[Biochemistry] The Controversy of the Root Canal

One of the many practices of dentist is the root Canal. A root canal is the procedure of removing bacteria by drilling out the canals of a dead tooth. But could dentist be leaving more bacteria and toxins then they are taking out? 

 Dr. Thomas Rau who has run the  Paracelsus Clinic, a cancer clinic, since 1958 in Switzerland recently found that out of last 150 breast cancer patients treated, 148 had one or more root canal teeth on the same meridian as the original breast cancer tumor. 

 When the root canal is performed, dentist remove all the bacteria in the dead tooth and then fill it with  gutta percha, a rigid natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, to try and stop bacteria from re- entering the tooth. This seems fine but because of the shape of our teeth canals it is impossible to remove 100% of bacteria and fill the tooth completely. This leads to the result of a tooth hiding and creating bacteria and the canal becomes a prime environment for microbes and bacteria. The bacteria becomes even more dangerous because once the canal is filled, the blood supply is cut off to that tooth, which keeps your immune system from killing off the microbes and bacteria in the tooth. 



 Studies have proven that the microbes in the teeth originate from the same biological location as the cancer cells in patients having root canals and breast cancer. The toxins formed in the tooth can leak into the body and form disease and infection.This have been proven in multiple studies yet it has not been published by the ADA. 

 Even with the controversy surrounding the root canals and the health concerns that follow it, not fixing dead teeth is not an alternative. Dead teeth left untreated can cause the infection that killed the original tooth can leak into the gum and eventually to the jaw bone and could lead to a person losing part of their jaw. An alternative to the root canal is extraction, another popular dentist procedure. Besides extraction there has been recent trials of injecting the chemical ozone into the canal after it has been cleaned instead of filling it with the gutta percha. The ozone is said to be essential to kill all bacteria and keep it from forming new bacteria and microbes. 

 http://naturaldentistry.us/1672/ozone-therapy-as-treatment-in-dentistry/ 
http://articles.mercola.com/what-is-a-root-canal.aspx
http://naturaldentistry.us/1224/can-root-canals-cause-breast-cancer/

Nuclear Chemistry- The Science Behind Smoke Alarms

The Science Behind Smoke Alarms

Smoke alarms are an item found in many common households that rarely get any attention, except for when their batteries need to be changed. There are many different types of smoke alarms, such as photoelectric detectors and ionization detectors. It is interesting that all of these smoke alarms have an interesting way of functioning that involves chemistry.
Most smoke detectors use americium-241, which is a common source of alpha radiation, to detect whether there is smoke in the area. The alpha radiation ionizes the air particles inside the smoke detector, causing an electric current. If any smoke enters the detector, the alpha radiation particles are forced to reduce the ionization of the air particles, causing the electric current to decrease. This is detected by the smoke alarm, causing the alarm to sound.
The photoelectric detector works differently from the ionization detector, in that it uses a photo beam detector to detect smoke. However, it would only be useful when the smoke is thick enough to block out light, as it is not very sensitive.
The ionization detector, on the other hand, is much more efficient because not only is it more sensitive to smoke, it uses the air particles as opposed to light, to detect smoke or a fire in a room.






Sources:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_ocr_gateway/radiation/radioisotopesrev3.shtml
http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/fire/smoke.htm

[Nuclear Chemistry] Elephant's Foot

Chernobyl, a once active nuclear power plant, underwent a serious disaster 1986 when an emergency shutdown due to an unexpected power surge failed, leaving the reactors without a proper cooling system. The water that usually runs through the reactor’s core to cool it quickly vaporized. The vaporization of the water increased the pressure, causing several steam explosions in the plant. The explosions due to the steam destroyed the lead and steel that usually insulate the reactor’s core, causing it to overheat and melt. This oozed out of the reactor much like lava. Weeks later, as the workers made their way through the facility, they discovered what is now known as the elephant’s foot, mainly for its wrinkled look, in one of the sublevel after it had melted through the floor above. This substance (a mixture of the reactor’s core, concrete, sand, and control rods) is called corium, one of the most toxic substances known that has only been created a total of five times, this being the largest amount. As the workers neared the foot, the radiation sensors they used read around 10,000 roentgens (8770 rads -- 1000x stronger than the amount of radiation linked to an increased risk of cancer), so in order for them to get a picture they had to push a camera around the corner to take it (they were unable to use electronics because of the radiation). However, because of the mass amounts of radiation being given off, all pictures taken come out much more grainy than what might be expected. The most famous picture with the Elephant’s foot was taken by Artur Korneyev, who took a selfie of sorts with it. Although it is most likely no longer undergoing active fission, the foot, at one time, released a combination of alpha and gamma particles due to the Uranium in it.

