CCaattaa llyysstt

Set Your Alarm

Clock to Learn

Psychology

Dealing withStress

Health and Fitness

Ocular OverloadOpthamology

Goodbye,Goosebumps

Neuroscience

M arc h 20 1 3

Say hel lo toSpring

CCaattaa llyyssttMarch Contents

The Human SkullBrush up on yourknowledge of Mr. Boneswith this anatomical art.

3 Le crâne humainAiguisez vos connaissancesdes os crâniens à l 'aide decet art anatomique.

3

Set Your AlarmClock to LearnEvery student's dream hasfinal ly come true; you canlearn whi le you sleep.

4 Underwater CropCirclesMyserious patterns puzzledeep-sea photographer.

5

Goodbye,GoosbumpsEver wished you could juststop feel ing cold? It may bean option.

6 Stressed Out? WorkOut!Several good reasons toclose the books and take awel l-earned break.

7

Ocular OverloadThe modern age hasturned myopia into agrowing concern.

9

2 Catalyst

Good Fat, Bad Fat...Scientific consensusconcerning the 'good' fathas been chal lenged.

1 0

Sources 1 1

Contenu de mars

Join next year's team! Email

editor@uocatalyst.com

Joignez la prochaine équipe!Envoyez un courriel à

redacteur@uocatalyst.com

L'équipeThe TeamEditor-in-Chief

Katie Woolner

ProductionManager

Kelsey Huus

Authors ~ Auteurs

Paula AdlerSophie Fiset

Heather McDonald

Vanessa NzeribeSonya ParboodialKatherine Shan

Editors ~ Editeurs

Paula AdlerLauren Chesher

Nasim Haghandish

Pinar ÖzmizrakEkaterina Slavko

I llustration Pinar Özmizrak

March 201 3 3

Rédacteur-en-chef

StéphanieOuel let

Special thanks to the SSA ~ Remerciement spécial à l'AES

The Human Sku l lLe crâne humain

Pinar Özmizrak, 4th Year BIM

1 . Frontal / Frontal2. Parietal / Pariétal3 . Temporal / Temporal4. Sphenoid / Sphénoïde5. Zygomatic / Zygomatique6. Nasal / Nasal7. Ethmoid / Ethmoïde8. Maxi l la / Maxi l laire9. Mandible / Mandibule

4 Catalyst

What is every student’s dream? To be able to

learn all the material from their lecture notes and

assigned textbook readings…while they are asleep.

We may be closer to realizing that dream with

the news from a recent article in Nature Neuroscience

that reports people can learn new information during

sleep. The study from the Weizmann Institute of

Science in Israel, published online on August 26,

reports that sleeping subjects can learn to associate

tones and odours, and that these learned associations

are retained when the subject awakens the following

morning. Numerous past studies have shown the

importance of sleep in the consolidation of previously

acquired memories, however the results of this

particular study are significant because they reveal

that the human brain is capable of learning new

information during normal sleep.

PhD candidate Anat Arzi conceived the idea

and designed experiments with Dr. Noam Sobel of

the Department ofNeurobiology to test if people can

learn during sleep by applying classical conditioning,

a type of learning Ivan Pavlov employed in the early

twentieth century in his experiments about learning.

Classical conditioning involves the pairing of two (or

more) stimuli such that an unconditioned stimulus is

learned to be associated with a conditioned stimulus.

Following classical conditioning, presentation of the

conditioned stimulus alone is sufficient to elicit the

response the subject would normally have to the

unconditioned stimulus. In one of Pavlov’s famous

experiments, a tone was sounded and then food

presented to a dog. Initially the dog would salivate

only in response to the food; however, Pavlov found

that after several repetitions of the tone–food pairing,

the dog would salivate in response to the tone alone.

Thus, the dog had learned to associate the tone with

the subsequent presentation of food.

In this recent article, different tones (the

conditioned stimuli) were paired with pleasant and

unpleasant odours (the unconditioned stimuli) during

sleep. The olfactory sniff response, in which pleasant

odours trigger strong sniffs and unpleasant odours

trigger weak sniffs, was used to measure the response

of the subjects to the presentation of the tone alone,

and allowed the researchers to test the subjects both

when they were asleep and awake. The results

showed that subjects that were sleeping learned to

associate tones and odours such that presentation of

the tone alone could initiate the correct sniff response

associated with either the pleasant or unpleasant

odour.

