in Healthcare: A Bitter Pill To Swallow

- Justin Ma

A girl walks into an office. The presidential debate is playing on the TV, highlights of candidate X vehemently denouncing Planned Parenthood ringing across the lobby. She is called to the front when a sign on the door catches her eye: “Candidate X for President!” Nervously, she shuffles through and takes a seat. The man on the other side of the desk peers through his files, gaze landing on her stomach.

Imagine this were you, going to the doctor. Asking for an abortion.

With the increased power and reach of social media, political campaigns seem to have seeped into almost every aspect of our lives. The presidential hopefuls for the 2016 election cycle have received nearly 24/7 coverage for over a year now, both as headlines and as punchlines. The politicization of professional offices is not unimaginable, and, in the case of the doctor’s office, poses some unique ethical considerations.

The Doctor-Patient relationship is the foundation on which most primary health care is built upon and taps into a well of medical ethics. After all, the domain between doctor and patient, described as the “medical interview”, is as much a social interaction as it is an application of medical knowledge. The trust held toward doctors is a central characteristic of the sociological role of the patient.

The maintenance of this trust is of highest priority as it often determines the quality of care offered. And quite unjustifiably, this can be compromised by any circumstance jeopardising the relationship between a doctor and a patient.

In this context, the most obvious rift would come from the opposing views on health issues, stemming from the endorsing of a candidate. For a recent example, take Donald Trump, who has expressed anti-abortion and anti-vaccine stances as early as in debates from September of 2015.

Irrespective of the patient’s political position, there come times when medical counsel is sought out from doctors.

Ignoring possible biases, would a patient feel comfortable having marginally controversial discussions with their physician amidst contradicting political stances? If a patient is confronted with an unspoken opposing political view, he or she may subconsciously refrain back, damaging the doctor-patient relationship. Consequently, this could lead to improper communication, leaving less-than-ideal quality treatment for the patient. Hence, both ends of the medical interview must loyally participate so as to satisfy the patient’s personal sphere the doctor’s extended public health sphere.

In a small poll, a group of nineteen acquaintances/ participants were asked if a poster of a candidate with affirmative or negative views regarding a medical procedure of interest would increase, decrease or not change their willingness to consult with their doctor regarding that procedure. Although the small sample size cannot allow extrapolation, some interesting potential trends were suggested.

It is clear that negative priming creates a tendency to feel a decreased likelihood of consultation. Interestingly, some respondents gave the “opposite” response: an increase in likelihood with negative condition and a decrease with affirmation.

1) With further inquiry, respondents who were more likely to consult with the physician in the negative scenario stated that they would be genuinely interested and concerned in getting an opposing viewpoint to weigh both pros and cons.

In this event, such a condition may in fact create friction and damage the doctor-patient relationship.

2) Participants who responded with decreased likelihood of consultation in the affirmative case explained that with the physician’s support already established, there would be no need for counseling. Regardless of the stance of political priming, having less dialogue with the physician will likely cause the doctor-patient relationship to deteriorate and place

patients at risk. For better or worse, nothing will be gained without open dialogue.

3) One participant responded with decreased likelihood in both scenarios- citing that any sort of outward political affiliation suggested a degree of unprofessionalism.

4) While it may be argued that presenting a political view is something that makes a doctor more relatable to patients, and that those with concordant views may have a strengthening in relationship, the fact remains that there will ultimately be an alienation of one group of patients. Treatment should nonetheless be a matter of public health and not political views. Furthermore, in the data shown above, in the affirmative case there is an overwhelming majority of people being unswayed,, suggesting that a supposed positive light from the physician is not very significant. However, negative health outcomes can arise with matching political opinions; patients may ignore or not fully evaluate alternatives if their physician’s political views are already in alignment..

On the other hand, switching healthcare providers is not an effective solution as this involves rebuilding a doctor-patient relationship possibly entailing incurring additional costs that may not be possible for financial or logistical reasons.

