- Another study looking at brain injury and sports; this time in professional fighters.
- Short audio link this week. Antibiotic resistance is cropping up much sooner than we first thought.
- Bad news for everyone who hates the Star Wars prequels: Midichlorians are now published fact. Sort of. These "predatory" journals are a real problem in scientific publishing. Hopefully this helps to shine some light on the problem.
Wednesday, July 26, 2017
Summer Assignment 7.25
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To begin with, I heard the audio clip from the Scientific American. I was surprised to learn that a bacteria could already be immune to a antibiotic without exposure to it. In the case of Penicillin, the bacteria it fought evolved to resist the antibiotic. Surprisingly, it was also immune to a future variation of the drug. This is likely since the genetics were similar to that of the previous bacteria and was able to resist the new one. This could be troubling for newer versions of older drugs since the viruses and bacteria the medicines try to eradicate could already be immune to them. Therefore, requiring more research time to make sure the medicines are ready to use. Thus, causing a delay in patient's treatment.
Furthermore, I read the article related to Star Wars and science journals. In this selection, I was surprised that the science journals published the work of the author that was plagiarized and inaccurate. It represented how not everything you see on the internet isn't true and that using language that seems "scientific" can easily make it online. This is due to the fact that editors don't thoroughly check all submitted work. Hopefully, journals will now fact check their work to prevent humiliation and be as accurate as possible.
I found the article about brain scans in contact sport athletes to be the most interesting. It is obvious that players of contact sports have mTBI's. But it has not always been clear on how they are specifically caused or what is actually going on. The article discusses new methods on how to scan the brain in order to get a deeper understanding of what is going on in the brain. "DTI is specific to the white matter part of the brain and T1-weighted images are sensitive to the gray matter." By using two types of brain scans in one to compare with each other, especially when the two types of brain matter work together, gives whoever is studying the scan a better understanding of what happenns when an athlete sustains a mTBI. I think it is very important to be able to integrate new technological methods into routine medical and scientific procedures in order to better understand the study or the injury.
The article about the aid of MRI scans in professional sports was not only an interesting article, but one that can be applied to both professional and communal sports. Repetitive injuries to the head can have cognitive consequences for athletes, like affecting mood swings and physical dissociation that can affect how they perform. Using MRI scans to identify which parts of the brain are affected from head trauma can have several applications in both the athletic field and the scientific field. Understanding physical trauma can help manufacturers create sports equipment that is built to protect the player better, specifically targeting parts of the brain that need protection. It can also be used to advise players to play safer and smarter. In the scientific field, studying affected players can help researchers develop treatments to help those with trauma-inflicted brain damage. This research is definitely advantageous.
Not all research is advantageous, though, as the article about predatory journals proves. An author created a fake research article about midi-chlorians- a fake cellular entity in the movie series, Star Wars. The journals that he submitted this article to did not proofread his phony paper, and allowed research that consisted of movie quotes and lore to pass as scientific evidence. Publishing companies need to become more attentive towards content that is submitted to their journals, especially when students are very reliant on digital articles for school assignments. Irresponsible publishing can result in false knowledge being spread to new generations and gullible readers.
The article this week that really caught my attention was about the aid of MRI scans in professional sports. The reason is because I can personal relate to this topic. I am very active in sports and played for our football team one year. During my season I didn't break any bones or tear any muscles, but I definitely felt as if my head became slowly concussed and would ache very often as the season progressed. This concerned me because this wasn't even after games, but the practices is what caused all the problems. Now looking back at the days where I practiced countless hours to preform better,i come to realize that it only caused me harm in the long run and there weren't much benefits. The article also made me wonder, as scientific technology is improving and more information comes out on how brain injuries are caused and how they truly affect us in the long run, will athlete begin to second guess if the sport is worth it ?
Having a deep interest in neuroscience and psychology, the article "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters," automatically caught my attention. Many time in sport related injuries that include head trauma, impairment that may affect many parts of the brain and the body cannot be prevented. Now that an MRI scan that can determine the order in which the brain will be affected by head trauma is created, impairment cab be predicted and therefore prevented. This means cognitive impairment in professional sport players due to head trauma can be delayed and possibly stopped all together. Using both observations from the gray and white matter in the brain since they work in tandem, meaning one in front of the other in the brain, it can be found how to stop cognitive impairment before it takes place. This is done by combining T1 testing and DTI testing since T1 is specific to the gray matter and DTI testing is specific to the white matter in terms of MRI testing. This means that many professional fighters do not have to stop being a part of the sport they love due to impairment such as mood and movement disregulation and neurodegenerative disorders.
Christopher Intaglia describes bacteria’s immunity to certain antibiotics in the article Bacteria Can Be Resistant to Brand-New Antibiotics. When bacteria is exposed to existing antibiotics, it can develop a resistance to new drugs that originate from other antibiotics. One example, is the Staphylococcus aureus. This bacteria is resistant to methicillin. Since this bacteria is impervious to the drug, it can cause death and disease. This bacteria did not develop its resistance from being exposed to methicillin. The mutation which lead to the resistance appeared around the early use of Penicillin. Methicillin chemically originates from Penicillin. A team of scientist found the Staph bacteria developed the mutation that caused the resistance in the early 1940’s, but methicillin was not on the market until 15 years later. Mutations are continuing to occur in many bacterias which is leading to resistance to our antibiotics. As this mutation spread, disease will become more prone unless scientist can develop antibiotics or technologies to fight these viruses and bacterias.Eventually through mutations, different types of bacteria will develop genes that prevent antibiotics from killing them or weakening them. The bacteria that is resistant to certain drugs are spreading and growing stronger. This makes it harder for our modern technology to fight them. The mutation which gives resistance to certain bacteria over others arose spontaneously. This will continue to happen as long as the bacteria is still evolving. This mutation will benefit these bacterias over others, and these bacterias with mutations will continue to affect us unless scientist can create stronger antibiotics. I found it shocking that bacteria can develop resistance to drugs before they are exposed to them.
I started off with the audio clip about antibiotic resistance. Christopher Intagliata, briefly explains what MRSA (methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is, as well as a study done by Matthew Holden and his team. MRSA is a bacteria that can cause serious health problems like: septicemia (blood poisoning), pneumonia (lung infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), and endocarditis (heart valve infection). Although in its name it claims to be methicillin resistant, it is also resistant to other antibiotics, with penicillin being one of the first. Holden and his team looked at frozen strands of the MRSA bacteria that from the 1960's to the 1980's, in order to compare genes and get a better look at the history of the bacteria. They discovered that the bacteria was resistant to methicillin in the 1940's, 15 years before it reached the market. We are beginning to learn that since MRSA is resistant an older version of an antibiotic (penicillin), it is forming genes in newer strains, making it resistant to newer versions of the antibiotic (methicillin) it hasn't been exposed to yet.
I also read the article "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters". Most professional fighters may have experienced a mTBI, however do they know how much or how little neurological damage it caused them? With combined MRI technologies for detecting "the brain's neuron-containing gray matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter", it will be easier to find markers that detect any brain damage. There are a total of seven locations in the brain, which deal with cognitive function and are within the gray and white matter. It can be very useful for fighters, or anyone playing a contact sport. With this, it will be easier to predict change, and it can also easily monitor those in trials.
