Genetic Testing

Genetic testing gives the ability for doctors to let you know if you have a deadly desease before you get it.  The question we are here to answer is weather or not you should get the news before it happens.  To answer this question you have got to put yourself into the position the girl in the video I watched was.  Her mom had was diagnosed with Huningtons disease, which is very deadly.  Her mom ended up dying and now her daughter is going to find out if she got the disease from her traits.  Would you want to know if that was you? To me I would want to know, just so I could tell my family to get them ready for it.  I wouldn't want to get everyone feeling sorry for me so I would probably only tell my family.  This is just my opinion and many people will probably have a different one.

Evolution

1. Erasmus Darwin- He was the first one to start the theory of evolution. He spent most of his time figuring out how a animal could evolve into what it is today. 2. Jean Baptiste Lamarck- Jean was not know as a good scientists. He was always over looked, and people thought his ideas were a little crazy. He was actually the first one to come up with the idea of inheritance of acquired traits.

3. Georges Cuvier- George Cuvier was with out a doubt one of the first fine minds in the science world. He came up with the idea of extension and past life forms.    

4. Thomas Malthus- He was forming a theory on natural selection. He had stated that plants produce way more offspring than what can survive. 



Part Two

1. What interesting evidence of geologicle change did Darwin discover while visiting Galapagos?

Darwin observed the finches beak struckure and how they were able to adapt to pick up fruit.

     2.  What did Darwin learn about the Galapagos finches when he returned to England? What vital information had he neglected to record when he collected them?

Darwin learned that the finches become slowley adapted to picking up the fruit. Darwin collected lots of finches but forgot to record where they were picked up at.

     3.  Describe the distribution pattern of Galapagos mockingbirds. What question did this raise in Darwin’s mind?
Darwin found the distribution patterns all over the place. It raised the question of what the different birds were because he didn't write where the birds had come from and that would effect what the looked like.

Evolution happens in many ways.  We know alot more about it today than we did back when Darwin was trying to prove a theroy.  Today we have it narrowed down to two different types of evolution.  Macro and Micro evolution.
Macro- Happens in a small scale, between a sertain population.
Micro- This is a large scale, that shows all spieces coming down from a dinosour, or a speices before them.

Gattaca Questions

1. Why do you think Vincent left his family, tearing his picture out of the family photo, after winning the swimming race against his brother?
He left his family because he finally released he didn't need them anymore.  The point to tearing out the picture was to show that he was out of the family, and didn't need their help anymore.

2. Describe the relationship between Vincent and Anton.

Vincent and Anton were brothers, but they weren't equal. Vincent was always the weaker of the two. He had more drive than anton had, but he didn't get the perfect body like his brother did. They would always be brothers but never would see themselves as equal to each other.

3. Choose your favorite character from the film. Explain why you choose that person. Would you want to be that person? Why? Why not?

My favorite person in the film was Vincent. Vincent knew he didn't have the perfect body, like everyone else. The thing Vincent knew was that he could do what he set his mind to. There was no give up in Vincent. He only wanted what he could't get, and got it anyways.

4. At the end of the film, you are told that the Doctor knew about Vincent all along. Why did the Doctor go along with the fraud? What would you have done if you were the Doctor?

The doctor knew all along, but he could see how bad Vincent wanted this. Out of all of the people at the office Vincent was the only who couldn't stand the thought of not making it to space. If I were the doctor I would have done the same. If he wanted it bad enough to do what he did, why should anyone stand in his way.


5. What do you think is wrong with the society portrayed in "GATTACA"? What is right?

I think that the part they do right is try to erase the kids having dna problems. At the same time is this right. Should anyone be allowed to go through life perfect. How can you say that they should never experience failure, is it going to make you stronger. Or will you be like Anton and worry more about if you can do it, while Vincent was imperfect but it never effected him. To me the difference is Anton thought he was perfect, but if you are perfect doesn't mean it gives you determination and drive that Vincent had.  


6. What were the screenwriters trying to tell us through the episode of the 12-fingered pianist? Is anything wrong with engineering children to have 12 fingers if, as a result, they will be able to make extraordinarily beautiful music?
Why do you need 12 fingers to do great music.  The person that has 10 and still dose the piece will be the true hero.  If that pianist had half the determination of Vincent, he would be able to play the music no matter how many fingers he had.

