Federal Funding of Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Paper

Federal Funding of Human Embryonic Stem Cell - Research Paper Example During the reign of President Bush, federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research stood banned since the administration opposed the practice. Even though the federal government does not fund research that involves the creation of embryos for purposes of research, President Obama’s administration lifted the ban. The federal government funds researchers that make use of embryos created in vitro fertilization but have stayed unused. However, the move by the federal government to provide funding for human embryonic stem cell research encourages other unethical practices such as abortion. Since these scientists remain prohibited from creating embryos for the research, they would turn to other alternatives to obtaining embryos. The justification used for the research would be that embryos couldn’t be considered human. This justification is likely to be used by unethical practitioners to support their misdemeanors, for instance, those conducting the abortion. Causes of the problem James Thomson initiated the human embryonic stem cell research in 1998. Several reasons became presented for the initiation of this research on the basis that stem cells have the potential to save lives. One such cause for embryonic stem cell research would be the development of rubella and polio as a resource for developing national policy and for local institutional review boards. This became founded on the premise that the research would develop considerable biomedical knowledge not obtainable by other methods. This problem intensified due to the impact of laws on the situation stem cell research developed. The Congress under President Reagan’s reelection in 1993 nullified the requirement for approval by the Ethics Advisory Board (EAB) on embryonic stem cell research. In addition, the Congress lifted a moratorium on federal funding of embryo research, which later became banned by the 1996 Congress (Holland et al. 27-29).

Microeconomics Project Essay Example for Free

Microeconomics Project Essay An overview Facebook was realized on February 4, 2004 by an American computer programmer and Internet entrepreneur- Mark Elliot Zuckerberg. Facebook has said it will be valued at up to $96bn ( £59bn) when it sells shares to investors this month in a record-breaking flotation. The first investment from Peter Thiel was $500,000 into Facebook. Facebook has minted four billionaires: Mark Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin and Sean Parker. The 27-year-old Zuckerbergs net worth was estimated at $17.5bn on the 2011 Forbes list of the wealthiest Americans. Moskovitz had a net worth of $3.5bn but pipped Zuckerberg for the title of worlds youngest billionaire, being eight days younger. The Brazilian-born Saverin, who left Facebook early on after a falling-out with Zuckerberg, had a net worth of $2bn. Parker, the Napster co-founder who briefly served as Facebooks president, had a net worth of $2.1bn On November 15, 2010, Facebook announced it had acquired the domain name fb.com from the American Farm Bureau Federation for an undisclosed amount. On January 11, 2011, the Farm Bureau disclosed $8.5 million in domain sales income, making the acquisition of FB.com one of the ten highest domain sales in history Nowadays, 1 in every 13 people on earth uses Facebook, more than 900m active users, with over 250 million of them who log in every day. The average user has about 130 friends, but that has expanded in. The core 18-24 year old segment is now growing the fastest at 74% year on year. Almost 72% of all US internet users are on now Facebook, while 70% of the entire user base is located outside of the US. (Source: Facebook) At the beginning, Facebook has 1 million users. In 2008, it increased to 100 million. In 2010 the number of users reached 400 million and up to 500 million within 5 months. Google- a web search engine, it is the companys most popular service. It began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in California. Technology is enhancing us as human beings and the integrating of artificial intelligence is slowly being weaved and embedded into our activities and habits almost without us noticing. This reliance that is permeating our day to day existence even extends to a reported 60% plus of all buying decisions now starting with a Google search as we start our research online rather than walk the shop aisles and asking sales attendants questions. The first funding of $100,000 for Google was provided by Andy Bechtolsheim the co-founder of Sun Microsystems. Googles initial public offering (IPO) took place five years later on August 19, 2004. The stocks performance after the IPO went well, with shares hitting $700 for the first time on October 31, 2007. primarily because of strong sales and earnings in the online advertising market. In 2004: Gmail launched, Google IPO 8 billion pages indexed. They acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Android