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Gene Therapy – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gene therapy is where you insert a non-harmful gene to replace a harmful one into cells.

It would help treat hereditary diseases that are encoded in the DNA. However, the human genome is not yet fully known, and more research is needed. Nevertheless, there are some successes with gene therapy.

The replacement DNA is usually inserted using a virus as a vector, using their method of breaking into cells. The gene would replace a hollow virus, and the virus would inject the material into the target cell.

There are still problems to fix, though. For example, the immune system might misinterpret the treatment as an invader, and start attacking it. Also, if the gene replaces the wrong one, then it could possible start a tumor.

Human Genome Project Information >> Gene Therapy

In gene therapy, you correct defective genes that cause diseases. There are several methods of doing this:

• inserting gene into nonspecific location to replace nonfunctional gene (most common)
• abnormal gene swapped for normal gene by homologous recombination
• abnormal gene repaired by selective reverse mutation
• altering regulation (degree a gene is turned on and off) of a gene

Currently, no gene therapy medicine is approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for sale. It is only used in experiments.

There are problems with gene therapy, though:

• short-lived nature
• immune response
• viral vector problems
• multigene disorders

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Filed under: School-Related, Science

“The Whale Rider” by Witi Ihimaera, p.68 – p.150

What is the main conflict in the book and how is it resolved? How does the setting influence each? Include specific examples.

The main problem in the book is on who is going to be the next leader of the tribe. Koro, the current leader, desires a male descendant, but he only gets a female grand-daughter. Unsatisfied, he tries to find a young boy who would satisfy him to be the next leader.

During the searching, however, a different problem occurs where the leader of a bull whale comes to the shallow waters in an attempt to commit suicide. Knowing that, according to the tribe’s philosophy, when the whale dies, everybody else dies because to “oneness” (where the gods, animals, and men are united), Koro leads his people and tries to send the whale back to sea. They succeed, but the whale comes up again, for there is no meaning for its group without the “whale rider”.

Thinking that he failed, Koro gives up and returns home. Meanwhile, Kahu, Koro’s grand-daughter, stays behind and swims to the whale. She starts communicating to it, and thinking that she’s the whale rider, the whale gets back up, and swims back to the ocean with Kahu mounting it.

So, basically, the whole problem was fixed pretty naturally, by Kahu. Koro acknowledged Kahu as the next leader after she became the whale rider, and the whales were satisfied knowing that the descendant of the original whale rider still lived on.

This problem might have not even occurred if the setting was a little more realistic, though. First of all, the death of whales does not mean the death of human kind, and nobody can actually ride whales, as a rider would be crushed by pressure when the mounted whale dives.

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Filed under: Humanities, School-Related tagged Reading Logs

Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist in the U.K. His works often include irony, and unlike most others, his works are very meaningful and point out problems in the world. His works tie in with our Global Issues topic because they often criticize the problems of the world, such as child labor.

My global issue is “Global Infectious Diseases”. It is a major problem because they are spread all over the world, and cannot be treated in poor areas such as rural Africa because the people are too poor to pay for treatments. And as for AIDS, it is incurable. My graffiti work uses the AIDS ribbon and a syringe.

The irony here is that syringes infected with AIDS can infect a person with this incurable disease. So, even if you are cured of some disease, you get another one, AIDS, at the same time. Basically, I just wanted people to be careful of this global infectious disease.

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Filed under: Art, School-Related tagged Projects

January 2, 2009 (Happy New Year!)

Dear Journal:

Today was the last day of our time in Elsewhere. Early in the morning, we got on a Car and headed for the “Train Station”, where we got on a method of transportation called a “Train” that headed for the “Airport” (where you get on airplanes).

On the long ride to the airport, Issa let me play some games. They weren’t games like basketball and soccer where you move around, however. You had to press buttons on a small machine to make people move and stuff on a screen. It’s kind of hard to explain; it’s something you understand by actually doing. It’s called a “Video Game”. It’s pretty amazing how you could be entertained by something so small it could fit inside your pocket.

I had a really good experience in Elsewhere.  I wish I could have stayed there longer… it was that much fun. There were so many new and fascinating things in Elsewhere. It was a great adventure.

(at the airport. You can see an airplane in the back)

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Filed under: Humanities, School-Related tagged Flat Jonas, The Giver

December 25, 2009

Dear Journal:

Today, I rode on an Airplane for the first time in my life.

I was always curious about Airplanes. I’ve seen them twice in my community, but that’s it. For some reason, they aren’t allowed to fly over our community, and is considered dangerous. Now, I don’t really understand why.

I was very anxious at first: I didn’t know that Airplanes were a convenient form of transportation. But when I got on it, I noticed that all there was were rows and rows of seats. We were lucky to be able to sit next to windows, which provided a magnificent view of the skies and the earth below. Occasionally, ladies pushing carts would come by to serve us meals and snacks. I really enjoyed the experience.

(Looking down from the airplane)

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Filed under: Humanities, School-Related tagged Flat Jonas, The Giver