I started off with the audio clip about antibiotic resistance. Christopher Intagliata, briefly explains what MRSA (methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus) is, as well as a study done by Matthew Holden and his team. MRSA is a bacteria that can cause serious health problems like: septicemia (blood poisoning), pneumonia (lung infection), osteomyelitis (bone infection), and endocarditis (heart valve infection). Although in its name it claims to be methicillin resistant, it is also resistant to other antibiotics, with penicillin being one of the first. Holden and his team looked at frozen strands of the MRSA bacteria that from the 1960's to the 1980's, in order to compare genes and get a better look at the history of the bacteria. They discovered that the bacteria was resistant to methicillin in the 1940's, 15 years before it reached the market. We are beginning to learn that since MRSA is resistant an older version of an antibiotic (penicillin), it is forming genes in newer strains, making it resistant to newer versions of the antibiotic (methicillin) it hasn't been exposed to yet.
I also read the article "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters". Most professional fighters may have experienced a mTBI, however do they know how much or how little neurological damage it caused them? With combined MRI technologies for detecting "the brain's neuron-containing gray matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter", it will be easier to find markers that detect any brain damage. There are a total of seven locations in the brain, which deal with cognitive function and are within the gray and white matter. It can be very useful for fighters, or anyone playing a contact sport. With this, it will be easier to predict change, and it can also easily monitor those in trials.
"Predatory Journals Hit By ‘Star Wars’ Sting" was my favorite article from this week. I appreciated the references even though I never finished watching the movies. I was really surprised that the author managed to include nearly the entire 'Tragedy of Darth Plagueis' because it showed that those four journals didn't just neglect to peer review the entry, they failed to even give it a glance-over. Reading the article amused me, especially when I realized the authors' names were a play on Anakin and George Lucas. Upon reading the names of the journals, I would never have expected such sophisticated-sounding journals to be fakes. According to the author, all none of the journals were known to send spam to authors, which I didn't know before. To me, this is just an illustration of how important it is to know who you are entrusting your work to, and letting them take credit as editors. It not only tarnishes your reputation if you have a legitimate paper, but it drains your money with fake 'publishing fees'.
The article also mentioned 'Rogeting', which I think is strikingly obvious and useless.
I was also interested with the 60 second review by 'Scientific American' on MRSA, because I didn't know bacteria could become immune to antibiotics they had never been exposed to. The new evidence Christopher Intagliata mentions makes it worth considering bioethics and how we should design drugs so that they are not similar to old ones. I think until we find a way to synthetically improve our immune systems, the battle against resistant bacteria will always be problematic. I wonder whether synthetic improvements like nanobots could be a solution or whether bacteria could become immune to those as well.
The article discussing mTBIs was extremely informative and displayed some ground breaking techniques in recognition of white and gray matter demise. These techniques are fantastic but I would like to see further research done using this technology and possible links between the gray mater demise and neurogenic shock, psychogenic shock, and CSF drainage. Dr. Mishra's research is certainly remarkable with its evaluation of changing mental baseline in those patients who suffer repeated damage to brain matter. It make me wonder whether this pre disposes them to greater brain-shrinkage as they age, to aneurysms and eventually hemorrhagic strokes, or whether it causes other slow onset neurologic impairments such as dementia.
The most intriguing part about the audio clip from Scientific America was how MRSA was immune to methicillin long before it was even introduced, and developed resistance from the use of penicillin. Christopher Intagliata discusses how a molecular microbiologist from Scotland and his team studied the genome of the MRSA bacteria strain, and they discovered a gene that would aid in resistance towards methicillin. This article was interesting because it shows that current bacteria could posses genes that would resist antibiotics in the future. The discovery made here is important, because with careful monitoring of genes of deadly/harmful bacteria, scientists may be able to create antibiotics that will keep the bacteria from resisting it despite having the genes to do so. One of the aspects of the methicillin resistant bacteria is that the continual use of penicillin aided the resisting gene to become stronger, and as time passed the gene was stronger in the bacteria. Now scientists can prevent genes that resist antibiotics from growing too strong.
While reading “MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters,” I was astonished that almost all professional fighters are exposed to minor traumatic brain injuries, also known as mTBI. These minor traumatic brain injuries are commonly grouped together with neurodegenerative disorders and mood/movement dysfunction. Getting a MRI could help the fighters and their physicians detect these problems as they occur, so that the physicians and fighters can understand the risks of cognitive impairment to prepare for how to treat it. All of this research can help with the production of drugs that slow down or reverse cognitive decline. I personally don't think that professional fighting is something to advocate for, but knowing that some of the fighter’s injuries could help with research and can be detected makes me disregard it a bit less. Getting a MRI helps with the detection of what part of the brain was injured, which leads to understanding the injury more and how to deal with the repercussions of it
I think that the research that is presented in the article”MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters” will prove to be very useful. Even though the scientists are still looking for more answers, what they have already will help. This can show fighters the risks of the sport before they decide to do it for a living. It will also show the risks to other athletes that are looking to go into other high contact sports that include constant head trauma, such as football and hockey.
I find that the research that is presented in the audio track will be very useful to society. If scientists know which bacteria will not be affected by the antibiotics, than they will be able to use that information to make a new antibiotic that will be able to fight off the infection. If we know about the resistance that each bacteria has then we will not have a wide spread disease due to the fact that our antibiotics are not working.
I think that the article “Predatory Journals Hit by ‘Star Wars’ Sting” proves that you can get anything published. The fake article that was sent to these journals was actually published in 3 articles. This shows people that even though there are multiple editors, that doesn't mean that false information cannot be published. I hope that in the future, journals will not publish anything that seems accurate. I would rather them publish information that is actually true.
The brain scans in contact sport athletes article to be the most interesting. It is very clear that players in contact sports have mTBI's. Yet it has not always been clear on how they are caused. The article talks about new methods on how to scan the brain in order to get a better understanding of the brain. T1-weighted images are sensitive to the gray matter and DTI is specific to the white matter part of the brain. Using two types of brain scans in one to compare especially when the two types work together and gives whoever is studying it a better understanding of what happenns when an athlete sustains a mTBI. I believe it is important to be able to check out new technological methods to better understand the study or the injury.
I read the article concerning the prediction of cognitive impairment in professional fighters. While I am not familiar with the specific area of study concerning brain trauma, I was shocked to learn that people still do not have a concrete understanding of the brain and its intricacies. It just goes to show another way that the most important organ in our body still remains to be the least understood. While we lack a strong grasp on the brain, the research in the article seemed like an excellent start to a beneficial area of research. The correlation that there was a lower volume and thickness of gray matter as well as white matter tract integrity could provide the basis for future predictions of cognitive impairment. The finding in this data based on mild traumatic brain injury reminded me of concussion research done on professional football players. After subsequent small blunt force trauma more and more athletes were also developing symptoms of a concussion later in life. This research just furthers the idea that micro traumas can not only be as dangerous as a direct concussion, but also what could lay the groundwork to it.
