Author: Manuel Sojan

The study entitled, “Skipping Breakfast is Correlated with Obesity,” as the name suggests, sought to see whether there was any correlation between the timing of meals and weight gain on Japanese people. The research was conducted using several data set and analysis techniques. Researchers obtained data from 766 residents of Toon City, all of whom were aged between 30 and 79. Between 2011 and 2013, these participants underwent rigorous medical examinations. The first medical examination included physical measurements, such as height, weight, blood pressure, and BMI. There were also several questionnaires: one on lifestyle (for ex., whether they exercised), food frequency, meal timing (whether or not the participant followed a strict pattern of eating meals), and METs (which are units representing the intensity of physical activity). Several statistical tests were performed as well, such as the chi-squared and ANOVA tests to compare the results. Their results were then tabulated. The results showed that the BMI and waist circumference were larger for subjects who ate dinner less than 3 hours before going to be bed than those who ate dinner more than 3 hours before going to bed. Also, the multiple linear regression analysis showed that skipping breakfast affected BMI and waist circumference, while eating dinner less than 3 hours before bedtime influenced BMI only. Lastly, the chi-squared test revealed that there was a statistical difference in eating habits between those who ate dinner less than 3 hrs and more than 3 hours before bedtime. 

Watanabe, Yoko, et al. “Skipping Breakfast Is Correlated with Obesity.” Journal of Rural Medicine, vol. 9, no. 2, 2014, pp. 51–58., doi:10.2185/jrm.2887. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4310153/

The two articles I chose report on Trump withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)— an international trade agreement between 12 nations that border the Pacific Ocean. The article entitled, “Trump Abandons Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama’s Signature Trade Deal,” from The New York Times, portrays the trade pact in a good light and as a major accomplishment of Obama, while the article, “Trump Withdraws U.S. From Trans-Pacific Partnership,” focuses more on Trump and how he fulfilled a campaign promise by withdrawing the U.S. from the TPP. The NYT article uses words like “traditional, bipartisan trade policy” to imply that the trade agreement was something that the establishment in both parties considered to be beneficial and thus shouldn’t have been scrapped. Furthermore, I noticed that this article describes the arguments of free-trade advocates more than those of critics of free trade and, in particular, the TPP. For example, the article cites more statements from Obama officials than from Trump officials. On the other hand, the Fox News article seems to be biased in favor of Trump’s decision. Unlike the NYT article, this article does not articulate any benefits of having the TPP. Furthermore, the Fox article seems to praise Trump in a subtle way and casts him as a powerful figure who’s resolute in his decisions. For instance, it states, “…Mr. Trump’s decision to bury Mr. Obama’s agreement in his first week shows he is serious about shifting U.S. trade policy…with the potential for big tariffs if those countries don’t come to the table ready to make concessions.” As one can see, the author of this article seems to covertly approve of Trump’s decision.

“Trump Withdraws U.S. From Trans-Pacific Partnership.” Fox Business, Fox Business, 23 Jan. 2017, www.foxbusiness.com/politics/2017/01/23/trump-withdraws-u-s-from-trans-pacific-partnership.html.

Baker, Peter. “Trump Abandons Trans-Pacific Partnership, Obama’s Signature Trade Deal.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 23 Jan. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/us/politics/tpp-trump-trade-nafta.html?mcubz=0.

Ridaura, V. K., et al. “Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice.” Science, vol. 341, no. 6150, May 2013, pp. 1241214–1241214., doi:10.1126/science.1241214. <http://science.sciencemag.org/content/341/6150/1241214.full>

The article entitled, “Gut Microbiota from Twins Discordant for Obesity Modulate Metabolism in Mice,” published in the journal Science, is about the effect of gut bacteria on obesity. Researchers found sets of human twins in which one of the twins was thin and the other obese. The scientists then transferred the twins’ fecal bacteria to several mice that were also genetically identical. (Genetically identical mice—as well as humans—were important because genetic and environmental factors had to be controlled.) Also, the mice were raised in a sterile environment so they lacked any bacteria of their own. Approximately five weeks after the mice were given gut bacteria from the human twins, those that were given bacteria from obese twins had 15 to 17 percent more fat than those that were given bacteria from thin twins.

The next stage of the experiment involved placing mice with bacteria from thin twins in a cage with those that had gut bacteria from obese human twins. Mice ate each other’s droppings, so the researchers were curious to see if the gut bacteria would mix. To their surprise, the mice that initially had bacteria from the obese twins started losing weight as they consumed feces of mice that initially had bacteria from the thin twins.

Lastly, the researchers decided to vary the types of diets that the mice had. Fat mice that ate foods high in fat retained the gut bacteria they acquired from the obese twins and remained fat. Only fat mice that ate food high in vegetables and fruits had an increase in gut bacteria from the lean human twins.  

The article entitled, “Correction of a pathogenic gene mutation in human embryos,” seeks to answer how a disease-causing gene mutation in human embryos can be corrected using specific methods of genetic engineering. Using a gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, the scientists were able to remove a dangerous mutation—called the MYBPC3 mutation—that causes Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a type of heart disease, and create mutation-free zygotes. The researchers used 75 zygotes in which the father had a mutation on the MYBPC3 gene, while the eggs used in the experiment lacked that mutation. What stood out in this experiment was that the zygotes replaced the harmful gene with a healthy gene from the mother, rather than using the healthy DNA template introduced by the scientists. 

Ma, Hong. (2017). Correction of a pathogenic gene mutation in human embryos. Nature, pp. 413-419. < https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v548/n7668/pdf/nature23305.pdf >