From Our Contributors

By: Michael Watson, LLB People on our street love to stop by and take a look through the telescope at the Moon, when it is in its waxing phase in the southern or western sky in the evening.  A 9-year-old asked me the other night, "Have you ever looked at the Full Moon through your telescope?"  The answer is yes, of course, but then I had to explain to him that the Full Moon is probably the least interesting object to observe in the sky. ... which leads me to the more general topic:  the Moon as the enemy of serious astronomers.  Although it is one of the darkest objects in the solar system, reflecting only about 18% of the sunlight that falls on it, when it is above the horizon the Moon floods the sky with so much light that it is impossible for astronomers to see the faint galaxies, nebulae and star clusters that we are almost always aiming for when we get out our observing instruments - whether binoculars or telescopes.  That is why astronomers love those weekends - which arrive every four weeks - when the Moon is at or close to its new phase.  At these times the Moon sets around the same time as the Sun, and we get an entire night with no pesky light polluting orb in the sky. This past weekend the weather forecast was that Thursday and Friday's cloud cover would lift rather sharply just before midnight on Friday evening.  The Moon was near First Quarter, and would set around 01.30 on Saturday morning.  I drove up to our family cottage in Muskoka after work on Friday, had a quick supper, then went to bed for three hours, getting up around 22.00.  Then I drove 90 km to the Torrance Barrens Deep Sky Preserve about 35 km southwest of Gravenhurst, set up the telescope and my photo equipment, and waited for the Moon to set and the sky to darken.  Just after 13.30, with the temperature hovering at 6 degrees, I started making photos of the Milky Way.  But then came the curse of late summer and fall: fog.  At this time of year the combination of temperature changes and water vapour in the atmosphere often produces ground fog around and after midnight.  At about 02.00, within one minute the entire sky filled with fog, and made continued observing impossible.  So I reluctantly dismantled the telescope, loaded all of the gear into the car, and headed back to Toronto. Read more

It is now midnight, hours after the end of my shift, and I just texted the night resident from home to ask for an update about my patient who went into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) this afternoon.

DKA is a potentially life-threatening complication from uncontrolled diabetes and is more prevalent in those with Type I Diabetes, otherwise known as Juvenile Diabetes, than in people who suffer from Type II Diabetes wherein insulin resistance is acquired later in life.

In DKA, the body does not have enough circulating insulin, a crucial hormone in carbohydrate or glucose metabolism. When insulin is not around to allow glucose to enter cells and be “burned” for energy, the body resorts to burning fat, which then results in the formation of “ketone bodies” such as beta-hydroxybutyric acid which render the blood acidic. The human body is amazingly adept at buffering any changes in the pH (a measure of acidity or alkalinity) of the blood in order to maintain homeostasis, which explains why “alkaline” or “acidic diets” advertised to change the pH of the blood and hence mitigate diseases have no scientific validity.

  In DKA, the body does not have enough circulating insulin, a crucial hormone in carbohydrate or glucose metabolism. When insulin is not around to allow glucose to enter cells and be “burned” for energy, the body resorts to burning fat, which then results in the formation of “ketone bodies” such as beta-hydroxybutyric acid which render the blood acidic. The human body is amazingly adept at buffering any changes in the pH (a measure of acidity or alkalinity) of the blood in order to maintain homeostasis, which explains why “alkaline” or “acidic diets” advertised to change the pH of the blood and hence mitigate diseases have no scientific validity. Read more

@jasongencher

Copper sulphate is an amazing chemical. The brilliant blue crystals find a wide range of uses in the world of agriculture, chemical education, nutrition, and even art. We can thank CuSO4 for the wines we enjoy, as many grapes today are treated with a pesticide known as Bordeaux mixture, composed of copper sulphate and lime. Bordeaux mixture was also instrumental in saving potato crops in early 19th century Europe, preventing a food crisis. Today copper sulphate is often used as an algaecide in residential swimming pools.

