Blogs

Nutrients are constantly moved between these patches, with aquatic animals being eaten by terrestrial, and terrestrial animals dying and having their nutrients being washed back into the pond. The local roads and houses affect all of these patches, with chemical runoff coming from numerous sources such as road salts and lawn fertilizers. These chemicals affect the wildlife, but the chemicals found in the fertilizers heavily affect the plants. This can mean plants that grow better, but can also lead to an overabundance of algae in the pond.

            The Zika virus has had its uprising the past year. This virus spreading through mosquito bites, sexual intercourse, blood transfusion, and most importantly from a pregnant woman to her fetus. Last year, the Zika virus was struck fear into soon-to-be parents. This virus affected those who were pregnant, however the main problems arose with the babies that the mothers gave birth to. The newborns would have major birth defects including partially collapsed skull, damage to eye, limited joint movement, brain damage and most importantly, decrease in brain size. However, researches have further developed a study in which this virus can actually be used to suppress or even treat deadly brain cancers.

            In a study, scientists infected human and mice cells with the Zika virus. In both cells, the virus killed stem cells as thought, however the ones that were killed were ones that would go on to become an aggressive type of brain tumor, the highlight was that it left the healthy cells unharmed. The virus did not infect normal brain tissue, with this, they conducted more research, infecting mice with cancer and observing. Half of the mice infected with cancer were treated with the virus and the other left untreated. The mice who were treated with the virus had tumors that either shrank or grew at a slower rate, therefore living longer, half of them living over six weeks, compared to those untreated who died within two weeks. Further development of this research could bring viable and effective treatment plans to those who are infected with certain brain cancers, however more research is needed to find the effects of this potential treatment option to confirm if it is a reliable treatment option.

Last spring semester I took ResEcon 212, which was a statistics class based on social sciences. The class was a team-based learning format and involved a huge project that would analyze the statistical data of a real-life problem, my group chose to measure the food wages within fast food employers and the amount of money spent. Throughout the course I learned about z-tables, mean, median, mode, correlational graphs, and how to use Microsoft excel to input statistical data.

The human body has two lungs located in their chest. The right lung is bigger than the left lung. The right lung has three lobes while the left lung has two lobes. The lobes of the right lung are the upper, middle, and lower. The lobes of the left lung are upper and lower. Each lobe of the lung has segments. The upper lobe of the right lung has segments called the apical, anterior, and posterior. The middle lobe of the right lung has segments called medial and lateral. The lower lobe of the right lung has segments called superior, anterior, posterior, medial, and lateral. The upper lobe of the left lung has segments called anterior and apicoposterior. The lower lobe of the left lung has segments called superior, anterior, posterior, medial, and lateral. 

Throughout the course of the United State’s history the foundation of human rights has continually shifted and expanded. At first, the focus was on human rights for those of certain races or gender and over time the focus of these progressive movements has shifted to more specific issues, such as health care. The concepts of affordable universal health care as a human right as well as a single-payer healthcare system have risen in popularity amidst the rises expenses and conversely deteriorating levels of care. Currently 55% of the american public support a single payer system. (Norman). In its present state, health care in the United States is covered by both public insurance programs, such as Medicare or Medicaid, as well as private insurance companies that are typically granted through one’s employer or directly purchased. (Rice). Following the mounting pressure from the american public as well as several democratic government employees, the affordable care act (ACA) was passed in 2014 which attempted to decrease the amount of uninsured or underinsured citizens. This was the United State’s first step towards a system that began to resemble a single-payer system or national health insurance system where a centralized government system provides universal healthcare that is then performed by private practices. (Dorning). Galae’s article describes the current socio-economic implications of this change, particularly in regards to a single-payer system. Galea provides an assessment of the political landscape by identifying the opposing parties and their concerns before countering these claims using the concept of a single-payer system and the nations that have already implemented this system.

The first legal acceptance of a D.N.R. request was in 1975 after the court case In re Quinlan. Karen Quinlan, a 21-year-old girl from New Jersey had been placed into a vegetative state after a night of heavy drinking and taking tranquilizers. The parents of Karen Quinlan won the case and were allowed the ordered removal of the ventilator that was keeping her alive. Years after this case, in 1991, Congress passed the Patient Self-Determination Act which mandated that hospitals honor a patient’s wishes about their healthcare.

When testing the correlation between two different variables, one could perform a z-test. When calculating the result, a z value will be calculated. From there based on the z value, you will find the significance and relevance of the correlation. If the z value if greater than a certain value than the null hypothesis set before the test is rejected and the results are non significant. I also remember a lot about probability and how to calculate certain situations. Another set of key terms I remember is the difference between a sample and a population. A population for example is all the students at Umass Amherst. While a sample is 100 of the students attending Umass Amherst. Lastly, I remember how to read a graph, differentiate between multiple graphs, and decipher them. A graph that’s mean and tail is skewed to the left means that the graph is negatively skewed. While a graph that’s mean and tail is skewed to the right means that the graph is positively skewed.

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is teeming with great faculty, which is what makes it such a great university. All of the great faculty made it difficult to choose one person to write about. However, after searching through the MCB faculty list, I found Dr. Sandra L Peterson. Sandra Peterson is a Professor of Molecular Neuroendocrinology of reproduction at UMass. I would describe Dr. Peterson as a developmental biologist, because of her background. Sandra Peterson got her BS in Biology at Rutgers University in 1977. She then went on to get her MS in Neuroendocrinology at Oregon State University in 1980. Finally, she followed that up with her PhD in Neuroendocrinology at Oregon State University in 1984. In 2015 she was given the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Mentoring. She was also given the 2015-2016 Distinguished Graduate Mentor Award.

Research and drug development regarding CAR T-cell therapies has been rapidly progressing and expanding over the past few years. In order to attack the ‘antigen loss’ problem, researchers are looking into potential other antigen targets that can be used in combination with CD19 CAR T-cells as a form of treatment ‘cocktail’. Researchers have also been looking into application of CAR T-cell therapy  for patients with blood cancers and solid tumors.  Therapies regarding solid tumors have proven difficult due to the microenvironment of the tumor that makes immune response extremely difficult.