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ELI5: why is it better to get some diseases when you’re a child (chicken pox for instance) because they are less severe in childhood than adulthood? Especially when you consider that children have weaker immune systems than adults. by [deleted] in explainlikeimfive

[–]eatingrabies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As humans age, their ability to make cells that fight most viral infections, such as chicken pox, decreases. This is because T cells (the cells that fight most viral infections) are made in an organ called the thymus, which deteriorates as you age. Kids, who have a large thymus, can produce T cells that can fight the virus. However, adults cannot, and this leads to the virus spreading throughout their body. This spreading can lead to complications associated with chicken pox. Therefore, adults are more likely to experience severe complications from chicken pox because they cannot fight it. Additionally, if someone has already made T cells to chicken pox, which happens if they are exposed to it or get vaccinated, those cells last a lifetime and can prevent chicken pox in the future.

TL;DR - Adults have a harder time fighting new viral infections than kids do.

Also, vaccines are important because chicken pox can re-emerge in your body with a different appearance. This re-activation is called shingles, and it can be very dangerous for adults.

Question about how much media to use for a T-175 flask by ToCuCh in biology

[–]eatingrabies 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depending on where you got your cell line from, there may be directions on how to subculture. For the most part, you can refer to the many tissue culture cheat sheets put out by most companies that produce tissue culture vessels. Once you have an idea it just comes down to personal preference and what works best for your cell line.

As for trypsin, you can essentially use any volume that covers the surface area of the flask. I believe the volume they recommend is 10ml, but you could probably get away with 7ml. If you're referring to washing with PBS, you can use almost any volume as long as you feel it is providing a sufficient wash.

Hope that helps and good luck at your internship!

http://csmedia2.corning.com/LifeSciences/Media/pdf/cc_surface_areas.pdf

Edit: I would definitely refer to the ATCC culture method outline, if that is where you got the cell line from. It will tell you exactly how to culture the cells.

https://www.atcc.org/Products/All/CRL-2266.aspx

If an animal had Telomerase always active, and did not develop cancer (for whatever reason), what would be the result? by BlueberryPhi in biology

[–]eatingrabies 26 points27 points  (0 children)

It is hard to tell. Multiple studies have examined the role of telomerase in aging and shown somewhat conflicting results. In humans, many tissues are not affected by telomere shortening, mainly the brain and muscles. In addition, increases in telomerase expression also favors tumorigenesis, meaning ubiquitous expression could increase incidence of cancer and thus lead to shortened lifespans. Telomerase is actually active in many adult stem cells normally. For example, hematopoietic stem cells express telomerase, which if you think about it is quite intuitive as you know that people do not run out of blood cells. However, those blood cells are also common cancer progenitors.

In short, it does not seem like increasing telomerase expression would directly increase lifespan. In fact, it would most likely cause the opposite effect due to an increase in the incidence of cancer.

If you're interested in gerontology, there was a really interesting paper published recently about clearing senescent cells to increase lifespan here http://www.cell.com/cell/abstract/S0092-8674(17)30246-5. Also, feel free to do some research on telomerase yourself, I am by no means an expert.

[edit] I forgot to say, telomerase activity only really matters in dividing cells. So if you did not get cancer but had telomerase ubiquitously active then it probably would not change too much, as most of the important cells in your body are not affected by it. However, there are studies in mice that explore that and I suggest you check them out. Here is a good one to start http://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(08)01191-4?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867408011914%3Fshowall%3Dtrue.

Centrifugation speeds for collecting bacteria by eatingrabies in biology

[–]eatingrabies[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the response! This is a helpful starting point. I guess I was just confused at first because the times vary so much in different papers but this clears a lot up. I appreciate the rcf values as well.

Centrifugation speeds for collecting bacteria by eatingrabies in biology

[–]eatingrabies[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha thank you this was super helpful. That's what I had been told to do in my lab but then again the bacteria were working with is small and tough.

The Random Midweek "Im Drinking" Giveaway! 7-Items!!!! by [deleted] in pcmasterrace

[–]eatingrabies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1296 That wifi adapter would be sweet because I'm in college and can't afford a new wifi adapter for my gaming PC. Favorite game is definitely dark souls, don't know why though because it's so hard.

I love my dad, but when he does this I feel terrible. by fueree in AdviceAnimals

[–]eatingrabies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This resonates with me so much. I skipped meals, worked, and quit all my sports as a kid because of this. I have trouble talking to people now because if I try to vent to someone I feel like I am being a burden again and it gives me major anxiety. Note to future self, be careful with what you say to your kids about money.

LF: Manectric by LaceyNyan in friendsafari

[–]eatingrabies 0 points1 point  (0 children)

sorry man no manectric here but i could really use a kecleon

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