Childhood Asthma- Will O’Neil

The rs7216389 SNP is associated with susceptibility to Childhood Asthma. Childhood Asthma is when a child’s lungs and airways become easily inflamed when they are exposed to certain triggers, such as exposure to pollen or respiratory infections. Symptoms of asthma include “shortness of breath, chest tightness or pain, trouble sleeping caused by shortness of breath, coughing or wheezing, whistling or wheezing sound when exhaling (wheezing is a common sign of asthma in children), or coughing or wheezing attacks that are worsened by a respiratory virus, such as a cold or the flu.” (Mayo Clinic) The genotype CC gives the patient 0.69x lower risk of Childhood Asthma. The genotype CT gives the patient a normal risk for Childhood Asthma. The genotype TT gives the patient a 1.5x increased risk for Childhood Asthma. Asthma is the most chronic condition among children, affecting about 6.1 million kids under the age of 18. The protein IL-13 (interleukin-13) causes changes in the airways of asthma patients. It is a naturally occurring protein made by the IL13 gene, and it leads to inflammation, which in this case would be the lungs and airways. It does not alter any traits.

Any child should be tested for asthma, but children of parents who have asthma are more at risk and should be tested for rs7216389. If they have this, they will be more at risk to develop childhood asthma. To test this, I would recommend Single Gene DNA sequencing which should only cost around $10. The normal trait in question would be a CT genotype while a higher risk of the disease would be a TT genotype, and a lower than normal risk would be a CC genotype. There is evidence supporting the variations and the risk of Childhood Asthma two studies that both showed a correlation between the TT genotype and a higher risk of developing Childhood Asthma. Everyone has a risk of developing asthma based on environmental factors. About 1 in every 12 children develops asthma. However, having the TT genotype for the SNP rs7216389 gives children a larger risk for developing Asthma, which is shown through more kids with the TT genotype developing asthma than the other genotypes.

There is not much risk to having the single gene DNA sequencing test done. However, someone may not want to get the test done since it only finds whether you are more at risk to develop childhood asthma. Even if someone tests positive for the TT genotype, they may still never develop childhood asthma. Also, it is not 100% proven yet that the TT genotype with the rs7216389 SNP actually leads to a higher risk of Childhood Asthma.

There are no genetic privacy concerns that the consumer may want to consider. A potential downside of being tested is that even if you test negative, you can still develop Childhood Asthma. There are no studies that look at reactions to testing positive in this case.

If a family member tests positive for this, the child has a higher chance for testing positive. If a child tests positive for this, their plan should be to look out for symptoms of Asthma to be on top of it in case of an onset of severe Asthma. If someone tests positive for this, I would recommend telling your doctor that you tested positive for a gene that leads to a higher risk of developing Asthma. Then, the doctor may want to test for asthma in the patient. If someone does test positive for asthma, they should reduce the time that they spend doing the things that lead to their asthma symptoms, such as exercise, but not necessarily eliminate it from their daily lives. When doing these things, such as exercising, they need to watch for changes in breathing and for wheezing to prevent an asthma attack from happening before it actually happens.

Words Cited

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019, October 19). Asthma. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/default.htm.

Mayo Clinic. (2018, June 4). Asthma. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/asthma/symptoms-causes/syc-20369653.

Science Daily. (2011, March 22). Protein associated with allergic response causes airway changes in asthma patients. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110322151256.htm#:~:targetText=Summary%3A,according%20to%20a%20new%20study.

SNPedia. (2019, July 3). rs7216389. Retrieved from https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Rs7216389.

