The Life and Achievements of Dr. John Lynn Jefferies

By: Udhay Joshi

Posted For: November 25, 2013

Dr. John Lynn Jefferies
(Courtesy of cincinnatichildrens.org)

Working 70 hours a week, constant life and death cases, exhaustion, endless accreditation exams, stringent teaching, instructing interns, and advancing medical research are just a few of the grueling aspects about a physician's work. The purpose of a physician is to diagnose and treat patients through conventional medicine, allopathic medicine, and or surgery. Most physicians tend to act clinically, interacting with patients, but all physicians are also qualified as medical researchers.

There are hundreds of specialties that a physician can focus his or her career on. An example of this kind of specialization would be a physician who focuses in the field of Cardiology, known as a Cardiologist. A renowned Cardiologist within Cincinnati, Ohio is Dr. John Lynn Jefferies. Dr. Jefferies works at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center as an Adult and Pediatric Cardiologist. Dr. Jefferies specializes in Cardiomyopathy and Advanced Heart Failure.

Dr. Jefferies got a chance to share his story on November 23, 2013 in a face to face recorded interview at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Dr. Jefferies began his pursuit of medicine in 1988 when he entered the University of Tennessee as a freshman pre-medical student. Dr. Jefferies was interested in medicine all his life and had many family members in medicine. “Originally, I was just going into medicine because all of my family did,” Dr. Jefferies stated. “However, my affinity toward medicine was fully developed after volunteering for 3 straight years at a hospital in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee.” The trials of all physicians start as an undergraduate student and an iron will is the only factor that will allow students to achieve their dreams.

Dr. Jefferies confirmed that his path to becoming a Cardiologist was “traditional” by modern standards. “I went to four years of undergrad at the University of Tennessee (1988-1992), four years of medical school at the University of Tennessee (1992-1996), spent four years as a resident physician at the University of Kentucky (1996-2000), received my Master of Public Health degree at the University of Kentucky (2000-2001), and had a fellowship at the Baylor College of Medicine (2003-2006).” The combined total of 16 years of upper and professional level education is roughly the average amount of time a student spends in the process to become a physician.

Dr. Jefferies jokingly quotes about the trials and tribulations of life as a physician and adding more depth than “just the job description”. “Getting into medical school and all those years of residency are the easier parts of physician's life,” Dr. Jefferies jokes. “I currently have to train interns and residents, see roughly 15 patients a day, address patients with very severe heart conditions, keep up with the 20 research grants under my name, and go home to raise my kids. The books and clinicals in medical school were much easier!” As with most physicians, Dr. Jefferies is committed solely to his patients while in the hospital, but must train other young physicians so the same excellent care can be given to all future patients.

Other than teaching proper bedside manner, Dr. Jefferies acts as a consultant for resident physicians. “The best way to learn the in depth techniques and decipher through cases more efficiently is through experience in the field. I purposely give my residents the hardest cases. It’s not out of personal laziness. It’s about dealing with the extremes because the hardest cases will give you the most experience in every facet of medicine and in life as a physician.” Dr. Jefferies's commitment to his patients is equally as important as training his residents.

For Dr. Jefferies, friendly patient interaction is one of the most important skills to develop and the hardest skill to cultivate in physicians. “Most interns and residents have had their brains hardwired to be able to think critically and rely on their medical school training to properly diagnose and treat patients; however, I feel that most of them fail to realize that patients are people too, but they are much more terrified than the medical staff.” Dr. Jefferies has enacted a protocol within the Cardiology department, with the help of the Co-Director of Cardiology Dr. Jeffery Towbin, that requires all physicians and researchers working through Cardiology to spend at least 12 minutes with each patient. 

Dr. Jefferies with a patient during one of his Cardiomyopathy Clinics
(Courtesy of cincinnatichildrens.org)

Dr. Jefferies, aside from have an excellent history with his patients and students, is an avid researcher in the fields of Cardiomyopathy and Advanced Heart Failure. “I have 20 research grants devoted to the fields of Cardiomyopathy and Advanced Heart Failure alone,” Dr. Jefferies states. “Our research has given options to 1,000 patients that were diagnosed with cardiac diseases and death sentences.” Most of the Cardiomyopathy patients are pediatric patients diagnosed with some form of muscular dystrophy, and most of the adult patients experience the symptoms of Advanced Heart Failure.

Dr. Jefferies worked with the medical team that discovered the correlation between Cardiomyopathy and (Duchenne’s) muscular dystrophy. Dr. Jefferies, when talking about the correlation between the diseases, states, “Cardiomyopathy – the weakening of the heart muscle due to scar tissue replacing cardiac muscles – correlates to Duchenne’s through a combined skeletal and cardiac muscle wasting effect. As Duchenne’s replaces skeletal muscle with scar tissue, it also begins to slowly replace cardiac muscle with scar tissue. This scar tissue formation progressively leads to increasingly degenerative stages of Cardiomyopathy.” The linking factor was found to be a protein called periostin and Dr. Jefferies, who acts as an Associate Professor of Cardiology at the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine, bases an entire course on this linkage. 

