Writing in Biology

The gas chromatography (GC), which measures purity, confirmed that the sample was not 100% pure because there were two peaks, of 0.663 (36.74%) and 1.084 (63.25%). Had it been pure cyclohexene there would have only been one peak. The bromine and potassium permanganate chemical tests were performed to distinguish the alkenes from alkanes. When bromine in dichloromethane was added to the cyclohexene product the solution did not change color. There was, however, a color change with cyclohexane. With each drop the solution went from light orange to brown. When potassium permanganate was added to cyclohexene the solution turned dark purple and became increasingly darker with each drop. The potassium permanganate formed two layers when added to the cyclohexane with the purple layer on top and clear layer on the bottom. Once again, the percent yield recovered through this experiment was 49.9%. This value could be due to not collecting all of the drops when transferring test tubes or not leaving enough time for the solution to dry after adding the CaCl2 pellets.

An organism that inhabits the deep ocean that has many adaptations for its extreme environment is the deep-sea angler, Melanocoetus johnson.  Females are much larger than males and have a bioluminescent stalk between their eyes.  They use this stalk to attract baitfish to a sharp set protruding teeth.  The male deep-sea anglers are much smaller than the females and his main purpose is to locate a female.  The males have highly sensitive nostrils they use to sniff out their mate in the complete darkness at 2.3km beneath the surface.  One a female is located, the male angler attaches himself to the underside of the female with his teeth and remains there as a parasite.  He feeds from the female until he is needed to fertilize eggs.  These fish only have to mate once in their lives because the male becomes physically part of the female and will fertilize all of her future eggs.

The results of the experiment included high glutamate release in synapses between

medium spiny neurons within the nucleus accumbens of the mice brains. It was the opposite in the synapses between medium spiny neurons within the dorsal striatum of the mice brains. It is shown that the mouse lacking VGLUT2 ended up without glutamate release even with dopamine stimulation in the dorsal striatum.

The next step towards alleviating, or attempting to alleviate the controversy of embryonic stem cell research is to communicate much more strongly the steps toward developing the research; from obtaining the embryos, how the testing is implemented, and what occurs after. Evidently the opinions of morality and ethics towards embryonic stem cell research will not change rapidly or even at all, but if there is a better understanding of what is being down then there will be less opposition towards furthering research and study. This new form of communication could occur more through public talks, books, web blogs, journals, brochures, and through social media. Progress can be made in medical world with embryonic stem cell research, while still respecting various opinions and ideals. Communication is key.

Michelle Facette received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University in 2008 and now works in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico. I attended her  guest lecture on the fifteenth of February and she summarized some of her work with stomata, cell differentiation, and other developmental aspects of Maize in a concise and understandable way. While she has helped author many papers I believe the majority of the concepts discussed at this job talk came from a few papers that cite her as an author published in 2012, 2013, and 2015. These papers titled: Division Polarity in Developing Stomata, Parallel Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Analyses of successive Stages of Maize Leaf Development, and The SCAR/WAVE complex polarizes PAN receptors and promotes division asymmetry in maize, all use maize as a model organism to look at intracellular and intercellular chemical cues,  as well as other aspects of leaf development.

Michelle Facette received her Ph.D. in biological sciences from Stanford University in 2008 and now works in the Department of Biology at the University of New Mexico. I attended her  guest lecture on the fifteenth of February and she summarized some of her work with stomata, cell differentiation, and other developmental aspects of Maize in a concise and understandable way. While she has helped author many papers I believe the majority of the concepts discussed at this job talk came from a few papers that cite her as an author published in 2012, 2013, and 2015. These papers titled: Division Polarity in Developing Stomata, Parallel Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Analyses of successive Stages of Maize Leaf Development, and The SCAR/WAVE complex polarizes PAN receptors and promotes division asymmetry in maize, all use maize as a model organism to look at intracellular and intercellular chemical cues,  as well as other aspects of leaf development.

S.A node firing of the heart results from a spontaneous depolarization. Acetycholine is released by parasympathetic nervous system and binds to muscarinic receptor which activates G protein coupled receptors and blocks the CAMP pathway normally activated by noradrenaline in the sympathetic system. The release of noradrenaline in the sympathetic system allows an influx of cations in order to reach the threshold and cause action potential firing of the S.A node. Together, these two mechanisms account for heart rate at rest. Electrical activity is then propagated through cardiac tissue to produce timed contractions of various chambers by slowing down at the S.A and A.V nodes to allow for right atrium contraction and repolarization prior to ventricular contraction. 

Carbon monoxide is so deadly because hemoglobin has a higer binding affinity for it than it does for oxygen. In the presence of both, hemoglobin binds to the carbon monoxide. This affects rates of alveolar ventilation and perfusion. Thr higher the concentration of carbon in the body, the lower the PH, the less O2 taken up by hemoglobin. As a result, oxygen cannot be transported to body tissues efficiently. 

The three basic principles of circulatory function are the following: blood flow to each tissue is controlled in relation to tissue need, cardiac output is controlled by the sum of all tissue flows, and arterial pressure regulation is independent of local blood flow control or cardiac output. In aortic valve stenosis, the diameter of the aortic valve opening is reduced significantly, and the aortic pressure pulse is decreased because of diminished blood flow outward through the stenoic valve. This is directly related to a problem with delayed compliance. In normal vessels an increase in volume first shows an increase in pressure, then delayed stretching due to the vessel's distensibility causes the pressure to return back to normal pressures. If this delayed stretching is disturbed, pressure control will diminish and blood flow will be greatly affected. 

The conclusions of this study include the nucleus accumbens’ ability to have its dopamine-producing neurons release dopamine and glutamate at the same time into synapses. This can mean that the nucleus accumbens has an increased ability when responding to stimuli that are significantly driven and motivated. Dopamine neurons being able to release glutamate along with dopamine can mean that they express something similar to a VGLUT2 that allows glutamate to be packaged into synaptic and secretory vesicles. This shows that glutamate does not need the light-stimulation release of dopamine. Glutamate just gets released by dopamine neurons themselves. Despite this happening in the nucleus accumbens, it is not the same for the dorsal striatum. This shows that VGLUT2 is still needed for glutamate to be gathered into synaptic vesicles in order to be released into synaptic terminals containing dopamine. As of now, the nucleus accumbens is the only exception because it does not need VGLUT2 to release glutamate. The conclusions for the most part follow logically from the design and results. Just because VGLUT2 is not needed in the nucleus accumbens does not mean dopamine itself can release glutamate with it. There could be a different factor besides the VGLUT2 and the dopamine that could be causing the glutamate release.