Feeder 1.2

Ovarian Cancer in Iran Compared to Developed Countries


Ovarian cancer is now the world’s fifth leading cause of death by cancer in women. It is also the most common gynecologic malignancy. Sadly enough, ovarian cancer is cureently the eighth most frequent incidence in Iran (Arab). Dr. Maliheh Arab and fellow colleagues conducted a recent study to compare the age standardized incidence rate (ASR) of ovarian cancer in developed countries, such as the United States and Australia, to Iran’s rate, in which Iran’s rate was found to be much lower. They posted their findings in the July-September 2010 issue of the Indian Journal of Cancer. Learning about all aspects, especially medical, of Iran and other Middle East countries is vital if we want to successfully help build their countries up, and while doing so, we might just learn important information we could use to greater our own country.


How did Dr. Arab and his colleagues conduct a study to find this type of information? These researches used the data collected by the Iranian Cancer Registry. This registry reaches the whole country and is pathology-based. The 2004 and 2005 report they used, included seven hundred ninety three new ovarian cancer situations. The researchers categorized their findings of ovarian cancer into ten major groups, including: all ovarian, all epithelial, serous, mucinous, endometrioid, clear cell, other epithelial, germ cell, sex cord-stromal, and other ovarian (Arab). The Iranian National Cancer Registry divided the incidence rate into two categories, the five year groups and the then year groups. The last step is to compare the results to the incidence rate found in the Unites States and then Australia.


The results of the study revealed that out of the seven hundred ninety three cases, the age distribution in Iran was thirty- fifty nine years with the median age for ovarian cancer, was forty-nine years (Arab). The age distribution of Ovarian Cancer in the United States was over sixty years (Arab). This information basically means that younger people are being affected by ovarian cancer in Iran yet, the lowest incidence rate reported was seen in Iran, in all the age groups. The ASRs of ovarian cancer was noted at 2.33 in Iran, 16.23 in the US and 12.2 in Australia (Arab). The findings from Dr. Arab’s study illustrates that ovarian cancer is a very important public health concern for western countries. Ovarian cancer incidence patterns can possibly and reasonably be explained by changes in risk factors of the society. Nulliparity and low parity have been consistently related to ovarian cancer. Also, the protection given by combined oral contraceptives (OCs) against epithelial ovarian cancer has been well established. In 2008, it was reported by the The Iranian Ministry of Health that for every women there are 2.1 births. It is also estimated that 20.9% of married women of reproductive age use OCs in Iran (Arab). Lastly, links between ovarian cancer and diet were discovered. Fats, proteins, and total calories were observed and researches concluded people must watch their intake of these to avoid cancer.


Dr. Arab concludes, Iran must encourage the use of oral contraceptives and encourage a low fat diet that will in result, undoubtedly be effective in decreasing the rate of ovarian cancer or at least keeping it constant for the females of this country.


Arab, Maliheh. "Incidence Rate of Ovarian Cancer in Iran in Comparison with Developed Countries." Indain Journal of Cancer Jul-Sept 47.3 (2010): 322-27. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Factors of Childhood Obesity in the Latino Community

Child hood obesity is on the rise in the Latino population of the United States. What do Americans associate with this increase in diabetes? Fatty foods, lack of exercise and deficient motivation. Yes, all three of these may be true but what people don’t necessarily take into consideration are the factors that can cause those popular beliefs such as the individual, community and environmental challenges that these Latino children are faced to deal with. San Diego is home to a study looking to prevent obesity in a Latino populated school system. After meeting the required criteria, a total of thirteen public elementary schools participated among three school districts in San Diego County. The subjects were Hispanic children in these schools entering kindergarten, the first or second grade. The total amount of people came out to 812 pairs of student-parents for the study.

Specifically, this study was done to help a population that is prone to morbid obesity find a way to prevent it by reviewing the individual, community and environmental conditions of the Hispanic race. Researchers performed a controlled study in which the procedure began by assessing the parent and child’s height and weight. To evaluate the individual aspect of it parents were required to answer a survey based on their children’s diet and how often they ate certain foods. In regards to the individual’s physical fitness, parents were then asked to rate how active their kids were in relation to other children as well as their ethnicity, gender and background.