7. You and your spouse are having a child and are at the Genetic Clinic pictured in the movie. What characteristics would you want for your child and what would you ask to be excluded? Why would you make those choices?
 I would say don't make it a perfect child. All I would ask for is that he didn't have a disease, because no one deserves to not have a fare chance to live.

8. Picture yourself as either Vincent, Jerome, or Anton. Would you have acted the same or done things differently if you were in the same world as them?
I think that given the same chance we would have done things the same.  You can say how you would do things different, but you aren't in their world.  There perspective is different than ours.  So it is not us to judge how they acted.

DNA Structure

Dna is built up the same way in every person.  The major pieces of it are shown above.  As you see in the pictures all of the A's (adenine) connect to the T's (thymine).  Then the G's (guanine) and the C's (cytosine) connect.  These nitrogen bases are connected to the sugar phosphate structures on the sides.  On the right the picture shows the double helix shape. The double helix is always spun to the right.  

Human Crom

1.  What are the three main parts of a chromosome, as viewed under a microscope? The three main visible parts of the chromosome in the microscope are the long arm, the short arm and the centromere (which is the middle of the chromosome).
2. List at least four human diseases that have been mapped to the X chromosome. The X chromosome are capable of many diseases. The four most commonly seen diseases include Menkes Syndrome, Alport Syndrome, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and Adrenoleukodystrophy. The picture below shows the parts and peices to a human chromosome.

3.      When looking at the summary on genes show the functions, processes, and components it is thought to be involved in (what’s it do?). Looking at the information on genes, you can see different problems things such as how chromosomes are capable of having many diseases. In the Alport Syndrome, the different chromosomes are two recessive traits.

4.      What disease did you choose and what gene is/genes are associated with this disease? The genetic trait that I chose was deafness. The reason for me choosing this disease is the fact that these people never hear one sound all their life! The website listed is a good site to explain how the trait is passed down.

5. On what chromosome are these genes/is this gene located? the answer I found to this stated "
mutation in COL11A2 (DFNA13) (Leenheer et al, 2001). COL11A2 encodes a chain of type XI collagen."

Questions on clinical synopsis in the OMIM entry:

1. When was the disease first reported in the scientific literature? This was first reported in 1992.
2. What are some of the clinical symptoms of this disease? The only symptom is loss of hearing, that is what the disease is.
3. What lab findings (gene function or biochemical data) are associated with the disease? One thing found in the lab is autosomal recessive disorders require a gene from both the mother and father.
4. What type of inheritance governs this disease? There are four different types of inheritances: Autosomal Dominant Inheritance, Autosomal Recessive Inheritance, X-linked Inheritance,  and Mitochondrial Inheritance  

chart on in sickness and in health

   This is a project that we created based on facts from two families.  This is a chart to show how the disease traveled through the family tree.

1.What would a pedigree of Greg and Olga’s families look like?

They are shown above.  There are differences in the charts that you see, such as different diseases but as you see in both charts, the diseases skip generations.

2. Do autosomal dominant disorders skip generations? It is possible if there is a recessive trait but it the traits are domanate it will not skip.

3. Could Greg or his mother be carriers of the gene that causes myotonic dystrophy? It is not possible because the gene is domanite and it would show up on them to.

4.Is there a possibility that Greg’s aunt or uncle is homozygous for the myotonic dystrophy (MD) gene? It isn't possible because the other two sibblings don't have the disease.

5.What is the possibility that Greg and Olga’s children could inherit the MD gene? No since Greg’s mom and Greg did not have the gene and Olga didn't show signs of it there is no way there kids could develope this gene.

6.What are the hallmarks of an autosomal recessive trait? The characteristics of autosomal traits are that they skip generations and are present when there are no other dominate traits to take it over or two parents withe recessive genes have a child.

7.What does consanguineous mean? Why is this concept especially important when discussing recessive genetic disorders?  The dictionary deffanition is "Relating to or denoting people descended from the same ancestor". This is so important because it can show us what diseases come through our families.  Many genes can be traced through a family tree.

