texts: Online resource for downloading gene variant data?

texts:
I have a long list of gene variations. For example, Here are 4 of them:

CBL Q249E

TERT H412Y

SF3B1 R625H

EGFR L747_T751delinsP

The first term identifies the gene, the second identifies the variation.

I am a data scientist with no background in biology or medicine. I am looking for an online resource where I could download synonyms, descriptive data, and other relevant info for all the gene variants.

I have seen two sites where data is offered for some gene variants, but not for others. For example, the EGFR L747_T751delinsP variant is well documented at this and this site.

While CBL Q249E is documented at the ckb.jax site but not the reactome site. Other variants are documented at reactome but not ckb.jax, etc.

Plus, there appears to be no easily downloadable file containing this data. Before I go scraping what I need off of a hodgepodge of websites, I wanted to check with you smart people to see if there is a user-freindly resource out there that has this data in a downloadable format.


texts: Does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?

texts:
According to Wikipedia, Remdesivir is a prodrug of GS-441524 which is a nucleoside analog.
I know that nucleotides are the building blocks of both DNA and RNA, meaning nucleotide analogues that prevent the creation of viral RNA can also prevent the creation of normal cell DNA, meaning they can cause problems in dividing cells. This is also reflected in the nucleotide analogue article of Wikipedia:

They are not specific to viral DNA and also affect mitochondrial DNA. Because of this, they have side effects such as bone marrow suppression.

So does Remdesivir cause bone marrow suppression?
If not please explain why.


texts: Any clue on what these tiny white bugs may be?

texts:
I would like to know what the bugs in the following pictures are, they are absolutely tiny, i would say 0.5mm at most, i can't get a really sharp picture, as they seem like to hang out in the dust on furniture (which messes with the focus) and to dislike strong lighting.
If this may help i'm located in North-Eastern Italy, i first noticed them last winter, in a home where i struggled with mold on walls, and i have moved since then (along with my furniture). During all of summer in the new home i haven't noticed them around, so i thought that they may have disliked the new "habitat", but recently when the climate started to get colder and moist i've been seeing some of them again. I see them in counts of approximately 10 - 20 on a surface, so i would assume that their total population in my room would reach the thousands.
Other than in dust on my furniture i see that they like particularly boxes aswell, my assumption would be that they're some kind of acari given their almost unnoticeable size, i've also seen someone talk about dust mites. I've also found some deposit of yellowish dust in strange formations that i would assume may be eggs or feces, i'll add the picture below.
I don't believe them to be harmfull, i'm just worried that they may be eating away at my furniture or damaging my electronics with their waste. I also believe to have seen tiny strings of material similar to spider webs around, that's why i believe them to be related to acari or some tipe of spider, rather than insects, although i couldn't actually count their appendices, they look almost "hairy" in a way. Also the smaller ones look whiteish-transparent while the biggest ones are beige as far as i can see.
EDIT: i have looked up and bought a macro lens that can be attached to the phohe's camera, here's the new pictures i got, although i'll have to wait to be able to take some pictures in natural lighting as these are overexposed


texts:
I heard this clause from my teacher one week ago:

  Chicken are grown in half a year until eaten in Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, for instance, [probably in other parts of Europe, too]. How do you imagine this to happen so fast? - - Growth hormones are used to grow them fast. This affects your endocrine system and can replace its natural function. We cannot even know the withdrawal symptoms when you stop eating food of growth hormones. - - Eat pork instead. No growth hormones used in their life cycle because not needed and not so useful in practice.

I started to think what. Can this really be true that the effect of growth hormones is big economically on poultry but not on pork so it is not used.
The size of chicken is small compared to pork so they have different muscular structure.
So probably more musculature in chicken and bigger effect therefore.
Why does growth hormones have bigger growth effect on chicken?

Is it true that growth hormones are used more in the growth of chicken than pork in Western countries?

I do not understand the critique presented against poultry industry here, in favour of pork industry.
Probably, there is some truth too.


texts:
I am new to this area. I am a researcher working on fast pattern searching in general scenarios (e.g., regex in string matching).

I am curious about the "regular expression (regex)" (pattern/motif) in bioinformatics. Can anyone help point out some repository where I can see some "regex" instances (used by people in real cases)?

So that I can get a sense how complex they are and the possibility to apply our techniques.

Thank you!


texts: What kind of spider is this and is it dangerous?

texts: Found this spider on my couch the other day in Steubenville, Ohio. The spider is about 1 - 1.5'' (2.5 - 4 cm) long. The spider looks brownish in the image, but tends to a pale yellow color in reality.


texts: The male and female gametophytes are pollen and embryo sacs respectively. I wondered if they are spores as their brethren are meiospores.


texts: How do marine mammals and penguins maintain bone density?

texts:
After much searching on Google with no results, I decided to ask my question here.

If I'm not mistaken, swimmers' bone density is less than normal; at least for lifetime swimmers. Astronauts also lose bone mass from the lack of stress (from gravity) on their bones; it stands to reason that being in the water and thus being weightless, would lead to bone loss.

So my question is, how do marine mammals and penguins maintain their bone mass?


texts: What is the optimal frame size for protein secondary structure prediction methods?

texts:
The whole question is

  What is the optimal frame size for the second and third generation protein secondary structure prediction methods? Justify your answer.

I remember it has something to do with the average length of alpha-helix. More specifically, 3 on both side of a site. So in total the frame length should be 7. But I can't remember the reason behind the argument.

What do you think?

According to what my professor said in class, 2nd and 3rd generation of protein secondary structure reconstruction relies on statistics data of several consecutive residues.  I guess what he meant by "frame size", is how many adjacent residues we should take into account in the algorithm.


texts: What are some good examples of phonotaxis in plants and other inanimate beings?

texts: Reaction to the sound waves by plants is commonly unobserved. A physical movement or chemical release examples due to phonotaxis would be good to know about.


texts:
This picture is my drawing about germ layer - not embryonic folding as I wrote initially.

Where exactly is the endoderm here in the picture?

The known things

Ectoderm
Neural tube
Notochord
Endoderm - Where is this?
Somite
Somite leg
Intraembryonic coelom
Embryonic somatopleura
Embryonic splanchopleura (lateral mesoderm)
Endoderm
Mesoderm (intraembryonic)


texts: Interpreting qPCR curves: how to find Ct value in my case?

texts:
I am reading my qPCR results and having no idea why Ct value is returned like this:

This is the qPCR curve of my samples, and the software returned Ct values of most of the curves as seen: 33.99-38.4 for the curves that have lower baseline.
The problem is the 2 curves (navy and black) with higher baseline at the first place. I read Ct values of these curves as 32-33, but the software says that the Ct values are 35.4 for these curves.

What could be the problem and what would be the right answer, my values or the software's?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Bimodal frequency distribution of size of protein loops

texts:
The graph of number of amino acid (AA) residues in a loop Vs the frequency of their occurrence in proteins largely follows a tending-to-zero pattern. However, there appear to be some specific number of AAs where the frequency suddenly drops, leading to bi- or multi-modality in the plot. Is there some molecular explanation for this, or is it just an artifact?

I’ve attached the figure from a paper with a different research question but the same graph(Figure 2), albeit more detailed. (The same graph can be found in Brandon and Tooze (fig.2.8).) In the paper from which this is taken “A loop structure was defined as any region between two regular secondary structures that was at least three residues in length.”


texts: Found in central florida in the bath tub. Its about the size of a pencil marking, very small. What is it?


texts: What is the difference between SNP and STR?

texts:
I thought that these were just different format of the same data.

But it seems there isn't a way to convert SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) data to STR (short tandem repeat) data. Am I right?

As I understand SNPs is basically a "diff" between some base human dna (parts that never change) and given dna. While STRs are strands of dna that differs between individuls.

But if there are enough SNPs (i.e. all of them), it would be trivial to deduce STRs, right?

For example, currently 23andMe tests the whole mitochondrial genome. Does it mean that one can easily deduce STRs?


texts: Have any studies been done to find sounds that alienate sharks?


texts: What is the difference between a DPY-10, DPY-11, and DPY-13?

texts: My TA mentioned these three mutations of C. elegans since we started working with the worms but seems to skip over what the differences are...


texts: How much does an experiment on monkeys cost?

texts:
Including legal fees, the paperwork, the housing, the food etc. (provided there is already a lab with biomedical lab equipment and space for the housing) for let's say the final testing phase of a novel drug over a duration of 3-5 months. what are the monthly and per monkey costs (for the questions sake let us say we have 10)? And how would the costs compare to a similiar study on mice?
I'm just curious because I could not find any figures on the internet.
EDIT: Provided I would get the get legal approvement,
EDIT2: and it is based in the US.
EDIT3: in California.


texts:
I'm trying to think about how two neurons communicate, typically shown in pictures as an electric pulse traveling along a long, thin connective tissue.

Is this depiction somewhat accurate, and if so, what happens if both neurons fire at the same time on that connection?

Perhaps the connections are one-way, or they can facilitate pulses going in opposite directions at the same time, or perhaps it's something different all-together. It'd be interesting to have this explained, at least vaguely.


texts: Could this Francobelgian comic book woman really have these 4 diseases at the same time?

texts:
I'm doing an archive binge of a paper comic "The Kiekeboes". One of the characters is an elderly woman currently at the doctor, and she says the has the following illnesses:

Erythema Exsudativum Multiforme;
Necrobiosis Lipoïdica;
Phlegmasia Alba Dolens;
and Metropathia Haemorrhagica.

now, I googled these, and these are apparently real diseases (which actually makes sense, since she said she found them in her medical dictionary), namely 3 skin diseases and 1 menstruation problem. However, I find it hard to believe an elderly woman could have 3 different skin diseases and a menstrual disorder at the same time, especially since she already stopped menstruating.

Is it possible for a patient to have all 4 of these illnesses at the same time? Or do the causes interfere with each other too much for that? I don't want to know how to cure it, I just wonder how much they're talking out of their anuses.

Image I just took with my camera:

Kiekeboe 21: the Piri-Piri Pills, Page 17, strip 30. Author: Merho. Publisher: J.Hoste NV (currently part of Standaard Uitgeverij). Picture taken by Nate Kerkhofs on 16 september 2014.

