Drafts

There are a lot of ways to see if a psychological test is valid or reliable, especially in the context of abnormal psychology. Validity means the accuracy of a test in assessing what it is supposed to measure. In terms of validity, there are a lot of different types. There is content validity, concurrent validity, predictive validity, construct validity, and face validity. They cover a lot of bases on which psychologists believe these tests will alter the data obtained. Reliability indicates its consistency in measuring what it is supposed to measure. There are also a lot of different types of reliability. There is test-retest reliability, internal reliability, alternate form reliability, and interrater reliability. Both of these aspects are very important for proper testing and assessing of psychological abnormalities.

In the article “Pinpointing Cells That Control the Brain’s Memory Flow,” published in Neuron and from neurosciencenews.com (https://neurosciencenews.com/memory-flow-neurons-10671/), the researchers examined how memories are flexibly formed and recalled on the cellular level. Previously, the researchers had discovered that neurons in the CA1 area of the hippocampus help an organism localize itself in space. In mice looking for water, the researchers found that neural activity in this region became elevated upon approaching the target. Based on this result, the researchers posed the question: what exactly in the brain, on the cellular level, directs this elevation of neural activity as the mouse approaches the water?

In their experiment, the researchers examined VIP (vasoactive intestinal polypeptide-expressing) cells, a type of CA1 neuron, in the hippocampus. VIP cell activity was first monitored while mice ran on a treadmill with various familiar and new stimuli. Then, the researchers hid a water reward at a specific location along the treadmill path. Elevated VIP cell activity was observed both while the mice were solely running the treadmill and when they were seeking the water reward. Normally, in the brain, CA1 excitatory neurons are kept off by a group of inhibitory neurons. But when VIP cell activity rises, the group of inhibitory neurons are shut off, allowing CA1 excitatory neurons to switch on. This activates the CA1 memory circuit and subsequently allows the mice to learn. Based on these results, the researchers classified VIP neurons as “disinhibitory” neurons.

The most severe symptom in Chediak-Higashi Syndrome is the defect in the immune system, including white blood cells, platelets, and red blood cells. It is a defect in the LYST gene which is mostly related to the lysosome that is related to the immune system. Chediak-Higashi Syndrome is caused from this defect in the immune system. In other words, patients cannot endure infections as well as individuals with a properly functioning immune system. The first time an individual is diagnosed as Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, they are usually infants. The symptoms first appear in mild forms that are not life-threatening. But as the infant ages, the risk of developing the accelerated phase increases. When the number of lymphocytes is created superfluously, the chance of entering accelerated phase becomes high. As the article, Chediak Higashi Syndrome by NORD says “Patients can develop symptoms such as fever, swollen lymph nodes, enlargement of the liver and spleen, anemia, low WBC count, and low blood platelet count” (Tomer). All these conditions can appear at any age. When they do appear, they must be treated immediately since the immune system in the patient cannot cure itself. If the treatment is too late, then eventually the accelerated phase progresses and induces neurological symptoms to occur (Tomer).

The first step to making any dish is gathering the ingredients and that is exactly what I did as I made my way to Whole Foods. Cream cheese, ranch, blue cheese, shredded cheese, chicken and hot sauce is exactly what was purchased. I made my way home and cooked the chicken and began to shred it into little pieces and put it all in a bowl, i added about 4 cups of shredded chicken. The chicken had to be shredded into very fine small pieces in order for it would be easier to eat. I added a whole pack of cream cheese, 1 cup of ranch and 1/2 cup of blue cheese after and mixed all the ingredients until it was all a consistent homogenus mixture. Adding the shredded cheese was last and mixing it all in. I then added mixed cheese on top of the dip and put it in the oven at 325 degrees for 12 minutes until all the cheese was melted. The buffalo dip was now ready to serve for Super Bowl Sunday. 

