Diabetes is *DANGEROUS!* PT 1

The prevalence of diabetes is astounding, and I don't know about you but I was under the impression that this illness was "not a big deal" and could be sorted out easily. BUT NO, after a little research I found out that this illness is more complex and not as innocent as it seems!

So here is part 1 of a series on diabetes

Introduction:

6 insulin molecules 

We all know diabetes has something to do with sugar and insulin but what actually is it? 

Diabetes occurs when the body is unable to regulate the sugar in the blood stream through restricted or no secretion of INSULIN. 

Insulin is the hormone in the body which takes glucose from the blood and stores it as glycogen in the liver and muscles. This allows the cells to use the glucose for respiration.

Insulin is composed of two polypeptide bonds called A chain and B chain. These are attached with 2 disulphide bonds and 1 more disulphide bond is formed within the A chain. 

There are two types of diabetes non-insulin dependent (type 2) and insulin dependent (type 1). Insulin dependent diabetes is an autoimmune condition. This means that the body sees the insulin producing cells in the pancreas (beta- cells in the islets of Langerhans <--- click here) as a foreign body (A Threat!). This leads to their destruction and eventually no insulin is produced in the body. This condition usually presents itself quite early on in life. Non-insulin dependent diabetes on the other hand is caused by either not enough insulin being produced, or when the insulin that is produced is not working properly (known as insulin resistance)  . This type of diabetes has increased exponentially and continues to be a huge problem. This is mainly due to increased obesity levels and an ageing society.

But in order to understand this illness properly we need to first familiarise ourselves with the pancreas and how it works!

The Pancreas is a gland which is located in the abdomen. It has two portions, the endocrine and exocrine. The endocrine portion of the pancreas releases hormones straight into the blood stream. It produces insulin and glucagon which controls the level of glucose in the blood. The exocrine portion releases digestive enzymes into the duodenum of the small intestine. Insulin and glucagon production is controlled by a group of cells called the islets of Langerhans. Insulin is produced by the pancreatic beta cells in response to a high level of glucose in the blood. Similarly glucagon is produced by the alpha cells in response to a low level of sugar in the blood. They work together to maintain a certain level of glucose in the blood stream. 

This is just the beginning of a complex and interesting illness. So hang on for the next part of this series! 

As always, Seemal 

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5 Awesome facts about the IMMUNE SYSTEM!!

The immune system is basically a personal army that patrols your body destroying all foreign invaders! the immune system is so complex (you can do whole degrees on it). So to broaden our minds here are some awesome and interesting facts you may not know about your personal protectors. 

1) Disease symptoms are sometimes the result of your immune system doing its job.

Yes that's right, your immune system causes some of the symptoms you experience. There is a particular virus that can only reproduce inside your throat cells. What is does is trick the throat cell and hijack its protein making organelles and turns it into a virus factory, spewing out thousand of viruses. In order to eradicate the virus a particular group of white blood cells crudely destroy the cell and others around it. This battle leaves your throat sore and red as more and more cells get destroyed. That's why you get a sore throat when your ill!

2) A woman's body tolerates a foetus but in some cases the immune system may try to destroy it. 

The immune system works by ruthlessly destroying anything that is not "self" in the body. A growing baby in the womb will be seen by the immune system as a foreign invader like a germ or a virus and will destroy it, (which is the cause of some miscarriages). However there is ways that the foetus avoids this. To find out just follow this link to a great article :http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/07/maternal_fetal_bond_why_doesn_t_a_pregnant_woman_s_immune_system_attack_the_fetus_.html

3) The number one way to boost the immune system is to reduce stress

When under stress, cells of the immune system are unable to respond to hormonal control, and consequently, produce levels of inflammation that promote disease. Yeah it's coming up to exam season, y'all need to chill. 

4) We have around 50 billion white blood cells in our bodies.

We have two types if white blood cells. They are both made in the bone marrow but from there they part ways. T lymphocytes leave for the thymus gland where they mature. This happens in childhood because as you grow up you loose your thymus gland! Secondly there are the B lymphocytes which patrol your body. The B lymphocytes do the research and find the threat and report to the T lymphocytes who destroy the invaders with military precision! 

5) Your White blood cells communicate to each other! 

When a foreign invader is found by a white blood cell, it is destroyed. But what the white blood cell does is get the chopped up pieces of the pathogen and carries it on its surface and alerts the other white blood cells of the problem. Its kinda saying " Hey guys, I've found this and it needs destroying can you help me out!". They are called antigen presenting cells! 

As always, Seemal 

Sources 

 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2124128/Why-stressed-wreak-havoc-immune-make-physically-ill.html#ixzz3St637XlR 

https://sites.google.com/site/immunesystem305/interesting-facts
http://www.livescience.com/40712-immune-system-surprising-facts.html

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DEADLY POISONS ALSO USED AS COSMETICS?

Toxins and poisons are extremely deadly and are usually avoided. However this particular one is  actually used in  cosmetics!

