Wednesday, April 23, 2008


This is my sister and I in downtown Chicago, Michigan St.

science extra credit...

FLORENCE RENA SABIN

(1871-1953)

Biographical Information:

Florence Rena Sabin was born on November 9, 1871 in Central City, Colorado. When she was four years old, she moved to Denver. Unfortunately, at the age of seven her mother passed away. Florence Sabin attended Wolfe Hall Boarding school for one year. She graduated from Vermont Academy boarding school in Saxtons River. Sabin was particularly interested in mathematics and science. She earned a bachelor of science in 1893.

Education, Research and Contributions:

She took a course in zoology during her junior year that made her subject. Florence Sabin had a passion for biology, but she chose medicine for her career. Her first year in Johns Hopkins School of Medicine was in the year 1896. While still a student there, she constructed models of the medulla, mid-brain from serial microscopic sections of a newborn baby’s nervous system. Sabin was the first woman to graduate from medical school in 1900. Later on, Sabin published her book An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain that became one of her major contributions to medical journalism.

Florence Sabin began a long period of work in a new field of research-the development of the human lymphatic system. Her first papers on the lymphatic system won the prize of the Naples Table Association in 1903. Sabin continued her work in anatomy and became an associate professor in 1905. In 1917, she was appointed professor of histology. She was the first women to be awarded full professor at the medical school. She developed methods of staining living cells to distinguish between various cells. She also used the newly devised “hanging drop” technique to observe living cells in liquid under the microscope. Sabin’s technical expertise in laboratory permitted her to decide between different blood cells. Florence Sabin was particularly interested in white blood cells called “monocytes” which is the organism that causes tuberculosis (which means that it is a disease of humans that may affect the lungs and may spread to other organs). The National Tuberculosis Association acknowledged Sabin’s research of the body’s immune system reaction to the tuberculosis organism by awarding her a grant support for her work in 1924.

In the same year, she was elected president of the American Association of Anatomists, and the next year Sabin became the first women to be elected as a member in the National Academy of sciences. In 1921, Florence Sabin made a speech to the American women scientists for a Nobel Prize. Marie Curie won an event that signified Sabin has standard the importance in the world of science.

Since 1997, in addition to her contributions to science Florence Sabin worked in a public health admistrator in her retirement life. She surveyed public health systems in Colorado county and found out that there were high mortality rates and poor public heath systems. She was in a committee on the Public Health Bills, and so she traveled in many places asking for public support for a new public health law. She passed four of the six “Sabin Bills”. In 1949, Sabin’s public health laws were approved by the State Board of Health. Later on, she became the manager of the city’s Health and Charities. In 1948, Florence Sabin implemented a law on communicable disease in the city of Denver, Colorado.

After all her pioneer work, Florence Rena Sabin has made a visual difference in the public health system in the United States and other parts of the world. We will all acknowledge her hard work and the contributions she made in her life.

Florence Rena Sabin died peacefully in 1953.

Bibliography:

Ì http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/RR/B/B/B/F/_/rrbbbf.jpg&imgrefurl=http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/RR/Views/Exhibit/visuals/colorado.html&h=745&w=593&sz=324&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=d2KWU87mAaYvcM:&tbnh=141&tbnw=112&prev=/images%3Fq%3DFlorence%2BRena%2BSabin%2Bawards%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGGL,GGGL:2006-43,GGGL:en%26sa%3DX

Ì http://www.answers.com/topic/florence-rena-sabin

Graphics:

profiles.nlm.nih.gov/RR/B/B/B/T/_/rrbbbt.jpg

profiles.nlm.nih.gov

profiles.nlm.nih.gov

www.britannica.com

molbiol.ru

www.medicalarchives.jhmi.edu

Shug By Jenny Han (book report) =]

