GATTACA

GATTACA is a science fiction story about a genetically imperfect human, Vincent, who dreams of going into space. He was one of the last natural-born individuals, with several inherited defects, including poor eyesight and a high probability of developing heart problem. Due to such genetic defect, he would refrain from traveling into space. Therefore, he decided to finance another man’s identity, that of Jerome Eugene who was a former athlete with top genetic background, to be allowed to get positioned to join a crew to space.

In not-too-distant future, genetics will play an important role in our life. Genetic sequence will become a part of our identity. We can generate a baby by selecting only good genes from parents to express only the perfect appearances and characteristics. After born, a baby will be tested and sequenced its DNA to evaluate the risks of certain diseases. These tasks are highly possible in the near future because at present, scientists have being kept going genetic researches related to human genome project to predict and evaluate genetic diseases. Many tasks to identify an individual will be based on the DNA sequencing.

However, the dystopia presented in the film is also a realistic possibility in the future. People may not be discriminated by races, but by the genetic sequences. People with imperfect DNA, including high risk or probability of developing certain diseases, might refrain from work because a company may tend to employ only “perfect” individuals. We can avoid this unfairness by accepting the differences and self-properties of each individual. We have to open our mind and really realize others’ rights and ambitions.

Writing a Conclusion

· Sankar, P. (2006). What is in a cause? Exploring the relationship between genetic cause and felt stigma. Genetics in Medicine, 8, 1, 33.

This conclusion initially summarizes the findings of this study. The interesting phrase for this part is “But data from our study suggest…” and “…, what these findings suggest is…”. Moreover, the author stated the importance of this research again and suggested some implications of his results. We can infer from the phrase “Because…, it is important to consider what implications this research might have for…”.

· Duncan, R. E. (2004). Predictive genetic testing in young people: When is it appropriate? Journal of Paediatrics & Child Health, 40, 11, 593-595.

This conclusion stated the current problem and recommend for further research. We can infer from the sentence “Currently empirical evidence is so lacking that we are not capable of either corroborating or refuting such a default position.”, “Empirical research must be priority. Qualitative research is vital…” and “Only in this way can we begin to develop…”.

· Should We Allow Genetic Enhancement?

This conclusion recommends for practice and policy about germline engineering. We can infer from “…the landscape of international operational policy and United States' domestic policy are currently in a state of flux…”, “Ultimately, the United States will have to make a legislative decision in the near future, or risk the private sector dictating the next steps.”.

· Designer Babies: One Step Closer

This conclusion restates the aims of the article. We can infer from “The proposal is to…”.

· Simoncelli, T, & Steinhardt, B. (2005).California's Proposition 69: A Dangerous Precedent for Criminal DNA Databases. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 33, 2, 279-293.

This conclusion summarizes the content of the article. We can infer from that the whole part was devoted to summarizing what the author said in the previous part.

· Verlinsky, Y. (2005). Designing babies: What the future holds. Reproductive BioMedicine Online, 1, 10, 24-26.

This conclusion summarizes the findings from this research and their significance. We can infer from “We created…”, “So we have their permission to create stem cell lines, which will pmvide a source of cells helping to create newt herapies for existing disease.”, and “…we could make…”.

Writing an Introduction

Host Gene Induction and Transcriptional Reprogramming in Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8)-Infected Endothelial, Fibroblast, and B Cells: Insights into Modulation Events Early during Infection

For Move 1, the author introduced the background knowledge about HHV-8, the seriousness of several diseases it causes, the mechanisms of the host responding to the viral infection, and also implied the importance to control the infection. The phrases used to drive this part are “Kaposi’s Sarcoma is …”, “In vitro, HHV-8 has been shown to…”, “The binding of herpes simplex virus type-1 to cell surfaces induces…”, and so on. For Move 2, the phrase author stated “The identification of such cellular signatures might eventually lead to the development of novel strategies to control HHV-8 infection” shows the importance to identify the cellular signatures in the infected patients. Besides, as the Move 3, he briefly described about his research’s methodology, which is to analyze the cellular transcriptional responses in three different target cells in vitro at 2 and 4 h after HHV-8 infection. The phrase he used to introduce is “we undertook this study to…”. The words used are “undertook” and “analyze”.

From:
Naranatt P.P. et al. Host Gene Induction and Transcriptional Reprogramming in Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV/HHV-8)-Infected Endothelial, Fibroblast, and B Cells: Insights into Modulation Events Early during Infection. Cancer Res., 64: 72-84, 2004.

