Writing in Biology

            Due to the need to categorize and label everything that exists around us, small variations to something causes it to become something new and to be relabeled. For example, cacio e pepe is a pasta dish that is made up of only three key ingredients; black pepper, cheese (typically pecorino), and pasta. The sauce itself is simply an emulsification of the cheese with water, with the starch from the cooked pasta acting as an emulsifier. Yet if the dish were to be slightly altered and egg is to be added at the end, now you have a carbonara dish. By adding slight variations new dishes are formed and labeled. This applies to various situations, but there comes a point where we ask ourselves “why are we still labeling things?”. When does it get to a point where we say “this is cacio e pepe with egg”, versus “this is carbonera”. What lies the reason as to why we have to shorten and categorize things and when is that line drawn? This leads to the reason why majors like Biology or Chemistry, require so much time to understand and become qualified to lead in these kinds of fields, because it becomes a point where everything is labeled and categorized, and these take time to learn and memorize. I think it’s interesting that as time goes on, we will continue to categorize and relabel certain things, to a point where colleges may need an extra year or two in the future to finish a degree, because we’ve come a long way with our labels.

Diabetic neuropathy is one of the major health complications found in people with diabetes across the globe. The many causes and symptoms of neuropathy have been widely studied, but the best way to improve preexisting neuropathy or prevent neuropathy from happening has yet to be found. One method of both preventing and improving diabetic neuropathy that has been studied is exercise. Studies have found positive effects of various forms of exercise on different types of patients with diabetes. Studies have attempted to identify the role and potential benefit of exercise in diabetic neuropathy. A study done by Balducci et al examined both type 1 and type 2 patients with no signs or symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. The study found significant improvements in nerve conduction velocity along with a drop in A1C in the exercise group. They also found that in the exercise group 0% developed motor neuropathy and 6.45% developed sensory neuropathy compared to 17% and 29.8% in the control group respectively. However, a proposed study with subjects experiencing some degree of neuropathy may require a smaller sample size. This study did not have a supervised control group meaning that the exercise group received more face to face time with the investigators and they received information from a qualified physical education instructor. The study also did not include any resistance exercise and the subjects that were tested showed no signs or symptoms of DPN.   To better delineate the benefit of exercise in type 1 diabetes we propose to conduct a 3-month study comparing the effects of aerobic vs. resistance exercise on neuropathy.

Factors that may have impacted the results of the different layouts were the size of the screenshots taken and a different pixel count. The original figure, Figure 1, was screenshotted with no space left around the image. The replicate figure, Figure 2, could have been screenshotted leaving just a small amount of white space around the figure, which resulted in a white border. Having this white caused the textboxes to have a slight space above them in the replicate. The larger size of the replicate photo could have been due to a different pixel count. The replicate figure had about 1200 pixels, while the original figure had 600 pixels. 

Factors that may have impacted the results of the differences between the colors in the original and replicate figure was the weather. The original photographs were taken on a muggy day with no snow on the ground, while the replicate photographs were taken on a day with snow on the ground. The tree appeared lighter in the replicate due to the brightness from the snow. The tree in the original figure was also damp, making it darker. The darker tree bark created greater contrast between the tree color and the moss, which made the moss more visable in the original. 

Factors that may have impacted the results of different tree size and backgrounds in the photographs of the two figures were the distance from the tree and the camera angle. The snow also was a reason for the difference in backgrounds. The photographs taken in the original were taken at a closer distance than the photographs in the replicate. The tree takes up more of the photograph and there is less background in the original photographs than the replicate. The angle of the camera also captures more background in the right side of the replicate, including the library which is not visibile in the original photograph.  The snow in the replicate is also a difference in the background. 

The greater number and smaller size of the moss in the replicate is also due to the distance from the tree. The greater distance allowed more moss to be present in the replicate photographs, but they appeared to be smaller. 

