Fetal Bovine Serum Price Increase Impacts Research and Development

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

The price of Fetal Bovine Serum (FBS) has drastically increased! At my university, we typically requested FBS from a large in-house supply purchased wholesale from an external source. One reason for this was to maintain consistency, as fetal bovine serum tends to vary from batch to batch. However, purchasing this way kept cost down ­– one half liter bottle of FBS could run around 500 dollars. Recently, the department sent out a notification that each lab would no longer be able to obtain a bottle of FBS, without it counting against its weekly budget. Going forward, 200 dollars will be deducted, reducing the overall funds available for the weekly purchase of other lab supplies.

Yesterday, I asked the Chairman’s secretary why this change had been made. She only knew that the price had gone up exponentially, but not why. So, I decided to do some investigatory work of my own. People often don’t understand that research is very expensive and time consuming work. An increase in the cost of supplies, means a decrease in how far the budget can be stretched, and an increase in the time it takes to get in essential supplies. Continue reading →

Bath Salts Still Responsible for the Zombie Apocalypse

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

“Bath salts” may still be responsible for the zombie apocalypse. A Florida man ate another mans face, again! The first time it happened was in Miami, 2012. Most recently 19-year-old, Austin Harrouff attacked and stabbed to death a couple in their own garage, and then commenced to eat the face of the male victim. The last time designer drugs commonly referred to as “bath salts” were implicated in the cause of such heinous cannibalism. The toxicology reports however, did not find the drugs in his system, and now that it has happened again, people are hesitant to blame the incident on a drug induced psychosis, but are suspecting a mental health illness.

However, it is very likely that bath salts are the cause and I’m going to tell you why. Continue reading →

Film on Apples and Why Fruits Spoil

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

So, I was tagged in a users video on Facebook captioned “Look what happens when you pour boiling water over an apple! Is this wax? What do you think it is?”

As the water was poured over the apple, a filmy substance began to whiter away from the skin of the apple.  Some people were genuinely shocked to discover that a wax was overlaid on the surface of the apple (in all actuality it did appear alarmingly gross and disconcerting). This wax is what is referred to in the food industry as edible surface coatings or biopolymers.

Why are fruits and vegetables coated?

To explain why fruits and vegetables are coated, it first needs to be explained why fruits spoil or decay. People often don’t think of it this way, but fruits and vegetables are alive. They are literally living tissue just like you and I, and they undergo respiration. Once fruits and vegetables are picked or harvested, they continue to respire. Apart from the “vine” they no longer have an external source of energy; they cannot eat or drink. Instead they used up their internal supply of stored starches and sugars. As they use up this supply they begin to age and decay. Essentially they die!  Continue reading →

The U.N. Admits What Science Already Proved about Cholera in Haiti

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

January 12, 2010 Haiti was hit with a massive and devastating earthquake. It’s expected that following such a natural disaster, homes, public buildings, and roads would be damaged, and many lives lost in the rubble. One can even imagine that people will be without lights, food, and housing for extended periods of time, but what is forgotten is that in the aftermath of  an earthquake, there comes flooding. Flooding of rivers and land, and the flooding of humanitarian aid workers from afar. Tragically, this flooding has led to the introduction of a pathogen into Haiti that has claimed the lives of many and complicated the recovery from the 2010 earthquake, that leveled the country. The pathogen responsible is Vibrio Cholerae, which causes Cholera. Although pandemic, Cholera had not been seen in Haiti in over a century.

Since Haiti had not been touched by this disease in a century, then where did the  Cholera come from?

Recently, the United Nations has publicly acknowledged and taken responsibility for the outbreak in Haiti; though it had already been researched and reported that Cholera entered Haiti with the influx of U.N. troops from parts of the world where Cholera is endemic.

 

The first victims lived near a base housing 454 United Nations peacekeepers freshly arrived from Nepal, where a cholera outbreak was underway, and waste from the base often leaked into the river. Numerous scientists have since argued that the base was the only plausible source of the outbreak…New York Times

 

Continue reading →

Psychologically Transmitted Disease: Heroin Addiction

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ 1 Comment

Heroin has regained the attention of the media, as its use is now reported to be of epidemic proportions. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) the amount of deaths related to opioids including heroin has quadrupled since 1999 to 2014. Today the incidence of heroin abuse is seen primarily in White males, in young people —both male and female, ages 18-25, and in states occupying the Midwest region of the  United States. The reason for this recent epidemic has been associated with the use of prescription opioid painkillers. In fact, non-medical use of prescription opioids is a major risk factor for heroin use.  In addition, the cost of heroin has decreased,  its purity increased, and its availability is still readily attainable.

