BYD Chinese Car Manufacturer and Saturn Car Inc. Would it be a good Essay

BYD Chinese Car Manufacturer and Saturn Car Inc. Would it be a good merger for future - Essay Example Saturn Car Inc. A subsidiary of ‘General Motors’, has been providing quality automotive vehicles for the roads of United States since the year it was formed in 1985. The company had all the signs of a successful company with large international export chains and quality assured cars till the decision was made to sell the brand to ‘Penske Automotive Group’ in 2009. The branch was later set on a path of complete shut down when Penske decided to back out of the deal. Keeping in lieu the brief introductions of the two companies it can be deduced that BYD Auto’s intentions to expand its market to the United States and Europe lack only recognition and trust of the public. Their initiative of making environment friendly cars on such a large scale gives them an upper-hand in the international market however their reputation of copying models will have a negative effect on their sales in the new market. On the other hand Saturn Car Inc. Has a perfect public imagine regarding their quality and value of the brand but the company is on a verge of complete shutdown despite their sales and recognition in the U.S. market. If there was a ‘merger’ to occur between the two companies; Saturn Car Inc could be saved from a complete shutdown but they would surely have a little change in technology in the environment. BYD Auto’s problems regarding the U.S. markets could be solved up to a certain extent by a merger with Saturn Car Inc and the company could surmount some of its issues regarding the duplication of famous brands of cars. If a merger were to occur between BYD Auto’s and Saturn Car Inc or the latter were to be bought by the prior, the result would partially be positive in nature. Both the company’s major problems could be settled (ignoring the rise of other minor complications). It could consequent in a corporation that combine’s the environment friendly cars and their large

Investing in Futures and Options Essay Example for Free

Investing in Futures and Options Essay INTRODUCTION Of late, investors who are in the stock and commodity are focusing their attention towards risk management especially due to high volatility nature. Since these volatility movements are uncertain, it has become foremost cause of vagueness for such investors. Since the globalization of trade and free trade between major countries has become the order of the day, all most all the investors have to be under mercy of the exchange rate fluctuations which results in volatility   .The notion that exchange rates , profitability and other factors   influence a firm’s value and therefore the price of its stock is widely held by financial analyst ,economists and corporate managers . The liberalization of economic policies and investment policies due to world trade organization’s (WTO) free flow of investments and trade between member countries and bilateral free trade agreements between countries have augmented internationalization of economic activity and exceptional era of world wide currency and interest rates instability. To counter these financial risks, new pioneering concept commodity and stock market hedging techniques have nurtured at a rapid speed. The main feature of the using derivatives through hedging is to have control over the financial risk and minimizing the effect of uncertain cash flows. Financial institutions have come to rescue to these corporations who have exposure to financial risk with the range of products to assist in risk management. By far the most significant event in finance during the past decade has been the extraordinary development and expansion of financial derivatives. These instruments enhance the ability to differentiate risk and allocate it to the investors most able and   willing to take it – a process that has undoubtedly improved national productivity growth and standards of living .’ Allen Green Span, Chairman, Board of Governors of the US Federal Reserve System. The structural advantage of derivatives i.e. leverage or gearing   makes them suitable for managing risk can also result in the generation of leveraged profits or in the event of adverse market movement , a significant losses. The main advantage of gearing is that the buyer or seller need only to cough up a small proportion of total price at the time of deal is executed. It may be 1% and 8% depending upon the volatility of the underlying commodity or instrument. In the case of exchange traded transactions, this deposit is recognized as â€Å"initial margin† and is expected to reflect the amount by which the price of a contract may vary in one day’s trading. At the day end, all contracts will be valued and if the price has been found to move against the position, the losing party will have to pay further â€Å"variation margin† calls. In contrary, if the price movement is positive, credit will be given to the party .It is this element of gearing that provides the opportunity to make large gains or losses. Prudent handling of this leverage will result in considerable profit maximization and if it handled inexpertly, may generate losses .In some cases , these losses though high but they are few in number when measured against volume of business and number of participants in derivative business .The contributory factors for sustaining loss includes excessive position taking ( in relation to capital) , fraudulent activity , unexpected market moves, ineffective risk management, insufficient product understanding and inadequacies in corporate policy governing their use. What is a derivative? Derivative is a mathematical word which refers to a variable, which has been derived from another variable and they have no values of their own. Derivatives derive their value from the value of some other asset, which is referred as the underlying. For instance, a derivative of the shares of AT T Corporation (underlying), will derive its value from the share price (value) of AT T Corporation. Likewise, a derivative contract on wheat depends upon the price of wheat. An agreement or an option to buy or sell the underlying asset of the derivative up to a certain time in the future at a predetermined price i.e. the exercise price by way of special contract is known as derivative contract. The contract also has a flat expiry period mostly in the range of 3 to 12 months from the date of origination of the contract. The price of the underlying asset and the expiry period of the contract determine the value of the contract. Financial derivatives comprises of underlying financial asset like currency, debt instruments, equity shares, share price index etc.Exchange-traded derivatives are derivative contracts that has been standardized and traded on the stock exchanges. Over-the –counter derivatives is one which has been customized as per the requirements of the user by negotiating with the other party involved. Some of the common forms of derivatives are Futures, Forwards and Options. Futures: Futures are the derivative contracts that give the holder the chance to buy or sell the underlying asset at a pre-specified price some time in the near future and usually thy come with standardized form like contract size, fixed expiry time and price. The future market is one where continues auction market and exchanges presenting the recent information about the supply and demand as regards to individual commodities or financial instruments like stocks . In other words, future market is one where buyers and sellers of variety of commodities, financial instruments get together to trade. The main aim of the future market is to manage price risk. The future price risk is averted by buying or selling futures contract, with a price level arrived at now, for items to be delivered in future. This is achieved by hedging which helps to shield against the risk of an adverse price change in the near future or use of futures to lock in an acceptable margin between their purchase and their selling price. In futures, bankers, farmers, traders, manufacturers will arrange for the purchase or sale of a futures contract. In future market, commodities are broken down into five categories namely agriculture, metallurgical, interest bearingassets, jndexes and foreign currency. Agricultural futures market includes oats, corn , wheat , soybeans , soy meal ,soyoil,sunflower oil ,cattles , live hogs   and pork bellies, lumber , plywood ,cotton, coffee, cocoa, rice, orange juice and sugar. For every one of these commodities, different contract months are available and it depends upon the harvest cycle. More aggressively traded commodities usually have more contract months available and a new type of contract is available almost every month to meet the growing institutional and corporate market. Futures on Metallurgical Products: Petroleum products and metals is being covered under this group and it includes platinum, gold, silver, palladium, copper, gasoline, crude oil, propane and heating oil. Every month a new type of contract emerges to cater the needs of ever increasing institutional and corporate market. Assets which bears interest: This has its origin during 1975 and products in these categories include treasury bonds, Treasury Bills, Municipal Bonds, Treasury Notes and Eurodollar deposits. It is also possible to trade contracts with the same maturity but different expected interest rate differentials. Futures on Indexes: Now futures are available on most chief indexes such as New York Stock Exchange Composite, SP 500, New York Stock Exchange Utility index, Russell 2000, Commodity Research Bureau (CRB), SP 400 Midcap, FT-Se 100 Index (London) and Value line. These stock index features are settled in cash and there is no delivery of goods is involved in this method. A trader has to settle his positions by buying or selling an offsetting position or in cash at expiration. Foreign Currency Futures: During the post war period, the exchange rates and interest rates were stable and the mechanism of fixed exchange rates of the Bretton Woods era enabled the corporations to know in advance their foreign exchange liabilities for their imports. But the collapse of Bretton Woods’s system after the war resulted in the introduction of general floating exchange rates replacing the earlier fixed system. The introduction of floating exchange rates have resulted in large unexpected movements in exchange rates that too in unforeseen directions and magnitudes which affected interest rate movements as the monetary establishment tried to influence the exchange rates by movements in interest rates. It is to be noted that the forward market in currencies is much bigger than the foreign exchange futures market. Further, there are cross currency futures that are being traded and these includes Deutsch mark / yen, Deutsch mark / French franc. Forwards Options: Forward is another form of a derivative contract but tailored to the needs of the user in terms of expiry date, contract size, and price. These contracts confer the holder the option to buy or sell the under lying at a pre-determined price some time in the future .Call option is one where the buyer has given his option to buy the underlying at the near future .Where as an option to sell the underlying at a specified price in the future is called as Put Option. As regards to the option contract, the buyer is not obliged to exercise the option contract. Generally, options can be traded on the stock exchange or on the OTC. In option, the participants may assume a position in an underlying futures contract at a certain price which is known as exercise or strike price within a particular period of time. The price or premium of the option is determined through action market trading. Swaps: Swaps contract was introduced in 1981 and can be considered as one of the latest financial innovations to manage financial risks. The contracting parties are obliged to exchange specified cash flows at specified intervals under a swap contract. In a nutshell, a swap contract can be defined as a series of forward contracts put together. If the exchange of interest rate payments in one currency for payments in another currency is devised, then it amounts to a currency swap. If the exchange between two parties of interest obligations or receipts in the same currency on an agreed amount of notional principal for an agreed period of time is devised, then it is known as interest rate swap. An interest rate swap is an agreement between two parties to exchange interest payments calculated on different bases over a period of time. Under interest rate swap, one party to the contract makes fixed –rate payments while the other party’s payments are based on a floating rate such as LIBOR. For instance, if a company which has borrowed from a bank at a floating rate (7 m LIBOR) may want to swap that for a fixed rate (7m LIBOR) so that they can cover the risk if the interest rates go up. On one side, they pay 7% (of the agreed notional principal) and receive 7m LIBOR and on the other side they pay 7m LIBOR straight out to repay their loan. Thus they have converted a floating rate loan into a fixed rate loan. The said bank may manages its own risk from the above swap transaction by backing it out with another swap , say by paying 6.95% for 7m LIBOR and thus they earn a profit of 0.5% difference thus avoiding the risk in the interest rate changes . The other different types of interest rate swap are: Basis swap: For instance, swapping 2m LIBOR for 4m LIBOR. Basic swaps are mostly used by mortgage companies because the get the mortgage payments on monthly basis. Both fixed Currency Swap : Both fixed and say fixed $ for fixed  £ Both floating currency swap: 2m $ LIBOR for 4 m Yen LIBOR. Cross Currency Swap: fixed  £ for 2m CHF LIBOR. Companies derive more flexibility to exploit their comparative advantage in their respective borrowing markets under currency swaps. Under interest rate swap, corporations try to focus on their comparative advantage in borrowing in a single currency in the short end of the maturity spectrum vs. the long –end of the maturity spectrum. USES OF DERIVATIVES: Derivatives are mainly used for speculation or hedging. For speculation, derivatives offer us leverage. For instance, instead of buying  £ 5Million bond in the anticipation that its price will rise up, one can buy an option on that bond, which might only cost  £ 2000. The profit chances or opportunities are the same less the price of the option but the risk is much less as the most we can loose in this deal is the option price ( £ 2000). For hedging, derivatives let you to seal the price now for a trade in future or at least limits the rise or fall of that price. An UK company holding a US bond which is on the verge of its maturity could buy an interest rate option to guarantee the dollar / sterling rate did not diminish the value of its bond. Volatility is regarded as the most precise measure of risk and its return. The greater the volatility, the greater the risk and the reward as it is evidenced in the transaction from bull to bear markets. It is to be observed in the bearish market, volatility and risk augment while returns disappear including short –selling returns. History: The very first exchange for trading derivatives started by Royal Exchange in London, which allowed forward contract. Likewise, the first future contract was introduced to Yodoya rice market in Osaka, Japan in 1650. Then in 1848, Chicago Board of Trade was started to handle futures market of US. Russell Sage, a famous New York financier introduced synthetic loans using the principle of put-call parity. Sage could able to create a synthetic loan by fixing the put, call and strike prices with interest rate poignantly higher than the US usury law permitted. Chicago Mercantile Exchange started International Monetary Market in 1972 which permitted trading in currency futures. The Chicago Board of Trade started first interest rate futures in 1975.Treasury bill futures contract was introduced in 1975 by Merc. The Chicago Board Options Exchange was started in 1973 and there were publications for the first time option pricing model of Fischer Black and Myron Scholes. Chicago Board Options Exchange created an option on an index of stocks which was originally known as CBOE 100 index which later known as SP 100. During 1980, Swaps and other over-the –counter derivatives were introduced. It was in 1994, the derivative trade witnessed a series of huge losses and this affected experienced trading firms like Metallgesellschaft and Procter and Gamble. Orange country, California which is the America’s wealthiest city was declared as bankruptcy due to derivative trading and use of leverage in a portfolio of short -term Treasury securities. DERIVATIVES OR DESTRUCTIVE? A CASE STUDY OF BARINGS, UK. Baring Brothers, a British merchant bank went to bankruptcy in 1995 after incurring