The difference between a normal heart and a heart with Cardiomyopathy
(Courtesy of  library.thinkquest.org)

Advanced Heart Failure consumes much more of Dr. Jefferies’s time because these cases are constant life and death scenarios. Dr. Jefferies, places a significant amount of emphasis on the stress in life and death cases when acting as a physician because of the repercussions of failure. “If one of my Advanced Heart Failure – a cardiac prognosis that goes beyond simple heart attacks and causes people to require advanced life support or a new heart to replace their failing one – comes into the clinic, five different specialties (Neurology, Pulmonology, Cardiology, Internal Medicine, and Endocrinology) must examine the patient. The situation becomes very tense and a code (medical jargon for a heart attack) tends to happen in 1 of every 6 patients because they haven't been taking their medicine and the strain of the testing causes their heart to fail.” Although progress has been made in both fields of research, much more information needs to be gathered and clinical testing needs to be done in order to assign better treatments.

Dr. Jefferies is quite skilled in his work and has only had three major misdiagnoses in his 17 year medical career. His second misdiagnosis was, in his thoughts, his worst moment in medicine. “I had a patient who was experiencing some very irregular cardiac symptoms. She tested positive for end-stage Cardiomyopathy at age 16, but I could not figure out why her heart was failing so quickly. There were no major symptoms of her muscular dystrophy getting worse; in fact, her skeletal muscle ratios were improving. After she passed away, it was discovered that she was 1 month pregnant and her child was causing too much strain on her heart. I should have looked for that, but I was not as thorough with my prognosis.” It was during this case that Dr. Jefferies experienced one of the hardest lessons a physician can learn and realized that all the symptoms may not lead to straightforward answers. Since the case, he has firmly believed in the cooperation of all medical specializations to properly diagnose patients.

Dr. Jefferies has had many more highlights than somber moments in his medical career, one of them being a successful heart transplant of a toddler. Dr. Jefferies, as a pediatric cardiologist, has been forced to approve of a risky heart transplant only once. “Heart transplants on patients with severe Cardiomyopathy are very high risk surgeries because of the complications that can happen when the patient is put on and removed from the CPB (cardiopulmonary bypass) pump. The only transplant case I had that require my approval and post-op (operation) treatment involved a 4 year old female with severe Cardiomyopathy who had to undergo the surgery. It was our only hope of saving her, and the immensely skilled surgeons completed the surgery without having a single moment of cardiothoracic failure.” Dr. Jefferies, as with most physicians, continues to admire medically miraculous moments with patients who are given death sentences.

Throughout his 17 year career, Dr. Jefferies is a shining example of medical excellence and is a clinical research pioneer. He serves as an in inspiration to all those who aspire to be physicians and is, personally, a very good mentor to those students who are willing to put in hard work in order to learn. Dr. Jefferies has saved countless lives and touched even more through his tireless work with suffering patients all across the United States.

The Life, Qualities, Legacy of Freddie Mercury

By: Udhay Joshi

Posted for: November 9, 2013

Freddie Mercury
(Courtesy of  konbini.com)

There were many rock bands that became household names within the 1970s and 1980s, but one band stood out from all the others. Queen was a collection of four very talented musicians who banded together to create some of the best music of the 1970-1980s era. This music, like “We Will Rock You”, was very accessible to the public and had the ability to connect people from all walks of life.

Queen’s lead singer, Freddie Mercury, was exceptionally charismatic and tended to draw his songwriting talent from sheer ingenuity, such as in the songs “Who Wants To Live For Ever” and “We Are The Champions”, rather than through group consensus and negotiation displayed by most bands of the era. Mercury’s distinctive persona is defined through his creativity in songs, his fervent stage presence, and the legacy he left for future musicians.

Freddie’s Beginnings

Freddie Mercury started his life born in Zanzibar as Farrokh Bulsara, and his passion for music started early in his life. According to Jacky Gunn & Jim Jenkins of freddie.ru, “He (Freddie) was music mad and played records on the family's old record player, stacking the singles to play constantly. The music he was able to get was mostly Indian, but some Western music was available. He would sing along to either and preferred music to school work.”

Freddie came onto the worldwide rock scene in 1970 when he took some members of his former band, Smile, and reformed them into the band known as Queen. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the public was shocked, awed, entertained, and inspired by the singing and dancing of this band who consistently defied all musical and cultural norms.