It is in Dutch, but the names of the illenesses are clearly readable (since they're Latin anyway).

The doctor asks "what are you here for, madame? a cold, reumathism, headache?" right before this. The woman answers "no, doctor, I'm struggling with ... and also ... not to mention ... and a really annoying .... The doctor then replies "but madame, where did you get all those illnesses?" the woman replies "in my medical encyclopaedia!".


texts: Difference between pulse coupling and diffusive coupling In biological oscillators

texts:
What are the differences between pulse coupling found among neuron cells and diffusive coupling found in cells that exhibit calcium waves?
Moreover, in both methods, is it a strict requirement that the cells have to be adjacent to each other or at a distance from each other.

I know this is not a mathematical forum, but can anyone answer the next question or at least point out some books/article where I can learn them.

How can we represent pulse and diffusive coupling mathematically?


texts: Anti-antibodies for preventing transplant rejection

texts:
Transplanted organs from the donor are attacked by antibodies from the recepient. So can't we construct anti-antibodies and destroy specifically those antibodies which are causing the rejections ? (Instead of giving immuno suppressants)

Well, I can think of some problems :

You would have to administer this for life time which is really expensive.
So, what if anti - antiantibodies were made by the body ?

Any other problems you can think of ?


texts: What is the difference between cytosol and cytoplasm?

texts:
I've generally seen cytosol defined as the solution inside cells minus  the organelles, cytoskeleton, etc and cytoplasm as the cytosol plus the organelles, cytoskeleton, etc. This naturally leads to the impression that cytosol is the cytoplasm minus all the solids. The problem here is that there are all sorts of other large molecules in the cells which could be thought of as solid. Are they also part of the cytosol or are they suspended in it? (I.e. are they part of the cytosol or are they non-cytosol components of the cytoplasm?)

Basically, I'm asking if the precise definition of cytosol is just anything in the cell that's not behind an endomembrane (save the exoskeleton) or if the dividing line is something else.

Subquestion: things can get even more terminologically confused because the cytosol is sometimes called the matrix. What the heck is the preferred terminology with this stuff?


texts: What is the lowest intensity threshold of light for photosynthesis in any species?

texts:
Recently, I was reading the question "Photosynthesis - light intensity, particularly the answer, that states that different species require different intensity of light.  My question is what is the lowest threshold of light intensity for photosynthesis of any species?

Specifically, how have that species adapted to take full advantage of the low intensity?


texts: How do eukaryotes terminate transcription? (clarification on Campbell Biology)

texts:
I'm having trouble understanding how eukaryotes terminate transcription. Studying Campbell Biology (pg. 342, 10th ed.), I read:

  In eukaryotes, RNA polymerase II transcribes the polyadenylation signal sequence on DNA, which specifies a polyadenylation signal (AAUAAA) in the pre-mRNA. This is is called a "signal" because once this stretch of six RNA nucleotides appears, it is immediately bound by certain proteins in the nucleus.

The text continues with:

  Then, at a point about 10-35 nucleotides downstream from the AAUAA, these proteins cut it free from the polymerase, releasing the pre-mRNA.

Does this mean pre-mRNA continues to be synthesized for 10-35 nucleotides after AAUAA is transcribed before finally being cut off?

Thanks so much.


texts: What is the scientific name of this plant?

texts: I found this one on a hill here in Palestine. It's about 20 cm in height. Note that it does exist in this regions, but scantily.


texts: Human evolution: Where *exactly* did the first human come from, whose parents were not?

texts:
Layman here. So I have never really quite understood this facet of human evolution, (or any other for that matter), in that, I understand the evolutionary process, but I get lost on the 'border' cases.

For example, we, as humans, evolved from monkeys, (to use the colloquial term, I am not a biologist by any measure).

My question is, doesn't this mean that at some, discrete point, there had to have been a human, whose parents were not? If that is true, how does that work, in the sense that we now have species1 giving birth to species2.

If not, then how exactly does this border case work? The only other alternative I see, is that the borders are 'fuzzy', but then that necessarily means that the definition of a species is itself fuzzy, which I understand is not the case.

Thanks!


texts: Is the "first pass effect" diminished more by some foods than others?

texts: This effect and its considerations are fairly well known but it's never been clear to me whether it's a greater consideration with some types of food than others.


texts: Extraction of arthropod embedded in animal tissue

texts:
I'd like to extract an ectoparasite from a biopsy of animal skin for subsequent identification. The mite is small, about 100 um, and embedded in a column of tissue. It's too small to manually excise under magnification. Currently preserved in 70% ethanol.

Ideally I would isolate it by loosening or dissolving the surrounding tissue without destroying its features. I'd like to conduct a visual inspection prior to sequencing for species identification. Specific suggestions and techniques welcome.

See photo:


texts:
"According to preliminary sequences, 99.7% of the nucleotide sequences of the modern human and Neanderthal genomes are identical, compared to humans sharing around 98.8% of sequences with the chimpanzee."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_genome_project

What precisely is the issue with the supposed 2-4% of Neanderthal genetic material, how does that connect with the general near-total-identity of genetic material?

Does the 2-4% refer largely to analysis of haplotypes, which I take to mean clusters of alleles/ groups of specific traits, which reveal direct contact between the populations?


texts: Why don't the cell organelles settle down in the cell under the influence of gravity?

texts:
In cuboidal or columnar cells or cells of any other shape the nucleus and the other organelles and inclusions remain suspended in the cytoplasm. Why doesn't gravity affect them ?
Could this be because all organelles are of colloidal size ?
Or is it the result of being held in position microfilaments and other cytoskeletal structures that facilitate cytoplasmic streaming ?


texts:
I have in my notes that:

Carbamazepinum increases threshold for glutamate
Lamotriginum delays release of glutamic acid

I would like to simplify these sentences into a single line. I would like to know if it would be correct to say the following:

both Carbamazepinum and Lamotriginum increase glutamate threshold?
"both affect glutamate function" should at least be correct

Do both Carbamazepinum and Lamotriginum increase glutamate threshold?

Characterizing those drugs.

A = group, B = mechanism of action and C = indications.

Carbamazepinum
A. Anticonvulsant, antiepileptic.
B. Block Na+ ion channels and inhibit glutamatergic neurotransmission. Inhibit sustained repetitive neuronal firing.
C. 1st line of Epilepsy grand mall seizures, bipolar disorder, trigeminal neuralgia.
Lamotriginum
A. Unique antiepileptic.
B. Block Na+ ion channels and inhibit glutamatergic neurotransmission. Inhibit sustained repetitive neuronal firing.
C. 1st line Epilepsy - generalized, partial and absence - all types. Bipolar disorder - depression stage. Neuropathy.


texts:
I'm trying to see if I understand this correctly. I've read the question Can the human brain be reduced to a binary system? and one of the answers explains:

  While action potentials are usually binary, you should note that
  synaptic communication between neurons is generally not binary. Most
  synapses work by neurotransmittors, and this is a chemically mediated
  graded response that, for example, act on voltage-gated ion channels.

Looking into the graded response article on Wikipedia:

  Postsynaptic potentials are changes in the membrane potential of the
  postsynaptic terminal of a chemical synapse. Postsynaptic potentials
  are graded potentials, and should not be confused with action
  potentials although their function is to initiate or inhibit action
  potentials

Ok, so from what I understand, involving what I learned in this video about action potential, and those two quotes, there can be a "bias" in the synapse process of neurons that make them more or less likely to reach the threshold for action potential when they receive neurotransmitters as the result of the activity from axons connected to their dendrites. Basically, I have the idea that somehow, the synapse area between neural connections becomes trained based on past interactions on whether or not to fire "easily" or be "reluctant" to fire or else fires more powerfully or weakly contributing more or less toward action potential of neurons on the receiving end.

Edit: On second thought, I also recall learning about a mechanism enforcing recharge time between firing, so the neurons are throttled if they fire too rapidly, a mechanism which, (iirc) if defected can cause epilepsy. Really not sure about that, but it would sort of be the opposite of "training" it seems to me.

So I have a few questions surrounding this subject:

Are some "actions" or "transmissions" (for lack of the correct terminology, when the neuron fires) more powerful than others, contributing more dramatically to action potentials of neurons receiving neurotransmitters when it fires?
Or if I'm on the wrong track with that question, how does the bias occur / form over time? Is a bias based on short term or long term series of interactions? How many past interactions are significant in the current state of the bias at any given time?
Is there bias at all?


texts: I would like to grow E coli cells on cellophane on top of LB plate, and then grow yeast cells on the same LB plate. Does (or how well) yeast grow on LB plates? Is there a composition media that can be good for both E. coli and yeast? Has anyone done this experiment?


texts: Association of shorter telomeres with heart disease

texts:
From this paper

  Those with shorter telomeres in blood DNA had poorer survival,
  attributable in part to a 3.18-fold higher mortality rate from heart
  disease (95% CI 1(.)36-7.45, p=0.0079), and an 8.54-fold higher
  mortality rate from infectious disease (1.52-47.9, p=0.015).

What is the connection between shorter telomeres and heart disease ?


texts: How to get the file of a published phylogeny of a taxon

texts: If an article has a published phylogeny, is it common to get the newick file with branch lengths from the authors? In order to do further research with the tree.


texts: Could certain drugs enable one to consistently eat above TDEE or BMR without fat gains?

texts:
I heard anabolic steroids and stuff like DNP and ephedrine and etc. can somewhat enable one to eat more and get away with it without much or any fat gain, despite eating more than the body would normally use.

Is this true? Can hormones, AAS, HGH and other fat burning drugs or stimulants or etc. enable one to consistently eat more than their basal metabolic rate without becoming fat?


texts: How are geneticists able to isolate gene functions?

texts:
As an example, this Scientific American article describes a known area in the dog genome that metabolizes carbohydrates.

