Noise Induced Hearing Loss

            Noise induced hearing loss can occur from a number of sound sources that we come in counter with either in the work place, out in public or in our homes. Noise from engines, gunshots, heavy machinery, power tools, and loud music are all common causes of noise induced hearing loss. Noise induced hearing loss occurs when sounds that are too loud are heard through our bodies natural auditory system. When our bodies experience sounds that are too loud, the cells in our auditory system are often damaged or lost as a result. Currently, noise induced hearing loss is permanent and irreversible.

            I have personally been exposed to many sources of noise induced hearing loss. I frequently experience overly loud music at the bars on court street, use loud power tools in the engineering lab and operate loud outdoor power equipment. In some of these situations it is easier to protect yourself than others. In a bar or nightclub it is unlikely that they will turn the music down if you request that they do so you would probably have to leave the bar if you feel the music is above a safe level. When working with power tool or heavy equipment it is a lot easier to protect yourself. Using ear plug style or over the ear style ear protection are easy ways to protect your ears from loud noise.

            Unfortunately many people find that wearing ear protection is annoying or more of a pain than it is worth. In the lab engineering lab there are power tool running all the time but you always need to be able to communicate with others and for this reason ear protection can be very inconvenient. Many of my coworkers at the golf course refused to wear ear protection when operating the mowers and instead would wear headphones which is probably even more dangerous for your ears.

Blogging

This is the first class in my college career where there were no tests, quizzes, exams, homework or other out of class assignments. I found it very unique the first day of class when we were told that we would be graded only on attendance and weekly blog posts. This made me more excited about the class because I felt the change of pace would be nice and I knew that I would be extremely busy with my senior design class for engineering. 

            After experiencing an entire semester of this class with the blogging format I could not think of a better way to keep the class more interested and involved in the class. With my engineering background I definitely feel that I am a hands on learner and have never been that much of a fan of taking exams and having nightly homework. Through the blog assignments in this class, I feel that I was able to have a more hands on approach as I had to do some of my own research to complete the assignments. I found myself very interested in class discussions and then would further my knowledge on the subjects that we would talk about by doing my own research and writing the blogs.

            Along with me liking the blogging because of how involved it kept me in the class, I feel that I will retain the information better over time than I would have by taking exams and having homework assignments. In my opinion, it is very hard to learn if you do not enjoy the class or the assignments. Through writing the blogs for this class I found that the class was more enjoyable than other non-engineering classes I have taken in the past. This like and interest for the class helped me to get more out of it than I feel I would have if I were stressing over homework and exams on a regular basis.

           

Castoreum

            Castoreum is substance that is commonly extracted from the castor sacs of the North American and European Beaver. The castor sacs are located under the skin of the behind of the beaver between the pelvis and the base of the tail. Castoreum is naturally used along with the beavers urine as a scent for marking the beavers territory. Castoreum’s modern uses include being a scent additive in some perfumes. It naturally carries a scent, which is similar to that of vanilla, and when it is diluted in alcohol the scent becomes even more recognizable. This makes it ideal for use in perfumes and in other scent applications. Another popular use for castoreum has been in traditional medicine. Due to this, the beaver population in Sweden was essentially wiped out in the 19^th century.

            Perhaps the strangest use for castoreum is its use as a common food additive. According to the FDA, castoreum is considered to be “generally recognized as safe.” Due to the difficulty and expense of collecting castoreum from beavers, it is hard to find in common mass marketed foods. What is even more interesting is that you wont find it listed as an ingredient in foods, instead it is listed as “natural flavoring.” For whatever reason the FDA allows food producers to get away with listing the ingredient this way. How many people do you think would buy a tub of vanilla ice cream if the list of ingredients read castoreum or beaver butt?

            I know there are many different things in the foods that I consume every day that are probably unnatural or not things that I would want in my diet. However, I never really put much thought into it when reading the ingredient list on a food label. Maybe now after this I will start to think about it a little more and do my research.

