20 Time Final Post: The Road Ahead

For this project, I completed half of a drawing book which documented the causes and warning signs of depression through a story about a teenage girl. I drew each scene on a piece of printer paper divided into quarters. Even though I am not very talented at drawing, I tried to make the storybook look decent. Here is one of the pictures I included in my presentation as part of my product: 

The protagonist is LGBTQ in an unsupportive environment, as I made her parents very religious and conservative. In addition, her parents are overloading her with work and difficult classes.
The story I wrote is about a teenage girl who initially has many friends and a balanced life but soon falls into the academic pressures coming from her parents and the pressure to fit in with everyone else at her high school. She is also LGBTQ in an unsupportive environment, as her parents are highly religious; the girl is aware that she cannot come out to her parents. Also, she is not performing as well academically as her peers, so she feels out of place and that she is slowly falling behind. Here is a screenshot of my storyline on a separate Google doc:

Screenshot of part of the story I wrote during 20 Time in class.
For my final, I conducted a presentation on my topic and learning process in a TED Talk format in front of the class. The video for this is at the top of my blog post. I thought my TED Talk could have gone better; I felt that I rushed through it and as a result, I was looking off of my notecards the majority of the time. Knowing that my presentation was barely inside the time limit, I tried to speak quickly in order to fit all of my presentation into the time constraints. I did practice the presentation a few times at home, so I thought that my delivery of the content was smooth, but I feel that I still could have slowed down to make the talk more natural. Watching my video, I would give myself the following scores:
Attention: 3/5
Voice: 5/5
Verbal Communication: 5/5
Purpose: 5/5
Examples: 5/5
Evidence: 5/5
Product: 5/5
Learning Process: 5/5
References: 4/5
Enthusiasm/Passion: 5/5
Awareness: 5/5
Timing: 5/5
Authenticity/Integrity: 5/5
Works Cited: 5/5
Images: 5/5

Preparing for the talk was quite nerve-wracking, since I have never delivered a TED Talk before, and I was scared that the story about my depressed friend at the beginning of my presentation would scare people. While making my "script" for the presentation, I again wrote too much content and when I timed myself, I went over the time limit by about 2 minutes! Because of this, I had to cut down comments that weren't completely pertinent or necessary to the presentation, and I was finally able to reduce my presentation time to within the time constraints. I also tried to practice presenting without looking at my notecards too many times, and I succeeded. However, during the actual presentation, I was nervous that I would forget something (which I did), so I was glued to my notecards. This project has made me realize a lot of issues that I have with time management, so it made me reflect on those problems and eventually try to fix them by the end of the project process. I also really enjoyed the creativity aspect of the project and how we were allowed to choose any topic we liked. It was very intriguing listening to other people's presentations and what they chose to give their presentations on; it made me realize that everyone has their own hobbies and interests that might not be apparent on the outside. Overall, this was an awesome project and it really allowed me to grow as a person and grow my knowledge as well!

Reflexes Lab

In this lab, my lab partner and I tested out each other's different reflexes, such as the blink and knee reflex to name a few. A reflex is an involuntary response to a stimulus; we have developed reflexes in order to protect us from harm. First, we tested the photopupillary reflex, which causes the contraction and dilation of the pupil when exposed to light. My lab partner covered one of her eyes and let her eye be exposed to the dark for a few minutes. After those few minutes, I had my lab partner uncover her eye and I shined a flashlight into her eye, observing the actions of the pupil; her pupil shrank very quickly.
- The reflex is the photopupillary reflex, in which the pupil contracts and dilates depending on how much light is entering the eye through the pupil. Although we did not take a video of the actual pupil contraction, the pupil did shrink when the flashlight was shone on the eye. This occurred because when light enters the eye, the photopupillary reflex is triggered and the ciliary body of the iris contracts, making the pupil smaller.
Next, we tested the knee jerk reflex, which is commonly tested at the doctor's office. In this reflex, the tap below the knee sends information back to the spinal cord that tells the muscle to contract, resulting in a leg kick. I observed this when I tapped below my lab partner's knee; her knee kicked up involuntarily and immediately after I tapped her. The fact that the knee kicks up so quickly after the knee is tapped is easily explained by the concept of reflexes themselves; reflexes happen so quickly and involuntarily because the information is sent from the muscle to the spinal cord instead of the brain, and the nerve impulse to make the muscle contract is sent back to the muscle. Then, my lab partner squatted until she was tired. However, when I tapped the area below her knees even after she exercised, her knee jerk was still quite vigorous, showing that she did not exercise to the point of exhaustion.
- The knee jerk reflex is the kicking up of the knee when the area right below the knee is tapped. Again, although we did not take a video of this happening, almost all of us have experienced this at the doctor's office before. This occurred because the stimulus of the instrument used to tap the area below the knee sends a signal to the spinal cord, which relays a nerve impulse back to the muscle for the muscle to contract, making the knee jerk. Here is a picture of that process:

