What evidence has been found that supports the Endosymbiotic Theory?

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Discussion Essay

What evidence has been found that supports the Endosymbiotic Theory?

Find an article or video that discusses an example of a behavior that been demonstrated to have a genetic basis.

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Genetic Components of Behavior

Find an article or video that discusses an example of a behavior that been demonstrated to have a genetic basis (the lecture videos on behavior can provide a starting point). Preferably a behavior where researchers have identified the gene associated with the behavior. You must include a functional link to that article or video. Summarize the video or article making sure to include the key points. 75 word minimum. State your opinion on role of natural selection in determining human behaviors. Be sure to support you opinion using the information from Lecture videos, textbook, and your posted article or video. 50 word minimum.

Read the article or watch the video posted by another student.
Follow the Discussion Post Guidelines to respond to the post of another student. 50 word minimum.(see attached article posted by another student. please respond)

Describe the field of biology they are working on in 1 or 2 sentences. Why are they doing this research? Why is it important? What motivates them either personally or professionally?

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BIOL1333 Signature Assignment:

Scientist Role Models

INTRODUCTION

Biologists do a wide variety of research to answer many different types of questions. They also come from many different places and backgrounds. This activity gives you a chance to find a biologist you can relate to in some way. Maybe you’ll relate to the work they are doing, some part of their identity, or the environment where they work. The choice is yours!

Why are you doing this activity?

Biology is a very broad subject, so it can be hard to cover everyone’s interests in class. This activity lets you pick a scientist, and the part of biology they study, to explore on your own.

What will you, as a student, get out of it?

By doing this activity, you may discover a part of biology that interests you in some way. You may also be inspired by your scientist and become more aware of the natural world.

What are you supposed to do?

Follow the steps in the procedure below to choose a scientist and learn about their work. At the end, you will need to write a short essay about your scientist.

How will you know if you did the activity successfully?

To complete this activity successfully, review and revise your essay using the rubric at the end of this handout. When used well, it can give you a sense of how well you completed the activity. It also gives you an opportunity to revise and improve your work, which are important scientific habits.

PROCEDURE

  1. Use the following resources to choose a scientist to explore. Pick someone whose work interests you and/or whom you can relate to in some
    1. Scientist Profiles PDF in Canvas
    2. BioInteractive’s Scientists at Work
    3. HHMI Investigator list
    4. I am a Scientist Project
    5. UTA’s College of Science
  2. Do the following to learn more about your scientist and their work and complete Table 1:
    1. If you picked a scientist from the “Scientist Profiles” document, watch the BioInteractive video listed for that scientist.
    2. Find and explore your scientist’s website by searching Scientists often have a website hosted by the university or institute at which they do their research.
    3. Perform a Google search to read other articles or resources that mention your Remember to use only reliable sources.
  1. Find a scientific paper written by your scientist, either as an author or co-author. (You can use Google Scholar, a UTA library database, or the scientist’s website to locate papers.) This should be original research conducted by the scientist. Go through the paper as follows:
    1. Read the abstract and
    2. Examine the figures in the What data are being represented?
    3. Read the discussion
  1. Begin to organize the information you have located. Note that this section is for taking notes for your own reference. Do not turn this in.  It is intended to help you develop an outline for your essay.

Make sure the information in this table is incorporated into your essay before you submit the assignment.

Table 1: Scientist Details
Scientist’s name  
Describe the field of biology they are working on (for example, evolution or infectious diseases) in 1 or 2 sentences.
Why are they doing this research? Why is it important? What motivates them either personally or professionally?
What questions are they trying to answer? Give 2 minimum.  
Sources. You must use at least 3 sources for your essay. One should be the Scientist’s website and another the primary article. These sources will be referenced using APA formatting. 1.       Website:

2.       Primary literature article:

3.       Other reliable source

4.       Other reliable source

 

  1. Write a 400- to 500- word essay that summarizes your scientist’s work and why you relate to it.

Type your essay in a word document. No copying- you must always paraphrase and cite. You are permitted to include 1 scientist quotation if pertinent to the essay and it does not count toward your word count and will not be used to evaluate the quality of your work since it is not written by you.