This toxin is one if the most lethal, potent substances know to man :The Botulism neurotoxin. This toxin is released by the bacterium Clostridium Botulinum.  Only  A couple of teaspoons would be enough to kill everyone in the UK. A couple of kilos would kill every human on earth (dun dun duun) . So why do 1 million new people pay extortionate amounts of money every year to get it injected into their faces (and other places). 

Well would this help BOtulism neuroTOXin

That's right folks, This toxin is injected into the faces of celebrities and others who wish to decrease the appearance of wrinkles and hold on to their youth with gollum's arms. The reason for this is because of how the neurotoxin works. A extremely diluted version of the toxin is injected straight into the muscle, blocking the nerve signals that tell your muscles to contract. The effect is that it temporarily weakens and paralyses the facial muscles and smooths or eliminates wrinkles in the skin for a few months. 

Now the science behind how it paralysis muscles!
The botulism toxin acts at the neurotransmitter junction to cause muscle paralysis by stopping the release of acetylcholine ( a chemical messenger that is released from the nerve endings to make the muscle contract) from pre-synaptic ends. When acting normally, an electrical signal passes down the nerve towards muscle fibre vesicles (which contain acetylcholine) to move towards the interface between the nerve and muscles, and also produce special types of proteins called snare proteins. These proteins can break through the membrane barrier at the end of a nerve cell, allowing the neurotransmitter to flood out into the receptors on the muscle, causing it to contract. When exposed to the toxin, the snare protein is cleaved and so the neurotransmitter never goes to the muscle receptors thus triggering no response. 
As always, Seemal 

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MITOSIS *stop motion*

I made this video and it's really bad but it helped me to learn the phases of mitosis 

Hopefully it can help you too!! 

                                                                                     As always, Seemal

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How I write a blog post & *WHAT IS INSPIRATION?*

Writing blog posts are a lot more stressful than many people think! In order to get from A to B several processes are involved and each are as important as the next.
Firstly inspiration is hard to find, especially if school or work is in the way!!! Anyway....like I was saying INSPIRATION! If you are lucky enough for it to suddenly appear then you have been blessed. However if you are not finding any inspiration I will explain how achieve it. 
First let's understand (scientifically) what is inspiration?. Firstly the moments when you are most likely to feel that "EUREKA" moment is when you are relaxed, groggy or even a little intoxicated. This is because of neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity is derived from the terms "Neuron" and "Plastic". A "neuron" is a specialized cell transmitting nerve impulses. "Plastic" means to mold or shape. Therefore Neuroplasticity refers to the potential the brain has to reorganise by creating new neural pathways to adapt, as it needs.   When you get that sudden inspiration, your brain is actually restructuring itself to allow new processes. The more plastic your brain the more creative or inspirational thought you will have 

So how can I make my brain more plastic?

Thanks to http://lifehacker.com here are some helpful tips:
1) Exercise 
2)Read
3)Meditate
4)Play video games 

All these things have one thing in common, they challenge the brain. How will your brain create new pathways if you aren't doing anything new. But the brain can also get tired! It's a muscle and like any other muscle it gets tired so remember to always take breaks. This will increase how efficiently your brain will work. 

So how do you create a blog post?
Step 1) Research a wide range of topics until inspiration kicks in
Step 2) After a specific topic is chosen research on that topic and write key findings
Step 3) Start writing
Step 4) Review 
Step 5) Format add pictures  
Step 6) Publish
This process may take 2 days or even a whole week! If you love what you are writing about and find the research interesting then it becomes really fun :D 
As always, Seemal 

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BIOTECH

RISKS? DEVELOPMENT?

As always, Seemal

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OBESITY!! YOUR FAULT OR NOT?? *NEW PERSPECTIVE!!*

This talk was so revolutionary and eye opening, I had to share it!!

Obesity is becoming a real problem, especially today when, according to the NHS, There has been a marked increase in obesity rates over the past eight years – in 1993 13% of men and 16% of women were obese – in 2011 this rose to 24% for men and 26% for women. As a result the number type 2 diabetic cases have soared! But what if obesity was not the cause of insulin resistance (leading to type 2 diabetes) what if , in some cases, insulin resistance is the cause of obesity?

Sugar can be very dangerous!! 

Peter is saying obesity may be a  "coping mechanism" for insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when the body produces insulin (which converts glucose into glycogen to store) but does not use it properly. The muscle, fat and liver cells do not respond properly, as a result the body needs more insulin to help glucose enter the cells. The pancreas keeps producing insulin to satisfy the increased demand, but soon the amount of glucose in the blood stream becomes too high. This means people with insulin resistance are more at risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. What Dr Attia is suggesting is when the cells are told to burn more energy that they are willing to, they store it instead. The cells that are the safest to store this excess are fat cells , they do not contain much of the complex machinery compared to other cells. This all suggests that in some cases the body's response to insulin resistance is obesity and not the other way around! This is a very revolutionary idea and will take a lot of research to prove!! However soon we will have the answer! 

As Always, Seemal Ahmad 

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