This is not to say, however, that doctors should not exercise their right to actively participate in the political system. After all, this is what drives politics and the duty of any good citizen. For doctors, a clear separation between political stance and professional duties must exist. In medical offices especially, an environment where the identity of the doctor is most resonated, political influences should be distinctly separated. Doctors who feel strongly about political issues can easily find alternatives in supporting political organizations or third-parties, thereby keeping their conflicting roles as healthcare providers and citizens safely analogous . The busy offices of physicians are visited by people from all socioeconomic statuses and demographic

backgrounds. And a doctor’s word carries with it a gravitas which is not easily ignored. Under the note , using the power associated with being a doctor to influence the political scales is another unfairness. Advertising a political stance as a doctor is quite different from doing so as private citizen; the latter being a means by which anyone can endorse a political candidate. In the initial example given, the sign outside of the office can misrepresent the political climate. Further, the office’s staff may find themselves in an uncomfortable position with their employer because of differences in opinion which would also negatively affect health care.

Despite this, politics and public health care are overlapping entities that coexist on the macroscale. Major political decisions will often affect the health-care system in profound ways. And cyclically, the realm of healthcare at large will affect higher end decisions as well. The public policies our legislators draft are related to the quality of care physicians can provide and the standards of medical practices will affect future enactments of laws and such.

In fact, the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Code of Ethics (Opinion 9.012) indicates that “physicians have a responsibility to work for the reform of, and to press for the proper administration of, laws that are related to health care”. Obviously, this is a point of significance but it certainly should not supersede or inhibit a doctor’s ability to provide high-calibre care, a statement which the AMA also provides provisions for: “Under no circumstances should physicians allow their differences with patients or their families about political matters to interfere with the delivery of high-quality professional care”. Again, methods for emphasising the reforms in the Code of Ethics that do not alienate patients are widely available and provide a reasonable middle ground for doctors who must cater to patients in the short-term as well as maintaining the health care system in the long-run.

Let Food be thy Medicine - Rachel Colletti

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owadays, the importance of nutrition has been reduced to weight loss and looking great. As the diet and fitness industry rapidly grows, there seems to be a new health fad each and every week. At the same time, many Americans are not receiving proper nutrition and are increasingly confused about what proper nutrition entails. Additionally, the concept of nutrition as a treatment for chronic diseases is overlooked. There have been numerous studies showing that there are more benefits to eating well than just looking great. One of the best examples of this is the role of nutrition in mental health.

As college students, it is likely that we ourselves or someone we know is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Whether it be depression, anxiety, or ADHD, we know that these illnesses are pervasive.

Many of us have tried counseling or medication, but have we ever been taught the benefits of eating right or taking supplements for our mental health? If eating more fruits and vegetables or taking a multivitamin could boost our mental fitness, this would be a cheaper and more accessible alternative to pharmaceuticals.

Poor nutrition is a significant and modifiable risk factor for the development of mental illness.

Right now prescription medicines are the first line of treatment for mental illnesses, and they work well for a lot of people. However, incidence rates of mental illnesses (as well as the prescription rates of psychotropic drugs like anti-depressants and stimulants) are on the rise. If these treatments were truly effective, the morbidity rate of mental illness would theoretically decrease, but this is not the case. And, in a review of the effectiveness of psychopharmaceuticals over the last 50 years, it was shown that the recovery and relapse rates of individuals suffering from mood disorders show no significant improvement since the advent of these pharmaceutical treatments. Research has alarmingly shown that children who are treated with stimulants for ADHD are three times more likely to receive a later diagnosis of bipolar disorder than are children who were never given these medications. Clearly, we need to begin looking into alternative treatments for these diseases that are plaguing our nation.

Dr. Julia Rucklidge, a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Canterbury, who researches the impact of nutrition on mental health, has published numerous studies on this topic. In 2009, Dr. Rucklidge decided to run a randomized

placebo control trial using vitamins and minerals (or micronutrients) for the treatment of ADHD in adults. Within just eight weeks, twice as many people responded to the micronutrient therapy compared to the placebo. Hyperactivity and impulsivity reduced into the normal range for those on the micronutrient therapy, and it was self-reported that their ADHD symptoms were less impairing and less interfering in their work and social relationships than the placebo. She also notes that twice as many people went into remission for their depression in the same amount of time. She shows that one year later those who continued the micronutrient therapy maintained their changes or showed increased improvement. She has published over 20 papers with similar results.

