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The essential element required for plant growth depends on which growing stage the plant is in at a certain a specific time. In agriculture, farmers analyse the nutrient concentration in the soil to make sure the plant is in its most desirable condition to maximize their growth. There are two types of analysis used to see both conditions of the plant and the soil. With modern understanding of pollution and climate change, people are favoring organic fertilizers over chemical ones. The organic fertilizer has less nitrogen so it reduces the amount of pollution. The mechanism of how plant take in the nutrients from the soil is by a process called mineralization. Roots will absorb the nutrients deep in ground. Most nutrients are taken in by the roots, however, leaves are capable to absorb some nutrients as well. This discovery gave advantage to the agriculture because the process of absorption is much rapid compared to the root absorption which the rate can change depending on that day’s soil’s condition.  

Organisms who are challenged with moving through air or water as a way of locomotion are each posed with substantial mechanical problems. In air, animals must overcome the force of gravity and sustain force to stay aloft. Flying animals do this by generating lift. Lift is the positive net force of air beneath and above their wings. Flying organisms also often use local weather patterns to assist in generating lift. In water animals must move against water which is both dense and viscous. Fish use trunk and tail musculature to propel themselves through the water. Musculature is composed of bands called myomeres. In air, as objects become larger their overall speed tends to increase but their relative speed decreases. Meanwhile in water the smaller the organism the more viscous the environment is to that organism, making it more difficult to move.

Phenformin is a potent biguanic OXPHOS complex I inhibitor that has shown greater than 30% tumor growth inhibition in 5 out of 12 pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft models (Rajeshkumar et al. 2017). It is more potent than metformin, another OXPHOS complex I inhibitor, which only suppressed tumor growth in 3 out of 12 pancreatic adenocarcinoma xenograft models even at a five-fold higher dose (Rajeshkumar et al. 2017). In contrast to metformin, phenformin does not require a cellular transporter (Iversen et al. 2017) and has been shown to resensitize previously therapy-resistant cancer cells (Matassa et al. 2016). Due to its high efficacy, the researchers plan to incorporate phenformin into their treatment in conjunction with a Krebs cycle inhibitor, devimistat (CPI-613).

The significance of this study is to show what effect the different burial depths do to germination of the Silybum marianum. The experiment that we are used to base our project on used an entirely different kind of plant from a different region. Also this paper is from 1999 so the data could be outdated. So, by doing this experiment now with a plant from New England we can see if the results are similar to the plants from the great lakes. That way we can compare these plants to see if they react the same to the different depths of germination. We can learn more about the fauna of New England and also learn more about this family of plants. Another important thing would be to find out if the change of the Earth Since 1999 has changed the results of this experiment at all.

Gram stains are a very basic yet useful technique in determining types of bacterial cells. Gram negative cells have a thin outer membrane that can be easily broken down and dissolved. Gram positive have have the opposite, they have a thick outer coating. Gram stains rely on these two defining traits. The procedure for Gram staining is straightforward. First bacterial cells are placed on a microscope slide. If the cells are being drawn from a liquid solution they can be easily spread on the slide, if the cells are being used from a solid colony water must first be applied to the slide. Once the slide dries it will get heated fixed by passing it through a flame two times. This process ensures that the cells stick to the slide during the stain. The first stain of the bacterial cells is with crystal violet, this will turn the cells a purple color. Once the crystal violet is washed away with water the crystal violet is adhered to the cell after Gram’s iodine is applied. The Gram’s iodine will also be washed away with water. Next, the cells will be treated with ethanol. The ethanol will wash away the outer lining of Gram negative cells but not Gram positive cells. The cells will then be stained with pink safranin. This will turn Gram negative cells pink but will not affect the purple color of Gram positive cells because purple is darker than pink.  