was announced in 2007 and Google Chrome was launched in 2008. The 3 charts show the Revenue, Income and number of Employee in two companies. RIVAL PRODUCTION The big question is given, why a search engine like Google to be afraid of Facebook, a social network when the field of activities of these two different companies as far as they seem completely can live peacefully. Google is famous for its searching services, the key point lead to the huge success of Google. It links to billions of Web pages, so users can easily obtain the information they want through the keywords and the operators. Google also uses its search technology for many other search services, including Image Search (photos), Google News, interactive community Google Groups, Google Maps. They also launched variety kinds of services such as Gmail, Google Earth, Google Docs, Picasa, Google Desktop, Google talk, Google Chrome, Google Translate and Android. Facebook is a social networking website for free access with more than 600 million members worldwide with hundreds of millions of activities that occur every day. The amount of data produced in a day of Facebook occupies a huge part of Internet data. Users can communicate with others, make friends, send messages and update their personal profile. Facebook has several features that users can interact such as Wall, Pokes, Photos, Status, Tag (feature of imaging applications), Facebook Notes, Facebook Username, Facebook Messages, Voice Calls, Video Calling, Facebook Subscribe. Looking closely, using the Internet for social purpose has been increasing over the years. More and more people spend longer hours of socializing than browsing so the use of the internet had tilted more on the social side. Facebook has a strong impact to our society. The social circle will suggest what to read, what to check out, where to go to and what to see. These matters may seem not important, but for the business this is such a big deal. As a result, a vast number of companies had recently shifted their focus on socializing, this led to the competition Google versus F acebook. Google is stepping into the Facebook market. Google also has promoted the search function in social network (Social Search) combined between Facebook and search engine Bing with support in 19 languages. Google Social Search helps users to find the appropriate content from the online link on their social network such as websites, blogs, articles and other content created or shared by their friends. Moreover, through many failures of Orkut (social networking and discussion), Google Buzz and Google Wave, in 2010 Google also revealed their plan about new social networking called Google Me to compete Facebook. Google Me combines best features of these social networks having failed before such as allow users check how many visitors clicked, watched, or your missed updates, provide variety kinds of games and application, control the amount of friends who have connected with your friends, stop spreading wide for what was posted. Example, both Orkut and Facebook allow users to delete the share, but this feature of Orkut is much better. This means that if you share a picture for yourself, then you want to delete them, you are allowed to erase that image on your home page, and on top of all other friends.Facebook does not do this,so Google Me is expected as a more attractive version of social networking. In 2011, Google has officially announced the Google+project, a social networking service has the functionality looks very similar to Facebook such as update status, share links and upload photos. Google+allow users to communicate separately for each group. Instead of posting a content update for everyone, Google+ allows users to display that content to the particular group (called a circle), such as classmates, colleagues, family members. Recently, Facebook is actively improving its own search engine. Old founder of the Google Wave, Lars Rasmussen, has joined Facebook, is developing a version of the search engines social networking to develop a new version called â€Å"search engines social networking†. This system will be expected to compete with the search engine of Giant Google in the future. The main purpose of the project is to develop a better search engine that can help brows through the huge amount of content created by users on social networks, as the status updates, articles, video clips and other information. Facebook expects a new email service will help them overtake Google and dominate the social networking world. In 2010, Facebook unveiled the project Titan to compete with Gmail from text messages (SMS), instant messaging (IM), email to Facebook messages. The system will combine messaging via mobile phones, email and chat messages to send to the recipients and they can reply to messages in any way. Facebook uses this project likea special strategy for competition generally on the Internet and particularly on social network. This time, there is notjust the war on email. Facebook seems want to dominate in every field. Facebook is a best place to share