Dr. Rucklidge is not the only scientist who has highlighted the importance of nutrition in human health. Dr. John Lewis, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Dr. Lewis has been doing clinical research at UM for 15 years. He recently published a very promising paper on a saccharide derived from aloe vera for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, one of the most debilitating forms of

dementia. Lewis’ study investigated the effect of the Aloe

dementia. Lewis’ study investigated the effect of the Aloe Polymannose Multinutrient Complex (APMC) on cognitive and immune functioning over 12 months among adults diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

The results showed improvements in both clinical and physiological outcomes for this disease. I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Lewis to learn more about his research as well as his experience within the scientific community.

In our conversation, Dr. Lewis explained that he has been able to carve out a niche in dietary supplements, nutrition, exercise training and a few medical device studies. He calls his work “health promotion”. Dr. Lewis is very passionate about nutrition and remains focused on his work because he has a true love for helping people. But he noted that there have been many skeptics toward what he is doing. Some faculty members do not see nutritional science as being as important or rigorous as pharmaceutical research.

These attitudes may be why further developments of his Alzheimer’s disease study have been halted. Dr. Lewis and his research group tried several times to get more funding to continue this line of research, but were rejected by both the Alzheimer’s Association and the NIH. Lewis noted that conventional science can do nothing for this disease, but the field of scientific research is so fixated on medication that nutrition and exercise are not taken seriously.

Dr. Lewis continued to explain that scientific research operates in a “pharmacological paradigm”.

This means that studies are designed to focus on one factor, one outcome, and one mechanism at a time.

But nutrition does not work this way. The human body and its relationship with nutrition is multi-faceted and incredibly complex. Dr. Lewis believes that if you’re evaluating nutritional science in the pharmacological paradigm, with placebo controlled double blind experiments, nutritional science will fail every time.

For example, it’s easy to measure the metabolite of a chemical, but there is no way to evaluate the effects of a whole food diet within this same paradigm. In order to properly evaluate nutritional science, one must take basic science (work with cells, tissues and animals) and the results of clinical research in relatively short periods of time as well as results from large epidemiological studies over long periods of time. Then you see what trends run parallel to each other. This is the best way to evaluate nutritional science, and there is no such thing as a perfect study. Dr. Lewis’ explanation tells us that the pharmacological paradigm contributes to America’s confusion about nutrition and even moreso about the role of supplements. Not only is nutrition complicated on its own, but it becomes even more complex when you try to evaluate it with a scientific method designed

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to analyze chemicals and pharmaceutical products. We need a new method to study nutrition, a method like the one Dr. Lewis outlined.

I was also curious to learn about Dr. Lewis’ opinion on dietary supplements. The health community is divided on this issue; some believe supplements are a waste of money and some believe they are essential.

We saw from Dr. Rucklidge’s micronutrient therapy studies that supplements can potentially treat mental illness. Dr. Lewis subscribes to the belief that dietary supplements are essential. He explained that, especially for someone who has a health challenge, there is no way one can possibly eat enough of any nutrient to help the body restore itself. He noted that our world is so polluted today, and that people are eating “foodlike stuff ” so frequently, that we aren’t receiving many micronutrients anymore. In terms of phytochemicals and other micronutrients, most people aren’t getting remotely the amount of the nutrition that they need.

Purchasing dietary supplements ultimately comes down to any other consumer decision:most people do their homework when buying a car or other luxury products; so it has to be the same with dietary supplements. Dr. Lewis believes it’s just a matter of education.

Dr. Lewis left me with one piece of advice that he deems most important when it comes to health promotion: be active every day, and shift to a predominantly whole food plant-based diet. He noted that we as a society are literally eating and sitting ourselves to death. Being healthy is not rocket science, it’s actually pretty simple.

Dr. Rucklidge and Dr. Lewis have been working on treatments for debilitating illnesses, and often these treatments diverge from the current scientific paradigm.

