Writing in Biology - Section 1

There are three basic types of scientific articles are research articles, reviews, and notes or brief communications. Research articles are papers where an experiemtn was performed and the author is reporting on what was done ad what the results were. They generally contain an introduction of the subject, the methods that were performed, the results of the experiemnt, and the author's discussion of those results. Reviews are pieces of writing in which the author reports on a certain topic or body of knowledge as a whole, and highlights certain researchers or experiemnts done that have furthered the knowledge of the subject. Reviews can also include current debates on a topic or gaps in knowledge. Notes and brief communications are shorter works that provide an overview of topics to inform the scientific community. They can include observations that will be studied more in-depth at a later point, or results of an experiemnt can be summarized if they are not extensive. Both research articles and brief communications are usually peer-reviewed, while reviews may or may not be.

DNA replication is an important biological process that acts as a basis for cell growth and division. When somatic cell divides, the DNA must also replicate itself so that each daughter cell will contain identical DNA transcripts. This process begins at sections of the DNA called the origin of replication. These origins of replication tend to contain AT repeats due to the fact that Adenine and Thymine have a weaker bond making it easier for those two nucleotide to seperate. Helicase will separate the base pairs and establish the replication fork. Initiator proteins will bind to the origin of replication and recruit essential proteins for replication. DNA polymerase will be recruited by the initiator proteins like primase and begin elongation in the 3' direction. Following initiation, the DNA will elongate in a 5' to 3' direction due to the free hydroxyl group. The opposite strand, or lagging strand, must be replicated in fragments because DNA must be replicated 5' to 3'. These fragments are called  Okazaki fragments. Since DNA replication is initiated at many parts in the genome, it will be terminated a various points as well. Termination will be a result of a blocked replication fork.

I thought it was interesting how Roman culture and art parallels so directly to leadership and military expansion at that time. During the Age of Plunder, the amount of new greek art greatly influenced sculptors at that time, bringing about a Hellenistic era of culture. Now, with the rise of Augustus the chaos of previous years of civil war have died down and the people of Rome can again switch their focus back to culture. Again Greek influence rises up, with Ovid's utilization of a specific form of Greek poetry. Although this style of Greek poetry had been in Rome for a while, Ovid repopularized it. I also find it ironic how during the time Greek culture was introduced that some Roman politicians were concerned about a moral decline. Ovid, who writes his work with Greek influence, often expresses scandalous ideas in his poetry, somewhat justifying politicians fears from a long time ago. 

DNA replication is an important biological process that acts as a basis for cell growth and division. When a cell must divide, the DNA must also replicate itself so that each daughter cell may contain identical DNA transcripts. This process begins by sections of DNA called origin of replication being targeted by intiator proteins. These origins of replication tend to contain AT repeats due to the fact that Adenine and Thymine have a weaker bond making it easier for those two nucleotide to seperate. Helicase will seperate the base pairs and establish the replication fork. Following intiation, the DNA will elongate in a 5' to 3' direction due to the free hydroxyl group. DNA polymerase will be recuited by the initiator proteins like primase and begin elongation in the 3' direction. The opposite strand, or lagging strand, must be replicated in fragments because DNA must be replicated 5' to 3'. These fragments are called  Okazaki fragment. Since DNA replication is intiated at many parts in the genome, it will be terminate a various points as well. Termination will be a result of a blocked replication fork. 

A concussion is defined by Meehan et al. as a blow to the head, neck or face that causes short term neurological deficits without structural changes in the brain as seen by neuroimaging. Concussions are a very serious medical injury that can lead to long term brain damage that impacts memory, behavior, and mental ability. Why is it then that so many young athletes often go undiagnosed with serious injuries? Meehan et al. reported that less than half of high school students who sustained concussions during a football game would report it to medical staff. In college students, they were unlikely to report any injury, but when they did they often called their concussion a minor head injury, detracting from the seriousness of what they sustained. It was found that up to 30% of athletes showing symptoms from injuries known to cause concussions went undiagnosed. The percent of students in contact sports that were observed to have a head injury and resulting concussion symptoms is consistently lower than the percent of students confirmed to have concussions by medical diagnosis. This is a great pitfall in reducing the harm done to young athletes especially during adolescent years when the brain's formative functions can be greatly impacted by such a disturbance (Meehan). 

