Agenda 4 for 10/3/01

Courses Wayne State University College of Lifelong Learning Interdisciplinary Studies Program Changing Life on Earth, GST 2020, 4 cr Section 981 (face-to-face Wednesdays 6:00 - 8:30 PM in 222 Cohn on campus) and Section 990 (online) Health Concepts and Strategies, GST 2010, 3 cr Section 981 (face-to-face, Wednesdays 8:40 - 10 PM in 222 Cohn on campus) and Section 990 (online) Health Concepts and Strategies for Elder Care, GST 1990 Section 981 (2 credits) and Section 982 (4 credits)	Instructor
	David R. Bowen 2311 A/AB Wayne State University Detroit, MI 48202 Schedule (link not working yet)	Daytime tel: (313) 577-1498 Evening tel: (248) 549-8518 At Ford: 313-390-2155 FAX: (313) 577-8585 Home Page: http://www.cll.wayne.edu/isp/drbowen Email: d.r.bowen@wayne.edu

Health - GST 2010	Genetics theme GST2020 Evolution theme GST 2020	Back to course welcome page
		Policies, Assignments, Course Meetings	Online Tools	Information about the class and participants	Lectures and further information from other sources	General information

Last updated: 10/7/01

Agenda 4
Wednesday October 3
Health Concepts and Strategies, GST 2010
Changing Life on Earth, GST 2020
Attached Directed Study, GST 1990

Updated on 10/7 for summary during GST 2020 class (empahsized) in II.B

Announcements

Handouts:
1. Agenda 4 for Wednesday October 3
Upcoming assignments:
1. GST 2010 Personal Health Project brief description is due today, October 3, but get it in when you can. Please note: the Personal Health Project is supposed to apply the course to you, personally. Suggested topics are in the Syllabus.
2. GST 1990 Report 1 (short descriptive paragraph of project) is due today, October 3
3. GST 1990 choice for the second book, or for alternative resources (see syllabus) is due in one week on October 10.
4. GST 2010 Essay 1 is due in one week on October 10. The essay form and grading standards are in the GST 2010 syllabus, and the choice of topics (answer one only) is on a separate web page on the course web site.
5. GST 2020 Quiz 1 will be in one week on October 10. See below.
Next week, October 10, I will bring a digital camera to class to take pictures for an online class photo album. I will also bring it for a couple of weeks after that. Having your picture in the online photo gallery is not a requirement of the course, but it is fun for most people. Online students for whom I do not have an earlier picture, if they want to be represented, should make other arrangements with me. If you already have an electronic photo of yourself that you want me to use, you can email it to me.

GST 2010, Health Concepts and Strategies. During the last class, on 9/26, we discovered that the WSU Bookstore had stocked the "Full", not the "Brief" edition of the textbook. This will mean that reading assignments will be changed. (If by some chance you got the "Brief" edition - it says "BRIEF on the right-hand side of the cover near the top, follow the original reading schedule.) I don't yet have all of the information, and I will add the reading schedule for the "Full" edition to the online Syllabus later, but here are changes for the next few weeks:

Week	Class	Date	GST 2010 Reading
5	4	10/3	Chapter 3, Psychological Health
6	5	10/10	One of Chapter 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 (your choice)
7	6	10/17	One of Chapter 9, 10, or 11 (your choice)
8	7	10/24	Chapter 12, Nutrition Basics
9	8	10/31	Chapter 13, Exercise for Health and Fitness
10	9	11/7	Chapter 14, Weight Management