If you were a five year old and offered the choice of chocolate cake or banana what would you choose? Obviously a five year old would yearn for the piece of chocolate cake. This takes in account how important it is to encourage young children to pick healthy foods and this was exactly what the parents were evaluated on. People don’t realize the extent of which the familial influence has on obesity. Especially in the case of young children, they will eat what their parents feed them, when they feed them. The diet truly revolves around the family and what is provided. Parent’s play a huge role in their children’s growth and maturity. The study accounted for the demographics of the parent, their job, household size and ethnicity. It has been proven that genetics play a huge role in body composition so a short health report was also assessed. The study did a consistent job by evaluating each aspect of the parent’s role in raising their children.

The last portion of the environmental aspect is schooling. Children spend around 365days out of their year in school and just like any other place of social interaction it affects their well-being. Researchers took into account the amount of recreational time offered and the nutritional value of the cafeteria’s food.
With many individual assessments, the researchers judged their results using
normality and correlation.

Just by looking at the individuals that they studied, nearly half of the children were at risk for being overweight. Comparing the parents BMI’s, one third of them were already over weight and 40% were considered obese. When distinguishing the parent’s contribution to their children’s possible obesity, the parents of overweight children didn’t offer their children support and activity as those of normal weight children. These parents choose to not set limits for their children’s diet. As expected, the parents BMI’s were positively correlated with their children’s BMI, meaning that their parents body composition does in fact effect their own. Culture differences are also a huge factor in obesity. The study found that the more positively the traditional Hispanic families rated their health the more likely they were to have overweight children. Traditional Hispanic families might still have the belief that heavier children are healthier children. Compared to Americans, Hispanic parents also view that when their children are the correct weight according to American standards they are really under weight to their standards. Culture does even affect the ideas of obesity.

This study represents the social, familial and structural roles that reveal the chances of Hispanic children’s developing obesity. It is now becoming more recognizable that it more than just the genetic and dietary aspect of the rising obesity numbers. The genetic component cannot be adjusted but researchers should continue to evaluate the other factors affecting obesity. Because the Latino group has the highest number of obesity among children it is important for this study to progress, many of the issues looked upon are preventable and can be changed. Parents can strengthen the limits, make healthier meals, and encourage exercise with the support of a study that shows results like this.

Elder, John P. "EBSCOhost: Individual, Family, and Community Environmental Correlates of Obesity in La..." EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. 24 Aug. 2009. Web. 28 Sept. 2010. .
http://ehis.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=11&hid=115&sid=f79646e5-8526-45cb-b609-18b504f3a0e9%40sessionmgr114

Emission Reduction in Tourism Sector

Do you know that the global tourism-related emissions of CO2 contributed around 5% of total global emission on 2005 and they are growing rapidly every year? It is estimated that the global temperature will rise between 1.8 degrees and 4.0 degrees by the end of this century. The change in climate is very likely the result of human activities, especially the emission of greenhouse gas. Countries have noticed the significance of reducing the GHG and are trying to work together to solve this global issue. The tourism sector should also reduce the emissions on its part. In the article, Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, the author Daniel Scott, Paul Peeters, and Stefan Gossling, discussed how the global tourism sector is going to contribute to the GHG reduction and the challenges that they are facing. A number of national and supranational tourism organizations, such as the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) have proposed “aspriational” emission reduction goals for the tourism industry. However, the authors argue that none of these organizations have a practical strategies that could really lead to a substantial decrease in the greenhouse gas emission from tourism activities.

The article begins by examining the change in climate and the impact of tourism to this change. The authors first use the data from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which estimated that the global mean temperature has increased about 0.76 degrees in the past 100 years, and it will rise by between 1.8 degrees to 4.0 degrees in the next 100 years. Various international organizations made substantial goals to reduce the GHG. For example, the IPCC suggests that the CO2 emission should decline 50% to 85% by 2050. As noted by the author, the tourism industry is a great contributor to the CO2 emission. If we view tourism as a country, it would rank fifth in terms of the CO2 emission. Therefore, tourism has great influence in the climate change and it should make its contribution to reduce the greenhouse gas emission.

Indeed, the tourism sector has realized their responsibilitiies and several International tourism organizations have proposed ambitious goals to reduce GHG emissions caused by tourism related activities. For example, the WTTC aims at a 25% to 35% decrease by 2020 and a 50% decrease by 2035. However, large gap exists between the reality and these ambitious goals. In currently situation, the tourism-relative CO2 emission is very likely to grow in the future. The reason is that more people are traveling and each traveller is consuming more energy in each trip. The authors cite the data from UNWTO, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO), which states that if the tourism sector continues to do business like this, it would become a significant source of GHG emission if other sectors achieve their reduction goals. Specifically, by 2050 to 2060, tourism sector emission would exceed the emission budget for the whole global economy.

