LAST BLOG:

Finally, I made it to the last blog. I never though I'd see the day! In all honesty though, I don't think I will ever miss them and don't plan on writing another blog any time soon.  Although I didn't mind doing them, they were always there. I hate assignments that you can't do in one evening. I always seemed to be behind on the blogs.  I was always having to spend weekends getting caught up on them, sometimes I had to catch up on as many as nine. Obviously, they're not hard but there was so much other work to do throughout the semester that the blogs got put on the "back-burner." Other than never being done, blogs weren't so bad and I did learn a lot about the medical field, mostly.

RESEARCHERS ISOLATE CHEMICAL SIGNAL THAT CAUSES STEM CELLS TO REPAIR SKIN:

Bone marrow has long been thought to have a role in repairing damaged skin, and now UK and Japanese researchers think they’ve found the key to summoning stem cells from bone marrow to the site of damaged skin: a signal known as HMGB1. By tapping this signaling mechanism, researchers could develop new treatments for skin injuries like severe burns. HMGB1 sends out a distress call when stem cells are needed. However, it is only sent out when it is initiated by certain conditions.  "Researchers injected some trackable fluorescing bone marrow cells into mice so they could track their movement. They then looked at the way the stem cells reacted to certain stimuli. In mice with mere flesh wounds, few marrow stem cells flocked to the injury site. In mice given skin grafts, many stem cells made their ways to the wound to help repair the damaged skin."  Skin grafts have no blood vessels or oxygen in them, and for whatever reason this environment leads to the release of HMGB1, which appears to be the direct signal that the stem cells respond to.

IMPLANTED ELECTRODES AND VIDEO CAMERA ALLOW BLIND MAN TO SPOT SOME OBJECTS:

Elias Konstantopoulos first noticed his eye-sight was worsening at age 43.  He eventually learned that he had an incurable hereditary condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. The disease eats away at the retina’s rods and cones, which help people see light and identify color and detail.  Now, he is 72 and has completely lost his vision.  In 2009, he agreed to join a trial.  An electrode array was surgically implanted in his eye, and he was given a pair of glasses equipped with a tiny video camera. The camera captures images and converts them into signals that are fed into the implanted array. The signals are sent to the optic nerve and then to the brain.  Konstantopolous says he can distinguish light-colored objects against dark backgrounds, perceive an automobile passing and orient himself in a room where there is a window or door letting sunlight in from outside. 

THE WEEK BEFORE FINALS:

It's odd really, just how much work I still have to do before finals.  It was never like this in high school and it seems to be a lot harder to deal with than I thought.  Currently, I still have to finish week 15 homework, math homework, the reflection, as well as study for finals; all within a week!  I know there are only two weeks left but this semester has gone by so much faster than expected.  Finals have crept up on me once again.  It just seems unreal that my very first semester of college is two weeks from being over.  I am concerned about my GPA but it feels nice to be finished.  I think it's funny too though that after graduation, I was so excited to start college. Now, I want nothing more to be done with these basic classes and already in my first year of medical school.  I imagine, these next three years will fly by just as fast as the first.

RISK: TELEVISION TIME AND CHILDRENS' EYES:

Children who spend more time in front of television and computer screens and less in outdoor physical activity have narrower blood vessels in their eyes, a new study has found.  In adults, constricted blood flow to the eyes have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.  Scientists in Australia studied 1942 six year-olds and questioned their parents about the amount of television exposure.  After adjusting for a variety of health factors, they found that blood vessels in the eyes of children who watched the most TV were slightly smaller in diameter than those in children who watched the least amount.  However, to really understand the effects in children, the children must be monitered for future narrowing.

WITH 'COOLEST JOB EVER' ENDING, ASTRONAUTS SEEK NEXT FRONTIER:

Under President Obama, NASA’s human spaceflight program has been curtailed. The Ares I and Constellation programs, which were meant to succeed the space shuttles and take astronauts to the moon, were canceled, and NASA is instead hiring outside companies to devise alternatives.  The current situation may not dampen the career aspirations of the elementary school set, but last year alone, 20 astronauts left NASA’s active-duty roster; today, 61 remain, down from a peak of about 150 in 2000. Back then, NASA was gearing up to staff the International Space Station and the shuttles that supplied it.  I have been so out of the political loop, that I didn't even know that the space program was cancelled.  I still don't know why but it seems odd that one of the major programs in the U.S would be cancelled.   

FINALS ARE ONLY A WEEK AWAY:

With finals only a week away, I have begun to go insane with worry.  My GPA is not what I want it to be and haven't really studied very hard for my finals.  I've studied some but not enough.  I'm just concerned because I have so much other work to finish before I can even consider studying for finals.  Luckily, the week after, I can relax in Alabama.  However, my major concern now is GPA.  It would've been great if not for Biology.  I've studied so hard for all the exams in bio and have nothing to show for it.  I'm extremely worried about getting accepted into medical school.  I really hope these past two semester don't destroy my chances of medical school.  The part that bugs me is that nobody else really seems to be worried.  I've talked to a lot of people who have the "I'm-just-gonna-wing-it" attitude.  If I hear another person say that, I will go absolutely INSANE! It seems that I have to study so hard just to barely get by.