Understanding Allergies (Type I)

Now that allergy season is here, I think it is time to understand what is happening in our bodies that causes an allergic reaction to all those who have allergies. First off let's define allergies.  Allergies is an abnormal way of your immune system responding to a substance (also termed hypersisity reaction), be it pollen, grass, insect venom, food, or even a type of clothing (I have a friend who has an allergic reaction to jean!). A substance that causes an allergic response is called an allergen; thus pollen, for example, is an allergen.

There are 4 types of hypersensity reaction: Type I (Immediate), Type II (Cytotoxic), Type III (Immune Complex), and Type IV (Delayed-Type). I will be discussing Type I since it is the most common. Type 1, or immediate, reaction is one that occurs immediately after the immune system is exposed to an allergen.  Type I can also be called IgE-mediated hypersensity, IgE are antibodies.

Whenever I study for my biology classes I watch videos online because they help me so much with understanding the topic and I can always pause and rewind while taking notes. I put up a viedo which will give a better understanding of how Type 1 reaction occurs in the human body.

Reproduction and Sex

1. On any given day, sexual intercourse takes place 120 million times on earth. Humans are a quickly proliferating species, and with about 4% of the world’s population having sex on any given day, it’s no wonder that birth rates continue to increase in many places all over the world.
2. The largest cell in the human body is the female egg and the smallest is the male sperm. While you can’t see skin cells or muscle cells, the ovum is typically large enough to be seen with the naked eye with a diameter of about a millimeter. The sperm cell, on the other hand, is tiny, consisting of little more than nucleus.
3. The three things pregnant women dream most of during their first trimester are frogs, worms and potted plants. Pregnancy hormones can cause mood swings, cravings and many other unexpected changes. Oddly enough, hormones can often affect the types of dreams women have and their vividness. The most common are these three types, but many women also dream of water, giving birth or even have violent or sexually charged dreams.
4. Your teeth start growing 6 months before you are born. While few babies are born with teeth in place, the teeth that will eventually push through the gums of young children are formed long before the child even leaves the womb. At 9 to 12 weeks the fetus starts to form the teeth buds that will turn into baby teeth.
5. Babies are always born with blue eyes. The color of your eyes depends on the genes you get from your parents, but at birth most babies appear to have blue eyes. The reason behind this is the pigment melanin. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color.
6. Babies are, pound for pound, stronger than an ox. While a baby certainly couldn’t pull a covered wagon at its present size, if the child were the size of an oxen it just might very well be able to. Babies have especially strong and powerful legs for such tiny creatures, so watch out for those kicks.
7. One out of every 2,000 newborn infants has a tooth when they are born. Nursing mothers may cringe at this fact. Sometimes the tooth is a regular baby tooth that has already erupted and sometimes it is an extra tooth that will fall out before the other set of choppers comes in.
8. A fetus acquires fingerprints at the age of three months. When only a small fraction of the way through its development, a fetus will have already developed one of the most unique human traits: fingerprints. At only 6-13 weeks of development, the whorls of what will be fingerprints have already developed. Oddly enough, those fingerprints will not change throughout the person’s life and will be one of the last things to disappear after death.
9. Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell. All life has to begin somewhere, and even the largest humans spent a short part of their lives as a single celled organism when sperm and egg cells first combine. Shortly afterward, the cells begin rapidly dividing and begin forming the components of a tiny embryo.
10. Most men have erections every hour to hour and a half during sleep. Most people’s bodies and minds are much more active when they’re sleeping than they think. The combination of blood circulation and testosterone production can cause erections during sleep and they’re often a normal and necessary part of REM sleep.

For more facts

Back With Bodily Functions

I had stopped posting facts about the human for a while but I am back again! This time we look at bodily function, for example sneezing. I got these, and the other facts from Yes, I Can't See you.

My favorite fact from this topic of facts is #3 because blinking prevents bacteria and other troublesome from getting inside the eyes and causing trouble. It's nice to see the men have a higher chance of getting eye infections, or eye troubles, than women (sorry boys).

