Neuromuscular Junction

     Kendra and I made a poster about NMJ (Neuromuscular Junction) Here is a page about NMJ. We will also post a picture of our own poster: 

NMJ is a specialized synapse. Its job is to transmit the electrical impulses throughout the body. It does so through the motor neuron nerve terminal. Once it leaves there, these impulses are sent all over the body. There are 7 steps for sending the electrical impulse, I will quickly describe all of them for you:
Step 1: There is an electrical impulse signal that has to reach the nerve terminal in the "presynaptic" region.
Step 2: When the impulses reach the nerve terminal, they activate calcium channels.
Step 3: The increase the calcium concentration will have to trigger the fusion of the synaptic vesicles with the nerve terminal membrane.
Step 4: Once this is fused with the nerve membrane, the vesicles will release its contents into the extra cellular space, this extra space is known as the "synaptic cleft."
Step 5&6: Acetylcholine binds to its receptors. It then will open ligand-gated channels. Next an end plate potential will be created.
Step 7: The final step, Acetylcholinesterase will degrade the acetylcholine so that the process can start over again and new acetylcholine molecules can be produced. 

Bone Structure

     If you like to study the human skeletal system, you will probably want to start with the support of the body. That would be the bones and bone structure. The best example I could start for beginners would be the femur. This bone is the longest and straightest single bone in the human body. It is also the strongest. If you break this bone, dont plan on walking again until it is completely healed or major problems could occur! the picture below is a human femur.

     Now, not all bones are solid in the human body. There are two specific types of bones when thinking of the structure. Cortical and Trabecular bones. Cortical bones are the hard and white bones you see that are the harder of the two. Trabecular bones are the honey comb looking holes inside the bone and are actually filled with marrow. Personally, I dont understand why the holes are considered "bone" but that is just me. It is important for bones to be strong to support our body weight and in some cases provide protection such as the skull and ribs. However, they must also be light enough to make movement possible. A long bone consists of several sections:

• Diaphysis: This is the long central shaft
• Epiphysis: Forms the larger rounded ends of long bones
• Metaphysis: Area between the diaphysis and epiphysis at both ends of the bone
• Epiphyseal Plates: Plates of cartilage, also known as growth plates which allow the long bones to grow in length during childhood. Once we stop growing, between 18 and 25 years of age the cartilage plates stop producing cartilage cells and are gradually replaced by bone.

     Just to make sure you all understand this bone structure a little better, I will add a youtube video just for a little extra grasp of the concept! I will warn you now it is 8:42 minutes long but it is very informative and also explains everything about the picture above as well. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnY6l9hMOew

Skeleton Labeling Blog

 We were assigned a group activity in class which we would label every bone we could within a certain amount of time. My personal part of the skeleton was the legs and feet. I had to memorize every part I could. The experiment was great! I learned a total of 26 bones! The only problem I had was putting all of the sticky notes on the little bones on the skeleton and actually getting them to stick! Sadly, after the time expired I was still left with 6 sticky notes. We came in last place! We found out we didn't have a group member to memorize the bones of the skull when we started. Even though that put us back a lot,  it was still a great experience and lots of fun to perform this assignment. I think if we did this more often, I could have the entire skeletal system memorized by the end of the year! I memorized all 26 of my parts in around 15 minutes and that was because I am already somewhat familiar with the human body since my mother is a nurse. Therefore, I felt I was a good person to have in our group. As far as the other members in my group went, they all put in a great effort. Nobody showed up not knowing what was going on which was great because it made us look better as a whole. I believe if we could of had somebody that was studying the skull and had just been quicker putting our sticky notes on, we would have been able to come in at least 3rd. Below is a picture of the skeleton just so you can have a visual description as well.

Everything below the pelvis/hip is what I was assigned to, this was a great experience to get a little more knowledge of anatomy and have some fun in the process. I would definitely be up for doing this again!

Integumentary System: Tattoos

     If you are considering getting a tattoo, you might want to think about what you are doing to your body and what you want. Remember tattoos are permanent and if you're not happy, not many people can afford or bear the pain when it comes to tattoo removal(laser surgery). I will split this blog into certain parts so you can see which part you're interested in reading:

How tattoos are done

A tattoo is a permanent mark or design made on your skin with pigments inserted through pricks into the skin's top layer. Typically, the tattoo artist uses a hand-held machine that acts much like a sewing machine, with one or more needles piercing the skin repeatedly. With every puncture, the needles insert tiny ink droplets. The process — which is done without anesthetics — causes a small amount of bleeding and slight to potentially significant pain.