Once identified as polyprotodont there are several ways determine what order and, subsequently, what family a skull belongs to. One way is to look at dental formula: of the polyprotodont orders we are looking at in lab, two have 4 upper incisors and 3 lower incisors on each side of their skulls(4/3), and one has 5 upper incisors and 4 lower incisors on each side of its skull (5/4) . The order that has 5/4 incisors is O. Didelphimorphia, which includes only one family, F. Didelphidae. Distinguishing between the remaining two orders can be done by looking at the canines: O. Dasyuromorphia has large canines, whereas O. Peramelemorphia has very small canines. They can also be differentiated by their sizes, as O. Dasyuromorphia is much larger than O. Peramelemorphia. Based on the families we studied in lab, if the skull belongs to O. Dasyuromorphia then it is in F. Dasyuridae, and if the skull belongs in O. Peramelemorphia then it is in F. Peramelidae.

The original, Figure 1., and the replicate, Figure 2., had differences in layout and between each individual photo. The layout differences were in size, boarder, and space above textboxes. The differences observedin photo "a" of each figure were the size of tree, the amount of background, the color, and the snow. The differences observed in photo "b" were the size of the tree, the background, the snow, the size of the sign, and the colors of the tree and the sign. The differences observed in photo "c" were the colors, the size and amount of moss, and the grooves on the tree. 

The layout differences were in size, border, and space above textboxes. The replicate, Figure 2, was much larger than the original, Figure 1. There was a white border around the replicate; there was no border around the original. There was also a space above the textboxes of the replicate, while there was no space above the textboxes in the original. 

The number of genes in organisms do not reveal complexity. Rice as it turns out, has more genes than humans do. Genome is a collection of genes. Humans have roughly 20,000 genes in the genome, half of which is shared with zebra fish. The similarity is even greater between chimpanzees and humans. Approximately 95% of our genes are identical with the primate, this includes insertions and deletions. The difference comes from how much of the genes are turned on and when they are turned on. Segmentation is the process by which organisms express these genes in a particular order and forms the phenotypic expression of the body parts. The way the genes are activated will play a role in the outcome of development. The differences in humans and chimpanzees partly come from the different segmentation, expression of genes when they are turned on at different times.

Distillation is the process by which two liquids are separated and purified. The process requires a mechanism that will turn the liquid into the vapor phase and convert it back to the liquid phase. Since different liquids have different boiling points, the identities of the unknown liquids in a mixture may also be identified. Once the boiling point of a liquid is achieved, a plateau is reached in which the liquid phase becomes converted to the vapor phase. This property is used to distinguish the two liquids. In a distillation, the first lower-boiling point liquid is first collected when the mixture is heated because it will evaporate first. Once a plateau of the first liquid is reached, the temperature will rise sharply afterward. This is signaling that the next boiling point is about to be reached. To purify the liquids, a separate collection vial is used until the next plateau is reached. When the next plateau is reached, the vial is switched again, which will contain the second pure liquid.

A 23 year old patient with a history of left upper limb dystonic tremor was caused by a stroke in the right thalamus. The dystonic tremors are caused in conjunction with dystonia Dystonia is a neurological disorder where there are excessive muscles that are working all the time without control. Deep brain stimulation is used to deliver small stimulations of electricity to the thalamus. The electrical impulses are sent to the thalamus through a single electrode passing though the right ventralis oralis anterior and the ventralis oralis posterior. The electricity is being used to inhibit the neurons that are firing uncontrollably. The procedure was successful and the 23 year old patient had less tremors than before.  

The first step in identifying which order and family a skull in Subclass Theria belongs to is to identify its infraclass. There are two characteristics that almost all metatherians share that set them apart from eutherians: they have distinctive openings on the underside of the top part of their skulls called palatal vacuities, and the angular process (a projection at the back on the base of the mandible) is reflected, which means that it is angled inwards. In eutherians the angular process is in line with the other features of the back of the mandible (the coronoid process and the mandibular condolyte) and there are no palatal vacuities. If these features are present, the next step is to look at the teeth and identify what type of dentition is present. There are two possibilities: polyprotodont dentition and diprotodont dentition. In polyprotodont dentition, the mandible is not shortened and the lower incisors are small and unspecialized, whereas in diprotodont dentition the mandible is shortened and the first pair of lower incisors are enlarged and jut forward to meet the upper incisors. If the dentition if diprotodont the skull belongs to Order Diprotodontia, but if it is polyprotodont it could belong to Order Dasyuromorphia, Order Didelphimorphia, or Order Peramelidae.