Muddy point!!! Unit 9: Attack of the weird plants @_@

My muddy point from this unit 9 was, how does a chlorophyll molecule absorb and reflect different wavelengths of light on the visible spectrum??

Someone help me!!

-Eunice Chang

Comment to BenS

Try memorizing this way!
First letters in alphabetical order- AACCEMMNPP
Annelida,
Arthropoda,
Cnidaria,
Chordata,
Echinodermata,
Mollusca,
Mammalia,
Nematoda,
Platyhelminthes,
Porifera.

-Eunice Chang

MUD POINT of Unit 8: Animal Diversity

My mud point from this unit is why chordates are not always vertebrates!?
Also, what are the economic and humanistic
importance of invertebrates??




-Eunice Chang <3 <3 <3

Comment to Jarod

When Darwin was in the Galapagos islands, he noticed there were a variety of finches that existed on each of the islands. There were many different species of finch which differed in beak shape and overall size. This is adaptive radiation and natural selection at work. Remember the "sun" that Mrs. Stein drew? The adaptive radiation picture looks like a sun, because 1 species gave rise to many species.

-Eunice Chang

Unit 7: Evolution -Mud point!!!!!!!

The hardest part of this unit was radioactive dating.... I have troubles making graphs. Also, what does "descent with modification" mean??



-Eunice Chang

Extra credit

I'm sorry! I can't comment on the extra credit...
Here's my comment:

The fact that hunters are hunting these poor antelope's is cruel and immoral. The dude from the interview seems like he doesn't really love the animals. He wants money from killing these exotic animals. "Hunting... provides an economic incentive for ranchers to continue to breed these species...(reduced species extinction.") I would have to disagree with this quote from the video. Yes, these species vanished from Chad, Egypt, and other African countries, and they have thrived in Texas, but hunting itself did not boost up the population. This had to be somehow connected with their environmental change. Maybe there wasn't enough food back in Africa, but there's more food in Texas. I don't understand how sacrificing one can bring up an entire population. All that the hunters think about is the "population", but it's not even clear that their hunting is the reason these antelopes are thriving. The bottom line of this problem is not the population numbers, but natural selection- animals are better adapted to the environment (Texas) and survive better reproducing more offspring. I agree with the woman who was against hunting. You don’t create a life to shoot it. I would rather want them to go extinct than to shoot them.

-Eunice Chang

*Miracle of Life* Muddy point (?)

This unit was interesting and miraculous to me! The formation of a baby was a more difficult and complex cycle than I thought. A lot of the things we learned so far were pretty straight forward, but I got confused on gastrulation and differentiation. What exactly is the difference between them!?

-Eunice Chang

-Muddy Punto- Dec.13, 2011

Hello! My muddiest point is the difference between codominance and incomplete dominance. When I do crosses, I don't understand the difference between the two.

Also, this is an optional question if you want to answer..
How come older women have a higher chance of getting a child with syndrome's or disorders?

-Eunice Chang:-)

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.

-Protein Synthesis Activity- (Nov. 18th, 2011)

Hey guys!! It's Eunice C!

Today, thankfully there was no other homework due besides previewing UP. 15-20. BUT, remember to consistently work on homeworks that's due Monday: Tribune article, UP 39-40, UP 23-28, UP 15-20, read 13.3, and KEEP STUDYING FOR THE DNA/RNA TEST ON TUESDAY!
So today, we did a protein synthesis Activity with our lab group partners! WOOHOO!! We had to construct a model of protein synthesis with nucleic acid model kit. First, we put together a double-stranded DNA molecule with a sequence. IF you got Mrs. Stein's initials, you moved onto the next step. Next, using the left strand DNA molecule, we constructed a complementary mRNA nucleotide strand. (Transcription!) *Remember, to construct mRNA from DNA, the enzyme RNA polymerase is used, with complementary mRNA nucleotide strand, and all of these occur in the nucleus. And uracil is used instead of thymine.
Last but not least comes translation. *Translation occurs in the cytoplasm. We had to attach amino acid to tRNA, then attach it to the codon of mRNA, and attach with hydrogen bonds. And continue this for the next 2 mRNA and amino acid groups.
Finally, if you have 3 initials you are good to go!


