Shelby Carbary
Chemotherapy

Introduction:
It is used widely today. It has saved many peoples lives and will save many more. Chemotherapy as been used widely to treat people with severe illnesses, specifically cancer patients. Designed to kill cells, it is guaranteed to have positive effects against cancerous tumors and microorganisms. Based on reports, Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman invented this kind of treatment. Chemotherapy has been helping people for years overcome serious illness.

Discovery:
In the 1940’s, the U.S Department of Defense hired Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman to conduct research on the use of nitrogen mustard as therapeutic agent. They found that the chemical warfare agent could actually treat lymphoma. Nitrogen mustards cause mutations in the genetic material of cells, thereby disrupting mitosis, or cell division. Cancer and proliferating tumors are most sensitive. After the discovery by Gilman and Goodman, Eli Lilly discovered the effectiveness of Madagascar periwinkle in blocking tumor cell proliferation. In 1965, the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy as cancer treatment was discovered. Because the chemotherapy stops the rapid division of cells hair loss, inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, and decreased production of blood cells are common side effects. Chemotherapy consist of many different drugs that can be administered based on your individual case. For example, cyclophosphamide is use for lymphoma, breast cancer, and ovarian carcinoma where as sorafinib is used for advanced kidney cancer.

Biography:
Alfred Gilman born February 5, 1908, was an American pharmacologist at Yale University, School of Medicine, later, at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He published the textbook The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics with his colleague Louis S. Goodman in 1941. He was a member of U.S. National Academy of Science. His father owned a music store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he could play almost any musical instrument. Unlike his father, however, Alfred Gilman turned to science, receiving his Ph.D. in Physiological Chemistry from Yale in 1931 for "Chemical and Physiological Investigations on Canine Gastric Secretion". He then joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology at the Yale Medical School, where he and Louis S. Goodman, a young M.D., became colleagues and close friends. He is father of Alfred G. Gilman, Nobel winning pharmacologist.

Impact on Humanity:
If it weren’t for chemotherapy many people would not be able to overcome cancer. Over ten million people have survived cancer. Breakthroughs in medicine have allowed chemotherapy to help fight against many types of cancer not just one. Although there are many side effects that come out of chemotherapy it is a live saving treatment.


Journal Article: Dilemmas in managing patients with cancer of unknown primary.

Cancer of unknown primary(CUP) is one of the ten most common cancer diagnoses in the UK. CUP is diagnosed when the primary source of the cancer can not be detected. This leaves it difficult to treat the cancer because of the unknown location. Patients have to go through many difficult test to try and determine the location and sometimes will be provided with no answer as to where the cancer is coming from. One reason for not being able to locate the primary source could be that the secondary sources have grown and spread too quickly while the primary source as stayed small leaving it hard to find on scans. Another reason could be the immune system may have destroyed the primary after it has spread. Being diagnosed with CUP can be very emotionally and financially taxing. You have to go through intensive testing and spend lots of money doing so. Leaving everyone including the doctor, family, and patient emotionally and financially burdened.

Resources:
http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-chemotherapy.html
http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/nitrogen_mustard.jsp
http://www.caring4cancer.com/go/cancer/treatment/chemotherapy/common-chemotherapy-drugs-and-side-effects.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_G._Gilman
http://www.cupfoundjo.org/research_and_resources/CNP%20article%20draft.pdf

Synesthesia

By Elizabeth Feins

. I. Introduction

‘Until very recent years, it was supposed by philosophers that there was a typical human mind which all individual minds were like…Lately however, a mass of revelations have poured in which make us see how false a view this is.’

-William James, 1890

One of the chief purposes of the human brain is to create a sensory reality. Most people possess five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. The brain organizes the sights, sounds, tastes, scents, and textures we encounter, separating each sense so that we can clearly tell the difference between something we see and something we hear, or something we touch and something we taste. In some individuals, however, the brain arranges the senses in a very different manner. This condition, called synesthesia, causes people to involuntarily combine two or more senses. Someone with synesthesia might be able to see sound, for example, or he might be able to taste shapes. He might have a three-dimensional view of time, or, in rare cases, he might associate color with temperature. There are nineteen specific types of synesthesia, and it is estimated that about 1 in 2,000 people have the condition. However, this number may not be accurate; there are probably many people who have the condition, but don’t realize that it’s abnormal.