Tailgating Outreach Project- Will O’Neil

For my service outreach project, I, along with David, Nate, Richard, and Stephen, walked around our campus and talked to tailgaters about why they should recycle. We provided them with trash bags as well as recycling bags and pins if they wanted them. Along with these items, we talked to them about which items could be recycled vs which items needed to be thrown away in the trash. We executed our plan around the Myers Quad area and alternated between each other for who would talk at each tailgate. We incorporated “intellectually stimulating” into our presentations by telling them that we were doing a project to help protect our campus. We incorporated “relevant to the audience” into our project due to the fact that the tailgaters being the ones we were trying to get to recycle and throw away trash. We incorporated “creative” into our project by coming up with our own plan to target the different tailgating groups in different ways. One thing that we discovered as we went around to different tailgates is that many tailgaters already came prepared with trash bags and recycling bags. Another thing that we discovered was that the tailgaters who did not already have trash bags and recycling bags were very accepting when it came to our trash and recycling bags. When we came up to each group, we looked to see whether they already had trash and recycling bags and we targeted each audience different. The ones that did not have bags were the ones that we had longer conversations with and gave them trash bags. With the ones that were prepared, we educated them on what was recyclable and what wasn’t. If I were to do this again, I would not change much. I would maybe come with a larger group to get to more people and more items to give out but everything else I would keep the same.This helped me better understand that other people outside of the class also want to keep our campus clean and want to help in that. Also, many people are already educated on what is recyclable and what isn’t. In the future, I know now what is recyclable and what isn’t, and also that people are typically very accepting if you approach them. I think our group did a great job of coming across how we wanted to since people accepted what we had to say. This assignment was effective because we were able to reach a large audience through our campus to help keep the campus clean through recycling and throwing away trash. The feedback we received from the community was very helpful because we found out that many people were already educated on what we were trying to deliver.

Climate Change Simulation – Will O’Neil

When I played my role as part of the country of India, I felt like it was hard for all of the countries to meet at a common agreement as well as get the 2100 predicted temperature below 2 degrees Celsius. It was difficult for the larger countries to get what they wanted while also helping the developing nations as well as us out.

At the beginning of discussions, I was optimistic about our chances to bring the 2100 predicted temperature down as well as help the country of India get rid of its poverty. As discussions went on, I became more and more optimistic because everything that we tried was either rejected by the larger nations or did not do enough to decrease the 2100 predicted temperature. At the end, I realized that it is almost impossible to prevent climate change due to the many factors that go into stopping it.

Our group changed our ideas about half way through the discussion. We decided that 2040 was pretty late for our peak emissions, so we changed to 2035 and changed our start of reductions to 2040 from 2050. We decided to keep our reduction rate at 1% as well as our $30 billion though. We had decently reasonable requests, so we did not have to change much throughout the discussion.

This change was prompted by the fact that all of the other countries were peaking around 2030, so we felt that , even though we were not a huge factor in the rise of temperatures, we needed to help out a little bit.

In the end, I think that we can cut emissions, but we can not cut them enough and continue to prosper. To get rid of climate change, we will have to get rid of everything that helps us live our lives as we do. If we cut emissions completely, we will lose all of the advancements we’ve made across the world the last hundreds of years.

The main cost barrier we encountered was the fact that the other developing nations wanted $200 billion as well as our request for $30 billion. However, the other nations were not willing to offer that much, so we had to discuss, and the other developing nations decided to eventually drop their request down a little.

We can catalyze change in the US by beginning to cut emissions sooner rather than later. As we learned in the activity, waiting to cut emissions does not help out at all. The earlier we cut emissions, the lower the temperatures will be in the distant future.

Will O’Neil Watershed Reflection

In this picture, we found a culvert traveling under River Road near East Campus.
In this picture, I noticed that the culvert did not have any water near it at all, and I assume that all of the water had evaporated over time. Due to no recent rain at the time, the culvert was still dry.
When looking at this picture, I wondered what it would look like if we had gotten lots of rain a few days before the scavenger hunt. I think someone would look at this and assume that it is a drain, but I do not think the average person would assume that it helps carry water all the way to the other side of East Campus through an underground system.
When looking at this picture, I feel relaxed due to the fact that I now know how our campus transports water back to the Lilly Branch, and then eventually the North Oconee River.
I think that this picture is meant to show people that without knowing it, water is being transported underneath places that we visit every day, such as East Campus.