Molecular Biology

This week I will be discussing Argyria. Argyria is this really cool disease that displays symptoms of blue/grey-black skin and mucous membranes. This change in skin pigmentation is due to being over exposure of silver. Silver can be deposited into the skin, nail beds, conjunctival membranes, and mucous membranes by either inhalation of silver, ingestion of medications containing silver salts or by industrial exposure.  The shade of blue someone turn depends on the amount of sulfur an individual has been exposed to. Once a mixture containing silver gets into the body it will use proteins or salt to suspend silver particles. The silver particles will then pass into the skin tissue. Once the silver getting into the skin tissue, it is unable to escape and it reacts with UV light which is what causes the blue or black-gray pigmentation.   Argyria is mainly seen in individuals who have work in silver mines, silver refineries, photographic processing, silverware manufacturing, and j

This week I'd like to talk about Naegleria Fowleri, the brain-eating amoeba. Nagleria Fowleri is a free-living organism that will acts as a parasite if given the opportunity. It inhabits soil and warm water environments such as hot springs, lakes, and warm water baths. Naegleria Fowleri can only survive in freshwater environments. The Individuals who become infected with this organism are usually acquire it by diving in lakes. Naegleria Fowleri is only infective if it enters the body through the nasal cavity and up the olfactory nerve. Infection will not take place if the organism enters the body through a different orifice. Once this organism gets into the olfactory nerve it enters the Central nervous system and causes a disease called primary amoeba meningoencephalitis (PAM). PAM is a brain infection that leads to the destruction of brain tissue. Once the necrosis of the brain tissue has occurred swelling of the meninges begins.   Symptoms include headache, fever, vomitin

This week I’d like to briefly discuss viroid’s and the way they can impact the human body.   Viroid’s are infectious agents that are composed of a single piece of circular single-stranded RNA which consist of several double stranded regions.   They are also catalytic RNA that cleave other RNA to Create fragments containing a 5'-hydroxyl and a 2', 3'-cyclic phosphate (ATSU). Viroid’s are primarily responsible for diseases regarding to plants. However, they have recently been reported to be the cause a human disease, Hepatitis D. As many of you may know, Hepatitis D is a severe liver disease. It was previously believed to be caused by a different virus called the delta agent. It is now known that the delta agent is actually a viroid enclosed in the virus capsid for hepatitis B and does not cause hepatitis D directly. However, despite not being the main cause of hepatitis D, it does contribute to the disease.   An individual can only have hepatitis D if he or she has

It is well known that the various foundational concepts of science are well integrated within one another. In many cases, individuals from the past have used concepts or theories from one realm of science to make lucrative discoveries in another. One may even say that majority of the past discoveries made in subjects such as physics and biology would not have been feasible without the integration of the different realms. The effects of integration are still apparent in modern day science. Molecular Biology plays an important role in many of the scientific discoveries made today. Many of the discoveries made in Medicine would not have been possible without the contribution of molecular cellular biology investigation techniques. With the contribution of Molecular biology, the cause of a rare genetic disease, Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria syndrome (HGPS) was discovered. HGPS is genetic disorder that leads to the premature demise of the carrier predominantly due to the carrier suff