However, the tourism industry will face great challenges to achieve the GHG emissions goals. The article then examines the ways to reduce the GHG emissions in the tourism industry. Currently, the transport of travellers contribute to 75% of the GHG emissions in the tourism sector. The aviation alone contributes to 40 percent, and its share is very likely to increase in the future. Therefore, a structure to solve the aviation emission problem would be a key issue to protect the environment. The authors examine 70 scenarios for the emission reduction, and they find that social changes in traveling ways together with the changes to more efficient energy would be the best strategy to achieve absolute reduction in emissions. However, there is great challenge in using more clean energy such as biofuels as a replacement to existing fuels. Not to mention that biofuels alone could not be the aviation energy, it would need an area of 1 million km2 to grow the materials if replace all the conventional fuels as the new biofules. Such large space is of course impossible to get. Thus, the author concludes that those ambitious goals for emissions reduction in the tourism sectors is mostly unlikely to achieve before 2020 to 2035.

In order to protect the environment, different nations and industries need to work together to reduce the GHG emissions. The tourism should also make its contribution. But as the article shows, the aspirational goals that the tourism organizations set would be almost impossible to achieve.


“Can tourism deliver its “aspirational” greenhouse gas emission reduction targets”, Scott Daniel, Peeters Paul, Gossling Stefan (2010). Article: Journal of Sustainable Tourism, April 2010.

Childhood Obesity: A Cruel Kindness

McDonald’s, Burger King, and Hardees. Burgers, Fries, and Coke. This has become the typical diet of the average “on-the-go” American. For most, after a long day of work, the simplest outlet to preparing dinner is to order fast food. Each franchise is always readily available with satisfying, quick, and low-priced food items. Is there anything wrong with consuming these foods? No! However, it is the issue of moderation that arises. A recent study from the USDA’s Research Service reported that over 30% of Americans eat fast food everyday of the week. It is no wonder that one in three children and adolescents are at risk of becoming obese. A recent study conducted by the Department of Public Nutrition, School of Public Health, and Guilan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services focused on risk factors of obesity in adolescent Iranian girls. The article addressed the many areas upon which the study was conducted, such as data on age, frequency of eating breakfast, parental weight, and economic status. By observing the data collected from this study, researchers can gain more knowledge on combating the childhood obesity epidemic.

The main objective of the study was to “provide current data on the prevalence of overweight and obesity among school girls by location of residence, socioeconomic status, and maternal educational levels in Rasht, Iran.” 2,577 girls age 12-17 participated in this study. 10% of the female students from each class were selected among 25 low-income schools and 15 high-income schools. They were given a self-administered questionnaire on which the girls answered questions concerning their lifestyles: frequency of skipping breakfast per week, physical activity, hours of television viewing or video gaming, birth-rank, self-reported bodyweight, self-perception about body condition, and home address. Another survey was given to the parents to provide information on birth weight of the girls, parental education levels, employment
status of mothers, frequency of eating breakfast, weight before marriage, and current weight. In addition, anthropometric measurements were taken of the participating girls; body weight and height were the two areas considered.

The results of the study show that 18.6% of the girls were overweight and 5.9% were considered obese; also, 87% had no physical activity in the past week. The most shocking result, however, was that the prevalence of overweight/obese girls was higher among girls with more-educated mothers! Also, being overweight or obese was more common in low-income households. These are coherent because more-educated women are more likely to reside in a “low-income” area in Iran; this is due to inflation and the limited job opportunities for the well-educated. The results also show that the probability of becoming overweight is significantly increased in those who skip breakfast. Studies show that those who do not eat breakfast are more likely to snack throughout the day on energy-dense, less nutritious food. A final area reported was that being overweight or obese as a child is directly related to the parents’ being overweight or obese. The information on parental weight gain since marriage was used to illustrate how children and adults are overeating and gaining extra pounds in the same environment, and therefore, lifestyle changes should include all members of the family.

