Writing in Biology - Section 1

Decomposition is an important part of the cycle of nutrients through an ecosystem. Decomposition is the break down of dead organic matter by bacteria and fungi, which take dead organic matter and break it down into smaller components that can be deposited back into the environment to be used by other organisms. Like many other natural processes, humans have tampered with decomposition. For one, the traditional contemporary burial methods involving filling the body with preservatives like formaldehyde slow down the process. Processes like cremation completely remove returning the organic matter to the Earth from the equation. Aside from dealing with their own dead, humans shape their environment all the time. An example of this is in the fall in colder regions, where leaves fall off of the trees. A common practice that most people adhere to is raking leaves and removing them from the yard. This doesn't allow for the leaves to be broken down by bacteria/fungi and their nutrients aren't returned to where they came from. This potentially can kill the grass in your lawn and have other detrimental effects on the local ecosystem.

From small mosses to large trees, all flora on earth requires water to survive. So what were to happen if an environment experienced an extreme drought? Could life survive? Some plants have developed methods of preventing their death due to water loss, a state which is also known as desiccation. Living cells would normally shrivel up and cease to function, however, some have become tolerant to that stress. These desiccation-tolerant plants produce proteins and morphological changes in response to low water levels. In a desiccation-tolerant plant, its cells synthesize sugars such as trehalose and transport them to cells who are experiencing shrinkage. Trehalose replaces the water and maintains membrane integrity. Another problem desiccation-tolerant plants face is how to repair damage to UV light and radiation when in this low metabolic state. The solution; produce pigments and extracellular sugars to block the incoming rays before they become a problem. 

The conclusion of the experiment is that the loss of photoreceptors changed the number and morphology of the glial cells such as astrocytes and Muller cells. The change in the number and morphology of the glial cells affected the retina and as a result, may be an important part of the disease which was previously only thought to affect cone cells. 

    This research shows that the disease in the photoreceptor cells also affect the cells that are around those cells, and as a result, there is a need to take into account for future research for cures and treatment that there is a need to also look at the cells around the main cells that are affected so that the normal quantity  and the morphology of the cells can be restored. In addition, one of the problems that were in the study is that the study was done on transgenic mice, where the gene with the mutation was inserted into the gene, causing it to have three copies of the gene. a more accurate way of making the model would be to make that mutation directly in the genome without increasing the gene number.

In the first experiment, the astrocyte morphology and distribution were observed. As shown in figure 1, there were significant increase in astrocyte cell number in the P23H rate compared to the control rates in all retinal regions. In addition, P23H rats were associated with hypertrophy, of astrocytes which also saw an increased GFAP immunoreactivity (figure 2,3). In P23H rats, there also showed a disrupted vessel that was significantly regressed. There is the formation of blood vessel tangles at 12 and at 18 months. (figure 4). 

In the second experiment, the result is that there is a relationship between the Cx43 and the hyperplasia and hypertrophy of the P23H astrocytes (figure5). There were also higher expression fold charges in the P23H compared to the control. In the experiment that indicates the tissue stress, P23H the diseased retinas showed GFAP immunoactivity in the muller cells, indicating that the tissue is under significant stress and that photoreceptors were significantly reduced in the mutant rat compared to the control (figure 6,7)l. In addition, from the staining it can be seen that the glial component of the retina expanded, filling the space that was left by the photoreceptors. In the experiment, it has been shown that in the mutant cells, the muller cells were hypertrophied, assumed to be due to the retina. There were also altered the distribution and orientation of cone cells(figure9). In general, the GFAP labeling indicated early retinal gliosis. The number of astrocytes was also higher in the mutant cells as compared to the controls. The astrocytes also degenerated as the rats aged.

All flora on earth requires water to survive. From small mosses to large trees, water is essential to life on earth. So what were to happen if an environment experienced an extreme drought? Could life survive? It turns out many plants have developed methods of preventing their death due to water loss, also known as desiccation. These desiccation-tolerant plants produce proteins and morphological changes in response to low levels of water. Cells are mostly made of water so in the case of water loss they would shrivel up and cease to function. In a D-Tolerant plant, sugars such as trehalose are synthesized and transported to cells who are experiencing shrinkage. They replace the water and maintain membrane integrity. A problem these plants face is how to repair damage to UV light and radiation when in this low metabolic state. One solution is to simply produce more pigments and extracellular sugars to block the incoming rays before they even become a problem.

