I walk into the dining hall, just like every day, to sit down and eat my peaceful solitary lunch. I turn the corner and BAM. Like a freight train! Half the baseball team standing there like frightened deer. I freeze up. I can't breathe. My hands start to shake. I stutter some incoherent syllables before I turn more red than a kid from NC State and duck away from them as fast as I can. This, my friends, is mere shyness. The only ballplayer I've ever even spoken too did not let me know that he was a ballplayer until we were already well acquainted. How he escaped my notice I'll never know. But there are people in the world with such an acute sensitivity to being in society that they can barely even leave their homes without experiencing debilitating fear and oftentimes severe panic attacks. These poor people suffer, not from my baseball-shyness but from a condition known as agoraphobia.
“Agoraphobia” sounds horribly frightening, doesn’t it? Well, once this condition gets to a point where it’s actually called agoraphobia it becomes a daily terror to the people who experience it. Essentially, someone with agoraphobia would probably be called “shy,” yet the disorder is pretty much shyness on steroids. There are two types of agoraphobia recognized by psychology professionals. The first is associated with panic attacks and is the most highly diagnosed type of agoraphobia simply because the symptoms are more easily recognized as an issue. Agoraphobia without accompanying panic disorders is a hotly debated topic in the field of psychological health. The article in Behavior Modification entitled “Anxiety Sensitivity: A Missing Piece of the Agoraphobia-without-panic puzzle” explores many of the reasons why the condition is so rarely diagnosed and why many professionals believe that it doesn’t even exist.
The main argument of the article focuses on the way that “panic attack” is defined. Essentially, most people diagnosed with any kind of agoraphobia have such debilitating panic attacks that they tend to pass out in any kind of social situation. Hayward and Wilson, the authors of my article, cite numerous sources that claim that most people diagnosed with agoraphobia-without-panic are actually misdiagnosed and have other disorders (usually phobias of certain and specific things such as people, or germs). Agoraphobia is generally thought of as panic disorders that originate from within a person rather than from outside stimuli. The argument put forward here is that the definitions of many of the terms regarding agoraphobia are either too vague or too broad in their meaning. The authors seek to address that discrepancy.
The general distinction that the author makes between Agoraphobia with panic attacks and Agoraphobia without panic attacks is that those without panic attacks rarely even leave their houses in order to not feel the anxiety that comes to them in public situation. Essentially, Agoraphobia without panic attacks is only lacking the attacks because the people are so frightened that they don’t even leave their houses. There is also the concept of “anxiety sensitivity” thrown into the mix which basically says that some people are (surprise!) more sensitive to anxiety and therefore more prone to attacks.
Essentially, both conditions are debilitating in a social situation and further complicate the victim’s life by causing further embarrassment on top of the anxiety and shyness that they already feel. The most successful way to treat agoraphobia is called “systematic desensitization” which involves gradual exposure to the situations that cause intense fear, thus desensitizing the patient of their severe anxiety.
Granted, some psychologist could probably do a lifelong case study on my daily activities which are a mixture of superstition and baseball obsession, but I can tell you one thing that would not end up on my chart: agoraphobia. What I want you to come away from this with is that, come on guys, all people have feelings. If you make fun of a shy person *cough* then they will become increasingly more shy until it reaches the point of some strange hysteria, culminating in the person become an agoraphobic cat lady who never leaves her house. Friends, don't let friends tease nerds.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
Everybody's Doing It!
Starting college and moving away from home means taking the next big step in a one’s life. For many students venturing out one one’s own means a life full of freedom, choices and 
responsibility. A time to make mistakes, learn from them and to to also act upon good judgment. However, it also means that students can no longer depend on their parents to blame for their acctions. Students are accountable for their own actions. Although parents send their school in hope of what is best for them, many students secretly confine their social lives from their parents. Parents have yet to find out what goes on after the long goodbyes. While some parents think that their child is the perfect angel, playing ultimate beer pong proves otherwise. Some of the actions may not seem like a big deal at first, but students night lives may well effect their overall performance in school. Thursday nights for many means an early start towards the weekend. If you have ever ridden the late night point-to-point bus (P2P) at UNC, one can easily tell how much of an influence drinking has on a majority of students on college campuses. Whether a student passes out beside you, or sticks their head out of the window to relieve themselves, the social nightlife takes up a lot of a college student’s life. Now every weekend, the easiest way to euphoria is to travel down to the fraternity and sorority houses that are more than likely available to anyone with a UNC I.D.
For many students this may only seem like having a good time, but to the research team of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, excessive alcohol consumption in college students not only causes problems on the campus, but also on its surroundings. In trying to change the drinking habits and safety of students who consume alcohol, Angela K. Fournier and three of her colleagues implemented an incentive reward to see if the drinking behavior patterns of students changes. Prior research determined that 80% to 90% of college student’s drink and that could possibly lead to several negative consequences. Problems include poor academic work, unplanned sexual activity, assault, property damage, violence and more than likely vehicle crashes. Greek life students consume more than a non-Greek friend, and more likely suffer the consequences. After playing three rounds of beer pong, or hall crawl, students’ better judgment becomes impaired. Likewise, more students at a fraternity party are than likely to be more intoxicated than students in a private party, which deemed the best place for the team choosing to test their hypothesis.
Since fraternities are the most popular drinking environment, researchers found this the perfect place to us
e the intervention/reward method. Rather than targeting students who depend on alcohol, the target population was a host of people who abuse their alcohol intake. As a method to lower the percentage of heavy drinkers at a safe level, the surveyors gave 365 BAC assessments to the students. As each participant agreed to become part of the experiment, the researchers gave students Nomograms to monitor their intake and control their BAC.
Blended in as regular college students, the surveyors attended all four of the parties where they stood at the door of both intervention parties from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. where the participants were given the Nomograms and tips on how to keep their buzz at the safe level. Tips included drinking water and snacking on food while they drank. Fliers were large to capture the participants attention. The reward money amount was in big bold letters and hte target goal .05 bold and underlined. At the baseline party, the surveyors came in unrecognized, took a few information and left. Six months later, the researchers gave interviews to the people who participated in the experiment.
Evidence
from a previous experiment with an incentive/reward program has already been successful with E.S. Geller in his attempt to promote seat belt usage on university campuses through incentive strategies. As a belief that different types of reinforcement can change the way people act, the surveyors attended an intervention party where they passed out fliers informing students of a chance to be entered into a drawing where they could win $100 if their BAC was less than .05. The reward money set for an alcohol level at .05 meant that the effects occurring in teens at this level are relaxed and desirable since W.J. Bailey concluded in Drug Abuse in American Society that a person reaches euphoria at .04 to .06, which is most desirable during drinking.
Overall, participants had showed a more of a decrease at the intervention parties than at the baseline parties all showing less than 50% as opposed to the baseline parties who were well over. While students come to college with the intentions to fit in and make the most of their college experience, sometimes for others it means taking those late night trips to frat court where the majority of drinking occurs. Aiming to change the drinking behavior of college students through methods of reinforcement demonstrates that the approach can help to maintain chaos. More than likely, using incentive/reward methods for other settings in the university policy could further help parts of the community achieve what seemed like unattainable goals.
Unarguably, students will be students no matter what campust they attend. Some of the things they chose to do are not as healthy nor as safe as others. Although parents ma
y not be able to monitor their kids everyday, programs and studies such as the incentive program given at the frat parties may help put students back on the tract to a successful college career. This Behavior Modification case study may influence many other groups of people to change the way they use and abuse other substances. Maybe some students will be making the best use of their parents money after all. Instead of missing an 8:OO class from an all-night hangover at the frat house, more students will chose to drink more responsively and with moderation.
Sources:
Fournier, Angela K., Ian J. Ehrhart, Kent E. Glindermann, and E. Scott Geller.
