Bee sting as therapy?

  Many people think that the honey bees' stings are harmful and poisonous that can harm our body. However, some medical doctors claim that this fixed perception is wrong. In fact, the bees' stings can be used to cure diseases. This method is known as "bee venom therapy", which is a part of Apitherapy (using products from bees in medication).

The medical doctors claim that bee venoms are very effective in curing diseases, such as arthritis, rheumatism, back pain and skin diseases. The bee venom is a rich source of enzymes, peptides and biogenic amines. According to the doctors, there are at least 18 active substances in the bee venom that possess pharmaceutical properties. They believe that the bee venom reacts with the body's immune system, bring some changes to the immune system's functions and modify the level of cortisol in our body, which can help to fight back against these diseases. Some of the patients claim that this method has helped them to cure some of the diseases. 

This bee sting therapy is actually based on the methods of acupuncture, which was practiced mainly in China traditionally. The body areas that are stung and the methods of this therapy is highly similar to acupuncture. A live bee is taken out of a container using pincers, and is stimulated so that it would sting the patient's body. Then the bee is slowly removed while the bee sting remains in the skin, together with the intestines that continue to pump the blood into the body even when it is out of the bees body. Here, the places that are stung are based on the acupuncture system, for example, where are the main bloodstreams. This method has been actively practiced in some regions of China and Europe. 

Later the area reacts with the body's immune system and the region that is stung gradually becomes swollen, red and itchy. The doctors say that the more intense the reaction is, the better it is for the body. 

here is a documentary about the practice of using bee venom therapy in a clinic in Taiwan: many people believe that this therapy is indeed effective. 

  However, despite all these doctors' claims, many scientists say that this theory is not true as there are no valid evidence. There has been no proof that the substances that exist in the bee venom is effective against strong diseases such as rheumatism, when it cannot be solved even by our modern medication technology. Moreover, experiments conducted by some scientists show the otherwise. A group of scientist researched on how the bee venom could affect the white rats which were suffering from Experiment Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis. The results show that, the rats conditions did not get better, but instead got worse due to the venom. Another example was done on human patients. 26 patients were treated with bee venom therapy for 24 days but there were no signs of improvement. Hence, bee venom was not an effective medical treatment. 

Reflection 
  This is a very interesting topic as it brings what you know to the exact opposite idea. As most of us do, I thought that bee stings were very harmful and poisonous that can even lead to mortality in some cases, and we should try to avoid getting stung as much as possible. However, this article suggests that some people do want to get stung by bees! The article also explained how bee venom could be effective in treating many of the known diseases. I was puzzled and at the same time, quite convinced by the explanations given by the doctors who support this therapy. The bee venom have substances such as peptides which can contribute to breaking down bacterias and help the body to fight against diseases. I think that if the venom can affect our own body cells, why can't it attack the bacteria's and viruses too? Moreover, if the venom activates our immune system and stimulates it to release some substances to fight against it, the substances can also be used to fight against the diseases too. Hence, I believe to a certain extent that this therapy is indeed true and effective. 

  However, much research needs to be done. This is just not scientifically proven, just that it has been practiced for a long time and several patients have claimed that this method is effective. The experiments and studies that the scientists have shown that the therapy do not possess any effectiveness.  If bees' venoms  really had these substances that could cure those diseases that have remained to be problems until now, why didn't the scientists notice them and use them in medications before? In addition, only a small sector of the total patients who received this care answered that it had indeed cured their diseases. Can this serve as a reliable evidence that the therapy is useful? The evidences are too small and weak to validate this therapy as scientific.

  In my opinion, I hope that more research is conducted and figure out whether the bees' venom could actually help humans deal with these diseases before. If the scientists discover some useful substances that have pharmaceutical value, they may be able to use it for different medications to treat diseases such as cancer that could never been cured before. You may never know the potential powers that nature possesses. 

how video games can improve our vision

  It is a common believe that video games makes our eye sight deteriorate. However, Daphne Maurer thinks she has proven this fixed perception wrong: she actually claims that video games, which mainly includes First Person Shooter games, may help to improve the eyesights of people who are born with cataracts .

