What does Pluronic 17R4 do in Clear Care?

The same online acquaintance who wrote about MiraFlow filled me in on a little bit of history of Clear Care, and talked about what the ingredient Pluronic 17R4 does exactly.

He writes:

Pluronic 17R4, it turns out, is one of a family of chemicals made by BASF. Opti-Free RepleniSH uses a different chemical made by BASF, Tetronic 1304. Both are surfactants - substances that act on the surface of chemicals (typically water). Though they have many roles, they're often used to help dissolve oils or proteins, and you can probably find surfactants among the ingredients of household cleaners and detergents.

While I assume the Pluronic in Clear Care is essentially there as a cleaning agent, the one in Opti-Free RepleniSH apparently also bonds water to the surface of silicone contacts, making them more comfortable. That's probably why Alcon describes the combination of the Tetronic and another, generic surfactant as a

MiraFlow Review

An online acquaintance of mine wrote a description of his experiences with MiraFlow, a contact lens cleaning solution that he prefers over Clear Care. At Lens101 Forum he writes:

Back in the good old days - the late 80s, when I first started wearing soft contacts - the standard routine for soft contacts was a three step process. Clean the lens, rinse it off with saline, and then disinfect. There was even a time when heat disinfection was the preferred approach, with cases that fit into small electronic heaters, although in a pinch, you could toss the case into a pot of boiling water. Saline took up significant

How Mad Cow Disease Works

Once in a while, there will be reports of mad cow disease, scientifically known as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease in humans. But unlike most deadly diseases, this isn't caused by a virus, a bacteria, or chemicals leading to cancer. It's caused by prions.

How do prions work?

Well the first question we need to explore what proteins are, and how they work. Proteins are microscopic structures in your body's cells that do all kinds of things simply by their shape alone. Sometimes proteins can be structural proteins, which would be like the bricks holding up your house or the legs holding up your chair. Without it, your cells would collapse. Sometimes proteins can be enzymes, which automatically change different proteins without wearing itself out. It's like a hammer that no one needs to control, or one of those automatic vacuum cleaners. Other proteins are transport proteins, which are the doors to your cells. Unlike your house's doors, however, they don't let everything in. Most proteins only let certain molecules inside, and thank goodness they do, because otherwise your cell would be a mess. Finally, there are receptor proteins and signaling proteins, where the signaling protein touches the receptor protein and makes things happen in the cell, just like when your finger hits the button on the remote control, and the TV turns on. 

So let's review here:

Exploding Chromosomes and Cancer

A recent New York Times article reports that some researchers find that many cancers begin from a chromosome that "explodes."

New rapid methods of decoding DNA have brought to light a catastrophe that can strike human cells: a whole chromosome may suddenly shatter into pieces.

If the cell survives this disaster, something worse may ensue: the cell becomes cancerous.

Apparently "Dr. Campbell’s group reports that about 2 percent to 3 percent of all cancers, and 25 percent of bone cancers, originate in this kind of chromosome-shattering crisis," writes author Nicholas Wade.


Cancers, despite their superficial diversity (for example, lung cancer, brain cancer, stomach cancer, etc etc.) and their seemingly wide causes (environmental chemical pollutants, UV radiation from the sun, smoking, HIV), are fundamentally they same. They all involve cells that, instead of multiplying in a regular, orderly fashion, just can't stop multiplying. As one doctor once said to me, "it's like it turns into The Hulk."


Within every human cell is the ability to divide, and multiply. From one cell you get two. A somewhat complicated

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part III

Start at the beginning, Part I

Goldsmith examines how industrial methods, from fishing to farming, greatly damage our environment and health to the detriment of long-term profit itself. The use of pesticides and antibiotics in non-organic farming results in millions of tax dollars being spent on water pollution clean-up. Industrial fisheries employ sixty-mile-long lines, or ‘draggers’ that destroy coral reefs simply by rolling over them. By destroying coral reefs, which act as fishing nurseries, and eliminating much of the adult fish, reproduction has been choked. In some areas, the destruction is so severe that the government had to ban fishing for decades so that fish can repopulate, such as in Newfoundland.