Intervening to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at University Parties: Differential
Reinforcement of Intoxication Level. Behavior Modification. 28. 167. 2004. 18 Feb.
2007. <http://bmo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/167>
Pictures
www.student-services.utoledo.e.jpg
www.funnyphots.net.au
www.duke.edu.jpg
responsibility. A time to make mistakes, learn from them and to to also act upon good judgment. However, it also means that students can no longer depend on their parents to blame for their acctions. Students are accountable for their own actions. Although parents send their school in hope of what is best for them, many students secretly confine their social lives from their parents. Parents have yet to find out what goes on after the long goodbyes. While some parents think that their child is the perfect angel, playing ultimate beer pong proves otherwise. Some of the actions may not seem like a big deal at first, but students night lives may well effect their overall performance in school. Thursday nights for many means an early start towards the weekend. If you have ever ridden the late night point-to-point bus (P2P) at UNC, one can easily tell how much of an influence drinking has on a majority of students on college campuses. Whether a student passes out beside you, or sticks their head out of the window to relieve themselves, the social nightlife takes up a lot of a college student’s life. Now every weekend, the easiest way to euphoria is to travel down to the fraternity and sorority houses that are more than likely available to anyone with a UNC I.D.For many students this may only seem like having a good time, but to the research team of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, excessive alcohol consumption in college students not only causes problems on the campus, but also on its surroundings. In trying to change the drinking habits and safety of students who consume alcohol, Angela K. Fournier and three of her colleagues implemented an incentive reward to see if the drinking behavior patterns of students changes. Prior research determined that 80% to 90% of college student’s drink and that could possibly lead to several negative consequences. Problems include poor academic work, unplanned sexual activity, assault, property damage, violence and more than likely vehicle crashes. Greek life students consume more than a non-Greek friend, and more likely suffer the consequences. After playing three rounds of beer pong, or hall crawl, students’ better judgment becomes impaired. Likewise, more students at a fraternity party are than likely to be more intoxicated than students in a private party, which deemed the best place for the team choosing to test their hypothesis.
Since fraternities are the most popular drinking environment, researchers found this the perfect place to us
e the intervention/reward method. Rather than targeting students who depend on alcohol, the target population was a host of people who abuse their alcohol intake. As a method to lower the percentage of heavy drinkers at a safe level, the surveyors gave 365 BAC assessments to the students. As each participant agreed to become part of the experiment, the researchers gave students Nomograms to monitor their intake and control their BAC.
Blended in as regular college students, the surveyors attended all four of the parties where they stood at the door of both intervention parties from 10 p.m. to 2 p.m. where the participants were given the Nomograms and tips on how to keep their buzz at the safe level. Tips included drinking water and snacking on food while they drank. Fliers were large to capture the participants attention. The reward money amount was in big bold letters and hte target goal .05 bold and underlined. At the baseline party, the surveyors came in unrecognized, took a few information and left. Six months later, the researchers gave interviews to the people who participated in the experiment.
Evidence
from a previous experiment with an incentive/reward program has already been successful with E.S. Geller in his attempt to promote seat belt usage on university campuses through incentive strategies. As a belief that different types of reinforcement can change the way people act, the surveyors attended an intervention party where they passed out fliers informing students of a chance to be entered into a drawing where they could win $100 if their BAC was less than .05. The reward money set for an alcohol level at .05 meant that the effects occurring in teens at this level are relaxed and desirable since W.J. Bailey concluded in Drug Abuse in American Society that a person reaches euphoria at .04 to .06, which is most desirable during drinking.Overall, participants had showed a more of a decrease at the intervention parties than at the baseline parties all showing less than 50% as opposed to the baseline parties who were well over. While students come to college with the intentions to fit in and make the most of their college experience, sometimes for others it means taking those late night trips to frat court where the majority of drinking occurs. Aiming to change the drinking behavior of college students through methods of reinforcement demonstrates that the approach can help to maintain chaos. More than likely, using incentive/reward methods for other settings in the university policy could further help parts of the community achieve what seemed like unattainable goals.
Unarguably, students will be students no matter what campust they attend. Some of the things they chose to do are not as healthy nor as safe as others. Although parents ma
y not be able to monitor their kids everyday, programs and studies such as the incentive program given at the frat parties may help put students back on the tract to a successful college career. This Behavior Modification case study may influence many other groups of people to change the way they use and abuse other substances. Maybe some students will be making the best use of their parents money after all. Instead of missing an 8:OO class from an all-night hangover at the frat house, more students will chose to drink more responsively and with moderation.Sources:
Fournier, Angela K., Ian J. Ehrhart, Kent E. Glindermann, and E. Scott Geller.
Intervening to Decrease Alcohol Abuse at University Parties: Differential
Reinforcement of Intoxication Level. Behavior Modification. 28. 167. 2004. 18 Feb.
2007. <http://bmo.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/28/2/167>
Pictures
www.student-services.utoledo.e.jpg
www.funnyphots.net.au
www.duke.edu.jpg
Defense, Offense and.....Cognitive Intervention?: The New Game Plan
Are you a high school athlete hoping to play at the collegiate level? Do you think you have the skills necessary but struggle in a specific area? Would improving this area of your game put you over the hump and in the eye of a scout? If so, you may be able to overcome your free throw, batting or other struggles with cognitive intervention; a process of image association that is helping numerous athletes overcome mental blockades to physical potential.
So how does this program actually work? There are a number of stages necessary for the evolution of the program. In order to clearly illustrate this process, a documented case study will accompany the explanation. The first is the identification phase. Here the athlete methodically describes the area that he or she wishes to improve. This includes the event’s starting point to its end point. In the case study, the athlete was concerned about his foul shot performance. Specifically identifying the action’s start (perhaps the blown whistle indicating a foul) and end (perhaps when the ball leaves the athlete’s hands) point is important because the researcher deals with a precise set of emotions. To big a time period encompasses more emotions, complicating the process. Simplicity and clarity are key in image association. One wants to be as clear headed as possible.
The second part of phase one involves the subject’s identification of emotions experienced and verbalized throughout the event. Here the researcher can identify possible pressures and other factors the athlete faces during the event. The athlete is then asked to pay attention to his actions during this event in subsequent days and record, in detail, what he experiences. This record helps the researcher identify recurring emotions that may be detrimental to the athlete’s performance (unknown to the athlete). In the particular case study, the athlete identified that he was having concentration problems at the free throw line. The athlete said that he repeated the word “concentrate” at the line. The researcher decided that this added extra pressure to the shooter rather than relieved pressure. In an attempt to calm himself, the subject was actually pressuring himself to relieve pressure. A window of time from the moment the referee passed the ball to the shooter until he shot the ball was deemed an appropriate time frame that left little time for the shooter to experience added pressure. For example, if given a bigger time frame, concentration could be interrupted by the opposing team’s calling a timeout. Eliminating this possibility ensures that the player is focused only on making the foul shot.
The second phase is the cognitive restructuring phase. In this phase, a conscious effort is made to associate specific words with still images of the event. An important aspect of this phase is that the athlete must believe that the therapy will work. Any doubts about the program’s effectiveness prevent the athlete from fully embracing the program, thus the program’s usefulness cannot be measured. As the study puts it, a belief in the system “entails a performance expectancy,” and this is usually reflected in time dedicated to the program.
The next phase is the pairing phase. Here the athlete pairs a word or phrase with specific images. After weeks of study, the athlete will instinctively pair these words with the scenes. They are asked to study the pairings before bed, at halftime of games and before games. In our case, the nervous basketball player associated foul shot images with the words “relax” and “practice” after successfully making 18 of 20 foul shots in practice. He said that he felt no pressure in practice to make the shots,
thus the specific words were chosen. As a result, during games, the athlete is supposed to say the key words that will trigger a relaxed feeling, similar to the one experienced in the gym when the pressure is off. During this phase, athletes are asked to speak with the researcher for a number of hours per week to express satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the program which could inhibit the effectiveness of the process. This interaction between subject and researcher is important so that the researcher can identify any covert tendencies that may cause setbacks.