photos, surpassing all other services from Flickr, Picasa to Twitter even though its image quality is not high. Facebook members posted 250 million photos per day and this is the function most users use in the social network. Therefore, the Facebook pay billions for the application only works on iPhone and Android also is understandable. Moreover, they also developed a tool Facebook camera similar to Instagram. BUSINESS MODEL To understand why Google and Facebook abominate each other, it is necessary to study their business model. Facebook is now one of the largest social networks while Google is believed as the most powerful searching engine. Each tech titans have been reaping significant success in their domain. However, they both seem have the same main source of revenue is advertising. â€Å"Facebook has 901 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of March 31, 2012, an increase of 33% as compared to 680 million MAUs as of March 31, 2011. And 488 million MAUs used Facebook mobile products in March 2012†-Facebook Amended S1. With great numbers of users, people are deeply impressed by Facebook’s growth. Nevertheless, Google has crossed the 1 billion user mark, while Facebook is not far behind at 900 million however, users spend a far greater amount of time on Facebook per day, approximately 7 times higher. Top 10 Web Brand for August 2011 (U.S., Total) Rank| Brand| Total Internet Audience(thousand)| Time per Person (hh:mm:ss)| 1| Google | 176,235| 1:47:42| 2| Facebook| 163,163| 7:45:49*| 3| Yahoo| 149,072| 2:12:08| 4| MSN/WindowsLive/Bing| 134,410| 1:43:45| Read as: During August 2011, 176.2 million unique U.S. people visited Google’s websites(Source: Nielsen) In the term of valuation, after the most crucial event of Facebook’s timeline- IPO, going public, Facebook is known being in the position of Google’s 2003. The table below indicates the comparison between Google (GOOG) and Facebook (FB) in different categories such as revenue, revenue growth, operating income and gross margin as they are in the public day. That means for Google, its first quarter is when they were in Q3, while Facebook’s would be Q1 2010 As the table shows, the growth of both companies over the time is almost equivalent as Google 19% and Facebook 16%. If taking into the specific, Google growth rate is arguably more stable than its counterpart social network. The primary reason causing such deviation is that Google was well-established. The following chart will present that point more clearly Source: GOOG data YCHARTS In comparison, Facebook had a dramatic variable number and especially it was negative in the last quarter, Q9 with -6%.Probably, the company has not decided which its business model is yet (Husky Financial, Facebook vs Google: what you need to know post-IPO). Besides, the other factor affects a volatile Facebook’s development is the dependence in Zynga. There is 15% of Facebook revenue from Zynga (Forbes, By the numbers: Facebook investor checklist). According to the S1, â€Å"If Zynga does not maintain its level of engagement with our users or if we are unable to successfully maintain our relationship with Zynga, our financial results could be harmed†. The crucial income of two companies is generated from advertising. Google have recently proved their Google Adwords comes off well. Thousands of business could buy ads on Google and leads or sales with a proven positive ROI, return on investment. Advertising on Facebook shows much less convincing at this position. The stop in using Facebook’s ads is the forceful example. General Motors Co said on Tuesday (June 22) it will stop advertising on Facebook, even as the social networking website prepares to go public, with a source familiar with the matter saying the automaker had decided Facebooks ads had little impact on consumers (Reuters). When going to public in 2004, raising just under $2 billion with an initial market cap of le than $25 billion, less than a decade, Google is worth close to 10 times. The IPO gave needed capital to expand their business. This scenario maybe not actually happen to Facebook, according to the previously mention. CONCLUSION A famous Chinese quote â€Å"One mountain cannot have two tigers†. Thus, a social media site or a search engine site will gain a victory? It has not exactly answered yet. However, according to several surveys and analysis in previous parts, Google has more strengthened than Facebook for some reasons: 1. We have many reasons to access Google but only a few reasons to login in Facebook. Most of us go Facebook for chatting , sharing your thoughts , seeing new update , seeing who liked our status, and sharing from our friend or using some applications and playing games . We are busy at looking the updates rather than ads on Facebook. Nobody logins in Facebook to check or to search when they can buy a cheap T shirt or which books are famous, so on. On the other hand, Google is more useful than Facebook. We can search to know any information that we need such as which college is the best or which food is good for health. When we all open up Google for the above mentioned purposes we click on various ads and indirectly generate revenue for Google. The more we search information the more revenue we will generate for Google. 