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| New research finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death. ScienceDaily (June 20, 2011) — In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journalAddiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death. All the accidents included in FARS are, by definition, severe. But the authors looked at different levels of accident severity by examining the ratio of severe injuries to minor ones. "Accidents are 36.6 percent more severe even when alcohol was barely detectable in a driver's blood," Phillips said. Even with a BAC of 0.01, Phillips and Brewer write, there are 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury versus 3.17 for sober drivers. There are at least three mechanisms that help to explain this finding, Phillips said: "Compared with sober drivers, buzzed drivers are more likely to speed, more likely to be improperly seat-belted and more likely to drive the striking vehicle, all of which are associated with greater severity." There also seems to be a strong "dose-response" relationship between all these factors, the authors write: The greater the blood-alcohol content, the greater the average speed of the driver and the greater the severity of the accident, for example. The findings persist even when such potentially confounding variables as inattention and fatigue are excluded from the analysis. In general, accident severity is significantly higher on weekends, between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. and in the summer months, June through August. But when the researchers standardized for day of the week, for time of day and for month, the relationship between BAC and more dangerous car accidents also persisted. "Up till now, BAC limits have been determined not only by rational considerations and by empirical findings but also by political and cultural factors," Phillips said, citing as evidence that the U.S. national standard of 0.08 is relatively recent and that BAC limits vary greatly by country. In Germany, the limit is 0.05; in Japan, 0.03; and in Sweden, 0.02. "We hope that our study might influence not only U.S. legislators, but also foreign legislators, in providing empirical evidence for lowering the legal BAC even more," Phillips said. "Doing so is very likely to reduce incapacitating injuries and to save lives." ScienceDaily (June 20, 2011) — In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journalAddiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death. Reflections: I feel that drink driving should be stictly prohibited, regardless of how much alcohol a person has in their bodies, whether it is 0.01 percent or 0.08 percent. As this study had pointed out, no amount of alcohol is safe to drive and accidents are always more prone to occur when a person has alcohol is thier body, regardless of the dose. As the does gets higher, the proneness of an accident just gets even higher. 1,495,667 people in the years 1994 to 2008 were involved in such drink driving car accidents and they prove to be the ignorant sort. I fell that more people are not cherishing their lives and getting over confident about themselves, for example, they will try to boost their drivin skills by saying that they could still drive properly though having more than 0.08 percent of alcohol in their blood. Now, studies have found that even 0.1 percent of alcohol can affect thinking and decision makings. As you see, buzzed drivers are more likely to speed, more likely to be improperly seat-belted and more likely to drive the striking vehicle and the greater the blood-alcohol content, the greater the average speed of the driver and the greater the severity of the accident. In more developed countries like Sweden, their permitted alcohol limit is 0.02 percent, this shows the quality of law-enforcement and safety regulations in more developed countries. Even Singapore, a very developed country has an alcohol range is 0.8 percent. I fell that Singapore should not follow countries like American, instead countries like Japan and Sweden. Even better, Singapore should set a o percent alcohol range for drivers as reports have already shown that even 0.1 percent of alcohol could cause accidents. Drink-Drivers should also be severely punished. |
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Science News (Buzz Kills: No Amount of Alcohol Safe to Drive)
Science News (Progress Using Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells to Reverse Blindness)
ScienceDaily (June 18, 2011) — Researchers have used cutting-edge stem cell technology to correct a genetic defect present in a rare blinding disorder, another step on a promising path that may one day lead to therapies to reverse blindness caused by common retinal diseases such as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa which affect millions of individuals.
"When we generate iPS cells, correct the gene defect that is responsible for this disease, and guide these stem cells to become RPE cells, these RPE cells functioned normally. This is exciting because it demonstrates we can fix something that is out of order. It also supports our belief that in the future, one might be able to use this approach for replacement of cells lost or malfunctioning due to other more common diseases of the retina," said lead study author cell biologist Jason Meyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness, affecting an estimated 25-30 million people worldwide. One and a half million people worldwide are affected by retinitis pigmentosa.
Because iPS cells can be derived from the specific patient who needs them, use of these cells may avoid the problem of transplant rejection. In the study, vitamin B-6 also was used to treat the damaged RPE cells producing healthy cells that functioned normally. The retina is a relatively easily accessible part of the central nervous system, which makes it an attractive target for correction with iPS cells. Researchers are hopeful that once the gene defect responsible for a blinding disorder is corrected in iPS cells, these cells may be able to restore vision.
