bio 490: neurobiology dR. sERRANO

JOURNAL PART 2:DUE Thurs APRIL 27

EXPLORE NERVOUS SYSTEM DISEASES

100 POINTS

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.Select a disease of the nervous system as the topic for your journal

2. You may NOT use the same disease that you identified for Journal 1.

3. These links may help you find a disease to investigate

4.REFERENCES ARE IMPORTANT

a.You may NOT use the textbook as a source

b.When you answer a question, cite your references. Cite references or journal articles as OFTEN as possible. A key aspect of the journal is to get you into the literature and on the WEB. List URLs and books.

5.When you cannot find an answer, speculate based on what we discuss in class or you read in the book. Suggest how you might design an experiment to find the information.

6.FORMATTING.

a. PLEASE SUBMIT THIS ASSIGNMENT TYPED AND SINGLE SPACED.

b.NUMBER ALL PAGES.

c. DO NOT TYPE YOUR NAME, INSTEAD, INCLUDE THE LAST FOUR DIGITS OF YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER ON ALL PAGES.

d.ARTWORK AND INNOVATIVE PRESENTATION OF THE INFORMATION IS ENCOURAGED

e. ANSWERS (EXCEPT FOR THE BIOGRAPHY AND THE PAPER MINIREVIEWS) SHOULD BE BRIEF AND TO THE POINT IE 3-5 SENTENCES ON AVERAGE.

f.REFERENCES SHOULD APPEAR AFTER EACH MAIN SECTION AGAIN IN THE APPENDIX

Journal Part 2 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION TO JOURNAL:YOUR CHOICES. (10 points)

Write a few paragraphs explaining why you chose this disease.

  • What was the most surprising information you discovered as you prepared your journal?
  • Would you like to do research to minimize the impact of thisdisease? If so, from what research perspective? If not? why not?

RESEARCH YOUR DISEASE (90 POINTS):

1. PHENOTYPE (30 points)

Describe the symptoms of the disease.

  1. what are the effects of disease on the brain and body?
  2. at what age can the disease be detected?
  3. how is the disease diagnosed? what exams if any are needed for the diagnosis?
  4. what is the mortality rate?
  5. How is the disease detected in tissue and histological samples? in fluids?
  6. Find pictures for your journal showing how the disease affects cells, the brain and the whole body.

3. GENETICS (10 POINTS)

  1. does your disease have a genetic component?
  1. are genetic tests available? would you recommend someone take a genetic test for this disease? why or why not?
  2. what genes are involved and what chromosomes do they map to in humans?
  3. how do the proteins encoded by the genes cause the phenotype in 1?

4.TREATMENT(20 points)

  1. How many people are afflicted with this disease in the US? NM? The world?
  2. How are these numbers projected to change in the next 50 years?
  3. what treatments are available?
  4. what resources are available to help patients and their families deal with the disease?
  5. how much does treatment cost per year for patients on average?
  6. if drugs are used, give examples of

1drugs,molecular structure, and their manufacturers

2their average cost per pill with a per year cost at recommended doses

3summarize drug mode of action

  1. are any clinical trials recruiting patients? list up to three

5.ORIGINAL ARTICLES (25 points)

a. How many papers were published in 1990 for your disease?in 1996?in 2003? (cite your database)

b.PAPER MINI-REVIEWSBRIEFLY summarize the key points of two papers published within the last 7 years about your disease. (1.5 -2 single spaced pages each). Your review should not be a rephrasing of the abstract or paper! You may not use reviews or general journals such as Scientific American. Your papers should be part of the primary literature ieScience, Nature, PNAS etc. Suggested approach:

1.Introduction. (1-2 paragraphs) why is this work being done? what is the background big question? what hypothesis etc did the authors set out to test? what was their overall aim?

2.Methods. (1-2 paragraphs) what methods were used? explain whether you understood these or not

3.Results. (2-3 paragraphs) Briefly explain the results by describing the figures. Challenge the results if you think the data were not up to par. Acknowledge a technically interesting or important result.

4.Discussion. (2-3 paragraphs) what key points were made? What do the authors think is significant about their data? what is the relevance to the field at large? what were the key findings?

5.Evaluation. (1-2 paragraphs) Your scholarly judgment. Write this in the first person. Discuss your thoughts about the paper. ( imagine that you were asked to review it for publication.)

a. Why did you choose this paper?

b. What was the KEY QUESTION that motivated the research? What was the MAIN CONCLUSION of the paper.do you believe the author's conclusions were supported by their data?

c. Was the paper well written? did it stimulate your interest?

d. Were animals used? Were you comfortable with how the animals were handled? Did the paper raise ethical issues for you? Explain.

6.Include copies of the papers in appendices at the end of your journal

6.APPENDIX (5 Points)

a.References. List all your references and URLS again as one bibliography

b. Articles. Include your two journal articles