1. Sneezes regularly exceed 100 mph. There’s a good reason why you can’t keep your eyes open when you sneeze–that sneeze is rocketing out of your body at close to 100 mph. This is, of course, a good reason to cover your mouth when you sneeze.
2. Coughs clock in at about 60 mph. Viruses and colds get spread around the office and the classroom quickly during cold and flu season. With 60 mph coughs spraying germs far and wide, it’s no wonder.
3. Women blink twice as many times as men do. That’s a lot of blinking every day. The average person, man or woman, blinks about 13 times a minute.
4. A full bladder is roughly the size of a soft ball. No wonder you have to run to bathroom when you feel the call of the wild. The average bladder holds about 400-800 cc of fluid but most people will feel the urge to go long before that at 250 to 300 cc.
5. Approximately 75% of human waste is made of water. While we might typically think that urine is the liquid part of human waste products, the truth is that what we consider solid waste is actually mostly water as well. You should be thankful that most waste is fairly water-filled, as drier harder stools are what cause constipation and are much harder and sometimes painful to pass.
6. Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce more than a pint of sweat a day. With that kind of sweat-producing power it’s no wonder that your gym shoes have a stench that can peel paint. Additionally, men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
7. During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools. Saliva plays an important part in beginning the digestive process and keeping the mouth lubricated, and your mouth produces quite a bit of it on a daily basis.
8. The average person expels flatulence 14 times each day. Even if you’d like to think you’re too dignified to pass gas, the reality is that almost everyone will at least a few times a day. Digestion causes the body to release gases which can be painful if trapped in the abdomen and not released.
9. Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Scientific Racism

There are many good things about biology and I enjoy biology a lot. But one thing I dislike about Biology is that it plays a role in racism. Scientific racism is a belief that there is biological difference among races. For example, that blacks have a smaller brain than other people. It is sad that there are some biologist who still believe that one there will be proof to show the world that there is, indeed, a biological difference among races. When saying "biological difference", I do not mean minor differences like hair type, eye color, height, or even speed of metaboloism. Instead, I mean major biologcal differences, like smaller brains.

 

I never thought race was something that was biologically formed. The concept that race is biology started in 1800s the same time as imperialism. To me, that sounded extremely ignorant and it never even crossed my mind. It was a shocker to me to learn that people and scholars in the past actually believed that. In the documentary Race: The Power of an Illusion Series, the Difference Between Us showed that scholars from history compared skull sizes, brain color, and eyes between Africans and whites to find an big biological difference between blacks and whites. However, a microbiologist stated in the movie that all of our (people) genetics are telling us that is not the case and there are no genetic markers that a certain race has and the others do not. In fact, people are among the most similar species. Only one nucleotide is different between people which create the individuality among people. In sports, race being related to biology is big. The video is from Race:The Power of an Illusion Series, the Difference Between Us

 

There are people who think black folks are good at basketball or track because they have some genetic or biological form that whites or others do not have. Some people think blacks have an extra muscle in their body that gives them an advantage over other players. In the article A Feckless Quest for the Basketball Gene, states that genetics do not give a certain race the achievement or the abilities over other race. It makes no sense to me how people think there is an biological advantage in blacks, for example, in sports, but a person’s intelligence is not based on biology. This concept, of genetic advantage for some race, was new for me because I never thought race had anything to do with sports or intelligence or even heard about it before. I know that majority of the basketball players are blacks, but for me the reason for that was because they enjoy playing basketball and they are good at the game because they play daily and practice loads, not because they are blacks and have an extra muscle or their bone structure is different from others. Everyone has a different definition of what race is, and so for some people I guess biology is their definition, but to me that just sounds silly. Regardless of one’s skin color, people all have two eyes, two ears, a nose, a heart, and almost everything the same as one another; so there is no biological difference between me, Pakistani, and my friend who is Cape Verdean.