How is it that researchers are able to determine specific functions such as this?


texts: What is the difference between xDNA and yDNA?

texts:
Wikipedia states that:

  xDNA contains expanded bases, in which a benzene ring has been added, which may pair with canon bases, resulting in four possible base-pairs (8 bases:xA-T,xT-A,xC-G,xG-C, 16 bases if the unused arrangements are used). Another form of benzene added bases is yDNA, in which the base is widened by the benzene.

In this context, does widened and expanded refer to the same thing? If so, what would be the exact different between yDNA and xDNA.

NOTE: I am not referring to the X and Y chromosomes.


texts: Why do Pelicans seem to disappear when circling high in the sky on a sunny day

texts:
When I watch Pelicans circling high in the sky on a sunny day, at a certain point in that circle, they disappear from view, then reappear again further along in that circle.
Is it something to do with the angle of the sun reflecting off the feathers?


texts: Can a blood type O be born from AB and A parents?

texts:
I have a basic understanding of genetics, and I'm really puzzled by this. My grandma's blood type is A (I don't know if it's heterozygous or homozygous) and my grandpa is AB. Yet my mother is type O.
Grandma says that my mom is 100% my grandpa's child, so how did it happen?
I have a few hypotheses regarding this. Either my grandma is lying, which I find to be really implausible, or there's some genetical anomalies either in my mom or my grandparents.
I suspect that grandma is heterozygous, having the IAi genes for blood type, and grandpa has a weird case of IAIBi alleles, coming either from a failed disjunction which caused both alleles for A and B to be present in one sperm cell, and the i allele to be present in the egg, resulting in the IAIBi genotype. Then, when grandpa had my mom, both i alleles got combined and out came my mom with O type.
My other hypothesis is that mom is heterozygous, either IAi or IBi, but the dominant allele underwent a deletion (or something else) and was inactivated, and as such only the recessive allele remained, giving her type O blood.
Could I get some insight on how this happened? I can't seem to find anything related to it on the internet.


texts: How do catenanes form when DNA replicates?

texts: So I am taking a course in DNA replication and repair. And we are talking about catenanes forming when DNA replicates (two circles of dsDNA interlinked) How is this possible?


texts: How can just random mutations explain mimicry?

texts:
I have been reading this article on drug resistance which explained that how random mutations in a bacterial colony can lead to development of drug resistance among some organisms in that colony.

A thought occurred to me that if mutations are just random (by random what I know (or think)  here is the number and time of a mutation occurring in an organism in a normal environment may not be fixed but random) events arising from copy errors during DNA replications then how come some animals in nature mimic their surroundings to save themselves from predators or catch prey?

Let's consider for the time being that an animal exhibiting mimicry have evolved through natural selection, after suffering a mutation in their DNA which made them well adapted to their environment, and also saved them from their predators. Now we know a fit organism, in the struggle for existence, produces offsprings which can withstand the adversities of the surroundings and thus increases in numbers. In this way we may assume that due to many such helpful mutations led to the evolution of a new species.

This may sound simple but it actually seems to me as an over simplification of the events that lead to the development of 'that' new species. First of all not all mutations are helpful. Some are lethal as well. Also mutations may often be silent due to the degeneracy of the genetic code and presence of introns in the eukaryote. But let us consider here that the mutation suffered by our test organism was neither silent nor harmful, that too leaves us with infinite number of mutation possibilities to get a favourable organism from an unfit (to the surrounding in which our test organism is struggling) parent generation. Thus I think nature may not test each and every kind of possibility to select the fit one because in that case the test organisms will be far too many in number. Also if we consider that the fit one emerged just by chance out of million other possibilities then its sure that it was either too lucky or there is some other factor except 'just' mutation which can explain mimicry. Thus can only general mutation explain mimicry or we need something more to explain it?


texts: If DNA has a half life of about 500 years, how can old seeds be planted?

texts:
According to this article, DNA has a half life of 512 years

Wikipedia claims that there are seeds planted as old as 31000 years

Doing the basic math $100 / (2^{30000/512})$ we get that only about
$2.2989191*10^{-16}%$ of the DNA would be left

So how do these plants still grow when replanted?


texts: Can iGEM distribution parts be directly PCR'd?

texts:
The iGEM DNA Kit Plate Instructions say that there is only 2-3ng of DNA per well, which is already miniprepped and in plasmids.  Then it says that "there is not enough DNA in each well to perform anything but transformations".

Couldn't PCR be performed on an amount of DNA that small, given appropriate primers?  Is transformation truly the only thing that could be done with that DNA?  If PCR could be done on the DNA, why might they suggest otherwise?


texts: I found these plants in my backyard in South Florida. What are they?


texts:
Arrange this in sequence :

  i. Heat loss exceeds heat production.

  ii.As body temperature falls, heat loss decreases.

  iii.Body temperature equals environmental temperature.

  iv.Metabolic activities fall to the basal level.

I am confused between i,iii,ii,iv and iv,i,ii,iii.


texts: Can you design a bacteriophage that attacks the part of the bacteria that makes them antibiotics resistant?

texts:
I read in a newspaper about a case where they had found a virus that could attack a specific form of antibiotics-resistant bacteria and managed to save a girl from a certain death by "infecting her" with the virus.

See this article for instance.

I would like to know if it is possible to construct a virus that attacks the part of the bacteria that makes them immune to antibiotics?

I mean if you could combine a certain type of antibiotics with a virus that attacks any bacteria that is immune to that particular type of antibiotics the bacteria is in a bad place.

I have read before, now citing this answer

  "Bacteria usually gain resistance mechanisms through horizontal gene
  transfer (such as conjugation and phage infection)."

and that bacteria can be resistent by for instance:

  "produce beta-lactamase that inactivate many lactam based antibiotics
  such as penicillin."

then if you can construct a drug that somehow can attack the bacteria because of the specific genetic code that gives the bacteria the ability to produce beta-lactamase then you might be able to attack all bacteria that shares the same genetic code that gives them that ability and the bacteria can not mutate to escape without losing their resistance to penicillin.


texts: Does anyone know the name of the bird in the pictures? It was found in the south of Spain in the month of June. (it is certainly neither a house sparrow nor a swallow nor a robin). Thanks for the help!


texts: Relation between heterozygosity and allelic diversity in founder effects/bottleneck?

texts:
Can someone try to explain me why allelic diversity falls faster than heterozygosity, reminding you that we're talking about bottleneck or a founder effect? Look at this graphic:

It's clear to me that both are related, so both have to decrease.

It is clear that allelic diversity has a huge fall because there was lost of alleles (specially the rare and uncommon ones that, despite contributing less to allelle frequencies, each one has the same weight to allelic diversity, take a look at the other graphic to understand what I'm talking about).

Now, heterozygosity is specifically related to allele frequencies, and since the most rare/uncommon don't contribute much to this, the only alleles that will have a large impact on the decrease of heterozygosity are the more/most common.

Since that after a bottleneck, (probably) the alleles remaining are the most common, heterozigosity will decrease less than allelic diversity.

I'm aiming for some complementary ideas about this, specially when it comes to statistical models that describe heterozygosity. It's hard for me to understand the relation between allele frequencies and heterozygosity when it comes to this case - in what manner do allele frequencies influence H?


texts: Pasteurisation of orange juice and Vitamin C

texts:
In the UK at present, one of the examination boards has set a "controlled assessment" (an experiment that pupils do at school under exam conditions) that involves testing a hypothesis that vitamin C is removed from fruit juice by heating it (i.e. in the pasteurisation process).

I am massively skeptical about this. The teacher guidance suggests "Treating fresh orange juice in boiling water for between 10 and 30 mins gives an easily measurable decrease in vitamin C levels". Leaving aside that this hardly represents a simulation of the pasteurisation process(!), does anybody know of any solid, academic studies of the effect of pasteurisation on the vitamin C content of fruit juice? I have tried (as a scientist, but non-biologist) my usual routes to reliable information and they fail miserably - the www is full of crackpots on this one.

As a follow-up to that, is it not the case anyway that the oxidation of the orange juice when it is boiled in this experiment, plus simple exposure to light could also be responsible for any decrease in vitamin C observed?


texts: How does the enzyme ATP Synthase use a proton concentration gradient to make ATP?

texts: I understand what the enzyme ATP synthase does, but I'm not exactly sure how it does it. I've heard that it uses rotary catalysis, but how exactly does this work? How is the energy from the H+ ion harnessed, turned into mechanical energy, and then finally into the chemical energy stored in ATP? Why does the spinning of parts of the enzyme need to occur for this to happen?


texts: does small different between 16s ribosomal DNA leads to diffrence into protein products?

texts: I have bacterium isolate after BLAST of its 16S  the different between its and the similar seq. on NCBI was 4 nucleotides my question is, does it lead to difference between whole genome seq. or I will obtain the same seq. consequently. does this also leads to  the same protein products from them.


texts: How does a fetus retain a blood group different from its mother?

texts:
It's a well-established fact that blood group is decided by genotype. But, when a new child starts its journey in the womb, the mother's blood (along with it's agglutinins and agglutinogens) flows into the baby's heart. So, how does a baby (having a blood group different from that of the mother) retains it's own blood group (with it's own agglutinins and agglutinogens) instead of the mother's blood group, which moves in and out of the baby through the umbilical cord.

Do both kinds of blood flow in the baby's body constantly in such a case?

Apart from that, I know of rhesus incompatibility. But there are also incompatible blood group types. How does a baby survive agglutination in those cases?


texts:
I had a debate with a person who believes in some kind of creativism, let's call it that way.

And in the middle of the "debate", an interesting question popped up.

What are evidences of "transition between species". Is there a fossil record that shows us the "transition".  I googled it and it was pretty obscure subject.

I would like to answer that question and really it "hits" my beliefs.


texts: How and why did mouth and nasal cavity evolve separate?

texts: My initial objection is that nose filters air, mouth is for eating but is used for breathing also, plus they both are used to create sounds. What is the cause and reason in this case, why do we need two "holes" and one is not good enough?


texts: How does a cell distinguish left from right?

texts:
Although the human body is mostly left-right symmetrical, it consistently has asymetries. The heart is consistently slightly to the left side of the body. The liver is consistently on the right side.

