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Introductory remarks

Opium – first used in 2500 BCE in Spain.  Evolved from being used as a brown powder to being used as Laudanum (alcohol solution), and a white powder extract (morphine), and semi-synthetic derivative: heroin.  I think it’s interesting that the same plant can have so many different (good and bad) uses.

Examples of Major Contributions to Medicinal Plant Research by British Scientists in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Sir Joseph Banks, an example of a British botanist, explorer, and scientific patron.  Eventually a member of the royal society.  Ethnobotany is the relationship between humans and plant life.  William Withering discovered that plants produce compounds that have effects on the human cardiovascular system.  William Daniell found the “truth drug” in Africa, and although it is not used for the same purpose, we still use it today.

Some Pivotal Contributions to Knowledge on Botany and Plant Alkaloids by French Scientists in the Early 19th Century

Jussieu produced a system of plant taxonomy.  Michaux identified a lot of American plants.  Alkaloid – contain Nitrogen and effect CNS.  Alkaloids end in -ine.

“Paradigm-Shifting” Discoveries on Medicinal Plant Constituents in the 20th century

Most important drug of the 20th century came out of China – Malaria treatment.

Are Marijuana constituents destined to be major medicinal plant derived therapeutic agents in the 21st century?

Epidiolex was approved by FDA for Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut epilepsy syndromes.  Sativex is approved in many countries except not US.  In 2018 the Farm Bill removed “industrial hemp” from  Drug Enforcement Administration’s schedule 1 list of banned substances.  The FDA will not permit marijuana products containing either THC or CBD to be sold in dietary supplement products in the US since they’re both considered drugs.

“you all know what THC is I’m sure” okay buddy

Scientifically based botanical gardens in London and Paris.  He told us about a couple, they all sound nice.  CHelsea Physic Garden – 3.8 acres, has a statue of Sir Hans Sloane, it’s cute.  Kew, created in 1759, 121 hectares of gardens and greenhouses, beautiful architecture.  Jardin des Plantes, founded in 1626, large collection of plants, 6mil specimen.

Hot tip: look the way the traffic is coming from when you’re going to cross the street.

 

 

In the discussion of paradigm shifts of drug therapy, Dr. Kinghorn discussed how the empires both the French and British occupied allowed the investigation of various drugs. When comparing the impact, the french were strong in the development of these drugs. He also mentioned various drugs that may progress and change over our lifetime.

I twas interesting during this talk to connect what we learned to the movie that we watched on Sunday. I personally did not know much about Pasteur so hearing the large accomplishments that he came to was very cool. I also thought it was interesting that he was not in with the medical people of the world and that he was a microbial physiologist. This being said he never got a Nobel prize because it was not a thing yet but he most likely would have been the first to receive one.

 

What were Pasteur’s most striking characteristics?

The characteristics of Pasteur that most stood out to me were honestly the ones that reminded me of my grandfather.  He has a sense of humor that matches his level of intelligence, and uses his humor and intelligence to make others feel interested in the knowledge he has to share.  He was very passionate about his subject, and he could sas away any critic that dared face him. He was very driven and dedicated to his work.

His greatest accomplishment?

Anthrax vaccine, Hydrophobia cure, discovery of microbes causing disease, etc.  Honestly, I think his biggest accomplishment is staying strong and believing evidence instead of the current paradigm.  That takes a lot of strength.

His motivation?

I think his motivation was a genuine passion about finding the truth, bettering mankind.

 

A big part of science is experimental testing.  If we can’t test it, why should we believe it?

Pasteur’s experiment was very elegant.  He had a flask of “medium” and sterilized it by heating it up.  He predicted that there would be microorganisms that fall into the flask and grow.  He found ways to change his experiment to #BlockTheHaters and basically prove any criticism wrong.

His laboratory was very beautiful and elegant.  I think that’s actually very important to science; you have to enjoy where you are.  If you’re in a depressing dark room you’ll go insane.

He studied wine, and the microorganisms involved in the fermentation process.  He also looked into fermentation of milk, and other food stuffs.  I’ve never known how cheese is made from milk, but after hearing this, I bet that letting it ferment with different kinds of microorganisms gives you different kinds of cheese.  Actually I’m gonna look that up hold on….. Okay so there’s more to it than that but I was sorta right.

Okay so I’m wondering. These people didn’t really care about hygiene or washing things (or bathing?) but those kind of things are gross and sometimes humorous to us now.  Like in the movie when the doctor dropped his tool and just picked it up and dusted it off like it was fine, but everyone watching laughed and thought that was outrageous.  That’s what they probably actually did though.  It just makes me think about how much of our personalities and beliefs are just from the society we were born into.  – this is also why it’s so hard to change paradigms – if someone were to tell me they found evidence that going months without showering was good for you, I wouldn’t be very quick to believe it.

Book to read: Louis Pasteur’s beer of revenge, Baxter A. G.

With all the developments that we have now, people don’t take disease as seriously.  They then ignore hygiene because they rely on antibiotics.  Personally I think it’s dumb to not take diseases seriously @antivaxxers.  Don’t rely on a cure when you can avoid getting the disease in the first place.

How did Pasteur cure the boy of rabies? I was wondering the same thing.  Basically, the virus was dormant/hiding so when he introduced the vaccine the body started fighting before symptoms started to appear.

This stuff is all interesting to me but I still don’t think I could ever be a doctor.

Todays lecture was about Louis Pasteur. I like how she started out asking a few questions for us to answer. I think that his most striking characteristic was his drive, passion and dedication. I think his greatest accomplishment was his idea if the role of germs in causing disease and his anthrax vaccine. I think his motivation was to help people. She then went over the time line of Pasteur and what was true from the movie. We discussed Pasteurs experiment where he boiled broth to see if he could sterilize the broth. He used a unique flask so that the microbes would be trapped and there would be no growth in the medium. She should us pictures of the laboratory that he made in his parents home. It was really cool to see how modern it was and how nice it was. Another thing that was interesting to me is that he had to blow his own glassware for the test tubes or flasks and make his own chemicals for experiments. She said that Pasteur was really a microbe physiologist because he studied the diseases of so many things. Overall this lecture was quite interesting. I actually liked the Pasteur movie and I think that is because I possibly had more prior knowledge of his than most of the other people we have discussed in class.

In the discussion on Louis Pasteur, the speaker discussed how he was not driven by money or fame, but simply the benefit of mankind. With his contributions toward anthrax, rabies, as well as his various experiments, he was able to save many lives and impact the field of medicine and science. This was also seen in the movie and life of Louis Pasteur that we watched earlier this week.

I think Dale’s presentation was awesome. He really did an amazing job teaching the whole class about the history of fossils and paleontology. I enjoyed his enthusiasm, as well as the little facts about Ohio’s history and that of Orton Hall as well. I also liked how he talked about the naming of different species of dinosaurs such as those named after Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Carnegie, etc. I also found that many scientists didn’t believe in extinction to be interesting, especially since Jefferson even warned Lewis and Clark about Ground Sloths. I could only imagine what it was like for them to walk around the unseen terrain and always have that thought in the back of their mind that they might encounter a Ground Sloth!