     Now, you might be wondering, since you're puncturing your skin with a needle, are there any risks? The answer is absolutely! There are way more risks than you might have thought possible. That is why if you get a tattoo, check the place out first, if it is a dark room with one light on in someone's basement, you might not want to get a tattoo there! Sanitation is key in the tattoo process. Look for a very clean place that has high recommendations and great reviews. Remember, tattoos aren't suppose to be cheap since they will be on your body forever. So, in the tattoo business you are getting what you pay for. Here is what you should think over before getting a tattoo:

• Allergic reactions. Tattoo dyes — especially red, green, yellow and blue dyes — can cause allergic skin reactions, such as an itchy rash at the tattoo site. This can occur even years after you get the tattoo.
• Skin infections. A skin infection — which might cause redness, swelling, pain and a pus-like drainage — is possible after tattooing.
• Other skin problems. Sometimes bumps called granulomas form around tattoo ink. Tattooing can also lead to keloids — raised areas caused by an overgrowth of scar tissue.
• Bloodborne diseases. If the equipment used to create your tattoo is contaminated with infected blood, you can contract various bloodborne diseases — including tetanus, hepatitis B and hepatitis C.
• MRI complications. Rarely, tattoos or permanent makeup might cause swelling or burning in the affected areas during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) exams. In some cases, tattoo pigments can interfere with the quality of the image — such as when a person who has permanent eyeliner has an MRI of the eye.

Medication or other treatment — including possible removal of the tattoo — might be needed if you experience an allergic reaction to the tattoo ink or you develop an infection or other skin problem near a tattoo. 

An example of a tattoo gone bad( not done professionally):

Now, an example of a terrible artist! I hope nobody's kids look like this! Haha!:

Tissue Engineering: New Approaches and Advancements

     We were just assigned an assignment in class to look and research more about the youtube video Tissue Engineering: New approaches and advancements. I have to say, this video is amazing! What scientists are actually doing is looking into creating artificial organs for the human body! People are dying because they cant get organs from donors quick enough, and with this new scientific breakthrough, that might not be an issue anymore. Scientists actually took a lab rat and injected cells to where an ear was actually growing on its back! it was so wild because it had cartilage growing into its back to form the ear as well. I had never imagined the world of science was so complex and technologically advanced! Another example was a woman named Claudia. She had tuberculosis and she was having a very difficult time breathing. What scientists did was get a trachea from a human cadaver, disinfect it, and insert cells from Claudia's own body into this new trachea. This was amazing because not only did she get to go home 4 days after, but she never has had a problem breathing since! She also doesn't have to worry about her body rejecting the surgery since she has the cadavers trachea embedded into her body. I have done research on this scientific topic, and the most useful one was an article from http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-chembioeng-061010-114257. This article said the tissue engineering is mainly focused on skin replacement and cartilage repair right now, but is gradually growing into a breakthrough for organ engineering! The skin and cartilage engineering now will help wounded soldiers and thousands of people right now! The most amazing thing I  have ever heard of was 3-D printing. The scientists actually took a inkjet printer, and injected cells into the ink cartridge. The scary part of this process is they are able to print organs, and they function! I am not going into detail about how the scientists do this because I don't think you should just take my word, you need to check this out for yourself! The link is posted below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YiKI3ppo0pM

Epithelial Tissues

     Epithelial tissue is made up of cells that covers the whole body! It is made up of cells closely packed and ranged in one or more layers. This tissue is designed to form the covering or lining of all internal and external body surfaces. Epithelial tissue that occurs on surfaces on the interior of the body is known as endothelium. There are 6 types of epithelium: Squamous, simple cuboidal, simple columnar, ciliated columnar, glandular, and stratified epithelium. Epithelial tissue actually has a lot more functions than you would imagine. These functions being: protection, sensation, secretion, absorption, excretion, diffuses, cleaning, and it reduces friction. So as you can see, these tissues can serve a lot of purposes great for living organisms. The picture below was added into this blog so you can visually see the different types of epithelial tissues.

The picture above is a simple squamous tissue. The reason for having this kind of tissue for filtration and diffusion.

