Reflection Essay

In about one page, discuss what you have learned about "The World Today." Include thoughts on any issue, individuals, events, country or society that has been constituting a nuisance or a blessing to the world. The more diverse issues you add, the more points you earn.

Description:

The Reflection Question asks you to" discuss what you have learned about human rights in the international context. Include thoughts on any country or a society that has or does not have human rights issues." If I am asked to answer this question, I will start from the fact that no state or society observes human rights to the letter. For instance, the U.S. claims to be the world policeman for human rights but at the same time one of the worst abusers. (2) Women and children suffer most human rights abuses. (3) The western world, as a whole, has abused the human rights of people around the world than any other group. They only started to think about an International Human Rights law after the First and Second World Wars/ ETC.

1. How would you “re-create” hexaploid bread wheat from Triticum tauschii (diploid) and Emmer wheat (tetraploid)?

2. Compare and contrast the origins of Turner syndrome, Williams syndrome, cri du chat syndrome, and Down syndrome. (Why are they called syndromes?)

3. Describe one human cancer (you should write about; causes, organ affected, development of the cancer, genetics of it, preventive and management measures).

4. CRISPR-Cas9 was first developed as a molecular tool in 2012; during the next few years, its use in molecular biology exploded, as scientists around the world began applying it to many different research problems, and hundreds of research papers describing its application were published. Explain why CRISPR-Cas is such a powerful tool in molecular genetics.

5. Describe in detail the CRISPR-Cas9 system of defense in bacterial against phages.

6. Describe Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques in details. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of PCR techniques.

7. Suppose that you have just graduated from college and have started working at a biotechnology firm. Your first job assignment is to clone the pig gene for the hormone prolactin. Assume that the pig gene for prolactin has not yet been isolated, sequenced, or mapped; however, the mouse gene for prolactin has been cloned, and the amino acid sequence of mouse prolactin is known. Briefly explain two different strategies that you might use to find and clone the pig gene for prolactin.

8. Describe how the genome of an organism of your choice has been successfully engineered to improve a trait of economic importance in the organism.

You work in a laboratory that studies the molecular biology of tribbles. [Although tribbles are an alien life form, assume here that the molecular biology of tribbles is identical to that of eukaryotes on Earth.]

Your lab has a genomic library of tribble DNA, as well as a cDNA library made with mRNA extracted from whole tribbles. The lab also has a collection of live tribbles that can be used to isolate RNA or DNA, and a supply of fixed tribbles that can be stained for gene expression.

Your advisor provides you with a cloned 100 bp DNA fragment that represents part of the protein-coding region of a tribble gene. Using the tools described in the previous paragraph and the molecular biology techniques we have discussed in class, how would you accomplish each of the following aims? Note: try to come up with the simplest and modest direct approach that will give you the desired information.

A. Determine the amino acid sequence of the complete protein produced by that gene.

B. Determine whether or not the gene contains introns.

C. Determine whether the RNA produced by that gene experiences alternative splicing.

D. Determine the length of the mature mRNA(s) produced by the gene. This includes the UTRs and the poly-A tail.

E. Determine which cells in the tribble body do and do not express mRNA from this gene.

F. You discover a blood stain in the lab, and you want to determine whether it is human blood or tribble blood. How can you do this using the molecular biology tools described above?

1. A Gram stain is made of a fixed smear from a culture of Escherichia coli. Which of the following microscopes would be most suitable for observing this bacterium?

Bright field microscope

Phase-contrast microscope

Transmission electron microscope

Dark-field microscope

Scanning electron microscope

2. True or False. Molecular phylogenetics aims to classify organisms based on observable traits, such as morphological, biochemical and physical characteristics.

3. Which of the following is NOT true concerning the plasma membrane of a cell?

               A. it is the interface between the cytoplasm and the external environment

B. it is a semi-permeable selective barrier to movement of molecules in and out of the cell

C. its chief structural components are hydrophilic proteins and negatively charged sugars

D. it is a hydrophobic bilayer of phospholipids with embedded proteins and other components

4. All microbial cells _________ but only some microbial cells are able to _________

            A. metabolize, grow                   

            B. move, metabolize

            C. evolve, communicate  

            D. differentiate, communicate   

5. Mitochondria evolved from _______ .

phototrophic bacteria

heterotrophic bacteria

chemolithotrophic bacteria

auxotrophic bacteria

20. Consider the following statements: I. Most bacterial species do not cause disease. II. Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in the US today.

Only statement I is correct.

Only statement II is correct.

Both statements I and II are correct.

Neither statement I nor II is correct.

________ 21. Scotophobotaxis refers to the ability of an organism to sense __________

scotophobes.

light.

extremes in pH.

darkness.

