Ecstasy and Brain Damage.
Ecstasy (MDMA) and Brain Damage. John Aird Introduction. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly called "Ecstasy", is a drug used for recreation in many countries (mainly in the developed world). It was first patented in 1912 by German pharmaceutical giants Merck, who named it "Methylsafrylamin". [1] It appeared as a street drug in the late 1960s in the US, where it garnered the name 'love drug' due to it's emotional effects. It was not until the 1980s, however, when use became widespread over North America and Europe. In the UK, it was especially popular in on the rave scene of the late '80s/early '90s with students. [6] MDMA is usually found in the form of a compressed powder tablet or a capsule and is usually taken orally, sometimes smoked and almost never injected (see Figure 1). Its chemical structure is similar to methamphetamine (see Figure 2), and has hallucinogenic effects like drugs such as LSD, however these effects are not as pronounced. [6] Even though it is less potent than drugs such as LSD, it is still a class A drug (UK), most likely due to the fact that the long-term effects are still largely undefined and highly disputed in the scientific community. [5] Despite its classification, the use of the drug has risen dramatically over the past 15-20 years. Between 1991 and 1997 the percentage of college students (US) who had taken MDMA rose from
Digestion
Digestion Digestion is an extremely vital process required in everyday life. It is beyond the actual ingestion of food material into the mouth. Digestion is defined as a process that takes place in the digestive tract, where food is broken down mechanically and chemically into a substance that is readily absorbed and assimilated in the body1. Below is a diagram of the digestive tract, otherwise known as the alimentary canal. Every part of it plays a vital role in the break down of food material, whether the contribution is mechanical breakdown as in the churning of the stomach or chemical, in the case of enzyme activity. The first part of the digestive tract is the mouth; this is comprised of parts A, B, J and D on the diagram. The mouth is made up of various parts, these all contribute towards digestion. The teeth help tear food up, into smaller pieces so the body can deal with it much easier. The salivary glands lubricate food by secreting saliva, which contain amylases, which work chemically to break down starch. The other parts of the mouth support digestion by ensuring the food do not enter the trachea. The most important is the epiglottis, which is a flap of cartilage that covers the trachea when food is entering the oesophagus. The oesophagus is a passageway that carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Food moves along the tube by muscle contractions called
Organic Molecules
Jennifer Forrester Biology 101-Section 700 February 10, 2009. Lab Report#1 ORGANIC MOLECULES Introduction Organic molecules are essential to life and are found in living organisms. The four basic types of molecules are carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nucleic acids which can be found in the foods that we consume. (SYMBIOSIS p19) Each of these molecules and compounds has a different purpose. (McDarby) In fact everything that humans consume are a mixture of these molecules and also inorganic molecules. In consuming these organic molecules, we are able to survive, mature and reproduce. Organic molecules are more often made up of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen atoms. However, sometimes other atoms can be found within these compounds such as nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. These carbon atoms bond to other atoms through covalent bonds and can be either single, double or triple bonds. This depends on whether there are one, two or three pairs of electrons shared within the atoms. (SYMBIOSIS p19) The molecules of these four compounds are made up of monomers, which are small building blocks. For example, carbohydrates are often constructed of monomer units of sugar (typically glucose), but the monomer units for proteins are amino acids. However when two monomers are linked together, this new molecule is now called a dimer and when more than two are linked it is
Discuss the presentation of Adverse Events & Adverse Drug Reactions in the PI.
Activity One: Adverse Events & Adverse Drug Reactions Define "Adverse Event" & "Adverse Drug Reaction". Adverse Event An adverse drug event (AE) may be defined as "any untoward medical occurrence that may present during treatment with a pharmaceutical product but which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with this treatment". (WHO definition 1995). While an Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) is an AE associated with drug treatment, the reverse is not necessarily true because the relationship between the events may not be causal. For example, a person who experiences a gastro-intestinal upset whilst on a particular medication has experienced an AE. However, the gastrointestinal upset may not necessarily be related to the drug treatment, therefore cannot be classifies as an ADR. Adverse Drug Reaction An adverse drug reaction (ADR) is a response to a drug which is noxious and unintended and which occurs at doses normally used in humans for the prophylaxis, diagnosis or therapy of disease, or for the modification of physiological function (WHO definition, 1995). ADR's are presumed where there appears to be a causal relationship between the unwanted effect & consumption of the drug. The likelihood that the drug has induced the adverse effect ranges from "possible" to "definite". An example of an ADR is anaphylaxis associated with penicillin treatment. Discuss
amylase enzyme
Name Simon Henry Opio-Emuna Module: TEP061N Date: 29th. October 2008. Title: The experiment to determine the effect of temperature on the activity of amylase enzyme. Abstract: The rate of reaction was found to increase as the temperature of the environment was raised. As the temperature was raised from incrementally to 4°C, 22°C, 37°C and finally 80°C the rate of reaction followed this trend and also increased. However as predicted in the hypothesis of this experiment when the temperature was raised too high the enzyme would denature. In this experiment the value which the enzyme denatured at was 80°C. To summarize, the temperature of the environment was increased the reaction rate increased until the enzyme denatured. Introduction: Amylase is an enzyme found in the human body and is an important metabolic enzyme. Its function is to catalyze the hydrolysis of starch into glucose. This particular enzyme, which is found in all mammals, speeds up specific digestive processes which take place along the digestive track running from the mouth to the small intestines. Most enzymes are specific, meaning that they only work on a particular reaction or class of reactions. Enzymes are structural proteins which can catalyze a reaction. They cause an increase in the rate of the reaction, while not being consumed in the reaction (Campbell et al., 2002). The amylase enzyme is
Characterize of organic macromolecules, which are carbohydrates, protein, and lipid, that present food.