a whooping loss of  £ 860 million occurred on the Singapore and Osaka derivative exchanges. Nick Leeson, the bank’s star trader and absence of management controls to monitor his activities were the main reasons for this debacle. During the period between 1992 and 1995, Lesson built up positions in futures and options contracts on the Nikkei 225 stock exchange index, which proved highly profitable in the early years. Futures positions were bought by Lesson on the Nikkei index and financed cash calls on them as they fell in value by selling put options on the contract, thereby producing a straddle and thus betting against volatility of the market. Simex derivative exchange in Singapore were used to book the contracts and he run a hedged position on Nikkei index futures and make money by arbitraging between Singapore and Osaka markets. However he ceased hedging on the purchases made in Singapore and took on risk. Due to unexpected volatility in the market, losses were incurred and these losses in fact exceeded the net worth of Baring Bank .Lesson was later imprisoned for the falsification of records in an attempt to cover up his activities. The rationale of this case law is to elucidate how a bank can face bankruptcy if there is no proper risk management system is in force. The case also establishes the concept of ‘value at risk ‘(VAR) which is a simple method to express the risk of a portfolio. Because of the recent derivatives disasters, end-users, regulators, financial institutions and central bankers are now resorting to VAR as a method to foster stability in financial markets .The case illustrates how VAR could have been utilized to Baring Bank case to warn its management of the risk they were facing in advance. VOLATILITY: Volatility has its effect on administered market and it is high when both supply and demand are inelastic and liable to random shocks. According to Rudiger Dornbusch, market always overshoots in reaction to unexpected changes in economic variables. Volatility is a type of market incompetence and it is a reaction to uncertainty and excessive volatility is unreasonable. Volatility in stock and commodity market is represented by sharp changes in prices and inventory levels and level of volatility itself has fluctuated over the time. Changes in future prices, spot prices and inventories are influenced by changes in volatility Volatility is a determinant of changes in price expressed in percentage terms without regard to direction especially in stock price and stock index levels , commodities and in financial intermediaries .For example , an increase from 200 to 201 in one index is as same as the volatility terms to an increase in 100 to 101 in another index , because both changes are 1% and as this 1% increase is equal to volatility terms to a 1 % price decline .There are four ways to explain the volatility or movement and they are historical volatility , future volatility , expected volatility and implied volatility . Historical volatility is an appraiser of actual price variation during a particular period in the past. Future volatility refers annualized standard deviation of daily returns during particular future period basically between current and an option expiration. Expected volatility is an investor’s forecast of volatility utilized in an option method to gauge the theoretical value of an option. Implied volatility is the volatility percentage that illustrates the current market price of an option and it is the indicator of an option’s price. Volatility is described as standard deviation of the yield of an asset and the value of an option always increases with volatility. The greater the volatility, the higher the option chance during its life and convertible to the underlying asset at a marginal profit and this methodology has been proved in the Black-Scholes formula. Black-scholes formula yield results during trends and unsuccessful when the market change sign. â€Å" The implied volatilities are efficient forecasts of future volatility since varying market conditions cause volatilities to change through time stochastically and traditional volatilities   can not correct itself to varying market conditions as ghastly .Stochastic volatility contradicts the assumption required by the Black-Scholes model –if volatilities do modify stochastically through moment in time, the Black-Scholes method is no longer the correct pricing method and an implied volatility derived from the Black-Scholes formula provides no fresh information. Black-Scholes formula is lacking on certain issues like the oblique volatilities of various options on the identical stock tend to differ disregarding the formulas hypothesize that a single stock can be correlated with only one value of implied volatility. The Black-Scholes formula mainly ignores the distribution of stock prices in US market.   Some studies have revealed severe deviation from the price process fundamental to Black-Scholes formula like excess kurtosis, skewness, time varying volatilities and serial correlation. Further Black –scholes deals with stochastic volatility poorly and it relies on impractical assumption that market dickers endlessly thereby ignoring institutional constraints and transaction costs. Stock Charting: Stock charting is the process of a graphical sequence record enables it easier to dapple the effect of cardinal happenings on authoritarian security’s price., its functioning over a period of time and whether it’s trading its higher or its lower or in between these. Traders are very particular in daily, intraday data to forecast short-term price movements.   Investors rely on weekly and monthly charts to mark long term trends and movements. Line chart, Bar chart, Candlestick Chart and point and figure chart are some of the examples of stock charting method.   Arithmetic and semi-log arithmetic scales are two methods of price scaling used in the stock charting method. When the price range is hemmed within a tight range and used in general for short-term charts and trading. Semi-log scales are useful for long term charts to estimate the percentage movements over a foresighted period of time including large movements. Stock and other securities are estimated in relative terms through tools lime PE, Price/Revenues and Price/Book and as such it will be more useful to analyse in percentage terms. Ocillator: This is an indicator which is calculated by taking 10 day moving average of the difference between the numbers of advancing and defining issues for authoritarian given index. An indicator will reflect whether an index is gaining or losing impetus, so the size of the moves is more significant than the level of the current reading. The level of the reading is influenced by how the oscillator changes each day thereby dropping a value ten days ago and adding today’s value. The scale in moves is also helpful when it is compared with the divergence from the index price. If the Dow climaxes at the same time, the oscillator peaks in overbought area and suggests a top. Divergence is said to be negative and momentum is declining when index makes a new high but the oscillator fails to make a higher .One can buy if the index declines at this point but oscillator moves into oversold territory. If the oscillator rises above a previous overbought level though the index rises but does not make new heights, it is said to be upside momentum exists to continue the rally. Support: A support level is the price at which buyers are anticipated to enter the market in considerable numbers to take control from sellers. As the market has its track record, when price falls to a new low and then soars, the buyers who ignored on the first low will be persuaded to buy if price returns to that level back .Fearing of missing out the opportunity for the second time, these traders may enter into market in adequate numbers to take control from sellers. As the result, there is a rally strengthening sensitivity that price is unlikely to fall further thereby creating a support level. Resistance: The price level at which the sellers are anticipated to enter the market in sizeable numbers to take control from buyers is known as resistance level. If price makes a new High and then move back, sellers who ignored the previous High will be predisposed to sell when price returns to that level back. Fearing of missing the opportunity for the second time, these sellers may enter the market in large numbers to overwhelm buyers. As the result, market perception