This is quite perplexing when we consider that the human body has developed from a single cell. It seems like a single cell is mostly left-right symmetrical. A single cell could be oriented any which way in the womb, and it is unclear how the developing body would "know" which way is left or right.

So, how is it that the body develops the clear assymetry. Can anyone explain this interesting phenomenon in layman's terms?


texts: Where does extra blood come from to fill your muscles during exercise?

texts:
Let's say I go to the gym and lift some weights an hour.  During this time my arms will grow due to the "pump" -- the extra blood rushing in to feed the muscles.  For example, I've measured about 2-3 centimeters increase just in the diameter of the upper arm (bicep+tricep).

But where did this blood come from?  Also, if my arms got bigger, since I'm the same weight that means some part of my body must have gotten smaller, right?


texts:
I would like help identifying this "crab".
I looked through 32 pages of crabs on this resource http://species-identification.org/ but none of them look like this little animal found in the waters of Madeira.
They move fast and are something in between a spider and a crab.


texts: Why does the definition of a "gene" require it to have a product?

texts:
In a textbook, I found the following (emphasis in the original):

  At this point, we can provide a molecular definition of a gene as a sequence of DNA that specifies production of a functional product, be it a polypeptide or a functional RNA molecule.

The concept of a gene predates our knowledge of DNA by several decades.  My understanding of the original meaning of the term "gene" is that it was thought as whatever it was that conferred a heritable trait to individuals, and that could mutate and (in the case sexual species) segregate independently (of other such "genes").

Therefore, I don't see why, for example, a distant enhancer (which does not code for product) would be considered a gene.  After all, it is inherited, and could conceivably exist in various forms ("alleles") in the population.  These various forms could have different effects on the phenotype, and thus be grist for selection, just like any other gene.

Are there example of such "non-product" genes?  If so, how common are they?


texts: What regulates production of first transcription factors during development?

texts: In my biochemistry class, we learned that transcription factors regulate the transcription of genes. However, transcription factors are also coded by genes, so what activates the transcription of genes that code for the first transcription factors during development?


texts: Trigger allergic reaction in non-allergic people?

texts: Is there a proven way to trigger an allergic or allergic-like reaction in non-allergic people? I have wondered if this is possible, since allergies are basically just a form hypersensitivity - so could this be triggered somehow?


texts: How many Type II restrictions enzymes are currently available (commercially) for purchase as of the date of this posting (September 1, 2014)


texts: How does 2,3 biphosphoglycerate works to release oxygen bound to the hemoglobin?

texts:
I read on Wikipedia that 2,3 BPG binds with the deoxygenated state of hemoglobin and helps in stabilizing it. It was also written that it helps release remaining oxygen from the hemoglobin. How?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,3-Bisphosphoglyceric_acid


texts: Exactly what kind of spider is this in Louisville, KY?

texts:
I took this photo many years ago, but I guess the year doesn't really matter. It was here in Louisville KY, on the outside of a window, on a web it built. It was a couple hours after sunset in the summer. It was about the size of a silver dollar.

Some people said it's a Garden Orb at first, while recently others say it's a Wood spider. Either way, I'm not entirely sure.

What species of spider was this?


texts: Is there any advantage of having mitochondria for aerobic respiration?

texts:
If we consider the pathway of breakdown of glucose which includes glycolysis, the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain, all these processes takes place in some  prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In prokaryotes all these processes take place in cytoplasm while in eukaryotes the last two processes take place in mitochondria.

So is there any advantage of performing the last two processes in the mitochondria? Does it yield more energy? If there is no advantage, what is the point of having a mitochondria (at least for this process)?


texts:
I came across this question in USABO 2013 open exam:

A mother antelope and its child are galloping along the plains, when they encounter a group of hungry lions. If the two antelopes try to escape the lions together, there is a 75% chance that both will be consumed and eaten, and a 25% chance that both will escape alive. If, however, the mother sacrifices herself to the lions, she may be able to buy her baby additional time to escape.
What is the minimum chance that the baby can have to escape from the lions following such a sacrifice such that the mother’s action will be evolutionarily favored?
You may assume that the baby antelope, once escaped, will be guaranteed to survive into a reproducing adult, and that the mother antelope is at the beginning of reproductive age.

I suppose one should use Hamilton's Rule ($r \cdot B > C$) to solve this issue. I'm not familiar with the working of this rule to put it into the question's context. To my understanding $r=0.5$ but this is pretty much how far I managed to go.


texts: Why doesn't surgical steel cause inflammation?

texts:
It seems some very specific alloys like implant surgical steel and titanium don't cause inflammation in the human body, but when I asked my doctor about it, they simply said "it just has some chemical property that doesn't cause it."

So...what exactly is special about these metals compositions as to not cause inflammation like most other things would?


texts: Do beavers' tails hurt from being dragged?

texts: I understand that when beavers walk on land, they drag their tails behind them on the ground. Their tails look quite large and rather heavy, and the ground is often rough - does dragging the tail not cause abrasions and pain for the beaver?


texts:
What is the significance of differentiating anatomical neck and surgical neck of a bone?

What could be criterias for differentiation?

I found an article here that says fractures to surgical neck are benign, could this be a criteria for differentiation?


texts:
Could anyone try to help identify this caterpillar, there are loads of them all over my garden and I've got three of them in a makeshift caterpillar house. I've had them for about a week and they've grown to about 3 or 4 centimetres in length and I am yet to see any of them form pupae. I am from London by the way.
EDIT: they don't seem to be too fussy about what they eat, I have found them on honeysuckle, rose bushes and even some nibbling on the bind weed I've pulled recently.


texts: How do Helper T cells activate Cytotoxic T cells?

texts:
Helper T  cells activate the Antigen-presenting Cells (APCs) through their secretions (the cytokines) (although the T cell in question gets activated in turn). This is typically achieved by cell-to-cell contact using  receptors on both the helper T
cell and APC.
Since Helper T cells also activate Cytotoxic T
cells, I am particularly interested in knowing whether cell-to-cell contact occurs between these two T cell subtypes (as is the case in helper T cell - APC communication).


texts:
Location:India

My father was telling me yesterday that wasps were building a nest over an abandoned store room in our backyard...But he noticed that the wasps were attacked by a bunch of bumblebees...And the two were locked up in a duel.Several wasps were also found dead on the land...

Today he told me that the nest had almost diminished and several bumblebees were surrounding it...which seemed like they were destroying it

My question is:

Why would bumblebees destroy the wasp nest?

I guessed that they would build their own nest instead (after a few days perhaps) but there were plenty of other places in the yard too like there is big mango tree... it's only a guess and I am too curious to know any biological cause.


texts: Is an ephemeral stream in an unflowing state considered a lentic or lotic environment?

texts: I ask this question because I would like to discuss attributes of streams, rivers, bayous, and etc. in a text I'm writing and would like to simply refer to them as "lotic" environments.  Some of the water bodies I am referring to were observed in an unflowing state and I worry I might be incorrect in referring to these as lotic. If so, is there another term that refers to streams, rivers, bayous, and such collectively?


texts: Can we determine a person's age by dating methods or other means?

texts:
There are many sports restricted to players of a certain age (e.g. 16 and under, 18 and under, etc.) What if a person is older and fakes his birth certificate to say that he is younger? Is there any way to expose this person?

Can we determine such a person's age by radiocarbon dating methods or other means?


texts: Could we restore some animal's muscle structure by it's bone?

texts:
Suppose that elephant dies out one day, nothing left to researchers but the fossil. Could fossil infer the existence of large nose?

If there is possibility, how exactly should they perform the deduction?


texts: What physiological pathways lie behind inhalants hallucinogenic effect?

texts: I searched through the web and surprisingly I found pretty much nothing on the physiology of hallucinogenic effects of inhalants. Any idea how people get high with inhalants (household and industrial chemicals) and what physiological pathway lies behind this mechanism?


texts: What is this pink-flowering plant found in Shanghai, China in March?

texts:
This plant appears to have fleshy protrusions resembling flowers growing out of its stem (although I am unable to identify them as such).

Does anyone know the identity of these plants?


texts:
Birds have sown seeds on my ground and this beautiful flower has sprung.  What's the name of this flower?

I live in Sao Paulo, Brazil


texts: How a biologist attempts to explain the structure of the ribosomal proteins?

texts:
I have a Computer Science background and a minimal biology knowledge. This is the question I am asked to answer in one of the biology courses:

What would be the structure of ribosomal proteins when isolated from the ribosome?

I do understand (on a high level) what a protein and a ribosome are. I read about the rRNA, ribosomal proteins, 30s and 50s subunits. That gave me an overall insight, but it didn't specifically answer the question. I also tried to Google some pictures of these proteins without much success. Thus, what I want to ask is:

i) What's the concrete answer to this question?

ii) Does the structure of an isolated protein differ to being part of a ribosome?

iii) What exactly do I need to say about its structure? Secondary, Tertiary, something else?

and most importantly

iv) How would a biologist attempt to answer this question?


texts: Can cancerous cells reach the Hayflick limit?

texts:
This may be a stupid question, but I've been wondering. Each time a cell divides, the telomeres on the chromosomes shorten. If this goes on for long enough, the chromosomes will no longer have telomeres and the chromosome will deteriorate. Thus, the average cell will divide between 50-70 times before cell death.

Cancerous cells divide uncontrollably fast, of course. But can they reach the Hayflick limit? Considering how quickly they multiply, it shouldn't be impossible, right?


texts:
How are bidirectional promoters expressed ? (Won't RNA Pol have to go in 3'-5' direction?)
Why are they more commonly found in eukaryotes than prokaryotes?


texts: The best free and most up to date phylogenetic tree on the internet?

texts:
I found phylogenetic tree in wikipedia is lacks of accuracy. It actually confusing with versions. Some terms was not scientifically accurate with dna analysis anymore

So are there anyone know where is the most updated datasource on the internet?


texts:
Context: I know a person which has developed a sort of "phobia" with respect to touching things that has (even the slighest) chance of being in contact with something that can transmit rabies. For instance, if something (a coin) falls on the floor of our university, said person almost cannot take it, since dogs sometimes pass around the place. This has reached a severe level which hinders this person experience in life. However, there is apparently some hope of rationalization. Specifically, the person told me that if someone can prove, for example, that the virus do not "live" long enough after dropping from the saliva of a dog to the floor in order to be transmitted to a human being, then maybe she will be more relieved. This led me to search for information on the internet, but nothing was conclusive. This takes me to my question, and sorry for the sidetracking.

