The Student Body Magazine April 2010

All you need is sleep...

The importance of sleep in your relationship

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Table of Contents Editorial Board

Diane Cheng - Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Nauheim- Senior Editor Jessica Ye- Design Editor Tommy Rucker - Publicity Chair Andrea Kim - Treasurer

The Student Body is an undergraduate student organization affiliated with Gannett University Health Services. Publication of The Student Body is funded by SAFC.

The contents of The Student Body are the works of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or beliefs of the organization, its affiliates, advisers, or Cornell University.

Produced by Jessica Ye, Andrea Kim, Sonnya Im, Susan Duan, and Luna Chen

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No ‘Fracking’ Way - Ithaca’s Efforts to Prevent Hydraulic Fracking............3 Simple Solutions: The Top 5 Home Remedies for Common Illnesses........4 Take a Break!......................................................................................................................6 One More Excuse to Eat Cornell Ice Cream...........................................................7

AphrodiZZZical .................................................................................................................8 [Feature Article] Want to Drop a Size in Jeans? Check Out Your Genes! ...................................10 The Art of Napping........................................................................................................12 HeLa Cells are Here to Stay........................................................................................14

© The Student Body 2010

| Diametrically Unopposed

No ‘Fracking’ Way

– Ithaca’s Efforts to Prevent Hydraulic Fracturing

two years. It’s the largest known reserve on the continent.

As the threat of depleting our stores of natural gas becomes more and more of a reality, fracking to

by Diane Cheng extract trapped resources may seem like miracle ecently, if you’ve had the chance step off cam- work. The extremely pressing concern, however, is pus, you may have noticed the slew of black that the pressure generated by fracking may harm picket signs erected in the Commons and around nearby water wells, causing chemicals used in the various communities featuring a big red cross-out process to leak into reservoirs and contaminate over the word “FRACK”. No, these signs are not the local supplies of drinking water. According to part of a social movement to purge our language the Associated Press, chemicals added to the water of a sanitized alternative to a certain four-lettered during the fracking process include benzene, toluword. Instead, they have been put up by concerned ene, ethylbenzene and xylene – essentially diesel fuel. In addition to being Ithacans to protest the implehighly flammable, these mentation of a form of natuchemicals are known to ral gas drilling known as ‘Hybe toxic to humans and draulic Fracturing’, or more wildlife and have been colloquially, ‘Fracking’. linked to cancers, nervous system disorders, Fracking, as the industry calls and birth defects. In some it, involves pumping a million places where fracking is gallons or more of water and already underway, people chemicals deep underground, have reported foul odors creating fractures to force gas from their water while out of the tight spaces that showering and an oily it’s been locked away in. The film across the surface technique of hydraulic fracof drinking water. Mike turing is used to increase the Markham of Colorado, rate at which fluids; such as featured in a new docuoil, gas, or water, can be promentary, Gasland, demduced from a reservoir. This onstrated how he can set includes unconventional reshis tap water on fire with ervoirs such as shale rock or the spark from a cigarette coal beds. Because of its suclighter. In Ohio, a couple’s cess in increasing production house blew up when gas and generating employment from their water well opportunities, fracking has filled their basement. been widely adopted by the industry, and is now used in Due to a specific exempthousands of oil and gas wells Reproduced from [6] tion granted to the fracking annually. The industrial benefits of fracking would be well realized in Ithaca, since the Finger Lakes industry by the 2005 Energy Policy Act, drillers do region has been discovered to be a resourcefully not have to reveal the exact chemical cocktail they valuable region of the Marcellus shale. The United infuse into the water (and you thought mystery States Geological Survey calculated that the Mar- meat from the school cafeteria was bad). Perhaps cellus Shale, a Devonian age shale occurring be- with stricter regulations or more emphasis on neath much of New York State, contains an esti- transparency, the industry may have a greater inmated undiscovered resource of about 1.9 trillion centive to explore safer alternatives to the chemicubic feet of gas. This could supply the natural gas cals used in the drilling process. In the meantime, needs of the United States -- accounting for some local residents are sending a clear message to the 20 percent of all our energy consumption -- for industry: don’t fracking mess with Ithaca.