The knee jerk after my lab partner squatted was still vigorous because my partner had not exercised to the point of using up all of the ATP available for her muscles to contract; as a result, the muscles involved in the knee jerk reflex still contracted.
Next, we tested the blink reflex by having my lab partner hold plastic wrap in front of her face while I sporadically threw cotton balls at her face. Every time I threw the cotton balls, my lab partner blinked involuntarily. Humans have evolved this reflex throughout time in order to protect their eyes from foreign substances and other harm.
- The blink reflex is the blinking of the eye when it seems as if something will enter or harm the eye. When I threw the cotton balls toward my partner's face, she really did blink. This occurred because the body thinks that the cotton balls will hit/harm the eye, so we blink to prevent that harm from occurring.
We then tested the plantar reflex, which mainly tests neurological function. I performed this test by having my lab partner sit on a table and take off their shoe and sock, so as to leave their sole exposed. I then used a firm object and dragged it up the sole of their foot from the heel to the base of the big toe. When I did this, my partner's toes curled and plantar flexed, which is the reaction that people with normal neurological function have. However, if the person does not have normal neurological function, the toes spread apart and upward, known as Babinski's sign.
- The plantar reflex is the plantar flexion of the foot when the sole of the foot is stimulated; the toes are also supposed to curl. When I dragged a firm object across the sole of my partner's foot, my partner's foot did curl up, showing that she has normal neurological function. This reflex occurred because the stimulus of the firm object I used on the sole sent information to the spinal cord, which sent a nerve impulse back to the foot to make it flex.
Lastly, I tested reaction time by dropping a yard stick in front of my lab partner and marking the distance that it took for her to catch it, and therefore how long it took for her to catch it. For each person, we conducted three trials by dropping the yard sticks randomly three times. My average reaction time was 0.336 seconds. We also observed reaction times while texting. For this, I texted the message "Texting while driving is very dangerous because your reaction time is reduced" with one hand while looking at the phone. When my partner dropped the yard stick in my hand and I had to catch it while texting, my reaction time was significantly slower; my average time rose to 0.516 seconds.
- This last part is a bit different than the other four parts; it is testing reaction time, not reflex. For this reason, the time taken to catch the yardstick is much slower than the time for the pupil to contract or the knee to jerk; the information that the yard stick is falling has to reach all the way to the brain in order for me to catch the yardstick.
- While texting, for two of the three trials, I was so engrossed in texting that I did not even realize that my partner dropped the yardstick, so the point at which I caught the yardstick was very high up the yardstick. My trial 1 time was 0.32 seconds, my trial 2 time was 0.53 seconds, and my trial 3 time was 0.70 seconds; obviously, I did not even realize she dropped the yardstick for the last two trials. I think that my results were quite similar to the average times of everyone in the class. Here is a bar graph of the results:

As you can see, overall, females had slower reaction times than males, but everyone had slower reaction times while texting compared to when they were focused on the yardstick. This is significant evidence against texting and driving, since those few seconds and save your life.

20 Time Individual Reflection

This past semester doing 20 Time has been a new experience for me. When given a long period of time to complete one big project, it is usually hard to plan one's time and make sure that one finishes what one planned to do from the very beginning. For this reason, I wish I had made checkpoints/goals to have finished by certain times throughout the semester; this way, I could make sure that I was keeping track of my work on staying on task. However, because I did not make checkpoints for myself, the end of the year approached quicker than I expected, and I still have more work that I want to accomplish.
This challenged me because I usually have pretty bad time management even on short-term projects, so I wanted to see how a long-term project would play out. I also chose a difficult topic to focus on, depression, because it is very relevant in society and especially with teenagers right now; however, it is a hard topic to talk about because it is glorified in the media. This project's goal was mainly to help people who may be going through depression; I was hoping that it would weaken the stigma surrounding depression so that people would not be as scared to ask for help. Furthermore, I was hoping that this project would help people recognize the warning signs for depression in order to nip it in the bud.
My plan to achieve this goal was to make a simple and short drawing book in which I drew a story revolving around a teenager who was battling depression. I would make this drawing book simple enough for younger people to understand, but I would also include statistics to make the book and point I make legitimate.
Honestly, I did not get as much work done as I planned to. However, I did accomplish a reasonable amount of work. I researched lots of statistics to add into my story as well as personal memoirs of people who have had depression to make my story more realistic. I finished writing my story completely but realized that I did not have a lot of time left to finish the actual book anymore; I plan to finish by my presentation because I am almost done. I think the reason why writing the story took so long is because I thought that the story was the most essential part; it was the part from which people were supposed to take the most and learn a lot from. In addition, I originally made the story too long and detailed because I was trying to perfect it too much, so I had to take time to cut down a lot of details and decide what was really important in my story; my story probably would have continued for a long time if I hadn't realized that the end of the semester was quickly approaching. Furthermore, because we only had computers during class, I used class time to alter my story and add in more statistics and facts while making the physical book at home, although I did sketch out pages during class as well. Although I have not finished my book yet, I am very close, just a few more pages left, so I plan to finish those up throughout this week.
From this experience, I learned that planning time is much harder than it seems. I also learned that being given the freedom to explore and do a project about one's own interests may be a double-edged sword; although this topic is something I am interested in, sometimes I research other topics related to this issue and watch videos about it, going off track.
If I had the chance to do this project again, I would choose to do something that is mostly done online or on a computer, because most of the 20 Time time I used was on the computer during class. Because I chose something with a physical finished product, I also had to continue working on 20 Time at home; I thought that it would have been smarter if I worked on something on the computer, like something with graphic design or animation instead. However, I do not regret choosing this type of topic at all, because it is so relevant in society right now.
I still have a few more pages to complete, but I would also be okay with sharing the work that I have done right now, because I have finished most of the drawing book at home. I plan to finish the last few pages of the book by my TED Talk, since I still have a week or so. After I finish this book, I can share it with my family and maybe bring it to school to show friends and other classmates. I may also share the story I wrote up on social media, since most teenagers use it nowadays.
Overall, this project was a very new experience for me and gave me many insights on how to manage my time and workload over a long period of time.