will be reinforced that price is unlikely to increase higher and form a resistance level. CANDLE CHARTING: It is a price chart that shows the open, low, the high and close for a stock each day over a specified period of time .It is known as Japanese candles because they used to analyse the price of rice contracts. When the close is higher than the open , the same is represented by an white empty box in the candle charting .When the close is lower than the open , then it is represented by a solid black candle ,Colored candles are used to reflect the day’s volume. Investment strategies in stock and options Following is the most of common investment strategies for keeping investment objectives, financial means and risk tolerance. Despite of market crash in 1929, market break in 1987, market correction in 1989 and though the prices of all securities fell down drastically but broad movement of the market has seen their value steadily increased. One of the strategies is to buy and hold for long the high quality stocks or futures of stock or commodities .The buy –and-hold strategy offers one to profit from this long term forward trend of the stock market. Further, dividend investment plan offers small investors a painless method of building wealth. Dollar –Cost Averaging: This is also a long term strategy and one has to invest in a stock or mutual fund or futures at regular intervals monthly, quarterly or semiannually. The success of dollar-cost averaging relies on consistency of amount invested and the regularity of the payments so as to minimize pricing and timing risk. The success of the Dollar cost averaging depends upon the following factors. The plan for the investment should be for a long period i.e. from 7 years to 10 years .In the last 100 years, there were about 40 recessions or market corrections or a downturn about every 3 years and If one carry on to invest through about three of these corrections, the profits of dollar-cost averaging tend to be maximized. 2 .Investment at regular intervals is most preferred. Investment should be made regularly regardless of the price of the stock. Give preference to high quality of stocks or mutual funds and a company or fund with history of habitual dividend payments and possible for capital appreciation is a better choice. One has to make sure that he has enough strength so that he can adhere to the plan through highs and lows and sell out at the peak and thus the money allocated for dollar-cost averaging result in wealth-building funds, not committed funds.[i] Going Short: An investor who prefers short i.e. enters into futures contract by agreeing to sell and deliver the underlying at a price and wishes to make profit from declining price levels and thereby selling high now , the contract can be repurchased in the future at a lesser price thus creating a profit for the investor. 16.Spreads: It involve taking benefit of the price difference between two different contracts of the same commodity and spreading is believed to be the most conventional forms of trading in the futures market because it is much safer than the trading long / short futures contract. There are different types of spread namely calendar spread, inter-exchange spread and inter-market spread. Swing Trading: It denotes a technique of placing emphasis on playing the swings in the PPS, selling on the highs and buying on the lows rather than the swiftness of the trade. To complete the swing trade, it may need more than a day, a week or authoritarian month or longer period and channeling stock is pursued by the some swing traders. Flipping: It refers the process of trading a stock very quickly with in minutes or hours etc as past as possible may be on the same day. It is often used to explain a buy and sell with a share that is running and where the trader buys the stock as it is moving up and sells the same on even a higher point in a short period of time. A flipper aim is to maximize his profits by emphasizing on fast trades to earn quick profits. The risk is also less downside as the trader sits in a stock for a less time. [i] Hall, Alvin D., and Carolyn M. Brown. Investment Strategies Made Easy: Heres How to Overcome Your Fears of the Market and Invest like a Pro. Black Enterprise Mar. 1994: 66+. 2.Fisher, Black and Myron Scholes, â€Å"The pricing of Options and Corporate Liabilities â€Å"The Journal of Political Economy, 81,637-654. 3.Mackay, Charles. Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds: New York, Harmony Books (1980). 4.Chance .Don M.† A Chronology of Derivatives† Derivative Quarterly, 2 (winter, 1955) 53-60. 5.Thomas L. Friedman ,The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century Stephen Leeb, Glen Strathy ,The Coming Economic Collapse: How You Can Thrive When Oil Costs $200 a Barrel 7.George A. Fontanills, Tom Gentile The Volatility Course 8.George Soros, Paul A. Volcker The Alchemy of Finance (Wiley Investment Classics) 9.John C. Hull Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (6th Edition) 10.Marc Allaire ,The Options Strategist 11. George Kleinman, Trading Commodities and Financial Future: A Step by Step Guide to Mastering the Markets (3rd Edition). 12. Sheldon Natenberg ,Option Volatility Pricing: Advanced Trading Strategies and Techniques Jeffrey M. Christian, Commodities Rising: The Reality Behind the Hype and How To Really Profit in the Commodities Market. John J. Murphy ,Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets: A Comprehensive Guide to Trading Methods and Applications (New York Institute of Finance John F. Carter, Mastering the Trade (McGraw-Hill Trader’s Edge) 16. Joseph Kellogg, Trading From the Inside 17. Thomas N. Bulkowski ,Encyclopedia of Chart Patterns (Wiley Trading) 18.Stephen W. Bigalow, Profitable Candlestick Trading: Pinpointing Market Opportunities to Maximize Profits

Ikea Hotel: Business Environment and Position

Ikea Hotel: Business Environment and Position Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP): Causes and Treatment Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP): Causes and Treatment Xeroderma Pigmentosum is a rare autosomal recessive disease affecting about 1 in 250,000 people in Europe which greatly reduces the quality of life of its sufferer. XP patients have a much greater chance of developing skin neoplasms, internal organs neoplasms or even neurological disorder due to a defective Nucleotide Excision Repair (NER) pathway. In this report, I found out that most experts in this field do believe that reactive oxygen species which can cause DNA lesions that can only be repaired by the NER pathway is the main cause of the neurological disorder in XP patients. However, modern technology can not yet prove this is the case. The treatments for XP are mainly preventive rather than interventionist. However, more new treatments have been proved to be effective in helping XP patients with the aid of modern technology. The bacterial enzyme T4 Endonuclease V has recently been put in use for treating XP and gene replacement therapy might be a possible treatment for the futu re. The aim of this article is to gain a general overview of Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP), to understand the possible causes of neurological disorder in XP patients as well as the current and possible treatments for XP. To achieve my aim, I have first researched using various textbooks to understand DNA repair and damage. After that, I set my focus on Xeroderma Pigmentosum and used two online databases Medline and PubMed to look for review articles on XP in order to have a basic understanding of XP. I used two keywords Xeroderma Pigmentosum and Neoplasm to achieve the goal (Table 1). After having some basic knowledge of XP, I found that the neurodegeneration and the current treatments for XP are quite interesting so I decided to set my aim of these two topics. By searching for Xeroderma Pigmentosum and Neurodegeneration on Medline, I was able to look for some useful articles on my first aim (Table 2). I also searched for Xeroderma Pigmentosum and Gene Therapy for my second aim (Table 3). Cancer which can be considered as an uncontrolled growth and spread of cells is one of the top three causes of mortality in the world.