Can someone be infected by rabies by merely taking something from the ground where a infected dog may have passed by? How long does the virus "live" (or is active, I don't know the  proper term) after being "exposed" to the environment? More generally, how exactly does the process of infection happen, and how can it happen?


texts: Why are some neurons tetraploid, and how does this result from it's ancestor cell ?


texts: How to express total eradication of bacteria (inhibition zone) when placed into a table

texts:
I am a grade 9 student studying the inhibition zones of several different essential oils by comparison to Tetracycline to prove there is merit to treatment of bacterial infection (investigation is being conducted evaluating efficacy against S. epidermidis). I am analysing it by measuring the efficacy of 100% essential oil, in addition to MIC and 10x MIC.
One of the essential oils totally eradicated the bacteria. How would I express that in a table?


texts: What would happen if blood flow wasn't periodic?

texts:
Blood pressure has its systolic and diastolic parts due to the beating heart and the body's used to that kind of thing.

What would happen to a person supported by a blood-pumping machine that applies steady blood pressure?

What would happen short term?

What would happen long term?


texts: Can I do an MS in biotechnology after a bachelors degree in chemical engineering?

texts: I recently graduated from high school and now have to make a decision about my undergrad major. I am interested in biotechnology but my parents suggested that I should opt for a broad based degree and then specialize in my field of interest in grad school. So I read up about chemical engineering and I think it would be an interesting major, but my real interest probably lies in biotech.Is it possible to transition form chemical engineering to bio-related fields in grad school?


texts: How are non identical cattle twins capable of transplanting each others organs?

texts:
Non identical cattle twins have different genes and by this their immunesystem works differently so initially it was suspected that eg tissue transplantation from one to the other would be rejected by the immunesystem.

Now it appears that it is possible to succeed in a organtransplantion because there body's lived in the same placenta. But how does their immunesystems get compatible with the cells of the other just through the placenta?


texts:
A simple daily event has amazed me and triggered this question. I have read and heard about hand-eye coordination. It quite straightforward when you e.g. want to open a door or play Xbox. In this case either your hand is in your view or your hand will feel the buttons of your Xbox.

But when it comes to catching a ball or try to catch a falling object, our hand is totally out of our view since we are closely following the trajectory of the moving object. But meanwhile our hands moves in a 3D space and align it self perfectly in the path of trajectory correctly. This is what amazed me.

If you can see your hand and the object/ball simultaneously, its just a matter of moving our hand in the path of that ball/object. But having hands totally out of sight but catching the ball/object perfectly every time is amazing piece of nature's engineering.

How humans have achieved such a amazing piece of coordination in a 3D space without seeing where the hands are located?


texts: Flatworms sexual reproduction; one must be the mother and the other the father?

texts:
I watched this.
I wonder if both of these flatworms ever end up pregnant.
Earthworms are simultaneous hermaphrodites, meaning worms have both male and female reproductive organs, just like flatworms. During sexual intercourse among earthworms, both sets of sex organs are used by both worms. If all goes well, the eggs of both of the mates become fertilized. Can this occur in flatworms?
Or in flatworms, one must be the mother and the other the father?


texts: What controls Fructose regulation in plants?

texts:
Sugars are found ubiquitously in plants and are regulated.

For sucrose it's pretty straightforward - it's basically kept at a low ish level, and put into storage or other intermediate compounds. These act to inhibit or promote other parts of the calvin cycle of sugar production (fructose 2,6 bisphosphate especially iirc).

Fructose is a bit more obscure. What are the regulatory feedback loops involved?


texts: Simple diffusion of lipid-soluble molecules through phospholipid bilayer -- does anything get "stuck" in transit?

texts:
It's a pretty elementary concept, and when I first learned of it I don't think I had the foundations to even think of such a question, but I found myself the other day thinking about the amphipathic nature of the phospholipids in the plasma membrane and why it might be that lipid-soluble molecules don't stay in between the layers (of the bilayer).

I know that simple diffusion is a response to a concentration gradient, but consider a case where equilibrium is being restored and lipid-soluble molecules are diffusing from whatever extracellular matrix through the membrane and into the cytosol. Towards the end of this process, when equilibrium is nearly restored and the last few molecules are making their way into the cell, the rate of diffusion for these last couple molecules will be slower than those that diffused when the concentration difference was greater. Since the polar heads on the outside and inside of the bilayer are hydrophilic but the inner part, where the fatty acid tails are, is hydrophobic, what drives a molecule to leave the cozy, accepting, lipophilic environment of the middle (of the bilayer) to cross through the cytosolic-side rejecting polar heads and enter the cytosol?

I understand that initially these molecules were moving into the cell in response to a difference in intracellular vs extracellular concentration, but I'm asking whether we would ever see a case where the gradient is nearly zero and a molecule in transit simply decides to reside in between the layers instead of crossing all the way into the cell; as if moving through the cytosolic polar head side is not worth the effort to reduce a nearly-zero gradient to zero.

Please ask me if I can clarify my question in any way -- I'm finding it difficult to phrase. I asked my professor (who has her doctorate in toxicology & pharmacology) and she understood what I was asking but didn't have an answer.


texts: What is the name of systemic tension of muscles?

texts:
I meat a overtrained friend (25 years old) who cannot rest.
He has all muscles and most of the skin very tense.
He is practising  regularly in gym and sleep badly.
He moves like a stick figure and has complained pains systemically.
The tenseness have now been some years.

I have met once before such a person who was about 90-year old body builder (male) who never run and did no stretching.
Ageing is not necessarily linked to this kind of tenseness.
I have not seen such tenseness in women.
So I think it is related to the muscles.

Possible pathogenesis. Probable causes of this kind of systemic tension

fibrinous inflammation starting from upper body

etc posterior, medial scapula;
middle inferior posterior clavicula

starting as membranous inflammation
long-term accumulation of fibrin and proteins in lymphatic system in interstitial spaces

proceeding on muscular membranes and through lymphatic system into axillary zone
axillary lymph nodes

deep injury of lymph conduction system as a consequence of decreased lymphatic drainage
proceeding into pseudomembranous inflammation in the upper body

starting from axillary lymphatic system
proceeding back to to the origin through fibrinous membranes as pseudomembranous to other parts (clavicula and scapula)

step by step proceeding into extremities and to lower body

eventually achilles tendon and foot Thian point glympadenopathy
hardening of foot muscles similarly as through upper body

Schematic drawing about the fibrinous inflammation

Possible other causes without citings to literature

right heart failure
systemic hypertension and defect in heart (etc fully patent foramen ovale; got idea from this discussion)

I am interested what is name of this kind of systemic tenseness, probably muscular origin.
What is the pathogenesis of this kind of tenseness?
Why is it systemic?


texts: Is there a biological term for an activity period that is determined by temparature

texts:
In general we refer to the activity period of organisms in terms of the period of the day that they are active.  Diurnal, crepuscular, nocturnal, matutinal, and vespertine, for example.

There are certain desert animals whose activity patterns seem to match a temperature range more than they do the day/night pattern.  Is there a term for this type of activity pattern?


texts: Development and function of spindle neurons

texts:
In his book How to Create a Mind author Ray Kurzweil makes some claims about spindle neurons that he provides no source for.

Concretely he states that spindle cells:

Are Involved in handling emotion and moral judgement;
Are believed to first have occurred in the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans;
Are non-existing in newborns, but appear around the age of four months, and increase significantly in number from ages one to three.

Is there a scientific consensus backing these claims?


texts: Sugar contains a lot of easily accessible chemical energy. Why seemingly nothing likes to grow on it?


texts:
In the mitochondrial respiration (of plant cells) NADH is reduced from Nad+ as part of the TCA (converting malate to oxaleoacetate).

But where do the NAD+s come from?
The TCA cycle is working even in isolated mitochondrias by adding malate as a substrate, which indicates NAD+ must be present already.

I am also wondering if ADP and NAD+ can be transfered through the inner membranes of the mitochondrion without specific channels?


texts: Are adenosine or its catabolites increased in inflamed airways? How can I assess this? I am trying to use inhibitors for adenosine deaminase, xanthine oxidase, and purine nucleoside phosphorylase, but I don't have a protocol.


texts:
Recently, I've been reading about the MyD88 dependent signalling pathway, with particular reference to its activation in Macrophages and other cells of the immune system on recognition of a pathogen. I understand that when a PAMP (Pathogen Associated Molecular Pattern) binds with a PRR (Pattern Recognition Receptor), the receptor undergoes a conformational change, which precipitates a cascade of chemical reactions between various proteins, which eventually leads (inter alia) to the translocation of NF-κB to the nucleus, which leads to the production of cytokines. My question is about the finer points, particularly with respect to TLR1 and TLR2.

My reading suggests that these generally form a heterodimer - is this always true? Are both required for a pathogen to be recognised and an immune response produced?

Upon the pathogen binding with TLR1 (whether in a complex with TLR2 or not) what precisely happens to the receptor. I understand that MyD88 is, ultimately, recruited, but by what means?

I believe I understand everything that happens after the recruitment of MyD88, but I am less clear on everything before that. I had initially understood that the recruitment of MyD88 was the immediate next step, but other sources make reference to two proteins which I was initially unaware of: TOLLIP and TIRAP. What, if anything, is their role?