Moreover, this learned association was

retained after the subject awoke. The sniff response to

tones alone was measured after the subjects awoke,

Paula Adler, 3rd Year BIM

ZZ

ZZZZ

Z ZSet

Alarm

to LLeeaarrnn

Your

Clock

March 201 3 5

On a dive in the Pacific

Ocean, underwater photographer

Yoji Ookata noticed something

peculiar. 80 feet underwater off

the coast of the Japanese island

ofAnami Oshima was an

intricate, ridged pattern in the

sand, spanning six and a half feet

and decorated with small stones

and seashells. Baffled, he

wondered what could have

created this elaborate structure.

Was this a freak occurrence, or

perhaps the work of something

extraterrestrial? After staking out the scene

of the crime with film equipment, the

culprit revealed himself to be less

sensational than one may have envisioned:

a single male pufferfish.

These ambitious little guys spend

days using their fins to create these ridges

and grooves on the ocean floor, creating

complex structures many times larger than

their body. This is no small feat.

Furthermore, they selectively break and

place shells in a specific pattern. But the

question remains: what would motivate

them to create such a thing? The answer:

the desire to attract the attention of female

pufferfish. Besides its impressive

appearance, the design has great functional

value. The female pufferfish mate with the

males and lay their eggs in the middle of the

circle. It is theorized that the ridges in the

sand help to decrease the impact of the

current and protect the eggs from

predation. Even more interesting, the males

that created the most rings attracted the

most females.

Sophie Fiset, 4th Year BIO

Underwater Crop Circles

A single male pufferfish created this fantastic design,which is many times larger than his own body.

and the results demonstrated that conscious subjects

acted upon what they had learned when they were

sleeping. Interestingly, the subjects did not report

being aware of the learning process that had taken

place the previous night.

Another experiment conducted in the study

involved testing the effect of different sleep stages on

the subjects’ learning. It was concluded that learning

occurred during both rapid eye movement (REM)

sleep and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep.

Furthermore, novel information learned during

NREM sleep was retained after the subject awoke

while that learned during REM sleep was not.

The findings of this study could possibly be

applied in the future to develop a way for people who

are asleep to learn meaningful information, not

merely associations, thereby utilizing the unconscious

state in which humans spend around a third of their

lives.

6 Catalyst

Remember that time when you were trudging

through the snow in -30 degree weather? And while

shivering you suddenly thought, can’t I just stop

feeling cold? Finally the dream ofmany Canadians

may become reality.

At the USC Dornsife College ofLetters, an

associate professor of neurobiology and his team of

neuroscientists were able to find a way ofmaking this

a possibility. David McKemy and his team used mice

as their model species for this experiment. The

scientists developed a method of selectively shutting

down the mice’s ability to have any feeling or

perception of cold. However, quite remarkably, they

were able to ensure that not all nerves in that area

were shut off, thereby allowing the mice to retain

their perception of heat and touch.

Prior to this success, David McKemy found a

link between the sensory feeling of cold, and

TRPM8. TRPM8 is a protein that detects cold on the

skin. McKemy and his team manipulated the neurons

that express this protein, which allowed them to test

the function and effects of the protein on organisms.

To test this, a control group ofmice that had

the TRPM8 neurons functioning was tested against a

group ofmice without this protein, and both groups

were subjected to a range of temperatures from 0 to

32 degrees Celsius. It was found that the mice that

lacked the TRPM8 neurons had lost the ability to

sense cold, but still felt heat. This directly indicated

that the activity of this specific neuron was related to

the sensation of cold. However, it was noticed that

the mice, although lacking the sense of cold,

developed an affinity for cold areas, rather than hot

ones.

It must be noted that removing an organism’s ability

to feel cold is potentially harmful, as it renders the

organism unaware of extreme cold and the negative

effects on the body following prolonged exposure to

cold. Also, if a body cannot sense cold, then

appropriate responses (like shivering) to maintain

homeostasis will not be triggered.

The control mice were more likely to have an

affinity towards a temperature between the two

extremes, at approximately 30 degrees Celsius. They

logically avoided areas that would be too hot or cold

for their bodies to be comfortable.

Interestingly, when tested for responses to

movement, sense of touch, and strength, the mice

lacking TRPM8 did not differ from the wild type

mice.

These scientists are hoping that with a greater

understanding of sensory neurons they will be able to

develop more effective pain relief, which would

remove some sensations selectively without affecting

the other senses. So perhaps as further research is

conducted we may not have to bundle up during the

cold winter months anymore!