The article "MRI May Help Predict Cognitive Impairment in Professional Fighters" explains a study published in the online journal Radiology. Rather than using one type of brain scan to examine athletes', in this case professional fighters' brains to truly understand and locate the impairment caused by fighting. By using both a T1-weighted MRI as well as a DTI, researchers could look at both gray, neuron filled matter as well as the white matter part of the brain examined by the DTI. Utilizing this method allows researchers to be able to more clearly understand which parts of the brain work with one another, and how impairment on one side of the brain can affect other parts. Through this, they could see that the gray and white parts of the brain worked together, and could use this knowledge to predict impairment in other fighters. As the article states, the researchers are working towards finding out whether the white or gray parts are affected first. By doing so, researchers and scientists can work to create more effective treatments and therapeutics in order to reduce the risk of impairment in that area of the brain. These treatments will then be able to help fighters fight to their best abilities, as well as reduce the chances of "neurodegenerative disorders, as well as mood and movement dysfunction." If this method of brain scanning is greatly improved over the years, it can be very helpful for not only fighters but athletes in other types of sports, and can have a great impact on the safety of certain sports.
Brain injury in heavy contact sports has become quite publicized in the recent news and in movies. I found the article very important to alert athletes of mTBIs in the future. By comparing results from the two MRI tests, DTI and TI-weighted, scientists can observe patterns in athletes’ brain matter in the seven brain regions with gray and white matter to create biomarkers indicating cognitive damage. In turn this can be used in the future to predict cognitive changes. The results of this test will not only benefit boxers, but also wrestlers, football, baseball, hockey and any other sport players, where head trauma is popular.
The Star Wars article was very amusing. I found it amazing that someone could write an article that had no actuality to the topic and yet still can be published by various organizations. This shows how “peer reviewed” journals are not the best to read for information, since an article that was composed of movie quotes and plagiarized from Wikipedia was approved by peers. Though many science journals rejected the article, some requested revisions and others published the article. Those that published the article deleted it soon after realizing the satire and Star Wars quotes. This article proves that everything on the internet is not always true, even if it comes from a notable science journal.
The article I found the most interesting was the one about predicting cognitive impairment by combining two MRI techniques. I knew prior to reading this article that players of contact sports were susceptible to certain brain injuries; the most talked about were football players. Professional fighters are also prone to brain injuries, and scientists have come up with a way to combine the methods of MRI scanning for both the brain’s white and gray matter. The white matter is scanned with diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and the gray matter is scanned with T1-weighted MRI. Scientists conducted a study with over 200 male fighters and observed that certain regions of the brain’s gray and white matter can serve as imaging bio markers for cognitive impairment in the fighters. This approach may be used to predict the severity of certain brain injuries in other contact sports as well, such as football or hockey.
For this week, I read the article about a brain injury study conducted on professional fighters. These scientists wanted to find out whether the multiple trauma these fighters go through could result in cognitive impairment and other disfunctions. I thought it was very interesting how these scientists are attempting to use MRI technology to identify which is affected first, the neurons in the grey matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter. It is so fascinating to me that they have the ability to find the correlation in between, even though they do not have the answer yet. Once these scientists do find the answer, professional fighters and other athletes will be able to know how to properly prepare for their sport and take care of themeselves.
The article about brain injury in professional fighters, "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters" especially peaked my interest after finishing a unit on the nervous system in Anatomy this year. Obviously, a professional fighter is going to experience mild head trauma, but that continuous trauma other the course of years can cause irreversible damage. The question presents itself if these fighters can ever return from the damage they've caused themselves or continue unharmed.
The goal of the research is to determine if the neurons in the gray matter are affected first or if it's the fiber tracts in the white matter. White brain matter is composed of myelinated cells, so they are composed of protein, and I assumed would be affected last. The MRIs show that because the different types of matter work together, both must be affected in order for a person to experience permanent cognitive defects. Understanding the causes of these traumas can prove advantageous in the athletic field, as new techniques and equipments can eventually save lives. Hopefully a deeper understanding of the brain and how much trauma it can handle will allow professional athletes to continue to put themselves through physical trauma without ruining their overall quality of life.
This week's article caught my attention because I start to think every time how deeply boxers injuries effect them after their fight. After reading this article, I learned how boxers go through mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). The mTBI affects mood swings and physical movementation. The study lead author Dr. Miserable states that the DTI is only for the white matter region of the brain and T1-weighted images are subtle to the gray matter. However, this article explains a deeper meaning of what actually causes the injuries and what is happening in your brain after the injury. Also, the researchers mixes two types of MRI techniques into one to find out what is the real cause of the injuries. The two types of MRI techniques they use is "T1-weighted MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) derived from diffusion weighted MRI." I am looking forward for when the reaserchers come up with which brain parts are effected by repetitive trauma.
MRI's have become very important in the lives of both professional fighters and their physicians. Due to this contact sport, the fighter is exposed to repeated mild traumatic brain injuries, also known as mTBIs. These injuries are known to result in neurodegenerative disorders. According to a new study published in the Radiology journal, using different MRI techniques, images of the brain's grey and white matter can be captured to find and track cognitive impairment and their causes in profesional fighters. Grey and white matter are tissues in the brain the work in tandem. Grey matter has a pinkish-grey color in the living brain, contains the cell bodies, dendrites and axon terminals of neurons, so it is where all synapses are. White matter is made of axons connecting different parts of grey matter to each other.Researchers are using the Professional Fighters Brain Health Study, one of the biggest studies of the impact of contact sports on the brain. The study shows that there are 7 imaging predictors that include white and grey matter and that are associated with cognitive function in fighters. These 7 imaging predictors are FMajor FA, ILF Left FA, left cerebellum white matter volume, right hemisphere cortical volume, left thalamus volume, right pallidum volume, and right rosteral anterior cingulate thickness. For example, T1-weighted volumetric measurements of the left thalamus, which is a mass of gray matter in the middle of the brain that acts as a relay center connecting different parts of the brain, helped differ cognitively impaired and non-impaired fighters. This new information can help to contribute to the development of new drugs and protective gear and to make professional fighters be safer. Not only is this applicable for professional fighters but also other contact sports such as hockey or football.
This week, the article about MRI scans on professional fighters seemed interesting to me. In contact sports, such as professional fighting, mTBI's are not uncommon, but constant trauma to the brain could cause some serious damage in the long run. These MRI's can help get an understanding of how much damage has been done to an athletes brain, if any. They can also be used to determine if and when an athlete should begin taking breaks from engaging in their sport for their own health. According to the article, "…researchers combined two MRI techniques -- T1-weighted MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) derived from diffusion weighted MRI -- to look at both types of brain tissue." This means that, using this method, researchers can find out if an athlete runs the risk of becoming impaired or not. This method allows athletes to think about their health and know what could or could not possible be taking place. Without this type of technology, an athlete could be hit with a large amount of impact, and he or she may not know the consequences that impact could lead to.
The first article I read was about a study that used two MRI techniques to help identify cognitive impairment. In contact sports, there are always injuries to the brain. These injuries are inevitable because these games are played at such a fast pace and there aren't rules to prohibit hits to the head. I remember reading an article on how 110 out of 111 retired NFL players showed signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In football, there are countless head to head collisions and the players don't think twice of it. As someone who participates in contact sports it scares me of how dangerous contact sports can be for my long term health. Professional fighters face the same consequences. In order to create a drug that can help these athletes, this study is a good first step.The scientists who conducted this study successfully found a way to identify cognitive impairment. By using the MRI scans to identify brain problems, many athletes can be properly diagnosed and treated for their brain damage.