2. People use Facebook less than they used to be A recent survey showed that 34% of users spend less time for Facebook over half a year ago. They assumed that Facebook is boring, not useful, not related and not safe to keep personal information. 20% users spend more time for Facebook, 1/3 users now do not login in Facebook, and nearly 50% of users login in Facebook that stay the same. In addition, a survey from 31/5 to 4/6 /2012 with 1.036 people in America by Reuters and market research company Ipsos presented that most of 80% users never buy product or service on Facebook. As a result, many advertising companies are disappointed and do not want to advertise on facebook anymore. For example: Early 2011, Facebook earned $3.7 billion through advertising. In 2012, this revenue is slowing. In fact, General Motors has recently regained about 10 million investments for advertising on Facebook because it was not effective. 3. Facebook will be forgotten Eric Jackson, founder of Ironfire Capital, said that in 5 to 8 years, Facebook would disappear the same way Yahoo now. Although Yahoo is still making money, still profitable, still has 13 thousand employees, but Yahoo is just 10% in value compared with their peak in 2000. Basically, Yahoo! has been considered as disappeared. Whether Google or Facebook win, users also have benefit. Both companies are fighting to capture the heart of users worldwide. The competition gets its benefit because it can prevent monopoly situation. As long as the two companies keep on fighting, users will continue to gain benefits because the two companies will continue to improve, change, and figure out new features to attract users. For example: Currently, Google has extra the Google Plus to attract users and many other existent features such as YouTube, Feedburner, Chat, Analytics, and Docs. Facebook has the latest new Facebook Timeline feature. The competition between Google and Facebook is just at the beginning stage. We will be seeing more actions and tricks from both sides in future. As the main goal is to gather as many users as possible, both parties will take any necessary steps to capture users’ attention. In the future, users can get more benefit such as gifts, discounts, coupons, competition prize, lucky draws and many other events by just participating. Works Cited August 2011 Top US Web Brands. August 2011, Top US Web Brands. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/august-2011-top-us-web-brands. Facebook. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 June 2012. Web. 20 June 2012. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook. Google Se Tao Ra Mang Xa Hoi Tot Hon Facebook. Http://www.pcworld.com.vn/articles/tin-tuc/tin-quoc-te/2010/08/1220500/google-se-tao-ra-mang-xa-hoi-tot-hon-facebook/. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. http://www.pcworld.com.vn/articles/tin-tuc/tin-quoc-te/2010/08/1220500/google-se-tao-ra-mang-xa-hoi-tot-hon-facebook/. Google vs. Facebook. Netchunks. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. http://www.netchunks.com/google-vs-facebook/. PGDE Scrapbook. Enter Website Address or Keywords to Cite. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. http://pgde.tumblr.com/post/3289734065/enter-website-address-or-keywords-to-cite. Và ¬ Sao Google Lai Ghet Va so Facebook. TGDT. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 June 2012. http://genk.vn/c188n2011090408403182/vi-sao-google-lai-ghet-va-so-facebook.chn. â€Å" 1/3 ngÆ °Ã¡ » i dung Ä‘Ã £ â€Å"ngá º ¥y â€Å" Facebook†.vietnamnet.9 June 2012. Web . 14 June 2012. â€Å"Google vs. Facebook†. netchunks.18 May 2012. Web. 14 June 2012 . â€Å"The Competition Between Facebook and Google Which Might Benefits Users†. toasteggme.24 September 2011. Web. 14 June 2012. â€Å"Why Facebook still not equipped enough to compete with Google†.aryaninfo.n.d.Web. 14 June 2012. Husky Financial. Facebook Vs. Google: What You Need To Know Post-IPO Seeking Alpha. Facebook Vs. Google: What You Need To Know Post-IPO Seeking Alpha. Seeking Alpha, 17 May 2012. Web. 4 June 2012. http://seekingalpha.com/article/598731-facebook-vs-google-what-you-need-to-know-post-ipo. Klayman, Ben, and Alexei Oreskovic. GM to Drop Facebook Ads Due to Low Consumer Impact. Reuters. Thomson Reuters, 15 May 2012. Web. 4 June 2012. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/15/net-us-gm-facebook-idUSBRE84E1D420120515. Nielsenwire. August 2011- Top US Web Brands. August 2011 Top US Web Brands. N.p., 30 Sept. 2011. Web. 20 June 2012. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/august-2011-top-us-web-brands. YChart. Google Price: 581.53. Google Price (GOOG). N.p., n.d. Web. 4 June 2012. http://ycharts.com/companies/GOOG/price. YCharts. By The Numbers:Facebook Investor Checklist. Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 18

The Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia Biology Essay