Dr. Lewis noted in our interview that other faculty members don’t think of nutritional research as being as rigorous or important as pharmaceutical research. And yet, the data from nutritional intervention studies has been far more promising than several pharmaceutical studies. In terms of Alzheimer’s disease, none of the conventional treatments have been as effective as Dr. Lewis’ aloe vera supplement. In the same way, we have not seen improvement in depression recovery rates in the last 50 years, despite the advent of anti-depressants.

It seems as though we have nothing to lose to begin looking into alternative treatments for not only mental illness, but many other chronic illnesses that have not been improving with pharmaceuticals. Like Hippocrates said, “let food be thy medicine.”

Vitamin D: The Unlikely Fountain of Youth

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- Rachel Colletti

merica is a youth obsessed culture. We invest in everything from anti-wrinkle creams to anti-aging cell research in order to retain our youthful charm.

While beauty products and surgical procedures may delay the aesthetic effects of age, research has not yet been able to uncover how to delay our cells from biological aging. It turns out, however, that the fountain of youth may be hidden in one of the most common nutrients: vitamin D. The scientific community has been aware of the importance of vitamin D since its discovery in 1922. It is common knowledge that vitamin D is found in certain foods and that our bodies can produce this vitamin through exposure to UVB rays.

We associate bone health with this vitamin because it has been shown to be important in calcium absorption and maintenance.

Those who are deficient suffer from rickets, osteomalacia, and osteoporosis — all diseases characterized by weak and brittle bones.

But it turns out that vitamin D has a more intrinsic role in the human body. Vitamin D controls the expression of over 1,000 genes and nearly every cell in the body has a receptor for this vitamin.

For reference, 1,000 genes is 1/24th of the genome — making vitamin D extremely powerful.

Controlling over 1,000 genes means that vitamin D influences over 1,000 physiological processes.

As you can imagine, being deficient in this integral vitamin can wreak havoc on our health. In a recent study, it was found that 70% of people do not get adequate levels of vitamin D. Vitamin D’s relationship with aging illustrates the detriment of deficiency. A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology looked at 2,100 pairs of female twins and showed that vitamin D plays a significant role in the telomere length in white blood cells. Telomeres are thought of as biological markers for age — the shorter your telomeres, the older your cells are. This is because telomeres are caps at the end of our chromosomes that protect DNA from damage.

Each time a cell replicates, the telomeres shorten until they are entirely gone, which signals the cell to die. The twin study showed that the difference in telomere length between those who were vitamin-D sufficient and those who were vitamin-D deficient corresponded to up to five years of aging.

It has been shown that factors such as chronic stress,

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inflammation, obesity, smoking and alcohol all increase telomere shortening.

Because behavioral factors can shorten telomere length, it is possible that a chronologically old person can be biologically young if they have made healthy choices throughout their lives.

This is why the finding that vitamin D can increase telomere length is so profound. Getting adequate levels of vitamin D, doable through diet, sunbathing, or supplementation, can potentially delay the aging process in your cells.

Vitamin D is thought to delay the shortening of telomeres by decreasing inflammation and cell proliferation — both of which accelerate telomere shortening. The importance of vitamin D is fascinating. Not only is this micronutrient critical in the health of our skeletal system, but it may also be critical for the proper aging of our cells.

So why are 70% of people deficient in this integral micronutrient? And how can we alleviate this problem? As previously stated, vitamin D can be produced endogenously when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin. Most people do not spend enough time outdoors, and when they do, they are often wearing sunscreen which blocks the UV rays.

Additionally, vitamin D is a fat soluble vitamin so a higher body fat percentage impairs the bioavailability of vitamin D. Vitamin D hides in fat stores therefore decreasing its release into the bloodstream.

Increased sunscreen use, the obesity epidemic, and nutrient deficient diets all aggravate the widespread deficiency of vitamin D. The best source of vitamin D is from exposure to UV radiation — without sunscreen.

It is advised that fifteen minutes of sun exposure per day will fulfill your vitamin D needs without harming your skin. We can also obtain this vitamin from our diets. Food sources include eggs, salmon, fortified milk and yogurt. Lastly, a popular method of fulfilling dietary recommendations is supplementation. The current literature on vitamin D and its importance has been called into question: do our bodies actually need more of it than previously advised? However, for the time being, it is advised to follow the recommended daily allowances for vitamin D and, at the very least, properly research a supplement before purchasing it.