Outline for TED Talk:
- I will probably begin my story with a personal interaction with someone with depression or my thoughts and opinions on Speak Up For Change Week; probably something like: "Growing up I never really heard of depression...."
- In order to enhance my story, I could add in some humor and some pictures on a slideshow to add to the presentation. I could also describe a story of someone with depression who is well-known, so as to bring across my point that depression should be destigmatized.
- I will conclude my story by stating what my goals of this project were and what this project was supposed to bring to people.

My Brain Map

For this blog post, I primarily used the information from the Your Brain Map activity from Open Colleges:



An interactive infographic by Open Colleges

Cerebral Cortex:
1. The frontal lobes are basically the brain's main command center, and controls personality, memory, problem solving, language, and many other complex functions. This part of the brain deals with a person's behavior and critical thinking skills.

2. Evidence has shown that selective learning is most helpful, because the brain slows down significantly when it switches from task to task. Furthermore, the prefrontal cortex has to be trained in the same thing several times in order for it to become proficient in doing this; therefore, it is most helpful to learn one topic at once instead of switching topics.

3. The frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to develop and also the first part to deteriorate. In order to prevent it from deteriorating, people can try to stop themselves from zoning out, engage themselves with their environment, and transform the information they receive.

4. The neo cortex controls spatial awareness, the senses, and motor skills. Because of its control, we are allowed to navigate our bodies and the world, and the neocortex is also stimulated by one's environment.

5. The pre frontal cortex controls one's personality and how she/he deals with certain social situations and also allows people to have the determination to do things, because the pre frontal cortex connects goals with action. This part of the brain is also associated with memory and will.

6. The pre frontal cortex does not deal well with multitasking because it loses speed significantly when someone switches from task to task; however, the pre frontal cortex works very well with deliberate practice and discipline to master a certain task.

7. Broca's Area is the part of the brain associated with speech and language development; this area of the brain can receive a "workout" by learning a second language, even if the second language is learned as an adult.

8. The somatosensory cortex is responsible for thinking: "Is it hot in here or is it just me?" because it controls sense of temperature, amongst other things.

9. The visual cortex helps people differentiate colors and recognize complex things such as faces; we are able to distinguish between different things.

10. One interesting fact about the occipital lobe is that the differentiation between the real and imaginary is less in children, so that might explain the fantasies that they create. Another interesting fact is that one can imagine he/she actually doing something, and if imagined and practiced a lot, performance of that task could improve in real life. Another interesting fact is that because short and long term memories are stored here, the occipital lobe allows to know our place in time.

11. If my temporal lobes were damaged, I would be unable to have long term memories, because the temporal lobes help retain visual memories. I would also be unable to take tests or things that required even short term memory, because new information is stored here.

12. My "fast brain" is basically when someone can control the information they have much easier than someone who does not have a fast brain, and therefore the person can seem more intelligent; the fast brain helps someone process information quicker.

Neurons:
1. One thing I could do to influence my synapses and have a positive effect on my life and health would be to exercise. Another thing would be to eat a healthy diet, especially one high in omega fatty acids. Another thing would be to socialize with other people outside.

2. Dendrites control the basics of learning, and mutli-sensory or multi-modal learning has been shown to benefit the dendrites and increase proficiency in a certain task. In order to study a subject efficiently, one should study from real experiences and use personal, humorous, or spatial information to remember a topic.

3. "Big picture thinking" help people to fully comprehend a subject because it allows the learner to put into context what they have learned. Mnemonics are also used to recall information, because it allows people to recall information in a humorous or spatial way instead of just memorizing abstract facts.

4. A neurotransmitter that I feel is very important is oxytocin because it plays a large role in both positive and negative moments. Oxytocin's nickname is the "love hormone," and helps people to connect and make lasting relationships. However, oxytocin also plays a role in negative social cues. For example, in a bad relationship, oxytocin's levels will still be high so the person will still seek affection and care from other people.

Limbic System:
1. The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain and controls cognitive, motor, and sensory functions. The corpus callosum is also involved in language development and reading, especially since we use our eyes to read.

2. Studies have shown that studying music can strengthen the connection between the two hemispheres of the brain through the corpus callosum, but the person must practice frequently for there to be long term benefits.

3. The thalamus is important because it is responsible for motor control, sensory information, and consciousness. The thalamus relays information from the senses and sends it to the cortex for interpretation.

Relate and Review:
- Through this interactive activity, I have learned about the anatomy and functions of the major parts of the brain. The pre frontal cortex controls behavior and how someone deals with social situations; I have always heard that teenagers are more vulnerable because their pre frontal cortex is still developing, so I feel like teenagers have to work harder to have more self-control. The visual cortex helps us recognize and differentiate between different faces, so it helps us distinguish between things in our life. The corpus callosum connects the two hemispheres of the brain and is involved in language development and reading. However, I did not know that studying music could benefit the corpus callosum in the long-term; I will probably aim to practice more after learning this piece of information, because only practicing frequently will yield long-term benefits. The temporal lobes store and take care of both short-term and long-term memory; newly learned information is also stored here. The thalamus is responsible for motor control, sensory information, and consciousness, and is nicknamed the "librarian" of the brain because it receives raw sensory input and relays this information to the cortex.

Brain Dissection

1.