Some artists have found unique uses for copper sulphate. In 2008, Roger Hiorns filled a room with 75,000 litres of CuSO4 solution, allowed it to crystalize, drained the room, and thus created a crystal sculpture he called ‘Seizure’. In chemical education, copper sulphate is a common reagent used in many labs to demonstrate basic concepts in chemistry such as substitution, and hydration/dehydration reactions.

Perhaps of greater interest is the use of CuSO4 in the food industry. A controversy erupted recently in ‘health food’ circles about the presence of the chemical in baby formula. As the argument goes, a chemical that is used as a pesticide in agriculture, a reagent in chemistry labs, and admittedly, one that is toxic at high concentrations, should not be found in formula. Alarmists claim that baby formula containing copper sulphate can trigger a spectrum of disorders, from asthma to cancer.

Certainly under some conditions CuSO4 is potentially harmful. But let’s not forget the cornerstone of toxicology laid down by Paracelsus over five hundred years ago: “docit sola venenum facit,” or “only the dose makes the poison.” Basically, this means that there are no safe or dangerous chemicals, only safe or dangerous ways to use them. Read more

@jason gencher

The equipment used when testing one's VO2 Max. NOTE: This is not me.

In my short time writing on diverse topics in science that have interested me, I seem to have gravitated towards the realm of guinea pig-ism. That is, I strongly feel that in order to make a pronouncement an a given topic, I must subject myself to it, to a certain degree. Of course, there are limits to this attitude, and as of yet, I haven’t done anything that could have seriously put my life in danger (but I do look forward to the one day when such an assignment might pass by my desk). Some of the articles I’ve researched have been enjoyable, such as tasting whisky. Others have been banal, like chewing my food thirty-two times before swallowing. There too, exist some experiences that give those who undergo them such an intense rush of adrenaline, a once in a lifetime feeling, something that they’re glad to have been able to write about, but are happy to never subject themselves to again. Covering a war, writing about what it was like to be water boarded - for me, it was running some ten miles with a rectal thermometer.

Perhaps I should elaborate. About a month ago, a friend approached me to inquire if I would be interested in enrolling in a study at a lab he was working in. The study focused on some trivial observation in the field of Thermal Ergonomics which this lab hypothesized was in fact, incorrect. Essentially, it is currently believed that individuals of different fitness levels will heat up at the same rate when exercising. The study aimed to prove that this change in core temperature was dependent, and not independent of ones level of fitness. For this to be properly researched, the lab needed a cohort of subjects to test - which is where I came in

I should mention that participation, much like anything else of this nature must first pass through many preliminary tribulations before the investigator is even allowed to search for subjects. Ethics committees, scientific panels, and funding committees are some of the hurdles that must be overcome before people like myself are recruited. When I was asked, I was always reminded both verbally and in writing that my participation was of my own accord. And as such, I have to say that it made me much more comfortable. Of course, there was always the thought in the back of my head, that I had to try and impress the researchers...

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It seemed not so long ago that I had to ask my second-year resident about everything.

The nurse paged me about a patient with high blood pressure; I asked my second-year which medication I should dispense. A patient complained of shortness of breath; I asked my second-year what to do. My prescriptions wouldn’t print; I asked my second-year what was wrong with the printer. It felt ironic to me how one day I was nothing but an annoying medical student, and the next day everyone was calling me “doctor,” and yet I didn’t feel any different.

This time, however, I do feel different. In a few days, on that notorious first day of the month of July, a new batch of Interns will come in, and I will be that second-year that they come to for answers.

Unlike in Canada or other countries where first-year residents are merely called “R1”, the hierarchy in the American medical field is further underscored by the terms “Intern” and “Senior.”

“Internship” is often said to be the toughest year of residency, during which the young doctor with her newly donned white coat has to prove to the world that she is tough enough to be a doctor. And of course, being at the very bottom of the feeding chain (because medical students aren’t even on the radar), interns, or first-years, are given all the “scut work.

