Writing in Biology

In lab today we looked at several different bones of different animals and focused on trying to label the bones. There was a lot of different information present but there were specific facts that stuck out in my head. We focused on what organisms were called when there were holes near the temple of the skull. Animals such as turtles would be considered an an anapsid. Meaning that they don't have holes near the temple of their skull which means that it's harder for them to move their jaws since the muscles don't attatch through the hole of the temples if their is no hole. A diapsid is a crocodile or a lizard, an animal that has two holes in their skull. This means that they are able to move thier jaw up and down and they are able to chew, something that turtles are not able to do. The other type is a synapsid which are mammals, there is a larger opening in the skull. This allows for mammals to chew and move their jaw up and down as well as side to side.

Relative to the common ancestor of mammals that bear live young the group that has been evolving for the longest amount of time is all of them. All of the mammals on the phylogenetic tree have been evolving for the same amount of time. This is because they all share a common ancestor and since the beginning of this common ancestor they have all started evolving. Going back mammal-like reptiles started evolving 250 million years ago. About 66 million years ago is when there started being more changes and that is when mammals really started changing. So although there are a lot of differences that have been acquired over time within the mammals in the phylogenetic group they all originated at the same time. 

On Monday I wrote a draft about my anatomy and physiology lab. In this lab, we pricked our fingers and collected blood samples. Since then, both of the fingers that I pricked have bruised. After the first day my fingers were soar to the touch. Doing daily tasks, such as locking or unlocking my phone, became annoying because I had to use my non-dominate hand. Luckily, this only lasted a day. The next day my fingers were still bruised, but they were not soar. Now, three days later, the bruising is gone, but there is still a dot where they were pricked. I wonder how much longer it will take for this mark to go away. 

    At the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, there lies an infrequent interspecific relationship at all dining commons. Although the relationship occurs infrequently, it still occurs from time to time. Whenever students are dining at the dining commons, and in the kitchen glassware is broken, the sound is usually capable of reaching into the dining rooms where the students can hear it.
    When glassware or silverware is broken, it is sometimes followed by an applause. Yet this does not happen all the time. In fact, the reaction is quite inconsistent even amongst each dining commons.
    For example, in dining commons closer to the southwest region of campus, the applause is usually louder and cheering can typically be heard as well. Yet in dining commons closer to the northeast region of campus, the applause is much quieter (if at all), and usually consists of scattered clapping. Yet across all dining commons, a common factor includes the possibility of no clapping occurring.
    The reaction varies by the time of day as well. It’s much more likely that an applause is heard during night time, compared to day time. From personal experience and other testimonies from other UMass students, very few have actually heard an applause occur following the breakage of glassware during the day, yet at night it’s much more likely to occur.

Caspases are enzymes that are involved in apoptosis.  They are naturally transcribed and translated in the cell, but their unmodified form includes a domain that keeps them inactive.  Once apoptosis is triggered, modifier proteins cleave this domain, allowing the caspases to tetramerize into functional units. A caspase cascade is initiated, in which caspases sequentially cleave the inhibitory domains of their downstream caspases.  In order to kill the cell, caspases work primarily by destroying membranes. They form pores in mitochondrial membranes, allowing Cytochrome c release. This dissipates the membrane potential, so the mitochondria are unable to produce energy for the cell.  Caspases can also perforate the cell membrane, allowing the osmotic pressure to run to equilibrium, which spells disaster for the cell.

Anna was born with the sole purpose of keeping Kate alive. In the first chapter she states, “I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn’t the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother’s eggs and my father’s sperm and come up with a specific combination of precious genetic material.” Throughout the book Anna struggles to fulfill the role of a savior to her sister, because otherwise she has no reason to exist at all. At 13 years old, this internal conflict juxtaposes with her desire to be a free individual in control of her own body. She wants to be more than flesh and organs for transplant but she also doesn’t want to be the reason her sister dies.

If Anna was a clone, then the book could have played out differently. Maybe because of the sisters’ identical genetic makeup, the transplants of bone marrow, lymphocytes, etc. in addition to chemotherapy would have actually worked and cured Kate’s cancer. If this occurred, then Anna would have fulfilled her life’s purpose to save Kate and subsequently she could choose her own path and have autonomy over her body. She would not have to worry about dietary habits, engaging in sports that are too rigorous, or about being too far away from Kate any longer. It would be ironic for Anna to win autonomy as a genetic copy of Kate.

If Anna was cloned and she still ended up going to court to fight for her autonomy, I don’t think she would have won the case. Since she would have been made using one of Kate’s cells, then it would be controversial as to whether she is her own person or if she is an extension of Kate. Since her DNA exactly matches Kate’s genome then the latter opinion might be favored. The court might view it as a choice to save the life of an artificial clone or the original human that made it possible for that clone to exist. The potential to under-value Anna’s life leads me to conclude that human reproductive cloning should not be explored at any point in the future.

Due to the neuroendocrine nature of this cancer, the researchers are interested in developing an early screening technique involving hormonal and molecular biomarkers through routine blood tests. PanNETs are classified into functional tumors, which have symptoms related to excessive hormone secretion, and non-functional tumors, which do not secrete hormones and therefore do not exhibit associated symptoms. Currently, measurement of hormones such as pancreatic polypeptide, gastrin, proinsulin, insulin, glucagon, and vasoactive intestinal peptide can determine if a tumor is involved in hypersecretion (Ro et al., 2013). Up to 60% of PanNETs are non-functional, which may pose a challenge. However, 85% of PanNETs have an elevated blood marker, which may allow for research and the scrutiny of biomarkers to accomplish this goal (Jensen et al., 2009).