 

This is a drawing of the external surface of the brain; I labeled the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem.

Red: brain stem
Green: cerebellum
Yellow: cerebrum

 

Structure	Function
Cerebrum	Integrates information that it receives and is responsible for complex sensory and neural functions
Cerebellum	Motor control and coordination
Brain Stem	Necessary functions, like heart rate and breathing

3. In a neuron, the fatty myelin provides insulation that increases the speed of impulses through these myelinated neurons.

4.

This is a drawing of the inside of the brain (if the brain is cut longitudinally). The pons, hypothalamus, optic nerve, thalamus, medulla oblongata, midbrain, and corpus callosum are labeled.

Blue: hypothalamus
Red: medulla oblongata
Green: pons
Yellow: thalamus

Red: corpus callosum

Green: optic nerve

5. 

Structure	Function
Thalamus	Sorts data and sends it where it needs to go; “post office”
Optic Nerve	Receives nerve impulses from retina and sends to brain for interpretation
Medulla Oblongata	Part of the brain stem that controls heart and lung functions
Pons	Controls respiration, sleep, swallowing, and other functions
Midbrain	Controls vision, motor control, hearing, and sleep
Corpus Callosum	Nerve fibers that connect the two hemispheres of the brain and relay information between the two
Hypothalamus	Controls regulation and homeostasis

6. 

Half of the cerebrum (cut hamburger-style).

The gray and white matter of the brain are labeled.

Relate and Review:
- In this lab, we identified the structures of the brain through several simple cuts and also learned their functions. First, we identified the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem from just looking at the outside of the brain. Next, we cut the brain longitudinally in half and saw the gray and white matter. Then, we identified the thalamus, optic nerve, medulla oblongata, pons, midbrain, corpus callosum, and hypothalamus from looking at the medial plane of the brain. Next, we then made a cross sectional cut of the cerebrum, which allowed us to see the gray and white matter more clearly. In this lab, I thought that the dissection actually was very similar to the diagrams in textbooks. Something that surprised me was that although the hypothalamus is so small in real life, it controls something very important, like homeostasis.

Sheep Eye Dissection

Today in class, my lab partner and I dissected a sheep eye in order to fully understand the anatomy and physiology of the eye, although some features on the sheep eye are different from those of a human eye. First, we looked at the external surface of the eye, identifying fatty and muscle tissue that we had to remove.

Excess tissue is the white around the eye; we stopped cutting once we reached tough tissue (sclera).

After cutting away the excess tissue, we identified the cornea and sclera. We did not take a picture of this step, so here is a picture from online:

1. cornea

2. sclera

The cornea is the layer that forms the front of the eye and allows light to come in; the cornea is slightly cloudy because the eye is not in a living state.

We also identified the optic nerve, which is directly behind the eye:

1. optic nerve

The optic nerve transmits the signals to the brain so the brain can interpret the light coming in.

Then, we made an incision between the sclera and the optic nerve and cut the eyeball in half all the way around. When we separated the two hemispheres of the eye, we discovered the retina on the posterior hemisphere and the vitreous humor on the anterior hemisphere. The vitreous humor and the aqueous humor (fluid) maintains the shape of the eye. Underneath the retina was the thin, black choroid layer, which also contained a shiny, bluish structure called the tapetum lucidum. 

Lifting up the choroid layer from the sclera.

The choroid layer contains a network of blood vessels that bring nourishment and oxygen to itself and the other two layers.

Shiny, bluish material is the tapetum lucidum.

In order to fully expose the tapetum lucidum like in the picture above, we removed most of the retina, but kept the retina attached at its one point of attachment, which is the blind spot. The retina uses photoreceptors to send signals from the light to the brain through the optic nerve. The tapetum lucidum reflects light onto the retina, which helps animals with night vision; humans do not have this feature. 

Next, we removed the vitreous humor from the anterior hemisphere of the eye, revealing the lens, ciliary body, and suspensory ligaments. 

The small opening through all the black (iris) is the pupil, through which light enters the eye. The circular structure to the very right is the lens. Around the pupil, there is also the ciliary body, which is muscle fibers that contract and relax to increase or reduce the bending of the light rays. 

We then removed the lens and noted that it was slightly cloudy. When we removed the lens, the suspensory ligaments were still somewhat attached to the lens:

The suspensory ligaments are the black bits around the lens. These ligaments hold the lens in place and join with the smooth muscle containing the ciliary body.

We observed that the shape of the pupil was not completely circular like it is in humans, which is another difference between the sheep and human eye. After observing the iris and cornea, we removed the cornea from the front of the eye and noticed that it was tough, but definitely not as thick as the sclera. 

This lab was simple but offered many insights into the anatomy and physiology of the human eye!

Update #3: Moving Along...

In these past two weeks, I have almost finished my story and I have also begun on the first few pages of my book. While trying to finish up my story, I have discovered that many of the main character's experiences, excluding the LGBT experiences, are similar to problems I had earlier in my life, although mine were definitely not so severe. For example, the main character in my story has difficulty keeping up with her honor and AP courses, as she feels she needs to maintain very high grades in order to succeed. Last year, I had a similar situation, except I did not fall into depression, but instead tried to manage my stress through other outlets.
My setbacks have not really changed over the past few weeks. As I am trying to finish up my story, I am trying to leave out as many details as possible and simply keep the main events, because my story is already a decent length. However, I feel that if I leave out details, then the reader will miss out on all of the factors that truly cause depression; I am in quite the dilemma.
Although I said this in my previous blog post, I plan to make more progress with my physical book and make a final copy of my story to base my book off of for the next two weeks. I also plan to first draw everything in pencil before outlining and coloring my drawings, so I will finish a decent number of pages by the next two week check-in, hopefully.