(1) With the WHO predicting that it is going to be the top killer by 2010(2), it is vital for the public and medical professions to understand its aeitiology and pathogenesis in order to fight against it. Generally, the incidence of cancer is increased with aging as the chances of DNA mutation increases with age for lots of different reasons and we now understand that our DNA needs at least 5-6 mutations in order for cancer to develop(3). However, there are some other risk factors which might increase the susceptibility such as smoking, alcohol, radiation and so on. One of the most interesting factors is probably the cancer-prone DNA repair deficiency syndrome, for example Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Cockaynes Syndrome, Werner Syndrome. Patients with these syndromes are characterised by not being able to repair the DNA damage precedes the mutation and thus enhance the chances of getting cancer(4). The aim of this article is to discuss the genetic disorder Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP). To understand this disorder, we have to first look into the types of DNA damages, their causes and their specific repair mechanism. DNA damage Mutation happens for lots of different reasons. It can occur spontaneously or naturally, for example DNA strand looped out during replication, hence causes a deletion of base. The other main types of spontaneous mutation are Depurination (Fig.1) i.e. detachment of Adenosine or Guanine from its deoxyribose sugar due to the hydrolysis of water and deamination (Fig.2) i.e. oxidation of bases by an oxidising agent e.g. nitrous acid. Spontaneous mutation occurs at a rate varies between and 4ÃÆ'- per gene per generation.(5-7) Another type of mutations could be elicited by the exposure of organisms to substantial mutagens, like chemicals or radiation.(7) The focus of this report is mainly on radiation. Radiation is probably the most well-known type of mutagen and there are three different types of radiation, each of which has its specific effects. The first type is ionising radiation which generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) e.g. H2O2, OHÂÂ · when passing through cells. These oxygen species oxidise DNA bases and thus causes base mispairing. The second type of radiation is the ultraviolet light. It has a wavelength ~ 260nm and is greatly absorbed by the bases. The absorbed energy causes the fusion of adjacent pyrimidine dimers on the same DNA strand and will mainly affect thymine (Fig.3). The results of this type of mutation are stoppage of DNA replication and transcription, which affects the normal function of cells significantly. Ionising radiation such as X-Rays can have a direct effect on DNA strand as well. It reacts directly with deoxyribose backbone and causes double-strand breaks in the DNA and may in turn completely stop DNA replication because of the significant d amage induced.(6-7) The Cell Cycle There are 4 main stages in the cell cycle, G1 (Gap 1), S (Synthesis), G2 (Gap 2) and M (Mitosis) and the duration for each cell cycle is around 24 hours. As from the diagram, each stage has its particular functions. There are two important checkpoints between G1 and S phase and G2 and M phase and they are called G1-to-S checkpoint and G2-to-M checkpoint respectively. These checkpoints are important as they detect the existing DNA damage and generate signals for DNA repair. If the DNA damage is too severe and beyond repair, tumour suppressor like p53 will come into action. This prevents the mutated cell from dividing and developing into cancer cells and the cell either goes into apoptosis or senescence.(5, 7) DNA Repair As previously mentioned, each type of mutation has its own specific repair mechanism and this paper is to focus on nucleotide excision repair (NER) (Fig.5), which is the only relevant mechanism to XP. NER helps repairing pyrimidine dimers and bulky DNA adduct to bases. This repair system works by detecting distortion to the double helix shape of the polynucleotide strand such as thymine-thymine dimers. This distortion triggers a series of events to restore the stability of the DNA. Firstly, XPC is the protein responsible for recognising the distortions. Then XPA and XPD generate a bubble (Fig.5) a ring-like structure formed by unwinds of DNA double-strand around the damaged site. The bubble creates two cleavage sites for ERCC1-XPF (5side) and XPG (3side) to act on. The cleavage sites are exactly 24 nucleotides away from the lesion on the 5side and 5 nucleotides from the 3end. Finally, DNA helicase releases the fragment that has been cut out, and once again DNA polymerases and ligase fill in the gap and repair the lesion. It is important to understand this repair mechanism as several genetic disorders like Xeroderma Pigmentosum, Cockaynes syndrome and trichothiodystrophy are connected with defects in the nucleotide excision repair.(6-7, 12) Brief introduction of XP XP was first described by two dermatologists in Vienna, Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra and Moritz Kapozi in the year 1870. The term xeroderma denotes parchment skin while pigmentosum was added later to indicate and emphasize the characterised pigmentation abnormalities(14-15). At that time, no one knows exactly what causes XP and the link between XP and defective NER was established by Cleaver in 1968(14, 16). Researchers have identified that there are 8 complementation groups of XP and they are XP-A-G and XP variant group. XPA-G are known as the classical forms of XP while the XP-V which is not associated with a defective NER, constituting 20% of the cases of XP. Instead of having a defective NER pathway, XP-V patients have gene coded for a defective form of DNA polymerase, causing a thymine-thymine dimers bypass during replication. Each complementation group represents a mutated form of a specific gene, i.e. complementation group A means the patient has a mutated version of the XP-A ge ne, etc.(14, 17) Patients with XP have a high photosensitivity to UV radiation as their cells have a defective nucleotide excision repair pathway. As a result, those cells exposed to UV radiation will have a high mutation rate and causes a high occurrence of skin cancer as well as affecting ocular tissues. XP can also cause neurodegeneration or neurological diseases and it would be discussed later.(14-15) Prevalence of XP XP is a rare autosomal recessive disease, which means that the disease will only be developed in patients with two mutated form of XP genes, XP will not develop in patients with a normal and a mutated gene as the mutated gene is recessive and wouldnt be expressed but he/she would be a carrier of XP. XP has a dispersed worldwide distribution, varying from 1 in 40,000 in Japan and 1 in 250,000 in Europe and USA. Symptoms of XP can start as early as first exposure to sunlight but the average age of onset of symptoms is around 2 years. There is also a greater than 1000-fold increased risk of skin cancers development connected with XP and the average age of onset of the foremost skin cancer or neoplasm is 8 years, around 50 years earlier comparing with the public. The life spans of XP patients are reduced by around 30 years as many of them die of neoplasia. As mentioned before, NER also removes bulky DNA adduct to bases, such lesions are induced chemically by chemicals like alkylating age nt rather than UV radiation. This explains why XP patients also have a 10 to 20- fold higher risk of forming internal neoplasms below the age of 20.(7, 12, 14, 17) Neurodegeneration of XP It is quite easy and straight forward to understand why XP patients are prone to skin cancers and even internal organs neoplasms. However, there is one interesting clinical feature that is still unexplained and remains puzzling and this is the neurodegeneration of XP patients, which is affecting approximately 20% of the XP patients. Since UV radiation cannot penetrate through our skull, thymine-thymine dimers would not be the type of mutation occurring in the neurological tissues e.g. brain tissues, neurons and so on. Thus, damages in the neurological tissues are more likely to be caused by chemicals like alkylating agents, ROS which damages DNA by oxidising DNA bases or adding bulky adducts to it and are also repaired by the NER pathway(14, 19). The following section will discuss some of the symptoms as well as possible causes of this interesting feature. The first symptom of the XP neurological disorder is reduced tendon reflexes, possibly as a result of peripheral nervous system and ataxia degeneration. With the progression of the disease, the patient will also develop hearing loss and other motor anomalies and become wheelchair bound eventually. Dementia and progressive cognitive decline are also the possible outcomes of the XP neurological disorder.