Goldsmith also examines our usage of distribution of energy, including how the status quo is incredibly inefficient and certain technologies are more efficient than others. Having large power plants, instead of a decentralized power system, results in energy being sent over long distances. When electricity is sent over long distances, communities lose up to 1/3 of the original energy. In contrast, a grid tapping into a diversity of power sources from the private sector optimizes localization and technological innovation. Importantly, Goldsmith notes that fossil fuels are subsidized anyway, and therefore not actually cheaper; if we were simply to shift that subsidization towards green technology, countries would save tax money in the long-term. Finally, Goldsmith criticizes nuclear power for the following reasons:

Book Review of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith, Part II

Start at the beginning: Part I

Akin to economist EF Schumacher, Goldsmith emphasizes the importance of local trade and decision-making, and opposes our increasing globalization and large-scale economics. Goldsmith argues that countries and communities with political power that is diffused through the local levels have greater happiness and societal health. He argues for more direct democracy, as opposed to a government of representatives. [Here I must disagree, because such direct democracy leads to effective mob rule, nor can a mass of citizens decide knowledgeably on a complex issue. Goldsmith’s argument for direct democracy is his weakest and most ambiguous in this book.]

Economies should be localized in as many ways as possible. On the global level, relying on foreign crops, as the UK does, is unreliable and therefore ultimately unsustainable, as the nation becomes dependent upon the health of foreign societies. On the national level, any government-purchased food (for school cafeterias, prisons, hospitals) should be purchased from the farms local to the government buildings. In fact, one of Goldsmith’s suggestions is that food-growing become part of the public school curriculum, in

Is Glucosamine Worthless?

Does glucosamine work? How does glucosamine work?
Glucosamine has been used recently to treat arthritis. The idea is that since glucosamine makes up a large part of your cartilage, you can restore the natural health of your cartilage, which protects your bones from grinding against each other. But if you knew basic biochemistry and digestion, you'd think twice.

Glucosamine is comprised of two things - a glucose, and an amino acid (hence glucos-amine). 

Really, it's not that hard for your body to make. The NH2 is the amine part. The rest is glucose.

Glucose is everywhere in your blood. It's what your body gets from food to give you energy. There's no shortage of that there, unless you're starving or a diabetic.

Amine is everywhere throughout your entire body. It is what makes up all your amino acids, which entirely comprise your cell proteins. Enzymes, neurotransmitters, receptors, pretty much anything that your cell makes that directly does something is made up of amino acids. 

So there's no shortage of glucose, and no shortage of amines. Your body can get these easily through food, and can break them down from larger molecules. In fact, that's the only way your body survives. If your body can't do that well, you're dying.

In addition, when you digest food or drugs, your body is pretty good at breaking down a lot of it into its

Crest Whitestrips Premium

Does Crest Whitestrips work?

Apparently hydrogen peroxide is a popular ingredient for new products these days, because that's the main active ingredient of Crest Whitestrips.

An active ingredient, by the way, is the actual ingredient that makes the product work. Everything else there is what supports its function. Maybe it makes it more effective, like water in a 70% isopropyl alcohol (rubbing or cleaning alcohol for your first aid kits). Maybe it makes it longer lasting, like a preservative in...well, what doesn't have preservatives these days? Even your lens solutions have preservatives.

Anyway, hydrogen peroxide not only sterilizes, but it whitens as well. In fact, you should keep your bottles of hydrogen peroxide away from clothes, because they're strong enough to bleach the skin on your hands!

Effectiveness: It definitely works. But it's not a big miracle. The improvement is slow, and you'll need more than a single package to really be satisfied.

