Real Talk!

I started out, wondering if crude oil contained DNA. I was thinking of how many things we use that have an oil base and how much DNA that could mean. Of course, I thought a little about “Jurassic Park” and Dinosaur DNA and so, I GOOGLED.

I got involved with thermophilic bacterium strain C2, which has the ability to transform crude oils…and how DNA extraction from crude oil was performed by the method using zirconia beads and a stool kit. and still, I didn’t really have an answer. Obviously, there is DNA in the oil… but it would appear to be bacteria DNA.

So, I read this big long scientific study about oil and how it really isn’t dead dinosaurs. I read about how Neanderthal DNA is being extracted from fossilized bones. So far, only 1 million of the 3 billion DNA letters of the genome have been sequenced and the authors of one report are saying that it proves the complete sequence is attainable.

Then I went on a cruise of cellular memory. It seems that the molecular and cellular basis of long-term T cell memory against viral antigens remains undefined. Studies also indicate that following transfer, in the absence of antigen, memory B-cell populations are lost from the adoptive host after 10–12 weeks.

Alloreactive memory T cells participate in transplant rejection is driving new lines of research focusing on understanding the immunobiology of alloreactive memory T cells and on designing novel therapies to specifically target memory T cells.

When I got to :

"Immune responses to EBV in immunosuppressed (IS) solid organ transplant (SOTx) recipients have not been well characterized. Here we evaluate the phenotype and function of EBV-specific CD8+ T cells in peripheral blood isolated from "stable" IS SOTx recipients. The EBV-specific CD8+ T cell memory subset distribution in the peripheral blood of patients was examined by flow cytometric analysis using HLA-A2 tetramers incorporating BMLF1 (lytic), and LMP2 and EBNA3A (latent)-derived peptides, in conjunction with mAbs against the CD45RO, CD45RA, and CD62L markers. The ability of CD8+ T cells to produce IFN-gamma in response to the same EBV-derived peptides was measured by ELISPOT assay. Patients and healthy normal donors exhibited similar anti-EBV CD8+ T cell frequencies and specificities against the EBV epitopes evaluated. When compared to healthy normal donors, an overall significant expansion of the CD8+ T cell "effector memory" (CD45RO+/CD62L-) pool, including that of EBV "latent" (LMP2 and EBNA3A)-specific CD8+ T cells was detected in IS SOTx patients. However, the patients' EBV-specific CD8+ T cells showed decreased IFN-gamma production to the EBV-peptide stimulation."

I had to quit! What in the heck was I reading this stuff for?

It was interesting to read the stories of various people who had been the recipient of donor organs and who claimed, postoperative acquisition of some characteristics of the donor person.

Medical opinion is skeptical and varied when it comes to saying that organ recipients might gain more than just a lifeline from their transplants... but there was some wild stuff about a professor of medicine, neurology, psychiatry and surgery from the University of Arizona, who says his research team has found definite links of what they call 'cellular memory' and he has documented some 70 cases where he believes transplant recipients have inherited the traits of their donors.

Prof Schwartz said: "When the organ is placed in the recipient, the information and energy stored in the organ is passed on to the recipient. The theory applies to any organ that has cells that are interconnected. They could be kidneys, liver and even muscles.

"The stories we have uncovered are very compelling and are completely consistent."

His studies have found that heart transplant patients are the most likely to experience personality changes.

So, I started thinking about the shelf life of a cell. How long does each type of cell live?

I found the following statistics:

Skin cells: from 1 to 34 days
Stomach lining cells: 2 days
Red blood cells: 120 days
Liver cells: 500 days
Bone cells: 25 to 30 years
Brain cells: may live as long as you live.

Was it possible that feelings of "deja vu" were something attached to genetics? Was it possible that all of this stuff about "past lives" and reincarnation was attributable to inherited genes? I read one study that concluded that fetuses had a short-term memory of at least ten minutes and a long-term memory of at least twenty-four hours.

Then, there was the study of colour genetics in Icelandic Sheep!

There are all kinds of Family Tree DNA studies and forums. They focus on either the Patrilineal, shown by the Y chromosome which is passed whole and intact (except for rare mutations) from father to son, down through thousands of generations, from Noah to us or the Matrilineal, shown by the mitochondrial DNA which is passed whole and intact (except for rare mutations) from mother to children, down through even more thousands of generations, from Eve to us.

I think the creepiest thing that I came across was a comparison of genomes and what percentage of genes we share with other organisms.

Human to yeast about 30%
Human to worm about 40%
Human to banana about 50%
Human to fruit fly about 60%
Human to mouse about 90%
Human to chimp about 98.4%
Human to human about 99.9% (except for twins, whose genes are 100% identical)

I stopped completely after I read a report dated last April, in which paleontologists working in northern Canada announced that they had found a skeleton that may be the bridge between fish and four-legged land animals. The 375-million-year-old creature had a head like a crocodile, a body built for swimming and front legs that were some sort of cross between fins and feet.

It sounded a little too much like a guy I knew, in high school.

Earth Week… and the words Kyoto, green house gas, emissions, energy (and others like them) seem to drift through the government, schools, media, businesses and households, much like spring pollen of budding trees and plants.

Somewhere, I read that cell phones are killing the bee population. Whatever the cause, around the world bee-people have recognized a sharp decline in bee numbers and there are concerns it could sting the fruit growers (and eaters, I can imagine).

Have you seen “An Inconvenient Truth” yet?