(19) There are several candidates for the causes of neurodegeneration in XP patients but there are yet to be a confirmation of the ultimate cause of those symptoms. ROS is a possible cause for neurodegeneration in XP patients. These species react with our DNA bases or deoxyribose sugar and generate some form of lesions which should be repaired by our NER pathway, for example, hydroxyl radical, a ROS which reacts with deoxyribose sugar and produces a lesion called cyclopurine-deoxynucleosides (Fig.7). This type of lesion can only be repaired by NER and will accumulate in our cells if not repaired.(19) Aldehydes and thymine glycol are some other possible reagents that might cause neurodegeneration in XP patients. Aldehydes react with DNA, forming a DNA lesion called Propano-deoxyguanosine lesion (PdG) which might block transcription by RNA polymerase. Thymine glycol causes oxidative damage to the DNA and produces Nonbulky oxidatively-induced lesion, which could be repaired by the NER pathway as well.(19-20) It is important to understand the fundamental cause of neurodegeneration in XP patients, by doing so; we can develop a possible treatment, not only for reducing the incidences of neurological disorder in XP patients, but for improving the patients quality of life as well. For example if H2O2 is the cause of the neurodegeneration, we can develop a pathway which reduces the level of H2O2 in patients body and reduces the level of H2O2 in their cells.(19) Diagnosis for XP XP can be diagnosed in different ways. Diagnosis can be made clinically by examining eye, skin and nervous system, a detailed family history could also aid in the diagnosis. As XP cells have a defective NER, a functional test for DNA repair on living cells may also be used for diagnosis. Nowadays, genetic testing of XPA and XPC genes is available clinically but the testing for the other genes is only available on a research basis.(21) Treatment for XP At the moment, there is no cure for XP. Primary care for XP is probably more important than secondary care in terms of prevention and regulation of the disease. Once the patient is diagnosed with XP, he/she should avoid exposure to sunlight and other mutagens like cigarette smoke or alcohol immediately. XP patients should also wear protective clothing like UV suits, sunglasses and gloves in order to get minimum exposure to UV radiation, reducing the chances of getting further DNA damage. UV radiation levels should also be measured routinely at in-door environment for safety reasons. XP patients should also consume sufficient vitamin D in their diet to compensate for the insufficient production of vitamin D by their body.(21) As the disease progresses, XP patients might develop small lesions in the skin which could be treated using liquid nitrogen or topical 5-fluorouracil. Skin cancers, neoplasms of the eyelids, conjunctiva and cornea developed could be removed surgically. In patients with multiple skin cancers, high-dose oral isotretinoin may be used to prevent the formation of new neoplasms. X-radiation therapy can also be used to treat cancer with close monitoring as most XP patients are not hypersensitive to therapeutic X-rays.(21) Gene replacement therapy, i.e. replacing the mutated gene by insertion of a normal set of gene might also be a possible treatment in the future but very few research groups are working on that(22). In 2001, a study showed that the insertion of the bacterial DNA repair enzyme T4 Endonuclease V (also known as denV T4 endonuclease, an enzyme which removes the glycosyl bond of the pyrimidine dimer(23)) in liposomes into XP patients can actually increases the rate of repair of UV induced lesion, lowering the chances of new skin neoplasms development and it is now one of the treatments of XP. (21, 24) A research on gene replacement therapy published in 2003 was supportive for the XP patients(25). The result was quite promising as the researchers successfully restore the DNA repair capacity of XP cells after the insertion of gene(25). Although the efficacy of the treatment is high, its reliability is relatively low and there are definitely some limitations in the study. Firstly, it was an in vitro experiment; results shown in test tube would not be necessarily the same as in mammals or humans. Secondly, the research only focused on the XP-C cells so it is still unsure whether gene replacement therapy would work on other XP genes. Thirdly, the research was only done on cells from 2 patients; a larger sample size, preferably samples from different ethnicity or a more comprehensive study is needed to confirm the effectiveness in clinical practice. The bacterial enzyme T4 Endonuclease V was proved to be a quite effective treatment for XP as mentioned previously. The study that I looked into was a randomised study and involves 30 patients, with 20 in the intervention group and 10 in the placebo group(24). Overall, the study is quite reliable as it was a randomised double-blind study which minimise the bias that might affect the final outcomes of the study. However, some issues do present in the trial and should be addressed for future research. Firstly, the sample size is relatively small; a larger sample size is needed to confirm the effectiveness of the bacterial enzyme. Secondly, the ratio of patients in the two study groups varies, which might affect the statistical outcome significantly, especially for a small-sized study. Conclusions, limitations and further study To conclude, with the progression of technology and more time and resources spent on XP, we have now got much more understanding of XP, comparing with the first discovery of the disease. However, we shouldnt be satisfied with it and stop here as there is still a long way to go to get a full understanding of this genetic disorder. From my research, I found out that majority of the researchers favour ROS as the underlying cause of the neurodegeneration in XP patients. Firstly, our nervous system has a high demand for oxygen and ROS produced during respiration could potentially accumulate in our nervous system, causing damages to our DNA. Secondly, ROS causes DNA lesion that might only be repaired by the NER pathway. Thirdly, ROS can generate lesions that could block the RNA transcription, contributing to the loss of proteins and eventually cell death(19). All of these evidences suggested that ROS are possible causes of the neurological disorder in XP. At the moment, the resources are not available to prove that it is the case and there might be some other DNA damages that cause neurodegeneration which have not been discovered yet. However, I am sure with all the hard-work, and the advancement of technology, this mystery would soon be solved. In my opinion, with the lack of treatment for XP at the moment, preventive measures would be the most important things. As a result, diagnosis of XP should be made as quickly as possible. Genetic screening for new born baby might be a method for early diagnosis of XP. However, XP is a rare genetic disorder which is not so cost-effective for genetic testing as it is still relatively costly to diagnose XP in a molecular level and we should probably look for a cheaper alternatives and an easier way for diagnosis of XP. As for the future treatment, as I have previously mentioned, understanding the underlying cause of neurodegeneration is important for reducing the incidences of neurological disorder in XP patients and would improve the patients quality of life. My opinion on gene replacement therapy is that it is viable as the technology is available but not practical yet. First of all, although our skins are quite easy to reach, we should bear in mind that the skin has got a large surface area and would be quite difficult to insert replacement genes into the majority of the skin cells. We have now developed a method of inserting genes by genetically modified retrovirus, which could deliver genes into our cells quite easily. However, the technology for this is still premature and it is quite hard to monitor the viruses and might generate side effects like escape of viruses to the nature, mutation of the viruses and so on. I think that the information on gene replacement therapy for XP patients is qu ite limited; a lot more need to be done to address this issue. Finally, I do believe that with the advance of technology and as our knowledge of gene therapy progresses, a cure for XP should soon be found.

