Finishing exams

Well, after many late nights, a lot of long sighs, and about 200 blank sheets of paper, I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Tomorrow at 3:00 pm I will finish writing my final exam, and by doing so hopefully complete third year.

Looking back on this term, I think it’s fair to say that it was one of the most challenging semesters in terms of concepts, and work load. But after spending 4 years in university, I have gotten used to the rough times, and became desensitized to having no life.

The upcoming weeks will be very busy, but a different kind of busy. I’m planning on visiting friends, possibly going to Montreal, and packing up my bags. I will not be blogging much next week, but you’ll surely see something here early May.

Is this procedure 7aram?

Is this 7aram? I honestly would like to know whether a Muslim, or Jewish person is allowed to do this… please read on

Michael Helyer is a diabetic with a difference. Ten years ago he was implanted with pancreatic cells from pigs in the hope that they would restore his insulin production, so helping to control his blood glucose levels. Now, to the surprise of researchers who carried out the trial, not only are those pig cells still alive, but a few continue to produce insulin…

In 1996, LCT injected 1.3 million capsules of alginate, a resin derived from seaweed, into Helyer's peritoneal cavity. Each capsule contained about 500 insulin-producing islet cells isolated from the pancreases of newly born piglets. "The alginate lets insulin out of the capsule and nutrients in, to keep the cells alive," explains Elliott. Importantly, it also hides the "alien" pig cells from the human immune system. [source]

Now that’s a clever idea!

There are two questions that I have about this. First, would religions which prohibit the consumption of pig meat, also prohibit having pig cell transplants? If they do, then why do they allow transplantation of human cells? Wouldn’t that qualify as cannibalism then?

The other question is to the biologically literate. Why were pig cells chosen? Are they closer to human cells than, say, cow cells? Or do pigs have a pancreas that closely resembles humans’?

I’m really curious, so if you know the answers, or would like to hypothesize, then by all means…

Update:

Thanks to Andre I have an answer on why pigs are chosen as donors:

"For pancreas transplants, other animals can be used as well, but pigs have been preferred for purely technical reasons, so nothing to do with similarity with humans in the pancreas case."

see the comments section for the rest of his informative comment

And Dalia turned my attention to this, regarding whether Islam prohibits such a transplant:

"the fatwa issued by the eminent Muslim scholar, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, who states:

"Basically, transplanting an organ from an impure animal such as a pig to a human body must not be resorted to save in case of necessity. It should be considered that what is rendered permissible due to necessity should be estimated only according to what alleviates the hardship in every case. Also, this should be estimated by reliable and trustworthy Muslim physicians."

technorati tags: diabetic, diabetes, pancreas, pig, muslim, jewish, transplant, medicine

Gearing up for war on Iran.. Blitzer is in, Are you?

Blitzer's vivid imagination makes for awesome doses of truth

It’s not hard for anyone who follows the news to notice the similarities between the pre-Iraq war period and now. UN sanctions based on hypothetical predictions are being cranked out left and right. Before it was about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and Baghdad’s apparent unwillingness to cooperate with UN inspectors, and now it’s we’re hearing about sanctions against Iran for its unwillingness to stop enriching uranium.

The media is once again playing a role in gearing up public opinion to help the Washington hawks do as they wish. I bet if you were to ask an average Joe about anything they know about Iran, he’ll probably mention the word nuclear in his answer. Somehow, the majority of Americans still rely heavily on the media outlets to give them the “truth” without taking the time to cross examine the facts, or maybe use common sense. The American public suffers from a severe case of amnesia, and a definite lack of critical thinking.

Is it ironic to anybody that the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons, and continues to possess enough nuclear warheads to destroy the world X times over, is calling on Iran to halt enriching uranium? Or that the US continues to support countries like India, and Israel both of which have quite the arsenal themselves? India and Pakistan are the not the best of friends and they both posses nuclear weapons. It seems logical to me that allowing these two countries to possess nuclear weapons poses much greater risk to “world security”, than a country which needs at least 10 years to develop nuclear weapons. Or are India and Pakistan excepted from nuclear proliferation because they’re helping with the “war on terrorism”? And why should the world, and most importantly, the American public, believe anything Bush and his hawks tell us? The illegal war on Iraq certainly did not produce any “weapons of mass destruction,” and with estimates of civilian deaths ranging from 55,000 to 650,0000, the war certainly didn’t produce a “better Iraq.” With a track record full of scandals, lies, and deception, I’m surprised Bush still has a 34% approval rating. But since pointing out anomalies in US foreign policy is too easy, let’s get back to the media end of things…

My “inspiration” to write this post was a laughable interview that Wolf Blitzer conducted with Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, a few days ago. At the end of the interview Blitzer asked intelligently (I rephrase here)

“Now, let me put you in a nightmare scenario, and tell me how you would act in such a situation… Iran launches nuclear war heads at Tel Aviv, and destroys it. As the president of the US, how would you react?”

Obligingly, Huckabee states:

“The US should, and will protect its citizens and allies from any harm”

Blitzer, a bit agitated by the vague, and non-action packed answer insists:

“So how would you behave, what actions would you take?”

Huckabee maneuvers around the stupid question:

“I am not going to give you an exact plan for such a hypothetical situation. The US will protect it’s allies, and will take whatever measure to do so. Let’s hope that neither me, nor any president is put in such a situation”

Blitzer, a bit shutdown

“I certainly hope so”

Apart from Blitzer’s clear and quite pathetic attempt at instilling the idea of a nuclear Iran, against a weak and defenseless Israel, Blitzer’s question has many shortcomings.

If the interview is to be conducted to help the American public get to know the presidential candidate, wouldn’t they be interested to hear answers to different, more relevant questions. To be fair to, Blitzer did ask Huckabee questions about internal affairs, but the fact that he ended the interview with the aforementioned questions just doesn’t make sense. There is a myriad of topics that would provide for a relevant ending question. For instance Blitzer could have asked about the war on Iraq, or Huckabee’s education and healthcare views, or even taxes. All of these topics are more relevant to the average American. It is certainly a waste of viewers’ time asking an irrelevant question, about a highly unlikely scenario, especially by a seasoned journalist like Mr. Blitzer…that is, unless Blitzer had something else in mind.

technorati tags: CNN, blitzer, wolf, media, Iran, nuclear, Israel, Bush, war, Iraq, lies, deception