Are you crazy? - Schizophrenia

The Insanity Virus

Labels and Definitions
Schizophrenia - A virus affecting the mind and how one thinks. It often causes paranoia attacks, hallucinations, and haunting voices that occur for no reason and without a source. Without any proof of what people are looking at, others begin to classify these people as "insane," instead of what should be the correct term "people that can see and hear things (like the supernatural) that others cannot."

Gene - A distinct order of information that makes up part of a chromosome, which is then passed from parents to children in a long hereditary line. It is what makes you, you. Without one, or with an extra copy of one, you (the reader) would not be able to be alive, because most of the time it would be fatal if this occurs, or you (the reader) would have disabilities.

Summary - 
"The Insanity Virus" written by Douglas Fox, a freelance science and environment journalist, explains what schizophrenia is and why. Schizophrenia is a disease of the insane. It, itself is caused by an infection when one is young. For each person, the reaction to an infection is different, and genetically enhanced. A certain reaction trigger caused by an infection will make a gene react. This gene is the schizophrenia gene hidden inside us all;
only when it a certain reaction to a certain infection usually around a certain time of year (fall to late winter) will sometimes cause this gene to react. Because the many different reactions are varying so much, the many different types of schizophrenia vary as well from hallucinations, hearing voices, receiving messages from beyond, absolute paranoia, and problems with understanding facial expressions of those around the person. Even though this is the case, the fact that the gene is in all of us makes schizophrenia the most common insanity disease or mental problem that people have, affecting about one percent of one hundred people, which is about 68,849,807 people of the world's average population of 6,884,980,655 people this year (a lot).

If a cure against schizophrenia is found, "the questions [and searching] may be silenced - and so may the voices of schizophrenia."(The Insanity Virus).


Discussion
Searching through a sea of words, looking for one to catch my eye or even my mind, this one did. It grasped my attention and held on it as if to never let go. In school, I noticed that a lot of times my

A Theoretical World of a Schizophrenic

friends and I call each other (sarcastically, of course) crazy and, or stupid (which would never happen at Harker, would it?), but now we have proof of the other person's insanity hidden inside him or her.
It also interested me, because it talked about genes. I, loving the human anatomy, was absorbed into the subject and absolutely stunned by the results. Wow, everyone is crazy (what a shocker!). Also, what caught my attention was the fact that schizophrenia was in everyone, but the gene, which activated by a person's white blood cell response to an infection at a young age, is not always the same in every person. If responding a certain way, this gene will lead to schizophrenia in the person. This is because of the (as written earlier) reaction of the white blood cells to the infection.

What causes the reaction of the white blood cells is a genetic quality and is passed down through the families often causing more than one person to become schizophrenic. This is also why most people

A White Blood Cell Surrounded by Red Blood Cells

believed it was the way parents brought children up, to believe in imaginary friends, to being anti-social, caused schizophrenia.
Being schizophrenic is the fault of a person's genes along with the infection that started it all. Even though everyone has the crazy gene along with the ability to become schizophrenic, the genetic differences between humans causes diversity in types of schizophrenia and who will show the symptoms of them.

Questions

1. If schizophrenia is in all of us, how come it does not occur even more than it already does?
2. If doctors can figure out the exact gene (spoken of in the discussion) and what it is made of, is it possible for them to reverse the effects of if and place it back into the bloodstream, creating an organism that cannot become schizophrenic?
3. If schizophrenia is in us all, are there symptoms before it occurs, and if these are caught early enough, is there a preventative drug or treatment to help defeat schizophrenia before it occurs?

Bibliography

• About-HealthTopicsA~Z. N.p.. n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2010 <http://adams.about.com/reports/Schizophrenia.htm>.
• Fox, Douglas. "The Insanity Virus." Mind & Brain/Mental Health. Discover: Science, Technology and The Future, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2010. <http://discovermagazine.com/2010/jun/03-the-insanity-virus/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C=>.
• Swaminathan, Nikhil. "A New Genetic Model for Schizophrenia." Scientific American. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.<http://www.scientificamericna.com/article.cfm?id=new-genetic-model-schi>.

A New Way to Walk?

A New Exoskeleton Allows Paralyzed People to Walk Again

Definitions
paralyze - immobilization of a certain movement, thought, or part of a body because of nerve or tissue damage

crutch - a device used to help; concretely used to aid a person in walking, when a lower body limb is hurt or unable to be used; psychologically used as a thought to fall back on in times of need

Summary  

"Hugging someone standing up. Going on a hike. Making eye contact with someone at their level, instead of always being looked down upon. These are simple things that people stuck in wheelchairs don’t have a chance to experience in daily life"(Amanda Boxtel). 

Is there a way for people who can't walk, to be able to walk again?

The eLegs Suit without its crutches being tried on by a man.

Berkley Bionics created an artificially intelligent, exoskeleton suit called eLegs. Being a large step forward for technology and the paralyzed (no pun intended), this device is made of steel, carbon fiber, and weighs about forty-five pounds. The user carries two crutches with him or her; pressure on one makes the person step with the opposite leg, while pressure on two tells the legs to stand. It was at first only for the use of the army to help carry the heavy loads on the men's backs as a preventative against injury, but in 2011 it will available for the use in clinics at $100,000, and once finished, it will be allowed to be given out to the public in 2013. By then the suit will be thinner, lighter, and cheaper, being at most $50,000.

Discussion

Amanda Boxtel's first time standing up after 18 years.

