Say "Pepsi, please!"

Today in anatomy class we mentioned that one of the primary secretions of the stomach is an enzyme precursor called pepsinogen. In the presence of acid, pepsinogen rapidly changes into pepsin, which is the enzyme that begins the chemical digestion of any proteins that we eat. Obviously, the name of the enzyme pepsin is very similar to one of the most popular beverages in the U.S.*

*Being a Coke drinker, I am hesitant to use the prestige of this blog to formally endorse Pepsi. It should be noted, though, that our school district has an exclusive beverage contract with PepsiCo. In light of that, I will give the soda overlords Pepsi the respect that it mercilessly demands deserves.

In 1893, a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina named Caleb Bradham began selling a soda that he called "Brad's Drink". When his drink grew in popularity, Bradham decided to give it a catchier name, and Pepsi-Cola was born.

There are conflicting reports about where the name came from, but they all relate in some way to digestion. Several sources mention the enzyme pepsin as an ingredient in the original recipe. Others say that, while the drink did not contain pepsin, it was thought to have ingredients that made it similar to the enzyme. Still others report that Bradham marketed the drink as a treatment for upset stomachs (dyspepsia) and conclude that the name came from the term for normal digestion (pepsia). Whatever the case, we can rest assured that the name Pepsi is, in one way or another, related to the digestive action of the stomach.

That voice you keep hearing...

One of my biggest accomplishments over spring break was to finish up a class I've been taking called "Podcasting in the Classroom." There were basically two parts to it. In the first part, we looked at what podcasts are (duh) and how they can be used as a part of our daily "stuff" of teaching. Pretty basic, but I found a ton of really cool science podcasts that I'll be sharing with you as time goes on.

The second part was a lot of fun. It focused around creating, editing, and publishing a podcast that could be used in class. For my project, I created a 9 minute podcast to introduce the rat unit to my anatomy classes. You can find it under the "Rat" section of the class website, or direct link to it here. I don't think it turned out too bad...

Congratulations Tom!

Congratulations to Tom Stanley, the Eudora Schools student of the week!

Of course, Tom listed a different class as his favorite, but I'll get over it...

...someday...

...somehow...

The Strangled Heart

Today's assignment in anatomy and physiology is to read the first 17 paragraphs of Chapter 1 from the book How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter by Dr. Sherwin Nuland. As a response to the reading, you can either complete a "Say Something" worksheet, or respond to this post.

If you respond to this post, please pick the one sentence or statement from the reading that stood out to you and write a short paragraph summarizing your reaction to that statement or sentence. Please make sure that you include your name as part of your response so that I can give you credit.

Blood Flow Videos

Today's lab asks you to observe the blood flowing through the webbing in a frog's foot. Since I'm not really into torturing frogs, I think we'll "go virtual" for this one. Below are three embedded videos showing blood flowing through capillaries. Use these to complete the lab.

The first is in the tail of a goldfish:


I'm not sure what animal the second is from, but it's narrated by someone who sounds really official:


The third is my favorite and is from the wing of a bat:

Mistermagette on Facebook

Mistermagette is now on Facebook! As part of my ongoing experiments with this here Internet thing, I've decided to play around with a virtual classroom environment on Facebook. "Mistermagette" is set up as a business, which will allow me to (hopefully) use the application to communicate with students without having to share personal profile information.

So check it out...be one of the first to become a "fan". Write on the wall. Start a discussion. Just don't do it at school!

Pandemic

In anatomy class today we read a selection from John Barry's outstanding book The Great Influenza, which chronicled the global flu pandemic of 1918. Thanks to Chelsea, one of my students, for pointing out this game to me, in which you get to play the part of a disease-causing pathogen. The goal of the game is, obviously, to wipe out humanity.

Pretty cool. Just make sure you're not playing it when you should be doing school work. And if you figure out how to infect Madigascar, please let me know.

Blood Typing Game

It's kind of dorky, but it gets the point across:

Agony and Ecstasy

The December 18th issue of The Economist features an interesting article written by Craig Ward. In it, he describes a movement to alter the legal ban of the drug ecstasy (MDMA). There is, apparently, a significant amount of anecdotal and experiential evidence showing that MDMA can be used by psychotherapists to help treat their patients who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. According to Ward:

...in the 1980s MDMA, which at the time was still unregulated, escaped its semi-underground psychotherapeutic milieu and began to be taken by young people for the sheer fun of it. In a panic, America’s Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), unaware of the therapeutic MDMA network, made an emergency classification in 1985 that placed MDMA in Schedule I—the most restrictive category for drugs with “a high potential for abuse” and “no currently accepted medical use”...Although 500,000 doses of MDMA had by this point been used in therapeutic settings, the compound was thereafter banned worldwide.

Rescheduling MDMA as schedule II would allow psychotherapist (under close DEA supervision) to resume legally using the drug for treating their patients. This article is a great follow-up to the Newsweek article that was assigned for reading in anatomy class.

Neckties

Today I talked to my classes about the necktie I was wearing, which I received as a Christmas gift. The small purple designs on it were actually drawings of Giardia lambia, which is an intestinal parasite. If anyone out there is experiencing tie jealousy and would like to order their own infectious disease tie, you can do so from the Infectious Awareables website.

Johnny Got His Gun

"He was a dead man with a mind that could still think. He knew all the answers that the dead knew and couldn't think about. He could speak for the dead because he was one of them. He was the first of all the soldiers who had died since the beginning of time who still had a brain left to think with."

Dalton Trumbo's 1939 anti-war novel titled "Johnny Got His Gun" tells the story of a soldier who gets hit by a mortar shell during battle. The soldier wakes up in a hospital bed and realizes that he has lost both arms, both legs, his entire face and jaw, and both ears.

In anatomy class today we discussed the three general functions of the nervous system: sensation, integration, and response. In this story, the protagonist has retained the integration (thinking, feeling, learning, perceiving) function, but is limited in the other two. Because of this, he is trapped in his own body and has to learn new ways to sense and respond to what's going on around him.

This novel was made into a movie (never seen it, sorry). It was also the inspiration for Metallica's song One.

We Can Dance

I need to thank my 4th period anatomy and physiology class for reminding me of that sometime you just need to stop what you're doing and dance.