Is Transsexualism a mental disorder?

According to the World Health Organization, it is. People who are not satisfied with the sex they were born and feel they should have the opposite sex are diagnosed  by psychologists with Gender Identity Disorder (GID).

The American Psychiatric Association defines a mental disorder as “...a health condition characterized by significant dysfunction in an individual’s cognitions, emotions, or behaviors that reflects a disturbance in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning.”  Nevertheless, latest medical studies on brain structures of transsexual people could prove that these persons have the brain structures of the opposite sex; in other words, their brain structure corresponds to the sex they feel identified with.

Furthermore, in 2008, a group of Australian researchers found a genetic difference related to the androgen receptor gene in male-to-female transsexuals that could provoke debility in testosterone signals.

These studies indicate that Transsexualism is not actually a mental illness, since there are physical aspects involved.

Actually, a petition made by a female-to-male transsexual called Maxwell Zachs at Change.org asking for declassifying Transsexualism as a mental disorder from the World Health Organization has been signed by more than 42.000 people.  It is part of an International campaign in which Trans people claim that they are not sick, they are just people who were born in a different body, and that the classification of Transsexualism as a mental disorder just contributes to discrimination.

Here's the link to the full petition of Maxwell Zachs: http://www.change.org/petitions/world-health-organisation-who-we-are-trans-not-sick

Do you consider that Transsexualism is a mental disorder? What do you think about Maxwell Zachs's petition?

Forever young...

I want to live forever young!! Do you remember the song? I think everyone at some point of our lives  think about this, and one of the most important aspects to look forever young is to have a healthy and good looking skin but, would it be possible over 50’s. Well, maybe now it is.

Scientists have studied marine animals for years, and a recent study published in the online journal PLOS ONE could be the answer to our prayers. The study showed that sea cucumbers and sea urchins have the ability of changing the elasticity of collagen inside their bodies which would be the key for maintaining a vigorous appearance. And although they seem to be totally different from us, scientists have confirmed that our skin may work pretty similar to theirs.

The thing is: sea cucumbers and sea urchins contain genes encoding peptides that cause accelerated softening of collagen in their body wall, and as soon as scientist can understand how this process works specifically, they will be able to isolate these peptides and try them in humans’ skin.

But this is not the only benefit we can get from these creatures; the study also showed the existence of another peptide pretty similar to a hormone called calcitonin, which regulates our bones to remain them strong.

So now you choose, would try these peptides?

Extinct animals could be alive (again) thanks to cloning

Cloning may be considered a matter only for mad scientists. In fact, people could think that humans have no power over the creation or reproduction of life. It is very known that it works—Dolly the sheep, the first cloned being, was evidence of that—and scientific community have tried to accept it. However, some men of science consider cloning as a taboo. This judgment on cloning hasn’t affected scientists’ work on this. Recent cloning trials have had a common purpose: to bring extinct animals to life.

How is that possible? The many fossils and rests of those species provide DNA chains that may be intact or slightly incomplete. Having that, they can fix them using genes from similar chains. Finally, scientists put the chains on an embryo of a genetically compatible animal. This embryo will develop in the uterus of a female of the animal, and that’s it. We have a new animal!

Pyrenean Ibex was succesfully cloned in 2009

Several species have been “candidates” to come again to life. A successful trial was the cloning of Pyrenean Ibex, a type of wild goat from Europe. Scientists cloned it using the DNA from the last known ibex which died in 2000. The baby goat was born, but only lived for seven minutes. This breakthrough motivated other scientists to make trials, and other animals like the Tasmanian tiger or Dodo have chances to be among us again.

Other animals have considered to be cloned. However, geneticists are going beyond because some of them consider species like the woolly mammoth, the saber-toothed cat, even the tyrannosaurus. These may be dangerous trials, with dangerous results.

Let’s think. Should cloning be only for “recent species”? Could we expect results like happened in Jurassic Park if scientists clone prehistoric animals?

Embryonic Stem Cells Research: Abortion or Scientific Progress?

You probably have heard the term “stem cells”. Nowadays, it is mentioned on TV, newspapers and internet quite often since this kind of cells are said to be the possible “cure” for many diseases. For the ones who do not know, a stem cell is a “neutral” cell which is able to grow within any other specialized cell. So, when a specialized cell, e.g. a skin cell, is damaged or missing, a stem cell could repair or replace it. 

Two categories of stem cells can be identified: “embryonic” and “adult”. Basically, the “embryonic” are the ones found in an embryo when it is just a few days old. The “adult” stem cells are neutral cells found in tissues and organs. The problem is that this type of cells is not as versatile and obtainable as embryonic stem cells; therefore, they may not be really helpful for research.

Although most of embryonic stem cells are obtained from embryos that develop from eggs fertilized “in vitro” (and donated for research purposes), religious groups are against their use since they maintain that human life begins at the moment of conception; therefore, scientists would be killing potential human lives.

Groups in favor allege that life starts just when there’s activity registered in the brain (20 weeks approximately after conception).  Furthermore, embryos need to be transferred into a woman’s uterus in order to develop into a person.

Is an early embryo a real person?  Or should we care more about the possible treatments that could be developed from this kind of research?