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Reader’s Digest |

Simple Solutions The Top 5 Home Remedies for Common Illnesses

by Hillary Murray

Chicken Soup: Not Only Good for the Soul

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ou may think of chicken soup as just a comfort food, but it actually can help speed up your recovery. First off, the cold virus thrives in dry conditions. Thus, the steam created from the hot soup creates an environment detrimental to the virus. Furthermore, chicken soup has antiinflammatory properties that stop the movement of neutrophils. While neutrophils are a necessary component of the immune system, they also may cause uncomfortable cold symptoms like the stuffy nose and sore throat. In addition, certain chicken feed has traces of penicillin in it, so the soup may also have some antibiotic properties!

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Better to Hear You with My Dear

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he brown bottle on your bathroom shelf can be used for another purpose besides just cleaning open wounds; hydrogen peroxide actually can be used as an antibacterial agent to heal ear infections! No need for antibiotics; simply, put one to two tablespoons of hydrogen peroxide in your ear.

If you have an ear infection, it will start to bubble. Leave the solution in your ear until the fizzing stops. Then tilt your head sideways and pour it out.

Repeat daily until the infection is gone. Š The Student Body 2010

| Reader’s Digest Zap Your Zits

Abort That Wart

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study conducted at the Madigan Army Medical Center near Tacoma, Washington affirmed that duct tape is successful at getting rid of warts. Patients who used duct tape had an 85% success rate at healing the wart compared to a 60% success rate for those used cryosurgery.

Duct tape works by irritating the skin, causing an immune reaction that clears up the wart. Not to mention duct tape is cheaper and less painful than surgery.

Bee Stings and Bug Bites Bugging You? ost people love summer, but hate the insects that cause pain and discomfort—baking soda can provide you some relief and allow you to enjoy the season worry free! Adding a teaspoon of baking soda to a little water and putting it on insect bites or stings helps soothe the itch and stop the pain. The way it works is that the alkalinity of the baking soda neutralizes the acidity of the insect venom. The inflammation and pain should subside within a half an hour.

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hink pink and skip the embarrassment and pain of a cold sore. Pepto-Bismol can actually be used to speed up the healing process. Simply apply the product to the blister every four hours until it is gone. Dr. Mathhew Lozano, a physician in Fresno, California, explains that “bismuth tends to dry out the cold sore so the natural healing process can begin.”

hy use chemicals to clear up acne when you can do it naturally?

Tree tea oil contains an antibacterial constituent known as terpinen4-ol. Applying tree tea oil to the skin kills the bacterium that is believed to infect hair follicles and cause acne.

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Don’t Get Too Sore About That Cold Sore!

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Clarifying Light | Office of Tommy Rucker, prospective M.D. Ithaca, NY 14853 Phone: (607) 555-5555 NAME: <Cornell student> AILMENT: Bad grades on prelims PRESCRIPTION (please print):

Take a break!

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ave you ever had what was meant to be a quick, minute long break from studying for your Chem. prelim turn into a three hour long break? Did you then think that you had seriously hurt your chances of coming out of that exam alive?

Fear not! A recent study done by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that memories grow stronger when people take a break from work in order to rest.

The NIH researchers found that the brain’s hippocampus region is critical for creating both long and short-term memories. This region of the brain is independently responsible for the formation of short-term memories (aka cramming for a test an hour before you have to sprint to the lecture hall). For long-term storage of a memory, also known as memory consolidation, the procedure is much more complex and interactive. And as an optimist, I think we should all aim for the long-term memory instead of that cramming to avoid the wrath incurred by procrastination. For this type of long-term storage, there are complex interactions involved between the hippocampus and parts of the brain’s cortex. The researchers believe that the memories that are being stored are “replayed”, with the brain reactivating the same patterns of activity as during the experience itself. You might be asking yourself: Where does the newfound importance of rest come into play? Well, several studies done by NIH have found that this replaying process happens during rest and sleep.

These results, however, do not mean that getting a good night sleep will guarantee you an A on that next prelim. In fact, you don’t even have to go as far as sleeping. A team at New York University found that simply taking a break from learning, meaning just stopping and literally thinking about something else, will actually help you to retain the information you just learned.

Dr. Lila Davachi and her team at NYU made this discovery by scanning the brains of 16 people using functional magnetic resonance imaging dur-

ing two different tasks as well as during rest periods before and after the tasks. The scientists focused on the hippocampus and on regions known to be involved in visual processing. During imaging, the subjects were then either shown a human face and an object, such as a beach ball, or a human face and a scene, such as a beach. They weren’t told that their memory of the images would later be tested. Instead, they were simply instructed to rest and think about anything that they wanted to as long as they remained awake. The result showed that correlations between the brain regions were low during the initial period of rest before the task, and high during both the viewing of the object pairs and the rest period following.