The book Shug by Jenny Han is a mixture of love and friendship. Annemarie Wilcox, or Shug as her family calls her, thinks that there is nothing worse than being 12. More than ever, if you are flat chested, have too many freckles, are too tall/skinny, and if your best guy-friend does not think you are a “girl.” This story instigates by how Annemarie Wilcox spent her summer before staring junior high (in a small town called Clementon, Georgia), in addition to how her school life is going on, and ends by how she found her real true love…

Annemarie’s best friend-Elaine is at New York, her sister Celia is already thinking about going to college, her mom is addicted to wine/beer (practically drunk), and her dad doesn’t come home after finishing his 2-3 week long trips from work. The only person she relies is on Mark-her best guy friend. They go walking together; they ride bikes together, tell jokes, and do many toher fun activities. Soon Annemarie starts developing a major crush on him. One day, she goes over to Mark’s house to be “noticed by him.” She wears her first dress to look appealing. As she goes over, Mark’s mom bakes a cake, and Annemarie serves it. In the living room, Mark was with all his friends so she was the only girl there. There was Kyle Montgomery (the guy who she had a crush on in 5th grade), Jack Connell (her deepest enemy), and a bunch of other boys. When she was setting the cake on the table, nobody seemed to notice her-especially Mark and that she was wearing a dress! Mark had his undivided attention on the video game as well as the other guys, so Kyle was the only one who bothered to talk to her there. Soon it was getting late, so she headed home. After a couple of days, Mark came over to Annemarie’s house. They were going over some of their jokes, when Celia disturbed them. She sat down for a couple of minutes listening to them. During the time, she was there, Mark’s mouth was covered with drool as he kept on staring at her. Mark has had a crush on Celia ever since he was in 2nd grade, and she was in 8th grade, and he still does.

It was the first day of 7th grade, and Annemarie was very nervous. She had no classes with Mark, she was not much liked by most teachers, and she only had one class with Elaine.

After half of the school year, she decided to earn extra credit by tutoring a classmate. She was not so happy when she looked at her tutor sheet, she found out that her student was Jack Connell. She asked everyone if they wanted to trade partners, but they all turned her down. Therefore, she was stuck with him for the rest of the school year. The tutoring went well; they argued, but did work at the same time. During this period, she lost contact with her best friend, Elaine. She has become so popular, and hangs out with other girls, Annemarie is afraid of loosing her.

Soon the 7th-grade-end-of-the-year-dance was coming. Everyone was excited, and many rumors were going on. Annemarie was eager to ask Mark to the dance, she hoped that he would ask her first. As days passed by, there were rumors saying that the most popular boy asked Elaine to the dance. Annemarie was happy for her, and now she felt confident to ask Mark. The day before she was going to ask Mark to the dance, she heard some shocking, and dreadful news. Mark had already asked Hadley. Annemarie changed her mind about going to the dance; her heart was broken. At home, she wanted to do nothing, but lay in her bed. Why did Mark pick Hadley? I have known him my whole life, and suddenly she steals him from me? Why her? She thought. The day before the dance, Annemarie was very depressed. She did want to go, but part of her felt that there was no point going. Her sister convinced her to go, and she had leaned Annemarie their mom’s old dress, Celia put makeup on, she curled her hair. She looked stunning.

At the dance, every boy had caught her eye, including Mark. Surprisingly, Jack was also there. With confidence, Annemarie went up to Mark, and asked for a dance. Unexpectedly, he said yes. They had the spotlight, and they both danced with their heart. Bradley cut the dance. Annemarie did not mind, because she was waiting for this her whole life. She felt joyful, and went over to her friends. Soon it was almost time to go, so the DJ played one last song. She went to the table to grab her jacket. There Elaine’s boyfriend was making fun of her and Mark. He kept on saying “you guys looked cute together when you danced. You should become boyfriend and girlfriend!” He also made “kissing” noises. This irritated Mark, so with all his guts, he said “You know what, Annemarie is just my friend. I do not even like her. She is not even a girl!” Annemarie heard it all, and Jack had seen it. She went up to Mark, and tried to say something, but whenever she opened her mouth, no words came. Only tears dripped from her eyes. She left him, and ran way to the car park. He tried to stop her and kept shouting “Annemarie wait! You know I did not mean it! Come back!” Although she heard him, she did not stop running. She saw her mom in the car, and hopped in. When they had reached their house, she went straight up to her room, slammed the door shut, and cried. She cried for hours and hours thinking what a terrible nightmare had happened. She was so upset that she did not want to see Mark’s face at all. She had told her mom what happened and decided not to go to school for the following day.