YAY its finally posted.....haha this is a video of protein synthesis! ENJOY

MUDDY HOLLOW TRAIL

Hi! It's Eunice C! I had some problems logging in but I'm in now!
I thought this unit was a bit confusing learning about all the bacteria's, viruses, the cells defenses, immunity, etc... BUT, the most difficult part for me was understanding the nonspecific and specific defense against diseases. How do they differ?

HELP HELP HELP

I cannot understand this! So, my muddiest point is the function and importance of enzymes in a living cell. How do enzymes impact a living cell? I know they are not living things, they are basically things that do certain jobs in a cell, but what are their jobs and functions?
-Eunice :]

Help me straighten this out!

Unit 2 was kind of confusing for me. Honestly, I didn't like working with food chains and food webs, but I think I kind of get it now. But now I need some clarity on numbers pyramids, energy pyramids, and mass pyramids... What are their differences and how do they work?? I just don't understand the functions of these pyramids...

-Eunice Chang

Comment to: Mike H

Sorry Mike H I can't comment on your post, because...I don't know how to...
So here's my advice about your problem. (The first image is a better example!)


Well, do you know that:
1st trophic level is producer
2nd is primary consumer (Herbivores)
3rd is secondary consumer. (Consumers)
Remember that producers are autotrophs that makes their own food; i.e. plants, bacteria's.
And consumers are heterotrophs which cannot make its own food, so they rely on producers or other consumers; i.e. animals, humans.

-Eunice Chang

Reflection on Tuesday, 9/13/11

Hi it's Eunice! Today in biology, we were supposed to have read 4.2 and do a strategy of your choice (cornell notes, double bubble, etc) for homework, but it is postponed to tomorrow!

About 10 minutes after class started, we went to the IMC and got with our groups to research for the Duckweed Presentation. We got the rubrics to divide Purpose Statement, Intro, Hypothesis Statement, Materials and Procedure, Results, Conclusion- (Claim and Evidence, Error Analysis, Why so important?). This can be done on a poster board, a powerpoint, etc. Also, each group chose the "brain" of the group, someone who can lead and get it all together. This presentation is worth a total of 25 points and it will be due next Friday. Groups would have to meet and finish it up on their own time, because today was the only day to research and get started with your group. Additionally, Mrs. Stein talked about some examples of alien species and close-to-distinct species, such as polar bears, deers, etc for us to choose from. That's basically what we did today, just talking about our Duckweed Presentation and discussing ideas of species and the presentation with your group~

Next Scribe: RIAZ GILLANI

Nature of Science - DONE!!

Yay we made it through the first unit! I thought 9th grade science would blow me off and overwhelm me, but our first unit was exciting and enjoyable. On the first couple days of school, to be honest, my brain was filled with worries about grades, teachers and homework. I was so anxious and nervous about this school year.
When we were introduced to jumping beans, I had no clue what they were, and I had no idea they were larvae's inside a seed pod, but it was fun observing and experimenting with these creatures.
Learning about all the microscope functions were boring, but I realized if we didn't go over those things, observing the cells would have failed, because we would've been lost to do what's next or how to control the microscope. Overall, it was a fun unit to start off biology and it wasn't that overwhelming as I thought it would be.

My First Post!

Hi I'm Eunice! When I was younger, something that I thought was really interesting were insects. Especially roly polys. The way they ball up in a ball when I touch them and watching it unroll itself was pretty interesting to me. (They roll up in a ball when they feel threatened). But did you know that their actual name is Armadillidiidae?! And did you know there are people who keep these creatures as pets?! Unlike other insects, these creatures can be awesome house cleaners. They eat leftovers, and little insects. You never know, you may want to keep these adorable creatures as a pet one day~

What I am most excited for this school year is dissection in biology. I wanted to be a doctor since I was six years old, because I enjoy science and learning about human bodies.

The thing I'm least excited about is marching in the band. I enjoy playing the flute, but I don't want to be marching outside every Tuesdays and Thursdays 6-9pm.