The team found that the memory for objectface pairs was significantly better than for sceneface pairs and searched for an explanation to this occurrence. They discovered that, during the rest period following the object-face pairs task, the activity level of the hippocampus and the activity level of one region of the cortex (the portion of the brain thought to be involved with long-term storage), were significantly correlated, suggesting interactions between the two areas. Contrastingly, the researchers detected no connection between the regions during the rest period following the scene-face pair task. The team concluded based on these findings that the higher the correlation of activity between the hippocampus and cortex during the later rest period, the better the subject was able to remember what they were shown. The pattern of activity correlation is “replayed” during the resting phase, which aids in memory. When the pattern is not replayed (as with the scene-face pairs), subjects aren’t able to remember as well.

So, for the next set of prelims, I prescribe for anyone and everyone, to take a break after studying for three hours. Go ahead and use some of your BRB’s and treat yourself to a coffee break --your brain and next prelim grade will thank you!

© The Student Body 2010

One More Excuse to Eat

by Jennifer Nauheim

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Cornell Ice Cream

e all have that friend who we secretly hate because they can eat whatever they want without gaining a pound. Why is it that they can eat the sinfully delicious Cornell ice cream every night and remaining model-esque while we suffer through nightly salads and mile long runs? You may be thinking genetics or metabolism is the answer, and though this is true, there’s also a secret answer choice C—they’ve earned it. Now, I may have lost you, but picture this: person A has spent their entire life eating a scoop of ice cream after dinner every night. While at first this may have led to some slight weight gain, eventually their bodies became accustomed to the intake of sugars and fats, and their weights eventually level off. To this end, the ice cream no longer has an effect on them.

So what’s one more scoop?

The New York Times published an article claiming that small changes in diet and exercise, instead of leading to a bigger pay off at the end of the day, lead to a smaller one. Despite recent notions that just eating an extra piece of fruit a day or walking to school instead of driving leads to a big pay off, the science shows otherwise. When we skip dessert or hit the gym a little bit more, the body’s biological and behavioral adaptations kick in, reducing the caloric benefits of our efforts.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) noted that the “small changes” theory fails to take into account the body’s adaptive mechanisms. Such a large rise in childhood obesity seen over the past few decades cannot simply be attributed to an extra 100-calories of soda every day or a few less physical education classes. Skipping a snack or walking to class barely makes a dent in our caloric balance. To truly make an impact you need to go the extra mile, literally (or 5 to 10 miles to be precise). Now don’t give up on diet and exercise just yet, but understand the realities of what you are trying to accomplish. Big changes are a re-

sult of big efforts.

As we learned in Dr. Levitsky’s Introduction to Nutrition course, our weight is determined by a simple formula: it is the number of calories expelled subtracted from the number of calories consumed. If you eat more than you run off, you gain weight. If you run off more than you eat, you lose weight. It’s very simple. That said, our bodies do not see-saw back and forth daily, there is a bit of biology involved. Our bodies try to maintain the same weight, or a range of weights (which is why losing those 5 extra pounds before spring break isn’t as easy as you might have hoped). The JAMA article explained it like this: a person who eats an extra cookie a day will gain some weight, but over time, an increasing proportion of the cookie’s calories also go toward taking care of the extra body weight. Eventually, the body adjusts and stops gaining weight, even if the person continues to eat the cookie. The same is applied when you skip the extra cookie. After the initial drop in weight, your body adjusts and your weight stabilizes again.

Unfortunately, the body is more resistant to weight loss than weight gain. Hormones that regulate your unconscious drive to eat and how your body responds to exercise can make it very difficult to lose weight. You may skip the cookie and hit the Stairmaster for an hour, but later you’re going to feel the need to eat more. Biology wins again.

But don’t lose hope. You can still lose weigh with more significant changes in diet and exercise.

But for those of us who need an excuse to eat the Cornell ice cream (as if there aren’t enough already) here’s one more: in the long run it won’t cause you to gain weight. Sure you may gain a few pounds at first, but then you can eat ice cream guilt free forever! That said, you probably shouldn’t eat ice cream every night forever, it’s really bad for you. But that’s another article.

