immune system 4

Question 1

Legally speaking food companies cannot come out with specific health claims unless it has been scientifically proven but they can do what?

Answer 1

use language that suggests or implies general health benefits and have a “sciency” tone

Question 2

Goldielocks principle is what?

Answer 2

That you can have too much or too little but you want to be right in the middle

Question 3

What are the 3 main toxins in the body?

Answer 3

carbon monoxide-produced by breakdown of hemoglobin

methanol: causes blindness and death produced by metabolism of fruit juice.

Acetaldehyde- product of ethanol, drinking alcohol

Question 4

What are essential oils

Answer 4

Volatile Hydrocarbons that smell nice, endocrine disrupters. Word that has two meanings
Meaning in biochemistry is a lot weaker than the one that it suggests

Question 5

What is the word quantum in popular speech and scientific meaning?

Answer 5

Meaning in popular speech and a meaning in science that are exact opposites
Quantum in science is the smallest thing possible(very tiny objects or events)
In popular speech quantum mean huge and large

Question 6

Vaccination and the MMR scare:

What is Inoculation?

Answer 6

It was historically used to fight smallpox, from about 1000 years ago in china to early 1800s. A small quantity of material from the pustules of people suffering from the milder from of the disease was introduced into healthy people.

Question 7

What is Vaccination

Answer 7

It is the introduction of weakened pathogen, or something that looks like the pathogen (to our immune system) but does not cause the disease; pioneered by Edward Jenner in the late 1700s

Question 8

Smallpox

Answer 8

subject to WHO eradication campaign last case in 1977

Question 9

Yellow fever

Answer 9

liver disease
causes white of the eyes to go yellow.
panama canal workers got this, carried by mosquitos

Question 10

Tetanus

Answer 10

Caused muscles to get locked into flexed state by effecting the communication to muscles.

Question 11

Polio

Answer 11

could lead to having to use an iron lung

salk’s vaccine worked to eradicate it

Question 12

Problems with Vaccination

Answer 12

Not all vaccines work; sometimes a patient is not protected by vaccination

some vaccines might cause allergic reactions. the MMR vaccine causes a severe allergic reaction in 1 in a million doses

Question 13

What is an Adjuvant?

Answer 13

Help the effects of vaccines
ex. aluminum hydroxide

by themselves they will have no effect, they potentiate effectiveness of vaccines

Question 14

“Vaccine Injury” what is it?

Answer 14

Is an often-litigated harm, and has won large court settlements, although in some cases these harms do not have solid scientific backing

Question 15

What are some episodes of resistance to vaccination in history?

Answer 15

Switzerland 1883- repeal of smallpox vaccination law

france 1990- media scare centered on the fear that hep B vaccine caused MS

Nigeria 2000s that polio vaccine rendered children sterile

Question 16

What is Thimerosol?

Answer 16

Thimerosol is a mercury-containing compound that was added to vaccines as a preservative. It’s use has declined, although there is no good evidence of harm

Question 17

What is the MMR vaccine

Answer 17

Combo for measles, mumps and rebella

Question 18

The rise of autism

Answer 18

Reports of autism have risen in the last 30 years, It is uncertain if this is due only to new diagnostic procedures or due also to a real rise in incidence reflecting a real environmental causes

Question 19

The wakefield paper of 1998

Answer 19

Implicated the MMR vaccine in the rise in autism

it was done using a case series (no control no experiment)

Question 20

What were concerns about the wakefield paper?

Answer 20

was being paid by a law firm and did not publicly disclose it

undisclosed bias - recommended to his clinic BECAUSE of the symptoms

Question 21

What is the Beacon Problem

Answer 21

recommended to his clinic BECAUSE of the symptoms

erases all value a paper might have

ex. connection between football fans and gun owners.

Question 22

What is cochrane?

Answer 22

It is a collaboration of international science volunteers who conduct systematic review of the medical research literature

Question 23

What is a systematic review

Answer 23

Is a review of randomized clinical trials that have been done to answer a certain question

assigns each a grade that expresses their methodological quality

draws conclusions often with meta-analysis statistical technique

Question 24

Science journalism lessons

Answer 24

Non-sceience reporters doing science stories

misleading ttachment to “balance” coverage

the self image of journalists as righteous crusaders

puff-piece journalism

pursuing a script and ignorning contrary evidence

press-conference science vs. literature science