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During lab today, I looked at several different bones of varying species all of which were mammals. The main focus of the lab was to be able to identify the bones as well as trying to understand the skull morphology. Being able to identify between an anapsid, diapsid, and synapsid was one of the goals of the activity. There were three skulls laid out in front of me which consisted of a goat skull, turtle skull, and crocodile skull. An anapsid skull would be lacking an opening in its skull called temporal fenestrae. The turtle skull is an example of an anapsid, the turtle when consuming food is not able to chew it. This is because it lacks the opening which is where jaw muscles are able to attach. An example of a diapsid would be the crocodile.  A diapsid skull contains two openings on both sides of the skull, these openings are where muscles are able to attach allowing crocodiles to move their mouths up and down when chewing. The third example is of a synapsid is a goat skull. The goat skull contains a large opening where multiple muscles are allowed to attach. Mammals are synapsid and therefore able to move their mouth up and down as well as side to side when chewing. The opening called the temporal fenestrae is the key factor in determining what type of skull it is. 

The larva is still confined inside the plastic container and is the same length as a grain of rice. The larva is also no longer a larva but a pupa, something that I had mentioned in the previous entry. The pupa has a hard exterior when moved around the container it sounds as if I was moving around a grain of rice. The exterior of the pupa is still a dark brown color but upon closer inspection I have noticed a white ring forming on one end of it. The pupa has small little indentations that circle around it, some of which have a white powdery substance on them. The one end that appears white is also very powdery, but the middle of it is not. This middle contains a bunch of little black dots and also is cut off very bluntly opposed to the other end that tapers off. A part of me started wondering if this was actually a pupa and not a dead wax worm.

With the plethora of vegetables that are available to us in the produce department, I've done lots of research when it comes to picking out the right types of  vegetables based on their nutrient values. Both broccoli and cauliflower are two similar vegetables that come from the variations of a wild mustard plant. Through selective breeding the wild mustard plant was domesticated to create these variations of the plant. As they are both cultivated from the same plant, both these vegetables are low in carbohydrates and calories and high in fiber. Both contain many minerals, amino acids, folate and seem to be optimal for those aiming for weight loss. Although all vegetables are good for you, broccoli contains more vitamins than the cauliflower. When looking at both vegetables the first thing you can notice is the difference in color between the two, and although both of them have similar shapes and florets, the broccoli florets are more wide spread throughout the stem. 

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison for his work in tumor immunology.  In 1977, Allison found evidence that leukocytes, also known as white blood cells, the key player of the innate immune response, were prevented from interacting with cancer cells due to the cancer cells having additional proteins.  His work in later years investigated the factors that prevented the immune system from working against cancer cells. He was one of the first to isolate the T cell antigen receptor complex protein. He showed that cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) is a protein receptor in T cells that downregulates the immune response.  Cancer has the ability to induce upregulation of this protein, giving the tumor the ability to avoid inducing immune responses. Allison showed that antibody blockade of CTLA-4 can lead to enhanced tumor immune response. This concept lead to the creation of Ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that interacts with CTLA-4.

In Physics 132 Laboratories this week, students were challenged to calculate the volume of the W.E.B. Du Bois library on the UMass Amherst campus. The only tools given were a yardstick and a 12 inch ruler and students were not allowed to enter the library or hop the black fence surrounding the library. My group approached the assignment by first taking the height measurement of one brick that we were able to measure by the entrance. We then used the nine sections of the library’s height structure to estimate the number of bricks. Next, the number of bricks was counted by the naked eye for one section and multiplied by a factor of nine to obtain the total number of bricks that make up the height. In order to measure the width and length of the library, we looked at the equal square pattern of the cement on the ground around the library. We counted nine square patterns to line up with the front of the library and to its depth. The measurement of one square pattern was then taken and multiplied by a factor of nine. After having collected the data, students then returned to the labs and calculated the volume. Shortly after, results were discussed within the groups and the average volume was calculated.

The main focus of this article is to show an improvement in preventing the risk factors of diabetic foot after weeks of exercise therapy. The article focuses on multiple diabetic complications and the role of exercise therapy in terms of improving conditions.  Exercise therapy is known to improve blood glucose and insulin sensitivity as well as weight loss. These are theorized to be factors in reducing the chances of developing neuropathy. The subclinical onset of neuropathy is usually more peripheral rather than central. Sensory nerves are detected before motor and autonomic nerves. Detecting minor nerve damage before full onset neuropathy can be difficult due to the fact that nerve conduction velocities do not significantly change early on all the time.