I read an article that discusses this issue of biology and racism. A researcher by the name of Dr. Bruce Lahn released genetic data that showed that brain size of an African was smaller than other people. This news was spread all over via newspaper and other media. However, other researchers studied his research found out that his research was wrong along with his mathematics. Unfortunately, people disregarded this Dr.Lahn’s mistakes and believed that there is some biological difference among different races. The article goes on of released biology research and information that show that there are genomic differences among people but it is minor and cause the different types of skin, hair, and etc. The article also states that scientist do believe that one day they will gather data and information that will prove that there is a biological difference in the various races that exist.

I fail to understand why people cannot just accept the different races in the world. Imagine a world where there's only white, or only black, or only asians. Everybody would be a clone of one another. Why can't people see how beautiful it is to have so many different traditions and culture and food that come along with the different races. 

 

Mentor? Check!

I finally got a mentor for my biology honors research. Dr.Britt and I met on Thursday and she said she would be happy to be my mentor for fall 2013. She said she will give me the readings and other papers later on. The deadline for the proposal is April 15, but the biology department are really really flexible about deadlie. Our goal is to try to finalize a proposal by the end of this month. I am really glad I am finally moving along with my research projects. Thanks guys for helping me!

Honors Research Update

My issue is getting really frustrating because I am still waiting to hear from Dr.Britt if I am accepted to be in her summer research. If I am, then she will be my mentor for honors research. I applied at the late middle of Febrary and she said she would let me know her chosen students in the first week of March. I never received any information for the first 2 weeks of March so I emailed her to ask her about it. Dr.Britt said she had a meeting to go to on Wed of the week we came back from Spring Break about summer research so she will let students know a few days after her meeting.

It's the last week of March and I still have no news from her. I want to reach out to other professors about joining their research. However, if I start being involved in another prof's research and then I hear from Dr.Britt that I am accepted to her summer research, then it will suck because then I will be wasting the other prof.'s time. So I am a bit stuck on what to do.

I think it is only fair that I go ahead and reach to other profs but I would really like to work with Dr.Britt. The proposal for research of next semester is due April 15. I really want to get started, I do not know what to do. I need ADVICE!!!!!!

Secret Recipes?...Not That I Know Of

I honestly do not think my family has any secret recipes since my mother, who does all the cooking, never talked about such a thing. The food I have eaten at my aunt's, grandma's, other family members', or even family friends never coooked anything that I have not tasted at my own house. That sucks! I wish we had at least one secret recipe. I think it's cool and so much fun. I come from a Pakistani backgroud, we have lots and lots of hot (spicy) food, which I love. I think the most spiciest food my mom makes is spinach, or as we call it saag.

It does not really look as pleasant to eat, but it is really good. I have noticed that food that do not look as pleasant to eat, usually have so much flavor and taste to it. Thus, I try riskful-looking food. Saag is can be made from spinach, mustard leaves, , brocolli, and other green. I'm guessing it is healthy because it has so many greens to it, right? My mom puts lots and lots of crushed peppers and other spices and top it all off with butter. It is really spicy and makes my nose all watery, but yet I never stop eating it. It also has ginger in it. The butter really tops it off and you have to eat it right off the stove. When you first prepare it, it has a strong, unpleasant (I think) smell to it. People always think that Indian food and Pakistani are the same. Though they are, our spices and flavor are quiet different. Pakistani food is way more spicier I must say. So to me Indian food taste a little bland to me. Just a little. I am not so good at cooking, but I usually like to help my mom when she is cooking. That way I am able to seek a few bites. So I know a few steps of making saag. You usually fry ginger and garlic separate and then put in it the saag. It's quit tasteful. I know a lot of Indian people usually have paneer (cheese) and saag, but not a lot of Pakistani people cook that. Paneer is more of an Indian food than it is for Pakistani, though you can find recipes for Pakistani food that include paneer.

I never asked my mom about any secret recipes but I know for sure we do not have any. I mean I spent 20 years with my family, I should've known about it by now if we did have any. But I will still ask her, just in case,