Characteristics of the Legendary Singer

Drugs, parties, charity work, operas, playing random music while watching the sunset, and exploring homosexuality are an introduction to Freddie Mercury’s erratic lifestyle outside of Queen. This lifestyle came to inspire popular culture idolized by many youth in the 1980s. However, Mercury’s most admirable qualities were not his erratic but hilarious lifestyle nor his philanthropist pursuits. His most admirable qualities were his unique creativity in his songwriting and his unequaled ability to entertain through song and dance.

One of Freddie's hilarious photos that reflect his humorous nature
(Courtesy of  http://queenphotos.files.wordpress.com)

A popular story highlighting Mercury’s unique musical gifts deal with the hit 1976 Queen song, “Bohemian Rhapsody”. The song was written, produced, and sung by Freddie Mercury himself. The most inspiring aspect of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is the exceptionally different theme of the song compared to songs released by other musical groups of the time. The main theme of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is to accept death, as it tells the story of a man committing suicide. In addition, the instrumentals and vocals of this piece are very different from all other works of the era, reflecting the sporadic thought process and musical creativity of its writer.  

Other than the unique songwriting that constantly redefined the image of Queen, Freddie Mercury was a prestigious and powerful vocalist. A good example of Freddie’s special vocal talent was his ability to sing comfortably in multiple octaves. According to noiseaddicts.com, “His (Freddie’s) range included F2 — E6, to F6 and F5. Freddie’s vocals were over a four-octave range.” Freddie’s four-octave voice, compared to the human average of a two-octave vocal range, had remarkable power and was unparalleled in the genre of rock at the time.

Freddie’s stage presence was also very admirable and unique from other bands. Outside of music, Freddie Mercury was an introverted recluse who kept his life very private; however, the stage, arena, and a loving crowd brought out a completely different person who was energetic and exciting. According freddiemercury.com, Freddie Mercury, when talking about himself as a performer, states, “I'm so powerful on stage, I seem to have created a monster. When I'm performing I'm an extrovert, yet inside I'm a completely different man.”

 An example of Freddie's powerful stage presence

(Courtsey of  youtube.com)

This “monster” is actually a fierce performer who loved to bask and interact with his crowd. A good example of Freddie’s interaction with his audience was in the 1985 Live Aid concert. Although it was merely a vocal warm up for Freddie, the 72,000 people in attendance would never forget the epic moment in rock history when the front man of a legendary band actually incorporated the audience extensively in his own performance through a call-and-response exercise. Freddie’s ability to bask in the raw excitement of a roaring crowd and return the energy through his performance was revolutionary and set the standard for bands to come.

Queen - Live Aid - Part 2 (2/5)

(Courtsey of youtube.com)

Freddie’s Legacy and Posthumous Inspiration

Musical aptitude, unique songwriting, unparalleled vocals, and zealous stage presence were admirable qualities of Freddie Mercury while he was alive. Equally admirable is Freddie’s legacy and the impact he has made upon musicians through his historic musical career, after he attained stardom, and after his time on Earth ended.

Freddie’s legacy as the ideal front man of a rock band continued well after his death. Today’s media reveres Mercury’s name and all of his works. Freddie died on November 24, 1991, but he has won multiple musical and philanthropy awards since then. A good example of his posthumous recognition was at the 1991 Brit Awards when Freddie Mercury, according to queenpedia.com, “received a posthumous Outstanding Contribution To Music Award for his final work (“These Are the Days of Our Lives”).”

The recognition of his work and the ideals Freddie represented through his life motivated the youth and aspiring musicians to lead a similar lifestyle that cherished enjoyable moments. According to freddiemercury.com, Freddie Mercury states, “Excess is part of my nature. Dullness is a disease. I really need danger and excitement.” The 1970s and 1980s media regarded Freddie Mercury’s interesting lifestyle as one of the facets to the wild and fun youth culture of the era.

In addition to his effect on popular culture and the youth of the 1970s-1980s, Mercury’s prowess as a musician inspired many artists. Many bands, such as Motley Crue, Guns N’Roses, and Coldplay, can attribute their lyrical and musical style to Queen and are inspired to exaggerate their stage presence much like Freddie Mercury.

Artists in this era still hold Mercury in high regard as a musical inspiration and praise all aspects of his career. A good example of Freddie’s effect on modern music can be seen in how Adam Lambert, a well-known and highly regarded pop artist in modern music, based his entire career from Freddie’s work. According to npr.com, Adam Lambert, while admitting his love for Mercury, states, “here's definitely something missing in today's music scene. We don't have a lot of men on stage doing flamboyant or theatrical. We have a lot of female pop stars doing it, but where are the guys? Where's the classic pop-rock showman?"

