Positive and Negative Feedback Loops Prediction of Malfunction

Feedback loops are a crucial part of the functions within our body in the endocrine system and the nervous system. These allow the processes to be regulated properly and function properly. Negative feedback loops stop or slow down a process. They do this when there is enough or more than enough of one type of hormone, or other chemical it may regulate. Positive feedback loops start or increase a process, when there is not enough of a specific chemical or hormone in the body and it is in need of more.

One example of this is with Hyperglycemia, a major cause of complications with diabetes. This happens with all those who have diabetes from time to time, and can be checked upon and known of when you check the blood glucose levels to determine when your levels of glucose are high. This can be reduced through regular exercise and other regular activities. If your glucose levels are high, the feedback loops are not working properly, allowing the body to continue to produce glucose when your body has too much already. This is bad because of complications such as hyperglycemia, and even other types of complications that may be caused due to this. If the feedback loops were working properly, however, the negative feedback loops would have decreased or stopped the process of glucose and insulin production, allowing the body to return to a stage of homeostasis and balance.

Hyperglycemia causes high blood glucose, high levels of sugar in the urine, and increased thirst. These all are signs that your feedback loops are not functioning properly and you should quickly treat it in order to prevent an illness called ketoacidosis from being developed, which causes shortness of breath, nausea, and dry mouth. It can usually be treated through regular exercise, and if it gets worse or is not clearing up, it is best to see a doctor for other treatments and regulation practices.

Nervous System and Endocrine System Prediction of Malfunction

The endocrine system glands and hormones that are released from them influence our entire body. It helps to regulate everyday things in our bodies, including the regulation of our mood, growth and development, tissue function, metabolism, sexual function and reproductive processes. The endocrine system is in charge of the body processes that happen slowly, including cell growth whereas the nervous system controls much quicker processes.

The nervous system is required throughout the entire day, every day. There are three types of neurons, interneurons, motor neurons, and sensory neurons which help the body function properly, be able to breathe, feel pain and other sensations as well as to move.

These two systems work together in order to keep the human body functioning properly. Without them functioning in sync together or properly, many problems can occur within the body. The nervous system controls the endocrine system, and without the endocrine system, the nervous system may not have enough of a specific hormone or chemical needed in order to work properly together.

If the endocrine system has too many or not enough hormones, it can be very harmful to the body. This could also affect the development of nervous system neurons that help the body to move and to feel different sensations important to the body. If your neurons did not transport feelings or act as a bridge, the endocrine system would not receive proteins needed to function. The endocrine system produces hormones, and helps regulate mood, and if for example, the nervous system had stopped functioning properly with the endocrine system, your mood may not be able to be regulated properly. This could lead to major issues, including mood swings and major highs and lows. This is bad for your body because without this mood regulation, your body would not feel homeostasis, or balance.

This is essential to proper function of your body also because your nervous system senses pain. Without this, your body can go through major “pains” without sensing or feeling them, or even the opposite, and not feel and pain, or not receive enough sensations to keep it active and responsive. This is bad because your body is used to feeling sensations and it is very abnormal not to feel anything. Without feeling anything, the neurons are not stimulated, and the nervous system is practically pointless at that point in time.

 

Possible Treatments for Crohn's Disease

One autoimmune disease that is common is the Crohn’s disease which causes inflammation in the small intestine, an inflammatory bowel disease (cidpusa.com). This disease can affect any part of the digestive tract from the mouth to the anus, but usually occurs in the lower part of the intestine. The inflammation can cause pain and result in diarrhea, rectal bleeding, weight loss, or fevers. This disease affects men and women equally.

