Writing in Biology

The Writing in Biology class at University of Massachusetts assigned a methods project to help demonstrate what is needed to make this section of a paper clear enough to replicate. In this, I photographed the Cattleya ‘War Paint’ Orchid and created a map showing the plants origin and made a figure depicting these. I wrote a methods section for this process in which another student followed so they could duplicate the figure as accurately as possible. The differences in the figures involved different items shown in the background such as other plants and the floor and different coloring of the figures and the flower. The format of the map, the letters for the panels and the panels in the figures are also different. These inconsistencies could be accounted by certain factors such as different day, time of day, equipment used and the specific details not being included in the methods.

Today I took my first lecture exam for Mammalogy. I learned all of the dietry, locomotive, physiological, and anatomical characteristics for Order Monotremta, Order Metatheria, and a portion of Order Eutheria. I learned that marsupials and eutherians differ in that eutherians have more specialized and diverse front limbs in comparisons to marsupials. Marsupials also have angular processes on their skulls that eutherians do not have. Many marsupails (Order Metatheria) are diprotodont, meaning they have two large, procumbent incisors on their lower jaw. These species are in Family Diprotodontia. Family Macropodidae and Vombatidae (kangaroos/wallabees and wombats, respectively) have diastema, a long distance between incisors and cheek teeth. Tasmanian devils, members of the Family Dasyuridae, are endangered due to a mouth cancer they can spread to one another due to the fact that most populations are very geneticallly similar. 

 I took Statistics 240 course with Joanna Jeneralczuk during the fall 2017 semester. Throughout this course I learned about the basics of probability, binomial and normal distributions, Central Limit Theorem, simple linear regression, sampling distribution of the population mean and proportion, how to use the Z and T table, and etc. At the end of this course the core objective was to learn how to analyze data and draw inferences. In addition, to know how to present data graphically and interpret them. As well as recognize whether reported results correlate with the study and analysis conducted. From this course, a key component that was helpful in my other courses was probability since it also became useful in my genetics course. It is a key idea because probability is a component that comes up a lot throughout the biology courses I have taken. It is a topic that is also relevant in our lives. For genetics we had to determine the probability that out of three children one will come out with blue eyes given the parents genotype. 

During the fall 2017 semester I took Statistics 240 course with Joanna Jeneralczuk. Throughout this course I learned about the basics of probability, binomial and normal distributions, Central Limit Theorem, simple linear regression, sampling distribution of the population mean and proportion, how to use the Z and T table, and etc. At the end of this course the core objective was to learn how to analyze data and draw inferences. In addition, to know how to present data graphically and interpret as well as recognize whether reported results correlate with the study and analysis conducted. From this course, a key component that was helpful in my other courses was probability since it also became useful in my genetics course. At the end of the course we had to form groups and perform studies and use our statistical analysis skills to carry out correlations between variables. 

Our primary focus was to study and survey students attending a four-year college or university. Our sample was random, and we compared majors as well. We asked what kind of major they take, how many credits are required to graduate, and a minimum cost of money that goes into one semester only. The date we collected was illustrated in a histogram give a visual representation of our results and what they mean. A scatterplot was also created to demonstrate whether there is a relationship between the two variables and how they affect one another. It helped us interpret and visually see if college expenses increase as an individual enrolls in more credits in one semester. 

In class we have learned about four different types of operant conditioning.  Operant conditioning works to modify voluntary behavior as a result of consequences and two types were used to train the bees in this experiment.  The first is positive reinforcement, which was used to train the bees to associate extending their proboscis in expectation of a reward.  The researchers conditioned the bees to extend their proboscis only when they smelled sugar water or sugar water mixed with a scent to train them in recognizing the correct scent.  The other type of operant conditioning used in this experiment was punishment, which was used to train bees to associate extending their proboscis to salt water or salt water mixed with a scent with a negative experience.  The bees that extended their proboscis towards salt water would receive a drop of saltwater in the mouth, which was a negative experience.  These two types of conditioning allowed the scientists to train bees to extend their proboscis to sugar water and not to salt water.

Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) is an extracellular signalling protein which modulates expression of a number of genes. The hedgehog protein binds to a transmembrane protein called Patched (Ptch). The binding of Shh stops Ptch from inhibiting another transmembrane protein called Smoothen (Smo). When Smo is active, it is able to induce the Gli transcription factors to being transcribing genes. While many of the genes regulated by Hh/Gli are known, further experiments with the Hh pathway continue to identify new genes.

            I took introduction to statistics my freshman year here, in this class we learned about probability, random variables, binomials/normal distributions, central limit theorem, hypothesis testing and linear regression. I don’t remember a whole lot since it has been a couple years since I touched this material, however I do remember probability and binomial/normal distribution. Probability comes into play in our everyday lives and has crawled into some of the classes I have taken recently. One being physics, I remember learning about probability in physics in the end of 131 with the probability a certain energy will be located within certain pods in a device or container. We used the same equations as in statistics to figure out the probability of the locations of these energy pockets. Binomial/normal distribution I remember the bell curve which was symmetrical and would give distribution that naturally occurs in situations. With the symmetrical bell shape, this would say the majority of the situations would gather near the middle and fewer of the situation would land in both extremes of the curve. Portions of this curve were divided into standard deviations, and would travel left or right from the center by one standard deviation at a time from the mean.

Depression is becoming more and more common throughout society. This increase in presence has lead to a influx of studies that have lead to many advancements in the treatments of the disease. One specific study has found the beneficial side effects acupuncture has on depression. The study used multiple trials of low and high risk patients in order to test the effects. The study that when paired with medication overall acupuncture ahd a positive effect on relieving stress in the individual. This lowered stress level in turn lead to a decerease in the severity of the depression. 

The circulatory system consists of the heart pumping blood to the rest of the body. This is to provide oxygen to the tissues in order for them to function. One of the circulation theories of the body is that blood flow to the tissue is almost always controlled in realation to tissue needs. This is because the heart cannot send blood everywhere at the same time at the same rate. There are times when there's low oxygen or increasing dilating metabolic products in certain tissues compared to the rest of the body. The blood would therefore flow at an increased rate to that affected area.