内分泌信号传导1.pdfVIP

Environmental Signaling (ES-101) Case 1: Strange Happenings Session Objectives Students will be able to: Explain what endocrine disruption is Explain what a phytoestrogen is Explain how endocrine disruption might work, using an organ-system level approach Give examples of cases of endocrine disruption based on the scientific literature, and citing primary research Briefly summarize the history of the idea of endocrine disruption In this case students consider news headlines, and ponder whether they represent a common problem. After a discussion they define central concepts in endocrine disruption. Read the following headlines to students: Streamwater turns male fish female Cheetahs in captive breeding program develop liver disease and infertility Scientist finds male frogs with egg-filled ovaries Moldy corn feed advances puberty of young swine Wild seals suffering from human-like uterine disease Drought-stricken plants cause quail infertility Florida alligators have shrinking penises Poor pasture: some clover prevents sheep reproduction Divide the students into small groups and give each group a copy of one of the references. Emphasize that they are to get just the main phenomenon described, and not get into the methods of the study. Then have each group share the phemonmenon they have learned about. At the end discuss the questions, moderating so that they try to figure out the pattern of the different situations. In small groups you and your classmates will investigate these bizarre phenomena and try to figure out what is going on. Each group will summarize their assigned research article in 4 or 5 sentences, and then share that summary with the whole group. You should take notes on these summaries to use later. As a whole group we will discuss the situation. Are these isolated incidents, or parts of a larger pattern? If there is a larger pattern, what is the root cause? What do these real scenario