I *am* a fucking genius, thankyouverymuch
Nov. 16th, 2004 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nirix5I've been freaking out about my Bio test grade since we took the damn thing last Tuesday. Thursday rolled around and we still didn't get the results back; a couple of people hadn't taken the test yet, so we had to wait till tonight.
I got a B! *dances*
And I got an extra nine points added on because of the abstract I did! *dances some more*
So I got a 95!!! Which is an A!!!!! *falls over, mayhap from dancing too much.*
I also got my overall quiz/lab grade back, which was a C. But I am totally happy with that, because I have been failing lab quizzes left and right recently. Happy to pass, happy to pass.
Feather, Biology Abstract, November 9, 2004
Leor, Jonathan and Cohen, Smadar. “Rebuilding Broken Hearts.” Scientific American Volume 291 Number 5, pages 45-51, November 2004
Unlike other cells, cardiac muscle can’t regenerate and heal itself once it’s been injured. The scar tissues that form on the heart after a heart attack- known as infarcts- lead to further cell death and deterioration of the cardiac wall, which in turn causes heart failure (45:1). Obviously, if doctors could find a way to stop the spread of or even heal infarcts, people would have longer, more comfortable life spans. It seems easy enough on paper, but in reality this is a daunting task; although thanks to today’s technology, it is no longer impossible. The authors have been working on the most basic part of the heart failure problem: stopping the spread of an infarct and preventing the death of healthy surrounding cells (45:2). One of the first obstacles to be dealt with was creating a support infrastructure that would allow new cells to grow (46:4). In healthy tissue, this infrastructure is comprised of collagen and polysaccharides; it provides physical cell support in addition to generating growth signaling chemicals (46:4). Ideally, it would dissolve once its purpose was served and the new cells began to grow, and provide ample space for oxygen and other nutrients to pass through (46:5). The authors decided to test a polysaccharide known as alginate for the artificial support. Its benefits include not provoking an immune system response and dissolving in water. After dissolution, exposure to positively charged calcium ions causes it to form a hydrogel that mimics the natural extracellular matrix (47:3). In order to give the mixture shape and internal structure, the alginate was frozen, using different methods of freezing to control the size and density of the pores left behind from ice crystals (49:2). This produced a strong, porous artificial infrastructure. The ‘scaffold’ was ‘seeded’ with immature cardiomyocytes from rat embryos, and place in a centrifuge, so that after 30 minutes the cell density was 1000000000 cells per square cubic cm- about the density of mature cardiac tissue (49:4, 49:5). The ‘scaffolds’ were then placed on the infarcts of lab rats’ hearts, which had earlier suffered heart attacks. Two months later, the rats’ chests were reopened to show dramatic results. New blood vessels had begun growing into the implant. The ‘scaffold’ was beginning to dissolve, natural extracellular matrix material taking its place. The embryonic cells had matured into adult muscle fibers, connected by electrical synapses to conduct nerve signals and tell the muscle to contract (50:2). This group of rats fared better than the control group, who experienced normal symptoms of heart failure (50:3). While there is still a long way to go with this research, and it may take as long as fifteen years before it is tested on humans (51:2) this is an incredible leap for medical science.
---> This abstract is strange because I understand all of it. All of the article, too. Which is a very fascinating one, if you have the chance to go to the library and read it or something.
Whew. Now that I can relax a little bit, I'm going to go chill in the lab. Oh, before I forget.
Melody, if you'd like to check out a journal based roleplaying game, you can see a CSI one here:
http://freewebs.com/requiemdream/csi.html
Click on the character names to see their individual journals.
Oh, and Bri! Your turtles are Teh Cuteness. I just about went into a sugar coma when I saw those pictures. Psst! You should join our RP. Methinks you'd like it.
I got a B! *dances*
And I got an extra nine points added on because of the abstract I did! *dances some more*
So I got a 95!!! Which is an A!!!!! *falls over, mayhap from dancing too much.*
I also got my overall quiz/lab grade back, which was a C. But I am totally happy with that, because I have been failing lab quizzes left and right recently. Happy to pass, happy to pass.
