Writing in Biology

Vaccines are only as effective as their delivery system. Many vaccines employ the use of adjuvants or additives that help to deliver the antigen to the host. What the adjuvants are supposed to do is activate an immune response so that the host can fully recognize the antigen and properly recognize to create a lasting immunity. You can think of adjuvants as the coating of a multilayer pill. Many pills have a layer that dissolves and releases compounds that will create and ideal setting in which your body can take in the actual active drug that the pill contains. The drug itself is pretty much never directly used just because without other compounds interacting with it it will never reach the destination where it is supposed to absorbed by the body or it will never actually be absorbed at all. Adjuvants are used in vaccines today primarily because of the way that vaccines are produced. Vaccines used to be made using killed or weakened whole cells, now they are made with parts of the antigen that produce strong immune responses. These vaccines are usually much safer and are generally produced more efficiently. However because it is only parts of the antigen they must be presented to the immune system in a different way. Most modern vaccines contain 25% or less of the active ingredient, parts of the antigen, and the rest is adjuvants to help present the antigen to the immune system. If you are curious about what adjuvants are in the vaccines you are receiving you can visit the the CDC website for a full list of ingredients as this information must legally be disclosed.

The heart requires its own blood supply, stemming from the aorta is the coronary artery which splits into left and right. The right coronary artery on the right side of the heart. The marginal artery branches off and supplies the right atrium with blood. Continuing along to the posterior of the heart. The posterior interventricular artery supplies the ventricles with blood. The left coronary artery is on the left side of the heart. The circumflex artery branches off and wraps around to the posterior of the heart, supplying the left atrium with blood. The anterior interventricular artery, which is branched off the left coronary artery goes down the anterior side of the heart supplying the atrium and left ventricle with blood. All the deoxygenated blood is then drained by the cardiac vein. From the cardiac vein the blood goes into the coronary sinus. From the coronary sinus the blood goes into the right atrium.

A petri dish containing only duckweed and a separate dish containing only salvinia are used for the control groups. The mass of the plants were initially all weighed the same. A third petri dish housed both species. Given all the same variables (besides space), the plants were subject to the same amount of light (14 hours) a day, same amount of distilled water as well as liquid fertilizer. Over the course of one week, the growth and the mass of the plants were monitored. By the end of 7 days, we observed the change in each species growth using their biomass, identifying the difference between the mass of the plants grown in the same environment, as opposed to grown separately.

Xylem are inhibited when guard cells cannot open- they require ATP to open. Phloem are inhibited when active transport cannot load sugar to the phloem to create positive pressure. Xylem moves water and soil minerals. Phloem moves sugar and hormones. Xylem are under negative pressure. They are made of dead cells used for moving water. Phloem are under positive pressure. The cells of the phloem are alive cells used to pump sugars in and out from source and sink. Flexibility affects both xylem and phloem. If the cells are flexible, both will not function effectively. ATP inhibition will affect phloem and cannot transport sugar. Xylem will not function without ATP because the stomates require ATP to open.

As of 2015, Mustela nigripes (black-footed ferret) has been classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A previous assessment in 1996 declared it “Extinct in the Wild”, but since then there have been huge efforts to reestablish wild populations. From early 2015 there have been approximately 295 wild-born individuals released into reestablished populations, however these populations are very small and restricted, and only a few of the populations at the sites where the species has been reintroduced are viable (Belant et al. 2015). As of 2015 there were 206 mature individuals existing in “self-sustaining, free-living populations” (Belant et al. 2015), but that number was continually decreasing. M.nigripes was formerly widespread in central North America, but declined to near extinction in the 20th century. This was a result of actions taken to control prairie-dog (Cynomys) populations, which the black-footed ferret is highly dependent on (Biggins and Godbey 2003, as cited by Belant et al. 2015 ), as well as the spread of canine distemper and sylvatic plague caused by Yersinia pestis (Biggins and Godbey 1995, Biggins et al. 1998, as cited by Belant et al. 2015). Black-footed ferrets are directly affected by disease through infection, and indirectly through the infection and mortality of the prairie-dogs that make up the ferrets’ entire prey base. The conversion of grasslands for agricultural uses and commercial development is also a major threat to M.nigripes, as is the decrease in genetic diversity which, along with the “concomitant increase in inbreeding” (Bronson et al. 2007, as cited by Belant et al. 2015) may lead do a decrease in the fitness of black-footed ferrets through—among other things—“immune system dysfunction and reduced reproductive success” (Bronson et al. 2007, as cited by Belant et al. 2015).

