A true miracle....

...life's beginning!
Have a great new year!

It's all about....

...energy!

Have an energetic holiday and new year!

Proteins run the show

The only thing DNA really does is code for proteins. Everything in our bodies is a result of the action or existence of proteins. Proteins form structures, comprise messengers and messages, start reactions and stop them--everything.
There is no magic effluvium that tells your eyes to be blue--it's a protein. And no ethereal spirit tells your cochlea to signal your temporal lobe that the bells are ringing--it's protein.
Some people think that describing life this way is "dehumanizing". Have you ever examined the simplest of protein reactions? They are amazingly complex yet exquisitely precise--far beyond one of our paltry pieces of machinery in their power and consistency.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made!

Elegant in its simplicity....

...the plasma membrane!
Diffusion, osmosis, polarization, depolarization, secretion, excretion, respiration...everything that means life.
Without its exquisite and specialized "semi-permeability" we would never have developed beyond a single cell. But even so, single celled organisms--bacteria, viruses, protists--are the most successful life forms ever, with just one membrane!
Many poisons work by "fooling" the plasma membrane--using an existing membrane function to invade and damage the cell's metabolic processes. So--always know exactly what's in the substances you ingest. Just because something is "natural" DOES NOT mean
it is healthy! Arsenic, radon, cyanide, carbon monoxide--all are " natural" substances that cross the plasma membrane and destroy the cell. And guess what? Destroyed cells-->destroyed organism!
So--be kind to your membranes today!

Love means....

...sacrifice!

Pulmonary function....

...is simple.

The major work of breathing is INSPIRATION.
The way the lungs works on EXPIRATION, though, measures their true health.
Significant decreases in pulmonary capacity occur BEFORE they become symptomatic.
Smokers should get pulmonary function tests (PFTs)--
maybe the results will convince them to STOP NOW!
To borrow a phase, maybe this truth can set them free!
It's never too late to stop killing yourself!

Irrational fears?

To a degree.

As this chart shows, the majority (82%) of our ionizing (and therefore potentially mutagenic) radiation exposure is natural, i.e. unavoidable.
Nuclear reactor "accidents"--there is no such things as accidents, just events that are more or less probable in given circumstances--aren't even on the map.
We are still our own worst enemy; even the danger radon exposure (higher risk of lung cancer) is vastly potentiated by cigarette smoking.
Does this mean we all want a nuclear reactor in our back yards? No, but it does mean we need to focus on the more important risks that we can control--like smoking, drinking, and risky behaviors.
And that warm glow we all have? Natural!

Another bodily function...

...we take for granted--breathing.
Spirometry is s simple way to evaluate a person's lung function.
The biggest enemy, of course, to healthy respiration is smoking.
If in doubt, have it checked out!
It's never too late to quit!

Turkeys...

...have muscles (our first unit in A&P II), too!

Enjoy the holiday!

Ode to Carbon

Oh, Carbon, thou art lovely,
With thy magic valence four.
From that com'st all we are
And will be evermore.

With H and O you marry
To craft the ties that bind,
Thou makest oh so many things
With others of your kind.

Alkanes, alkenes, alkynes,
Benzene rings thou makest, too,
Alcohols and ethers come from thee,
And proteins ne'er a few.

And when I lay me down to rest,
Thy cycle it doth run,
Return to earth my solid parts-
My soul aims for the sun!

What's wrong with smoking?

You tell me!

Assessment!

"Hands on" assessments in science are called "practical exams". In Anatomy & Physiology this is the opportunity for the students to demonstrate mastery over the "stuff"--histology, models, and similar artifacts. The major obstacles to success are overconfidence and "underconfidence"!

Under the first, a student thinks that having "looked at" something once is sufficient. One of the reasons I require students to "draw what they see" when doing histology is so that they can utilize a different learning modality--kinesthetic--to assimilate the visual knowledge that they (unwittingly) think is easier to acquire than it is. Another source of overconfidence is forgetting that we are working on anatomy AND physiology--one needs to know not only what something looks like but what it does!

Underconfidence is manifested by "second guessing" one's self. We all have experience with this. I learned years ago that my first answer is usually my best--not always "right" but as right as I am going to get!

Between these two extremes lies--SUCCESS!

When it's good to be a bad-ass!

Killer T-cells! Whoa!

Thanks for the complement!