I'm still a little new to stackexchange so I apologise if this question is not up to standard, in which case, let the question simply be: 'How do TLR1/TLR2 activate the MyD88 dependent pathway?'


texts: How does air pass through when we breathe through the mouth?

texts: When you sleep with your mouth open, does air pass through the nasal cavities? If not, how will you describe the air that enters the mouth?


texts: Anyone find out what this is? Looks like A Caterpillar with a home it made from surrounding items, this was found in VA in the moutians on our home.! It went back inside its home after attempting to touch it with my phone. It's the size of an adult female pinky.♀


texts: Why do we have the tibia and fibula (a 2nd bone) in the lower leg?

texts: Does fibula participate in rotational movement of ankle or not (just like the radius in forearm)? If not, what is the purpose of that bone?


texts: How does hypocalcaemia have an effect on the excitability of cell

texts: Hypocalcemia increases sodium influx by leak channels. Why does this elevate the resting membrane potential and increase excitability?


texts: What is the meaning of depth relation and EM in this excerpt?

texts:
In the excerpt below from Morphology of Invertebrate Neurons and Synapses

  For the better part of a century, conclusions were made largely by matching the depth relations between the terminals of input neurons and the dendrites of their presumed targets; this practice became transferred to arthropods and cephalopods. The practice may be true for particular terminals or dendrites, and in vertebrates, but it has been long gainsaid by many examples in invertebrates. In the particular case of Drosophila, now known from dense reconstructions, EM denies any such simple dichotomy in important details, with many terminals having postsynaptic sites and many dendrites that are presynaptic as well as postsynaptic (Takemura et al., 2008).

I'm having trouble understanding what the acronym "EM" stands for, the author seemed to throw it in without prior definition (my guess is it's some neuroscience jargon). I also don't understand what the author means by "depth relation". Could someone explain to me the two terms assuming a college intro level background in neuroscience?


texts: Can we estimate longevity from menopause age?

texts:
This is from an answer in other question, about the age at which menopause occurs:

  Aristotle's assessment was similar to those of Hippocrates and also
  Roman authors, so it seems that 2000 years ago most women entered the
  menopause in their early 40s. Mediaeval authors, however, gave the 50s
  as the age when menses ceased-much closer to the timing for twentieth
  century women.

Considering that, throughout history, menopause starts at about 40-50 years, shouldn't this point to a stable and long life expectancy? (Considering also that menopause is an adaptation.) When we read that humankind used to live much less than today, isn't it just the effect of newborn mortality, and thus adults lived just about as long as we do today?


texts: I'm not a biologist but, I'm trying to enter molecular biology from a perspective. I have noticed that concept of genotype is quite well defined while phenotype is not. If I understand well, gene expression builds up enzymes that ultimately control all chemistry inside the cell, and which are sensible to the environment. Then, how correct/incorrect would it be to state that "phenotype is the enzyme composition within the cell"? Is it at least a good approximate idea?


texts:
We have some bacterial genomes that were assembled using Spades, they were sequenced with and IonTorrent PGM.

There are many assemblers and they give different results. I was interested in a tool that can merge the results from different assemblers but there are not many. I found only 2 : GARM and GAM-NGS.

Are there other tools to do merges? Does this improves the genome seq quality?


texts: Found in Austria. At half past nine p.m. in the summer/autumn.


texts:
This quote from Miller (2004) makes it clear that the affinity of drugs for the H1 receptor does not correlate to sedation:

  Although both dosage and affinity for histamine H1 receptors play a part in the sedative effect of a medication, what ultimately determines sedative effect is the amount of the drug reaching the histamine H1 receptors in the central nervous system. For example, quetiapine, which has little affinity for the histamine H1 receptors, is a less potent antipsychotic medication and requires many more milligrams to be effective than do higher-potency medications such as risperidone and ziprasidone. Because of this, quetiapine has a greater sedative effect on patients in clinical use than do risperidone and ziprasidone.

Is there a mathematical way to compare affinity to potency between different drugs?


texts:
I have been working on lung samples to perform western blotting. I have two related questions about this:

I get very nonspecific results: at times nothing at all, at times it glows on membrane but doesn't take up on x-ray film. What are the common causes of these errors and how might I avoid them?
I am interested in assaying GPCR expression. When I am assaying for GPCRs, do I need to prepare the lung samples in a specific way (that is different from sample preparation for Western blots of other proteins)?


texts: How does the body determine where to deposit fat reserves?

texts: People's bodies store fat in similar areas, but often there are subtle differences in which areas are first or slightly more effected. This seems to also be apparent with morbidity, where certain areas are overburdened with adipose while other areas are less effected. What are the factors the determine which areas exhibit build up, while others do not?


texts: How can birds disperse seeds when they are able to digest them?

texts:
I've just read in a book that birds' guts can digest almost all the consumed seeds with the exception of mistletoe and loranthus (which stays stuck on the branches). On the other hand, I know that the co-evolution with birds caused the enlarging of the fruits - for the fruit trees as an advantage in fast spreading.

But how do exactly birds spread the seeds they consume if they're digested in their guts?


texts: Does vitamin D form crystals in the blood with calcium and magnesium?

texts:
I read on a vitamin-D product (2000NE) that I should not use calcium and magnesium with it, because it can result crystal formation in the blood. I googled, but find anything about this. Is it true?

(Somehow I doubt it, but I don't know the exact mechanism how vitamin-D works by building bones. Afaik. there are osteoblasts and osteoclasts which constantly build and degrade the Ca-Mg-PO4 depos, and I assume vitamin-D is just a cofactor of an enzyme or it is required to produce a hormone. I never heard of Ca/Mg - vitamin-D cross-reactions...)


texts: Examples of virus originated from a living system

texts:
Do you know some examples of virus or a viroid (or a prion) that originated from a known living organism? How does the virus/viroid/prion lives? Does it paratize the organism from which the virus originated?

UPDATE

Thanks to the first answers I have examples of newly originated prions. Does someone know such an example about viruses?


texts:
For flowering plants, what might cause the genome size of offspring from a cross between 2 diploid parent of differing genome size to reflect only a partial contribution by the larger genome size parent?

Many hybridizers of Rhododendron attempt wide crosses between two sections of the genus. In some cases the resulting hybrids show physical characteristics of both parents. However, flow cytometry indicates that instead of the offspring being half the sum of the 2 parents genome sizes the genome size is actually twice the genome size of the smaller genome size parent.

See Evergreen azalea X deciduous azalea

Can a successful cross result in a reduction in normal contribution of one of the diploid parents after fertilization?


texts: Can erythrocytes Function without plasma?

texts:
my title is not very specific. So i will proceed to clarify it.
I am trying to make sure that the only blood cells in a sample are Erytocytes, since i want to evaluate their metabolism, I am aware that they don't have Mithocondria and thus catabolize Glucose into Lactate, (I belive I am not making false statements, however if any corrections pop up please give me a heads up.)
Thus a way I thought of getting rid of leucocytes was through centrifugation, erythrocytes would be at the bottom of the flask and if We got rid of Supernadant (plama and fine layer of leucocytes), we would have a much purer sample of erythrocytes.

My question is: Do they stil carry out their metabolism, so i can a posteriori evaluate it, even after centrifugation and gettting rid of the plasma. Or evaluating the lactate production afterwards would be impossible? I know there are more easier and methodic ways of getting rid of leucocytes(irradiation that destroys all nucleated cells and leucoreduction by filtracion, for example), but this is somewhat hypothetical, and i need to know the final answer in these circumstances.

Thanks in advance :)


texts: Where does the embryo get implanted? If it is in the uterus side wall, why is the embryo shown hanging from top in some pictures?


texts: A good software for agent based modelling?

texts: Hello i'm gonna start my master degree in systems biology and i'm thinking of working with agent based modelling, but i really don´t know which platform can be the best to simulate interactions between cells, like chemotaxis communication or between molecules. Some of my advisors have recommended me Netlogo because his simplicity and good interface, but i don´t know if it is enough powerful to run simulations of many interactions between a lot of agents. I hear that MASON is also good but you need a little background in java programming. So, which one do you think it could be the most appropriate or which other platform can you recommend me that also can be good?


texts: What percent of genetic disease are preventable?

texts:
I like to know what percentage of genetic disease are preventable before birth?

Also, when we can detect all of them? I heard in a TV show a doctor said about 5 years later we can prevent all genetic disease! Is this estimation true?


texts:
I have in mind, as a hypothetical project, to generate a transgenic plant capable of synthesizing  vitamin B12. This could be consumed by vegans, for instance, as an alternative to B12 supplements or provide B12 to those that are deficient of it, since this vitamin can only be aquired by consuming animal-based products.
However, after researching a bit, I found out that this vitamin needs at least 30 enzymes for its complete biosynthesis in bacteria. At least 5 of them are already present in plants (the first steps of B12  to siroheme, which is a cofactor also synthesized in plants). The rest of the enzymes (around 20) are only present in bacteria.
Is it possible to make a plasmid containing 20 different gene constructs and transfect it via Agrobacterium transformation? Although I know that plasmids have limited space, so maybe I could use different plasmids, each one with different selection markers?
Thanks in advance.


texts: Is synesthesia caused by crossing the circuitry of different sensory inputs?

texts:
I have a question about human perception. After reading the book "Sensory Perceptual Issues in Autism and Asperger Syndrome" and knowing about synesthesia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) something occurred to me.

If unique circuits of neurons are responsible for each of our senses, and the circuits can cross with each other (synesthesia), and given that autistic people can switch off a sense or may have problems filtering inputs, and all impulses are of one kind, how can the brain know where these inputs are coming from? For example if input is coming only from the eye, can a person think that it is coming from the ear? Can we see with our ears, or hear with our eyes, through some sort of circuit-crossing?


texts: How many palindromic sequences in human genome?

texts: I'm writing an article on palindromes (the words) and I wanted to mention the existence of palindromic gene sequences. Roughly how many palindromes exist in the human genome? I understand the number will vary from person to person. All I want to know is the order of magnitude. Is it 10^2, 10^3, 10^6?


texts: By What Mechanism can Felines Reverse Diabetes?

texts: To my knowledge house cats (and likely other felines) are the only animal able to go into remission after onset of Type 2 diabetes mellitus. I don't have a reference, this has been by peers in my research institution and by a veterinarian. Has this mechanism been studied, and if so, what is it?


texts:
Is there a database where I might list the phenotype of a certain rat knockout and/or search for other similar phenotypes?