 

Grading

Your paper must include the following components:

  • Overview/introduction: an overview of your scientist’s research interests, including the questions they are
  • Research Summary: a summary of the research as you understand it from the scientific paper you read. This should be in your own language and written so that a high school student could understand
  • Personal Relevance: a description of why the scientist’s work is relevant to you, your career interests, and/or society in
  • References: citations for any sources you used, including the scientific paper you read

Review your essay using the associated rubric on Canvas. Revise your essay as needed to fulfill the criteria for “Exceptional” on the rubric. You are encouraged to utilize UTA writing center resources. Note that the instructor and TAs will not read drafts or “pre-approve” your work. This assignment must be completed individually and should not contain anything copied from any source.

 

YOU WILL NOT UPLOAD THIS FILE FOR THE FINAL DRAFT.

Make sure you have included everything from the checklist above before you submit your essay.

Published April 2020

 

What is the genotypic ratio of the offspring? What’s the probability they will have a child who is resistant to malaria but doesn’t have SCD symptoms?

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Sickle Cell Disease: Genetics and Pedigrees

Hemoglobin is a protein found in red blood cells (RBCs), which transports oxygen throughout the body. The hemoglobin protein consists of four polypeptide subunits: two alpha subunits and two beta subunits. All humans have 2 copies the gene for the alpha chain (gene HBA) and 2 copies of the gene for the beta chain (gene HBB). Some versions (alleles) of the HBB gene result in sickle cell disease (SCD). Sickle cell anemia is the most common SCD.

SCD is caused by a genetic mutation in the DNA sequence that codes for the beta chain of the hemoglobin protein. In sickle cell anemia, the mutation causes an amino acid substitution, adding a valine amino acid to the beta chain instead of a glutamic acid amino acid.

Due to this change in amino acid sequence, the hemoglobin tends to clump together within the RBC after releasing its oxygen. This clumping causes the RBC to assume an abnormal “sickled” shape. The resulting abnormal, sickle-shaped RBCs block blood flow in blood vessels, causing pain, serious infections, and organ damage.

  • People who are homozygous for the normal HBB gene received one normal allele from each parent. All their hemoglobin is normal and called hemoglobin A or HbA. Their genotype is called AA. People with the AA genotype do not have any sickled RBCs.
  • People who are homozygous for the mutant HBB gene received one mutant allele from each parent. All their hemoglobin is abnormal and called hemoglobin S or HbS. Their genotype is called SS. People with the SS genotype have all sickled RBCs environments and haves sickle cell disease (SCD).
  • People who are heterozygous for the HBB gene received a normal allele from one parent and a mutant allele from the other parent. Half of their hemoglobin is HbA and half is HbS. Their genotype is called AS. Most RBCs in AS people are normal, but there is some sickling when oxygen gets low. They are said to have sickle cell trait (SCT). Usually, they do not have any symptoms of SCD.

Interestingly, sickled RBCs can’t get infected very easily with parasites like the protist Plasmodium, which causes the disease malaria. Therefore, people with sickled RBCs are protected against malaria infection.

Plasmodium is transmitted by the Anopheles mosquito. These mosquitos only live in certain regions of the world as shown by the colored regions on the map below. Therefore, people who live in those regions have high malaria transmission rates. This selects for people with sickled RBCs since they don’t die from malaria. Over time, the populations underwent natural selection and ended up having more people in them with the HbS allele. Thus, the frequency of people with SCD and SCT are higher in people who live in places with malaria or if your ancestors lived in a place with malaria.

The colored regions in the map below are places with the Anopheles mosquito, which can carry the malaria parasite, Plasmodium.

Rates of malaria. Blue = no malaria. Yellow = some malaria. Orange = high malaria

 For all multiple-choice questions, underline your answer(s). There is only one correct answer unless the question tells you to pick more than one.