II. Background

Figure 1 – Location of the senses in the human brain

As seen in Figure 1, the human brain organizes the senses into regions. Synesthesia results when the brain “cross-wires” the senses, causing synapses that normally are contained in one particular area to cross to another sensory system. For example, in a synthetic person, the nerve cells that carry sound may end up in both the hearing and vision parts of the brain. Other types on synesthesia include combining taste with touch, scent with sight, and assigning personalities to different letters of the alphabet.

Synesthesia tends to be a heredity condition, and is most commonly found in women. People with synesthesia often become musicians, poets, artists, or authors; being involved with creative arts gives them a chance to express the way they experience life.

Figure 2 – Bouba and Kiki

According to some scientists, everyone experiences these “crossed connections” when they are born; most infants react to sensory stimuli in ways that suggest synesthesia. This realization led to the hypothesis that young children have crossed connections, and as their brains develop further they lose their synesthesia. Adult synesthetes are simply individuals who retained the crossed connections.

However, 98% of adults still possess a miniscule amount of synesthesia, according to a study created by Wolfgang Kohler. Look at Figure 3, and decide which shape should be named Bouba, and which should be named Kiki. 98% of the people asked that question answer it the same way: the sharp, angular shape is Kiki, and the rounded blob is called Bouba. This is probably because the curves of rounded shape metaphorically mimic the gentle waves of the sound 'bouba.' In contrast, the sharp emphasis on the sound ‘kiki’ is represented by the jagged edges of the angular shape. Without even thinking about it, our brains combine sound and shape, showing minor symptoms of synesthesia.

Figure 3 – A common Synesthesia test

There are numerous ways to determine whether or not an individual has synesthesia. One of them, as seen in Figure 3, tests for the most common type of synesthesia: grapheme-color, in which people see letters and numbers in color. To a non-synesthete, Figure 3 looks like the image on the left: a jumble of black numbers. To someone with grapheme-color synesthesia, however, it looks like the image on the right; because the numbers are two different colors, it’s quite easy to differentiate between the fives and the twos.

People with grapheme-color synesthesia tend to remember people by their colors, rather than by name. If the name Laura appears purple, for example, a synesthete will often remember that her name is purple instead of recalling that her name is Laura.

III. Biography of Investigator

Oliver Sacks, author of Musicophilia, is a British neurologist. Born in London in 1933, Sacks was surrounded by medical scientists from a young age; his mother was a surgeon, and his father worked as a general practitioner. He succeeded in earning a medical degree at Oxford and moved to New York in 1965 to study the nervous system. Sacks’ main area of interest is in mental conditions, including Tourette’s syndrome, autism, phantom limb syndrome, schizophrenia, retardation, Alzheimer’s disease, and synesthesia. In addition to studying medicine, Oliver Sacks writes books pertaining to his discoveries—he received Lewis Thomas Prize by Rockefeller University in 2002, which recognizes the scientist as the “poet laureate of medicine.” Published in 2007, one of his books, Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain, consists of interviews and discoveries the scientist collected regarding synesthesia.

IV. Impact on the World

The discovery and investigation of synesthesia raises deep questions and theories about truth and perception. Once someone is aware of synesthesia, he’ll begin to question his world. What if he’s the only one who hears that sound? What if no one else experiences that taste? What if he perceives that color differently than the person sitting next to him? According to the Uninhibited Natural State theory, everyone is synesthetic in reality, but most of us are not consciously aware of it. This type of thinking leads to philosophical discussions about truth. If the worlds on a page seem black-and-white to you, but multi-colored to someone else, then what is the true color of the ink? Knowledge of synesthesia can result in open-mindedness and tolerance when faced with disagreements, not just over the color of a word, but over more important matters, as well. After all, everyone sees the world differently, not just synesthetes.

V. Journal Article Review: “Synæsthesia and the Brain”

Most cases of synesthesia are idiopathic, or developmental. This means that the person experiencing the condition has had it for as long as they can remember. In some cases, however, synesthesia can be acquired in non-idiopathic ways. Seizures, hallucinogenic drug use, brain damage, and spinal cord injuries can result in synesthesia. Neuron degeneration, the loss of certain neurons that make up nerves, can also induce synesthesia; concussions may result in temporary sensory confusion, as well. As for idiopathic synesthesia, not much is known other than the fact that it seems to run in families. Studies show that most infants possess synesthesia, and as the brain develops it eliminates the sensory confusion; some theories suggest that everyone possesses some form of synesthesia throughout their entire lives, but most people aren’t completely aware of it.