In the specific case study, the player showed a significant increase in foul shot efficiency, rising from roughly 54% in the first 7 games (prior to study) of the season and roughly 75% during the last 16 games (after study). A transition period of fourteen days was implemented so that the athlete could become f
amiliar with the program.
Although some studies have illustrated the program’s potential effectiveness, a study like this is not conclusive. While the author uses numerous sources and case studies that seem to validate the process, there will always be doubt because the potential influence of outside factors, such as extra practice and attention from coaches, remains a critical factor. None-the-less, the program does force athletes to spend more time developing mental focus, and mental clarity in sports (such as at the free throw line where the athlete is basically competing against himself) is absolutely crucial. Other studies in the article show improvements in penalty minutes and total fouls (basketball) after the athletes participated in the program. So if you are struggling to stay out of foul trouble, hit a curve ball or even make a greater percentage of foul shots, this method may be beneficial. One is inclined to believe the program is beneficial considering it is similar to other training methods. My roommate used to bite his nails but after he bought No Bite paste that tastes horribly, he no longer bites them. Not to mention a professor at UNC compiled the research for the article, making it inherently correct.
Competitive Sport Environments: Performance Enhancement Through Cognitive Intervention
John M. Silva, III
Behavior Modification, 10 1982; vol. 6: pp. 443 - 463.
Agora-what? I said, AGORAPHOBIA!
Agoraphobia, that’s scary, right? Most people think this psychological fear of being in crowds or sometimes being in open spaces is always accompanied by extreme panic attacks that often lead the afflicted seeking medical treatment. However, a new study published in Behavior Modification dares to defy this long-held belief. According to the article, many people experience agoraphobia without panic attacks and often the triggers are unknown. For the most part, the disorder is still a mystery.
The real debate brought up is that some psychologists believe there can be panic-free agoraphobia while others do not believe this. It’s a tough call because most people who experience agoraphobia without panic attacks do not seek medical treatment. The results are somewhat inconclusive and therefore it becomes debatable and diluted with speculation.
Ever felt like you were about to have some sort of panic attack and therefore you stayed in your house all day? Probably not; however, if you did stay in and have never actually experienced a panic attack nor did you have one that day, you could have agoraphobia. Some other symptoms of agoraphobia include becoming so incapacitated by one’s own fear of going out of their “comfort zones” and becoming a hermit. In the Behavior Modification article, one phrase caught my attention, “fear of fear.” Literally, people who have agoraphobia could have never experienced a panic attack and just the fear of the chance of having a panic attack caused by fear disables the person and they are incapacitated. The article looked at various studies done on people who either had agoraphobia with panic attacks or had never had a panic attack and yet suffered from agoraphobia and the results were astounding.
It seems like people often times have periods where they are so scared of having an attack that has never occurred before in their life that they cannot even do anything besides stay at home. However, since they never actually have an attack they never feel the need to seek medical treatment so the numbers of people who do have agoraphobia are not accurate because they do not incorporate all those who suffer in silence because of their lack of knowledge about the illness. A specific statement within the article articulated that anxiety sensitivity can lead to agoraphobia without the presence of panic attacks. It is an interesting claim because most would assume that a well-documented illness such as agoraphobia would have all its symptoms written out by now, but this research has given a whole new perspective to the disorder.
The avoidance of situations seems to intensify the feelings of fear that are already enhanced because the afflicted do not usually seek treatment. The people who have agoraphobia without panic attacks have unusually strong fears of embarrassment or of some sort of catastrophic event occurring while they are out and about. We all have fears about our houses burning down if we left things plugged in or maybe vomiting when we get nervous, but the fear these agoraphobics are stricken with is so serious that they grow to avoid all instances where they may be presented with having a panic attack. It’s an odd phenomenon and explaining it has proven to be a tough challenge.
The best explanation for the fear has nothing to do with the “severity or frequency of panic attacks” and instead with events that caused arousal in the subjects.
It appears that subjects were prone to fearing events as opposed to what actually happens when they are really in situation. The people come to fear the symptoms of panic attacks without having ever experienced a panic attack and the fear is crippling to the extent that they are unable to go about daily tasks. A formulated Anxiety Sensitivity Index was used to gauge different peoples’ anxiety levels and how they interpreted fear. Apparently, agoraphobics with panic attacks scored very high on this index prior to treatment but lower afterward, whereas the plain avoidant subjects scored about the same and since they did not have panic attacks, they had not had treatment so they performed the same the second time. Anxiety sensitivity is present in other anxiety disorders, yet it is key to developing agoraphobia even without the panic attacks.
You’re probably wondering how on earth this can be relevant to you or people around you. To make a connection with myself, I have a friend that has never had a panic attack and yet is extremely fearful of having one at an inappropriate time and you would never guess this from just hanging out with her. She often avoids leaving her room and instead offers her dorm room for people to hang out in. I didn’t think anything was really wrong with her until I read this article and understood that someone can have a fear of having a panic attack and yet never have had one. It’s a weird concept that still stumps psychologists and scientists alike. Studies like this help my friend and probably people you know overcome their fear and get help even if there is no evidence that they need help.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Anxiety Can Lead to Panic Attacks and Substance Abuse
Currently, it seems many people have a psychological problem. For college students, we may develop emotional distress from the academic pressures of college, being away from home, or dealing with a boyfriend/girlfriend. Any one of these issues could lead to more complex physiological issues. In an article in Behavior Modification, Zvolensky and Schmidt focus on anxiety sensitivity. The article, Introduction to Anxiety Sensitivity, outlines five other articles which deal with the disorder. Anxiety sensitivity is “the fear of anxiety-related bodily sensations, which arise from beliefs that the sensations have harmful personal consequences.” People who have high anxiety sensitivity worry terribly about issues which most people would brush off, such as the common cold. They believe that something as harmless as the common cold could lead to something much more serious or even fatal. The authors then connect anxiety sensitivity to the onset of panic attacks, other psychological disorders, and substance abuse. Five articles are used to support their case.
The first article they summarize is a study involving college-age young adults. The study found that anxiety sensitivity “contributed 16 % of the total of panic onset…” This study clearly establishes a correlation between the two issues. The second article goes on to suggest that anxiety syndrome is responsible for increased levels of agoraphobic avoidance even for those who have not experienced panic attacks. Those who develop Agoraphobia suffer from a condition in which any situation can become embarrassing and inescapable. A person suffering from this disorder can suffer from panic attacks, even from seemingly normal activities. For college students, walking to class is something we each do every day. Someone who has anxiety-induced Agoraphobia might suffer from a panic attack should they have to perform such a simple task. For them, walking to class could be outside of their comfort zone. The authors note that many studies have linked anxiety sensitivity to avoidance in general, not just agoraphobic avoidance. Therefore, they call for more research to be conducted on the subject to validate these claims and propose possible treatments. The third article the authors focus on young adults and how they react to anxiety symptoms. The authors note that there is currently not much research on this subject which focuses on young adults. The study did not conclusively link anxiety sensitivity to other child anxiety disorders; therefore, more research must be done on the subject.
The last two articles the authors focus on are more relevant to college students because these articles link anxiety sensitivity to substance abuse disorders. The fourth article specifically focuses on how AS is related to alcohol use. In a certain two-year study, researchers found that “AS was uniquely associated with the later development of alcohol use disorder diagnoses.” The trial, however, was non-clinical and does not provide conclusive evidence. The authors, therefore, conclude that more research is needed. According to a
The fifth article the two authors address deals with a specific case study involving heroin users who suffer from anxiety sensitivity. The study found that a “targeted intervention” can reduce anxiety sensitivity, heroine cravings, and improve the overall emotional state of the patient. This intervention includes “(a) psychoeducation about anxiety..., and (c) skills training focused on heightening emotional acceptance, tolerance, and nonevaluative awareness (to facilitate willingness).” Although this treatment shows potential, the authors contend that more research is needed to access its validity.
