Finishing up the semester

Looking back at the semester I have mixed feelings. For one i feel bad because i didn't give my best in my academics and i wasted so much time. I could have done so much better.
But then again i am thankful because this experience made me humble. If i were an A student this semester, I might have been very conceited. I might have not gotten so close to the teachers because i wouldn't have gone to see them. Overall I would say this semester was in a sense a blessing to me. Man can not see only the physical gains that one can get but he has to also be able to see other gains as well.
This semester I was able to see how God works through people and despite my shortcoming he fills in for what i lack.
However, I have to learn from this experience and give my best next semester. This way i won't be a fool. For a fool does not learn from his mistakes.
-I need to gain good study habits
-make plans and follow them
-have friends hold me accountable to what I have planned to do.

These are some of the things that i need to do in order not to repeat the mistakes i have done this semester.

dictionary

ampulla - Latin, "flask." The segment of the mammalian oviduct, distal to the uterus and near the ovary, where fertilization takes place.

chorion - An extraembryonic membrane essential for gas exchange in amniote embryos. It is generated from trophoblast and extraembryonic mesoderm (somatopleure). The chorion adheres to the shell in birds and reptiles, allowing them the exchange of gases between the egg and the environment. It forms the embryonic/ fetal portion of the placenta in mammals.

decidua - The maternal portion of the placenta, made from the endometrium of the uterus.

morula - Latin, "mulberry." Vertegrate embryo of 16-64 cells;, precedes the blastula or blastocyst stage. Mammalian morula occurs at the 16-cell stage, consists of a small group of internal cells (the inner cell mass) surrounded by a larger group of external (tropoblast) cells.

nodal vesicuar parcels (NVPs) - Small, membrane-bound particles in the mammalian embryo that contain sonic hedgehog protein and retinoic acid. Secreted from the node cells under the influence of FGF signals, Ciliary flow carries the NVPs to the left side of the body, delivering paracrine factors for the establishment of left-right asymmetry.

paralogues - Each member of a gene family, which is homologous to the others (that is, their sequence similarities are due to descent from a common ancestor and are not the result of convergence for a particular function).

progenitor cells - Relatively undifferentiated cells that have the capacity to divide a few times before differentiating and, unlike stem cells, are not capable of unlimited self-renewal. They are sometimes called transitamplifying cells, since they divide while migrating. Both unipotent stem cells and progenitor cells have been called lineage-restricted cells, but progenitor cells are usually more differentiated than stem cells.

rhombomeres - Periodic swellings that divide the rhombencephalon into smaller compartments, ech with a different fate and different associated cranial nerve ganglia.

spina bifida - A congenital defect resulting from failure to close the posterior neuropore, the severity of which depends on how much of the spinal cord remains exposed.

trophoblast - The external cells of the early mammalian embryo (i.e., the morula and the blastocyst) that bind to the uterus. Trophoblast cells form the chorion (the embryonic portion of the placenta). Also called trophectoderm.


Reference:
Definitions from : Developmental Biology Ninth Edition by Scott F. Gilbert

Meeting people with the same passion

It is not easy meeting people that have the same interest and passion as I do. But I was surprised that Dr. V. was just as excited to continue growing the sea urchin larvaes. She didn't seem agitated not even a bit by my frequent visits regarding the sea urchins. I was very impressed to see how readily she offered me her help and support to raise the sea urchin larvaes. I really hope that we can get full grown sea urchins out of them. Today when i wasn't even thinking about the larvaes she brought down their food, phytoplanctons, from upstairs and thus surprised me again. I really have a passion to tend to the sea urchin larvaes and keep observing them so that they can grow into their adulthood. I wonder how much it will take for them to finally undergo metamorphosis and become miniature sea urchins. I can't wait to see them get bigger. I would like to document their metamorphosis on camera. It would be a really neat thing to capture on a camera. I thank God for making it possible for me to have an instructor who has the same passion as I do.

Reflection on preparing for the 2nd test

I wasn't as productive as i wished this week. In my head i was thinking about studying for the 2nd test but i was wasting my time doing other stuff. However yesterday when i was studying with Steeve, Freddy, and Joanna for the test in the last minute, i realized something very valuable. I noticed that we can have a lot of fun while studying. While Freddy was reciting one of the pathways for apoptosis I randomly held up three fingers to signify CED-3, and everybody busted out laughing. They thought i was imitating a rapper. And so it began. We added dances rhymes and hand motions to help us memorize and learn the pathway. I was amazed how fast we were able to memorize the pathway that way. I want to have a study group times for the future as well. In fact i'm going to post a note on D2L asking people to study together.

Invastigating Steroid use in pregnant women

A recent study on pregnant women with the risk of giving birth prematurely. Researchers have injected steroids into the fetuses in hopes to stimulate maturity of the lungs and to prevent resipiratory distress syndrome. This treatment is supposedly to help prevent premature birth. But it is not yet clear what long term effects this treatment may have on the children who had undergone this treatment. The study showed slight increase in kids with cerebral palsy.