Works Cited

"Biography Oliver Sacks, M.D., Physician, Author, Neurologist." Oliver Sacks, M.D., Physician, Author, Neurologist Official Website Musicophilia, Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

Booth, Shannon. "Synaesthesia and the Brain." Macalester College: Private Liberal Arts College. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

Jensen, Amber. "Synesthesia." Lethbridge Undergraduate Research Journal. 2007. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

"Neuroscience for Kids - Synesthesia." UW Faculty Web Server. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

"Synesthesia Links and References." ./mediateletipos))). Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

"Synesthesia." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 7 Dec. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

Tarko, Vlad. "Synaesthesia: Seeing Sounds, Tasting Shapes - This Eerie Phenomenon, Long Regarded as a Mere Curiosity, Might Offer a Window into the Nature of Thought - Softpedia." Latest News - Softpedia. 4 Jan. 2006. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. .

CELL PHONES

BY: CARTER MOORE

Introduction-

The cell phone is one of the most widely used pieces of technology in the world. The first telephone was invented in 1876 by Alexander graham bell and it was almost exactly 100 years after when the cell phone

History-


1843 - A skilled analytical chemist by the name of Michael Faraday began exhaustive research into whether space could conduct electricity.

1865 - Dr. Mahlon Loomis of Virginia, a dentist, may have been the first person to communicate through wireless through the atmosphere. Between 1866 and 1873 he transmitted messages at a distance of 18 miles between the tops of Coshocton and Beorse Deer Mountains in Virginia. He developed a method of transmitting and receiving messages by using the Earth's atmosphere as a conductor and launching kites enclosed with a copper screens that were linked to the ground with copper wires.

1973 - Dr Martin Cooper, is considered the inventor of the first portable handset. Dr. Cooper, former general manager for the systems division at Motorola, and the first person to make a call on a portable cellular phone.
1973 - Dr. Cooper set up a base station in New York with the first working prototype of a cellular telephone, the Motorola Dyna-Tac. Dr. Cooper and Motorola took the phone technology to New York to show the public.

1977 - Public cell phone testing began. The city of Chicago was where the first trials began with 2000 customers, and eventually other cell phone trials appeared in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore area. Japan began testing cellular phone service in 1979.

Journal Article-


http://jnci.oxfordjournals.org/content/98/23/1707.short


In this article they say that after much research and the following of many Danish cell phone users over a span of 21 years, these people, all 420,095, that first subscribed to a cellular telephone company between 1982 and 1995 were followed up in 2002 and of all 14,249 cancers that were found none were related to the use of cellular telephones.


Biography-

Martin Cooper was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 26, 1928, and earned his Bachelors and Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Prior to working at Motorola in 1954, he served in the Navy for 4 years, working on destroyers, and on submarines. In the early years at Motorola, he worked on portable products, including hand radios, made for the Chicago Police Department in 1967. Shortly after this project, he began working on Motorola's Cellular Research project, and developed the 3lb prototype from his base in Washington. On April 3, 1973, standing on Sixth Avenue in New York City near the New York Hilton hotel, Cooper made a phone call from a prototype Dyna-Tac hand-held cellular phone before going to a press conference upstairs in the hotel. The phone connected Cooper with the base station on the roof of the Burlington House (now the Alliance Capital Building) across the street from the hotel and into the AT&T land-line telephone system.


Impact on Humanity-


In spite of the unbelievable demand, it took cell phones 37 years total to become commercially accessible in the US. According to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, today there are more than 60 million customers with cellular phones, even though wireless service was just invented nearly 50 years ago. The cellular business was a $3 million market 25 years ago and has grown increasingly to close to a $30 billion per year industry.