 Using the maps above:

  1. Which location has the highest malaria transmission?
    1. North America
    2. Middle South America
    3. Australia
    4. Northern Africa
    5. Middle Africa
    6. Southern region of East Asia (India, China, Thailand, etc.)
  2. Some mosquito species prefer to bite people instead of other animals. Look at the Anopheles species map. Thinking about your answer to question 1, which species of Anopheles mosquito most likely prefers to bite humans and transmit Plasmodium which causes malaria? Underline your answer choice.
    1. Anopheles messeae
    2. Anopheles darlingi
    3. Anopheles atroparvus
    4. Anopheles gambiae
  1. Two people with SCT have children. Write the possible genotypes of their offspring in the Punnett square. Remember, parent gametes go on the outside and potential offspring from that cross go on the inside. Each offspring should have two alleles.
    1. Mother’s genotype
      1. AA
      2. AS
  • SS
  1. Father’s genotype
    1. AA
    2. AS
  • SS
  1. Cross the parents. Show your work in the fillable Punnett square below.

 

     
     
     
  1. Using your Punnett square above, what is the chance that a child will have normal RBCs in high and low oxygen environments?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/2
    4. 3/4
    5. 100% chance
  2. Using your Punnett square above, what is the chance the child will have SCD?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/2
    4. 3/4
    5. 100% chance
  3. Using your Punnett square above, what is the chance the child will carry the HbS allele but not have SCD?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/2
    4. 3/4
    5. 100% chance

When there’s more than one condition that needs to be true (e.g. 3 children with a certain genotype), multiple each probability together to get to overall probability for all of those events to happen.

  1. Using your answers above and multiplication, what are the chances all three of their children will show the disease phenotype?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/16
    4. 1/8
    5. 27/64
    6. 1/64
    7. 100% chance
  2. Using your answers above and multiplication, what are the chances these parents will have two children with SCT and one with SCD?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/16
    4. 1/8
    5. 27/64
    6. 1/64
    7. 100% chance
  1. A woman who has SCT has children with a man who doesn’t have the HbS
    1. Mother’s genotype
      1. AA
      2. AS
      3. SS
    2. What is genetic makeup of the gametes the mother can produce? (Recall: Gametes only have 1 allele for each gene in them because they’ll combine with another gamete to make a baby with 2 alleles.)
      1. A and S
      2. A only
      3. S only
    3. Father’s genotype:
      1. AA
      2. AS
      3. SS
    4. What is the genetic makeup of the gametes the father can produce?
      1. A and S
      2. A only
      3. S only
    5. In the below Punnett square, show all the possible genotypes of the kids. Recall: A homozygote (2 copies of the same allele) only makes 1 type of gamete; so, you only need to put that in the Punnett square one time (e.g. SS can only make S gametes.) That’s why there are only 2 boxes.
     
     
  1. What is the genotypic ratio of the offspring?
    1. 1 AA : 2 AS : 1 SS
    2. 1 AA : 1 SS
    3. 1 AS : 1 SS
    4. 3 AA : 1 AS
    5. 1 AA : 1 AS

 

  1. What’s the probability they will have a child who is resistant to malaria but doesn’t have SCD symptoms?
    1. No chance
    2. 1/4
    3. 1/2
    4. 3/4
    5. 100% chance

———

In humans, ABO blood type is a result of three alleles: IA, IB, and i

  • IA results in A-type carbohydrates on your RBCs (red blood cells)
  • IB results in B-type carbohydrates on your RBCs
  • i results in neither A nor B carbohydrates on your RBCs
  • You only need one copy of the allele to get the carbohydrates on your RBCs.
  • There are 4 phenotypes you can have for ABO blood type: Type A, Type B, Type AB, and Type O (this is the letter O – not the number zero)

 

  1. Describe the relationship of the alleles by filling in the table below. An example is given for you.

Answer choices: completely dominant, completely recessive, incompletely dominant, codominant. Answers can be used once, more than once, or not at all.

IA is completely dominant to i
IB is   to i
i is   to IA and IB
IA is   to IB
  1. Here are the 6 genotypes possible. Which of the 4 blood types do they result in?
Genotype Phenotype (blood type)
IA IA  
IAi
IB IB  
IBi
IA IB  
ii  
  1. A woman with heterozygous type B blood (IBi) and a man with heterozygous type A blood (IAi) are having a child. What is the chance that the child has type A blood? Show your work in the Punnett square. Use the correct notation for the alleles with the I/i. You don’t have to use superscripts if you don’t want to.
     