The authors of “Introduction to Anxiety Sensitivity” outline five different case studies involving Anxiety Sensitivity disorder. They arrive at the conclusion that even though each of these case studies provides an important insight into the condition, more research must be done. Finally, the authors seem to be in favor of additional clinical, scientifically oriented research to determine treatments for the disorder.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Drugs are Expensive
These days it seems as if drugs are the answer to all of our problems. From minor to major health issues, drugs play a very important role in our lives. According to a recent editorial from the magazine Nature, Pfizer, which leads the pharmaceutical industry in both revenue and R & D spending, is going to cut spending on drug research. According to the author of the article, “A changing drug supply”, Pfizer has not been able to generate enough revenue, recently, to cover its research and development expenditures. The pharmaceutical corporation will therefore cut its costs in an attempt to earn greater profits.
The author also states that Pfizer’s problem is one which the entire pharmaceutical industry faces. The article states that research and development expenditures “rose by 147 percent from 1993 to 2004.” Despite the dramatic increase in research expenditures, drug approval applications have only risen by 38 percent. In order to increase revenues, the former CEO of Pfizer chose to pursue a policy of buying smaller pharmaceutical companies to obtain the rights to their drugs. In 2000, Pfizer purchased the company which created Lipitor, a drug that helps lower cholesterol. This drug alone generated nearly 13 billion in sales last year. In 2003, Pfizer made another acquisition, giving them the rights to the arthritis drug Celebrex, which generated almost 2 billion dollars last year. Since this strategy did not offer the company a long term solution to their research and development issues, the board fired the CEO last year. The new CEO is currently pursuing a policy of focusing on fewer projects at one time citing that the company “can no longer afford to play every slot machine in the room.”
According to GSK, a major pharmaceutical company, a single new medication costs over $800 million to develop. Furthermore, only one out of a million medications actually becomes available to the public. Even if a medication does become available, only thirty percent of those medications bring in enough revenue to cover their costs. From this we can conclude that either the FDA is too strict or the pharmaceutical companies are not spending their money wisely. The author of this article would most likely agree with that latter. He or she believes that Pfizer, along with other companies, are researching too many drugs at the same time in the hopes that one will be successful. Although this is an extremely costly approach, there does not seem to be a better way. If one drug out of a million can save countless lives, is it not worth it? Cutting back the scope of the research would definitely save the company money in the short run; however, the company may miss out on the next miracle drug.
Many believe that Pfizer’s new policy will result in the outsourcing of early drug discovery to
The author of this article makes two major assumptions. First, he or she assumes that there will be much fewer “blockbuster” drugs in this era. Second, he or she assumes that Pfizer’s costs are too high because of its research and development spending. In this era, technological breakthroughs occur at a rapid pace. Today we enjoy access to many technologies that we could not have dreamed of ten years ago. Given that fact that there are countless advances in science and technology, it would be presumptuous for the author to assume that there will not be any more of these so called “blockbuster” drugs. There are so many incurable diseases we face these days and most have only limited treatments or none at all. Currently, there is no cure for AIDS, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and many other diseases. While these diseases might not affect a large portion of the population, drugs which can treat these diseases would be a large source of revenue for the pharmaceutical corporations. Many pharmaceutical companies are researching drugs that fight the HIV infection. Pfizer is one of those companies. HIV is a virus that infects various cells in the human immune system, specifically T-cells. Once the t-cells fall below the critical level, the immune system loses its ability to fight off other infections (HIV). As of the end of 2004, there were nearly 40 million people living with AIDS or infected with HIV according to the UC-San Francisco school of medicine. Pfizer is currently working on a drug that prevents the virus from entering the t-cells. The drug, which is currently in development, does so by preventing the virus from binding to a specific receptor on the t-cell. Therefore, this medication is more likely to be successful than previous medications because it does not specifically target the virus. In the past, medications that have targeted the HIV virus have not been successful because the virus succeeded in becoming resistant to them (Nagle). If Pfizer succeeds in developing an effective medication to fight of this virus, they would generate huge revenues. This would be a major pharmaceutical breakthrough and would therefore have to be considered a “blockbuster” drug.
In the second assumption, the author assumes that Pfizer’s financial problems are entirely related to their research and development expenditures. While it is very likely that Pfizer was attempting to stretch itself too thin, this is probably not the only reason. If Pfizer wants to remain competitive, it needs to realize that a large portion of its expenditures are going into the pockets of it executives. Between 2003 and 2004, the former CEO of Pfizer received a 72 percent pay increase from $9.7 million to $16.6 million (Noon). Pfizer should be cutting executive salaries instead of R&D expenditures. Unfortunately, Pfizer would rather waste countless sums of money on R&D that does not pay off and make up the loss by purchasing smaller companies with successful drugs. Pfizer’s new strategy will certainly decrease R&D expenditures since the company will focus on a smaller research projects; however, it means that Pfizer will probably not be responsible for the next “blockbuster” drug. Pfizer should continue to focus on a wide range of potential drugs in the hopes of finding another revenue generating drug. Finally, the board should stop voting to give themselves raises because it comes at the expense of scientific research.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Would you rather snap its neck in half?
So we’ve all seen those quirky animal rights activists on TV, throwing paint on fur jackets and burning down testing sites, fighting to the rights of rodents and the like outside laboratories that make our lives easier by finding new medicines and cures by experimenting on these meaningless animals. These people protest against testing on animals, yet almost any product or medicine that you or I use was tested, at some point, on a lower life form. Take simple behavioral patterns for instance: no one would ever know anything about conditioning in the human psychology without Pavlov’s dogs
In an editorial in Nature magazine , the PETA-esque people are back at work trying to find more humane ways to kill rodents that are used in experiments. They offer what seems more humane ways to kill the animals, like breaking the poor things’ necks or gassing them with more expensive anesthesia instead of the current carbon dioxide that is used in mass animal terminations. The main argument is that the animals feel the instant panic that humans feel when they inhale mass amounts of carbon dioxide, yet I beg to differ. The hard fact is that we cannot talk to these animals and ask them if they are okay while they are dying and therefore cannot fully ever believe that they experience the same sensations as humans, therefore, until technology allows a clear sense of the “emotions” of these animals, the cheapest and fastest way of getting rid of the rodents should still be the carbon dioxide.
Granted, technology is well on its way to forming a picture of the mind and feelings of animals but it has not yet accomplished this task. Even PETA states that animals differ from humans in such a way that it’s inadequate to test on them, yet if they are so different from humans, how do we know that they have the same emotional capacity of humans and therefore should be treated the same? If a rat has 99% of the same genes of humans , they are obviously more helpful to do medicinal experiments on than a fruit fly and many of the same effects that drugs may have on a human will affect onto the rat so a researcher can see what the effects would be on a human through the rat. The main problem is that if rats do have that much genetic similarity with humans, then can’t they feel the pain as humans do? There has not been enough research to guarantee that they cannot feel the pain, but the overwhelming idea is that the pain is so momentary that the advantage of having tested the animal far outweighs the disadvantage of the animal having suffered such a trivial amount of time.
The research industry is ardently trying to find simpler, cheaper, and more humane ways of doing animal testing and hoping to find ways to eliminate the use of animals all together, but until that day comes, the animals must be used. Animal rights activists, as sited in the Nature article, are just calling upon a more humane way of dealing with the used animals once their purpose has been fulfilled; yet this more humane way will cost the researchers much more money than, in my opinion, is worth. Granted, these animals did not ask to be bred for research purposes, but they also wouldn’t have ever been alive if they hadn’t been bred for research. The most cost effective and humane way, until research proves otherwise, is to gas ‘em with some carbon dioxide.
