The Design of Giardia and the Genesis of Giardiasis

Giardia is a genus of protozoa discovered in 1681. Six morphologically distinct species are recognized. It mainly attaches in the upper GI tract of a wide variety of vertebrates (including zebrafish), often with beaver and muskrat as reservoirs/carriers but exhibiting minimal—if any—disease in some animals. Giardia is usually non-pathogenic in the human population, even in children if exposed early in life. Although Giardia can be pathogenic, some strains colonize the gut with no malady. This parasite is not invasive and only serious infections depress the small intestine. Giardia are pear-shaped, have an adhesive disc for attaching to enterocyte cells in the small intestine villus, and move with eight designed flagella. In the post-Fallen world, Giardia infection occasionally has resulted in digestive dysfunction. However, Giardia may function in non-parasitic, possibly mutualistic, ways. For example, it may have been designed to aid digestion having a role as a “primer.” The presence of Giardia muris causes a fundamental change in the microbiome in mice and Giardia may have other influences on the microbiome such as enhancing digestion in certain animals and possibly shifting ratios of bacteria from anaerobic to aerobic. Giardia may play a role in host metabolism and provide nutritional enhancement via its association with enteric bacteria, like E. coli. The function of Giardia may parallel with non-parasitic tasks found in Trypanosoma lewisi, and also termite systems that contain protozoa and bacteria for plant digestion. Giardiahas two “faces” even in today\u27s world: a harmless commensal in wildlife and a pathogenic parasite in humans

The Genesis of Malaria: The Origin of Mosquitoes and Their Protistan Cargo, Plasmodium falciparum

Malaria is caused by the parasite belonging to the genus Plasmodium; however, creation biologists maintain this organism was not always parasitic. Plasmodium is probably a degenerate form of algae. Mosquitoes, the vector of Plasmodium, were probably designed to be pollinators, not parasite vectors. In this article, we present both the evolutionary and creation explanation for the origin of malaria with a mention to its vector, the mosquito. The purpose of this article is to provide a reasonable explanation for the genesis of malaria. Microbiology and parasitology research based on the creation paradigm appears to provide some answers to these puzzling questions regarding the Plasmodium “kind” (Family Haemosporidae). Although we cannot be dogmatic (beyond the biblical text) regarding details of Plasmodium’s origin during Creation Week, we believe that a reasonable extrapolation from Scripture and biological data can be made about the nature of protozoans in a fully mature creation

The Design of the Mosquito and Its Dangers

Mosquitoes (Family Culicidae) have been the scourge of mankind since the Fall. Although seemingly designed to inflict suffering and pain via rapid reproduction and formidable mouthparts, evidence mounts that this creature was not always the deadly vector it is today. Mosquitoes are currently and have always been pollinators. The majority of their lives they feed on plants, nectar, pollen, and microbes even in today\u27s world. The Zika virus is but the latest of a significant list of pathogens spread by “the world’s most dangerous animal.” In the past, Christians have been involved in key discoveries linking mosquitoes to diseases

The Origin of Bubonic Plague

Although some forms of the bacterium Yersinia are harmless, other forms have devastated human populations, causing a plague of biblical proportions (Psalm 91:3-7, Psalm 91:9-10,). Bubonic plague, also known as the ‘Black Death’ that killed one fourth of Europe’s population in the 1300s, appeared as a great pestilence several times in the Old Testament, including in Psalm 91 and in 2 Samuel 24:14-25. Perhaps the clearest example of such a plague is recorded in 1 Samuel 6:4-19, where there is a specific reference to the tumors on people (bubos = the tumors of lymph glands) and to rats (the animal vector that carried the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis.) The biblical time frame for the plagues described in 1 Samuel was about 3,000 years ago.1 Interestingly, experts on plague ‘evolution’ estimate the emergence of Y. pestis at about 1,500-20,000 years ago (within an evolutionary timeframe, of course).

Robert Koch, Creation, and the Specificity of Germs

Microbiology is dominated by evolution today. Just look at any text, journal article, or the topics presented at professional scientific meetings. Darwin is dominant. Microbiology is dominated by evolution today. Just look at any text, journal article, or the topics presented at professional scientific meetings. Darwin is dominant. Many argue that “nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” (Dobzhansky 1973). But it was not always this way. In fact, a review of the major founders of microbiology has shown that they were creationists.1 We would argue that a better idea thanevolution and one of much more practical importance is the germ theory of disease, originally put forth primarily by non-Darwinian biologists (Gillen and Oliver 2009). In our previous article (Gillen and Oliver 2009), we documented these and many other creation and Christian contributions to germ theory. But only recently has it become known that another important microbiology founder, Robert Koch (Fig. 1) and his co-workers were Linnaean creationists in their classification.2 This is due, in part, to additional works of Robert Koch that were translated from German to English. The year 2010 marks the 100thanniversary of his death (died: May 27, 1910). Although Koch and other German microbiologists were fairly secular in their thinking, their acceptance of Darwinian evolution was minimal