I found the article "Predator Journal hit by 'Star Wars' Sting," to be funny in a pathetic sort of way. I couldn't believe that some scientific journals were willing to publish something that was so blatantly fake. If someone from the journals spent 5 minutes to look at the research that was submitted, it would be obvious that it was a joke. This article opened my eyes to the fact that there must be hundreds of "research articles" that were made without real studies being done.
In the article about brain injuries in contact sports, I learned that mTBIs are associated with neurodegenerative disorders and mood and movement dysfunction. It is interesting to see how much technology is improving, as scientists can now predict whether fighters will become impaired or not, through MRIs. Later on, scientists may even be able to determine the order in which brain regions are affected by trauma, and thus discover new ways to prevent such injuries.
Reading the Stars Wars article surprised me, as many of the science journals did not check the article that they published. They did not catch the plagiarizing or the fact that the information in the article is not true. One of the journals would have published the article, without checking it, just for a publishing fee of $360. This shows that they care more about money rather than publishing accurate information.
I found it unbelievable that multiple news journals published an article that was obviously false. This proves that anything can be published if it is showed to the right group. After reading this, I realized that many articles that are false might not seem as false as this one, and that every article I read should be checked to see if it is true or not.
The article in the Scientific American scared me and makes me wonder what would happen if a deadly virus becomes resistant to the antibiotics usually used to treat it. I believe that if doctors continue to prescribe more antibiotics than needed or prescribe antibiotics when they are not needed, a future filled with antibiotics-resistant bacteria grows more likely. I think that doctors should try to use different methods for helping people than the fast and easy way of antibiotics. If they don't use different methods, the fast and easy way will stop working completely.
The article on cognitive impairment and how it affects a person's MRI scans was very interesting. I believe that figuring out exactly how cognitive impairment affects the brain can lead to the improvement of methods that deal with cognitive impairment. I was surprised that both gray matter and white matter was affected by cognitive impairment. I hope that scientists learn more about cognitive impairment so that fighters or football players can be helped after they are hurt.
Since the upcoming fight of Floyd Mayweather and Connor McGregor is nearing close, I thought that it would be fun to read the article concerning cognitive impairment in professional fighters. The article explains the two MRI techniques, T1- weighted MRI and diffusion weighted MRI, that are used to look at mTBI- related brain damage. DTI or diffusion weighted MRI is specified in scanning the white matter of the brain whereas the T1 are specific to the grey part. Nevertheless, the combination of these techniques is what doctors are hoping to be able to predict if fighters can become impaired. Currently, Dr. Mishra is using the MRI scans and is finding that the grey and white matters are both possible predictors of cognitive impairment. This new approach can potentially determine how brain regions are affected by repeated trauma which is common in the fighting world. I think that the MRI approach can be able to help doctors make more accurate diagnoses in head injuries of people if they are cognitively impaired or not, which will help the future health of these people.
This week I listened to "Bacteria Can Be Immune to Brand-New Antibiotics", by Christopher Intagiliata. At first, even just the title shocked me as I know doctors have a tough time keeping up with certain bacteria's rapid evolution to becoming immune to antibiotics. That is why there are several variations of antibiotics, such as Penicillin. Although it is difficult, doctors do an excellent job creating new antibiotics which is why the MRSA bacteria being immune to the methicillin was so surprising. The MRSA bacteria was immune to the antibiotic years before it was used by the public which rules out the bacteria being exposed to it and becoming immune. Instead, the bacteria became immune to a very chemically similar antibiotic, an early form of Penicillin. This is where it made sense to me. The compositions of the drugs must have been almost identical if the bacterium was already immune. This scares me a little, as this may happen with other antibiotics. However I know that people will be up for the challenge to make new, diverse drugs.
The author wrote a Star Wars themed spoof paper that got accepted by a few scientific journals. They included many references from the Star Wars movies. They were also able to add a monologue from one of the Star Wars movies. The author names were based off Star Wars characters. Those journals published the manuscript even though it had so much fake information in it. The journals had been know to send spam to academics to get them to submit papers. The submission of the spoofed manuscript tested if the journals were doing their job correctly. Journals should learn from these publishing stings and review any works that are submitted to their database before publishing them so that the users are not informed with false information.
The article, "MRI May Help Predict Cognitive Impairemnt in Professional Fighters" interested me because I had learned about the brain's role in the nervous system in my anatomy class this year. As the article explained, the repeated trauma a professional fighter experiences can cause serious brain damage. However, the article states how it is unknown what order that brain regions are affected by repeated trauma. I have learned that white brain matter has protein in its myelinated cells, so I would think white brain matter would be affected last. I hope that research about head trauma in professional fighters continues so that we can apply the new information to other sports where head injuries are also common and find a way to reverse damage done by trauma.
I found the Star Wars article to be very amusing and a reminder that not everything on the internet is true. The experiment by the author proves that a prominent science journal will post information without checking that it is completely accurate.
The first article that I read was the one regarding mild traumatic brain injury and it's impact on athletes to contact sports. One of the main things that caught my eye was that mild traumatic brain injury leads to mood and motor degeneration. This is very interesting because there are so many athlete related injuries such as the ones related to OJ Simpson and Aaron Hernandez, which may have a potential connection to the mental deterioration caused by mTBI. It is also interesting how scientists are spectating development of mTBI by using advanced scans to look at the white and gray matter that is present in the brain. I was very curious to know how the deterioration of white matter could lead to mental damage, but after looking into it further, the neural connections that are provided by white matter could cause a lapse in emotion and cognitive ability, so it made sense. I hope this technology can be used to eventually lead to better safety protocols in safety for sports like football and hockey where players are making forceful contact with one another.
I also thought that the audio clip regarding the MRSA bacteria. I was surprised to know that the bacteria's development of immunity from penicillin caused it to be immune to another drug. This is scary as it shows how antibiotics can be losing their effect due to evolution, and more advanced technology may be necessary to combat bacteria and illnesses that could lead to devastating epidemics.
Regarding the spoof journal entry with Star Wars related jargon and the biological causes that gave the Jedi their powers, I found it extremely hilarious that some big named journals and organizations didn't even bother to check the validity of the article that they claim to be "science." The internet has always been an untrustable source of information, but these journals should have done a better job to make sure that the information that they are providing is not absolute garbage.
The article I liked this week was about the aid of MRI scans in professional sports. Most of the time, for professional athletes, injuries are inevitable. The article discusses new ways to scan the brain to prevent mTBI's. mTBI's are associated with neurodegenerative disorders and mood and movement dysfunction. Researchers are trying to find a way to which parts of the brain are affected first in a head injury, so they can come up with ways to prevent them. After combining the two MRI techniques to look at both types of brain tissue, they concluded it could be useful to predict later cognitive change in fighters, as well as to track change in clinical trials to prevent and reduce cognitive impairment. These studies will be beneficial to athletes in contact sports like football and hockey, to prevent trauma from head injuries.