Freddie Mercury: The King of Queen
(Courtsey of  ticodo.com)

Personal View on Freddie Mercury

Although Freddie Mercury had an interesting musical career and has won many awards, I admire him for his ability to start unique musical trends. “Bohemian Rhapsody”, for which I can sing word for word, is widely considered the first power ballad. The power ballad song structure becomes a huge trend the late 1970s and all throughout the 1980s. Such examples of power ballads that were inspired by Mercury’s song are Journey’s “Don't Stop Believing” and Motley Crue’s “Home Sweet Home”. 

Freddie's iconic crowd interaction at the Live Aid concert
(Courtsey of  http://awesomepeople.com.ua)

Aside from his unique aptitude for music, I admire how Freddie Mercury led his life. He cherished every day and strived for perfection. Freddie had a hard time admitting his homosexuality to the public and he struggled with the horrible disease known as AIDS. Through these struggles, Mercury pressed forward with his successful music career and continued to live a fun-filled life until the very end.

The History, Concept, and Health Benefits of Playing Men’s Lacrosse

By: Udhay Joshi

Posted for: October 28, 2013

Lacrosse is a very intensive sport that involves a great deal of physicality, mental awareness, and communication. As with all sports, lacrosse requires years of mastering techniques and physical training.

Lacrosse has a rich historical background supplemented by a relation to other sports, such as football, basketball, and ice hockey. This relationship makes it easy to grasp the basic rules and concepts of the game.

Lacrosse can be traced back over hundreds of years and is attributed with North American natives. According to SportsKnowHow.com, “As early as the 1400s, the Iroquois, Huron, Algonquin and other tribes were playing the game (Lacrosse).”

The estimated range of where lacrosse was actually played by the Native Americans spans from as far north as modern day Quebec, as far east as the Atlantic Coast, as far west as the Western Great Lakes, and as far south as Tennessee.

The excessive physical demands of early lacrosse was a good form of exercise and was violent enough to provide young tribal warriors with combat experience. The area of play for early lacrosse was daunting and served as a testament to the physicality of the sport.

According to filacrosse.com, “They (lacrosse matches) were played over huge open areas between villages and the goals, which might be trees or other natural features, were anything from 500 yards to several miles apart. Any number of players were involved. Some estimates have mentioned between 100 and 100,000 players participating in a game at any one time.”

"Indian Ball Game" by George Catlin

(courtsey of filacrosse.com) 

The massive scale of these epic matches were usually between two different tribes and the rules were simple. No player was allowed to touch the deerskin ball with his body and only the lacrosse stick was allowed to move the ball. There were no limitations to physical contact and there were no boundaries. None of the protective gear offered in modern lacrosse was used by the Native Americans.

Lacrosse was phased out of the Native American society when the French and English colonized North America. The settlers, who imposed their will on the Native Americans, felt that lacrosse was too violent and distracted the Native American people from attending church sermons.

Lacrosse never died out in Montreal, as the French pastors allowed for the proliferation of the sport as a recreational outlet. In the 1850s, lacrosse was reintroduced to Canada as a viable sport that was more passive from a physical standpoint and much less violent.

Although lacrosse became the sole national sport of Canada from the 1860s until the advent of Ice Hockey, the sport did not become popular in the United States until the 1950s. Even still, the sport of lacrosse is rapidly becoming an accepted sport in the United States.

For example, the Major League Lacrosse Association is highest tier of professional lacrosse that a person can be accepted into in the United States. This association has eight teams and is projected to have twenty teams by the year 2018.

Almost every high school and university in the United States has some form of organized lacrosse and the typical “tiered sports system”, when players advance through merit and skill from a high school level to a professional level, is prevalent in the sport.

When considering modern lacrosse, three major aspects should be discussed in order to properly describe how the sport is played. The basic aspects of lacrosse deal with the setup of the game, the equipment used, and the mechanics of each position.

Modern lacrosse is played on an open field or in an arena with dimensions of 110 yards long and 60 yards wide. The surface of a lacrosse field can be either grass or artificial turf.

Image of a Lacrosse field

(Courtsey of  SportsKnowHow.com)

On the playing field there should be designated areas for each team’s sideline, a mid-line, two triangular goal boxes, and designated penalty boxes.

The mid-line of a lacrosse field splits the field into offensive and defensive sides for each team. The offensive side is the half of the field that contains the opposing team’s goal and the defensive side is that half of the field that contains one’s own goal.

The way to win a match is to accumulate more points than the opposing team. The only way to earn points is to shoot the lacrosse ball from the net of a stick into the opponent’s goal, in which the scoring team is awarded one point.

Matches are played between two opposing teams and no more than ten players can be in play at a time. The matches are split into four quarters with a regulation time of 12 minutes per quarter. The teams of ten are composed of four positions: one goalie, three attackmen, three midfielders, and three defensemen.