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Sound Bites |

Aphrodi-ZZZ-ical Melissa Lumish

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aced with increasingly busy schedules due to partner. However, across all ethnic groups, the reheavy course loads, part-time employment, sponses on tiredness and sex were consistent—1 extracurricular endeavors, and a desire to enjoy in 4 Americans who are married or living with the college social scene, many students cut back someone are so sleep deprived that they are too on sleep time to make up for these much needed tired to have sex. Is this the case on the college waking hours. Energy drinks, caffeine pills, late- campus as well? Or is sexual activity one of the night orders from campusfood.com, and other factors causing fewer sleeping hours among colstimulants of choice have enabled us to ignore lege students? our bodies’ signs of exhaustion and sustain ourIn accordance with an observed relationship selves on physiologically abnormal amounts of between sleep and sex, Dr. Guy Meadows of the sleep. This brings forth London Insomnia Clinic arthe question, is trading gues that sleep deprivation “1 in 4 Americans who sleep for a perceived incan be both a cause and a crease in “productivity” are married or living with symptom of unhappiness. really beneficial?

While unhappiness and insomeone are so sleep deA recent study by the security may result in inNational Sleep Foundaprived that they are too somnia, intentional lack of tion looked at sleep patsleep may also negatively tired to have sex.” terns in people aged 25 affect mood and thus the dethrough 60 across several sire for sexual activity. ethnic groups. The study found that whites are Arianna Huffington, of The Huffington Post, most likely to have insomnia, blacks most likely shares a similar perspective on the importance to suffer from sleep apnea, and Hispanics most of sleep and its relation to sex, claiming that “lack likely to lose sleep over work, money, relation- of sleep is the exact opposite of an aphrodisiac,” ships, and health problems. Asian Americans, (highlighted in an article from TimesOnline). She who were most likely to get a good night’s sleep, also refers to sleep deprivation as “the next femiwere less likely than other groups to watch tele- nist issue,” arguing that women, as a group, can vision or drink alcohol before going to bed, and improve their status by getting more sleep. Along were less likely to share a bed with a spouse or with Cindy Leive, editor of US Glamour, Huffington © The Student Body 2010

| Sound Bites is encouraging everyone to join the Sleep Chal- timal organ function, while select other foods lenge 2010 and make an effort to get a good night’s may benefit sexual health. Oysters are rich in sleep every night for a whole month. zinc, which is an essential nutrient for testosterSo, faced with packed schedules, how are we one production in men and women and thus esto combat a lack of sleep and its adverse side ef- sential for sexual performance. Chocolate confects on sexual health and desire? As cited in an ar- tains the amino acid phenylalanine, which has ticle in the New York Times, National Sleep Foun- been shown to raise the body’s endorphins, or dation board member Dr. Barbara Phillips believes natural antidepressants, and thus may improve that activities during the hour before bedtime are sexual desire and performance. critical. Watching television or drinking alcohol In contrast, fried foods (including those just prior to going to sleep may affect our ability obtained late at night via campusfood.com) and to fall asleep and to sleep soundly. For healthier rich cream sauces may leave us feeling “slugsleep patterns, Dr. gish,” and excesMeadows encoursive sugar, salt, ages setting a bed saturated fat, time, purchasand highly proing and wearing cessed foods pajamas, turning may result in disoff cell phones, interest in sex. and not turning Similarly, exceson the lights or sive consumpchecking the time tion of alcohol in the middle of and coffee, as the night, even well as tobacco if we are unable use, may reduce to sleep. There sexual desire. is also an iPhone These dietary app called Sleep recommendaCycle, which entions, in addition ables users to to combating the track their sleep adverse effects Left: iPhone’s sleep cycle application, reproduced from [17] schedules to of sleep depriRight: Fresh fruits help maintain normal body function, reproduced from maintain regular- [18-19] vation on sexual ity and ensure that desire, are in acthey are achieving the desired number hours. cordance with guidelines to maintain overall Professor Kevin Morgan, of Loughborough health.