For a while, I have been hearing about how bacteria, primarily viruses, have been resisting antibiotics and are evolving to stronger strains. As stated in the Scientific American article, "Bacteria can be resistant to brand-new antibiotics," Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA bacteria was resistant to methicillin, about 15 years before its exposure to it because of early exposure to penicillin. MRSA bacteria can cause frightening effects like: pneumonia, blood infections, and, ultimately, death. The fact that a cure is not always definitive, that there is always a chance of unpredictability in the medical world is scary after believing that there is a cure. At the end of the article, Holden states that he is monitoring the genetics of strains to see what causes the unexplainable resistance and evolving to the antibiotics. Hopefully, scientists will able to pinpoint the "bug," and researchers will only have to worry about curing cancer and other diseases rather than ones that were believed to have been already cured.
Although sports play little to no part in my world, my countless Netflix binges of random movies have helped me pick up basic information about contact sports. I know that a big part of contact sports, specifically professional boxing, are the fact that they cause concussions and other head injuries that lead to long-term cognitive impairment. As stated in the EurekAlert article, "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters," finding biomarkers of mTBI-related brain damage can be very useful. To locate both neuron-containing gray matter and fiber tracts in white matter, researchers used T1-weighted MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) derived from diffusion weighted MRI. This approach of combined MRI and DTI helped predict which parts of the brain are affected first in cognitive impairment, and it may serve therapeutic purposes. My hope is that students and professionals will be able to prevent more life-threatening injuries with the new data from this study.
After listening to the audio clip, Bacteria Can Be Resistant to Brand-New Antibiotics, I'm amazed at how much new information I was able to process in sixty seconds. The audio discusses the newly found research that the staph bacteria, MRSA, was actually immune to methicillin before it was even available for purchase. This is due to the bacterias ability to build a resistance to penicillin, which is chemically similar to methicillin. What impressed be about this research is how the scientists are able to use frozen strands of MRSA from 30-50 years ago in order to gather these results. It is shocking how much the science and medical fields have grown during this time that we are able to reopen and discover new facts about things that happened so long ago. Hopefully with this new discovery, scientists are able to prepare for new outbreaks before they become epidemics.
The articles the week that I found the most interesting was "Predatory Journals Hit By 'Star Wars' Sting." This article caught by interest because I was surprised by the fact that these scientific journals would even think of publishing the paper. One glance at the paper is all you need to see the absurd facts that are stated. For example, the "Force," which is a fictional power that can be used by Jedi and Sith, was mentioned many times in the paper. Also, a biography of a fictional Sith Lord, Darth Plagueis, was inserted within the article. Even if you didn't have a vast knowledge of the Star Wars universe, you could easily tell that he is not a real person. The author goes as far as stating that Darth Plagueis can grant immortality to some beings! Finally, the author Rogeted a Wikipedia article about mitochondria and replaced mitochondr into midichlor. The author even admitted to doing Rogeting the Wikipedia by saying so in the citation of the article. All in all, the three scientific journals that submitted the paper clearly did not read the paper, let alone peer review it. As the author mentioned, the reason people use these scientific journals is for the peer reviewing, because it is very easy for someone to publish their paper themselves. But for 3 of the 9 journals to submit this paper just means that they will submit whatever they receive. Moreover, one scientific journal, Zinianz, even invited "Lucas McGeorge" to be on the editorial board for the journal, and that's just absurd.
I found the article "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters" fascinating because it proves how lethal injuries can be prevented with the new data discovered from this study. Players of contact sports, specifically professional fighters are clearly
very susceptible to repeated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) that corresponds to neurodegnerative disorders. Biomarkers of mTBI-related brain damage would be a useful tool to help physicians understand the amount of brain damage. This also would be profitable information to eventually develop medicine to slow or cure cognitive damage. The new study combined two MRI techniques, one specific to the white matter part of the brain ( DTI) and the other specific to the grey matter (T1-weighted). The study revealed information about the white and grey matter that helped distinguish between cognitively impaired and non-impaired fighters. But it is still unknown wether the neurons in th gray matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter. I hope scientists continue further research on this matter because cognitive injuries are life-threatening and further study can lead to discoveries about injuries of many other contact sports other than professional fighting.
Usually we are thought that bacterias and other oraba is still develop immunity to a certain factor by being exposed to it, but it was not the case in "Bacteria Can Be Reaistant to Brand-New Antibiotics". A bacteria called Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, developed and immunity towards methicillin without being exposed to it. This is because it was exposed to penicillin therefore it started to build up immunity to methicillin because penicillin and methicillin are similar. We can now conclude that if a bacteria starts to build up immunity towards a certain type of antibiotics, it also tends to develop immunity towards another kind of antibiotics that is relatively similar to that specific antibiotics. To come to this conclusion scientists went back to the strains from the 1960s to 80s. What they found out was that the MRSA bacterias had started to develop methicillin-resistant genes fifteen years before methicillin was introduced. The scientists concluded that resistance was as a result of the widespread of penicillin during that time. The question now is how many other bacterias how developed immunity to antibiotics that have not been developed yet. Is it possible to make an antibiotic that is not similar to penicillin and methicillin in nature? That way the baterÃas might not be able to develop an immunity towards it.
Being someone who has wanted to become a neurologist since a child and has always had a deep interest in neuroscience, the first link about brain scans in professional fighters was really insightful to read about. Primarily, I thought it was rather interesting that instead of researching and focusing on the brain's neurons or the fiber-tacts, there consisted two MRI techniques: DTI (diffusion tensor imaging) and t1- weighted MRI to determine a couple types of brain tissue in the professional fighters. Professional fighters evidently are more prone and susceptible a higher risk of brain-related injuries. These injuries exposed to the fighters are labeled as 'mild-traumatic brain injury'(mTBI). The DTI and t1-weighted MRI processes are extremely invaluable to the professional fighters as they would be aware of their risks associated with traumatic brain injuries. In addition, this research also conveyed and differentiated between cognitively impaired and healthy brains. Due to the fact that both types of these brain tissues work as a cycle, it is clear to say that the combination of applying the gray matter with the white matter contains many long term benefits. Lastly, the last paragraph which Dr. Mishra said stated a remarkable question: "One of the key questions we're trying to answer is, what's affected first, the neurons in the gray matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter" ( MRI may help, RSNA). Hopefully, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) can further continue their neuropyschological research successfully.
“MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters” was very intriguing in terms of it being a unique discovery. There's definitely more research that needs to be done to ensure that the MRI scanning techniques are accurate in playing a role in aiding to find impairments in the brain. However, as of now, the progress is amazing. I know of several athletes that have had head injuries before an it would take them a long time to recover. However T1 weighted MRI and diffusion tensor imaging speeds up the process. That is, with these techniques, the impairment can be located as well as predicting later cognitive change. As a common consequence in fighters and athletes, the techniques can become a breakthrough and can lead to developing the appropriate medicine that can further help repair damage caused in the brain.
