Writing in Biology

Predators are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. By controlling the size of prey populations, predators help slow down the spread of disease. Predators catch healthy prey when they can, but catching sick or injured animals helps in natural selection and the establishment of healthier prey populations as the fittest animals are left to survive and reproduce. Predators such as the wolves from the Yellowstone were essential for all other life to function together and grow. The presence of the wolves decreased the deer population which in turn allowed more vegetation and forests to grow back and prosper, which ultimately lead to more diversity and stabilized the rivers. Maasailand Preservation Trust (MPT) is an example of one predator compensation programme working in response to the threat of local lion extinction in African plains. It not only aims to prevent lion extinction but also provides coverage for other persecuted species, such as hyena, cheetah, leopard, wild dog and jackal. In areas such as Maasailand these animals are under threat from livestock owners who see them as a danger to their livestock and kill them in trade for livestock losses. From this project, within a decade people who were once killing these predators by the hundreds are now working to protect them and reduce the killing of lions.

Scientists tackle the question whether probiotics are worth taking. The answer is that it depends on the situation of the person. If someone is healthy and are taking probiotics, there is actually no point in taking the probiotics. The probiotics ingested would not compared to the number of microbes in the gut. The ingested probiotic would just be kicked out of the system in general. As compared to a person that is taking an antibiotic that is going to wipe out the person’s microbes, the good and the bad. Consuming probiotics would allow good microbes to settle in the person’s body. Thus, allowing a defense mechanism against other microbes and bacteria. So it really depends on who is consuming the probiotics. When a healthy person consumes it the probiotics are just going to waste. While others who have a weakened immune system would find benefits of consuming probiotics.  Probiotics were marketed because of people trying to profit off others for staying “healthy”. 

Subjects will be broken up into three groups consisting of an aerobic exercise group, a resistance exercise group, and a control group. All subjects’ vitals will be taken at baseline and each week for the length of the study. If possible, A1C records will be taken at baseline and at the completion of the intervention. Both exercise groups will perform their respective similar caloric activities at 70% VO2 for 3 days a week for 30-minute sessions each for a total of 12-weeks. Blood glucose and nerve measurements (TBD) will also be taken at baseline and after each week. The aerobic group will participate in a 30-minute session of cycling/running on the treadmill (caloric expenditure of about 9.3k-cal/min). The resistance group meanwhile will perform a resistance band exercise for 30 mins involving the lower extremities. In order to ensure that all groups receive equal amount of face-to-face time the control group will also meet (or be sent via email) 3 times a week and be given an informational reading or videos related to exercise and diabetes for 30-minutes. 

Vaccines are very important to the general well being of the public. I have recently been doing a research project on the many outbreaks caused by pertussis, better known as whooping cough. It is a scary disease that can be easy transmitted. Everyone can contract pertussis, but primarily infants are the ones who are horribly affected by it or even killed. Vaccines against pertussis have recently been changed to a DTaP vaccine. This vaccine employs the use of acellular pertussis which means that only part of the bacteria is present within the vaccine. The vaccine used to be DTwP, which used the whole cell. This vaccine lead to many public scares in different nations with major epidemics following the decreased rates of vaccinations. Unfortunately we are still seeing cases of pertussis in many regions of the world. This may be due to the fact that the DTaP vaccine is slightly less effective than the DTwP vaccine, additionally we are seeing a new wave of anti-vaxxers. People have begun refusing vaccines unaware of the damage that they may cause to those around them. The way that most infants get sick from pertussis is by someone close to them that exposes them to the disease. The way to protect infants and people that can’t, for whatever reason, be vaccinated is to get vaccinated yourself and create a herd immunity. This has effectively eradicated diseases in certain regions of the world but many are still vulnerable.

Vaccines are very important to the general well being of the public. I have recently been doing a research project on the many outbreaks caused by pertussis, better known as whooping cough. It really is a scary disease that can be spread with ease. Everyone can contract pertussis, but primarily infants are the ones who are horribly affected by it or even killed. Vaccines against pertussis have recently (within the last 20 years) been changed to a DTaP vaccine. This vaccine employs the use of acellular pertussis which means that only part of the bacteria is present within the vaccine. The vaccine used to be DTwP which used the whole cell. This vaccine lead to many public scares in different nations with major epidemic following the decreased rates of vaccinations. Unfortunately we are still seeing cases of pertussis in many regions of the world. The DTaP vaccine is slightly less effective than the DTwP vaccine, additionally we are seeing a new wave of anti-vaxxers. People have begun refusing vaccines unaware of the damage that they may cause to those around them. The way that most infants get sick from pertussis is by someone close to them that exposes them to the disease. The way to protect infants and people that can’t, for whatever reason, be vaccinated is to get vaccinated yourself and create a herd immunity. This has effectively eradicated diseases in certain regions of the world but many are still vulnerable.