During the next evening, Mark came over to give her homework that she missed. She had noticed he had many bruises on his face, but she did not say anything. Before he left, he said sorry for what happened. During this minute, Annemarie burst into tears again and said, “Why did you have to say that? In front of everyone? You could have said it to me, instead of humiliating me…” Mark just stared that the ground and apologized again, and left.

During dinner, Jack had come to visit Annemarie. He told her that after she had left the dance, he got into a fight with Mark. He had got mad at Mark for saying that Annemarie was not a girl. This was the fourth fight during the school year, so now Jack has to go live with his dad. Annemarie was upset, but pleased to hear that Jack defended her. After the conversation, Jack pulled out two cherry popsicles. They both looked into the sky and enjoyed their popsicle. Jack had said sorry for all the trouble he had caused her in the past, and she forgave him. Subsequently, something unusual happens. Jack and Annemarie looked into each other’s eyes…and kissed. Jack smiled and left, along with saying bye to her. That was Annemarie’s first kiss, and she felt content about it.

The main characters throughout this love and friendship story are:

Annemarie, or Shug as her family calls her, is the most important character. She is easily able to get hurt by words, and very sensitive. She has a crush on Mark. Her best friend is Elaine. She is a blonde-haired person (mixed with brown), and she has pale skin with freckles. She is very tall, and flat chested. Her mom is an alcoholic, and her dad travels most of the time from work. He and Annemarie’s mom usually have tempestuous relationship. Her sister, Celia is 16 years old, and “the perfect one” in the family. Mark is her best guy friend. Speaking of Mark, our second main character, starting junior high, he becomes popular and makes new friends. He thinks of Annemarie as a friend, but not that girlish like the rest of the other girls. He asked one of the most popular girls to the dance, leaving Annemarie heart-broken. Elaine is Annemarie’s best friend. She is from New York, and is Korean-American. She is very in style at school. She gives Annemarie advice, and support. Jack was Annemarie’s deepest enemy, until the end. In second grade, they had classes together and from that day on, he would embarrass her in many ways. One time he pushed her so hard to the ground, she got a scar. Until now, she has loathed him for his immature behavior. However, deep down, Jack has liked Annemarie ever since second grade. Jack is about 1 inch taller than Annemarie is, and he had dark brown hair (almost black, but not quite).

Theme…

I suppose that the theme of this book is “don’t try hard to fit in.” I selected this theme, because the main character, Annemarie, tries to fit in with her guy-best-friend Mark, popularity, and her family. As she is growing up, Annemarie gets boy advice. She tries to be noticed by Mark; for instance, she is very concerned about her daily clothes, appearance, and her speaking towards him. Since Annemarie is not very popular girl at school, she tries to become one. She hangs out with the popular girls, goes to their birthday parties, sleepovers, etc. She feels that the popular girls have snatched her friend Elaine away from her, and now she is trying to get her back. She is worried that she might loose her. Annemarie’s mom and Celia are role models for her. Her mom had good education, went to a wealthy collage, and was good-looking even though she was alcoholic. Her sister is perfect in everyway-from boys to education. My point is, you should not try hard to fit in just to impress someone. Stay where you belong, and maybe you will blend in with others. This theme does not relate to me in any way, because I have never tried to fit in like how Annemarie did.

Evaluation and Recommendations:

I really enjoyed reading this heart-warming book. I think that this story dealt with real life, in terms of popularity, crushes, and fitting it. I would recommend this book to any middle school girls interested in love and friendship. I give this book two-thumbs up! I like how Jenny Han writes novels designed for kids ages 10-14, about daily life.