I got the seven day kit, containing 14 pairs of strips (one for your upper teeth and another for your lower teeth), which the package facetiously says "28 total strips." Speaking of facetious, the packaging also says "WHITENS 2X BETTER PER STRIP vs leading dissolving strip." Notice how they didn't say "vs

Book Review of The Constant Economy, by Zac Goldsmith - Part I

Book Review and Summary of The Constant Economy by Zac Goldsmith

conservative environmentalism

Zac Goldsmith, editor of the Ecologist magazine and current Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate in Britain, outlines a number of political policies designed to move industrialized countries (focusing on Britain in particular) towards a more sustainable economy. In addition, he compiles many critical facts that demonstrate the absolute necessity of change. His book, The Constant Economy, incorporates these facts and ideas into one practical vision for an economically-stable, environmentally-sustainable economy.

As a British politician, Goldsmith goes into detail into fixing Britain’s particular problems through Britain’s particular governmental structure. However, I’ve generalized his ideas for the purposes of this review.

One of the themes of Goldsmith’s recommended policies is the idea that governments should set

Is Glucosamine Worthless?

Glucosamine has been used recently to treat arthritis. The idea is that since glucosamine makes up a large part of your cartilage, you can restore the natural health of your cartilage, which protects your bones from grinding against each other. But if you knew basic biochemistry and digestion, you'd think twice.

Glucosamine doesn't work

Glucosamine is comprised of two things - a glucose, and an amine (hence glucos-amine). 

Really, it's not that hard for your body to make. The NH2 is the amine.

Glucose is everywhere in your blood. It's what your body gets from food to give you energy. There's no shortage of that there, unless you're starving or a diabetic.

Amine is everywhere throughout your entire body. It is what makes up all your amino acids, which entirely

Is Emergen-C just plain Stupidit-E?

Honestly, I don't get the hype over this product.
Emergen-C doesn't work
Yes, Vitamin C is great for the body. Yes, Vitamin C boosts the immune system. Yes, Vitamin C can even cure allergies.
Emergen-C sucks Emergen-C sucks Emergen-C doesn't work
But drinking one gram of Vitamin C is little more than taking a spoonful of sugar. First of all, one gram of Vitamin C is hardly enough to do anything. Most of us are malnourished when it comes to Vitamin C anyway, because we're chronically Vitamin-C deprived, such that we really need at least 2-3 grams per day...even when we're healthy. (See here as to why we need far beyond the National Academy of Science's recommended dosage of 60 mg)

Second, I'm sure it tastes great and all when you're sick - but there's hardly any health benefit! It's much more cost-effective AND health-effective to get a bottle of chewable Vitamin C 500 mg tablets and munch on those all day.

In fact, even the company has no faith in their product. Their website says:

Fevers are Good for You!

Or, Learn to Trust Your Body

Evolutionary Medicine

Fevers are misunderstood. They're the misunderstood good guys of our bodies. In fact, without fevers, none of us would be here today. All of our ancestors would have been wiped out, including our non-human ones. No animal, in fact, could survive. That's how important fevers are.

The fever is a way for your body to fight off infections. Its strategy is nothing less than brilliant, because it surprisingly involves a lot of trickery and guile. 

Infections are when something invades your body, sets up camp, and multiplies itself like crazy. Bacteria can enter your throat, find all sorts of food in their for its own growth, leaving children behind, and so forth. They begin to populate your body.

But like all populations, they need more and more food to sustain themselves with. Normally, that would be your own body. Whatever makes you sick is actually eating you alive.

What a fever does, however, is simultaneously encourage the growth of the bacteria, while taking away its food. Bacteria like to grow in warm places (which is why putting food in a refrigerator keeps bacteria and fungi from growing on your food), so when your body temperature rises, it's going to grow more. Bacteria cells don't make a conscious decision about this - they're more machines than man - so if you heat them up, they're going to multiply faster.

Bacteria also need iron to grow. As your body takes away the iron in your blood serum (so any iron that's not already inside your blood cells), bacteria is starved of one nutrient it desperately needs. In combination with your body heat encouraging growth, this imposes a situation of overpopulation on the bacteria in your body. It keeps producing more and more malnourished bacteria, which is easy for the body to take care of. Eventually, the whole population starves and dies.