I think the study had gone overboard. I would never let my wife (if i were to have one) go through such treatment. Even though my child would die after a week of birth i would treasure the moments with it. If it is God's will for the baby to survive then it will survive. God can make anything happen without any human intervention. I would leave the life of the child in God's hands.

Source: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Pediatrics/GrowthDisorders/22780

Dictionary

Imaginal rudiment - formation through an invagination from the ectoderm that fuses with the middle sac. This rudiment develops a fivefold symmetry, and skeletogenic mesenchyme cells enter the rudiment to synthesize the first skeletal plates of the shell.

Cetrosome-attracting body (CAB) - a macroscopic subcellular structure that positions the centrosomes asymmetrically in the cell.

Energids - nuclei and their associated cytoplasmic islands.

Notochord - a transient mesodermal rod that plays an important role in inducing and patterning the nervous system.

SKN-1 protein - a maternally expressed polypeptide that may control the fate of the EMS blastomere, which is the cell that generates the posterios pharnx.

P-granules - ribonucleoprotein complexes that specify the germ cells.

Invagination - The infolding of a region of cells, much like the indenting of a soft rubber ball when it is poked.

Involution - The inturning or inward movement of an expanding outer layer so that it spreads over the internal surface of the remaining external cells.

Ingression - The mirgration of individual cells from the surface layer into the interior of the embryo. The cells become mesenchymal and migrate independently.

Delamination - The splitting of one cellular sheet into two more or less parallel sheets. While on a cellular basis it resembles ingession, the result is the formation of a new sheet of cells.

Epiboly - The movement of epithelial sheets that spread as a unit to enclose the deeper layers of the embryo. Epiboly ca occur by the cells dividing, by the cells changing their shape, or by several layers of cells intercalating into fewer layers. Often, all three mechanisms are used.

Reflection

I am ashamed to say that all my classes are suffering from my procrastination.
Even though i worked 24hours a week, statistically i had enough time to do all my school work and to study. But I have been very unstable in using time. At this time due to my procrastination I am swamped with late assignments. Thankfully due to the grace and mercy given by my teacher I am able to turn them in late with only a little penalty.
I know it's possible to get all my late works done and get caught up within a week. But thinking about them still gives me a big headache. Sometimes i'm so overwhelmed that i just want to quit school. Yet, I know it's not an option that i can so easily choose.
Even this blog is late but by completing this blog i know that i have one less assignment to worry about. I will try to be caught up by the end of this month andno more slacking off for me.
I don't want to be always stressed because of all the work that have accumulated.
I even cut my work hours to 8 hours a week so that i can use those times to study and not fall behind in school.
I thank God for providing for my needs and giving me another chance. I really want to be a changed man by the end of this month.

Encounter with Barry Black

I think it was four years ago, the last time i met Dr. Barry Black. He was preaching during chapel at Pioneer Memorial Church in Berrien Springs, Michigan (Andrews University). I didn't get to talk to him personally. But I read his autobiographical book and knew somewhat about him. He has been blessed with photographic memory and thus able to recite the whole bible, both old and new testaments, from memory. I thought that people with these kinds of abilities are disabled in some other way. However I could find no flaw in him. He interacted with people normally, talked, sang, walked normally. And as far as i know had no problem doing any other ordinary tasks. And so I found some articles and websites regarding people with photographic memories. Sure enough some things I didn't know before was that the original term for it is Eidetic memory. People with eidetic memory don't have to be autistic. But I was associating autism with it because the only people that are widely known to have this ability are autistic savants. I also found out that this phenomenon is still scientifically non explainable. I sure wish i had this ability as well. But only very few are fortunate of having this ability.

Dictionary

Some terms i didn't know when reading chapter 4.

ampulla - a dilated portion of a canal or duct.

equatorial region - The junction between the inner acrosomal membrane and the sperm cell membrane. Tthis is where membrane fusion between sperm and egg begins.

Axoneme - The major motor portion of the flagellum and a structure formed by microtubles emanating from the centriole at the base of the sperm nucleus.

cumulus - The mammalian egg surrounded by a layer of cells. It is made up of the ovarian follicular cells that were nurturing the egg at the time of its release from the ovary.

chemotaxis - This chemical secreted by the egg attracts sperms of their species toward the egg.

capacitation - The set of physiological changes by which sperm become competent to fertilize the egg.

Ampulla - The region of the oviduct where fertilization takes place.

Source:

1) Text book.

Developmental Biology, Ninth Edition, Scott f. Gilbert. 2010.

2) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ampullae

Investigating Autistic Savants

When I hear the word autism. I automatically think about people with disabilities. Most people with autism have difficulty communicating with people. It could be due to their inability to speak or their shyness. In rare cases some autistic children are discovered with superhuman skills. They range from being able to play an instrument completely from memory, drawing an entire city from memory, reading two pages at once in less than 3 seconds and do massive calculations in head. Scientists believe that they gain something for loosing other abilities. Scientists are trying to analyze the autistic savants to see how they are able to perform such superhuman abilities. It is hypothesized that by chance someone can become a savant by being hit on the head with an object. There are several cases of such examples which led to another hypothesis that everybody holds the capability hidden within themselves to become a savant.