GST 2020.
1. Quiz 1 is next week, Wednesday October 10, open book, open notes. Possible questions are on a separate web page on the course web site, augmented with the three additional questions below.
  1. Face-to-face. At the start of class. Class continues after the quiz.
  2. Online.
    1. Quiz will be posted as a link to a Word 97 file on the course web site, by 6 PM on October 10.
    2. Download the file, open it in your word processor, answer the questions.
    3. Save the file, adding your two initials at the beginning of the file name.
    4. Email the file to the Instructor (d.r.bowen@wayne.edu)
    5. You have 24 hours to email the completed quiz. If this is impractical for you, get clearance in advance.
    6. This way of passing files back and forth was tested in the first assignment for online students - the file test. If you are an online GST 2020 student but you have not done the file test, follow the directions on Agenda 1, Item I.C.6. The risk is, unless you have done this, that our word processors may be incompatible, and there may be a lot of high-pressure shenanigans trying to work around the problem.
2. Additional topics for Quiz 1 from Agenda 3 (also updated on course web site)
  1. Compare and contrast: gene, chromosome, DNA, RNA, protein, ribosome
  2. Describe the function of mitochondria
  3. What are the methods that cells use to transport materials in and out through the cell membrane? Briefly describe each.
3. After the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, there has been increased attention to other types of possible attacks, anthrax among them. There are eight strains of anthrax, and I believe that there are two that are deadly. A piece on National Public Radio (carried locally by the WSU radio station WDET 101.9 FM) yesterday described two recent anthrax research results, one on a genetic mutation to anthrax that renders it harmless (such genes can be spread by releasing large numbers), and the other on ways of rendering anthrax harmless by treating humans, perhaps through a vaccine. Science Times, the Tuesday science section of The New York Times, also carried an article about anthrax, describing eight specific steps that a potential terrorist would have to master, some of which are extremely difficult. The general conclusion is that the panic over an anthrax attack may the worst effect. One of the specific difficulties, involving the use of crop dusters, is that the nozzles on crop dusters are designed to produce large droplets that fall to the ground, whereas anthrax is only deadly if it would be inhaled in a very fine mist that would go deep into the lungs. Skin exposure is apparently harmless. (Metabolic pathways are very specific - see Chapter 7 in textbook.) According to the article, Iran tried to manufacture nozzles like this, but gave up and tried to buy them, but was detected and stopped. Being deadly is not a good approach for a bacterium - can't spread well. Many of the other steps had similar difficulties. Also, there is talk of a system for druggists to report to anthrax-like symptoms to a central agency, to detect patterns. Effective safeguards often involve multiple overlapping approaches; make it difficult to spread it, but if it is spread, render it harmless, but if it is harmful anyway, protect yourself, and if that doesn't work, protect society at large. And maybe even in that case the bug (bacterium) won't spread well anyway. Not that all of this is in place right now, of course, and some assessment of the threat is needed.
GST 1990.
1. Every week we will spend a very brief amount of time at the end of GST 2020, just before the 8:30 break, for GST 1990.
2. The project or paper is a "T." Your project or paper should include both parts of the T, your focus on a sub-are of health care for the elderly, within the context of the whole field.
  1. The top bar of the T is an overview of health care for the elderly, and the resources for this are the common book, and the relevant chapters in the text for GST 2010, Core Concepts in Health (see below).
    1. Probably most people have the "Full" edition of the GST 2010 text. Here, the relevant chapters are 19 and 20, and perhaps parts of 22 if you are choosing a policy perspective for GST 1990.
    2. If you have the "Brief" edition of the GST 2010 text, the relevant chapter is 14.
  2. The vertical downward bar of the T is your focus within the overall topic of health care for the elderly. For some suggestions here, see the syllabus (your choices here are not limited to those options listed in the syllabus). The resource for this focus is the second book, which you should be choosing, with my approval.
3. Medical care for the elderly is a continuing topic of concern on the national level.
  1. Many of the enhancements to public financing of health care for the elderly, such as coverage for prescription drugs and improvements for Medicare options, may drop by the wayside under the budget pressures of the "War on Terrorism."
  2. The "Medicare Trust Fund" and the "Social Security Trust Fund" are excess taxes collected for these programs, to pay for expected higher costs for these program as the baby boomers retire in the future. The remainder of the federal (US) budget also has a surplus (income higher than expenses), which was planned to pay for the federal debt. (The federal debt is the sum total of the deficits of previous years - a deficit occurs when federal expenses are higher than federal income and bonds or other forms of debt are issued to pay for the difference.) At any rate, the War on Terrorism is throwing these plans out of kilter, and, without other adjustments, there will be a federal deficit this year, which will be financed out of the Medicare and Social Security Trust Funds (it's all really part of the same pot of money despite the rhetoric), which could mean reduced Medicare and Social Security benefits in the future.
    
    In fact, many young adults do not expect any Medicare or Social Security benefits when they retire. They do not understand that taxes will still be collected for these programs, but that, without changes, they may not cover the full cost of benefits, but that benefits will continue to be paid until the tax income for these programs is all used up for that year. That is, benefits in the future may be reduced, but that doesn't mean that they will be eliminated. Under the worst scenarios that I have seen, benefits would be reduced to 75% of expected levels, which is still a considerable amount.
    
