Hola folks! This is week four of biology and I have a few new things to share with you. I have decided to focus on parts of the Eukaryotic Cell. We did go over parts of the skeleton on Monday, but I'll save that for next week. Lets get to it. I'll simply give you the definitions and what they do.

Cytoskeleton: Structurally supports, gives shape to cell; moves cell and its parts

Mitochondrion: Energy powerhouse produces ATP by cellular respiration

Centrioles: Social centers that produce and organize microtubules. This organelle has no cell membrane.

Plasma membrane: Controls the kinds and amounts of substances moving into and out of the cell.

Nucleus: Protecting, controlling access to DNA

Ribosomes: This organelle has no cell membrane. Attached to rough ER and free in cytoplasm Sites of protein synthesis.

Rough E.R. (edoplasmic reticulum): Modifies new polypeptides chains

Smooth E.R.: Makes lipids, degrades fats, inactivates toxins

Golgi body: Modifies, sorts, ships proteins and lipids, for exports or for insertion into cell membranes

Lysosomes: Digests, recycles materials

 
Of course all this was found in my textbook that I did cite the first week of my blog. Have a great weekend!!

Week Three

I want to thank you 19 wonderful people who took the time out to read my scattered thoughts last week. I really appreciate the support :) Ok now I am open to all comments for clarification, rectification, complementation. SO this weeks I have to take a different approach on the blog. I have to be more investigative. We did a lab this week that displayed the results of osmosis and diffusion. Before I continue, I clearly have to define these terms for you. Osmosis is: the tendency of water to move across a cell membrane in response to a concentration gradient (osmosis is a type of diffusion). Diffusion is: the net movement of molecules (or ions) down their concentration gradient (that is that whole concept of something moving from a high concentration to a lower one). We did a lab on Tuesday and it explored these types of diffusions. It also asked a question that integrated the lab with real life. The question was about a disease called Cholera. I, being Haitian, am very familiar with this disease. There was an epidemic of cholera that hit my country after the earthquake. What is cholera? Well according to some credible resource on Google, cholera is: an infectious and often fatal bacterial disease of the small intestine, typically contracted from infected water supplies and causing severe vomiting and diarrhea. Medical News Today says that approximately 3-5 million people are affected world wide. Cholera has a death toll of about 100,000-130,000 deaths a year since 2010. Since cholera is mainly deadly because of the large amount of diarrhea and dehydration that occurs, it reminds me of our lab. In the lab there was sucrose in iodide and iodide in sucrose. Each of them had different reactions to the solvent. There was a beaker where most of the water had drained from one of the dialysis bags. I can imagine that this resembles the inner organs when they are lacking water. I attempted to make a connection with osmosis during a lab to a real life disease that displays the results in the lab. I hope it worked! Have a great weekend.

Week Two

Well, week two was a bit more confusing. I am really starting to worry that I won't be able to understand this class. I followed the best I could. As the information began to get more complicated, I got sick. This blog is not to trouble you with my issues, so I will continue with the little bit of information that I think I understand.
The Metabolism consists of two parts.
Catabolism and Anabolism. Catabolism is the process dealing with breaking down.
Anabolism is the process dealing with putting together. Now oxygen plays an important role in the metabolic process. Oxygen helps to make ATP. What is ATP you may ask? It is a nucleotide that links reactions that produce energy to reactions that require energy. ATP is very important as you can see. Don't ask any questions, because that's all I have folks!
Let's talk about the body a bit more. Human blood maintains a Ph. of 7.3-7.5. Acidosis in the blood can be toxic. It is when the blood is below 7.0. Now what does that mean practically to you and me? It means a coma, and then a sure death. Alkalosis is when the blood ph. is at a level of 7.8 and above. Pretty much...death. Ok, now we have buffers in our stomachs to protect us against these heavy acids. An example of a buffer is: MUCUS! Yup! That nasty green stuff is protecting the lining of our stomachs.
Ok, last thing I have to say is that acids and bases are both ions. What does that mean? Stay tuned while I go find out. Until next week folks!

My First Week In Biology

My name is Andjie. I am a senior social work major. I am in this class because it is recommended for my major. This first week has been great, although I feel a bit overwhelmed. There has been a lot of information presented to us. The professor is an expert in her field. She is energetic and presents the information in a way that does not make me want to fall asleep. The topics that have been presented to us this last week include: an introduction, learning about human biology, and the chemistry of life. So, I thought I’d present to you a few terms that I’ve either learned, or has been redefined to me to fit the purpose of this class. Lipids: A greasy or oily compound of mostly carbon and hydrogen that shows little tendency to dissolve in water, but that dissolves in non-polar solvents. Proteins: A large organic compound composed of one or more chains of amino acids held together by peptide bonds. Carbohydrates: A biological molecule built of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms, usually in a 1:2:1 ratio. All cells use carbohydrates as structural materials, energy stores, and transportable forms of energy. The three classes of carbohydrates include monosaccharide, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. Glycerol: A three-carbon molecule with three hydroxyl groups attached; together with fatty acids, a component of fats and oils. Glycogen: A storage polysaccharide that can be readily broken down into glucose subunits. I got all these definitions from my science book. "Human Biology" 10th Edition Authors: Starr and McMillan