Goalies tend to be the largest players on each team and must be resilient to pain, as they will be hit with a dense rubber ball at very high speeds. As per the size of a goalie, the main job of this position is to plug up the goal and prevent the opposing team from scoring. Technically, goalies, like all players, have free reign to move about the field as they wish, but it is only practical for these players to stay within a 5 foot circumference of their goal.

Attackmen are the main offensive tool of a team, and are comprised of the most accurate and nimble players on the team. The main job of this position is to maneuver around the opponent’s defense and shoot the lacrosse ball from the net of their stick into the opposing goal. Attackmen have the freedom to move about the entire field as they see fit; however, it is practical for them to stay on their offensive half of the field.

Midfielders are the support group of a team and are used to speedily transport the ball from the defensive half of the field to the offensive half of the field. Also, these players are usually the individuals who “faceoff” for the ball in the middle of the field if a goal has been made or if it is the beginning of a new quarter. These players tend to be the fastest on a team and must constantly roam the entire field.

Defensemen are the main defensive tool of a team and tend to be the strongest and tallest players on a team. The main job of this position is to knock the ball loose from an opposing attacker’s grasp and return the ball to an offensive player. Defensemen have the liberty to roam the entire field if they wish, but it is practical to only stay within their defensive half of the field.

"How to Play Lacrosse : Lacrosse Positions"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

The standard equipment used by all lacrosse players, beside the goalie, are athletic shorts, lacrosse cleats, a team jersey, a helmet with a mouth guard, shoulder pads, elbow pads, wrist (forearm) pads, a protective cup, and padded gloves.

The equipment used by goalies include all the standard equipment used by the other players with the addition of a solid chest protector, a throat guard covering the entire neck, and thick pants instead of athletic shorts.

Standard Equipment for Lacrosse
(Courtsey of twincitieslacrosse.com)

Lacrosse sticks vary in size and are dependent on a player’s position. A lacrosse stick is comprised of three main components: the shaft, the head, and the net.

The “standard” lacrosse stick is 42 inches long and is used by midfielders and attackmen. The stick of a defensemen is 72 inches long, mainly due to the mechanics required for their position.  Goalies have the option of varying their stick lengths between 42 and 72 inches; however, the heads of these sticks are twice as wide and have shallower nets than the other sticks in order to increase the surface area.

Diagram of Men's Lacrosse Stick
(Courtesy of pequannocklacrosse.org)

The basic mechanics of transporting a lacrosse ball is through an act called cradling. In this, one scoops the lacrosse ball with a lacrosse stick and rotates his top most wrist on the stick in a vertical back and forth motion. This motion generates centripetal force within the deep portion of the lacrosse net, usually the area where the ball rests, and keeps the ball in the net while one runs with the ball.

"Beginning lacrosse: how to cradle"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

An attackman should be focused on the fluid transition of cradling while switching the lacrosse stick between each hand. Also, an attackman has to focus on nimble movements and very precise footwork in order to properly evade the opponent’s defense.

Goalies have very little mechanics to focus on because they are the only people on the field that are allowed to touch the ball with their hands, where as other people can only kick the ball with their feet or use their lacrosse stick.

The only major mechanics for goalies would be reaction time, which can be improved with practice. Also, goalies must develop the instinct to “brace for a hit”. Goalies are constantly hit with lacrosse balls at high speeds; therefore, to shake off the pain and focus on saving the ball, goalies have to brace themselves to lessen the blow of a strike.

Defensemen, arguably, have the most mechanics associated with their position. These players focus on breaking the cradle of offensive players and or delivering powerful body presses, both of which knock the ball free of the opponent’s grasp.

Breaking a cradle involves placing the net of the defensive stick underneath the butt of the offensive player’s stick and generating an upward force. This force ceases the centripetal force generated by the opponent and causes the ball to pop out of the net.

Body pressing is the simple act of putting both hands exactly next to each other on the defense stick and pushing outward with one’s entire body, much like a chest press when lifting weights, to knock the offensive player over and release the ball from their control. This can be compared to a check press in Ice Hockey or tackling in American Football.

Midfielders also have relatively basic mechanics. Control and speed are the two biggest assets for a midfielder, as they have to cradle a ball while sprinting at about 5 miles an hour.

The most intricate technique for midfielders is the “faceoff”. The point of a faceoff is for two midfielders to fight over a ball that is dropped between them, much like a jump ball in basketball. The way to win a faceoff is to react first and use fine muscle control to guide the ball into one’s own net while angling the head of their stick away from the opponent’s stick.

"Best Face Off Player in College Lacrosse UNC Face off video"

(Courtesy of youtube.com)

There are numerous benefits of playing lacrosse but there are three major physical benefits and two major mental benefits.

Due to the constant running and the motions used in the multiple techniques of play, the physical benefits of calorie burning, cardiovascular endurance, and muscle strengthening can be attributed to lacrosse.