In addition to Meyer of the School of Science at IUPUI, "Optic Vesicle-like Structures Derived from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Facilitate a Customized Approach to Retinal Disease Treatment" is co-authored by Sara E. Howden, Kyle A. Wallace, Amelia D. Verhoeven, Lynda S. Wright, Elizabeth E. Capowski, Jessica M. Martin, Shulan Tian, Ron Stewart, Bikash Pattnaik, James Thomson and David M. Gamm, all of the University of Wisconsin; and Isabel Pinilla of Blesa University Hospital and the Instituto Aragones de Ciencias de la Salud in Spain. Meyer is also a primary investigator with the Stark Neurosciences Research Institute at Indiana University School of Medicine. Thomson is also associated with the University of California -- Santa Barbara.
Reflections:
So Blindness can be reversed after all! Thanks to a professor called Shinya Yamanaka, Human-induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be directed to develop into light-sensing photoreceptor cells of the retina. It is hoped that these cells can be used to better understand and treat human disease affecting the visual system.Nowadays, as technology is being more and more developed, treatments of various deseases have started to surface, just like this Stem Cell treatment, which i believe lasted for very long during the trials.
Macular degeneration is the most common cause of blindness, affecting an estimated 25-30 million people worldwide. One and a half million people worldwide are affected by retinitis pigmentosa. Almost 10 percent of the worldwide population is affected by blindness and similar eye diseases, i feel that there is actually a need for a cure for blindess and this professor has done it, he had identified the cause of concern accurately and also surprisingly managed to even deduce a treatment for it. Sometimes, inventions of medicines, and cures always start with ideas, these ideas slowly form into trials and then being approved into the commercial sector. Cures always start with ideas and brainstorming. And also most importantly, a vast amount of research. Almost everyone knows that stem cells can be regenerated to any of our body's systems and they might think, why cant i just regenerate a brain or a heart using stem cells when a patient has heart failure or brain death? It is actually discored possible now, and many studies have started. But everything contains risks, using stem cells to regerate brain cells, or even used to treat blindess may cause caner as the stem cells might not grow properly and in the end, grow into cancer cells.
Somatic cells can be induced to convert to a pluripotent state simply by forcing the expression of a few genes, opens a phenomenal number of possibilities in regenerative medicine. However, the mutation of these genes actually resembles that of the mutation of cancer genes, thus, i hope that in depth studies would be conducted before the use of stem cell to treat illnesses and diseases is approved. We do not want an increase of cancer cases due to the use of stem cell treatments. Thus, everyone should execute caution with stem cell treatments and everything comes at a risk, however, as these treatments are new, and for illnesses like blindness which is uncurable with any other treatment, a sufferer should consider going for it as there is still a limited chance of success! One may never know if his/her treatment will succeed. I end my long reflection here and continue to read through my blog as it gets updated with newer posts!
Science News (Glimpsing the End of Our Solar System)
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| A Hubble Space Telescope color image of a small portion of the cluster only 0.63 light-years across reveals eight white dwarf stars (inside blue circles) among the cluster's much brighter population of yellow sun-like stars and cooler red dwarf stars. (Credit: Harvey Richer (University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada) and NASA). ScienceDaily (June 17, 2011) — Researchers at the University of Leicester are investigating the possible eventual fate of the solar system by examining 'white dwarf' stars elsewhere in our galaxy. A white dwarf is the last stage in the life cycle of a star like the Sun, after it has contracted to a diameter smaller than that of Earth. Incredibly dense, one teaspoon of white dwarf material would weigh about five tonnes. Data from the Hubble Space Telescope provides a spectrum for each star which reveals its chemical make-up. Older, cooler white dwarfs, with a temperature of less than 25,000 degrees, sometimes contain elements such as oxygen, nitrogen, silicon and iron which have been 'hoovered up' from the remains of planets. Younger, hotter white dwarfs, above that temperature always show heavy chemicals due to their high temperature. However, they sometimes exhibit more of this material than is expected, which raises the question of whether this extra material also came from planets or whether it originated elsewhere, perhaps in clouds around the star." "Understanding whether the extra material in hot white dwarfs comes from torn up planets is important," emphasizes Dickinson. "It can give us an idea of how these ancient planetary systems evolve as the star ages, so we get a fuller picture of how solar systems die. "Being the end point of the life cycles of most stars, white dwarfs are among the oldest objects in the galaxy, so they can tell us about what were in the oldest solar systems. Given that the Sun will end its life as a white dwarf, this could tell us what could ultimately happen to our solar system." In 2010 Dickinson presented some of his work at the 17th European White Dwarf Workshop in Germany, which has since been published in the journal AIP Conference Proceedings. "Working at the forefront of this scientific area is extremely exciting," says Dickinson. "I find being one of a relatively small community of people in the world to work on this