8.What is it about the inheritance pattern of factor VIII deficiency seen in Greg and Olga’s pedigree that point toward it not being an autosomal recessive trait? Since factor VIII is not in all the families and siblings it shows it being autosomal recessive trait. It is not an autosomal trait because thechance of boys and girls getting factor VIII or Hemophilia is not equal.

Paper Testing Strip

This is a study that we did in science class to see if the tasting gene is dominate or recessive.  From my data I would say the tasting gene is most likely dominate.  Only in the case of my two sisters, which could have gotten two recessive traits, the gene showed up.  Everyone besides those two immediately spit it out, because of the bad flavor they taste.  This was an interesting test to chart because it breaks it down to show you what generations got what traits.

EUGENICS

What is eugenics?
Eugenics is the theory that birth should be controlled to makea more perfect child. Improving the populations’ genes and this can cause a drop in birth rate.


What were the social origins of eugenics?
The social origins of eugenics started right after the civil war period.  Major things were changing in the U.S.  Industry was becoming bigger, this causing most country people to move to the big city were the jobs could be found.  Bankruptcies became a bigger issue during the time, this is when the idea of "survival of the fittest" came about.  This idea was thrown out because the wealthy stated having a declined birth rate, while the poor people's birth rate was rising rapidly.  This is when the whole idea of eurgenics came around.  Genetics seemed to prove the cause of peoples social problems.  Eugenics argued that by stopping the "unperfect people" from having a baby could save the country thousands and make the future people perfect. 


What research methods were used in eugenics, and what were their flaws?
The start of research on eurgenics was from Mendel's research paper in 1865 on the peas.  Mendel stated that with each visible gene, one had come from the mother and one from the father.  That genes are either domanate or recessive.  A recessive trait is only seen when two recessive taits join together.  If there is a domanite trait no matter what it is the one to show up.  The scientist studing eugenics forcused on two main things, 1.finding large families that would show the traits, and 2. "scoring" each family member to see the existance or absence of a tait.  One of the flaws with this was that the scoring was hard because the tried to get into to complex traits.  The scientist were to quick to put the trait in one of Mendel's templates.


How did eugenics reseach impact American society today.
Eugenics has ipmacted America dramaticly.  It has givin us a thought that we need to be perfect.  We all have that one person in mind that we wish to be like, or look like.  When really no one is perfect.  There are traits in that person that are not noticable that we may no wish oppon ourselves to have.  There are a few cases were eugenics can be right.  I believe that we could use it to control the amout of kids haven by someone that is on disability or wellfare.  My reasoning for this is, I know many peope who use the extra money for each kid for themselves.  They abuse the system, and cheat through it.  They are perfectly fine to find a job but choose not to because they think they can make it with others money.  So we should set a sertain amount of kids that they are able to have, in order to keep the money givin down.


All of my reaseach was found at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/list2.pl

Making a Baby

   In our science class we learned about the different possibilities of baby genes.  Now a days people have many ways of being able to have kids.  This may seem weird, but now you can shop for your baby.  You can make him look just how you want.  This is possible by looking of the father and mothers genes.  What is dominate or recessive.  In the chart below it shows how the traits mix up, and what it will look like on the baby.  I had a computer wife to make a baby and through a picture, I was able to see the possibilities of what our baby could come out like.  This is not 100% because we don't always no for sure if we are pure genes or if we have a recessive trait stuck to the dominate trait.  These traits can later show up.

Trait	Parent 1′s Genotype	Parent 2′s Genotype	Baby’s Genotype	Baby’s Phenotype
Gender	XX	XY	XX	girl
Mole	mm	mm	mm	no mole
Eyebrow texture	kk	KK	Kk	bushy eyebrows
Eye Shape	OO	oo	Oo	oval eyes
Earlobes	ll	Ll	ll	attached
Cheek freckles	ff	ff	ff	no freckles
Cheek dimples	DD	DD	DD	dimples
Chin dimple	Pp	pp	pp	no chin dimple
Chin shape	Zz	ZZ	ZZ	round chin
Mouth shape	Cc	Cc	cc	straight
Hairline	qq	qq	qq	no widows peak
Face shape	AA	Aa	AA	round
Mose size	nn	nn	nn	small nose
Lip size	Gg	GG	GG	big lips
Hair curliness	Hh	nn	hh	straight hair
Eye separation	LL	Li	Li	medium set eyes
Eyelash length	JJ	JJ	JJ	long eyelashes
Hair color	RrSs	RrSS	sSrr	lightbrown hair
Eye color	TtUU	TTUU	TTUU	dark brown
Skin color	wWw	Www	ww	white