Sonya Parboodial , 1 st Year BIO

March 201 3 7

While it’s true that each

and every one of us is a unique

individual, there is simply one thing no

one can avoid experiencing in

university: stress. Judging from our

academic workload, it would appear that

our professors believe us to have infinite

hours in a day. And let’s not forget that,

to accomplish anything in life after

graduation, simply having good grades

won’t be enough. It’s necessary to be

sociable; you will be expected to be an

excellent leader and team player, to

network efficiently, and a little bit of fun

here and there wouldn’t hurt either.

Involvement is just as important,

especially when it comes

down to the

fact that it’s

your résumé

against the

world. None of

that, of course,

takes into account

the student’s personal

life (though

whether or not

students actually

have the luxury of

personal time could

also be subject for

debate).

All

in all, it seems destined that the “to do”

pile will be infinitely higher than the

pile that reads “done”. This is a reality

that the average university student faces

on a daily basis. And, since there are

only so many hours in a day, other life

priorities– such as exercise – are

inevitably put off. The countless benefits

that result from an active, healthy

lifestyle are widely known, to say the

least. But, as a student, it can be hard to

prioritize the prevention of a heart attack

some thirty or forty years down the line

when there’s so much going on in the

present.

However, did you know that

recent research has proven several

immediate perks of exercise, some of

which can be felt almost immediately

after the workout ends? These benefits

include stress relief and an overall

feeling of happiness and relaxation; they

are induced because of the way exercise

affects the brain at the cellular level.

The brain processes the

beginning of exercise, marked by an

increase in blood pressure, as a moment

of stress. In order to defend itself, the

brain is then stimulated to release a

protein called brain-derived

neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This

protein serves to protect and repair

Stressed Out?Work Out!Katherine Shan, 1 st Year

BIM

8 Catalyst

memory neurons and also acts as a

‘reset switch'; it is responsible for the

ease and clarity one experiences after

physical activity. Another neural

response to exercise is the release of

endorphins, a group of hormones that

block feelings of pain and create a sense

of elation and positivity. Interestingly

enough, BDNFs and endorphins mimic

the addictive effects that drugs like

morphine, heroin, and nicotine have on

the body. The only known difference

between them is that one of the two

groups of chemicals is clearly

detrimental to health.

These neural responses are not

limited to top athletes either, because

exercising does not have to entail

anything extremely vigorous; one

simply has to move. This was

demonstrated in a 2011 Norwegian

study involving 4500 participants—the

study concluded that those who engaged

in any amount of exercise were in better

mental condition than those who did not

exercise at all.

Another study, implemented by

the American College of Sports

Medicine, found that six weeks of

cycling or weight training eased stress

and irritability in women who were

diagnosed with anxiety disorders. In

addition, one individual (separate from

the studies) testifies that his weekly

workout routine began as five minutes

per day, three days per week—even

then, he could see some results. It may

seem shocking that so little exercise can

be beneficial; however, it is in fact the

first twenty minutes of physical activity

that provide the body with maximal

gain.

While there’s no debating that a

certain level of stress is necessary to

maximize productivity, being content

and satisfied with one’s day-to-day life

and accomplishments are equally

important. So, the next time you feel

ready to toss your laptop out the

window, take a deep breath and consider

taking an exercise break. You never

know what a five to ten minute workout

could do for you; and what would you

have to lose?

These articles are exercpts!For extra content, colour and the full

scoop, visit

uocatalyst.com

March 201 3 9

You’re a university student. So it’s very likely

that you spend most of your time in a state of visual

stress. This morning, you probably awoke before the

sun and hopped onto the bus where you passed the

time texting on a smartphone, reading a novel on

your e-reader, or reviewing your notes for that pesky

midterm you’ve been worrying about. When you

finally arrived on campus, you probably headed on

into a poorly lit auditorium where you took notes on

your laptop. Or maybe to a lab where you strained

your eyes in very precise near-work, like closely

observing chemical reactions and measuring out

solutes.

Then, because you couldn’t stand to go out in

the crisp cold of a Canadian winter, or risk wetting

your lustrous hair in the rain, you probably travelled

via shadowy tunnel from Marion to MacDonald to

Colonel By. As such, your day passed. Even now as

you read this edition of the Catalyst under a

fluorescent lamp somewhere in the library, your dorm

room, or your house (after having spent hours

procrastinating on Facebook and then finally getting

some work done) you are putting a huge strain on

two of the most delicate structures in your body —

your eyes.

