Tai Chi Benefits Patients with Parkinson's

Name: Olivia Current Event Posting: #1

Topic: Health

Title of Article: Tai Chi Benefits Patients with Parkinson's Author: Tara Parker-Pope

Publication Name: New York Times Date of Publication: 02/09/12

Length of Article: 475 words

In a recent study, 195 people who have been diagnosed with Parkinson's in four Oregon cities were recruited to take part in a trial. Parkinson's is a disease that mainly affects people over the age of fifty. Since Parkinson's causes movement and balance problems, patients were divided into groups that did different physical activities two times a week. One group did stretching exercises, another did resistance training, and the other did tai chi. After six months, the patients were evaluated once again, and i was found that the group that did tai chi was in better physical condition than patients in other groups. Tai chi involves the flowing slow movement of the body, as well as meditation.

This study shows that tai chi and physical movement can help people with physcial problems due to Parkinson's. According to scientists, tai chi may be a better "medication" than actual drugs themselves because the drugs can mentally deteriorate patients. The effect that tai chi has on Parkinson's still isn't entirely clear, but it is speculated that trains parts of the brain that control movement and balance.

Personally, I think that this is a very welcomed discovery for people with Parkinson's. It offers them a holistic way to battle their disease. They can leave a more normal life, because they still have the physical ability to do so, which I think is very rewarding to them.

Astronaut feels space's toll on his body

Jeffrey Liu

Science Technology

Number: 1

Article Title: Astronaut feels space's toll on his body

Length 2 pages 974 words

Author: Rich Phillips

Publication name: CNN

Date of Publication: Febuary 12th 2012

Mike Barrot, who returned from a six month research trip in space on the international space station in October of 2009 has recently reported dramatic changes in his vision. His once near-sited vision had turned far-sited. Many other male astronauts who have had extended stays in space reported similar problems. Female astronauts seem to be unaffected. The cause of this profound shift in vision among male astronauts is yet unclear but doctors believe it has to do with the build up of intracranial pressure during a lengthy stay on the international space station. This build up of pressure would then cause the reshaping of the optic nerve which results in vision changes.

This medical problem has become NASA's number one priority as of now because no further trips to space can occur if the astronaut's health cannot be guaranteed. Also, build of intracranial pressure could have other unknown neurological effects on the astronaut as well. NASA's current 18 billion dollars project to send astronauts for the first time to Mars would have to be put on halt as the fastest space shuttle ever, Orion, would have no astronauts to carry if this problem is not solved.

Facebook IPO: $5 Billion Filing to Sell Stock in May

By: Jill

Topic: Technology

Title: Facebook IPO: $5 Billion Filing to Sell Stock in May

Author: Ned Potter

Publication Name: ABC News

Date of Publication: Febuary 1, 2012

Legnth: 702 words

Announced on February first, Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have some news. This spring, Facebook will begin selling stocks. This year, Facebook profited one billion dollars. Seven investment banks are involved in the IOP, or initial public offering. After stocks are released, Facebook will be one of the most valuable interned companies. By selling these stocks, facebook will become a public company. Facebook is becoming a public company for several reasons. One of these reasons is to prove its 'maturity' or show how it would take something great to rock its stable foundation. The stocks will be sold all around the world. The stocks will begin selling in May 2012.

This is important for facebook, placing in as cement in the internet world, right next to google and youtube. This also adds a bit if risk, changing what might happen is stocks fall. This sets facebook apart from other social networking websites, saying that facebook is here to stay and only improve. But what does this say about our society, that this website is valued the same as other perhaps more useful ones. Most importantly, this definitely says that facebook isn't going anywhere.

The effect of male genes on heart disease

Name: Matt S. Posting Number: #1

Topic: Health

Article Title: Male Genes May Explain Higher Heart Disease Risk

Author: Gina Kolata

Publication Name: NY Times

Publication Date: 2/8/12

Length of Article: Words 605 / 3 Pages

Two out of every three heart-disease patients are male; furthermore, heart disease strikes males an average of 10 t0 15 years earlier than females. The answer was never really known until now. Last Wednesday in an article published in the Lancet, a group of researchers at University of Leicester in Britain conducted studies that show that two variants of a cluster of genes on the Y chromosome affect the rate of heart disease. Those with one of the variants had a 50% increased risk of contracting heart disease than those with the other variant. This increase in percentage of risk is not affected by external factors such as cholesterol levels, smoking and diabetes. The researchers have not yet found the exact gene cluster that causes this, and they do not yet know if the studies are 100% accurate however they say that the studies can be replicated. The chief leader of the study, Dr. Maciej Tomaszewski says that he cannot fully explain the male disadvantage in heart disease. Dr. Miller at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester says that over the history of mankind, there have been men who have "done all the wrong things" to cause heart disease and haven't had any signs of heart disease whatsoever, and there have also been men that lived healthy lives and did nothing wrong but died of a heart attack. She concludes that there must have been some inherited factors that caused these people to die. Dr. Tomaszewski and his colleagues were surprised by the magnitude of the increase of risk of heart disease simply because of one small gene cluster.