There is a International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium, which has the goal of characterizing the phenotypical changes of homozygous knockouts for each of the 20,000 genes in the isogenic mouse line C57BL/6.  The International Knockout Mouse Consortium is responsible for creating the knockouts and the two consortiums work together closely.

There is also a Knockout Rat Consortium, but I haven't found a Phenotype Change database for rats.


texts:
So I'm new to the dimensional analysis world and I'm little confused and the answers I'm getting are not convincing :(

if the concentration of hemoglobin in a 5ml sample of blood is 34 g/dL. and red blood cells are 31.45 hemoglobin, what is the mass of red blood cells in the sample?

So.. any thoughts on how to do it?

Thank you so much


texts:
I'm a complete novice in biology. This is just a question that arose during Saturday night warmup and there is no better place to get answers :)

So, as probably most of you know, if you want to decide whether an egg is rotten/gone bad/addled you just put it in a bowl filled up with cold water and some salt.

If the egg stays on the bottom of the bowl then it is good.
If it floats to the top of the water then it is rotten/addled.

I imagine the egg is floating because there is an air bubble in the rotten egg.

But how would that air bubble get in the egg?


texts: The protostome/deuterostome distinction and why it is important

texts:
As I unerstand it, at some point an embryo develops a hole; this hole continues to punch through, and eventually makes an opening at the other side of the embryo. If the original hole becomes the mouth, then the organism is called a protostome. If the second opening becomes a mouth, then the animal is called a deuterotome.

My first question is, is this distinction made only for organisms who have two openings? In other words, would an organism with only one orifice be called a protostome, or would it be neither?

Why is the protostome/deuterostome distinction important? Why does it matter whether embryo develops a mouth from the first or second orifice?


texts: In the 18th century, Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter concluded from his plant experiments that in some hybrid generations the characteristics of grandmother generation, grandfather species and F1 generation were in ratio $1:2:1$. What does this imply? Does this mean that he observed a blending inheritance?


texts: Could the growth rates of Vibrio vulnificus be affected by an oil spill?

texts:
I live on the Gulf Coast, and Vibrio vulnificus has recently made the news due to an increase in the number of reported infections. Naturally, it has people around here worried. I live in an area that was affected by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and many people are concerned that the oil or byproducts of the clean-up could be fueling the growth of this and other bacteria.

I know that bacterial species which are capable of metabolizing the components of crude oil exist, but are rare. I also know that Vibrio vulnificus thrives in warm salt water, and since it is a "flesh-eating" bacteria that infects shellfish, it must be capable of "eating" organic material.

I can think of several possibilities that might explain an increase in reported infections:

The amount of bacteria and the number of infections is actually the same, but reports have increased due to more awareness in the public and in the medical community.
Warmer water temperatures in the Gulf in recent years have led to more bacterial growth.
The bacteria is capable of metabolizing crude oil, its degradation products, or one of the other cleanup chemicals (Corexit, for example).
The oil spill has compromised the immune systems of the organisms that are typically V. vulnificus hosts, which has led to higher infection rates and therefore, more bacteria.

There could of course be other explanations, but these are the ones I came up with off the top of my head. I imagine that if bacterial populations actually have increased, then any of these scenarios that are possible would likely contribute something.

However, in the short amount of research I have done, I haven't been able to find any concrete data that shows whether populations have increased at all, or whether they could be affected by the oil spill.

My questions are:

Are there any studies that show the population of V. vulnificus over a time period covering the BP Horizon spill (this happened in April 2010, and oil products are still washing up on beaches in small amounts)
Is it possible that it could be metabolizing oil or other chemicals related to the spill?


texts: CD4+ cells or helper T cells are produced in Thymus. How long these cells live? For example, RBC live for 3-4 months.


texts: When did our ancestors switch to a menstrual cycle instead of the estrous cycle?

texts:
The Wikipedia page on the Estrous cycle says:

  Humans have menstrual cycles instead of estrous cycles. They shed their endometrium instead of reabsorbing it. Unlike animals with estrous cycles, human females are sexually receptive throughout their cycles.

The page on the menstrual cycles says:

  The cycle occurs only in fertile female humans and other female primates

Do we know how many million years ago that switch happened and our female ancestors got sexually receptive throughout their cycles?


texts: genetic difference subpopulations vs movement rate

texts:
Someone told me that if a geneticist finds no significant difference between 2 subpopulations that have temporal spatial overlap it might be that they are still almost closed (no connection). Is this right?

Can I deduce anything about the individual exchange rate between populations and the genetic similarity/difference? For instance, one would need 5% of individuals to switch populations to keep them almost genetically identical. Does this differ between species (let's say fish and mammals)?

Thanks.

ps: any references to this would be great


texts: What species of Cerapoda lived during the Jurassic?

texts:
So far, I've found eleven species of Cerapoda that lived during the Jurassic period. Are there any other known species that I've missed?

The eleven that I've found out about are:

Agilisaurus
Albalophosaurus
Camptosaurus
Chaoyangsaurus
Dryosaurus
Heterodontosaurus
Othnielosaurus
Uteodon
Xuanhuaceratops
Yandusaurus
Yinlong

I am a game board designer working on a game related to dinosaurs. The "only" research i did is Wikipedia + the DK book "Prehistoric" + Dino Directory web site + several more lesser sites. I would appreciate any information on other species if my list isn't exhaustive, or literature suggestions that might help me.


texts: How far do 2 ant colonies of same heritage have to be in space (and generation) in order to fight?

texts:
(Kinda follow-up to this.…)

I've heard before that if you put 2 ant colonies side by side they're going to attack each other.

But then from the previous question, there could be "sister" ant colonies which (assumingly) don't harm one another.

I can probably see that generation-by-generation colonies would just naturally be either too far apart in space, (or too close in "generation"), to have any fights.

But what actually makes ants decide whether to fight or to not?

And whatever it is, is it a spectrum or a limit..? (i.e would there be a case in which some ants of a colony will fight and some wont?)


texts: What does the term 'epitope mapping' mean?

texts: Epitope mapping means identifying the binding site of antibodies on the target antigen. This means that the site to be identified is part of the antigen and not antibody, am I right?


texts:
How would you test the effect of antioxidants on C.elegans lifespan?
Is this done through feeding E.coli with antioxidants and then C.elegans with E.coli, or is there another method?


texts: Why might a cell have no respiratory reserve capacity?

texts:
I am trying to understand why a cell might have minimal respiratory reserve capacity in the presence of unlimited substrate supply. This essentially means that the oxygen consumption rate (OCR) of the cell does not increase from its basal rate when oxidative phosphorylation is uncoupled — i.e. the reactions of the electron transport chain are uncoupled from ATP synthesis. What factors might conspire to cause this? I am thinking specifically of the photoreceptors1.
I am interested in all logical possibilities here e.g.

(1) mitochondrial ATP production is barely meeting demands at basal level.

(2) oxidative phosphorylation may already be physiologically uncoupled.


texts:
Sorry if this is in the wrong thread.

I have to calculate CV for intra-assay ELISA sample OD's. My problem is that i'm finding people are using sample standard deviation in their CV formula, though from what i understand as intra-assay CV reflects variability within the same assay run that to me should be considered as a whole data set and therefore population standard deviation should be used.

Am i correct in my assumption or am i missing something?


texts: Are the sister chromatids exactly the same?

texts:
I'm having doubts about whether the sister chromatids are exactly the same or not. I know that they are the arms that carry the information genes (the alleles), but I don't know if they are exactly the same and / or in what these arms differ, since in a partial exercise they ask me the following:

Explain briefly why the sister chromatids are not exactly the same and the homologous chromosomes are different. To answer, consider the origin of both structures.

Nor do I understand quite well when the statement clarifies "take into account the origin of both structures."

Thank you very much for the help!


texts: Does thimerosal have some of the same mechanism of action as sodium benzoate?

texts:
I noticed that thimerosal's molecular structure is basically just sodium benzoate with an attached chain that includes a mercury atom.
Sodium Benzoate

Thimerosal

The Wikipedia article for thimerosal only mentions the oligodynamic effect (biocidal effect of the mercury).  However it doesn't explain the oligodynamic effect very thoroughly:

The metals react with thiol (-SH) or amine (-NH(1,2,3)) groups of proteins,

I read that sodium benzoate works by being absorbed into microbes and lowering their pH.  Thimerosal is also an anion - can it also be absorbed into microbes and disrupt their pH? Or is it unable to pass through the same channels as sodium benzoate?  If it is absorbed is the pH effect insignificant compared to the oligodynamic effect?


texts: Autosomal genes expression occurs from both alleles simultaneously

texts:
Based on my understanding of Knobil and Neill's Physiology of Reproduction.
For the vast majority of autosomal genes, expression occurs from both alleles simultaneously. In mammals, however, a small proportion (<1%) of genes are imprinted, meaning that gene expression occurs from only one allele (some recent studies have questioned this assertion, claiming that the number of regions of parent-of-origin methylation in, for example, the human genome, is much larger than previously thought).

I'm confused, why would expression occur from both alleles simultaneously? Ex. if it was "Rr" - the expression would only occur from "R", as opposed to both alleles simultaneously?


texts:
Can we force our bodies to react to situations faster than our brain can think about them?

Some reflexes I can think of off the top of my head:

knee jerk reflex
retracting hand when touching a hot pan

Not sure if these are the same type of reflex, the second might be using the brain.

Can we instil into ourselves similarly fast reaction times to other stimuli?


texts: Examples of environmentally influenced gene-expression in humans?

texts:
In discussions of the relevant importance of genetic and environmental influences on the development of the individual, it's often stated that the genetic and environmental influences interact.
An example that is often given is a certain kind of rabbit (usually white), carrying a particular gene for fur color. When the proper allele is present, AND the rabbit is exposed to cold, it will a dark spot on its fur. When the allele is present, the dark spot does not develop without the cold, and when the rabbit has the opposite allele, the spot will not develop even with cold exposure.

