Ask Lau Tutor

TGIF! As the examination season has started and examiner marking ensues for both IGCSE and IBDP papers along with the usual wonderful lessons with my students, I will have to take the usual pause with these daily posts. I am not offline so you are still free to contact me here on Ask Lau Tutor 😊👍 It is a busy time for all parents, students and examiners so hang in there; the outcomes will all be worth it to see our students move onto the next exciting journey of their growing lives 👏👊✌️👌💪!

To all Year 11s and Year 13s - this one is for you!! 😅😅🙂 Go and show off what you are worth in all of your exams 😉😍

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! What a treat having bumped into these 'oldies- Phoebe and Sunny!' Aaah the days when you were in Form 3 and you were sitting in my class so focussed and exhilarated to be there 😉☺️. You were 13/14 years old, I think? It was my first time living in HK and you all really helped me feel at home. The laughs, the chats, the BBQs! I don't think I've ever said this to you before - thank you 🙂. You see, even adults can feel quite lost and good youngsters like yourselves provide the help, support and understanding. No matter the age, we are all very much wired the same. So special to have known you for this long, now that you are in your twenties, ladies! Oh my oh my! 😍

Thank you, Enpei for our catch up since you started Medical school at UCl, UK last year 👨‍⚕️👏 : ) Keep fulfilling your dreams and remember: "Never say never because you never know where your path in life will lead you, as long as you keep challenging yourself in a healthy and positive way 🤩" Our discussions on what it means to be a good doctor to our primary focus on Western and Asian educational systems was riveting 👍. You summed up perfectly: "The key to learning and to a happy life is to gain satisfaction from it - focus and enjoy!" 🧐🤪. All the best in your forthcoming exams!

Another scientific breakthrough from scientists at Tel Aviv University, Israel – they have used Regenerative Biotechnology to engineer the first 3D-printed vascularized beating heart. Though the size of a rabbit’s heart and the heart cells not beating together yet, this is just the beginnning in the developments of organ engineering. There will be a future where personalized organs will be made just for you rather than having to find organs to be donated.

”This is the first time anyone anywhere has successfully engineered and printed an entire heart replete with cells, blood vessels, ventricles and chambers," says Prof. Tal Dvir of TAU's School of Molecular Cell Biology and Biotechnology, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology, who led the research for the study.’ "This heart is made from human cells and patient-specific biological materials. In our process these materials serve as the bioinks, substances made of sugars and proteins that can be used for 3D printing of complex tissue models," Prof. Dvir says. "People have managed to 3D-print the structure of a heart in the past, but not with cells or with blood vessels. Our results demonstrate the potential of our approach for engineering personalized tissue and organ replacement in the future." (https://english.tau.ac.il/news/printed_heart)

TAU scientists print first ever 3D heart using patient’s own cells In a major medical breakthrough, Tel Aviv University researchers have "printed" the world's first 3D vascularised engineered heart using a patient's own cells and biological materials. Until now, scientists in regenerative medicine — a field positioned at the crossroads of biology and technology ....

A thought to get us on the right track at the start of our busy week... We've all seen the pictures of plastics floating around in our waters and ending up in the stomachs of sea life. We've all seen the plastics that get washed up onto our shores and the busy beach cleanups who do their heroic part in preventing further damage from these plastics. We've all seen the video clips of plastics being burned and the ugly smoke that consumes the skies. We've seen the dump diggers fill the gigantic landfills with our wastes and become buried as though it doesn't exist anymore... I could go on ... Our hearts sink and we feel disheartened, we tell ourselves not to purchase that extra plastic bag for our groceries and to find ways to reduce our carbon footprint. Some feel so worried about what we are doing to our planet that some have 'eco-anxiety.' Or to others, we are in denial or becoming desensitized seeing these images and hearing about it over and over and some of you won't even get to read this because you've heard it all before. I came across this BBC article today about whether we should be cutting back on our impulses to buy plastic toys? Something triggered me to write about the fate of our current infatuation with using plastics. If anyone has stepped into my home, we are no plastic-free family but we do remind ourselves to REDUCE, REUSE and RECYCLE as much as we possibly can. It's a start and a part of our psyche now. A few weeks ago, we've already started to 'tidy up' our clutter and this article 👇about when you declutter and where to donate your unwanted belongings reminded me to spend more time in thinking where our waste should end up and be halted from ending up in the landfill, in our oceans or burnt into our skies. No matter how small our actions are, we can all do our part helping our planet and be positive role models for our young children, for theirs too and beyond. Thank you for your time in reading ☺️

Sources:

https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/news-trends/article/3005574/declutter-and-donate-where-get-your-once-loved-stuff

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/b2e7ee32-ad28-4ec4-89aa-a8b8c98f95a5

Plastic toys: Is it time we cut back? Plastic toys are convenient and cheap but they can be bad for the environment.