Not only are alternatives more costly, they also cause researchers undue squeamishness. Grabbing a rat and breaking its neck is effective to kill the rat, but the researcher has to do that thousands of times to get rid of the tested rodents and that can damage the human psyche. Although it would bring the ‘cruelty’ to the forefront and give researchers hands-on experience with the ‘suffering’ of the animals, it would be time consuming and grotesque. Some activists say that scientists should be able to kill the animals with their bare hands, since that is more ‘humane’. If animal rights activists are so passionate about animals being treated the same as humans, wouldn’t they be just as passionate about making the death penalty more ‘humane’?
If scientists did protest to this manual annihilation, they’d be forced to try alternatives to animal testing that would not suffice. An artificial, fleshy bit of material would never substitute for live tissue that can fully encompass the effects of medicines and other products. Though the material would help to see if a certain make-up matched someone’s skin tone, in the laboratory it would not be sufficient for proper testing, especially where medicines are concerned.
When I put on my Crest Whitestrips or wash my hair with Herbal Essence, I’m not looking at labels to see if they’ve been tested on animals or not, and my best guess it that you aren’t either. But that’s not the issue. The real issue is how to take care of the animals that have been tested on. Most carbon dioxide mass rodent euthanasia’s take 10 seconds , and though some have lasted for 4 minutes, the vast majority are over quickly and are extremely effective. Why do away with a common practice that has not been substantially proven to cause mental anguish to a bunch of rats when it works almost perfectly and is effective? I see no real reason, until the activists can provide concrete evidence saying that the rodents suffer to the same degree a human would, and once that happens, I’ll buy the rodents a round of anesthetics to humanely kill them.
Oink For Organs!!
Watching someone slowly die has to be one of the hardest things to witness. Hurricane Katrina and September 11th showed us the difficulties of death. Though these disasters have passed, there are the daily health battles that people fight inside to stay alive. A burden to families and a race that America is still running is the amount of people in dire need of an organ transplant. Nowadays with all of the new medicines and technologies, people are surpassing the average age making the need for livers, kidneys, hearts, and lungs, skyrocket as their systems begin to fail.
Unfort
unately, people die everyday because there are not enough donors to cover the long list of recipients waiting for a transplant. Families have no choice but to miserably watch their loved ones die when they may have actually had a second chance at life. As from the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, there are around 80,000 people currently awaiting a transplant. Consequently, more than 5,000 of those people die each year before their time comes. That adds up to about 18 people each day.
unately, people die everyday because there are not enough donors to cover the long list of recipients waiting for a transplant. Families have no choice but to miserably watch their loved ones die when they may have actually had a second chance at life. As from the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, there are around 80,000 people currently awaiting a transplant. Consequently, more than 5,000 of those people die each year before their time comes. That adds up to about 18 people each day.Until recently, people on the donor list only hoped that their names reached the top before it is too late. In a Boston Herald article, scientists, including Dr. David Sachs of the Transplantation Biology Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital are currently finding new discoveries that may help save many people’s lives and lessen the amount of organs needed. Xenotransplantation, the use of animal organs in humans, is the new method proposed hoping to help some of the ill individuals.
However in the nature article, Daniel Salomon of the Scripps Research Institute calls for other ways the research funding money should be spent. He as well as other opponents call the idea unrealistic and unlikely arguing that the money be used for treatable and preventable diseases. Salomon claims that the possible unknown viruses that may develop and the problems they may cause are too risky to use on humans. His coworkers claim that porcine endogenous viruses can affect the human cells and lead to bodily infections. Because the human immune system eliminates foreign bodies, Salomon sees this as a possible threat. Salomon worries about the consequences associated with the immunity of humans and pigs will lead to far too many more negative outcomes than positives. From a political viewpoint, Salomon also contends that allowing the trials to continue may persuade other countries to become involved in the research.
Salomon only thinks pessimistically about the health related components of the organs. Understandably, there are some diseases at risk such as HIV, but some researchers respond to discovery as if HIV has not already been here. Pig organs do not necessarily mean more HIV. Of course, like all drugs and discoveries new to science, there are some side effects. When we take cold medicines and prescription drugs, do the labels not warn us of some of the
potentially dangerous effects? Yet we still take them because we hope that they will make us feel better and give us the benefit it promotes. Just think of all the saved lives in the future due because of a team who watched so many people die and decided to make a change. Though the research may not be fully reliable yet, technology used for the testing Xenotransplantation is not “dead” as some may claim. It can only get better if and only if federal funding allows and the team looks beyond destructive criticism such as Salomon.
So many people will benefit from this research if all goes according to plan. Doctors will carefully plan surgeries so that the organs will function correctly. Knowing that the doctor took his time would mean that the patient gets the best results with their new organ. With only one organ available, what happens if the doctors do something wrong and the organ malfunctions? This would not be a problem if the pigs become useful because the all of the extra organs would rid doctors of their worries. Not only would this satisfy the availability of organs but it would also help some patients who experience HIV or Hepatitis B. Therefore, you see, there may be a possible win, win situation for those worried about diseases!
Salomon only thinks pessimistically about the health related components of the organs. Understandably, there are some diseases at risk such as HIV, but some researchers respond to discovery as if HIV has not already been here. Pig organs do not necessarily mean more HIV. Of course, like all drugs and discoveries new to science, there are some side effects. When we take cold medicines and prescription drugs, do the labels not warn us of some of the
potentially dangerous effects? Yet we still take them because we hope that they will make us feel better and give us the benefit it promotes. Just think of all the saved lives in the future due because of a team who watched so many people die and decided to make a change. Though the research may not be fully reliable yet, technology used for the testing Xenotransplantation is not “dead” as some may claim. It can only get better if and only if federal funding allows and the team looks beyond destructive criticism such as Salomon.So many people will benefit from this research if all goes according to plan. Doctors will carefully plan surgeries so that the organs will function correctly. Knowing that the doctor took his time would mean that the patient gets the best results with their new organ. With only one organ available, what happens if the doctors do something wrong and the organ malfunctions? This would not be a problem if the pigs become useful because the all of the extra organs would rid doctors of their worries. Not only would this satisfy the availability of organs but it would also help some patients who experience HIV or Hepatitis B. Therefore, you see, there may be a possible win, win situation for those worried about diseases!
With other research teams giving the MGH team a hard time, you would think that federal funding would provide the scientists who try to help change the world with money. Needl
ess to say, some are even as pessimistic as Salomon. The slow income of funding impedes the progression of success. Who has the right to say that the idea will never work unless they continue to try to do better each time? In 2004, the scientist put one of the kidneys into a baboon that lived for 83 days. Although the baboon did not live a full year, those 83 days show that it may be possible to trick the immune system.
ess to say, some are even as pessimistic as Salomon. The slow income of funding impedes the progression of success. Who has the right to say that the idea will never work unless they continue to try to do better each time? In 2004, the scientist put one of the kidneys into a baboon that lived for 83 days. Although the baboon did not live a full year, those 83 days show that it may be possible to trick the immune system.Our futures may very well be in the hands of these special pigs and belittling the aspirations of the scientist too soon may mean more lives lost. Reducing the number of people on the waiting list seems likely with this innovation in science. The progress made by the scientist increases 
each year as the team more breeds pigs that lose one of the sugar molecules that would originally trigger a response in the immune system. If the gene GGTA1 no longer shows up in the immune system, many people will not have to worry about going without an organ. In a few months or years, these engineered pigs will be able to remove all the GGTA1 genes and progress towards salvaging the lives of many desperate patients.
each year as the team more breeds pigs that lose one of the sugar molecules that would originally trigger a response in the immune system. If the gene GGTA1 no longer shows up in the immune system, many people will not have to worry about going without an organ. In a few months or years, these engineered pigs will be able to remove all the GGTA1 genes and progress towards salvaging the lives of many desperate patients.Who knows. Pig organs may very well become the best kidneys, livers, or lungs available to man. The number of lives affected by the success of this research gives some hope to families who thought their time would never come. Although no one has been able to do it yet, the sky is the limit in the future of pig parts for people. It would more than a relief to the families to know that their family member will spend more time with each other. While the time has not yet arrived, in the future, pigs may serve as more than a side to a breakfast plate.