Next, we have simple cuboidal tissues. The group members are trying to look like a cube as much as possible. The purpose the cuboidal tissue serves is for excretion and absorption.

This is a simple columnar tissue. As you can see in the image, the group members are standing straight up and trying to represent columns. Columnar tissue is most likely found in anything that has to do with digestion in the human body. It's purpose is absorption.

 

Above is a transitional tissue. You can see the diagram really does represent the name. The "cell" is transitioning between two different flows. I have done research and asked other classmates for help; the best way I can describe this cell is it swells up and plays a role in the urinary tract.

This is a pseudostratified columnar tissue! Even this little guy's name sounds killer! Actually What is does is travel through airways and respiratory systems. Its main purpose is to remove dust and particles from the airways. Therefore, making it easier for you to breathe!

This is a stratified columnar tissue. It is used for protection and secretion in the body. Therefore, it is most likely found in the male urethra, but can also be found in the male or female urinary tract.

Organization of the Body

Above is an anterior view of the human anatomy. It shows a better angle and view of the human body standing up. It also names some good body parts you might not know. Below is the definitions that were in the powerpoint video.

Body Erect- feet slightly apart, palms facing forward, thumbs pointing away from body.

Superior- Towards the head or upper part of the body

Inferior-  Away from the head or toward the lower end of the body

Anterior- Toward the front of the body

Posterior- Toward the back of the body

Medial- toward the midline of the body

Lateral- Away from the midline of the body

Intermediate- Between a medial and lateral structure

Proximal- Closer to the origin of the body

Distal- Father from the origin of the body

Superficial- Toward the surface of the body. The skin is more superficial than the heart.

Deep- away from the body surface, more interior

Sagittal- divides the body into right and left parts

Midsagittal- Sagittal plane that lies on the midline

Transverse or horizontal- divides the body to interior and superior parts

Oblique Sections- Cuts made diagonally

Homeostasis

     Homeostasis is an (ideal or virtual) state of equilibrium, in which all body systems are working and interacting in an appropriate way to fulfill all the needs of the person and/or the body. For example, if you had a man planning to run a marathon in 3 months, it would take tremendous amounts of training and stress on the body. The man would need to run extreme distances every day just to get his body into shape! But, before he started this, he should probably go to the hospital and get tests done just to make sure he is physically capable of completing this task. There are also things called negative homeostasis! These are things like stress, weight, depression, and bad eating habits. These all can cause physical and emotional roller coaster effects on the human body. Viruses, and bacteria can also be a type of negative homeostasis. If you become sick, you're body temperature changes and you're immune system is working harder to return your body back to its normal internal temperature. In our group, we are going to have one guy and one girl take an ice bath in the training room. We will sit in the bath for 10-15 minutes and check our post and pre pulse, blood pressure, and temperature. This should give us a good reason toward explaining what exactly it is that homeostasis does. In this case, it is maintaining body temperature and the heart trying to beat fast enough to carry blood throughout the body even though the whole organ system and nerve system is slowing down due to the rapid change in body temperature. 

To see the second part of our group experiment, please click the link below:
https://docs.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/presentation/d/1I7BEO7uA46xICn1SkVIongSH8Ctenjb_425lRDJugAU/edit#slide=id.p

DNA Lab

This was the lab that I did with Dallas and Taylor. I was gone for the powerpoint, but I contributed enough in the lab to be in the group. I also added enough in the powerpoint to have my name added in this project.
https://docs.google.com/a/lajunta.k12.co.us/presentation/d/1DV7KaMxfbZl7o1kWOYuEhH1u4pz3iojo59Xya8M0Wcs/edit#slide=id.gc9e817b_0_8

GATTICA questions

1. The following terms were used in the movie. How do they relate to the words we use: degenerate and invalid?
        De-gene-erate
        In-valid
        Borrowed Ladder
They relate to the words we use because we are starting to change the DNA the way we want it in the attempt to create the perfect child. Invalid is used to the words we use today because that just means fake. Now days we try to steal others identity just like they did in the movie.
2. Why do you think Vincent left his family, tearing his picture out of the family photo, after winning the swimming race against his brother?

I think this meant Vincent was strong enough to go on his own and create his own journey. He finally beat his brother and now he was ready to leave. He tore the picture out of the family portrait because he now saw that he didn't need them anymore.
3. Describe the relationship between Vincent and Anton.