None of the above

58. A species of insect that lives solely on pine sap was found to contain a bacterial symbiont. Genome sequencing of both the host and the symbiont revealed that the symbiont lacked many genes required for energy production, and the host lacked genes for biosynthesis of several essential amino acids. What is/are the most likely mechanism(s) that caused the loss of these genes?

A) coevolution

B) horizontal gene transfer

C) increased mutation rate

D) horizontal gene transfer and increased mutation rate

PLEASE I NEED HELP WITH THESE QUESTIONS, THANK YOU!!!

33) A beaver eats the inner bark of an aspen tree and converts the potential energy in this bark into the kinetic energy of building a lodge (in the form of a river dam) complete with an underwater entrance! This example illustrates:

A) How energy can be destroyed and created

B) That all energy transformations lead to an increase in local disorder

C) How every energy transformation decreases the entropy of the universe

D) That beavers are energy transformers

E) How all of the chemical energy from the beaver’s food was lost as heat

34) Which is most accurate? A spontaneous process:

A) Occurs quickly

B) Concentrates energy

C) Increases order

D) Is energetically favorable

E) Has a positive ΔG

35) With respect to the overall reaction for cellular respiration:

A) The chemical products of respiration are of lower free energy than the reactants

B) This is an endergonic reaction

C) Energy to make ATP is obtained directly from the sun

D) This reaction absorbs free energy from its surroundings

E) Kinetic energy is released from the bonds of sugar molecules

7 of 9

36) Which is NOT an example of cellular work that can be accomplished by ATP?

A) Pumping of ions across a membrane by the Na+/K+ pump

B) Transport of a vesicle along a cytoskeletal track

C) Movement of water across a membrane via osmosis

D) Synthesis of a complex protein from amino acids

37) What is true with respect to ATP hydrolysis?

A) It yields water and a molecule of inorganic phosphate

B) It yields products that are less stable than the original reactants

C) The electron transport chain is key in releasing energy from this reaction

D) It can drive forward an endergonic process

E) It stores energy as it loses a phosphate group

38) The initial investment of energy for starting a reaction is called the:

A) Transition energy

B) Catalyst energy

C) Activation energy

D) Reactant energy

E) Barrier energy

Keith is a college student. He is extremely busy studying and working part-time. Keith sleeps in late and therefore does not take time for breakfast. He rushes off to class. At lunch he has time for only French fries. When he gets home from school, he eats canned corn (only corn, nothing else) and washes it down with water. Then, he goes to work, only to start the same routine the next day.
When Keith is confronted about his poor diet, he responds, "The French fries are a good source of carbohydrates. Since they are fried in oil, I get my daily requirement of fat. At supper time, I eat corn and it has a lot of amino acids in it."

You, a medical student, suggest that Keith see a doctor. Keith complies and makes an appointment with a doctor. The doctor's report looks like this: Keith is pale and underweight, his urine and blood pH are low, and the ketones in the urine and blood are high. The Na+ concentration in the blood is low. Keith seems to have possible nerve problems.

The doctor explains that Keith is pale due to anemic conditions brought on by the poor diet. With a poor protein diet, Keith's erythrocytes may not be making adequate hemoglobin. Because his diet is very low in carbohydrates, his body is metabolizing fat, which is causing the weight loss. By products of fat metabolism are ketones, which are acidic. This accounts for the increase in ketones in the urine and the blood and a drop in the pH. A drop in blood pH will inhibit the small intestine from putting Na+ into the bloodstream. Sodium ions are necessary for proper nerve function. In short, Keith needs to begin eating well-balanced meals.

1. Why is corn considered to be an incomplete protein?
2. How are ketones formed?
3. How are sodium ions involved in the nervous system?
4. How does this scenario relate to fad diets?

In acid-catalyzed addition of water to alkene, alcohol is the product. The conjugate base of the acid may compete with water for the newly formed carbocation and give a different product (other than alcohol). Among the following acids, which is the best acid catalyst? Which is the worst? Depend your answers.

               HOAc     HCl      H₂SO₄       CF₃COOH

In acid-catalyzed addition of water to alkene, alcohol is the product. The conjugate base of the acid may compete with water for the newly formed carbocation and give a different product (other than alcohol). Among the following acids, which is the best acid catalyst? Which is the worst? Depend your answers.

               HOAc     HCl      H₂SO₄       CF₃COOH

You have a solution that contains the following acids at the given concentrations, what will be the pH of the solution?
[HF] = 0.02 M, pKa = 3.2
[HClO4] = 100 mL of a solution with 5.7 g of HClO4, pKa = ---
[HCl] = 100 mL of an acid 36.5% w / w and a density 1.81 g / mL 0.01 M, pKa = ----