Tetrahymena is a genus of free-living ciliates, a freshwater organism that can inhabit lakes, streams, and ponds and can be found almost everywhere and in a variety of climates. Their main food source is bacteria. Tetrahymena feed by the process of phagocytosis, where is the engulfing of other cells or particles. The membrane of a phagocyte surrounds a cell to be engulfed and then pinches off to create a phagosome inside of itself that contains the engulfed material. The resulting phagosome may be merged with lysosomes to form a phagolysosome for the digestion and release of nutrients for use in other metabolic processes (Phagocytosis Process). Phagocytosis can be quantitated by counting the number of vacuoles that form in a defined time period. Tetrahymena were selected in this experiment to study food vacuole appearance. This was done by taking five samples of cells as follows: one immediately when the India ink was added, one at ten minutes, one at twenty minutes, one at thirty minutes, and one at forty minutes. Samples were taken in small test tubes, and inside a mixture of 100 µL sample of the Tetrahymena and India Ink (which was used to be able to visually observe number of vacuoles formed) and 20 µL of dilute glutaraldehyde to fix the cells was added at each interval of time. After all of the samples were taken, they were studied under a microscope at the 10X objective. The number of marked vacuoles formed for ten different Tetrahymena cells were recorded for each of the time intervals, then graphed using a line graph.

Tetrahymena is a genus of free-living ciliates, a freshwater organism that can inhabit lakes, streams, and ponds and can be found almost everywhere and in a variety of climates and their main food source is bacteria. Tetrahymena were selected in this experiment to study food vacuole appearance. This was done by taking 5 samples of cells: one immediately when the India ink was added, 10, 20, 30, and one at 40 minutes. Samples were taken in small test tubes, and inside a mixture of 100 µL sample of the Tetrahymena and India Ink and 20 µL of dilute glutaraldehyde to fix the cells was added at each interval of time. After all of the samples were taken, they were studied under a microscope at the 10X objective, then the number of marked vacuoles formed for ten different cells were recorded for each of the time intervals, then graphed. Tetrahymena feed by the process of phagocytosis, where is the engulfing of other cells or particles. Phagocytosis can be quantitated by counting the number of vacuoles that form in a defined time period.

Today we quantified DNA that was extracted in an earlier lab session. A single sample of DNA was split into two, one being treated with RNase while the other was not. Each was measured using a spetrophotometer, which tests the absorbance of just one microliter of the sample, just enough to form a drop. The greater the absorbance, the more DNA in the sample. The sample treated with RNase is expected to have a lower absorbance because the RNA is degraded. It turns out that a lot of the "stuff" extracted was also RNA along with the DNA. Our absorbance for the RNase-treated sample was a bit lower than expected, meaning our DNA sample was not very pure. We then did gel electrophoresis with our samples. With each sample, both the RNase-treated and non-RNase-treated samples, we diluted some to 50%, which resulted in a total of four samples. Each of these four samples were treated with loading dye to allow it to sink when loaded into the gel and indicate the migration of the samples across the gel. We poured the gel with a dye added to it that will allow the samples to be visible under blue light. After the gel had solidified, we loaded a standardized DNA ladder into the first two wells. We then loaded five microliters of each sample into the next four wells. We ran the gel at 100 volts for 30 minutes, and we viewed the gel under blue light to illuminate the migrated samples. As expected, the samples treated with RNase only had one stripe, which the samples that weren't treated with RNase had two, one that represented the DNA and one that represented the RNA. The DNA was longer in length, so it did not migrate as far as the RNA, which formed a stripe much farther down the gel. Also as expected, the diluted samples had fainter stripes, showing that there was less DNA and RNA contained. 

Types of Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetes can lead to many complications over time. One of the most common and relevant complications is neuropathy. Diabetic neuropathy, or nerve damage, is most commonly caused by elevated blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) over long periods of time. There are four major types of diabetic neuropathy: peripheral, proximal, autonomic, and focal neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy is the most common type of neuropathy in people with diabetes and can be either acute or chronic. Peripheral neuropathy affects the nerves that lead to the body’s extremities such as the feet, hands, arms, and legs. Proximal neuropathy, also known as amyotrophy, is a neuropathy found more often in type 2 diabetics. It can be caused by endoneural micro vessel disease and causes muscle weakness in the upper legs, buttocks, and hips. Autonomic neuropathy often co-exists with other complications such as peripheral neuropathy, but it can be isolated as well. Autonomic neuropathy is nerve damage to the central nervous system which can lead to complications such as: tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), orthostatic hypotension (low blood pressure), erectile dysfunction, sudomotor dysfunction, and impaired muscle control. Autonomic neuropathy can also affect many organ systems and lead to a serious complication known as cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy (CAN). CAN results from damage to nerves that innervate the heart and blood vessels. Lastly, focal neuropathy is specific to one single nerve and causes pain in that lone location. It is found commonly in older individuals and is also known to improve itself over time.