Each day many Americans face the devastating issues of hypertension, obesity, and type-two diabetes. Chronic diseases are the main cause of death for both Iranians and Americans. Therefore, stopping the obesity epidemic should be regarded as a public-health priority. This study shows that combat in areas of low-income and eating a healthy breakfast will reduce the risk of becoming overweight. However, most importantly, the study shows that children are at greater risk when one or both of the parents are obese. Obesity is now the most prevalent nutritional disease among children. Lifestyle changes not only between the mother and father, but rather among the entire family is necessary to defeat this ever-growing problem. Do you want your children to be destined to a life with a greatly increased risk of chronic diseases? Then cut out the fast food, choose healthy meal options, and engage in a form of physical activity that is fun for not only you, but also your spouse and children. The secret to weight loss is not special dieting or pills; it is solely to consume fewer calories than your burn. If your do this, you will make for a better life not only physically, but also emotionally and mentally for you and your family.


“Obesity among Iranian Adolescent Girls: Location of Residence and Parental Obesity.” Maddah, Mohsen and Nikooyeh, Bahareh (2010). Article: Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition. February 2010. Web. 13 September 2010.

World Health Scare

Do you ever wonder what part the World Health Organization (WHO) played in the world outbreak of the latest swine flu virus? Was it there response or the work of national governments that lead to ending the pandemic and how over hyped was the actual situation? Talking about the response of organizations and governments the author of “A pandemic of hindsight” claims that some hindsight is productive but that the majority of the answers are going to be found by looking forward and hindsight is not the answer. Another article from Nature “After the pandemic” the author takes a more defensive stance and claims the World Health Organization did an overall well job in handling the pandemic. Both authors discuss the same world event but one takes more of a direct stance for the World Health Organization and the other takes a more indirect stance in defending the WHO by claiming hindsight is not the answer and looking forward is the better solution. Though the article doesn’t seem to agree with all the WHO did it does not directly attack their actions but more talks about what other agencies think of the situation.

In “A pandemic of hindsight” the author likes to talk about improving future public health emergency responses from the involvement of other organizations. A key claim the author brings about is that not all the agencies were on the same page in regards to how the pandemic was handled, or how future measures should change or as to what they should be.  

The article “after the pandemic” directly defends the World Health Organization to a point where he claims they were not perfect in all they did but they responded well when faced with such huge obstacles and deserve better than to be accuses of false claims of self-interest from board members who also work for industry companies. The major backlash of the anonymity of the committee members is a problem that the author defends with reasons claiming it was needed at the time and now hindsight it could bite them in the ass but it is not a fair claim to accuse them of that now.

It’s hard to judge what should have happened, because I personally and not aware of the facts as to the real seriousness of the problem. What I am making out of the situation is that transparency plays a big role in the creditability of a public organization or agency. 

http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nature/journal/v466/n7309/full/466903b.html

http://www.nature.com.libproxy.lib.unc.edu/nature/journal/v465/n7301/full/465985a.html

Brittany's 1.1 blog. "Who to Blame?"

Who to blame?

Were you scared over last season’s swine flu outbreak? Did you and your friends get flu shots? Many people, all over the world in fact, were terrified and completely consumed with last year’s flu pandemic. Why? The World Health Organization issued alarming information about the 2009 outbreak and caused possible unnecessary fear regarding health risks. Where to place blame regarding the mishandlings of the H1N1 influenza pandemic has become controversial; the author of “A pandemic hindsight?” argues national governments led the responses to the flu pandemic, not the World Health Organization, while the Bureau of Investigative Journalism writes in their article, “WHO swine flu advisors had links to drug companies,” the World Health Organization has come under fire, and reasonably so, due to their connections with drug companies.

Nature’s editorial, “A pandemic of hindsight?” argues that Drug companies are inevitably partners with the World Health Organization through pandemic responses because they produce antivirals and vaccines. This author reasons that it would have been irresponsible for the World Health Organization not to consult the experts for decision making due to industrial competing interest. The author points out that the drug companies were strongly encouraging the World Health Organization to exaggerate the swine flu effect. Also, many people fail to realize that the World Health Organization was under extreme pressures seeing that millions of people could have died if the response was inadequate. Therefore, Nature’s editorial concludes that blame is not to be placed on the World Health Organization and instead, officials should use that energy to research so that pandemic responses will be better in the future.

