Writing in Biology

I took ResEcon statistics in my Fall semester of Sophomore year. Unfortunately, I do not remember a lot about statistics. We learned about different methods of sampling. These include stratified random, simple random, cluster, and systemic sampling. We focused a lot on graphs and statistical analysis. This included understanding residuals and correlation, and linear regression. I do not remember much detail about each specific concept. We spent a good amount of the semester on probability which was pretty basic. I know a lot about probability from learning it all throughout middle school and high school. We learned about how to use p value and degrees of freedom. I do not remember the equations we used, but I know there were a few. 

Yesterday there was a lot of buzzed in the internet of how five patients had gone through a stem cell transplants and showed no signs of HIV. Does this mean that the virus is not in their body anymore? Can there be a cure after all? According, to the scientific journal “Annals of Internal Medicine”, this is a great start of research that wants to determine associated factors with stem cells transplant that could help the elimination of HVI. This study was based on the peculiar case of Timothy Brown, known as the Berlin patient. He was diagnosed in 1995 with HIV, he had a stem cell transplant to treat his leukemia. His donor had a CCR5- delta 32 mutation, that makes the blood cells to be immune to HVI. And so, Brown became resistant to the virus and is considered to be the only person in the world that has been cured from HIV. In order to discover this type of transplant and other factors, the people that were in charge of conducting the study, asked six volunteers with HIV that also had gone through stem cells transplant to be part of the research. After the analysis, monitoring and antiretroviral treatment, it was observed that five of them had undetectable levels of HIV in the blood and tissues. Also, one of the participants antibodies that was present to protect the virus had disappeared completely after six years after the transplant. This could only mean one thing, HIV was not present in his blood. Despite the promising results, we cannot talk about a cure yet. However, this discovery represents a great advance in new strategies to fight against and eradicate this virus.

Yesterday there was a lot of buzzed in the internet of how five patients went through a stem cells treatment and they showed no signs of HIV. Does this mean that the virus is not in their body anymore? Can there be a cure after all? According, to the scientific journal “Annals of Internal Medicine”, this is a great start of research that wants to determine associated factors with stem cells transplant that could help the elimination of HVI. This study is based on the peculiar case of Timothy Brown, known as the Berlin patient. 

One of the most important aspects of the science community is the ability to replicate processes and get the same results. In order to be able to achieve this goal, clear and concise writing is required. In Fall 2018 the Writing in Biology Class at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, conducted a project to observe differences between two figures. Figure 1 was to be created by me and Figure 2 was to be created by another student following my methods section to try to create a perfect replicate of the Figure I already created. The following section focuses on the subject of the figure, including why it was selected, and the factors that were attempted to be controlled in the writing of the methods section

Mammals, often characterized by the presence pf hair and mammary glands, can be divided into three sub groups; Holotherians, Metatherians, and Eutherians. Holotherians encapsulate the monotremes which are the egg laying mammals characterized by a single opening for both fecal removal and urogenital products. Examples of monotremes are platypuses and echidnas.  Metatherians are the marsupials like kangaroos, wombats, opossums, etc. They are characterized by a pouch where the fetuses attach to the mother’s nipples and finish developing into adolescence. Metatherians also have an inwardly turned angular process on their lower jaws which result in limited replacement of their juvenile teeth. Lastly, Eutherians are the remaining placental organisms. While marsupials are placentals too, Eutherians have a longer gestation period and thus produce able bodied young who are at a much more advanced stage in development. Eutherians are also characterized by their tribosphenic molars, molars where the protocone is on the lingual side of the mouth (tongue) and the anterior paracone along with the posterior metacone are on buccal side of the jaw (cheek). In conclusion, while mammals are united by their hairs and mammary glands, they can be further divided using distinct characteristics that allow us the create the three groups Holotherians, Metatherians, and Eutherians.

Mammals, often characterized by the presence pf hair and mammary glands, can be divided into three sub groups; Holotherians, Metatherians, and Eutherians. Holotherians encapsulate the monotremes which are the egg laying mammals characterized by a single opening for both fecal removal and urogenital products. Examples of monotremes are platypuses and echidnas.  Metatherians are the marsupials like kangaroos, wombats, opossums, etc. They are characterized by a pouch where the fetuses attach to nipples and finish developing into adolescence. Metatherians also have an inwardly turned angular process on their lower jaws which result in limited replacement of their teeth. Lastly, Eutherians are the remaining placental organisms. While marsupials are placentals as well, eutherians have a longer gestation period and thus produce able bodied young who are at a much more advanced stage in development. Eutherians are also characterized by their tribosphenic molars, molars where the protocone is on the lingual side of the mouth (tongue) and the anterior paracone along with the posterior metacone are on buccal side of the jaw (cheek). In conclusion, while mammals are united by their hairs and mammary glands, they can be further divided using distinct characteristics that allow us the create the three groups Holotherians, Metatherians, and Eutherians.

Long term memory and short term memory are topics studied heavily in Psychology and Biology. Scientists have created many experiences to test the differences between long and short term memory. There are a lot of theories as to how pieces of your information or events go into short term of long term. For example, when given a list of names and asked to recall them from memory, it is typical that humans remember the beginning of the list and the end of the list. The idea that it would be easy to remember the first few names on a list is called the primacy effect, meaning the first couple words are stored in the long term memory. Remembering the last few words on the list is the recency effect, meaning that the words are in your recent and short term memory. In short term memory, ideas or concepts are typically remembered in chunks of 7 items, whereas long term memory has an infinite amount. This is because long term memory must be attended to and rehearsed or elaborated for some time. Short term memory is not rehearsed or elaborated therefore it is less likely to be recalled for a long time after the initial memory. This idea relates to studying; it is better to study in small chunks over a long period of time in repetition rather than cramming a night before an exam. This is because the studied material is now if the long term memory from repetition. 

Genome editing has grown quickly in such a short period of time and I feel like this rapid growth makes the ethical logistics of it that more important. We suddenly have so much access to our genes through companies such as ancestry and now we can even change these germline genes. While genome editing can be beneficial in many ways, such as help prevent/cure diseases, it is difficult to know where to draw the line. I don’t have a huge stance for or against gene editing, but I think it could get out of hand very quickly if not regulated or people aren’t informed about it. I feel like messing with and changing germline genome gives humans a lot of control over the gene pool as well as natural selection and evolution. Instead of allowing us to naturally develop and evolve, we now have the power to look at our genes and we could potentially decide how we appear and what genes we have. I feel like if gene editing continues to evolve and progress, it could potentially lead to either overpopulation or extinction of species, depending how it is used.

  In this example lambda is increasing over time. From year 2 to year 5, it increases by .21. This shows that the population is increasing. This follows what the table also shows in the other columns. For example, looking at Figure 10.8 B we see that the population size is growing. From year 1 to year 5, it increased by 1037.3 individuals. Over the years that we looked at there was a big increase at first, and then lambda started to increase by a little. If we continued the graph we would eventually reach a point that lambda remains constant- assuming our survival and fecundity rates maintain constant. 

Chronic myelogenous leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the white blood cells, most often in older adults than children. The cancer is caused by a translocation event between chromosome 9 and chromosome 22. The break and results in a changed chromosome 9 and changed chromosome 22 that has the bcr-abl gene. Abl is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase protein, but the fusion with bcr disrupts regulation and increases signaling. Typically, multiple mutations occur that cause disruption and therefore cause cancer, but CML is particular in that it only requires the one mutation due to Abl having many functions and a role in important pathways like DNA damage repair. After the mutation though, it no longer does the repair and instead functions in cytoplasmic pathways like motility, survival, growth and proliferation.