Sophia Ikiri 10/18/21
Chemistry Current Event 7
Press, The Associated. “In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.” NPR, NPR, 20 Oct. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/10/20/1047560631/in-a-major-scientific-advance-a-pig-kidney-is-successfully-transplanted-into-a-h.
I read the article, “In a major scientific advance, a pig kidney is successfully transplanted into a human.” The article explained how surgeons temporarily attached a pig kidney to the body of a deceased recipient to observe. This was a small step in a long journey to one day use animal organs for transplants. Unfortunately, a sugar in pig cells, new and strange to the human body, results in organ rejection. For this experiment, this kidney came from a gene-edited animal, edited to avoid the immune system attack by taking away that sugar. Surprisingly enough, the kidney started working, filtering waste and producing urine(without causing rejection!) The science of animal-to-human transplants, known as xenotransplantation, is not new, dating back to the 17th century, when there were attempts to use animal blood for transfusions. The article explains how by the 20th century, surgeons were trying to use organs from baboons into humans(including Baby Fae, the famous baby who lived with a baboon heart for 21 days.) The author goes on to explain how the FDA approved the gene alteration in the Revivicor (a subsidiary of the company that edited the pig’s genes, United Therapeutics) pigs, as safe for human medicine and consumption during December. Developers would need to submit more paperwork before pig organs can be put into live humans. CEO Martine Rothblatt of United Therapeutics says, “This is an important step forward in realizing the promise of xenotransplantation, which will save thousands of lives each year in the not-too-distant future,”(The Associated Press) The article ends by touching on the ethics of all this- how some people feel that raising pigs to be organ donors is wrong.
This article has a great impact on society because it educates people on this new discovery. It can help people learn about the history of xenotransplantation, and how so many people could be saved if using organs of another animal became common. This article also makes people consider the ethics of raising animals to use their organs.
I enjoyed reading this article, it was definitely a fascinating read. I liked how I was able to learn about how different species’ organs can help humans. I enjoyed learning about how this kidney transplant is a small step towards helping save lives. I thought it was great how the author gave background information on the history of xenotransplantation, and gave definitions to harder words, helping me better learn. Despite this, I wish that the author had gone more in depth into the ethics of transplanting organs from pigs into humans. The part where the author mentions this is, “Raising pigs to be organ donors feels wrong to some people, but it may grow more acceptable if concerns about animal welfare can be addressed”(The Associated Press) I feel that the ethics of this play a huge role. Is it ok to kill different species to use their organs? Is that animal cruelty? Just because we can do this, does that mean we should? The author only lightly touches these issues when this should be addressed more deeply. Maybe the author could have included more questions to consider about the ethics of this, and perhaps included more of the opinion of people who are against xenotransplantation. Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, and feel better informed on this issue!
Isabel Haller
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
Current Event 9 Comment
January 10th, 2020
Ikiri, Sophia. “Review of: ‘In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.’” In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human, 5 Nov. 2021, https://bhscorechem.blogspot.com/2021/11/in-major-scientific-advance-pig-kidney.html#comment-form.
Press, The Associated. “In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.” NPR, NPR, 20 Oct. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/10/20/1047560631/in-a-major-scientific-advance-a-pig-kidney-is-successfully-transplanted-into-a-h.
It was a pleasure to read Sophia Ikiri’s review of “In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.” from NPR. The first aspect of Ikiri’s review that became apparent was her wonderful writing skill. Her words are carefully chosen and her grammar is perfect. For example, “Unfortunately, a sugar in pig cells, new and strange to the human body, results in organ rejection.” (Ikiri) Even in this short sentence, it is obvious through Ikiri’s use of commas and technical terms such as “organ rejection” that she is a skilled writer, and this engages readers immediately. Another accomplishment in Ikiri’s writing is when she directly references sections of the article to support her thoughts regarding it. She uses quotations from the original piece of writing to cite a scientist’s opinion on the topic of pigs working as organ donors. Lastly, in a specific part of her first paragraph, Ikiri uses the word “xenotransplantation” for the first time. Aware that her readers may not know this word’s definition, she guides them here: “The science of animal-to-human transplants, known as xenotransplantation…” (Ikiri) As someone who is not very knowledgeable on this article’s topic, I was very pleased to see that Ikiri made the effort for her less-informed audience.
Finding something that Ikiri could improve upon was truly difficult, seeing as her writing was near perfect. One thing, however, that I think she could do a little better is elaborate on how this topic can and will affect society. She mentioned its importance in each of the other paragraphs, but the paragraph in which Ikiri was solely meant to discuss the significance of the article ended up being rather short and leaving the reader to make some inferences. Another aspect of Ikiri’s writing that she could improve is in the first paragraph, where she briefly mentions in the last sentence that the author of the original article finishes the writing by bringing up the ethics of xenotransplantation. Perhaps Ikiri could have gone into deeper detail about what exactly the author said, including a quotation or more of an explanation.
In conclusion, this review was spectacular and I would love to read more of Ikiri’s work in the future. The subject of her review, while perhaps a bit unusual, was incredibly interesting to learn about, and significant to the future of medicine and science. I didn’t realize how important it would be if we can begin to use animals’ organs to help humans. Nor had it occurred to me that there are moral ramifications to that and that the backlash may be severe. Overall, I loved Ikiri’s writing and hope she can share her insight with the world.
Stella Woolery
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
2/10/22
Current Event Comment 1
I chose to leave a comment on Sophia Ikiri’s review of “In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human”. Her review was eloquently written, and her facts were easy to understand and follow. She did a beautiful job at making this strange topic into something that people would be interested in reading.
I decided to leave a comment on this article because its unusual title drew me in, and truly if a pig's kidney could successfully replace a human's that would be a huge headway in science. One aspect of her review that I appreciated was how much background information she gave the readers, and went as far as to explain xenotransplantation dated as far back as the 17th century, and then explained its uses in easy-to-follow terms.
Although I enjoyed reading this review, I would explain more about pig kidney's impact because it is a major life-saving discovery, which she only wrote 2 sentences on. The text states, “This article has a great impact on society because it educates people on this new discovery… so many people could be saved if using organs of another animal became common.” (Ikiri). This sentence mainly touches upon the impact of the article, instead of the discovery. Another weakness was her takeaways from the article. The “perception” of the article is very important to the criteria, and her review states, “Overall, I enjoyed reading this article, and feel better informed on this issue!” (Ikiri). This overall understanding is weak and doesn’t explain exactly what she took away from this. To correct these weaknesses, further information is necessary, and the perception of the article only needs to go more in-depth concerning her feelings towards it.
Because of this review, I was able to learn more about a topic I knew nothing about, and the major steps taken forwards in science. Additionally, it will be interesting to think that perhaps in the future people will have pig kidney replacements and if this new discovery will become as prevalent in our future as Sophia Ikiri writes it may.
Citations
Ikiri, Sophia. “Review of: ‘In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.’” In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human, 5 Nov. 2021, https://bhscorechem.blogspot.com/2021/11/in-major-scientific-advance-pig-kidney.html#comment-form.
Press, The Associated. “In a Major Scientific Advance, a Pig Kidney Is Successfully Transplanted into a Human.” NPR, NPR, 20 Oct. 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/10/20/1047560631/in-a-major-scientific-advance-a-pig-kidney-is-successfully-transplanted-into-a-h