Zainab Chaudhary

I've emailed ithelp@le.ac.uk. What will happen if I can't access this and print it out by today? - Zainab Chaudhary

Glad you got it sorted! - Dr Jo Badge

Surely an endonuclease would do this job? I've tried looking it up and S1 nuclease is mentioned, which is an example of the latter. - Zainab Chaudhary

Oh, found it! http://www.le.ac.uk/ua... :) - Zainab Chaudhary

Definitely plan on doing this. Maybe after one of our exams a group of us could go together and find it? - Zainab Chaudhary

This is my final article of the term and it relates to #MB1005 and #BS1009. We were informed that a highly examinable question is about the "tree of life", namely that it has 3 domains: bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. This tree is put together by analysing genetic similarities between organisms in order to sketch an evolutionary relationship. What is interesting is that before the 1990s, the tree had just two branches that discriminated on the basis of whether the organism is an animal or not. The latter branch was then redrawn into the bacteria and archaea branches we know today. This article, however, centres on the possibility of a FOURTH domain existing. It mentions that approximately 99% of species that "look like tiny single cells" cannot be cultured to form colonies in a lab, which makes genetic analyses much more difficult, hence Jonathan Eisen's reference to them as "dark matter". He and Craig Venter used a technique called metagenomics to analyse the DNA of organisms from... more... - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

This probably doesn't count as an article, but it came up on my GoogleReader account and is surprisingly (almost) related to #BS1006 physiology lectures about the nervous system! Maybe because the ANS involves the medulla as well the spinal chord?... Well, I tried :D - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

this reminds me of that comic with the little people inside some guys head.Does anyone know what i'm on about?It use to be in among those magazines like dennis the menace and beano we had to read at first school wet break ect. - SarahJohnson

@sarah that'll be "The Numskulls" then - Dr Chris Willmott

There's so much work for next term aside from exams! We have the physiology practical book to complete, the #MB1031 presentation of our posters, the #MB1005 poster to make and present too, and we also have to pick our module choices and arange a meeting with our personal tutors in order to do that (mine is always incredibly busy so this is difficult). Then I have twice as many exams as I did last semester after what feels like no time at all to revise in. 3 words: Membranes and Receptors. And having stable, constant revsison this holiday will be difficult due to other reasons. Wow. Solution? First thing to do after Friday: RELAX. - Zainab Chaudhary

Im totally looking foward to relaxing! And im finding membranes and receptors really complex aswell but i think thats just because ive not had enough time to sit down and go through the lectures properly so thats what ill be doing in the holidays after ive caught up on my sleep! - Maryam

That could be why I'm finding it complex but it also looks like it's a lot to remember along with eveything else. :D I know what you mean about catching up on sleep! I slept for 18 hours a few days ago. Is that unusual? Seems unnatural/scary, somehow. o_o" - Zainab Chaudhary

I remember being fascinated by the content of the talk and I couldn't help feeling glad that I'm doing a Genetics degree at the University of Leicester. It highlighted the importance of genetic research for us as a society because he spoke about instances in which our genes may have the power to determine, to some extent, who we really are. Today I was quite surprised to see a couple of familiar faces on the BBC's programme, "The Big Questions" (although I shouldn't have been really, it was in Leicester today) and Professor Kyriacou, from our university, was one of them! The question he was principally involved in was of teaching "creationism" in schools. Although, personally, I wasn't taken by Campbell's loaded questions and many of the guests invited, any debate is good debate if you use your own intellect and reasoning to recognise the fallacies of the worst arguments and appreciate the best. Therefore, you can see the discussion here on iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/program.... - Zainab Chaudhary

Ethics is the study of morals. The way in which societies moderate human behaviour by giving or removing the rights of an individual in response to certain actions is based loosely on 'morals'. If any aspect of this behaviour is shown to be more reliant on genes than environment or vice versa, it would alter the way in which we, as humans, make judgements based on these. An implication of this is in law-making in countries in the world. - Zainab Chaudhary

I can't believe it's almost Friday. It feels like I have no idea what happened this week. This cannot be good. I vaguely remember going to the #BS1011 help session, finishing the assessment and sitting through at least two rather challenging lectures on population genetics and drugs for #MB1005 and #MB1004 respectively. SMART targets may include looking through the lecture from today and trying to understand it before the #MB1004 tutorial tomorrow as well as attempting the questions relating to it in the module booklet. Or they may not - SMART targets are supposed to be achievable... - Zainab Chaudhary

