Week Twelve - Cell Biology & TCM

What a question.

I know some people really want to keep TCM and western medicine separate (even at this school! hello, it's aImc), but I LOVE the integration. One of the reasons why I like my own acupuncturist so much is he has a background in Biomedicine and right away recommended ordering blood and hormone tests. That wouldn't resonate well with some, but it totally jives with me, and that's the type of practitioner I want to be when I grow up!

Western medicine doesn't shake my core and feel "right" like TCM does, but by the same token I am completely fascinated with it. I feel (fortunately or not) that in our society of skeptics, to gain credibility, we as practitioners will find it to our advantage the more well versed we are in western concepts and how TCM can be explained by such. Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean to sacrifice our lovely medicine to the western hands, always having to explain TCM in western terms, never the other way around, I know, I know we get the raw end of the stick with this one. Maybe I'll have a rude awakening when all my patients don't end up just like me, and don't appreciate this more integrative approach of mine.

Seeing the pictures of the cell structures, reminds me of how in TCM no small drop of sweat, sinew or organ goes unnoticed. Every piece of the puzzle is equally important for a full and proper diagnosis, and therefore road to harmony. An animal cell would NOT be an animal cell if it contained chloroplasts. Perhaps they are only one tiny part of a cell, but they are crucial! Perhaps it is "normal" for a patient to have a constant low pitched tinnitus; they just deal with it! But we clever students know better and this could be a huge clue in their diagnosis. Low back pain you say? Achey knees? Ah yes, the pieces fall into place...even the small ones.

Week Twelve - Website reviews

So I really appreciated the animated Krebs cycle site, except I only really recognized the little CO2 and water molecules floating away during the various stages. It was very helpful to look up pyruvate in wikipedia and get a little background since that is a base component of the cycle. It reminds me of stem cells in a way, in that pyruvate can go on to create carbohydrates, fatty acids, the amino acid alanine or ethanol depending on the process. It's like a blank slate!

I'm a sucker for a good list, so I love the side-by-side comparison of animal and plant cells! Also, this Cell site was such a nice and simple description of the various topics we are studying. It's really very helpful to just have a basic summary in the midst of some of these more complicated processes - just a few simple definitions to throw into the ol' memory bank.

The diagram of the complete human karyotype is cool! I didn't realize that there was such a variety in shape and sizes - I guess I thought they all looked identical. Makes sense that they don't - how appropriate to have a variety and diversity of chromosomes within the very structure that creates diversity among species!

Week Twelve - How Cells Divide

Good to have the feature to replay each side (mitosis or meiosis) after reading the little blurbs. Towards the end of the meiosis cycle I really appreciated the animation and side by side comparison as it really illustrated the major difference that I wasn't aware of (aka didn't remember from high school) - that meiosis results in 4 cells at the end.

Week Eleven - Spike's Gallery

VERY cool - I love the larva one and the daphnia doing the backstroke for some reason - I think because I can recognize a resemblance to some of the structures.

Week Eleven - Website review

This site mentioned that our most powerful electron microscope falls short of observing, first hand, an atom's electron orbitals. However, in the early 12th century, I bet no one thought we'd ever be able to view DNA, but technology changed and alas, we can now! I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we get to see all those orbitals in actuality. 

An interesting correlation: Some strains of bacteria use a polysaccharide outer layer as a protective shield. I've been reading a lot lately about how many polysaccharides (complex carbs such as grains and potatoes) can be extremely difficult for the intestines to break down and properly digest. Makes sense!

I definitely appreciate all the pictures!

Week Eleven - Environment Diversity

The first thing that comes to mind when I think about diversity and my little plot of land I call home, I think of the variety of fruit trees we have! Two kinds of apple trees in one (called a combo, or hybrid? - with the tree trunks kind of wrapped around each other to look like one tree), plum tree (they are little mini plums!), grape vines, cherry tree, a newly planted pear tree, almond tree (I've yet to taste ONE almond because of the cursed squirrels!), and my FAVORITE, huge, beautiful apricot tree. I didn't like apricots until I tasted our apricots. They explode with sweetness, and are unbelievably juicy.

We have jasmine growing on our back deck, and on our front walkway. When it blooms, it is the most wonderful "welcome home" you can have after a long day of work and school. And a huge elephant ear plant in front.

One or two other trees/hedges that I don't know the name of, but I love the big oak tree that we almost cut down when we moved in. I'm so glad we didn't, it's beautiful, and the tree cutter guy told us Oaks are one of the best trees for the environment in terms of global warming. 

Other species - our little doggies! A random hummingbird, but not many of those, nor bees - I guess we don't have enough colorful plantlife. Raccoons that are eerily huge.  Squirrels that taunt our dogs for hours on end, a blue bird, and other birds that are our wake-up alarm, ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS ANTS that invade our house every summer. Severe infestations!! Bats at dusk. Falcons (or hawks?) that hover in the afternoon. A random mosquito in the summer that gets through our screen.

Week Nine - Animations

So I love the idea of these animations - I'm always a sucker for pictures and colors. I wish it was a little more sophisticated because it could be a really great site. Some improvements:

-have a voice over or written blurb describe what's going on in the animation, and/or including more details as part of a bigger picture

- integrate some of the  animations together - like all the DNA, RNA animations, and how they play off of each other and are related! 

It just kind of left me wanting more.

Side note, the bucky ball reminds me of one of my dogs' toys. :)