Paano umusbong ang utak?

Evolutionary Surprise: Developmental 'Scaffold' for Vertebrate Brain Found in Brainless Marine Worm

Ang pinagmulan ng napakakumplikadong bahagi ng mga hayop na vertebrates ay nananatiling isang misteryo. "Sa kasalukuyang teorya ng evolution, tila umusbong ito nang basta na lang. Wala kang makikitang katulad nito sa ibang hayop," ayun kay Ariel Pani, isang mananaliksik sa Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) na nasa Woods Hole at isang graduate student sa University of Chicago.

Subali't kamakailan sa peryodikong Nature, iniulat ni Pani at ng kanyang mga kasamahan na ang ilan sa mga genetic processes na nagreregulate sa pagbubuo ng utak ng vertebrates ay makikita din sa acorn worm, isang hayop na walang utak na nakatira sa ilalim ng dagat ng Waquoit Bay sa Falmouth, Massachusetts.

(Ang Nature paper ay mababasa dito ngunit nangangailangan ng subscription sa journal para mabasa ang buong papel.)

Basahin ang buong balita (English) dito.

Ang mga enzymes ng ating buhay

Last year, sinulat ko ang nakakamanghang kwento ng mga enzymes. Simple lang ang mensahe na gusto ko ipaabot sa kwentong iyon: na ang enzymes ay may takdang panahon at proseso ng pagkabuhay at paggampan ng gawain hanggang kamatayan nito. Malamang nabanggit na rin sa kwento ang mahalagang papel ng mga enzymes sa buhay ng ibang molecules at kapwa proteins at enzymes, pero mukhang hindi ko masyadong na-highlight ang kahalagahan ng papel na ito sa buhay ng tao. Hindi ko po tinutukoy ang sandamukal na enzymes sa mga katawan natin kundi kung paano ang bawat isa sa atin ay parang mga enzymes sa ibang tao.

Source: Sciencegeek.net

Bilang rebyu, ang enzyme ay tumutulong na i-transporma ang isa pang protina o kapwa enzyme sa ibang anyo na maaaring may iba o dagdag na kakayahan para sa panibagong gawain nito. Ang proseso ng transpormasyong ito ay may iba't ibang partikular na prosesong pinagdadaanan at may iba't ibang haba ng panahong ginugugol bago matapos. Ang ibang proseso ng transpormasyon ay minsan magdudulot ng panibagong anyo kung saan ang enzyme at ang trinanspormang molecule (ang substrate) ay magsasama hanggang kamatayan. Merong dimers, trimers, tetramers na pagsasama. Magkakaiba ang (1) haba ng pagsasama ng enzyme at substrate, (2) kinakailangang lakas (activation energy) para mangyari ang pagsasama, at (3) laki ng pagbabago ng substrate pagkatapos ng pagsasama.

Source: Notes on Kinetics

Hindi ba't ganyan din ang buhay ng tao? May mga tao sa paligid natin na magsisilbing enzyme at tayo ang kanilang substrate: makakasalamuha natin sila ng matagal o panandalian o paminsan-minsan at ang mga panahon na makakasalamuha natin sila ay magbubunga ng maliit o malaking transpormasyon sa ating kaisipan at pagkatao. Ang ating mga magulang, mga kapatid, malapit na kapitbahay, kababata, at mga kaibigan ay ang ating mga enzymes. Tayo din ay naging enzymes sa maraming tao. May mga tao na napakaikli lang ng panahon nating nakilala (halimbawa sa bus o sa jeep) pero may malaking epekto sa ating kaisipan at pagtingin sa buhay. Meron namang mas matagal nating makakasama (taon ang inaabot halimbawa) kung saan napakalaking pagbabago ang naging epekto sa atin at hindi na natin halos maalala kung ano tayo bago ang pagsasamang ito. May mga tao na nagbibigay ng magandang pagbabago sa atin at meron naman na hindi kaaya-aya. Pero kahit ang mga hindi kaaya-ayang pagbabago ay maaaring panandalian lang at pagkatapos ay magpapatibay pa lalo sa atin.

Bilang pagtatapos sa sequel na ito, gusto ko lang sabihin na huwag nating kalimutan na ilang beses sa buhay natin ay kinailangan natin ang tulong ng mga enzymes sa buhay natin para lalo tayong tumibay at maging mas may silbi sa pag-usad ng di-tumitigil na pagbabago ng lipunan.

Mapanganib sa ekonomiya ng Pilipinas ang pagsandal sa call center industry

MEDIA RELEASE
27 January 2012

IBON Foundation, Inc., IBON Center 114 Timog Avenue, Quezon City Philippines
Phone: (632) 927-6986/927-7060 to 62|Fax: 929-2496| E-mail: media@ibon.org
http://www.ibon.org

OBAMA'S "INSOURCING" HIGHLIGHTS RISKS OF RELYING ON BPOs

The recent pronouncement by US Pres. Barack Obama to bring outsourcing jobs back to the US highlights the dangers of relying on business process outsourcing (BPO), and on foreign economies in general, for Filipino jobs. According to research group IBON, even if it is still unclear if Pres. Obama’s proposed “insourcing” legislation will pass, the vulnerability of the sector and the government’s misplaced attention to this is increasingly apparent.

The “insourcing” initiative has been dismissed either as mere election-related rhetoric or in any case as unlikely to prosper against corporate lobbying, such as by the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP). But the initiative is just another example of adverse trends facing the sector and more of this are likely to emerge as the crisis in the US and the rest of the world worsens in the coming years, the research group said.

Government and industry estimates for the BPO are of 1.3 million jobs and US$25 billion in revenues in 2016. These are unlikely and it will be recalled that the original BPO “Roadmap to 2010” target was for 1.0 million jobs and US$12 billion in revenues in 2010 – of which only 525,000 jobs and US$8.9 billion materialized.

As it is, IBON noted that the growth of the BPO sector is already slowing slightly in terms of jobs and revenues. The 21.9% growth in BPAP-reported jobs in the sector in 2011, to an estimated 640,000, was slightly slower than the 24.1% growth in 2010. Similarly the 22.5% reported growth in revenues, to some US$10.9 billion, was slightly slower than the 25.3% growth in 2010.

The slowing global and, in particular, US economy appears to have affected the sector’s performance despite the country reportedly having nudged India out as the world’s leading BPO center. The World Bank has previously estimated global economic growth to have fallen to 2.7% in 2011 from 4.1% in 2010 and US economic growth from to 1.7% (2011) from 3.0% (2010). Developments in the US economy are particularly relevant because the latest Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data notes that the US accounts for 72% of foreign investment and 80% of BPO service exports.

It can for instance be noted that the trend in the deployment of Filipino nurses to the US dropped from 649 in 2008 to just 85 in 2010. In his campaign for the US presidency, Pres. Obama campaigned for prioritizing American nurses over migrants declaring: ““The notion that we would have to import nurses makes absolutely no sense.” Recently, the Democrats’ House Bill 1933 reviving temporary visas for registered nurses was approved by Congress. Among others the bill limits the number of H1-C temporary registered nurse visas to 300 per year from a previous quota of 500 annually.

The government has so far budgeted at least Php575 million in subsidies for private foreign BPO investors consisting of trainings, curriculum and teacher development, career marketing and scholarships through TESDA and CHED. According to IBON, these funds will be more productively spent supporting Filipino industry, science and technology than for a sector that is such a small part of the economy and by its nature does not give much value-added. The BPO sector is barely integrated into the local economy outside of its relatively few jobs and so does not stimulate or encourage domestic production. (end)

IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.