     
     

Using your pedigree above, what’s the probability of a baby with type A blood?

  1. No chance
  1. 1/4
  2. 1/2
  3. 3/4
  4. 100% chance

 

  1. A woman with type O blood and a man with type AB blood are having a child. What are the possible blood types their baby can have? Show your work in the Punnett square.
     
     

Select all possible blood types

  1. Type A
  2. Type B
  3. Type AB
  4. Type O

 

This is a pedigree that traces sickle cell disease through three generations oof a family. Use the pedigree to answer the following questions.

  1. What is the genotype of the daughter in the second generation?
    1. AA
    2. AS
    3. SS
  2. What is the genotype of the father in the first generation? (Hint: Use the genotype of the daughter in the second generation (the question above) to determine this genotype.)
    1. AA
    2. AS
    3. SS
  3. Explain how you figured out this (father in the first generation) genotype:
  1. If the entire family moves to the lowlands of East Africa (wet areas with the Anopheles mosquito carrying Plasmodium), four of the five males in the pedigree will have two genetic advantages over the other individuals in the family. What are they?
    1. Advantage one:
    2. Advantage two:

Imagine that you are a genetic counselor and a couple planning to start a family comes to you for information. Jerome and his first wife have a daughter with SCD. The brother of his current wife, Michaela, died of complications from SCD. Neither of Michaela’s parents have SCD.

  1. Which pedigree below is correct? People with sickle cell disease are shaded in. People without sickle cell disease are empty. People will sickle cell trait are also empty (no half-shading in this pedigree).
    1. Pedigree A
    2. Pedigree B
    3. Pedigree C
    4. Pedigree D
A B
C D
  1. Michaela gets tested and finds out she inherited one sickle cell allele from her dad (she has SCT). What’s the probability that she and Jerome will have a child with SCD?

Hint: Determine Jerome’s genotype first. Then make a Punnett square with Jerome and Michaela.

  1. No chance
  2. 1/4
  3. 1/2
  4. 2/3
  5. 3/4
  6. 100% chance

Which plot(s) show evidence of density-dependent mortality? What ecological factor could account for the difference between your data and the logistic model’s prediction?

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BIOL 322 Fall 2022    Pledge:
 EXAM #2                                                                  
Multiple choice (2 pt)
1- 2. Chromis cyanea is a coral reef fish. Hixon and Carr (1997) hypothesized that predation on recently-settled Chromis was a key factor regulating the population density of Chromis. They tested their hypothesis by allowing predators to access some reefs (A) and excluding them from others (D). The plots show the per-capita mortality of Chromis versus the number of settlers at the start of the experiment.

    1. Which plot(s) show evidence of density-dependent mortality? Circle one answer.
  2. Plot A              Plot D              Both                Neither
    1. Which option is the most reasonable interpretation of these plots?
    2. Predation is density-dependent in a way that regulates the Chromis population.
    3. Predation is density-dependent in a way that works against regulating the Chromis population.
    4. Predation isn’t density-dependent. Some other factor must be regulating the Chromis population.
    5. Predation isn’t density-dependent. No factor appears to be regulating the Chromis population.
    1. On the plot below, the logistic model predicts per-capita birth rates to fall along the solid line. The points show your actual data for a songbird.
  4. What ecological factor could account for the difference between your data and the logistic model’s prediction?
    (a) lack of energy resources at low density
    (b) the bird is a cooperative breeder, so it has low reproductive success at low density
    (c) lack of nesting sites limits reproduction at high density

    1. In which real situation would an exponential model be a better choice for predicting population growth than the logistic model?
    2. A deer population that is declining because its density is much higher than its resources can support.
    3. A bacteria population that has already covered most of the growth medium in its petri dish.
  5. C A population of Black-footed Ferrets that has been newly founded in favorable habitat.
    1. I conducted a batch mark-recapture study of frogs living along 50m of stream. I used the Lincoln-Peterson model to estimate the population size at 80 frogs. I later find out that the actual abundance during the sample period (120 frogs) was significantly higher than my estimate. Abundance estimates can be biased if the procedure violated one or more assumptions of the method. Which biological explanation would be consistent with these data (estimate < actual) ?
  6.             (a) Several marked frogs died between the first and second visits.
    (b) Several new unmarked frogs immigrated into of the site between the first and second visit.
    (c) Frogs marked in the first visit were more likely to be recaught in the second visit than others.

