Lab+Science+10

=Sickle Cell Disease Research Summary= Sickle cell disease is a common genetic disorder from inheritance. Carriers of the disease have red blood cells that are twisted, bent, and curved. These red blood cells are more rigid than normal blood cells and tend to get stuck in narrow blood vessels in the body. The diagram on the left compares the red blood cells of a person without sickle cell disease and a person with sickle cell disease (picture cited in bibliography). Symptoms of the disorder include pain associated with blood vessels, which may lead to spleen, lung, and heart damage, or even a stroke. Sickle cell disease is common in African-Americans, and is also present in many regions of the world where malaria is common. Statistics show that one in every three hundred and seventy five African Americans is affected by sickle cell disease. In South Asia, Arabia, Africa, and the Mediterranean a quarter of a million children are diagnosed with sickle cell disease each year. In addition, Sickle cell disease can be diagnosed before the birth of the child. This process involves retrieving a sample of amniotic fluid or tissue from the placenta, and testing it for abnormal Hemoglobins.

The genetic disease is a result of a disorder in Hemogoblin, the substance in the red blood cell that helps transport oxygen throughout the body. Inside red blood cells are Beta globin proteins, which role in the cell is to carry another molecule called heme. Inside the red blood cells, two beta globins and two alpha globins form one molecule of hemoglobin. Chromosome eleven pair is responsible for making and encoding beta globin. In the case of those with sickle cell disease, the code inside both beta globin genes is different, instead the abnormal code tells the protein to put a valine (an essential amino acid found in proteins) in. The valine affects the overall behavior of the new hemoglobin structure. It causes hemoglobin molecules to stick together in a rod-shaped structure, which stretches the shapes of the red blood cell into a sickle. This mutation is a result of a nucleotide change- The replacement of A by T at the seventeeth nucleotide of the gene for producing hemoglobin, the codon GAG is changed into GTG. In addition, Hemoglobin genes come in two sets one from each parent. Therefore, depending on the parents’s hemoglobin genes the person may or may not inherit sickle cell disease. For example, if one parent has the disease, and the second parent does not, all of the children will have sickle cell trait. This is not sickle cell disease but a condition in which the person produces both Hemoglobin A and S in red blood cells but more quantities of Hemoglobin A.

There are many ways of treating the disease. Some methods temporarily alleviate the pain caused by sickle cell disease and others cure the patient entirely of the disease. Methods that ease the pain temporarily include the drug Hydroxyurea, which is an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug. The other method is bone marrow transplant, which only has a high success rate in patients sixteen or younger. In this process, the patient’s bone marrow is completely destroyed and a genetically related donor’s healthy bone marrow is transplanted into the patient. Bone marrow transplant is not very successful in curing adults because adults affected by sickle cell disease have attained more serious organ damage prior to the transplant and are therefore not able to successfully tolerate the bone marrow transplant.

Recently, in a NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, scientists have conducted a trial on ten adults and have successfully reversed the sickle cell disease in nine out of the ten adults. This new method is a modified blood adult stem-cell transplant therapeutic process. In this new modified process, a low dose of radiation is applied to the whole body and the two drugs, alemtuzumad and sirolimus is used to restrain the patient’s immune system. Alemtuzumab reduces the patient’s immune cells, while Sirolimus slows down immune cell production, which creates a balance. This ultimately allows the adult’s immune system to tolerate the bone marrow transplant.

Websites:
"Sickle Cell Disease: What is it?" Your Genes, Your Health. Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. .

"How Is Sickle Cell Anemia Diagnosed?" Sickle Cell Anemia, Diagnosis. National Heart Lung And Blood Institute. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. .

"What is Sickle Cell Disease." About Sickle Cell Disease. Sickle Cell Disease Association of America -- SCDAA Home. Web. 20 Jan. 2010. .

"Sickle cell disease." Genetics Home Reference - Your guide to understanding genetic conditions. Genetics Home Reference. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. .

"Single base substitutions." Mutations. 9 Jan. 2010. Web. 30 Jan. 2010. .

Articles:
Stone, Arthur. "Sickle Cell Disease In Adults Reversed By Blood Stem-Cell Transplant Regimen." Medical News Today- Health News. Medical News Today, 14 Dec. 2009. Web. 25 Jan. 2010. .