The Autoimmune Hemolytic Anemia Biology Essay Autoimmunity is a disorder in which an organism loses its ability to recognize the self and non-self antigen, which would further lead to immune response against its own cells and tissues. Diseases that results from such abnormal immune responses are termed as autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is an autoimmune disorder in which endogenous antibodies are directed against the red blood cells and upregulated leading to erythrocyte death. This review article focuses on the types of AIHA based on the classification of the antibodies and the temperature at which they are active i.e warm AIHA, cold AIHA and mixed AIHA , based on the age of its occurance i.e adult or pediatric AIHA, causes, diagnostic techniques, diseases which may cause AIHA as a secondary disorder, treatment and its aftereffects, current and future prospectives of its studies. Abbreviations: AIHA Autoimmune hemolytic anemia, WAIHA Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia, CAIHA Cold autoimmune hemolytic anemia, RBCs Red blood cells, DAT Direct antiglobin test. INTRODUCTION: Autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) is a disorder in which the auto-antibodies are directed against the persons own red blood cells (1). It is a relatively uncommon but not a rare disorder. It has an estimated incidence of 1 to 3 cases per 100,000 population per year (1). There are three types of AIHA based on the temperature of activity of the autoantibodies i.e warm AIHA, cold AIHA and mixed type AIHA of which warm AIHA has the most common occurance (more than 70%) followed by cold AIHA (about 20%) and mixed type has least occurance (2). Further AIHA is classified on the basis of age of the patient suffering from the disorder i.e pediatric AIHA and adult AIHA. Pediatric AIHA is from the age group of 1 to 16 (or 18) years and mostly has no underlying causes (2). Adult AIHA is from 18 years and above and is mostly associated with some underlying primary diseases. Sometimes AIHA is caused due to administration of some drugs and is called drug induced AIHA. AIHA may also be of secondary or idiopathic type. The further description of the different types of AIHA is explained below. TYPES OF AIHA: Based on the temperature at which the auto-antibodies are active: Warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia (WAIHA) It the most common type of AIHA. Warm auto-antibodies are usually IgG. It is called warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia because the antibodies have their peak activity at 370C. IgG effectively binds to the FC receptor of phagocytic cells. Hence the destruction of RBCs takes place mostly by phagocytosis. IgG may or may not fix complement. Hemolysis of RBCs also takes place in spleen. WAIHA may be idiopathic i.e when there is no primary infection causing the disorder or secondary to lymphoproliferative diseases, autoimmune diseases, viral infections, immune deficiency etc (1)(2)(3)(6). Cold autoimmune hemolytic anemia (CAIHA) Cold auto-antibodies are usually IgM antibodies. Rarely IgG or IgA antibodies can act as cold auto-antibodies. It is so called because the antibodies have their peak activity at temperature ranging from 0-40 C (1)(2)(3)(6). IgM antibodies are potent classical complement pathway activators. Hence causes complement mediated lysis of RBCs. Paraxysmal cold hemoglobinurea a form of CAIHA, is caused by cold active IgG hemolysin. It was usually associated with some underlying diseases like syphilis, measles, mumps or other viral diseases (1)(2)(6). Mixed autoimmune hemolytic anemia Both warm auto-antibodies and cold auto-antibodies are present the blood. It is more fatal than the WAIHA and CAIHA. Detection and diagnosis is also more difficult than the earlier types (1)(2)(3)(4)(6). Based on the age of the patient suffering from the disorder AIHA is classified as: Pediatric AIHA Affects the age group of 1-16 years, with a higher incidence of occurance in the first four years of life (1). It may spontaneously resolve on its own. It shows a good response to the steroid treatment. It has a severe onset and less morbity rate. Males are more prone to pediatric AIHA (2). Adult AIHA Affects the age group of 18 years and above. It is more often associated with the underlying lymphoproliferative, autoimmune and infectious diseases. Treatment is steroid therapy or spleenectomy. Has higher morbity rate compared to adult AIHA because of the difficulty or inability in treating the underlying disease (2). Based on the cause of its occurance, following are the types of AIHA: Secondary AIHA It is mainly caused due to some underlying diseases like bacterial, fungal or viral infections. The primary underlying diseases that may cause secondary AIHA are Sjogrens syndrome (10), lymphoproliferative and autoimmune diseases (2).Treatment of the secondary AIHA would also include the treatment of the underlying primary disease, for its complete remission (1). Idiopathic AIHA Has no particular underlying causes like infections or primary diseases