Guest Speaker: Wed, Dec. 16, 2009 6:30 PM in Auditorium

The Other End of the Stethoscope

Come join the Science Department for this year's second science seminar.

Dr. Stephanie Sudikoff an Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Medical Center will be the presenter.

Date: Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Place: HS Auditorium
Time: 6:30 PM

You probably already know medicine isn’t like what you see on House or Grey’s Anatomy. So come hear firsthand from a doctor who teaches others how to be doctors.

Dr. Stephanie Sudikoff is an Attending Physician at Yale-New Haven Medical Center. She is also Medical Director of the SYN:APSE Center for Healthcare Simulation.

You’ve seen med school students using the artificial patient “Sim” on TV. Now learn how dummies make doctors smarter.

And get a glimpse into what the life of a working doctor is like – from treating critical care kids at Yale to creating a recovery room in rural India.

Guest Speaker Friday Sept 25 9:25 AM in Auditorium

Dr. Terrence Tumpey, a world renowned microbiologist from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, will discuss his current research on the avian flu virus (H5N1). He has also worked on the very virulent "Spanish Flu Virus" which was involved the 1918 Flu Pandemic.

For additional information:

Pandemic Influenza Web site

PBS Nova "Ask the Expert" interview with Dr. Tumpey

Washington Post article on Dr. Tumpey's Research "Tiny Mutations Can Limit Influenza Spread: Study Finds Recreated Spanish Virus Less Contagious After Changes"

MSNBC for a story on the Spanish Influenza virus

New Structural Uses for Glass

The Science Times section (Tuesday, July 7) of the NY Times has a very interesting article on how material chemists and engineers are studying and altering the molecular structure of the various types of glass to use them in new and unique ways. Students in the Forensic Science course at Bronxville High School examine many of the different types of glass discussed in this article and learn how to distinguish them (using density and refractive index) when found at a possible crime scene. Our students examine samples of soda glass, lead crystal glass, borosilicate glass, tempered glass and laminated glass.

Today's article describes the difference between tempered glass and laminated glass in simple terms and explains glass as an amorphous solid that is strengthened (tempered) by compressing the outer atoms using heat or chemical means. The advantage of tempering a piece of glass is that more tensile force is needed for cracks to appear/grow. Also this additional force and the imbalance created between the outer compressional forces and the inner tensile forces of tempered glasses make it break into many smaller pieces which are less likely to cause injury. This is why tempered glass is used to form the side and rear windows of automobiles. The article talks about Prince Rupert's drop as an illustration of this process. Laminating glass adds additional strength by using adhesives and polymer sheets to join glass layers together. Laminated glass is used to form the windshields of automobiles.

The article introduces the reader to ways in which engineers and scientists re-examine and test the structure of glass to make this ancient material stronger and less expensive to produce.

Links: Science Times Article NY Times Slide Show of Structural Uses of Glass You Tube Video of Prince Rupert's Drop You Tube Video of Annealing Glass (Explains how stress in glass is relieved)

Domestic Cattle Genome Sequencing Studies

Articles in the journals Science and Genome Biology, by a Michigan State University researcher and a participant in a 6 year global project with 300 scientists to complete, annotate, and analyze the 22,000 genes of the species Bos taurus, Theresa Casey reports that such studies may open new areas for human health research.
Casey, whose specialty is the study of lactation and mammary gland biology discusses how the study of the bovine genome will lead to a better understanding of the evolution of mammalian milk. She believes that due to the antimicrobial properties of cow's milk, that mammalian milk evolved primarily with an immune function to increase the survival chances of newborn mammals. She feels that the research vistas opened in the field can lead to a better understanding of how to ensure better human health and help to better feed the world's population.

Michigan State News Item

Conception Time and Birth Defects in USA Correlate with Pesticides in Surface Water

A study carried out at Indiana University and reported in the medical journal Acta Paediatrica found that birth defect rates in the US were highest in women who conceived their children in the spring and summer. This time period is also when there is an increased level of pesticides in the surface water. The researchers found a strong association/correlation between the birth defects in women conceiving/having their last menstrual period in the months of April, May, June or July and elevated levels of nitrates, atrazine, and other pesticides in surface water during the same months. Many of these chemicals use is banned in Europe, as they are suspected to be harmful to developing embryos, but their use is permitted in the US. The study relied on findings by the US Geological Survey, the EPA, and other agencies on the seasonal variations of the chemicals in surface water.
Paul Winchester professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine, the first author of the study says, "Elevated concentrations of pesticides and other agrochemicals in surface water during April through July coincided with a significantly higher risk of birth defects in live births conceived by women whose last menstrual period began in the same months."

Indiana University News Release

NYAS Nutrient Sensing: How the Brain and Gut Regulate Food Intake

The NY Academy of Science E-Briefing, Nutrient Sensing: How the Brain and Gut Regulate Food Intake, discusses studies examining how the digestive system and the brain work together to control food intake. This link follows current research on how scientists are examining the complex pathways that regulate metabolism.

NYAS Biomarkers in Brain Disease

Follow the link to Biomarkers and Brain Disease to NYAS articles and presentations related to the research being done on the role of biomarkers as tools for understanding the underlying mechanisms of diseases and how drugs can be developed to treat the diseases.

Biomarkers can help to predict physiological processes related to health/disease. The focus of these studies seem to be related to brain diseases, such as Alzheimers,

World Science Festival in NYC

The World Science Festival opened this week in NYC and runs through Sunday with many different events at venues throughout the city, many are free while others require the purchase of tickets, which are available on-line.

On Sunday the major free event is the Festival Street Fair in Washington Square Park. Follow the link to find list of the events planned for the street fair.

To find out more about the festival itself follow this link to the World Science Festival, which was founded by Brian Greene, a physicist and mathematician from Columbia University, and his wife Tracy Day, a former producer at ABC. The festival was covered/reviewed in yesterday's NY Times .

Science Research Course

The students entering the Science Research in the High School program and their parents met briefly last evening with Dr. DiTullio and Mr. Ippolito to initiate the return of this course to Bronxville. The meeting was held to review the required summer assignment as these students begin their three year journey towards the completion of an original scientific paper based on authentic research.

The students were charged with finding TEN (10) articles on any topic of interest to them. The articles may come from a variety of sources (magazines, newspapers, webzines, and journals). They are to write a short summary (no more than one typewritten page) explaining/describing the work and conclusions discussed in the article. It is advised that at least half of the articles be of substantial size and drawn from a recognized scientific magazine such as Scientific American or Science. Copies of the original articles and the students' summaries will be collected in the first class meeting in September. The students should be ready to present/discuss their articles with their classmates during the first week of class meetings.

The students were also introduced to the periodical database JSTOR which is available to them through the Bronxville High School Library site on Ed-line. This database is an excellent starting point for a periodical literature search, as it lists articles whose abstracts can be read before downloading the complete article as a PDF document.

Final Science/Math Seminar

The 2008-2009 Science Math Seminar series was concluded last evening with a presentation by Bronxville alumnus, Stephen C. Aldrich, Class of 1973. Stephen is the President and CEO of Bio Economic Research Associates LLC.

Stephen discussed his study, "Rising Waters: A Process to Prepare for the Impacts of Global Climate Change in the Hudson Valley." He described the methodology of scenario planning and how it was used in a year long process to strengthen the capacity of Hudson Valley communities to withstand the expected impacts of climate change.

Stephen invited our students and community members to find a way to become involved in the process.