One of the more elegant non-specific immune defense mechanisms is the COMPLEMENT CASCADE.
Others include the skin, granulocytes, inflammation, macrophages...a whole host of protein-based (and therefore GENETIC) processes.
Evolution has resulted in our ability to rapidly respond to any and all "invaders", and through sexual reproduction to "keep up with the parasites" (the theory of the Red Queen) .
Fearfully and wonderfully made!

Thank gases...

...and the people who loved them!

Much of what we know about chemistry, and a lot of the conventions in its language and practice, started with the investigators in the 18th century who were fascinated with gases. Priestley, Davy, Avogadro studied and described them and, along with the much maligned alchemists like Newton himself, discovered much of what we know as the laws of chemistry through their empiric observations.
Their studies ended up laying the groundwork for our understanding of physics and biology and became the connection between as well as the foundation for much of our modern world, including our ability to feed 7 billion people. A great book to start exploring chemistry is NAPOLEON'S BUTTONS, which tells the fascinating tales of seventeen molecules that changed the world.
Love your molecules today!

The proverbial two edged sword

Inflammation!
We are a Goldilocks organism--things can't be too hot or too cold.
Such is the case with the processes that attack and work to eliminate invaders.
When they work "just right" we are protected; if they are too slow, weak, or "cold" we suffer from invasion, usually infections. However, when they are too "hot" we can suffer irreparable damage to our tissues.
Chronic inflammation is one of the mechanisms leading to autoimmune disorders, coronary artery disease, kidney failure, and a host of other conditions associated with the aging process, including cancer.
How to help? There are no magic cures or quick remedies.
Do those things that are DOCUMENTED to assist the immune system: eat right and in moderation(not based on fads); ESchew tobacco; get enough sleep; avoid chronic stress (acute stress is actually beneficial--such episodes keep our system on its physiologic toes!); wash your hands (and body) often; get sufficient exercise; take an aspirin a day if you are over 40 and non-allergic; and maintain your preventive care cycle.
What does not help?
Anti-oxidants (they can actually increase the damage); excessive intake of vitamins; immoderate alcohol consumption; a sedentary lifestyle; using the Internet as your doctor; relying on anecdotes and pseudoscience (like the anti-vaccine nuts); and wishful thinking.
You can do a lot to make things just right with your immune system.
And if you do, like Goldilocks, your sleep will be peaceful!

Beautiful....

...in form and function.
The eosinophil!

Genetics as fairy tale?

The "theory of the Red Queen" holds that our immune system has to evolve rapidly just to "stay in place" (like the Red Queen had to run to do so)--to continue to defeat the parasites who are also rapidly evolving in their ability to invade us.
Recent evidence also suggests that a key aspect of sexual reproduction is female choice influenced by a genetic predisposition based on immune compatibility. Women can "smell" the male's immunity!
Some people say to "reduce" sexual behavior to this level is dehumanizing--I think it makes our success as a species all that much more beautiful. Fearfully and wonderfully made, indeed! And, unlike a fairy tale, true!

Take a deep breath....

...and remember this simple equation.
Molarity scares people, but should not. It's simply a standard measure of concentration. A mole is a standard number of atoms or molecules. There is no "WHY"--it just is!

Blood....

...is beautiful!

Come to papa!

One of the most elegant mechanisms that the body has evolved to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of its processes is the RECEPTOR.
Effective homeostasis requires cell differentiation on many levels. By using the same basic equipment, cells with identical DNA can develop a vast array of specialized functions in part due to receptors that are specific to very defined signal proteins, and in addition can be turned off and on in a myriad of ways.
The result is essentially an infinite number of "lock and key" arrangements that allow specialization based on "generic" structures.
This principle, that the body has a few basic features that are maximally variable, determined by the DNA code, which is itself universal, is one of the most subtle yet powerful arguments, in my view, for the existence of rational order--design--in the universe.

There is no "why"....

...this is just how it is.
Atomic structure is logical and determines everything else about physics, chemistry, and biology.

A love/hate relationship....

...the cell membrane lipid (fatty acid + carbohydrate) bilayer!
The hydrophobic (water hating, fatty acid) inner layer keeps the cell impervious to inappropriate invasions, the hydrophilic (water loving, glycerol) layer lets the cell fit into its tissue.