There are a few possible treatments for Crohn’s disease; however there is no known cure at this time. These depend on many factors, though, including location, severity, complications present, and the response of any previous treatment given. The most common treatments used are drugs, nutritional supplements, surgery, or a mixture of these. It is often difficult to tell when a treatment has helped due to the odd patterns of this disease, sometimes hidden for years at a time, only happening a few various times over a person’s lifetime. Drug therapy is the most common first treatment for people with Crohn’s disease. It usually has mesalamine, a substance that helps regulate inflammation. The side effects of this substance could include nausea, vomiting, heartburn, diarrhea, and headaches. Nutritional supplementation could include feeding by vein, in patients who need their intestines to rest or whose intestines cannot absorb enough of the nutrition from the foods. Surgery is another option to remove part of the intestine, but this does not cure it. Surgery is used in those who do not react to the medical or supplemental therapy and who have complications including blockage, perforation, abscess, or bleeding within the intestine. The surgery removes a part of the intestine, however the disease just moves to the next part of the intestine when it reoccurs. Due to the reoccurrences, surgery should be thought about very thoroughly before deciding to go through with this treatment.

Scientists are still in search for better treatments, and even a cure to this disease. Although it causes many complications, people with this disease still carry on a normal life, especially when the disease is not active.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI's)

The urinary tract is the system in which makes and releases urine from your body. The kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra make up the urinary tract system in the body, in both males and females. An UTI or Urinary Tract Infection can produce if bacteria or germs make their way into your UT system, which would then cause an infection, which is much more common in females than in males due to their shorter urethra, and the ability for germs to travel much more quickly and reach the bladder or kidneys easily. Most of which are bladder infections, or urethra infections, however this is not always the case. These can be treated, however if they go untreated for too long, it can cause the infection to move to the kidneys, causing a much more serious infection, and this could cause many issues, even permanent damage.

According to MayoClinic.com, the symptoms include, but are not limited to a strong and persistent urge to urinate, a burning sensation when urinating, the passing of small amounts of liquid frequently and the frequent need to urinate with very little urine able to come out, urine that appears to be cloudy, urine that appears to be red, bright pink, or cola-colored which is a sign of blood in the urine, urine that smells strongly, pelvic pain in women, or rectal pain in men, as well as a tender and heavy feeling stomach. Although there are many symptoms, not always will there be symptoms for the infection. There are three main types of UTI’s, including Kidney UTI, which could cause upper back and side pains, high fevers, shaking and chills, nausea and even vomiting. There is also Bladder UTI’s, which can cause pelvic pressure, lower abdomen discomfort and frequent yet painful urination as well as blood within the urine. Urethra UTI’s usually produce a burning sensation when urinating. It can be more serious, even if not in the kidneys, if you are older than 65, pregnant, or have existing issues with your kidneys, have diabetes, or have a weak immune system, and your doctor should be notified and treated quickly.

UTI’s can be diagnosed with a tested sample of urine, and if there are germs in the urine, it is a Urinary Tract Infection. This is the most common diagnosis, although some doctors can easily know it is a UTI through the symptoms experienced and through feeling your lower stomach or abdomen, and the amount of pain felt when pressure is applied in the lower stomach. Also, if your urinary tract infection seems abnormal, there could be other procedures such as an ultrasound or computerized tomography scan to create images of your urinary tract in order to see any complications not found in lab tests of urine. Also, the doctor could use a scope in order to see inside of your bladder, especially if your UTI’s are often and recurrent, a procedure called cystoscopy which is the use of a long thin tube with a lens to see inside the urethra and bladder, which is inserted into your urethra and passed through to your bladder.

They can usually be prevented through drinking lots of liquids, urinating right after sexual intercourse, not holding urine for long periods of time – if you need to urinate, do so when you need to and urinate often. If you do get a UTI, however, they can be treated through prescribed antibiotics by your doctor, following the exact directions.

If the infection is in your urethra or bladder and is treated quickly, the effects are usually only temporary pain and burning through urine, however if the infection makes it into your kidneys, the effects can be quite severe, and even permanent. This could include kidney damage or other damage to the urinary tract system due to the vomiting, back and rib cage pains, and also bleeding that may occur.

Traits: Inherited vs. Acquired

Traits are something that is passed on. Although many of these are inherited, or passed down from generation to generation, others are acquired through a large variety of activities that are “picked up”, or gained through different experiences.

