umuc bio160 week 7 discussion

11 Jun umuc bio160 week 7 discussion

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WEEK 7 DISCUSSION

TOPIC 1 Eutopia

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Imagine that you are a member of parliament of the country “Eutopia” with a large rapidly growing population that is exponentially spiraling out of control and putting a strain on all the country’s food, water, sanitation and fuel resources.

Give your fictitious parliamentary name in your posting title. (ie. The Honorable Representative from Iwantakid State). Describe ONE possible method to reduce or control your country’s total fertility rate to counteract the economic woes.

You may be as imaginative as you wish, but be prepared to defend your proposal with rational arguments should another representative challenge you. You may play the devil’s advocate, but beware that other representatives may strongly (but diplomatically) object to your proposals.

PLEASE SELECT AT LEAST ONE CLASS MATE AND DISCUSS THEIR PROPOSAL: Check the ideas of the other “members” of your parliament and discuss at least one other (classmate’s) policy proposal. Point out some potential benefits of their proposed solution…or…discuss some serious problems which might arise should the proposal be adopted. Be diplomatic while you make your arguments for and/or against proposals. Do not forget to respond to the representative who writes to you!

Topic 2: BIRTH DEFECTS

FERTILIZATION PROCESS: A female will normally produce ONE HAPLOID EGG per month. Males produce about 2 million haploid sperm per day. When the egg is released from the ovary, it will be drawn into the fallopian tube by the wave-like action of the fimbriae. The mature egg will then start floating down the fallopian tube. Sperm that enter the female system will swim like mad from the uterus, into the fallopian tube, towards the egg. They have less than 24 hours to get there before they die. ONE HAPLOID SPERM only will attach to and penetrate the corona radiata, zona pellucida and vitelline membrane surrounding the egg. When the “winner” penetrates the final vitelline membrane barrier, an electrical storm will pass over the egg shocking all the other sperm away! The haploid nucleus of the sperm and the haploid nucleus of the egg will unit to form a DIPLOID nucleus. So half of your gene code comes from your mom and the other half comes from your dad!

ZYGOTE & SPONTANEOUS ABORTION: After fertilization, the diploid cell will be called a ZYGOTE. The zygote will synchronously divide to form 2, 4, 8, 16, then 32 cells as it floats down the fallopian tube. At 32 cells, the structure is called a morula and all the cells are identical. In the next division, some of the 64 cells will begin to differentiate and a hollow blastula structure will form. At 128 cells (gastrula stage), some in-folding occurs and some cells will have become determined…into epithelial (outer), endothelial (inner) and mesothelial (middle) tissues. Usually implantation into the uterus occurs between the blastula and gastrula stage. At 256 cells (neurula stage) the beginnings of a primitive notocord (spinal cord) appear. If the zygote is damaged at any point in this process, the new life will die. A spontaneous abortion will occur and the next menstrual period will just be a bit heavier than normal, so the woman may not even realize that she was pregnant.

EMBRYO & GESTATION: If implantation in the endometrium layer of the uterus occurs, and life continues, the zygote will be called an embryo. The embyro cells will continue to divide synchronously and begin to differentiate into specialized tissues over the 9 months of pregnancy. The brain and spine begin formation first (2 weeks), followed by the heart (4 weeks) and then the limbs (8 weeks). By the end 12 weeks, all the major organs of the body will have been initiated. If the brain, spine or heart do not form properly, a spontaneous abortion may occur usually before the first trimester is completed. This time, there may be either a very heavy menses or a short labor and delivery of the placenta and the new (nearly invisible) life.

FETUS & FULL TERM DELIVERY: Once all the organs are initiated, the embryo will be called a fetus. Each organ will increase in size and function and during the second and third trimesters. Some birth defects are inherited. Other defects may be the result of environmental problems. It is while cells are rapidly dividing (mitosis) that the DNA is most likely to be damaged by environmental problems. The most common environmental causes of obvious physical birth defects include: high fevers, poor nutrition, and chemical irritants (medications / illicit drugs / pesticides / herbicides / preservatives / nicotine / alcohol). During the actual birthing process, premature birth and/or oxygen deprivation during delivery may lead to less obvious problems such as cognitive disability, respiratory distress and cerebral palsy.

Choose one of the following birth defects (or any other) that has not been selected by another student. Post your choice in the subject line of your thread so the other students can see what has been taken. Describe the defect in your own words and when the defect may have occurred during gestation, or why it may have been caused.

You may need to do a quick online search. Please do NOT copy and paste text from the internet. Instead briefly summarize what the defect is. You may copy and paste images from the internet only. Please provide the web addresses.