Recently, John Baird has been grilled in the press for inciting fear over Canada’s requirement, under the Kyoto Accord, requiring that we cut greenhouse emissions.

Pessimists say the economy will shrink, hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost, electricity costs will jump 50%, gasoline costs will rise by 60% and home heating oil costs will double.

Optimists cite job creation in the new energy efficiency sectors and point to European countries having already instituted many of the changes without suffering any apparent economic hardship as a result. They also believe that there is an awful lot of fear-mongering taking place.

I just keep wondering, how many wars are going on… right now… globally? The United Nations classifies a major war, as being one in which there are 1,000 battlefield deaths per year. It appears that in 1965 there were approximately 10 clashes… in 2006 there were more than twice as many serious conflicts.

Drawn as I am, to surf and to sift through the information (which takes some deliberation). I looked for fuel consumption statistics on things like tanks, ships, airplanes, helicopters and other such vehicles. I noticed that consumption was quoted in gallons per hour, feet per gallon, litres per kilometer, pounds of fuel per thrust, per unit time and other mysterious measures.

Here are some interesting stats that I uncovered:

TANKS:
The average tank takes 6-8 litres of fuel for ignition. They use anywhere from 8-16 litres of fuel per kilometer of travel.

SHIPS:
The Queen Mary requires a gallon of fuel for every 13 feet of travel.
U.S. Naval combat support ships (carrying mostly fuel) burn 9,527 gallons of fuel per hour when all boilers are going at 100%. Ferry Boats use about 5 ¼ gallons of fuel per hour at 80% throttle. Aircraft Carriers average about 100,000 gallons of jet fuel a day.
Acceleration in combat operations increases fuel consumption by a factor of 5.

AIRPLANES:

Average consumption is somewhere around 5 gallons per hour to 17 litres per hour. Long haul aircraft use 7.5 tons of fuel per hour.

SPACE SHUTTLE:

The shuttle requires 2.3 million pounds of solid propellant on launch. It also uses 2 million pounds of liquid fuel on a trip.

HELICOPTERS

A small helicopter uses between 8 and 22 gallons of fuel per hour. A large helicopter uses some 190 litres of fuel per hour.

Interesting stuff.

I also found statistics about jet fuel consumption. In 1974 the United States was quoted as using 32 million gallons per day. In 1999 the United States was quoted as using 70 million gallons per day. In 1998 the entire world used about 178 million gallons per day, with the U.S. using about 38% of that total.

I didn’t find any statistics on emissions from firearms, assault weapons or bombs.

I didn’t find any statistics on the numbers of ships that travel the waterways per day, just for pleasure or shipping. In the United States, there are approximately 28537 commercial air flights per day-on an average day.

I did see a particularly creepy graphic image of global air flight patterns and it wasn’t surprising that it was particularly heavy over the northern sections of the United States, across the Atlantic, to Europe. Hmmm… I seem to remember something, years back, about a hole in the ozone layer.

British scientists began their measurements of Antarctic ozone in 1957. By 1984 fingers were pointing. This phenomenon it was decided, was the result of emissions, mainly in the northern hemisphere, of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons-gases that were in widespread use in refrigeration, industrial solvents and fire control.

How many refrigerators does it take to move a ship 13 feet?

Okay, I’m happy to use energy efficient appliances and light bulbs. I think before I drive and I wait and take one trip for my multitude of errands. I recycle. I have seen “An Inconvenient Truth” (more than once). My fifteen-year-old daughter was read earth and eco friendly books from infancy. I will continue to do my bit.

Are war machine and weapon emissions counted in the expected reductions? What industry is the number one polluter? Should we broaden the definition of war criminals?

Oh… I should mention that I’ve realized that I made a mistake in my record keeping and Abigail Nims was actually my 6th gr-grandmother and Josiah Rising my 6th gr-grandfather. I've done more active research on the politics of the era and related cultures- and I can understand why they decided to maintain their adopted native idenities.

Again, it has been a long time since I posted something here, to my blog.

It’s been a wild time in “Jody’s” world. Business is busy, flu bugs have been rampant and amongst the office, we’ve recently lost too many family members and friends… and found ourselves embroiled in the chaos that seems to be engulfing the planet… but that’s life and we’re a tight group… and we still find time to share a laugh or two.

I also find that things seem easier to handle, if you take a very long walk and have some time to clear your head.

And there have been good things happen, too.

In my quest for family information, I’ve started to unravel some of my father’s family history… and I’m absolutely fascinated.

There are many things that we studied in the Ontario school system, about the history of this nation- but somehow, learning more personal stories about the people connected and knowing that I descend from them, well… let’s say it makes the history far more understandable… and rather than the strategic elements you begin to see the political/social manipulations.

I have just learned about my 7th gr-grandmother- ancestors of my father’s father’s mother. It’s a mouthful, isn’t it? Little Abigail Nims was taken captive during the Deerfield massacre- a 1704 raid in which French soldiers and Christian Iroquois attacked an English Fort in Deerfield, Maine. She was 3 or 4 years old and the youngest hostage to survive the snowy February walk over the Green Mountains and into Montreal.

Abigail was adopted, learned the Iroquois language, was raised by the native peoples with the native traditions of this country and chose to maintain her native name “T'atog'ach”.

I know that this isn’t an isolated story and it isn’t all that uncommon. It’s just that when I read accounts about events such as these, it’s horrifying to think of the conditions that existed in this country, at that time- from so many different perspectives, it was a strange and difficult time.

Hmmm, perhaps the chaos that is engulfing our planet is not all that new.