    1. Batch mark-recapture and depletion are the primary methods to estimate population size that we considered. They share several assumptions. Which assumption is only true for one of the two?
    2. All individuals have an equal probability of capture at the start of the study.
    3. Each attempt at capturing animals used the same level of effort.
    4. No immigration or deaths during the sample.
    1. All things being equal, a life history with lots of reproduction early in life should always be favored. Yet many animals wait decades to reproduce. That means all things AREN’T equal. In which situation would selection favor later reproduction?
    2. Environments in which juveniles experience intense resource competition.
    3. Environments with plentiful resources, and selection favoring rapid growth.
    4. Environments with little predation on juveniles, and selection favoring low parental care.
    1. The Lotka-Volterra competition predicts that, when two competitors share a single resource, one will drive the other to extinction most of the time. Yet we see many many examples of competitors coexisting in nature. Suppose grasshopper B. tough is competitively dominant to another grasshopper B. wimpy. Its populations can grow when resources are too low for B. wimpy to maintain its population. Which additional detail would promote coexistence of these two species?
    2. The resident bird predator preferentially feeds on B. tough.
    3. B. tough is an intraguild predator—it eats the eggs of B. wimpy.
    4. B. wimpy individuals are larger than B. tough individuals.
  9. 9- 10. The tables and figures below are all from Crowder et al. (1994).

    1. As precisely as you can, explain what the two numbers in the box in Table 2 mean. What information from Table 1 accounts for those values?
    1. Why do hatchlings have such low reproductive value (Table 3) even though they have all their reproduction ahead of them?
  11.          (a) They represent a large portion of the population.
    (b) They are only in that stage for one year.
    (c) They are likely to die before reaching reproductive age.

    1. Source-sink models add a bit of complexity to classic metapopulation models. What complexity do they add?
    2. Allow the size of patches to vary.
    3. Allow the distance between patches to vary.
    4. Allow the rate of population growth within a patch to vary.
    1. A metapopulation of frogs lives in a network of patches of wetlands. The plot shows the change in the fraction of occupied patches over time. From your understanding of metapopulations, which event would be most likely to cause the shift in the pre-1990 vs. post-1990 data?
    2. New species introduced in 1990 that provides an additional food source for the frogs.
    3. Increased rainfall each year since 1990, increasing the size of each wetland.
    4. New road built through the middle of the network in 1990, decreasing the connectivity of the patches.
    1. Cleaner shrimp sometimes “cheat”, eating bits of host flesh rather than parasites. In which situation would selection favor “cheating” more often?
    2. Alternative foods for cleaner shrimp are abundant.
    3. Hosts that visit are agile predators.
    4. Hosts have few parasites on them.
    1. It is rare for a predator to drive its prey to extinction in mainland areas. Which of the following is most important for the coexistence of predator and prey in most places?
  15.             (a) Prey can survive in some habitats that predators cannot access.
    (b) Most predators are specialists.
    (c) Prey populations have very high birth rates, leading to a high rmax.

    1. In which direction (A, B, or C) would you expect this predator-prey system to move next?
    2. The plot below has isoclines for two competitors, Species 1 (solid line) and Species 2 (dashed line).
  16. Suppose we manipulate the populations so that N1 = 15 and N2=20. Use arrows to indicate how you expect the population sizes to change over time. Based on this, what do you expect at equilibrium? (circle one)
    STABLE COEXISTENCE                UNSTABLE COEXISTENCE          ONE SPECIES EXTINCT

    1. Same interaction and plot as #14, what type of competition is stronger in this interaction?
  17. INTERSPECIFIC     INTRASPECIFIC    NEITHER

    Short answer (6 pt unless noted)

    1. (4 pts) Hatcher et al. (2012) proposed that parasites are essential components of ecosystems. Ticks are common parasites in wild areas, affecting many species of conservation concern. Give one argument why Hatcher et al.(2012) would say eliminating ticks from Shenandoah National Park would be a bad idea.
    1. Gilg et al. (2003) asserted that lemming populations were regulated by density-dependent predation from stoats, and averaged about 250 individuals at this site. (Don’t worry about the cycles here.)
 