I found the article, "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters," to be very interesting because MRI techniques may help doctors to find cognitive impairments in professional fighters. As we know, fighters are prone to head injuries, which is why finding out where cognitive impairments may be may help save a future fighters from these injuries. To help look at the brain tissue, scientists combined "two MRI techniques T1-weighted MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) derived from diffusion weighted MRI." TI weighed the images of the grey matter while the DTI weighed images of white matter. As Virenda Mishra further stated that their goal was to try to find the imaging buomarkers in order to figure out whether of not fighters were to become impaired. Researchers later used data from a study done by the Proffessional Figters Brain Health Study in attempt to further analyze whether or not fighters were cognitively impaired along with anazlying what images may show that these fighters were indeed impaired. As a result, they found seven different imaging predictors which include specific regions of grey matter and white matter which allows scientists and doctors to classify a fighter as either cognitively impaired or not. In the end, researchers concluded that there are seven different regions of impairment in a fighters brain. Scientists may also use this information to further research and study athletes of other sports in additions to perhaps finding ways to predict when future cognitive impairments may occur. The MRI technology allows for all of these clinical trials and findings to essentially occur.
I found the article “MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters” very interesting. I’m not a big fan of combat sports but I have seen a couple of boxing matches on TV. Combat sports can be very dangerous, violent, and risky. Although fighters are familiar with the injuries that come with the sport, they must understand their “risk of cognitive impairment.” It’s important for fighters to understand that brain injuries can lead to neurodegenerative disorders. In this article, a new study combines two MRI techniques to examine the white and gray matter in the brain. Researchers hope that DTI and T1 will help predict and prevent cognitive impairment in fighters. With more research, combining MRI techniques will detect which part of the brain is affected first during a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). I hope this research will spread awareness about the long term effects of engaging in combat sports.
Prior to reading the article based on the MRIs taken by combat fighters, I read similar articles based on football and their injuries. Almost every player in the sport, 110 out of 111 in the survey, was bound/likely to have a C.T.E. due to the repeated blows they took to the head. Similarly, combat fighters, whether it be MMA, boxing, etc., take many hard impacts to their head and other important and fragile places on the body. The study also shows that mTBI's would also be able to be seen and prevented ahead of time by the use of scanning and other technology, another step forward. In the article, we are also given the techniques used to understand the damage done to the brain tissue and through a series of looking at the results together, scientists could find out in advance how far a fighter could stay in tip top shape. Such research described in the article allows for players and athletes to plan their careers more accordingly and select an earlier time to retire of other career options. Though some may not wan to see their favorites people in sports leave their respected field earlier than they already do, it is always important to keep the health of the person in the best condition over anything else.
The article in regards to the midi-chlorians and Star Wars interested me in a different aspect in comparison to the MRI one. It is not surprising that one doesn't know much about the information shared in the Star Wars universe through the prequels, and I cannot blame them, but the obvious use of made up terms regarding the fictional stories and characters makes it hard to believe some journals legitimately published the paper. At the end of the day, my trust in scientific journals and their papers have not dropped though I find the situation quite humorous and use it personally to always edit and peer edit with full intent rather than to just get it over with.
In regards to the article “Predatory Journals Hit By ‘Star Wars’ Sting”, I found it somewhat comedic but also astonishing that large journalist groups have evidently failed to recognize the inaccuracy of a text. It simply shows that with such ease at publishment, and such a lack of credibility, our community of students can be persuaded into gaining a misinterpretation of the world in countless ways. The fact that new sources demonstrate a liking toward political aspects and miscellanies was bad enough, but now the issue has simply grown. These articles are true depictions of the fact that we cannot ensure that what we read is accurate. They show us that we cannot ensure that we are being influenced with the right knowledge. Our perceptions are already so malleable. Our views are even comparable to plastic at this age, with the flexibility and consistent sculpturing that they withstand. Just realizing that the sources crafting our views are inaccurate, and cannot be trusted, simply allows me to claim that we are doomed for difficult lives, and countless disparities in our forms of thinking. Another ridiculous aspect demonstrated through this piece of writing is that a journalist group even offered the fake identity which constructed the writing piece on Star Wars a position on their editorial board! It simply shows absurd and misinformed these groups are, being that they cannot tell the difference between the truth and invalidity, and more importantly that they cannot tell the difference between a truthful writer and one who writes a piece simply as a joke.
(I filled in the form, and had to post late due to vacation. I apologize.)
The first article was about how MRI techniques can predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters. We all know the dangers of professional boxing, and we also know that these fighters are exposed to repeated mild traumatic brain injury. It is part of the job description, but all these injuries are associated with many long term problems. The article states "Fighters are exposed to repeated mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), which has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders, as well as mood and movement dysfunction"(Brooks). What we need is a way fighters and physicians can find the risk of cognitive impairment while quickly providing treatment and creating drugs to reverse of slow down the cognitive decline. Previously, the research had been focused on the brains neuron containing gray matter or the fiber tracts in the white matter. According to the article, in a new study the researchers used 2 MRI techniques which are "T1-weighted MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) derived from diffusion weighted MRI -- to look at both types of brain tissue."(Brooks). According to Virendra Mishra, Ph.D, they hoped by combining these techniques theuy were hoping to find biomarkers to predict whether or not fighters will become cognitively impaired. This is a monumental step because this can help us find cures for cognitive diseases and maybe even change the way our brain functions. Imagine being hit in the head really hard with n side effects. It will change this sport and not only this sport but even some more physical sports like football. Or maybe you fall of a skateboard, it will change the way doctors take care of you.
The article that revolved around MRIs helping predict cognitive impairment in fighters was very interesting. It has been known by many for some time that some fighters do end up with disorders due to repeated brain trauma. What is interesting is that with these brain scans, doctors can predict change in fighters after brain trauma and help treat injuries with more care and knowledge. These new studies can help doctors develop ways to treat such injuries, as mentioned in the article, that can slow or reverse the cognitive effects. The best part of this study is that it can be implectated to other sports, such as football and some extreme sports. In football, there are many concussions and many debates today as for how to help athletes prevent these injuries. Athletic trainers and doctors can use this information to possibly see the brain injuries like a concussion before they become too severe so that the athlete can be removed from play and rest for however long necessary. With the new advancements in dececting mTBIs, it would become a lot easier to see and treat the unfortunate mental deterioration in some athletes.
Since I am one of the huge fans of contact sports, I decided to read the article, "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters." Recently, there have been more and more scientifically based theories that sports, especially physical ones like boxing, have been causing brain disorders and cognitive impairments in athletes. The common concussion injuries and other widely known head injuries have been proven to make these athletes unstable and impaired later in their lives, so it was interesting to see that MRIs were being used to potentially help reverse cognitive impairment. This article explained how the two MRI techniques, T1-weighted and diffusion-tensor imaging, could be combined and become a tool to find signs of mTBI-related brain damage. The T1-weighted images pertain to the gray matter of the brain while the DTI images pertain to the white matter of the brain. These findings would allow scientists to learn how to potentially reverse the affects of cognitive impairments and brain disorders in athletes. I found this article to be so interesting because it showed that scientific studies are reaching a new peak. There have been so many things accomplished in the past years and it is intriguing to see what else has been disordered day by day in the scientific world.
I listen to the audio clip by Scientific American, and what was most surprising to me was that a strain of bacteria was immune to the antibiotic without ever being exposed to it. Scientists have found that MRSA was immune to the antibiotic because of penicillin. The use of penicillin caused the genetic material of the bacteria to experience changes and become immune. You would think that there is an antibiotic for everything, but this should strain became resistant 15 years before methicillin was introduced to the public. It is good to know that doctors and scientists are going to be monitoring bacteria strings to ensure that they create an effective antibiotic.