Bibliography-


http://www.helium.com/items/1235159-martin-cooper-mobile-phone-inventions-whartonmotorola-attwireless-technology-innovatators

http://www.howstuffworks.com/search.php?terms=cell+phones

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cooper_%28inventor%29

http://cellphones.org/blog/how-a-cell-phone-call-works/

Underwater Welding

By: William Luer

I. Introduction:

Underwater welding has been in use since its discovery in 1932 by Soviet engineer and inventor Konstantin Konstantinovich Khrenov. This discovery would also prove to be extremely useful during the immense destruction of World War II (1939-1945). Welding is the process of uniting or fusing metals by means of hammering or compressing especially after being rendered soft or pasty by heat. Itis most often used with steel, which has a melting point of about 1500o C (2732o F). The history of above land welding can be traced back thousands of years ago to the Bronze Age (3300-1200 BCE) and was also used to create the iron pillar; an 11,900-poundtower erected around 310 CE in Delhi, India.

II. Discovery:

Underwater welding is split into two main categories: dry welding and wet welding. Wet welding is the most common and is performed by a diver clad in a full wetsuit, a 30-pound helmet, and thin rubber gloves. In these rubber gloves, the diver holds a fully waterproof electrode that when charged, heats up the same as it would on land since water is equally conductive. The helmet contains a lense plate that can be flipped up and down over the eyes to protect them from the intense light and also supplies him withsufficient air. Less dangerous DC currents are always used over the common AC currents of your home because they

lessen the chances

of fatal shock.
Dry welding requires a makeshift habitat that is lowered from a ship, placed around the structure to be fixed, sealed and then drained of all water. This n

ewly made hyperbaric chamber is filled with helium gas and can be operated in just like any other weld on land.
Underwater welding is based off the concepts and ideas of normal welding. In fact many of the wet welding techniques only have a slight variation that allows them to be able to function at an elevated pressure. One of the variations may be to create a helium filled chamber surrounding the structure. There are three other techniques used such as: manual metal arc welding (MMA), flux-cored arc welding (FCAW), and friction welding. MMA welding is the most common process used today. FCAW welding was the technique of choice in the former Soviet Union. Friction welding is used mainly in deep water repair due to the fact that is relatively insensitive to depth changes and is operated by robotic arms up to 10,000 feet under water.

III. Biography:

Konstantin Konstantinovich Khrenov has been credited with

the discovery of underwater welding in 1932. Khrenov was born in Borovsk, Russia in 1894. He graduated from the departm

ent of electrochemistry of St. Petersburg State Electrotechnical University in 1918. In 1932, he worked as a lecturer at the Moscow Institute of Electromechanical Engineering and the Bauman Moscow State Technical University. His career was dedicated to developing and improving new techniques and equipment.

Due to his dedicated mindset and the extreme aid that underwater welding had towards the Soviet Union in WWII, Khrenov was given the Stalin Prize in 1946.

IV. Impact on the World:

Underwater welding has had a vast impact on the world as we know it. It is used most often to repair

ships, oil platforms, and pipelines offshore that have been damaged, most often by hurricanes or explosions. During World War II, ships could be constructed, built, and repaired all without having to leave the water.

This may all sound too good to be true and you’re exactly right. There are three potential risks that may result from underwater welding. The first is electric shock from the electrode the diver is holding. The second risk is for the potential for pockets of explosive gas to be built up as a product of the welding and cutting. The third and final risk has to do with pressure changes. If a diver is to experience too rapid of pressure changes, deadly bubbles of nitrogen will emerge in his bloodstream and kill him.
Due to the high level of expertise required, Global Industries, a leading company in construction, engineering, and support for oil and gas industries, makes trainees undergo years of specialized training. As you can see, underwater welding also gives jobs to people from across the world.

V. Journal Article:

The Journal Article I chose has to do with the effects of wet underwater welding on the fracture behavior of welds. It takes into account the nature of the surrounding fluid having to do with temperature distribution. Inhomogeneous volume ch

anges and thermal residual stresses occur on the weld due to the heating and cooling. A similar weld was performed in both a wet and dry weld scenario in order to see the differences.

In a dry weld, the molten pool of steel that dried to an inhomogeneous volume was 15mm longer than that of the wet weld because the water provides a high cooling rate.

The depth and width between the two experiments were nearly identical. In conclusion, the water contact leads to a high cooling velocity and to a high temperature gradient in the vicinity of the weld seam compared to dry welding in air atmosphere.

VI. Bibliography:

"Konstantin Khrenov : Define, Explore, Discuss." 1000s of Museums Online : MuseumStuff.com. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/konstantin_khrenov.

