One Fish, Two Ways

A man by the name of Yong Hao Wu has been arrested after supposedly illegally importing life snakehead fish into the United States for his Howei Trading Company. In China, the snakehead fish is a delicacy in which the Chinese harvest in farms and later on boil into soup. The snakehead fish is said to have remarkable healing properties; however, when outside of its natural habitats in China, Russia and Korea, the snakehead fish is capable of wiping out entire schools of fish and ecosystems because it is a rapidly reproducing predator. In the year 2002, snakehead fish became illegal to import into the United States because they were found in a pond in the state of Maryland and were not decreasing in numbers. In fact, since that year, the population has increased in anything. The man attempting to trade the fish illegally, admitted to importing over 3,000 black sleeper fish, which he later admitted were in fact that snakehead fish. These fish are especially unique because they are capable of slithering on land for three days in search of water to swim in before dying, hence if they escape their tanks, then it is quite possible for them to find a local body of water and begin to reproduce in it. In fact, this is believed to have happened due to the fact that the snakehead fish has been found in freshwater bodies of water across the United States.

This article is relevant to the world today because it shows the indirect impacts of international trade. For instance, if snakehead fish were legal to import into the United States, it is possible that it would boost the economy at least for the Chinese food market because the fish are considered an expensive delicacy. However, if the fish escape to foreign, unnatural habitats, they can easily destroy entire schools of fish and throw off an entire body of water's ecosystem. Upon reading this article it seems that if the fish are such a delicacy, the United States might be ale to fully benefit form their trade. So maybe certain restrictions could be placed upon the sale and trade of the snakehead fish so that they could still be sold in the U.S. For example, the Chinese could import the fish dead rather than alive so that the fish are not capable of escaping from tanks and getting into nearby water. That way, the Chinese and the United States benefit through trade and there U.S. does not have to worry about the fish killing off and destroying entire ecosystems.

I found this article particularly interesting because I hate large, creepy fish; the picture in the article gave me goosebumps. After reading the article though, I was even more nervous that these snakehead fish have escaped into bodies of water near where I live. I am from New York and while I am over five hours away from the actual city, where this illegal importing was taking place, there are bodies of water near New York City that connect the bodies of water five minutes away from where I live. Based upon the information within this article also, it appears quite possible for these fish to continuously reproduce and make their way into completely different bodies of water. It would not be very difficult for these snakehead fish to go up the Hudson River, along the Eerie Canal, into Lake Ontario, which would give them access to a whole bunch of different rivers, ponds, lakes, etc. Thus, this article really freaked me out because I certainly do not want to be swimming in a lake with a fish named based on the fact that it looks like a snake. I did however find it really interesting that these fish are capable of slithering across land for three days before finding water to live in. I was unaware that fish with that quality survived on this planet and so I did feel as though this article gave me knowledge that I otherwise would have gone without knowing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/30/nyregion/snakehead-fish-are-a-chinatown-delicacy-and-a-threat.html?_r=1&ref=science

Harvesting Schizophrenia In A Dish

An anonymous man with schizophrenia donated a biopsy of is skin cells to research before committing suicide at the age of twenty two. The biopsy cells eventually reprogrammed and developed into neurons, giving scientists a better look at what are being called mental illnesses "in a dish." These mental illnesses "in a dish" come about by taking a biopsy of skin cells and having them reprogrammed to an embryonic-like state so that they can form into any type of tissue. Recreating cells with schizophrenia or other types of mental disorders in quite difficult for researchers due to the fact that no scientists have determined, to this day, the underlying biological causes of most mental disorders. Since researchers figured out how to create "cocktails" of certain genes to reprogram them to an embryonic-like state, these cells have been going under immense study so that researchers can identify what goes wrong in their development that leads to a disorder. Recent studies comparing reprogrammed cells from individuals with schizophrenia and reprogrammed cells from mentally healthy individuals show that the neurons from the schizophrenic individuals appear to make less connections or synapses with other neurons. However, the study also showed that the neurons from schizophrenic individuals conduct electrical impulses just the same as the cells from individuals without a psychiatric disorder. The studies also showed that a drug called loxapine used to treat schizophrenia boosted the number of synapses in the neurons that were reprogrammed from skin cells in the schizophrenic individuals. The research team reported that there were no other drugs out of the other four that were experimented with that had consistent results, but each drug worked for at least one schizophrenic individual's cells. The team also reported that there was a difference in gene expression between the healthy individuals and the ones with schizophrenia and it is possible that the biological underlying cause of these mental disorders has something to do with changed gene expressions. Determining this biological cause of schizophrenia is still a long ways away however as researchers have studied many different cases and concluded that the disorder arises in individuals due to a combination of different genetic and environmental causes. While these studies are still developing and the research going into these reprogrammed skin cells is still new, researchers are optimistic and believe it is currently the best hope for identifying the underlying fundamental defects of these mental diseases.

With technology and medicine improving on a daily basis in the world today in advanced countries such as the United States, it is not outrageous to think that scientists may soon determine what causes mental disorders. This article talks about how technology has improved the methods in which we look at mental disease such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Particularly in this article, scientists look at schizophrenia in a way many people have never heard of. Researchers have figured out how to take basic skin cells through a biopsy and reprogram them into cells that can develop into neurons. Thus, when these researchers take the skin cells of individuals who have been diagnosed with schizophrenia, the preprogrammed skin cells can eventually develop into neurons that develop with schizophrenia. This new information is relevant to the world today because of how many mental disorders affect such a large number of people. When articles such as this one are released to the public eye, it proves that researchers are working on finding answers to the biological mysteries that are present today. The information presented within the article shows readers that researchers still have a ways to go in determining the underlying causes of psychiatric disorders; however, shows that technology has gone a long way and if it continues to improve and advance, then there is a very good chance that researchers will easily find the biological causes of mental disorders.

This article's title made me read it in the first place because I wanted to know what the article meant by "Schizophrenia 'in a dish.'" The article and its content had be quite interested because I was unaware of the fact that researchers have been harvesting cells from individuals with psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia in dishes in order to reprogram them and study their development as they develop into cells such as those of the brain, or neurons. The studies presented within this article make it clear that scientists are making great strides towards finding the fundamental defects that result in mental disorders, which is another reason I found the article so interesting. One piece of information that I found particularly interesting and which was also a basis of the entire article was the fact that researchers take a biopsy of individuals' skin cells and preprogram them into an embryonic state. Once the skin cells are in this embryonic state, they can develop into any type of cell and in the cases within the article, those types of cells were often neurons because schizophrenia is a disorder of the mind and brain. The fact that scientists can reprogram basic skin cells into an embryonic state makes it seem like researchers are basically capable of creating stem cells out of cells such as skin cells. If a cell in this embryonic state is not exactly the same as a stem cell, then it sounds particularly close, which goes to show that scientists may also be making great strides towards determining a method for turning basic body cells such as those of the skin, which are easily accessed, and turning them into stem cells. And as most people in advanced countries such as the United States know, stem cells are highly valued in the medical world because of their ability to develop into any type of cell in the body. Therefore, this article not only presented me with information and had never previously heard of before, but it also made me aware of how advanced science is today and the efforts that are being made towards finding cures and answers to the biological questions that remain unanswered to this day.

http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110413/full/news.2011.232.html