Arnold Gangaidzo

As the term comes to an end I feel positively about the way everything has gone. I have definitely improved with my standard of work that I now hand in because of the extra time I give myself to deal with assignments. The modules have been more relevant to my course and I feel like this has helped me to become more engaged with the work which has been heavier content wise. I plan on finishing the term strong by handing in a thoroughly written #MB1031 report which I will be working on till the deadline. - Arnold Gangaidzo

Relates to our MB1005 Genes module and it focuses on the Tp53 gene. The article puts forward that variants in this gene cause differences in recovery times for stroke victims. - Arnold Gangaidzo

Have had a hectic week but hasn't been very constructive work wise, so my aim is to get back on track for the remaining two weeks. The only positive is that I managed to sort out my student finance for the next academic year so I encourage everyone to do the same (it only took 10 mins). - Arnold Gangaidzo

This week has dragged on most probably because of the huge pile of work I had to go through and the #BS1009 essay will be the last of that pile! Presentations seem to be the new type of work Im going to be facing these next upcoming weeks so it will be interesting to see how my oral skills have come along since last semester. I have been enjoying the #MB1004 tutorials that we have been attending and I hope that the #BS1006 will not disappoint. - Arnold Gangaidzo

I would definetely say you need more sources - how do you know that the information is correct? Try to find the same information from some other sources - books/journals ideally. Not sure if it will actually count marks wise or not - Laura

Thanks for the advice...I will try find other sources but their more likely to contribute to a small portion of the essay - Arnold Gangaidzo

try finding some journals that just back up the claims already made, as if to confirm what has been printed in the book. - Adam

This would come in handy for our #BS1009 practicals with the resolution being capable to view individual viruses and bacteria with an optical microscope. - Arnold Gangaidzo from Bookmarklet

This week has dragged on with the preparation for the #MB1031 essay and the report we had to hand in. This coming week will be a test to see if I have put in enough work for the essay. I still need to plan for my #BS1009 essay which I have been putting off for a while now and I plan on making some progress on it this week. One more month until the holidays so I would like to remain consistent and keep this term extremely productive! - Arnold Gangaidzo

This relates to the lecture we had in #MB1031 about how smell is used to attract the opposite sex within different types of organisms and maybe even humans. This article explains how females can identify single males through urine washing that the males partake in when attempting to court. The urine contains high concentrations of testosterone with the higher status males producing the most. - Arnold Gangaidzo from Bookmarklet

This week has been intense but not because of an increased workload. There has been a lot of activities like football I have been busy with and I am pleased that it has all managed to fit in sofar. I am planning on starting to generate ideas over the #BS1009 essay in order to ease the workload for the week it is due and I need to keep reading the book I bought for the module to make sure that I am grounded in the foundations of Microbiology. The next few weeks are going to be hard going with the work that will be getting set, essays, reports and weekly assignments so I plan on being stricter with my time management. This weekend I had the opportunity to cover a lot of work but got lazy so I plan on making up by spending half an hour extra on private study. - Arnold Gangaidzo

I found this interesting because it proposes that we can adapt to different environments through slight changes in our genomes which produce gene variants. The article is pretty much summed up by 'You are where you live.' - Arnold Gangaidzo

Found this interesting. It makes me realise that learning the fundamentals of lab techniques now and being very thorough will not only benefit me but the future patients' samples I may get to handle. This just highlights the importance of the multiple practical work we do in #BS1009 and #MB1005 as an opportunity to master basic techniques. - Arnold Gangaidzo from Bookmarklet

Very mixed week as I have continued to enjoy the #MB1004 module whereas I am not so keen with #MB1005 as it doesn't interest me. However I like how the genes module is set up and I think my lack of interest in #MB1005 is just down to me personally. I have started to read my 'Modern Microbiology' book for #BS1009 and hopefully this will supplement the lectures well especially as the module is short. I would like to think I am doing what I possibly can to stay on top of my work and I will continue reading lectures before hand to achieve this. I find this easier to do on the weekend as I seem to read over covered content through the week and I try completing work as it is given out during the weekdays. I found the CABS session very interesting and this should tie in well with the #MB1031 careers talk we have coming up. My aim this week is to try structure or at least plan a constructive way to spend my summer holidays as work experience seems to be key in being successful. At the least I... more... - Arnold Gangaidzo

Im finding it really difficult and so confusing!! - Jemma Buchalter

I'm also finding it hard Arnold, so i'll see you at the help session... - Michael Lam

