Cellular Respiration Songs: Hoe Down Throw Down, Thats how I Beat Shaq, Baby

This is Matt's and my video. We used three different songs to explain cellular respiration: Hoe Down Throw Down by Hannah Montana, That's How I Beat Shaq by Aaron Carter, and Baby by Justin Bieber. The video was meant to be funny and has absolutely no relevance to Cellular respiration. However, I think the strong, catchy lyrics help to explain most of what you need to know. They definately helped me. That being said, this video is only supposed to be an aid, and additional research is needed to fully understand cellular respiration.  Matt takes the lead role in the singing with some strong performances in Baby and Hoe Down Throw Down. While I did most of the film work, the highlights of which are, me falling off a chair and making a pretty intense snow angel if i do say so myself. That pretty much sums it up so I hope you enjoy the video.

Sketch Fu on the Krebs Cycle

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SketchFu on Krebs Cycle

Glycolysis SketchFu

This is my sketchfu on glycolysis.




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Cancer: Stem Cells In Reaction to Heat

In an attempt to treat cancer, doctors usually use radiation to "zap" tumors. However, this procedure may not always go according to plan. The tumor may originally shrink, but if cells inside of the tumor survive the radiation, they can come back even stronger than before. Researchers have found one solution to this. By heating the tumor prior to the operation the resistance by the stem cells can be drastically lowered. This technique is called hyperthermia. It has only been used to fight breast cancer, but it is possible that it could be effective on other types of cancer as well. Researchers based this technique off one from 5,000 years ago. An ancient Egyptian papyrus shows heat being used to fight breast cancer. However, heating alone with out other techniques has shown to be ineffective. A similar technique was attempted back in the 1970's and 80's, but it proved to be ineffective. Today's success is, in part, due to the technological advancements that have been made. With today's technology we are able to heat the tumors directly and more precisely. Scientists believe that the heat, when applied to the tumor, disrupts the stem cells, thus causing it to become more sensitive to radiation. When researchers used radiation on mice, that had human breast tumors transplanted into them, they found that the amount of cancer stem cells in the tumor had greatly increased. However, after, when they used hyperthermia on the tumor, heating it to approximately 108 degrees F, the amount of cancer stem cells ceased to increase and in most cases began to decrease. It is believed that cancer stem cells lost their ability to repair damage caused by the radiation. Researchers hope to set up clinical trials in the Texas Medical Center soon, although similar techniques are being used elsewhere.

Sources:

http://www.hhmi.org/news/atkinson20101102.html

http://drugdiscoveryopinion.com/tag/cancer-stem-cells/

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Do Fish Feel Pain?

Do fish feel pain? This topic has been debated by scholars for decades. Some people believe that fish are incapable of experiencing pain, while others believe that they are indeed capable. Some people believe they do not have very complex nervous systems and therefore do not feel pain to the extent that we do or perhaps even not at all. However, this idea is not completely accurate.  There has been some research that indicates that fish have the same kinds of specialized nerve fibers that mammals and birds use to identify tissue damage and thus pain. From all the information I have gathered I personally believe that fish can feel pain. Experiments show that fish respond when they are hurt, and pain relievers cause there behavior to change drastically. I would like to state that I am not against fishing what so ever, I realize that fish are an essential part to modern day civilization. What I do think, however, is that fish should be treated in a more humane manner.  For instance there have been fortifications put in place in order to protect birds and mammals, that do not include fish.  I believe this is largely due to the identity fish have. They are viewed differently than animals like cows, and chickens. In my opinion this doesn't make any sense, they are no less an animal and therefore deserve to be treated accordingly.






Sources:

1) http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2010/11/17/researcher_explores_whether_fish_feel_pain.html<script 
2) http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/V/vertebrate_nervous_system.html
3) http://www.bishops.k12.nf.ca/wells/vfish/projects/nervous/SENSES.html

Osmoregulation in Freshwater Fish

Freshwater fish absorb water passively and release it actively. Meaning they acquire water using no energy, but in order to release it they need to use energy. This process is due to fish's kidneys.  Their kidneys gain water osmotically. Meaning they absorb water by osmosis, which as I touched on before, is a type of passive transport. Fish's kidneys also produce dilute urine in order to get rid of waste matter.  Fish are in a constant state of osmosis, because they are hypertonic. This is not good because water continues to diffuse into fish, creating a very high concentration of water in their system. Fish deal with this problem with their kidneys. Fish's kidneys have a big surface area which enables them to reduce the concentration of water in their blood. However in order to do so they need to release important ions out of their bloodstreams, making it necessary to absorb ions such as salt back in. These two functions require energy meaning they use active transport.