Medal Of Honor:
One of the games suggested by Dr Maurer that could improve one's vision.








  Dr Maurer is not a gamer: however, she was a psychologist who worried about how to solve cataracts that developed from a young age. After she read about Daphne Bavelier's report about how computer games could improve people's eyesight, she came to wonder, "If computer games could improve eyesights of people with normal vision level, why can't it help people with impairments?" Thus, she began to start her studies on how computer games could help people with cataracts.

Daphne Maurer

  She gathered a group of volunteers, and several parents allowed the test to be conducted on their children as they hoped their children could get better vision. They were warned of the potential dangers, such as the violence and addiction to FPS game. Her experiment team tested the volunteers' visions first, and first supervised their gameplay as even games needed a specific learning curve. After teaching them, the team made the volunteers to play the game for several hours, around 10 hours per week. This experiment continued for a month.

  After a month, Dr Maurer gathered the results and figured out that the volunteers' visions surprisingly improved. Most notably, the volunteers could detect direction of motion easier than before. They could also see smaller details, notice their surroundings and see things that are in lower contrast. These result suggested that sensory brain could change in adults. The reason for these positive consequences can be found in the nature of FPS games. To start with, the person must have a wider view of the screen, not only what is in front of them. They have to be observant since the enemy could appear form anywhere. The brain have to react quickly to what the person is seeing and carry out the action. This increases the dopamine level in the brain. The researches have also tried the experiment using Tetris game instead of FPS games. However, since the game was not fast paced, it did not have any effect.


  Dr Maurer suggests that the scientific explanation behind this phenomenon is that the FPS games are changing balance of excitation and inhibition in the inputs to neurons in the visual cortex. The brain could be useful in breaking old connections and allow new visual connections to form. The brain also becomes more active as it reacts to even small and weak signals. Although some critics claim that the number of volunteers that are used (7 people) was too small to confirm the success of the experiment. However, Dr Maurer says that these people had suffered cataracts for long and they all improved in a month period. Hence, this shows that the experiment was indeed quite successful. 

 One of the main question that whether the video games should be violent. She hopes not and she is currently researching on how to create a game without any violence and also perform the same function. Maybe it could be the adrenaline that could have driven the peoples' eyesights to be better, but she still has a lot to figure out. 

Reflection
  This topic was an interesting topic to me, as it was an idea against our fixed perception that computer games were bad for our eyesight: instead, it went even further. This was a study that suggested that computer games could cure eyesights of people with cataracts. Our parents always tell us to stop playing computer games since it could damage our eyesight, but this theory may have proven them wrong.  

 eyes with cataracts 

  In my opinion, I think that this study is an amazing breakthrough, as it can help many people recover and improve their eyesights. If this research turns out to be successful and confirms itself as a valid scientific theory, game developers can co operate with these researchers to create more games which can function similarly and help the people with cataracts to improve their eyesights. They can also try to create a game together which is less violent, but can function the same way as the FPS games. This way, the negative side effects of the experiment, which were addiction and violence, can be solved. 

  The explanation that Dr Maurer also makes sense to me in some aspects. The player has to concentrate not only on one main focus but have to look over the entire monitor sand observe carefully even the smallest thing since there  could be enemies everywhere in a FPS game. Moreover, when the player sees the enemy, his brain has to react on what he sees and make an action corresponding it. Hence, this can improve the activity of the brain and also enhance the connection between visuality and the brain performance. The eyes can also spread its vision wider and also concentrate on small things depending on different situations. I think that this actually makes sense. In the game, we have to switch our view models several times depending where the enemies are. The researchers can utilize this fact and help the people with eyesight problems to improve on their visions.

  In conclusion, I hope that Dr Maurer continues her research and elaborate more on how the game can really influence the people's eyesights and also perform another experiment to validate her theory. Last but not least, she should try to co operate with the game companies to create a nonviolent game that helps to improve people's eyesights, and cure cataracts. 

Here is a video of a related topic, about how video can games may cure lazy eye.