Sources

http://nautil.us/blog/chernobyls-hot-mess-the-elephants-foot-is-still-lethal

http://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-elephant-foot-of-the-chernobyl-disaster-1986/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corium_(nuclear_reactor)

Biochemistry - Closet Toxins

The Toxins in Your Closet

     One of the most common fibers in our modern day world is polyester. Most of our clothes, socks, blankets, sheets, drapes, furniture is either made from polyester or a fabric blended with polyester, specifically polyethylene terephthalate (PET, PETE), the "most common thermoplastic polymer resin". PET is a synthetic fiber that starts off as ethane, a hydrocarbon gas (What we're learning right

now!), which is a byproduct of petroleum refining. At standard temperature and pressure and in its purest form, ethane is a colorless and odorless gas.

(Ethylene)

(terephthalic acid)

 When heated to a temperature of 800C (~ 1500F), ethane becomes ethylene oxide through a process called cracking. In its purest form and at standard temperature and pressure, ethylene is a colorless flammable gas with a scent described as "sweet and musky". After cracking, water is added to it, resulted in ethylene glycol [ C₂H₄O + H₂O → HO–CH₂CH₂–OH ], also known as antifreeze. (Ethylene glycol a dangerous and complex chemical that can cause many complications to the body: 4 fluid ounces is enough to be fatal to an average sized man by causing metabolic acidosis, which leads to organ failure and brain, liver, lung and kidney damage).  The next step is to add terephthalic acid to the ethylene glycol (combined with a heavy metal) to create PET. 

(molecular structure of polyethylene terephthalate chains)

(PET chips)

     After this process, a heavy metal catalyst is added to it, usually antimony, and a high viscosity liquid is formed, resembling goop. Under low vacuum pressure, these polymer chains begin to get longer and once it obtains an appropriate length, the reaction is stopped, resulting in long, noodle like strands of PET, which is then quickly cooled and cut into pellets. After becoming pellets, they can be reheated to be stretched in one direction to become a fiber (to be made into clothes) or stretched in multiple directions (for films or bottles). Quick cooling while stretched causes the polymer chains to freeze with their orientation intact, making the material very durable. PET can also be stretched at elevated temperatures continuously until it begins to crystallize, becoming opaque, rigid and inflexible. This material is often used for plastic containers and trays that are then reheated in ovens and microwaves.

       We wear our clothes for most hours of the day (hopefully) and though these clothes may already have been washed, it is still suggested that one avoids exercising or sleeping in polyester; better yet, avoid it completely, by choosing natural fibers such as silk, bamboo, cotton, hemp, soy, etc that are not only safer for the consumer, but also more eco friendly and safer for those involved in making these products. The U.S. National Occupational Exposure Survey conducted a study on 3,000 workers in the apparel industry and discovered that they were exposed to dangerous levels of antimony over two years; these are statistics for workers in the U.S., leaving out those overseas workers where working conditions and regulations are much more relaxed. The Danish Environmental Protection Agency also discovered that 10% of the antimony in polyester seeps out of the fabric when in contact with sweat; though they are unsure of whether or not the antimony can penetrate the skin. Most of the damage done by antimony would be prolonged exposure (mainly through inhalation) and though this may not effect the consumer much, it heavily effects those apparel industry workers who make these clothes. Other than clothes, it can also get into our water. Many plastic bottles contain PET and it can leech into our water (though it is below drinking water guidelines). Antimony exposure can cause damage to all of your body; long term studies have witnessed damage to: lungs, heart, liver, kidney, stomach and muscles, and a wide range of symptoms were reported including "dyspnoea, pneumoconiosis, pneumonia, pulmonary emphysema, fibrotic alveolitis with inclusions of antimony trioxide crystals, bronchitis, fatigue, coughing, epistaxis, damage to the nasal septum, myalgia, digestive disorders, conjunctivitis, dermatosis and electrocardiographic changes"(4). Exposure to antimony also causes changes that are more obscure; studies found that it was a reproductive toxin, developmental toxin and genotoxin. Though it takes years of exposure to it for a substantial amount to be absorbed into the body, many of us are exposed to antimony for most of our days through the clothes we live in.