Another Baseball Paper :: essays research papers

The activity that I enjoy most is Baseball, which is a competitive game of skill played between two teams, each with nine players. Baseball is Americas National Pastime and is played by people of ages. Abner Doubleday, a former American Civil War officer, is the inventor of baseball. Born in Ballston Spa, NY, Doubleday attended school at the United States Military Academy. As a young man, Doubleday organized a small amount of baseball teams in Cooperstown, NY, who played what is now known as Doubleday Field. Cooperstown is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Doubleday then died in 1893. Since then, amateur and professional baseball players have been improving the game of baseball in many ways. Baseball is played for the money, and medially played for the love of the game. The average salary for a baseball player is around $2 million a year. Some players can make as low as $250,000 a year up to about $25 million a year. On this present day, there is a baseball league in the United States called MLB, which stands for Major League Baseball. The MLB is made up of thirty teams and two different leagues, National and American. Out of the two leagues, there consists of fifteen teams that make up three divisions with a different number of teams in each division. Each team plays 162 games every year, unless they are tied with a team in their own division and a one game playoff must be played. At the end of the year, who ever has the best record out of their division makes it to the playoffs, as well as a wildcard team, who has the fourth best regular season record in the league, which makes four teams from each league that go to the playoffs. Each team plays a team from their own league. The team with the best and the worst record in the regular season play each other, and the

Dune-lots Of Errors :: essays research papers

Dune by Frank Herbert is one of the greatest Science Fiction novels of all time. The story is about Paul Atreids as he tries to take back his planet (Arrakis, a.k.a Dune a pure desert world. It is also the only place where spice can be found. Spice is a drug that gives people the ability to see the future, health and long life, (hence the saying, Health and long life are the gifts of the spice, Dune the Sci –Fi mini-series)) from the Harrkonnens the Atreids mortal enemy. The book is based in the year 10,946 B.J (Bielgium Jihad) in the Imperium of man under the rule of Shaddam the IV. The main characters are The Baron and Paul Atreids. Paul Atreids is the son of Duke Leto Atreids and the lady Jessica. He is Muad’Dib the Fremen messiah (The Fremen are the natives of Dune and the greatest fighters in the known universe.). The Baron is the ruler of Giedi prime. He is sadistic and he hates the Atreids because an Atreids had the ruler of House Harrkonnen banished for cowardi ce.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The book starts off with House Atreids moving to Arrakis. Paul father, Leto sends off men to recruit the Fremen to his cause because he believes the Harrkonnens will attack Arrakis (for now on I will call it by it’s Fremen name Dune). The Harrkonnens make an attempt on Paul’s life and a traitor shuts down the Atreids palace’s shield.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Soon Harrkonnen troops and Sardaukar (The emperor’s shock troops) attack dune. Without the Fremen’s aid the Harrkonnens capture dune and kill Leto and send Paul and his mother out into the deep desert to die. After the assault the Sadaukar leave. The Harrkonnens believing Paul dead begin to solidify their hold on Dune.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  After killing their captors Paul and Jessica escape. As they run, a worm (A giant worm, Usually about a kilometer long and about thirty feet wide with sharp teeth) tries to eat the pair but they escape into a cave. Later Duncan Idaho, a loyal Lieutenant, picks them up and brings them to a hidden Fremen base. There Sardaukar attacks them again and Duncan dies buying time for Paul and Jessica to get away.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Later they are found by a group of Fremen who think Paul is the Muad’Dib (their messiah). After Paul kills a non-believer the Fremen begin to worship Paul.

Inventing Your Own Technology :: Writing Nature Writers Education Essays

Inventing Your Own Technology When college students are asked to write a term paper or an essay they can either get out their pen/pencil and paper or boot up their computer and write/type away. I never realized what a convenience it is to be able to have these simple an complex technologies at my fingertips until I took Writing, Style and Technology. That was when my paper writing philosophy was broken. My teacher gave us a plot twist on our fist writing assignment like â€Å"boys vs. girls† on Survivor. I had to â€Å"write† about twenty words without using a pen, pencil, paper or computer. Instead I as required to use only â€Å"natural† materials in the environment. When I first heard of the project I had a number of ideas running through my head. Could I use food to write on or with? Could I carve into rock or wood? I went to work the next day and asked some coworkers for ideas and heard pretty much the same responses. Besides them saying this is the weirdest assignment they have ever heard of, I got â€Å"use your blood†, which I quickly explained that blood was not an option because our teacher had outlawed it. Then their ideas stopped and I was on my own. I then decided I would use the bark off some logs in our backyard. My problem was that I could not get a piece big enough to write on. My last resort was to cut down the tree in the back yard and get a piece of wood from it. My husband was totally against that idea and said there had to be a happy medium somewhere. So I decided that I would use some lumber we have in the garage for household projects as my new ‘paper.’ Now I had to come up with somethi ng to write with. I decided to burn a stick and use the ash as my new pencil. I wrote down my ‘Old West Chores’. On it I have. Milk the cow Gather eggs Gather wood Hunt dinner Clean outhouse Plow fields Clean stables Go to general store There are already a number of problems with my project.

Othello and the Moor of Venice Essay

The play, the Tragedy of Othello and the Moor of Venice, written by William Shakespeare has many underlying and reoccurring themes throughout. One major theme is that of betrayal and loyalty. During the entire play every character is either loyal to, or betrays another character. The theme of betrayal and loyalty is seen through every character and every act in the play especially in Iago, Desdemona, and Othello. Every character that is portrayed as being loyal is disloyal, and every character that is portrayed as being disloyal is loyal. No one ever knows who and who not to trust, and this adds a lot of drama and build up to the story line. This play shows you that you can never trust anyone, and that you should keep your friends close but your enemies even closer. In such a web of love, hatred and betrayal, it is really hard to say who are the protagonist and the antagonist. But, through these gray areas, one could see that sometimes such strong emotions could change one to another. Yet with A. C. Bradley, the play was described as â€Å"by far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes†(Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). This is an irony at play. The description is quite unexpected since it is about a man who murders his own wife. Nonetheless, it could be observed that this crime resulted from Othello’s feelings of hate for Desdemona which had when their relationship began, started as an overwhelming love for her. The transformation from love to hate that transpired within Othello also inflicted the characters Iago and Roderigo and hatred induced them to murder of innocent people as well. Roderigo’s love for Desdemona was transformed into hate towards any man that he thought was loved by her. Iago’s love for his job and his wife, Emilia changed into a destructive hatred of Cassio and Othello. As a result of their hatred Cassio, Emilia, and at the end they were killed. The connection between love and hate in William Shakespeare’s â€Å"Othello† is the ugly feeling of jealousy that caused such transformations. Jealousy can be