Monday, March 31, 2008

EXPLORE THE ANIMAL CEL:

Have you ever wondered what will happen to a cell, if one of its functions

were missing? Well… here is a great opportunity for you to find out!

So, come here to explore all the interesting bits and pieces that make up

the animal cell!

The first feature we will look at is the Nucleus. The nucleus is covered with a cell membrane. Without a nucleus, the cell will go chaos, or it will not be able to control itself. The second organelle we see is the vacuole. Most vacuoles look like small sacs filled with fluid. If there were a lack of vacuoles, the cell will not have a place to store necessary items, such as water, food, and wastes. The next organelle looks like little round grains, these are ribosomes. With no ribosomes, the cell would not be able to develop, and it would not get enough proteins. Moving on, we see the cytoplasm. The cytoplasm is the gel-like material, which does most of the work in a cell. Devoid of the cytoplasm, the cell’s structure would collapse. Now we see what is called the cell membrane. The cell membrane is a thin layer made up of proteins and lipids. Without the cell membrane, materials will not be able to pass in and out of the cell, thus the cell will not be safe. After the cell membrane, comes the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton is made up of series of fibers. If an animal cell contains no cytoskeleton, then the cell will eventually become weak. Another structure of the animal cell is the lysosomes. Lysosomes have an easy job-they recycle. Therefore, if a cell does not contain a lysosome, the cell will be filled up with broken down particles, moreover, waste products. Furthermore, now we see the mitochondria. The mitochondria is like a rod shape organelle, surrounded by two membranes. Without this very important structure, the cell will not get enough energy. Next, we see the Golgi Body. You can think the Golgi Body as a packaging machine. Without the Golgi Body, the cell will not get enough materials. Finally yet importantly, we reach the Endoplasmic Reticulum (or E.R.). The Endoplasmic Reticulum is like a chain of tunnels that transport proteins. Without the ER, cells will not be able to communicate.

AS YOU CAN SEE, ALL THESE FUNCTIONS/ORGANELLES ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO AN ANIMAL CELL. IF ONE OF THESE ORGANELLES WERE MISSING, OR WERE DESTROYED, THE CELL WILL HAVE A POSSIBLE CHANCE OF DYING.

Book Review

Second Book Report

In the book Rules by Cynthia Lord, twelve-year-old Catherine has a brother (David) with Autism. She loves him very much, but she is afraid of his embarrassing behaviors. She thinks David needs to learn discipline, so she makes him a list of rules (for example: “You can hug mom, but not the clerk at the video store,” or “Keep your pants on in public,” even “no toys in the fish tank”). One day, Kristi, the new neighbor moves in. Catherine has always wished for a friend, ever since her other best friend moved away to California. Catherine tries to hide David from Kristi, and tries to make sure David avoids Kristi. Catherine is embarrassed that David will embarrass her, as well as Kristi not becoming her friend. Soon Catherine and Kristi become good friends, without David finding out.

Since David has autism, he has to go to the doctors once (or twice) a week. As Catherine goes to the clinic with David, she meets Jason. Jason was in a wheelchair and was shy. He was quiet and he carried this thick book wherever he went. One day, in the clinic, Catherine sketched a picture of Jason when he wasn’t looking. She was almost done with the sketch, when Jason’s mother came up to her and started yelling about how Jason was disabled, and how she thought Catherine was not treating him with all due respect. Catherine was just stunned and speechless. She did not know that Jason could not talk, so he had to use his “communication book,” so she immediately stopped sketching her picture of Jason.

