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Essay 1 MedEthics

Submitted by liamharvey on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:45

Abortion has been a fiercely debated topic in politics, religion, and ethics across the world for as long as medicine has been able to provide the operation. Writers like M.A. Warren and Judith Thomson have written to express their views on why abortion is moral, while writers like Don Marquis and abortion survivor Gianna Jensen argue morally impermissible. I believe that the answer is not as easy as wrong or right and that the issue must be looked at from more than one perspective.

 

M.A. Warren discusses in “Postscript on Infanticide” her view on infanticide in response to criticism received from her paper “On the moral and legal status of abortion”. Critics argue that through Warrens view that a newborn is not significantly more person-like than an advanced fetus, and that because she believes abortion of an advanced fetus to be permissible, that her argument thus argues for infanticide to be permissible. Warren argues that only people have a full-fledged right to life, and that only people can be murdered. Furthermore, Warren argues that a newborn does not meet the criteria to be considered a person, and thus killing them should not be considered murder.

Elderly driving debate P2

Submitted by ameserole on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:31

Movement speed is one of two key components of driving, with the other being reaction time. Numerous studies show that the result of normal aging is a decrease in reaction time. One study found that when presented with a situation in which multiple variables were to be accounted for, elderly people consistently took longer than 2 seconds to respond. Another point proven by studies is that elderly people are at risk of many different conditions that lead to visual impairment, such as cataracts and Diabetic Retinopathy. These statistics aren’t just something that “would likely” lead to more accidents, they are proven to lead to more accidents. Older drivers have more accidents per mile driven than any other age group.

Elderly driving debate P3

Submitted by ameserole on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:30

What we are suggesting isn’t taking away the freedom to drive from other elderly, but merely a check up to make sure they still have the abilities that they had when they were granted a license. The cognitive and physical declines that come with age are something too large to ignore as our elderly population grows faster than ever.

Elderly driving debate P2

Submitted by ameserole on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:29

Movement speed is one of two key components of driving, with the other being reaction time. Numerous studies show that the result of normal aging is a decrease in reaction time. One study found that when presented with a situation in which multiple variables were to be accounted for, elderly people consistently took longer than 2 seconds to respond. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940374/). Another point proven by studies is that elderly people are at risk of many different conditions that lead to visual impairment, such as cataracts and Diabetic Retinopathy. These statistics aren’t just something that “would likely” lead to more accidents, they are proven to lead to more accidents. Older drivers have more accidents per mile driven than any other age group (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1930757).

CML - imatinib introduction

Submitted by jonathanrubi on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:28

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia is a form of cancer that starts in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow, or hematological stem cells, and invades the blood. The disease was first recognize in 1845 when it was shown that CML was a blood cell disease characterized by excessive white blood cell accumulation. However, a molecular understanding of the cause of CML was not determined until 1960. Using high-resolution karyotyping/ chromosome banding, it was determined that the disease was caused by a reciprocal translocation between the tips of the long arms of chromosome 9 and 22. It is later determined that this reciprocal translocation event led to the fusion of the c-ABL gene and the BCR gene, creating a chimeric BCR-ABL protein product.

CML - imatinib

Submitted by jonathanrubi on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:27

            The structural understanding of BCR-ABL eventually led to the development of imatinib, a CML therapy that works as a potent and selective Abl inhibitor. Although initially skeptical of a any tyrosine kinase inhibitors, imatinib was shown to be a valid and potent treatment for CML. However, challenges remain as imatinib resistance has been shown to occur especially in blast crisis patients who have shown to evolve mutations in BCR-ABL, specifically the Thr315Ile mutation that blocks imatinib activity. Further research into more long-term therapies as well as second generation drugs to combat mutations can lead to longer and lasting remission in CML patients.  

CML - imatinib

Submitted by jonathanrubi on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:27

This included knowledge of the N-Terminal BCR sequences being joined upstream of the c-ABL SH3 and SH2 domains as well as several functional motifs including actin binding, as well as nuclear imort and export sequences. Further analysis indicated that BCR, through the use of its coiled-coil domain allowed the BCR-ABL protein to oligomerize. Conserved C-terminal F-actin binding domain in the BCR-ABL fusion protein localizes it in the cytoplasm as opposed to normal c-Abl activity which involves shuttling between the nucleus and cytoplasm to effect DNA damage pathways. The BCR-ABL fusion protein also was determined to obtain unregulated tyrosine kinase activity due to the autophosphorylation at Tyr 1127 in the SH2 catalytic domain linker which disrupts its binding to the SH3 domain.

CML - imatinib

Submitted by jonathanrubi on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:26

In order to better understand the mechanism of the chimeric BCR-ABL protein, scientists used other oncoproteins and tumor viruses. For example, the first work involving oncogenic protein kinases revolved around the Rous sarcoma virus oncogene product (v-Src). The Src protein was shown to have highly similar negative regulatory mechanisms to that of Abl. This includes the SH2 and SH3 domains which inhibit kinase activity in both proteins. Both proteins use myristates as well as intramolecular interactions between the SH3, SH2 and kinase domain to inactivate kinase activity. By 1990, sequencing of the BCR-ABL protein allowed scientistsp to categorize the domain structure of c-ABL as well as the BCR-ABL product.

CML - imatinib introduction

Submitted by jonathanrubi on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 12:26

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia is a form of cancer that starts in the blood-forming cells of the bone marrow, or hematological stem cells, and invades the blood. The disease was first recognized in 1845 when it was shown that CML was a blood cell disease characterized by excessive white blood cell accumulation. However, a molecular understanding of the cause of CML was not determined until 1960. Using high-resolution karyotyping and chromosome banding, it was determined that the disease was caused by a reciprocal translocation between the tips of the long arms of chromosome 9 and 22. It was later determined that this reciprocal translocation event led to the fusion of the c-ABL gene and the BCR gene, creating a chimeric BCR-ABL protein product.

Discussion: Synthesis of Cyclohexene via Dehydration of Cyclohexanol

Submitted by crmckenzie on Fri, 03/23/2018 - 11:34

In this lab cyclohexene was synthesized via E-1 elimination through the combination of cyclohexanol and phosphoric acid. It was purified via dehydration and this led to a percent yield of 49.9% . The products were identified as cyclohexene and water using infrared spectroscopy (IR) which is the analysis of infrared light interacting with a molecule and it measures absorption, emission, and reflection in a sample. The infrared spectroscopy did not produce clear peaks due to the fact that the sample was a mixture of water and cyclohexene, but the measured peaks were 3850.00, 2375.32, 1505.00, 650.50 Transmittance. This means that the water was not fully dehydrated because these numbers do not all match up with cyclohexene.

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