In contrast, author of “WHO swine flu advisors had links to drug companies” believes that the World Health Organization is to blame because their deciding officials had financial links to the drug companies (specifically Roche and GlaxoSmithKline) which in return would profit from the organization’s decisions regarding the influenza responses. The Bureau of Investigative Journalism faults the World Health Organization because they did not declare their relations with the drug companies while knowing the strict rules on conflicts of interest. And as a result from their negligence, billions of dollars were spent on antivirals, which many still sit unused and shortly approaching expiration. This article argues that the World Health Organization is the one who actually declares the pandemic and they are the ones who the public turns to for information. So therefore, whether drug companies were encouraging them to exaggerate or not, it was ultimately their decision on how to respond and they failed.

The second article, from The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, seems to be more convincing. It seems immature and unrealistic to blame the drug companies or national governments for what the World Health Organization reported themselves. However, both articles site other resources and give further links and information to back up their claims.

“A pandemic of hindsight?.” Nature (2010). Article: Nature. 24. June 2010. web. 9. September 2010.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v465/n7301/full/465985a.html

“WHO swine flu advisors had links to drug companies.” The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (2010). 7. June. 2010. web. 9. September 2010.

http://www.thermoscientific.com/wps/portal/ts/

Funding for Stem Cell Research

Can ample funding for stem cell research lead to dramatic improvements in our world’s medical and biological technology? The editorial from Nature magazine “A law in time?” reported the recent news that the United States government is placing a halt on the National Institutes of Health stem cell research funding. The NIH funding allows scientists in the area of stem cell research to further their experiments and new findings with a sufficient amount of financial help. Without the aid of the NIH these scientists will not be able afford the equipment and research materials they are looking for to make life changing discoveries. The second article also from Nature magazine “Stem cell work thrown into loop” focuses on the actual effect that this new change in government has on the particular scientists, the ambiguity of the temporary nature of this halt, and the unsure feelings these researchers have about their employment. While both articles seem to overlap in the sense that they are dealing with the sudden loss of NIH funding, “ A law in time?” attempts to comprehend the ambiguity of the government’s decision while the “Stem cell work thrown into loop” notes the confusion of the new law, the consequences of loss of funding, and the dim future it has for scientific research in the field of human embryonic stem cells.

“A law in time?” recognizes the distressing news that the United States gave to the future of stem cell research. Instead of seeing the personal portion, this editorial focuses on the legal and financial aspect of the controversial issue of ceasing NIH funding In “A law in time?” the author’s thesis is that indeed human embryonic stem cell research doesn’t have much hope for the future because their primary source of funding will no longer be available. What makes this all so controversial? The US government is confident that the injunction will not be overturned because “the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where the NIH's appeal injunction…(A law in time?).” But then again, “A law in time?” issues statements that would have scientists believing that it will all turn around. The Dickey-Wicker bill has been attached to the NIH funds for many years, and while the bill came out years before stem cell research was well known, congress has reapproved it repeated times. The article also stated that the change in presidency from George W. Bush to Barak Obama allowed for better funding from the NIH. These reasons give scientists the false hope that the economic aspect of their research still has a fighting chance. “A law in time?” truly emphasizes the ambiguity and reality of what NIH funding will be and creates even more controversy when it comes to the support for stem cell research.

On the other hand “Stem cell work thrown into loop” reveals the personal aspect of the controversy. While the first editorial speaks of the legal and economic facet, this article shows the effect on individuals. Scientist Candace Kerr is used as an example of one of the many people affected by the loss of federal funding. Many of her experiments that she has spent ample time and money on will all be set aside because of the sudden loss of funding. For a thesis, a temporary stop in financial support for the research has caused hundreds of scientist’s inquiry and put them in legal and financial jeopardy. Not only would they lose the ability to work on their particular experiments, they lose the potential of the end results and the security of their job.

The uncertainties of funding in the world of human embryonic stem cell research defeats the purpose of the excitement in discovery and experiment. While the two articles might not necessarily have opposing viewpoints they don’t share the hardships of either’s side. Right now the ambiguity of the government’s decision is creating more conflict; scientists are compromising their jobs, their work, and the potential of what stem cell research can bring to the modern world. The vagueness of what will eventually happen to the scientists funding stops any progress or discovery of what they could have made. Who would want to become a scientist where even the chance to experiment and test isn’t possible?