Amanda Boxtel, who was paralyzed from a skiing accident and one of the testers for this new device, was amazed; “To take my first step in the eLegs was just astounding, because I bent my knee for the first time in eighteen years and I placed my heel on the ground.

 And then I transferred my weight. And then I took another step. And another one. And it was so natural, and that was what really gripped me.” Even though she had not actually walked during those eighteen years, she explained that "My body has the muscle memory. And I learned to walk really fast." 


This device not only gets people up off their feet again, it helps with a patients health, well being, digestion, and blood circulation. This is because if one is stuck in a bed or chair all day, he or she is not being active and as most P.E. teachers say, "Getting their blood pumping," which helps in digestion and benefits the physical health. The patients mental health is affected, because if a person is stuck in a chair all day, watching as sports, exercises, and games, he or she used to be able to do, are played by other people, it is as if their freedom was taken away, sometimes causing distress and sadness. Being able to walk again gives the person optimism and hope that in the future, he or she may regain the use of the legs.

Even though eLegs are still in refinement, it will become a benefit to society. This interested me, because if someone goes from living a
 normal life to  being hurt in a second, it gives him or her years and years after the incident to watch as the limits close in on them, restricting their everyday fun to a minimum. Imagine the sorrow or extreme remorse that is created from the empty interval between the accident and recovery.

skiing in the winter

My older brother was almost in this predicament. He was in a skiing accident, and while going down a familiar route, he tried a few tricks, but ran into a bush. Only one of his skis popped off, while the other became twisted, causing his leg to turn 360 degrees, breaking it. At eight years old, my older brother could have become unable to ever walk again; he could have lost half of his childhood. Luckily after about six months of struggles, casts, therapy, and pain, he recovered. People sometimes find themselves in these situations, and eLegs is a new way to bring back the past life that the person becomes cut off from.

(for more, watch this video Berkley Bionics: Introducing eLegs)

Questions

1. Is there another way to help paralyzed people walk again without wearing an exoskeleton device strapped to his or her entire body?
2. Can the device be simplified so that the use of crutches is not needed?
3. How come people did not think of this sooner?

Resources

• Welsh, Jennifer. "A New Exoskeleton Allows Paralyzed People to Walk Again." Blogs/80 Beats. Discover Science, Technology, and The Future, 8 Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2010. <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/10/08/a-new-exoskeleton-allows-paralyzed-people-to-walk-again/>. 
• "Skiing in Austria Guide - Arlberg, Kitzbuhel (Kitzbühl), Montafon etc." fitforeurope.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2010.<http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fitforeurope.com/uploads/Image/skiing.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fitforeurope.com/austria/skiing/&usg=__5yfdy8iCp3kft8PPiyLhtVgoi-E=&h=571&w=800&sz=210&hl=en&start=0&sig2=v0KOPtP9jkE0vSi5lvtcEA&zoom=1&tbnid=PxKFhoaE7Q_QHM:&tbnh=98&tbnw=138&ei=VPi0TMiAO4HqvQPC1tWrCg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dskiing%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D589%26tbs%3Disch:10%2 C40&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=104&vpy=131&dur=1898&hovh=190&hovw=266&tx=166&ty=108&oei=_Pe0TNjaNcKRjAfYk9i1Aw&esq=5&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&biw=1280&bih=589>. 

Thalassemia - The Blood Problem

Definitions -
anemia: a condition marked by a shortage of red blood cells in the blood, giving a person symptoms of  weariness and turning pale.

thalassemia: a genetic defect caused by the body not being able to produce enough hemoglobin that works. This happens when one of the hemoglobin chains that make up a hemoglobin, cause the normal hemoglobin to be abnormal, creating anemia.

beta - thalassemia: when neither one of the beta-globin genes inherited from the parents work completely; one is either useless or produces an unstable protein, and/or the other is completely broken.
 
Hemoglobin: a red protein that moves oxygen through the body by the bloods stream.

Summary -
A boy, from the age of three to eighteen years old, had been given blood transfusions regularly. He has beta-thalassemia, an inherited condition that makes it difficult for oxygen to be distributed throughout his body easily. About twenty-one months ago, he was given gene therapy, which is the act of editing faulty genes within living cells in order to treat diseases. The doctors were able to partially correct the faults in his genetics to give him the freedom he has been deprived, since he was diagnosed with his condition.

Gene Therapy

Discussion -
This article does not relate to my life in any way, but I chose it because ever since my little brother was born, I have been curious as to how the human body functions and why. Also gene research is an interest to me, because the number of people we have to day living on the planet, it still amazes me that not one of them is an exact duplicate of another. Even identical twins are not entirely identical, because when the fertilized egg split in half to form two eggs, one twin does not have half of what the other twin has and vice-versa.

Questions - 

1. If a couple that both has thalassemia only has one child, or two, but not the four shown in the diagram to the right, then how could they know before the birth of the child whether or not he or she has thalassemia, and what kind would it be?
2. If a couple does not have thalassemia, but one of the spouse's siblings do, is it possible to inherit a form of thalassemia from an aunt or uncle?
3. Does thalassemia ever skip a generation like some genetic diseases do?

Citations - 

• http://blogs.discoverymagazine.com/notrocketscience/files/2010/09/Gene_therapy.jpg 
• "Gene Therapy Saves Patient from Lifetime of Blood Transfusions." Discover, Science, Technology, and the Future. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2010.  <http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/notrocketscience/2010/09/15/gene-therapy-saves-patient-from-lifetime-of-blood-transfusions/>.