GMO Researchers

            Genetically modified organisms are classified as organism that have been modified using genetic engineering techniques in order to alter their specific qualities. Talk about GMOs has become more common in recent years as they have become the source of genetically modified foods. In agriculture, genetically modified foods include crops such as corn and wheat. When these crops are genetically modified, they are engineered to have traits such as resistance to pests, herbicides and increased yield per acre. These genetically modified crops have been patented by large agricultural seed corporations such as Monsanto because of the high profitability they promise. Along with the companies placing patents on these genetically modified crops to ensure their ownership, these companies also do anything they can to limit the amount of research which is published regarding these crops and the risks associated with their use and consumption.

            Before customers are aloud to purchase and plant genetically modified seeds they must sign agreements that the seeds will not be used for independent research. This insures that the intellectual property of the seed companies is protected. It also limits scientists from figuring out if the crops really perform as advertised or if they have unintended environmental side effects. Many scientists still conduct independent research on genetically modified crops but they are forced to have their findings approved before they are published.

            Some scientists have chosen to speak out against GMOs and the companies that produce them. Many of these researchers have been silenced after being threatened by lawsuits from the major producers of genetically modified crops. One example of this was the firing and threat of lawsuits experienced by biologist Arpad Pusztai when he was given a research grant from the UK government. When Pusztai was interviewed on TV to share his findings he was fired after pressure from pro-GMO staff in the prime ministers office. Pusztai also faced lawsuits from the agribusiness companies that produced the genetically modified seeds and saw his research team dismantled. Until the government does research or allows private research to be done we may never know the whole truth about genetically modified crops.

Fukushima 3 years later

The disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Power Plant resulted in a meltdown of three of the plants six nuclear reactors. A giant tsunami which crashed into the coast of Japan where the Fukushima Power Plant was located caused the plant to meltdown. Shortly after the tsunami, the plant began leaking nuclear radiation into the environment, which quickly began spilling into the nearby sea. The Fukushima Power Plant meltdown is the largest nuclear accident recorded since Chernobyl (1986) in Ukraine. Together, these events are considered to be the two worst accidents in nuclear power plant history.

Today, over three years since the tsunami struck, the most serious issue with clean up surrounds the large amounts of water which have been contaminated by radioactive materials that have leaked from the damaged reactors. It is expected to take many decades to be able to completely clean up this toxic radioactive water. Most of the efforts over the last three years have been to contain the contaminated water to keep it from further poisoning the ocean that surrounds Fukushima. Unfortunately, the addition of underground concrete walls surrounding the plant have not drastically reduced the leaks.  At this point, no deaths have been directly recorded in relations to short term radiation exposure from the plant. However, nearly 20,000 lives were lost as a result of the tsunami itself.

After investigation by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission it was determined that the disaster could have been avoided. The commission discovered that the plant was nowhere near prepared to withstand the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that followed. It was also discovered that the plant did not meet basic safety requirements, which are common around the nuclear power industry. Another study, which compared Japanese power plants along the coastline showed that they are particularly ill, prepared for tsunamis. If the proper safety measures were set in place, the incident at Fukushima could have been drastically lessened or even avoided all together.  

Fluoride healthy or harmful?

            For as long as I can remember my dentist has preached to me about how fluoride is good for my dental health and how it will help protect my teeth form cavities. Until I turned 18, I would have to stand over the sink in the dentist’s office with a mouth guard that had some sort of fluoride containing substance on it that was supposed to help protect my teeth from decay. My last dentist visit before I left for college I can specifically remember my dental hygienist mentioning to me that I should think about getting mouthwash with fluoride in it before I left for school to ensure that my teeth would be getting enough fluoride.

            According to the CDC, the addition of fluoride to public drinking water is one of the top public health achievements of the 20^th century. Fluoridated water can occur either naturally or by the addition of fluoride during water treatment processes. The idea is that when you drink water that has fluoride in it, your tooth enamel is much less likely to demineralize as quickly and this will in turn help prevent the formation of cavities.

            Some believe that the addition of fluoride to public water systems is unnecessary in developed countries because fluoride toothpastes and mouthwashes are readily available to most people. The concern surrounding fluoridation of public water supplies lies in amounts of fluorine that are considered to be above what is naturally occurring in the environment. Consuming water which has concentrations above what the World Health Organization considers to be safe can lead to adverse health effects such as severe dental fluorosis, skeletal fluorosis and weakened bones. Fluoride poisoning is another negative health effect from the over consumption of fluoride. Instances of this occurred multiple times in the U.S. during the 1990’s.