    There exists a multitude of times when complexity is included in modern concepts for the sake of “information shortening”. Information shortening is a term that describes the action of using a smaller number of words to express the same information. For example, calling a cylindrical tube of mouthwash “toothpaste” is a form of information shortening.
    This concept exists in a multitude of ways. In science, acronyms are constantly used to talk about specific concepts, like DNA, RNA, qPCR, CDK, etc. It is undeniably easier to say “CRISPR” instead of specifically saying “CRISPR-Cas9”. These acronyms and short-hand forms of specific concepts are not what I want to talk about.
    What I wish to discuss about is when it’s being used in bilingual communications. I personally speak 4 languages, English, Japanese, French, and Korean. When I speak with my friends who can speak two of these languages, something interesting happens. We begin to mix words from both languages in order to convey our thoughts better. For example, I was speaking with a friend of mine who can also speak Japanese, and instead of saying “he didn’t like that”, I said “あいついかれていた。けど、it’s whatever”. The reason why this conveyed the thought better, was because using “あいつ” (which means “him/they”)  has a negative connotation with it (I didn’t like the person who we were talking about). Then “いかれていた” means annoyed, but to a degree that’s a bit more than annoyed but isn’t infuriated. It defines this sense of feeling that does not have a similar term in English. Then ending with “it’s whatever”, conveys this feeling of “I don’t care”, which does not have an exact translation in Japanese.
    By utilizing the two languages, I was able to convey a thought that was much more complex than what I could’ve done with only one. I think it’s interesting because this fusion of languages helps us understand each other better in a way that is not doable with people from only our cultures alone.

This study focuses on the impact of exercise on nerve function in patients previously diagnosed with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Both aerobic and resistance exercise methods were performed in a 10 week program consisting of 17 subjects ages 40-70 with DPN. The subjects blood glucose, blood pressure, heart rate, and rate of perceived exertion were all measured during each session. The sessions ran either 3 or 4 days a week and the workload was gradually increased each week. A1C and BMI were recorded before and after the intervention. The study found a significant improvement in pain but found no change in BMI or waist circumference. Pain was assessed using the MNSI system and the symptom score of “worst pain” decreased from 5.2 to 4.0. Pain was measured using an unmarked 100-mm visual analog scale to indicate the level of “current pain”, “usual pain over the past month”, and “worst pain over the past month.” A1C levels dropped from 7.8% to 7.1% following the intervention. Also following the study, an increase in the number of branches per fiber was found. Neuropathy scoring was assessed using the Michigan neuropathy screening instrument.

The Socioecological Model is a method of categorizing female social relationships through agonism. This is further examined along three social dimensions. The first dimension seeks to establish whether or not a dominance hierarchy is present in the given group being analyzed. A group which lacks a strict hierarchy is defined as egalitarian, in which there are undetectable or poorly defined dominance relationships, or in which the dominance hierarchy is not clear or nonlinear. In these groups, food is often dispersed in a way such that patches cannot be defended, resulting in scramble competition in which the first female to arrive at a food resource may get a larger share of the food simply because she got there first. This means there is nothing to gain from contesting the resource, and thus typically produces weak social relationships in females, with no need for post conflict resolution like grooming. In contrast, a group which exhibits a strict hierarchy is known as despotic, in which there are clearly established, formalized dominance relationships that are usually linear. When there is competition over essential resources, aggressive interactions maintain dominance hierarchy and contest competition is high. High rank can provide priority of access to resources, and potentially higher reproductive success, and may may also result in alliances or affiliative behaviors like grooming. The second dimension aims, once a hierarchy has been observed, to further classify the type of hierarchy present. There may be a nepotistic hierarchy, in which female relatives rank close together due to coalitions and often don’t disperse, or individualistic hierarchies, in which the rank of female relatives are independent of each other, and females do disperse. The third and final dimension seeks to assign the degree of tolerance within the group structure, and generally assumes that as tolerance increases, the severity of aggression decreases while threats toward dominant individuals increases.

There is a right way and wrong way to go about research. Ethical practices are important for research to ensure the trust of a participant and for the accuracy of data. For example, when running a trial in a lab, it is important to always be professional. The idea of professional varies from person to person, but generally, this means proper attire, a level of knowledge and respect for the participant. This means leaving judgment outside of the lab and personal stories and conversation to a minimum. An example that was shared today in the ethical training I attended was about someone sharing a highly offensive joke with a fellow RA while a participant was performing a task. The participant overheard the laughter and assumed the RA’s were laughing at them and this compromised the data and made the participant rather uncomfortable. Avoiding this is vital in order to successfully respect the participant and the study as a whole.

It is the primary unit when discussion biological diversity. Every specie exists in their own form, shape, region, and behavior. To classify each individual organisms as the same specie, they must match the one criteria which is the ability to reproduce. When two individuals are capable of inbreeding, itis considered as the same specie. It is said that in birds when it comes to mating, each bird has a different behavior, songs, and patterns so other specie will not be confused with each other. Because their behavior is different, not many birds that are distant of each other will interbreed. In addition, not only the morphology but the DNA sequence can show how each specie has their own sequence to make them different from another.