Sources:
1) http://www.biology-online.org/5/1_animal_water_regulation.htm
2) http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/sciences/zoology/animalphysiology/osmoregulation/osmoregulation.htm
3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish
4) Image http://www.incikefali.net/uremegocu-en.htm

2003,2004 Detroit Pistons in Comparison to Eukaryotic Organelles

Streptococcus

Streptococcus is a member of the lactic acid group, and is very common in humans. Group A streptococcus otherwise known as (GAS), can cause different diseases, the most widely known being strep throat. Strep throat is caused when the bacteria enters your nose and makes its way down to your throat. The symptoms include: sore throat, swollen tonsils, nausea, and possibly even yellowish-white spots on the back of your throat. The bacteria may also travel from your nose to an infected wound or sore on your skin, which can cause necrotizing fasciitis more commonly known as the flesh eating disorder. Which does literally what the name implies, eats away at your flesh. However this is very rare.

Group B streptococcus known as (GBS), can be found in the urogenital tracts and rectums of pregnant women. This can be transmitted to the child during birth, which can cause meningitis, which could cause the child to lose his hearing or possible even his life.  The symptoms of neonatal meningitis are vomiting and fever, both common in young children. Therefore the symptoms can easily be overlooked and if untreated will result in death. Group B streptococcus can also cause pneumonia. Pneumonia causes inflammation of the lungs, and causes them to fill with liquid. Symptoms include coughing, chest pains, fever, and difficulty in breathing.

Although streptococcus causes all of these bad things, there are some streptococcal species that are non-pathogenic. Streptococci can be found in Swiss cheese, as well as in our own body. It is a part of our mouth, skin, upper respiratory tract, and intestines. 

Sites:

• http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-streptococcus-bacteria.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Necrotizing_fasciitis
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streptococcus
• http://www.dhpe.org/infect/strepa.html
• Image 1:  http://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/images/0/05/Strep.jpg
• Image 2: http://www.webdoctoradvice.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Pneumonia.jpg
• Image 3:http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2459204/posts

Macromolecule Lab Reflection

A couple of days ago in class we performed a lab on macromolecules. In the lab we got either an egg white, an egg yolk, a potato, an apple, an onion, a lemon, or a strawberry. My partner Mayze and I were given the potato. First as a class we conducted tests on substances we knew to contain either protein, glucose, starch, or lipids. First we tested gelatin by adding 10 drops of Biuret solution to it. The result was that it turned a brownish, carmel color; indicating it contained protein. Next we tested pure glucose, by adding 3 mL's of Benedict's solution and adding it to a beaker of boiling water. The glucose changed from blue, to green, to a layer of colors. Next we conducted a starch test on starch, by adding 5 drops of Lugol iodine solution. The starched turned a dark black. Last but not least we conducted a lipid test on cream cheese by rubbing it on brown paper. After letting it dry there was a visible shiny/glossy fat. After performing the four tests we broke off into our small groups. Mayze and I began by cutting up the red potato into small bits. First we put some into three test tubes, and began performing the various tests. When we added 10 drops of Biuret solution to one test tube. We could see no visible change, and determined that there was no protein in potatoes. Next when we added 3 mL's of Benedict's solution a different test tube and put it into boiling beaker of water. Almost immediately it changed to a yellowish-orange, so we knew it contained Glucose. After that we added 5 drops of Lugol iodine solution to another test tube of potatoes they began to turn black so we determined that the potato contained starch. Finally we used the brown paper we cut the potatoes on and hung it up to dry overnight. The next class we looked at it, and determined that there was no lipids in the potato.

Nucleic Acids

The Properties of Water

From class work and through some reasearch, I have found that water has four main properties: adhesion, cohesion, density,and polarity. However each one of those categories has a sub-categorie. Adhesion has capillary action, cohesion has surface tension, density has specific heat, and polarity contributes for water being the universal solvent. Adhesion is the ability to stick to other things, and an example of capillary action is when someone puts a straw in water the water goes up through the straw, this is because water is adhesive and the water molecules stick to the straw molecules. Cohesion in terms of water is when water molecules come together an stick to other water molecules. Because water is very cohesive it creates surface tension at the top and things like a paperclip that have a greater density than water and should sink, actually are held at the top by that tension. The density of water is 1, and anything with a greater density will sink, and anything with a smaller density will float. Specific heat is related to this because it is the "amount of energy used to raise 1 gram of a substance 1 degree celsius. Last but not least we have polarity, water is polar because of the hydrogen bonds that form intbetween covalent bonds, because of these bonds, water has a slight negative and a slight postive charge which allows it to dissolve many more things than any other solvent.

First Post

During this course, throughout the school year I hope to further my knowledge of different diseases, medicines, evolution and biology in general. Also from this course I hope to become more independent, improve my note-taking skills, and become a better writer through the many different blogs I will write this year. A good example of a web tool that will help me achieve some of these goals is the Internet. At times when I’m working at home and I don’t have a teacher readily available to answer a question I may have I can turn to the Internet for some help. Another example is email or iChat, if I have a question or am confused on something I can turn to my piers for some help. With the help of those two things I believe that I should be able to achieve each of my goals for bio this year.