Perfect Paragraph

Synaptic plasticity is a concept that had always seemed interesting to me. Even after birth, your brain is capable of changing its connections and wiring. It best described by Donald Hebb's words on long-term potentiation: "Neurons that wire together, fire together". The concept of long-term potentiation involves three stages: input, induction and expression. During the input period, the presynaptic neuron fires a single action potential. This causes a small post-synaptic potential. During induction, multiple action potentials are fired repeatedly along the presynaptic neuron, leaving very little time for the postsynaptic neuron to fire a small action potential and then die down. As a result, the postsynaptic potentials keep bulidng up and reach a threshhold where the neuron is depolarized, leading to an action potential to be fired. This event of accumulation of potentials over a brief period of time is called temporal summation. Finally in the last stage, we see that a single action potential, like the one in the first stage, is able to cause a full action potential called the excitatory postsynaptic potential. This is essentially how we learn. If we keep introducing the same stimulus over and over again, the wiring in our brain adjusts to fire a strong action potential. However, our brain does have a capacity for how much we can learn. The neurons can get too saturated with new wirings if there is no way to reverse this process. Thus, certain wirings start getting weaker by time and this is called long term depression. This would be another way of saying that we are slowly forgetting what we had learned. 

Once all three of the images have been gathered I opened google drive, clicked on the new media icon, and hovered over the tab labeled more. A second menu popped out to the side including google drawings. I opened the program which has an empty workspace with a checkerboard pattern in the center workspace. From here I imported the three images from before into the workspace by dragging and dropping them in. I oriented them left to right as follows: Close up shot, distant shot, map. The workspace itself is 10 inches across and the figure should fit that space exactly. I made the close-up image 2.7 inches wide by 3.61 inches tall, the distant shot 2.7 inches wide by 3.61 inches tall and the map is 4.6 inches wide by 3.61 inches tall. Overlaying the map image, I circled the approximate area where the leaf was found by clicking the 'shape' icon and adding a circle. I selected the border color icon and changed the color to red. I selected the arrow icon and added an arrow pointing towards the circle starting from the bottom right of the map. The figure looks as follows. Three images left to right including a close-up shot, distant shot, and map and a red circle identifying where the plant was found with an arrow pointing towards it. Export to a .png file by clicking ‘file’, then ‘download’, and select ‘PNG image (.png)’.

I arrive on campus every Wednesday at around 9:10 am for my 9:25am physics lecture. During this class period, my table group and I work on word problems similar to the ones that will be on exams for practice. When this class ends at 10:40, my next class isn't until 12:20, so I have time in between to work om some homework. I usually stop working at around 11:30 to go to Blue Wall to grab lunch with a friend. After eating my rice bowl with chicken, I head over to the Morrill Science I where I have a genetics class. This lecture requires more note taking than the physics lecture. Class ends at 1:10 and I immediately walk to the ISB for my biology lab class that begins at 1:25. The work done in this lab varies on what the protocol calls for. For example, last week during lab, I dissected zebrafish brain and treated zebrafish with different drugs to continue the overall experiement for the semester. At 5:25, when lab is over, I walk to Blue Wall to eat dinner before heading back to my apartment to finally get a chance to relax. 

The Monito Del Monte ( Dromiciops gliroides), is an endangered is a marsupial native only to southwestern South America. The geographic range of this species is what can help them obtain their optimal ecological success. This means, which range can maximize their reproduction, survival (food, resources) and habitat (prey, niche, etc). In 2001, the marsupial had a population size of 4000. In the beginning of this research study, this species was at its lowest peak of population size. In 16 years, this number almost doubled. I would assume that the species may have been initially under stress when it had first occupied the southwestern part of Argentina/Chile, but with genetic variation and natural selection, this species properly adapted, and is successfully functioning in the new environment. 

For a broad comparison, the articles Monophagous leaf-mining larvae of Stigmella and Smart behavior of true slime mold in a labyrinth are similar in principle. They are both scientific articles designed to convey results and the hypothesis of research to the reader. Overall, Smart behavior of true slime mold in a labyrinth, was far less dense than the other article and used more colloquial speech which seems to make it easier to read and understand to someone not from a scientific background. Monophagous leaf-mining larvae of Stigmella on the other hand was a well fleshed out scientific article detailing the research and results. Both follow similar formats, where the beginnings of the paragraphs and subtitles act to both draw a reader in and provide a base amount of information on what the rest of the section will be detailing. Paragraphs were used to either begin a new idea on the topic or provide more detail for whatever was talked about in the previous paragraph. In this way, all information was thoroughly explained. The sections worked to create a smooth transition from idea to idea throughout the article. Both works had a level 1 header and used level 2 headers to again act as a guide for following the information given.  

Organized periods of my day:
Organization, maintenance and prep period
Active day period
Evening recreational and free time period

Active Day Period:
At 11:20 I left via bicycle to the IBS building to arrive for an 11:30 AM Organic Chemistry class. The class went until 12:45 PM, and was composed of in class questions and lecturing. From 12:45-1PM I rode my bike to get a cup of tea and then travel to a 1 PM JPN preforming arts class. The class lasted until 2:15 PM, and afterwards I took a short walk with a classmate to listen to his plan proposals for starting a new club that helps pre-med students find work abroad. This meeting took about 30 minutes, until aproximately 2:45 where I began traveling via bike to downtown Amherst to meet up with my MCAT prep study group. The group dissolved around 4 PM and I traveled back onto campus for dinner and socialization.

One longstanding debate in the field of biology is whether or not viruses should be considered living organisms.  Viruses are composed of a protien coat with genetic material contained on the inside.  The genetic material can vary from segments of RNA to DNA depending on the type of virus. Unlike all other species not debated as "living," viruses lack the ability to reproduce on their own because of their design.  Instead, viruses are only able to reproduce or replicate within a host.  By using the machinery present in their host cells, they are able replicate and spread the virus.  For those who believe viruses are not alive, this is one of the main points they cite: without a host cell, virsuses would not be able to survive therefore should not be considered alive.  The opposition believes viruses should be considered alive because of the success they have at infultrating their hosts and reproducing.  Like all other species considered to be living, success by a virus should be determined by their reproductive fitness.  Those who are not fit are removed from the population while those fit to survive pass on their ability to the next generation.  The niche that viruses find themselves in the ecosystem is one that they have remained in since long before their discovery.  Yes, viruses need a host but a host is their niche.  If they were not fit for this niche, they would not survive or exist in the living world but they do.

The pharmaceutical industry is often vilified in today's society as greedy, cold, and evil. Of course, simply looking at prices of drugs can reinforce this thought. These are life-saving medications, after all, and clearly people aren't able to afford these outrageous costs. To properly understand this pricing absurdity, it is crucial to also understand the process of drug approval by the FDA. The FDA rightfully mandates that drugs go through stages of development-referred as the pipeline in the industry-to ensure efficacy, safety, and reproducibility. Throughout the journey of identification, R&D, and clinical trials, the cost to bring a drug successfully to market is around $2.6 billion. In addition to this, only ~12% of drugs that are presented to the FDA for clinical development are approved. Just this year, only 26 drugs have been approved. Considering the number of drug companies throughout the United States, this number is extremely low. It is only logical that with such a market that these drug companies are forced into, prices of drugs that are actually approved need to be as high as possible to ensure profitability. Instead of the rhetoric heard around the country today that vilifies big pharma, maybe the conversation should be shifted to the broken healthcare system that encourages this kind of behavior in the first place.