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By: Michael Watson, LLB ... arrives early tomorrow morning at 05.04 GMT (01.04 EDT).  In the northern hemisphere we call it the summer solstice, and south of the equator it's the winter solstice, so astronomers tend to call it simply the June solstice.  It is the instant during the year when planet Earth is tilted on its axis most directly in the direction of the Sun, so that the Sun appears highest in the sky at local noon in the northern hemisphere, and lowest in the sky at local noon in the southern hemisphere. It also marks the day in the year when the Sun is above the horizon for the longest duration of the 24-hour day.  For Toronto, the Sun will be above the horizon for 15 hr, 27 min.  For Edmonton, the duration of sunlight increases to 17 hr, 3 min.  At and north of the Arctic Circle, the Sun never sets and there is 24 hours of sunlight. Read more

Melody Ko

For days, even weeks, he had been relentlessly asking anyone who would listen to help reposition him in his bed. Move him up. No, turn him more to the left. Wait, lift the right leg higher, lower. It was non-stop. The nurse tried to do her best, but could only shake her head, because he was never content.

To be fair, he did look very uncomfortable all the time, but we didn’t know how to make him feel better; until one day, we didn’t have to worry any more.

 Let’s rewind the clock.

I didn’t know this patient very well, because I wasn’t his assigned physician, although I did round on him every morning with my team. What I knew was that he was very, very sick. Only in his forties, he was missing one leg from an amputation at age fourteen due to osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer found in the pediatric population. On top of that, he suffered from diabetes and hypertension, two diseases so common in my patient population that we call them part of the “Lincoln package,” Lincoln being the name of the hospital where I work.

Less than one year ago, our patient had trouble passing urine, and was diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer. The disease had already spread to his vertebral column, compressing his spinal cord, requiring surgery to relieve his excruciating pain.

When I saw him, he was cachexic, a syndrome characterized by extreme weight loss, weakness and muscle atrophy, all hallmarks of someone suffering from advanced cancer. The oncologists had already done everything they could; they had used their whole armamentarium of chemotherapeutic drugs including casodex, zometa, and taxotere, as well as radiation. There was no improvement. Not that I know much about cancer treatment, but apparently, all the big guns had already been tried. Read more

Ronald Doering, BA, LL.B., MA, LL.D., is a past president of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. He is Counsel in the Ottawa offices of Gowlings. 

The 25-year controversy involving BPA in food packaging won’t go away. It continues to hang ominously like a black cloud over the food industry.

Bisphenol A, more commonly known as BPA, is a chemical used primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. The polycarbonate is used in food contact materials such as food containers and processing equipment. Epoxy resins are used in protective linings for a variety of canned foods and beverages, including infant formula.

Over the years Health Canada (HC) conducted periodic reviews of BPA to determine whether dietary exposure to it could pose a health risk to consumers. Based on the overall weight of evidence, including reaffirmation by other international regulatory agencies (notably the U.S., Europe and Japan), HC’s Food Directorate has concluded again unequivocally that the current dietary exposure to BPA through food packaging uses is not expected to pose a health risk to the general population, including newborns and infants. In response to growing consumer concern, HC hosted a huge expert meeting in November 2010 in collaboration with several national regulatory authorities and international bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to review the current science. The clear conclusion of this expert meeting confirmed th at BPA was safe for food packaging. Moreover, HC has continued to do a number of studies, reports and surveys, all of which are posted online. HC has made a real effort to make the science available to the lay public and to try to interpret it in ways that the ordinary consumer can understand. HC’s study of BPA levels in canned drinks, for example, notes that a person would have to consume 940 canned drinks in one day to reach the tolerable daily intake.

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Stefanie Joelle Kuzmiski, B.Sc.

Moore’s Law is a well-known trend in the computing industry, which suggests that hardware capabilities double every two years.  Until recently, genome sequencing costs were following about the same pattern as Moore’s Law, decreasing at a steady rate. In 2008, however, a shift occurred, and the cost of DNA sequencing became dramatically lower than what Moore’s Law would have predicted, making sequencing DNA much more affordable and accessible.

