Great science news from a recent past Part III

Some more great science news from a recent past. Today I opted to go straight to a few theories I always had present in my mind, but never had the time to develop my personal study on. Thus, these articles published last year really helped me understand and even strengthen my own theories on many different subjects. Subjects such as:

The real function of the human appendix - because in a world where energy can never be wasted without good purpose, having such a useless appendix could never be possible. It actually serves a purpose in the development of a normal foetus (production of biogenic amines and peptide hormones) and in young adults (it is involved in immune functions like maturation of B lymphocytes and production of IgA antibodies). The fact that the appendix does not exist in domestic animals made research abandon some good theories on the actual role of it. 

Pressure or Pleasure for producing better science - This is always common days to Science, the typical battle between two different Schools of Thought: those who think pressure works better on people and those who think happiness/pleasure is the fuel to better working days. Overall this article reveals what everyone knows but delivers it in a really light and smart way. 1) Not everyone can be happy as people are people and that wont change, 2) unhappy members tend to bring down the rest of the crew (but bear in mind that their unhappiness reveals existing issues in your group - dont just discard the people and keep the problems), 3) Finding good arrangements and mentoring people towards harmony is always better than just letting them go, but when pride is excessive there is no other way, 4) Meeting half way should be the general attitude.

A virus is melting sea stars - Ill repeat that, a virus is melting sea stars (the Pandas of the seas for their loveliness). Even sea stars are not protected from crazy viral infections that do nasty things to organisms. When a virus is capable of melting sea stars one has to put a lot of stuff to perspective. This incredible article from November 2014 describes how these densoviruses (mimiviruses, phycodnaviruses, parvoviruses, etc) degrade sea stars flesh rapidly leaving just slime and ossicles to tell the story. A story told only after a lengthy DNA and RNA characterisation.

Image kindly taken from Political Blindspot - scientists finally find the function of the human appendix, [http://politicalblindspot.com/scientists-finally-discover-the-function-of-the-human-appendix/], las visted on the 20th of January 2015.

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The stuff they say about Ebola Part III of many

Beefing and Marburg are the very first lessons from a plethora of arguments dividing opinions throughout the web, whenever Ebola is the hot topic. And Ebola is indeed the hot topic of the moment! I have been covering the cacophony that emerges on a daily basis all over the web, but focusing my attention on the variety of forums on LinkedIn. Some experts and other plebeians who just like me enjoy knowing more have helped keep the fire burning, and kept this subject lively and modern, That is to remain untouched until the BIG media companies find something else tremendously scary and decoy our attention to a fresh focus of interest. For the time being, I am still learning with the stuff they say about Ebola, and I hope you feel the same way!

Social Data for Ebola Surveillance [Access here]

"Anonymized data that revealed the geographical movements of 150,000 mobile phone users in Senegal is being used by Swedish nonprofit Flowminder to help predict how travel might shape the spread of Ebola. “If there are outbreaks in other countries, this might tell what places connected to the outbreak location might be at increased risk of new outbreaks,” Flowminder cofounder and Executive Director Linus Bengtsson told MIT Technology Review."

Can a person catch Ebola if::: [Access here]

"...if micro hand-sanitization dispensers, where passengers can clean hands without leaving their seat as much as they want, would be well received by passengers and crew? Surveys of 1,826 passengers and crew overwhelmingly agree. Airlines choose to distance themselves from addressing the problem."

"The sanitizer formulation is nonflammable, and much softer on the hands. We also have a moderately alcohol based formulation that is FAA approved; however, our surveys indicate passengers and crew would be more resistant to using the alcohol based product."

Lesson #3 - When a window of opportunity opens, they mean business!

Image taken from PSA: Samsung Wave Shipping with Virus [http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/02/psa-samsung-wave-shipping-with-virus/]

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TVC Bacterial endotoxin testing and bacterial identification Part I of III

Whenever I find jobs more related to practical microbiology and not so much free range like research is, I happen to meet very defined routines and modes of action. The job requirements for these very straightforward microbiology roles almost always cover three basic aspects: Total Viable Counts (TVC), Bacterial endotoxin testing and Bacterial identification. 

As with basically everything in life, there are numerous different ways of performing these techniques and obtain a successful outcome. But for those who are just starting or arent so familiar with these techniques, I believe it is of great help if we look into these in more depth.

Total Viable Counts is a test to estimate total numbers of viable (biologically functional) individual microorganisms (usually bacteria) present in a defined volume of sample. This is a technique abundantly used in verifying water and food quality. Different samples demand different parameters as so well explained in [1, 2] and a rigid set of conditions is just not feasible. Media, incubation temperature and even counting procedures change depending on the organisms metabolic requirements and the environment it is coming from. Because a TVC is simply an estimation they are usually interpreted as colony forming units (CFU) per a certain volume or area. A high TVC can tell one about how a vending machine is operating in terms of cooling efficacy, about the maintenance of the water reservoirs, etc.

When performing a TVC it is important to know exactly how to perform a serial dilution (see video for more details on a tenfold gravimetric dilution). Even though a serial dilution is considered to be a very simple and straightforward procedure the tiniest mistake can actually produce surreal results. To overcome counting difficulties a few companies developed tools that can help one on the process. There are plenty of great websites where you can collect important practical info on each tool and procedure techniques. The ones described in RapidMicrobiology are very well developed, especially good for reporting on TVC of food and beverages [4]. 

If youd like to take a look at practical TVC protocols that are also designed for fungal counting, access here on [3]. 

Next post we will be visiting the Bacterial endotoxin testing as well as the bacterial identification.Stay tuned!

[1] TVC Total viable count, Cheshire Scientific, [http://www.cheshirescientific.co.uk/microOrganisms/tvc.php], last visited on the 26th of November 2015, last update unknown.

[2] The significance of total viable counts, Watercoolers Europe, [http://www.watercoolerseurope.eu/expert-corner/bacteria-in-bottled-watercoolers-the-significance-of-total-viable-counts-tvcs-1], last visited on the 26th of November 2015, last updated on the 28th of September 2012.

[3] Total viable count with enrichment microbiological procedure, Lubrizol, [file:///C:/Users/mrxil/Downloads/TP-6TV0001_Total_Viable_Count_with_Enrichment.pdf], last visited on the 26th of November 2015, last updated on the 25th of August 2009.

[4] Rapid methods for total viable counts in food and beverages, RapidMicrobiology, [http://www.rapidmicrobiology.com/test-method/rapid-methods-for-total-viable-counts-in-food-and-beverages/], last visited on the 26th of November 2015, last update unknown.

Video by Shomus Biology, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JtYtqpBLC14].

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