Finding it hard work too! - Zainab Chaudhary

This made me think about our exercise in #MB1031 and what makes a good investigation. This article makes a connection about our diet with the IQ we can achieve. The proposed correlation being proposed is that eating healthy from a young age will increase children's IQ. I disagree with the conclusions reached because there are many other social factors which come into play other than diet but it would be interesting to see how this sort of investigation could be improved. - Arnold Gangaidzo from Bookmarklet

I should be worried considering the amount of junk food i consume everyday.... - Munaf khamisa

Hey again arnold :) Here's a link that I think you may find useful, showing you all the speakers and their careers :) http://ff.im/xzlUe - Michael Lam

Thanks. - Arnold Gangaidzo

Glad with this week because i managed to cover a lot of lecture material and found enough time to enjoy the weekend whilst making sure most my work had been completed. The practicals have been a success and the tutorials are keeping me up to speed with my understanding of the topics! I do have a busy week with the career talks coming up on a day i would have used for extra study but it is a sacrifice well made :) . I would have to say that I need to keep on top of things consistently as this semester has started very well and it would take very little to ease back and lose the promising start. - Arnold Gangaidzo

The first week is underway and it looks like organisation will be key as always in achieving the best I possibly can. The longer days will definitely get me studying more and pondering over recent lectures because I won’t have time to be going to my room and taking long naps. I can already see this being a regular thing as I have already managed to look over some future work and plan out some extras such as the career presentations with maybe some appearances to some events in ‘stand out week’. Even managed to sort out accommodation for the next academic year which means I can solely focus on learning and preparing for the work to be set. It’s still the beginning of the semester and I reckon as long as I remain injury free (no crutches!) then everything will be a definite improvement. - Arnold Gangaidzo

I think if you labelled the blue and green dots to show which is the first, second and third positions it would be fine. Remember that they are anti-parallel. - Roisin Thomas

I have a similar problem; I tend to write up each lecture in my own words as revision notes, often supplemented by outside information. It does help my understanding and refreshes my memory but it takes so long! - Michael Steele

I feel extremely confident with half the content now so just going to be very strict with how i utilise my time from now on! - Arnold Gangaidzo

Interesting diagram that gives good prospects for jobs after graduation. - Arnold Gangaidzo from Bookmarklet

HIV cure was achieved! But just for one person. Use of stem cells and a bone marrow transplant from a donor with a natural resistance to HIV from a CCR5 gene mutation. Interesting to know that about 1% of Europeans have a natural resistance to HIV. This relates to our #MB1030 lecture on cancer. - Arnold Gangaidzo

You are not the only one who has that problem.We just need to master the art of studying not the art of picking in the future.Good luck on the next one. - Kiril Manolov

Found this article interesting as the genome of the Haitian cholera was sequenced in record time and compared to other strains. This reminds me about my #MB1030 genomics essay and how I discussed the benefits of sequencing the DNA of organisms. The Haitian cholera has mutated into an even deadlier strain and it is feared resistance will keep increasing with horintal transmission of genes producing strains with unpredictable properties. Hopefully the knowledge being built up from investigating the cholera will yield effective solutions and treatments in the form of drugs. - Arnold Gangaidzo

This articles is really quite interesting. I wish i had more time to thoroughly analyse it fully and take it into my head. With exams currently on the agenda, i think i'll pass this today. Great find though Arnold. - Munaf khamisa

I know what you mean. Thanks :) - Arnold Gangaidzo

Even though I may understand a topic, the detail is what gets you the majority of the marks instead of generalised comments that would have been sufficient at A-Level. However I have also found that understanding of topics and evaluative skills, have been lacking in my essay writing where I have gone for citing detailed opinions from advanced articles but missing the full understanding, resulting in my poor explanation of concepts in essays. I feel like I have begun to reach a balance between encorporating enough detail and having a solid understand of a given topic enough to be able to explain it confidently, whether it be in an essay or a presentation. I have learnt that there is a big difference in regurgitating knowledge and expressing it in a personal way which shows the effort you have taken in producing the final product. I have been and still am learning how to develop my own style when writing or presenting work scientifically. - Arnold Gangaidzo

that is an excellent idea. I'm just practicing at the moment, so I don't start hesitating due to nerves! - Michael Lam

Practising with others definitely helps because you have more to focus on. Trying to keep your body language, talking in different tones, keeping coherent with your sentences whilst making sense and keeping to the point. You really can never get enough practise. - Arnold Gangaidzo

good idea, how did you book the study room? - Khetase Chiwowa

Library ground floor by the help desk. Rooms go quick though. - Arnold Gangaidzo