Raising your body temperature also helps your white blood cells, the police and detectives of your immune

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part IV

Part IV, and final part, of the book review and summary of Small is Still Beautiful by Joseph Pearce. See Part III here, See Part II here, and Part I here. 

Finally, the book reiterates EF Schumacher’s call for a fundamental shift in the way we frame economics to include a strong consideration of human values and lifestyles. This is a variation of the idea that if the mind is pure, the land is pure – a concept Schumacher should be familiar with from his research in his development of “Buddhist economics.” If we correct our realization of what is important in life, our economy, our society, and our environment will improve. Economics also ought to understand the interdependence of each ecological phenomenon, whether it is a cow, a fruit tree, grain fields, insects, birds, and so forth. Finally, economics should focus on the quality of life of people, rather on the quantity of material production.

Schumacher differentiates the difference between need and greed. The idea that “need is limited, but greed is unlimited” is best connected to the realization that Earth is not actually overpopulated, but rather its people have become too greedy, through Gandhi’s statement that “Earth provides enough to satisfy every man’s need, but not every man’s greed.” Quite simply, if people were to reduce their materialism, then more natural resources would be available for more people. Thus, our ‘overpopulation’ is actually a result of greedy, materialistic lifestyles that drain our natural resources beyond sustainability.

the Danger of Bottled Water

Bottled water comes with an implied guarantee - this water is clean. But is it really?

Yes, the water is probably going to be free of the usual environmental pollutants. Surprisingly, tap water has more pollutants than you might think. For example, a recent study showed that hexavalent chromium, the cancer-causing pollutant in the movie about Erin Brockovich, is actually in pretty high levels across the United States. Stories like these lend a hand to bottled water.

On the other hand, plastic has a polluting effect on its own in water. Plastic actually sheds at the biochemical level, releasing molecules that are similar in shape to estrogen into the water. These molecules are called Bisphenol-A, or BPA. Your body has hormone receptors, which basically touch hormones, and make some activations into the cell. If a hormone is a key to car, then the hormone receptor is the keyhole that can start up your car's engine.

Nightmares

Heh heh. I know it's lame, but I just can't get enough of this.

For a full listing of the cartoons on this blog, click here.

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part III

Part III of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part II here, and Part I here.

Schumacher outlines several ways governments can convert towards a small scale economy in the following ways:

1.      Favor small businesses and discourage larger businesses through a graduated tax.

2.      Reduce regulation: regulation decreases the ability for small business to be competitive, because it results in less flexibility for small businesses to serve the local population, increased costs from hiring lawyers, and more bureaucracy from dealing with red tape. Furthermore, small businesses cannot afford lobbyists to tip competition in their favor. In particular, overregulation limits innovation on green, sustainable farming.

3.      Stop subsidizing intensive farming. When New Zealand stopped subsidizing farming, its pasture lands began to recover, and agriculture recovered economically.

4.      Subsidize organic farming.

5.      Redistribute private property so that more individuals hold land, as opposed to a few

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part II

This is Part II of my Small is Still Beautiful book review and summary. See Part I here

Heavy industrialization is a critical aspect of large scale economies, which is environmentally and socially damaging, especially of third-world countries. Industrialization requires heavy capital investment and high energy/electricity input (think of how much resources it takes to build a factory), resulting in debt, resulting in a need for greater production to overcome the sum of debt, interest, and resulting inflation. The inevitable result is that debt and environmental destruction only increases, leaving the workers with little advances in material wealth, let alone happiness. In addition, heavy industrialization inevitably leads to high unemployment rates, since factories are designed to eliminate the need for manual labor.

It is important to note that industrialization not only occurs in the cities, but in agriculture as well. Governments subsidize the use of environmentally destructive pesticides, antibiotics, intensive farming and livestock techniques, all of which leave the land unusable (similar to what happened in the Dust Bowl that led to the Great Depression). This industrialization of agriculture also leads to higher unemployment rates (because industrialization always moves towards requiring fewer workers), which forces millions into the cities, accelerating urban growth.

