Vanadyl Sulfate: A Wonder Drug For The Future?
Introduction
In the competitive world of sports, athletes are always trying to get an edge. When practice is not enough, many athletes try to change their diets to gain an advantage over the competition. To make more educated decisions about what they eat, many athletes look closely at what happens to food once it enters their bodies. From studying the gastrointestinal and endocrine systems, athletes and researchers have learned to appreciate the role of insulin in athletic performance. In order to enhance performance, researchers have developed a product called vanadyl sulfate, which supposedly mimics the effects of insulin. While its effectiveness as a workout supplement is still in question, vanadyl sulfate also has promise as a possible alternative treatment for diabetes.
The Insulin Theory
To properly comprehend the importance of insulin and the rational behind wanting to increase it artificially, one must first understand the process of sugar metabolism. Sugar metabolism is the process by which the body converts food into energy that can be used by muscle cells. (http://encarta.msn.com/find/default.asp) The process begins when enzymes break down food into glucose, a simple six carbon sugar that can be easily absorbed in the intestine. From there, the hormone insulin plays several important roles.
It is obvious that the cells that make up a person need energy to survive and function. Insulin is crucial in the delivery of energy to cells. In the body, glucose is the standard form of energy after digestion. Unfortunately, glucose's size and structure make it hard for the molecule to pass through the outer membranes of many of the body's cells. Insulin helps to fix this problem. Specifically, insulin bonds with the outer membrane of cells to increase permeability. This enables glucose to pass through the cell membrane more easily and gives the cell access to more energy. Without insulin, it is extremely difficult for glucose in the blood to be used by the body's cells as energy. Conversely, an abundance of insulin increases the rate at which glucose is used by the cells and therefore lowers the amount of glucose left in the bloodstream (Guyton, Hall, 972).
In addition to helping to provide the cell with energy, insulin can also help the cell in other ways.
Globalization is the worldwide integration, development and expansion of international cultural, economic, and political activities. As people, ideas, knowledge, goods move more easily around the globe, and the experiences of people around the world become more similar. “The Noble Feat of Nike" by Johan Norberg shows us about how over the years, due to globalization around the globe, prominent, progressive and helpful foreign companies like the Nike shoe factory has made it possible for its employees in Vietnam to better their lives. If it was possible for all other third world countries, much growth and modernization would be a constant and overflowing part of everyday life. The author traveled to Vietnam to see the working conditions and the state of mind of the workers in the factories. He comes to the conclusion that these factories in fact have helped the economy over there quite a lot.
According to the International Foster Care Organization “Foster care is a way of providing a family life for children who cannot live with their own parents.”(2004) Foster care is supposed to provide temporary care while parents get help dealing with problems, or to help children or young people through a difficult period in their lives. Children will return home once their parents are able to provide a safe enviorment for them. However if parent are unable to resolve the issues that cause their child in foster care their children may stay in long-term foster care, some may be adopted, and others will move on to live independently. (IFCO, 2004) Foster care has been a problem for many years and although there have been many attempts to improve it; it there still seems to be negatively impacting
Our body obtains the energy by digesting the carbohydrates into glucose. Volumes of glucose are required by the body to create ATP. ATP is short for 'Adenosine Triphosphate ' and is an energy carrier. When we consume too many carbohydrates our body produces a lot of glucose and as a result blood glucose levels rise and sometimes they may rise over the normal range of blood glucose concentration. To bring it back within the healthy range, the homeostatic system of blood glucose regulation is used. The blood flows through the pancreas where the beta cells, receptors, detect the high blood glucose level. To counteract this stimuli beta cells alert the control centre, which are also the beta cells located in the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas. The secretion of insulin has to be done quickly but can only be carried out when insulin gene is switched on. Turning on the insulin gene switch can take 30 minutes to an hour therefore, the production of insulin by beta cells are done in advance and are packaged in vesicles right until blood glucose rises. Glucose comes into the beta cell to trigger the vesicle that contains the insulin to move towards the plasma membrane and fuse. This releases the insulin into the bloodstream where they are distributed throughout the body and only affect specific target cells. The receptor, a protein, on the target cell’s plasma membrane recognises and connects
There is nearly 400,000 children in out-of-home care in the United States right now (Children’s Right). Just about every day children are being shipped in and out of foster homes and group homes. Most people want the best for children in foster care and decide to take care of them until their parents can possibly recover. The foster care system can have both a negative or positive effect on children, foster parents, and biological parents because of the gaps in the system. Foster cannot not be avoided but the some aspects of the foster care system can be avoided if the missing gaps were filled.
Much like the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide involved the use of concentration camps and violations against natural and human rights. Through the methods of destroying the Armenians, many of them were burnt, drowned in the Black Sea, or poisoned. Despite these horrific events, the Armenian Genocide remained as an undiscussed topic worldwide because once a genocide became evident, other nations were expected to step up and help. In a matter of a few years, the Armenian population had decreased by nearly half of their population due to the uncivil acts of displacement, murders, famine, and more. The Armenian Genocide took place because the Turks felt the Armenians were jeopardising their power because their religion conflicted with the nations bordering them, the Armenians were demanding an abundance o...