The Clay Brain

For this lab, my lab partners and I constructed two 2D models of the brain from two different points of view, the left hemisphere along the sagittal plane and the right cerebral hemisphere. After constructing the models, we labeled each important structure on the brain. We also used different colors so as to make it easier for the viewer to distinguish among the different structures in the brain. First, we made the model of the left hemisphere along the sagittal plane and labeled structures with pins and tape:

Because we thought that it might be difficult to read the labels, we chose to write the structure names directly on the cardboard for the next model (right cerebral hemisphere): 

The Woman with a Hole in her Brain

In this article (https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22329861.900-woman-of-24-found-to-have-no-cerebellum-in-her-brain#.VSq-1ouKrVv), the author talked about a woman who had lived basically all of her life without her cerebellum. She never really realized what was wrong until she suffered more significant symptoms, like dizziness and nausea. For the majority of her life, she had problems with balance and coordination, and also had trouble talking; the space that is normally occupied by the cerebellum was instead occupied by cerebrospinal fluid. I can relate to this quite well because I actually went to the hospital myself and received numerous brain scans due to an infection of my inner ear, which in turn affected my cerebellum; I had severe vertigo for a period in my life. Because the cerebellum controls motor control and balance, I was dizzy every time I stood up.

For example, if the hypothalamus was missing or severely damaged, I do not think that a person would be able to survive. Because the hypothalamus controls homeostasis, which includes regulation of temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure, the body would react very badly if one's environment changed. For example, the body shivers to generate heat when the environment is cold. If the hypothalamus were to be damaged, there would be no message telling our body to shiver, and as a result we could die due to exposure. Furthermore, the hypothalamus also controls the secretion of certain hormones from the pituitary gland, so damage to the hypothalamus would affect the function of the pituitary gland as well. Because the function of the hypothalamus is rather unique, I do not think it would be possible for another structure of the brain to "take over" for the hypothalamus.

20 Time Update #2: Starting the Biggest Obstacle

Throughout these past two weeks, I have made some progress, but these two weeks have passed more quickly than I expected. Similar to my last progress report, I still feel like I could have made more progress than I did. Then again, with only about 40 minutes a week to work on 20 Time, it is difficult to make significant progress.
I have now about finalized my story, and I have successfully cut down and gotten rid of all the unnecessary details in order to keep the length of the story reasonable. The main cause of depression for the main character in my story is being LGBT in a conservative community and family, which causes lots of conflict. Through researching the experiences of LGBT teenagers in conservative communities, I have become more aware of other communities in the US and around the world, and I have especially become more appreciative of the community that I live in. Saratoga is an area with mostly progressive people, considering how close we are to San Francisco, which is a landmark for LGBT activists. After reading the experiences of LGBT teenagers growing up in conservative areas like Southern America and Asia, I now realize how lucky I am to live in an area where there are many resources for LGBT people. Although I am not LGBT myself, I have a few friends that are, and I am happy that they can be open with themselves here.
For the next two weeks, I plan to actually begin my drawing book by making basic sketches and deciding which parts of my stories will be on which pages, because even though I have reduced the length of my storyline, I could still make the actual storybook longer. I feel like starting making the physical drawing book is the hardest step for me, hence the title "Starting the Biggest Obstacle," because I tend to be quite lazy and tired early in the morning. Hopefully, by the next two week progress report, I will have some physical sketches and at least one page finished.

Unit 7 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about muscles and their function, structure, and how they contract in our body. First, we learned about directional terms of the body and joint movements of particular joints: flexion, extension, abduction, adduction, circumduction, rotation, pronation, supination, dorsiflexion, plantar flexion, inversion, eversion, protraction, retraction, elevation, depression, and opposition. Some of these only apply to certain parts of the body. For instance, inversion and eversion only apply to your feet, and circumduction can only be used to refer to limbs of the body. Next, we learned about the general muscular system and its functions: movement of bones or fluids, maintaining posture and body position, stabilizing joints, and heat generation. There are also four properties of muscle tissue: excitability, contractibility, extensibility, and elasticity. Then, we learned about the smaller components of muscle tissue, starting from the different kinds of fascia. First, the endomysium is the fascia that surrounds each muscle fiber. Next, the perimysium is the fascia that separates the muscle fibers into bundles. Then, the epimysium is the fascia that surrounds the entire muscle.

Furthermore, there are also different ends of the muscle, origin and insertion, which are the immovable and movable end of the muscle, respectively. In addition, we learned about the process of muscle contraction, which starts from the sarcomeres, the section of a myofibril where protein fibers overlap and slide past each other when muscles contract or relax. When a muscle contracts, the myosin and actin filaments in the sarcomeres slide past each other, using ATP and calcium ions in the process. Also, the process is started by a nerve impulse. My classmates and I made a video of the muscle contraction process:

In our next lecture, we learned about the different muscles in the human body and their specific names. In the head, there is the masseter and the temporalis, which both elevate the mandible. The trapezius controls the scapula, and the latissimus dorsi, deltoid, and pectoralis major all control the arm movement. Next, the biceps brachii and triceps brachii flex and extend the elbow joint. In the abdomen, the rectus abdominus and external oblique flex and compress the abdomen. Then, the external and internal intercostals elevate and depress the ribs. The diaphragm controls the lungs and allows for breathing, and the gluteus maximus controls thigh movement. The hamstring group of muscles is the biceps femoris, semimembranosus, and semitendonosus, all three of which control thigh movement and contraction. Next, the quadriceps muscles are the rectus femoris, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis/medius, and vastus lateralis, which control the thighs and knee joints. Then, the sartorius controls hip rotation and knee flexion, and the gracilis controls the thigh. The tensor fascia latae stabilizes the hip and the ilotibiial band stabilizes the knee laterally. Finally, the gastrocnemius, petroneus longus, and tibialis anterior all control the foot. My classmates and I identified the majority of these muscles in a chicken during a lab that you can see here (with photos): Chicken Dissection Lab

In our next lecture, we learned about muscle twitch and the three types of muscle fibers: slow twitch fibers, fast oxidative twitch fibers, and fast glycolytic twitch fibers. Every person has a different variety of these three fibers, depending on their level and type of exercise; exercise can even change the genetically-established variation of muscle fibers over a long period of time. There are also four types of muscle contraction: concentric, eccentric, isometric, and passive stretch. 

In our last lecture, we learned about performance enhancement substances, such as steroids and EPO.

Lance Armstrong took EPO.

 These substances are used to boost athletic performance, build muscle, aid in recovery, and lose body fat. All professional athletes are tested for these substances before major events due to their prevalence in the athlete community. Most of these PE-substances have serious risks that can even lead to death, so they should be taken appropriately. 

After this unit, I want to learn more about muscles atrophy, because I know that many young people do not exercise on a daily basis, including me. Is the process of muscle atrophy in young people the same as it is for seniors? My grandfather had trouble walking near the end of his life because he did not exercise regularly. 

Overall, this unit has been quite fulfilling and relatable, because we use our muscles everyday in every part of our lives. I think as a student I have become more well-rounded and supportive of my classmates, because for once I did not play the main role in a dissection. I am usually the main person dissecting because I thoroughly enjoy dissections and hands-on work. However, in this lab I simply took pictures and wrote notes and allowed my lab partners to take charge. This unit was quite fulfilling.

Performance Enhancement Advertisement: EPO

A performance-enhancing substance is a manufactured product that can be ingested orally, injected, or inhaled nasally to improve athletic performance, promote muscle growth, and induce weight loss (can be stimulant, herb, or compound).

Anabolic steroids increase muscle mass and aid in muscle recovery, but have many risks, such as liver damage, heart disease, and stunted growth, especially in teenagers. Caffeine is a stimulant that may cause dehydration. EPO is a kidney protein that may cause stroke or heart attack; it is commonly used by cyclists. Human growth hormone may cause joint pain and muscle weakness. Creatine makes muscles release short but intense bursts of energy and may cause dehydration and liver damage. A high protein diet may cause a build-up of toxic ketones in the blood. Strength training is weight/resistance training that does not really have many risks, other than overexercising and injury. Gene doping is using gene therapy to permanently insert performance-enhancing genes into one's DNA. Androstenedione is produced by hormonal glands, and has similar risks to steroids, such as heart disease and liver damage. Carboloading is an increase in the intake of carbohydrates prior to a major event to build up glycogen stores; this causes weight gain.
Something that concerns me about these performance-enhancing drugs is the prevalence of these drugs all over the world. However, despite this prevalence, there is very little education given at a young age to deter this activity. In our freshman year health classes, we learned about the drugs that are usually abused such as cocaine and marijuana, but we were never taught about the danger of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. Before this lecture, the only thing I knew about steroids was that it caused a increase in muscle mass and other physical changes, but I did not think the risks were that serious due to the high number of people who use it.
Although there are many risky performance-enhancing substances that are dangerous, there are a few performance-enhancing methods that are completely safe when they are utilized appropriately. For instance, strength training is used by many athletes to increase muscle mass by using resistance in the form of weights. This exercise and increase muscle mass and strengthen bones as well; the only risk is injury from overexertion. Carboloading is also not that dangerous, as its only side effect is weight gain, which is logical from the increase of intake of carbohydrates at once; the body stores extra water and glycogen). Perhaps the safest performance-enhancing method of all is massage/ myofascial release, which is the stimulation of the reflex response of the nervous system to reduce muscle tension. As long as the masseuse does not press too hard on the body, there really are no risks for this method.
On the other hand, EPO, gene doping, anabolic steroids, and androstenedione are all dangerous performance-enhancing drugs when used inappropriately. EPO is a hormone naturally produced by the kidneys that increases myoglobin count, which allows more oxygen to reach the muscles. However, if taken inappropriately, EPO can cause heart disease, liver damage, or even death. Next, gene doping is dangerous because the technology for it is experimental. As a result, if something went wrong, it would be difficult to recover because of the lack of experience with this issue. Anabolic steroids are extremely dangerous because they cause an increase of muscle mass along with risks of death, heart disease, and other physical issues. Lastly, androstenedione is a naturally produced hormone that has similar risks as those for anabolic steroids.
A question that I have is whether constantly carboloading is bad for the body, and can have more severe side effects. I know of many athletes that I follow who do carboloading before weightlifting events and other major events.

Chicken Dissection Lab

In this lab, our lab group identified the major muscles on a whole chicken by using pins and labels. First, we cut through the chicken's breast area and identified the chest muscles: pectoralis major and pectoralis minor.

