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scicop

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Everything posted by scicop

  1. Well depends on what unconcious meant..coma? or just went to sleep or what exactly. The doc took an oath to preserve life. So if that means making such decision would save the man's life, then I'm such a jury of his peers will find him innocent. However, if the dude was just sleeping or the unconscious state was induced by the doc to obtain his way, well that's unethical..and deserving of imprisonment. Would need to know the details..but if he was imprisoned, then something was done wrong by the doc..and he would fully deserve any punishments. I hardly doubt docs make such independent decisions anymore, just the nature of the system. Today in the US there is alot of CYA going on, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on the situation. As far as US being strange and bent bent..yeah..its not perfect..nothing is perfect (i.e. stupid stem cell laws) there are bad apples everywhere you look that make it bad for the rest of us.
  2. yeah...but ya still gotta isolate it and purify it! So gel electrophorisis it, cut out your band of interest, and re-read my post. maybe you can at a "rinse and repeat" cycle to this post.
  3. I don't understand what your point is or what your question is. DNA is DNA, and science a long time ago established that: (1) DNA is very important. Also, A LONG-TIME ago, it was first demonstrated (an still is today ..open a science, or nature magazine and read the papers) that: (2) events extrinsic to the DNA molecule itself i.e. events enviroment whether it be input from another cell or organ (neurotransmitter, neuromodulator, or hormone) or external to an organsim can influence gene expression. In addition...a long time ago and even studies conducted today continue to show that: (3) certain gene alleles can be statistically linked to certain pathologies such that "when the proper epigentic factors are present"..organisms with said allele may be more susceptable to express a predicted or suggested or reported phenotypic response......so again....what's your point? We all know this!!!!!!!!! BIOLOGY ..Not EVEN 101..like 4TH GRADE! Geebus. You just learning this for the first time? Welcome to the world of biomedical science!
  4. Forget about the girls. They will come in droves later on. Focus on your exams, dedicate the time to study and do well. In your free time do what you like. Excercise. Ride a bike. Enjoy your time off. Stare blankly at the ceiling if you must. Just relax. And..give up??!! You haven't even started yet! So much to look forward to. You talk about girls..ah..just wait till college..then the REAL FUN begins.
  5. Well it all depends on your budget!! I've ordered/used microscopes that cost more than a house in an NYC suburb! I'm a fan of Carl Zeiss mics. Good set-up is about 40 to 50K. A good confocal setup will run you over 120K. Used an electron microscope by philips (CM10) that was about 400K. Usually Confocals and TEM/SEM types of microscopes are purchased for facility purposes, although some rich labs (like HHMI funded labs) have their own. Thats FYI. but as far as experiments..not much you can do with a light microcope. You can explore your enviroment, go down to the local pond, take some samples and see what's there! That's what I did as a kid. Yup..still a geek.
  6. Ok, I guess I'll answer the question: First to remove the lipids, you have to lyse your cells with detergents (i.e. SDS at concentrations above the CMC for membrane lipids) and in some cases (bacteria) you can use alkaline lysis (NaOH). To help remove proteins you can use a combination of salt salutions/alcohol solutions that will dissolve the proteins/ precipitate DNA. Also you can use a phenol step to help with this process. Also you can use a column with positively charged beans to bind the DNA and elute later an alcohol elution step (this is used in alot of DNA purification kits). Some ultrapure purification protocols use ultracentrifuguation to remove endotoxins Centrifugution at high speeds is used in the isolation process to get rid of contaminants. Hope this answers you question.
  7. Research is tough..but when you get out, you'll be alright! Life DOES exist after the PhD!! Ask your PI about this, she/he may have some ideas on getting the review published. Usually, the review can be used as the first chapter of your thesis (with some updating of course). As far a journal submissions go, make sure you follow the "instructions to authors". Usually its on their website.