In conclusion, this study provides us with the information that heart-disease isn't something that is entirely caused by a person's lifestyle. Up until this point in time, many heart-disease researchers have ignored the Y-chromosome as a possible cause. Also, it also means that men should really pay attention for signs of heart-disease since they could still have it even if they live a perfectly healthy lifestyle. We who have the Y-chromosome shouldn't necessarily start panicking about this, as this study was the only one done so far to prove this theory; the evidence could have been skewed by an experimental error or something of this sort. According to Dr. Rader, much more research needs to be done in order to validate this.

I personally wouldn't worry too much about this since this is only one study that has yet to be proved.

Alzheimer

Name: Helen                                                                                          Current Events Posting Number: 1
Topic: Health/Science
Title of Article: Skin cancer drug reverses Alzheimer's in mice
Author:  Elizabeth Cohen, Senior Medical Correspondent 
Publication Name:CNN                                                                     Date of Publication: February 9, 2012
Length of Article: 1 page, 566 words

23 Researchers from different research institutions, working at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland Ohio, published a interesting finding regarding Alzheimer's disease in the journal Science last Thursday. Their finding is of great relevance for the understanding of Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is associated with impaired clearance of β-amyloid from the brain, a process normally facilitated by apolipoprotein E (ApoE). Destructive plaques found in the brains of Alzheimer's patients have been rapidly cleared by these researchers testing a cancer drug on mice. The researches treated special  mice, which were bred to have Alzheimer disease, with bexarotene and found that this treatment efficiently removed the beta-amyloid from there brains and apparently cured them. Bexarotene is a drug already used to treat a type of skin cancer called cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. After one dose in young mice, the levels of beta-amyloid in the brain were "rapidly lowered" within six hours and a 25% reduction was sustained for 70 hours. In older mice with established amyloid plaques, seven days of treatment halved the number of plaques in the brain. The study said there were improvements in brain function after treatment, in nest building, maze performance and remembering electrical shocks. While this is indeed an interesting and great finding giving us some hope, it is by no ways clear that it will also work in humans. Many treatments that might work for animals, do not work in Humans. 
           This new research finding indicates a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease and gives a path for a possible development of a drug against it. There are other drugs in development which aim to clear the beta-amyloid plaque from the brains of Alzheimer's patients. However, many more years of research and testing will be required before this or a similar drug can become efficient for humans.

The Effects of Stress on Sleeping Patterns

Name: Angela                 Posting Number: 1
Topic: Health
Title of Article: Are You Feeling Sleepy? The Effects of Stress on Sleep Patterns
Author: Kirsty Hanly
Publication Name: Huffington Post                    Date of Publication: February 8, 2012
Length of Article: 1 page, 610 words

              I think everyone can agree when I say that junior year in high school can really stress a student out. We feel the impact of stress as pressures of grades, friends, SAT, and more weigh heavily on our shoulders. However, stress can impact us during our happiest time of the day: when we sleep. In this article written by cognitive hypnotherapist Kirsty Hanly, she describes the effect that stress can have on our unconscious minds. When we are stressed, the sympathetic nervous system treats it as if we are facing a threat, and puts our bodies in the fight or flight mode. This means that even when we're sleeping, we're not completely relaxed because our unconscious minds are continually on guard against "threats". This could lead to long term health problems or simply not being able to have a good night's rest.
             Hanly also adds that the only sense that doesn't fully rest when we sleep is our hearing. That means all night long we're listening to potential threats even if they're just family members, pets, or outside cars creating noise. That must put a lot of stress on our bodies to have to be aware of all the things going on around us even when we're asleep.
            Finally, Hanly concludes with some tips for winding down before we sleep. The first is practice feeling relaxed by taking a bath, or stretching or whatever calms you down. The second is to "get smelling" which is to put a scent by your side that you really like (maybe because you associate it with childhood memories). The third is to set a regular bedtime, which I know can be hard for a lot of us students. The last tip is to avoid stimulants such as caffeine which could increase your heart rate providing additional stress.
            It's important to relax right before you go to bed, because for me that is the best time of the day. I don't want my stress to affect me even when I'm not conscious! So it's just important to leave all of it at the desk and go to bed happy :) 

Name: Marisa
Post number: 1
Topic: Civil rights
Title of article: Study: Segregation in U.S. on decline, but disparities persist
Author: David Ariosto
Publication name: CNN
Date of publication: January 31st, 2012
Length of article: 2 pages

    A study released on January 30th by the Manhattan Institute alleges that segregation of African-Americans across the United States has “dropped to its lowest level in more than a century.”  The study, based off of census data from as early as 1890, states that now, only 0.5% of neighborhoods are without African-Americans, in comparison to 20% half a century ago.  Opponents of the article [optimistically entitled “The End of the Segregated Century”] argue that the significance and magnitude of these changes are exaggerated.  A point brought up by professors Sean F. Reardon and Kendra Bischoff of Stanford University was that the income gap is increasing, within both the overall U.S. population and within racial groups.   On the education front, schools are commonly considered “less integrated” than in the 1970s and 1980s, according to Jacob Vigdor of Duke University.  In sum, though segregation is in remission, it is too early to say that it has died.  Furthermore, the more pressing issue of economic equality is coming into play, which serves to stratify society further.

[article can be found here]