for its occurance. Mortality rate is comparatively less than that of secondary AIHA (1). Drug induced AIHA Cause of occurance are drug molecules that binds to the surface of the RBC membrane, acts as non-self antigens, thus inducing the autoantibodies against the RBCs and further leads to hemolysis (2). Examples of the drugs that cause drug induced hemolytic anemia are Ibuprofen, Diclofenac, L-dopa, Procainamide (6). CAUSES In majority of the cases AIHA is caused due to some primary underlying diseases like lymphoproliferative, autoimmune and infectious diseases (2). For example, after the M.suis infection in pigs, warm IgG autoantibodies are directed against the RBCs and destroys it. In this case actin was the active component that played a vital role in inducing an autoimmune response. Actin acted as a target protein for the autoreactive antibody during the acute phase of the M.suis infection. The autoreactive antibody production is induced by a misguided upregulation of the naturally occurring B cells specific for self antigens, appearance of previously cryptic antigens, occurance of altered self antigens, tolerance to self antigens due to molecular mimicry. The autoimmune epitopes (in this case actin) on the RBCs may be due to contact with the proteolytic enzymes. Cytoskeleton of the RBCs gets modified by the attachment and invasion of the infectious agent. Also the infectious agent causes damage to the RBCs making the hidden cytoskeletal proteins of the RBCs accessible for the circulating antibodies. Due to all the above mentioned reasons the antibodies recognizes them as non-self and elicit an immune response (3). There are several other causes which may lead to AIHA other than due to a primary infections. For example higher incidence of occurance of AIHA after allogenic hematopoetic stem cell transplantation in adult patients. Further studies proved that the chances of development of AIHA is more in patients with HSCT from unrelated donors and also that they develop chronic extensive graft versus host disease (GVDH). In such cases it was observed that AIHA was never the primary cause of death, rather it was due to infection of GVDH (5). In some rare cases, liver transplantation or solid organ transplantation leads to the development of AIHA (11)(14)(15). DIAGNOSIS: The destruction or removal of red blood cells from the circulation before their normal life span of 120 days is called Hemolysis. Hemolysis manifests itself as acute or chronic anemia, reticulocytosis or jaundice. Intravascular hemolysis refers to the destruction of red blood cells in the blood with the release of contents into plasma. This is then followed by direct membrane degradation and cell destruction caused by mechanical trauma from a damaged endothelium, complement fixation and activation on the cell surface. On the other hand, extravascular hemolysis refers to the removal and destruction of red blood cells with membrane alterations by the macrophages of the spleen and liver. The hemolysis can be categorized broadly into the following types: HEMOLYTIC ANEMIA HEREDITARY (6) ACQUIRED (6) ( Due to infections (6) Microangiopathic (6) Autoimmune (6) Autoimmune (6) Alloimmune (6) Drug induced (2) (6) Paroxysmal (1)(2)(6) Mixed (1)(2)(3) (4)(6) Cold (1)(2) (3)(6) Warm (1)(2) (3)(6) Immune complex or Auto-antibody (6) Drug absorption (hapten induced) (6) Delayed transfusion reaction (6) Acute transfusion reaction (6) Flow chart 2: Broad classification of autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Since all the above said categories of hemolytic anemias have many similar symptoms and expressions, efficient diagnostic techniques should be developed to detect the correct category of hemolytic anemia for its appropriate treatment. DIAGNOSTIC TESTING Basic diagnosis for hemolysis on the basis of laboratory and peripheral smear findings: Hematologic tests Reticulocytosis which is the normal response of the bone marrow to the peripheral loss of blood cells is an important characteristic laboratory feature of hemolysis. Checking for the presence of reticulocytosis can be used for diagnosis of hemolysis. Review of the peripheral blood smear with an assessment for pathognomic red blood cell morphologies (spherocytes or schistocytes) along with examination of WBCs and platelets is very important for the evaluation of any anemia (6). Chemistry tests Increased unconjugated bilirubin, increased lactate dehydrogenase, and decreased haptoglobin levels are characteristic feature of the distruction of RBCs and thus can be used for diagnosis of hemolysis (6). c) In addition to the above tests, urinary tests are also be performed (6) After diagnosis of the basic hemolysis, its etiology is determined by performing further diagnostic tests. This review article focuses on the diagnostic techniques specific for AIHA. Microspherocyte on a peripheral smear and positive direct antiglobin test (DAT) is a characteristic feature of AIHA (1). The direct antiglobin test ,is also known as direct Coombs test (8). It demonstrates the presence of antibodies or complement