Research has shown vitamin D to be preventative in cancer, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, depression, bone disorders and now, aging. It’s power shows the profound importance of living a healthy lifestyle — one micronutrient has such a prolific role in our body and may be responsible for preventing some of our nation’s top medical killers. As Americans, we are eager to develop elaborate biotechnology to prevent aging and provide quick fixes for our health problems, yet we have only recently considered the importance of micronutrients. Preventing vitamin D deficiency is relatively inexpensive and affordable — it’s time to soak up some sun.

hormetic compounds What first comes to mind when I hear the word “stress” is that all-too-familiar feeling of being nervous and overwhelmed. As college students, stress has an very negative connotation. But as it turns out, stress plays a dual role in our bodies. There are certain types of stress that cause harm to our bodies like chronic stress, which can weaken the immune system and potentially lead to cancer. At the same time, there are good types of stress; mild physiological stress has shown to be protective against aging, inflammation and cancer. Our bodies differentiate between these two types of stress through a biological phenomenon called hormesis.

Hormesis refers to biological mechanisms where a beneficial effect results from exposure to a low dose of an agent that is otherwise toxic or even lethal at higher doses. Hormetic agents can be compounds (like turmeric) or environmental factors (like sitting in a sauna). If you sit in a sauna and exceed the suggested time, you may have to be rushed to the hospital.

However, at a low dose like 15 minutes of direct exposure, sauna use is extremely beneficial because the

heat stress induces mild cellular stress responses. By producing a physiological stress, our bodies fight back by increasing concentrations of detoxifying enzymes and anti-inflammatory compounds. Inducing a mild cellular stress response helps to strengthen the body’s stress response for later in life when it is confronted with a threatening stress like cancer.

Have you been wondering why people are all of a sudden drinking turmeric tea? I can tell you it’s not for the delicious taste, but for the hormetic benefits.

Turmeric is one of the best examples of a hormetic compound. The anti-inflammatory nature of turmeric has been widely recognized, but its mechanism of action was not revealed until the concept of hormesis was understood. One of the active agents in turmeric, called curcumin, is a powerful anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer molecule when administered at low doses. Curcumin has been shown to induce cell death in carcinogenic cells. Many molecules that cause cell death also evoke autophagy, a protective mechanism that digests potentially harmful intracellular structures, particularly in mitochondria. This is where we see the

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- Rachel Colletti biphasic nature of hormesis. At high doses, curcumin will uncontrollably induce the death of cells, even ones that are healthy. But at low doses, the molecule only kills off cells that are seen as threatening by the body.

This same mechanism of action is part of the reason why fruits and vegetables are deemed the healthiest foods in the world. Fruits and vegetables contain important molecules called phytochemicals.

Phytochemicals are toxic molecules that the plant produces to protect itself from insects and pests.

However at the small doses that humans ingest, these phytochemicals induce the hormetic response in humans.

In addition to dietary compounds, hormetic pathways can be stimulated through an environmental factor, temperature. People have long been using saunas for their relaxing nature. But as it turns out, this kind of heat stress is actually extremely beneficial for our bodies, too. When certain proteins in our cells known as heat shock proteins (HSPs) are exposed to high temperatures, they induce a hormetic response that promotes the expression of a gene called heat shock factor 1 and, subsequently, the production

of more HSPs. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology showed that when HSPs are induced, they can prevent damage by directly scattering free radicals.

Furthermore, they can repair misfolded or damaged proteins, ensuring that proteins have proper structure and function. Extremely low temperatures can also induce this hormetic response. This is part of the reason why athletes use ice baths, and why cryotherapy is so popular right now.

This duality of the role that stress plays in our bodies demonstrates the complexity of human physiology. It also shows how lifestyle interventions can have profound effects on our health. You can manipulate the performance of your cells through your diet, through your environment, and through your lifestyle. It’s important to understand the differences between good stress and bad stress, however. At times, college brings about overwhelming pressure; this is not a good source of stress, and there are healthy ways of relieving the symptoms of this pressure. Utilizing the good types of mild stress like the ones mentioned above can greatly improve the strength of your body down to the cellular level.

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