University’s Clinical Sleep Research Unit, believes While long-term health is often overlooked, that there are “three pillars on which all human especially by the college-age population, today’s wellbeing is based — diet, exercise and sleep…” choices may affect your pleasure and well-being Morgan is currently encouraging Americans to in the future. A recent study published in the focus on correcting their sleep behavior, but as March 10 issue of the British Medical Journal Morgan implies, I would be remiss in advising a indicated that although men seem to enjoy sex healthy, happy lifestyle without emphasizing the more later in life, their sex lives suffer more from connection between sleep, diet, and sex. While poor health. Thus, healthy sleep patterns and sleeping at least eight hours a night (or 9.25 hours, dietary choices today may affect both life expecaccording to Professor Maas of Psych 101), may tancy and your “sexually active life span.” The promote a healthy weight by discouraging late- take-home message? It is likely that sexual ennight eating or eating for energy, we can also use joyment and interpersonal relationships could food to promote sexual health. According to an be improved by increasing hours of sleep, in adarticle on Discovery Health online, eating fresh dition to eating well. Take this advice now—you fruits and vegetables, lean proteins, and complex will be happy later! carbohydrates can help maintain energy and op-

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Health Junkie |

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tkins (ultra-low-carb), the Zone (low-carb), and Ornish (very low-fat)—these are a few of the thousands of diets available today.

If you decide to go on a diet—perhaps to finally lose that Freshman Fifteen—which one will better help you reach your goal? According to Dopler Nelson, a nutritional biologist at Stanford University, it depends on your genes.

There are two main types of diets: low-carb and lowfat. While low-carb diets are based on gaining calories through mostly meats and fats, low-fat diets try to limit exactly that. The low-carb diet has long been thought to be more effec

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tive than its counterpart. In a study of 322 Israelis, for example, low-carb dieters lost an average of 12.3 pounds, while low-fat dieters lost an average of only 7.3 pounds. The condi-

“...those who followed the appropriate diet as determined by the kit lost almost five times more weight than those who didn’t...”

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tions of the low-fat diet regulated that subjects be limited to under 2000 calories a day, while the lowcarb diet did not place any limitations on the number of calories consumed.

As a result, the low-carb dieters usually consumed the same amount of calories as they did before going on the diet, yet they still managed to lose 58% more weight than their low-fat diet counterparts.

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The notion that there are still people who respond better to low-fat diets, however, is not new. After all, people differ in their genetic make-up, and since genes are involved in an individual’s metabolic activity, it is expected that different people respond better to different diets. The link be-

© The Student Body 2010

| Health Junkie examined the genes of 138 overweight women with its kit, which labeled each individual as “low-carb-appropriate” or “low-fat-appropriate.” Results show that those who followed the appropriate diet as determined by the kit lost almost five times more weight than those who didn’t—13 pounds in a year compared to 3 pounds.

Some scientists argue that genetics testing for simple weight loss is completely unnecessary, as a successful dieter should be concerned more about maintaining the diet, no matter which one is chosen. Jacqueline Gardner, one Reproduced from [23] of the study’s participants, disagrees. tween genes and metabolism has been the subject of many studies.

Gardner, 55, once went on a low-fat Take, for example, the significant link between diet and lost 15 pounds—but gained it all back two genes and obesity: twin studies show that fac- years later. When she followed the gene test kit tors such as BMI (Body Mass Index), fat mass, fat suggestion to go on a low-carb diet, she successpercentage, and subcutaneous fat are more simi- fully lost 20 pounds and kept it off. Gardner says lar between twins than between any other fam- she wishes she had taken a gene test 10 years ago. ily members (Papoutsakis). Similarly, in their study of 5,000 pairs of twins, University College Perhaps the least troublesome step to take, if London researchers found that 77% of factors you do want to lose weight, is to try out both influencing BMI and waist size were governed by diets and decide which one works better for genes. These studies conclude that genes indeed you. That way, you can save the $150 for a gene predispose certain individuals to obesity, which test while reaping the benefits from followis partly the result of an individual’s metabolism. ing the appropriate diet. Now that’s a deal!

Based on the fact that individuals have unique genetic codes and thus unique metabolic systems, the company Interleukin Genetics Inc. predicted that individuals would find differences in which type of diet was most effective for them. To start off, researchers examined three of the many genes linked to metabolism of fats and carbohydrates and designed a $149 genetics testing kit that reveals whether the test subject should go on a low-carb or a low-fat diet, based on the information from those three genes.

Then, Interleukin hired independent researchers from Stanford, led by Dr. Nelon (to test the product. Interleukin

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Mr. OCD |

The Art of Y

by Nicolas Cordero

*yawn*

ou know what I mean. It’s 3AM and you’re studying for that big prelim in the morning, and you know that just a few more hours of staring at those formulae will make you the “meanbreaker”. But your eyelids start drooping, nothing makes sense anymore, all the caffeinated beverages you stockpiled for the night can’t keep you awake, and so you succumb to the warm comfort of your bed. You arise with just enough time to grab your stuff and head to the exam room. Now, you wouldn’t have experienced the drowsiness or the resistance to caffeine had you slept the night before, and the night before that. But you didn’t.