Urban growth is inherently environmentally destructive in the following ways:

Bill Nye the Science Guy

It's come to my attention that Bill Nye, aka the Science Guy, has been going around the nation talking about climate change. Has anybody bought tickets to see his exhibit called ClimateLab, or his talks?

What's interesting about Bill Nye is that he was originally a mechanical engineering major and received a BS at Cornell, under the politically radical Carl Sagan. He later worked in the aeronautics industry as a consultant.

If you check out Bill Nye's website, you'll find that he's under fire for some of his comments on climate change. Which got me thinking about his qualifications.

Small is Still Beautiful Review, Part I

For obvious reasons, questions of the environment are a hot topic. What a lot of people have trouble with are the economic implications of "saving the environment." But these concerns aren't nothing new, and start as late as the 1970s. One such person to approach this question is EF Schumacher.   conservative environmentalism

It's Raining Gold?

A new study suggests that the gold on our planet came from space

The study sug­gests gold, plat­i­num, pal­la­di­um and re­lat­ed el­e­ments found in the crusts and man­tles of Earth, the Moon and Mars ar­rived as part of im­pact­ors the size of small plan­ets.

Atoms are created from the fusion in stars, and when the really big ones inevitably explode via supernova, they scatter their atoms across the universe. Anything from hydrogen to the really heavy stuff like iron is thrown across the galaxy, and make up the contents of everything on our planets - including life itself.

But iron, for reasons spelled out in the article, ends up comprising the core of our planet Earth. Gold is about as heavy as iron, as opposed to carbon. So the scientists believe that the gold in on, or close to, the surface of our planet had to come pretty recently.

Check out the explanation here.

Polarized Sunglasses for Driving

DrTavel.com, a good source of information regarding vision and eye health, recently had a posted review on polarized sunglasses. Polarized material basically filters out certain orientations of light (this is complicated enough to do a series of posts on), allowing you to only see certain sources of light. Many 3D glasses work this way.

Anyway, here's an excerpt from their blog:

A few days ago I went to pick up my vehicle (which looked good as new) at an auto repair shop on the eastside of Indianapolis. Since I live and work out west, I never take the highway going west in the afternoon. The moment I jumped on 70 west, I was almost blinded by the glare of the sun. Luckily I had a pair of Ted Baker sunglasses with Purifier® polarized lenses from Dr. Tavel. I immediately put them on and continued my journey west.

It's worth checking out here 

Public Service Announcement - Free Kaplan Books!

If you go to any online bookstore, such as Amazon or Barnes and Nobles' website, you'll find that Kaplan is giving free Kaplan ebooks until January 17th, and some free How this helps their business I have no clue, but it's obviously a great deal!

http://www.freekaplanebooks.com/free-kaplan-ebooks/

Public Service Announcement - Entrecard is a Scam

I found a website that claimed to help provide more traffic to a person's website. For free.

Unfortunately, like most free services, it was simply a scam. Instead of sending websurfers to your website, it gets free ad space by requiring you to put your "electronic business card" on your website. It uses that space instead to advertise their own service. They all work like a ponzi scheme - the more you drop your "electronic business card" into the comments of other people's websites and blogs, the more points you earn, which allow you to access more traffic.

For more detailed blogposts on this, check these blogs:

http://businessphereconsulting.com/is-entrecard-making-a-joke-on-us-by-injecting-cpc-ads-into-our-inbox/
http://natespost.com/index.php/entrecard-scam-mongo-credits/

If you have a website or a blog, I would encourage you to spread the word on this little scam. Thank you!

Exercise can't overcome the health effects of laziness?

Roni Caryn Rabin of the New York Times writes about "The Hazard of the Couch"

Many of us sit in front of a computer for eight hours a day, and then go home and head for the couch to surf the Web or watch television, exchanging one seat and screen for another. Even if we try to squeeze in an hour at the gym, is it enough to counteract all that motionless sitting?