With so many people currently dying from heroin, government officials and policy makers are struggling with how to cope with an epidemic that is neither air-borne, vector-borne, or food-borne, but born out of the psychology of pain. Recently, media attention and public debate has surrounded the establishment of heroin clinics as a solution to the death crisis. Addicts may go to heroin clinics to receive injections of heroin, and in case of overdose, the antidote Naloxone (Narcan). Astonishing as it may seem, this is not the first time there has been a heroin epidemic, and neither is the idea of giving heroin to addicts at heroin clinics novel. Continue reading →

Misnomer Labeling: “Evaporated Cane Juice”

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ 6 Comments

Today’s consumers are concerned with the dietary and nutritional value of their foods. They  want to know the sources of the ingredients in their food,  if the ingredients are organic or GMO (genetically modified organisms), natural or synthetic, and how those ingredients compare to other alternatives. So manufacturer’s find the best way to appeal to buyers, and to compete with other products on the market. One way in which they do this is by using terms that agree with consumer ethos like “healthy” and “natural”. Consumers need to be careful not to be confused or misled by clever labeling tactics. For example, “gluten-free” is sometimes placed on items that are inherently gluten-free or on which the gluten-free status is irrelevant. As such, the use of “Evaporated Cane Juice” as an ingredient name has been controversial for some time now. There have even been lawsuit’s againts Wholefoods and Chobani  because of it.  Continue reading →

Honey I Have Bad News: Bee Still Vanishing!

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ 1 Comment

 

Who doesn’t love honey? Even if you don’t LOVE honey, you must acknowledge that the Honey bee is the most important pollinator insect contributing to our food supply. In case you didn’t know, one-third of our diet is derived from plants that have been pollinated by insects, and Honey bees are responsible for 80% of that work. Not only do Honey bees pollinate crops and wild plants, and produce honey, but beeswax, royal jelly, and propolis are also derived from their labor. These products have been used in food, cosmetics, and medicine.

As economically valuable as they are, unfortunately the Honey bee has been vanishing in a mysterious phenomenon that leaves hives full of honey, but devoid of all adult worker bees. What’s more astonishing is that there are no dead bees found in or around the hive.

The situation has gotten so dire, that even the bee from General Mills produced Honey Nut Cheerios cereal box has gone missing. Continue reading →

Medicinal Marijuana Alternative Kills French Man.

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

marijuanamedicalMarijuana was listed as a Schedule 1 drug in 1970. At the time it was considered to have no medicinal purpose; as the discovery of the first cannabinoid receptor wouldn’t occur until the 1980’s. Due to governmental suppression of illicit marijuana use, research into its medicinal use was discontinued.  Recent debates over legalizing marijuana coupled with new understanding of the cannabinoid receptor system in the human body has renewed investigation into the development of pharmaceutical therapeutic alternatives. The alternatives include receptor-based drugs, inhibitors of enzymes that break down endogenous cannabinoids, and synthetic compounds that can modulate how cannabinoids bind to their receptors. Ideally, alternatives should have improved efficacy, potency, duration of action, safety, and the beneficial properties of marijuana, but without the harmful side effects. Continue reading →

Online Science Journal: LabAnimal

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

Recently I was given the great opportunity to write for this awesome journal…

labanimaljournal

LabAnimal  is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes editorial material relating to animal research. It is a subsidiary of the well-known Nature journal. LabAnimal is geared towards professionals, but is easy to digest; for anyone interested in information and methods involving the use of animals in research.

The journal can be accessed online. You can read the latest issue that I am in here.  My article is entitled A Novel Adjuvant Promises Improved Rabies Vaccines.

Subscriptions for monthly issues are available free for individuals involved in lab animal science. Others, as well as institutions are required to pay, but the price is reasonable.  You can subscribe at www.labanimal.com.

 

Danger Behind Edible Wild Mushroom Foraging

~ Dr. Stacia Nicholson, PhD ~ Leave a comment

Edible mushrooms have become a popular protein source in today’s cuisines, and as soon as things go mainstream, we want to up the status quo. As such, foraging for edible wild mushrooms is now trending. The problem is, how does the novice tell the difference between what’s edible and what’s poisonous? Even experts can mistake one mushroom for another, as the morphologies can overlap in similarity. Just recently in California, Death Cap mushroom intoxication has made the news, and in this case it didn’t lead to death, but ingesting this fungus can be very lethal. Continue reading →