Inherited traits are not passed solely from a single parent, but instead are passed on from both parents in sexually reproducing organisms. Some examples include the color, length, and type of hair you have, the color and the shape of eyes you have, the general body shape you have, etc. You don’t control which genes you receive because your parents each contribute to your genotype, or genes, that you have. For example, if both your parents have brown eyes, you are very likely to have brown eyes too. However, you are not guaranteed to receive the traits shown in your parent’s phenotypes, or appearance. Alleles can be dominant or recessive. If a dominant allele is present in a genotype, it will show for sure in your phenotype. Recessive traits are overpowered by dominant alleles, but when both alleles inherited are recessive, both the allele received from your mother and the allele received from your father, the recessive trait will be shown in the phenotype of the organism.

Acquired traits are traits that are picked up or developed over a period of time through forming habits. This can include knowledge, skills, ideas, memories, behaviors, and personality traits. These traits are not passed genetically from parent to child, or generation to generation. You have more control over these traits that you acquire because you can control them, unlike your genotypes.

Acquired traits can be influenced by many different factors. Inherited traits will always be present and are passed down from generation to generation. Both of these types of traits combine together in order to make you who you are, a unique individual.

Gregor Johann Mendel and His Discoveries

Gregor Johann Mendel of 1822-1884 was an advanced scientist who discovered and researched the inheritance of traits from generation to generation. Through his studies and research of pea plants, he was able to observe that when two pea plants mate to produce offspring, they do not always result in the exact same phenotypes as their “parents”. Gregor Mendel was known as the “father of modern genetics” and made the discovery as a monk while tending to his monastery garden (biography.com). Before Mendel’s experiments, the people of the mid-1800’s had accepted the belief that offspring were just a blended up version of their parents, inheriting all traits from both the mother and the father, similar to the mixing of paint, blue mixed with yellow makes green.

Through Mendel’s experiments, he discovered two laws, including the Law of Segregation, and the Law of Independent Assortment. As he published his results, the people misunderstood them, and were very confused by them, believing that the research he had conducted had only proved what they already knew, that the two mixed up and created a duplicate of both parents in one. The people did not accept Mendel’s findings and Mendel himself often struggled to accept them as the truth behind the science of the passing on of traits and genetics. These findings and important observations were not recognized to be true for years after scientist Gregor Mendel had passed, however, these findings have become known as the base of biology studies today and are very well known throughout the scientific field.

Malfunctioning Meiosis and Genetic Disorders

Meiosis is the process of making sex cells, which are haploid (only contain 1 of each type of chromosome in each cell, 23 of 46 in humans). These are known as sperm cells in males, and egg cells in females. Although this is a process that occurs often, 24/7 in males, and once approximately every 28 days in females, mistakes do occur during the process in both genders. If the sex cell that is not “normal” is the one to fertilize the egg, or is fertilized by the sperm cell, the child could be born with a condition, or a chromosome disorder, depending upon the mistake that was made during the process.

Cri-du-chat is French for “cry of the cat”. It is called this due to the cry that children have when they have this disorder. This disorder causes the deletion on the short arm of Chromosome number 5, causing many genetics to “disappear”, or be lacking during the ‘assembly’ of the organism, in this case, the child. This syndrome is one of the most common chromosome deletion genetic disorders and affects between 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 50,000 children. Some symptoms of the Cri-du-chat Syndrome can include wide-set eyes, mental retardation, and a small jaw, downward slant in the eyes, a small head, and skin tags in front of the ear, slow growth, partial webbing of fingers or toes, high-pitched cat cry, and more. There are currently no known treatments or cures to this disorder.

 

 

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder where extra genetic material causes a large variety of problems for the holder. It is a condition in which there is extra genetic material in the body and delays the way the child develops physically and mentally (Kids Health). Although it is not preventable, there are treatments available to help children with this condition. Chromosome number 21 is the extra chromosome the baby inherits to get this disease, causing a change in physical appearance. Children with Down syndrome often have flattened facial features, small head, short neck, protruding tongue, and unusual shaped ears. Also, they may have poor muscle tone, short hands and short fingers, a single crease in the palm, and excessive flexibility (Mayo Clinic). Down syndrome is usually not inherited; however it could be passed down. Most of the time, this disorder is caused solely by the abnormal cell division during Meiosis and results in an extra chromosome 21.

