Alexander Fleming The History of Penicillin

From the Greek—anti, meaning against and bios, meaning life, an antibiotic is a chemical substance produced by one organism that is destructive to another. The word antibiotic comes from antibiosis, a term coined in 1889 by a pupil of  Louis Pasteurs  named Paul Vuillemin to who used it to define a process by which life could be used to destroy life. Antibiotics are natural substances that are released by bacteria and fungi into their environment, as a means of inhibiting other organisms. You can think of it as is chemical warfare on a microscopic scale. Sir Alexander Fleming Penicillin is one of the earliest discovered and most widely used antibiotic agents. While Sir Alexander Fleming is credited with its discovery, it was French medical student Ernest Duchesne who first took note of the bacteria in 1896. Flemings more famous observations would not be made until more than two decades later. Fleming, a trained bacteriologist, was working St. Marys Hospital in London when in 1928, he observed a plate culture of Staphylococcus that had been contaminated by a blue-green mold. On closer inspection, he noted that the colonies of bacteria adjacent to the mold were being dissolved. Curious, Fleming decided to grow the mold in pure culture, from which he was able to see that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus were being destroyed by the mold Penicillium notatum, proving, in principle at least, the existence of an antibacterial agent. Fleming named the substance penicillin and published his findings in 1929, noting that his discovery might someday have therapeutic value if it could be produced in quantity, however, it would be years before Flemings findings would be put into practical, widespread use. British Research Continues In 1930, Dr. Cecil George Paine, a  pathologist  at the  Royal Infirmary  in  Sheffield, began experimenting with penicillin for the treatment of infant patients suffering neonatal infections (and later with adults suffering eye infections). After an inauspicious start, he successfully cured his first patient on November 25, 1930, however with only a mild success rate, Dr. Paines efforts with penicillin were limited to a handful of patients. In 1939, led by Australian scientist  Howard Florey, the work of a team of penicillin researchers at Oxford University’s Sir William Dunn School of Pathology that included Ernst Boris Chain,  Edward Abraham,  Arthur Duncan Gardner,  Norman Heatley,  Margaret Jennings, J. Orr-Ewing, and G. Sanders was beginning to show great promise.  By the following year, the team was able to demonstrate penicillins ability to kill infectious bacteria in mice. By 1940, theyd come up with a method for mass-producing penicillin but unfortunately, the output failed to meet expectations. In 1941, the team began a clinical trial with their first human patient, a policeman named  Albert Alexander who was suffering from a severe facial infection. Initially, Alexander’s condition improved but when supplies of penicillin ran out he succumbed to the infection. While subsequent patients were treated successfully, synthesizing the drug in sufficient quantity remained a stumbling block. Key Research Shifts to the United States With the increasing demands of World War II putting a huge drain on Great Britains industrial and governmental resources, the British scientists did not have the means to continue clinical trials on humans at Oxford. Dr. Florey and his colleagues turned to the United States for help and were quickly referred to the Northern Regional Laboratory in Peoria, Illinois, where American scientists were already working on fermentation methods to increase the growth rate of fungal cultures. On July 9, 1941, Dr. Florey and Dr. Norman Heatley came to the United States bearing a vital package containing a small amount of penicillin to begin work. By pumping air into deep vats containing corn steep liquor (a non-alcoholic by-product of the wet milling process) combined with other key ingredients, researchers were able to induce faster penicillin growth than with any previous methods. Ironically, after a worldwide search, it