Welcome to Cornell, where everything seems to be due at the same time.

Napping

stimuli (meaning blindfolds and earplugs). Meanwhile, sleep is characterized by at least six hours (….right) of off-line information processing with the presence of rapid-eye movement. A nap, however, is a burst of sleep for an hour or less where rapid-eye movement hardly occurs. By this classification, naps occupy a nice little niche between rest and sleep.

Naps, as I’ve alluded to, come in many different forms, and bestow some very different effects.

The Power Nap, as Mednick et al. describe, is a brief occurrence of daytime sleep that can improve mood, productivity, and energy. The basis of their research was the notion that humans experience performance deterioration as they unIn defense of Cornell’s apparently merciless aca- dertake tasks repeatedly over the course of the demic schedule, I would like to point out that we day, in a phenomenon called information overload are often given weeks in advance to prepare for (sound that something you’ve experienced during prelims and papers. But we are college students, your Cornell career?) Mednick’s group suggests and college students are known to procrastinate. that a short midday nap of 30 minutes pauses Since I’m as guilty of procrastinating as the next performance deterioration and allows the mind guy (no, I really thrive on pressure!), I’d like to in- to continue learning at the level achieved prior to troduce you to my new best friend and his brother, napping. What’s more, a long midday nap of 60 Power Nap and Caffeine Nap. I met them over the minutes can actually reverse performance detewinter break, and I can tell that we’re going to be rioration and increases the amount of information close for a long time to come. Their evil second- that the mind can absorb. So Mr. Power Nap actucousin twice removed, Slacker Nap, and his semi- ally prevents us from getting burned out (and less evil fraternal twin, Snooze Nap (hey, I’m making pleasant) throughout the day! these up as I go), are no longer part of my life.

The Nap family is as diverse as any family could The Caffeine Nap also deserves our attention and be, but they share common ground in their differ- recognition. This variety of napping is a particuences from the Rest and Sleep families. In 2002, lar favorite of mine, seeing as it provides justificaSara Mednick and a group of really smart people tion to spend the majority of my BRBs on caffeine. from Harvard Medical School described “rest” as a This type of nap is characterized by an intake of period of wakefulness with the absence of sensory caffeine followed by a siesta. Sounds counterin-

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© The Student Body 2010

| Mr. OCD tuitive, right? Well, caffeine has a 45 minute long journey between being swallowed and being absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract and taking effect (according to Misuo Hayashi and a group of behavioral scientists from Hiroshima University), and 45 minutes is ample time to get some shuteye. This combination works because you’re able to get the rejuvenating effects of the nap in addition to the alerting qualities of caffeine without any wasted time in between. Sleep inertia, which is the period of drowsiness and decreased performance immediately following a nap, is also eliminated by the caffeine absorption, allowing you to immediately get back to work after wiping up your post-nap drool. An alternative name for this name is the “1, 2, 3, Go! Nap”, because you intake caffeine and after what seems like a three second nap, you feel like you could outrun Usain Bolt! Figuratively, of course.

While the above mentioned types of lighter, shorter naps are highly recommended, many college students often fall prey to other less helpful variations. The Slacker Nap, which lasts into the deeper stages of sleep, is a primary culprit of sleep inertia. When you think about it… who really wants to do any work after a 3 hour nap? And with the Snooze Nap (which I feel guilty renouncing since I hit the snooze button on my alarm for about an hour this morning), you can run the risk of your body becoming acclimated to the buzzer sound until you just ignore it completely. To lower the chance of this happening, it is recommended that you periodically change the sound of the alarm, and possibly move the clock to the opposite side of the room so that you’ll have to actually get up to turn it off. So think of light naps as revving up the engine before a big race, while the other types can be more like lending the keys to your little brother who just got his license. With that in mind…happy nappings!

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All Things Small | the first immortal cell line that could be divided, preserved, and grown endlessly. Named HeLa cells, they were the first cells ever to be mass produced and used by scientists all over the world in research efforts - ranging from vaccine development for polio, to studies on the effects of radiation on human tissue.