As days passed, everything went “normal”. At once, Jason told Catherine if she could give him her name in a small-sized index card. After she had made the card, Jason wanted more words. This is how they became friends-Catherine started making him expression words. One day, Jason asked Catherine something unexpected. He asked her how does it feel to be able to run? Catherine responded with a simple answer free, and it is like walking fast. Jason felt the urge to run, so he told Catherine to push his wheelchair fast. Jason felt happy that he could be able to run, and to have a good friend. Soon, it was Jason’s birthday and he was eager to invite Catherine. She also was happy that she was invited, but she was afraid to take David along with her. Catherine knew the perfect gift for Jason…a guitar. During Jason’s birthday party, Catherine was all well dressed and happy. Since Jason wanted her to bring along David, she did. When it was time to eat the cake, David did not use any food utensils, he ate with his fingers. This made Catherine so embarrassed that she thought Jason was not going to be her friend anymore. Conversely, Jason just accepted her for who she was, and he did not mind that her brother was “awkward.”

After the birthday party was over, everyone went home. The next day, Jason asked Catherine to go to a dance. She was stunned. All that was on her mind was what will Kristi think of me? She did not know what to say, so she asked Jason “…how…can…you…dance?” Jason felt bad and he left with no sound. Catherine stopped him, so he said, “I don’t dance, so I like to listen to the music.” Catherine understood, so she said yes. During the dance, Catherine saw Kristi, and she introduced Jason. Kristi was also shocked because she had imagined Jason’s appearance and characteristics to be different from how he really was in real life. Anyway, Catherine did not really dance, but Jason moved his wheelchair back and forth (to make the people around him think that he was kind of dancing). While “dancing”, Jason suspected that Catherine really did not want to dance with him because of his disability-he leaves. For another time, Catherine stopped Jason and she was wondering why he wanted to leave so early. As Jason started explaining, Catherine realized that she had been acting embarrassed, so she apologized to Jason. Without knowing, they both start dancing as well as becoming close friends.

The main characters throughout this story are:

Catherine is a twelve-year-old girl. She is very self-conscious towards herself, and others. She tries to hide her feelings towards her friends. David is Catherine’s eight-year-old brother. He is suffering from autism. He likes to watch this cartoon film called “Frog & Toad.” Jason is Catherine’s friend. He in a terrible condition of paraplegic. He visits Catherine every time she goes to the doctors with David. He likes to play the guitar, and he is very gentle. He can be a little sensitive about what others say about him sometimes.

There were many themes throughout the story, but I believe that the important message the author was trying to give is “accept people of who they are.” In this story, Catherine is always trying to make sure David avoids people. She is always scared and embarrassed of his behavior. I personally think that Catherine is somewhat selfish. I mean, if I had a brother who is suffering autism, I would try to help him. Although sometimes he might humiliate me, I would still try to teach him the right things from the wrong. Catherine still teaches David, but she just makes up a bunch of rules so he catch up. For a fact, I know that children/adults who have autism have a hard time to talk or express themselves with other people, they cannot make connections with people easily, and they have trouble linking words to their meanings…etc... On the other hand, once Catherine meets Jason, she slowly starts to realize that she is “normal”, and sometimes people have to deal with things that they do not like.

This theme does relate to me in a way. Before I read this book, and read about autism, (in elementary school), I used to be “mean”—and I state again, I used to be “a big meanie.” I did not really know that if you make fun of someone, it could hurt him or her deep down--right in the middle of the heart.L Anyway, I thought disabled kids were “weird.” I did not know that they had a hard time doing things. Later on, I tried to put my position in theirs, and feel how people call you not “normal.” As soon as I started “growing up,” I understood that sometimes there isn’t a real treatment (in terms of medicine) for the disability, so the actual cure is care, love, and to be friends. Now, in middle school, I REALLY regret what I had said in the past.

I really enjoyed this award-winning, heart-warming, and ingenious work of fiction. I think this story is realistic in a few ways. First, to have a brother with autism is real-life. Second, trying to make new friends is difficult. Along with third, people can judge others by their disability, looks, or behaviors. I give this book as a “two-thumbs” up because it really dealt with reality, and it was a very meaningful story. I thought the event when Catherine made up certain words for Jason that similarly expressed her daily life was a bit funny. I do recommend this book to any young readers.


