Chit-Chat: best coast california

[Nathan]

I've been going for 3 days already and I want holidays to return as soon as possible again...

Thank you, that's everything I wanted to say.

 

[Manitee]

I've been going for 3 days already and I want holidays to return as soon as possible again...
(luckily they'll do in the beginning of February)

Why so? I normally find holidays to be a drag.

 

[Aeroblast]

How is everyone's return to school been? My nieces & nephews return tomorrow, they had 3 snow days to enjoy vacation a little longer.

My real academic semester doesn't start until 27th, fortunately. I did apply to winter session of table tennis and billards and I'm enjoying it so far.

 

[Tsutarja]

Today has just been a so-so day for me. It was good, until after I left college today..

 

[Mark Kamill]

My day's been good, great actually. Like I said in my blog, I've been playing Pokemon Y all day. Wonder trade is easily the worst best feature ever. I mean, you can make a team in a snap of your fingers, and the game just feels, I dunno, too connected.But my god, having 3 boxes worth of bunnelby's and trading them of for anything feels so good.

 

[Hiatus]

My day was all right. After I got home, spent most of my time playing games on my Wii U. Now, I'm browsing the net for a bit. Will go to bed when I'm done. d:

 

[Honest]

Guys, my fifth grade class is adorable :'D

 

[Nolafus]

Do you plan to go into education Dipu?

 

[Shining Raichu]

Hey guys, I don't know if you know this, but I'm immune from malaria. 'Cause I'm a sickle cell carrier. :D

Okay this is legitimately fascinating and we're talking about our days and classes lol. Tell me more, what is a sickle cell, how does it make you immune from disease and how do I get my hands on one?

 

[Nolafus]

Okay this is legitimately interesting and we're talking about our days and classes lol. Tell me more, what is a sickle cell, how does it make you immune from disease and how do I get my hands on one?

®ock§mashGod can probably provide more in-depth information, but I'll say something until they get here.

What sickle-cell does is instead of your blood cells being circular, they're in the shape of well... a sickle. They apparently don't carry oxygen too well. Anyway, I'm not exactly sure how they prevent malaria, but they do. This might be your first time hearing it, but roughly 70% of the population in east Africa has it. It's especially useful because malaria is such a problem over there.

 

[Shining Raichu]

That's awesome, I want a sickle cell! Is it just malaria they prevent or other diseases too? This is evolution at its finest, in my opinion.

 

[Nolafus]

That's awesome, I want a sickle cell! Is it just malaria they prevent or other diseases too? This is evolution at its finest, in my opinion.

I don't know, I remember reading about it in my biology textbook under the "Mutations That Benefit" section.

 

[hughes]

How is everyone's return to school been? My nieces & nephews return tomorrow, they had 3 snow days to enjoy vacation a little longer.

Considering the fact that I had approximately 3 and a half hours of 4000 level accounting classes (Advanced Accounting in the late afternoon and Auditing as a night class), my day hasn't been that bad. Did some reading for my American Studies class tomorrow, was working on a paper for my Women's Studies class. And since I got out of my night class an hour early, I can watch the Flyers game and have some me-time before I have to host the Anime Club meeting tonight.

Yay college life! :P

 

[Tsutarja]

School was fun for my first two classes, although my English professor is a little bland :/

But what I did do today was I managed to run across a friend that I've known since 9th grade, sitting outside the cafeteria :D we talked for a few minutes but then we had to part ways when it was classtime..

 

[Kanzler]

Okay this is legitimately fascinating and we're talking about our days and classes lol. Tell me more, what is a sickle cell, how does it make you immune from disease and how do I get my hands on one?

Sickle cell disease is caused by a mutation in the hemoglobin protein, which carries oxygen. The mutation causes the hemoglobin to clump up which accounts for the sickle shape (regular hemoglobin floats around the cell without forming clumps). The irregular sickle shape prevents red blood cells from stacking on top of one another like Mentos or Jolly Ranchers or Lego pieces, which is a nice ability to have when blood vessels are small and only one red blood cell can pass at a time. Hemoglobin clumping prevents easy access of oxygen in and out of the cell (since the hemoglobin are all on top of each other and oxygen can't get at them), and red blood cell clumping hinders movement - these two factors lowers the individual's ability to use oxygen, which we refer to as anemia.

However, the clumping is a blessing as well as a curse. The sickle shape caused by hemoglobin clumping creates a weaker cell structure, and so the cell is more prone to bursting when infected by the malaria parasite. Outside the environment of a red blood cell the still-maturing parasite cannot survive. You're not immune though - only more resistant, since the sickle cell structure only makes the blood cell weaker, it doesn't guarantee cell rupture every time. As for preventing other diseases, I'd imagine it'd confer resistance against disease organisms that require the environment inside a red blood cell to mature.

In sub-Saharan Africa, endemic malaria means the population as a whole is getting a good deal sacrificing the ability to use oxygen well for less severe malaria symptoms and so a lot of people express the sickle cell trait.

I'd imagine gene therapy to be a good way to get you some sickle cells. I take some of your stem cells from bone marrow, culture them so I have a lot of them, then insert the sickle cell hemoglobin gene into them, then pop them back into you! But alas I do not have the knowledge or skills to do that, nor do can I find myself a copy of sickle cell hemoglobin gene ;; Side effects do include getting tired and feeling weak though so you might want to think about it.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

To elaborate on what John said, malaria is a parasite that infiltrates and penetrates blood cells and breeds inside them, causing them to burst. Logically, that doesn't work with sickle cells, since they don't have a round shape to penetrate…

Sickle cell is actually a deadly disease that is most commonly contracted in Africa. Being a sickle cell carrier, however, means you only have a small amount of the disease in you, but enough regular cells to compensate (at about a 1:1 ratio). Sickle cell carriers can't breed with other carriers, else the baby will be born with sickle cell and likely die. :/

 

[curiousnathan]

All of this global climate change is simply part of the planet's natural cycle. I don't think that all of it can be credited to burning fossil fuels and toxic waste; the Earth has been through a lot worse than us.

To be fair though, I think the Earth sees us as a minor threat (yes, I believe the earth is its own being). And it's finding very creative ways of dealing with our incessant need to breed (think: the Black Plague, HIV, cancer, etc). Soon enough our population will be back down just like it was in the 1400s. The question, though, is how.

I've always thought, and will continue to think that in the end, it will be us who will cause the death of our planet and not the other way around.

Edit: woops it seems the topic has already changed lmao

 

[Shining Raichu]

To elaborate on what John said, malaria is a parasite that infiltrates and penetrates blood cells and breeds inside them, causing them to burst. Logically, that doesn't work with sickle cells, since they don't have a round shape to penetrate…

Sickle cell is actually a deadly disease that is most commonly contracted in Africa. Being a sickle cell carrier, however, means you only have a small amount of the disease in you, but enough regular cells to compensate (at about a 1:1 ratio). Sickle cell carriers can't breed with other carriers, else the baby will be born with sickle cell and likely die. :/

Well I don't want children so breeding isn't an issue for me, I'll take a free immunity to malaria any day! I'm so fascinated by this whole thing I can't even.

 

[Honest]

I don't think genetics work that way, where some of your cells are sickle shaped but most aren't.

Also, 1 hour of sleep, what up.

 

[Tsutarja]

The lowest amount of sleep I've ever run on was 4½ hours, jeez. Can't imagine how only one hour of sleep would feel :P