CUNY York College Cancer Is in Essence a Genetic Disease Discussion

I’m trying to learn for my Biology class and I’m stuck. Can you help?

Exercise – Note-taking and Study Skills – Cancer Seminar Assignment

2003 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Holiday Series

Cancer Lecture by Dr. Bert Vogelstein

http://media.hhmi.org/hl/03Lect1.html?_ga=2.174012259.1576159575.1498836437-1298016570.1497734722

This assignment emphasizes both learning biological content and study skills.

You may have to screen the assigned lecture twice: the first time to get the broad outline, shape, structure – the topic, speaker, audience, context, and breakdown of how the subject is treated; the second time, to write detailed lecture notes, perhaps in the form of questions and answers. This is equivalent to attending a course lecture, then later reviewing the PowerPoint presentation or replaying the recording of the lecture.

To help apply these study skills and perform a medium stakes assignment, read the following questions written by the instructor in chronological order during a second viewing of the video. Then screen the video yourself and write careful lecture notes in whatever format you prefer.

The assignment, worth 5 points, is to answer any five of the below 21 questions, write and answer your own five questions, or a combination of the above. When answering, put down the time in the video (min;sec) when Dr. Vogelstein addressed the topic.

1.Where and when was the seminar presented? By whom? Who introduced the speaker, Who was in the audience?

2.Define ‘Translational Research’.

3.Explain ‘Cancer is in essence a genetic disease’.

4.Why was it hard to effectively treat Melissa, Dr. Vogelstein’s first pediatric cancer patient?

5.What makes a malignant tumor different from a benign tumor?

6.How would a colon cancer metastasize to the liver?

7.Why should women have regular mammograms?

8.What do all cancer cells have in common?

9.How is ‘compound interest’ a useful model for cancer?

10.Are cancers that metastasize from one tissue type specific to the next type of tissue invaded?

11.Why is chemotherapy toxic to normal cells?

12.What type of genetic change most often causes cancer?

13.Describe ‘waves of clonal expansion’.

14.What is the difference between germ cell and somatic cell mutations?

15.What are the three kinds of gene mutations that contribute to cancer (the ‘accelerator’, the ‘brake’ and the ‘auto mechanic’).

16.Define familial cancers and give their approximate percentage.

17.List and describe a series of mutations that lead to colon cancer.

18.Are p53 mutations rare or common in cancer cells?

19.Do specific p53 mutations correlate with particular cancers?

20.What are the downstream genes regulated by p53 and what do their gene products do?

21.What cancer arises from the 9/22 chromosomal translocation?

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument.

ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.

Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.

APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.

Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.

LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.

Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.

Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.