Citations:
Fargen, Jessica. (2006 Oct 29 ). Hog-wild for Pig Organs. Boston, Boston Herald.
Retrieved February 5, 2007. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=40b02eb8fb408555088a83b43bc82632&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkVb&_md5=b2c62b32e10c3fd62d2e4e3fa91911d4.
Lemonick, Michael D. (2002 Jan 14). Pig parts for People. Academic Search Premier,
159(2). Retrieved February 5, 2007. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=2&sid=15ff3ede-61fd-43db-a6c8-4f75c6417d0d%40SRCSM1
Nature. (2000 Aug 17). The trials of Xenotransplantation, 406(661). Retrieved February
5, 2007. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/full/406661a0.html
Pictures:
Atschool.eduweb.co.uk
Citations:
Fargen, Jessica. (2006 Oct 29 ). Hog-wild for Pig Organs. Boston, Boston Herald.
Retrieved February 5, 2007. http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=40b02eb8fb408555088a83b43bc82632&_docnum=1&wchp=dGLbVtz-zSkVb&_md5=b2c62b32e10c3fd62d2e4e3fa91911d4.
Lemonick, Michael D. (2002 Jan 14). Pig parts for People. Academic Search Premier,
159(2). Retrieved February 5, 2007. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=2&sid=15ff3ede-61fd-43db-a6c8-4f75c6417d0d%40SRCSM1
Nature. (2000 Aug 17). The trials of Xenotransplantation, 406(661). Retrieved February
5, 2007. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v406/n6797/full/406661a0.html
Pictures:
Atschool.eduweb.co.uk
Schwicky.net
News.bbc.co.uk
Strange Signals to Outer Space
Oh my goodness! The aliens are all going to come shoot lasers in our ears and suck out our brains through straws! Or at least, the author of the Nature article entitled “Ambassador for Earth” is laboring under that impression. Now, honestly, the wording is nowhere near as Apocalyptic as I made out and based on the current alien lore it’s actually a common fear that extraterrestrial civilizations would probably be militant or at least that contact with any such “advanced” beings would be intellectually detrimental to the human race. The issue truly under question in the article is whether or not SETI (one of the most credible organizations searching for extra-terrestrial intelligence) should shift their focus from listening for radio waves that are alien in origin to sending their own. The excitement also comes along with recent development of a French satellite that can pinpoint planets around distant stars, essentially rendering the human race capable of aiming our own communicative attempts at isolated places where we think there may be other intelligent beings.
The common belief about extra-terrestrials is that they are excessively militant and frequently visit Earth in their spacecraft that utilize technology that is millions of years ahead of our scientific comprehension. They also abduct millions of people from their cozy beds at night, take them up into the Great Beyond in their ridiculously advanced spacecraft and probe, prod, and otherwise violate them. Now, I watch Star Trek and The X-Files as much as the next person… probably more, in fact, being the nerd that I am. But when you look at the facts—the way the extra-terrestrial hysteria coincides almost entirely with the Cold War, for example—you realize that all of this mayhem and mania about creatures coming from the sky and treating us the way that we treat lab rats was really a cultural outlet for the omnipresent threat of utter annihilation. For almost forty years of, not only American history, but World History the human race was on the cusp of extinction: with the simple push of one button an irreversible chain of events would have led to a nuclear holocaust. And the best place to vent all of this anxiety about things falling from the sky? Why, make things fall from the sky! In the form of flying saucers and creepy little creatures with bug-eyes, large heads, and a penchant for probing. Of course paranoia about creatures from other worlds goes back to the late 19th century and, in fact, appears almost anywhere in the past 100-some years whenever a society needs to release its fears of invasion, war, or other imminent peril. Yet the widespread beliefs and common conceptions that are currently disseminated throughout our culture come almost entirely from this Cold War paranoia.
What was the point of telling you all of that? Well, in all reality I don’t think any alien civilization would be millennia ahead of us in terms of technology: centuries, perhaps, but not millennia. If anything they’d either have the same technological capacities as us or be in a completely different (and probably less advanced) evolutionary stage. This is, of course, presuming that the ideal conditions for life exist on the other side of the galaxy in any way similar to ours. That being said, since most of the planets in the universe formed at or around the same time, it would be safe to assume that the elements that eventually led to intelligent life forms as advanced as ourselves would also evolve at around the same rate on other planets. Assuming that there are other life forms in the universe as intelligent as we are (which is, honestly, a safe assumption since to assume we are the only sentient beings in the infinity of the universe is incredibly egocentric) they would also have to be at a stage in their intellectual development that would allow them to hear our transmitted radio waves. Basically, the thought that some warmongering aliens are going to fly over and destroy us just because they know that we’re here is a ridiculous concept. If we can’t fly over and destroy them billions of lightyears away, why do we think that they could do so to us?
If these aliens could truly receive our signals and also return them it would really only serve as a massive intergalactic Instant Messenger. It’s doubtful that any other civilization in the universe would be capable of long-distance deep space travel. Even if they had this capability, the Nature article states that it would take decades for our message to reach their planet even traveling at
the speed of light, and it would probably take centuries for any extra-terrestrials to actually physically reach Earth (excluding the possibility that they have developed Warp drive, in which case it would take them only a few years at Warp 9.2… what an unpleasant trip). And given that it would take so long for these beings to reach us, I’m sure we’d detect them while they were on their way and be able to either establish contact with them once more and ascertain their intentions or (at the very least) be able to prepare ourselves in the defense of our home planet. Unless of course, they’ve also developed a Cloaking Device in which case we’re just screwed.
Seriously, I think that SETI should go ahead and start shooting radio waves at promising planets. I would love to see the beginnings of an intergalactic conversation (though I won’t, since
any message would take just as long to return and therefore there’d be about a 50 year lapse between replies). I see no immediate danger in sending such a message at all (though admittedly, if I’m completely wrong and Mulder’s UFOs show up the next day to blast us to bits… well… Chris Carter can say “I told you so.”) The sooner we begin to transmit deliberate messages into the cosmos, the sooner they can reach their destination and the more of us nerds will still be alive by the time we receive a reply in seventy years. And that would be truly awesome.
“Ambassador for Earth” Nature 443, 606 (12 October 2006) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7112/full/443606a.html
Image 1: A comically rendered book cover for H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. The plot focuses on large mechanized “creatures” who shoot destructive laser-type beams at pretty much everything that they see and destroy it instantly. The novel was written in 1898 and fits into a sub-genre of literature known as “invasion literature” which reflected the growing anxieties in Western Europe before the First World War. Orson Welles’ 1938 radio adaptation also caused a considerable amount of panic when people actually believed that aliens were invading the world, reflecting again the considerable world tensions of the time period. It should be noted that, despite the strange looking green creepy creatures on this cover… there aren’t any creatures in the novel. Just machines.
Image 2: This is a poster from a movie that was also called “Grave Robbers from Outer Space.” Just, don’t ask. It was directed by Ed Wood, known infamously as the worst director ever and starred Bela Lugosi, Vampira, and Lyle Talbot. One example of the extent of craptasticness displayed by the movie is during a graveyard scene when a fake headstone falls over and it was deemed “fine” and left in the final picture. The premise of the movie was that aliens are resurrecting dead humans as zombies and vampires in order to stop them from creating what is metaphorically an atom bomb. Despite showing the strange eccentricities of a select few in Hollywood, this 1959 cult classic further illustrates the Cold War paranoia, both of unknown beings coming from the sky and the threat of annihilation from our own technological advances (mainly nuclear weapons).