Vincent and Anton are like any two brothers. They fight and compete to see who is the best all of the time. Anton knows he is stronger than Vincent because Vincent has the heart condition.
4. When Jerome Morrow said to Vincent/Jerome, “They’re not looking for you. When they look at you, they only see me,” what did he mean? Can you find any parallels to this type of situation in real life?

Jerome meant that they did such a good job, nobody can tell the two apart. And, yes I can compare this to twins because they have the same DNA traits and they look identical.
5. Choose your favorite character from the film. Explain why you choose that person. Would you want to be that person? Why? Why not?

My favorite character has to be Vincent. He knows he has to be strong to be part of GATTICA. He knows what he has to do and he goes the extra mile to do it. He gets so into it he even gets leg extensions to be the same height as Jerome.
6. At the end of the film, you are told that the Doctor knew about Vincent all along. Why did the Doctor go along with the fraud? What would you have done if you were the Doctor?

If I was the doctor and saw Vincent's dedication, and knew he had nothing to do with the mission director's death, I would have done the same thing. I would like to see someone who had the dedication like Vincent did, and would admire that.
7. The technology to do what was done in the movie is definitely possible within the next fifty years. Do you think that Vincent’s world could eventually happen in America? Why?

Yes, I think that anything is possible, and with the new and modern technology, I think someone probably will do it and get away with it.
8. What do you think is wrong with the society portrayed in "GATTACA"? What is right?

Society in this movie is crazy! People are having their DNA tweaked and messed with so they can be as close to perfect as possible. I don't think this is right. I believe national birth is what was planned for us to do. If you are perfect like Anton was, he still isn't as dedicated as Vincent was to get things done.  
9. What were the screenwriters trying to tell us through the episode of the 12-fingered pianist? Is anything wrong with engineering children to have 12 fingers if, as a result, they will be able to make extraordinarily beautiful music?

In my own personal opinion, I think this is wrong, if we were meant to have 12 fingers to play the piano, I think thats how we would have been created.
10. You and your spouse are having a child and are at the Genetic Clinic pictured in the movie. What characteristics would you want for your child and what would you ask to be excluded? Why would you make those choices?

If for some reason I decided to go through with this, I would have my son be healthy, smart, and athletic. I would want a well rounded kid, but not perfect. The main thing is, he is healthy.  
11. Picture yourself as either Vincent, Jerome, or Anton. Would you have acted the same or done things differently if you were in the same world as them?
If I was Vincent, I would of done the same thing because that was what I wanted my whole life. If I was Jerome, I would of done the same thing because I can't walk anymore, so I might as well help someone achieve their own dreams.
12. How does the society in GATTACA resemble the type of society America was during the height of the eugenics movement?

In GATTICA, they are studying the same thing they are now in DNA. That's what Eugenics was.

DNA structure

DNA Structure

The other day in class, Reece, Taylor, Joseph and I created a DNA structure model representing what the DNA structure is, and what it's made of. The first thing you need to know is DNA is short for deoxyribonucleic acid, and this is what makes us! As you can see, these are examples of DNA structures. The picture on the left really emphasizes the backbone of the DNA. That is one of the main focuses on the picture on the left. The picture on the right is just a 3D structure of a DNA molecule. It is also in a double helix form. When we study this structure, you need to know that the green connectors on the molecules are phosphate. There are 4 parts to this DNA molecule that are holding it together, (Adenine, Cytosine, Guanine, and Thymine) and they will have to be paired up. As you can see in the left diagram, Adenine and Thymine will always be paired up. As well with Cytosine and Guanine. The Phosphate is what we called the "backbone" in class. And, basically, that's exactly what it is; it holds the molecule together to make one structure. the structure is made up of two polynucleotide chains. I visited an online website ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK26821/) to figure out what the 4 parts of the structure were called. They are phosphate, sugars, nitrogenous bases, and nucleotides. If you have all of these, you have yourself a DNA molecule!