    Before September 11, there was a great deal of emphasis on investing for retirement. The fall in the stock market since then has highlighted the possible danger of this approach. It is also possible that, short of a stock market overall downturn, individual investors could just make bad investment decisions. The importance of Social Security benefits as currently defined, where present taxes pay for present benefits, is that it is the strongest guarantee that our society can provide for a level of benefits, and it is a strong guarantee indeed. It is also highly likely that strong political pressures (the elderly vote and the retired have lots of time available to organize and lobby) would result in full benefits being restored, or at least partially restored, even if the country refuses to plan ahead for this entirely predictable situation.
  3. If the elderly become healthier, they may be able to work into retirement, or want or even demand to work. This is happening even now, and is one of the ways of financing retirement in The Practical Guide to Aging. So GST 2010 and GST 1990 could have a strong interaction.
The Interdisciplinary Studies Program of the College of Lifelong Learning and the Islamic Center of America is pleased to cosponsor the following presentation:

"Is Islam Misunderstood? Turbans, Terror and the Taliban" by the religious leader Imam Hassan Qazwini

The presentation is on Wednesday October 3, 2:00-4:00 pm Bernath Auditorium on the ground floor of the Adamany Undergraduate Library.

GST 2020, Changing Life on Earth. We will review the reading assignment, Chapters 5 and 6 in Cell Biology and Genetics
1. But first, in Chapters 3 and 4, we studied how the sequence of DNA determines the linear order of amino acids in a protein (much more on this in later chapters), and that the shape of a protein has a lot to do with its function. Not so clear was the connection between the linear order and the shape of a protein and also its ability to change shapes under specific circumstances, but this was described someone. We need to put all of these together. We have A (the order of DNA) implies B (the linear order of amino acids in a protein) and B implies C (the shape and ability to change shape). If A implies B and B implies C, then A implies C, so the order of DNA determines the shape and ability to change shape for a protein. This also has some other applications. Below, in Chapter 6 we will study how enzymes, which are proteins, can, for all practical purposes, turn chemical reactions on and off inside a cell, reactions that create energy and structure for a cell. So DNA controls the order of amino acids in proteins which controls the shape and shape-changing ability of proteins which can turn on and off chemical reactions inside a cell which can control its energy use and structure. So that's one part of the big picture here.
2. Chapter 5: A Closer Look at Cell Membranes. The importance of the membrane is that it controls what enters and leaves the cell. This is the way that the cell communicates with its outside world.
  1. Membranes control interaction with external environment and also internal environment of organelles
  2. Cells must be adapted to environment and also able to adapt to changes in the environment
    1. Example of salinity
  3. Membrane is lipid bilayer - fatty molecules with hydrophilic ("water loving") heads and two attached hydrophobic ("water hating") tails. Heads on outside of bilayer - creates seal when punctured because interior comes together to exclude water. Used in transport
  4. Proteins embedded in membranes but can move around ("fluid"), various types:
    1. Transport
    2. Receptors
    3. Recognition
    4. Adhesion (fastening points)
  5. Methods of transport
    1. Much transport by means of diffusion. Diffusion is a movement from concentrated to unconcentrated - density gradient, movement by diffusion is with the gradient. Diffusion gets faster if
      1. sharp or steep gradient
      2. higher temperature
      3. smaller molecules
      4. also pressure difference can affect rate
    2. Diffusion of water-soluble (polar) materials through the cell membrane by diffusion.
      1. Small nonpolar (water-soluble) molecules such as CO2, water and oxygen can pass through both ways, larger polar molecules are blocked by lipid layer, need other transport mechanisms
    3. Proteins like open channels, non-polar (oily) materials such as lipids can move through protein channels
    4. Active transport against by means of proteins, against the gradient, requires ATP for energy
      1. Bulk movement by means of temporary vesicles
3. Chapter 6 - Ground Rules of Metabolism. Kittyboos have fluorescent chemicals, the genes for which can be transferred to bacteria. Example of metabolism - cell's capacity to acquire and use energy.
  1. Chemical energy transferred to kinetic energy of motion when a cat springs - kilocalories
  2. All cells adapted to acquire energy from sun or organic or inorganic molecules - put it into chemical energy, mechanical work of motion, electrochemical work.