Works Cited:
1. http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world/
2. Gerald Newport. (2006). How do they do it? insight on calendar skills from an asperger's savant. Journal of Autism and Developmental disorders, 36(No. 2),

The internet source is not from a scholarly reviewed website but using common sense one can tell that the author is not lying about the information given out. The author has many links that lead to their original articles and sources that are peer reviewed and legit news articles.

late realization

Last Thursday I went to Pep boys to get my engine oil changed. Back then i didn't realize it but when we talked about boys being trapped in a female body and girls being trapped in a male body issue, I realized that the encounter was related to Developmental Biology. At the first glance I thought it was just a regular couple, but at the second glance I noticed some lumps on the chest area of the supposedly male partner. As I examined that person closer I realized "he" was actually a "she". It was hard to distinguish at the first glance because she was dressed in a hip hop style fashion. She wore baggy pants that showed her boxers on her rear and very loose T-shirt with a baseball cap. Other than her partial looks and voice, she resembled a typical male. She acted like a boyfriend would to her partner and portrayed manliness. At that time i thought she was just a typical tom girl, but now that i ponder about the encounter more thoroughly, I realize that she could have been a boy trapped inside of a female body. She may have been born male but was somehow surgically treated at birth and was administered with estrogen hormone supplements. Another theory would be that she was lacking the right genes to have Wolffian ducts formed. Whatever the case may be we can't find out for sure unless we have her DNA tested. I believe that I'll pay more attention to such people more than ever thanks to the developmental Biology class.

Reflection on the past few weeks of school

Thinking about my past weekends, I realize that I haven't been productive at all. I always planned to get ahead in school work before the weekends started but at the end of each weekend I would find myself frustrated at the fact that I didn't get anything done that I had planned. Another weekend is coming up and again I have planned to get some school work done, but I don't know if I'll be able to any of them. I am a person that needs someone to push me if I want to get anything done. I tried to read ahead or at least catch up with the materials being taught in Developmental Biology class but to no one's surprise I didn't do it. When Joel asked about conjoined twins on D2L, I looked up some information. That was the only time I actually put some input for the class. I want to complain that this class has the most homework and most assignments written down in my student handbook were and are for this class. But if I think about it, if i didn't have these assignments I wouldn't have learned about the formation of gonads on my own. The case studies actually motivated me by grabbing my attention. I was always curious about how it was decided whether an embryo would form into a boy or a girl. We have yet to learn about it completely but now I know that there needs to be many enzymes and genes present for the Mullerian or Wolffian ducts to form or disintegrate. I don't really know what kind of study method suits me the best because i have not given my best trying to study with a certain method. But I believe that I can learn things better when they are visually simulated.

I hope that i can push myself to study/read ahead so that I can put more input of my knowledge into the class. I want to be more familiar about the sexual differentiation of humans before the weekend is over.

Dictionary

Antrum - In the mammalian ovary, the space that develops between follicle cells that fills with liquor folliculi.
Atretic follicles - In a mammalian ovary, the follicles that degenerate during any cycle of follicle maturation, as the dominant follicles go on to mature.
Eosin - An acidic de that has an affinity for cytoplasmic elements. Its yellowish-red color makes it an ideal counter stain to hematoxylin.
Leydig Cells - The interstitial cells of the testis These cells lie between the seminiferous tubules. They secrete testosterone in response to leutinizing hormone.
Oogonium - A developing ovum that is in the gonial stage, dividing by mitosis.
ootid - A developing ovum in the gonotid stage, An ootid is haploid, with each of its chromosomes consisting of single chromatid. The second meiotic division divides the secondary oocyte asymmetrically, producing one ootid and one tiny polar body.
Spermatogonium - A developing sperm in the gonial stage, dividing by mitosis.
spermiogenesis - The differentiation process that transforms a spermatid into a mature spermatozoan.

Works Cited:

Definitions from: Tyler Labmanual

Pictures from (in order):
1) http://www.clevelandclinic.org/reproductiveresearchcenter/images/follicle_antrum01.jpg 2) http://www.ouhsc.edu/histology/Glass%20slides/83_16.jpg
3) http://www.oligos.com/MCRCServlets/images/eosin.gif
4) http://instruction.cvhs.okstate.edu/histology/images/InterstitiumLo.jpg
5) http://www.uoguelph.ca/~gbarron/MISC2006/saprol2.jpg
6) http://www.creationofman.net/chapter1/rescreation/yaratilis219.jpg
7) http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/histology/labmanual2002/labsection3/TestesandSperm03_files/image002.jpg
8) http://www.ccs.k12.in.us/chsBS/kons/kons/images/spermiogenesis.jpg