One of the many exquisitely evolved features of the cell, the membrane is not just a bag!
It is an active, critical player in cellular metabolism (and therefore in dysfunction).
It is one of the major reasons we must ingest lipids (fats), which, despite what the foodies say, is not poison.
Some tissues are so dependent on membrane anabolism and catabolism that they are more fat than protein; neuronal and brain tissue (neurons and particularly neuroglia, which forge the connections and conductivity between neurons) is 70% fat.
We are, therefore, all literally fatheads!
Love it, hate it--gotta have it!

Science "humor"....

...tries for New Yorker quality and sometimes gets partway there.
But not very often.

Kinda looks like....

...an upside-down heart?

Love means sacrifice....

:-)

Weights and measures...

...are critical elements for doing good science.
We in the U.S. are at a disadvantage in this regard in that we refuse to use the metric system, which keeps our children from being fluent
in this important language.
For example, normal body temperature is 37C;
water freezes at 0C and boils at 100C.
On the Fahrenheit scale these numbers are 98.6, 32, and 212 respectively.
Is that irrational or what?
The inability of our students to think in Celsius
is a serious, and willful, weakness.
Go metric!

Organic does NOT really mean "without pesticides"....

...it means "containing carbon".

And, as revealed in STAR TREK, we are carbon-based life forms. This is "because" carbon is, with hydrogen and oxygen, one of the most common elements in the universe. Also, carbon has the unique ability to form four stable bonds, and therefore the combinations and molecules it can create are essentially infinite.
"Life" as we define it is the activity of carbon-based chemicals--proteins, nucleotides, lipids, and carbohydrates. But the the total is more than the sum of its parts in our case--none of these compounds are "alive" but when they work together in the precisely modulated way that has evolved over billions of years, we have the "Holy Grail"--homeostasis!
Make sure you are homeostatic today!

The "father" of anatomy....

...Andreas Vesalius--with friend.

Dissection of the human body was illegal, in most cases, up until the 19th century. Anatomists had to "acquire" specimens in various ways, usually through grave robbing. In some locations it was legal to dissect criminals who had been executed; this made for some rather macabre post-hanging or -beheading scenes in which the anatomists' agents would fight over still-warm corpses (and in some cases heads) at the foot of the scaffold or gibbet. It's not hard to imagine situations in which pieces of the bodies would be "parceled out"--for a price.

Things got so bad in Victorian England that families posted guards at graves. As might be expected, this often expedited the "disappearance" of the bodies as the anatomists paid the guards more than the families did....

The history of science is filled with people who took chances in order to extend knowledge. In the end we should be grateful that they did, and still do. We are the beneficiaries.

A real heart can't be "beat"....

Yet!

A short break for us all!

The brain's resting symphony....

True love means....

...sacrifice!

Ode to Prevention

Oh, preventive care we love thee,
("Preventative" is not the word!)
Thy benefits are very clear to us
If we be bias free.

Vaccines are really good for kids
No matter what the dumb may say,
And if you yield to these stupid folk,
Disease may carry thy offspring away.

Not doing harmful things is good
And will of cert prolong thy life,
Smoke and drink oft' destroy thy bod
And may offend the wife.

Avoiding bad disease is cheap
At least compared to death,
Tobacco smoke is poison
And makes for rancid breath.

So start prevention early
If full benefits thou would gain
And live life to its fullest
Instead of filled with pain.

Epigenetics

The real news and future in genetics is not the genome itself, as important as that is. I cringe when I hear biologists say that the majority of DNA is "junk" or "gibberish." It is a sign of our continued arrogance that just because we don't know what this material does it we think it must do "nothing".
In fact, it appears that much of this DNA is probably involved in moderating the expression of the core genome. Turning genes on, turning them off, and modulating the intensity and degree of their expression are all probably what really make each individual unique. This process seems to be highly correlated with environmental factors--toxins, nutrition, etc.--and explains much of the relationship between nature and nurture.
This phenomenon is called "epigenetics" and it is the real science of evolution, development.
Mark my words, folks--epigenetics is the real future of biology and medicine.

Takes a lot of stuff....

...to build a baby.
From the beginning, where fertilization relies on calcium blocking a second sperm from entering the egg, to delivery, where blood clotting depends on mother and baby having sufficient Vitamin K,
gene-directed protein synthesis demands adequate, or even MORE than adequate, nutrition. A major cause of neonatal mortality in the world is malnutrition. We have enough food in the world to prevent this, but political realities and poverty prevent us from giving all children their best chance.
Do something for a mother's nutrition today!