The article I read "MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters" was an interesting read since I never really thought that predicting problems beforehand could be possible. It known that in sports injuries to the head is common so being able to predict if there are going to be any problems could save lives. Scientists previously researched the gray matter in the brain or fiber tracts in the white matter of the brain. The new study that's being conducted has uses two MRI techniques which include, T1 weighted MRI and diffusion tenor imaging (DTI). This is used to look at both types of brain tissue. The studies lead author Virendra Mishra stated, "by combining these approaches, we hoped to find imaging biomarkers on MRI that could be used to predict whether or not fighters will become impaired." The purpose of the new techniques is to analyze a persons brain using biomarkers to find out if they would be impaired if they are repeatedly injured in the head, before the event even occurs. Scientists hope that with further research they will be able to predict later cognitive changes and decrease the chances of cognitive impairment. This study will not only be helpful to fighters but any other athlete that has a history of head injury. Hopefully there will be a time where research is advanced enough of scientists to stop the negative consequences such as brain disorders and mood and movement dysfunction.
After listening to the audio clip, I was suprised that the staph bacteria was resistant to methicillin before it had even been exposed to it. I also found it very interesting that the bacteria became immune to methacillin because it had developed resistance properties from exposure to penicillin. This could be cause for concern in the future because other types of bacteria could follow this pattern, and we could see a rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria in the future.
Also, after reading the Star Wars article, I wasn't suprised to see that many sites dont fact check articles before they print them. Nowadays it is common for people to believe anything they read on the internet, and not all of it is true. Unreliable sources has been a problem recently, namely when researching for projects, because we get false information and then we do not know which source to believe. After reading this my trust in online articles has become more skeptical, and I will make sure to use reliable sources and not just the first website that comes up on google.
The first article I read was the one from Scientific American that was talking about bacteria resistance to antibiotics. I think that this is very alarming, especially as we are seeing the rise of many other drug resistant diseases, such as "super gonorrhea". This seems a bit more sinister because the bacteria did not develop resistance because it had been introduced to the antibiotic we use to treat it today, but rather an ancestor of that antibiotic, penicillin. Bacteria are developing new ways to become resistant and are becoming resistant at very worrying rates. It will be a challenge for the medical community to keep up with these new developments.
The article about predatory journals from Discover brought up something very important to all types of research, whether scientific or not: sources. Articles in scientific journals are used in many decisions and by many people, from government agencies like the FDA who use information from articles to ban certain items to businesses who use the information to make their products safer or better. The scientific community needs to make sure that the articles published in these journals are based in fact. Although science/technology and business will be forever intertwined, the community needs to start making sure that there is a healthy balance between the two so that articles about Star Wars fiction are not published as fact by journals that prey on scientists to make money.
I read the article “Predatory Journals Hit By ‘Star Wars’ Sting” and listened to the audio clip “Bacteria Can Be Resistant to Brand-New Antibiotics”. According to the former, the methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA didn’t develop its traits due to exposure to methicillin. Rather, exposure to the antibiotic penicillin may have caused the resistance. Matthew Holden, a molecular microbiologist at the University of Saint Andrews in Scotland, claims “…it’s a very early use of penicillin that forced the strains to pick up these mechanisms.” Apparently, MRSA has had these resistant properties before methicillin was even released. Holden also says we must monitor the genetics of strains to find out if there are any bugs that can resist newly released antibiotics, which I wholeheartedly agree with.
Perhaps even more worrisome was the article from Neuroskeptic, ‘Predatory Journals Hit By ‘Star Wars’ Sting.” The author released a Star Wars-themed spoof paper to several science journals across the internet. The writer included heavy plagiarism (from Wikipedia), several factual errors, and obvious movie quotes and references. For example, the article was apparently written by Dr. Lucas McGeorge and Dr. Annette Kin. Interestingly enough, three journals published the article. The point of this experiment was to prove that not all peer-reviewed journals are necessarily what they claim to be. Unfortunately, by the time I read the article, all three journals removed the “scientific paper.” Hooked by the story, I looked through the article in question myself. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be any glaring errors and the format looks fairly professional. Upon reading it, I found some of the references and claims obvious and unbelievable. Finally, it should be noted that many of these journals did refuse the article and some even recognized the underlying joke. Personally, I find that this proves how the internet cannot always be a reliable source and that sites aren’t what they always claim to be.
I read the article about the brain injury studies on professional fighters. I have watched matches between professional fighters before, but I've never thought of the repercussions of the sport. I learned that mild traumatic brain injury could lead to mood and movement dysfunction and I think it is great that they are using technology to help athletes. I hope to see more studies like this is other contact sports, such as football.
The audio file regarding bacterial defense towards an antibiotic reminded me of a topic of which that i once heard, however did not know much about. I figured it was simple: if you attack a bacteria with an antibiotic, but don't kill it, it will return stronger and more resistant. However, learning from this "60-second-science" clip, this bacteria was not even defensive against an antibiotic to which it was exposed. This in itself is an intriguing mystery, and if there was an explanation to this, it went over my head. I would be interested to understand this phenomenon.
Nowadays, the word "clickbait" is everywhere. You expect to see it on YouTube videos and entertainment news articles like TMZ, but it is a shame to see it on these scientific journals, predatory or not. The fact that three journals published a spoof article that seemed legitimate on the surface, but was actually just a big Star Wars goof, befuddles me. Do publishers read this stuff? Are they qualified to understand the big, sciency words? The likely answer was that it seemed to be an article that droves of people would read, so it was a money-maker. It is a good idea to make sure one's sources are credible, not just for papers or reports, but also for important, scientific knowledge.
Having listened to the short podcast, it is curious how adaptation for methicillin-resistance ever took place given MRSA was never exposed to the antibiotic. Historically, changes within an organism (adaptation) result from some external action or condition forcing a change to itself or a species whole. Looking at MRSA, this disproves the commonly believed and often supported the need for adaptation in a strenuous environment because it developed resistance to enhance itself for a scenario it did not experience. This shows the development of bacteria in such a complex way that we still don't fully understand. Looking further into the complex development of bacteria, the origin of man and all other life on Earth is largely a mystery. Studying such a complex behavior in MRSA may lead to new discoveries about our origin and how we developed.
In the predatory journal publication article, despite the author claiming it not to be an issue that the scientific publishing is "hopelessly broken", that may be true in most well-renowned institutions, but in many less invested labs and with reckless media sites publishing whatever sounds like a zombie apocalypse, the truth is a lot of bologna is what gets released to the public eye and what can be seen as true and false becomes a more difficult challenge as people become more obsessed with media.
The Star Wars article was humorous, but also pretty alarming. It just goes to show how easily false information can make its way to the public. The article about mitochondria was filled with Star Wars references and was just so blatantly wrong. What would happen if articles were released with not so blatant mistakes? How much would that impact public knowledge? Nowadays, most people are so heavily reliant on technology to the point where they will believe almost everything they read. The field of science is filled with so much uncertainty as it is, so we shouldn't add to it through careless mistakes. On the upside, it's great that we can easily publish our scientific findings and access so much more.