These three health benefits constantly act as long person is playing. If a person plays the full match, which could last one to two hours, a great deal of exercise can be performed with all the health benefits lacrosse provides.

According to Tanya Brown of healthyliving.azcentral.com, “A lacrosse game typically lasts one to two hours, allowing players to burn hundreds of calories per game… Players build cardiovascular endurance during practice and games. Each time a player runs up and down the field, his heart and lungs get stronger and his stamina increases… Players gain muscle strength during practice and games because of the movements necessary to play effectively.”

The two major mental benefits that lacrosse provides are not specific to the sport. 

All types of physical activity can provide adequate amounts of stress and anxiety relief. Also, playing a team sport, such as lacrosse, increases social skills as both a leader and follower.

Personally, lacrosse provides a good outlet to the daily stresses of high school and pre-medical collegiate life. The constant physical demand of being a defenseman allowed for personal growth in musculature and resilience to physical pain, which can be translated to emotional and mental pain, as discovered during college. Also, the ability to relate to other people, in the form of teammates during high school, honed the ability to reach out to complete strangers when college began, which allowed friendships to be easily established. 

The Academic and Professional Ramifications to Cannabis Usage in College Students

By: Udhay Joshi

Posted For: October 11, 2012


College is a time for academic and personal growth. Many memories, friends, and experiences are made and had in college. In fact, the whole point of going to college in the modern time is to gain experience and education to propel one’s professional career forward. There are debated collegiate activities, however, and a prominent one is drug abuse.

Classes and internships are very stressful on the young collegiate mind. Trying to make friends and partying are typical ways collegiate students go about alleviating this stress. Drugs, of all kinds, constantly protrude in these social scenes, ranging from hallucinogens (psychedelics) to methamphetamines. However, the most pervasive and resilient class of drugs would be cannabis.

Many people try to understand why so many collegiate students abuse cannabis and the reasoning boils down to a mixture of stress related and social influences. The majority of the worry and debate behind the topic of cannabis usage in collegiate students stem from academic and professional outlooks, rather than health risks.

Commonly known by its street name, “marijuana”, cannabis hits college students fast and hard at parties and is influential on the turnout of a college student’s academic and professional carrier. The popularity of marijuana is so vast that it is second to only alcohol in the category of substances abused by college students.

In a thorough survey of collegiate students, conducted by the Core Institute and reported by Todd R Lewis and Elysia Clemens, “Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug among college students. One third (33.3%) of students reported use in the previous year and almost one fifth (18.9%) reported use in the previous month."

The medical negatives of marijuana usage are minimal compared to the other substances collegiate students abuse, such as alcohol, tobacco, and caffeine.

The worst of the long term risks of smoking marijuana would be emphysema, as with all other substances smoked; however, this percentage of disease in users is nominal to the point where physicians recommend the key component of marijuana, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), to be ingested or smoked in order to alleviate symptoms of pain and nausea in patients undergoing chemotherapy.

The stresses that collegiate students face are enormous. These students constantly have to balance difficult course work, poor dietary practices, lack of sleep, minimum wage jobs, competitive internships, and being active to build the best resume possible; however, the stresses do not end there. Many students are faced with the expectation of parents and their own fears about future careers.

College is also a time where students begin to understand a lot more about who they are as people, which can be rather mind-numbing. The stresses faced force most college students to have ritualistic escape mechanisms in order to cope with their difficult lifestyle; most of which involve abusing marijuana or excessive partying.

Other than excessive stress, the reason college students “dope up” is often attributed to exposure, curiosity, and or pressure during social gatherings. Most collegiate students are introduced to marijuana in college, and the majority of the introductions are at parties or when a group of friends get together to enjoy each other’s company.

According to a joint study by the Journal of Medical Sciences and the National Institute of Drug Abuse, “When the users of the substance (marijuana) were asked to give the most important reason why they came to use the substance, 45 (55.6%) of the 81 users claimed it was out of curiosity through social exposure, 24 (29.6%) claimed they were lured to it due to pressures from their friends and peers.”

The reasoning behind why marijuana is abused, be it stress and or exposure/pressure thorough friends, pales in comparison to the heated issue of impact marijuana has on a collegiate student’s academic and professional life.

The academic consequences of cannabis usage is debatable.

One side of the argument ardently insists that marijuana is the sole contributor to a student’s academic demise. Many claims are made that academic performance is compromised because students lose the ability to focus, retain information, resolve to stay in school, and are prone to procrastinate and or “party” more frequently.

According to a recent study done by doctors with the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, reported by Mary Brophy Marcus of  HealthDay.com, “students with high levels of marijuana use (more than 17 days a month) were twice as likely as those with minimal use (less than a day a month) to have an enrollment gap while in college. But even students who used pot less often, in the range of three to 12 days a month, were more likely to experience enrollment gap.”