This is fine, but when I want to explain genes and environment to people, it has two pedagogical flaws:
(1) it's about rabbits
(2) it's about a trait people don't really care about

Is there a human example of this phenomenon?
That is, a phenotype which requires BOTH a certain genetic background and particular environmental influences in order to be expressed?


texts: Are there any online resources one can use to access raw clinical trial data without having to contact those involved in the study?

texts: I want to do some statistical analysis and I have a preference for real data so I was wondering if there's somewhere I can get such data for free without a heap of bother in phoning those involved in the studies in question.


texts: Found this insect in my bedroom. What is it?

texts:
I found this bug in my bedroom yesterday. I was afraid that it was a tick so I got rid of it after taking some photos.
The bug was found in Denmark and was about half a nail in size.
 Can somebody recognize it?


texts: What do HG and NA mean in Geuvadis project RNAseq sample labels?

texts:
I'm looking at RNASeq Data from Geuvadis website e.g. the file GD660.GeneQuantRPKM.txt.gz.

The samples are labeled by e.g. HG00105.1.M_120209_7 or NA20812.2.M_111216_6

What do HG and NA mean? Are they ethnic backgrounds?

If not, how can I look up the ethnic mapping to the samples?

Thanks!


texts: I snapped a picture of this beaut in Irvine, CA, but I do not believe it is in the list given in "Ducks at a Distance: A Waterfowl Identification Guide" by Bob Hines (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18884). What species of duck is this? I believe it has the shape of a duck, but the colors are unfamiliar to me.


texts:
Source: nbair.res.in

I'm wondering if the first individual on the left is a nymph. Even if not do Nilaparvata sp have wings in nymphal stage?

I'd appreciate any authentic source for reference.


texts: Assembling DNA fragments with ~10kb overlap in vitro

texts:
Let's say I have two fragments of bacterial DNA (~50kb in length each) that overlap on the ends by roughly ~10kb; the overlap sequences are unknown. I would like to assemble these into longer fragments (in vitro) in some way, but the methods I've found so far rely on 24-40bp known overlaps (e.g., the isothermal assembly process in DG Gibson et al., Nature Communications 2009).

Anyone have any idea? I'm kind of new to this molecular biology stuff, so if this is an open problem, I apologize. I'm mainly just making sure I'm not overlooking something obvious. For all I know, there could be a standard protocol for this. Thanks in advance!


texts:
There are many more that three visible wavelength in the visible EM spectrum, and yet we can model any color using only three primary RGB wavelength. Perception of an arbitrary color is equivalent of perception of a linear combination of only three fixed wavelengths that correspond to Red, Green, and Blue.

On the other hand, as far as I know, there seem to be no auditory "primary colors": you cannot fool an ear into believing that it hears an arbitrary frequency by starting with a small finite number of primary frequencies.

The question is about human olfactory sense: is it possible to fool the nose into believing it smells an arbitrary odor by offering a combination from a small collection of "primary smells"?


texts: What are cells not affected by hormones called?

texts: Cells that are affected by hormones are called target cells which have their own receptors that listen to signals. I'm unsure of the actual name of cells that are not affected by hormones, I tried searching around on pages relating to target cells and the endocrine system, but no one seems to actually give a name to these cells that don't have receptors.


texts: Identification: Stinging walking/flying skin cells

texts:
Here I was, sitting in the veranda, minding my own business. Kids were playing outside, and I wasn't in charge of watching them. While browsing my stack overflow feed, I felt a pinch in my left arm. Like a very tiny needle just fell from the sky and decided to 'bug' me in my free time.

I looked at the spot where it hurt and saw a minuscule insect. It looked like two shedded skin cells crawling around slowly. Just very flat and small. What surprised me is that it kept hurting for approx 30 seconds afterward.

Not knowing what it was, I decided to get the camera. But how to photograph such a tiny creature, if you do not have the proper gear. Thankfully my wife remembered a trick where you can turn around the lens of the camera (if it's detachable), and take a picture while holding the lens firmly against the body. This way you get a sort of macro. Very difficult to hold it steady and to focus, because the focus field is extremely shallow.

Nevertheless, I managed to take some shots, and now my question is.. what is this stingy little buggy? I obviously let it live after the photoshoot and most likely it's a very common insect, but I've just never seen it in my life. Especially not something that stings like that.

Ah yes, apparently it can fly. Little bugger (literally) tried to flee the scene a couple times.

Additional info:

Origin: Romania, Targoviste (DB)

Date/time: 06 July 2018, 18:30, sunset

Warm sunny but windy day, still warm, 25 degrees Celcius


texts: Evolution at a glacial pace: how does it work?

texts:
Some trees are very long-lived, such as the Great Basin Bristlecone Pine and the Giant Sequoia (up to 4,800 years old).
How does natural selection and evolution affect such long-lived organisms?  Their DNA has remained unchanged for thousands of years.  Mutation can't hope to change the DNA of the entire tree.
I don't understand how they can hope to be able to adapt to a changing environment.  And yet the    Sequoioideae subfamily has existed since at least the Jurassic, so they must have a winning strategy for survival.
Please help me understand how a species such as this can adapt.  And what natural pressure would select for such longevity?


texts: Identification of Unknown Insects found in landfill (tiny, full of hair on body)

texts:
Could someone help me to identify the following insect with full hair on body? They are very small, so I use macro lens to capture them. I have tried to capture them as clearly as possible.

They were collected from a closed section of Tseung Kwan O Landfill and Clear Water Bay Country Park of Hong Kong. This area is revegetated so the ecology is much like a country park just nearby the landfill.


texts:
This happens frequently enough that we've probably all seen it at some point - you buy a pepper, and when you cut it open you find another small pepper inside it. There's plenty of pictures out there if you don't know what I mean.

The other pepper obviously didn't grow from a seed; a sprouting seed would generate a plant and not a fruit.

My first guess is that it's a twin. But seeds should be the equivalent of a fertilised animal zygote, so "monzygotic twins" would be split-seeds, not fruit-inside-fruits.

The only reliable-sounding information I was able to find online is this 8 year old blog post: https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Gardening/diggin-it/2010/0401/Have-you-ever-found-a-pepper-inside-a-pepper which concludes that it's unknown what these mini-peppers are.

Is that still accurate or has anyone figured out what exactly peppers inside peppers are?


texts:
When an action potential is induced on a neuron, the local transmembrane potential jumps from $E_{\mbox{rest}}$, the resting potential of the neuron, to $E_{\mbox{eq}}$, the equilibrium potential of an ion or group of ions in the vicinty. Current thus travels in and out of a part of the neuron's cell membrane as ions are exchanged during an action potential. This effect repeats itself as the neighboring regions of the membrane are depolarized, causing the action potential to propagate along the neuron's axon.

Take $\Delta Q$ to be the total charge exchanged locally during an action potential, $C$ to be the membrane capacitance, and $\Delta t$ to be the duration of the action potential. While we can approximate the local average current through an neuron's membrane by taking $$I = \frac{\Delta Q}{\Delta t} = C\frac{\Delta V}{\Delta t} = C\frac{E_{\mbox{eq}} - E_{\mbox{rest}}}{\Delta t}$$ Is there a way to approximate current traveling along the axon of the neuron? Is there even such a thing?


texts: Genotyping technologies maintaining phase

texts: My professor made the statement that genotyping technologies don't maintain phase. What exactly is meant by this phase? I guess I'm more confused on what's the difference between sequencing and genotyping, and as a result how phase is maintained in one, but not the other. This was the image he used.


texts: I am working now to prepare an overnight bacterial culture. My question is should i pick only one colony of the bacterium streaked plate in order to make an overnight culture and what will happen if i picked two or three colonies?. I am working to make a deletion mutation in one bacterial starin using the phage transduction method. The technqiue said that i should make an overnight culture in 20 ml of the medium. So, i wondered if it would be two low if i pick only one colony in such amount.


texts: Quantity of toxin release by pathogen in host

texts:
I came across these lines from this paper:

  Pathogenic microbes exert a broader sphere of influence by releasing a bolus of toxin that can act upon many cells within a given tissue and/or diffuse away to modulate one or more types of cells at multiple locations within the host.

What does this line mean? Does it mean that the pathogen releases multiple types of toxins or does it mean that the pathogen releases just one type of toxin in a large quantity?


texts: What did Richard Feynman contribute to molecular biology?

texts:
Some time ago, I read James Gleick's "Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman", a wonderful biography of Feynman and, by extension, most of modern physics.
In this book, the author mentions that Feynman spent a year working in a biology lab and that during that year he made an important discovery.

I remember that when reading the book as an undergraduate biology student, I knew the discovery in question well enough to be immensely impressed that it had been discovered by someone foreign to the field.

Unfortunately, I no longer have the book and cannot remember what that discovery was. Does anyone know?


texts:
Can cognitive enhancement from exercise be replicated/replaced through prolonged standing?

Like, will BDNF be released from prolonged standing.  I would prefer to use a standing desk than exercise (due to wanting to save time).


texts: Do some birds really clean themselves using wet leaves?

texts:
While researching native shrubs to put in my garden for bird habitat, I read that some birds will take advantage of bushes to clean themselves by rubbing themselves against a wet leaf after rainfall (emphasis below is mine).

  Water: Birds that sip nectar from the flowers on shrubs will enjoy the liquid refreshment, and larger shrub leaves will collect small amounts of water that different birds may sip. Birds may even rub against damp leaves for a quick bath.
  --The Spruce, "Shrubs for Birds"

I've been unable to find any reference to this from further search on the internet, though - the only cleaning strategies I've found written about are puddle bathing, dust bathing, and anting. Is this strategy of cleaning with wet leaves something that actually happens in nature, or just a product of a gardening website's imagination? Is there another process that could be misinterpreted by an observer here?

If this is real, I would love to read more about it, or even find a picture or video of the behavior.


texts: Do blind people learn Braille equally fast as the sighted?

texts: The visually deprived brain undergoes extensive remodeling due to cross-modal plasticity. This leads to increased areas of the cortex being available for other purposes such as tactile processing. Now I am wondering if there is anything known about how long it takes for the blind to learn Braille as compared to normally sighted people?


texts: Why is the secondary antibody conjugated to the enzyme in ELISA, instead of the primary antibody? Wouldn't it be easier to conjugate the enzyme to the primary antibody?