New Tables!!!!!

First day back from the long weekend, its a Monday. first thing i see when i walk into my first period bio class, BOOM! new tables. these tables allow us to ask for help from our peers sitting next to us and give me more room to put my junk on t he desk. after i got over the fact that these new table, alt though a little to short for my liking, are awesome, we learned about taxonomy. when i first heard this word the first this i thought of was animals that are stuffed so they can be kept in some room. i quickly learned that this is the exact opposite. taxonomy is the study of classifying animals we learned about the different classifications of animals and which level is which in the study of taxonomy. this carried over into the next day. we continued our notes on taxonomy and did some hands on things with this by classifying different types of aliens. we then were assigned the task of using a chart to find out what species sharks where based on their physical appearance . this was actually an interesting assignment being able to use one chart to find out their species of many different animals.o ya, last but not least we learned about some strange animals over the past two days. we learned about a slime eel that has survived based on the fact that it uses its slime to get away and the star nose mole that to only is the worlds fastest eater but the fact that is relies on is amazing nose to find food. so aside from the fact we have these new awesome tables we learned some pretty interesting stuff too.

Boobies the bird!

If you were to hear the question "how many boobies are getting laid"out of context, you might wonder if that is appropriate for a freshman bio class. what was actually being said was how many eggs of the species of birds called boobies (right) were being laid. we have over the last few days been talking about evolution. when evolution comes up, one of the names that comes soon after is Charles Darwin. we have been disusing the evolution that takes place on the islands he visited. we spent some time on birds and how they adapt and what there adaptations are for the birds on the island. we have been talking about why boobies choose to push there sibling out of the nest and leave it to die. we concluded that it was because its harder for the mommy booby to feed 2 chicks insead of just one . this is why the mother of the booby lets this happen. we then talked about the different beaks on birds and how they are specialized with what food they eat. we took a hands on approach with this by taking different tools such as a spoon or pliers to retrieve and open different types of food. we ended up concluding class with this lab.

Eunice Lee will be our next scribe!

Yeah so this is what we learned today. (blog post)

Hello peeps, Trent here, today we learned several things. Mainly about our project that's due in FEBUARY! Remember your project needs to include; factual information, don't make it boring and remember it must be PERSUADING!

Next we learned about sad old Lonesome George...

Whats up with him? Lonesome George, the last remaining Galápagos giant tortoise, may soon be a father after years of efforts by scientists trying to get him to mate (since 1993).

Info about him: Lonesome George, weighing 90kg (14st 2lb) was a native of Pinta, an isolated northern island of the Galápagos. By the late 1960s, it was found that the tortoise population on the island had become close to extinction. George, discovered in 1972, was immediately brought into captivity at the Charles Darwin research station on the island of Santa Cruz .

Finally we continued the movie we started yesterday. The most important thing we learned though was that Darwin observed that the turtles on certain islands were different from other islands (variation). He then went on to notice the variation between the birds beaks on the islands. Another important quote was when the "guy" said that the animals have gone their own way, but shaped by the condition they were in, the environment changed their trait(s). We then continued on to learn about how evolution happens annually with the birds of the islands. This happens because of natural selection. Meaning that females selectively choose mates on the conditions. Like how they sometimes reproduce with a smaller size so they can eat the smaller seed

s more effectively. Same goes for the big seeds, they must adapt to have bigger beaks in order to eat the bigger seeds in dry seasons.

BETA THALASSEMIA!!

Beta thalassemia is a blood disorder that reduces the production of hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the iron-containing protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen to cells throughout of the body. In people with beta thalassemia, low levels of hemoglobin lead to the lack of oxygen in many parts of the body. Affected individuals also have a shortage of red blood cells, which can cause pale skin, weakness, fatigue, and more seriosoud, complications. People with beta thalassemia are at an increased risk of developing abnormal blood clots. Beta thalassamia is classified into tw o types depending on the severity of symptoms: thalassemia minor and thalassemia major. Of these two types, beta thalassemia major is much more severe. The signs and symptoms of thalassemia major appear within the first 2 years of life. Children develop life-threating aneamia. They dont gain weight and grow at the expected rate, and may devlop yellowing of the skin and whiting of the eyes. For children with thalassemia minor, the symptoms may appear in early childhood or alittle later in life. Affected people have mild to moderate anemia and may also have slo growth and bone abnormalities. Beta thalassemia is a fairly common blood disorder worldwide. Thousands of infants with beta thalassemia are born each year. Beta thalassemia occurs most frequently in people from Mediterranean countries.

Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy (Genetic Disorder)

Duchenne's muscular dystrophy is a x-linked recessive disease. It is a fast progressive form that is caused by a mutated gene and occurs mostly in boys. The probability of passing this disease to females and males are different. Since a male has x and y chromosomes, if that child's x chromosome has DMD gene mutation, then the child will inherit Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. (DMD encodes the muscle protein, dystrophin.) On the other hand, a female has two x chromosomes, so if they only have one gene mutation, they are considered a "carrier", but if they have two mutated gene, they will have the disease. Recently, 20% of women who are carriers had symptoms such as, muscle weaknesses, or cardiac abnormalities. Women who are carriers have 50% chance of passing on, and 25% chance of getting babies affected with DMD. Gonadel mosaicism is when a person has 2+ cell populations that differ in genetic makeup of eggs and sperms, and the change in the dystrophin gene is a new genetic change.

The symptoms usually start at ages 1-6. Sitting and standing may become difficult. The loss of pelvic and leg muscles cause replacement of fat in those parts of the body. Muscle decline also happens in the arms, neck, and upper body as well, but it's not as severe as the lower half. Because of this, as they grow, their bones may be deformed or have cardiomyopathy (breathing disorders/ enlarged heart).

There are many diagnosis and prevention for Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. One is taking samples of muscle tissues, or muscle biopsy, to look for abnormal levels of dystrophin protein in muscles. Without muscle biopsy, looking at the body's genetic instructions on a blood sample to look for DMD is another good way of diagnosing. (Creatine kinase is highly concentrated in muscle cells, but the breaking of muscle cells go into the bloodstream, so if they are found there, that could answer whether the person has the disease.) Finding deletion/duplication in gene sequencing may also detect the changes in DMD gene. Family history, blood tests, and muscle biopsy can determine the whether you have the disease or not.

Treatment of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy is aimed at the symptoms. If cardiomyopathy is severe, cardiac transplantation is used, but in most cases, doctors use anti-congestive medications. Medications such as prednisone, a steroid, to improve the strength of the individual. But this medication has many side effects, such as, high blood pressure, weight gain, and delayed growth. Cyclosporine is a medication that has improved clinical function in children, but the use of it is very concerning because of cyclosporine-induced myopathy. Oxandrolone, another medication still being studied, has fewer side effects. To prevent hardening of joints and deformity, physical therapy is essential during the process of medical treatments as well.

Duchenne's muscular dystrophies affect 1 in 3500-5000 newborn males. There are between 400-600 boys in the U.S. born with Duchenn's muscular dystrophy every year. There are also girls affected by this disease, but it is very uncommon. There were shocking amount of cases of this disease in the northern region of England. There isn't a direct answer to this mystery, but all we know is that gene mutations have caused it. But generally, Duchenne's muscular dystrophy can be found all over the globe.

Life expectancy for this specific disease is pretty young because the symptoms, such as cardiomyopathy and muscle decline is dangerous and very unhealthy for the body to endure for long time, so the heart can fail easily. Most don't live over 30, because of the breathing complications.