Women...

...grow and develop, too!

It's not magic...

...it's common sense.
As a species, our nutritional needs evolved hundreds of thousands of years ago. Therefore, we have certain innate signals that guide us toward a diet that is healthy:
Thirst--drinking water is good for you!
Cravings--often specifically responsive to a developing deficiency;
Feeling "stuffed"--if you feel it you probably have eaten too much, in calories as well as volume;
Hunger--research shows that people who ONLY eat when they are hungry tend not to be overweight and people who eat based on external cues --time of day, emotions, peer pressure--often are;
Your body will usually not lie to you, but others things may. Trust your "gut"--and maybe you won't get one!

Ode to Hormones

Oh, hormones how we love thee
And trust us to thy care,
You make us sad and happy,
Take emotions here and there.

When good thou makest wonder
Of the simple things we do,
But bad thou make us grumpy,
And angry though and through.

But we would never toss you out
E'en on days you miss the cup,
Cuz those sweet hormones raging
Make us want to cuddle up!

I have the secret to losing weight and/or keeping it off....

Here it is:
Expend more calories each day than you consume.
That will be $4,845,769.43, please.

ZYGOTE!

1 + 1 = 1

Oxidation is life-giving; anti-oxidants are poisons!

One of the most outlandish, pseudoscientific, and potentially dangerous ideas perpetrated by the food nuts is that the process of oxidation--the action of oxygen on various molecules--is dangerous. Hence "anti-oxidants" are hyped as the most desirable and health-giving foods in the world. Preposterous!
<--This is a molecule of ATP, the most powerful energy-containing molecule known. It is created by our cells and drives all of our living processes. Without it we die. It is created by the process of OXIDATIVE phosphorylation, through which oxygen and glucose are oxidized (lose electrons) to drive cellular metabolism. In the process, "free radicals" (HORRORS) highly reactive molecules that THEORETICALLY can harm proteins, are temporarily created. But the body has evolved ways to handle these reactive molecules, and to date NO RESEARCH has confirmed that any disease is caused by free radicals or oxidation. In fact, excessive intake of anti-oxidants like Vitamins A, D, and E can STOP the process of ATP production and kill; deaths from overdoses of these vitamins are well documented. Well designed studies that test the hypothesis that such anti-oxidants can cure or prevent cancer, for example, have shown the EXACT OPPOSITE EFFECT--they make it grow faster and more lethally.
Oxidation is often cited as the rusting of iron, which is accurate. However, iron is INORGANIC and in fact "rusting" is the natural process by which iron enters the environment AND US, where it is a critical component of blood. It is, in fact, the oxidation of iron that allows blood to carry it to our tissues, where O2 becomes THE essential element for life.
SO DON'T BE FOOLED BY THE ANTI-OXIDANT FOOLS! Life did not evolve until there was sufficient OXIDATION going on; stop it at your peril. Throw those anti-oxidants away!

Magic bullets?

This is an ad for the vitamin that is the latest food fad.
(I am NOT going to name it because it doesn't matter; there will be a new one in 6 months.)
Americans want everything fast and easy, and it has made us one of the unhealthiest as well as uninformed populations in the world.
What this ad does not reveal is that excessive doses of this vitamin can kill.
Sunup...sundown.
Scientific illiteracy is not only stupid, it's dangerous.

Irreducible complexity?

One of the arguments against evolution by natural selection is the concept of "irreducible complexity", which means that, using the eye as the most complex example, anything less than the fully evolved organ is useless.
As with other arguments based on ideology rather than data, this one doesn't stand up to the science.
Starting with a single-celled protist called the paramecium (as well as even some eukaryotes), which has a "light spot", nature reveals a complete spectrum of "eye" designs. In fact, the eye--which is basically just a light-sensing organ--may have arisen more than once during the course of evolution (a process known as "convergence").
We are fearfully and wonderfully made--deep in our DNA, where it
really counts and where the true brilliance and eternal wisdom of our design is revealed.

Vitamins--don't get me started!