This accessibility is likely due to a surge of new companies that are involved in genetic sequencing. It seems like everyone and their dog is doing it (just wait for it). One of the more striking of these new companies is PooPrints, based out of Knoxville, Tennessee. The mandate of PooPrints is to help you catch the nasty neighbors who are leaving dog poop around your community by sequencing the DNA of any stray feces.

The company supplies property managers and homeowners’ associations with DNA oral swab kits, which are then submitted to the global pet registry. When property managers find poop lying around, they use the analogous test kit to gather a sample, which can be sent to the BioPet Vet Lab to match the DNA to the culprit in the pet registry system. PooPrints returns their findings to the property managers, who can use the information to fine or otherwise publically humiliate careless owners.

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Jason Gencher, Bachelor of Music @jasongencher In the fall of 2012, I was lucky enough to attend some McGill homecoming events. Dawning my sports blazer, and McGill ’13 name tag, I slipped imperceptibly through the throngs of alumni, their eyes fixed on the campus they once were belligerent upon (O! Those unsung heroes who made McGill what is it today!). I did catch some interesting lectures, apart from free meals, one of which was given by that unforgettable name in the field of cognitive neuropsychology, Dr. Brenda Milner. Dr. Milner, in her 96th year and still as vibrant as she was 50 years ago (or what I would assume she was like, 29 years before I was born), gave a presentation on the subject which brought her such fame in her field, that of H.M., or whom we can now reveal as Henry Molaison. Mr. Molaison suffered from terrible epilepsy for most of his young life, resulting in a radical surgery whereby a Dr. William Scoville removed sections of both his temporal lobes, his hippocampus, and some of the surroundings structures. This surgery was so radical, as Dr. Milner pointed out in her presentation, because it was bilateral. This sort of procedure was very rare, and made many neurosurgeons uncomfortable (including Dr. Penfield, whom Brenda also studied with). In most surgeries of the brain, if the surgeon removes the structure on the left side, the ‘copy’ on the right side will be able to step in and partially restore any lost function. Removing both medial temporal lobes, as in the case of Molaison, would have unknown consequences. The surgery occurred, and H.M. was by-and-large relieved of his constant epilepsy, which had impaired him to such a point that he could not sit through a meal without the possibility of a grand mal seizure. Yet, there were other, more disappointing consequences. He had lost all ability to commit new information to his explicit memory (short term), and suffered from severe anterograde amnesia (ability to create new memories). While being a disaster for the patient, the outcome of the surgery was a boon for this field of science. As Milner explained, Henry Molaison was from that point on, the most sought after person in neurology. Every doctor wanted a chance to observe him, and study the effects of this sort of disorder in humans. Milner was lucky enough to be invited down to Connecticut and observe H.M. on several occasions. Read more

Stefanie Joelle Kuzmiski, B.Sc.

Michael Douglas is currently trying to backtrack on statements made during an interview with The Guardian, where he discounted his history of smoking and excessive alcohol consumption as contributing factors for his cancer. When asked about his cancer, Douglas replied, “without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV (human papillomavirus), which actually comes from cunnilingus.” The issue with this statement isn’t linking HPV to throat cancers; rather, it is pinpointing cause. Although there is a correlation between HPV and some forms of throat cancer, it should be made clear that pinpointing a definitive singular cause is impossible.

HPV enters into epithelial cells (cells that line human extremities and cavities, including the walls of our throats, genitals, and anus), where it begins to make proteins that affect cell cycle regulation.  Cell cycle regulation helps to determine the growth and division of the cell. Cells that are infected by HPV have their cell cycles manipulated, which can put them at an advantage for growth compared to other cells. This seems great, but it is really the root of all cancers. Too much growth is bad, and these viruses enable rapid growth which can cause major problems when unrecognized by our immune systems. As these HPV infected cells continue to grow and divide, smoking would only exacerbate the problem, potentially causing mutations that also affect the cell cycle. All things considered, identifying a cause of cancer is incredibly difficult and part of the reason why cancer research is so complex. Increased exposure to carcinogens certainly doesn’t help and could potentially lead to mutations that cause even greater cell proliferation and tumours.­

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