Eyebrow Size

ee

ee

ee

don’t meet

Eyebrow shape

Bb

Bb

BB

arched eybrows

stem cells

Here is a prezi on my stem cells.

Prostate Cancer

The prostate gland is an organ that is located at the base or outlet of the urinary bladder.  The urethra is the passage through which urine drains from the bladder to leave the penis.  The main function of the prostate gland is to produce some of the substances that are found in normal semen.  In a young man, the normal prostate gland is the size of a walnut (<30g).

What is prostate cancer?

Prostate cancer is a cancerous tumor that consists of cells from the prostate gland.  Generally, the tumor usually grows slowly and remains confined to the gland for many years. During this time, the tumor produces little or no symptoms or outward signs.  

Symptoms

The PSA blood test is often done to screen men for prostate cancer. Because of PSA testing, most prostate cancers are now found before they cause any symptoms.

The symptoms listed below can occur with prostate cancer, usually at a late stage. These symptoms can also be caused by other prostate problems:

• Delayed or slowed start of urinary stream
• Dribbling or leakage of urine, most often after urinating
• Slow urinary stream
• Straining when urinating, or not being able to empty out all of the urine
• Blood in the urine or semen
• Bone pain or tenderness, most often in the lower back and pelvic bones (only when the cancer has spread)

Signs and tests

A biopsy is needed to tell if you have prostate cancer. A sample of tissue is removed from the prostate and sent to a lab.

Your doctor may recommend a prostate biopsy if:

• You have high PSA level
• A rectal exam shows a large prostate or a hard, uneven surface

The results are reported using what is called a Gleason grade and a Gleason score.

The Gleason grade tells you how fast the cancer might spread. It grades tumors on a scale of 1 - 5. You may have different grades of cancer in one biopsy sample. The two main grades are added together. This gives you the Gleason score. The higher your Gleason score, the more likely the cancer is to have spread past the prostate:

• Scores 2 - 5: Low-grade prostate cancer
• Scores 6 - 7: Intermediate- (or in the middle-) grade cancer. Most prostate cancers fall into this group.
• Scores 8 - 10: High-grade cancer

The following tests may be done to determine whether the cancer has spread:

• CT scan
• Bone scan

The PSA blood test will also be used to monitor your cancer after treatment. Often, PSA levels will begin to rise before there are any symptoms. An abnormal digital rectal exam may be the only sign of prostate cancer (even if the PSA is normal).

Onion Root lab

Intro

  What is mitosis?  Mitosis is nuclear division and produces two identical daughter cells during the 5 major steps interphase, prophase, metaphase, anaphase, and telophase.  

Phases

Interphase: Cells may appear inactive during this stage, but they are quite the opposite. This is the longest period of the complete cell cycle during which DNA replicates, the centrioles divide, and proteins are actively produced.

Prophase:  During this first mitotic stage, the nucleolus fades and condenses into chromosomes.  Each replicated chromosome comprises two chromatids, both with the same genetic information.

metaphase:    Tension applied by the spindle fibers aligns all chromosomes in one plane at the center of the cell.

anaphase:     Tension applied by the spindle fibers aligns all chromosomes in one plane at the center of the cell.

Telophase:    The daughter chromosomes arrive at the poles and the spindle fibers that have pulled them apart disappear.

This is the results on the lab that we did.   We got one onion root and put it under the microscope, and started to count the different types of phases.  It came out similar to the percents that we found online.  So I would say it came out pretty accurate.  It was an interesting lab because it came out so clear on the different stages.  The phases looked just as they did in the pictures of examples.