SEM Studies on Vessels in Ferns. 18. Montane Cheilanthoid Ferns (Pteridaceae) of North America

Xylem of roots and rhizomes of five species of four genera of tribe Cheilantheae (Pteridaceae; recently recognized by some as a segregate family, Cheilanthaceae) has been studied by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). All of these species occur in habitats (cliffs, talus) of mountains of North America that are seasonally dry in summer and cold in winter. The vessels prove diverse, indicating that different perforation plate modifications are represented in the cheilanthoid ferns of these habitats, rather than different degrees of the same kind of modification. The modifications include wide perforations alternating with narrow perforations (especially prominent in Bommeria); discontinuous perforation plates (Cheilanthes, Pellaea); and narrow, slitlike perforations (Cheilanthes). The discontinuous perforation plates are newly reported for ferns. The exceptionally prominent perforations of Bommeria vessels may be correlated with greater laminar surface and higher transpiration during wet periods in that genus; the other genera have small laminae with probable low transpiration rates even during moist periods

Louis Pasteur’s Views on Creation, Evolution, and the Genesis of Germs

“There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.” Ecclesiastes 1:11 (NIV) In past years revisionist historians have been rewriting the worldview of Christians who have made some of the major discoveries in biology and medicine. It appears that postmodern revisionists are rewriting history to support their agenda of a more “secular” explanation to science. The Judeo-Christian worldview is not politically correct in most universities. This is true in regard to past scientists such as Louis Pasteur who believed in creation. According to reliable, primary sources such as René Vallery-Radot, Pasteur’s son-in-law, Pasteur’s unique view and application of operational science gave him a significant advantage, benefiting mankind in a number of critical areas. Shortly after Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, Pasteur began to challenge the idea of spontaneous generation—the foundation of the evolutionary view on the origin of life. Pasteur’s simple, but elegant swan-necked flask experiments not only put to rest the organic life-from-non-life idea, but also set the foundation for the law of biogenesis: life only comes from life. The genesis of germs in hospital patients were the result of microbes having parents, not a result of spontaneous generation. This revolutionary idea would have application in many areas of medicine. It forms the basis of sterilization, asepsis in surgery, and the germ theory of disease. Pasteur had the uncanny ability to combine theoretical, operational, and applied science—the mark of a truly gifted scientist. Pasteur understood the variability of microbes and how he could apply this principle in vaccine preparation. For example, he noticed that Bacillus anthracis cultures sometimes lose their pathogenic ability when heated, and then retain this modified, nonvirulent, or “attenuated” trait through many generations. He applied this concept to vaccinate dozens of sheep that would have otherwise died at a critical time in France. His understanding of this natural variation was also successfully applied in developing vaccines for chicken cholera and rabies. Although his scientific pronouncements were sometimes abrasive to his fellow scientists, he remained firm in his convictions, borne from painstaking research. Pasteur had a strong religious and humanitarian spirit. He firmly believed in God, as the Creator of all living things. From his knowledge of the Gospels, he wanted to benefit mankind by having his ideas used to “heal the sick.

Wood Anatomy of Calyceraceae with Reference to Ecology, Habit, and Systematic Relationships

Qualitative and quantitative data are presented for secondary xylem of 14 species of four genera of Calyceraceae; root wood is studied for acaulescent perennials and one annual. The wood anatomy of most species of Calycera has character states identical to those seen in wood of most Asteraceae (including phylads of Asteraceae thought to be basic in that family). Goodeniaceae have two features (tracheids, diffuse parenchyma) more primitive than corresponding conditions in Asteraceae and CaIyceraceae according to traditional criteria. Diversity in wood anatomy within Calyceraceae is explainable in terms of adaptation to particular ecological conditions. Although woods of the family as a whole are xeromorphic, most Calycera species show few adaptations to extreme xeromorphy. The highest degree of wood xeromorphy occurs in species of relatively high elevation or high latitude. The presence of pseudoscalariform pitting, with transitions to helical-banded secondary xylem vessels, very much like those of primary xylem, in Boopis graminea and Nastanthus spp., coupled with absence of Iibriform fibers (replaced by axial parenchyma) are probably related to expansion and contraction of the wood in response to fluctuation in moisture availability