“A law in time?” Nature (2010). Article: Nature. 02 Sept.2010. Web. 06 Sept. 2010
“Stem-cell work thrown into limbo” Nature (2010). Article: Nature. 31 Aug. 2010. Web.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v467/n7311/full/467007a.html
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100831/full/467012a.html

In the Face of Disaster

When disaster strikes, we enter “fight or flight” mode. We either stand our ground in preparation to face the issue, or in contrast, we turn to escape. This is what the BP oil company faced in April 2010 when a sea-floor oil rig exploded. The owners of BP say they are doing all that they can do in the most-timely manner. However, the authors of Nature magazine state, “US agencies have moved too slowly in gathering key data on the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.” These articles are in direct contrast with one another, however both make sound arguments worth forming a legitimate personal opinion; BP claims they are handling the spill effectively, whereas Nature magazine complains that aspects of the clean-up need improvement.

We all know that accidents happen, and when they do, we must do what is necessary to fix it. BP Oil Company is responsible for the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry; now it is time to remedy the situation. BP responds to this accident by stating, “We continue to seal the Macondo well permanently, clean up the environment, and make sure that people are compensated for legitimate claims.” The article continues to speak about the specifics on sealing the well itself, containing the oil, the status of the beaches and wildlife, and the claims due to others. The article states, “We’re cleaning the beaches 24/7… and rehabilitating birds and other wildlife.” Also, a video on the article’s page states, “BP is going to be here until the oil is gone… until we make this right.” It would sound like BP Oil Company is upholding the claim to “do everything [it] can to make this right.” However, the opinions of some greatly differ.

A recent article in Nature magazine states, “Aspects of the US approach [to the oil spill] could be improved.” The article mainly discusses the lack of research being done and complains that it was not until just recently that the size of the spill- a “key and much-debated piece of information”- became known. This is hampering the researchers desire to collect more data and is leaving them ill-informed. Nature suggests rebuilding the research office and keeping it at adequate staffing levels to allow for basic on-going research into the best response efforts. The article does recognize, however, that BP is attempting to fix the situation by providing $500 million over the next ten years to research the long-term impact of the spill.

The one issue that both articles do agreed on is that there are lessons to be learned! BP states, “One of the ways BP is seeking to make things right… is to share the lessons that have been learned and capabilities developed during the response effort.” In agreement, Nature believes that getting a full picture of exactly what happened can be a huge help in minimizing losses in future disasters. Just like with every accident, there is a lesson to be learned; I believe that regardless of the specifics each article brings to the table, BP has certainly learned from this mistake.

“All at Sea.” Nature (2010). Article: Nature. 27 May 2010. Web. 6 Sept. 2010.
“Gulf of Mexico Response.” http://www.bp.com/extendedsectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=40&contentId=7061813 (2010). 6 Sept. 2010.

Collateral Damages by Scientific Misconduct

Recently, an investigation found evidence of scientific misconduct in Marc Hauser’s laboratory. Marc Hauser is a psychology professor in Harvard Univeristy and a prominent figure in the field of primate behavior and animal cognition. According to the article “Collateral damage”, the human cost of scientific misconduct is huge and Mr. Hauser’s misconduct will have great impact to those researchers who had worked for him. In the article “Document Sheds Light on Investigation at Harvard”, the reporter reveals a copy of the document that was presented to Harvard investigators in 2007. The document shows the story of how the students became convinced that Mr. Hauser was falsifying the data and how they decided to report his misconduct to the university. While the first article argues that Marc Hauser’s scientific conduct will have great collateral damage to the students working for him on future career opportunities, we can infer from the second article that the damage may not be as huge as the first article claims.

In “Collateral damage”, the author is concerned about the damage that Marc Hauser’s scientific misconduct has brought to his students. Marc Hauser’s young researchers are the ones who raised complaint about Hauser’s misconduct and they are facing great professional danger in doing this. The graduates and postgraduates who have pass through Hauser’s hands are now facing an uncertain future. The author is worried that Mr. Hauser’s graduate students would be viewed with suspicion in the future because of their work with Mr. Hauser. Moreover, they would not know how are they going to list their publications with Hauser. Fortunately, Harvard released a report of the investigation stating that Hauser alone was responsible for the misconduct. The author thinks this will ease some burden of Hauser’s young researchers.

