Thursday, February 28, 2008

Implanting of Electrodes in the Deep Brain Region
The movie process for the deep brain stimulation project is going well. After receiving feedback from the class, we both realized that we need to focus more on the persuasive part of our movie. The dialogue is good but strays too far into the scientific terminology. We will add more dialogue that focuses on the argument of the topic.
As for voice recording, we’ll use certain aspects of audacity to minimize or possibly delete the static. The video organization of the video seems to have no major glitches; we just need to add more video near the end to bring closure to the project and add more emphasis on the argument of the topic. Also the background will be edited to adjust accordingly with the images.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Controversy over Gardasil Vaccine

Gardasil, an HPV vaccine developed by Merck and Co. was designed to protect woman against four strains of the HPV virus. These four strains are the ones that are mainly responsible for approximately 70% of cancer cases. As good as this vaccine sounds, it took a very long time for the FDA to finally approve it. However, now that it is approved it is a major cause of some serious controversy involving promiscuity of pre-teens.
This vaccine is mainly requested for females from the ages 9-26, however it is suggested that it is issued before the female becomes sexually active. For safety purposes, the main age requested is before the teenage year, which is frowned upon by most guardians. A result parents have become very upset and feel as if this vaccine will promote sexual activity and promiscuity at an early age. Another main reason for the controversy is that parents feel as if there kids think that this vaccine protects against all strains of the HPV virus and are completely protected, when in actuality it only protects against four. Lastly, there is always that set of naïve parents that think that such a virus could never be obtained by there children and that it is a waste of time and money.
This is one of the biggest controversies ever created by a vaccine especially since it involves the increasing promiscuity of pre-teens. Many are unaware how common the virus is and how serious it can be if one of the cancerous strains are contracted.