Well, they were almost half-fulfilled. N.B. “Almost half-fulfilled”, not “mostly failed”, to counteract my pessimistic attitude towards the end of that entry ;D - Zainab Chaudhary

ah its the whole glass half full/ half empty thing again! - Maryam

This article relates to the #MB1031 lecture we had on Thursday about "using jellyfish to watch the brain learn". The content of the talk focused on the way memory is stored, namely by changes in signalling strength in synapses in brain neurones. Professor Hartell also spoke about the implication of his research in treating dementia including Alzheimer's, a disease which many of us may have seen in our grandparents or parents. The Guardian article reports that US researchers added chemical growth factors to stimulate the production of "freshly made" neurones from human embryonic stem cells. What is special about this technique is that they are able to produce a very large supply of these neurones, known as forebrain cholinergic neurones, which have been shown to be critical in memory function. (Cholinergic = describing a neurone in which synapses use acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter, as mentioned in our most recent #BS1006 lecture and in my group's #MB1004 presentation). It was... more... - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

I'm a few hours late in doing this, but I'd rather that then never :) This is a BBC News article about a new type of hearing aid, called SoundBite, getting approved for use in Europe. Instead of it fitting behind the ear of patients, it can fit inside the mouth. Although it perhaps may not gain very much popularity yet (having braces or a retainer is uncomfortable enough for many people and presumably the patient would have to take it off when he/she eats), I think it does relate to our #BS1006 lectures and practicals in a way because it touches on our sensory perception, in paricular, our sense of hearing. The device sends vibrations through the teeth to the cochlea and does not need to make use of the middle or outer ear which would be neccessary for a hearing person without a hearing aid to detect vibrations in the air. - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

This week has felt really busy on the extra-cirricular front so I'm glad we haven't had very much work to submit. I think the highlight was our whole group doing the #MB1004 presentation again because even though it was a pain to research adrenoceptor subype presence in different tissues and their roles, it felt really good when our group gave a good-quality comprehensive talk on our topic, building on the critique we got from last time. Next week looks really fun as well for many reasons - not just the frees, though they make me happy :') - Zainab Chaudhary

Although last semester we experienced a couple of group assignments, it seems this semester we have three all at once! My experience of it last time was good so I hope this increase in sample size doesn't reject my hypothesis of group work being generally fun ;D Found #BS1011 difficult last week, (notice the horrible stats metaphors? they're a way to ease my tension) so I can only wonder what super statistical surprises lie in wait for me tomorrow(!) Otherwise, it was nice to have a few more free periods this week to work on all the assignments. - Zainab Chaudhary

Thank you. I have looked at the marking criteria a number of times both this and last semester. In fact, it was the guideline we used ourselves in order to allocate marks for the sample essays in the #MB1031 tutorial I mentioned. I've emailed my personal tutor too :) You're definitely right about showing evidence of outslide reading! - Zainab Chaudhary

This is an "NHS Choices: Behind the headlines" article I recently came across about the TGFBR1 gene respnsible for multiple self-healing squamous epithelioma (a.k.a MSSE, or Ferguson-Smith disease), a condition in which skin tumours spontaneously grow before spontaneously healing after just a few weeks. This relates to #MB1005 as it shows the contribution genetic elements can have on phenoype, even in disease. It was found that different families had different muations in the aforementioned growth factor receptor gene, inluding ones which cause the change of one or many amino acids or shortening of the polypeptide. The mechanisms of DNA mutation which cause these have also been expressed in #MB1005 tutorials. I find these articles useful because they help to put the general media slant into perspective when analysing current medical research, as well as providing a digestible breakdown of the scientific paper itself. - Zainab Chaudhary

This article relates to #MB1005 as it focuses on Down's Syndrome (trisomy 21 = polyploidy caused by non-disjunction at meiosis). It outlines a new test that is hoped to decrease the miscarriage rate from dignostic tests for Down's Syndrome from 1% to ~0% as it is not invasive to the uterus, but is a maternal blood test for methylated chromosome 21 which is found in foetal cells, the genetic material of which has been "shed" into the mother's bloodstream. The trial has only included 40 participants, and as the aim of this test is safety for mothers and children, the stronger the statistics, the more widely this test will be used instead of invasive ones such as chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis. It is predicted such invasive tests will decrease by 98% as a result of this replacement. - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

It's about to be March already! Looking forward to the #MB1031 tutorial tomorrow. I hope it'll be an enriching session to see the different answers everyone gave for the essay. Also curious to see if anyone could possibly have had worse handwriting than me in those 45 minutes. The help session for #MB1005 was quite full today, so the sooner I look through the report, the better. So far it seems that when the assignments are set, at least for practicals, #BS1011 and #MB1031, they're usually due in for the next week and I think that's why atm I just seem to be approaching work week-by-week; there must be a better way to plan for future tasks, perhaps by getting the assignments already set out of the way with e.g. the #BS1009 essay. - Zainab Chaudhary