   
  1. On the plot, add per-capita birth (b) and death (d) rates that would be consistent with that result.
  2. Schmidt et al. (2012) found that changes in climate, a density-independent factor, caused the lemming populations at this site to decline to about 50 individuals. Assuming the decline was due to a change in birth rates, add a dashed line for a new per-capita birth rate that would be consistent with the decline.
    1. The Central Stoneroller population of Hazel Run has grown rapidly in the time our class has monitored it. The number caught in the Upper site by electrofishing each year is shown below.
  2. Based on these data, and your knowledge of exponential and logistic growth models, how many Stonerollers do you think we’ll catch next year? (circle one)

    75                    118                  138                  250

    Explain the reasoning for your choice above. (Good justifications exist for each option.)

    1. A reserve manager says they will focus on protecting just the highest quality habitat for native species, so they will no longer manage properties that can’t support themselves. You disagree. Based on your knowledge of source-sink models, what value might those properties (sink habitats) have for preserving native species?
    1. Oxpecker birds roam over the bodies of water buffaloes, removing ticks and other parasites and eating them. Some research indicates that, in addition to pulling ticks, oxpeckers also use their bills to open new wounds in the buffaloes and drink blood from them.
  4. (a) Design an experiment that would strongly test whether this is a mutualist interaction. Be sure to name the dependent variable(s) and control groups (if any).
    (b) Draw a plot/ table of data that would support mutualism. Remember to label your axes/ columns.

    1. (2 pt) What idea/ skill from this section of the course will you remember/ use five years from now?

  5.  

 

What are the Basic Steps to identify different types of bacterial based on their DNA sequence? What is 16s rDNA and how is it used to identify organisms?

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HHMI Biointeractive Worksheet

Name:

Follow the link to open the HHMI Biointeractive Unknown Bacterial Identification Tab.

https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/bacterial-identification-virtual-lab

Click on the Launch Interactive Button:

  1. What are the Basic Steps to identify different types of bacterial based on their DNA sequence?
  2. What is 16s rDNA and how is it used to identify organisms?
  3. Click to enter the Lab and then click on the Sample Tab to view where the samples you are testing were collected from. Where were the 6 samples collected from?
  4. Follow the prompts to put on gloves and pick up and move items as needed to collect a bacterial colony. Why do many pathogenic bacterial samples grow poorly on solid culture medium?
  5. The first step is to extract the bacterial DNA by dissolving the cell wall with proteolytic enzymes. Why do you need to get rid of the proteolytic enzymes used to degrade the cell wall prior to adding the other enzymes?
  6. After you denature the enzymes and centrifuge the sample, where is the DNA located? Is it located in the pellet or the supernatant?
  7. Once you have the DNA then you must complete a PCR Amplification. What is in the master mix you added to your DNA sample?
  8. What is happening during each cycle of the of the PCR Run?
  9. The 3rd part is the purification of the PCR Product. What is found in the tube at this point?
  10. How many base pairs will the amplified DNA contain?
  11. Part 4 is Preparing the Sequencing Samples. What is the “sequencing brew” that is found in the Green and blue tubes?
  12. Part 5 is the DNA sequencing. How are the different sized fragments separated to determine the sequences?
  13. The sequencer reads the color on of fluorescences on the end of each fragment. What color is associated with the A? the T? the G? the C?
  14. Part 6 – DNA Sequence Analysis. What is BLAST?
  15. Click the link to get the Sequence Data and then BLAST the sequence using the NCBI BLAST tool. What is the identity of the organism in Sample A?
  16. Click on the Sample Tab and go to Sample B. Collect the sequence data and BLAST the sequence to identify the organism in Sample B.
  17. Repeat the samples to identify Sample C.
  18. Identify Sample D
  19. Identify Sample E
  20. Identify Sample F

Choose a current popular diet you have heard or read about. Describe the diet. Describe what makes it a “fad diet”? Is this diet healthy? Balanced? Dangerous?