THE HISTORY OF SOCCER

…THE HISTORY OF SOCCER…

As we all know, soccer is a well famous know sport. It is a very fun game and it mostly requires energy. However, do we know the real chronicle of soccer? Personally, I love the sport soccer, but I never seemed to have learned the history of it. Anyway, the beginning of soccer started in the late mid-18th century…

Nobody really knows where soccer originated thus, people are assuming that it started around the Romans, Chinese, or from South America. In the olden times, people used anything as a ball, and sometimes the loser or the winner would be sacrificing each other. Soccer started in Brazil when a few children were playing together. As they were playing, they saw a bucket of soft rubber and turned the rubber into a ball-shape sphere. Therefore, the children would play with each other-but not in the modern way-they would just pass each other the ball without touching it. Slowly, more and more people began to play this. Then they started adding goals, teams, etc.

The first game of soccer was played by Roman soldiers. They used their heads to block their enemy, and to pass the ball to their teammates. This proves why there is a rule against touching the ball with your hands. Later on, soccer came to Europe form the Mexicans. Their playing was a bit different from the Romans, but they were amazingly entertained. After a battle, they would chop off their opponents’ head and use it as a football. Afterward, the head would be taken across to Europe by the Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch, etc. (the people who invented the ball).

Chinese people also were very skilled in playing soccer. In about 2600 BC, they made a ball that consisted of leather and the goals were about 30 feet high and 20 feet apart. Soccer was usually only played in the celebration of the emperor’s birthday. This mostly happened during the Hun Dynasty.

Soccer was invented by the Mayan’s and the Aztecs Indians in Central America. In the city of Copan, of Maya, they had one of the largest and sturdiest soccer fields ever. The civilization dates went back to more than 10,000 years ago. These people also sacrificed the captain of the winning team. Sacrificing was a way to honor the accomplished soccer players.

In this current time, every 4 years, there is a World Cup based on soccer. Professional players-from their own country, all around the world-play aggressively, until they win. The winning team gets the world cup of the current year, and gets valuable items (such as clothing, vehicles, money, etc.). There are billions of soccer lovers who enjoy watching this live show (including me).

Another official name for soccer is football. Soccer comes from association football; only the U.S.A. and Canada say soccer.

As you can see, soccer is played all around the world in various ways.

Soccer is an athletic game for both boys and girls. When people play soccer, their entire mind is usually focused on competition and wining. In my opinion, I think when you play soccer; you should just try your best, and have fun! =)

...My Name…

...My Name…

Names can represent different people, and they all signify something very special. I have heard of many international names that are very rare and unique. Sometimes people make fun of someone, just because there name sounds weird. However, those who tease others are very selfish and cruel. If you do not know the meaning of one’s name, why waste your time teasing them? Teasing is a very ghastly thing, and it can really hurt.

What my name means...

My name is Dikshya Dhungana. Yes, you might say “what a bizarre and %*&@ name!” but before you say anything, hold your mouth. Dikshya is a one in a million name that no one knows about. The name Dikshya (pronounced dik-shā) means “knowledge, or concentration.” This name comes from the Nepalese. (Nepal is located in Asia, in between China and Tibet). Anyway, my parents choose this name because my generations of ancestors were from Nepal. Most of my friends, or the people who know me, say that since I am from New Zealand, my name should be New Zealandish - I disagree. Your name does not have to connect with where you are from, or your personality or anything like that. Any name expresses one’s personal, cultural identity.

The spitefulness of one’s name...

Now that you know what my name means, you will now step into my shoes. Imagine going to a middle school and every single day, in every class, people make fun of your name. They say “Hey %*&@!, nice name!” When really they do not mean it. On the other hand, sometimes people cut off part of your name to make it sound “wrong” and try to humiliate you. Those people who do that do not know how others suffer. Every now and then, I really hope that the name-calling people will get in loads of trouble, and that they would regret what they had said.

THE END

Author’s note: This is a true narrative story.

=(