Cancer researchers from the Wellcome Sangar Institute (https://www.sanger.ac.uk/news/view/new-cancer-drug-targets-accelerate-path-precision-medicine) and Open Targets (https://www.opentargets.org/) are one step closer to developing a more precise and targeted method of cancer treatment and producing the Cancer Dependency Map (DEP map). The DEP map is an exciting project that will, one day, be available to all scientists at a global level. This open database will identify “all the weaknesses or vulnerabilities that exist within different cancer cells and we can use this information to empower the next generation of precision cancer medicines for patients.” Mathew Garnett, Faculty Group Leader, Wellcome Sanger Institute.

CRISPR technology, Analytics and Organoid models (patients’ tumour cells), have been used to develop the DEP map. So far, the latest findings, from this project, have been published in Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1103-9. 324 human cancer models, from 30 cancer types such as the big three global cancers being lung, breast and colorectum (https://www.who.int/cancer/PRGlobocanFinal.pdf) and many other cancer types, 20,000 of the genes have been carefully and painstakingly disabled to investigate the effects of how the cancer grows or doesn’t. Of these thousands of genes, the Wellcome and Open Target scientists, along with GSK, EMBL-EBI and other collaborators, have recently identified about 600 genes that would be targeted for future drug development. The promising findings have been added to the DEP map.

One of these genes that could be targeted by future cancer drugs is called Werner syndrome RecQ helicase (WRN). This has been found to help aid in the survival of cancer cells. If drugs could somehow switch off this gene, would this stop the cancer growth in its tracks or would this only be temporary due to some other genes that will also need to be switched off. (https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15180)

This is an incredibly promising time in cancer research especially when the rise in cancer could reach global epidemic proportions https://www.cancer.org/research/infographics-gallery/rising-global-cancer-epidemic.html. According to the WHO’s recent global statistics on cancer epidemiology, 1 in 5 men and 1 in 6 women will develop cancer in their lifetime (https://www.who.int/cancer/PRGlobocanFinal.pdf).
Shockingly in the UK, ‘1 in 2 people born after 1960 will be diagnosed with some form of cancer…’ https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics-for-the-uk -Three

New cancer drug targets accelerate path to precision medicine The datasets produced in this new study lay the foundations for producing the Cancer Dependency Map,*** a detailed rulebook for the precision treatment of cancer.

For the love of mosquitoes 🦟🦟👏👏 and the bacterium Wolbachia ⬅️ what a cool name! More mosquitoes could be released near you : )

The city where children are learning to love mosquitoes Millions of mosquitoes carrying bacteria are being released in Medellin to stop viruses spreading.

Sign a petition for Universal Health Coverage from the WHO 👇👇👇

'All of us, at different points in our lives, need health care.

But today, only half of us can get it.

Add your voice to those calling to ensure that everyone, everywhere, can get the health services they need – when and where they need them.

In September 2019, world leaders will come together at the United Nations General Assembly for a high-level meeting on universal health coverage.

They will agree a political declaration to secure commitment worldwide to making universal health coverage a reality.

Help us build momentum towards the high-level meeting by signing up here to show your support for health for all people, everywhere. Take action now and let’s showcase our collective efforts at the high-level meeting on 23 September.'



https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/world-health-day-2019

Add your voice to the call for #HealthForAll Add your voice to those calling to ensure that everyone, everywhere, can get the health services they need – when and where they need them.

The solution to bringing down carbon dioxide emissions? Carbon enginnering to remove carbon dioxide gas from our air, another words - Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). Good news or does this excuse us from doing our responsible part in reducing our carbon footprint? 🚗✈️🏍

As we all know from our Science classes, air is a mixture and is mixed with a high proportion of Nitrogen (78.08%), then 29.95% of Oxygen and the rest are the 'other gases.' One of these 'other gases' is a small proportion of CO2 (0.033%) (The Engineering Toolbox - https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/air-composition-d_212.html). This means the extra CO2 that is waming our Earth and has contributed to increased temperatures on our planet, makes it very difficult to remove the small proportion of CO2 molecules from our air. Perhaps, CDR, that uses Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology (read more about it here headlined earlier today on the BBC World news: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47638586 #), is our quickest answer to preventing more than a 1.5C temperature increase this century, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urgely reported last year.

Climate change 'magic bullet' gets boost New CO2 removal technology gains significant investment from fossil fuel companies, but greens have doubts.