For years researchers have been studying the

effect ofmodern indoor urban living on our eyes.

Myopia, also known as nearsightedness, is a very

common ocular disorder wherein the distance

between the cornea and the retina of the eye is

elongated. As a result, when light enters the eye the

image does not focus on the retina like it is supposed

to. Rather, the image focusses in front of the retina,

causing close objects to appear clearly and distant

objects to appear blurred.

So what is the cause ofmyopia? Certainly

genetics is one factor. In addition, researchers have

suggested that lifestyle choices such as a lack of

natural outdoor light, physical inactivity, and low

levels of vitamin D may also contribute to the

progression ofmyopia, especially in childhood and

young adulthood.

A study by Jacobsen, Jensen, and

Goldschmidt in 2008 evaluated the effects of physical

activity on myopia in Danish medical students. The

study estimated that “the protective effect of 1 hour

Vanessa Nzeribe, 1 st Year BIM

Ocu l ar

OO vv ee rr ll oo aa ddOO vv ee rr ll oo aa ddOO vv ee rr ll oo aa dd

"Approximately 25% of Canadians havesome form of myopia and this number

is rising at an alarming rate."

1 0 Catalyst

For many decades now, the generalconsensus in health and nutrition has been thatomega-6 fatty acids are good for you. Theselipids are found in common cookingingredients that are considered good for ourhealth: soya oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, sesameseeds and various grain products. In recentyears, we have seen an increase inadvertisements for potato chips cooked insunflower oil and have gained a false sense ofhope that the chips we munch on are healthy.

In the 1960s, scientific discoveriescreated the belief that the omega-6 fatty acidfamily, along with other types of unsaturatedfats, could be of significant benefit to ourhealth, while saturated fats were mainlyharmful. Omega-6 fatty acids include a crucialmember, linoleic acid, which is one of twoessential polyunsaturated fatty acids in ourdiet. So then why, all of a sudden, are newsreports broadcasting that omega-6 fatty acidsare in fact harmful? The answer to this can befound in data from the Sydney Diet HeartStudy that was carried out many years back.

The study, conducted between 1966and 1973, was designed to investigate thepotential benefits of replacing saturated fattyacids with polyunsaturated fatty acids,

specifically safflower oil. As predicted byresearch at that time, the diet rich in omega-6fatty acids reduced cholesterol by more than13%.

However, recently, and in a surprisingtwist, Dr. Christopher Ramsden and hisresearch team discovered that it also caused a

Heather McDonald, 2nd Year BIM

of physical activity per day is equal in magnitude to

the detrimental effect of 3 hours of study per day.”

In 2011 , a study by Mutti and Marks

evaluated the effects of vitamin D on myopia. They

found that although people with myopia often had

lower blood levels of vitamin D, this did not correlate

with time spent outdoors in natural daylight. Rather,

the levels of vitamin D were more closely related to

dietary choices.

Guggenheim’s 2012 study on time spent

outdoors and physical activity in children concluded

that the relationship between physical activity and

low myopia rates in youth is related to natural

daylight. Basically, when kids play, they usually do it

outside. So of course children whose parents reported

more physical activity by questionnaire also

happened to spend more time outside in general.

Our ancestors may not have had the

convenience of the light bulb, the computer, or even

the written word. They spent their days outside

cultivating the land, hunting, and doing physical

work. Sun-burning, back-breaking, physical work.

Despite this, they likely had one thing in their favour:

excellent eyesight.

Good Fat, Bad Fat...

The omega-6 fatty acids in sunflower, soyaand corn oils may not be as healthy as wasoriginally believed.

The Human Skull / Le Crâne humain, p 3“Crâne humain.” Wikipedia. Web. 1 3 February 201 3.

<http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/crâne_humain>.“Human skull .” Wikipedia. Web. 1 3 February 201 3.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skull>.

Set Your Alarm Clock to Learn, p 4Arzi, A., Shedlesky, L., Ben-Shaul, M., Nasser, K., Oksenberg, A.,

Hairston, I .S., & Sobel, N. (201 2). Humans can learnnew information during sleep. Nature Neuroscience,doi:1 0.1 038/nn.31 93

Underwater Crop Circles, p 5"The Deep Sea Mystery Circle - a love story". Spoon & Tamago.