on the surface of red blood cells which is the hallmark of autoimmune hemolysis (8). In this technique, the patients red blood cells are mixed with rabbit or mouse antibodies against human IgG or C3. The test would give a positive result if an agglutination reaction between the patients antibody or complement coated red blood cells by anti-IgG or C3 is observed. RBC agglutination with anti-IgG serum indicates warm AIHA and RBC agglutination with anti-C3 indicates the cold AIHA. However further efficient and very specific diagnostic techniques should be developed to distinguish mixed AIHA and paraxysomal cold hemoglobinuria from the other types. Also the present diagnostic techniques many a times failed to give an errorless distinction between these two types of AIHA (4). The three types of drug induced anemia based on their mechanism of their mechanism of action can be detected by a positive DAT and its type can be identified by the intravascular or extra-vascular hemolysis that it produces (6). TREATMENT: Treatment mainly depends upon the type of AIHA i.e warm antibody type, cold antibody type, mixed antibody type or paraxysomal cold hemoglobinuria and also on the secondary or the idiopathic forms. The following are the treatment options for AIHA. However each treatment stratergies has its own advantages and disadvavtages. Warm antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia i) CORTICOSTEROIDS The initial therapeutic agent used for treatment of WAIHA patients are the corticosteroids. There is a rapid onset of response. This therapy is usually maintained for 1-3 weeks, however sudden ceasation of therapy may result in prompt relapse of hemolysis. The adverse effects of long term use of corticosteroids as a therapeutic agent would include pulmonary aspergellosis, central nervous system hemorrhage (2), osteoporosis, avascular necrosis, susceptibility to infection, abnormalities in glucose and lipid metabolism and growth suppression in children (7).The gluocorticoids may inhibit antimicrobial activity of macrophages thus showing side effects when treated with it (2). In cases of pediatric anemia, prednisolone along with folic acid supplementation was used for therapy which showed a positive response in 81% of the patients (8). ii) SPLENECTOMY Splenectomy is mainly considered in patients who donot respond to the corticosteroid therapy. The main advantage of splenectomy is that it has a potential for a complete and long term remission. The adverse effect of spelectomy would include overwhelming postspelectomy infection (OPSI) which may result in serious morbity or mortality in a small percentage of patients after spelectomy (2)(7)(8). iii) IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE DRUGS This is the third therapeutic option after both corticosteroid therapy and spelectomy. Examples of the immuno-suppressive drugs would include azathioprine, cyclosporine (8), rituximab (9)(11) etc. iv) DANAZOLE It is an attenuated androgen with good responses and comparatively lesser side effects (2)(7). v) INTRAVENOUS IMMUNOGLOBIN In patients who doesnot respond to the corticosteroids, it is used as a second line therapy. However, intravenous immunotherapy is expensive (2)(7). vi) PLASMA EXCHANGE Used for acute reversal of severe hemolysis along with other therapeutic agents. Cold antibody autoimmune hemolytic anemia The simplest and the possible way for reducing the severity of CAIHA is avoidance of cold. Plasma exchange showed a temporary benefit in a small percentage of patients. Any other therapeutic options involved more potential risks than probable benefits. Paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria In most of the cases hemolysis terminates spontaneously and hence only supportive care is required. Sometimes transfusion of RBCs and corticosteroid therapy may have a positive impact on the treatment. Atmost care should be taken in case of secondary autoimmune hemolytic anemia i.e the underlying diseases like chronic lymphocytic leukemia, systemic lupus erytromatous, lymphomas etc should be treated for complete remission from AIHA (7).Combinational therapy was used in some cases of AIHA as secondary infection. Example, a case in which AIHA was found in association with Plasmodium vivax infection was treated with chloroquine and primaquine (for P.vivax infection), prednisolone and transfusion of least incompatible RBCs (for AIHA) (12). CONLUSION This review article gives a very short explanation about autoimmunity as a disorder. It mainly focused on auto-immune hemolytic anemia which is a subset of autoimmunity. The types of AIHA, causes, diagnosis and possible treatment stratergies were discussed. The future area of research under this topic is in finding out more efficient and specific diagnostic techniques to detect mixed and paroxysmal cold hemoglobinuria and treatment options with maximum results and minimum side-effects. Drugs like Bortizomib (13), Alemtuzumab (humanized monoclonal antibody targeting CD52 antigen) etc are still under research for the treatment of hemolytic anemia (16).