  3. First Law of Thermodynamics - energy can neither be created nor destroyed - heat energy cannot be recaptured
  4. Second law - disorder or entropy increases
    1. Example of high pressure being released
    2. Energy from sun is energetic, degrades to low-energy "light" (invisible, infra red), cannot be reused, released to outer space
  5. Energy in means endoergonic process, energy out is exoergonic
  6. Some cells can make ATP during respiration, all can degrade glucose to make ATP
  7. ATP like an energy coin - earn it and spend it
    1. ATP ==> ADP + phosphate + energy, then
    2. Energy + phosphate + ADP ==> ATP
    3. Matter (ATP, phosphate and ADP) is recycled, energy is one-way-and-out
  8. Adding energy destabilizes compounds (energy runs downhill)
    1. Cells use energy efficiently, compared to fire
    2. Chemical reactions reach equilibrium - reactions can go both ways
  9. Metabolic pathways - a pathway is a series of chemical reactions
    1. Anabolic - building up complex molecules - take energy
    2. Catabolic - tearing down complex molecules - yield energy
    3. Enzymes - proteins that speed up biologic reactions - the chemicals in the reaction are substrates
    4. Cofactors = coenzymes = enzyme helpers but not proteins - some are metals
    5. Transport proteins carry components across membranes
  10. Types of pathways:
    1. Linear
    2. Cyclic (circular)
    3. Branching
  11. Without enzymes, reactions would be too slow to support life (cold-blooded Vs warm-blooded, plants Vs animals)
    1. Characteristics of enzymes
      1. Do not make anything happen that cannot happen on its own but make it happen hundreds to millions of times faster - do this by lowering barriers
      2. Enzymes (like all catalysts) are not used up in the reaction
      3. Enzymes can usually work both directions of a reaction
      4. Enzymes are very specific - example of thrombin - usually shape and shape changes are important
      5. Definition: an enzyme catalyzes a reaction between two chemicals that are called its substrates.
      6. Definition: active site of an enzyme - where the substrates react
      7. Definition: allosteric control - substances bind other than the active site
      8. Definition: cofactor or coenzyme - another chemical that is required for enzyme action
      9. Enzymes can speed up reactions by factors of 100 to 100 million
    2. Ways that enzymes act:
      1. Putting substrates together
      2. orienting substrates promoting acid-base reactions between the amino acids in the enzyme and the substrates, making the substrate easier to break apart
      3. shutting out water which can lower the energy barrier
      4. can also combine methods
    3. Enzyme activity respond to concentrations, temperature, salinity, pH
      1. temperature - measure of molecular motion - more motion (energy) ==> higher temperature, more can cross barrier
      2. feedback - substrates can bind to shut down a reaction
      3. controls can be tripped by hormones
      4. Examples of cofactors: iron, others derived from vitamins
4. Chapter 7 - How Cells Acquire Energy
  1. Chloroplasts - first makes ATP in light-dependent reaction, then uses ATP to make glucose in light-independent reaction - almost always goes on to form starch, cellulose or sucrose
    1. Less than 1% of sun's energy reaching Earth goes into photosynthesis, approximately 50% efficient
    2. Chloroplasts appear green because they absorb other colors - other molecules absorb other colors also
  2. Light-dependent reactions have two stages to free electrons and split water into hydrogen and oxygen - evolved in two stages also
    1. May have evolved under water in early dangerous atmosphere - high UV levels
    2. ATP made in first stage
  3. Plants release oxygen during photosynthesis - accumulated in early atmosphere, which was originally oxygen-free, allowed animal evolution
    1. 6CO2 from atmosphere + 12 H2O ==> 6O2 + C6H12O6 (glucose) + 6H2O
    2. Many of mechanisms described earlier - enzymes, membranes, osmosis - are used here
    3. During daylight, glucose ==> sucrose (easily transported) and starch (most common storage form)
    4. After daylight, starch ==> sucrose for energy and structure
      1. In hotter climates, pores (stomata) close to conserve water, cannot get CO2, slightly different process
      2. Rise in CO2 may shift balance
      3. Desert plants keep stomata closed during the day to conserve water, open stomata at night to fix CO2 for photosynthesis the next day. Can also keep going during drought with stomata closed at night by repeatedly fixing the same carbon, very low level of metabolism, very slow growth
    5. Vast numbers of single-celled plants in ocean, "bloom" in spring, soak up half of our excess CO2
    6. Also chemoautotrophs that use metals and other materials for energy while making glucose and influence chemical cycles