was a modified strain of penicillin that came from a moldy cantaloupe in a Peoria market produced the largest amount of penicillin when grown in submerged deep-vat conditions. By November 26, 1941, Andrew J. Moyer, Peoria Labs expert on the nutrition of molds, had succeeded, with the assistance of Dr. Heatley, in a tenfold increase in the yield of penicillin. After clinical trials were performed in 1943, penicillin was shown to be the most effective antibacterial agent to date. Mass Production the Legacy of Penicillin Meanwhile, simultaneous research being conducted a Pfizer Labs in Brooklyn, New York, helmed by Jasper H. Kane, led to a more practical fermentation  method for the mass production of pharmaceutical-grade penicillin. By the time Allied forces hit the beaches on D-Day on June 6, 1944, there was an ample supply of the drug to treat the numerous casualties. Another benefit to mass production was the decrease in cost. Penicillin prices fell from a prohibitively expensive rate in 1940 to $20 per dose in July 1943 to $0.55 per dose by 1946. The 1945 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to Sir Alexander Fleming, Ernst Boris Chain, and Sir Howard Walter Florey for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect in various infectious diseases. Dr. Andrew J. Moyer from the Peoria Lab was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and both the British and Peoria Laboratories were designated as International Historic Chemical Landmarks. On May 25, 1948, Dr. Moyer was granted a patent for a method of the mass production of penicillin. A Timeline of Antibiotics Ancient History—The ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and indigenous tribes of Central America all used various forms of mold to treat infected wounds.Late 1800s–The search for antibiotics begins in the late 1800s with the growing acceptance of the  germ theory of disease that linked bacteria and other microbes to the causation of a variety of ailments.1871—The surgeon  Joseph  Lister  begins research into a phenomenon indicating that urine contaminated with mold inhibited the growth of bacteria.1890s—German doctors Rudolf Emmerich and Oscar Low are the first to make an effective medication from microbes. While their drug, known as pyocyanase, was the first antibiotic to be used in hospitals, it did not have an effective cure rate.1928—Sir Alexander Fleming  observes that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mold Penicillium  notatum, demonstrating the principle of antibiotics.1935—Prontosil, the fir st sulfa drug, is discovered in 1935 by German chemist Gerhard Domagk.1942—Howard Florey and Ernst Chain invent a viable manufacturing process for  Penicillin G Procaine, which can now be sold as a drug.1943—Using microbes culled from soil bacteria, American  microbiologist  Selman Waksman invents streptomycin, the first of a new class of drugs called aminoglycosides that could be used to treat tuberculosis and other infections, however, the side effects of early-stage drugs often outweigh their curative value.1945—Using advanced X-ray crystallography, Oxford University scientist Dr. Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin defines the molecular layout of penicillin, confirming its structure as previously hypothesized and leading to enhanced development of other antibiotics and biomolecular substances, including vitamin B12.1947—Four years after mass production of penicillin begins, resistant microbes appear, including Staphylococcus aureus. Usually harmless in hum ans, if allowed to flourish unchecked, Staphylococcus aureus produces toxins that result in illnesses including pneumonia or toxic shock syndrome.1955—Lloyd Conover receives a patent for Tetracyclin. It soon becomes the most prescribed broad-spectrum antibiotic in the United States.1957—Nystatin, used to cure many disfiguring and disabling fungal infections, is patented.1981—SmithKline Beecham patents a semisynthetic antibiotic called Amoxicillin or amoxicillin/clavulanate potassium. The antibiotic debuts in 1998 under the tradenames of Amoxicillin, Amoxil, and Trimox.

Symbolism of Death Used in Because I Could Not Stop for...

