REFLECTION

UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF MICROBES

Reflecting on microbiology as a subject and connecting it to the things i have learn in class and out side the class makes understanding the world of science simple. Microbiology has made me realized that there is a reason, cause in other words causative agent for every disease. Nothing just happens by chance meaning no disease just occur from space.



Microbiology is an important subject in my future career as a nurse because taking the class has given me a broad knowledge on what, how, and when things happens in the health care. So far the chapters we have learned and its related case studies has me conclude that  microbiology has the pieces of all the science courses and its understanding is very crucial in succeeding in any field of science especially health care. Currently i can link Microbiology to Chemistry, Anatomy and Physiology and i am very positive that when i advanced in nursing i will be linking Microbiology to Pharmacology and etc. Every single thing i learn and do in this class is relevant to my future career goals as a successful nurse.




Even though this class has all the learning styles, I learn best in listening and explaining things in my own words.The two most important things i have learn so far is the introductory which made me understand the nature and significance of microbiology as a field of study and the microbial genetics. The first made me realized why i am taking this class and what to expect from the class,with genetics, its kind of amazing linking it to God's creation. How this tiny organisms produces, their genes, genomes and etc is interesting to learn in details about them.

My confusing or biggest challenge in this class is the fact i don't have a science background and did not grew up in this part of the world also makes learning very frustrating. it takes time to understand certain words and digest things in class because of different ways of pronunciations or accent.  Diverting from the field of business to science has not been easy but my seriousness in class and trust in God has always kept me excelling and and will continue to do my best by reading more and following instructions and hopeful  i will excel more and maintain my GPA of 3.6 or even go higher.




Currently don't read articles like a comic book but i look for key words and draw my understanding and conclusion from it. I my personal life for examples, i used to wonder why cholera, Malaria and some other diseases are common in certain areas. But understanding of the causative agents of such diseases and the environment where they are mostly found has clarify my thoughts. I used to blame the cooking oil i cooked with if my food get spoiled or if i start to see microorganisms growing in the food i have saved in a refrigerator for two weeks and over but taking the class has me me realized that factors such as temperature, pH, and etc caused it not the oil.  In general, this class has impacted my life positively and will continue to read and research more on microbiology even when the class ends.



  



  

ENCOUNTER

 MICROORGANISMS IN MY OFFICE

Working at the bank was my dream job when I was growing up. I guess i took the inspiration from my family which was made up of Accountants.

After completing my bachelor's degree i had a job with a well known bank. After a year and half of working, one bad morning a colleague called in because he had an emergency and i had to leave my post and replace him due to the long cue at the branch that morning.

after being in his cubicle for about an hour and serving about ten or more customers, I started sneezing then it became serious and continuously. It just couldn't stop and my nose running furiously. My face looks pale all of a sudden. My boss and colleagues became alarmed and were wondering were I suddenly got that cold since I was doing well when I got to work earlier in the morning.

I had to leave work around 2pm that day to see the doctor because my temperature began to rise. After some tests were conducted I was told I  had the para-influenza virus and this virus is responsible for many disease including cold and flu. He gave me some medication and two days off from work so that i cannot affect my colleagues or customers with the flu. I did not asked much about the virus because I guess I did not care much about microorganisms at that time so i went for my prescription and drove home

Transmission electron micrograph of parainfluenza virus. Two intact particles and free filamentous nucleocapsid

I felt better and went back to work after the two days off and luckily for me my colleague has also return so I did not go back to his cubicle. I was surprise to see him suffering from severe cold that morning and he told me he had it from the office when he returned yesterday and he was also told i was not at work because I had a severe cold .


When I became interested in science and health care I made some enquries about the para-influenza virus and found out that they are can found on office desks and I could have even had it from counting some contaminated money which was hosting the virus. According to Chuck Gerba, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona, it is wrong to neglect the infectivity of our immediate work area. As part of his thesis, he identified 511 germs per square inch on keyboards, a figure climbing up to 3865 on some handsets.

Due to this encounter I have learn to keep all my surroundings including my work area clean and free from microbes as possible as i can and have never forgotten my mum's first cleaning rule, thus first thing to do when you come home from work, grocery shop or anywhere is to wash your hands with soap and water. I have always encourage others around me to do the same too.

                                                  Para influenza virus

 

MY SUMMER MICROBIOLOGY DICTIONARY

	STAINING: Staining is an auxiliary technique used in microscopy to enhance contrast in the microscopic image. Stains and dyes are frequently used. sentences: Are they blood stains, or mud stains, or rust stains, or fruit stains, or what are they? I vividly remember seeing oily black stains on cairn gorm's snow.   Types of Staining Simple Stain:
	simple stains highlight an entire microorganism so that cellular shapes and basic structures are visible. Simple stains commonly used include methylene blue, Carboniferous, crystal violet, and safranin. A stain is applied to a fixed smear for a certain amount of time and then washed off, and the slide is dried and examined. sentences: Simple stains are composed of a single basic dye. I require between thirty to sixty seconds in a simple stain procedure before rinsing off my slide. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KDT82koX7w
	Differential Stain: The dye or stain that is used to differentiate one component or cellular structure from another, or to differentiate an entity from another in a specimen. It does so by colouring a portion of a specimen that remained uncoloured following the first staining using a dye of different color. sentences: Most stains used in microbiology are diffrential stains Gram Stain is a type of diffrential stain http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlnIDGmgQfk Special Stain:  Special stains are simple stains designed to revel special microbial structures. sentences: There are three diffrent types of special stains. Negative stains, flagellar stains, and flurorescent stains are the three types of special stains. http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/sourab.birla-1408742-seminar-3-special-stains/