This, much like most antagonists of marijuana, emphasizes those who are very frequent users of the substance. However, it is proven that most collegiate students are not heavy marijuana users because of fiscal and social reasons.

Other than affecting academic retention, the antagonists of marijuana tend to add the effect of laziness and depression into their augment. Claims are made that students either lose their will to remain in the class room or become too lazy to strive for internships and experimental learning.

The proponents of marijuana tend to have a more realistic and less confrontational view of the topic. It can be said that the stress relief marijuana provides is not bad for students, as long as the usage does not become a dependency. It can be claimed that the academic downfall of students is not solely the fault of the drug itself. 

For example, Amanda Reiman of drugpolicy.org comments on a USA Today online article that bashed marijuana usage by collegiate students and writes, “using alcohol and marijuana seem to be a normative part of the college experience since they are so common, but, for some students, they can be part of a chain reaction that includes lower academic performance and adjustment services should be freely available to students who are struggling.”

Although there is some grey area as to the academic success of collegiate students who use marijuana, the professional outlook for collegiate students who use marijuana tends to have a less compromising argument because legality becomes a serious issue, especially when companies expect efficiency and economy from its employees.

The antagonists of marijuana usage by collegiate students in the work place tend to focus on the fact that those who smoke in the collegiate environment will not graduate college, let alone prevail in the work place.

For example, an essay by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, states, “A meta-analysis of 48 relevant studies—one of the most thorough performed to date—found cannabis use to be associated consistently with reduced educational attainment (e.g., grades and chances of graduating)”. This lack of educational support or success is further speculated to poor standings and resumes when it comes time to apply for jobs, acting in a chain of events.

Beyond the studies on academia, claims are made that those who used cannabis in college, became part of the work force, and continue to use cannabis in the workplace tend to run into complications. The biggest and most stressed complication would be the legality of marijuana.

The illegality of marijuana in the United States poses a problem for recent college grads when applying for jobs because most educated work will demand a drug test, which is a fact even in blue collar jobs. This tends to be a problem even in states where marijuana is legal for medical and recreational purposes.

According to the Corporate Counsel of law.com, “Despite the legalization of marijuana at the state level, marijuana is still illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act. In recognition of conflicting state laws, however, federal enforcement of the act has been curtailed in states where medical marijuana is authorized… Laws (including case law) in other states, such as Washington, Montana, Oregon, California, and Massachusetts, make clear that employers may prohibit use or possession of marijuana in the workplace.”

The proponents of marijuana usage in collegiate students tend to understand the limitations of marijuana in the workplace, especially in states where cannabis is illegal. However, many feel that collegiate students should not be penalized for using marijuana in states that allow it to be legal in the workplace, both recreationally and medically, seeing that these students were not penalized while studying in college.

The best argument would be against the corporations themselves, which have led to many class action cases. The proponents do not see any justice in penalizing those who are allowed or given the right to use marijuana solely because a company bases a worker’s efficiency on his or her cannabis usage.

The best example of such a type of unjust segregation would be from The New York Times’ online website where it is stated, “In 2008, Mr. Casias (31), a father of two who medicates with marijuana to relieve the pain of inoperable brain and sinus cancer, was named associate of the year at the Wal-Mart in Battle Creek, Mich. But when he injured his knee last year, company policy required a drug test. The positive result cost him his job”.

The topic of marijuana usage in collegiate students is not given the chance for much consideration by the public. The topic tends to be either protagonists or antagonists, each with their own views on how the academic and professional outlook for these students tend to be.

In short, the generalizations and “statistical breakdowns” of the collegiate student’s relationship with cannabis are not very realistic when coming from an antagonistic viewpoint, although there are legitimate facts to support the claims.

The protagonist viewpoints of the academic outlook of students who use marijuana tend to be much more realistic in terms of the reasoning behind the usage, the amount of usage, and the effects of the accurate usage in comparison to more exaggerated statistics; however, not much can be said for the professional outlook due to a lack of concrete long term evidence and the legality issues behind cannabis in the workplace.

Product Review: McDonald's Chicken McNuggets - The Tasty Evil

Chicken "McGoodness" in a leathal six piece from http://imgs.sfgate.com

The real McNugget from http://www.vegsource.com

Udhay Joshi
Dr. Mary Leech
English 2089 (064)
Blog Assignment #1
September 20, 2013


What are Chicken McNuggets?

The Chicken McNugget is the American staple of fast food poultry. Many of its consumers are of younger ages, due to its ease of consumption and the variety of tasty dipping sauces it is accompanied with. Most people are introduced to the fast food giant that is McDonalds with a Happy Kid's Meal consisting of Chicken McNuggets. In short, Chicken McNuggets are one of the best kept secrets in the fast food industry. The reasoning behind this can be traced to the average American's perception of what these nuggets are made of. Typical responses to the question "What are McNuggets made of?" are chicken, oil, breading, and spices. These naive answers are a testament to the secretive nature of the surprisingly tasty chicken nugget. 