A mounting body of evidence suggests not.

The latest findings, published this week in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology, indicate that the amount of leisure time spent sitting in front of a screen can have such an overwhelming, seemingly irreparable impact on one’s health that physical activity doesn’t produce much benefit.

Rabin cites two types of studies, one type showing that people who spend more time on the couch watching TV have a higher risk of health problems like heart disease and have a higher chance of dying, and another type that shows that in animal studies some biochemical changes can explain why:

Clear Care Instructions

If you prefer a more visual explanation of how to use the Clear Care hydrogen peroxide lens cleaner than what is provided on the box insert, Ms Giling's Spot has a good explanation here.

Here's a sample of her post:

DIRECTIONS FOR USE:
To ensure proper disinfection of your lenses, you must follow the instructions completely. DO NOT skip any of the steps. Always wash and rinse your hands before handling your lenses. See package insert for special RGP instructions (I don't have this anymore, sorry -_-).

1. Remove and place each lense into the appropriately marked L/R domed lense holder. Rinse with Clear Care for 5 seconds.

Click here for the rest of her post

Hormones and Behavior

I stumbled upon this article earlier today.

(PhysOrg.com) -- Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus in the brain, and has been shown to make people trust each other more and promote feelings of love. But this hormone has now been found to have limits, since it promotes love and trust only towards people of the same "in-group" and not towards people who are seen as different. Psychologists have therefore concluded it is involved in ethnocentrism.

There's been a misunderstanding in the scientific community for quite some time. Lots of psuedo-scientists, and unfortunately, some scientists as well, believe that certain chemicals involved in the brain are responsible for certain behaviors or mental states. For example, testosterone is the "aggression hormone," and oxytocin is the "love hormone."

The problem here is that there's not a really good understanding of what is the cause, and what is the

A Fun Post

I might turn this into a series!

Microwaving Techniques

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.
If you need a new microwave, the above picture links to K-Mart, which sells lots of cheap microwaves. For ones that are a bit more quality at a higher cost, click here, which goes to E-Cost.com

Have you ever microwaved something to disappointment? Maybe it was steaming hot on the top, but freezing cold at the bottom. Maybe that cup of water is still lukewarm after 5 minutes of microwaving. Maybe the food comes out really, really dry. Maybe on a plate of leftover thanksgiving food, the turkey is cold and the vegetables are steaming.

Well, lots of people don't quite understand how the microwave works, and how to best heat up food.

How Microwaves Work
There's all kinds of stuff I could get into when talking about microwaves, such as how you're shielding from being microwaved yourself, but I'm just going to stick with the parts that are relevant for heating up food.

Microwaves spin water molecules around, rotating them like they were wheels on a car. This causes friction, which results in heat, and its this very heat that warms up your food.

Think of the micro-waves as light, only invisible to your eyes (your eyes can't detect the frequency/wavelength of micro-waves, just like we can't see infrared waves, or UV waves). This light is shined upon the food, or whatever's in the microwave, and heats it up from the outside.

So what does this mean for heating up food?

Another comic

I might turn this into a series!

How to Cure Your Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you are solely responsible for whatever personal usage of this information.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for the entire 500 mg in a tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My Personal Success

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part I

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?
Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Clear Care

The packaging, complete with basic directions.
How does Clear Care work?

Overview: Clear Care, by CIBA Vision, is a new lens cleaner solution. However, unlike most lens cleaner solutions, this uses hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide presumably disinfects and removes protein from the lenses better than an enzymatic cleaner. Plus, the bubbling is really cool to watch.

Mechanics: There are really two main things that a lens cleaner does. First: disinfect it. Second: remove proteins.

Disinfecting the lens basically keeps your eye from becoming infected by bacteria or fungus. This is pretty important, and not always guaranteed, considering that Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc actually caused fungal infections, leading to a lawsuit from some 600 users.