So who was this woman and how were her cells found to be “immortal”? At time that Henrietta was diagnosed with cervical cancer, the pap smear had just been developed and implemented, and it wasn’t uncommon for doctors to keep the collected samples and do research on them.

Henrietta’s cells showed she had both syphilis and Human papillomavirus, but what was really intriguing was the fact that her cells were the only ones out of the many samples from other pap smears that didn’t die. And sixty-years later, scientists still don’t understand why her cells have behaved this way. Not that they’re complaining.

HeLa cells were the first cloned cells. They were the first human cells to be sent to space to test the affects of gravity, and have been widely used to advance cancer drug development. Recently, they have even been found to float on dust particles and were mistaken for prostate and breast cancer cells. The latter two revelations about these cells have prompted research into a probable cause for cancer, as well as an example of ethics behind human tissue studies.

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enrietta Lacks died in Baltimore, Maryland half a century ago. But as it turns out, she is still alive and strong, contributing to cancer research and curing polio. She even makes the time to visit outer space; all 50 million tons of her. Wait...what?

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In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer, and her doctor collected cells from her cancerous tumor as part of standard procedure. But there was something strange about this particular sample- these human tissue cells never seemed to die, they just kept growing and multiplying. The scientist who collected these cells cultured them and created

As discoveries like the one above about actual HeLa cells were made, researchers approached Henrietta’s family to collect more cells and quick

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© The Student Body 2010

| All Things Small He had only been educated up the third grade and didn’t have an understanding of basic cellular biology, let alone the greater medical implications. And so sparked a debate over the discrimination against race and socioeconomic status of individuals involved in research and the ethics of the scientists and doctors of the 1950s and today. Not to mention, confusion and trauma the Lacks family faces even now over the fate of their mother.

So what should one take out of all of this? A combination of appreciation and understanding from both the Lacks family and Scientist perspectives, if you Reproduced from [27]

ly learned the consequences of their failure to respect patient autonomy in their human subject based research.

Neither Henrietta nor her husband knew that her cells had been collected and cultured and he and his family did not understand the phenomenon behind the cells. When a post doctorate student approached Henrietta’s husband to collect tissue samples from their children, Mr. Lacks felt as if scientists had told him, “We’ve got your wife. She’s alive in a laboratory. We’ve been doing research on her for the last 25 years. And now we have to test your kids to see if they have cancer.”

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ask me. What happened to the Lacks family was unethical according today’s standards of human subject research, but her cells alone also lead to countless advances in medicine. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without her immortal cells. No space travel, and Polio has yet to be eradicated. Using human tissue cells is not a bad practice, it’s brought a whole new wave of advancement in medical research; but how we go about collecting it should take into account the subjects themselves and their lives.

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Have Something to Say? Be Heard.

Write for The Student Body.

contact: Diane Cheng (dc479) Photo References

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1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/komplementaerfarbe/398656959/ 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/alyssafilmmaker/3235578402/ 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/michi_photos/4455356443/ 4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/randysonofrobert/335549762/ 5. http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/3324587240/ 6. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2706/4142109554_ ab47b63b3a_b.jpg 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kudumomo/3143199160/ 8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsims/3101175668/ 9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/4472384764/ 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessicamullen/4431643843/http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/437394474/ 11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/plastanka/3780743908/ 12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremy_vandel/193916390/ 13. http://www.flickr.com/photos/45025094@ N00/4261485062/

14. http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/cm/goodhousekeeping/images/Ice-cream-cone-fb-3311096.jpg 15. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Carl%C3%A8gle_-_Les_Linottes_ page_0148.jpg 16. http://www.geek-speak.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/ sleepcycle.jpg 17. http://www.flickr.com/photos/clairity/1328402515/ 18. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevenfernandez/2272752165/ 19. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kikytakisses/2842287767/ 20. http://www.flickr.com/photos/35674311@ N05/3349720060/ 21. http://www.flickr.com/photos/darrowassoc/3914104559/ 22. http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnnieb/17200471/ 23. http://www.flickr.com/photos/thebiglove/3362902796/ 24. http://www.flickr.com/photos/heavininc/132119697/ 25. http://www.flickr.com/photos/luca_volpi/2086483944/ 26. http://www.flickr.com/photos/marsdd/2986989396/ 27. http://www.flickr.com/photos/9805197@ N07/793991703/ 28. http://www.flickr.com/photos/gehealthcare/3325349829/

Š The Student Body 2010