“Henrietta Lack’s cells thrived. In weight, they now far surpassed the person of their origin and there would probably be more than sufficient to populate a village of Henriettas” (237). According to the quote above, the amount of cells from one woman’s body is compared to the population of one village. How could this be? Rebecca Skloot, the author of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, first started learning about HeLa cells in school, but was more curious to know the origin of the cells.…
In The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini chronicles the story of how Amir, a boy in Afghanistan, grows up to become a writer in America. Throughout his life, he endures hardships, attempts to gain his father’s respect, and struggles with a colossal degree of remorse over his past. In order to clear his guilty conscience, Amir must travel back to Afghanistan and rescue his nephew, Sohrab, from the Taliban. During the story, Hosseini is able to construct his plot effectively using the novel’s two major…
Hypernatremia occurs when the body has increased serum sodium levels that go over 145 mEq/L. This increase in serum sodium levels results in hypertonicity, pulling water out of cells resulting in cell shrinkage. Based on extracellular fluid water volume (level of hypertonicity), hypernatremia can be isovolemic (most common), hypovolemic, or hypervolemic. When isovolemic hypernatremia occurs, there is a loss of free water whilst maintaining near normal sodium serum concentration. Isovolemic…
The Microbe Hepatitis B virus belongs to a group called, Hepadnaviridae which consists of diseases that contain deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and affect the liver. Hepatitis B is a virus therefore; hepatitis B requires a living host to replicate viral particles. Hepatitis B consists of a nucleic acid core, a protein coat, and a lipid envelope. The hepatitis B virus contains a partially double-stranded DNA within the nucleic acid core because one of the full-length strands is linked to the viral…
The overactive characteristics of hyperthyroidism are treatable and many of the symptoms could go without medical care due to the frequency of these symptoms due to many different causes. There are quite a few different medications (also known as antithyroid medications) that patients who are diagnosed with hyperthyroidism can take to control the symptoms. Medications are the most common treatment, because of their accessibility and convenience for the patients. It is more common to have a…
Cancer, we hear about it every day. More and more people being diagnosed as the years pass on. Out of all the types of cancer there is one that keeps us mind blown the most and that’s brain cancer. With 78’000 people diagnosed a year, 28’000 being adults, 13’350 men and 10’420 women with 4’000 being kids. Brain cancer is a real mystery from the history of it, how it starts in the brain, and the causes of it to the new treatments that are coming into play. Throughout recorded history humans and…
As Henrietta went for her check up at Johns Hopkins, Doctor, Howard Jones found a large lump and cut off the tumor. When the results came back, she found that there was a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix stage 1 (Ursano 101). This scientist was now found to be involved in the wonderful HeLa cell. Junas Salk developed the polio vaccine with the help of the HeLa cells. Polio was a disease that was spreading fast! So all of the best scientists were on top of the HeLa investigation.…
Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) is a group of inherited blistering disorders. Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa (DEB) is the most severe of EB disorders. DEB causes the skin to become very fragile and blister easily. This potentially life-threatening disease is found in infants and newborns post-child birth. DEB is frequent in an estimated 6.5 million live births in the United States. Sadly, this disease is incurable and prone to cause those infected to live short-lived lives. In this research paper I…
Introduction According to The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edition—DSM-IV), Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is characterized by a depressed mood for a large portion of the day, and occurs almost every day. There is a noticeably decreased interest or pleasure in more or less all activities (anhedonia). Some of the symptoms vary from person to person. For example, patients may experience a dramatic increase or decrease in weight and appetite may either increase or…
CD4+ T lymphocytes, or cells, are white blood cells that are involved in immune protection. These cells assist B cells in creating antibodies, allow macrophages to establish heightened antimicrobial activity, recruit neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils towards inflammation and infection. CD4+ T cells also produce a group of cytokines, which respectively, trigger an abundance of immune responses. T cell differentiation Originally, Mosmann et al., 1986 reported that CD4 T cells can be…