Feedback Loops and Homeostasis

When blood Glucose is high:

Beta cells in pancreas stimulates insulin which triggers body cells to  take up more glucose and liver to store the glucose as glycogen. This results in lowering the blood sugar level.

When blood Glucose is low:

Alpha cells in pancreas stimulates glucagon which signals the liver to break down glycogen into glucose and release it into blood stream. This results the blood sugar level to increase and balanced. 

When Metabolism is high:

T3 and T4 are stimulated by thyroid that will stop hypothalamus which stops pituitary gland from producing TSH and eventually stop production of T3 and T4. This results in the lowering of metabolism.

When Metabolism is low:

hypothanlamus stimulates TSH and triggers the thyroid to produce T3 and T4. This results in increase heart rate, liver activity etc. Therefore increase the metabolism. 

When the calcium level is high:

The thyroid gland produces calcitonin that signals the bone to take up calcium and store it. As a result, the calcium level in blood lowers. 

When the calcium level is low:

The parathyroid produces PTH and signals the bone to release calcium that it stores. The kidney and intestines will also absorb more calcium. This results in calcium level rises back to normal. 

Why 36 ATP and not 38?

    The 2 NADPH produced from glycolosis each requires one ATP to transport them into mitochondria matrix so with the net ATP of four and ten NADPH plus two FADH2, we have a total ATP of 36! This is more common for eukaryotic cells.
     However, organisms such as fungi and bugs that does not need to transport the NADPH, they will have a net totaly of 38 ATP.

Enzyme Lab

Controlled Variable: Volume of hydrogen peroxide
Variable: Amount of Enzyme (5, 10, 15, 20, 25) disks

Data:

Amount of Enzymes (disks)	volume of Oxygen produced(mL)	Reaction time(s)	Reaction Rate(mL/s)
5	450	24	18.75
5	445	57	7.8
5	500	49.5	10.10
5	440	32	13.75
10	140	90	1.55
10	415	47	8.83
15	415	31	13.38
15	450	42	10.71
15	430	45	9.55
20	430	36.4	11.81
20	405	42	9.64
25	355	90	3.94
25	150	31	4.83

Second Law of Thermodynamics

The second law of thermodynamics states the total entropy of a system will only increase and happens spontaneously which means that anything that happens on its own in nature will only increase in entropy. The energy only goes downhill. For example, ice melts on its own when placed at room temperature. The room temperature is higher than the freezing point and the ice melted. This also implied that the reaction does not reverse. You may ask then how does anything ever get frozen again? All the ice will just melt. In this case, energy has to provide in order to freeze water like what we do when we generate electricity to lower the temperature and freeze water.

Entropy to me is the energy within an object or substance. Water will have more heat than ice since it absorbed heat and melted hence it has more energy than ice.

The idea of second law of thermodynamics is important to biological and chemical process because it creates a balance for living organism and molecular substances on earth. In order for plants to take in water, plants have to first use energy to actively transport the minerals into its roots. However, after the active transport, water will flow in on its own, since there is a higher concentration in the roots. The second law of thermodynamics also explains why it is often hard to reverse a chemical reaction since it is always easier to go on the energy hill one way and harder the other way in reverse. 

Science Fair Proposal

Does cocktailing two commonly used antibiotics on influenza has a better affect on the disease?

How does antibiotics work: Antibiotics could work in two ways. 1. Stops the bacteria from multiplying 2. Interfere with the formation of bacterial cell wall or cell content.

Hypothesis: By combining two different antibiotics used for the same disease, it will increase the effect of the medication.

Controlled Variables: antibiotics A, B and C (using amount of 2x units)

Independent Variables: combined antibiotics AB, BC, AC (using amount of x units each)

Dependent Variables: The amount of bacteria killed

Section 1: 

Test the affect of antibiotics A, B, C AB, AC BC.

Section 2:

If there is an increased effect from antibiotics AB, AC or BC. Hypothesis is justified. 

Select the most effective combination and adjust the mixture. (20%-80%, 40%-60%, 60%-40%, 80%-20%)

Potential disease choices for this experiment: MRSA, Tuberculosis, Gram positive infections, 

Resource: 

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/10278.php 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12137610

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_antibiotics

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19766888

Reflection on "Sound & Fury" and "Death by Design"

    Is it more of a blessing or a curse to have the ability to alter our genetic codes?  

    Do the deafs have as much right as the rest of us to abort a fetus that is, in their view, disabled? 

    Is "disability" a relative term?  

    What constitute to a person's disability? 

    Is it in Heather's best interest to be raised as the only hearing child in the family?

Personally I think that deaf people do not have the right to abort a fetus that seems to be disabled to them. The term of disabled may be referred to people who have been deprived of a capability resulted in being isolated from the society. If the fetus is a hearing child, it does not make the child disabled because if the child learns sign language, he or she could not be isolated from the deaf society. The child could also interact normally with the normal society with hearing people, which shows no signs of disability in either society. Therefore, I don’t think deaf people have the right to abort a ‘disabled child’. They could raise the child their way and teach the child sign languages and deaf culture but not to abort the child just because the child is not perfectly like them.

Speaking of disability, one of the questions associates with it is that is deaf a blessing or curse? Not everyone gets to experience such different forms of life but being different from others, not able to hear anything and being treated as disability could this be blessing? The deaf society in the video obviously feels proud to be deaf and is proud of their culture. However, at the same time, the society is isolated from normal hearing society, causing them to stay isolated. Personally I think that it is up to the person to decide whether deaf is a blessing or a curse but for me, I would not want to be deaf. Not for my whole life. It would become really hard for me if I ever have to go through my day without listening music, talking to people and hearing to the sound of nature every morning.

An example of a ‘disabled child’ in a family would be Heather. Heather wanting to be the only hearing child in the family has caused a lot of arguments and family separation but she finally got the cochlear implant. The family had been through a long discussion on whether Heather should receive the implant or not. They think the surgery is dangerous and that if Heather has gotten the implant, she would forget or abandon the deaf culture. The original decision of not getting the implant was also made when Heather was only five years old. However, the parents had changed their thoughts and gotten Heather the implant when she turned 15. I personally think that it is of best interest for Heather to receive the cochlear implant because being able to hear is a precious experience for deaf people. Besides, by taking off the device, Heather becomes deaf again and could fit into the deaf society once more. There is no lost for Heather to receive the implant. It is brings such great changes to the family, allowing them to normally interact with hearing people while still understand and experience deaf culture. 

Nature's Way of Protecting the Code

1. Telomere: Telomeres are useless information made up of repetitive nucleotides at the end of the chromosomes that protects DNA code from being deleting or lost through process of DNA replication.



2. Nucleus: Nucleus contains and protects DNA surrounding it by nuclear envelope that only allows certain mRNA to pass through and prevent contact of DNA from outer environment.

3. DNA repair: A cell sometimes could identify the damage on the DNA strand and repair the DNA cuased by radiation or various other chemicals.





4. Intron: Introns are junk gene which doesn't carry the genetic information for producing proteins. Introns are inserted alternatively between exons(actual genetic information). This could lower the chance of DAN mutation and alteration through various factors.


5. Structure: The structure of DNA is double stranded so that it is less reactive with oxygen and other atoms. It is also bounded to proteins to form chromosomes when replicating, which increases stability of the DNA through structure.