1. http://www.greenlivingonline.com/article/your-t-shirt-toxic 
2. http://cimg2.ck12.org/datastreams/f-d%3A23fb9334f21e322a86dd6884d0be01b15b199c0a26b93c853cd515e3%2BIMAGE%2BIMAGE.1
3. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Ethylene-2D.png 
4. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/store/10.1002/3527600418.mb744036e0023/asset/mb744036e0023.pdf;jsessionid=69E378398FD97D8E67B7F4CA6CBDD609.f04t01?v=1&t=j2jql1ws&s=36b7b8b024cf95ea0a268be8df838cc1cb0e2b53
5. http://www.petresin.org/aboutpet.asp 
6. http://www.napcor.com/napcorimages/whatisnapcor_pet/whatIsPet_r2_01.jpg
7. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/Polyethylene-terephthalate-3D-spacefill.png/250px-Polyethylene-terephthalate-3D-spacefill.png 
8. https://3.imimg.com/data3/WP/FN/MY-624405/pet-chips-resin-polyethylene-terephthalate-bottle-grade-500x500.jpg  
9. https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/000774.htm 
10. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/814701-overview 
11. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/ethylene_glycol 
12. https://www.americanchemistry.com/ProductsTechnology/Ethylene-Glycols-2/What-is-Ethylene-Glycol/ 
13. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/terephthalic_acid 
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Terephthalic-acid-2D-skeletal.svg 

Biochemistry - The Science Of Advertising

The Science Of Advertising

The world of advertising succeeds greatly when people understand how the human brain works and how it can be influenced. Advertising agencies started using psychologists and other behavioral scientists to help get into the minds of consumers. They use hidden symbols to trick consumers into buying products that they neither want nor need. Previous methods, for example, subliminal persuasion have turned out to be nonsense. Psychologists are trying to learn more about the art of persuasion through the use of science. One ad that was effective on customers, was that of a frozen cylinder of sausage rolled toward the audience until it filled the whole screen. Even though the voice-over was horribly ridiculous, the image was mesmerizing and viewers couldn't take their eyes off of it. When researchers analyzed their psychological response, it revealed that the sausage ad caused a dip in viewers heart rate, immediately after the dip their learning was changed. This teaches researchers that grabbing the viewers attention is first and foremost, then making the verbal pitch. Many studies have shown that if companies would take advantage of the basic research psychologists are doing on vision and perception, they could improve sales and avoid many advertising problems. A big issue in advertising is when companies make the common mistake of showing rapid-fire images. The way that the brain works, it just can't process things that quickly. Many people think that whatever we see that is flashed at us is automatically coded it in the brain, but in reality, the brain takes things in gulps. It takes a bit of information, digests it, then goes back and gets more.

Better timing is one of the things that really improves the increases customers, this also helps the viewer grab the brand name in the advertisement. A technique that was first introduced by Coke and Pepsi in the 60s, ended their ads in a series of images with the brand name. A common thing in advertising is also logos, the brain can process these faster than they do words. A very well known example of this technique is the Nike "swoosh".

Basic psychologists on the brain's lateralization, helps us understand more specific ways to advertise. They found that placing faces on the left side of the screen captures the reader's attention better than it does on the right side of the page. Text is most likely more successful on the right side of the face, and the brand-name on the bottom right of the page. Advertisers don't have any training in how the brain works, so these ideas that hired psychologists bring really help companies. Psychologists are often hired by the government to help make ads to help make more effective health promotion campaigns. Places like the NIDA and CDC are both big promoters of using psychologists in advertising to help improve their public education messages. Through all of this research, they have failed to identify what encourages viewers to accept information. A common technique is the "role model theory" in which they focus on a belief and target it, this lets the viewer know what they should be feeling. Good ads are creative but great ads change minds.

Advertisements can be very dramatic and trigger a good response in viewers, but sometimes this can cause the viewer to exhibit behaviors that the ads don't want to encourage. One ad, in particular, showed babies of various backgrounds and ethnicities, then showed a stamp come down on then labeling them with a racial or ethnic slur. This ad was trying to discourage racism, but the way they went about it in such a blunt way, may actually be teaching kids these inappropriate terms. A better way to advertise is to use high contrast and texture changes encourage the audience to really get fixated on the ad. Other psychologists claim the key to advertising success is "visual fluency". This is the interaction of visual perception and emotion. People like things that are easy to look at and understand. Another technique that most people already know is repetition, the more people see something the more like it and remember it. This increases visual fluency. All the strides made in the last 20 years were major to the improvement of advertising. Next time you see an ad on a web page, television, or even the annoying ones they show on YouTube before showing a video, see if you recognize any of these tactics and know that that is the company smartly tricking your brain into buying their product.