In the poems â€Å"Because I Could Not Stop for Death†, by Emily Dickinson and â€Å"Home Burial†, by Robert Frost, literary elements are used throughout both poems to get the message the authors are trying to portray. One main important literary element that is used to entice the reader, is symbolism, because it helps the authors describe something without actual describing it. Symbolism is also used because it shows how significant an object is. Characterization is also an important literary technique because it, gives the reader an idea on how the character would act, work, and their values in life. Death is a topic that is used in both poems. Also, every character express their opinion about death differently. The first poem is â€Å"Because I†¦show more content†¦This refers to my theme because Death isn’t in a hurry to take her to its final resting place, he will get you there eventually, so why the rush? One last quote that describes the theme is in lines 17-20, it says, â€Å"We paused before a House that seemed/ A Swelling of the Ground-/ The Roof was scarcely visible-/ The Cornice – in the Ground.† This quote expresses my theme because the speaker and Death reach their final destination and the speaker symbolizes the grave as her home because this is where she will be laid to rest for eternity. The second poem is â€Å"Home Burial†, by Robert Frost. The poem is about a couple, Amy and her husband, losing their son causing Amy to go through emotional turmoil. Amy is trying to avoid the situation by trying to leave, but her husband is trying to pull her back, so he can figure out what’s wrong with her and as the poem continues the drama increases. The topic of the poem is sadness, which ties into the theme of Amy and her husband’s relationship is on the rock. The theme in this poem is that everyone goes through sadness, but bottling it up doesn’t help the situation. This is due to the death of their son and as the story continues the husband is trying to understand, why Amy is acting the way she is but she receives the message as rude and offensive. Most of the tension is coming from the graveyard, which resigns on their lot that contains their relatives and son. In lines 1-2, it expresses my theme because it has both

Gender and Sexulaity Free Essays

Jackie Pappas Professor Winchock ENWR 106-AN March 5, 2013 Paper #2 – Middle Draft Gender Sexuality Our everyday lives are greatly affected by ones gender and sexuality. They shape who we are and define our identities. Society expects a certain gender to behave in a specific way and if this does not happen, one is seen as shameful and wrong, leaving the individual to feel defeated and out of place. We will write a custom essay sample on Gender and Sexulaity or any similar topic only for you Order Now In society only a few decades ago, women were meant to be silent and restricted. Men were the superior ones who had a voice. They freely got to do whatever they pleased. In Julia Avarez’ â€Å"Daughter of Invention and Judith Ortiz Cofer’s poem â€Å"The Changeling,† women were restricted of their true identities and their voices were silenced by the Ppallogocentric order. As a female in society, one was not permitted to speak freely of her opinions because of men. She must remain silent. It is evident that the narrator, often referred to as Cukita, in â€Å"Daughter of Invention† cannot speak what she wants. She reads poems from a book her father bought her written by Walt Whitman. She reads his free words; words he can openly speak. These are words of â€Å"a flesh and blood man† (Alvarez 14). Because Walt Whitman was a man, he could speak and write what he so choose. However, when Cukita â€Å"plagiarizes† his words, because she was a woman, she was not â€Å"permitted† to read her work at the assembly for which she was writing. When she read her speech to her mother, her mother beamed with pride. It was quite the opposite when she read this speech to her father. He was shocked that his wife would let their daughter read the speech she wrote. â€Å"You will permit her to read that? † (Alvarez 15) Cukita’s father said as if she needed permission to speak what she believes. As your father, I forbid you to say that eh-speech! † (Alvarez 15). Since he was a man, he had the final say in what his daughter said. He could say whatever he liked but his daughter, because she was a woman, could not. Women were expected to be silent and could only speak in the male voice. We see the silence of a girl in Cofer’s â€Å"The Changeling. † I n this poem, the speaker recalls a memory of when she was a young girl. She dressed in her brother’s military clothes which â€Å"[molded her] into boy shape† (Cofer 725). Her father found it very amusing. He would listen with a smile† (Cofer 725). She loved dressing up as a boy and pleasing her father because it was the only time he noticed her. The speaker pretended to tell stories of her times in the war as a man and this was the time that her father would pay attention to her. The only time he would listen to her words was when she was speaking in his voice – in a man’s voice. All other times, her words were not important to her father; they did not matter to him because she was not his son, she was his daughter. Females were restricted in what they could say and do. Women were not allowed to do as they pleased. They were limited not only in what they said but what they could do. In â€Å"Daughter of Invention,† Cukita’s mother liked to work on her inventions. â€Å"She always invented at night, after settling her house down† (Alvarez 10). The mother could only work on