My genetic ancestry is a mixed bag: my father's side, as far as I know, is Cypriot through and through, although the island’s long history of being invaded and conquered by anyone and everyone means that “Cypriot” has little genetic meaning. Cyprus history dates back to first being settled in around 10 000 BC. During the Bronze Age there were two waves of Greek settlement before the island was ruled first by Assyria, then briefly by Egypt, and then by Persia. It was then part of the Byzantine Empire until the Crusades, when it was captured and sold to the Republic of Venice before being conquered by the Ottoman Empire in 1571. In 1878 Cyprus was leased to the British Empire, and then invaded by Turkey in 1974. Because of the island’s history, the genetic origins of its population are complex and varied, so although I am Cypriot I do not the exact genetic origins of that side of my family. On my mother’s side my grandfather was Palestinian and my grandmother was American-born to parents of German descent who had Dutch origins further down the line.

Next Generation Sequencing (https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(17)30060-5)

NGS is a proposed method for large-scale biomonitoring. It involves use of technology to monitor the current status of ecosystems around the globe. In reaction to the out-dated methods of sampling the environment for diversity, NGS biomonitoring proposes that the diversity and interactions in ecosystems can be updated automatically. It involves technology that will automatically sample the DNA of organisms in the environment and update the information that will be sequenced to determine the interactions between the present organisms. This information is then updated into a universal could that stores the information to keep track of any changes across of the ecosystems across the globe.

I am now doing a project on the role of antivaxxers and the spread of infectious disease for one of my classes. There are very apparent trends between the 2. For example in Japan Pertussis more commonly known as whooping cough was down to less than 100 cases per year. Then some time in the late 70s there was a scare about the vaccine, people in turn stopped receiving the vaccination for whooping cough. Cases sky rocketed into the 1000s and a disease that was nearly eradicated was now thriving again. In the 80s people starting receiving the vaccine again and the disease fell back into the double digits of cases per year. Unfortunately we are seeing similar trends of denying vaccinations in the US. In particular we have been experiencing a bad measles outbreak. A disease that was absent from the US for quite some time. It was brought back recently when an unvaccinated person traveled to the another part of the world contracted it and returned home. The person lived in a population with low MMR vaccination rates. Measles bagan to spread to to other communities with low vaccination and all of the sudden this disease that was once a thing of the past is now prevalent again essentially because people willing chose not to vaccinate. This now puts people who medically can’t be vaccinated at a serious risk of contracting infectious disease because now the people around them can spread it.  

There are four main types of biomolecules: carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids. These biomolecules make up cells, which make up organisms, and are responsible for the mechanisms within the body. Carbohydrates are made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. They form oligosacharrides that can be bound to cell surface proteins to aid in cell signaling and other functions. Proteins are made up of amino acids, which are composed of a central carbon bound to an amino group, a carboxyl group, and a variable "R" group that determines the nature of the amino acid's interactions. The R group can be nonpolar, polar without charge, negatively charged, or positively charged. The polarity of the R group will influence how different amino acids interact intramolecularly or intermolecularly with other molecules. Lipids are made up of mainly hydrocarbons and are therefore insoluble in water. Lipids can be saturated or unsaturated to different levels, which will affect their solidity at room temperature. A saturated lipid is saturated with hydrogens, while unsaturated lipids have double bonds which cause there to be less hydrogens bonded to the carbons. Lastly, nucleic acids are mostly know for making up the DNA in cells. Nucleic acids are made up of nucleotides that consist of a sugar ring, a phosphate group, and a nitrogenous base. In DNA, phosphate groups and sugars form phosphodiester bonds, which make up the sugar-phosphate backbone. The nitrogenous bases form hydrogen bonds across two strands of DNA to form the DNA ladder. 

Water is a polar molecule that has distinct properties. It has permanet partial charges that allow it to react with itself and other polar molecules. Water has high heat capacity and high surface tension. This is because of the hydrogen bonds that result from one water molecule's hydrogen noncovalenty bonding to the oxygen of another water molecule. The bonds are hard to break thus resulting in these properties.