Vitamin C fails to protect amino acids and lipids from oxidation during acute inflammation

This introduction provided all “Moves”. For “Move1”, the author explained about the mechanisms of specific enzyme that can damage tissue in mice. He gave background about oxidants, and finally came up with the knowledge about vitamin C as an anti-oxidant. Then, he brought the readers to the move 2 by stated that “Despite intense interest in the proposed antioxidant role of ascorbate and other vitamins, however, there is remarkably little evidence that these compounds directly scavenge reactive intermediates in vivo.”. This allows the readers to know the “gap” in this field and the importance to perform this research. Interesting phrases in this move are “Despite intense interest in…, however,…” and “There is remarkably little evidence that…”. Finally, he added the move 3, “To determine whether ascorbate functions as an antioxidant during inflammation, we studied…”, which indicated the approach of this research. The interesting phrase in this move is “To determine…, we studied…”.

From:

Joseph, P.H., Abderrazzaq, B., et al. Vitamin C fails to protect amino acids and lipids from oxidation during acute inflammation. Free Rad. Biol.& Med., 40: 1494-1501, 2006.

Vitamin D, Aging, and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans

This introduction is driven in different way from the two formers. The author started with a little background and seriousness of vitamin D deficiency to interest readers. He also indicated that the today guidelines for taking vitamin D are not up-to-date. Then, he went to move 2 by stating the importance of vitamin D recommendation. The interesting phrase in this move is “Therefore, it is prudent to…”. After that, he brought his readers to the next move. For move 3, he stated the purpose of his article. The interesting phrase is “The purpose of this article is to review…”. Finally, he came back to the move 1 again to give more background about vitamin D and bring to the next part of his article.

From:

Mary, A.J., Michael, G.K. Nutrition grand rounds: Vitamin D, aging, and the 2005 dietary guidelines for Americans. Nutrition Reviews, 64(9):410-421, 2006.

A Problem-Solving Essay

Creating Law to Reduce CFC: Pros and Cons

At present, there is no denying the fact that global warming effect has become one of the most serious environmental problems we all are facing with. Every country has being tried to solve the every-year rising temperature. Several solutions have been figured out; however, each solution has its advantages and disadvantages. This essay will provide some solutions, including its pros and cons.

It has been known for a long time that one of the important causes of the global warming is the production of toxic gases, especially Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), which has been released from the process in manufacturing a variety of products, such as spray, air-conditioner, and refrigerator. CFC vapors and destroys the ozone layer, which plays a very prudent role in reflecting the excess amount of sun light out of the earth, in the atmosphere. With thinning ozone layer, the earth exposes largely amount of sun light and cannot release the excess amount of those out; therefore, the earth’s temperature has been gradually heat up. Several countries have being tried to reduce the amount of CFC released each year by creating environmental laws to control and solve this problem. If such manufacturer violated against the law, some penalties would be conducted. Creating the environmental law has some advantages. It, of course, would control the production of CFC and be able to reduce the amount of such gas finally. Moreover, people would be healthier because CFC and other toxic gases, which cause some health problems, such as asthma and lung cancer, were reduced.

However, creating such law has some drawbacks as well. The strict law may lead to the slower rate of investment, especially in the business related to air-conditioner or refrigerator manufacturers. Such companies have been forced to change the process of production, which might cause more budgets, or have been forced to install the environmental sound system to reduce or get rid of the gases before releasing. This would bring to the higher budget such companies had to spent and, in turn, the lower profit. This could cause the difficulties in making a decision to invest to entrepreneurs and affect to the credits of such companies.

The effort to create law to reduce the amount of CFC has several advantages and disadvantages. It might solve the global warming effectively, but lead to economic problems. To make final decision, it is not an easy task. We should consider carefully solving environmental problem without the effect on economics or, at least, minimize such effect.

My Definition of "Terrorism"

My Definition of "Terrorism"

There is no denying fact that some today-used words are so difficult to give a precise definition and still ambiguous. Such ambiguity sometimes leads to widely arguments and finally becomes a controversial issue throughout the world. “Terrorism” is a good example for this point. Its exact definition has been worldwide debated for a long time. The importance to exactly define “terrorism” is that this word and its definition can affect the responses of government to people who conducted “terrorism”, or even affect the international policy and relationships. For example, if people who committed crime were judged to be “terrorists”, the sentence for their guilty might be much stronger than usual; therefore, it is very important to define “terrorism” precisely.

“Terrorism” has been defined in various ways. In my perspective, “terrorism” is the term used to describe the use or threat of action of an individual, a group, or even a country against another country, its institutions, or its people with intentions to influence a government, to damage social structures or to intimidate the public for a political, economic, religious, or ideological cause. The action involved includes serious violence against people or danger to life, a serious risk to public health or safety, or serious damage to property, including a wide range of specific crime, such as murder, kidnapping, seizing public transport, releasing contaminating substances, and even interfering with computer networks.