Our first year is going so fast :'D It feels like ages since we started, and it's only been 5 months! - Pardina Samson-Fessale

Already submitted it (a mistake, I know, but I was fairly confident) but may go to the help session to confirm where I went wrong and see how exactly I should have done it. - Zainab Chaudhary

So this article is a little dated, but I doubt the microbiological principles outlined in it have changed a great deal. It mentions B. subtilis and E. coli, both of which we have used in #BS1009 practicals, and outlines some bacterial processes such as communication, decision-making and learning/memory. The final aspect formed the research article we were required to make a practice abstract for in #MB1031, which demonstrates how well our course ties elements of the scientific world together with appropriate emphasis. It's only been a few months but I feel many more concepts are starting to make much more sense when I read scientific discourse (articles and notes too, not just scientific papers)/listen to discussions. - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

This week has felt particularly demanding but next week is scheduled to be even more so. I've had to haul myself away to my study to be removed from my visiting cousins which didn't feel very nice but it worked, thankfully. Timed essays are incredibly pressurising if you're not prepared so I hope #MB1031 will go well on Monday. List: 1) #MB1004 tutorial material 2) #BS1011 article post 3) #MB1031 timed essay 4) #BS1009 practical book 5) #MB1005 practical report 6) #BS1009 essay. This is not including going through lectures and deadlines for extracirricular work I have to keep up with. Apparently my eyes looked bloodshot by the end of today. Surprising? ;D - Zainab Chaudhary

you should have a table of processed data not the data you were given (though a 'real' paper would not necessarily have a table if a graph showed the same information in better way) - Dr Chris Willmott

Okay, thank you Dr WIllmot :) Yes, I was thinking that so far in my exposure to scientific discourse I've not yet seen more than about 3 papers that actually show tables of data as well as graphs and I believe those were from clinical trials of some sort. - Zainab Chaudhary

Okay so I asked my demonstrator last practical and they get killed anway. Friendfeeders were just too nice to confirm my suspicions and crush my hope. If this is the case, I'd rather kill them personally than force anybody else do it for me. - Zainab Chaudhary

lol yh the pun was intended! : ) - Maryam

After just learning about horizontal gene transfer relating to bacteria in Prof Ketley's last lecture, this article relates to #MB1005. Horizontal gene transfer = acquiring genetic material from another organism, not necessarily of the same species. Vertical gene transfer = acquiring genetic material from parents/ancestors. The bacterium, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, causes gonorrhoea. The researchers found that 3 of the 14 isolates of this bacterium contained the same human DNA fragment a.k.a. a version of the human "L1" sequence lacking in the specific sequences that would make it able to move around the genome. The Neisseria menigitidis bacterium, which causes meningitis, is a close genetic relative of N. gonorrhoeae but was not found to contain this human DNA fragment. This suggests the human DNA was likely to have been incorporated into the bacterium's genome by a transmission event after predicted divergence between N. menigitidis and N. gonorrhoeae. - Zainab Chaudhary

The function of this DNA segment in the bacterium so far is unknown. One of the researchers finds this “unsettling”. - Zainab Chaudhary

I know it's early! But it felt like the right time for an entry :] - Zainab Chaudhary

This week I'm learning everyone fits into their groove when it works for them, and you shouldn't feel pressurised by the feeling that everyone around you may be working in a particular way. I'm proud to belong to such a diverse university and glad that we have a lot of different types of assignments in our course because it manifests in the equal variety of ways in which we handle our... more... - Zainab Chaudhary

Very, very interesting article on gene expression that relates to #MB1005 gene expression. You'd think if by some mishap, you accidentally inherited 2 copies of one particular chromosome from one parent and no copies of that chromosome from the other parent, it wouldn't really make a difference. You'd still have a full karyotype, right? But in humans it's usually fatal. Why? We've learnt that both alleles are equally expressed in a heterozygote, and it's just the phenotype that is dominant or recessive. But imprinted genes are genes that are expressed depending on the parent that contributed them. This means an allele in one chromosome can be expressed while the other is switched off, going against the equal expression of alleles in heterozygotes. This means that either (1) ONLY the maternal allele will be expressed in the offspring, or (2) ONLY the paternal allele will be expressed in the offspring. - Zainab Chaudhary

:D Yes, it's much easier than trudging one's way through a scientific paper! Also now that I understand the background and aim of the experiment, it makes looking through the paper a bit and finding out how they conducted it actually interesting. - Zainab Chaudhary