"Konstantin Khrenov : Info, Images, Discussion." Web. 12 Dec. 2010. http://www.joeinvestoronline.com/library/konstantin- khrenov.php.

Lutz, Lindhost. On the Effects of Wet Underwater Welding on the Fracture Behaviour of Welds 1969: 1-8. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. http://www.iasmirt.org/smirt16/g1969.pdf.

"Underwater Welding (Knowledge Summary)." TWI - Welding and Joining Specialist. 2010. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. http://www.twi.co.uk/content/ksdja001.html.

U.S. Army Operator Ciculars. "Great Welding History Information !!" Great Welding History Information. Web. 12 Dec. 2010. http://www.weldguru.com/welding-history.html.

"YouTube - Underwater Welding." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. Ed. The History Chanel. Modern Marvels, 16 Dec. 2008. Web.12 Dec. 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zt-icup82w4.

Albert Einstein and Relativity by John Stiffler

I. Introduction
Very few people have never heard of Albert Einstein. Just as famous as George Washington, he revolutionized the field of physics in the 20th century. However, few people know exactly what it was that he did. Everyone knows of the famous E=MC2, but what does it actually mean? This pertains to the Theory of Relativity, perhaps Einstein's most important contribution. But what is it? This we shall explore.

II. Discovery
It began one day in 1905 when a 26-year-old Einstein was riding a city bus, when he wondered what would happen if the bus accelerated to the speed of light. After further research, he published his findings in his 1905 paper on Special Relativity. Building upon theories made by other scientists, this states, among other things, that light in a vacuum remains at a particular contstant speed, regardless of the motion of the light source (the origin of E=MC2), that all things moving at the same velocity will be affected by the same physics, and that all space and time reference frames are equal, which means that there is no "present" time. Over time, this theory was accepted by many scientists, however, there was a problem: it only applied to matter and energy under special circumstances. Therefore, in 1915, einstein publsihed his thesis on General Relativity, which generalized special relativity using Newton's law of universal gravitation. This staes that the curvature of spacetime (all 4 dimensions) is related to the momentum of all mass and energy prestn. This means that the greater the mass and radiational energy of an object, the greater it affects gravity and the more it bends space around it. This led to the prediction of the existence of gravitational waves, time delay, and even black holes.

III. Biography
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany, to Hermann and Pauline Einstein. In 1889, Max Talmud, a medical student, began living with the family part-time. It was he that introduced the young Einstein to science and mathematics, which he would develop a passion for. In 1895, he published his first scientific work, "The Investigation of the Aether in Magnetic Fields", and in 1896, began at the Polytechnic School in Zurich, graduating in 1900. In 1902, he married Mileva Maric, having two children, but divorcing in 1919. That same year, he married Elsa Lowenthal, who eventually died in 1936. Starting in 1903, he began working at a patent office while continuing his academic career, writing papers on thermodynamics and physical principles. A breakthorugh came in 1905, when he published his theories on photons, Browning motion, energy and matter equivalence, and on special relativity. He gained notice, and in 1908, he began teaching in Bern, Prague, and later Berlin, being accepted into multiple scientific societies. In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize for Physics, traveling around the world as a new celebrity. In 1933, as he was Jewish, he left Germany after the rise of the Nazis and became an American citizen. In 1939, In order to prevent the Nazis from developing nuclear weaponry, he became a lead scientist on the Manhattan Project, which developed America's atomic bomb. After another decade of scientific development, Einstein died on April 17, 1955.

IV. Impact on the World
Albert Einstein revolutionized the world of physics. He published hundreds of books and articles, not just on science, but also on philosophy. He helped to develop theories on the atom, light, time, and quantum physicss. His Theory of Relativity changed the way that scientistd thought of space. It opened up an entire new world of possibilities, not just for physics, but for space travel as well. His theories implied everything from wormholes to time warps to black holes. Generally accepted around the world, this theory is the staple for quantum physics and the defintion of spacetime and gravity as we know it today. Einstein's legacy lives on, as many know of E=MC2 and of his many discoveries. In honor of his achievements, he was named man of the century in 1999.

V.Journal Article

In Einstein's own 1936 publication Physics & Reality, he gives insight into not only his scientific interest, but to his philosophical nature as well. He discusses the importance of the scientific method as not only a tool for discovering the world, but for allowing us to think. It was by this that he could discover his theories. He says that in order to set a "real external world", one must be able to recognize bodies crated or observe by the senses, and then to be able to establish their significance. Later he discusses the aim of science, stating that its goal is the comprehension of what our senses experience, and then to be able to make them unite in a particular minimum.