1 8 Sept 201 2. Web. Feb 1 5 201 3. <http:www.spoon-tamago.com/201 2/09/1 8/deep-sea-mystery-circle-love-story/>.

Goodbye Goosebumps, p 6University of Southern California. "Stopping cold: Scientists turn

off the abil ity to feel cold." ScienceDaily, 1 2 Feb. 201 3.Web. 1 3 Feb. 201 3.

"USC Scientists Turn off the Abil ity to Feel Cold | ScienceCodex." Science Codex. N.p., 1 2 Feb. 201 3. Web. 1 2Feb. 201 3. >.

Stressed Out? Work Out!, p 7Brock, Lawanna. “Why Does Exercise Make Us Feel

Good.”Steady Health. October 1 9, 201 1 . Website.Accessed February 1 2, 201 3.<http://www.steadyhealth.com/articles/Why_Does_Exercise_Make_Us_Feel_Good_a2052.html>

Reynolds, Gretchen. “Why Exercise Makes Us Feel Good.” New

York Times – Health and Science. July 6, 201 1 . Website.Accessed February 1 2, 201 3.

<http://well .blogs.nytimes.com/201 1 /07/06/why-exercise-makes-us-feel-good/>

Stamatakis, Jeannine. “Why Does Exercise Make Us Feel

Good?” Scientific America. June 24, 201 2. Website.Accessed February 1 2, 201 3.<http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-does-exercise-make-us-feel-good>

Widrich, Leo. “What happens to our brains when we exerciseand how it makes us happier.” Buffer Blog. August 23,201 2. Website. Accessed February 1 2, 201 3.<http://blog.bufferapp.com/why-exercising-makes-us-happier>

Ocular Overload, p 9Guggenheim, Jeremy A., et al. "Time Outdoors and Physical

Activity as Predictors of Incident Myopia in Childhood:A Prospective Cohort Study." Investigativeophthalmology & visual science 53.6 (201 2): 2856-65.Print.

Jacobsen, Nina, Hanne Jensen, and Ernst Goldschmidt. "Doesthe Level of Physical Activity in University StudentsInfluence Development and Progression of Myopia? —A 2-Year Prospective Cohort Study." Investigativeophthalmology & visual science 49.4 (2008): 1 322-7.Print.

Mutti, Donald O., and Amanda R. Marks. "Blood Levels ofVitamin D in Teens and Young Adults with Myopia."Optometry and Vision Science 88.3 (201 1 ): 377-82. Print.

Good fat, Bad fat, p 1 0“Lay’s Potato Chips Cuts Saturated Fat By More Than Half.”

FritoLay (2006): n. pag. Web. 1 0 Feb. 201 3.Crowe, Kelly and Pauline Dakin. “Heart-healthy oil claims

reconsidered.” CBCnews (201 3): n. pag. Web 1 0 Feb.201 3.

Medina, Ray. “Revisiting the Sydney Diet Heart Study.” Syontix

(201 3): n. pag. Web 1 0 Feb. 201 3.

For sources of al l images and clipart, please emailproduction@uocatalyst.com.

Sources

Catalyst is a student science journal intended to provide up-to-date, informative and entertaining articles. Views expressed inCatalyst are solely those of the authors, and do not necessari ly reflect the opinions of the organizers of Catalyst or of the ScienceStudent's Association. Catalyst welcomes submissions from students, faculty and members of the uOttawa community. Catalyst wi l lnot publ ish submissions deemed hurtful to others or in any way inappropriate. For more information, please contact the Editor-in-Chief at editor@uocatalyst.com.

Le journal étudiant, Catalyst, est une publ ication scientifique comprenant des articles informatifs et divertissants. Les opinionsexprimées dans le Catalyst sont uniquement cel les des auteurs et ne reflètent pas nécessairement les vues de l 'équipe éditoriale duCatalyst ou cel les de l 'Association des Étudiants en Sciences. On encourage des soumissions de la part d'étudiants, de professeurs etde membres de la communauté universitaire. Le Catalyst se réserve le droit de refuser la publ ication de matériel jugé i l l icite ouinapproprié. Pour plus d' information,veui l lez contacter le rédacteur-en-chef à redacteur@uocatalyst.com.

35% increase in the risk of death fromcardiovascular disease. These results were notpublished when the study was first conductedand are contradictory to just about everythingwe know about omega-6 fatty acids thus far.

Further research on this topic is sure tofollow, as we are constantly reminded of theforever progressive and somewhat frustratingnature of science.