Removing proteins from the lenses will keep your lenses “fresher” longer. These proteins naturally come from your eyes, and when they build up on your

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner Part II

Most Clear Care packages contain two bottles of solution. I'd buy this over the single one simply to save money, and save the environment extra lens cases. Click on the picture to purchase online.

How does Clear Care work? Does Clear Care work?

Comparison to other products:

Most lens cleaners use enzymes. Enzymes are proteins that act, in strict scientific terms, act as catalysts (which make reactions go much faster than they otherwise would). Basically, they help a chemical reaction go even faster. In our case, these enzymes help destroy the skin of germs and remove proteins.

Enzymes can drill holes into the skin of germs, just like hydrogen peroxide. They’re just not as strong. As we saw, certain enzyme-based cleaners can allow, or even help, infections to occur. Hydrogen peroxide, however, reacts with virtually anything that’s part of a living organism. That’s why you can never put hydrogen peroxide in your eye – it’ll burn like crazy, because the hydrogen peroxide molecules are reacting with (read: destroying) the cells that make up your eye! Lens cleaner enzymes, on the other hand, have no problem being in your eye (unless you decide to go crazy with it).

So in terms of disinfection, Clear Care has the advantage. What about protein removal?

Protein removal is a bit more complicated. On one hand, certain enzymes are experts at ripping apart proteins in general. On the other, because enzymes are proteins, they can get stuck into the lens surfaces as well. Hydrogen peroxide has the potential to react with proteins, but this is a far cry from ripping them in half. Again, the hydrogen peroxide cleaner mostly works by bubbles.

Click to see the details in hi-res.

So in terms of protein removal, I’d call a tie here.

Risks:

Personal Health

As long as you follow the directions, you’re fine. Don’t use any other hydrogen

More cartoons

I've gotta stop doing this and get back to work.

And more cartoons

Take your time with each panel. It'll be funnier that way, I promise.

This is such off-beat humor, it was the first cartoon I've drawn that actually made me laugh.

Makes me want to do a post on genetic engineering.

http://www.lens101.com

For contact lens wearers, there's a nice forum I stumbled upon. People there are knowledgeable and actually very friendly! You'll get answers to your questions quite quickly as well.

http://www.lens101.com

Allergies Cartoon

My attempt at hand drawing the cartoon. This, of course, references my post on allergies.

Actually, there's a fairly big controversy regarding Vitamin C, for very much the reason satirized in my cartoon. Some people even go further and claim that allergy medicine companies are simply be facetious,

Another comic

I might turn this into a series!

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or, how to cure your allergies

This product claims that it's "delicious" and "chewable," and has rose hips. Rose hips are primarily there for flavor; although it contains Vitamin C, it's not going to account for 500 mg in a small tablet. Vitamins C is fairly easy to absorb, so you don't have to worry about choosing a product with the right supplements (unlike Vitamin D or E). So pay big attention to price. Speaking of which, you can order this particular product online if you click the picture above.

My own Personal Experience

My college had an outdoor arboretum, with exotic trees from all over the world. Combined with the fact that my school was entirely composed of nerds (who already have a naturally tendency to have allergies), this meant that every single person on campus had allergies during the springtime, whether or not they had allergies before they went to college.

Sadly, having had severe allergies BEFORE I had ever stepped onto the campus, I was dying every spring.

Until one life-changing semester when one of my biology professors introduced me to the awesome power of Vitamin C. You see, she had actually attended the school when she was an undergrad, and had allergies worse than mine. Her throat could actually close up from all the pollen. But, she told me, when she had taken massive doses of vitamin C, she had actually cured herself of allergies!

Curing Allergies with Vitamin C, Part II

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Or How to Cure Your Allergies, Part II

So this is the routine you should follow.

1. Every day, take at least 5 grams (5,000 milligrams or mg) of Vitamin C
2. Spread them out throughout the day. Don't take them all at once, otherwise your body won't be able to digest all of that Vitamin C at once (remember diffusion in high school chemistry and biology? Your intestines absorb vitamins and nutrients into the blood stream via diffusion. If you have too much Vitamin C running through your intestines, your blood

Clear Care - Hydrogen Peroxide Lens Cleaner

Does Clear Care work? How does Clear Care work?
Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Clear Care

The packaging, complete with basic directions.