Pictures:
http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/disorders/whataregd/sicklecell/images/sicklecell.jpg

=**BALL LAB** lab partners: Jonathan C(me), Jordan L, Chiwei Z=

PROCEDURE
1. These are the materials that we used. 2. These are the different size balls we used. 3. This is how we rolled the ball through the ramp: we made it using 2 rulers. 4. We waited for the ball to reach a stop. 5. When the ball rolled to a stop we recorded the time. 6. We measured the distance the ball traveled using a tape measure. 7. We repeated the process five times for each ball.

MATERIALS


-tape measure -2x meter stick -1x medium ball -1x small ball -stopwatch

SMALL BALL

 * || Distance in cm (±1cm) || Time in seconds (±.01sec) || Velocity in cm/s (Direction is down the hall) || Overall Average of Velocity ||
 * Trial 1 || 342 || 4.06 || 84.2cm/s || 88.5cm/s ||
 * Trial 2 || 322 || 3.42 || 94.2cm/s || 88.5cm/s ||
 * Trial 3 || 321 || 3.52 || 91.2cm/s || 88.5cm/s ||
 * Trial 4 || 331 || 3.87 || 85.5cm/s || 88.5cm/s ||
 * Trial 5 || 328 || 3.76 || 87.2cm/s || 88.5cm/s ||

MEDIUM BALL

 * || Distance in cm (±1cm) || Time in seconds (±.01sec) || Average Velocity in cm/s (Direction is down the hall) || Overall Average of Velocity ||
 * Trial 1 || 347 || 3.75 || 92.5cm/s || 85.7cm/s ||
 * Trial 2 || 356 || 4.01 || 88.8cm/s || 85.7cm/s ||
 * Trial 3 || 368 || 4.56 || 80.7cm/s || 85.7cm/s ||
 * Trial 4 || 359 || 4.31 || 83.3cm/s || 85.7cm/s ||
 * Trial 5 || 363 || 4.35 || 83.4cm/s || 85.7cm/ ||

**Velocity conclusion:**
My results clearly indicate that the velocity of the small ball was greater than that of the medium ball by a value of 2.1cm/s. This is not a significant difference and may not accurately suggest that the small ball's overall velocity is greater than the medium ball. In addition, overall the medium ball traveled a farther distance than the small ball.

SMALL BALL
Trial Time (seconds) Distance (cm) Velocity (Down the Ramp cm/s) Average Accerlation (cm/s^2) 1 1.34 100 74.63 60.15 2 1.2 100 82.33 60.15 3 1.24 100 80.65 60.15 4 1.38 100 72.46 60.15 5 1.2 100 83.33 60.15 6 1.29 100 77.52 60.15 7 1.33 100 75.19 60.15 8 1.4 100 71.43 60.15 9 1.33 100 75.19 60.15 10 1.21 100 82.64 60.15

MEDIUM BALL
Time (seconds) Distance (cm) Velocity Down the Ramp (cm/s) Average Accerleration (cm/s^2) Trial 1 1.32 100 cm 75.76 55.43 Trial 2 1.41 100 cm 70.92 55.43 Trial 3 1.49 100 cm 67.11 55.43 Trial 4 1.46 100 cm 68.49 55.43 Trial 5 1.47 100 cm 68.03 55.43 Trial 6 1.32 100 cm 75.76 55.43 Trial 7 1.22 100 cm 81.97 55.43 Trial 8 1.32 100 cm 75.76 55.43 Trial 9 1.23 100 cm 81.3 55.43 Trial 10 1.22 100 cm 81.97 55.43

Acceleration Conclusion
My results imply that the small ball acceleration at quicker overall pace than the medium ball by a minimal amount. The small ball accelerated by a greater unit of 4.72m/s^2. Overall, the tables suggest that the two did not vary by much in their results.

OVERALL EVALUATION OF THE PROCESS/PROCEDURES
i. The mistakes that could have entered the process could be lack in accuracy in starting and stopping the stopwatch, miscalculating results, and position in which the ball was released (not at the top of the ramp).

ii. There are ways to make this lab provide better, and more accurate data. Firstly, communicating with the stopwatch lab partner when to release the ball from the tip of the ramp so that he/she would record the whole process of the ball rolling down the ramp from a good start. Second of all, making sure that the ball rolls to a complete stop, to then stop the stopwatch. This would ensure that the time that the ball took to complete the distance would be accurate. In addition, when measuring the distance the ball traveled, it is essential that both partners take an end of the measuring tape to secure the tape into position. If the measuring tape is not placed straight, the distance would not be accurate.