5. (David Bowen - "'Chemicals' in our food supply are dangerous." How often do we hear statements like this? By now you should appreciate that food is chemicals, in fact we are chemicals. OK, if it is not chemicals that are dangerous, what is it? Well, we also hear that "organic" and "natural." Also not true. There are many natural, organic substances that are deadly - the e.choli that live in our gut, botulism, anthrax, decay [often results in illness or food poisoning], smallpox, tuberculosis, for example. Of the vast numbers of chemicals, some small fraction is harmful, and we need to be protected from them. That we are protected so well, in general, is why our life expectancy is so high, and that earlier or poorer societies were and are protected so poorly, is why their life expectancies are so low. The chances are higher that we have innate protection for absolutely deadly natural chemicals, because we have had time to evolve in the midst of them, and those that are not immune do not pass their non-immune genes on. But by no means does "natural" or "organic" always imply "safe," especially if those foods were processed without our advanced safeguards and regulations, regulations as advanced as, say, that field hands must have bathrooms and wash stations available so that they do not get fecal matter on their hands and transfer it to the crops they are picking.)
6. Review for Quiz 1
GST 1990
1. From Core Concepts in Health (Brief), pg 324 or pg 554 in the full edition: "If you optimize wellness during young adulthood, you can exert great control over the physical and mental aspects of aging, and you can better handle your response to events that might be out of your control."
GST 2010, Health Concepts and Strategies. We will review the reading assignment, Chapter 3 in Core Concepts in Health
1. Chapter 3 - Psychological health. Not the same as normality, but difficult to define
  1. Maslow hierarchy of needs. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, Notes Toward a Psychology of
    Being, 1962 but 3rd edition still in print - self-actualization at the top, earlier priorities must be satisfied first
    1. Physiological needs such as food, air, water
    2. Safety and security
    3. Love and belongingness
    4. Self-esteem
    5. Self-actualization
  2. Aspects of self-actualization
    1. Realism
    2. Acceptance
    3. Autonomy
    4. Intimacy
    5. Creativity
  3. How to achieve these? Authors' suggestions
    1. Growing up Psychologically
      1. Adult identity
      2. Intimacy
      3. Values and purpose
      4. Self-Esteem
    2. Positive self-concept
      1. ability to deal with negative opinions
    3. Being less defensive (can only solve the problems that you admit you have)
    4. Optimism - pessimism may be a cause of depression
    5. Dealing with loneliness, anger, especially explosive anger, in self and others
  4. Anxiety Disorders - unreasoning fear
    1. phobia
    2. social phobia
    3. panic attack
    4. generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
    5. obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
    6. post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
  5. Mood Disorders
    1. depression (get help, effective treatments exist, questions about St. John's Wort as a treatment for depression)
    2. seasonal affective disorder (SAD)
    3. mania and bipolar disorder
    4. schizophrenia (disorganized thoughts, inappropriate emotions, delusions, auditory hallucinations, deteriorating work and social functioning)
  6. (David Bowen - mental health problems have had a stigma attached, because our view was that such problems could be "willed away" - if you had a mental health problem, that was because you were not strong enough, or perhaps you even wanted to be ill. However, today, we are finding chemical imbalances associated with many mental health problems, depression for example. Those taking GST 2020 should not be too surprised to learn that chemistry can affect mental functioning.)
2. (David Bowen. Chapter 4 is on intimate relations, which can be very important, among other things, for providing emotional support when we are "down." I grew up in a family where this kind of support was just not the norm. One reaction from some people raised in similar families is that their parents made them that way - undemonstrative, for example. But human beings have the potential for changing themselves. This comes up in many places in this course:
  1. Many people have said that their stress reaction is innate and out of their control.
  2. Fat-free and low-fat foods are improving in taste, but some have said that they don't like them so they won't try them.
  3. An accepting, tolerant attitude towards others seems to offer advantages in having a healthy and happy old age, but some people say they just are not that way and there's nothing they can do about it.
  But - human beings always have the potential for transforming themselves. Perhaps Maslow's hierarchy of needs has something to do with this, but even that does not lock us in. That's why the first chapter in the textbook is so important - how can you change yourself?
  
  Also - you are transforming yourself by going to college, so you know you can do it if you want to.)