Digestion of a cheeseburger starts in the mouth. Saliva contains enzymes, amylase and lipase, that begin to break down the food. Amylase starts to break down carbohydrates, and lipase begins to breakdown fats. The saliva moistens the food and begins to liquify it. The cheeseburger then travels down the esophagus through peristalsis, coordinated movement of food along the digestive tract. Once the cheeseburger enters the stomach, food is broken down by enzymes secreted by cheif and parietal cells and mixed around by segmentation. Cheif cells in the stomach secrete pepsiogen, which once it enters the stomach becomes pepsin. Pepsin breaks larger proteins into smaller pieces. Parietal cells secrete hydrochloric acid which denatures proteins. The cheeseburger them travels into the small intestine where chemical digestion continues until completion. When the cheeseburger enters the large intestine, it hase been completely broken down; the main function of the large intestine is compaction of waste and absorption of water. Once through the large intestine, the nutrients from the cheeseburger have been completely absorbed, and the waste travels to the anus for defecation. 

The metabolism includes both anabolic and catabolic processes. Catabolic processes are exergonic and spontaneous while anabolic processes are endergonic and non-spontaneous; however, metabolic coupling between biochemical pathways allows endergonic reactions to still occur. In metabolic coupling, energy released from an exergonic reaction is used to provide energy needed for an endergonic reaction. This energy is often exchanged through phosphate groups. Molecules with phosphate groups tend to have high free energies, so the removal of a phosphate group by hydrolysis results in a largely negative change is free energy. Phosphorylation, on the other hand, requires energy input. The magnitude of free energy available in the bond is the phosphoryl group transfer potential, and molecules with larger phosphoryl group transfer potentials can phosphorylate molecules with lower potential. In other words, energy released through the hydrolysis of a phosphoryl group is used to power the phosphorylation of another mloecule. An example is the coupling that occurs to power muscle contractions. Creatine phosphate is hydrolyzed to form creatine, and this energy is used to phosphorylate ADP to ATP. ATP is the main energy currency molecule in nearly all cells.

The Hedgehog signaling pathway plays a role in the loss of limbs in snakes. According to the fossil record, ancestral snakes had limbs, which became reduced over the course of evolution. Some species of snakes such as boas and pythons still have a rudimentary femur and claw, while in other species such as cobras, limbs have disappeared completely. This phenotypic difference suggests that limbs were lost over time. The Sonic Hedgehog gene is regulated by a limb-specific enhancer called the zone of polarizing activity regulatory sequence (ZRS). This enhancer is conserved in all invertebrates and accounts for differences in limb development in vertebrates. A team of researchers led by a genomicist named Visel found that by substituting the ZRS of mice with the ZRS of snakes caused truncated limbs. In contrast, substituting mice with human and fish enhancers caused legs to grow normally. Sequence analysis of the ZRS in snakes showed deletions, which resulted in weak expression of Sonic Hedgehog and truncated limbs. The varying degrees of expression of Sonic Hedgehog is a possible cause of limb reduction in snakes.

          In this experiment, a purified sample of 1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diol was obtained through the reduction of benzoin with sodium borohydride and the recrystallization of the product with acetone, resulting in 71.73% yield. The product was identified to be 1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diol via TLC analysis and comparison of the experimental melting point to the known melting point. The known melting point of 1, 2-diphenylethane-1, 2-diol is 138 °C, while the experimental melting point was 135-137 °C. That the experimental range is slightly lower than the known range indicates the presence of impurities in the sample, but the relatively narrow experimental range indicates that whatever impurities remain in the final sample are likely present in only small amounts. During TLC analysis, visualization was achieved via short-wave UV light and iodine staining. Iodine produced yellow stains when reacted with the pure benzoin sample, but not the samples of only the recrystallized or crude product. This contributed to the identification of the spots derived from a mixture of benzoin and my experimental samples. Rf numbers were obtained for benzoin, the crude product, and the recrystallized product. Higher Rf numbers indicate higher polarity. Benzoin is less polar than 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol because alcohols are more polar than carbonyls and 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol has two alcohol groups where benzoin only has one. Since benzoin is less polar, it would be expected to travel farther on the TLC plate and have higher Rf values because it has less absorption with the polar silica gel on the TLC plate than 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol. In the experimental TLC analysis, spots derived from benzoin did move further than spots derived from 1,2-diphenylethane-1,2-diol.