Pectoralis major: flexes, adducts, and rotates the arm medially

Pectoralis minor: elevates ribs and protracts scapula

After locating the chest muscles, our lab group located a few tendons at the bottom of the chest:

The tendons are the white, shiny tissue.

At the origin of the muscle, the muscle is immovable, and the insertion of the muscle is the movable end of the muscle. When a muscle contracts, the insertion is moved toward the origin. 

Next, flipped the chicken over and cut open its upper back to identify the muscles there: trapezius and latissimus dorsi. 

Trapezius: extends head and adducts, elevates, or depresses scapula

Latissimus Dorsi: extends and adducts scapula; broadest muscle of the back

There is a difference between the trapezius of a chicken and the trapezius of a human. In humans, the trapezius is split into two parts, each part having its own action. The part going up the neck shrugs elevates and depresses the scapula, and the part running across the back retracts the scapula. 

After dissecting the back of the chicken, we moved onto its wing, or upper arm to locate the deltoid, biceps brachii, and triceps humeralis. 

Deltoid: abducts, flexes, and extends arm

Biceps Brachii: flexes elbow joint

Triceps Humeralis: extends the arm 

The triceps humeralis does not exist in humans; this muscle would be the triceps brachii in humans instead, and is the muscle used in doing reverse curls. In order to see how the muscles in the arm worked together to create movement, we used our hands to flex and extend the elbow joint. Once we did this, we could see the muscles, specifically the deltoid, lengthening and we could also feel the tendon moving along with the muscle lengthening. 

Next, we dissected the forearm of the chicken to find the flexor carpi ulnaris and brachioradialis. 

Brachioradialis: largest muscle on the superior side of the wing; pulls the hand back

Flexor Carpi Ulnaris: largest muscle on the posterior side of the wing; flexes the hand

Our lab group also tried flexing the wrist joint to see if the hand of the arm would move because we were lengthening and contracting the muscles of the forearm. Sure enough, the when we lengthened the flexor carpi ulnaris, the hand flicked upward. 

Next, we dissected the thigh of the chicken to find the sartorius, iliotibialis, biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus, and quadriceps femoris.

Sartorius: flexes the thigh; runs down the front edge of the thigh

Iliotibialis: covers the whole lateral side of the thigh; extends the thigh and flexes the leg

The iliotibialis does not exist in humans; instead, there is the gluteus maximus and iliotibial tract in humans. Also, in birds, this muscle group covers the whole lateral side of the thigh, but in humans, it has three parts and runs from the dorsal and alteral sides of the pelvis to the lateral side of the knee. 

Biceps Femoris: flexes the leg; part of hamstring group

Semimembranosus: inferior and medial to biceps femoris; extends the thigh

Quadriceps Femoris: group of four muscles; flexes the thigh and extends the lower leg

Semitendinosus: anterior and medial to semimembranosus; extends the thigh

Lastly, we dissected the chicken's drumstick/calf to identity the gastrocnemius, peroneus longus, and tibialis anterior muscles.

Gastrocnemius: primary muscle of dorsal and medial sides of drumstick; extends the foot and flexes lower leg

Peroneus Longus: extends the foot

Tibialis Anterior: directly under peroneus longus; flexes the foot

20 Time: Update #1

2 Week Progress Report:

So far, I have made some progress, but not as much as I expected to have made, so I feel that I need to speed up the pace of my progress for the next few weeks. I have learned that it is quite difficult to create a story and format the book in a way that is not too depressing to read; if I make it too depressing, then people will be less likely to read it. Ironically, the problem at hand is depression. Although I make decent progress during class, I notice that I like putting off working on the actual book during 20 Time in class, and choose to add details to my story instead; I think the idea of getting up and actively working scares me. 

As a result, I have had a few setbacks. While working on my storyline, I noticed that I tend to put lots of details into the story to make it as realistic as possible. However, there is a limit to how long I can make my book due to both time constraints and the interest of readers, so there is no way that I will be able to fit all of my details into the book; I will have to cut down the content by quite a bit. I will most likely do this by only including major topics in the story, like the most common signs of depression and the most common risk factors. 

The next step in my process would be to actually start on the physical book, by first doing sketches of all my drawings and making the captions for each picture. After doing this, I will outline the pictures and color them to make them more interesting to view. 

While doing this project, I honestly have not learned that much information that is new to me, other than the statistics. Because Saratoga is such a hypercompetitive community, the entire community has had exposure to depression and other kinds of stress. At our school, we have had Speak Up For Change week every week, which spreads awareness and destigmatizes the whole topic. Hopefully I can learn more about this topic and help to deter it in the community.

What Happens When You Stretch: Reading

Title: What Happens When You Stretch
Author: ---
Publication: people.bath.ac.uk
Date: March 12, 2016

Relate and Review: The main subject of this reading is what happens to your muscles when you stretch, and the processes and anatomical structures involved with stretching. The stretching of a muscle fiber starts with the sarcomere, and is basically the elongation of the sarcomere. Then, the connective tissue around the muscle align themselves with the sarcomeres, which helps to rehabilitate scarred tissue back to health. Next, the nerve endings that relay all the information from the musculoskeletal system to the central nervous system are the proprioceptors, which detect any changes within the body; muscle spindles are the main proprioceptors of the body. Then, there is also a stretch reflex, which causes the muscles to contract when they are stretched. This function protects the muscle from injury, but the stretch reflex can be suppressed. The stretch reflex has a static and dynamic component, which both help to contract the muscle from the very beginning of the stretch. However, theres is also a lengthening reaction that occurs when muscles contract and the tension becomes too high. Lastly, the process of reciprocal inhibition is when an antagonist contracts as a reaction to an agonist contraction.