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Choose a current popular diet you have heard or read about.

  • Describe the diet. (What does it allow / not allow? What rules must be followed?)
  • Describe what makes it a “fad diet”? (Consider the video and information in your textbook / lecture this week)
  • Is this diet healthy? Balanced? Dangerous?
  • As a healthcare provider, how would you approach a patient or client who came to you with this diet and wanted to follow it? What would you tell them
  • Use the link video below to know what is “fad diet”

 

Who is most likely to contract this disease? How does the disease affect people of different races, genders, behaviors, ages, geographical locations? Is the disease hospital- or community- acquired, or both?

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Infectious Disease Project:

During the first week of the course you will pick an infectious disease! Research this disease and prepare an infographic or brochure that describes the disease. Power point presentations are not appropriate as we do not have time for the oral presentations of these projects. Your project must include (but is not limited to)
• the etiologic agent of the disease and its life/infectious cycle,
• diagnosis,
• symptoms,
• mechanism of pathogenicity,
• treatment,
• current status, and
• future ramifications.

This research project should have at least 6 bibliographical citations, two of which must come from a textbook or primary research article.

You will pick an infectious disease that you are interested in studying. You may present your infectious disease as a poster, infographic, or brochure. Your project should include the following:

Etiologic Agent: The microbial agent that causes the disease must be identified and correctly characterized. Further, the life or infectious cycle of this microbe/ organism should be described thoroughly. This discussion should include the means by which this disease is spread among humans.

Diagnosis: How is the disease diagnosed? Briefly describe the test(s) involved and how they work.

Symptoms: The symptoms of this disease should be described thoroughly. If there is a significant asymptomatic period, that should be described as well.

Epidemiology: Who is most likely to contract this disease? How does the disease affect people of different races, genders, behaviors, ages, geographical locations? Is the disease hospital- or community- acquired, or both?

Mechanism of Pathogenicity: Describe thoroughly HOW this microorganism causes disease in the human host –exactly what does it do to damage the host cells and organs, and how does this ensure its spread?

Treatment: Describe treatments for this disease, including a brief description of the mechanisms of action of the therapeutic agents if the information is available.

Current status: Describe the impact of this disease on the human population currently. You should include statistics that give an idea of the number of cases that are currently occurring. If there has been a drastic change in the occurrence of the disease from past to present, please tell why this might be. The CDC website is a wonderful place to find this type of information (www.cdc.govLinks to an external site.).

Future of the disease: Here, you are to thoroughly describe your opinion of what effect this disease will have on humans in the future. Describe why you are predicting the future as you are.

Energy: Assess the amount of effort you have put into this project. To earn points in this category, you should show attention to detail, interest in your project and thoroughness/correctness with respect to the facts you are presenting. Grammar also will be considered when assessing this category. Creativity will also be considered.

References: All references (at least 6) should be thoroughly cited and follow the guidelines in the syllabus.

Compare aerobic respiration to fermentation (both lactic acid production and ethanol).

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Compare aerobic respiration to fermentation (both lactic acid production and ethanol).

  • AEROBIC RESPIRATION
  • ANAEROBIC, IN HUMANS
  • ANAEROBIC IN YEAST

 

 

What is the source of the news? What is the source of the research? How was the research funded? Is it reported correctly, or has it been distorted? What do you think the author’s goals author are?

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Science in the News

Find a recent (last five years) news article with a topic that relates to content and concepts included in Biology 30. Share the news article; critique its quality and its conclusions. To support your evaluation, think about what we talked about in class – What is the source of the news? What is the source of the research? How was the research funded? Is it reported correctly, or has it been distorted? What do you think the author’s goals author are? Your post should be 100-200 words.