Eugenics Research

Eugenics has been researched and thought about for years. The thought of creating the perfect child has been around for decades! Eugenics originally started around the WWII era. Charles Darwin was actually the first man that realized that in society rich people should be having more healthy children and bigger families. However, in this era, that was not the case. Scientists that wanted to explore the gene pools were called eugenicists.  Eugenicists wanted to find out the cause of sickness in the poor population and how they could possibly change the amount of diseases babies had by experimenting with gene pools. Eugenecisits thought that by doing this, they could prevent poverty, feeble-mindedness-including manic depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, rebelliousness, criminality, nomadness, and prostitution. This was surely thought of as degenerative to the human gene pool by people that didn't quite understand the whole situation and what these scientists were trying to do. If we have the chance to save a baby's life, wouldn't they potentially try to do this? Yes, tweaking the genetics a little bit are somewhat like "playing God" but if we can help someone for the better I think it would be worth the risk.
     There were some great and fearless leaders who frequently read up on eugenics and studied and tried to understand the whole concept. In fact, Adolf Hitler read on Eugenics and believe it or not, the blonde haired-blue eyed men that people thought were to be Nazi's were actually somewhat created about two decades before Hitler even took power! When it came to Eugenics, America was the main founder of this power. But, it was Germany that really accelled and rapidly tried to find new cures. In Germany people were being taken from their homes, and mental institutions, etc. and were being treated. The sterilization numbers were climbing to as many as 5,000 treatments per month!
     As you can see, Eugenecists were right about having the power to scientifically evaluate the gene pool and locate the problem with the baby and be able to fix this problem. The numbers of treatments and sterilizations increased by unthinkable numbers! This data collection below is actually a few years old too, so you can imagine the amounts of treatments now!
                                         

Number of Sterilized From each Condition







• Hereditary-Feeble-Mindedness-200,000
• Schizophrenia- 80,000
• Epilepsy-60,000
• Manic-depressive-Psychosis-20,000
• Serious Physical Deformities- 20,000
• Hereditary Deafness- 20,000
• Hereditary Alcoholism-10,000
• Hereditary blindness- 4,000
• Huntington's Chorea-600
• Total- 410,600

Sources:
https://people.creighton.edu/~idc24708/Genes/Eugenics/History%20of%20Eugenics.htm
http://www.emmerich1.com/EUGENICS.htm
http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/

Human Chromosomes Webquest

1. What are the three main parts of a chromosome, as viewed under a microscope? The three main and visible parts of the chromosome in the microscope is the long arm, the short arm and the centromere which is the middle of the chromosome.


2. List at least four human diseases that have been mapped to the X chromosome. The X chromosome can actually have a lot of diseases. The four most common types of  mapped diseases include Menkes Syndrome, Alport  Syndrome, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Adrenoleukodystrophy. The picture below is a human chromosome so you as the reader can get a visual understanding.

3. When looking at the summary on genes show the  functions, processes, and components it is thought to be involved in (what’s it do?). Looking at the information on genes, you can see different problems such as how chromosomes are able to carry different diseases. In the Alport Syndrome, different chromosomes are two recessive traits the chromosomes carry to the disease.

4. What disease did you choose and what gene is/genes are associated with this disease? The trait passed down that I picked was deafness. I picked this because I'm fascinated by the fact that people can adapt to not hearing a thing their whole life! I looked at a few websites to understand why people become deaf if it is a problem in the womb or a genetic problem. I read that is in fact a genetic problem.

5. On what chromosome are these genes/is this gene located? I looked on the websites and other websites on google and I could not find the certain chromosome this gene was located at or linked to. 

Questions on clinical synopsis in the OMIM entry:

1. When was the disease first reported in the scientific literature? This was first reported in 1992.
2. What are some of the clinical symptoms of this disease? I don't know if being deaf is a symptom considering this is the disease itself and no side effects or other symptoms (hearing loss)
3. What lab findings (gene function or biochemical data) are associated with the disease?  I only found one known function associated with this disease. This function was called the "gap junction". The gap junctions are formed by humans.
4. What type of inheritance governs this disease?  There are four different types of inheritance: Autosomal Dominant Inheritance, Autosomal Recessive Inheritance, X-linked Inheritance,  and Mitochondrial Inheritance

Below are the main sources I used to find the necessary information to perform this lab:

1. http://www.deafchildworldwide.info/childhood_deafness/causes_of.html

2. http://www.mydeafness.com/how-do-you-become-deaf/

3. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/soundandfury/culture/deafhistory.html

Taste Tester Strip Experiment

In my family, everybody tasted the test strips. Therefore, you can tell this trait will most likely be a dominant trait. If it is dominant, this means the generations before my grandparents, my mom, and I would of most likely been able to taste the strips if they were still alive. generally the trait runs through the family and will continue to be passed down from generation to generation because having this trait is dominant in my family.