Title Characterize of organic macromolecules, which are carbohydrates, protein, and lipid, that present food. Objectives > To describe the presence of Monosaccharide (single sugar) and Disaccharide (double sugar) in Benedict's reagent. > To describe the presence of polysaccharide (starch) in Iodine reagent. > To describe the presence of protein in Biuret reagent. > To describe the presence of lipid on brown paper. > To study the difference between Monosaccharide and Disaccharide. > To study the hydrolysis of carbohydrates. > To identity the food samples with the presence of starch, single sugar, double sugar, protein, or lipid. Introduction The experiment is to study about the organic macromolecular, which are carbohydrate, protein and lipid. Carbohydrate is a macromolecular that contains carbon, oxygen and hydrogen atom, in the ratio approximate one carbon, one oxygen and two hydrogen. The carbohydrate divided into three main types: monosaccharide (single sugar), disaccharide (double sugar joint by glycosidic linkage), and also polysaccharide (multiple sugar joint by glycosidic linkage). The examples for monosaccharide are: glucose, fructose and galactose, the examples for disaccharide are: maltose (glucose + glucose), sucrose (fructose + glucose) and lactose (galactose + glucose), whereas the examples for polysaccharides are: starch, glycogen and cellulose.
Healthy Eating - Comparing Supermarkets
Group 6 Comparison of Food Providers Tesco's versus Sainsbury's Eating a healthy diet in today's world is a great achievement. Living in an over-consuming society where one has so many food choices, takes a lot of inner strength to maintain a healthy balanced diet. Supermarkets offer such a great variety of food items on their shelves, in tempting, colourful and attractive packaging that people tend to forget or do not understand their nutritional values. As a public health nutritionist it will be our role to educate consumers. However, in reality how easy is it to choose a varied, balanced, 'healthy' diet? Visits to Tesco's and Sainsbury's were carried out and these are our findings. Location of stores/Accessibility Tesco's Tesco's metro was located quite close to the train station in the city centre; the free city bus also stops right near it. In comparison to Sainsbury's Local the aisles were wider for disabled. There is no car park around the area so you would have to rely on public transport or taxis which could be a problem for the elderly and disabled. Sainsbury's In comparison Sainsbury's have 12 stores in the Leeds district approximately 1 to 7 miles from the city centre. There are 2 types of store, Sainsbury's Local and Sainsbury's Superstore. The larger superstores are often out of town; however they have large car parks offering free parking. The local
Biotechnology companies within the UK.
Biotechnology companies within the UK Simon Potter Applied Biology Introduction The UK leads Europe in Biotechnology and is second in the world in terms of capitalisation, beaten only by the US. 46% of Europe's biotech companies are British. More than 50% of European drugs in clinical trials are British. This is partly due to the consolidation of maturing companies and in the continuing investment by venture capital groups and institutional investors (the venture capital industry has invested some £344 million in biotechnology over the last ten years). The Pharmaceutical Industry is the second largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product behind Financial Services. There are several very big players in the UK with GlaxoWelcome, SmithKline Beecham and AstraZeneca being the three largest UK based companies. In America the largest organization (in capital terms) is Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), and until recently this was the world's largest company. In recent years with the merger of Glaxo Welcome and Smith Kline Beecham to form GSK, Merck Sharp & Dohme have been relegated to second position. There are three distinct types of pharmaceutical companies in the UK: * Research and Development (An Integrated Company) * Research Only - i.e. Biotechnology * Contract Pharmaceutical Organization (CPO) i.e. Snyder and Ashfield Problems faced by Biotech companies A recent
Estradiol Injections Induces Vitellogenin mRNA in Male Fish
Estradiol Injections Induces Vitellogenin mRNA in Male Fish ABSTRACT The purpose of this experiment is to test whether the central dogma is inducible by estradiol. In order to test our hypothesis which states that the mass and levels of vitellogenin mRNA in control fish will not differ from the mass and levels of vitellogenin in treatment fish over a three week period, we used the males of the species Fundulus grandis. We found that the average mass of control fish was 10.73g +/- 3.35 (S.D) on week one and 11.06g +/- 3.07 (S.D) on week three. The average mass for the treatment fish on week one was 10.38g +/- 3.77 (S.D) and 11.30g +/- 3.32 (S.D) on week three. We found that the levels of mRNA in control fish were considerably lower than the levels of mRNA in estradiol treated fish. INTRODUCTION In 1958, a scientist name Francis Crick proposed a working hypothesis, now known as a scientific theory that would provide a keystone for molecular biology. He formulated the central dogma (Doerfler and Bohm, 2006). The purpose of this paper is to test whether the central dogma could be induced by estradiol. In order to test our hypothesis which states that the mass and levels of vitellogenin in control fish will not be different from the mass and levels of vitellogenin in treatment fish, we used males of the Fundulus grandis species. The central dogma has become the backbone of
Should a DNA profile be taken at birth?
A DNA profile should be taken from each newborn baby. "DNA profiling (also called DNA testing, DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles."1 Within a clinical context DNA profiling has many potential human uses; immigration applications, determining adopted siblings, paternity testing and of course criminal justice. Limitations of the procedure include; it can only give statistical probable data, it is ethically wrong according to some experts, this then reliable source will be easy to plant in crime scenes and of course minorities may abuse DNA manipulation.2 DNA profiling at its current state is a tool used to gather circumstantial evidence, within the forensic and healthcare fields. Without scientific thought this process is a revelation but many ethical issues including human rights have been foreshadowed. Should a DNA profile be taken from each newborn baby? Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the cornerstone for human genic makeup, which serves as an instruction manual and blueprint for everything in your body. The process of electrophoresis is used to gather 'non coding DNA' (areas of short tandem repeats, STRs) using restricting enzymes. There are two common methods of separation and detection, capillary electrophoresis and gel