Habitat patches and corridors are essential for jaguars because when young jaguars become of age, they are forced to explore their home range. This results in traveling far distances to find a home range that does not conflict with another jaguar. The jaguar is a top-level predator. It doesn't have any natural predators other than humans, who hunt them for their fur or sport.The journey they must take can be life threatening, with challenges faced along the way from humans or other jaguars. They require habitats that include food (prey), water, and vegetative cover in order to survive and reproduce. Jaguars use the pattern of dispersal, in which individuals from other areas travel to new populations, which allows them to bring new genetic material (that may better allow the species to adapt and survive) and increase genetic variability to help preserve a species. The dispersal of juveniles is important because if a population remains isolated, they may become inbred which leads to a population decrease.

    Faheem Rasheed Najm, better known as T-Pain, at his peak was one of the most influential artists in the late 2000’s. He utilized auto-tune in a way that although was used very little here and there for pitch correction before 2005, he changed the way it was used in a very drastic way, that caused the music industry to be shooken up by storm. He influenced very large named artists back then, including Kanye West with his album 808s and Heartbreak, which was completely influenced by T-Pain’s use of autotune. His usage of auto-tune caused a lot of backlash from a lot of people as well, with a lot of people saying that the way he used auto-tune was what “was wrong with music” at the time. A lot of critics still followed the philosophy of 1980s and 1990s rock music, which was supposed to be “as raw as possible”. The inclusion of auto-tune was then looked at as a complete contrast to what music was “supposed to be”. The general perception of auto-tune is that it’s this magical filter you can put on any artist, and it will make them sound good. This could not be further from the truth. In order to still sound decent with auto-tune enabled, you still have to sing relatively on pitch. T-Pain really demonstrated this aspect of it when in 2014, he appeared on NPR tiny desk and sang without autotune for the first time to the public, and completely took the world by storm with his incredible vocals. From that performance on, he really demonstrated that he never needed autotune, but rather used it to its potential as an instrument instead.

Innate immunity is something that everyone is born with. It consists of surface barriers and internal defenses. Surface barriers include the skin and mucous membranes. Internal defenses include phagocytes, natural killer cells, inflamation, antimicrobial protiens, and fever. Phagocytes recognize stuff that is not "self" and degrade it. Natural killer cells kill abnormal human cells. Inflamation causes the capillaries to leak which promotes another immune response. Antimirobial protiens such as the complement protein can bind antibodies attached to a pathogen and make a hole in the bacteria which disrupts homeostasis and kills the bacteria. Fevers increase metabolic activity which produces heat and stimulates an immune response. Adaptive immunity is not something you are born with. Lymphocytes begin in the red bone marrow. They mature into B cells in the red bone marrow, but they travel to the thyroid to mature into Tcells. B cells secrete antibodies, which are formed from past invasions of pathogens. T cells are comprised of T helper cells and cytotoxic T cells which kill our own cells once they are infected. The B and T cells are activated only when they come into contact with the antigen that matches their antibody. 

Vaccines are only as effective as their delivery system. Many vaccines employ the use of adjuvants or additives that help to present the antigen (pathogen that triggers an immune response) to the host’s immune system. Adjuvants are used in vaccines today primarily because of the way that vaccines are produced. In the past vaccines were made by using killed or weakened whole cells, now they are made with parts of the antigen that produce strong immune responses. The part of the antigens that are used in vaccines are most commonly protein components of the pathogen. These vaccines in most cases are safer and are produced more efficiently. Because only parts of the antigen are being used the parts must be presented to the immune system in a different way. This is why adjuvants are used, to help present just part of an antigen to the host’s immune system. Most modern vaccines contain 25% or less of the active ingredient, parts of the antigen, and the rest is adjuvants to help present the antigen to the immune system. If you are curious about what adjuvants are in the vaccines you are receiving you can visit the the CDC website for a full list of ingredients as this information must legally be disclosed.

https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/what-vaccine-adjuvant