Feather, Biology Abstract, November 9, 2004
Leor, Jonathan and Cohen, Smadar. “Rebuilding Broken Hearts.” Scientific American Volume 291 Number 5, pages 45-51, November 2004
Unlike other cells, cardiac muscle can’t regenerate and heal itself once it’s been injured. The scar tissues that form on the heart after a heart attack- known as infarcts- lead to further cell death and deterioration of the cardiac wall, which in turn causes heart failure (45:1). Obviously, if doctors could find a way to stop the spread of or even heal infarcts, people would have longer, more comfortable life spans. It seems easy enough on paper, but in reality this is a daunting task; although thanks to today’s technology, it is no longer impossible. The authors have been working on the most basic part of the heart failure problem: stopping the spread of an infarct and preventing the death of healthy surrounding cells (45:2). One of the first obstacles to be dealt with was creating a support infrastructure that would allow new cells to grow (46:4). In healthy tissue, this infrastructure is comprised of collagen and polysaccharides; it provides physical cell support in addition to generating growth signaling chemicals (46:4). Ideally, it would dissolve once its purpose was served and the new cells began to grow, and provide ample space for oxygen and other nutrients to pass through (46:5). The authors decided to test a polysaccharide known as alginate for the artificial support. Its benefits include not provoking an immune system response and dissolving in water. After dissolution, exposure to positively charged calcium ions causes it to form a hydrogel that mimics the natural extracellular matrix (47:3). In order to give the mixture shape and internal structure, the alginate was frozen, using different methods of freezing to control the size and density of the pores left behind from ice crystals (49:2). This produced a strong, porous artificial infrastructure. The ‘scaffold’ was ‘seeded’ with immature cardiomyocytes from rat embryos, and place in a centrifuge, so that after 30 minutes the cell density was 1000000000 cells per square cubic cm- about the density of mature cardiac tissue (49:4, 49:5). The ‘scaffolds’ were then placed on the infarcts of lab rats’ hearts, which had earlier suffered heart attacks. Two months later, the rats’ chests were reopened to show dramatic results. New blood vessels had begun growing into the implant. The ‘scaffold’ was beginning to dissolve, natural extracellular matrix material taking its place. The embryonic cells had matured into adult muscle fibers, connected by electrical synapses to conduct nerve signals and tell the muscle to contract (50:2). This group of rats fared better than the control group, who experienced normal symptoms of heart failure (50:3). While there is still a long way to go with this research, and it may take as long as fifteen years before it is tested on humans (51:2) this is an incredible leap for medical science.
---> This abstract is strange because I understand all of it. All of the article, too. Which is a very fascinating one, if you have the chance to go to the library and read it or something.
Whew. Now that I can relax a little bit, I'm going to go chill in the lab. Oh, before I forget.
Melody, if you'd like to check out a journal based roleplaying game, you can see a CSI one here:
http://freewebs.com/requiemdream/csi.html
Click on the character names to see their individual journals.
Oh, and Bri! Your turtles are Teh Cuteness. I just about went into a sugar coma when I saw those pictures. Psst! You should join our RP. Methinks you'd like it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 06:26 pm (UTC)Thank you! They're my babies, hehe.
Ooo, a RP. I haven't RPed since... gack, high school? I loved it though. What characters are open?
no subject
Date: 2004-11-16 06:35 pm (UTC)What uni do you go to? (just out of curiosity because one of my senior friends might be going to Oswego, and I know that's near you, but I'm not positive you go there)
no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 06:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-11-17 06:29 am (UTC)There's a list of taken characters here:
http://www.freewebs.com/requiemdream/csi.html
However, there's alot of the original cast lab techs open (Mia, Jaqui, Mandy, etc.) The Mods are playing Brass right now, and there's a few guys that are open too. They're also accepting original characters, so you can make one up if you want to :)