The beginning of World War I marked the commencement of the bloodiest war in history, thus far. With this in mind, it is fitting that the bloodiest genocide in history besides the German Holocaust began as well, the Armenian genocide. This examination evaluates to what extent World War I affected the Armenian Genocide.
One of the biggest misconceptions that we have in our country is that foster care is a great thing; well, it’s not. There are so many flaws in our foster care system to even consider it a good idea. With constant reports of abuse, depression, lack of stability, to even the terrible after effects of the foster care system, like homelessness and incarceration; the foster care system hurts more than it helps. Our foster care system is bad for America, but most of all, our children.
The word genocide brings up images of the second world war and the Holocaust. While the actions taken against the Jews and minority groups deserve remembrance, this is not the first genocide the world has experienced. During the first world war, Armenians found themselves in a similar position of the future Jews in Nazi Germany. What is left of the Ottoman Empire begins to align with a Turkish nationalism that leads to creating a country for Turks. This brings out the changes that ultimately lead to the Armenian genocide. While this topic has been an area of conflict, the Armenian genocide is a major turning point for the Turkish people. While the name suggests only Armenians were affected, groups like the Assyrians and Greeks were also targeted for their Christian beliefs.
Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity: "Armenians in Ottoman Turkey and the Armenian Genocide. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2005. (Accessed March 20, 2014).
Every Armenian remembers the date which he/she lost a family member. On April 24, 1.5 million Armenians were systematically massacred in western Armenia during the years of 1915 to 1923. Turkish governments always denied the charges, historians and government officials relied on undeniable documents and eyewitnesses that Turkey is responsible for the crimes it committed to the Armenian people. Not very many countries recognize the massacre as a genocide, but France, Russia, Sweden, Greece, Argentina, and many others recognize the massacre as a genocide. The Armenian genocide became the primary Genocide of the twentieth century. Who are the Armenians and why was their destiny so tragic? The Armenians are an ancient nation with a very wealthy
In todays’ society many Americans never think about our foster care system. Foster care is when a child is temporarily placed with another family. This child may have been abused, neglected, or may be a child who is dependent and can survive on their own but needs a place to stay. Normally the child parents are sick, alcohol or drug abusers, or may even be homeless themselves. We have forgotten about the thousands of children who are without families and living in foster homes. Many do not even know how foster care came about. A few of the earliest documentation of foster care can be found in the Old Testament. The Christian church put children into homes with widowers and then paid them using collection from the church congregation. The system that the church had in place was actually successful, and was continued to be used until English Poor Law eventually regulated family foster care in the U.S.
Many reasons exist as to why the foster system is failing and a major one is the number of children in the program. Although the number of children in the foster care system has decreased about 11% since 2002, “…experts worry that the trend might now go into reverse” (Protecting 47). “In 2008 there were 463,000 children in the foster care system” (47), due to the actions of parents such as abuse, neglect and the use of drugs and/or alcohol can cause a child to be placed in foster care. These actions cause the number of children in the system to increase. In order for this number to decrease dramatically programs must be put in place to help find enough, stable homes for foster children. As a result of the economy, many states have “considered cutting down on child-welfare services, such as benefits for foster parents and the number of social workers they employ” (47). If there is a lack of social workers, it is less likely that a child will be placed in a home quickly. Wi...
Even though there are differences the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust are very similar in the ways people were convinced to follow the government. Both of these genocides started with a change in government. The “Young Turks” who wanted one religion and one language told people that the Armenians were a threat to their national security and called all of them spies (Beecroft). They started with the intellectuals and the leaders. Taking their possessions away and not allowing them certain rights (Beecroft). This is similar to how Hitler told the people of Germany that Jewish people were the reason the war was going bad and they were the reason Germany was in such a weak state. Just like the Turks the Nazis wanted everyone to be the same but in a little bit of a different way. In the Holocaust they started with the political opponents (“Holocaust”). The Nazis also took away the Jews jobs and possessions (Bard 13). The taking of possessions and killings relate to another similarity between the two genocides. The Armenian Genocide was during World War 1 and the Holocaust during World War 2 (“Armenian” History.com). The fact the Arme...
Oscar, in fact, exercised both false prudence and imprudence. For example, Oscar exercised fake prudence when he staged the event where he “slayed” Lenny. He believed that he was acting carefully as he was trying to save himself and the image that he had created, however he was not acting prudently as this carefulness was being implemented in a corrupt manner. Similarly, Oscar acted imprudently, particularly due to his agitatedness and thoughtlessness. He was agitated in the sense that he was scared that the sharks were seeking revenge and were going to kill him. He therefore made the imprudent decision to “slay” another shark. Oscar was also thoughtless: he failed to think on the situation and realize the potential consequences of taking credit for killing a shark.