Anthrax Virus essays

Anthrax Virus essays Anthrax is a horrible killer. Most that die are unknowing that they are even infected. The symptoms are black sores in the first instance, and abdominal cramp and vomiting and bleeding in the second. If the bacteria grows it will invade the blood stream and cause systemic disease. The inhaled spores are very fast acting. They travel very quickly to lymph nodes. Some of the cell stay in the lungs and cause fluids to build up. After its in the blood B. anthracis can expand because of their virulence factors. This affects the bodies immune defenses that are suppose to monitor the level of bacterial growth. The anthrax toxins also enter other cells and contribute to mortal illness. The toxins consist of three proteins: a protective antigen, edema factor, and lethal factor. These are harmless individually until they attach and enter cells. The way this happen is first the protective antigen binds to the cell where an enzyme trims off its outermost tip. Seven of those molecules form a ring that captures the two factors. Then the two factors attack the cells cytosol, and there they do their dirty work. They have now come up with ATR. It spans the cells membrane and protrudes from it. The protruding part has a receptor area, which are the attachment sites for particular proteins. The area is were the protective protein latches on or so scientist believe. Scientist would like to uncover the molecular interaction that enables protective antigen heptamers to move from the cell surface to inside the cell. I think that if they have come this far then its not long before they figure that out. The only anthrax vaccine approved for humans takes a different form. It consists of toxin molecules that have been treated to prevent them from making people ill. The way the do it is to grow a weaker strand and filter the bacteria cells from the culture and treating with formaldehyde to in ...

Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica

Aztec Religion and Gods of the Ancient Mexica The Aztec religion was made up of a complex set of beliefs, rituals and gods that helped the Aztec/Mexica to make sense of their worlds physical reality, and the existence of life and death. The Aztecs believed in a multiple-deity universe, with different gods who reigned over different aspects of Aztec society, serving and responding to Aztec specific needs. That structure was deeply rooted in a widespread Mesoamerican tradition in which concepts of the cosmos, world, and nature were shared across most of the prehistoric societies in the southern third of North America. In general, the Aztecs perceived the world as divided into and balanced by a series of opposing states, binary oppositions such as hot and cold, dry and wet, day and night, light and dark. The role of humans was to maintain this balance by practicing appropriate ceremonies and sacrifices. The Aztec Universe The Aztecs believed that the universe was divided into three parts: the heavens above, the world in which they lived, and the underworld. The world, called Tlaltipac, was conceived as a disk located in the middle of the universe. The three levels, heaven, world, and underworld, were connected through a central axis, or axis mundi. For the Mexica, this central axis was represented on earth by the Templo Mayor, the Main Temple located at the center of the sacred precinct of Mexico- Tenochtitlan. The Multiple Diety UniverseThe Aztec Heaven and underworld were also conceived as divided into different levels, respectively thirteen and nine, and each of these was overlooked by a separate deity. Each human activity, as well as the natural elements, had their own patron deity who overlooked different aspect of human life: childbirth, commerce, agriculture, as well as the seasonal cycles, landscape features, rain, etc. The importance of connecting and controlling the cycles of nature, such as the sun and moon cycles, with human activities, resulted in the use, in the pan-Mesoamerican tradition of sophisticated calendars which were consulted by priests and specialists. Aztec Gods The prominent Aztec scholar Henry B. Nicholson classified the numerous Aztec gods in three groups: celestial and creator deities, gods of fertility, agriculture and water and deities of war and sacrifices. Click on the links to learn more of each of the main gods and goddesses. Celestial and Creator Gods Xiuhtecuhtli-Huehueteotl (Old Man, the cycle of seasons)Tezcatlipoca (Smoking Mirror, god of night and sorcery)Quetzalcoatl (the god/hero, the once and future king figure) Gods of Water, Fertility, and Agriculture Tlaloc (rain god)Chalchiutlicue (She of the Jade Skirt, childbirth)Centeotl (Maize Cob Lord, maize)Xipe Totec Lord with the Flayed Skin, fertility) Gods of War and Sacrifice Tonatiuh (Aztec sun god)Huitzilopochtli (war god, patron god of Tenochtitlan)Tlaltecuhtli (earth goddess) Sources AA.VV, 2008, La Religià ³n Mexica, Arqueologà ­a Mexicana, vol. 16, num. 91 Nicholson, Henry B., 1971, Religion in Pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, en Robert Wauchope (ed.), Handbook of Middle American Indians, University of Texas Press, Austin, Vol. 10, pp 395-446. Smith Michael, 2003, The Aztecs, Second Edition, Blackwell Publishing Van Tuerenhout Dirk R., 2005, The Aztecs. New Perspectives, ABC-CLIO Inc. Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO and Oxford, England.