Scarlet Critique Essay -- essays research papers fc

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was written in 1850. It was based on the Puritans of the 1600's, which were revived in Hawthorne's era. Hawthorne descended from Puritan heritage and harbored a sense of guilt and hatred for their way of life. He used many themes and literary techniques in The Scarlet Letter including symbolism and irony. He emphasized the individual's role in the community and the role of women in society. Hawthorne used romanticism as opposed to the classical correctness of writing. Romanticism was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in the 18th Century and stressed strong emotion and imagination. Puritanism was the belief that all humans are sinful and that it is only though God and the bible that one can find redemption. Hawthorne did not agree with their philosophy. "The tendency of that Hawthorne had for calling unpleasant things 'Puritanic' is an indication that he rejected Puritanism†¦" (Gerber, p.41) He felt they were hypocrites and protrayed them as stuffy and disillusioned. They lived their lives atoning or sins they were born with. Ironically, Hawthorne's writings seemed just that- atonement for his would-be sin, the puritan heritage that he was born with. Even thought The Scarlet Letter set in 1642 in New England, it was written in 1850 at the revival of Puritanism. It focused the role of women in society. Hawthorne had a strong love for women and never portrayed them weak...

Confucius Goes on and on About ‘Humanity’ Essay

‘Humanity’ and ‘filial piety’ are probably the most important believes that Confucius had; he uses these two words more than any other words in ‘The Analects of Confucius’. Among many other things Confucius had mentioned, ‘humanity’ is the central thought of Confucianism that Confucius had believed everything starts from the ‘humanity’. ‘Humanity’ in a Chinese character means a combination of human and number two, which means how you should treat others when there are two or more people. It can be a relationship between husband and wife, sisters, brothers, and friends. Confucius basically wanted people to treat others with a love and treat others like you want others to treat you. Although, the most important thing is how you treat your parents. Confucius points out the importance of ‘filial piety’ by saying the root of ‘humanity’ is ‘filial piety’. â€Å"A man who respects his parents and his elders would hardly be inclined to defy his superiors. To respect parents and elders is the root of humanity†. (1. 2) In Confucianism, ‘filial piety’ is a fundamental moral standard and furthermore the most important teaching from Confucius. However, the definition of ‘filial piety’ is not just how you take care of your parents such as feeding them but you have to show your parents a respect and also show them a good attitudes. (2. 7, 2. 8) To practice ‘filial piety’ towards one’s parent s, you also do not want to give any anxiety to your parents. It also means that you do not want to harm your body even including your hair (this is why people at the time did not cut their hairs for their whole life) because your body is what your parents had given to you. ‘Filial piety’ is not only important when parents are alive but also important after their parents had passed away that they have to do the memorial ceremony for their ancestors with a respect like ancestors are still alive. Confucius mentions about the elders whenever he mentions about ‘Filial piety’, he believes that you do not only show respect to your parents but also to other people who are at your parents’ age. As grown up in the culture where there are still many elderly people believe in Confucianism, showing respect to people who are older than you is important especially to people who are at your parents’ age because they are also someone’s parents and you want your parents to treated as you treat others’ parents. In conclusion, ‘humanity’ is the central thought of Confucianism. ‘Filial piety’ is what Confucius had thought most important factor of ‘humanity’. ‘Filial piety means how you show a respect to your parents but it also indicates how you respect your leaders and show an honor to your country. Confucius points out ‘filial piety’ is a fundamental of love others, respecting your leaders and show an honor to your country, so basically Confucius had though ‘filial piety’ is the root of ‘humanity’.

Understanding Sexual Dimorphism

Understanding Sexual Dimorphism Sexual dimorphism is the difference in morphology between male and female members of the same species. Sexual dimorphism includes differences in size, coloration, or body structure between the sexes. For example, the male northern cardinal has a bright red plumage while the female has a duller plumage. Male lions  have a mane, female lions do not. Examples of Sexual Dimorphism Male elk (Cervus canadensis) grow antlers, while female elk do not have antlers.Male elephant seals (Mirounga sp.) develop an elongated snout and fleshy nose that they inflate as a sign of aggression when competing with other males during the mating season.Male birds of paradise (Paradisaeidae) are noted for their elaborate plumage and complex mating dances. Females are far less ornate. In most cases, when size differences exist between the male and female of a species, it is the male that is the larger of the two sexes. But in a few species, such as birds of prey and owls, the female is the larger of the sexes and such a size difference is referred to as reverse sexual dimorphism. One rather extreme case of reverse sexual dimorphism exists in a species of deepwater anglerfish called the triplewart seadevils (Cryptopsaras couesii). The female triplewart seadevil grows much larger than the male and develops the characteristic illicium that serves as a lure to prey. The male, about one-tenth the size of the female, attaches itself to the female as a parasite. Resources and Further Reading Folkens P. 2002. National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World. New York: Alfred A. Knopff.