Of all the nutritional information about which pseudoscience, quackery, and charlatanism abound, that concerning vitamins is the most rampant and egregious.
Vitamins are co-enzymes or catalysts that are involved in the production of proteins. They are required only in small amounts., and must be obtained in the diet. There are diseases caused by deficiency of certain vitamins (scurvy, pellagra, beriberi are three examples) AND THERE ARE DISEASES CAUSED BY EXCESS INTAKE OF CERTAIN VITAMINS (hypervitaminosis A, excess vitamin E as just two). They are not magical cures for anything EXCEPT their specific deficiency, which is rarely an issue in the U.S. In addition, as chemical molecules there is NO DIFFERENCE between a "natural" vitamin and one that is manufactured--the structures are, of necessity, identical. Americans spend literally billions of dollars every year on vitamins, most of them not necessary. The science is out there about this issue--look for it!

It's all about electrons

Suck them up = acid
Spit them out = base
See how easy??

Real science isn't that hard....

One of the ways in which you can know or suspect that you are dealing with pseudoscience is that you encounter overly complicated or jargon-filled gobbledegook in place of clear and concise language. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in nutrition.
A particular area in which the food faddists and poorly educated "nutritionists" excel at the practice of obfuscation-for-fun-and PROFIT is in the area of fluid and electrolyte balance. If it were as complex as these quacks make it we wouldn't have evolved beyond the single cell stage.
We need about 3-4 liters of pure water each day, more if we are active. Our body will tell us if we are "dehydrated" or salt-and-water depleted and we just need to pay attention. "Dryness" of membranes, low urine output (less than a liter/24 hours), lightheadedness (especially with a change in body position) all MAY indicate we need more fluids. In order to hang on to free water and replenish the salt water that makes up our body fluid we need to take in a defined array of minerals, most of which are contained in a balanced diet. So-called "electrolyte drinks" need to be considered carefully, as they often contain too much of one thing or another--often glucose, which we need but which in excess brings in too many calories. It's not exactly "common sense" but it is pretty easy,
and if it costs a lot of money it's highly unlikely to have a positive cost/benefit.
Take it easy! Your body is your friend, not an enemy to be conquered.
Salt and water to taste!

Holding on....

...to that elixir. Without electrolytes--cations and anions that give our body water its salt and mineral content--we'd melt. Or vaporize. Or freeze. Or simply not exist.

That doesn't mean we need EXTRA electrolytes; potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphates, sulfates, sodium, even bicarbonate can be dangerous in excess. A little is good--a lot is not necessarily better. The food nuts don't seem to recognize this.

The closest fluid that our body water resembles is ocean water. No surprise there! And it makes us a great conductors of electricity. Be good to your electrolytes today, and watch out for lightning!

The REAL elixir of life

WATER.

Get over it....

...the brain is fully complicated and wondrous enough to account for our "minds".
Descartes did us no favors. His insistence on the mind-body duality is still a curse, in that it has led people to believe that there are diseases of the mind and diseases of the body. y There is no distinction, since the brain controls the body and the body is the expression of the brain. The way in which the brain works in and of itself explains why every human is unique. It also explains and puts to rest the nature/nurture issue.
Study the brain--you and your brain will be amazed!

Science dopery, bogosity, and food faddery....

As our general level of scientific illiteracy--among the highly educated as well as politicians, not to mention others--increases, we become prey to more and more unscientific food fads that not only do not do what they promise but might in fact be dangerous. As part of my curriculum in NUTRITION, HEALTH, and WELLNESS, I am using material found in popular magazines (usually located at the grocery store checkout stand) and, of course, on the Internet to illustrate the fact that much, if not most, of what is in the media about food and health is BOGUS! These pieces of misinformation usually contain many errors in basic physiology, and are frequently complete fantasy about the actions of various foods and "nutrients".
One clue to bogosity (of many): Articles making outlandish claims for foods and diets almost always say that the material is supported by "research" or are preceded by the claim, "Researchers (or scientists) report...." As yet I have NEVER found these statements or articles to have footnotes or actual sources that can be checked. This is a common tactic of pseudoscience peddlers, quacks, and charlatans. Another common tactic is to quote celebrity doctors as if they are fountains of original truth; they are, in fact, often even more scientifically illiterate about the topic at hand than others. There is no substitute for real science or research, which almost anyone can access if he or she takes a little time.
DON'T BE A SCIENCE DOPE!

The most beautiful cell in the universe....

...the NEURON!
How we love thee!