her projects after she had completed her obligations as a woman. It was a woman’s responsibility to take care of the house and keep her husband and family happy; putting her wants and wishes aside until these are taken care of first. Even her inventions were restricted. She would not invent things that would help the world as a whole but come up with ideas that would only help with your everyday life, particularly for the typical American woman. When discussing her inventions and why they did not help the greater good, â€Å"she would have said that was for men to do† (Alvarez 10). This shows that she was not allowed to create what she really wanted to invent. American women were not the only women who were restricted. It was common for women to be restricted all over the world. The narrator, Cukita, talked about the fact that her mother did not want to return home. She did not want to go back to the old country where she was only a wife and a mother† (Alvarez 14). In the Dominican Republic under Trujillo’s rule, women were only expected to be two things: a wife and a mother. They were restricted to being anything but. They did not have permission to explore their interests such as inventing. Women were expected to take care of t he house and the family and if they did anything else, saying they’d be in trouble is an understatement. Women were not allowed to be free to be who they are. Women were expected to only take care of the family and the house even if they wanted to do something else. It is still joked about today all over the Internet that women belong in the kitchen. While it is meant as a harmless joke, it is a reality for others. For example, it was a reality for the speaker in â€Å"The Changeling. † While her father was very amused with his daughter dressing as a man, her mother was not. When it was time for the family to sit down for dinner, the mother â€Å"[forbad her] from sitting down with them as a man† (Cofer 725). The mother felt that when her daughter dressed in her brother’s clothes, it was distracting her from being a girl. She is forced to go back into the closet to change back into her expected outfit. The speaker, who once saw a closet full of adventure, then saw the same closet as a dark space (Cofer 725). When she emerged from the closet, back into reality, she walked back into â€Å"the real world of her [mother’s] kitchen† (Cofer 725). For the speaker, a woman belonging in the kitchen was no laughing matter; it was her reality. She longed to be able to do the things a man did but she could not because she was a restricted woman. She wished to have the same power that a man did. After explaining about how powerless a woman was, it is clear that men were the superior ones. In â€Å"Daughter of Invention† after the father disapproved of his daughter’s speech, the mother and daughter felt the need to â€Å"rebel† and â€Å"join forces† (Alvarez 16) against the father. They knew that he was the man in charge. They could not simply tell him what he was doing was wrong and they certainly could not do it alone. It took two women to stand up to one man and they still lost, the father tearing his daughter’s speech to shreds, tearing her to shreds in turn. As the father, he had the final say on what happened. After calling her father the hated nickname of their former dictator Trujillo, the narrator ran to her room. Her father â€Å"ordered [her] on his authority as [her] father to open that door† (Alvarez 16). Because he was a man, he held the power in the house. He got free reign to tell his daughters and wife what to do and they must obey. In Dominican Republic, men were so superior that giving birth to a daughter was not as great as giving birth to a son. A mother was seen as a failure if she did not give birth to a son. When Cukita and her mother went into the father’s room, â€Å"his face rightened as if at long last his wife had delivered a son† (Alvarez 15). Fathers were happier when their wives bore them a son. There were fathers who did not pay attention to their children if they were not a boy. In â€Å"The Changeling,† the speaker must â€Å"[vie] for [her] father’s attention† (Cofer 725). Because she was not a man, the only way she co uld get her father to notice her was to dress, speak, and act like the son he always wanted her to be. After he mother made her change back into the girl she was supposed to be, she â€Å"return[ed] invisible† (Cofer 725). Since she was no longer dressed as the superior man her father so wanted her to be, he did not pay any mind to her and she felt as if she was no one; as if she was invisible. It is because of her gender that she did not fit into society. Gender plays a major role in our everyday lives. Men and women were expected to act in a specific manner or otherwise they end up defeated. Women were meant to keep their thoughts and opinions silent. They were also not allowed to act as freely as they would like. Women were restricted in what they said and did. Because women were so repressed, it was evident that men were the superior ones. In modern society, women have earned the right to be treated as equally and as fairly as men. However, there are still some areas in society where women are more oppressed than men are. Works Cited Alvarez, Julia. â€Å"Daughter of Invention. † Approaching Literature. Eds. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 10-19. Cofer, Judith Ortiz. â€Å"The Changeling. † Approaching Literature. Eds. Peter Schakel and Jack Ridl. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2012. 725. How to cite Gender and Sexulaity, Essay examples