described as a fear of losing something or someone that is valuable (Godfrey 2). As minor as this feeling appears to be by that definition, it can take on varying degrees of damaging behavior. Othello, Roderigo, and Iago had become paralyzed by jealousy. Their thoughts, actions, and behaviors were ruled by it. Jealousy caused their inability to act rationally. They became paranoid and unable to love. Roderigo begins with a small jealousy of Othello for being married to Desdemona. It isn’t until Iago makes Roderigo believe Desdemona does not really love Othello that Roderigo becomes destructive. Roderigo pays Iago for this false hope that he will be with Desdemona (1162). When he believes he is getting closer to being with her, however, Iago tells him that it might not happen because Desdemona is in love with Cassio (1169-70). Roderigo is greatly angered by this and resolves to do what it takes to stop Cassio from getting Desdemona even if it means taking his life. His attempt to kill Cassio, however, is unsuccessful, and instead he is the one injured (1175). Roderigo is no longer consumed with thoughts of being with Desdemona. Instead he is consumed with feelings of hatred toward those who might have her love and attention. Othello had a deep love for Desdemona in the beginning of the play. He was however also very insecure of Desdemona’s love for him (Mabillard 1). He doesn’t understand why she would go against her father and her society by marrying a man that is black (1). The only reason that he can come up with is that she married him for his courageous journeys (1). In Act I scene iii he explains to the Duke, â€Å"She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d† (Shakespeare 1157). In Act III scene ii he tries to put his doubts to rest by telling himself that Desdemona’s compassionate and virtuous nature makes it possible for her to love him (Mabillard 1). However, when Iago starts to plant ideas of her infidelity into Othello’s head the doubts resurface and his insecurity becomes stronger than ever before (2). His insecurity about his worth to Desdemona combined with the reaffirmation from Iago of her affair creates his heated jealousy. After Iago provides the last piece of proof that Othello needs (the handkerchief in Act IV Scene i) Othello only has hatred for Desdemona. But it must be understood that, Desdemona, is a character of both betrayal and loyalty. Yet in a very different way, for when she is disloyal to a character it is out of loyalty and love for another character. She must lie to her father to be with her true love Othello Desdemona tells her father that she is loyal to him, but has to choose Othello over him (Othello, 1, 3, 208-220).. In relation to the history of the Moors in Europe, the Moors were looked down upon as with Desdemona’s father looked down on Othello. Moor’s were seen as being barbaric and ruthless warriors, only bred for being ruthless warriors and nothing else. That is why it is so profound that Desdemona is so undeniably in love with Othello and will do whatever it takes to be with him, even turn her back on her own family. Desdemona is always loyal to Othello throughout the play and Iago does his best to disprove this by getting into Othello’s mind. Othello believes Iago and says Desdemona is disloyal and cheats on him and does not trust her when she says, â€Å"For ‘twas this hand that gave away my heart. † (Othello, 3, 4, 52) Desdemona does her best to prove to Othello that it is only he that she loves and no one else. Othello has been deeply brainwashed by Iago and is scared into believing that Desdemona may be cheating on him with Cassio. This causes Othello to seek revenge on Cassio, and ruins his relationship with Desdemona. Iago really is the mastermind of all betrayals and jealousy, and Othello falls for it badly. As Albert Gerard explained in his article â€Å"‘egregiously and Ass’, The Dark Side of the Moor: A View of Othello’s Mind,† if Desdemona failed him than everything failed him (5). He was dependent on her for representing truth in the world (5). She represented an ideal image of purity to him (5). In Act III scene iii he exclaims, â€Å"If she be false, O! Then heaven mocks itself† (Shakespeare 1191). Since â€Å"the vision† of her is so highly valued, the possibility that she is a lie devastates Othello (5). D. R. Godfrey notes that Othello’s jealousy is strong enough to make him crazy (â€Å"Shakespeare and the Green-Eyed Monster† 2). He loses the ability to think rationally which is why he doesn’t seek the truth from those supposedly involved and the circumstantial evidence is enough, in his eyes, to justly murder Desdemona (2). Godfrey further supports Othello’s inability of rational thought by his idea that Desdemona and Iago have slept together â€Å"a thousand times†(3). If Othello were thinking rationally, he would have known that there couldn’t have been enough time for them to have that deep of an affair (3). His hatred of Cassio is apparent as he tells Iago â€Å"Within these three days let me hear thee say that Cassio’s not alive† (Shakespeare 1196). Before he comes to believe that Cassio is having an affair with his wife, Othello valued him enough to appoint him as lieutenant. Othello transforms from a man who loves deeply and lives with honor into a man full of hatred and vengeance. Like Roderigo, such a transformation occurs because of jealousy brought on by the words of Iago. Iago makes the cause of his loathing for Othello and Cassio apparent in the first scene of Act I: Cassio’s appointment as lieutenant being one (1145) and the second being his suspicion that Othello has slept with his wife, Emilia (1163). D. R. Godfrey describes these experiences to Iago as â€Å"devastating, to the point of working a profound and sudden change in Iago, a virtual metamorphosis † (â€Å"Shakespeare and the Green-Eyed Monster 6). Othello’s trust of Iago shows that he had once been a loyal, honest man (Watkinson 2). He even refers to him as â€Å"honest Iago† on multiple occasions (2). Watkinson explains that Othello’s dependency on Iago becomes even stronger when Iago brings the supposed affair to his attention († The Ironic Interdependence of Othello and Iago 3). He also manipulates Roderigo into thinking that he is only looking out for his best interests. Iago’s jealousy breeds a stronger hatred than Othello’s and Roderigo; so strong that he doesn’t care who gets hurt in his revenge (Godfrey 6). He wants everyone to suffer like he has (6). Iago disregards Roderigo’s well being when he tells him that he should get rid of Cassio so that he can be with Desdemona. He also disregards the life of Desdemona by telling Othello that she is sleeping with Cassio. He directs his hatred towards anyone that seems to live honestly (Godfrey 6). The more his plan seemed to work, the more his hatred was acted out. In the last scene of the play, Iago kills Roderigo for the fear that he might reveal his plan (Shakespeare 1222). He then calls Emilia a â€Å"villainous whore† and stabs her after she tells Othello that she had picked up that handkerchief and given it to Iago at his request (1231). Iago represents the strongest form of hate in Othello. While Roderigo and Othello took out their hatred on only those that they thought had caused it, Iago took it out on those innocent as well. In Act III Scene iv, Emilia tells Desdemona that â€Å"They are not ever jealous for the cause, but jealous for they are jealous; ‘tis a monster begot upon itself, born on itself† (1201). Othello, Roderigo, and Iago were each responsible for letting their jealousy get out of control. Although Iago was partly to blame, Othello is responsible for not relying on contrary evidence to prevent him from murdering Desdemona. Roderigo is responsible for letting his hatred lead him to attempting to murder Cassio. Jealousy turned romantic love into anger and hatred for Othello and Roderigo. Iago’s jealousy, however, manifested from a love of power, making it all too dangerous. He sought out power by manipulating others to get the revenge he wanted on Othello and Cassio. All three, however, are examples of the destructiveness that can come from love struck by jealousy. Paradoxically it is Iago who tells Othello â€Å"O! Beware my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-ey’d monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on†(Shakespeare 1188). Ultimately, this becomes the downfall of everybody.