Image 3: A scantily clad extraterrestrial featured as a dancing slave in a particular memorable Star Trek episode. While most Cold War era texts dealing with aliens saw them as a strange and frightening threat, Star Trek embraced the possibility of peace and cooperation between species. Other instances of the advocation of tolerance in Star Trek include the Japanese helmsman Lieteunant Sulu and the Russian navigator and security chief Ensign Chekov, as well as a black Communications Officer: Lieutenant Uhura. Aliens, in this case, were stand-ins for Soviets, Blacks, and all other groups who were fighting for equal rights and fair representation. Essentially, the point was that if the human race can get along with aliens than they can get along with each other.
Image 4: The X-Files not only embraces the lore of the Cold War alien hysteria, it expounds upon it. The “little grey men” can not only travel to our planet, abduct us, modify our memories, collaborate subversively with the U.S. government, and unleash deadly plagues amongst the human race, they can also shapeshift, take on the appearance of pretty much anybody and (as shown here) play baseball. X-Files aliens jive generation X and the underappreciated nerd who was coming more and more into the mainstream during the 1990s thanks to the advent of computers and the internet. What better to plot about on rudimentary message boards than the government cover up of the Roswell Incident? Is there anything more solidly nerdy in the entire world than a paranoid fear of the Man and aliens put together?
The common belief about extra-terrestrials is that they are excessively militant and frequently visit Earth in their spacecraft that utilize technology that is millions of years ahead of our scientific comprehension. They also abduct millions of people from their cozy beds at night, take them up into the Great Beyond in their ridiculously advanced spacecraft and probe, prod, and otherwise violate them. Now, I watch Star Trek and The X-Files as much as the next person… probably more, in fact, being the nerd that I am. But when you look at the facts—the way the extra-terrestrial hysteria coincides almost entirely with the Cold War, for example—you realize that all of this mayhem and mania about creatures coming from the sky and treating us the way that we treat lab rats was really a cultural outlet for the omnipresent threat of utter annihilation. For almost forty years of, not only American history, but World History the human race was on the cusp of extinction: with the simple push of one button an irreversible chain of events would have led to a nuclear holocaust. And the best place to vent all of this anxiety about things falling from the sky? Why, make things fall from the sky! In the form of flying saucers and creepy little creatures with bug-eyes, large heads, and a penchant for probing. Of course paranoia about creatures from other worlds goes back to the late 19th century and, in fact, appears almost anywhere in the past 100-some years whenever a society needs to release its fears of invasion, war, or other imminent peril. Yet the widespread beliefs and common conceptions that are currently disseminated throughout our culture come almost entirely from this Cold War paranoia.
What was the point of telling you all of that? Well, in all reality I don’t think any alien civilization would be millennia ahead of us in terms of technology: centuries, perhaps, but not millennia. If anything they’d either have the same technological capacities as us or be in a completely different (and probably less advanced) evolutionary stage. This is, of course, presuming that the ideal conditions for life exist on the other side of the galaxy in any way similar to ours. That being said, since most of the planets in the universe formed at or around the same time, it would be safe to assume that the elements that eventually led to intelligent life forms as advanced as ourselves would also evolve at around the same rate on other planets. Assuming that there are other life forms in the universe as intelligent as we are (which is, honestly, a safe assumption since to assume we are the only sentient beings in the infinity of the universe is incredibly egocentric) they would also have to be at a stage in their intellectual development that would allow them to hear our transmitted radio waves. Basically, the thought that some warmongering aliens are going to fly over and destroy us just because they know that we’re here is a ridiculous concept. If we can’t fly over and destroy them billions of lightyears away, why do we think that they could do so to us?
If these aliens could truly receive our signals and also return them it would really only serve as a massive intergalactic Instant Messenger. It’s doubtful that any other civilization in the universe would be capable of long-distance deep space travel. Even if they had this capability, the Nature article states that it would take decades for our message to reach their planet even traveling at
the speed of light, and it would probably take centuries for any extra-terrestrials to actually physically reach Earth (excluding the possibility that they have developed Warp drive, in which case it would take them only a few years at Warp 9.2… what an unpleasant trip). And given that it would take so long for these beings to reach us, I’m sure we’d detect them while they were on their way and be able to either establish contact with them once more and ascertain their intentions or (at the very least) be able to prepare ourselves in the defense of our home planet. Unless of course, they’ve also developed a Cloaking Device in which case we’re just screwed.Seriously, I think that SETI should go ahead and start shooting radio waves at promising planets. I would love to see the beginnings of an intergalactic conversation (though I won’t, since
any message would take just as long to return and therefore there’d be about a 50 year lapse between replies). I see no immediate danger in sending such a message at all (though admittedly, if I’m completely wrong and Mulder’s UFOs show up the next day to blast us to bits… well… Chris Carter can say “I told you so.”) The sooner we begin to transmit deliberate messages into the cosmos, the sooner they can reach their destination and the more of us nerds will still be alive by the time we receive a reply in seventy years. And that would be truly awesome.“Ambassador for Earth” Nature 443, 606 (12 October 2006) http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v443/n7112/full/443606a.html
Image 1: A comically rendered book cover for H.G. Wells’ novel The War of the Worlds. The plot focuses on large mechanized “creatures” who shoot destructive laser-type beams at pretty much everything that they see and destroy it instantly. The novel was written in 1898 and fits into a sub-genre of literature known as “invasion literature” which reflected the growing anxieties in Western Europe before the First World War. Orson Welles’ 1938 radio adaptation also caused a considerable amount of panic when people actually believed that aliens were invading the world, reflecting again the considerable world tensions of the time period. It should be noted that, despite the strange looking green creepy creatures on this cover… there aren’t any creatures in the novel. Just machines.
Image 2: This is a poster from a movie that was also called “Grave Robbers from Outer Space.” Just, don’t ask. It was directed by Ed Wood, known infamously as the worst director ever and starred Bela Lugosi, Vampira, and Lyle Talbot. One example of the extent of craptasticness displayed by the movie is during a graveyard scene when a fake headstone falls over and it was deemed “fine” and left in the final picture. The premise of the movie was that aliens are resurrecting dead humans as zombies and vampires in order to stop them from creating what is metaphorically an atom bomb. Despite showing the strange eccentricities of a select few in Hollywood, this 1959 cult classic further illustrates the Cold War paranoia, both of unknown beings coming from the sky and the threat of annihilation from our own technological advances (mainly nuclear weapons).
Image 3: A scantily clad extraterrestrial featured as a dancing slave in a particular memorable Star Trek episode. While most Cold War era texts dealing with aliens saw them as a strange and frightening threat, Star Trek embraced the possibility of peace and cooperation between species. Other instances of the advocation of tolerance in Star Trek include the Japanese helmsman Lieteunant Sulu and the Russian navigator and security chief Ensign Chekov, as well as a black Communications Officer: Lieutenant Uhura. Aliens, in this case, were stand-ins for Soviets, Blacks, and all other groups who were fighting for equal rights and fair representation. Essentially, the point was that if the human race can get along with aliens than they can get along with each other.
Image 4: The X-Files not only embraces the lore of the Cold War alien hysteria, it expounds upon it. The “little grey men” can not only travel to our planet, abduct us, modify our memories, collaborate subversively with the U.S. government, and unleash deadly plagues amongst the human race, they can also shapeshift, take on the appearance of pretty much anybody and (as shown here) play baseball. X-Files aliens jive generation X and the underappreciated nerd who was coming more and more into the mainstream during the 1990s thanks to the advent of computers and the internet. What better to plot about on rudimentary message boards than the government cover up of the Roswell Incident? Is there anything more solidly nerdy in the entire world than a paranoid fear of the Man and aliens put together?
Enough Biodefence?