Therefore, for my definition of “terrorism”, one of the most significant criteria is the intention to commit any actions. If an individual commit crime without his intention, he could not be considered as a “terrorist”. Also, whether or not there were media, the action could be “terrorism” because, in my opinion, media just play their roles in informing what has been happening. If some people intend to attack on government or destroy the national sustainability, they should be classified terrorists even though media have not been reported any events. Moreover, in this modern era, an individual could commit crime by using a computer. He could conduct terrorism in cyber world by releasing computer virus with intentions to destroy or damage public computer system. Such action should be notified as terrorism as well.

Moreover, we should distinguish between attacks on civilians and on members of the security forces. Any wars which are the fighting between military forces of two or more countries in which soldiers of each other are targeted, not civilians, should not be included in the definition of “terrorism”. Applying this criterion to the Middle East, Yasser Arafat’s security forces firing on Israeli soldiers would not be terrorism, whereas a suicide bomber on a bus and a market leaving many civilians injured and killed would without-a-doubt be.

To summarize, “terrorism” can be defined as the actions of an individual, a group, or a country with its intentions to destroy civilians or the public institutions via any way, including computer network with or without media.

Historical Time Frames

Historical Time Frames

1782 –The inauguration of the Chakris, the coronation of King Rama I. New capital, Bangkok, has established.
1868-1910 – The reformation of Thai tradition, legal, and administrative realm, The revolution of education, public health, and transportation.
1925-1935 – The political revolution
1941 – World War II, Japanese expansion into Thailand

On April6, 1782, The Chakris, the family of Kings of Thailand, were inaugurated together with the coronation of King Rama I. Due to the limited size of Thonburi, the old capital of Thailand or Siam at that time, The King decided to move the capital from those to Bangkok. The History of Bangkok as a capital of Thailand has started since then.

Between 1868 and 1910, in the period of Rama V or King Chulalongkorn, Thai society and quality of life had been significantly improved in all aspects such as education system, public health, and even transportation. Those resulted from the influence of western countries’ expansion especially England’s and France’s. The western tradition had been initially conducted in the King’s palace and after that this trends expanded to all part throughout Thailand. About education system, the king established many schools and the first University in Thailand, Chulalongkorn University named after the King who founded. This could be considered as the most critical change in Thai education system because in the past Thai people usually studied in a temple and regarded monks as teachers. The establishment of schools and university at that time was the first time that allowed everyone to study in higher degree outside temples and gained more knowledge from any field of expertise.

Furthermore, he also promoted Thai public health by establishing Siriraj Hospital founded in 1900 that is the first hospital in Thailand. This led to the vast improvement of Thai public health. Doctors who had in-depth knowledge and experience in medication from Europe were the key factor contributing to an improvement of life quality of Thai people. Although there was a large amount of Thai development in several aspects, the political format of government still was the absolute monarchy, the format that kings had rights to do everything and were beyond any laws.

Until 1932, Rama VII decided to change the form of government from absolute monarchy into democracy. As a result, any kings would be under the laws and people have rights to govern themselves. Thai democratic history has started since then.

In 1941, the Second World War began. Japanese military invaded into every part throughout Southeast Asia, including Thailand. The Japanese expansion brought Thailand into a crisis. They generated curfews to forbid Thai people going outside at nights and forced Thai government to support them in every way. The price of goods rose to the highest point in Thai history. A large number of Thai soldiers and civil were brought into the death without any mistakes. After World War II ended and Japan became the loser in the war, Thailand tried to develop country in every aspect. King Bhumibol has played important role in recovery not only in the physical aspects such as economy or politic, but he has also improved Thailand in emotional aspect. Therefore, there can be no doubt that he has been placed in every hearts of Thai and regarded as a father of the country.

Summary of the "Of Frozen Milk and Bison Herdes"

The Summary of the Of Frozen Milk and Bison Herds

“Of Frozen Milk and Bison Herds” discusses the idea that climate change influences human affair. The author referred Lamp, a pioneering climatologist, and his suggestion describing that the climate change at the beginning of the end of the little optimum, a period of warmer temperatures from approximately AD 800-1200 BC, may have been responsible for the emergence of the Mongol hordes out of Asia early in the thirteenth century. The rapid coldness in the northern hemisphere at that time reduced the productivity of the land and forced the people to follow their charismatic leader, Genghis Khan, in a fest for survival.

Moreover, the author also described that the shift and the expansion of the circumpolar vortex, the circular winds that blow from west to east around the globe, caused the deterioration in climate which, in turn, played an important role in the deterioration of civilization. He exemplified an increase in stormy weather heralded the setback in the development of European civilization. Detrimental change in climate led to the harvests fail, desertion across Europe, and, in turn, resulted to poor health due to malnutrition and the Black Death, another name for bubonic plague. Therefore, it was not be wrong to say that climate change was the key factor contributing to such disease at that time in Europe. The effects of climate shift also affected Africa, India, and China.