As you can see, Meiosis is an essential process for proper development and what is considered normal and not. Scientists are always looking for new ways to cure and prevent these, and many other genetic orders found within different organisms.

Importance of Translation in Protein Synthesis

Translation is very important in the process of making proteins. Without transcription and translation, your body would have no possible way to make proteins, or function. Proteins allow your body to do everything. Muscle proteins allow your muscles to strengthen and grow. Antibodies protect the body from germs. Some proteins support body structures, whereas others help with your body’s movements. There are thousands of functions for different proteins.

First, part of the DNA unwinds in the nucleus. RNA polymerase binds to the promoter (T-A-T-A) (“start”) region on the DNA strand. RNA polymerase unzips the DNA strand and makes pre-mRNA by joining RNA bases to DNA. The RNA polymerase reaches the “stop” region and pre-mRNA is released from the DNA. Pre-mRNA removes introns, or unwanted mRNA, to make mRNA. Then, it exits the nucleus into the cytoplasm.

The process of translation begins by the mRNA attaching to the ribosome at the AUG codon. From there, the ribosome “decodes” the codon and brings in the first loaded tRNA, as it finishes decoding the next codon; it brings in the second loaded tRNA. The first tRNA unloads the amino acid to the second tRNA and then unbinds from mRNA. This results in a chain of amino acids, protein, and the cycle continues until the stop codon is reached.

The importance of each step of translation is very great. Many things could change and be highly affective to the process, or if the process changed, the effect of this could be very devastating. Through transcription, the DNA is copied and readied to make the proteins. The first step of translation is when the messenger RNA (mRNA) attaches to the ribosome at the AUG codon. The AUG codon is the codon that signals “start” and so it begins to attach here. Without this signal, the mRNA would not attach to the ribosome and no proteins would be able to be made. This is the type of organism that is able to transfer these codes into amino acids. The ribosome decodes the codons and brings in loaded transfer RNA (tRNA). This step is essential because tRNA brings in the codon to the “mate”. Without this step, the codons would never be able to make proteins/amino acids. RNA is a single strand of codes, whereas DNA is two strands of “codes” and proteins, like DNA, must have a mate. The ribosome decodes the next codon and brings in loaded tRNA. The first tRNA finishes unloading the amino acid and detaches from the mRNA to go and get loaded again, continuing the cycle. These steps are important to translation because this is how proteins are bound, through a series of amino acids combined in a chain. Without this process, and each step unloading amino acids on the mRNA to make combinations of amino acids, or chains, then proteins would only be able to be produced artificially, if at all. Your body could completely shut down and not be able to move or be able to speak, or function in any way.

Protein combinations, not visible to the naked eye, are essential to life on earth. Without this process of protein synthesis, or, the making of proteins through translation and transcription, life would be nothing like it is today.

FrankenFood? GM Salmon

Is the food you are eating safe for yourself or your environment? Has it been altered or is it natural? Salmon is one of many foods that have been genetically modified through changes in DNA, RNA, or proteins. Through scientific research, and lots of reviewing by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the debate continues as to whether or not GM Salmon (genetically modified salmon) is truly safe, or needed in our environment.

There is great controversy as scientists have altered the DNA of salmon in order to allow for quicker maturing, and nearly twice the size of the original, unaltered wild salmon. Wild salmon can take up to three years to mature and are not very large in size. Scientists have genetically altered their DNA makeup to speed up this process of maturing and have changed them so that they can become twice as large, allowing for more harvests and more meat to be harvested from each generation of salmon.