Sources: http://www.apa.org/monitor/oct02/advertising.aspx

[Nuclear Chemistry] - Nuclear Waste

Nuclear waste is the material that nuclear fuel becomes after it is used in a reactor. A reactor is a system that holds and controls sustained nuclear chain reactions. These reactors are used for generating electricity and for organizing research. Nuclear waste is very radioactive and stays that way for thousands of years. When waste first comes out of the reactor, it’s so toxic that if someone stood a few meters of it while it was unshielded, they would obtain a deadly radioactive dose and would die in a few seconds from acute radiation sickness. The used fuel is never unshielded. Instead, it'a kept underwater (water acts as the shield) until the radiation decays to levels that can be shielded by concrete.

In 2016, researchers from Indiana University had found the first actual evidence for a new molecular structure that has the potential to safely store nuclear waste and to reduce the

Bisulfate dimer 

chemical that can contaminate the water and kill large amounts of fish. They found experimental proof of a chemical bond between two negatively charged molecules of bisulfate. This structure is called a supramolecule, meaning there’s a bond between two negatively charged ions. A supramolecule was thought to not exist because it goes against Coulomb’s law. Coulomb's law states that two molecules with the same charge create a repellent force that prevents chemical bonding. This ability to produce a negatively charged bisulfate could advance the search for chemical solutions to solve some environmental problems. These molecules could be used to remove sulfate ions in order to transform nuclear waste into storable solids, this is called vitrification. This process can extract harmful phosphate ions from the environment. Removing phosphate from the environment is beneficial because excess phosphates from fertilizers can leak into lakes and the ocean. When the chemicals get into the water they can cause huge algae blooms that can poison the water supply and kill many fish.

Plutonium

Plutonium has been used in many countries in terms of nuclear energy, but scientists are trying to find heavier nuclear elements to clean up nuclear waste. Recently, Professor Thomas Albrecht-Schmitt explained that plutonium doesn’t really work the way many scientists thought it did. Albrecht-Schmitt and his team created a plutonium-organic hybrid compound that behaves similar to elements lighter than plutonium. His team found that electrons were moving back and forth between two plutonium ions. This was quite strange to them because the movement of electrons between two positive ions usually happens between ions in lighter elements like iron. Albrecht-Schmitt realized there was something different about the compound they engineered mainly because of its color. “Plutonium makes wild, vibrant colors,” said Albrecht-Schmitt. “It can be purple, it can be these beautiful pinks. It can be this super dark black- blue. This compound was brown, like a beautiful brown chocolate bar. When we saw that color, we knew something was electronically unusual about it.” The whole point of Albert-Schmitt's research is to focus on advancing scientific efforts to clean up nuclear waste. “In order to develop materials that trap plutonium, you first have to understand at the most basic level, the electronic properties of plutonium. That means making very simple compounds, characterizing them in exquisite detail and understanding both experimentally and theoretically all of the properties you’re observing,” says Albrecht-Schmitt.

Sources: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161221090126.htm
https://whatisnuclear.com/articles/nucreactor.html

[Nuclear Chemistry] Space Exploration

As technology develops we no longer need to send people up into space to collect samples and data to further our knowledge. Scientist can now use radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) to power the things they send into space. RTG’s generate power by using the heat from plutonium. Typically RTG’s can create about 300 watts of electricity and will last many years. In fact, Voyager 1 launched in 1977 and at the edge of the solar system about 9 billion miles away from the sun, is still transmitting data. Besides voyager 1 RTG’s have powered 24 US space missions safely including Apollo Lunar Surface Experimental Packages, Pioneer 10 and 11. RTG’s are essential for space exploration that is far from the sun and can't use solar power.

How does it Work?

The electrical power is created by converting the heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238 (Pu-238) fuel into electricity using devices called thermocouples.You can see thermocouples in everyday things as well such as air conditioners and refrigerators. Thermocouples work by is two plates that are made of different metals each conducting electricity.  When these plates are connected, each at a different temperature, to form a full circuit, an electric current is produced. Each of these pairs of junctions form one thermocouple. In RTG’s the radioisotope fuel heats one of thee junctions while the one connected to it remains unheated and is cooled by the space environment.

https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/rtg.cfm

https://www.nei.org/Knowledge-Center/Other-Nuclear-Energy-Applications/Space-Exploration