BIOL 246 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Scientific Method, Bronchiole, Blood Vessel

When you are faced with a medical case and do not know how to approach it or have questions, what do you do? Even experienced nurses, dentists, doctors, and pharmacists will go to their smartphones and begin searching for answers. So much information is available. How do you know what information is reliable and valid? The purpose of the journal assignment is for you to practice finding, evaluating, and summarizing resources around key concepts that are presented throughout the module, which is relevant to your specific area of interest. This journal should be valuable to you; you can collect sites, resources, and readings that you find helpful to your learning.

This module will focus on the following topics that examine how our body responds, or rather adapts, to environmental toxins on a cellular level:

* Cellular adaption and neoplasia

* Infection, immunity, and inflammation

* Hematological disorders

Instructions:

Search for, read, and incorporate (3) other readings in regards to either (tumor associated inflammation in mammary cancer between humans and dogs) or (zinc and vitamin E interactions related to the inflammatory response in aging and inflammation) or both. In this area of interest that focus on cellular adaption and neoplasia; infection, immunity, and inflammation; and/or hematological disorders. You might include:

* 1-2 journal articles or websites

* Book chapters

Your summary of EACH reading should be at least one paragraph (100-200 words) and include the following information:

All references must be cited using APA Style format.

* Number of pages read

* Keywords you used to find the reading

* Link to the reading

* Why you selected the reading

* Main point of the reading

* Describe how the health deviations you read about alter normal physiology.

* Provide your key take away from the reading. This could be something that made you pause, changed your thinking, supported your thinking, or made you question something.

* In your post, respond to the following questions: How do you know that the material you have found and read is reliable? How do you know that it is valid?

Literature Review

Words: 500

Article Chosen: THE MAGICAL AGE OF 10

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023/A:1002006521067

https://tomocarroll.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-magical-age-of-10/

Guidelines

Guide only, feel free to organise however else you like to as long as you address the learning outcomes and elements in the rubric.

* Introduction

Introduce the general issue and its importance

Identify key trends or perspectives

Identify the specific focus of this literature review (your identified issue)

Give a brief outline of the structure of the body

* Body

Cluster your literature around common themes or threads of ideas. Structure your writing thematically and not author by author. This allows you to compare, contrast, and make sense of the different authors’ perspectives on one point./ And if you find there are a lot of authors with some contribution to one point, then maybe that point needs to be teased out into sub-themes

Try not to hide behind what the literature is saying. Remember, it is up to you to interpret it and make sense of it for your reader. Listing what they have found or believe is part of a literature review, but in itself is not enough, you need to clarify what the reader is to take away from this body of research

Never be afraid to narrow your topic. You have a word limit, which is enough to make one meaningful point, but not to include detail for its own sake. It is better to dig deep into a topic rather than be broad and superficial

You may have to limit your question many times before you finalise your draft. Spend time considering your question/topic, because this provides the guidelines for your writing and your research. You need to have clear guidelines so that you can research with purpose and efficiency, even if these guidelines are modified later. Otherwise a lot of time and energy will be wasted, either, looking at irrelevant material, or material that cannot fit into your review

* Conclusion

Summarize the major contributions, evaluating the current position, and pointing out flaws in methodology, gaps in the research, contradictions and areas for further study

Conclude by summing up and identifying the significance of the topic in relation to the literature

* Please ensure that you write succinctly to avoid wasting your word count. Note that unnecessary words weakens your argument. You should keep within +/- 10% of your word count

* Check for spelling and grammatical errors. Loosing marks from errors that could be addressed through editing is not worth it.

* Make sure that all references are correctly referenced using APA style

* Refer to Unit Guide for more information about the unit requirements

Question #08: Basic physiology of the Reproductive System The question for this week is as follows: From a conceptual view of nerve cell connectivity and function describe a mechanism that would allow for a hypothalamic network of GnRH (or two GnRH sub-networks e.g. tonic vs. phasic) to synchronize both its tonic (or basal pulsatile gonadotropin release) and its phasic (or preovulatory surge like release of gonadotropin) operation, as it is observed during the estrous or menstrual reproductive cycles. Consider how the pulsatile output of such hypothalamic network might affect gonadotropin release during puberty, reproductive adulthood and menopause (aging). Your answer must follow the outline shown in the introduction (sub-questions a, b, c, d, see above). Please notice that in this question the structure is defined as the GnRH neuronal network (or two GnRH sub-networks e.g. tonic vs. phasic) and you should define a specific function common to puberty, reproductive adulthood and menopause (aging). Hint: think on “the circle”.

The four sub-questions to be used in answering most recitation questions are:

a) Name the structure and the function on which your overall answer will be based? Be as specific as you can in delimiting the boundaries of your example (the most important part of your answer, since the following b, c, & d sub-questions are based on your answer to this first sub-question, a). Please notice that only 1 item is required (in your answer it should be labeled as “a”). This answer should look like: “a.- My structure (S) is …. and its function (F) is …”. In same cases a second sentence might be needed.

b) Why do you think that your structure and your function are related? Support your contention based on 3 lines of evidence based on the chemistry, physics, anatomy, or physiology involved in your example. Please notice that 3 items are required (answers should be labeled as “b1, b2, and b3”). One of this answers might look like: “b1.- If I do this experiment and measure this variable using this technique, this result will suggest that my S/F is correct”. Please notice that MY question does not ask you to tell me what happens since this can be copy from any source, but it asked how do you know that your S/F relationship is true.

c) Which are the levels of organization involved in your example (c1)? Cite events occurring at its main level of organization (c2) and indicate how they relate to the whole body level (c3). Please notice that 3 items are required (thus, answers should be labeled as “c1, c2, and c3”). These answers should look as follows: “c1.- molecular” or any level of organization involved in your “a” answer (S/F); “c2.- the first event is; the next even is; the middle event is; the next event is; the last event is”. Five events distributed equidistant from each other is a good summary for the story line of the your S/F named in your “a” answer. Finally, “c3.- at a whole individual level my S/F described in “a” plays this role”.

d) Which are the main feedback mechanisms involved in your example (cite at least two) (d1)? Expand on one of them (d2) and name 2 absolute requirement for that feedback to work (d3). Please notice that 3 items are required (answers should be labeled as “d1, d2, and d3”). These answers should look as follows: “d1.- an increase in this negative feedback ligand must decrease this variable under control”. This is how you NAME a negative feedback. For d1 you need to name two negative feedbacks; “d2.- the first event is; the next even is; the middle event is; the next event is; the last event is”. Five events distributed equidistant from each other is a good summary for the most important negative feedback story line involved as a control of the your S/F named in your “a” answer, that you named in d1; “d3.- this two components are absolutely necessary for the negative feedback described in d2 to be operational.