Scientists modified the salmon by adding a growth hormone (from a Pacific Chinook salmon) and a promoter (from an Ocean Pout). This has changed the growth rate from three years, or 36 months, to 16-18 months, cutting the growth rate time in half. AquaAdvantage, a company that uses genetically modified salmon to sell in large quantity for the markets keeps the GM salmon separate from the natural, wild fish in order to keep from affecting any other species of fish, or predators. They do this in order to keep the food chain normal, and not alter the wild fish at all. Also, having the GM salmon in a separate place allows for ways to prevent any disasters from being spread to the other fish populations. Also, by keeping these salmon separated in net pens, AquaAdvantage can inform the public that the fish has been modified, so that they know that there is an alteration inside of the fish product.

According to FDA (Food and Drug Administration), the salmon is safe for consumption and safe to the environment, not able to see any problems with allowing the fish to be sold to populations of people for consumption. However, they have not fully approved this GM salmon to be on the market because of the need for further research. If approved, the salmon will be the first genetically modified animal in the U.S. to be approved as a food source.

GM Product Techniques

There are many genetically modified products that many people have no idea even exist. This can be anything that contains genes, or DNA material, that was inherited from its “parents”. These products can include food, plants, and animals. Scientists are able to modify the products by changing and altering the genetic makeup of the organism.

Genes and DNA are how an organism was compiled together and “created”. They are the unstructions and building blocks of the organism. Once the DNA is decoded, proteins are made with these “instructions” and then travel to the correct area within the organism in order to keep the body functioning properly. Genetically modifying an organism can be very dangerous if scientists randomly combine or mutate genes. Although scientists did at one time allow this process to be completely random, they have discovered ways to give organisms specific traits by giving the organism DNA with the desired trait(s). When scientists allowed GM products randomly modified, they had to do so with similar species, however, more specific changes can be done with different types of organisms.

Some techniques used to transfer different organisms’ cells into another organism include bacterial carriers, biolistic, electroporation, gene splicing, gene silencing, microinjection, and viral carriers.

·         Bacterial Carriers are an effective way of injecting new DNA into an organism because the bacterium, “Agrobacterium” can infect plants. This is an effective way to insert new genes or traits into a plant organism because it will infect the plant and transfer this DNA throughout the organism (plants).

·         Biolistic allow the DNA to be attached to microscopic particles of gold or tungsten and are then “fired” into the desired cells using pressurized gas.

·         Electroporation allows a shock of electricity to tear a small part of the cells wall and allow the desired genetics to make their way into the nuclei of each of the desired cells. Then these cells go into a healing mode to close the new genes inside and are soon put back into the desired organism.

·         Gene silencing is used to “silence”, or get rid of unwanted traits or characteristics. The gene can be silenced by having a second copy the wrong way or to insert foreign DNA in order to de-activate the unwanted gene/trait.

·         Gene splicing is when you place DNA in the organism and they are designed specifically to work with the bacteria that cuts the DNA up, causing the section cut off from the DNA to be “sticky” and attach or paste itself to the desired DNA. After this, other enzymes are used to fuse the genetics together to make one, and fuse the new gene sequences into the chromosome.

·         Microinjection is a method used to inject desired traits into the egg within the female before it attaches to the uterus and this allows the desired genes to be in nearly all cells/parts of the new organism.

·         Viral carriers allow the desired DNA to be put into the genetic makeup of a virus before being put into the organism to infect the targeted cells. This is often done in ways that it does not harm the “infected” cells or cause death.

Genetic modification is all around today. Many crops have been genetically modified in order to handle toxins used to keep bugs from getting them and other types of toxins used within the fields. Other types of foods have been altered in order to increase the shelf life or to remove factors from items that people may be allergic to, such as peanuts in peanut butter. Other organisms have been genetically modified in order to be “safer” for organisms, to get rid of unwanted traits or characteristics and other reasons, depending on the organism and purpose in the environment.

Benefits could include the organism surviving better within specific climates, or being healthier for people. Some downsides of modifying some of the organisms include the fact that nature is usually best left unaltered, it could ruin the taste of the product, or can become much less healthy to be around or to consume.