Stem Cells Prezi

This is my link for our prezi

Baby lab

In biology class the past week or so, we have been studying the traits of babies and what they get from their parents. We have mainly covered dominant and recessive traits. Dominant is the controlling gene. If you have a dad that has the dominant gene, say he gets a disease; this makes have at least a 50% chance of getting this disease.

Trait	Parent 1′s Genotype	Parent 2′s Genotype	Baby’s Genotype	Baby’s Phenotype
Gender	XX	XY	XY	Boy
Mole	mm	mm	mm	no mole
Eyebrow Size	ee	ee	ee	don’t meet
Eyebrow texture	kk	KK	Kk	bushy eyebrows
Eyebrow shape	bb	bb	bb	straight eyebrows
Eye Shape	oo	oo	oo	oval eyes
Earlobes	ll	ll	ll	attached
Cheek freckles	ff	ff	ff	no freckles
Cheek dimples	dd	dd	dd	no dimples
Chin dimple	pp	pp	pp	no chin dimple
Chin shape	ZZ	ZZ	zz	round chin
Mouth shape	CC	cc	Cc	bowed
Hairline	qq	qq	qq	straight
Face shape	AA	aa	Aa	round
Nose size	Nn	Nn	Nn	medium
Lip size	Gg	Gg	Gg	medium lips
Hair curliness	Hh	hh	Hh	wavy hair
Eye separation	Li	Li	Li	medium set eyes
Eyelash length	Jj	Jj	Jj	medium eyelashes
Hair color	rrSs	RrSS	rrSS	dark blonde hair
Eye color	ttUu	TtUU	TtUu	light brown
Skin color	vvWw	Vvww	Vvww	light beige

Onion Root lab and Webquest

	Interphase	Prophase	Metaphase	Anaphase	Telophase	Total
number of cells	20	10	3	2	1	36
percent of cells	56%	28%	8%	6%	2%	100%

1.  What percent of cells were in interphase? 56% percent of cells.

2. What percent were in mitosis? 44% of these onion roots are in mitosis.

3. Which phase of mitosis takes the longest?  As you can infer from the graph, interphase will take the longest.

4. During which stage is the nucleolus visible as a dark spot? If you observe in the microscope, Interphase can be recognized because the nuclear membrane is still connected, the chromatin has not yet condensed, and you can't see any of the chromosomes yet.

5. How can you recognize a cell in metaphase? The chromosomes are in there condensed state and are aligned in the center of the cell

I also posted this picture and our graph results because I want to explain in a broader view of what the whole mitosis phase looks like.

picture found at:
http://www2.mbusd.org/staff/pware/images/CellCycle.jpg

Genetics

Lip Cancer from Chewing Tobacco

If you use tobacco, you are putting yourself up for the chance of cancer. The worst part of it is, you're choosing to do it. The longer you use tobacco products, the more chance you have of getting cancer. The specific type of cancer I want to talk about is lip cancer. This is what you can get from chewing tobacco. there are so many different kinds of chemicals in chewing tobacco. 28 is just the amount of cancer causing chemicals found in chew. These are just the most harmful chemicals that are added:

1. Cadmium: used in car batteries
2. Formaldehyde: embalming fluid
3. Lead: a poison
4. Nicotine: an addictive drug
5. N-Nitrosamines: cancer-causing chemical
6. Polonium 210: nuclear waste
7. Acetaldehyde: irritant
8. Hydrazine: toxic chemical
9. Benzopyrene: cancer-causing chemical
10. Uranium 235: used in nuclear weapons
11. Sodium: salt, can cause high blood pressure
12. Sugar: can cause cavities
13. Fiberglass and Sand: abrasives

     So, if you chew tobacco, you might want to stop and take a look at this list. Hopefully you will think, "Wow, they're putting embalming fluid, cancer causing products, and nuclear waste products in this little can, maybe I should stop because I'm setting myself up for risk of many types of cancer." Smokeless tobacco can cause oral, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer! Another type of cancer that can be found is leukoplakia, which is actually pre-cancerous white patches that can be found in the mouth. If you find yourself with any sort of warning sign, such as white patches in the mouth, contact your doctor immediately! 
The pictures I'm going to post are some types of oral cancer from chewing tobacco:

          

The man pictured above is Gruen Von Behrens. He had oral cancer, and as you can see went though a very dramatic and emotional change to get rid of the cancer.