particular area amazing. This work is helping to shape our understanding of how most stars end their lives, how solar systems die, how the environment around these ancient stars behaves and what will ultimately happen to the vast majority of stars in the galaxy. Pro Vice Chancellor and Head of the College of Science and Engineering, Professor Martin Barstow added: "These are important results which show how younger scientists can be involved in cutting edge research and help the University make important contributions to answering some of the most challenging questions about the Universe and our place within it." So, the end of our universe. When would it be? Many people have been wondering about this, religious people are sticking to the date proposed by Mr Harold Camping as Oct. 21.Astronomers are investigating the possible eventual fate of the solar system by examining 'white dwarf' star. As these stars were formed billions of years ago, even when earth was yet to form, they actually provide an insight to ancient Earth and maybe even provide an answer as to how Earth came about, was it the Big Bang Theory or was it the religious theories? The dwarfs can tell us about what were in the oldest solar systems and similarly, just like the Sun would end as a white dwark, it could tell us more information about how the universe would end. Now, i would like to comment on Professor Martin Barstow's words-: "These are important results which show how younger scientists can be involved in cutting edge research and help the University make important contributions to answering some of the most challenging questions about the Universe and our place within it." I agree with him that in the 21st Century, younger people are achieving greater heights an they seem to possess a greater level of talent than the people in the 20 and 19 centuries. Young people are making more contributions to the society, we should be taking this seriously as they will be the next batch of scientists answering questions about our Universe. It will be the talented group of them helping mankind, invent cures to diseases...... I believe that talent should be discovered earlier and more chances should be given to these people, such as letting them do experiments on their own withought any guidance, only with talent will our Universeand mankind's quality of life progress and improve. |
Welcome to Ye Jiadong's Science Blog for 2012!
Welcome to a brand new year! This is a brand new blog i created for 2012 2a1 Science. I shall start by giving my own view towards Science. Science has been the most fascinating subject for me every since i was 7 years old, i was always asking questions revoloving around Science, why was the world round, why did the sky suddenly turn dark when it was night and many many questions, however, nobody could answer me. Now, in secondary school, there was a greter and more focused approach to teaching science-Hands on activities were planned here, with the practicals and experiments, however, in primary school, it was just the teacher talking and blaberring for the full two periods. Misconceptions were often during then, and i could not always fully understand particularly what the teacher was teaching. Just like everyone else, i always thought everything in the worldwas about explosions and childish stuff, but now, my immatulity has taken a new way and the new concepts i learn everyday gives me a new insight into the world of science.
I had always cherished science, it was the growing force and energy pushing me on, it was the most interesting subject among the others, i had always thought that i could invent a cure for cancer, i thought i could cure almost every single disease in the world, however all that has changed, secondary life has proved me wrong. The experiments have actually gave me lots of fun and exposure and the schience ACE projects actually made me engage in Science even more. One of my hobbies was doing experiments and i actually derive pleasure from doing them.
I have always wondered about the science of Aircraft and even had an ambition to become a pilot, Chimistry was my most favourite subject and i promised myself that i would delve deaper to the realm of science. So, as i end my speech here, i would like to wish everyone a enjoying and fulfilling time ahead when we would meet with lots of exams. Lets all take on these exams with determination, perseverance and with the spirit of learning, succeeding and fortitude. Only then will we taste the fruits of our success! After my Secondary one, i feel refreshed, rejuvenated and now, im ready to face Secondary Two with Respect, Responsibility and Readiness.
I had always cherished science, it was the growing force and energy pushing me on, it was the most interesting subject among the others, i had always thought that i could invent a cure for cancer, i thought i could cure almost every single disease in the world, however all that has changed, secondary life has proved me wrong. The experiments have actually gave me lots of fun and exposure and the schience ACE projects actually made me engage in Science even more. One of my hobbies was doing experiments and i actually derive pleasure from doing them.
I have always wondered about the science of Aircraft and even had an ambition to become a pilot, Chimistry was my most favourite subject and i promised myself that i would delve deaper to the realm of science. So, as i end my speech here, i would like to wish everyone a enjoying and fulfilling time ahead when we would meet with lots of exams. Lets all take on these exams with determination, perseverance and with the spirit of learning, succeeding and fortitude. Only then will we taste the fruits of our success! After my Secondary one, i feel refreshed, rejuvenated and now, im ready to face Secondary Two with Respect, Responsibility and Readiness.
Thank you and have a good day:)
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