VI. Bibliography

1. Bernstein, J. (1996). Albert Einstein and the Frontiers of Physics. New York: Oxford University Press.

2. Einstein, Albert. (2003). Physics & Reality. Daedalus vol. 132.

3. Einstein, Albert. (2001). Relativity: The Special and General Theory. (Lawson, R.W., Translator). London: Routledge.

BLOOD TYPING (morgan levy) Discovery by Karl Landsteiner

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*] Blood transfusions have been carried out for hundreds of years. They were discovered by William Harvey in the late 1620’s. Between then, and the 1900’s, Many patients had died from blood transfusions. Actually about 50%, and doctors had no idea why that was. We now know that this is because two individuals may not have the same “blood type” This was discovered in 1901 by Karl Landsteiner.

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]After his discovery, more people started surviving blood transfusions. To this day, over 1 billion people have had successful blood transfusions thanks to Karl Landsteiner. Mixing blood from two people with different blood types can cause blood clumping or agglutination. The clumped red blood cells can crack and cause toxic reactions. This toxic reaction killed many people before the discovery of blood types. Karl Landsteiner discovered that blood clumping was a reaction that occurs when the person receiving a blood transfusion has antibodies against the donor blood cells. His work to determine blood groups helped blood transfusions to be carried out safely. This way, no person was having a toxic reaction because their blood didn’t have antibodies against anothers. The different blood types have different presence in protein molecules called antigens and antibodies. There are more than 20 known blood group systems but AB0 and Rh are the most important in blood transfusions.
There are the four different blood groups in the AB0 blood group system. ( A, B, AB, 0)


Some people have an Rh antigen. Those people are called Rh+. Those who don’t are called Rh-. Therefore there are 8 blood types that people can have, ARh+, ARh-, BRh+, BRh-, ABRh+, ABRh-, ORh+ and ORh-.


[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]Karl Landsteiner was born on June 14, 18. He was an Austrian biologist and physician. He earned his medical degree at the University of Vienna in 1891, Where he later became a professor. Although he did many other scientific works, such as the co-discovery of the polio virus in 1909, he is most known for his discovery and classification of blood groups. After his discovery in 1901 and many years of work following, he received the Nobel Prize for Physiology(medicine) in 1930.

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*] Because of his discovery, many people from the early 1900’s until today have survived blood transfusions. The grouping of blood has helped to give blood to HIV and hepatitis patients as well as many other ways in which blood is either used in transfusions, or made into medicine. Over 1 billion people have survived blood transfusions to this day, and this is mostly dependent on Karl Landsteiner’s discoveries.

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*] The relationship between blood type and disease
Various sicknesses, diseases and cancers have been linked to certain blood types. For instance, group A patients and stomach cancer, and group O with peptic ulcers and toxemia of pregnancy, Now, doctors are trying to do many more studies in order to find a relation between blood groups and diseases. After loads and loads of mathematic computation, it has been determined that this is either happening because of the environment, or somehow because the people have the same blood type. Research is still going on by scientists to this day in order to determine, and possibly help lower numbers in certain diseases that are more common in a certain blood type.
http://www.epidemiology.ch/history/PDF%20bg/Woolf%20B%201955%20on%20estimating%20the%20relation.pdf

[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]http://nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/landsteiner/readmore.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_donation
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Landsteiner.html
http://www.epidemiology.ch/history/PDF%20bg/Woolf%20B%201955%20on%20estimating%20the%20relation.pdf


Also, go to this page to watch a video: http://www.hulu.com/watch/148427/milestones-in-science-and-engineering-karl-landsteiner-and-the-ab0-blood-group-system

The Discovery of Penicillin: By CJ Price

I. Introduction

As one of the first antibiotics ever discovered, penicillin proved to be a life-saving product for millions of people across the world. It was used by nearly everybody to prevent and treat infection, ranging from soldiers to infants. The discovery and development of penicillin cannot be credited to one specific scientist, but nearly half a dozen, including Ernest Duchesne, Alexander Fleming, Dr. Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and Andrew J. Moyer (among others). Also, research was done in France, England, and the United States in the time period from 1896 to 1943.