In “Document Sheds Light on Investigation at Harvard”, the author emphasizes the courage of the students who brought complaint against Hauser. The Chronicles got a copy of the statement presented to Harvard inverstigator in 2007. According to the document, Mr. Hauser has a history of reporting false data and forcing the students to use those data. It is the experiment on rhesus monkey’s ability to identify sound pattern that brought Mr. Hauser into suspect. The student researcher and Mr. Hauser got the exact opposite results from the same data. While the student found the experiment a failure, Hauser found it a great success. The student suggested Mr. Hauser to have a third party look into the data but Mr. Hauser refused and got annoyed. Then the students watch the videotapes again without Mr. Hauser’s permission and they all found the experiment a failure. They also found Mr. Hauser’s interpretation totally unrelated to the data. That’s how they file complaint to the university and the university start the investigation against Mr. Hauser. This document shows the integrity and courage of the student. Therefore, their future employer should not have any doubt on those students’ credibility even though they had worked for Hauser before.

The second article does not directly disagree with the first one. However, from the documents that the second article provides, we can see the details of how the students expose the professors, so people should not worry about the integrity of those students. Therefore the misconduct of Mr. Hauser does not cause as much collateral damage as the first article claims.

“Collateral Damage”, Nature(2010). Article: Nature, 26 August 2010.
“Documents Sheds Light on Investigation at Harvard”, http://chronicle.com/article/Document-Sheds-Light-on/123988/

Subject Matter

We want to keep a broad subject topic so that we as authors may have freedom and choose topics of our liking, however topics will fall under categories pertaining to mainly scientific health issues that affect Americans. Our generation is the most likely to face the problems we try to discuss. Through this blog we will try to inform and open lines of communication we find relevant. Our goal is to inform readers of potential health risk with the same quality of information in a academic article but on a much simpler and easy to read version.   

Blog Citation

Citations are important to give credit to the sources we used to build on the ideas of others. The purpose of the citations is for our audience to follow up on our research. By using citations, our work will appear more creditable to our readers. It is vitally important that our readers find our work valid and find our resources reliable. The last purpose of the citations is to avoid plagiarism; we always want to ensure there is no doubt that our work is our own and we give credit to our resources.

The citations of our blog will be implemented by MLA format at the end of the blog. We will also provide the website link of our resources for people who have UNC’s server access. Our group will provide the sources Journal name, the issue, author and any other vital information that will help our audience quickly find the sources we used to write our blogs.

Intro Post

Hello! My name is Tiffany Payne. A freshman at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I am a biology major with a potential minor in business. I am a member of various campus clubs, groups, and intramural sports, such as the Carolina Pre-Medical Association, RUF campus ministry, and intramural volleyball. I also enjoy volunteering my time in my hometown to help promote awareness of the childhood obesity epidemic.

Hello! I am Brittany Celeste’ from a wonderful place called Fayetteville, North Carolina. I am excited to say I am a sophomore at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Psychology is what I will be studying for the next three years here in Tar Heel country. Just a little general information about who I am as a person, tennis is my one true love and I enjoy watching tennis just as much as I do playing the game. My second love is the ocean; you can find me on Wrightsville Beach reading a good book almost every weekend.

Hi my name is Taylor Gwaltney and I am currently a freshman at UNC Chapel Hill. I was born and raised in North Carolina and I’m excited about the opportunities that being a tar heel brings. While I am only still a freshman, I plan to major in exercise and sports science in hopes that one day I will become an orthopedic physician’s assistant. I love beautiful weather and all that comes with it. In my spare time I enjoy watching and participating in almost every sport as well as spending time with my friends.

Hi, my is William Parker and I’m 19 years old and currently a student at the University of North Carolina. I grew up in North Carolina and moved to Florida at age 13 to pursue my tennis goals. During these years I was able to travel around the world and experience the different cultures. I graduated from Edison Academy in 2009. Following graduation I came to the University of North Carolina to continue my education and tennis. I am in my sophomore year and plan to graduate from the business school in 2013.

Hi, my name is Edie Chen and I’m a junior student majoring in Economics. I just transferred to UNC this fall, so this will be my first semester here. I have enjoyed the school so far but the campus is a little too big for me. I am an international student from China and I have been in the United States since 2008 fall. I hope I could learn more about English writing in this class since English is not my first language. My favorite activity is to play basketball. I also like to watch basketball games so I can’t wait to watch the Carolina games.

The authors of this blog generally speaking do not enjoy writing for school. We intend to make our blogs a little more interesting for our readers, unlike the articles our professors normally assign. We want our blog to be easy and simple to understand. We authors are going to take a straight forward approach with our blogs. For our readers, we will cut out all the scientific speech and try to make it understandable, so that a reader not familiar with the topic will not need a dictionary and will be able to grasp the concept quickly.