  8. Yup scientifically proven, and studies have also identified potentially carcinogenic compounds in char-broiled meat! Elegant Polymerase kinetic studies (nucleotide incorporation assays) have shown that some of these compounds actually attenuate polymerase fidelity (error rate) and polymerase processivity (time the polymerase is bound to the DNA). So, not fun stuff. Though..I wouldn't worry about a slice of toast, or that next hamburger...ya gotta live life!!
  9. Antioxidants may not be a miracle cure, but they have potential to slow the time of progression of many diseases, including Alzheimer's disease. For that disease studies have shown that the ABeta amyloid precipitation may mediated by its oxidative states, and that antioxidents have a potential to slow ABeta amyloid accumulation in the brain. I think similar findings have been reported for neurofibulary tangles (hyper-phosphorylated tau). I suggest reading the work of Tanzi, R at Harvard, as he as done alot of work with ABeta. There is also an investigator at Mount Sinai School of Medicine (name eludes me) who has reported therapeutic effects of red wine (cabernet) on a mouse model of Alhzeimer's and attributes the activity to anti-oxidants found in the wine, and not the ethanol (control experiments). I believe he has identifed some of the compounds that exert the same therapeutic activity (flavinoids). This is just one disease! Big-pharma is definately on antioxidant band wagon so, I wouldn't say they are useless. They are not a miracle cure, but how many drugs out there are miracle cures..most just slow the time of symptomatic disease progression!
  10. Why do you think its not possible to take a drug to help lose weight? The FDA has given an approvable letter to Sanofi-Aventis for rimonabant (SRI41716A), the CB1 cannabinoid receptor antagonist (really an inverse agonist) for weight-loss (although they received a non-approvealbe letter for smoking cessation). This was based on the 2 year long phase III clinical trial showed that when compared to placebo obese patients on varying doses of rimonabont (in combination with diet and excercise) lost weight. After a year a group on rimonabant was randomized into either placebo or rimonabant. The group on rimonabant maintained their weight-loss, where as the placebo group gained weight (Pi-Sunyer et al. JAMA 2006 paper). This is a potiental block-buster drug for Sanofi. Gentlement...start your (investment) engines...if you havent already.
  11. Thanks, I will do that a bit later. Hmm..looked at your public profile..and liked the "move along/nothing to see here" and "pigs" quote..are you a LEO? if so, we may have something in common!
  12. Ok..let take this to reality: Any scientist or physician doing any form of unethical research or medicine adminstration would be subject to prosecution by funding agency, scientific and medical community, and law enforcement (either HHS OIG or FBI). Regarding the ill-fated person, as long as they can make a conscieous decision you can't force them to do anything. Even if you could make a decision, for that person, there are legal ways by which such decision must be done. Certainly there are agents/treaments that are used to treat patients who have not responded to other first, second, or third-line therapeutics. The AE profiles of the agents make usually them a last resort therapy. At the end stages of therapy, the risk/benefit ratio lies in favor of clinical efficacy over the AE profile. But that's up to the decision of the physician, usually based on disease progression and health of the patient. Hope this helps.
  13. Are there any US Armed Forces Scientist here? If so, how do you like your career thus far? Is it all that you've expected? I'm currently investigating options with the US Army, I am still waiting for a Medical Recruiter to contact me, so any insight I can get before then would be great!
  14. do we really care what's going to happen then? The human race will be extinct by then. So who cares? Plus..I'll be dead way before then, if I have any distal progeny living then..well, they will have to pay for all the sins of the father (me) and die. Simple as that.
  15. I was not aware that people were maintained on SSRI's for so long. Usually they are given for 4 to 6 month period along with pyschosocial intervention therapies. The goal of the psychosocial therapy is to help the patient manage their depression/anxiety following withdrawal of the psycho-modifying agent. I would search for longitudinal studies with SSRI's. Usually most studies report clinical efficasies at 8 week time points. Although there are studies that follow patient outcomes after a year to two years following a 4 to 6 month admin of SSRI/MAOS/atypical antipsychotics. I would talk to your doctor and really ask why you've been on SSRIs for a two year period, something is off there.
  16. wow..you dudes are really geeking out here
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