Jake Leg

            During the prohibition times in the United States, some turned to Jamaica Ginger extract. Jamaica Ginger, better known as “Jake” in the U.S. was a medicine that started to become popular in the late 19^th- century. Those looking to find a way to still enjoy alcohol after the start of prohibition started to drink Jake because it contained nearly 80% ethanol. The ginger itself was not dangerous if consumed but once the U.S. government found out that it could be used as an illicit form of alcohol, they wanted it to be changed. The change made the Jake more bitter testing and therefore more difficult and less pleasurable to drink.

            Bootleggers began to look for a way to make the Jake pass the tests of the government and still be somewhat easy to drink. They settled on tri-o-phosphate, which was originally thought to be non-toxic but was later discovered to be a neurotoxin. People began to notice that users of Jake were starting to be effected by the poisonous substance. Patients began showing signs of lost control of their extremities. This caused many to develop a recognizable limp, which was later dubbed “Jake Leg.”

            It did not take long for the source of the contaminated Jake to be discovered and eliminated. Unfortunately, by that time the damage to the victims had already been done. It was very seldom that any of the victims were able to recover from the condition. Many of the victims were immigrants who received very little medical attention.  It is not known exactly how many people were affected by the contaminated Jake, but it is believed that the number approached about 50 thousand. This incident became fairly well known but I it did not prevent an outbreak of organophosphate poisoning in Germany, Spain, Italy, and Morocco in 1959.

Spring Break Risky Behaviors

            Spring break for college students has become a yearly event viewed as a drunken party that spans a week filled with risky behaviors. The majority of this publicity probably stems from the media and may not be completely true. Having experienced spring break for myself as a college student multiple times, I would have to agree that the media has a huge influence on the image of the typical activities of college students on spring break. As far as I am concerned, I don’t think that I have acted any different while on spring break than I do when I am out with friends in Athens. I am sure the majority of college students would probably agree that they have had similar experiences.

            The difference between spring break and your typical weekend in Athens is that spring break is a weeklong. Rather than college students going out to house parties and bars on Friday and Saturday nights they are able to party all day long for a week straight. While on spring break the responsibilities of being a college student are put on hold for the most part so students tend to only be focused on partying.

            Since college students are only focused on drinking and socializing for this long length of time they probably participate in more risky behaviors than they would in the average week. If this is true it is probably the reason that the media hears about bad things happening while students are on spring break and is also the reason why risky behaviors are exposed to the public. In contrast, if you were to average the amount of “risky behaviors” with the time spent drinking on spring break and on the average weekend in Athens then I think the numbers would end up being very similar.

Arboviral Diseases

Arboviral diseases are infections, which are transmitted via invertebrate insects such as mosquitos and ticks. Lyme disease is the one I am most familiar with as I had a close family friend who lost his dog to the disease. It was thought that the dog was bitten by a wood tick in northern Minnesota, which infected him with the disease. Apart from Lyme disease there are many other arboviral diseases. These include dengue fever, yellow fever, encephalitis virus and West Nile virus. West Nile virus made major headlines when it was discovered to have spread to the western hemisphere for the first time in 1991. It is believed that arboviral diseases have been around for thousands of years, but we did not know their existence until the late 1800s.

Cuban doctor, Carlos Finlay was the first to propose that Yellow fever may be transmitted by mosquitos rather than by human contact in 1881. This was later verified by U.S. Army doctor Walter Reed in 1901.Arboviral diseases survive by a cycle between hosts, such as humans and vectors, such as mosquitos and ticks. The vectors are able to transport these diseases from one infected host to a new host by way of consuming the infected hosts blood and injecting their saliva into the new host. Once the virus reaches a new host, it amplifies itself by killing blood cells and multiplying.

Transmission of arboviral diseases from human to human is rare but can occur. If it is not known that a donor is infected with the virus, blood transfusions and organ transplants can lead to the infection spreading from one human to another.  In order to try and prevent this form of transmission, blood and organs are screened for the viruses prior to their use in for treatment. Infected mothers also run the risk of possibly infecting their newborn child. Also, those who use needles are at an increased risk for the contraction of arboviral disease just as they are with many other kinds of infections.