Common Defects

Spina bifida

Hydrocephalus

Anophthalmos

Microphthalmos

Down syndrome

Cerebral Palsy

Autism

Rare Congenital Defects

Aglossia

Albinism

Brachydactlia

Blindness

Cleft foot and hand

Heterochromia

Deafness

Dwarnian ear

Club Foot

Chromatelopsia

Anencephaly

Polydatyly

List of Some Other Birth Defects

Siamese Twins

Fused limbs

Coarctation of aorta

Cleft palate without cleft lip

Cleft lip with or without cleft palate

Oesophageal atresia / stenosis with or without fistula

Small intestine stenosis

Anorectal atresia / stenosis

Indeterminate sex

Renal agenesis

Cystic kidney

Polydactyly, preaxial

Limb reduction defects (lost fingers/toes/limbs)

Diaphragmatic hernia

Gastroschisis

Phocomelia

Syndactyly

Trisomy 13

Trisomy 18

Cyclopia

Vestigial Tail

Progeria

Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva

TOPIC 3 Cancer

CANCER: Cancer is a scary word but also very vague. There are many types of cancers, most of which are named after the organs they primarily affect. The causes are extremely diverse, but whether from environmental poisons, radiation, viral infections or inherited tendencies, the basic problem is that the cells can start to divide spontaneously and very rapidly to form masses that interfere with normal body function.

STAGES: Cancer usually is classified into 4 stages. Sometimes the stages are subdivided into A, B, C.

STAGE 1: The cancer is localized and encapsulated and is considered to be non-spreading or BENIGN.

STAGE 2: The cells have escaped the capsule and have spread into the general tissue area so it is not MALIGNANT.

STAGE 3: The cancer cells have spread from the compromised organ to the NEAREST lymph nodes.

STAGE 4: The cancer has escaped from the nodes and can now affect the rest of the body, setting up new LOCI.

LINKS: You can use the National Cancer Institute links provided here to find the 5 year survival rates, or another source, but please give the web address. Please remember that numbers without units are meaningless, so be sure to put the units in for each number!

http://www.cancer.gov/statistics/find#stat

http://www.cancer.org/research/cancerfactsstatistics/cancerfactsfigures2014/

For this conference, select ONE type of cancer, that has not already been selected by another student. Put the cancer name into the subject line and then BRIEFLY discuss the cancer in terms of: (1) DIAGNOSIS: Describe the cancer appearance (location) and stages. What percentage of which type of population usually develops this cancer? (2) PROBABLE CAUSE: What environmental, viral, microbial or genetic factors may be involved? (3) TREATMENT: Describe one form of treatment (medication, surgery, radiation…) for this cancer. (4) PROGNOSIS: What is the 5-year survival rate (post diagnosis) of this cancer? The statistics you find may break the survival rate down into stages, or by gender, so give the information you find relevant. (5) IMAGE: This can be microscopic cellular, tissue or organ image.

Please paraphrase web information into your own words and keep the explanations simple. You can copy and paste the image only! Please give the web addresses used.

CANCER TYPE:

1. DIAGNOSIS:

2. PROBABLE CAUSE:

3. TREATMENT:

4. PROGNOSIS:

5. IMAGE:

Topic 4: RESEARCH REPORT

Identify your research report topic by placing a few key words into your thread title. Briefly describe your topic to your fellow classmates. Give one or two interesting facts you discovered along the way. Remember that “a picture is worth a 1000 words”, so if you wish to include an image to demonstrate your selected topic, please feel free to do sot. Please also feel free to ask questions of your fellow classmates if their topic has sparked a personal interest!

Please remember that you can upgrade your draft report this week if you wish to do so to earn the best grade possible. The goal of the report exercise was to learn how to write a scientific report and how to properly cite information so the upgrading process is designed to allow you to view and repair parts of your report. Please view the returned report for editorial hints. Please submit your final revised H5 file into the homework 5 assignment folder.

TOPIC 5 FINAL EXAM INFORMATION

The final exam will be held during week 8.

This exam will be inside this online classroom and you will have to be online to complete it.

Please plan an uninterrupted three hour time period in which to work on the exam. The exam should take about 90 minutes to complete but you must submit it within the 3 hour time limit. The time you begin and end will be automatically recorded.

The exam will be available from MONDAY TO FRIDAY during week 8. You can take the final exam any time during those days but it must be completed no later than midnight FRIDAY.

If for any reason you believe you will not be able to complete the exam in this time period, please contact your instructor PRIOR the last day of week 8 (Friday) via email with your request to finish the exam by SUNDAY at the end of week 8.

Exams will NOT be accepted after Sunday of week 8.

The EXAM will be worth 100 points. Most of the questions will be multiple choice (about 75%), some true and false (10%), some completion (5%) and perhaps 2 short answer questions on two randomly selected body systems (10%). The exam has not been created yet, so these % values may change a bit but they will be close.

It is OPEN BOOK…so you can use your study guides, homework files and you can go back to the discussions if you want to but there will not be time to read everything searching for an answer. So… it is recommended that you print out your returned study guides so you have the correct answers available and print out the homework if you wish. (Most of the questions will be from the study guides).

Then THE DAY BEFORE you take the exam, spend about 1 hour per study guide and homework assignment to read each over and be sure you understand the content again. This is usually the most effective method to prepare for an open book exam. If you wish you can also look at the powerpoints for a quick review.