Overview: Clear Care, by CIBA Vision, is a new lens cleaner solution. However, unlike most lens cleaner solutions, this uses hydrogen peroxide. The hydrogen peroxide presumably disinfects and removes protein from the lenses better than an enzymatic cleaner. Plus, the bubbling is really cool to watch.

Mechanics: There are really two main things that a lens cleaner does. First: disinfect it. Second: remove proteins.

Disinfecting the lens basically keeps your eye from becoming infected by bacteria or fungus. This is pretty important, and not always guaranteed, considering that Bausch & Lomb’s ReNu with MoistureLoc actually caused fungal infections, leading to a lawsuit from some 600 users.

Removing proteins from the lenses will keep your lenses “fresher” longer. These proteins naturally come from your eyes, and when they build up on your lenses, will make them feel “thicker,” less flexible, dryer, and can even prevent oxygen from reaching your eye. Protein buildup on a lens is like caking your skin with mud. Your skin will be thicker, less flexible, dryer (because the mud will absorb any natural moisture from your skin), and your skin can’t breathe because its pores are being blocked up.

The way that Clear Care both disinfects and removes proteins is by using hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide naturally breaks down into H2O and a single oxygen atom, called a free radical. Free radicals are really reactive, reacting with whatever organic molecule that’s nearby. Of course, by reacting,

A Fun Post

It's corny, and took me an hour to do. But I figured I needed some humor on this blog. Click on it to see a larger, clearer version of it.

Microwaving Techniques

Note: By using the information presented in this blog, you agree to the terms described in the post entitled "Mission Statement and Disclaimer." Basically, you can't sue.

Have you ever microwaved something to disappointment? Maybe it was steaming hot on the top, but freezing cold at the bottom. Maybe that cup of water is still lukewarm after 5 minutes of microwaving. Maybe the food comes out really, really dry. Maybe on a plate of leftover thanksgiving food, the turkey is cold and the vegetables are steaming.

Well, lots of people don't quite understand how the microwave works, and how to best heat up food.

How Microwaves Work

Statement of Purpose and Disclaimer

Hello,

My name is Al, and I hold a background in the biological sciences. I obtained a major that examined the interaction between psychology and biology, and went the full distance in pre-med courses. My younger brother, also nicknamed Al, is currently finishing a degree in chemical engineering.

We decided to host a blog that reviews products from a more scientific perspective. There's a wealth of products that we use everyday, but we don't quite understand the science behind them. Often times, this can cause direct problems for us or prevent us from using them to their fullest potential. Microwaves, lens cleaner solutions, vitamins, even bottled water have dimensions that everyday users aren't quite aware of. The point of this blog is to discuss the particularities of products and give a fuller perspective of what goes on when you use them.

Because this blog discusses different scientific aspects of products to a "laypersons" audience, we cannot guarantee the scientific accuracy of anything posted, or at least to the point where either of us can assume responsibility for any potential mishaps that occur from any application of the ideas discussed on the blog. Therefore, your use of this blog does not and cannot hold the authors liable (legal or otherwise) for any consequences. By using this blog, and the information contain it, you agree to not hold its authors responsible for any problems, difficulties, liabilities, damages, resulting from your usage of this material. We will, of course, try our best to be accurate and precise.

On the subject of the cartoons here: I have no problem with people using the cartoons, unless they're making money off of it. Otherwise, you can share them, put them up on your website, etc., just as long as you give this blog the credit. So for example, link back to this blog if you decide to put them up on your website.

Also, this blog uses advertisements to generate revenue, and, like all ad programs on blogs, clicking data will be collected by advertisers (inc. Google) anonymously. No product/service advertised is necessarily sponsored nor supported by us.

Well, now that our disclaimer is out of the way, please enjoy the blog!