Regarding the article on the MRI, it is amazing how we can discover major advances with technology we already have. Combining the T1 imaging and the DTI allowed doctors to see both types of brain tissue and now lets them predict what fighters can become impaired. This article reminded me of the way MRI and PET scans were combined to form the functional MRI, or the fMRI. PET scans observe brain activity while MRI scans focus on brain structure. In the psychology field, the fMRI let psychologists better observe the details of the brain while patients performed cognitive tasks, allowing them to learn more about the functions of the various parts of the brain. The importance of brain imaging can be overlooked sometimes, and it is actually a much larger field of research than most people realize.
I had chosen to listen to the short audio clip regarding antibiotic resistance. This is very interesting, yet also quite concerning for the future of medicine and treatment. This isn't the first case I recall hearing regarding bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics. Clearly, there is no permenant solution to any bacterial infection as long as the bacteria exists somewhere in the world. As it reproduces, resistant traits will allow some to survive and reproduce more than others, which will inevitably lead to the majority of the population of bacteria containing the antibiotic resistant traits. This applies the same way creatures naturally select traits, depending on the environment. This concerns us because as bacteria become more and more resistant, it will take more resources, such as time and money, to exterminate it. In fact, our medicine is just making matters worse in a sense, as the bacteria is just slowly evolving past our solutions. With that being said, we could face many huge issues with such small organisms in the future.
I found the article about combining two different MRI techniques to better map the brains of professional fighters interesting. I can personally relate to this topic because of my involvement in volleyball. Although the amount of contact and trauma I encounter is not nearly the same to the amount professional fighters encounter, I too like to be aware of the potentially damaging effects mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can do to my brain. This ground breaking technology will be the gateway to understanding the brain better. New medicines and sports equipment may even be developed to keep up with new findings to reduce or reverse cognitive impairment.
After reading the article about an MRI technique that can help predict cognitive impairment in fighters, I am hopeful that this technique could be useful for all athletes, especially those in contact sports. I am an advocate for sports safety, and this article is one of the reasons I believe there is no excuse to not take the necessary precautions in order to protect athletes from life changing damage. The technique described in the article, which is a combination of two MRI's that are specific to grey and white matter, is simple enough for anyone to understand, and having it done longitudinally can help doctors keep up with the athletes cognitive health. Not only can we now be aware of the athlete's health, but we can also intervene before the impairment becomes permanent and life threatening. I am always hearing about some retired football players on the news who are suffering from severe cognitive damage due to multiple overlooked concussions experienced during their careers, and the issue is becoming more and more common. If every athlete was able to fit the practice of getting these scans done periodically through out their lives, more athletes can stay in the game, and their lives could be in less of a danger.
The sound article regarding methicillin resistance brought up various amounts of valid and interesting points. Scientists were able to observe MRSA bacteria from the 1960-80's and discovered that people had developed a resistance to the bacteria even before it has been launched on the market. They were then later led to believe that this occurrence was a result of previous exposure to penicillin, another chemically related antibiotic. This factor could eventually become a problem for many health organizations and the entire field of medicine. Attaining this type of resistance to methicillin could leave certain diseases and health problems unsolved. If the issue is not solved anytime soon, the result could be the elimination of one or even both drugs from being used, and dedicating more time and money to find an alternative.
The other article i looked at was the Star Wars mitochondrion spoof. I found the entire situation to be quite humorous but at the same time disappointing. It shows one that nowadays, nothing can be trusted in terms of information, not even in the name of science! It further goes to explain how many companies will take in anything just for the sake of getting a good headline/attention. The fact that these articles provide viewers with invalid information comes out to be a disappointment and utter disgrace to education for me.
To begin, I listened to the audio about antibiotic resistance. I was taken aback when I heard that evolved bacteria could also be immune to antibiotics that have the same properties as previous antibiotics, to which they were already immune to. As stated in the audio clip, bacteria had already developed an immunity to Penicillin, and therefore easily developed an immunity to a future variation of Penicillin. As I previously stated, this could possibly be due to both antibiotics having the same properties. Because of this, I believe that scientists need to conduct further research to discover other products to include in future antibiotics to limit resistances from evolved bacteria. This way, less diseases will be created, and less people will become victims of infections.
I also read the article on being able to predict future cognitive impairment in fighters and athletes that experience a multitudinous of brain injuries. I truly believe that looking after ones health is the most crucial thing to do, no matter the circumstances, and this article justifies my beliefs. The fact that scientists were able to discover a way to become aware of brain traumas that could eventually lead to cognitive impairment is extremely reassuring and relieving to me because this discovery allows scientists to be able to limit, and maybe even reverse, the decline of brain functions. What makes this discovery even more reassuring is that the MRI scans on the gray and white matters of the brain are easy enough for anyone to understand, so anyone that puts their mind towards trying to prevent this issue can be able to do it. Hopefully athletes take the initiative of getting constant MRI scans done so that doctors and scientists can detect any signs of cognitive impairment in the future.
I was fascinated as I read the article about Star Wars and to learn that an article that was not factually based on anything was still able to be published by more than just one organization. This just shows that not everything one reads on the internet is correct even if it is from a science journal because "peer reviewed" articles are not the most accurate. I couldn't believe that such an obvious article filled with fake information got even more than 2 minutes of attention from some of the science journals. They clearly did not notice the plagiarizing or inaccuracy and even if they did they might have been more interested in making a profit as one of the science journals asked for $360 for it to be published.
The article about mTBIs was extremely informative. It was interesting to read that mTBI can lead to mood and motor degeneration. Scientists can now compare results from two MRI tests, DTI and TI weighted. They can observe patterns in brain matter with gray and white matter to create biomarkers indicating cognitive damage which could hopefully eventually predict changes. Hopefully as scientists learn more about the specific parts of the brain and how they are affected, better regulations could be put in place for athletes to ensure safety.
I was interested in the article about predicting cognitive impairment in fighters who are exposed to mTBI because what Dr. Mishra and Dr. Mishra’s colleagues have discovered is extremely important. What they found out is also just the beginning. As Dr. Mishra said in the article, this is only just the beginning of relieving and helping fighters who are or will be suffering from cognitive impairment. There are many more questions that must be answered, and now researches have a foundation to build on.
I read the article " MRI may help predict cognitive impairment in professional fighters". It is a known fact that professional fighters take a lot of physical damage. This damage is usually very detrimental to their bodies short term and long term. One of the worst long term injuries that fighters face is brain damage. Many people are trying very hard to help this problem, and this article presented a possible solution. The new study that's being conducted has uses two MRI techniques which include, T1 weighted MRI and diffusion tenor imaging (DTI). This is used to look at both types of brain tissue. The studies lead author Virendra Mishra stated, "by combining these approaches, we hoped to find imaging biomarkers on MRI that could be used to predict whether or not fighters will become impaired." The purpose of the new techniques is to analyze a persons brain using biomarkers to find out if they would be impaired if they are repeatedly injured in the head, before the event even occurs. Scientists hope that with further research they will be able to predict later cognitive changes and decrease the chances of cognitive. The study hopes to help people understand the risk, speed up interventions, and contribute to the study and development of drugs. I hope this study finds a great solution for these professional fighters.
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