    The goal of the research was to investigate the microglial changes during retinal degeneration in P23H mice. Specifically, the study tries to show that the degeneration of photoreceptors affects the cells around those cells.

26  P23H rats were used in the study along with 26 control rats. This would enable the researchers to study the 

    Protein expression was analyzed using immunoblotting. The protein was run on a membrane then the membrane was probed using 43 different antibodies The detection were then performed. The immunoblotting analysis would indicate the amount and the level of different proteins that are available in the retina. The result of the immunoblotting are shown in figure 5, 7

    The mice were euthanized and the eyes were enucleated and fixed in paraformaldehyde for one hour and cryoprotected in sucrose. The eyes were then dissected and the eyecups were processed and frozen. Then the sections were cut and mounted on a slide. This will allow for the image processing of the retina of both the P23H mice and the control mice, allowing for comparison. Then Retinal immunofluorescence was done on the mice, using the same antibodies and lectins. The previous sections were immunostained using the GFAP antibody, Gt antibody, Cx43 antibody, GS-IB4, and GAPDH antibody. These antibodies stain certain proteins in the retina and as a result, allow for a visualization of the slide that is obtained previously. The slides that were stained with the antibodies were analyzed for astrocytes the GFAPand TO-PRO-3 was used to identify astrocytes while the lectin was used to measure blood vessels astrocytes were counted manually, which allow for the examination of how much astrocytes there were in the retina. The result of histology are shown in figure 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9.

The HOX gene is highly conserved, and as a result, HOX genes, in general, are a reliable gene to use in creating a phylogenetic tree with a wide variety of species. It has been established in many studies done in the past that HOX genes are highly conserved throughout evolution (Gaunt, 1994). Highly conserved genes are genes that do not often change due to their vital role in the body or the cell. Because the highly conserved genes do not change often, they are especially useful in determining the phylogeny of evolutionarily distant species. Studies have already established that HOXC genes are highly conserved and a good indicator of phylogeny in early vertebrates, specifically in cartilaginous fish (Koraku, 2011).

The alcohol industry has been growing exponentially, as college students and young adults are asking for more and more. This industry has been alive for as long as our whole family lineage has been alive for. In fact, alcohol has been around Before Christ. The Babylonians worshiped a wine goddess as early as 2700 B.C. In Greece, one of the first alcoholic beverages to gain popularity was “mead”, a fermented drink made from honey and water. Greek literature is full of warnings against excessive drinking. This shows us that alcohol has been around for a very long time, but when did it become an epidemic?  Alcohol is a psychoactive substance with addictive properties, just like nicotine. As above, we can see that it has been widely used in many cultures for centuries. This substance not only has detrimental physical health effects to the individual, but it has psychological effects, and can harm other people such as family members, co-workers and strangers. In fact, alcohol is now the 3rd leading preventable cause of death in the United States, with an estimated 88,000 people dying from alcohol-related causes every year. 

Pink eye very common especially here at the University of Massachusetts. This means that the information on the poster is useful. It is pertinent and important. I do however think that there is too much information and too much writing for a poster. I believe if they condensed it a little more, it will make it more interesting for the readers and will attract their eyes more. I do however think that the visuals are a great addition to the poster. Adding the Figure with the normal eye vs the eye infected with pink eye is very good for individuals looking at the poster who are very visual like myself. Lastly, the Figure that shows the difference of antibiotics is very colorful and is very stagnant to people of our everyday life. Colors attract people!! It is also a very reliable source as there are doctor references, and Cairo University put in the left corner.

Plants, unlike many other organisms, are broadly and nearly uniformly able to survive extreme drought for long periods of time call desiccation. Desiccation tollerance is a characteristic that practically all species of plant have, although it may depend on the stage in the life cycle of the individual. Desiccation is thought to be an unfavorable process in total because plants that must endure constant drying out and rehydrating must make up for all nightly respiration with a short period of photosynthesis in the daytime prior to full day heat and light that causes water loss. This means that if the photosynthetic gains do not out weight the nightly repiration losses, then a net loss of energy occurs and cannot be sustained.