II. Discovery

There was a span of nearly fifty years from the first discoveries related to penicillin to its mass production. This provides a complex and interesting history of this important antibiotic. In 1896, a French medical student named Ernest Duchesne discovered that certain molds kill bacteria. However, his breakthrough went unnoticed. Then in 1928 in London, a bacteriologist named Alexander Fleming discovered that a certain mold could destroy the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus, even when it was diluted 800 times. He called this mold "penicillin." Although he published his findings, there was not an immediate response either. However, in 1939 at Oxford, Dr. Howard Florey, Ernst Chain, and a few other partners researched penicillin and demonstrated that it could be used to kill infectious bacteria. After that, they traveled to the United States, bringing with them a small package of valuable penicillin. There, they intended to develop a way of producing penicillin at a faster rate, and they began their work in the Peoria Lab. They discovered that by pumping air into deep vats containing corn steep liquor, penicillin, and other substances, growth rates of penicillin went way up. In November of 1941, Andrew J. Moyer increased the yields of penicillin ten times, and the production of penicillin skyrocketed by 1943.

III. Biography

Sir Alexander Fleming (1881 – 1955) was educated at St. Mary’s Medical School in London, where he also began research and became a lecturer and professor of bacteriology. In 1921, while searching for antibacterial substances that would not be toxic to animal tissues, he discovered lysozyme, which he named himself. Then, he made his discovery of penicillin in 1928. In 1943, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, and he was knighted in 1944. During his career, Sir Alexander Fleming wrote many papers on bacteriology, immunology, and chemotherapy. He also earned countless awards for his work. To name a few, he received The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, Honorary Gold Medal of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the Cameron Prize at the University of Edinburgh. Moreover, Fleming was an Honorary Member of nearly all the scientific and medical societies in the world, and he received his doctorate degree from almost thirty American and European Universities.

IV. Impact on World/Humanity

Penicillin had a tremendous impact on the world, preventing and curing infection in millions of people worldwide. In WWII, thousands upon thousands of soldiers were saved by this simple mold. However, the effects of penicillin reached far beyond treating soldiers during wartime. Until the production of penicillin, people could die from the most minor infections. Everyday people began to use penicillin, and it continued to save millions of lives, including the life of my great aunt. In the 1940s, she went to a Catholic Hospital to give birth to her second child. However, the nuns did not wash the table from the previous birth, and my great aunt got a life-threatening infection. They tried everything, but nothing would cure her infection. Then, the doctor told her that there was this new product called penicillin, and they were going to give it a try. Lo and behold, it cured her, and she is still living happily today.

V. Journal Article Review

In my journal article, three scientists from the Netherlands wanted to see the effects of penicillin on patients presenting with a sore throat and other symptoms. These patients may have had either strep throat (group A beta-hemolytic streptococci) or a viral illness. They took 239 patients with a sore throat and treated them with penicillin V. After two days of treatment, all patients reported back to the scientists about how they were feeling, and a throat culture was then performed. Also, patients kept a diary regarding their symptoms for 7 days. The patients who had strep throat showed significant signs of improvement after 2 days, including a reduction of fever. However, the patients with a viral illness showed no significant signs of improvement after 2 days. After 7 days, there was no difference between the two treatment groups at all based on the self-reporting of the patients. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the antibiotic penicillin V should only be used for bacterial group A beta-hemolytic streptococci infection. The researchers found that viral illnesses should not be treated with antibiotics for three reasons: they will have absolutely no effect, there is a chance of developing an allergy to the antibiotic, and patients run the risk of developing resistant bacteria.

VI. List of References

Bellis, B. M. (n.d.). History of Penicillin - Alexander Fleming - John Sheehan - Andrew Moyer. Inventors. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Penicillin.htm

Dagnelie, C. F., Van der Graaf, Y., & De Melker, R. A. (1996). Do patients with sore throat benefit from penicillin? A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial with penicillin V in general practice. British Journal of General Practice, 46, 589-593. Retrieved December 12, 2010.

Ernest Duchesne. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Duchesne

Penicillin. (n.d.). Things younger than Republican Presidential candidate (oh, and did I forget to mention war hero?) John McCain. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/penicillin/

Sir Alexander Fleming - Biography. (n.d.). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved December 12, 2010, from http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1945/fleming-bio.html