The McNugget Through the Eyes of the Public

The majority of those that put up reviews on the McDonald's Chicken McNugget tended to only focus on the aesthetic and taste quality of the nugget compared to other fast food companies. For example, a review by Ryan from GrubGrade.com ranks the McDonald's Chicken McNugget at a 7.5 out of 10 based on a 100 person taste test. Ryan then begins to base his review of the McNuggets based from his personal history with the product and gives a comparison to other fast food chains, Burger King as an example. Most people tend to avoid looking at the McDonald's McNugget other than through the lens of a hungry consumer, which is fine if one does not care about what is put into his or her body. 

The Facts about the Consumption of McNuggets

Although the "McGoodness" that is the McDonald's Chicken McNugget might seem comforting and inviting for consumption, especially to children, one basic fact about the chicken nugget has not changed; this nugget is still fast food. The health conscious mindset of  the American consumer and parent, which has started to meld into popular culture recently, has begun to prod people to ask questions about all fast food in the country; many of the new findings are quite disturbing. In the case of the Chicken McNugget, McDonalds has begun to advertise its product as "All-White Meat Chicken". However, if one simply goes onto the McDonalds website and looks at the ingredients list for the chicken nuggets very disturbing results can be found. The two worst ingredients on the list are not even safe for human consumption in considerably low dosages! These two ingredients are TBHQ and Dimethylpolysiloxane. According to foodmatters.tv, "TBHQ, a petroleum derivative, is used as a stabilizer in perfumes, resins, varnishes, and oil field chemicals" (http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/whats-really-in-chicken-mcnuggets-scary). This ingredient is added to the hydrogenated soybean oil used to deep fry the nuggets in order to prolong the oil life and prevent rusting in the fryer.  According to foodmatters.tv, "Dimethylpolysiloxane, a type of silicone, is used in caulks and sealants, as a filler for breast implants, and is a key ingredient in Silly Putty" (http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/whats-really-in-chicken-mcnuggets-scary). This is used as an anti-coagulating agent for the "All-White Meat Chicken" and prevents all of the meat from being inseparable in order to maintain some fluidity. 

The McNugget Experience

Now that the secret is out about the Chicken McNugget, it makes sense why someone has a funny feeling in his or her stomach when he or she eats McNuggets. The common blame tends to be a combination of the grease and the dipping sauces, but that is not the factual case and has a lot to do with the composition of the nugget itself. My experience with the McNugget can be described as a double edged sword because the product had known dangerous ingredients, but its taste was good. It was very hard to eat the nugget, especially knowing that the product ingredients are lethal in slightly higher dosages than what are in the nuggets; however, the product was still palatable and tasted decent with some fries and dipping sauce. 

The McDonalds' Chicken McNugget vs. Tyson Grilled Chicken Chunks

This battle between poultry is based strictly on the health benefits one receives or loses when he or she eats these poultry products. The taste of these products cannot be compared to one another based on their preparation methods, deep fried versus grilled, and the fact that one is served in a fast food restaurant and the other is served at home. The major reason for the comparison is to illustrate the healthier options one can provide for himself or herself and his or her children. When looking at the production and ingredients of these poultry foods it can be seen that the Tyson chicken chunks are not made with the controversial "Pink Slime", which is the mechanically separated meat that makes up all fast food, and do not contain MSG's, TBHQ, or Dimethylpolysiloxane. Although the Tyson Grilled Chicken Chunks are truly made of all white meat, the convenience and speed of preparation pale in comparison to the McDonald's Chicken McNuggets.  Many people are opting for the healthier Tyson Grilled Chicken Chunks since obesity, especially in children, is a major problem and parents are not willing to endanger their growing children with the unhealthiness of fast foods. My personal recommendation also goes to the Tyson Grilled Chicken Chunks based on the same principles of health conscious eating, especially when the American youth are considered. In the long run, it is better to feed our children and ourselves healthy foods so healthy habits and lifestyles can be built. 

The Overall Recommendation

The McDonald's Chicken McNugget is not the best food to be feeding children or adults; furthermore, children are growing and they may become morbidly obese on any type of fast food diet because of the addictive and lethal properties of fast food, so a heavy emphasis is placed on children not consuming the McDonald's Chicken McNugget. If one does choose to eat this food they will find an average taste, convenience, and a fast preparation time. However, that is where the benefits end and the numerous negatives of this product begin, ensuring that eating this food will be of grievous consequence to one's own health. Therefore, I would not recommend this food to anyone, especially children, due to the numerous other health conscious options to choose from.