Although I've been unwell, the week is going well so far, thankfully :) the tutorial for #MB1005 wasn't as repetitive as last week's and had a greater problem-solving component to it which was interesting. The #BS1009 microbiology practical looked overwhelming to begin with; it's amazing how much you can squeeze into 3 hours. Even though it can sometimes feel like you're time-pressurised, I'm realising practicals are an effective way of making concepts a lot more memorable than just lectures because a hands-on experience means it stays with you for longer. e.g. being intoduced to the microbes living on my nose. Nope, don't think I'm going to forget that in a hurry. *rubs nose fondly* (...kidding!) - Zainab Chaudhary

One of them uses a direct cell reference to a cell with data (which has been entered in as a word) and one of them uses the typed word iself in the formula in quotes. I would personally use the former as then, in future, it'd be possible to change the cell data without changing the formula. However, the second one uses overall fewer commas and cell references. So what is the criteria to judge the simplest possible option? - Zainab Chaudhary

Tricky. Please come and discuss this at the help session on Monday. - Dr Alan Cann

Okay, I will hopefully. It helps that the assessments are up on Thursdays instead this term, it seems to be working out well for now. - Zainab Chaudhary

I chose to share this article as the issue relates to the most recent lecture we had in #MB1031 about experimental design. A 2 year long genetic fingerprinting analysis of 11 royal mummies including 2 foetuses was carried out almost a year ago and published by JAMA (http://jama.ama-assn.org/content...). In this article, it is highlighted that many geneticists are unsatisfied with the method. Firstly, in the study, Genetic fingerprinting and PCR of genomic DNA was used to identify the genetic relationships between the mummies. However, for ancient samples, mitochondrial DNA is usually used as there are many more copies of this in a cell than genomic DNA. This means the samples would be larger and have a greater probability of being intact, not degraded or affected by modern contamination. Secondly, the method of extraction of the DNA is being criticised as unlikely to prevent contamination of foreign material (tissue was not extracted from deep enough inside the... more... - Zainab Chaudhary from Bookmarklet

I discovered dissection microscopes ( #MB1005 ) are morbidly fascinating :D I think I want to buy one! Otherwise, I was dreading #MegaThursday but it wasn't as tiring as anticipated, even with having to attend a ~3 hour training session almost immediately after the final lecture and then doing some non-university work when I got back. Perhaps this is because I slept earlier and we used the free period to go through the practical before the session which meant we finished a few minutes earlier, a small personal victory over my rather slow practicals e.g. those in #BS1009. Feeling slightly overwhelmed with all the different modules but hopefully I'll get used to this soon :) - Zainab Chaudhary

I know it's the number of moles of electrons transferred and with Zn2+ and Cu2+ it's 2. But what is it when you're comparing Zn2+ and something which has a charge of 3+ when it's oxidised? Does n=3 or n=2? - Zainab Chaudhary

I havent got to that part yet but if you know how many electrons are transferred overall why not use that as your 'n' value. - Arnold Gangaidzo

Thank you for your reply! You're right and so is @faaizamuseji. I just found out the answer thankfully ^_^ Chang p.656 Example 19.5. In the above example n=6 because you have to balance the redox equation first which seemed a bit odd to me as when you're calculating Ecell then you don't need to balance them. - Zainab Chaudhary

I assume 3H+ would fit if as there is 3NAD+/3NADH but is it possible Stryer is actually wrong? :o I don't think so. So how how many hydrogen ions ARE produced per acetyl~CoA fed into the cycle? - Zainab Chaudhary

I think there should be three hydrogen ions produced per acetyl CoA molecule fed in the CAC. They are generated by the oxidative decarboxylation of Isocitrate and alpha-Ketoglutarate, in addition to the oxidation of Malate (the very last step of the cycle). - Abdulkhaliq Alsaadi from iPhone

Thank you for your reply, Abdulkhaliq :) I think 3 makes sense too. If they ask for it, I'll probably just write that one down hopefully. Though why it says 2 in Stryer, I still have no idea. If there's one thing 1st year biochemistry has taught me so far, it's to ignore hydrogens... then ignore the fact you're ignoring hydrogens... glad my chemistry teachers can't see me now! :} - Zainab Chaudhary

I may just assume so as Taq DNA Polymerase is just a DNA Polymerase and DNA Polymerase needs Mg2+. Wiki thinks it does too; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.... - Zainab Chaudhary

Oh, yes, temperature! I didn't really think of that; I mostly considered that PCR is sensitive to DNA... so if you drop a foreign cell in there, your results will be ruined too :] So many places to go wrong... - Zainab Chaudhary