Plant Technology and Maintanence

Artificial Selection: selecting the desire traits of a plant, and only breed the plants that have the desired traits

• mass selection: selecting the largest and biggest
• pure line selection: selecting certain traits
• cross-breeding: breeding two plants that have two different desired traits

Tissue Culturing Technology

• Obtain cells from the meristem
• Grow the cells through mitosis. The mass of cell is called a callus
• Apply hormones such as auxin and cytokinin so that roots and shoots can grow

Gene transfer: splicing the genes of one species into another to get the desired traits

• Cold resistant gene: obtained from a kind of fish
• Bt gene: codes for proteins that paralyze and kill insects

Common Genetic Disorders

Inherited Disorders:
Autosomal dominant

• Progeria: characterized by rapid aging
• Huntington disease: characterized by involuntary arms and legs movements. Other symptoms include mild irritability and memory loss

Autosomal recessive

• Tay-Sachs Disease:  They lack a certain enzyme that would allow cells to digest lipids. This causes the lipids to build up in the brain cells and destroy, which further causes blindness, mental deterioration, and death
• Phenylketonuria: If untreated, children can be severely mentally handicapped
• Albinism: Lacks the brown pigment melanin

X-linked recessive

• Hemophilia: Reduced ability to clot blood.
• Colour blindness: Cannot distinguish between colours
• Duchenne muscular distrophy: Muscles waste away because the muscle cells are are engorged with fat and connective tissue

Codominance

• Sickle Cell Anemia: RBCs are shaped like sickles, causing reduced blood flow to various parts of the body.

Incomplete Dominance

• Hypercholesterolemia: high cholesterol, so higher chances of heart attack

Aneuploidy (Non disunction):
Down syndrome: trisomy of the 21st chromosome
Edwards syndrome: trisomy of the 13th chromosome
Patau's syndrome: trisomy of the 18th chromosome

Turner's syndrome: only one "x" chromosome
Kinefelter's syndrome: "XXY"
Jacob's syndrome: "XYY"

Common Digestive Diseases

Colon Polyps 
Description/ Symptoms: fleshy growth on the colon. Could cause rectum bleeding and could turn cancerous
Causes: genetic mutations of colon cells
Treatments: Surgeries


Gingivitis 
Description/ Symptoms: inflammation of the gums
Causes: bad oral hygiene, bacteria
Treatments: Better oral hygiene


Diabetes
Description/ Symptoms: not enough insulin; blood sugar too high
Causes: genetic factors, obesity
Treatments: injection of insulin

Exam Time

This semester passed by so fast; exams are already approaching. In fact, they are next week! I feel that the schedule this semester is a little bit tighter, because in previous years I have had a lot more time to study for exams.

Anyway,  below are the exams that I will have:

• Monday morning: Advanced Functions
• Tuesday morning: Biology
• Thursday afternoon: Data Management
• Friday morning: Economics

My main challenge would be advanced functions and biology, since they are on the first two days and I have less time to study for them.

However, the ones that are the most important are advanced functions and data management, as these two courses are most likely become part of my top six for university. 

I will need to start studying for the exams... today.

Note: This post was created in the second semester of grade 11.

Quick Review for Plants

Classification

• Plants can be classified as aquatic or terrestrial.
• Of the terrestrial plants, there are ones that are vascular and ones that are non-vascular.
• Of the vascular plants, there are seedless plants, and seed-bearing plants
• Of the seed bearing plants, there are gymnosperms and angiosperms
• Angiosperms can be classified as monocots or dicots

Organs

Leaves

Leaves are primarily responsible for photosynthesis. They are covered by cuticles, which are waxy layers that prevent water loss. They have stomata that allow for plants' gas exchange.

Palisade mesophyll are responsible for photosynthesis.

Four Tests On Monday

Oh my, I think this is first time that I would have four tests in one single day! This means that for the entire day, excluding lunch, I will be writing tests, that I would be writing tests for a total of five hours.

And I don't have that much time to prepare for these tests, because I also have two major projects due on Tuesday. So I will need to— as I always tell my self— not waste any time.

In addition, I will need to make preparations to  ensure that I have enough replenishment for my brain on that day...

No Time To Think

Many important things have arisen in the past few months, many of them worth some reflections. However, I have been so busy that I couldn't find time to write my thoughts down— this is demonstrated by the fact that almost all recent my posts are school-related. 

Even if I didn't have the time to write posts on the issues/topics, I always thought to myself: it's fine, I can just think about it. But I rarely did. I was always so occupied with other things that I'd only got time to think when on the bus or during the few minutes before I fall asleep each day. And I was always so tired during those times that I couldn't think properly.

So in short, I didn't spend nearly enough time thinking about those important things.

To make matters even worse, I seemed to have stopped thinking about the random and seemingly unimportant stuff. I no longer tried to imagine strangers' lives when I walked on streets. I no longer looked at the electric posts and thought about all the advertisements and scratches on them. I no longer wondered why things were the way they were.

I have become too preoccupied with all the things going on in my life.

This reminds me of Fahrenheit 451, in which the pace of life was so fast that people no longer thought critically. I remember (probably incorrectly) how Clarisse was lamenting the fact that people didn't have to time sit on their lawns and just think. And now, I am lamenting the fact that I do not have the time to sit down and just think.

Oh, I wish life was less busy.

That's it for my rant. Meanwhile, I have to organize my time better, so that I can allocate more time to thinking, and to doing other more meaningful things.