Meehan, William P 3rd et al. “The prevalence of undiagnosed concussions in athletes.” Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine vol. 23,5 (2013): 339-42. doi:10.1097/JSM.0b013e318291d3b3

A concussion is defined by Meehan et al. as a blow to the head, neck or face that causes short term neurological deficits without structural changes in the brain as visible by neuroimaging. Concussions are a very serious medical injury that can lead to long term brain damage impacting memory, behavior, and mental ability. Many modern journals focus on brain health and injury and disease diagnosis and it is no wonder why: humans care about their brain health. Why is it then that so many young athletes often go undiagnosed with serious injuries? Meehan et al. reported that less than half of high school students who sustained concussions during a football game would report it to medical staff. In college students, they were unlikely to report any injury, but when they did they often called their concussion a minor head injury, terming it something of less danger. The percent of students in contact sports that were observed to have a head injury and resulting concussion symptoms is consistently lower than the percent of students confirmed to have concussions by medical diagnosis. This is a great pitfall in reducing the harm done to young athletes especially during developing years when the brains formative functions can be greatly impacted by such a disturbance. It was found that up to 30% of athletes showing symptoms and cause for concussions went undiagnosed (Meehan). 

While the data itself cannot conclude the factors in the lack of diagnosis, theories exist that may explain part of it. Firstly, the mean age of the athletes in the report was 15.5 years old (Meehan). Consider this age as quiet vulnerable to the critizism of parents and coaches, and highly in tune to the behavior and expectations of the social sphere. As a fifteen year old athlete, they want to be great and hold up the team, not hold them back. Often receiving injuries can make a young teammate feel guilty for taking time out of the game or attention from the medical aids, and also can lose them playing time when they want to be doing the most to help their team win. These emotions could result in the belittling of their own symptoms and potentially ignoring signs of major damage. 

Meehan, William P 3rd et al. “The prevalence of undiagnosed concussions in athletes.” Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine vol. 23,5 (2013): 339-42. doi:10.1097/JSM.0b013e318291d3b3

The meristems are the stem cell niches in plants, regions of the plant that contain undifferentiated stem cells. These cells are classified as stem cells because they fit the criteria of being self-renewing, undifferentiated, totipotent or pluripotent, and are found in a specialised area called a niche. Both plants and animals have stem cells that can generate new cells. However, plants not only have the ability to regrow entire organs from their stem cells, but can also regenerate themselves from any one of their cells. That is, if the organism were to be dealt cataclysmic damage - such as a tree being cut down to its base - it would be able to regenerate completely. This is due to the fact that all of a plant’s cells, unlike an animal’s cells, are totipotent. When the plant is wounded, the differentiated cells around the wound will dedifferentiate into a group of cells - called a callus - that can grow into any new organ the plant needs. Depending on the concentrations of hormones the callus is exposed to, it will differentiate into different organs. Higher concentrations of auxin lead to more root formation and higher concentrations of cytokinin lead to more shoot formation. From this callus can be grown new organs or even an entirely new plant. Although it is true that all plant cells can be totipotent and self-renewing, they do not fulfill the two other criteria that would make them stem cells, being undifferentiated and being in a niche. Thus, not all plant cells are stem cells, only the undifferentiated cells in the meristems count as stem cells.

The meristem is the region of the plant that contains undifferentiated stem cells, the stem cell niche in plants. These are classified as stem cells because they fit the criteria of being self-renewing, undifferentiated, totipotent or pluripotent, and are found in a specialised area called a niche. Both plants and animals have stem cells found in niches, however, a unique feature of plant cells is that they are all totipotent. That is, if the organism were to be dealt cataclysmic damage - such as a tree being cut down to its base - it would be able to regenerate completely. This process takes place through the formation of a callus. When the plant is wounded, the differentiated cells around the wound will dedifferentiate into a group of cells, the callus, that can grow into any new organ the plant needs. Depending on the concentrations of hormones the callus is exposed to, it will differentiate into different organs. Higher concentrations of auxin lead to more root formation and higher concentrations of cytokinin lead to more shoot formation. Though it is true that an entire plant can be regenerated from a single one of these dedifferentiated cells, that does not mean all plant cells are stem cells. Stem cells must be undifferentiated and found in a niche, as such, although all plant cells can regenerate an entire organism, most of them are already differentiated and are not found in a niche.

In Fall 2019, as part of the Junior Writing Class at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, I conducted a project to produce careful writing such that an exact replica of the obtained results can be reproduced. The Methods project is influenced by the idea that scientists must be able to carry out an experiment and reproduce the exact results if they were to also perform the experiment. The goal of the Methods project is to learn how to create a multi-panel scientific figure and ultimately compare an image with someone else’s replicate of your image, who has followed your outlined methods. The topic of the experiment was phytophagy or the eating of plants. The subject that was chosen for this experiment was a leaf with a hole in it. This was inspired by the simplicity of the subject.

In the YED plate, there were two red diploid colonies and one pink colony (figure 1). The red colony was from unknown alpha 1 x ade2 a and unknown alpha 1 x unknown alpha 1. The pink colonies were from the cross between unknown alpha 1  and ade 1a. In the MV plate, the result was the exact same copy of those that was found inYED plate (figure 2). In the MV plate that contain adenine, all of the colonies were white (figure 3). The exact shade of the plates can be seen in the figure. The result of the study was that most of the colonies on the plate were white this indicates that im majority of the cases, the complementation has occurred.