When did Noah build the ark? Before the storm. He didn’t wait around while the rains began. So too should be the case concerning the
In light of the “shrinking” world due to globalization, increased communication as well as travel ease, bioterrorism remains a major concern for state security officials. Bioterrorism has the potential to affect every aspect of our daily lives. Our food, our water and the air we breathe; biological agents have the ability to infiltrate nearly every man-made structure and can cause severe, mass-scale damage as well as result in the death of millions (Atlas, p. 465). However, the author of the editorial entitled “Enough Biodefence” proclaims that biodefence is over-hyped and that the
“Are we overdoing it?” That is the basic question one may ask concerning biodefence. I would argue that we, as a nation, are not "overdoing" biodefence. At lest ten nations have biological weapons capabilities and not all of them are what we might consider stable countries (Henderson, p. 1280). Therefore the potential for harm is very real. Bioterrorism is a serious threat; one that many experts agree is much more likely than the “loose nuke” theory that floats around in security circles. The terrorist group Aum Shinrikyo already carried out a biological attack on the
On the other hand, biological attacks would be hard to detect because a chemical release could be quiet, colorless, tasteless…you get the picture (Henderson, p. 1279). Unlike a nuclear explosion that would eliminate most victims quickly, biological warfare is a slower process that not only has the ability to spread farther, but also affect the morale of a population where members keep asking “Am I next?” resulting in a terrified, unproductive and standstill population. During a biological attack, chaos or inaction would hinder any defensive response.
The author of the Nature editorial argues that the threat is not immediate, insinuating that these weapons are hard to acquire. This is not true. Many of the naturally occurring agents such as plague, anthrax and botulism do occur naturally, and although a level of expertise is needed in order to identify strains that are deadly enough to cause widespread problems, it is possible. That said, while an average Joe may not be able to acquire these agents, terrorists groups such as Al-Qaeda with the money and expertise could buy these agents on the black market and use them against the
So what biological agents are the most threatening? According to one author, smallpox and anthrax are the two most viable threats. Scientists are aware of the potential threats these two agents can cause because of studies done on affected populations after accidental releases from certain facilities. The fear of smallpox is that virtually everyone is susceptible. Smallpox vaccinations are not available because the disease was eliminated years ago and in the case study 30% of those infected died. There is also the fear of secondary breakouts, estimations as high as ten secondary attacks (
Similarly to smallpox, anthrax would be virtually impossible to detect before mass infection if released into the air. Individuals could show signs of infection in as little as two days and as many as eight weeks, giving the disease a large infection opportunity. The disease, although more lethal than a cold, would leave the victim with cold-like symptoms, such as headaches, fever and cough, thus making an outbreak hard to diagnose. Individuals infected usually die within 72 hours and the fatality rate is 80%. Even scarier: there are no civilian stockpiles of anthrax vaccine (
The author’s second aspect concerns the idea of building such facilities within populated areas. While this is a valid question, I believe that an urban biodefence center is more beneficial than potentially dangerous. The author alludes to a potential attack on such a facility. While possible, a successful attack is highly unlikely. First, these buildings are not going to be shacks erected in the middle of Time’s Square with a sign that says “Biological Agents Inside!!!” These facilities will be some of the more protected buildings in the world, considering their contents. Thick walls, access codes, restricted areas, cleaning areas; you name it, these buildings will have it. As long as the buildings are properly structured so that there aren’t any cracks from which the agents can escape, everything should be OK. Not to mention it would probably be easier getting the agents from another country than breaking into one of our facilities.
Also, large facilities will need to be staffed by many employees and will need to be near policy makers and other resources, only found in big cities. While some laboratories are located in the desert, these usually deal with forces (such as electro magnetic pulse bombs and highly explosive materials) that, if located in cities, would cause a lot of destruction. This is not the case with biological agents.
Not only would these facilities need to be close to resources, but in the case of a biological attack, response teams and experts working at the facilities would need to be as close as possible. Imagine the slow reaction time and potential escalation of an attack in
So, in response to the editorialist's question as to whether we are overdoing biodefence, I would say “No.” Considering the reality of the threat and the number of agents that can be used against the
Also, while the argument that biological facilities within highly populated areas pose serious risks to the population may have some legitimacy, the right procedures and security measures could ensure a safe base of operations within an urban area. During a crisis, experts working at the facilities would be needed immediately and because the destruction that EMP bombs as well as explosives cause is much more dangerous for cities during testing, they, not biological agents would be the real hazards for facilities within a city.
Atlas, Ronald M. “Review: Countering Biological Weapons' Grave Threat." BioScience (Mar
“Enough Biodefence.” Nature, 11/2/2006, Vol. 444 Issue 7115, p2-2, 1p; DOI: 10.1038/444002b.
Henderson, Donald A. “The Looming Threat of Bioterrorism.” Science
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Time Restrictions on Stem Cell Research
Stem cell research is among the most controversial issues facing the political and scientific communities. Many scientists believe that embryonic stem cells have the potential to allow for major breakthroughs in regenerative medicine. Because embryonic stem cells are undifferentiated, they have the potential to become any type of cell in the human body. This means that it may be possible to replace organs in the human body by using embryonic stem cells to derive new ones. Stem-cell research has not fully proceeded yet because many people are opposed to the use of embryonic stem cells in scientific research. Currently, the embryonic stem-cell lines are created through the destruction of human embryos. The destruction of human embryos does not sit well with many people, particularly religious groups, because these embryos have the potential for human life. In Andrew W Segal’s article, “Temporal restrictions and the impasse on human embryonic stem-cell research”, he outlines the temporal controversy which is currently hindering the research process.
Back in 2001, President Bush prohibited federal funding for research done on embryonic stem-cells created before August 9, 2001. As Segal points out, this brings up a controversial debate. If the
Interestingly, groups on both sides of the issue oppose the temporal restrictions on stem-cells. According to Segal, some religious groups are concerned that, should current embryonic stem-cell research prove successful, the stem-cell lines currently in existence will spur private investment and lead to the destruction of more embryos. On the other hand, scientists claim that the current available stem-cell lines available for federal funding may not prove suitable. They claim that not only are the current research lines too small but they may also have been contaminated in the creation process. Therefore, human testing using the current lines may not be possible. It does not appear that either side is willing to accept any compromise. The religious groups will never be ok with what they claim is destruction of human life. In contrast, the scientists do not want any restrictions on the federal funding they receive for their research.
Segal calls for international cooperation in resolving the problem. Without funding for research on new stem-cell lines, sufficient progress will not be made. Segal claims that the government could refuse to fund researchers who derive their own stem-cell lines. Rather, they could receive funding for embryonic stem-cells that were donated. This way the government would not be supporting any “destructive acts” by which the stem cell lines were created. Segal claims that researchers need not only rely on federal funding for their research. Researchers can also obtain stem-cells through private funding and international sharing of new and old stem-cell lines.
Ultimately, these temporal restrictions on stem-cell research are not acceptable to either side. Federal funding, international cooperation, and private investment are all necessary if adequate research is to proceed. Unfortunately, there will probably never be a consensus regarding the ethical issues surrounding this research. Segal does not say outright that the research should be allowed to proceed without government intervention, but, like other scientists, he knows that it must. Segal does not, however, implicate that scientists should destroy massive amounts of human embryos just for the derivation of stem cells. Instead, he wants the research to proceed with the aid of the federal government. These undifferentiated cells could have the potential to cure some diseases and to generate tissues for those in need of an organ donation. With all of the medical advances that have occurred in our life time, is that not one we would all like to see?
Segal, Andrew W. “Temporal restrictions and the impasse on human embryonic stem-cell
research.” Lancet Volume.364: p215-218. Academic Search Premier. University
of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. January 30, 2007 <
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=5&hid=8&sid=43871a3d-d895-4dca-
8e4b-aa71ba33d08c%40sessionmgr3>
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