1. "This triggers the stretch reflex, which attempts to resist the change in muscle length by causing the stretched muscle to contract."
- I chose this quote because it surprised me that there is an entire stretch reflex in reaction to simple stretching. When I stretched, I never realized that my muscles were also contracting; it amazed me to think how complicated stretching actually was.

2. "When an agonist contracts, in order to cause the desired motion, it usually forces the antagonists to relax."
- I chose this quote because I have never physically realized this process. Whenever I flex a certain muscle, it feels like the entire area is being flexed and is tight. However, after reading this and flexing my bicep, I noticed that my tricep was not actually tight at all.

3. "There are actually two kinds of intrafusal muscle fibers: nuclear chain fibers, which are responsible for the static component; and nuclear bag fibers, which are responsible for the dynamic component."
- I chose this quote because it really demonstrates how complicated muscle fibers are; there are so many different types of muscle fibers, like the intrafusal muscle fibers. Then, there are also different types of intrafusal muscle fibers, the nuclear chain nuclear bag fibers.

Unit 6 Reflection

In this unit, we learned about the skeletal system, which include joints and diseases of the skeletal system. First, we learned about the different classes of bones, which are classified according to their shape (long, irregular, flat, etc.). Next, we also learned that the main functions of the skeletal system include support, movement, and blood cell production. We also learned about osteocytes, which are mature bone cells that create the ring shape that is seen in bone under a microscope. I also learned about the role of osteoclasts and osteoblasts in the process of bone remodeling; osteoclasts break down the bone and osteoblasts rebuild the bone after an injury or physical stress. Then, we learned about the different types of skeletal diseases, such as scoliosis and rickets. Scoliosis is the most well-known out of the skeletal diseases we learned, since children are checked for it every year during their doctor's appointments. Rickets is a disease that usually occurs in children, and softens the bones so one's legs bow outward.

Lastly, we learned about joints and how there are some immovable, slightly movable, and freely movable joints called synarthroses, amphiarthroses, and diarthroses respectively.
Here is a video that we watched at the beginning of the unit to give us a general idea of bones:

I want to learn more about how a bone's shape affects its function, so more about why bones are shaped differently depending on their function and location. I also wonder more about the different bone diseases, and if there are any cures for them; can metal rods be inserted in bones to straighten them out or harden them?
Overall, I feel like this unit has been quite comprehensive and I have learned a lot. I wish we had more labs to complete that were more hands on, but the owl pellet lab (http://jhan496.blogspot.com/2016/02/owl-pellet-lab.html) that we conducted was very fun; I felt that during that lab I was more focused on completing the task, especially since we started the lab with little time left during class. Also, because I did not want to break any bones from the pellet, my partner and I separated the feathers from the bones very carefully, and that required a lot of my focus. Compared to first semester, I feel like I have to manage my time more efficiently due to 20 Time. In first semester, the Monday Wellness project was not an ongoing project all semester, but 20 Time is a project that spans across the entire semester, so I must balance my 20 Time blog work with my class blog work as well.
When I look at my New Years Resolutions, I feel that I have been slowly but gradually improving my first goal of putting my full effort into this class. I try to finish my homework the day it is assigned, and make sure that I finish it with detail so I do not have to study or write as much in preparation for the tests. Furthermore, I have also improved on my second goal, as I can fully run through my entire cello movement without stopping and can play the hard cadenza in the beginning of the piece quite well. Overall, a very satisfying and important unit!

20 Time: Project for this Semester- Teenage Depression

For this semester, I will be conducting a 20 Time project revolving around the subject of teenage depression. 20 Time is essentially a project or idea that an individual works on in order to reach a goal, taking up about 20 percent of class time, hence the name 20 Time. This idea was popularized by Google, since many of Google's famous and important programs have been created during 20 Time; 20 Time offers a creative outlet so an individual's innovation is not limited. My essential question that is going to be answered once I reach my goal is: What are the hidden symptoms and methods of alleviation of depression? I specifically chose teenage depression out of other forms of depression because teenage depression is the most prevalent; adolescence is a time of lots of change and therefore discomfort or emotional instability. For example, our school now holds a "Speak Up For Change" week every single year, a week during which students speak up about usually stigmatized issues like depression and eating disorders. This event was not held even a few years ago, but is now focused on heavily because of its prevalence in our highly competitive community. For this project, I will be making a drawing book that will document the symptoms, causes, and "cures" for depression. This book will not contain complicated or scientific language, so it can be easily understood by people of all ages. Furthermore, because it will be easier to understand than scientific books and studies about depression, younger and younger kids can be exposed to these issues and learn how to prevent them. By spreading awareness of the symptoms and "cures" of depression, especially that of teenagers, I hope to answer the essential question and get rid of the stigma surrounding depression. While working on this project during class, I plan to first come up with a story that is easy to follow and relatable to teenagers from all kinds of communities. My progress will most likely be measured in a quantitative format, conflating the number of pages I have completed to my level of progress. As I am writing this blog post, I have not yet started my project. From now, I plan to decide first how long my story should be, so I do not overwhelm myself with an unnecessarily long story. Hopefully this drawing book will spread awareness about an issue that needs to be talked about more!